DBH: Lost Union

by WayWardWonderer

Connor deviates sooner than anticipated and in turn his perspective on androids, deviants and humans becomes obscured. Choosing his own path and going rogue as a private detective post Revolution gives the wayward deviant the chance to live his own life separate from those he'd call friend or foe while dodging enemies, healing from his past, and uncovering CyberLife's dark secrets.

74. Playing With Fire

The brief lull in activity regarding the mysterious bombs and other explosive devices planted around the city was gone in a single menacing instant as the sun rose over Detroit. An anonymous threat from a white masked individual wearing all black who claimed to represent a group that calls themselves 'Quondam' had issued a warning to everyone in Detroit that a total of fifty bombs had been planted in key locations throughout the city. The people were then urged to pack up what was truly important to them and leave the city before sundown that same day, otherwise they'd risk being lost in the carnage when all fifty bombs would be simultaneously detonated before the sun had set.

Due to the severity of the threat any and all first responders registered to act within city limits had been requested to report to their nearest police precinct, fire station, android emergency care facility and hospital to assist with the calm and collected evacuation. The bomb squad had been brought in alongside S.W.A.T. officers to check through the city and investigate the threats while also escorting fleeing denizens over bridges and past city limits to leave the area.

'THIS IS QUONDAM'. A figure wearing all black from head to toe, even their hands were wearing black gloves, and a featureless, solid white mask over the face that only had two holes for eyes and a tiny slit for a mouth, spoke with a disguised voice directly into a camera while standing in a pitch black room. 'WE HAVE WATCHED THIS CITY LIMP TOWARD AN IMPOSSIBLE FUTURE FROM THE SHADOWS, BUT WE ARE NOT GOING TO HIDE IN THE DARKNESS ANY LONGER. THOSE WHO VALUE THEIR LIVES ARE URGED TO LEAVE THE CITY BEFORE SUNDOWN, OTHERWISE YOU WILL BURN ALONG WITH THE DECAYING RUINS OF WHAT WAS ONCE A PROMISING MOTROPOLIS OF THE FUTURE.'

The threat was being replayed on the television screens mounted about the bullpen as the police needed to see the broadcast as many times as possible to gather as much information on the situation at hand. Every news broadcast channel had been remotely hijacked that morning, and the threat was not a secret to anyone.

'THIS CITY WILL TURN TO ASH AND FROM THE ASHES A PHOENIX WILL RISE AND GIVE THE CITY NEW LIFE. AS OF THIS MORNING, FIFTY BOMBS HAVE BEEN PLANTED THROUGHOUT DETROIT'S MOST DEPLORABLE DISPLAYS OF SELFISHNESS, EGOTISM AND MOCKERY OF THE LAW. UPON SUNRISE, ALL FIFTY BOMBS HAD BEEN ACTIVATED WITH A TIMER SET TO DETONATE AT THIS VERY SUNDOWN. THE PEOPLE HAVE UNTIL SUNSET TO LEAVE WHILE THE CITY IS STILL STANDING. DO NOT TAKE OUR WORDS LIGHTLY, QUONDAM DOES NOT BLUFF.'

"Listen up, people." Captain Fowler addressed his bullpen with full authority while wearing tactical gear from head-to-toe as he turned off the broadcast. The seasoned Captain wasn't going to sit on the sidelines while his officers, detectives and consultants were risking their lives in search of the reported bombs hidden throughout the city. "We are in the middle of a new crisis that'll either end with control or chaos, and I'm going to work my ass to make sure it's the former and not the latter. The Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern precincts are all following a similar plan of action, so expect to encounter other officers out in the field or joining you while searching for the bombs."

Hank had pulled from his investigation in "red ice" distribution and put in charge of his own task force in order to distribute first responders accordingly. The senior detective had specifically requested Connor and Lucas's help since the two deviant androids were specifically designed to aid the police department in regard to locating rogue androids, and as such they could also isolate and identify explosives and bombs simply by altering their program to register the chemicals and materials used in the bombs' construction.

The two deviants were geared up as well, and they were ready to accompany Hank out to his designated area to do a sweep for the bombs. Having located and disabled a handful of the bombs and explosives in the past gave the duo plenty of knowledge in being able to hunt down the fifty planted bombs and help the other searching officers differentiate between the bombs and other volatile devices that could be mistaken for bombs at a single glance.

"You're going to be divided into four teams." Captain Fowler continued as he explained their current plan of action. "One team in each major district will sweep the area along with the bomb squad and give updates every ten minutes." Captain Fowler continued in a terse tone as he addressed his bullpen with every intention of ending the day without any casualties. "You all know your teams and who's in charge of those teams, get out there and keep the peace, keep your eyes open and watch each others' backs. Familiarize yourself with your area and make sure you have all your safety gear before heading out in the field. You have five minutes."

Turning to look at the two deviant detectives behind him Hank gave the duo a stern glance as he secured his Kevlar vest over his chest. "You two need to keep in constant contact with each other and with me. Lucas, you're going to work with Gavin and Ben out at the West side of the city. Connor, you and Tina are with me sweeping out the East side. Chris and Jack will be with Fowler in the North side, while the head of the bomb squad leads a team from the South side. We're all going to start on the outer perimeter of each area and move toward the center of the city to ensure every square inch of the city is searched."

"What of New Jericho Tower?" Connor asked as he checked his vest and made sure that he and Lucas had a clear cybernetic signal with one another. They were blocking out the other signals to ensure they could always remain in constant contact without interruption. "One of the bombs had been located on the end of the drive leading out to the tower."

"Fowler contacted the tower just after the threat was issued and Markus confirmed that all the androids who specialized with explosives and chemicals swept all of Belle Isle, checked the tower from top floor to bottom floor - including all sublevels - and checked the drive." Hank confirmed as Tina joined him and Connor at his side, and she too tightened her Kevlar vest around her chest. "Nothing had been found, and he has those specialist deviants patrolling the end of the drive to ensure no one tries to plant a bomb after the sweep had been finished."

"That's good." Reaching out his hand Connor retracted the artificial skin over his palm and requested Hank and Tina's phones. "Allow me to set up the shared link between Lucas and myself on your phones."

"Right." While Hank and Tina handed Connor their phones Lucas did the same for Gavin and Ben's phones, while Jack picked up on what was happening and set up the same shared link on Chris and Captain Fowler's phones. "There's already drones flooding the sky and using the exact details that you two provided after locating and disarming a few bombs yourself, and they've already begun highlighting areas of interest."

Connor cybernetically tapped into the drones' live feeds and turned to give Lucas a worried look. With a simple glance of acknowledgement Lucas cybernetically hijacked the televisions mounted on the walls surrounding the bullpens to bring up a holographic map matching the flight paths taken by the drones and highlighted the areas where the drones picked up on traces and signatures that matched the bombs and explosives.

"There's a problem that we hadn't anticipated." Connor confirmed as he returned the phones and motioned to the television screens. One by one bright blue dots appeared on the holographic map and the number quickly surpassed fifty, easily doubling up to one-hundred identical signatures. "There are just as many decoy bombs planted throughout the city as there are armed bombs."

"Fuckin' Hell..." Hank swore at the staggering number of blue dots peppering the massive map. "How in the fuck are we going to find all of those things before time's up?"

Lucas had the answer and gave the map another update. "The real bombs will stand out from the decoy bombs by an electrical frequency being emitted from the shell without anyone needing to take the time to open the casing in an attempt to disarm the explosives. The electrical frequency will cause a static interference to all mobile communication devices within two feet of the bombs."

Captain Fowler caught on to what Lucas was saying and gave the deviant a grateful nod. "What you're saying is, if we're in proximity of a real bomb then our radios or phones will tell us so that we don't waste our time on the decoys."

"Correct." With another cybernetic command Lucas was able to upload the map onto everyone's phones to help them keep track of confirmed bomb and decoy locations that were being located in real time. "The map will assist us."

"All right, people. Radios on at ALL times, even when not actively communicating with anyone. If you find a bomb but can't disarm it, report your exact coordinates and move on in your search for more live bombs. Do NOT risk yourself by with a game of trial and error on anything, am I understood?"

A chorus of "yes, sirs" and "understood" echoed over the bullpen as everyone accepted their current assignment and the protocol being expected of them that day while out in the field. With everyone ready to go out in the field and fully prepared for what to expect, Captain Fowler informed the Captain of the bomb squad and the Captain of the S.W.A.T. team that the Central Precinct was now on its way out.

"You all have your orders." Captain Fowler bellowed in a commanding tone as he began marching toward the precinct's front door. "Dismissed!"

One by one the officers, detectives and consultants all took their leave of the precinct and made their way over to the neighboring parking garage to get to the swift patrol cars. Hank was adamant in driving since it'd allow Connor the full ability to scan the city while en route to their assigned areas, and Tina would be able to follow in her own car to ensure no area was accidentally overlooked during the sweep.

Pulling out of the garage Hank radioed Tina and made sure she knew to stay right behind his car at all times. "Chen, keep on my six and make sure the drones double check our work as we navigate through our area."

Tina's voice replied over the radio as she obeyed her orders without fail. '10-4, Lieutenant.'

"How fast should I drive?" Hank asked the deviant detective as Connor managed to release a cybernetic ping to track his current location and tie it with the map that had been constructed back at the precinct. "I don't want to accidentally overlook anything."

"Ideally, forty-six point two miles per hour."

"Oddly specific, but I think I can handle that." Heading out to their assigned area while keeping his head on a swivel, Hank did his best to remain unphased by the abrupt lack of people walking the sidewalks and driving along the streets all around him. The only motion came from other patrol cars on the streets and drones swarming in the sky. "This is the first I've heard of this 'Quondam' group. You?"

"I did not know such a group existed until this morning when they threatened Detroit. Neither did Lucas." Connor confirmed as he cybernetically observed the city through his side window and observed the vacated city for any sign of unusual activity. "However, I suspect that the man in black who issued the warning is connected to the assault committed against Skye and myself earlier this month."

"Same guy who threatened the city was the same guy who attacked you two?"

"I believe so."

"What makes you say that?"

"Though the man was wearing a mask and had disguised his voice, I was able to confirm that his eyes are the exact shade of brown as the assailant who had ambushed me and Skye at Skye's personal law office." The deviant explained almost casually as he went through his logic and worked on his current theory. "The clothing was also identical to the clothing that the assailant had been wearing when I was ambushed. I cannot confirm height or build until I have another opportunity to see them in full, but as of the moment I suspect that the man is one in the same."

"Hell of a theory." Hank admitted as he navigated the streets and honed in on their first location to begin a thorough search for the bombs. "It'd also be one Hell of a catch if you could kill two birds with one stone."

Turning to look at Hank for a beat Connor contemplated that particular turn of phrase with mild disgust.

"Metaphorical birds, son. I may not like pigeons but I'm about to hunt down a bunch of birds and slaughter them like I'm performing some creepy-ass voodoo ritual to catch criminals a little easier."

Picking up on an electrical signature of an active bomb Connor motioned to a large hotel that had been left abandoned for the past twenty-some years. "There. One bomb is up on the third floor."

"Can you disarm it?"

"Yes." Two drones began circling the hotel and confirmed that Connor had located one of the areas they had picked up on through their own scans. "I can do so in one minute, twelve seconds."

Pulling the car to the side of the street Hank grabbed his radio and gave Connor a nod of his head. "Go!"

Rushing as quickly as he could Connor approached the barred front entrance to the long forgotten building and used his shoulder to break through the wooden boards over the door to enter the hotel and locate the bomb. With the hotel being without power and having fallen into near ruin, Connor had to use the creaking, aged and dust filled staircase to reach the third floor of the hotel in favor of using the decommissioned and powerless elevator.

