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.

75. Unmasked

The city was unnervingly quiet as the unusually inactive night wore on without any further sign or threat from the domestic terrorist group openly identifying themselves as "Quondam". The emergency evacuation order was still in effect, and in turn the homes, apartment buildings, hotels and streets in general throughout Detroit were all empty and unnervingly motionless. Dark windows, vacant streets and seemingly impossible silence echoed throughout all of Detroit as only the first responders remained behind within the city limits to patrol the area and ensure that all bombs and explosives had been properly disarmed, disposed and accounted for before the evacuation notice would be lifted.

The ruins of the destroyed officer building were being actively sifted through by the bomb disposal unit and fire department's trained arson investigators to try to find any potential bits of evidence left behind, but even so it seemed that Quondam had hidden their tracks too well to be tracked down and arrested any time soon. Any chance at catching the terrorists was one worth taking.

Unable to sleep, unable to shut off his mind, Connor laid over his bed with his hands neatly folded over his chest and Bruno curled up over his ankles. His back was sore as it healed, but it was healing and that was all that mattered. Using extra pillows to cushion his injury site and take his weight off the damaged area helped him to find a comfortable position to lay over the bed, but the healing deviant detective just couldn't get any rest.

Lucas was laying on his bed in the adjacent bedroom and seemed to be unable to sleep as well. The compassionate deviant didn't want to enter rest mode until he knew that Connor had fully recovered, and he didn't want to be unable to actively scan the brownstone in the event that Hank down on the ground floor guestroom needed something or suddenly became ill from his concussion in the middle of the night.

In an effort to gain some form of rest Connor forced himself to close his eyes and keep them closed as he ran a system check and made sure that his self healing program was functioning at optimal parameters.

...SELF DIAGNOSTIC: [ENGAGED]

...LOADING INFORMATION:

REGISTERED NAME: "Connor Wolf"

MODEL: RK-800

SERIAL NUMBER: 313 248 317 - 51

ACTIVATION DATE: August 15th, 2038

HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6' 00.24"; 162.2 lbs

COMPLEXION: Caucasian

AESTHETIC GENDER: Male

HAIR/EYES: Brunette; Brown

ASSIGNMENT: Identify and locate "Quondam"

ASSOCIATION(S): Private Detective; Consultant with New Jericho Tower; Consultant with Henry "Hank" Anderson of Detroit Central Precinct

BOOTING PROCESSORS...

LOADING OS...

SYSTEM INITIALIZATION...

-CHECKING BIOCOMPONENTS... OK]

-INITIALIZING BIOSENSORS... OK]

-INITIALIZING AI ENGINE... OK]

-MEMORY STATUS... OK]

READY...

[...Thirium Volume - 98%]

[...Thirium Pressure - 120/80]

[...Thirium Pump Rate - 62 B.P.M.]

[...Ventilation Rate - 10 V.P.M.]

[...Core Temperature - 98.6 Degrees Fahrenheit]

ANALYZING...

[...Posterior Upper Plating structural integrity - 87.8%]

[...Spinal Support Column structural integrity - 94.9%]

-STRESS LEVELS: ^30%

-SYSTEM READY... OK]

Everything was healing properly, and Connor had no reason to worry about his recovery process. The worry for the city - his friends and allies - and the worry of what Quondam could do if they were allowed to continue to run free. With no witnesses, no leads and no suspects to even try to find a trail to lead them to the domestic terrorists, Connor felt like they had reached a very broad dead end and wouldn't be able to move forward until Quondam struck again.

Needing to talk to someone who wasn't directly involved in the case or being affected by what was happening in the city, Connor sent out a cybernetic signal and hoped to get a response. Surprisingly enough, despite the late hour, Connor received a nearly instant reply from his most reclusive ally.

'Hey, again.' Zhorra greeted in a relatively confused and tired tone. 'I'm glad to hear from you. I know what happened in the city today.'

'I take it the deviant refugee camp hasn't evacuated the area since they are not within city limits.'

'Yeah, no one here is afraid of what could happen since we're so far away and we don't have any stake in what might happen to Detroit.'

'The indifference to other people in need of help isn't exactly a comforting thought.'

'At least it's a truth that you can be certain of. So, what's with the late night call?' The aloof 'RK-700' asked in an almost playful manner. 'Miss me?'

'I was hoping that you may be able to help me with the situation in the city.'

'And how could I possibly do that from my little neck of the woods out here?'

'The bomb that detonated today destroyed an office building that was infamous for replacing humans with android workers, and it had been located in a notoriously anti-android section of the city.' Connor relayed the information as he did his cybernetic search on the building's history in real time. 'Do you know of any deviant who would have worked in the office, and could therefore confirm the identity of any human who'd hold a grudge against the company?'

'You think one of those Quondam freaks went way out of their way to blow up an entire building out of an employability spite?'

'At this point I wouldn't rule out anything.' Needing to remain on topic Connor pushed Zhorra to answer his question. 'Do you know of such a deviant?'

'Sorry, no.'

'Damn it.'

'You'll figure it out.' She encouraged in a sincere manner. 'If you can out maneuver a group of amateur bomb makers, then you'll-'

'I wasn't able to out maneuver every bomb they made today.'

Zhorra was quiet for a moment as she heard the despair in Connor's voice. '...Were you hurt?'

'I obviously survived.'

'Shit, I'm sorry! I should've been taking this a little more seriously.'

'You said you don't know of any deviant who'd be able to provide us with answers, did you lie?'

'I didn't lie, but I still wasn't taking the Quondam threats as seriously I should have been.'

'Just remain away from the city and keep alert.' Sitting upright on his bed slowly, Connor let out a soft breath and did his best to not jostle his healing back. 'It's important to keep away from the city until further notice.'

'You have my word I won't leave the forest.'

'Thank you.'

'Anything I could possibly do to help?'

'Aside from alerting me to any gossip that could be informative, no. Remain safe.' Putting his hand down on Bruno's ears Connor gently awoke the K-9 unit and was greeted with some happy tail wags. 'May I ask why you were already awake when I contacted you? It's nearly three o'clock.'

'I've been busy and don't have much time to sleep between helping other people. Being up at odd hours is now normal for me.'

'Please get some rest and let me know if I can help you before you move out to Boston this winter.'

'Believe me, when I need your help, and I will, I'll let you know.' Zhorra promised over the private cybernetic link. 'Take care of yourself, and good luck with your case. You'll solve it.'

'I appreciate your confidence in my skills. Goodnight, Zhorra.'

'Goodnight, Connor. See you in a few months!'

As the call came to an end Connor looked down at Bruno and let out a somber sigh. "I hate to wake you, boy. I need to think and pace, I didn't want you to wake up with me gone without a word."

Happy to keep Connor company the three-legged dog stood up on his three paws and stretched out his body while continuing to wag his tail. 'Bruno understands.'

Pressing one palm against his chest, the bandages concealed under his clean black t-shirt, and his other hand against his lower back for some degree of support, Connor rose to his feet and crept toward his bedroom door with Bruno right at his side. Despite his silent steps Connor immediately caught Lucas's attention and Lucas caught his big brother creeping down the staircase.

"Connor?" Catching up to Connor quickly Lucas put his hand to his brother's chest to hold him in place at the top step. "What's wrong?"

"I'm having difficulty in sleeping and merely wish to pace about the study."

"It'd be best if you laid down." Lucas urged as he lowered his hand and let Connor descend the staircase without any assistance. "I understand being restless due to this very stressful case, but it'd be best if you at least remained idle and entered low power mode if you cannot fully access rest mode."

Reaching the ground floor of the brownstone Connor took notice of the door to the guestroom still wide open as Hank managed to doze lightly in the large and soft bed with Sumo snoring away at his side. It was a relief to see that Hank was still doing well despite being concussed and that Sumo's snoring wasn't enough to disturb his rest.

"At least they can sleep." Connor admitted with a soft breath as he carefully walked into the study to sit down on the sofa and rest his back. "Any word from Captain Fowler or anyone else from the precinct?"

"Not yet, at least nothing beyond simple patrols in the streets." Joining Connor in the study Lucas sat down on the second sofa across from his brother while Bruno rested his chin over Connor's knee. The loyal dog knew that Connor's back injury would keep him from pacing and was happy to have a lap to cuddle on. "There was a rumor of a supposed second threat, but Dr. Forrest confirmed that the second broadcast was a college prank that originated in Lansing that didn't pan out. Lansing authorities are now addressing the students and their poor sense of humor."

"That's something, I suppose." A curious thought entered Connor's mind as he contemplated the very notion of a hijacked broadcast. "How did Quondam manage to broadcast their initial threat?"

"That's still being investigated as well. The current working theory is that they managed to hack numerous media devices in the same manner as the Jericho crew had done at the Stratford Broadcast Tower just prior to the Revolution. Perhaps the group is familiar with broadcast operations and are near the tower."

"Someone should investigate the Broadcast Tower and look for internal sabotage."

"As of two-fourteen this morning, Jack and Chris elected to check out the area near the tower as we speak. Right now, we need to identify the person who made the threat, and from there we might be able to locate a base of operations."

"They wore a mask and used a voice modulator during their broadcast, and the precinct's tech department is working to remove the audio interference to clarify the voice, but they cannot do anything about digitally removing the mask."

"We should also analyze the footage and attempt to decipher an identity from the suspect."

[...Incoming Call: Gavin Neil Reed]

[...Accept Call?: [Y/N]

Connor's eyes narrowed as he gave Lucas a curious look. "Detective Reed is attempting to call me."

"Answer it and set up a secondary link so I can listen in."

Nodding in agreement Connor answered the call and let Lucas tap into the connection. "Hello, Detective Reed."

'Good to know you're still alive and kickin', 'Tinman'.' Gavin greeted in his usual abrasive manner. 'Look, there's a problem with Chris and Jack's investigation downtown. Do you know about it?'

"I was informed of their investigation, yes. What has happened that's caused a problem?"

'About ten minutes ago, Chris and Jack located an unmarked white van in the alleyway beside the tower and went to investigate.' Gavin paused for a moment as he continued to bring Connor up to speed. '...There's been an incident.'

"What happened?" Hank Connor by the sound of Gavin's voice that something unfortunate befell his two detectives out in the field. "Where are Chris and Jack?"

'While Chris called in the vehicle sighting, Jack went to investigate it directly. The rear doors of the van unexpectedly opened and someone inside opened fire.'

Connor kept his composure as he spoke with Gavin over the line. "Are they all right?"

'Chris walked away without a scratch, but Jack took four bullets to the chest.' As he spoke Gavin's voice slumped with worry. 'He's been taken to the Delta Facility for repairs.'

"Damn it." Bowing his head somberly Connor looked at the guestroom where Hank was still asleep and decided to take control on the situation. "Please give Chris an hour to himself at the facility, then retrieve his statement. If you can spare the available officers, dispatch a team to investigate the alley where the shooting took place and put out an A.P.B. on the van."

'Already on it. Just let the Lieutenant know, and as soon as you, Hank and Lucas are ready for round two, come back to the precinct and help out! We need you.'

"We'll be there as soon as we can, Gavin." Ending the call Connor looked over at Lucas again and let out a pained sigh. His upper back and chest felt tight as his healing plastimetal frames slowly mended and stole away his strength and energy in the process. "We should inform Hank of this situation."

"I'll awaken him and check his vitals in the process." Lucas volunteered as he stood up and gave Connor a terse stare of utter defiance. "And you lay down and rest until we're ready to go out into the field. It's important that you take care of yourself before you can take care of anyone else."

There was no reason to object to a little rest and Connor proceeded to gently lay back over the length of the sofa while Bruno remained loyally at his side. The deviant detective had a damn good reason to believe that before the night was over that he'd need to use every ounce of energy he could muster in order to bring Quondam to justice.

---

Still shaking a little Chris was standing beside the bed in the recovery wing of the Delta Facility's emergency repair bay as he watched his injured partner resting in a bed nearly motionless. Jack was laying on his back in stasis mode, his L.E.D. was pulsing red very slowly and a Thirial activity monitor showed his Thirium pump beating at an equally slow rate. An external air intake line was inserted down his throat and into his main intake line to ensure his ventilation biocomponents were functioning well enough to keep the deviant from overheating. Despite the technicians' best efforts and Jack's self healing program, the deviant was still unconscious and unresponsive.

Even with a positive prognosis it seemed as if Jack wouldn't recover. He had been unconscious ever since he had been shot and the Delta Facility's lead technician, Dr. Clayton Urban, hadn't been able to manually awaken the damaged deviant.

"Shit, Jack. You should've waited for me." Chris lamented as he stared at the deviant with a truly worried gleam in his kind brown eyes. "Neither of us should go anywhere alone."

"Then you may have been shot as well." Lucas replied in a low voice as he joined Chris in the recovery wing and offered him a mug of fresh warm coffee. "You cannot assume your immediate presence would've altered the incident into a more favorable manner."

"Hey, Lucas." Chris was visibly relieved to have a friend stopping by to visit and happily accepted the mug of coffee. "How's the investigation?"

"Slow."

"What're you even doing here, man?"

"Gavin contacted Connor to inform us of what had happened, and as of the moment Connor and Lieutenant Anderson are at the precinct once more." Lucas admitted in a hushed tone. "How is Jack fairing?"

"Not good." Admitting that Jack was in rough shape made Chris's voice shake a little. "The technician keeps trying to reboot him but it's not working."

"A manual reboot is often more strenuous on an android's systems than an automatic one. Do you know the extent of the damage?"

"Yeah, uh, two bullets hit his left lung, a third bullet got a main line near his spine and the fourth passed through his body cleanly between his shoulder blades."

Nodding with complete understanding Lucas pressed his fingertips against Jack's red L.E.D. and held them there for a moment. "He is still online and very weak, but he will recover."

Chris let out a massive sigh of relief and his shoulders hunched as if a tremendous stress was lifted away. "That's good to know."

"I'm going to interface with Jack directly and attempt to view his memories just prior to the shooting. I might be able to gain more information on the identity of our Quondam suspects by doing so."

"That, uh, that doesn't hurt you guys, does it?"

"No, it's painless." Lucas replied honestly as he retracted the artificial skin from the palm of his hand and placed it over top Jack's forearm. "This will only take a moment and Jack will not be stressed by this interaction."

Closing his compassionate green eyes Lucas accessed the memory files from Jack's most recent records and isolated the moment leading up to the shooting. As the memory played out in Lucas's mind the deviant tensed up and his brow furrowed with anger on Jack's behalf as all of the details came flooding forward...

