The unexpected foot chase through the parking garage was fueled by pure adrenaline as Hank pursued the 'red ice' dealer through the concrete structure leading down the ground floor. As the chase neared the large opened door leading out to the streets Hank knew he wouldn't be able to catch up to the man before he got outside, and quickly pulled his gun from the holster on his right hip and pointed it at the fleeing man's back. Barking out in a fierce voice for the man to stop before he had no choice but to shoot, Hank slowed his pacing as the man came to an abrupt, and very wise, stop just a few feet from the only doorway to his potential freedom.

Panting for his breath and raising his hands into the air the man kept his back presented to Hank as he peacefully voluntarily surrendered to the pursuing senior detective. From the opened garage door Connor, who had raced down to the ground floor of the garage via external staircase to head the man off, approached the man from the front as he entered the garage through the large entrance. Pulling his cuffs from the back of his belt Connor made a move to secure the man's wrists and arrest him on Hank's behalf.

Holstering his gun Hank sighed and struggled to catch his breath as the chase caught him off guard. Panting and sweating Hank hated how old and useless his body felt, but he could only blame himself for not exercising, constantly eating junk food and drinking heavily for the past three years. As he put his hands to his hips Hank watched as Connor flawlessly approached the suspect to arrest him.

"...You got him?" Sounding winded and exhausted Hank watched the deviant easily turn the man around and cuff his arms behind his back.

"Yes." The grind of the cuffs locking into place echoed through the garage in a very satisfying manner under Connor's touch. "Patrol is on their way to pick him up as of the moment."

"...All right, then that means we get to ask him a few questions before his ride arrives." Grabbing onto the man's shirt collar Hank dragged him away from the opened garage door and had him stand before the shuddered second door so no one could see him from the streets. "Where'd you get your 'red ice'?"

The man was still panting for breath and sweating almost as much as Hank was. "...Don't know, man. I just found it on the street."

"Uh-huh, and you just happened to also have a glass pipe to smoke up that shit you just happened to find, right?"

"What can I say? It's funny little world we live in."

"Yeah, hilarious." Motioning to the man's person Hank watched as Connor quickly frisked his pockets and gave him a thorough pat-down. "You threw about a grand's worth of 'red ice' over the rooftop. If it survived the fall you're in deep shit with the law, if it didn't survive you're in deep shit with whoever you're working for. Which is going to be the lesser of two evils to answer to?"

"Man, I ain't sayin' nothing!"

Connor finished the pat-down and revealed a wad of one-hundred dollar bills totaling at twenty-four thousand dollars in the man's hidden pocket sewn inside of his red hoodie. "Hank, these bills are coated in 'red ice' particles." Pressing a sample of the substance to his tongue Connor ran an analysis to confirm the age of the illegal drug. "The particles are fresh and came from the same batch."

"Here's the deal." Speaking to the arrested man with a slight growl to his voice Hank stared him down in a way that only a seasoned detective could. "Me and my partner don't work on the narcotic division, but once upon a time I led a crusade that put drug dealin' assholes like you behind bars for life. I know you're working for someone else and just takin' a cut. Give us a name and your sentence will be a whole lot lighter."

"Fuck you, old man."

"I was a cop long before you were even born. You're going to have to try a lot harder than that to get under my skin."

"I told you I ain't sayin' nothing!"

"Shame. My partner and I were on our way home when he caught ya' trying to sell your overpriced poison to a group of school kids on the corner. If you were a little smarter you would've been far more discreet and never would've run into a building to hide from two cops looking for you. Hell," the tone Hank was using was so eerily calm that it was actually frightening. "if you hadn't made me run on my bad knees I'd be a lot more lenient on you, too. Last chance. Give us a name, or prepare to live your next thirty years behind bars and with the tire prints from the bus you were thrown under scarring your sorry ass."

In the distance of the ground floor garage the sound of a car's engine turning over filled the air and Connor took notice of the vehicle slowly creeping down the garage and turning the corner around the wall to leave. The car itself, a small black S.U.V., had been parked in the garage before the chase began and had legal tags and a pass on the windshield giving it clearance to park inside the garage.