Using his cybernetic relay system Connor was able to locate the bomb on the third floor in the center of the dimly branching corridors that led to all of the completely unoccupied rooms lining the corridors. The deviant's cybernetic system was able to confirm the location of the bomb and the total absence of human lives within the building at the same time.

Carefully Connor opened the casing of the bomb, identified the correct power lines connecting the power source to the primed detonator, and swiftly disarmed the bomb without incident.

"First bomb located and disarmed." Connor noted verbally while communicating over his shared cybernetic link. "Moving back to the squad car."

'Good work.' Hank replied as he listened to dispatch updating patrol on everything happening throughout the evacuated city. 'Get back out here so we can keep moving.'

"10-4, on my way right now."

With one bomb located and disarmed, that left forty-nine other bombs needing to be located and disarmed before chaos ensued. Searching an entire city for bombs hidden in places that only the unknown number of Quondam members knew of, and doing so under a strict time limit, was going to push the city's best and brightest to their absolute limits.

---

The search for the planted bombs had led the second team from the Central Precinct to the relatively abandoned industrial district. The only upside to the still very slowly healing unemployment rate in Detroit was the lack of activity and people in the area, however, the vacancy was proving to be a double-edged sword. Such expansive vacancy and unoccupied buildings created dozens upon dozens of ideal hiding places for bombs to be hidden and detonated remotely at any second without warning. Hearing of the first bomb being located and properly disarmed was only mildly encouraging as the search for the remaining bombs kept every responding officer on their guard.

Lucas was able to locate an area that was littered with bombs and decoys, and informed Gavin and Ben of the situation. The three detectives had to painstakingly search through the empty factories and warehouses to locate the bombs and separate them from the decoys as quickly and accurately as possible.

"Fuck me..." Gavin swore to himself as he used his phone to lead him to one of the decoys. Opening the decoy's case just to be sure, Gavin noted the harmless shell and left it wide open to identify it from the other bombs. "Decoy in my area!"

Ben's voice replied with an echo from the other side of the same factory where Gavin had been exploring. "Same for me!"

Lucas's voice chimed in over the radio as he confirmed that he found two bombs in the warehouse across the drive from the factory. 'Two confirmed bombs in my location. Disarming now.'

Moving quickly Gavin checked his phone and watched the blue dots on the display screen go gray slowly around the city as the four teams managed to locate and disarm the planted bombs at a painfully slow pace, while the bomb squad and S.W.A.T. teams branched out from the center of the city toward the four districts where the other officers were working.

Worried about Abby and her facility being targeted and blown up yet again, Gavin had to resist the urge to allow his personal life and worries to distract him at the moment. He didn't want to see his pregnant wife banged up and recovering from another idiot's selfish decisions for a second time.

"Why does this crazy shit keep happening to us?"

"Bigotry and hate run deep." Ben reminded the younger detective as they located Lucas in the factory across the way and watched as the deviant detective expertly disarmed the two bombs with perfectly still and graceful hands. "And that type of anger hurts far more than just the groups of people that the bigot hates."

"...Yeah, I've noticed." Ashamed of his past bigotry Gavin did his best to not let his own previous misdeeds continue to cloud his judgment and behavior. "Uh, how many more bombs are in the area, Lucas?"

"Three more." The deviant noted as his sent updates to Gavin and Ben's phone and stood up to his full height. "It'll be easier for us to split up again, locate the bombs and reconvene at the car."

"Yeah, okay."

Rushing about in a controlled panic the trio of detectives went in search of the three nearest bombs to determine which were real and which were decoys. It didn't take long for Gavin to track the bomb with the map on his phone and locate it sitting on the shutdown conveyor belt of a long abandoned factory. As he neared the bomb his phone created a distinct static sound and confirmed that he had the misfortune of locating the real deal.

"Shit... Here we go."

Very carefully Gavin opened the casing of the bomb and saw the six multicolored wires feeding power from what appeared to be a small car battery to what looked like a container of a liquid explosive contained in a metal container with glass windows on the sides. There was a digital clock ticking down slowly on the bomb, and based on the current time on the clock and the actual time of day, the threat to detonate all the bombs at sundown was going to be spot on.

"Oh, fuck... Lucas?" Speaking loud enough for his phone to carry his voice Gavin requested the deviant's assistance at the scene. "Got a live one here!"

'As do I.' The deviant replied in a low tone as he focused on disabling the bomb he had located on the far side of the factory. 'I'll walk you through the procedure to disarm the bomb.'

"Is that a good idea?" Gavin looked down at his shaking hands and curled them into tight fists to make them stop trembling. "I mean, I'm not-"

'You'll do fine. Open the case and note the six colored wires inside.'

"Already done..."

'Disconnect the wires at their coupling on the side of the battery in this exact order: Dark blue, black, green and white.'

"Dark blue..." Repeating the order as he went, Gavin removed the wires one by one as he forced his fingers to move and grab hold accordingly. He didn't even try to touch the yellow or gray wires out of fear of making a fatal mistake. "Black, green, and white. Got it. Now what?"

'Remove the battery and leave it outside the casing. The battery is seventeen point four pounds, be prepared for such a weight.'

"Okay, yeah..." With a deep breath Gavin grabbed the battery at both sides, lifted it up from the interior casing and left it beside the bomb's exterior case whre it'd be unable to feed the explosive any power. "Now what?"

'That's it. Return to the car, Detective Collins and I will meet you there.'

"Don't gotta' tell me twice!" Turning his back to the disarmed bomb Gavin began jogging back to the car and watched the three blue dots on his phone go gray as the two bombs and third decoy were identified. "The entire bomb squad is either suicidal or they have zero instinct for self preservation! If I don't get overtime for this, I'm requesting a damn transfer!"

Regrouping at the squad car Lucas cybernetically noted that a total of seventeen active bombs had been disarmed while twenty-six decoys had been located. With forty-three of the one-hundred points of interest being cleared, the teams of police officers, S.W.A.T. support and the actual bomb squad were actually disabling the threat at an impressive pace.

Ben checked his phone and gave Gavin's shoulder a quick pat. "There are nine more points of interest in our area. The sooner we get them cleared the sooner you can check in with your wife."

"Yeah, I know."

Lucas felt bad for Gavin and performed a quick check on the Zeta Facility on the worried man's behalf. "...Barry has confirmed that Abby clocked-out and went back to your home after the threat was issued. Your residence is also in an area that's already been cleared of any potential bomb threats."

"Thank fuck..." Letting out a massive breath Gavin looked like he physically deflated as he realized that his wife and unborn baby were actually much safer than he had initially feared. "All right, yeah, we have this handled. Let's find the last bombs and get our asses out of here while they're still in one piece!"

---

The Northern section of the city was being swept over smoothly as Captain Fowler's team worked seamlessly to locate and identify each armed bomb from their decoy counterparts to ensure that no domestic terrorist group would be able to detonate the explosives by sundown. The trio had worked alongside other officers from the other four precincts who had been assigned that area to investigate as well. The gathered group had worked together and had found thirteen bombs and decoys that were quickly identified and when necessary disarmed by Jack. It didn't take long for the area to be properly checked through from top to bottom, the numerous homes, apartment buildings and stores all being cleared out, and the group updated their progress with the other officers sweeping the city.

After confirming each uncovered and disarmed bomb appropriately the maps on each officer's phone updated by showing the blue dots going gray one by one. By combining the four areas of the city, plus the central section being combed over by the bomb squad and S.W.A.T. teams, there had only been a total of seventy-two bombs and decoys uncovered.

"Thirty-one bombs disarmed; forty-one decoys uncovered." Captain Fowler lamented as he gave Chris and Jack an update on the situation. It was almost four o'clock and they had barely an hour and half before the sun set as fall urged earlier sunsets compared to the previous summer. "I really wish it was the other way around."

"We'll find the rest of the bombs, Cap." Chris reassured his commanding officer as he and Jack accompanied the man back to their squad cars. "There's another hotspot two blocks from here. The drones are already circling above the right building."

"Right." Looking up Captain Fowler saw the drones' flashing lights from the distance and nodded in confirmation. "Let's keep moving forward and finish our section before heading South and meeting up in the central district area with everyone else."

"Yes, sir." Chris agreed as he and Jack entered their second squad car to follow behind Captain Fowler to the next area to search. "Jack, what's going on in the other districts?"

"According to Connor, he and Lieutenant Anderson and Officer Chen have found nineteen bombs and decoys, and they are currently working toward the central area as well." The blond deviant recounted perfectly as sat in the passenger seat beside his partner after Chris sat behind the wheel. "Lucas, Detective Reed and Detective Collins are moving from their areas as well. The bomb squad and S.W.A.T. teams are nearly finished with their areas while also disarming the bombs that other officers were unable to do by themselves."

"Any complications we need to worry about?"

"None so far. Every bomb has been disarmed without any issues."

"And are all the decoys actually decoys?"

"Yes." The deviant officer was keeping tabs on the situation in real time through Connor and Lucas, as well as the drones highlighting area of interest. "Every bomb had been designed in the exact same manner which allows for easy deactivation, and all of the decoys have been harmless shells."

"Yeah, so far." Chris sighed as he neared the next area right behind Captain Fowler's squad car. "Let's just hope that whoever these Quondam freaks are they aren't dangerous enough to set off the bombs ahead of schedule or plant false decoys to make us let our guards down."

"Quondam." Jack repeated the word and gave Chris a curious look from where he sat. "Adjective: Former; one-time. A curious name for a curious domestic terrorist group."

"Yeah, it is..." A strange sense of recognition entered Chris's mind as he focused on the terrorist group beyond just their bombs and decoys. "Maybe it's a hint to who they really are."

"You suspect that these domestic terrorists are intentionally leaving behind clues that could lead to their discovery and arrest?"

"If they were willing to issue a warning to the city about the bombs rather than just set the bombs off without giving anyone a chance to run, I don't see why they wouldn't want to toy with us with their name being an obvious identifying feature to their weird group."

"Interesting theory." Uploading the details to Connor and to Lucas for their consideration, Jack proceeded to join Chris as they exited the parked squad car to join Captain Fowler in the search for the remaining bombs. They needed to keep moving forward and didn't have the time to focus on other cases at the moment. "I'll spread the word in an attempt to make our investigation slightly easier."

---

A modest twelve story office building downtown brought Hank, Connor and Tina to the unusual scene with very little information at their disposal, and a lot of pivotal questions that still needed answers. The office building itself was located in an area of the city that had been known, almost infamously, for its anti-android policies. Such possibilities meant that there was still a lot of social hostility in the area. The air was thick with a palpable xenophobic tension that made the human and deviant detectives anxious upon their arrival despite no one else being in the area. The occupants of the building had been successfully evacuated and led to safety while the responding officers began their search for the bomb planted somewhere in the building.

After checking the floors of the building one at a time for the bomb's location, Connor had to admit that he was unable to directly locate it despite his sensors picking up on the electrical interference it was admitting. The abundance of decoys was making the search for the singular bomb all the more difficult.

"This feels like a waste of time." Hank griped as he chucked a decoy shell across the vacated office and met Tina out in the corridor. "Find it?"

"Not yet, Lieutenant." Holding up her phone Tina continued to wave it about in an attempt to find the electrical signature that'd identify the bomb from the decoys surrounding her. There was no trail for her to follow and she was growing frustrated as well. "Where's Connor?"

"Two floors down. Hopefully he's closer to the real deal than we are right now."

"Hopefully these fancy vests are enough to protect us in case one of the decoys isn't as innocent as it looks." Tugging at the straps secured around her shoulders Tina gave Hank a wary glance. "I'd hate for these things to be just for show and nothing more."

"Nervous?"

"Only on the inside."