---

Jack had approached the van with his gun still holstered at his right side. Walking calmly without any form of aggression in his body language Jack had positioned himself at the rear doors of the white van as he scanned over the license plate to check for registration. After noting the license plate as well as the make and model of the vehicle, Jack had attempted to knock on the closed doors, but before he had the chance the rear doors burst open from the inside out.

Stunned by the unexpected motion Jack took a step back and locked eyes with the face of the person wearing the same white mask as in the threatening video, as well as a young Caucasian woman with fiery red hair that was cut short with piercing blue eyes cowering behind him as she tried to hide their laptop from prying eyes.

It was the woman who had pulled the gun and opened fire on Jack; not the masked man.

As the bullets entered his chest Jack fell backward onto the asphalt and his eyes fell shut quickly as numerous red warnings popped up in his visual processors and emergency stasis mode activated automatically.

---

After the memory played out Lucas opened his eyes and released his grip on Jack's arm. Taking a step away from the bed Lucas's shaking hand regenerated the artificial skin over his palm and the deviant detective looked to Chris standing at his side as he told the young officer what he had seen through Jack's own eyes.

"The man from the original broadcast was in the van." Confirming that Chris and Jack had located the threatening group known as Quondam, Lucas also confirmed the identity of Jack's shooter. "A woman, Caucasian, with short red hair and blue eyes had been the one who shot him."

"Do you know who she is?"

"Not yet, but I will find out. Jack had also chronicled the details of the van which will make it easier to track down."

Tightening his grip around his coffee Chris gave Connor a somber glance. "...Do you need me at the precinct?"

"No, Chris." Understanding too well the pain and distraction that comes from having a partner and a friend wounded in the line of duty Lucas let Chris know that he was permitted to stay with Jack. "You can remain here with Jack for as long as you'd like, but I suggest that you call your wife to have someone friendly to speak with so you're not entirely alone."

"Good idea. I appreciate it."

"Keep us posted on Jack's condition." Taking his leave of the recovery room Lucas made sure Chris knew that the precinct would bring down Quondam and have the woman sentenced harshly for shooting Jack. "I'll get everything that Jack had uncovered back to the precinct, and we'll continue the investigation. He'll receive justice for what has happened to him, and we'll keep this city safe."

---

While the investigation was finally beginning to show promise regarding actual progress the case revolving around Quondam was far from solved. The evidence that Lucas had taken from Jack's memory had proven itself to be very beneficial yet still infuriatingly limiting. The white van had been registered under the name "Marcia Stack", and her description perfectly matched that of the redheaded woman who had shot Jack without any provocation. Gavin and Tina, who had come back despite Captain Fowler's protests, had been tasked with locating Marcia and her van while Connor, Lucas and Hank continued to try to find the man behind the mask, as well as their possible target for destruction in the city before it was too late.

The masked man seemed to be orchestrating the event as he was the one on camera, but since Marcia had proven herself to be violent, she was the current priority. With any luck her arrest would lead them directly to the masked man before he had the chance to do anything regrettable.

"All right, so, this Marcia bitch shot Jack and is going to be in jail for a long time for the attempted murder of a police officer." Hank stated as he sipped at a mug of coffee and sat behind his desk. He was exhausted but not about to sit back and watch the investigation unfold without him. "As soon as she's brought in, we might be able to use that our advantage. We could offer a plea deal of a lesser sentence if she turns in her little 'cheer squad', or at the very least the ring leader from the threat."

"Marcia has a record of abuse toward androids and has been confirmed as an active protestor against androids even before the Revolution." Connor stated as he read over her impressive arrest record from the terminal screen at the empty desk he often used when aiding the precinct. "She had been previously employed as a sales clerk in pawn shop in Midtown until an android security clerk caught her in the act of stealing. After she was fired, she moved in with her boyfriend and has been unemployed ever since." Connor gave Hank an uncertain glance and shook his head. "That was five years ago."

"No confirmed place of residence or employment. Sounds like she was trying to stay off the grid while plotting revenge."

"I agree."

"What about her boyfriend?" The senior detective asked next. "What do we know about him, that is, assuming they're still together?"

"The name of the person on the report who provided bail on the night of Marcia's arrest is named Bryce Mason. No known criminal record or direct affiliation with anti-android activity." Digging deeper Connor discovered more information on Marcia. "...Apparently they broke up and Bryce moved to New York City after finishing school and accepting a higher paying position in his field three years ago."

"Ah, fuck... Great!"

Lucas had some good news to offer as he too aided in the search into the named suspect's background. "However, I've been able to track Marica's online activity through her name, credit card details and pattern of behavior regarding anti-android sentiment."

"Let me hear it."

"She had frequented a chatroom aimed at hating androids and encouraging violence against them. While the chatroom had steadily grown more quiet after the Revolution, she's remained very active and often chats with another very active member who shares her sentiment." The sharp deviant recounted as he explained his collected evidence to both Hank and Connor. "I suspect that this person she chats with was the masked individual who was in the van when she assaulted Jack with a deadly weapon."

Nodding in approval, then regretting the motion as his concussion reminded him of its existence, Hank sought a little more information from the resourceful deviant detective finding very interesting information. "What's the chatroom called, and can we get a transcript?"

"One moment, I can download a transcript of the chatroom's most recent chat from two nights prior..." Placing his palm down on Hank's terminal screen Lucas was able to upload the hateful words and prompt the printer synched to Hank's personal terminal to begin printing everything out. "Done."

"How many people are in that little online hate group?"

"Eleven members had formed the 'Life Over Plastic' hate group. However," Lucas noted something interesting as Hank plucked the printed pages from beneath his desk and Connor tapped into the cybernetic link that Lucas himself had been using to trace the hateful people. "it appears the eleventh member had left the group four months and three days prior."

Eyeing the paper Hank rubbed his palm over his bearded chin as he wondered why someone was removed from the chatroom. "Did they get kicked out?"

"It's possible. The print-out will show the full chat transcripts from most recent comments to oldest comments in order to track the activity of our victims."

"Cool." Putting the papers down on his desk top Hank began reading over the spiteful comments while Connor and Lucas hovered just over his shoulders to do the same. "Wow... A bunch of eloquent and articulate fuckers, aren't they?"

The registered names of the people in the online hate group matched their hate filled words, and made Hank feel sick to his stomach. He couldn't believe that at any point in his life that he would've once agreed with such bigoted and heartless sentiment, and he completely understood why Connor, Lucas, Sydney and even Ethan were still very wary of being around him.

Without a confirmed suspect to track down and observe the three detectives knew their next best bet would be to identify the potential targets in the city and protect them from Quondam. Until the detectives could gain any further information the detectives would have to use their own deductive reasoning in order to properly play bodyguard and watch for any suspicious people still in the evacuated city.

"Can you two uncover the real names of these people?" Hank asked as he leaned back and away from the disgusting pages on his desk. "One or more Quondam members might be in this chatroom."

"One moment..." Connor cybernetically uploaded images onto Hank's terminal screen as he used the chatlogs, user handles and I.P. addresses to track down each member of the anti-android hate group. "The first participant in the group is named Roger Jefferson, age twenty-six." The deviant detective highlighted the image of a young Caucasian male with long blond hair, mean green eyes and dozens of hate filled tattoos on his arms, chest and back. "He had previously been employed at the android junkyard prior to it being shut down and cleaned up."

Lucas chimed in with his own details on the investigation as he looked into the gate group's members. "He is the founder of the group, and he goes by the admin administration name of 'Plastic_Fucker_01'."

"Charming." Hank grimaced at the crude and vulgar name that been chosen. "What else about him?"

"He started the group shortly after losing his internship at the I.T. department for a lucrative hotel business when the android janitor reported him for drinking on the job. As you can imagine, he was immediately fired and blacklisted from working within that hotel chain."

Sighing openly Hank shook his head at the atrocious behavior and response to Jefferson losing his career because an android did the right thing. "The idiot threw away his own future with his drinking problem and decided to dedicate himself to hating all androids because of it. What about another member?"

"The second member identified is Chandra Watkins, aged thirty-two." Bringing up the image of a woman who had a promising career as a fashion model - she had a dark complexion, thick black hair, deep brown eyes, an award winning smile, and a flawless figure - Connor detailed her past. "She joined the group shortly after Jefferson founded the group and she goes by the handle 'PhoenixRising'."

Astute as ever Lucas confirmed the information and compared notes with Connor while Hank silently listened to the details. "From what we've been able to uncover, an android dentist noticed that Chandra was showing signs of bulimia with decay on her teeth and had reported it to her manager out of health and safety concerns. As a result, Chandra had to go to a rehab facility to overcome her affliction and lost two modeling contracts during her time away."

Dragging his hand through his shaggy gray hair with disappointment Hank felt oddly empathetic toward the woman. "The android saved her life, and she ends up spending her time filled with hate and resentment. Seems about right."

Continuing with the third uncovered member Connor gave as many details as possible. "The third member is Kylie Hanson, age forty-one." The woman was Caucasian, very overweight, had short cut brunette hair and brown eyes partially clouded by cataracts. "She is of evidently very poor health."

Lucas revealed Kylie's online handle and her backstory as well. "Ms. Watkins used the name 'demandsjustice100', and Ms. Watkins had lost her job due to her failing eyesight due to increasingly worsening diabetes and was replaced by an android after she was deemed unable to properly perform her duties. She refused to take care of her failing health and blamed her own replacement after she failed to comply with her company's fitness requirements. She was also in the military and received a dishonorable discharge."

"Pathetic." Hank grumbled as he heard more about the lives of the spiteful hate group members. "Who's next?"

"Our fourth member is Jerome Stone, age seventeen." Connor recounted as he showed the teenager's photograph. Jerome had a strong, athletic build with a dark complexion, short black hair, warm brown eyes and a promising future with a sport's scholarship. "He is the youngest member of the group."

Sighing despondently Lucas gave more information on Jerome. "This young man uses the handle 'burn_the_plastic' and joined the hate group when he was only thirteen years old. He currently lives with his mother after his parents divorced. His father was caught in the act when he snuck out to the 'Eden Club' and his now ex-wife noticed the monetary transactions at the club when she looked at their monthly bank statement. The parents, Mr. and Mrs. Stone, got divorced four years ago and Jerome blamed the 'Traci' that his father had been hooking up with for the cause of the divorce, not his father for committing adultery."

Without any further commentary Connor presented the fifth member's name and photograph. "Dr. Robert Li, age thirty-three." The doctor was of Asian decent with slicked back black hair, dark green eyes and an average build. "He's been very active in the group as of late."

"And this doctor used the handle 'DoctorOfMankind'." Lucas noted as he shared Dr. Li's online handle and highlighted his repugnant transcript on the holographic image for everyone to read. "His initial gripe came from when he had an android working as his receptionist two years back noted that Dr. Li was trying to charge his patients for tests he never performed. When the android brought this to his attention and made a record of the chronic 'mistakes', the I.R.S. swooped in and gave Dr. Li a surprise audit. He lost over $300,000 in fines and back taxes."

Hank's blue eyes widened with shock at the hefty sum the now disgraced doctor had to pay. "Son of a bitch... I don't think I've ever had $300,000 throughout my entire life."

Proceeding with the investigation Connor brought up the image of the next member. "Janet Walker, age forty-two." The blonde haired woman had shallow gray eyes, a very pale complexion that was darkened to an unnatural shade with bronzer, and had a majority of her body enhanced with plastic surgery. "She is a high power lawyer and no longer bears a respectable reputation."

"She uses the handle 'PlasticHasNoRights'." The new name and transcript were just as vile as the other people around her. "She is a mother to four, but lost custody to her ex-husband when her alcoholism got out of control, and he demanded a divorce. To avoid any bias during the divorce proceedings the court ordered an android social worker to talk to the kids and examine the house, and since the social worker couldn't be bribed or threatened by Mrs. Walker's lawyer position, Mrs. Walker lost everything in the divorce and has been blaming androids for all of her misfortunes."

Not wanting to make any comments about being a foolish alcoholic Hank held his tongue.

"Our seventh member is Walter Fuller, age seventy-two." The image of the old man was a pitiful sight. Walter's white skin was sickly pale, his blue eyes were shallow and sunken in, his body was scrawny and out of shape and his head had been shaved bald to show off his prison tattoos of hatred and bigotry on every inch of visible skin on his arms, hands, neck and the back of his head. "He is an out loud and proud 'neo-Nazi' who spent thirty years in prison for beating his wife and abusing his two children."

Visibly disgusted by what he had uncovered Lucas threw the information up on the holographic display of Hank's terminal screen. "This man actively uses the handle 'whitepower' and had decided that androids were the cause of his problems since android prison guards wouldn't give him any special treatment and actively kept him away from other prisoners who shared his bigoted attitude. Things were made worse when he got out of prison and discovered that his ex-wife and kids not only wanted nothing to do with him but had purchased 'TR-400' androids to act as personal bodyguards to keep him from laying his hands on them ever again."

"Not at all surprised someone like him would be the type to beat his wife and kids."

"The next member is John Cordell, age twenty-six." Connor continued on with a forced indifference to his tone. "Mr. Cordell is known to suffer from drug addiction."

Shaking his head sadly Lucas put the final collected details up on the screen to be viewed by everyone. "Using the handle 'fuck_the_world', Mr. Cordell is a college drop-out and remained as such after being expelled from his chosen university. Three years ago, he was busted during his final year in college for making 'red ice' in his dorm room when the android security guard roaming campus noted the noxious smell of the drugs being cooked in his room. He's been in and out of rehab and had been keeping up his hatred of androids by using a burner phone to chat online."

"All right, that's eight confirmed names." Hank accurately counted as Connor and Lucas detailed their names and pasts. "What about the other three members of this hate group? Where are they?"

"The only information we have on the other three members at this time are their handles." Connor explained as Gavin and Tina returned to the bullpen and dropped at their desks to rest. The two detectives knew that Hank, Connor and Lucas were on to something big, and began listening in intently as they took a moment to get a little rest. "We currently have no names or locations due to their knowledge and use of V.P.N.'s to mask their real names and locations."

Lucas cybernetically tapped into Hank's terminal screen and proceeded to put the three remaining handles and their transcripts up on the holographic board after restoring the images of the confirmed eight members and their own deplorable words. "The confirmed handles are: 'Recycle-the-Liars', 'DestroyCyberLife' and 'eliminate_plastic'."

The three mentioned names made Gavin visibly tense up and notably pale as eavesdropped on the discussion taking place.

