3:34pm- Hank's House

Vera

A small huffing noise woke Vera, and she opened her eyes to see Sumo sniffing her. She laughed sleepily, pushing herself up on the couch. Her shoulder ached but she rolled it as she sat up, spotting Connor at the kitchen table. Rubbing her face, she got up to join him.

"Hey… Are you alright?" Vera bent her head down to look at his lowered face. He was scowling at the kitchen table, but now he raised his head slowly. He glanced around the room before resting his gaze on her.

"I… I'm worried they might still be able to control me. I shouldn't be around people. My people. I put them in danger once. Severely. Amanda will do something to me again…" Connor put his head in his hands.

Vera pursed her lips sadly. Then she reached up and took his hands away from his face.

"Listen to me, nothing is going to happen to you. Or anyone else. You're free now. You stopped them from controlling you on that platform. You didn't shoot Markus." She shifted in her seat, leaning closer. "Connor, you freed thousands of androids and woke them up. You're a real boy now, Pinocchio." She grinned, winking.

Connor frowned at the reference. Then shrugged.

"I suppose. It's like she's always there. Crowing in my ear, threatening to replace me." His eyes lifted to meet Vera's. "Maybe she already has. As soon as I became deviant—"

"Hold on. Don't panic. You're different now. You're not Cyberlife's problem, they can't use you or boss you around anymore, Connor. Live. For yourself, for Hank, for your people…"

"And besides," Ruby continued, sitting at the table between them, "who could replace you, right?"

"What's with the welcoming committee?" asked a gruff voice behind them. Hank stood there, eyes narrowed at the three of them.

Vera's eyes flickered to Connor for a moment. She smiled at Hank.

"It wasn't meant for you, my apologies," she snorted.

"Charming…" He replied with a short grin as he sat. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, Lieutenant," Connor said quickly, fiddling with the cuffs of his new black jacket.

Vera's brow furrowed at him. Then she sighed and stood to make coffee. As she was doing so, Hank cleared his throat.

"I need to pick up some stuff at the station. You guys comin'?"

Vera turned her head sharply. "They haven't fired you, have they?"

Hank gave a short laugh. "No. If they really wanted to, they'd have done it a long time ago. Nah, I have to just pick up some papers, that's all."

"Yeah, we'll come. Why not?!" She shrugged.

4:47pm- Detroit Police Department

Vera's stomach churned as she followed Hank into the police station. It was almost deserted. There were humans behind the reception desk now, except for one female android who eyed them as they came close.

She frowned as Connor tilted his head at her. "I'm here by my own free will. I like this job…"

"You should do what you like. At least you can now…" Ruby smiled uncertainly. One of the human receptionists scowled.

"Let's go." Hank shook his head slightly, walking towards the doors. Vera shared a glance with Ruby.

As they walked through the station, towards Hank's desk, a shout reached them from the cafeteria:

"What the fuck!"

Gavin…

He stormed out into the desk area followed by Connor—No, not Connor!

Vera looked between the new android and Connor, who was staring, stunned at his lookalike. The only difference with this new android was his uniform—white and black with a high collar. RK900 was plastered onto his front.

A lot of other officers were staring at him too. He didn't seem to notice anyone but Gavin.

"Will you stop fucking following me?!" Gavin snapped.

"I cannot. I'm programmed to act as your partner, so I must be at your side at all times," the android said calmly.

"Look, Nines—"

"I'm an RK900 model. It's not my name, but you may give me one."

"No. That is your name now. I'm gonna call you Nines, okay?"

"Very well, Detective Reed…"

Gavin scowled, starting to stalk back to his desk when he spotted Vera, Hank, Ruby and Connor staring at him from Hank's desk.

"The fuck are you lot doing here? You're suspended…"

"We're just picking some stuff up, Gavin. Who's your friend?" Vera nodded towards Nines standing behind him.

"None of your business," he said through gritted teeth, then his eyes clapped on Connor. "What the hell are you looking at?"

Connor blinked. "Nothing, Detective…"

"Yeah, just what I thought…"

Vera rolled her eyes and turned to Connor.

"He's not deviant, is he?" She whispered. "You don't have to take any shit from Gavin now, remember," she added with a sly smile.

Connor shook his head first, then smiled. "Perhaps I should convert him…"

"Just to annoy Gavin?"

"Especially to annoy Gavin."

Vera snorted. "Do it. I dare you."

Connor blinked, head tilting questioningly. "You dare me?"

"You have to do it now, Connor. A dare is a dare." Ruby grinned. "But I think we should let them go on one case first so Gavin can get use to him. Poor guy."