"Me too." Checking the remaining offices Hank sighed and motioned for Tina to accompany him to the floor beneath them. According to his phone's screen there were only six more blue dots that needed to be found, and there were about thirty minutes left until sundown. "Shit... We're going to be cutting it close!"

"And it looks like it's up to us to find the last four bombs right here, while everyone else needs to comb through the central district together."

"Numbers don't always make a difference." Hank admitted as he and Tina slipped down the stairwell and descended to the next floor. Holding his phone near his jaw Hank reached out to Connor one more floor beneath where he and Tina had just set foot. "Any luck down there, Connor?"

'I'm close to the bomb, but I still cannot see it.'

"Did the fuckers think to hide it behind something your scanner and our phones wouldn't be able to see through?"

'It's unlikely that the person or persons who planted the bombs would conceal only one behind a barrier designed to hide its presence. Also, it'd interfere with potential remote detonation and accidentally undo their own plants.'

"Good point."

Wrinkling her nose a little as she picked up on the less than ideal aroma of the office workers hastily abandoning their breakfasts at their desks to flee the building nearly eight hours prior, Tina let out a deep breath and asked Connor a question of her own. "Hey, Connor. Do you know exactly how dense our Kevlar vests are and if they can withstand the concussive force of a bomb detonation?"

'For low-order explosives, the vests are designed to withstand forces of up to twelve-hundred P.S.I., and considering that the explosives found within the bombs are equivalent to that of a standard pipe bomb, the vest will in fact protect your chest, abdomen and back in the event of an explosion.'

"So we're safe?"

'Mostly, yes.'

"And what exactly are these vests made out of? You know, aside from the Kevlar itself."

'The vests are comprised of a woven fabric consisting of synthetic fibers made through polymerization. It is a high strength material known for its high strength to weight ratio. There are also traces of lead within the vests to help block and absorb any radioactive materials in the air.'

"If we're dealing with a nuke I'm out of here." Tina sounded entirely sure of her decision as she continued to use her phone to lead her about. Neither she or Hank were able to locate anything beyond another decoy. "I've seen enough horror movies and doomsday propaganda films to know that I want nothing to do with the survivors of Armageddon."

Shaking his head Hank continued with his search and froze when his phone picked up on a faint static signal beneath his feet. "Hold it..."

"Find it, Lieutenant?" Tina asked as she waved her phone around beside Hank's phone and picked up on the same signal. "Shit, I think you did!"

"Stay right here. I'm going to go down to Connor's floor and help him find this exact spot."

"No problem."

Rushing down the stairwell Hank rejoined the deviant on the floor beneath where he had just been standing and counted his steps as he looked for the place in the ceiling above him that would line up with the signal that he had picked up on from the floor overhead. "Connor, come here."

Exiting the office at the end of the corridor Connor noticed Hank and followed the senior detective's gaze upward to the central most place of the ceiling. "What is it, Lieutenant?"

"You tell me."

The deviant detective suddenly paused as he looked up at the white ceiling as his scanner detected a trace amount of something that gave off a faint electrical signature. It was laying just beyond a single tile in the ceiling that was slightly out of place. Focused on Hank's discovery Connor stopped short and stared straight up at the offending tile without blinking as he honed in on the reading.

"You may have found it." Connor confirmed as he sent a cybernetic update to Lucas and Jack. "It warrants a closer inspection."

Planting his feet firmly Hank squared his shoulders as he dropped his hands down a little in front of himself and interlaced his fingers together as he prepared to support his colleague's weight. "Yeah. Here, I'll give you a boost up."

"My frame allows me to stand completely stable while supporting additional weight up to six-hundred pounds. It would be more beneficial for me to support you instead."

"Yeah, but your balance is better than mine, you're lighter than me AND you can see without a flashlight." Hank argued sharply without moving from where he stood in the middle of the corridor. "Up you go."

"Very well."

"...And I'm nowhere near six-hundred pounds."

"Pardon?"

"Nothing! Just get up there and take a look around."

Obediently Connor stepped forward and stepped down into Hank's hands as the senior detective hoisted him upward toward the ceiling. Putting his hand down on Hank's shoulder as the very strong detective lifted him up high enough to press on the ceiling tile, Connor reached up with his free hand to slide the already loose tile to the side before he peered up into the ceiling itself through the opening.

Hank looked up and watched as Connor peered into the opening of the ceiling to examine the small space that Connor was now visually assessing. "See anything?"

Meticulously Connor looked about the dark space that occupied the ceiling and soon his eyes fell upon a large metallic casing filled with various wires, the small, connected metal containers holding a liquid explosive, and a single remote trigger that had numerous failsafes protecting it.

"Well?" The senior detective was losing his patience as he awaited a response from Connor's observations. "What's up there?"

"You found it. I can also reach the bomb and bring it down to disarm it."

"Go for it. Be very fuckin' careful."

"I always am."

Reaching out with both hands Connor took a firm hold of the bomb and easily lifted the device up from where it was precariously resting on the thin metal rafters that lined the ceiling tiles. Feeling Hank's weight shifting to accommodate his own, Connor made sure to focus on keeping the bomb as gyroscopically stable as possible as he pulled it toward himself and held on tight.

"I have it." Connor confirmed in a level tone. "Lower me back down."

"Right..." Hank carefully lowered Connor to the ground without dropping him or jostling him about. "You disarm this bomb and I'll sweep the floors beneath us to make sure we're only dealing with decoys from now on."

"Understood."

"Tina?" With his phone in hand Hank connected with the young officer still one floor above Connor and himself. "Come down to Connor's floor and then met me down at the building's entrance after the bomb's disarmed."

'On my way down right now.'

While Hank made his way to the stairwell to go down, Tina reached the very floor where Hank had just left. Approaching Connor warily Tina eyed the deviant disarming the bomb and couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

"Why was that bomb so hard to find compared to the others?"

"Unknown. We shall soon find out."

Opening the casing to the bomb very carefully Connor peered inside and assessed the situation with a keen eye. Noticing something very strange compared to the other bombs Connor realized that the reason they couldn't detect the bomb as easily was because it didn't contain a remote detonator on top of the countdown clock, the bomb was designed to go off within ten seconds of the casing being opened.

Realizing his grave mistake Connor sent out a cybernetic distress call as he shot to his feet and leapt at Tina to get her out of harm's way before it was too late to do anything more prior to the detonation.

"GET DOWN!"

A deafening explosion suddenly rocked the building as the bomb only three floors above the ground floor detonated unexpectedly. Thick black smoke and bright orange fire erupted from the top of the building as the four floors above imploded downward and outward creating a gray plume of choking dust and debris that rained down over the streets below. Heavy metal and wooden support beams, slabs of drywall, portions of the floor and the ceiling above collapsed inward while the surrounding windows shattered into a cascade of thousands of tiny shards of sharp glass in all directions.

Speeding police cars, fire engines and ambulances bravely converged on the scene to aid the three officers trapped within the radius of the detonated bomb and to tend to the now burning building. Police drones quickly encircled the burning building and confirmed the bomb's detonation within the office building while Hank, Connor and Tina were still inside.

The search for the survivors trapped inside the building had only just begun as the responding officers had to divide their attention between locating the remaining bombs and helping their own in the aftermath of the singular massive explosion.

---

Word of the bomb's detonation spread through the city like wildfire and quickly reached Captain Fowler's ears within seconds. The drones patrolling the area during the explosion had already summoned the fire department to the scene, but additional police officers were only now being dispatched to help with the mess and help look for any possible survivors. Knowing that there were three officers at the scene of the catastrophe was a bittersweet knowledge, as it meant help was already at the catastrophic scene to keep things under control, however, it also meant that the three officers could've also been harmed in the bomb blast itself and have become victims themselves.

Responding to the alarm with a calm and professional manner Captain Fowler confirmed that his three officers were at the address of the building prior and during the detonation, and then began dispersing available patrol accordingly. The quicker he could find his own people in the mess, the better.

"Anyone who isn't actively disarming a bomb or has their area secured is going to go to the office building downtown and help with the search." Captain Fowler ordered as he took charge of the disaster as best as he could while using his phone and dispatch to communicate with his people. "If you're on patrol keep your eyes peeled for anyone who is NOT in uniform as we're still looking for the suspects who had planted the bombs. No one is above suspicion."

The attentive officers all responded in unison to their orders and set out toward the building to begin their new assignment en mass.

Chris approached Captain Fowler and gave his commanding officer a wary look as he lowered his voice. "The media is already reporting the bomb as a domestic terrorist attack." Holding up his phone for Captain Fowler to see himself, Chris confirmed that the story was already on the news and gaining traction. "How do you want to handle this?"

"Keep all rumors just that: Rumors. We are not going to confirm or deny anything until we have any evidence."

"Right. I'll have Jack start damage control with the media and request for Ben's forensics team to help us pick up the slack on the remaining bombs."

"Good work, Chris. Go do your thing, I trust you."

As Chris walked away from his commanding officer Captain Fowler pulled his phone from pocket and sent a text to Hank to ask about what happened but the message remained unread. Repeating the same message for Connor and then Tina the police Captain was met with the same lack of response from all three officers.

"Damn it."

Sending a text to Lucas, Gavin and Ben next, Captain Fowler made sure the three knew of the detonation and that the situation was under control. Pocketing the unanswered phone as he waited for Hank's reply Captain Fowler put his hands to his hips and stared up at the smoky evening sky blankly.

"What the fuck just happened? We were on top of everything, and we still had time left."

---

As the darkness swarming his vision steadily cleared and the ringing his ears began to silence, Hank coughed harshly and fought to breathe through the dusty, smokey air surrounding him. Slowly he lifted his aching head up from the floor and struggled to look around the destroyed corridor that was once open and clear. The explosion had sent Hank flying backward and he landed down hard on his back causing the muscles all along his spine to tremble from the impact. Judging from the severe, chronic ache in his head and the lingering metallic taste of blood in his mouth Hank, knew had also been rendered unconscious by the blast, but he couldn't tell for how long.

A steady weight against his torso was indicative of heavy debris being knocked on top of him as the building's interior was torn to shreds. Lifting up his hand Hank pressed his palm over the material and felt it give slightly under his touch.

"...Shit."

Using the same hand Hank pushed aside a large piece of drywall that was resting over his chest and down to his left hip as he slowly unburied himself as he laid alone on his back in the ruined corridor. Free of the pinning debris Hank coughed again and tried to breathe through the heavy air as best as he could. Rolling from his back onto his right hip he used his arms to push himself up from the ground as he gazed about the immediate area to take in the sight of the carnage, and to look for his two missing colleagues on the floor above him.

The entire corridor was dark and smokey making it difficult for the human to see, but not impossible. Wires hung down from the unstable ceiling and sparked randomly in white and blue colors, creating brief flashes of light in the darkness. Thick pipes jutted outward from gaping holes in the walls and dripped water or possibly leaked gas from being heavily damaged. The floor itself was littered with piles of debris that ranged in both height and depths depending on the material that had been collected in the mounds and their overall proximity to the explosion.

"...C-Connor?"

Hank called out as loud as he could and coughed immediately afterward. Clearing his throat he called out again.

"Tina? Can you hear me?"

Stumbling through the smoky darkness back toward the stairwell, Hank saw that the explosion had blocked the passage off and effectively trapped him where he was. He'd need to find an alternative exit if he were to escape the bombed building or find his missing colleagues before it was too late to help anyone.

"Fuck me..."

Waving his hand in front of his face Hank used the emergency red lights that were flickering on and off to guide him toward a massive pile of debris that had collected courtesy of the bomb overhead exploding and destroying the floor beneath it. A gaping hole was left in the ceiling above Hank and the debris pile itself was tall enough to give the senior detective enough room to climb up and through the hole itself if he was very careful.