"The member with the name 'DestroyCyberLife' hasn't been active for just over four months and their last comment was, and I'm quoting here: 'I don't want to waste my time here anymore. All I've done is bitch and moan about androids who aren't even in my life and all it's done is give me nightmares. I'm out. If you guys want to keep whining to each other go ahead, just leave me out of it.'" Giving his colleagues a somber glance, Connor continued on with one other detail. "That was of course met with response from the other members calling this person a race-traitor, a coward and a bunch of other nasty names. The member who left never responded."

Nodding a little Hank determined that the inactive member had a change of heart and was trying to better their ways. "Sounds like this person had their eyes opened and backed off before things got out of hand."

Taking in a steadying breath Lucas relayed the last messages exchanged before Quondam took action. "The final time the confirmed eight members entered the chatroom together their exchange was simply this: 'The androids needs to be exterminated and fucked back into submission. They think they're better than us because they were programmed to be perfect, but they'll never be better than a living, breathing human being. The police won't do their jobs which mean we will.'"

"These fuckers are ready to draw first blood, and they may have done it already."

Connor agreed with the senior detective's comment and limped around the side of the desk to sit down across from Hank and rest his back for a moment. "It's entirely possible that the two of the three unidentified members of this hate group had founded Quondam and are currently terrorizing the city. It'd explain why they had gone quiet."

From his own desk Gavin sighed and made a truly heartbreaking confession. "...I can confirm that those two are worth worrying about."

The trio of detectives turned toward Gavin and noticed that Tina had done the same thing from her own desk. The strange response was enough to make everyone stop working on their personal assignments and focus solely on the abrasive detective.

"Those sick fuckers you're looking for don't bluff and they aren't afraid to walk the walk after talkin' the talk."

Hank was very interested in knowing how Gavin could possibly know the behavior of two unknown suspects that he hadn't even investigated. "And how would you know that?"

With shake in his eyes Gavin slumped down in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest as he admitted the truth. "Because... I used to be 'DestroyCyberLife'."

Eyes widened with shock and disbelief Hank had to make sure he had heard things correctly. "You?"

"Yeah, me. I left about four or five months ago, and I didn't look back." Unable to look anyone in the eyes Gavin stared at the floor and nervously scratched the side of his neck with self disgust and anxiousness. "I've had a lot good things happen to me lately, and those good things all came from good people who were focused on staying good and doing good things in general." He explained in a simplistic and honest manner. "The angry, disgusting and loathsome assholes bitching about their problems in a chatroom and blaming androids for just doing what was right weren't the good people who helped me. I'm ashamed of what I had said and the fact that I was once a part of that group. I left and hoped to never hear about those fuckers ever again."

Connor heard the sincerity in Gavin's words and remembered how Hank sounded exactly the same after the senior detective apologize for his own abhorrent past behavior toward androids, particularly to Connor. Seeing how more humans were aware of their past bigotry and shameful behavior was a little enlightening as it proved that even the biggest of mistakes could still be redeemed through acts of kindness and perseverance.

"I can't tell you much about them." Gavin continued on as he remained fixated on a suddenly very interesting spot on the floor at his feet. "But I do know that if they want to make a move against the city, then they will."

Lucas was more intrigued than disgusted and asked for more details. "Do you know if we can uncover their names in any way?"

"If they used a V.P.N. like I did, then no. I think they were able to hide their sorry asses a little too well."

"Then I'll have to find a way to override the V.P.N. and track them down." The resourceful deviant detective noted without any hesitation. "Please assist me."

"You... want me to help you?" Gavin asked almost incredulously as he finally lifted his gaze and locked eyes with Lucas. "Seriously?"

"Yes. You're our best chance at locating these two unknown suspects, and once we uncover their identities we can determine if they're members of Quondam."

"What about the others?" The other members of the hate group needed to be investigated as well. "I know there were more than just us three in that group."

Hank rose from his chair slowly and pressed his palm to the back of his aching head. "Me and Connor will go and investigate the homes of the 'hateful eight', while you three stay here and try to find the missing two members of the group. Right now, they are our best chance at finding a suspect tied to Quondam, and we're not going to let them get away."

Rising to his feet as well Connor pressed his palm to his chest as he took in a slow breath to steady himself as he walked. "Agreed. Ben is currently assisting Joel with analyzing the bomb fragments in the forensics lab, Chris is emotionally compromised, and Tina hasn't been medically cleared for field duty beyond standard patrol. We must be the ones to investigate the eight suspects."

"See?" The Lieutenant used Connor's logic to support his decision rather than using his rank or seniority. "Reed, you're in charge until Fowler gets back from his meeting with the Captains of the bomb squad and the S.W.A.T. team. Lucas, you'll be our constant link while we're out in the field. Chen, you keep investigating the broadcast, and if Fowler objects to these orders, I give you my express permission to tell him to kiss my saggy ass."

"Proud to help, sir." Tina managed a weak grin as she nervously looked over at Connor standing beside the Lieutenant. "Anything else?"

"If Quondam issues any more threats, you drop what you're doing and try to trace the broadcast immediately. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"All right." Confident in his decision Hank began marching across the bullpen. "Let's go."

Connor limped alongside Hank, then stopped short beside Tina's desk. Offering her a gracious nod Connor put his hand to Tinas shoulder, a kind gesture that he had received countless times in the past, to let her know he was all right. "Thank you for your assistance with the bombs and my subsequent rescue. When we find Quondam, we'll be able to rest easy and know we did everything correctly."

Reaching up Tina patted Connor's hand appreciatively and was happy to see him up and about already. "Without a doubt. Go kick their asses."

Giving Tina an amused smirk Connor pulled back his hand and rejoined Hank as the senior detective passed through the empty receptionist area and through the front doors. The quiet of the dark and empty streets was oddly unnerving. Letting out a rather human sigh Connor walked with Hank to the neighboring parking garage and located an available squad car to use and insisted on driving in Hank's stead.

Putting his hand over the driver's side door handle Connor gave Hank a stern look and kept him from getting behind the wheel. "Concussion."

Not one to be outdone so easily Hank pointed at Connor and matched his glare. "Blown up."

"I've been technically cleared."

"And I'm a damn Lieutenant."

"I can still out muscle you."

"You know something?" Admitting defeat courtesy of his headache Hank reluctantly backed off and walked around the front of the car to get to the passenger side of the vehicle instead. "My head hurts too damn much to deal with this. You drive."

"Thank you."

"Got the addresses we need?"

"I do." Sitting down behind the wheel Connor pressed his exposed palm to the car's central electronic panel and accessed the vehicle through his temporary precinct credentials. "We'll go in order of suspects identified, compare notes and determine if any of the eight active suspects are connected to Quondam."

"Right." Pressing his hand over his aching head Hank looked at the obnoxiously early morning hour with raw disdain. "You drive, I'll sleep, and then when the time comes, we'll both kick a little ass."

---

The late night and early morning hours ticked away slowly as Hank and Connor checked through the residences of the eight suspects one by one. A majority of the homes, apartments and trailers were filthy and littered with worn out and very old anti-android propaganda, and a few had some illegally obtained weapons that were marked for proper confiscation before the evacuation notice was lifted. However, none of the eight inspected residences showed any sign of planning of domestic warfare against the deviant community or the city in general. The two detectives were able to determine that the eight suspects were just blowing smoke and weren't nearly as menacing, courageous or "righteous" as they pretended to be.

As for the remaining two suspects who still needed to be identified, there had been little progress in breaking through the V.P.N.'s that had been used. It seemed even Lucas's incredibly advanced programming wasn't enough to violate the privacy of total strangers, which was a relief in its own bittersweet way.

"Any luck from the precinct?" Hank asked as he popped two ibuprofen tablets into his mouth and chased them with a gulp of water from his bottle. "I'd hate for this night to end with a total bust."

"Lucas is still attempting to break through the V.P.N. barricades, but there have been no further threats from Quondam or suspicious activity noted by the drones patrolling the city."

"Guess that's something to consider a win."

As he drove Connor suddenly closed his eyes and slowed the car's speed as he received an unexpected cybernetic message from an ally out at New Jericho Tower.

"Son?" Hank saw the way Connor had reacted and noticed that the deviant's eyes seemed to momentarily darken with worry. "What's going on?"

"...I just received an emergency message from Markus." Turning right at the next block and heading toward downtown Connor made a beeline for his ally's current location. Despite Markus speaking in a calm voice over the cybernetic line Connor could sense the urgency in his words. "He had been summoned to a remote location to aid a deviant in distress, but something is not right."

"You don't need to be a detective to know that, son." Hank crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes as he pushed through his headache just long enough to focus on their conversation at hand. "What's going on downtown?"

"Markus arrived at the designated location and found a deviant as he was told, but the deviant is already dead. And by all account the deviant has been dead for approximately five years."

"That sucks, but why not just call the police and have them take care of the body?"

"Because Markus found his own name engraved in the wooden siding of the wall directly above the body."

"Someone scrawled Markus's name above a dead body?" Opening his tired blue eyes slowly he turned to look at Connor and flashed the deviant a confused stare. "And then they called Markus over to find the dead body?"

"Correct."

"All right, that's definitely a trap. Let's figure this out before this day gets any more fucked up and some rumors get started."

"Agreed. We need to locate Markus before someone else does."

---

Alone as he had been requested, Markus stood in the middle of the lobby that had once been a massive department store with his hands folded neatly before himself. The body of the shutdown android; a male 'AP-600 model' who had been torn apart in a very gruesome manner, was propped up against the bare wall inside of the abandoned building as if being put on display for Markus to find. The unfortunate deviant had been left for dead for almost five years prior and in that time, he had numerous biocomponents stripped from his body. Even the delicate internal Thirium lines were torn apart by rats and other vermin that had picked at the poor deviant's exposed body.

Above the body the name 'MARKUS' was cut into rotting the drywall by a screwdriver and was obviously left as a cryptic message or a warning for the deviant leader to find. The message was simple yet very effective at eliciting a sense of dread and menace.

"Who did this to you?"

Markus asked the unfortunate victim, not that he was expecting to receive an answer. Kneeling down in front of the victim he used his hand to gently close the victim's vacant and blackened eyes so make him appear more peaceful.

"And why did they single me out? What's the connection? What's the point of this sick act?"

As he remained crouched down in front of the body Markus reached his free hand out and grabbed onto the victim's wrist to try for a cybernetic interface, but the damage to the deviant had been so extensive that there was nothing for Markus to connect with. There were no memories to be found.

"I'm sorry that this happened to you."

Retracting his hands Markus stood upright again and took a step back toward the door to behind.

As he did he heard the door open up behind him and he turned his head in time to see Connor and Hank entering the deserted building together. "Thanks for coming so quickly."

The deviant detective immediately honed in on the victim and the scene that had been left for Markus to find. "What's going on?"

"I wish I knew." Stepping aside to give a clear view to the body Markus was just as confused as Connor and Hank were. "I got an anonymous message only twenty-two minutes prior stating that there was a stranded and injured deviant out here who only wanted to talk to me because they were afraid to talk to anyone else. I got here eight minutes and fourteen seconds ago, and this is what I found."

Hank stepped forward and put his hands on his hips as he studied the unusual crime scene with his keen eyes. "And you didn't touch or move anything, right?"

"No. I only tried to cybernetically link with the victim but there was too much damage to establish a connection."

Connor crouched down in front of the victim and lightly tilted the deviant's head to the right so he could peer at the small serial number purposefully engraved against the plastimetal frame just under his left eye, and then identified the deviant at long last. "The victim is-"

Before he could finish his assessment Connor stood up abruptly and put both of his hands to the sides of his head as he closed his eyes so tightly that tears began to stream down his face while a horrible pain tore through his cranium. Markus had done the same as he too was overcome by a staggering debilitating pain that left the two deviants completely stunned.

"Connor? Markus?" Hank was immediately on guard and trying to figure out why the two deviants were suffering from a terrible pain and looked ready to drop at any second. "What's happening?"

Neither deviant could answer as the blissfulness of unconsciousness swept over their pained minds. Falling unconscious in a dead faint Connor hit the floor chest first and Markus shortly thereafter hit the ground landing on his back right beside Connor.

"Connor! Markus!"

Hank knelt down beside the two unconscious deviants quickly. He pressed his fingertips to the side of Connor's neck to check his pulse, then he pressed his opposite palm to Markus's chest and did the same pulse check.

"What the hell is going on?!"

Pulling is hands back Hank reached for his phone in his back pocket to call for help but was unable to dial any number before a strong blow to the back of his head rendered him unconscious as well. The phone fell from Hank's limp grip and slid across the floor near the heel of the dead deviant. Falling forward Hank hit the floor and laid on his side next to the two unconscious deviants who had been subdued by an unseen force just a few seconds prior.

The three men were all unconscious and vulnerable to whomever had lured them to the abandoned department store for an unknown reason but surely sadistic reason.

---

At the Central Precinct the other detectives and officers quickly took notice that neither Hank or Connor had returned from their investigations or reported any updates on the investigations in general, and as a result the small bullpen instinctively knew that something was very wrong. Hank hadn't been late to his shift since he sobered up and Connor himself was never late to any event without there being a very good reason. For them both to be uncharacteristically absent without any phone calls or text messages being sent to anyone in the bullpen, especially to Lucas, to let them know something was happening instantly spoke volumes indicating trouble, and the remaining officers were ready to act.

Due to his rank and experience Gavin was now the officer in charge until either Hank or Captain Fowler could be located. Trusting his gut when it came to unusual situations Gavin knew that they needed to find their missing people as soon as possible.

"Ti', you hear from the Lieutenant or 'Tinman'?"

"No, my phone's been quiet all night." Tina confirmed as she double checked her phone sitting beside her hand and next to her keyboard. "Not even a text."

"What about you?" Turning his attention toward Lucas next, Gavin asked the deviant if he had heard anything from his brother. "Any word?"

"Negative." Lucas attempted to send out a cybernetic link to Connor but was met with static. "...I cannot reach Connor or locate his signature. Something is wrong."

"Fuck..." Dialing a number to contact someone higher up Gavin maintained complete control of the situation as his experience alone made him the ranking officer for the time being. "Tina, you're with me. I'm going to get another Captain down here to take over until we can figure out what happened to those guys. Lucas," honing in on the deviant detective Gavin gave him an order as well. "you're in charge here until me, Captain Fowler, the Lieutenant or another commanding officer shows up. I know you're not officially on the roster, but I need your help."

"I understand." Lucas acknowledged the role and began walking toward Captain Fowler's office. "I'll inform Captain Fowler of what's going on and request his return to the precinct."

Tina nodded her head and began making a few calls herself from her own desk. "I'll start by checking with emergency rooms and see if anyone matching Hank's description was admitted, then I'll check the facilities for Connor."