"You don't want to go to jail for someone else getting a bigger cut than you were getting." Hank insisted as he stared at the arrested man, his back being presented to the slowly approaching car in the distance. "Work with us and we'll work with you."

The headlights of the car suddenly brightened as the vehicle seemed to change its direction to aim directly at Hank's exposed back. The engine revved and the tires squealed loudly as the vehicle sped toward Hank at a dangerously high speed.

Reacting to the danger quickly Connor grabbed onto Hank's shoulder and pushed him, and their suspect, to the side and out of harm's way. "Hank!"

Focused on getting his friend to safety and away from the car Connor failed to preconstruct a logical route that would've given both Hank and himself the best chances of survival. Still in the speeding car's path Connor could only turn to face the racing vehicle directly and brace himself for the horrible impact of the metal projectile barreling into his body.

Letting out a gasp of shock and pain as the car's front end smashed into his chest and torso Connor felt only intense burning. Red warnings graced his vision just milliseconds before Connor felt the cold concrete wall that divided the two neighboring garage doors slam into his back, and cause the vehicle to wreck as it came to a bone shattering stop. Blue blood filled Connor's mouth and emergency Klaxons sounded off loudly in his head as the impact of the speeding car damaged numerous internal Thirium lines and biocomponents through his entire body.

The sound of crunching metal, shattering glass, the car's horn blaring and a loud hiss from the wrecked car's deflating airbags filled the garage with a near deafening echo. Having landed on his side on the cold hard ground Hank was left dazed and sore, then quickly filled with utter fear and shock. Seeing Connor's body slumped over the crumpled hood of the car with Thirium dripping out of his mouth filled him with a second dose of adrenaline.

"C-Connor?!" Scrambling to his feet Hank rushed over to the hood of the car and pressed his right fingertips to the left side of Connor's neck for a pulse check. Grateful that Connor had that update to give him the same pulse points found in humans, Hank felt his heart run cold when he counted a very faint and rapid beat under his touch. "Connor! Shit, look at me!"

Sirens and flashing red and blue lights filled the air as patrol arrived at the garage to transport the arrested man. Unaware of what had just transpired inside the garage Chris arrived with rookie officer Courtney Gardner at his side, and entered the secluded space. They were quickly met with the noxious smell of spilled gasoline and oil gathering on the floor. The exhaust sputtered out of the wrecked vehicle's tailpipe as the engine finally died where it sat, glass was scatted all over the ground from the destroyed windshield and side windows and the blaring horn slowly silenced as it lost power.

"What the... Lieutenant?" Chris saw Hank standing beside the hood of the total S.U.V. but couldn't see Connor beside him. "What happened here?"

"Call for the E.F.T.'s and take that asshole to the precinct." Without stepping away from Connor the stunned detective gave Chris two simple orders. Pointing to the cuffed man laying on his back on the floor on the opposite side of the vehicle, Hank pointed with fingers covered in fresh Thirium to direct the younger officer about. "Do it, now."

Reaching for his radio on his belt Chris made the request for help and motioned for Courtney to grab the arrested man from the floor. As she walked around the back of the destroyed vehicle she saw Connor laying over the hood and actively stifled her gasp of shock. Tearing her eyes away from the gruesome sight the rookie officer grabbed onto the arrested man's shoulder and hauled him up to his feet.

Standing on shaking legs the man staggered forward and let Courtney lead him away. "...That motherfucker was going to run me over!"

"I've noticed. Let's go."

Chris stood back and tried to figure out what had happened while Courtney took the suspect to their patrol car, but he was afraid to ask what he missed during the drive. "Lieutenant? What's going-"

"Connor's still alive, just get that asshole out of here. I'm taking care of Connor for now."

"Courtney's got him." Daring himself to approach the driver's side door of the mangled vehicle Chris reached his hand through the broken open window and checked on the driver. Detecting an erratic carotid pulse and choking breaths Chris knew that the driver had suffered a broken neck. The airbag did in fact deploy but due to the vehicle impacting the concrete wall head-on at approximately fifty miles per hour the driver sustained severe and lethal injuries to his skull, neck and spine. "I'll call an ambulance, too, but I don't think it'll do him any good."