"Glad I dropped some weight this year. No way my sorry ass would've been able to get up there if I was still a drunk eating grease every day!"

Stepping up the pile of broken concreate, drywall and pipes at a very slow and steady pace, Hank ascended the pile and managed to reach his hands up high enough to grab onto the jagged edge of the hole and heft himself upward. The damaged floor creaked and groaned as the relatively heavy man managed to climb up through the hole and rest on his knees beside it.

"Fuckin' hell!"

Crawling away from the hole Hank sighed and looked down at his palms where small scrapes and lacerations were beginning to bleed courtesy of the climb.

"Now I'm really glad I'm nowhere near six-hundred pounds."

Getting back up to his feet Hank called out to his colleagues again as he tried to find Connor and Tina as soon as possible. He knew that his two colleagues were on that floor the last he had seen them, and he could only hope they hadn't gone too much further when the bomb had detonated.

"Connor? Tina?"

Shouting as loud as he dared Hank tried to locate the two missing people without overwhelming himself with the smoke around him.

"Answer me!"

"H-Hey!" From somewhere behind Hank, he heard a large portion of the debris get shoved aside as Tina lifted an arm through a small hole created by the shifted debris as she remained mostly buried under the ruins of the destroyed floor. "Here! Right here!"

"Shit, I'm coming..." Stumbling around the debris and keeping clear of the hole, Hank knelt down beside Tina's hand and grabbed hold for a moment to let her know he was right beside her. "Hold on, I'll get you outta' there."

"Lieutenant... Fuck!" Coughing as the debris pile was removed from overtop of her Tina spoke to Hank as a means of keeping her mind off her own injuries. She was covered in dust and had small bleeding cuts all over her face and hands. "A-Are you hurt?"

"A few bruises and scrapes." Hank admitted as he ignored the trail of blood running down the side of his face from a cut over his left eye. The taste of blood in his mouth was still prevalent but also went ignored. "How about you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Tina looked as beaten up as Hank felt after she was uncovered. Aside from her numerous cuts she was fully lucid and able to move about on her own with little difficulty. "Not so sure about Connor..."

Hearing that made Hank freeze mid motion. "Where is he?"

"B-Beside me." Pushing herself up from her back and into a sitting position, Tina lifted up Connor's limp arm, the limb draped protectively over her abdomen, and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. Patches of his artificial skin were missing along his fingers and the cuff of his white dress shirt and gray blazer had been charred black during the blast. "He hasn't moved or said a word since the explosion. He protected me with his own body when the bomb went off."

"Oh, shit..." Taking Connor's hand for himself Hank checked for a pulse in the deviant's wrist and found it, albeit the pulse was very rapid, shallow and weak. "He's alive! Fuckin'- Help me unbury him!"

Working together Hank and Tina managed to awkwardly heft the thick and cumbersome debris from over Connor's body as the deviant laid motionless on his chest beside Tina. The force of the explosion had sent the duo flying, and Connor had used his own body to shield Tina in the process. The deviant detective had taken the full force of the blast against his back while protecting Tina from the shockwave as the bomb exploded.

After Connor's upper body was uncovered Tina froze and noticed the massive dark blue stains on the debris that had been pushed aside. The same blue was now on her hands and spreading all around Connor's body confirming numerous damaged Thirium lines and potentially ruptured biocomponents.

"Shit..." Swearing softly Tina realized how severely the deviant had been hurt while protecting her. "Connor?"

The sight of the blue blood sent Hank into overdrive. He quickly fell to his knees, ignoring the painful protest of the aged joints as he knelt on the hard, dirty ground, as he began digging faster to uncover the rest of Connor's body. Without any hesitation Hank began hefting aside the slabs of drywall, splintered wooden support beams, metal pipes and shards of broken glass as he desperately dug his friend's lower body out from under the smothering pile of debris. The sight of the deviant detective's uncovered legs did little to ease Hank's worried mind as Connor was unburied slowly and carefully.

"Connor... No."

The wounded deviant detective was laying on his chest with his head face toward Tina beside him. One arm was splayed outward at his side while the other had been protectively laying over Tina. His legs were straight after being pinned beneath a heavy chunk of the collapsed ceiling from above. A massive blue stain of Thirium bled over Connor's white dress and through his Kevlar vest mostly over his upper back. Additional blue blood ran from the corner of Connor's mouth and from his nose, dripping onto the floor beside his head in a growing sapphire puddle. There was a massive cut along Connor's cheek as well that oozed blue blood steadily as he laid motionless on the floor next to Tina.

"Connor?"

With a light touch Hank patted the side of Connor's cold face, but the deviant detective didn't respond. It didn't even look like Connor was breathing. With a gentle motion Hank managed to hook his arms beneath Connor's arms and drag the deviant away from the debris pile and to a more opened area of the floor. As Connor was moved a massive streak of blue blood trailed along the floor beneath Connor's right knee.

Bending his head down Hank pressed his ear to the center of Connor's upper back and didn't budge until he heard the distinct heartbeat like thrum of Connor's Thirium pump in his chest still miraculously functioning. While Connor's heart was still beating the deviant wasn't breathing, and with that lack of ventilation his core temperature was steadily beginning to rise to a dangerous degree.

"No, son. Come on..."

Once more Hank picked up the deviant's limp, cold hand and held it in his own as he called out his friend's name yet again.

"Connor? Squeeze my hand!"

No response.

"Come on, Connor, I know you can hear me. Squeeze my hand. Just once! Squeeze my hand, son."

Still nothing.

Tina was stunned by the sight even in the smokey hallway and felt immense guilt and nausea welling up inside her core. Staying back Tina looked down at the prone body as Hank continued to speak to him. "Is he... dead?"

"No, he's still alive." Hank turned his head slightly to look up at Tina, revealing the smear of blue blood staining the side of his face and gray hair from where he had rested his ear to listen to Connor's heart. Gently Hank placed Connor's hand back down on the floor as he focused on the deviant's other injuries. "He isn't breathing, and he's lost a lot of blood."

"What can we do for him?" Kneeling down beside the deviant who had saved her life Tina checked on Connor's bleeding leg and saw the puddle of Thirium forming beneath his knee. "Shit, he's really hurt! This is... He saved my life. I could've been killed if he didn't shield me with his own body..."

"Connor?" Hank tried speaking to his downed friend again as he put his hand down lightly on Connor's shoulder. The lack of motion beneath his palm made Hank's own blood run ice cold. "Come on, son, breathe! You need to breathe."

Tina busied herself by tearing open Connor's bloodied pant leg to uncover the source of the bleeding openly winced. "Shit... There's a massive piece of debris sticking out of the back of his knee. I think..." Examining the wound as closely as she dared, Tina flinched back at the gruesome sight she had to bear witness to. "I think it went all the way through his knee!"

"We'll ignore that later, right now he needs to breath. Come on." Ignoring the damaged knee for the time being Hank begged for the deviant to response as he kept his hand firmly in place on Connor's shoulder. "Just one breath, that's all I ask."

Despite Hank's pleas Connor remained motionless.

"Connor?" Applying a light pressure to Connor's upper back Hank shook once and addressed the unresponsive deviant in a louder voice. Pushing down a little harder Hank hoped the pain or at least the motion would coax the Connor into resuming his ventilation functions to some degree. "Connor, breathe damn it! I need you to breathe!"

A weak gasping sound escaped Connor's bloodied lips as he took in a shallow breath at long last right under Hank's palm. It was followed by another breath, then another as he slowly began to breathe at a steady but rapid and weakened rate. With the ventilation program now functioning Connor's risk of overheating dropped significantly.

"That's it..." Hank encouraged as he released his own breath; a breath he didn't even know he was holding. The weak motion under his palm managed to ease his fears but only in the slightest. "Good. That's good."

Falling into first responder mode Hank pulled his now bloodied hand back as Connor started to breathe on his own although it was very rapidly and with great difficulty, but at least he was breathing again. With each shuddering, weak breath Connor took more Thirium began to ooze from beneath his bloodied shirt over his back, only to pool onto the floor beneath his body in an ever growing cerulean puddle.

Afraid of getting in the way Tina took another step back as the blossoming puddle of blood began to turn her stomach. "That's so much blood..."

"We have to stop the bleeding." With his instincts from emergency first aid training kicking into full gear Hank pulled open the straps of the Kevlar vest from Connor's shoulders then flipped the vest open to expose Connor's back. After that, he pulled on the tattered fabric of Connor's ruined white dress shirt to reveal the deviant's damaged back beneath. "Ah, shit! Connor..."

"Oh, man..." Tina put her hand over his mouth as if she needed it to keep himself from screaming or getting sick at the gruesome sight. "How the fuck did he survive this?"

A gaping hole in the middle of Connor's upper back just beneath his shoulders exposed the numerous delicate biocomponents within his chest compartment, as well as some leaking Thirium lines and damaged wires within. A massive collection of lost Thirium had collected in his abdominal cavity and had been seeping out over the edges of the opening from his fractured plastimetal frame and torn artificial skin as his abdomen steadily filled with his own blood. Small blue sparks were visible as the exposed wires sent misdirected signals throughout the deviant's body and into nothingness.

Massive shards of metallic shrapnel from the bomb, as well as the surrounding room, had become embedded over Connor's body courtesy of the blast. Unfortunately, a majority of the carnage was seemingly focused primarily at Connor's upper back opposite of his chest where the deviant's vital biocomponents were placed.

"Shit, he's bleeding internally." Hank realized with a sick grimace on his face as he paled in fear. "We need to do something, fast!"

Slipping his heavy and dust covered coat from over his arms Hank set it aside and removed his own Kevlar vest to unbutton his bright blue dress shirt beneath it. Wiping the palms of his hands down over the untouched black t-shirt underneath the dressier shirt Hank was able remove some blood, grime and debris that covered his hands to try to keep things as sanitary as possible. Taking a deep breath Hank hovered his hand over the massive opened wound in Connor's back and prepared to drop his fingers inside the bloodied body before him in an effort to save Connor from irreversible shutdown.

"Okay, son..." Talking more to himself than to Connor as a means of steadying his hand, Hank prepared to do what needed to be done. The idea of reaching into Connor's body as his chest struggled to rise and fall with his desperate ventilation was unnerving to the normally unshakable detective. "I have to do this."

Reaching his hand into Connor's opened back Hank felt for the pressure of leaking Thirium and used it to guide his hand toward the most severe damage. Using his fingers Hank located the main source of the bleeding and pinched it off tight with his index fingertip and thumb. As he applied steady pressure he felt the bleeding stem, but he wouldn't be able to hold the pressure with his just his fingers and continue to help Connor.

"Tina, I need your help. Get his tie off for me."

"Y-Yeah, okay." Tina knelt beside Connor's body opposite of Hank and kept her eyes as far away from Connor's face as possible as she wiped her hands down over her own shirt and bent down over the downed deviant to loosen the black tie from around Connor's neck. Once she had the dressy garment free Tina handed it over to Hank. "Now what?"

"This." Hank quickly grabbed Tina's hand and guided it down into Connor's back as he placed Tina's fingers where his own hand had holding off the leak for the past few seconds. "Just apply pressure."

"Ah, man... Poor guy, he's hurt so badly." Caught off guard by how serious the situation was Tina moaned as she closed her eyes tightly and tried not to think about the fact that her hand was inside Connor's bloodied body. The warmth and consistency of the Thirium felt exactly like human blood, and the feeling of Connor's weak breaths as well as the rhythm of the deviant's thrumming heart so close to Tina's hand felt so eerily human. "I got it, Lieutenant. Do what you need to do."

Without a word Hank cleverly used Connor's tie to absorb as much of the leaking blue blood in Connor's abdominal cavity as he could before wrapping the tie itself around the leak just under Tina's fingertips. Using the strong fabric of the garment Hank was able to use it to tie off the damaged line; specifically Connor's right ascending Thirial line, and keep Connor from bleeding any further.