"Yeah, good idea." Despite Gavin's reluctance to admit that he cared about either of the missing detectives everyone knew he was becoming rather fond of the duo. It seemed impending fatherhood had softened his more abrasive edges in a very compassionate style. "We need to find them, A.S.A.P., we're treating this like a missing persons' case until we can get some definitive answers and find them. We can't risk them being victims of Quondam or anyone else who'd take advantage of the city being evacuated."

---

Rebooting slowly with a throbbing pain in the back of his head, Connor opened his soulful brown eyes and found himself laying on his chest on the cold hard floor of a very dark room that he didn't recognize. The walls were a solid matte black and perfectly smooth in appearance and texture. There was no visible door and there were no windows on any of the walls to give him a sense of spatial awareness or light. The only furnishing in the room was a single white medical exam table in the middle of the room behind himself. Above him in the ceiling were three separate lights that shone with a white/yellow glow that barely pierced the smothering darkness of the cold oppressive room that surrounded him.

Looking about carefully Connor spotted Hank laying on his back a few feet away and Markus laying on his side on the opposite side of Hank. Pushing himself up from the ground slowly the deviant reached out his hand and pressed his palm down against Hank's chest and ran a biometric scan over his body. There was mild swelling and a bleeding cut just behind Hank's left ear from the blow to his head. Unconscious and undoubtedly suffering from a more severe concussion, Connor didn't dare to try to move him until he knew where he was or where he could go to get Hank some help.

Moving to the other side of Hank he then checked on Markus and saw the mismatched irises returning to the waking world. "Markus? Are you functional?"

"Y-Yeah." The deviant leader sat up slowly on the floor and looked around confusedly. He was in pain and at a total loss of his bearings as well. "Where the hell are we?"

"Unknown." Attempting and failing to scan the environment Connor just shook his head despondently. "There is a massive dampening field surrounding us entirely. I can't perform any type of reading beyond Hank and yourself."

"Are you hurt?"

"Nothing more severe than the damage I had sustained in the previous bomb detonation." Connor confirmed as he felt the damage in his upper back throb with every energetic beat of his heart. "Are you injured?"

"No." Markus noticed Hank next and inquired with his worried eyes on the senior detective's condition. "Is he...?"

"Hank has suffered a concussion. I'd rather not move him until he regains some form of consciousness." Shrugging off his gray blazer Connor folded it up neatly and tucked it beneath Hank's head without jostling him too much in the process. It was then Connor noticed something disconcerting. "Shit. Hank's been disarmed and I do not have my baton."

"Great. What the hell happened?" Becoming frustrated Markus tried to figure out what had happened to them after losing consciousness. "Everything's a blank between you two meeting me at the department store and us waking up here."

"I don't know what caused us to lose consciousness at the store, but I do recall a V.H.F. being recorded by my audio processors before I was overwhelmed."

"Same." Markus confirmed as he checked his own memorybank. "I don't know where it came from or what could've caused it, but it was enough to render us both unconscious."

Connor looked around the blank room again and sighed loudly. "I suspect that the person who initiated the frequency is also the one who brought us here. If we find them then we can get our answers."

"Where do we start looking? I don't see any doors, and if your scanner can't see anything beyond the walls, I think we're trapped."

"We'll find a way out. We always do."

A low groan escaped Hank's lips as he finally began to awaken. As his head lolled on the floor Connor put his hand on the senior detective's shoulder to try to reassure him that he wasn't in immediate danger. "Hank. Don't move, you've suffered another head injury."

"...Connor?" Opening his bloodshot blue eyes Hank shook his head a little and focused on the deviant's face, and then over to Markus sitting just behind him on the cold floor. "Markus. Are you two okay?"

"We're unharmed."

Waiting a moment for his head to clear Hank looked about confusedly at the solid black walls and the dim lighting of the unknown room where he was now laying. "What the fuck is this place?"

"Unknown at the moment. Rest for a while longer." Connor urged as he slipped his hand under Hank's shoulder to help him sit upright. "You should lay down on the table and get off the cold floor."

"Yeah..." Unaware of what was happening Hank trusted Connor to guide him about the room. "Sure."

Connor grabbed on to Hank's arm and carefully hefted the wounded detective up to his feet and escorted him over to the table. As Hank was sat down on the edge of the table Markus picked up the gray blazer from the floor and draped it over Hank's shoulders in a comforting manner.

"Easy, boys." Hank gave the two deviants an odd glance as he accepted their help. "I may be old, but I'm not decrepit."

Ignoring the quip Connor studied Hank's pupils and asked a question to gauge the severity of his concussion. "Do you recall what happened before you were struck?"

"Yeah, you two acted like your heads were killing ya', then you both blacked out. When I knelt down to check on you two some ass-wipe snuck up on me and hit me from behind. Damn coward."

"Lean forward a little." Connor checked the source of the bleeding behind Hank's left ear and was relieved to see that the bleeding had already stopped. It wouldn't require any stitches, but it was definitely going to leave the senior detective sore for a while. "Do you have any dizziness or ringing in your ears?"

"No. And remember, the headache and concussion are preexisting conditions." Pushing Connor's hand back from his hair Hank gave him a stern glance. "Stop worrying about me. We need to find a way to get out of here and figure out who the hell did this to us. Whatever 'this' is, anyway..."

From the far wall of the room a perfectly concealed door slid open into the black surrounding wall and the masked man, the apparent spokesman of Quondam himself, appeared. The masked man was armed and had his gun pointed at Markus from the distance while a second figure cloaked in black appeared behind them. The second figure was shorter but was wearing the same type of clothing and mask to disguise their appearance in a very effective manner.

Despite the distance Hank spotted the white masks standing out brilliantly against the black walls and sighed at the sight. "Shoulda' known..."

"You." The masked man was still using a voice modulator to disguise his identity. Keeping the gun trained on Markus the man made a waving motion with the weapon to signal the deviant leader to move. "Come with us."

Connor put his outstretched arm in front of Markus's chest as he took a defensive stance on behalf of his friend. "Drop the weapon."

The masked man held up a white tinted electronic box in his free hand and pressed a button. The same high pitched frequency that had rendered Connor and Markus unconscious once before sounded off and stunned both deviants where they stood. As Connor put his hands to his head Hank grabbed onto his arms and forced him to sit down on the edge of the table while he traded places with him.

"Stop!" Hank planted himself between Markus and the masked man to protect Markus in Connor's stead, even as he swayed on his feet from a sudden wash of dizziness sweeping over him. "Turn that shit off!"

Pointing the gun at Hank's chest instead, the masked man made his next demand. "Either the deviant leader comes with us, or I will kill all three of you where you stand."

Markus's shaking hand grabbed onto Hank's shoulder in a weak grip. "I-I... I'll go!"

"Markus, NO."

"I... I won't let... you two... get hurt."

"Don't do this!"

The masked man called out loudly and turned off the device. "You have ten seconds to join us."

"I have to go... I can't let you get hurt because of me." Releasing Hank's shoulder Markus gritted his teeth as he endured the lingering pain resonating throughout his head before he slowly walked toward the masked man with his hand still pressed to the side of his aching head as he moved. "I'm sorry. I have to do this."

"Markus, please."

Without another word Markus approached the two masked assailants and stood before them. Raising both of his hands up into the air in a submissive manner Markus watched as the masked man pointed his gun at his chest yet again, then motioned with the barrel of the gun to enter the opened doorway while his colleague stepped aside to give him clearance.

"Go."

As the deviant leader took another step forward Connor suddenly bolted from the table and raced toward the door in an attempt to get inside the room. Hank's hand made a grab for the deviant's shoulder, but he missed only by a centimeter as Connor charged the masked man as quickly as could.

"Markus?!"

The masked man pushed Markus all the way through the door and slid it shut as he and his colleague accompanied Markus into the next room. As the door shut with an audible 'hiss' it sealed electronically and did so just as Connor's palms pressed up against the now smooth surface that had only briefly been the opened doorway.

"Markus!?" Connor shouted again and pounded the side of his fist against the wall and fell forward in defeat. Pressing his forehead against the cool surface of the wall Connor let out a defeated sigh and closed his eyes. "...Shit. I lost him."

---

Completely cut off from his allies with the masked man and the man's colleague, Markus found himself standing in a small, crude laboratory type of setting that housed numerous technicians' tools that were strewn about a metallic tray table with little else. The walls of the room were lined with old metal vats that once held various chemicals but had long since been emptied. A rolling metal table containing numerous android repair and modification tools were glistening in the dim lighting overhead. Beneath a hanging dim light jutting down from the ceiling, a long rectangular table with metal cuff-like restraints at the four corners was laying flat near the middle of the room. It was seemingly waiting just for Markus to lay down atop of it.

Sensing impending doom, Markus closed his mismatched eyes and tried to send Simon a message regarding his love for the deviant and to request that he not put himself in harm's way to try to find himself. He didn't want anyone to suffer in the way that he was about to endure.

"There." The masked man pointed at the table with the barrel of the gun and ordered Markus to go over to it. "Lay down."

"And if I don't cooperate?" The deviant leader dared to ask as he kept his hands in the air submissively. "What then?"

"Then I will shoot you now and finish off your allies later."

"All right..." Not wanting his friends to die because of him Markus didn't put up a fight. "I'll do what you say, just don't hurt them."

Obediently Markus slowly walked over to the table and laid down as instructed. The masked man kept his gun trained on the deviant leader as his colleague grabbed onto Markus's left wrist and secured it beneath the first cuff. The colleague then followed up with Markus's right wrist and then both of his ankles to ensure that the deviant leader couldn't get away.

The masked man snarled at Markus as he tapped his finger index fingertip on the edge of the table while his colleague stepped back. "Recognize this device?"

"The table?" Markus asked curiously as he followed the masked man's gesture. "Should I?"

"It's from these very tables that you abominations against nature are built." The masked man pressed a small button on the floor just beneath the end of the table and the table itself shifted upward from being perfectly horizontal to nearly entirely vertical. The strain against Markus's wrists began to build as gravity shifted all of Markus's weight downward against the restraints. "And it's from this very table that I will fix that mistake."

The masked man placed his gun down on the metal tray table and rolled it over to where Markus had been restrained. Selecting a long sharp metal pick from the numerous options of tools on the tray, the masked man pressed the sharp tip of the pick against Markus's right cheek while his colleague traced their fingertip over the remaining tools in a taunting manner.

"Broken machines need to be repaired or replaced. I wonder," pressing down the sharp point the masked man drew Thirium from a small puncture wound in Markus's face and watched the blue blood bead as it ran down Markus's cheek. "what will happen with you?"

---

Back at the precinct Gavin, Tina, Lucas, Ben and Joel were waiting for some information on their missing colleagues, only to be informed by Simon himself after arriving from New Jericho Tower that Markus had gone missing as well. Knowing that the timing was too perfect to be a coincidence, Gavin asked about Markus's last know location and was informed about the strange message and the address of the deserted department store that had come from an unknown source somewhere outside the tower. Playing on a hunch, Gavin knew that the address would have to do as their best lead until further confirmation on the missing trio came forward and trusted his gut that Quondam was in fact connected.

Having to prioritize his responsibility to the precinct, to his colleagues and to the city was a true test of Gavin's patience. This was the first time that Gavin was essentially being tested by something he could not control or change in any way.

"Tina, I need you and Lucas to go check out the address that Markus went to and tell me everything you find." The Detective ordered in a firm tone as he remained in charge of the precinct. "Take Ben and his C.S.I. team with you and treat that place like an active crime scene."

"We're on it."

Simon watched as the two detectives obeyed the command and set off for the address. Just as he was about to ask if there was anything else he could do to help in the search, Joel raced through the bullpen with his laptop in hand and focused on Gavin.

"Detective Reed, you need to see this." Noticing Simon watching everything transpiring Joel gave the blond technician a sympathetic glance. "You might want to see it, too. This is important."

"Now what?"

"Come with me." Walking into Captain Fowler's still empty private office with the requested duo in tow, Joel set up the laptop on the desk and showed both Gavin and Simon a live feed being streamed from an unknown source. The images on the laptop showed Markus tied down to a metal table in dimly lit room and being actively tortured by the man in the white mask. "...This showed up about two minutes ago. It's live but there is a very effective and modified V.P.N. that keeps bouncing this guy's I.P. around. We can't track it, we can only watch."

"Ah, fuck..." Gavin felt his stomach knot at the images on the screen. "It's just like what happened when Quondam sent out their broadcast yesterday morning."

Simon put his hand to his mouth and looked away from the screen in horror. "...Markus."

"I'm going to do everything I can to break through the V.P.N.," the dedicated precinct technician declared firmly. "and we'll find this freak before it's too late. But it's going to take a while for me to do it."

"Then fuckin' go and do it." Gavin nearly blurted as he turned to look at Joel standing beside him. "Do your work along with the rest of tech and figure out how to trace this asshole's location. I don't want to turn this over to the feds', but if that's what it takes..."

"I'm already gone!" Joel confirmed as he scooped up his laptop again. "I'll be up in my office!"

Simon crossed his arms over his chest and bowed his head as Joel jogged out of the office to set to work with his laptop tucked under his arm. "This is so pointless. All Markus did was go check on someone asking for his help."

"Pretty much every case that comes through here's bullshit." Gavin confirmed with a bitter tone as he flashed Simon a somber glance. "We'll stop that sick-fuck, even if it means putting a bullet in their head. With any luck, the Lieutenant will be the one to pull the trigger."

---

Feeling useless if not defeated, Connor returned to where Hank was sitting on the table and wrung his hands together nervously before himself. Unable to pinpoint his exact location, unable to detect Markus's presence seemingly just on the other side of the wall, unable to reach Lucas at the precinct, and unable to cybernetically call for help, the deviant detective felt completely helpless and useless. As he stood before Hank with a sense of misplaced shame burning in his soulful brown eyes Connor just shook his head sadly and sat down beside the concussed human to wait for something, anything, to happen. Connor wasn't a fan of waiting and began to curse his own impatience.

Hank could sense Connor's distress and wanted to help the deviant detective in any way that he could. His paternal instincts were strong, and he couldn't help but feel as if the deviant brothers were his honorary children.

"What's on your mind?" Hank closed his eyes to keep his headache to minimum. "I can feel you thinking."

"How can we find a way out of this place if we don't even know what this place is?"

"With patience." Hank reminded the ever stubborn and impatient deviant kindly. "We'll find our way out, and more importantly we'll find Markus. We're NOT leaving without him."

"How? I can't see through the walls or connect with my internal G.P.S. to identify our location."