Hank didn't respond to the comment as he gently slipped his left palm under the right side of Connor's face to lift the deviant up from the cold and crumpled hood of the car pinning him to the concrete wall. Using his right hand Hank then checked Connor's neck and his spinal structure as much as he could before he even tried to move Connor's head or neck.

"Connor?" Moving his left palm up to Connor's hair Hank lightly brushed the now messy locks from Connor's face in a gentle manner. The way Connor's face had paled and had his eyes shut made the deviant look like a kid sick with the flu in need of a parent's love. "Connor, please wake up."

The Thirium continued to drip out of Connor's mouth, and a small puddle of Thirium was forming beneath his chest as he bled from the wounds in his torso. Connor's wasn't breathing and his system had entered emergency stasis mode to preserve his system's functions until technicians could repair his body.

Feeling an icy tremor slip down his spine Hank began having flashbacks to the car accident that ultimately stole Cole's life four years ago. The smell of the spilled gas, leaking oil and burned rubber from the squaling tires all took him back to the night of the accident. The sound of the glass shattering and metal crumpling echoed in his mind in a perpetual haunting echo.

Closing his eyes Hank spoke to the deviant in a calm and soft tone as he continued to run his fingers through Connor's hair. "...You'll be okay, Connor. Don't go, son. Not yet."

A shaking and cold hand wrapped around Hank's left wrist and made Hank's blue eyes snap open. Somehow Connor's left hand found its way to Hank's arm and was now holding on as tightly as he could.

"Son?"

Connor's eyes were still closed and he still wasn't breathing, but the deviant's arms were sluggishly moving. As his system slowly rebooted itself Connor let out a small cough that splattered his chin and the mangled hood of the car in a smear of his blue blood.

"It's okay, don't try to talk." In the distance additional sirens sounded off as the android unique ambulance arrived at the parking garage, alongside a fire engine and rescue vehicle. The E.F.T.'s were almost at the scene. "Help's here. I'm here, too."

"...D-Don't... go."

"I won't. I'm staying right here beside you."

"...C-Cold."

"It'll be okay." Awkwardly shrugging off his coat, he had to alternate his hands so he could continue to support Connor and let him hang onto his wrist, Hank managed to drape the warm garment over Connor's shoulders and back to try to keep him warm. "Once you're patched up and back home you can hide under a quilt and let Sumo lay over your lap. Then you'll be plenty warm."

The E.F.T.'s hurried into the garage and quickly assessed the serious situation to the best of their limited ability. The two technicians noticed an alarmingly large puddle of Thirium under the vehicle as it poured from Connor's body at a steady rate. Working quickly the duo checked Connor's chest and torso as much as they could thanks to the car and concrete wall pinning him in place, then realized they had quite the challenge ahead of them.

"I'll let the fire department know to bring their big toys." The first technician stated. His name tag said 'Mike' and his calm demeanor spoke volumes of his experience in handling tricky situations. "Stay with him and get his vitals, Shannon. We're going to need some extra help with this one."

Hank sighed and kept his voice level as he knew Connor was in serious trouble. "You saved my life, son. You know that I'm going to save you in return, right? Hell, even if you hadn't pushed me out of the way or pulled me back up from that rooftop last year, I'd do whatever it took to save you, anyway! You're a good kid."

Connor's glassy brown eyes slowly opened into half lidded slits as he tried to remain conscious. "...I-I'm not g-going to make it."

"Yes you are!" The idea of Connor dying was enough to throw Hank into a rage. "Don't talk like that!"

"...C-Can't feel anything b-below my chest. ...C-Cold."

"It's the middle of October and the sun went down, it makes sense to be a little cold."

"...D-Don't want to die a-alone."

"Connor, you are NOT going to die." Watching as the technicians worked together to check over Connor's vital signs, the fire department check over the vehicle as it remained pinned against Connor's body, and the recently arrived paramedics check over the already deceased driver, Hank refused to let the deviant give up. "You're going to pull through and you're going to go back home with me where you belong. We're a family and we don't give up on each other."

"...S-Sorry."

"Hey, don't apologize! You didn't do anything wrong."

"...N-Never signed that a-application." Closing his eyes again Connor was quickly losing the fight to remain conscious. "...D-Didn't let you... adopt me."

