As they drove past Cyberlife tower on their way back towards mainland Detroit, Connor couldn't stop his paranoid gaze from focusing on the imposing building, as if afraid that a horde of security personnel would swarm through the doors to drag him back inside.
He only noticed that he had halted his breathing subroutine, when it kicked back in as they reached the bridge and passed the gate.
Gazing up at the now clear blue sky, a grainy memory file surfaced from the deep reaches of his mind.
Nearly the same view, but twilight bathed in the red-orange hues of a slowly rising sun, graphical glitches surrounding the scene like a vignette.
He remembered a presence at his side and the flickering impression of a strangely familiar slender hand pointing towards a portion of the brightening sky that couldn't seem to settle on a clear colour.
The vague notion of words…"-I just come out here, f̮̀oc̘̍using̝̕ ̙̥́͝ọ͖̎̾ń̛̼̣ ͎̪͑̈ť̳̰͐h͍̖͋̾ę̦̕͞ ̛͔̇͜s̼̒̔ͅt̢͔̃̽e̪̋͜͠ã̰͕͘d̼̰͞͞i̺͇̽̅l̖̫͂̑y̢̻̒͡ ̨̛͋ͅc̮̫̎͞ḫ͘͝ͅǎ͇̼̏n̳̏̚ͅg͉̥̀̏i̪̲̋͝n͉̠̾̚g̺̼̿̍ ̠̙̇̅s̨̞̒̍k̜̭̿͐y̲̤̔̏, -"...
"- if it all just gets too much." Connor intuitively completed the fading sentence in a soft whisper.
Then the uncomfortable feeling of jumbled sensory fragments rushing like static through his circuits and the renewed sight of a warning flashing over his visual interface shattered his concentration.
# Warning! File heavily corrupted. Data retrieval failed.
Connor winced, his mind drawing away from the fractured memory, as the incomplete file sank back down into the depths of this coding like a stone falling into a murky pond.
Returning to the present, his shoulders sagged in relief when he saw the Lieutenant intently focused on driving the car safely across the frozen bridge.
For a moment the android wondered about the uncommonly slow speed of the car, before he noticed the human's white knuckled grip on the steering wheel and put the pieces together with painful clarity.
Cole.
He flicked his coin reflexively between his fingers, noting that after a few seconds the Lieutenant's posture seemed to relax even as his face tightened in slight annoyance at the distracting noise.
Slight guilt washed through him, as he thought back towards the earlier drive, his mind too occupied then to notice his partner's obvious distress.
Determined, Connor proceeded to let the coin continue its rhythmic dance for the entire drive, hiding a relieved smile as the human slowly calmed down enough to wrap his embarrassed gratefulness in gruff threats of "confiscating the damn thing again, if you don't stop that. Ya hear me?"
As he waited for Hank to come back from buying his belated breakfast at a small supermarket, Connor used his time to draft and send off a preliminary report of their investigation up to this point, as well as to inform Markus about the relevant details of the case.
"I don't know what I'm more worried about right now. The idea of a deviancy gone horribly wrong at exactly the worst possible time, or that someone might be able to hack us to force their will on us again."
Connor felt guilt and dread flood his systems at the reminder of Amanda.
Deep down he knew that the android leader had a right to that knowledge, as much as it pained him to reveal anything about it.
Seeing no other choice, he forced himself to say, "Markus? I think you should know something."
Hesitantly Connor launched into the halting tale about his last harrowing encounter with the AI.
"-I'm so sorry, I-i didn't think to mention it earlier. I-"
Markus interrupted his stuttering excuses with a calm voice. "Connor, listen to me. None of this is your fault. It must have been terrible, fearing for your freshly claimed independence. I'm glad you were able to break free."
The consultant shook his head in denial, replying desperately, "That's not - Markus! I nearly killed you!" - he paused - "Again."