"I hate to remind you of this, but humans managed to find their way around just fine without seeing through shit or relying on technology for millennia. We'll be okay."

Connor gave Hank a wary glance but agreed all the same. "You're right. How should we do this?"

"First we need to find our bearings to get an idea of where we are. Finding North usually helps with getting a sense of direction, but without anything to guide us one way or another that's out. So instead, we'll use other means of sensory deductions."

"How so?"

"These walls..." Glancing about the dark room as well Hank curiously tried to deduce where he and Connor were. "What're they made of?"

Eager to escape and find Markus before anything horrible befell his friend, Connor nodded and moved to the wall behind the table and pressed his palm up against the smooth, cold surface. Retracting his artificial skin from over his palm Connor ran a tactile analysis to isolate the material used in the construction of the wall, and with it more information could theoretically be found. While he couldn't run a more in-depth scan on the material under his touch, he was still able to properly identify it and now understood why his scanner wasn't functioning.

"...The wall is at least four inches of reinforced concrete with Faraday wires woven through the surfaces. It might be thicker than that, but I can't be certain as of the moment." Connor lowered his hand from the wall and returned to where Hank was still sitting. "The surface is coated with lead under two layers of sorbothane that is absorbing both shock and vibration with frequencies ranging from ten to thirty-thousands Hertz."

Hank crossed his arms over his chest and winced as his headache suddenly flared up. "...Am I supposed to understand any of that?"

"No, but it does explain why I can't use my scanner or send out a distress call. This entire room," Connor pointed to the floor as if he needed to indicate which room he was talking about. "was designed specifically to render androids completely blind beyond their basic sensors."

"So you can't see through the walls or call for help. I guess that means we're really on our own this time."

"Only for now." Noticing that Hank's pupils were slightly dilated Connor wrapped his fingers around Hank's wrist to count his pulse. "You should rest. It'll ease the headache you're trying to deny and make it easier for your body to heal from the concussion."

"I'm good, son."

"You said yourself that we need to be patient. Please, lay down until we can find a way out."

Knowing he had been bested Hank relented and decided to slowly lay down on the table and tuck his right arm under his aching head. "...All right. You win."

"I don't consider this a win."

Once the injured detective was laying down as comfortably as possible Connor began pacing about the room looking over the blank surfaces of the circular black tinted walls and bare dark floor. The lights above the table in the center of the area were the only furnishings inside the room making the already dark expansive space all the more bleak and hollow. There was no way for the deviant to see where the door in the wall slid open as it was perfectly secured and sealed with a strong electromagnetic lock.

"I can't detect the doorway. But perhaps I-"

As if on cue the door in the wall reappeared and Markus was pushed back through with a strong motion by the two masked captors. Markus collapsed face first on to the floor and remained perfectly motionless as the door disappeared into the wall again. A small puddle of Thirium was collecting under Markus's body from the numerous wounds he had sustained courtesy of the masked man in the other room.

"Markus?!" Connor rushed over to his downed colleague and knelt by his ally's side. Pressing his hand down in the middle of Markus's back gently, Connor ran a scan over Markus's battered body and felt a heat of anger rise up inside himself at the sight of his friend's wounds. "What happened to you?"

"He... He used... tools on me." Trying to roll from his chest and onto his back, but was too weak to do so, Markus allowed Connor to help him to roll over by supporting his shoulders. A deep laceration ran down the length of Markus's right cheek and soaked the side of his face in fresh blue blood while other cuts marred his chest and abdomen in gruesome dark blue lines. "He said- He said he was going to... fix broken machines or have them... replaced."

Connor ignored the ugly threat for a moment as he focused on Markus's current condition. "Can you move?"

"Y-Yeah. I'm tired, but I can... move."

"Come on." Taking Markus's arm in a gentle grip Connor pulled the limb around his shoulders and carefully pulled his injured friend up from the floor and helped him to walk over to the table where Hank was laying. "Have you sustained any damage to your biocomponents?"

"N-No. He... He opened my chest plate and pulled on lines... and wires. It hurt, but the damage isn't permanent."

Hank had sat back up and rose from the table to help Connor carry Markus by taking the wounded deviant's opposite arm and pulling it around his own shoulders. Once the deviant leader was placed down over the table Hank proceeded to place the gray blazer under Markus's head while Connor checked under Markus's blood stained gray long sleeved shirt to examine the painful lacerations beneath that covered his chest and abdomen.

"What did he do to you?" Hank asked curiously as Connor proceeded to carefully check over the wounds with his fingertips and his scanner. "Did he say or do anything that could give away his identity? What of his colleague?"

"No." Markus winced when Connor pressed down against his abdomen to check for internal hemorrhaging. "They n-never took their masks off, and after h-he had me secured to the t-table... he stopped talking. His c-colleague never... said a word."

"They secured you to a table?"

Slowly Markus lifted up his arm and showed Hank the bruise forming around his wrist. "Yeah. They k-kept me restrained while they t-tortured me."

"What for?" Taking Markus's arm in his hands Hank examined the swelling bruises with a paternal interest without causing any additional pain to the already pained deviant leader. "What good did that do to anyone?"

"I don't know." Closing his mismatched eyes Markus submitted to his fatigue for the time being. "Because he w-wanted to, I guess."

"Why'd he let you go?"

"I guess it was because I wasn't r-reacting like they wanted." As he spoke his voice leveled out and stopped shaking. "I think they wanted me to act like a machine or something, but I d-didn't do it. I didn't give them the s-satisfaction of seeing me like a machine, I r-responded as I really am. Alive."

Hank deduced what Markus was talking about as he gently laid Markus's arm down alongside his body again. "You cried out in pain?"

"I did. And at first it didn't deter them," Markus stated as he took in a deep settling breath. The bruises on his chest and abdomen were making the effort surprisingly painful. "but the more h-human I reacted to the pain they were causing me the more they began to h-hesitate. It may have even scared them to hear me admitting that I was in p-pain and could feel everything that they were doing to me."

Connor replaced Markus's shirt then checked the deviant's two bruised wrists for himself. "These people are obviously demented. The man whose spoken to us yesterday and recently, has threatened the city; deviants and humans alike, with bombs. He doesn't care about life in any regard, he's care only about proving himself right for a strange sense of narcissism and misplaced vindication. He clearly has a vendetta against the city and androids; perhaps even authority itself. And he has at least one follower, making him all the more dangerous."

"You h-haven't figured out who he is yet?"

"No." Gently placing Markus's arms back down on the table beside the deviant leader's body Connor's jaw twitched a little. "But we will figure this out. We have two suspects in mind, but we don't have enough details of the masked man's identity or his colleague to be certain You wouldn't have any guesses, would you?"

"No. New Jericho hadn't received any p-personal threats, and I don't have any enemies that would go after all three of us p-personally. How about CyberLife?"

"We haven't had any residual signs of CyberLife or their technicians in the past year. However," Connor gave the room a strange glance as if noticing a detail that no one else could see. "the structure of this room in general speaks volumes of someone who has intricate knowledge of android cybernetics. Perhaps we are dealing with a disgruntled technician with a heavy grudge after all."

"But why n-now? Why would-"

The door opened up again and the masked man returned with his colleague still loyally at his side. Pointing his gun toward Connor the masked man motioned for the deviant detective to walk to the door. "You're next. Move."

Markus weakly grabbed onto Connor's forearm and held him back. "D-Don't let him break you down into a machine. It's what he wants."

Understanding what he was being told Connor just nodded once and proceeded to approach the two masked assailants with a fearless gait in his steps. "Hank, take care of Markus until I return."

All Hank could do was give Connor a confident nod as the deviant boldly went to face off with the dangerous masked assailants as he had been ordered. As Markus had done before him, Connor raised his hands up into the air in a submissive manner while the masked man ordered him to step through the opened doorway and his colleague stepped aside. Once Connor passed through the door the masked man pushed the deviant forward and sealed the door behind him.

"Lay down."

Connor saw the same table where Markus had been restrained and grimaced at the sight. There were still traces of Markus's spilled blue blood across the surface and all around the cuffs in the four corners of the table. The stench of evaporating Thirium was sickening to the deviant's enhanced senses and it made his anger boil to the surface as he sat down on the edge of the table and laid back as instructed.

"Your friend was entertaining." The masked man taunted as Connor begrudgingly laid down on the table and let his wrists and ankles be bound by the man's colleague without protest. "Let's see if you're worth our time."

"Get on with it." Connor snapped bitterly as he glared at the man's dark green eyes through the white mask. He saw that the man's colleague had green eyes as well, and that in the far corner of the room was a third white masked person wearing all black. The third figure was statuesque and born dark brown eyes that reminded Connor of the person who had attacked him and Skye at Skye's office a few weeks back. "I dislike waiting and have more productive things to do with my time."

---

Outside of the unknown location where the missing trio were being held captive the rest of the active patrols and officers remaining in the city went about their patrols in search of the three missing people with no idea of their current captivity. Word of the three prominent people having gone missing and of Quondam's latest threat had been kept quiet, and the media had nothing to report on or any unfounded rumors to spread for the sake of ratings since the city was still evacuated. The silence and the lack of attention regarding the case was making it easier for the Central Precinct to continue their investigation without interference as patrol swept over the streets and continued to keep vigil for any sign of suspicious activity that could pertain to the case as a whole.

Pressing his fingertip and thumb to the bridge of his nose, Joel sighed and closed his pale blue eyes for a moment as he leaned against his desk top in front of his laptop. He had working nonstop since the bomb detonation from the day before and was thoroughly exhausted.

"Whoever these fiends are, they know how to cover their tracks and do it right. Lucky bastards."

The lack of progress on the technician's part had exhausted Joel mentally but he wasn't disheartened in the least.

"They must have an education in programming and software engineering, or they're a hacker with too much-"

Opening his eyes and dropping his hand from his face a sense of 'eureka' filled Joel's gaze as he began frantically typing away on his keyboard.

"That's the key! I just need to fight fire with fire, and I'll finally find our people."

---

Wrapping his arm protectively around his sore and aching abdomen Markus sat upright on the table and let out a pained breath as he leaned against his opposite arm to take some of his weight off his damaged core. Instinctively Hank planted his hand on the wounded deviant's shoulder to hold him steady where he sat, and in return Markus gave the senior detective an appreciative glance as he promptly wrapped his free hand around Hank's forearm for balance and to try to reassure him that he wasn't in critical condition. He looked rough and felt as if he had been thrown in front of a car, but Markus was stable and fully capable of functioning normally long enough to be of support for his allies.

Hank's throbbing headache was making it hard for him to concentrate on anything. As much as he wanted to get up and do something, anything, he knew couldn't risk making his head injury worse than it already was.

"I'm okay." Markus insisted as he sat beside the Lieutenant and tried to sound more confident than he felt. "It's just a few scratches."

"No, son." Hank could see Markus was in pain and needed to see a technician. "You're not okay."

Something about being called 'son' made Markus feel a little better despite the circumstances. "I'm already beginning to heal. Once we get Connor back we can try to find a way back into that room and find an exit through there."

"What's in that other room anyway?"

"I couldn't see much because that psycho kept me tied up in one spot, but I know that there was at least two people in the room, and that there has to be a door leading out of the building through there. How else could those assholes get into the room since the panel on our side can't be accessed? There has to be a second door in that room leading to the outside of the building."

"Makes sense to me. It's too bad we don't know where or what this building is."

"This place kind of reminds me of a factory. Or maybe a power plant." Markus swung his legs over the edge of the table and he planted his feet on the cold floor. His entire body was shaking from pain and mild Thirium loss. "Carl used to take tours of the abandoned parts of the city for inspiration. You don't forget how hollow and massive those cold buildings really are when people stop caring about them and stop visiting."

"A factory would make sense." Hank concluded as he glanced about the dim room with an inquisitive gaze. "Connor said the walls are covered in special material to reduce shock and vibrations, so I imagine that massive machinery of a factory would cause problems once they start shaking the foundation of the building and require reinforcement."

"Yeah..." The deviant leader agreed as he and Hank put their heads together. "Yeah, that does makes sense."

"But why they would bring us here and nowhere else is still a mystery. If this IS in fact a factory," Hank emphasized as he pressed his hand to the back of his aching head and leaned forward slightly. "what kind of factory was it? Did CyberLife have any factories for their projects, or just warehouses?"

"CyberLife had factories when they were first starting out as a company. Once they made enough of a profit to work privately from the tower, they shut down the factories and laid-off the employees. That was almost fifteen years ago."

"All right, after fifteen years that makes revenge from a disgruntled factory employee very unlikely."

"But this guy is a technician for certain." Markus confirmed as he pressed his palm over his sore chest. "He knows too much about android anatomy to be anything but a technician, or at the very least he's a technical student."

"He's been studying androids. Interesting... Is there a rival company that was competing against CyberLife?"

"No. CyberLife patented everything to do with biocomponents, Thirium and software. Even if another company tried to manufacture androids, they'd have to come up with entirely different technology which, even today, is very implausible."

"Shit." Hank sat up straight and closed his pained blue eyes. "I wish I had something else to work with. I can't solve a puzzle without all the pieces."

The door in the far wall slid open with a loud 'hiss' and Connor was pushed through the opening with a heartless shove. Collapsing onto the floor on his side Connor curled up around himself and began to shiver violently where he was laying.

"Connor!"

Hank and Markus were both on their feet within seconds and rushing over to the downed deviant. Hank could see a spreading stain of dark blue over the center of Connor's white dress shirt across his abdomen as he neared his injured ally. It soaked through the shirt's fabric and was sticking to his artificial skin like paste.

"Son, what did he do to you?"

"T-Tampered with m-my thermal r-regulator." Connor was shivering so violently that it affected his speech in a manner similar to how Markus's voice had been shaking earlier. "C-Cold. S-So cold..."

"We got ya'." Hank stated as he and Markus quickly helped lift Connor up from the floor and carried him over to the table to rest. Hank had his arm wrapped around Connor's back and his opposite hand pressed to Connor's chest, while Markus mirrored the same motions from Connor's other side. "How bad is it, son? Level with us."

"I am h-healing." Connor stated as he was placed on his side on the table. "B-But my s-system is trying t-to recalibrate my r-regulator. It's t-taking time."

Markus placed the gray blazer over Connor's body and put his hand down on the deviant's trembling shoulder as he contemplated what Connor just told them. "He messed with your biocomponents?"

"J-Just my thermal r-regulator."

Hank sat down on the table beside Connor and pulled the deviant up by his shoulders until he was resting his head against Hank's leg. Connor was shivering so violently that the table was beginning to shake. "How low is your temperature?"