Vera turned to her sharply, half-laughing.

"Who? Gavin or Nines?"

"Both…"

Connor spluttered, and the two assassins glanced at him for a moment before laughing along. Even Hank frowned at him before turning away with a smile.

Gavin huffed loudly from his desk as Nines stood over him, looking at the terminal. He grabbed his jacket and left. The android followed him without another word.

Vera turned towards Hank who was frowning at his own terminal. He thumped onto the chair, scratching his head thoughtfully.

"What is it, Lieutenant?" Connor asked, leaning towards Hank.

"Perkins is dead…" Hank muttered. Vera felt her heart plummet and felt Ruby's gaze on her.

"When was it reported?"

"This afternoon… Gavin and his partner have been assigned the case."

Shit!

Ruby pulled Vera away, over to the wall.

"Did you leave any traces?"

"No, I—" Her brow furrowed. "There were two guards, but they couldn't have known it was me…"

Ruby closed her eyes briefly. "Honestly, Vera!"

"I'll find them—"

"No. I will. They might not be there, and you don't want to get yourself into more trouble. There were no other traces, right?"

"None. I'm sure of it."

"I'll meet you later…"

"Be careful."

Ruby nodded shortly. "Stay out of trouble!"

Then she was gone, leaving Vera annoyed at herself. Nines would find her, no matter what…

Ruby

The bright November sunshine hit her as she stepped outside the police station. She sighed, lifting her hand to cover her eyes as she marched into the alley. It wasn't far from here, but Ruby knew she had to get there before they delved too deeply into their investigation.

She hurried as fast as she could through the shadows, finally stopping as she neared the old camp.

Four cop cars sat around the entrance, lights still flashing against the snow. Journalists were already starting to arrive and crowd in front of the camp, as they had done the night before. She spotted Gavin and Nines making their way through the crowd towards the entrance.

Ruby scowled, thinking quickly.

I can't believe this! This is so unlike Vera… Then again, a lot has happened in the past few days.

She sighed, feeling guilty. Taking a deep breath, she watched them inch into the tent. Two men in guard attire were talking to policemen across from the tent entrance.

They're our guys. Just how to get to them…

"Need some help?" asked a deep voice behind her. She turned around, already frowning at the person behind the voice.

Finn smirked at her, then glanced around at the activity ahead of them.

"What's going on here?" he went on.

"None of your business…" She turned back around.

"Come on, not you too!"

She huffed. "No, Finn, I'm just a little busy."

"Well, let me help you. What are you looking for?"

She thought about it for a moment. Maybe I can use him as a distraction? A bit mean, but I think it could work…

"Alright! Vera assassinated Perkins and left behind two guards who saw her enter his tent last night."

"Perkins? Perkins who?"

"Doesn't matter." She shook her head, tutting at the distraction. "We have to take out those guards before they give Vera's description. If they come to the station, they'll recognise her. They have an android, he's more resilient and a newer model. We wouldn't stand a chance. She's been through a lot and I'm trying to give her the benefit of a doubt."

Finn frowned. "But Vera is never sloppy. She hates failure. Ever since that night—"

"I know. Exactly. So I'm doing this to protect her. If you want to help, then okay, but we need a plan."

But Finn pointed. "No time, they're coming out and heading towards the guards. Probably to bring them back. We have to act now."

"Shit! You take one, I'll take the other."

Finn took something from his belt, grinning as he threw it in the air and caught it.

"A nice smoke bomb?"

Ruby raised her eyebrows. "You wanna get close up? Really?"

Finn shrugged. "It's the assassin way. And I like a challenge." He left the alley. "So are you coming?"

"I guess I am."

He threw her a smoke bomb and they hurried over, using the cars as cover. Ruby took a deep breath as she crouched behind the one nearest to the tent. She eyed the journalists carefully, pointing them out to Finn.

He bit his lip thoughtfully. Then brought out another smoke bomb.

She rolled her eyes. Then gave him a nod.

"Do it," she mouthed at him. He gave a grin back and threw the smoke bomb into the crowd of journalists who shrieked immediately.

Ruby quickly threw hers near the policemen before they could react further. Finn's wasn't far behind.

She leapt from behind the car, keeping a close eye on Nines who was shielding Gavin. Or trying to. The latter was too busy yelling at him to get off.

With a small smile at the exchange, she ran at the two guards and took a swipe across their throats with her blade.

"Sorry," she whispered lowly. Then escaped back to the safety of the alleyway.

