12:26pm- Hank's House

Vera

Hank screwed the burger wrapper into a ball and pushed it into the middle of the table. Vera laughed.

"Come on, I bet you can't get that into the trash can over there." She pointed to where it sat under the window. Hank raised his eyebrows. "You like basketball, right? Humour me."

She grinned as he picked it up, weighing the distance. Then he threw it in an arch over Connor's head, and straight into the trash.

Hank crossed his arms smugly, but Vera threw her hands in the air and gave a whoop. She grabbed hers, laughing already, and threw it in the same arc as Hank. Only she missed. Hank chuckled, shaking his head as she groaned lightly. Connor smiled distantly, staring at the table.

Vera tilted her head. "You okay, Connor?"

Hank sighed. "Don't let that psycho Kamski get to you, Connor. It was just a friggin' test all along. I should've just marched you straight outta there."

"No. No, I'm fine." Connor paused, raising his head a little. "He said I was deviant. But… I'm not, right?" His voice lowered almost to a whisper.

Hank shared a glance with Vera before she responded slowly.

"I… don't know, Connor. You're thinking for yourself and deciding for yourself. You've become… well, more human, I guess."

Connor blinked, brow furrowing. His lip trembled slightly.

"But I'm not. I have a mission and I will complete it. We will find the deviant leader before this uprising gets out of hand." His voice rose, defiant. Afraid.

Hank's phone dinged. He pulled it out of his pocket, holding it a bit further away from his face. Then he raised his eyebrows and frowned. Turning, he shouted:

"Television on!"

"What's going on?" Vera asked.

The tv turned onto the news. There was a video of a crowd marching down the street. Hundreds of them. And they were all androids.

"We are live now as the SWAT team have just arrived to stop the deviants' march…" the newsreader cut in before the next video was shown. There were the androids. Standing still before the guns.

"We came here to demonstrate peacefully. And to tell humans that we are living beings," Markus declared.

"This is an illegal gathering. Disperse immediately or we will open fire!" The policeman shouted through a megaphone behind the shields.

"We don't want confrontation. We've done no harm and have no intention of doing any. But we're not going anywhere until we've secured our freedom."

The policeman wasn't listening. "I repeat, this is an illegal gathering. If you do not disperse immediately, we will shoot!"

Markus' friends, those who were in Stratford Tower with him, began to speak to him frantically. They looked afraid but determined.

Almost immediately, one shield went down, and two policemen began shooting at the crowd before them. Androids were shot. Blue blood sprayed as they dropped to the ground.

"Jesus Christ…" Hank muttered. Vera jumped, forgetting her own surroundings as she stared horrified at the tv.

"Disperse! This is your last chance!" The officer screamed.

The reporter remained silent as it cut back to him for a split second. He shook his head, making sure the camera was fixed on the androids.

The androids remained still. A moment later, the shields came down again and the guns were pushed forward.

They shot again. More androids collapsed to the floor, left and right of Markus, North and Josh. The deviants moved closer together, into the spaces left by the dead.

But then something changed.

As the soldiers continued to fire, Markus stepped forward.

Alone.

He walked closer to the soldiers, away from the crowd. To face the guns by himself.

"What is he doing?" Vera whispered harshly.

The soldiers fired before anyone could respond to her.

Markus remained standing as long as he could. But then he fell to his knees. The deviants ran. Only Markus' friends remained. More guns were trained on him before another android came out of the crowd. Running straight for the soldiers.

The android had a grey cap on, but it flew to the ground, landing at Markus' feet as he was beaten and shot. Markus was dragged away and saved in the chaos.

"Turn it off," Vera pleaded quietly. Hank complied gruffly. Connor stared at the spot on the table. "What the hell…"

"Well, Connor? You've been quiet," Hank said breathlessly over the table.

Connor said nothing for a moment, frowning. Then raised his head.

"It's going to turn into a civil war, isn't it? Have we still got time to stop the deviants?"

"You still wanna stop them? After what you just saw?"

"They're causing the humans to panic, Lieutenant! We have to do something."

"Hold on!" Vera raised her hands to both of them as Hank opened his mouth to retort. "I get what you're saying, Connor. But maybe this isn't about that anymore."

"Perhaps there's a different way to solve this," Hank thought aloud. "Maybe we just need to take a different approach." He sighed. "Come on, let's go to the station. I need to check something…"

4:08pm- Detroit Police Department

Hank glared at the terminal as he scrolled through the files.

"What are you looking for?" Vera asked, slowly becoming irritated by Hank's huffing.

"Just information…" Hank said vaguely. Vera rolled her eyes.

"Did you look at anything else on Kamski?"

Hank narrowed his eyes at her. "Why would I?"

She shrugged. "Well, we didn't find anything out from him, so maybe we can just grasp more information from interviews he conducted before he left Cyberlife."