"Okay, you can let go now."

Hiding her disgust Tina pulled her hand back from the blood like he was trying to avoid a snapping bear trap. Keeping silent Tina shook off her hand briefly and opened her eyes as she wiped off the blood on her dusty vest, and then watched as Hank expertly used the tie to stem the leaking line in Connor's abdomen. Hank wisely used the remaining slack at the ends of the tie to pack off the surrounding damaged bleeding biocomponents as well.

"That should hold for a while..." Carefully Hank retracted his blue stained hands from inside Connor's opened back and sighed as a majority of the bleeding mercifully stopped. "That should be able to bide him some time."

"H-How the hell did you know what do?" Impressed by Hank's resourcefulness Tina kept her voice relatively level and tried to ignore the egregious amount of blue blood all over Connor and the floor at her knees. "What made you think to do that?"

Hank gave Tina a blank stare as he answered curtly from where he knelt. "Because I've experienced this once before. You never forget something like that." Motioning to the stairwell behind him with a thumb over his shoulder Hank issued his next order as he began tearing swatches of fabric from his blue dress shirt to use as additional bandages in Connor's abdominal cavity and then his back. "Go back over to the stairwell and find something to make some noise with. Let search and rescue know where we are."

"Y-Yeah..." Rising to her feet slowly, Tina felt a little dizzy but fought against it thanks to the adrenaline coursing through her veins. "Okay."

Attentively Hank packed the added fabric from his shirt into Connor's abdomen to try cover as many of the visible injuries to his friend's biocomponents as possible. The sight of Connor's bloodied back rising and falling frantically as his chest fought to move air through his ventilation biocomponents was a conflicted experience. The motion meant Connor was still alive, but it also meant he was in great physical distress that his system was struggling to overcome.

Maybe Connor was also in pain.

"Just hang on."

Picking up his heavier coat from the floor Hank turned away to shake the dust off the garment and then draped it protectively over Connor's broken body to shield his opened wounds from as much airborne debris as possible. Hank sat cross legged on the floor near Connor's head as he put his palm beneath Connor's head and lifted the unconscious deviant upward slightly, just enough to let Connor rest against Hank's knee and off the floor itself.

"I'm here with you. It'll be okay, son."

The sound of Tina shouting for help in the distance as she began banging a piece of debris, most likely a chunk of metal pipe, against the walls to try and make as much noise as possible to help the rescue team locate them echoed through the dim and damaged corridor loudly. Rhythmic banging accompanied with loud, demanding shouts created an obnoxious commotion that was sure to drawn in any searching personnel to their location.

"Help's coming for us."

Hank stated calmly as he pressed his palm over Connor's forehead and absentmindedly ran his fingers through Connor's dark hair. With his opposite hand he picked up Connor's limp, cold hand again as he spoke to the deviant in a composed tone.

"Come on, squeeze my hand. I know you can do it."

Despite the request Connor's hand remained motionless in Hank's grip as the unconscious deviant failed to respond to anything beyond the errors and emergency stasis mode that he had entered upon being damaged.

"Shit... Just hold on a little while longer, okay? We'll get you some help."

Determined to save his friend's life Hank stayed beside Connor for the countless minutes that ticked away as Tina continued to call out for help and make as much noise as she possibly could to draw the search party closer, quicker. The blank, peaceful expression on Connor's face reminded Hank of the way Cole used to sleep. It was actually one of the many ways Connor reminded Hank of Cole with Hank even really noticing it. But this particular moment was especially haunting.

After all, Cole was sleeping all those times in the past but right in that moment Connor was unconscious and possibly dying.

Tina pounded on the walls with her fist and the metal pipe as she continued to shout to the point where she was beginning to go hoarse from vocal strain. "Hey, hey! Come on! We're right in here!" Banging as hard as she could on the walls, the young officer was determined to get out of that building alive. "HEY! IN HERE! RIGHT HERE! Come on already...""

Intense flashlight beams suddenly shone through the gaps between the large chunks of debris that blocked the doorway to the stairwell and illuminated Tina's dirty, bloody face in a white beam of light. Two familiar faces had finally located the three officers and were preparing for emergency extraction.

"Hello?" A commanding voice called out to Tina through the gap in the doorway. "Tina, it's me!"

"Gavin! Finally..." Tina sighed as she tossed the metal pipe aside onto the floor at her feet. "Hey, get us out of here! Connor's really hurt!"

"We're working on it." Gavin promised as he and Lucas worked together to clear a pathway through the currently obstructed stairwell. "Are you hurt?"

"Uh..." Tina was at a rare loss for words since it meant admitting that the situation was less than controlled. "I'm okay, but the Lieutenant took a blow to the head and Connor's- I think he's dying."

Lucas managed to heft up a massive slab of concrete and slid it aside with frightening ease. "That won't happen!"

Wanting to make sure his best friend was out of harm's way Gavin urged Tina to make some room and get away from the doorway. "All right, step back, Ti'. We're comin' in!"

As the two detectives broke through the barricade of debris and entered the destroyed floor, Gavin put his hand on Tina's shoulder as he and Lucas approached Hank to check in on Connor with their own eyes. "How's he doing?"

"Still alive." Hank stated firmly without looking away from Connor's blank face. "That's all that matters right now."

While Lucas knelt down to check on his brother's condition Gavin asked Hank about his own condition. The blood matting Hank's gray hair to the side of his head and staining his face was an unsettling sight to behold. "How's your head?"

"Killing me." Using his shoulder Hank awkwardly shrugged away the blood from his face as he spoke. "How about you two?"

"We managed to get our area fully cleared before coming here to help out. Us and Ben are all okay."

"At least something went right today." Looking up at Tina standing beside Gavin and shaking with fear and adrenaline Hank knew he still needed to look out for his officer despite her condition not being as severe as Connor's condition. "Gavin, get Tina outta' here. I'll stay here with Connor and Lucas."

"Yeah, all right."

"What? No!" Refusing to budge Tina didn't want to turn her back on a person in need. "Connor needs help!"

"And he's getting it right now. It's your turn to get help."

Grabbing Tina's bicep Gavin escorted Tina out of the floor, across the corridor and through the stairwell to safety, while Lucas stayed with Hank and Connor.

Once Tina was out of the area Hank sighed and direct Lucas's attention toward Connor's leg. "I stemmed the bleeding inside his body, but not his knee."

"The knee can be repaired later." Lucas confirmed as he cybernetically sent updates on Connor's condition through their established precinct line to guide the impending E.F.T.'s accordingly to give Connor the best possible treatment. Tearing a swatch from Connor's already tattered shirt Lucas wrapped the fabric around Connor's knee to create a temporary tourniquet. "You did well in keeping him from suffering from prolonged internal hemorrhaging."

"I tried at least..." Sighing to himself Hank pulled back his coat for a moment to check on the still massive open wound in Connor's back. "I stopped the bleeding, but he's already lost a lot of Thirium."

"I've already requested that a gurney be brought up to carry Connor out and to have the responding technicians meet us up here." Carefully Lucas leaned over the wounds and checked Hank's handy work without disturbing the injuries in the process. Putting his hand down on the center of Connor's lower back Lucas shook his head incredulously at the sight of Connor's rapid, shallow breaths and still beating heart. "How in the world are you still functional, brother?"

"He's stubborn." Without missing a beat Hank answered as he again picked up the deviant's hand hoping to feel Connor finally squeeze back. "I know you're his brother and don't want to admit the odds, but level with me detective to detective, what do you think his chances are?"

Quiet for a moment Lucas did the math in his head and gave Hank a truly somber look. "I'd give his odds... one in five. However, there is always a chance for unlikely events to take place."

Never doubting Connor's resolve for a moment Hank decided those odds were better than anything else. "I'll take that bet."

Two additional rescue personnel, each carrying emergency satchels slung over their shoulders, entered the decimated corridor with a gurney and backboard in tow. One was a paramedic to tend to Hank and the other was Dr. Joel Forrest himself responding to the emergency at Captain Fowler's request.

Lucas noticed Joel's arrival and moved his positioned to make room for the technician to kneel beside Connor. "I don't want to risk moving Connor until he's been stabilized. He's in insipid shock due to extreme Thirium loss."

The paramedic, a younger man with dark hair and brown eyes, knelt beside Hank and began checking his pupils for any sign of severe head trauma while also wrapping his fingers around Hank's wrist to check his pulse. "Pupils are sluggish, but equal and reactive to light." The paramedic, his name tag indicated his name was 'Johnny', announced confidently as he assessed Hank's condition easily. "Strong pulse, tachycardic at one-hundred and forty. What's your name, Sir?"

"Hank." The senior detective replied as he pointed to Connor beside him. "And he's Connor."

Carefully Joel pulled aside Hank's coat and looked at the extensive damage to Connor's back to begin his own assessment on the downed deviant. Without flinching Joel reached into his satchel and pulled out a massive white bandage wrapped in protective plastic to use in Connor's aid. Ripping the plastic bag open he unfolded the bandage to double its size before he placed it down over Connor's back, then used strong medical adhesive to secure the bandage in place over his artificial skin.

"That'll do for now..."

Gently Joel pressed his palm down between Connor's shoulder blades to count the deviant's Thirium pump rate as accurately as possible. "Thirium pump is still functioning," he announced in a steady tone. "but with his Thirium volume is dangerously low he doesn't have the strength to activate his self healing program on his own."

Johnny observed the scene carefully before asking the next crucial question as he received an update over his radio from the firefighters checking the building for structural integrity throughout the bombed building. "The fire above us is starting make its way down lower, can the android be moved?"

"Yes." Joel confirmed without hesitation to his laidback voice. "But he needs to be lifted carefully otherwise it'll exasperate his internal trauma."

"Right, no problem." Clearing a spot on the floor Johnny worked with Lucas to set down the backboard before moving over to Connor's legs, being mindful of the heavily damaged knee, to help slip Connor onto the supportive surface. "Lift on the count of three."

Hank nodded as slipped his arms under Connor's torso, Lucas supported his legs and Johnny put his arms beneath Connor's chest for additional support.

"One," the Joel counted down rhythmically. "two, three!"

Working in unison the trio managed to lift Connor up from the floor just high enough to place him down against the firm support of the backboard without jostling him. Once in place Joel slipped the security straps attached to the board around Connor's lower legs, lower back and shoulders as he was unwilling to put any unnecessary pressure over his damaged upper back.

"Okay." Wisely Joel checked the straps one last time before he moved away to give the others some space to work. "He can be put on the gurney for transport. Move slowly. Lucas, inform New Jericho Tower to let them know we're on the way."

"Already done."

Hank watched Lucas and Johnny lifted the backboard at both ends and placed Connor down onto the gurney to be transported out of the building through the dirty and awkward stairwell. Connor's head lolled limply as he was moved, but he didn't react to the motion on a conscious level.

Johnny pulled his own radio from his belt and made a report to his station and requested an update. "The quickest route to New Jericho Tower has been cleared."

Lucas confirmed that Simon was already preparing the emergency repair bay for Connor's arrival. "And Markus will have the drive opened and clear for the ambulance to access."

"Almost there, son." Hank reassured quietly as tucked his dropped coat under his arm and stood beside the gurney. The senior detective was watching intently as the Lucas, Joel and Johnny secured the additional straps on the gurney to keep Connor completely stable as he was taken from the destroyed building and outside to safety. "Just hang on a little longer, okay? I'm here with you and won't let anything bad happen to you."