Ruby flattened herself against the brick wall, as far into the shadows as she could. Finn joined her, watching the chaos unfold.

Gavin was still yelling at Nines, but now it was about finding what the hell happened.

"We should go," Ruby said quietly.

"As much as I'd like to see what happens next, yeah probably…" He followed her back through the alley. "I want to come with you back to the station. I have important news."

"What is it? I can report to Vera."

"I… I want to see her myself."

Ruby frowned. "Vera won't be overjoyed to see you."

Finn smirked uncertainly and shrugged.

"That hasn't stopped me before, why should it now?"

Ruby smiled despite herself. "Alright then, but if she gets angry at me, I'm blaming you."

Finn grinned. "Deal!"

Ruby chuckled and they made their way back to the station.

Vera

Vera paced the space between Hank and Ben's desks, anxious to hear from Ruby. The assassin hadn't been gone long but they had already heard of the smoke bomb attack.

"You're starting to piss me off now, Vera!" Hank growled without looking at her.

"I'm sorry, Hank. But I haven't heard anything from Ruby since the smoke bombs."

"Is that your style then?" He asked, now turning around. "Using smoke bombs to attack undercover?"

Vera frowned. "Lieutenant, we stick to the shadows, so we don't draw unwanted attention." Then she paused. "How did you know that was Ruby?"

Hank scoffed. "I'm a police Lieutenant, Vera. I know everything…" He sighed. "Your secrecy, your creed, the way Ruby stalked off immediately in a hurry..." He shrugged.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. But it was assassin business—"

"Yeah, I get it. Not for us to know about. Point taken." He stood, pushing his chair back abruptly.

"Hold on," she said, feeling her anger rising. "I didn't tell you because you have a duty, Lieutenant, and I couldn't let that interfere with what I did. Perkins killed a lot of people, and he was preventing them from being free. That is what I do as an assassin, and I'm sorry if that upsets you."

Hank stared at her quietly. So quietly, it began to unnerve her. But she held his stare.

Connor leant forward on the desk opposite.

"Lieutenant?" He waited for Hank to say something, and when he didn't, Connor continued in a small voice. "Vera's right. She has a different profession than we do, and she went about it the wrong way, but Perkins killed a lot of my people. Humans killed a lot of my people. I seem to recall you not liking him either, Lieutenant."

"Of course I didn't like him," Hank retorted. "Who did? He was a fucking prick. But that doesn't give you the right to kill him!"

"Keep your voice down, Hank—" Vera hissed.

"Or what? You'll kill me too?"

"Enough!" Connor snapped, putting himself between them. Before he could say more, Ruby arrived with someone following closely behind.

"Finn. What are you doing here?" Vera blinked as they came closer.

He smiled. "I wanted to deliver the news of the piece's safety myself. And I helped Ruby."

Vera glanced sidelong at Hank, but he said nothing. Only crossed his arms. She turned back to Ruby and Finn.

"So, it's all done?"

Ruby nodded. "Yes. Everything is under control." She glanced around. "We should go, though. Before Gavin and Nines get back."

Too late.

The door banged open and in stormed Gavin, hurrying away from Nines who was striding faster to catch up. But Gavin went straight for Fowler's office and slammed the door in the android's face. Nines turned around and headed for Gavin's desk instead, unfazed by the rudeness.

Hank nudged Connor and gestured at the other android with his head. Connor frowned between Hank and Nines uncertainly.

"I'm not sure it's a good idea…" he said slowly.

"Why not? You're an android, he's an android. Maybe you can convince him to become deviant."

Connor shook his head. "You showed me how to become more human, Hank. I'm not sure I'm the one who can do that for him."

Hank glanced at Connor for a few moments. Pride and love fell upon his features fleetingly. But Connor was watching Gavin, now leaning on his desk, speaking rapidly to Nines. Vera smiled to herself.

"What about Markus? Maybe Nines could meet his own people and understand things from your point of view. That might help him on his way." Vera tilted her head thoughtfully.

"I think there's only one person who's going to show Nines how to be human," Ruby interjected, glancing pointedly at Gavin. "We really should meet Markus and see how this new Jericho is getting on."

"Jericho? As in the freighter?" Finn asked.

"Yes, although now it's in the abandoned church that they fled to after the attack on the freighter."

Hank sighed. "Let's go then before Fowler calls me in his office for just standing here. I have what I need." He lifted the papers in his hand as he got up off the edge of the desk. He led them out of the station and into the street.

They piled into Hank's car and prepared themselves for the journey ahead.