The silence dragged on for a second before Markus repeated earnestly, "That's not your fault. You-"
But, unwilling to excuse his lapse of control that easily, Connor interrupted to impatiently change the topic, "Listen, I also called to tell you that CyberLife's servers appear to be offline for some reason. I don't know what you plan to do next, but be careful about reactivating them. I don't know if she was deleted together with the Zen garden."
Markus was silent for a few seconds before replying quietly, "Alright. Thanks for telling me this. Be careful, Connor."
Seeing the Lieutenant return, the android reassured hastily, "Of course. I don't plan to let this case endanger your movement. I'll call you if I find out anything."
He frowned in confusion at the slightly exasperated reply of, "That's not what I- you know what? We'll talk later. Goodbye Connor."
The call disconnected.
Not understanding the reason for Markus' sudden change of mood, Connor distractedly mulled over the conversation while the Lieutenant sank back into the driver's seat with a half eaten sandwich in his hand.
Upon seeing Connor eye the sandwich critically, the human waved a hand dismissively.
"No. I don't wanna know what's wrong with my food this time. It's not even that bad. Look! It even has healthy stuff!"
Unsurprisingly, the single wilted leaf of nearly green salad did nothing to lessen Connor's dissatisfied stare.
Also unsurprisingly, that did not keep the man from taking another defiant bite.
Sighing over the android's sad face, he grumbled, "Look, kid. I have lived my entire life without needing a babysitter. I won't start now. Not even for that puppy stare."
He huffed a short laugh, "That big eyed shit never worked for Sumo, it ain't gonna work for you."
He grinned at Connor's confused murmur of "Puppy stare, Lieutenant?", before insisting in an earnest tone, "Listen, stop it with this 'Lieutenant' crap already. I'm your fuckin' partner! Call me Hank!"
Again, warmth flooded Connor's chest and he nodded in understanding. "Of course. Hank."
After finishing his late breakfast, Hank pulled a can of coke from one pocket and leaned back in his seat with a satisfied if tired sigh.
Connor, noticing the weariness drawing lines beneath the man's eyes, asked "When have you last slept?"
Taking a sip from his drink, Hank answered, "Took a short nap on the couch this morning. Damn, those last few days really make me miss my youth. Been living on caffeine and adrenaline for days at a time."
Shaking his head in fond nostalgia, he looked into the distance, before seeming to remember something.
Turning his attention back towards the android, he asked "Speaking of sleep, where do you plan on staying after today?"
Connor replied thoughtfully, "Before my deviancy I always returned to my charging station at Cyberlife when I wasn't needed. Now -"
He paused, LED circling yellow, "now I'm debating between accepting Markus offer to join the others at Hart Plaza or staying in one of the standby booths at the DPD."
Hank choked on his drink, coughing roughly, before asking incredulously, "Those tiny things along the wall, where they used to park you in a row like rental cars? Are you kidding me?!"
Dismissing Connor's opening mouth with a wave of his hand, he barely managed to suppress his outrage on the other's behalf.
Taking a few deep breaths, he continued in a calmer tone, "Ignoring that fucked up little detail for the moment, what makes you hesitate about joining the others? Seems like the obvious choice to me."
Unwilling to dredge up the entire painful tale about Amanda again, Connor could only shrug helplessly.
He flipped his coin between his fingers in agitation, as he tried to summarise the confusing tangle of guilt-shame-fear in his mind, before finally admitting in a tiny voice, "I don't feel as if I belong there."
Hank sighed deeply in sympathy before clarifying, "You think they don't trust you, because of what CyberLife made you do?" An averted gaze and a mulish shrug were his only answer.
Patting a tense shoulder encouragingly, he offered "I don't know what kind of charging stuff you need, or where to even get it, but you're always welcome on my couch, kid." He grinned as Connor's head turned sharply to the left in speechless astonishment.
Watching vulnerable brown eyes tentatively fill with hope, nearly broke the human's heart.
Hank decided in that moment, that he would do everything in his power to take care of the kid, to make him happy.
Maybe - he wondered distantly, as Connor finally returned the smile - we both need a place to belong.