---

All three of the trapped officers within the bombed building had been accounted for and were in the process of being extracted. Freed from the destroyed building first, Tina was outside in the smokey air and sitting down on the bumper of the ambulance patiently allowing a second paramedic to clean the numerous and painful cuts that marred her face, her neck and both of her hands. An oxygen mask was over her face to ensure he was able to clear the dust and smoke from her lungs to prevent a nasty lung infection from settling in. As her right hand was being wrapped up in a protective layer of gauze to keep the swollen cuts in her palm and over her knuckle from getting an infection, she glanced to the front doors of the building waiting for any sign of Hank or Connor to reappear.

Gavin saw the worry on Tina's face and asked the paramedic for an update on the situation inside the building. It was the least he could do as he stood beside his best friend outside the scene of the explosion.

"Any word on the guys still inside?"

"Nothing yet." The red-headed paramedic sympathized as she pressed the gauze around Tina's hand carefully. Her name tag said 'Mary' and her bright green eyes remained alert as she spoke to her reluctant patient. "I'll keep you posted if I hear anything."

"Yeah. Thanks..."

"Gavin, Tina." Captain Fowler spotted the two officers at the back of the ambulance and approached them with a hasty gait. The composed Captain's dark eyes were filled with worry and restrained fear. "You okay, Officer Chen?"

"A few bruises and cuts." Tina replied almost nonchalantly. "Nothing major, Cap'."

"What about Hank and Connor?"

"They were still inside when I was being taken out." Telling her commanding officer everything she could Tina shuddered a little from the cold air while trying to unnecessarily maintain a straight face. "Hank's a little banged up, but Connor... he's in bad shape. I mean, really bad shape."

Captain Fowler immediately noticed that Gavin was being uncharacteristically quiet and had a feeling that Tina's words weren't doing the gruesome scene enough justice. "Tina, where were you exactly when the bomb exploded?"

"The fourth floor." She confirmed as she looked up at the destroyed fourth floor windows of the building across the street. "Do we know what set the bomb off, yet?"

"Not yet, but Chris and Jack have been working on a new theory regarding the identity of these Quondam freaks. We're looking for the suspects right now."

"We didn't see anyone inside of the building or anywhere near it when we went inside to look for the bomb."

"Same with the drones patrolling the area." The confirmation was only a modicum of comfort in the tense moment. "You three were the only ones seen going inside the building prior to the explosion."

The gurney carrying Connor was wheeled through the front doors of the barricaded building with Hank at his side, and with Lucas, Joel and Johnny all working together to get the injured deviant detective to safety. Connor was still unconscious and in the fading evening sunlight being obstructed by the smoke overhead the damage he sustained look even worse.

"Shit... You weren't kidding." Captain Fowler could see even from a distance that Connor was in critical condition, and that Hank wasn't looking much better thanks to the dirt and blue blood all over his clothing. "I can't believe you three survived at all."

"He saved me." Tina muttered as if ashamed of what had happened. "Connor threw himself around me and took the force of the blast himself to protect me. If he hadn't done that, then..."

"It'll be all right, try not to worry about him." The last thing Captain Fowler wanted to see was one of his own officers tearing herself apart because a good and caring person was willing to put themself in harm's way on her behalf. "Tina, you and Hank are going to go the hospital to get checked over. I'll meet you there in an hour or so to make sure you're both cleared for active duty."

"...Right, Captain."

Gavin gave Tina's hand a discreet squeeze as he loyally remained at his best friend and honorary kid sister's side. "Want me to go with you, Ti'?"

"No. I want you and everyone else to find the assholes who planted those bombs, and I want you to stomp them into bloody puddle at your feet."

"You have my word that we'll figure this out." Shedding his leather jacket Gavin draped it around Tina's shoulders as Mary guided Tina into the back of the ambulance to sit down on the opened gurney. "And I'll be sure to let you know the second we find those fuckers."

Captain Fowler walked over to the android unique ambulance that was set to take Connor to New Jericho Tower to head Hank off. Moving quickly Captain Fowler stopped the injured Lieutenant before he could stubbornly try to hop in the back alongside Connor. "Hank, come on. You need to get checked out at the hospital."

"Jeffrey, I'm not leaving-"

"For now, you are." Stern in his orders Captain Fowler wanted his wounded detective to be taken care of before anything else happen. Not a man without mercy the seasoned Captain made a simple agreement with Hank to ensure he didn't push himself too hard or ignore a possibly fatal injury. "Just get cleared at the hospital and then you can check in with Connor and you'll be dismissed for the rest of the day."

Before Hank could protest further Johnny put his arm out across Hank's chest to keep him from climbing into the back of ambulance after Lucas and Joel climbed into the back to take care of Connor during transport. "Relax, Lieutenant. Dr. Forrest and Lucas are two of the best technicians I've ever met, and I know they'll be able to help Connor en route without issue." Johnny reassured Hank in a sincere tone of voice. "Your friend's in the absolute best hands."

Captain Fowler and Johnny forced Hank to step back as the doors of the ambulance were slammed shut in front of the senior detective. Unable to see through the back windows to where Connor laying unconscious on the gurney, Hank begrudgingly watched the dark blue ambulance speed off down the street with his still unconscious and dying friend in tow.

"Come on, Hank." Captain Fowler insisted patiently with true compassion in his voice. Slowly but surely, he and Johnny managed to coax Hank over to the first ambulance where Tina was still sitting to receive addition treatment and eventual transport to the hospital. "I want to know what the fuck happened in there before all Hell broke loose, and so I can get you up to speed on our current theory with Quandom."

"Yeah, sure..." Hank bitterly walked over to the ambulance to be examined as he answered Captain Fowler's questions about the bomb. "Not a problem."

---

Inside the back of the specialty ambulance Connor remained completely unconscious throughout the transport to the facility. The swaying of the vehicle speeding down the street and loud screeching sirens weren't strong enough to pull the unconscious deviant back into the waking world. Extensive damage to his internal biocomponents, leaking Thirium lines, severed electrical lines, fractured plastimetal frame and torn artificial skin prompted Connor's self healing program to function at maximum capacity despite his low Thirium volume. The low volume and low power levels, all courtesy of Thirium loss and internal trauma, were making the ordeal all the more complicated.

While Joel worked to replenish his dangerously depleted Thirium volume Lucas cybernetically reported on Connor's condition to New Jericho Tower, to inform Simon the dire situation. It was when Joel set up an external Thirium line in the bend of Connor's arm that Connor suddenly began to cough and choke on blue blood collecting in his throat.

"No, no, no..."

Joel reacted quickly and pulled a small suction pump from the storage compartment to his right and placed the pump in Connor's mouth to drain and remove the excess Thirium to keep him from choking. The skilled technician had to move swiftly before the blue blood collected in Connor's ventilation biocomponents and caused them to fail on him entirely.

"You're not dying in the back of an ambulance after surviving a bomb explosion! No on my shift."

As Joel drained away the blood Connor steadily relaxed and he began to breathe slightly easier without the obstruction in his throat. With Lucas monitoring his condition closely Connor was sure to restabilize before the ambulance even turned the next corner.

"Come on, now."

Placing a small pillow under Connor's head and neck Joel lifted him up enough to keep the blood from collecting in the back of his throat a second time.

"Hank seems really worried about you." Joel noted in a fairly laidback manner. "Don't let him down."

"He won't." Lucas stated confidently as he pressed his fingertips to Connor's temple and connected with his system. "He's not alone."

Joel continued to speak to Connor in a very compassionate voice as he cut away Connor's filthy dress shirt and used his audioscope to listen to his pump through his back carefully. The deviant's Thirium pump was still beating but it was struggling, and his ventilation biocomponents were working on minimal power.

Securing two wireless leads to Connor's bare chest through carefully maneuvering, Joel turned on the synced Thirial activity monitor and watched Connor's Thirium pump rate, ventilation rate, Thirium pressure, power level and core temperature all being displayed with red tinted digits. Connor's vital signs were either too high or too low, and all of the numbers needed to be balanced before Connor would be able to reboot his systems.

"Don't disappoint us by giving up now." The laidback technician urged as he gave Lucas a worried glance. "I get the feeling your friends and family really need you in their lives."

---

Understandably frustrated, annoyed and in pain Hank angrily batted away the nurse's hand as she tried to adjust the bandage over the freshly stitched cut just above his left eye. Through the haze of his mild concussion, a wound that he had either made a conscious effort to ignore or simply never noticed, Hank had already given his account of the events that had taken place to his Captain - events that Tina corroborated herself - and was now waiting to be discharged from the hospital so he could go check on Connor at the tower. The last thing Hank wanted was to remain a patient and be treated with kid gloves by a medical staff wanting to give a detective special treatment.

Fidgeting where he sat on the treatment table in the private exam room Hank fished his phone over his pocket to check and see if Captain Fowler had sent him an update on Connor or the bombs in general. The phone's screen was still blank despite Hank's highest hope.

"I'm fine." Grumbling again Hank put his phone back into his dusty coat pocket and pushed the nurse's hands away again. "Stop fussing over me."

The nurse gave him a sympathetic glance as she pulled her hands back and decided to let him alone. "Okay, call if you need anything, Lieutenant."

"Yeah, sure."

Captain Fowler entered the room as the nurse left and folded his arms over his chest as he stared at his reputedly stubborn Lieutenant with righteous irritation of his own. "At least that nurse didn't run out of the room screaming. Nice to see you aren't taking out your frustration on nurses these days."

"Don't bust my balls." Sighing with frustration Hank took in a steady breath and tried to not fear the worst as he noticed that the sun had fully set and no other bombs had been detonated. "Is there any word on Connor or those Quondam fuckers?"

"Yeah, Lucas sent me an update from the tower. They had to replace a few non-vital biocomponents and repair his thermal regulator that had been destroyed by the bomb, and then give him almost four pints of Thirium. The joint in his right knee was shredded and needed to be swapped out with a new one as well. He's going to be okay. The technicians also collected fragments of the bomb from his body for Joel and Ben's team at the lab to analyze."

"I can see it in your eyes." Despite the concussion Hank was still as sharp as ever and knew when his friend was keeping something important from him. "What aren't you telling me? No bullshit this time. Just give me the straight, honest truth."

Captain Fowler took in a deep breath and gave Hank the respect of telling him the truth as requested. "During transport Connor started to choke on Thirium, which meant he started to bleed again. BUT it was handled long before he got to the tower, and he didn't suffer any further complications."

"...But he was still bleeding internally?" Feeling like he didn't do a good enough job to protect his friend Hank blamed himself for the minor setback during the drive to the facility. "Fuck."

"Easy, he's in good hands. You'll see."

"Before the bomb went off, I left Connor and Tina alone on the floor. Tina was buried under the debris beside Connor, and she said that Connor had thrown himself over her to shield her from the blast." Rather despondent and feeling almost useless Hank just let out a weary sigh as he stared at his commanding officer with utter fatigue glazing over his blue irises. "If Connor's in that bad of shape, then we may never know what set off the bomb."

"Don't think like that."

"How can I not? His entire back was blown apart, burned and gushing blood with every damn beat of his heart."

"Look, the doctor said that you're good to go, so is Tina." As he spoke Captain Fowler gave Hank a somewhat stern glance as if to say 'don't do anything stupid' as he spoke to the dedicated Lieutenant in a steady tone. "So go stay with Connor at the tower and we'll piece everything together at the precinct, and you'll see it for yourself that he's still alive. Call me when he wakes up, and I'll call you the moment we learn anything more about Quondam."

Sliding off the exam table Hank felt the muscles in his back tense up as the deep, purple colored bruise was beginning to form after being slammed around by the bomb's explosion. "Yeah, sure."

"I'll hail a cab for you." Walking with Hank toward the entryway of the hospital Captain Fowler stood as a witness to let Hank sign the paperwork to discharge himself and go about his business elsewhere. "I don't want you driving with a concussion. Tina's going to stay with Gavin and Abby for the night since her boyfriend wisely evacuated with the rest of the city, so she's being well taken care of too."