"That paperwork is just for the government." Using his shoulders Hank awkwardly removed the tears from his eyes one at a time. "You're my kid and there's nothing you can say to change my mind about it. So tough luck!"

"...Honored you want to be... my father." Letting his eyes remain shut Connor managed another weak cough with what little air he had left in his ventilation biocomponents. The wounded deviant managed to give Hank one last sense of peace. "...Glad you're... still a dad."

Feeling the deviant's body grow heavy as he lost consciousness again Hank had to fight the urge to shake Connor awake. "Connor!" Refusing to back off even as the firefighters tried to get him to move aside Hank spoke to the deviant to try to rouse him once more. "Son, you need to hold on!" Looking to Mike for answers Hank forced himself to ask the dreadful question burning on his lips. "What's happened to him? Why is he so damn weak?"

"Lieutenant," recognizing Hank and his authority Mike replied honestly as he used his audioscope to listen to Connor's Thirium pump through the deviant's back under the coat. "the car has nearly severed him in half."

Paling even further Hank swallowed once to rid the fear from his voice. "...What?"

"At the moment the only thing holding him together is his spinal structure. It's made of a very durable material-"

"Titanium with diamonds, I know!"

"...Right. The car tore through this front panels just below his chest and only stopped when his spinal support column got in the way. Numerous biocomponents and Thirium lines have been severed, that's why he's so weak."

"What can you do for him?"

"We need to stabilize his entire body, tie off the leaking lines and replace the Thirium he's lost."

"Then what're you waiting for?"

"We can't do anything until the car's removed, but once the car is pulled away he's going to bleed out entirely. It'd be like pulling the cork out of a bottle."

"Shit..." Growing as pale as Connor's own complexion Hank continued to gingerly comb his fingers through the deviant's hair in a comforting manner. "Then what's going to happen?"

"We're requesting the help of another technician to bring the supplies we can't transport in the ambulance, then we'll be able to move the car and take him to a facility."

"Son of a bitch..." Glaring through the broken windshield at the bloody face of the driver who intentionally caused the accident, Hank was actually glad he was dead. The way he tried to run down three people in cold blood was sickening. "I know this is going to be hard to handle." Glancing back at the technician Hank gave him a somber stare. "But Connor here is a detective. You have to save his life."

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't determined to save him, Lieutenant."

"...Thanks."

Chris returned to the garage and gave Hank a quick update on the situation. "We got help on the way, Lieutenant." Eyeing the team of paramedics and firefighters focusing on the deceased driver Chris tried to push the idea of being in the same space as a dead body out of his mind. "What do you need me to do?"

"...Get a name on the driver. We need to know who he was and why he tried to run us over."

"I'm on it."

The sound of the metal driver's side door being sawed off by the fire department's powerful saw make Hank's stomach flip. The smell of the sparks that filled the air along with the lingering gas and oil was nauseating, and even as the firefighters used a hose to wash the flammable liquids away from the car Hank refused to move away from where his best friend, his son, was trapped.

Using great control and care the two paramedics removed the driver's body from the car and placed him down on the gurney to be taken away. While the medics checked over the driver to see if there was anything that could be done to save him or revive him, Chris checked him over for a wallet but found nothing.

Moving into the now opened cab of the wrecked vehicle Chris awkwardly climbed over the blood and glass covered seats, pushed aside the deflated airbags, and kept his eyes focused forward to prevent himself from look over at Connor a few inches away. He then grabbed onto and popped open the glovebox by its handle. Locating the car's registration and driver's wallet tucked away inside Chris retrieved the two items and left the car as quickly as he climbed inside.

"Got a name." Reading over the information on both the registration and then the driver's wallet, Chris saw the same name on both forms of identification and relayed the newly acquired details over to Hank. "Our driver was Isaac Edmund Waterson. Twenty-nine years of age."

"Too bad he won't see thirty."

"I'll run the name at the precinct and see if we can't connect him to the suspect you and Connor arrested."

Hank only nodded as he watched the technicians cut away Connor's blazer and shirt sleeves to get to his arms to keep a Thirium pressure cuff more directly secured to the deviant's left bicep. They then started a Thirium line in the right arm to restore what Connor had lost. The deviant's artificial stomach had been damaged by the impact and meant that ingestion of Thirium was no longer an option.