"D-Down to eighty-eight degrees."

"Is it getting lower?"

"N-No. It's s-slowly increasing."

Markus knelt down in front of Connor and pressed his fingertips to the side of the deviant's neck to monitor his pulse. "Connor, Hank and I have been trying to figure out this masked guy's identity and where we are. We're leaning toward a factory and one pissed off technician."

"That is p-possible." Connor shuddered as he spoke and tried to focus on something other than feeling cold. The trembling was making his upper back ache profusely as he continued to recover from his blast injuries. "The b-building is of the r-right d-design. His kn-knowledge of an-android anatomy would a-also support this th-theory."

"When you were in that room did you see a second doorway leading out?"

Connor shook his head a little as he rested against Hank's leg and waited for his body to regain some form of warmth. "N-No. But there m-must be a way out thr-through there. Th-There are three p-people in total h-holding us c-captive. All w-wearing masks. T-Two have gr-green eyes, and th-the third has br-brown eyes. I th-think the brown eyed a-assailant w-was the one who a-attacked me and S-Skye at her o-office."

"Go into rest mode and let your self healing program work." Markus urged gently as he stayed on the floor beside his friend laying on the table. "We'll try to think of a way to get out of here and watch over you as you sleep, and we'll look into all three of our captives soon enough."

Placing his hand down on Connor's bicep Hank moved his palm up and down a few times to try to generate friction heat on the deviant's limb. "He's right, you rest for now and we'll keep thinking of our escape."

Too tired, too weak and too cold to resist the compulsion to sleep, Connor nodded a little and closed his soulful brown eyes as he curled tighter around himself.

Unsure of what else he could do for his wounded allies Hank just gave Markus a stern glance of determination, but said nothing as the duo tried to think of a way to escape. It seemed like a fruitless endeavor, but they were all too stubborn to just give up without a fight or lose to someone as demented as the three masked captors on the other side of the wall.

---

Captain Fowler had returned to the precinct after finishing his meeting with the other Captains at last, and continued on the same protocol that Gavin had initiated when the two detectives and now Markus had been confirmed as missing. At the abandoned department store downtown Tina and Lucas were able to uncover a scene of a struggle and some fresh human blood on the floor from where Hank had been struck, as well as his dropped phone and his service weapon. There was no sign of Hank, Connor or Markus inside the building, and it looked as though three bodies were dragged out of the building and through the backdoor to an alleyway by three different people.

The alleyway itself led to nowhere. There were no additional clues to gather and no trail to be followed. As a result, the two detectives out in the field left Ben and his team to chronicle the scene while they returned to the precinct to deliver an update in person.

"Nothing." Tina lamented as she and Lucas rejoined Gavin and Captain Fowler in the bullpen. "Whoever jumped 'em took them out the back and loaded them into a van or something. There's no sign of the escape vehicle and we don't know where they could've gone. It's a cold trail."

"Fuck..." Gavin was losing patience and Simon wasn't fairing much better. Simon had isolated himself in an interview room to try to keep his cool while the other officers and detectives worked together on finding the missing trio. "Joel is working on tracing the source of the feed, but it's a slow process."

"Lucas showed me the live feed while we were out checking the scene." Nodding toward her deviant ally Tina confirmed that they were kept in the loop during their investigation. "Do we know if Markus and Connor are still alive?"

"Connor IS with Markus? Fuck! I didn't watch that chunk of the feed." Rubbing his hand along the back of his tense neck Gavin sighed and stared at the floor at his feet. "That's just what the sick fucker wants... An audience. Well, I refuse to watch."

Tina gave Gavin a worried glance from where she stood as she rarely saw Gavin get so riled up on a case for personal reasons. "If Markus and Connor are both being held prisoner, then it's very likely Hank is with them, too."

"Yeah. And Hank ain't exactly as sturdy as a couple of androids." Lamenting their dire situation Gavin just confirmed that the odd case at hand just got a whole lot more complicated. "If that guy lays a hand on Hank, I don't know what could happen to him or the 'Tinman'."

Lucas refused to give in to despair and gave the two worried detectives a stern look. "Connor will not give up on himself or his allies. He may be damaged and in need of rest, but he'll find a way to escape and find a way to call out for help. We have to remain patient and trust that he'll contact us as soon as possible."

Tina agreed and tightened her trusty Kevlar vest over her chest to make sure it didn't budge. It had saved her just the day before, and she wasn't quite ready to take it off. "And when he does call out, we'll hear him and find him. We're going to find our missing people and bring them all home!"

---

Enough time had passed to allow Connor's self healing program to repair the damage to his thermal regulator and return his core temperature to a much more comfortable and stable degree. Sitting upright slowly on the table Connor checked the bloodied wound beneath his shirt over his abdomen and was happy to see that the leaking Thirium had ceased entirely and noted that he had stopped shivering. The improvement to his system and his vital biocomponent didn't do much to lift Connor's morale considering he was still trapped in an unknown location with no ready means of escape, and his upper back was still damaged. Knowing that his allies could suffer the same fate kept the deviant detective in a righteously somber mood as he tried to find a solution to their current problem.

Adjusting his posture and moving his legs over to the side of the table Connor shifted his weight from Hank and resumed preconstructing their potential escape options from their windowless prison. He didn't have much information to work with, but Connor was determined to succeed and escape with his dearest friends.

"Feeling better?" Hank asked as the deviant sat upright and breathed a steady sigh of relief. "You were asleep for almost an hour."

"For the most part, yes. Is your headache diminishing?"

"No, but it's not getting any worse either."

Connor looked over to Markus who was pacing about behind the table with his arms crossed over his chest. "Markus? How's your system?"

"Stable." The deviant leader replied sharply as he continued to pace. "But we're still at a loss for-"

The doorway in the far wall opened up yet again and the masked man returned with his colleague peering over his shoulder from behind him. The gun was pointed at the three prisoners and by all account he was going to do something horrible to Hank just as he had done to Markus and then to Connor. Instinctively Connor stood up and planted himself between the armed man and Hank protectively as he glared fiery holes in the masked man's face. Markus followed suit and stood beside the bold deviant to shield Hank from any potential future harm as well.

The concussed senior detective was too tired and sore to make a move himself and was very grateful for the two deviants who were ready and willing to protect him while he couldn't protect himself.

"I've completed some calculations." The masked man called out, his voice still garbled and distant. There seemed to be a hint of disappointment to his tone, almost as if the responses and reactions from the deviants had ruined his plot in some manner. "And I will let you decide your fates based on my numbers and I will finish my experiment. I will prove to this city once and for all that androids are simply machines, NOT alive."

Connor and Markus discreetly exchanged disgusted looks with one another but didn't say a word.

"One of you will come with me and the other two can go free. If I take the one known as 'Markus' there is an eighty-two percent chance that my tests will result in irreversible shutdown." The masked man never lowered his gun as he spoke and stared through the deviant leader as if he were a hollow shell. "If I take the one known as 'Connor' the tests have a ninety-six percent chance of causing crippling damage that would leave it functioning at only forty percent capacity, at best." Without changing his voice or showing any remorse the masked man then focused on Hank. "And if I take the human there is a fifty percent chance that he will die from shock and trauma."

Hank stood up as quickly as he could and stepped around the deviants to stand before them. "Then I volunteer myself."

"Hank, no!" Connor grabbed onto the senior detective's shoulder and gave him a frightened glance. "You can't do that!"

"I can and I will."

Markus spoke up quickly and sided with Connor. "He's right. This guy has problems with androids, not humans. Let me go instead."

Both Hank and Connor replied in chorus to the deviant leader. "NO."

"Markus, your people need you." Hank sharply refuted as he stared at the deviant leader's mismatched eyes. "And Connor," he grabbed onto Connor's arm and lightly pulled his hand from his shoulder. "you're my friend. I won't watch you march to your death."

Connor shook his head and stepped away from his allies back toward the masked man. "I won't let either of you die when I can sustain damage and continue to live on. It's wrong to expect anything else."

From the doorway the masked man watched the debate in silent contemplation as his ally turned away of disgusted. It was as if the masked man was at a loss of what to do and could only wait for the trio to make their final decision on his behalf.

"Hank, you're a police Lieutenant. You have too many responsibilities and the city needs you." Connor tried to argue logically. "And Markus, you're still a symbol for our people and a beacon of peace for everyone. If you were to die many deviants would rebel violently and possibly bring about a civil war. It's NOT worth you dying and risking a war when I can give myself up."

Markus wasn't having any of it. "You're important, too! Connor, you're a bridge between deviants and the law. You make everyone feel safe and feel like their voices are being heard. You have brothers who love you and need you!"

"I'm not the only deviant in law enforcement anymore. It'll be okay."

With waning patience Markus's mismatched eyes lowered as he realized that Connor was irreversibly stubborn and steadfast on turning himself over to the masked man to spare his life and to keep Hank safe. "...All right." Returning his gaze to Connor the deviant leader put his hand on his friend's shoulder in a grounding manner. "But, please know this. I'm sorry."

"...Sorry?"

Moving with lightning fast reflexes Markus reeled back his fist and struck Connor in the face under his left eye rendering the deviant unconscious within seconds. Before Connor's body fell to the ground Markus caught him around his chest and gently lowered the now unconscious deviant detective down onto the table to rest on his side and slowly recover.

"I'm sorry, Connor." Markus pressed his palm down firmly against the unconscious deviant's shoulder sympathetically. Connor's didn't move aside from his calm breathing. "But this time I can't let you do this."

Hank immediately checked Connor's face and looked up at Markus with utter confusion. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you're not letting him do this, but you do realize he's going to be pissed off when he wakes up and sees you here and not me, right?"

"Sorry, Hank. You're not going either." Moving too quickly Markus jogged away from the two detectives and toward the masked man. "Goodbye, my friends."

"Fuck- Markus?!" Hank shouted angrily as the deviant leader crossed the room within a matter of seconds. "Get back here! Damn it!"

"It's decided." Markus stated firmly and quickly without any hesitation as he stood before the masked man and faced down the barrel of the gun without any fear whatsoever. "I'm the one you can test on. Take me and let my friends go."

The masked man was silent as he received his answer, whereas his colleague scoffed under their breath behind him.

Merely waving with his gun for Markus to enter the disgusting lab where he had already tortured the deviant leader once before, the horrible masked man marched after Markus while his colleague secured Markus to the table for the final time as the door 'hissed' shut behind them and locked itself electronically.

Hank stared at the far wall as the door disappeared from sight and swore out loud in angry protest as he kept his palm pressed to the side of Connor's face in a comforting gesture.

"Fuck! This wasn't supposed to happen... No one deserves this."

---

The Central Precinct was frantically trying to find a way to locate the source of the live stream and find the abducted trio before it was too late to save them. Seeing Markus being re-secured to the table by the masked man was enough to throw gas on an already burning fire and force the investigating officers into overdrive. Simon was unable to watch the live feed at all as the very idea of seeing his future bondmate being tortured was torturous in itself. Gavin just flat out refused to watch someone being tortured by some deranged lunatic trying to make a demented and needless 'point' to the city, and Joel was working to track down the feed without actually watching the feed itself as he worked in his dispensary.

Inside the private office Captain Fowler was working to keep the abduction under wraps and quell panic at the sight of Markus being abducted and tortured somewhere in the evacuated city. The last thing the city needed was the deviants being righteously enraged at their leader being tortured by a faceless human when no one should've been allowed to walk the streets during the mandated evacuation.

"Come on, come on..." Gavin muttered to himself as he waited for the phone on his desk to ring with an update or for someone in the bullpen to get a useful tip in locating the missing trio. It was going on six hours, and everyone was as restless as they were exhausted. "This is bull-"

"Gavin!" Joel shouted as he raced down the corridor and into the bullpen once more. Nearly slamming his laptop down on the Detective's desk Joel pointed to the progress being made in the attempt decipher the V.P.N. and locate the source of the feed. "We're almost through."

"What? How?"

"When the stream of three innocent people being taken captive and tortured went live a TON of computer techs and deviants who had to leave the city had volunteered their services to help us break through the V.P.N. much quicker. I sent out an S.O.S. to other hackers in the area to ask for their help and they responded quickly. With the combined efforts of tech and the local hackers using their powers for good instead of evil we're finally narrowing the kidnapper's location down. We know for sure that they're somewhere in the industrial district downtown. Lucas can finally break through all the V.P.N.'s in the city and find our suspects!"

"That's more like it!" Rushing from his desk Gavin knocked on the glass door of the officer where Captain Fowler was waiting for an update on the case himself. Pulling open the door Gavin shouted at the superior officer and remained in the opened doorway "Captain! There's finally been a breakthrough!"

---

Rebooting slowly for a second time, Connor's soulful brown eyes steadily cracked opened and his blurry vision focused on Hank's concerned face looking down at him. Quickly remembering what had happened just prior to losing consciousness Connor sat upright on the table with a start only to have Hank put both of his hands against his shoulders to keep him from moving any further off the table or accidentally reinjuring his upper back. As Connor looked about the expansive and dimly lit room quickly, he realized that Markus was already gone and that he was too late to stop Markus or protect him from the unpredictably violent masked man's continued experiments of pain and misery.

The deviant leader wasn't going to let anyone suffer if he had the ability to take their place. The mark of a true leader and a truly compassionate soul came from their actions, not just their words.

Looking up at Hank the worried deviant dared to ask his ally about his absent friend. "...Markus?"

"I'm sorry, son." Keeping his hands in place Hank confirmed Connor's worst fear. "He made up his mind and went with those assholes."

"Shit." Connor abruptly stood up from the table even with Hank's hands still on his shoulders. "We need to find a way into that room."

"I know that, but I don't see how we can get the door open."

"There has to be a way." Determined to save Markus's life Connor refused to sit back and wait for help from someone else. "If we can find a way to override the door lock then we can get to Markus."

From the opposite side of the room, across from where the masked assailants had taken Markus, a second door slid open and allowed the blinding bright morning light to shine through inside the dark room. Hank shielded his sensitive eyes from the intense light with his hand while Connor's vision quickly adapted to the brightness with no difficulty. The smell of the city wafted into the room confirming that the door led back outside of the building.

"They're letting us go." Hank realized in a low voice as his shoulders tensed up with anger "But were not going anywhere without Markus."

"If I can analyze the lock on that door then I can attempt to locate the lock on this door." Motioning with his thumb over his shoulder to the opposite sealed door behind himself, Connor's gaze never left the opened door. "Once I'm outside the walls my scanner will be able to reactivate, and I can analyze the schematics of the door properly."

"Then go! Do what ya' gotta' do."