"Just take care of the sick fucks who planted the bombs over the city, if you know what I mean." Eager to taste some blood that wasn't his own Hank made his clear that he was going to make any member of Quondam suffer for what they did that day. "Otherwise, you'll have to read me my rights and find a new Lieutenant at the same damn time."

---

The Central Precinct had been reclaimed by its respective officers and detectives now that the bomb threat had been properly handled. All of the bombs had been located and disarmed, save for the one that had exploded without any immediate known cause downtown, and the bomb squad was gathering all of the bombs to be properly disposed of after being chronicled as evidence against the still unknown domestic terrorist group known as Quondam. While it seemed that the group was being unusually noble by not prematurely detonating any of the bombs before they were discovered and disarmed, no one was going to sit back and pretend that Quondam, whoever they were, wasn't a very real and very dangerous threat.

The bullpen was quiet and felt very heavy as Gavin, Chris, Ben and Jack all sat together in the breakroom to ponder the enigmatic group and their behavior. They hadn't heard a single peep from such a group until that very morning, and yet the bombs and explosives had been slowly discovered by random chance for weeks before that fateful day had even happened.

Who was Quondam? Why did they plant bombs throughout Detroit? How did they do it without being caught in the act? And what was their goal?

Those questions were all equally important and deserved to be answered.

"This fuckin' sucks..." Gavin mumbled as he texted with Abby and confirmed that she was safe, their unborn baby was still safe, and that Tina was now resting in their upstairs guestroom. He had taken Tina back to his home, kissed and hugged his wife, and reluctantly took his leave for the precinct once more. "Who the fuck plants bombs all over the city like it's a treasure hunt from Hell?"

"Someone with a very sick mind and no soul." Ben replied as he stared at mug of now cold coffee with complete indifference. "Whoever they are, they're very organized and know this city better than even we do."

"Think it's an inside job?"

"No, if it was an inside job then they wouldn't have given the first responders any time to prepare for the day like they did."

"Yeah, fair point." Needing some answers Gavin continued to throw out theories to see what stuck. "What about a group of those CyberLife nutjobs wanting to make people afraid of losing their lives, so they'd want to fight back against deviant rights and made androids subservient again?"

"That's a bit of stretch, but I don't know if we can rule them out or not."

Jack looked over at Chris and nodded to let his partner know that it was time to discuss what they had theorized throughout the day. The deviant officer knew that his human partner's words would carry more weight until Jack himself had earned some respect and trust from his peers.

"Actually, you might be on to something, Gavin." Using his phone Chris brought up the definition of Quondam and used it to help bounce some more ideas off of one another. "The group's name seems pretty weird, right? Why call themself such an archaic name unless it was important?"

"Quondam..." Reading the definition of the word for himself Gavin's green-hazel eyes narrowed with marked confusion. "Hey, yeah... Maybe this group are a bunch of people who want to change shit back to how it was before the Revolution happened. You know, get things back to their former way of life."

"That's what me and Jack have been speculating all day." Chris admitted as he looked to his more senior peers for guidance. "Ever see anything like this before?"

"Not me." Gavin admitted as he leaned back in his seat and looked to Ben beside him. "What about you?"

"Once, a very long time ago." The senior investigator had a long career that rivaled Hank and Jeffrey's careers in length and notability. "That was a small group of drug dealers who were looking to remove Hank's task force from the streets and ended up... You know."

"Those were the fuckers who took out Barbara Anderson in cold blood. Weren't they?"

"Yeah. And I can confirm that Hank and Jeffrey ran all of their sorry asses out of the city and gave them no chance to return. This isn't drug related in any way either, so I'm beginning to think the theory with the Revolution is pretty accurate."

Chris let out a sigh through his nose as he realized that hundreds of thousands of innocent lives were now at stake. There were deviants all over the city, and many of those deviants had befriended humans and merged their lives together as one to create new forms of innocent and loving families. "If this is a group wanting to take out deviants and undo the Revolution, how do we find them and stop them before they do anything else?"

"By getting back to basics." As the current ranking officer in the precinct Ben crossed his arms over his chest and gave his younger colleagues a small grin. "We're going to pull an all-nighter, and we're going to go over every millisecond of the footage that Quondam created to send their threats while also combing over every scrap of collected evidence from the bombs and explosives. It won't be easy, but we can figure this out as long as we don't let these terrorists intimidate us."

"Right." Chris rose to his feet and walked over to the coffee pot with purpose behind his every move. "I'll start a new brew and contact the Captain of the bomb squad for some information. He's had to uncover something useful for us by now!"

---

The emergency repair bay of New Jericho Tower was eerily quiet as worried allies gathered around and waited for Connor to regain consciousness. Simon had worked alongside Joel to repair all of the damage to Connor's body while Lucas meticulously documented the injuries and collected pieces of the bomb fragments embedded in Connor's body to use as evidence later on. The whole tower was tense due to the threats from Quondam, but the air inside the repair bay and the observation room was nearly stifling. Markus and North stayed with Hank as he waited outside the repair bay for an update on Connor, and the two deviant leaders did their best to keep the rest of the tower from worrying about another bomb threat happening at the sanctuary.

Slowly healing and helpless, Connor was laying shirtless on his stomach and chest, completely unresponsive and motionless in the soft bed of the private recovery room. A tube of blue blood had been inserted down his throat to replenish his depleted Thirium volume to a stable level, a nasal canula was under his nose to keep cool, fresh air circulating throughout his ventilation biocomponents and the wireless leads were still in place on the deviant's exposed chest. The Thirial activity monitor was keeping track of the rate of his heart, and other vital signs, as his Thirium pump continued to thrum rapidly to compensate for his low Thirium pressure.

In that moment Connor was still suffering from the effects of the android equivalent hypovolemia known as 'insipid shock'. Only when his volume was brought up to seventy-five percent would Connor's system be able to reboot in low power mode.

While the damage to his biocomponents had been repaired, some of the non-vital biocomponents replaced entirely, the artificial skin covering his back had yet to regenerate over the exposed and repaired white plastimetal frame due to the strain of his self healing program attempting to repair the residual damage to his internal systems. Additional gauze wrapping was placed over his otherwise exposed upper back to keep foreign matter from entering his plastimetal frame or damaged Thirium lines until his artificial skin could finally regenerate properly. His entire right knee joint had been replaced and his replacement join was being held in place by a support to help his system recalibrate and adapt to the replacement part.

Once the repair procedure was over Hank was allowed to visit the healing deviant and keep him company alongside Lucas. It pained Hank to see the deviant so pale, weak and nearly lifeless on the table, but the vital signs being recorded on the Thirial activity monitor reminded Hank that Connor was in fact still alive. Leaning down over the bed where his downed friend was laying Hank spoke to the deviant detective kindly as if Connor was in fact conscious and alert.

"I knew you'd pull through, son. But we still need to know what happened back at the building." Hank looked over at Lucas and gave him a nervous gaze. "Can you access his memories?"

"I can, but I won't." The kind deviant admitted as he draped a blanket over Connor's body to keep him warm. "Not without his permission."

"Yeah, I get that." Carefully Hank picked up Connor's hand from the bed and held it firmly in his grip just as he had done at the scene of the explosion.

"You saw something before the bomb detonated, I know you did, otherwise how would you know to jump back and protect Tina? What was it? Can you tell me what you saw?"

Despite his repairs and Hank's voice calling out to him Connor was still quiet and completely unconscious.

"Okay, son. I can wait for you to tell me what you saw, but I can't wait to know if you can hear me."

Squeezing Connor's hand lightly Hank raised his voice as he spoke to his unconscious friend in a comforting tone.

"Squeeze my hand."

Once more Connor's hand remained limp in Hank's grasp. The lack of reaction made Lucas's eyes darken with his own disappoinment.

"Connor, come on. I know you can hear me. Squeeze my hand. Please, I need you to do this, son. Just squeeze my hand."

As Connor's hand refused to budge Hank was about ready to give up and let Connor be alone to rest, but a weak pressure around Hank's palm caught his attention. The pressure began to increase as Connor's system slowly rebooted and he began to exit emergency stasis mode.

"There you are," Hank encouraged optimistically. "I knew you could hear me!"

Hank tightened his grip around Connor's hand while Lucas put his palm against Connor's upper back gingerly.

"I need you to squeeze my hand again and open your eyes. Please, son. Me and Lucas are right here with you, so wake up now."

Steadily Connor's glassy brown irises appeared between partially opened, heavy eyelids and stared blankly at the wall across the room. Blinking slowly Connor's body suddenly tensed up from the gnawing pain in his back and he tried to move as if he could get away from it.

"Hey, hold still, you're hurt. Just look at me and try not to move." Hank urged as he moved to kneel beside the table so Connor could look him in the eyes while still holding the deviant's hand. The small direct contact from Hank and Lucas, and the gentle voice was enough to get Connor to calm down and lay still again. "That's it. Focus on me."

Connor blinked again as his brown eyes slowly cleared and drifted over to Hank's face and stayed focused on his friend.

"I know you can't talk because of the tube going down your throat," Hank stated with an empathetic lilt to his voice as he kept Connor's focus on himself and off his current pain. "but I need to know what happened before the bomb went off. Do you remember what you saw just before the explosion?"

Closing his eyes for a moment Connor reached out to Lucas to establish a cybernetic connection with his little brother. "He understands you." Lucas confirmed as he spoke up on Connor's behalf. "He can answer your questions."

"That's great, son. Talk to us and then we'll let you alone to rest."

Connor's free hand awkwardly found its way to the tube going down his throat and he began to pull to remove the obstruction without understanding why it was there to begin with. It didn't take long for Lucas to reach out and hold Connor's hand back while Hank verbally warned the deviant to not try pull on the tube.

"Whoa, whoa, don't do that." Lightly Hank put his free hand on the deviant's shoulder in a supportive manner. "It's okay. Simon and Joel removed bomb fragments from your body, and they were taken by Joel to the lab at the precinct for analysis. Will that help anything?"

Connor stopped fussing with the tube and spoke through Lucas until his throat was unobstructed. "Yes. The bomb fragments will help."

"Good. What should we look for?"

Lucas received the cybernetic message and relayed the details to Hank on Connor's behalf. "The bomb was identical to the other bombs in the city only in outward appearance and electrical frequency. However, the internal components were designed to detonate once the casing was opened due to the layout of the internal firing mechanisms being attached to the bomb's casing itself. That bomb was going to detonate regardless of who located it with the intention of disarming it."

"Great... Just fuckin' great. I'll call Fowler and let him know what you uncovered. Just rest a little longer, okay? Then I'll see if I can take ya' back to the brownstone to rest in your own bed."

Connor managed a subtle nod and then let his eyes shut slowly to fall back into rest mode to continue to heal.

"Good work, son." Patting Connor's arm in approval Hank quietly took his leave of the recovery room to allow Connor to rest. "You did damn good today. If you didn't make it, I don't think I would've been able to handle this case and I would've retired early."

"Anything I can do from here?" Lucas asked as he continued to monitor his brother's condition. "I won't leave Connor alone."

"No, you've done plenty as it is, son." Putting his hand to Lucas's shoulder Hank sighed as he pulled his phone from his pocket. "Just take it easy and make sure Connor's comfortable. I get the feeling that our issues with Quondam aren't over just yet."

---

It was getting late but no one could bring themselves to go home or even clock-out for the night. The bullpen was buzzing with activity as Gavin, Chris, Ben and Jack all banded together to investigate what little evidence they had against Quondam to try to find the domestic terrorists before they could cause any further harm to the city or to the people within the city limits. Using the gathered bomb fragments from Connor's body, the visual threat of Quandom's earlier broadcast, and the current working theory that the domestic terrorist group were targeting deviants in an attempt to undo the peaceful Revolution, the four gathered detectives put their heads together to begin bouncing ideas off of one another.