"Hold on, son. You're not alone." Speaking softly Hank mentally steeled himself for what he was going through and remained strong for his son. "You're going to be okay, you're going to survive this."

A flurry of activity filled the parking garage as a second patrol car raced to the scene and pulled into the garage after the ambulance with the driver's body had taken its leave. The car doors opened revealing Gavin as the driver and Dr. Abby Grayson herself as his lone passenger. Helping the technician carry her equipment over to the wrecked vehicle to tend to Connor's wounds Gavin visibly paled at the gruesome sight and swallowed back his vomit.

"Fuck me." Carrying the large metal case at his right side Gavin placed it down beside the front of the car where Abby was about to work. Unable to look at Connor any further Gavin looked to Hank and gave him a somber glance. "Uh, what do you want me to do, Lieutenant?" Addressing Hank by his rank rather than his name was a sure sign that Gavin was worriedm and wanted to be a respectful as possible. "Need me to seal off the scene?"

"No." Han sounded exhausted yet restless. "I need you to tell Lucas what's going on in person, and I need you to take him back to the Zeta Facility to wait for us. There's nothing he can do from here except worry."

"Consider it done."

Staying in place Hank stared at Connor's paled face and listened to the words around him in favor of asking questions. Just as he knew there was nothing that Lucas could do to help his brother, he accepted that there was nothing he could do in any form of technical assistance toward the dying deviant.

"Vitals?" Abby asked as she knelt down near the front of the car to see the extent of the damage to Connor's chest and torso as much as possible. "Shit, he's lost at least three pints of Thirium."

"We gave him to two replacement pints already." Shannon stated as she checked Connor's Thirium pressure. "Thirium pressure is holding at ninety over sixty. Pump rate is one-hundred and twenty-eight beats per minute. Core temperature is hovering at one-hundred degrees even. He's not ventilating whatsoever."

"All right, damn..." Knowing she had her work cut out for her Abby used her penlight to check over the injuries in the poor lighting of the garage, and she pulled her metal case closer to herself. Opening the case with one hand Abby was able to rummage around the case without looking, and pull out the instruments she needed. "I'm going to clamp off as many of the lines I can get access to. If you can reach any lines yourself go for it!"

The other technicians responded quickly and proceeded to work together to keep Connor stable, and to clamp off the leaking lines wherever they could find them. What looked like two dozen clamps were embedded throughout Connor's battered abdomen and chest in order to get the bleeding under control. As the leaking stopped Connor's Thirium pressure began to very gradually rise to a more desirable number.

"Pressure's up to one-hundred over seventy." Shannon relayed as she finished clamping off the lines she could get access to. "Starting another pint of Thirium to the external line."

Hank felt Connor's hand slowly tighten around his left wrist again and saw that as a very good sign. "He's starting to come around! Connor, can you hear me?"

"...I..." Struggling to speak and trailing off immediately Connor's eyelids tightened as he became aware of the pain in his abdomen. "...I-It hurts."

"It's okay. Abby's here and the technicians got your bleeding under control." Letting Connor's hand tighten as much as he wanted around his wrist Hank gave Abby a pleading stare as the technician pulled her Thirium soaked gloves hands back from Connor's torso. "In a few minutes we'll get you freed of this damn car and off to a facility."

Standing up from the garage floor Abby walked around the back of the car to get to the other side and check on Connor's torso to ensure every leaking line was clamped off. As she took a knee beside the deviant to resume her work Abby glanced up at Hank and gave him a somber stare.

Knowing she wanted to tell him something important Hank bowed his head a little and whispered to the technician. "...What's wrong?"

"When the car is removed the biocomponents could be torn from his body. We need to pack the wounds and we need to..." Finishing with the clamps Abby stood back up and spoke more directly in Hank's ear despite being sure Connor couldn't hear them over the commotion of the loud emergency vehicles and tools being used all around him. "...Hank, we have to apply external plastimetal bindings to Connor's sides and front to keep his already damaged plastimetal frames from breaking or warping any further."