Hurrying toward the opened door Connor stepped through just enough to escape the dampening walls but didn't go so far that he wouldn't be able to get back inside the building if the door slid shut again. Pressing his exposed palm to the electronic lock Connor scanned the internal components quickly and efficiently. As he stood outside the door Connor looked about to try to identify his location, but his G.P.S. wasn't fully engaged just yet. What information he did gather would have to suffice for the time being.

He was also able to send out a single distress beacon to Lucas and inform his brother of his current location. He knew that once Lucas received the message that he'd be able to rally their allies at the precinct and come charging to the rescue.

"I got it!" Connor shouted as he jogged back into the room past Hank and over to the opposite wall where the second door was concealed. Pressing his palm down against the wall he detected a very faint electronic signature on the other side of the wall and was attempting to connect through the dampening materials between himself and his friend. "I can open it now, but I don't know what to expect once we're inside."

Hank grabbed onto Connor's gray blazer and joined the deviant at the second door. Reaching for his empty holster out of reflex Hank sighed and pressed his back up against the wall beside the second door. "I hate that those fuckers took my gun. Then again, I don't think they'd be dumb enough to let me keep it."

"I imagine these masked people have spent too much time thinking about this particular moment to oversee something as egregiously foolish as leaving one of us armed." The panel beneath Connor's palm glowed bright white and the door at long last slid open with a notable 'hiss'. "We're in..."

The two detectives entered the room and quickly and saw the horror awaiting them on the other side of the unlocked door.

"Markus." Connor's voice dipped and his heart sank entirely at the grotesque sight. He found his friend, but not how he had hoped. "No..."

The table was now vertical, and Markus was clearly in pain as he remained secured to the surface and bled from his wrists, ankles and chest. The strain of his own deadweight pulling down against his wrists restrained in the metal cuffs was causing his artificial skin to bruise and bleed profusely. Blue blood ran down Markus's face and saturated through his gray shirt and beige cargo pants in a sickening fashion. Barely functioning and barely breathing Markus looked as though he were seconds away from death.

Reacting quickly Connor rushed to his friend's side and pressed his hand down on the deviant leader's chest. Each weak shuddering breath was as pained as it looked. Markus's heart was barely beating, but the heartbeat was still there nonetheless.

Hank joined Connor at the table and checked the deviant leader's bleeding wrists carefully. "We need to get him down."

"Markus..." Unfastening the cuffs around the deviant's wrists Connor ran a scan over his body and noted the numerous injuries he had sustained. As Markus's arms fell limply down at his sides Connor supported his friend's upper body with both hands against Markus's chest, then let Markus press up and limply against his own chest without even flinching as the added weight ached at his damaged upper back. "Hold on, we'll get you out of here."

Hank worked on freeing Markus's ankles while Connor supported all of Markus's deadweight against his chest. With the deviant leader now freed Connor managed to easily scoop up Markus's limp body into his arms and carry him back through the door and over to the table in the center of the dark room that had been their main prison to rest.

"He's suffered numerous internal injuries." Connor stated in a shaking voice as he carried his friend to safety. "I can't carry him much further without aggravating his condition."

"Lay him down." Hank instructed as Connor gently placed the wounded deviant down onto the table to rest for a moment. "Can you send out another distress call and ask for more help?"

"No. I'll need to get farther away from the building, but I won't leave you two behind." Pressing his fingertips to Markus's right temple Connor performed a diagnostic and a heavy grimace fell over his face. "...Markus, not like this."

Markus let out a groan and his mismatched eyes fluttered open into half-lidded slits. Licking his lips where blue blood was running down his chin Markus tried to lift his head up, but Connor put his hands on Markus's shoulders to keep him still. "...Con...nor?"

"Don't move." Connor whispered as he held his friend steady. "Please."

Hank took Connor's blazer and draped it over the downed deviant leader lightly to try to keep him warm. "Take it easy for us, son. We'll get you some help as soon as possible. It's almost over."

"...H-How..." Markus stuttered in a hoarse whisper. "...How bad?"

"Try not to worry about it."

"...Please." The wounded deviant leader asked for only the truth. That's all he ever wanted, truth and honesty. "...Tell me."

"I... I won't lie to you." Connor closed his distressed eyes and moved his hands from Markus's shoulders to rest atop Markus's own hands neatly folded atop his chest. "Your right ascending Thirial line leading into your Thirium pump has been compromised. Left ventilation biocomponent is functioning at eighty-one percent capacity and the right is down to eighty-two percent. Your Thirium filter is down to fifty percent functionality and is beginning to overheat. Hemorrhaging of your thermal regulator is only exasperating your condition. With your Thirium volume down to seventy-three percent your self healing program cannot initiate, and your condition will continue to deteriorate."

"...So... bad?" Markus managed a weak grin before falling prey to a violent coughing fit. As he coughed both Connor and Hank held him down against the table without harming him in the process until the coughing fit passed. "T-Tell Simon-" Coughing stole his words again but he was determined to speak his piece. "I love... love him."

"Take it easy." Connor whispered again as he felt the violent tremors of the painful coughs racking Markus's body. "You can tell Simon that yourself, all right?"

Hank slipped his hand under Markus's head and lightly ran his thumb along the side of his face in a comforting manner. "We're with you, son. Hold on."

Panting for breath Markus looked at the two detectives tending to him and weakly smiled again. "...You know, for a c-couple of cops, you... both h-have... pretty good... bedside... manners."

As Markus's smile faded his head lolled limply against Hank's hand and the deviant leader fell unconscious; completely vulnerable to the world around him.

"Markus?" Connor gently shook his friend's arm, but Markus didn't respond. "No. Please don't shutdown. Not because of someone like that heartless bastard. You have to hold on!"

Hank could see that Markus was still breathing but he was incredibly weak and only seemed to be getting weaker by the second. "How long does he have?"

The deviant detective shook his head sadly, his eyes never leaving Markus's face. "...Not long. Maybe minutes."

"Shit. We'll think of something."

While the two detectives hovered protectively over their dying friend the door at the far side of the room opened up for the final time.

Hank quickly got to his feet and took a defensive stance between the masked assailants and the two deviants. "If you're half as smart as you think you are," Hank threatened with a deep growl. "you'll turn your asses around and run before I get over there and snap your worthless necks!"

The masked man took a few steps forward and revealed the gun from the front pocket in his black hoodie in his hand. While he didn't aim it at the trio the fact that he was still holding the gun was enough to put up the protective father figure's guard as he remained planted firmly between the assailant and the two wounded deviants.

"You better make those shots count you jackass. I'm pissed enough already, and you don't want to wound a rabid animal."

Rather than pointing the gun at Hank, Connor or even Markus, the masked man slowly placed the gun down on the floor and slid it toward Hank submissively much to everyone's surprise. Connor had noticed the odd gesture of surrender from the corner of his eye and his brow furrowed considerably as a result.

Hank wasn't letting his guard down anytime soon and didn't believe the man was actually giving up. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Surrendering." The masked man's voice was no longer disguised by a modulator and was fully exposed. He sounded like a young male, early to mid-twenties. Raising both of his hands in to the air he knelt on the floor and stayed put. "...I surrender, Lieutenant Anderson."

"What?" Walking over to the relinquished gun Hank picked it up and tucked it into his own holster for safekeeping as he looked around for the masked man's colleagues still lingering in the area. "Who the hell-"

The masked man shouted loudly from where he knelt. "Please. I'm sorry. And I'm surrendering peacefully. I regret... everything."

Approaching the masked man Hank slipped his fingertips under the chin of the mask and grabbed the back of the man's hood with is opposite hand. Pulling down the hood and slipping up the mask Hank looked at the face beneath and swore loudly. "Son of a bitch... You're just a kid!"

After running a facial recognition on the young man's now revealed safe Connor turned his gaze away and stared back down at Markus's face. "Benjamin Perkins. The son of disgraced former F.B.I. agent Richard Perkins."

"I'm... I'm so sorry!" Benjamin nearly wailed in regret as he admitted he was at fault. "I was wrong! Androids ARE alive... I just... I just-"

"Save it!" Hank shouted as he grabbed onto the back of Benjamin's hoodie around his neck and forced him to lay chest first down on the ground. "I'll get your confession at the precinct, you dumb prick. Like father like son... Bigots through and through."

"I know. I'm... ashamed."

"And what of your colleagues in the next room? Who are they and where are they right now?"

"Marcia Stack." The regretful man replied honestly. "She was infatuated with the idea of destroying deviants and just... She made it seem like I was on the right track. She's still in the next room, and I tied her to the table so she couldn't run off when I decided to surrender."

"And the third colleague?" Hank asked as he kept his eyes trained on the surrendering young man. "Connor saw them looking at him from the shadows."

"An android we hacked and used to build our bombs. His name is 'Clark'."

"...Clark?" Connor suddenly realized that the very deviant who had warned him of the explosives and bombs had the same brown eyes as the person who had attacked Skye and himself at her office, and he now realized that he had been tricked. The two humans used Clark to test how well their plan was covered up and made sure the bombs couldn't be traced back to them before they made their big move, and Clark had been used as a tool the whole time. "Another victim of their selfish ploy."

Hank overheard the comment and gave Benjamin a truly hate filled glare. "Why'd you have your android attack two people at a law office in broad daylight?"

"That deviant lawyer had information against my father." Benjamin admitted in a low whisper. "She had her files sealed too well to be remotely deleted, so I sent Clark to the office to destroy her terminal. She wasn't supposed to be in the office when he arrived, so I made him attack her and then Connor when he interrupted everything. No one was supposed to get hurt!"

"Your father's reputation CANNOT be salvaged by deleting an inconvenient file. The whole world knows what he did and he's lucky that Director Jayden didn't punish him worse than he already had been."

"Yeah... I can see that now. And I'm so, SO sorry."

"Save it for the trial, dipshit." Hank urged in a disappointed tone. "It's the judge who needs to hear your pleas, not us!"

Markus coughed again, blue blood staining his lips and chin as he continued to bleed internally.

"Hank," Connor stared at Markus with utter horror in his eyes. "Markus needs help, NOW."

"I know, son. But we can't-"

From the opened doorway leading into the bright sunlight of the world outside a loud voice called out and a squad of police officers burst into the building and quickly surrounded the area. "Lieutenant?!"

"Gavin?" Much to Hank's surprise Gavin and the other officers took charge of Benjamin while Hank stood up and returned to Markus's side at the table. "Holy fuck. How did-"

Gavin rushed into the room and swept his gun over the area to ensure it was clear as Lucas rushed in behind him. "Lucas, Joel and a bunch of helpful nerds hacked this guy's streaming address and pointed us in the right direction."

"Streaming address?"

"That twisted fuck was showing the whole world his sick experiment in torturing Markus and Connor." Gavin explained as he looked over the grim sight for himself. Everything was as sick as it looked on the live stream. "It backfired and everyone turned against him."

"What a fucking moron..." Hank motioned to Markus and waved the officers over to the table. "Look, Markus needs emergency repairs, NOW. He's the priority."

"We're on it, Lieutenant." Gavin confirmed as he eyed Benjamin while Lucas checked over Markus for himself. "We have an ambulance outside already."

As Markus coughed again, his breaths now pathetic wheezes forcing his chest to barely rise and fall, Connor tightened his grip over his injured friend's arms in a supportive manner. "Markus, please hold on. You're going to make it."

"Hey!" Gavin shouted to the other officers to go to the table and to help take care of the downed deviant leader. "Take care of Markus, we got a man down over here!"

Connor watched as the other responding officers worked together to gently pick Markus up from the table and carry him out to the emergency responding ambulance parked just outside the building. The deviant leader's body was dripping blue blood and was as limp as a corpse in the protective hands of the four police officers carrying him to safety. The sight made Connor feel sick all over again.

"I'm going with him." Lucas stated firmly as he walked alongside the downed deviant leader. "Connor, please follow after so you can have your own damage assessed properly."

"His allies are in the next room." Hank pointed to the opened door and made sure Gavin knew where to keep looking. "One's a woman who was complicit in everything, the other is a deviant who was turned into their weapon. The deviant also attacked Connor and Skye at Skye's office."

"We'll get everything sorted out later, Lieutenant."

"Connor." Hank put his hand on the worried deviant's shoulder and bowed his head a little as he walked away from Benjamin as Gavin proceeded to cuff the young man and give him his rights. "Come on. It's over. Let's go."

"...I really want to believe that." Allowing Hank to guide him out of the building to step back into the warm sunlight Connor began to tremble again and he looked like he was going to throw-up. "But how can I believe anything good could happen after a bad like this?"

"By hanging on to hope, son. It sounds corny but it's true." Watching as Markus was placed in the back of the ambulance with Lucas right beside him, Hank pressed his palm to the back of his aching head and felt his own blood drying against his gray locks. His red blood smeared with Markus's blue blood to create a purple stain on his skin. "Trust me on that. Sometimes hope is all we got."

---

It was eerily tense and quiet at the Zeta Facility as Markus was rushed into the emergency repair bay by the facility's most skilled technician, Dr. Abby Grayson. While Hank was undergoing numerous tests to ensure he didn't suffer a fractured skull or a brain bleed from being struck from behind at St. Mercy Hospital, Gavin had taken Benjamin and Marcia back to the precinct to be questioned and charged for his crimes against the city, which included domestic terrorism, abduction, hacking, wrongful imprisonment, illegal use of explosives, the assault of two police officers and the attempted murder of Connor, Skye and Markus atop of many, many other charges. As expected F.B.I. Director Norman Jayden was requested to make a return to the city to handle the case since disgraced former agent Richard Perkins was Benjamin's father.

Alone Connor stood in the waiting room of the facility and nervously danced his coin over his knuckles as he watched the news report regarding the arrest of Benjamin Perkins and Marcia Stack quickly circulated through the city on the television. An accompanying second story that was almost as important as the demented couple's arrest circulated just as frequently, but Connor couldn't focus on the news enough to care. That story revolved around how the city's best hackers and tech students had united together to stop Benjamin and Marcia, and save the captive trio before it was too late, which in turn seemed to unite the fractured city at long last.

Distracted and shaking where he stood Connor didn't notice when Simon had finally arrived at the facility to check in with his injured beloved.

"Where is he?" Simon entered the waiting room and instantly honed in on Connor. "Please tell me he's still alive!"

"...Simon." Pocketing his coin Connor gave Simon his full attention. "He is alive. Markus is undergoing emergency repairs as we speak. He's holding on."

Rubbing his hand over his face Simon was fighting back against his relentless stressful tears. "Why? Why did this happen?"