"I said I was sorry about that," Connor muttered, from the end of the desk.

"I know, and there's nothing to be sorry about. But—"

"Hank! In my office!" Fowler called, leaning over the railing.

Hank groaned, swearing under his breath as he got up. Vera and Connor exchanged a glance, following closely behind.

Fowler sat on the edge of his desk, scratching his head absent-mindedly. Hank crossed his arms as he stood in front of the captain. Connor muttered about making a report before closing his eyes.

Fowler sighed. "Did you see what happened today? The androids marching through the streets?"

"Uh yeah, we saw it…" Hank raised an eyebrow. "What's that gotta do with us?"

"I'm just getting to that!" Fowler was struggling to keep calm.

"It was awful," Vera verified. "They just shot them all down."

Fowler narrowed his eyes at her. "Listen, you're off the case. The FBI is taking over."

"What?" Hank exclaimed. "But we're onto something!"

Vera exchanged a panicked glance with Connor who was fully aware what was being said. And what that meant for him.

"We… We just need more time. I'm sure we can—" Hank continued.

"Hank, you don't get it." Fowler interrupted. "This isn't just another investigation, it's a fucking civil war! It's out of our hands now…"

"Is it out of our hands?! We can fight this! We've done so much for this investigation—" Vera cried.

"You're not listening—" Fowler started, raising his voice.

"Fuck that!" Hank leant forward angrily. "You can't just pull the plug now. Not when we're so close."

"You're always saying you can't stand androids! Jesus, Hank, make up your mind! I thought you'd be happy about this!"

"We've come a long way, and this is about helping people!" Vera argued. Hank gave her a warning look.

"We're about to crack the case. I know we can solve it!" Hank sighed. "For god's sake, Jeffrey, can't you back me up this one time?"

Fowler shook his head. "There's nothing I can do. You're back on homicide and the android returns to Cyberlife." Connor hung his head slowly and Vera resisted the urge to argue back. "I'm sorry, Hank, but it's over."

Hank stormed out of the office before he could argue further. Connor opened his mouth to say something, then shook his head and followed Hank.

"This isn't over," Vera said through gritted teeth, following them both out of the room.

Hank slumped in the desk chair, his head leaning on his fist. Connor sat on the desk opposite him. Vera joined them, crossing her arms over her chest.

"We can't just give up like that. I know we could've solved this case." Connor drummed his fingers on the desk surface angrily.

Hank sat up. "So you're going back to Cyberlife?"

Connor looked down for a moment. "I have no choice. I'll be deactivated and analysed to find out why I failed."

"We won't let that happen, Connor," Vera muttered softly.

"What if we're on the wrong side?" Hank wondered. "What if we're fighting against people who just wanna be free?"

"When the deviants rise up, there will be chaos," Connor said slowly. "We could have stopped it. But now it's too late…"

"We can still stop it. There must be a way to stop them being slaughtered," Vera mumbled quickly. Thinking fast.

Hank waited a moment before continuing, looking Connor straight in the face.

"When you refused to kill that android at Kamski's place, you put yourself in her shoes. You showed empathy, Connor. Empathy is a human emotion…"

Connor's eyes widened slightly as he thought about it. Then shook his head, brow furrowing.

"I don't know why I did it…"

"Maybe being a deviant isn't such a bad thing?" Vera smiled slightly.

Connor smiled too. "I'm not programmed to say things like this, but… I really appreciated working with you both. With a little more time, who knows… We might've even become friends."

Hank blinked, but Vera could see the side of his mouth lifting as Connor spoke. She nudged Connor gently.

"We are friends. Why not?" She winked.

Hank snorted. "Well, well, here comes Perkins, that motherfucker. Sure don't waste any time at the FBI."

Connor turned back towards Hank and Vera.

"We can't give up. I know the answer is in the evidence we collected. If Perkins takes it, it's all over."

"There's no choice. You heard Fowler, we're off the case."

"Since when do you listen to orders, Lieutenant?" Vera remarked.

Hank raised his eyebrows, but Connor jumped off the desk.

"You've got to help me, Lieutenant. I need more time to find a lead in the evidence we collected. I know the solution is in there!"

Hank held up his hand. "Listen, Connor…"

"If I don't solve this case, Cyberlife will destroy me. Five minutes. That's all I ask."

"And if you don't, I will. I can't do this by myself…" Vera interjected.

Hank stood, sighing. He lowered his voice.

"Key to the basement is on my desk." He pulled away, realising Connor was still staring at him. "Get a move on! I can't distract them forever!"

Connor searched the desk while Hank strode over to the other side of the station. Vera hurried to keep up.

"What are you going to do?"

Hank smirked, then yelled: "Perkins! You fucking cocksucker!"

And then punched Perkins square in the face!

Vera almost burst out laughing, but two policemen were coming over to stop him.

"Stop it, Lieutenant!"