"What kind of bindings?"

"The kind of bindings that need to be bolted to his body to hold tight. He's going to feel it and there's nothing I can do for his pain."

"Nothing?"

"Thiricetomal works only when it has the chance to cycle through the Thirium filter. With the lines all clamped off nothing will flow through his body properly, and because of that glitch he experienced with the update I can't turn off his external sensors."

"Fuckin' hell..."

"I'll be quick but it won't be pleasant."

"As long as he lives it won't matter. Do it."

Abby took the opportunity to inform the other technicians and the firefighters what was going to happen and to prepare for the worst possible reaction from the deviant in the event the pain proved to be nearly unbearable. She didn't want to hurt her friend but it was a necessary evil in order to free him from the car, and to get him to the facility in one piece.

"Connor, they're going to get you free soon." Hank stated in a soft tone. "Try to not move."

"...C-Can't move."

"I want you to know that what's about to happen is going to hurt you, kid. And I mean really hurt."

"...I know. ...S-Scared."

As Hank patted Connor's hair he winced sympathetically and got a good look at the bindings that were going to be used to hold Connor's core and mangled plastimetal together. The bindings were long rectangular, white strips of pure plastimetal. Eight inches in length and two inches in width gave the bindings an adequate enough range to bridge the gap in Connor's torso; his lower chest being connected to his lower abdomen. The bindings were a quarter inch thick which meant once they were bolted in place they wouldn't break loose, and would only be removed when the bolts were taken out.

Abby lined up the first binding at Connor's right side and had Mike hold it in place for her. Picking up a wireless bolt gun, the end was able to bend to extreme ninety degree angles to ensure it could be used efficiently, Abby placed the first plastimetal bolt in the clip and positioned it near the top of the binding that was connected to Connor's lower chest. "Connor, I have to do this. And I'm so sorry."

The deviant was beginning to tremble. Whether it was from the cold or fear no one could say for certain.

Thinking quickly Hank leaned over the hood and slipped his entire left arm under Connor's head so Connor could bury his face against his bicep. Bending his arm so his bicep could be a cushion for Connor's eyes Hank wrapped his left palm around Connor's hair to help him stay still. Using his right arm Hank wrapped the limb around Connor's shoulders to give him a half hug, and used his hand to lightly rub Connor's back between his shoulders.

"Okay, this is going to happen on three." Abby stated in morose tone. She clearly didn't want to hurt her friend but it was the only way to save his life. "Try to not tense up. One... Two..." Holding her breath Abby lined up the bolt and prepared for the inevitable scream. "Three!"

Connor's yelp of pain echoed so loudly in the garage that everyone stopped moving and turned to look at the deviant in utter sympathy. Even with his face buried against Hank's bicep his cry managed to resonat through the small space causing everyone to flinch.

"Shh, shh, shh!" Rubbing Connor's back Hank leaned over the deviant's body and rested his own weight over Connor's shoulders if he could somehow shield him from the pain he was suffering. The way Connor's hands reached up wrapped around Hank;s left wrist and left shoulder made Hank bite his lower lip as even in low power mode Connor had a strong grip. "You're going to be okay. Don't resist blacking out, son. You're safe with us."

The second bolt at the bottom of the first binding was secured, and Connor screamed again as Abby shot to her feet and grabbed onto his shoulder. "It's okay, we'll take a break so you can-"

"N-No!" Connor muffled his shout against Hank's arm. "...F-Finish it! Do it!"

Abby knew that Connor was begging with her to make his pain as quick and as brief as possible, rather than work slowly and make it last. Giving him a confident nod she knelt back down and secured a second identical binding near the front right portion of Connor's chest in the same way as she had done before. The two additional bolts were answered with deep painful screams of pain as Connor began to cry in miserable frustration.

Hank watched as Abby rushed to the other side of the car to secure two more bindings to Connor's left side and the left portion of the front of his chest. Four more bolts secured caused four more outbursts of sheer agony from the trapped deviant. As he let out his final cry Connor's hands suddenly went lax and fell forward as he passed out from the pain at last.