"I don't know. I wish I did, but a part of me is grateful to not know what it's like to be so full of hatred that I'd target innocent people and lash out against them in such a heinous manner."

Simon was beginning to break down a little and Connor took a step closer toward him.

Gently Connor pressed his hand to Simon's bicep to try to give him a sense of grounding. He didn't expect Simon to press up against him so he could actually wrap his arms around the blond technician to hold him in a comforting hug. "It'll be okay, Simon." Connor kept his voice low but confident. "Markus is too strong to give up on us or his people."

"I hate this." Simon all but shouted as he buried his face into Connor's still bandaged chest. He was losing his cool but fighting to stay strong all the same. "All Markus wants to do is help people, and this is how he's treated!"

"...I know. I hate it, too." Tightening his hug Connor just held on to Simon and let him press up against his chest needing support. "It's not fair to anyone."

Unable to hold back his overwhelming emotions Simon began to sob openly against Connor's chest. As Connor tightened his hug even further he felt his own worried tears welling up in his eyes, but didn't dare shed them. Right now, he needed to be strong for Simon. He'd be able to let out his emotional grief later after Markus had been taken care of and after he told Skye about the real reason she had been assaulted.

"He'll be okay." Trying to sound confident in the same way as Hank always did during times of distress, Connor refused to let Simon fear the worse for his beloved after everything they've gone through. "He's strong and he loves you too much to leave you behind."

"...I know." Simon whispered as he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm himself back down. "I love him, too. I always will. I loved him since the day he arrived on Jericho, and I'll be sure to let him know the moment he wakes up again."

---

With a large bag of ice pressed to the back of his aching and stitched up head Hank was shown to the facility's recovery room where Markus was resting with Abby watching over him. Simon was already inside the room holding on to Markus's hand in a death grip as he refused to leave his side until he knew for certain that he'd be all right. Connor was sitting alone outside the room in a chair by the door with his blue blood stained gray blazer draped over his lap. Everyone was still in shock over the pointlessly upsetting incident. While Simon was able to find solace by holding Markus's hand in an isolated room, Connor settled for sitting in silence a few feet away from his recovering friend.

Lucas was monitoring Connor very closely and making sure that his thermal regulator didn't suffer any permanent damage after being tinkered with by an amateur and vindictive technician. While Clark had been freed of his subservience after having his programming analyzed by Lucas, he still felt immense guilt for his inclusion with Quondam's schemes and had gone to the precinct to give a full statement regarding everything he could remember before, during and after being freed by the responding police department.

As the senior detective sat down next to Connor, he stared at the coin anxiously fidgeting over Connor's hand and let out a deep sigh. The nervous tic annoyed Hank from time to time, but he didn't say anything as he knew Connor had every right to be anxious at that moment.

"He's going to pull through." The coin stopped suddenly between Connor's right index and middle fingertips as the deviant nearly froze at the remark. "Did you get checked out?"

"...I'm functioning at one-hundred percent capacity." The deviant detective replied in a deflecting manner as he felt Lucas giving him a disappointed look. "I only require a small amount of Thirium replenishment to top off my reserves."

"So, 'no'. You didn't get checked out."

"I'm fine, my thermal regulator repaired itself." Lowering his gaze from the wall across from himself to the floor at his feet Connor's jaw twitched again. "How's your head?"

"Bigger concussion and now six new stitches." Hank pressed his ice against the back of his head a little harder. "No fractures, no bleeding. I'll just need a week to heal and then have the stitches removed, then another week to heal enough from my concussion to go back out into the field."

"That's good."

"I spoke with Gavin over the phone after I was cleared." The senior detective continued to keep Connor's mind preoccupied while Lucas silently monitored both Connor and Markus from where he was sitting. "Benjamin told him everything about his little scheme. Marcia fueled his hate, gave him the money and resources, and she told him to hack into Clark's programming."

"Why?" Connor looked over to Hank needing to know the answer. "Why'd they do it? Why terrorize the whole city and innocent people because of his own father's mistakes?"

"Benjamin was pissed about what happened to his father." Leaning back in the chair Hank crossed his arms over his chest and slouched down where he sat as he let the wall hold the ice to the back of his head for him. "After Dick Perkins was fired and shamed, Benjamin reached out to his father's old contacts at the F.B.I. and tried to get them to pull some strings to get Dick out a few years early and even clear his record."

"The F.B.I. refused to be lenient on Perkins and Benjamin took things into his own hands." Lamenting the wasted second chance at life Connor sighed and leaned back in his chair. "And the damage has been done."

"Yeah. He began truly hating androids while he was behind bars and wanted to prove that all androids are machines, not people. He even started studying android anatomy to fuel his hatred. When he had enough money from Marcia, he decided it was time to make his move."

"Was Benjamin acting on his own anger or continuing his father's hatred?"

"Both. It also turns out that Marcia is a weird groupie who gets turned on by criminals and started a personal correspondence with Benjamin after finding each other in that chatroom. She just encouraged his hatred and added fuel to the fire. She already hated androids because she got fired after an android reported her for theft, and she made his hatred worse with seduction and 'favors' once he was under her influence."

"Why did he torture us? I still don't understand the act." Connor still couldn't wrap his head around hating a group of people just for existing. "Wouldn't it be a more successful act of revenge to just kill us?"

"Benjamin wanted to prove that androids would sacrifice human lives for their own benefit and that humans shouldn't trust them. But his experiment failed when the viewers to his live stream saw the way we all fought to keep each other alive and safe." Hank replied proudly as he patted Connor's shoulder lightly. "They saw us seeing one another as equals, as friends; not as man and machine."

The corner Connor's mouth twitched, and he sighed through his nose.

"All he did was prove that humans and deviants can in fact coexist as equals." Hank continued on in an exhausted tone of voice. "And because he streamed what he did to us, the city came together despite being evacuated to stop him and they came to our rescue. Everyone was doing the exact opposite of what he was trying to prove. Joel had more help on this one day than he's ever had, and Gavin took care of everything back at the precinct like a true leader. Even Fowler was impressed by his leadership skills."

"So, instead of dividing the city, Benjamin inadvertently brought everyone together. Everything he tried to prove right was proven wrong in a widely witnessed and undeniable fashion."

"Yup. And that's why he surrendered." The heavy remorse in Hank's blue eyes spoke volumes of the tragedy of the situation. "He realized that he was in the wrong when his V.P.N. was broken and that no one was going to support him anymore. He had nowhere else to go and he didn't want Marcia to either betray him or run loose since she's an influential instigator."

"That's pathetic."

"I couldn't have said it better myself, son. Now he's gone and we're still here." Giving his friend a confident stare Hank did his best to help Connor feel better after such a terrible day. "And all that matters is we're still alive and we're still going to keep doing the right thing to keep people like Benjamin and Marcia off of the street forever."

"At least I hope we can do that." Giving Hank a tired look Connor made it clear that he was exhausted and just wanted the day to end. "Hope is all we have, right?"

"Only sometimes. Then there are days like today where we have the support of our friends, our family, our coworkers and even total strangers. The world isn't as dark and lonely as it seems, son. Don't forget that."

"I'll do my best." Slipping his coin into his pocket Connor sat upright in his seat and did his best to get the negative thoughts out of his mind. "I promise."

---

Two days of nervously pacing and waiting were over at long last when Markus weakly opened his mismatched eyes and finally regained consciousness. After slowly reassuring and holding Simon in his arms as tightly as he could while still recovering from his near fatal wounds, Markus was ready and almost eager to speak to the police and give his statement about the incident and then talk with Connor, Lucas and Hank regarding their previous captivity. It was a strange conversation to share, but nonetheless it was necessary, and Markus was more than ready to do what it took to keep such a dangerous and hate filled person behind bars for the sake of the entire city.

The identity of their abductor was disappointing but not surprising. Despite the repeated attempts to harm deviants out of their own personal grievances Markus refused to openly bash the bigoted humans or stir the pot with rumors and scandalous claims.

"Thank you for not giving up on us." Connor stated at he put his hand on Markus's shoulder lightly. Seeing his ally, his friend, awake and alert was enough to ease Connor's worried mind. "And thank you for saving our lives."

"Hey, you both were ready to do the same for me." Markus smiled sincerely from where he was laying. "You're my friends and I'd gladly do that again to keep you safe. It's what friends are supposed to do for each other."

Markus was still attached to a Thirial activity monitor as a precaution, but he was stable and all of his vitals looked strong and normal. A nasal canula was under his nose to aid his ventilation while his artificial lungs healed, but even so every breath he took was pained. He was also still a little pale thanks to his low Thirium level affecting his artificial skin and he was still weak from suffering the overall damage to his numerous vital biocomponents. Despite his lingering weakness and pain Markus remained in high spirits and smiled at his beloved and his friends without any fear in his gaze.

Keeping his demeanor optimistic Connor asked the obvious question. "How do you feel? You know, considering the fact you were on the repair table for six hours, nineteen minutes and forty-three seconds."

"I feel like shit." The deviant leader responded honestly as he pressed his palm to the center of his aching abdomen. "But I'll be out of here tomorrow and under Simon's care for the following two days."

"That's good to know. Has anyone told you about the person who targeted us and why they did it?"

"Yeah. Simon told me everything after he checked in with the officers at the precinct."

Connor looked about and found Simon curiously absent. "Where is Simon right now?

"He was given a ride back to the house to get me some clean clothes so we can leave first thing tomorrow morning." A ghost of sly smirk appeared on Markus's face as he spoke. "It sounds like that Gavin guy, the one who used to hate androids, was a real hero for all of us."

Connor smirked as well as he admitted that Gavin really stepped up and came through for all three of them. "Yeah. He took charge and coordinated the investigation flawlessly. He's the one who found us, too."

"Sounds like you finally won him over."

"No, I think he merely had a change of heart thanks to his own experiences with androids. I imagine being married to Abby helped soften his demeanor as well." Wringing his hands together nervously Connor let out a somber sigh. "Benjamin and Marcia are going to prison, but Hank and I have been assured that Benjamin will be getting psychological help so he won't rot in jail with hatred festering in his heart. Maybe in time he can heal and remedy the errors of his and his father's previous actions. As for Marcia, I fear she's beyond help. Clark will not be charged with anything."

"I'm glad to hear that." There was something comforting in knowing that the poor kid would get some form of help despite his brutal crimes. "It's a shame he was subjected to so much hatred as a child that he didn't have a chance to form his own opinions on androids as he grew up."

"I agree. Children are so innocent and need to be guided accordingly." As he spoke Connor sensed the sliding door open and Simon rushed into the room to drop off Markus's clothes before he promptly kissed Markus right on his lips. Now that Markus wasn't alone Connor decided it was time to leave and finish his report and go check in on Hank. "Please, get some rest."

Still protective of his friend Connor knew Markus needed more time to heal and didn't want him overexerting himself. "I will. And you do the same."

"I'll do so soon. For now, I need to get back to Hank. He's still recovering from a concussion and shouldn't be alone for too long."

"Right." Extending his hand Markus shook Connor's hand with a firm grip and smiled again as he held Simon in his opposite arm in a half-hug. "I'll see you soon. Thank you for everything my friend."

"Of course. Any time you need me, I'll be there."

"I know you will." Markus smiled sincerely despite his lingering pain. "That's what friends do; through the good times and the bad, we're always there for each other."

---

The three detectives, Connor, Lucas and Hank, had all reconvened at the brownstone to get some rest as the odd day transitioned toward evening. The senior detective was exhausted courtesy of his concussion and needed some sleep, but first he was going to be given something decent to eat. With all the restaurants and grocery stores still closed the senior detective was treated to a homecooked meal by Lucas's hands as Hank and Connor rested on the sofas in the study with Bruno and Sumo watching over them. It was quiet at the brownstone, and thankfully with the city slowly returning to normal after the evacuation they didn't have to worry about a client knocking on the door or asking for some help.

With Quondam uncovered, arrested and the assailant behind Connor and Skye's attempted murder identified, two massive cases were closed at last. Even so, the three detectives still felt tense and didn't want to let their guards down just yet.

Just as Hank was about to drift off to sleep a cybernetic message popped up in Connor's mind and gave the deviant detective some good news to share. "Hank, approximately two minutes ago Jack regained consciousness. According to Chris who is going to remain at the facility, Jack has rebooted and is going to make a full recovery. Dr. Urban wants to keep him in the Delta Facility overnight, but he'll be able to go home in the morning."

"That's great news." Opening his eyes again as Sumo pressed his chin down over his chest, Hank patted the massive dog's back as he turned to look at Connor on the second sofa across from him. "Everyone's going to be all right, and we got some very dangerous people off the streets."

"It's too bad it took too long."

"Don't kick yourself over things beyond your control, son. It'll just drive you insane."

Lucas entered the study with a larger serving tray in his hands and immediately sided with Hank on the discussion. "He's right, brother. Misplaced guilt will only create a distraction."

"I'm aware." Sitting more upright Connor moved his legs so Lucas could sit beside him as he continued to rub Bruno's ears while the loyal K-9 unit sat on the floor beside him. "And I'll work on letting guilt go to prevent any emotional stunting."

"Thank you. This is for you, Hank." Lucas handed the plate over the senior detective and watched his eyes light up. "I've never cooked a steak before, so I hope it tastes right."

"It smells amazing, son." Hank wasn't about to complain about a free steak dinner. There was even a baked potato and a side of green beans and a large glass of milk to compliment the provided meal. "Thanks. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome. And this is for Sumo." Placing the second plate on the floor Lucas watched as the Saint Bernard happily got down on the floor and gobbled up his own smaller steak for dinner. "We started keeping more groceries in the kitchen in the event we have human guests over, and we will leave properly cooked cuts of meat in alleys for stray cats and dogs to enjoy while on stakeouts. They seem to truly enjoy it."

"I'm not above begging for a prime slice of steak like this. Hell, if I knew that being concussed would get me some five-star cooking while I recover then I would've taken a hell of a lot more risks in the past. Don't tell Fowler I said that."

"Your secret's safe with us." Lucas promised as he patted Sumo's back. "Everyone being safe and taken care of is our primary concern."

Connor leaned back against the sofa and felt only a mild ache as his upper back continued to heal after being caught in the bomb blast the previous evening. He knew that he was going to make a full recovery, and yet he couldn't help but feel as if there was another issue that he was either overlooking or completely blind to. Until he knew what was gnawing away at his subconscious Connor would continue to focus on the city and find a way to speak to Skye as soon as possible.

The deviant detective knew that the only way to remain on top of future problems in the city was to keep alert, pay attention and keep looking for solutions to whatever may be waiting around the corner.

-next chapter-