Vera moved in their way, side stepping them as they tried to get around her. Hank grabbed Perkins by his shirt and threw him against the wall. Then he punched the FBI agent again, leaving him on the floor.

Perkins scrambled backwards. "He's totally lost it!"

Another policeman came out of nowhere and held Hank away. The two policeman grabbed Vera to stop her intervening.

"Fuck off!" Hank exclaimed. "Leave me alone! Give me another shot at that little prick!"

As she struggled, Vera saw Gavin walk towards the evidence room. She raised her hands.

"I'm not going to help him. I'm going to walk away…" They let her go with a warning look. She backed away, hands still raised.

"Hey! That's gonna cost you your badge, you lunatic!" Perkins cried, wiping blood from his nose.

"You know where you can stick my fucking badge!" Hank growled, going for him again.

Vera took one more glance at Hank before hurrying for the evidence room.

She opened the door cautiously. Gavin was talking to Connor and by the look on the latter's face, it wasn't a nice conversation.

Gavin muttered something that Vera couldn't hear. She decided this was a good time.

"Gavin!" He turned around and scowled when he saw her. "We need you out here. Please. He's out of control…"

Gavin rolled his eyes but smirked. "See, they need me, not you. Now go on then, register the evidence and leave." He shook his head, walking towards Vera. "Prick…"

He sidled past her. Once out of view, she winked at Connor, and he gave her a grateful nod before disappearing into the evidence room.

Coming back into the main room, Vera saw that Hank was gone but Perkins was being helped up by Fowler and two policemen.

"I'm gonna bury that bastard," Perkins was muttering. "Shit, I think he broke my fucking nose…" He pushed Fowler off, then headed towards the evidence room with the two policemen flanking him.

Ah crap…

"What's going on?"

Fowler scowled. "Lieutenant Anderson is on suspension, and I want you to tell him that when you join him."

"Join him?" She thought about that for a second. "You mean on suspension?" She finally spluttered.

"Yes. It's lucky that's all he's getting. Now go on…"

Vera resisted the urge to glare at him, nodding her head instead.

"Yes, Sir," she said, almost mockingly. She turned to leave, but he called her back.

"Oh and take the android with you too."

Vera turned around to where Connor was marching towards them. He looked determined. She took that as a sign that he'd found Jericho.

"Great! Thanks. Lieutenant Anderson will be in touch," Vera quipped, following Connor out of the station.

"Wait!" They halted as Connor held up his hand. "I have located Jericho and I will complete my mission. There's no need to suspend Lieutenant Anderson or Miss Melian."

Then they both headed for the door. The alarm sounded a moment later.

Hank was there waiting in his car, stroking his bruised knuckles and smiling to himself. They got in the car. Vera chuckled.

"You gave him quite a hit there, Lieutenant!"

Hank laughed. "Yeah, well that little prick deserved it."

"He sure did." Vera turned her attention to Connor. "Well? Where is Jericho?"

"I'm going to head there now. Ferndale station is the key."

"You're going now?" Hank shifted in his seat to look at him.

"I'm coming with you. I have business to attend to." Vera wrinkled her nose. "You may want to change your uniform. It's not very inconspicuous…"

Hank snorted as Connor looked down at himself.

"Alright, I will change my clothes." He paused for a moment. "Yes, Lieutenant, I'm going there now. If I have a chance to stop the deviants, I have to get there first."

Hank held up his hand. "Now, hold on, let's just sort one thing out at a time, ok?"

"Uh, Hank? You may wanna drive now…" Vera interrupted, pointing to the lobby where Perkins and a few others were barrelling for the door.

"Holy shit…" Hank muttered, gunning the engine. The tyres squealed as they came away from the sidewalk.

8:34pm

Connor looked at his new outfit in the mirror. He was wearing jeans, a brown jacket, a grey hoodie and a hat to cover his LED.

Vera supressed her laughter as best as she could. It just made her laugh harder.

"What are you laughing at?" Connor asked, scrunching up his nose at her.

"Nothing. Nothing… You look great." A small giggle escaped but she pressed her lips together again. "We should go if we're gonna get there in time."

Hank drove them to the train station and said his gruff goodbyes. He wouldn't look them in the eye, but Vera knew he meant it.

"We'll see you again, Hank." Then she got on the train quickly, heart heavy.

The train journey took an hour, and they sat there in silence. They were so close now, it was hard to comprehend it all.

Finally they were at Ferndale Station, and they stepped onto the platform tentatively. Connor looked down at his left palm.

"What are we looking for?" Vera asked, seeing nothing on his hand.

"The Jericho symbol. It's made for androids to follow. But now we have the key, I can search for clues. Just follow me."

He moved slowly towards the wall on their left and scanned it. Then suddenly he turned and made to leave the station. Vera followed him, struggling to keep up with his lengthy strides.

Victory, and freedom, was almost in their grasp…