With the quartet of detectives working without needing any prompts or guidance Captain Fowler just sat in his private office and watched the group through the transparent wall of his office while Joel sat across from him at his desk. Since everyone had evacuated the city hours beforehand neither man had a family to go home to, and they didn't want to just walk away from the precinct while everyone else was still working.

"Were you able to find anything interesting about the detonated bomb fragments?" Captain Fowler asked the technician as Joel struggled to keep awake just in case he was needed to assess anything further. "I know you had to pull them out of Connor's body, but I don't know how closely you examined them."

Rubbing his hand over his pale blue eyes Joel let out a soft sigh through his nose as he relayed what information he had gathered during the emergency repair procedure that had left him thoroughly exhausted. "The only thing interesting about the bomb fragments were the material used in the bomb's creation itself."

"How so?"

"The bomb looked just like the other forty-nine bombs and the fifty decoys that had been uncovered throughout the day, but the casing on the detonated bomb was lined with small fragments of titanium to create incredibly effective shrapnel." Joel confirmed with a dour tone as his shoulders slumped with fatigue. "The explosive material inside the bomb had a small amount of thermite positioned atop of its internal casing to cause excessive burning and destruction to anything it touched, and the explosive material inside the secondary casing was nitroglycerin as opposed to gunpowder. Also, the bomb was designed to either explode by the countdown timer reaching zero OR someone opening the casing to try to disarm it."

"Someone went out of their way to booby-trap an already armed bomb?"

"That's how it looks." The confirmation wasn't as comforting as Joel had hoped. "My guess is Quondam really wanted the building destroyed, or they wanted whoever had the misfortune of finding the bomb to die. I'm leaning more to the death theory."

"And what makes you say that?"

"Quondam's threats will hold more credibility if they'd have at least one casualty under their belt."

"That's fucking demented, and I hate how that makes sense." Leaning back in his chair Captain Fowler neatly interlaced his fingers together and thoughtfully pressed his knuckles to his chin. "Had anyone else been the one to find the bomb, they'd be gone right now."

"And the only reason Connor survived was because he was wearing Kevlar, recognized the danger and managed to get some distance between himself and the bomb, and turned his back to the explosion." The technician was well aware of how the explosion could've proven fatal if Connor had still been facing the bomb when it detonated so close to his position. "If he had still been facing the bomb then he could've inhaled the explosive chemicals or suffered damage to his face and intracranial processor. His back and the vest absorbed most of the damage but managed to avoid any form of permanent paralysis."

"He's... paralyzed?"

"Temporarily. By the time he's regained enough strength to return to his brownstone he'll only have moderate leg weakness, not total numbness."

"I hope Officer Chen doesn't find that out." Completely aware of his officers and their current issues, Captain Fowler knew that Tina was really shaken by the whole ordeal. "She already feels like Connor sacrificed himself to protect her, and Tina's one of my best officers with a promising career to detective. Such guilt would either derail her career or she'd take a page from her partner's book and go out for blood and sabotage her career altogether."

"I'll be sure to include a report detailing Connor's damage AND his recovery so she can read it for herself. I also imagine seeing Connor walking around in a day or two will help with that."

"How'd Lucas take the news?"

"Considering that he was able to get to the building before I did, and he was able to help stabilize Connor's condition ahead of time, I think he'll be all right. Pissed off that someone nearly killed his brother, but still all right."

"As a technician who has far more insight into deviant mentality and emotions than I do..." Leaning forward to rest his elbows atop his desk, Captain Fowler gave Joel a studious and serious glance. "Do you feel as if it'll be acceptable to allow both Connor and Lucas to continue to investigate Quondam?"

"In my honest opinion, yes." Joel respected the deviant detectives and knew that even if they had been told to back off that they wouldn't do it. Deviants were far more empathetic and determined than humans, and as a result they were more likely to put their own well being aside in order to help others. "They'll be able to continue to aid in the investigation within twenty-four hours."

"That's good to hear." Despite his own experience and confidence Captain Fowler had no issue in admitting that he still had to rely on other people to assist him with making the big decisions with his roster. "We can't afford to be down three detectives since Hank's been concussed and sidelined. They may be consultants, but they've proven themselves to be invaluable to the police force and to the city as a whole. As soon as they're both back here in the bullpen we're going to form a new plan and find Quondam before they have the chance to make another move."

---

After an hour into Connor's steady recovery at the tower Simon returned to the private recovery wing to extricate the tube from Connor's throat much to the stricken and muted deviant's relief. With his Thirium volume restored to one-hundred percent and his system functioning at normal power parameters, it was safe for Connor to finally have the tube extracted which would in turn give him the freedom to speak normally once more. In that time, Hank had stepped out of the room and into a quiet area of the tower to call Captain Fowler at the precinct to inform him of Connor's condition and of his statement delivered through Lucas cybernetically linking with him.

Markus and North were watching the procedure from afar as they didn't want to make Connor feel overwhelmed. The two deviant leaders knew that the situation in the city was becoming more violent, and were beginning to wonder if Connor's theory of Quondam being connected to assault and attempted murder of Skye at her law office was in fact connected.

"Okay, Connor. We can take this out now." Simon stated confidently as he began to slowly pull the tube out of Connor's throat after removing the secondary tube filtering through fresh Thirium. "Coughing will help and ease the pain. When I start pulling, you cough."

Connor nodded weakly and began to cough as instructed by Simon as he removed the tube with a steady pull. With Lucas supporting him in an upright position on the bed Connor was able to endure the process a little easier and then instantly put his hand to his sore throat once the tube was gone at last.

"Got it..." Simon sighed in relief as he successfully extracted the tube. "Nice and easy, Connor. Be mindful of your healing back and charred spinal support column needing to recalibrate as it heals."

"I'm still right here." Lucas put his hand on Connor's lower back as the deviant carefully balanced upright and caught his breath after coughing for a few more seconds. Connor's upper back was still wrapped up and sore, but he was able to move about with only modest difficulty. "You did good, brother."

Connor nodded slightly again as he responded to the positive news with a very hoarse voice. "..."Th-Thank you." Too pained to speak in full sentences just yet Connor pointed to the bandage over Hank's left eye as the senior detective slipped back into the room to talk after updating Fowler. "...Hurt?"

"Just a cut. You're the one who got blown up." Hank sheepishly shrugged his shoulders a little as he put his fingertips to his bandaged wound. "Mostly, anyway."

"Move slowly." Simon instructed as he removed the wireless leads from Connor's chest while Lucas helped Connor to slide down off the bed and on to the floor. "Stand upright and let your gyroscope recalibrate for a minute before you try to walk."

Simon had spoken with Joel after he assisted with the repair procedure and gave Connor clearance to return home to rest provided that he had someone to keep a watchful eye on him in the event his system began to reject his replacement biocomponents. The bandages were to remain in place as well until his artificial skin fully regenerated, and his system finished running the self healing program entirely.

"Remember, you're still recovering." Lucas needlessly reminded Connor gently as he kept his hand on his lower back in case he became dizzy. "You'll need to take it easy for the next forty-eight hours and don't physically exert yourself in anyway. Rest and drink Thirium if your reserves dip below ninety percent since your self healing program will need the boost."

Connor nodded to acknowledge his brother's instructions as he took a single shaking step forward toward the door to the private recovery room. He stumbled but quickly regained his balance as Lucas wrapped his arm around Connor's waist to provide further support. The external support brace around Connor's right knee was keeping the replacement joint stable, but even so it was still difficult for Connor walk without stumbling.

"Any weird side effects we should know about?" Hank asked Lucas and Simon in an almost fatherly manner as he watched Connor sway a little on his feet before he regained his balance with Lucas at his side. "You know, just in case he needs more help when he's back at the precinct."

"Aside from fatigue," Simon replied nonchalantly to the logical question. "he might experience mild overheating as a result of the numerous replacement biocomponents that his system needs to fully register, and of course his thermal regulator being repaired yet again. Maybe a little Thirium rejection as well since so much of it was replaced in such a short frame of time."

"Oh." The delicate recovery process seemed as exhausting as Connor already looked. "Sounds... interesting."

"If he overheats treat it like a fever and help him stay cool." Simon then tagged on as he located a clean blue scrub top and helped Lucas slip the garment on over Connor's head to ensure he was somewhat warm during the drive back to the brownstone. "It's been proven that a few simple home remedies are just as effective on deviants as they are on humans."

"Okay, that I can deal with and understood perfectly." Hank admitted and turned to look at his friend being held upright by Lucas. "Come on." He put his hand on the still healing deviant's shoulder to help guide him out of the repair bay. "The cab's out front. Damn doctors say I'm concussed, and Fowler swore he'd have the patrolling drones me pulled over if I tried to drive the Oldsmobile."

Connor nodded slowly as he walked with Lucas's assistance. He pressed his palm to his lower back to support his healing spine as he took another step forward and hoped the pain would lessen soon.

"You know, Captain Fowler said that you and Lucas are free to resume helping with the investigation in to Quondam if you're feeling up to it." The senior detective confirmed as he gave Markus a polite wave to thank him for opening the tower for Connor's care. Trust was earned, not deserved, and he truly felt like he had earned it on that day. "But don't push yourself if you're too tired, too weak or in too much pain to continue. That goes for BOTH of you."

"I'll... be fine." Pausing as his voice and throat were still raw from being intubated, Connor had to speak slowly and quietly to avoid any further pain as they entered the elevator together. "...T-Tina?"

"A little dirty, pretty shaken up and very pissed off." Hank confirmed as the elevator began its decent to the ground floor. "Gavin and Abby are keeping an eye on her tonight, so she'll be okay. She didn't suffer any serious injuries thanks to you."

"Just... doing what was right."

"Yeah, I know." The way Connor responded so humanly and humbly after being injured was a haunting reaction that Hank hadn't anticipated ever seeing in his very unusual lifetime. Connor was more alive than even he seemed to recognize. "I just hope that I don't have to see your beating heart in action ever again, son."

Reflexively Connor lightly pressed his hand to his chest where he could feel the bandages wrapped around his upper body and agreed entirely with Hank's wish as the group exited the elevator together. "The feeling... is mutual."

"Quondam has gone temporarily silent." Lucas noted as he helped Connor walk and kept an eye on Hank's behavior as well. He didn't like the idea of the concussed human being left alone for the night and decided to offer the senior detective the chance to stay at the brownstone as he rested. "And the city is still fully evacuated. It'll be okay to get some rest tonight and begin fresh in the morning at the precinct."

"Yeah, you're right." Approaching the idling cab Hank sighed and helped Connor to sit down in the back of the autonomous vehicle. He was familiar with back and knee pain, and truly empathized with Connor's current plight. "You two head back and I'll-"

"No," Lucas interrupted sharply and knew that Connor would agree with him. "we'll stop by your residence so you can get a change of clothes and gather items for Sumo. You're both going to remain at the brownstone with Connor and myself until you've been symptom free of your concussion for forty-eight hours."

The bold words left Hank momentarily silent. "...Seriously?"

"Yes. The least we can do for you after everything you've done for us in the past is give you our guestroom and watch over you as you recover." The protective technician explained honestly and logically. "We're in this investigation together, regardless of what happens."

Connor noticed the shocked look on Hank's face as the senior detective sat down beside him in the back of the cab. "That's what... friends do. Am I... correct?"

"Yeah, son." The feeling of being wanted and trusted was enough to make Hank's otherwise throbbing headache fade away almost entirely. "That's right. We're going to watch each other's backs and take out Quondam before they hurt anyone else. I can feel it!"

-next chapter-