"It's okay, son." Whispering in a low voice that no one else would be able to hear Hank held onto Connor as Abby, Mike and Shannon proceeded to use gauze to pack Connor's abdomen. They then wrapped up the exposed torso to keep the biocomponents contained within his body. "...Dad's here."

With a strong metal chain wrapped around the car's rear axle, and the opposite end of the same chain attached to the winch secured to the front of the rescue vehicle, the vehicle slowly backed up to drag the wrecked and mangled S.U.V. from the concrete wall. The loud grind of the firefighter's tools that cut away the front of the car's bumper bit by bit sounded off as the totaled vehicle was pulled away from the wall with a protesting grind.

A loud 'groan' sounded off as the vehicle was pulled back enough for Hank and the three technicians to support Connor upright while the firefighters used their saw to cut away the metal debris from the car that had pierced through the deviant's torso. There were four sharp pieces of jagged metal sticking through the front grill of the car, and the four pieces found there way through Connor's lower chest and the middle of his abdomen.

The jagged metal snapped away with showers of orange sparks after the firefighters freed the deviant from the car at last. The firefighters then used their saw to cut through the metal piercing through Connor's back and into the concrete wall behind him. The same shower of sparks filled the air as the metal was cut away and the deviant's limp body began to collapse like a puppet who had its string cut.

"We gotcha'..." Hank stated as he supported a majority of Connor's weight in his arms. Moving slowly as Mike and Shannon supported Connor's weight as well and lifted his legs up from the ground, the trio carried Connor nice and slow over to the gurney being rolled over to them from the back of the android unique ambulance by the firefighters. "You're free, kid. You just stay nice and quiet like that, okay?"

Packing up her kit quickly Abby secured it in the back of the ambulance and immediately began checking over Connor's vital signs the moment the gurney was placed and secured in the back of the ambulance where it belonged. Pulling open the remains of the Thirium soaked white dress shirt and gray blazer gave Abby full access to Connor's chest and bandaged abdomen.

"Secure a Thirial activity monitor to his chest." Abby instructed as Mike and Shannon climbed into the back of the ambulance alongside her. "I'm going to insert an external air intake line and manually ventilate for him."

"What about his biocomponents?" Mike asked as he placed the two wireless leads to Connor's chest. "I know he's suffered from at least one failure."

"I'll diagnose that at the facility." With the line inserted down Connor's throat Abby attached a bright blue ambubag to the end of the line and began forcing clean air into the deviant's starved ventilation biocomponents. "It's best we keep the pressure of the bandages over the biocomponents and Thirium lines for now."

"Right."

Glancing out of the opened ambulance doors to where Hank was standing Abby flashed him a reassuring gaze from where she sat. "He'll be okay, Hank. Meet us at the Zeta Facility and I'll make sure Barry fills you in on everything."

"...Take care of him, Abby." Holding onto his Thirium soaked coat Hank looked as pale as a ghost where he stood. "He needs to pull through."

"He will. I promise."

With a heavy heart Hank took a step back and slammed the two opened ambulance doors shut. Two loud slaps on the closed door signaled the driver to take off and head out to the facility right away. Standing in place Hank watched as the ambulance took off the dark streets with its blue lights flashing and siren screaming into the night with a sense of dread filling his heart.

The last time Hank's son was taken away in an ambulance after a car accident they never woke up.

The precinct was abuzz with the news of the accident and of the attempted murder of the three men in the garage. It was bad enough that the driver was going to try to run down two detectives, but knowing he was also going to run down the very contact who didn't give up his name to Hank to begin with showed how disgusting the driver had been when he was still alive. Chris had connected the deceased driver to numerous warrants on suspicion of drug related activities, but always somehow managed to elude the police by using one of his many safe houses scattered about Detroit. It seemed that night his luck ran out and his panic got the better of him.

Letting Ben take the lead on the interrogation Chris slumped behind his desk and looked over at Tina as if trying to silently communicate how worried they were for the injured deviant. They may not hang out with Connor off the clock but the two officers really respected him and thought of him as a trusted colleague who didn't deserve to be injured like that.

Tina watched as Chris opened his bottom right desk drawer and pulled out a bottle of medicine to soothe his nauseated stomach, and watched as the young officer just took a single shot straight from the bottle like it was high end whiskey. "...It was that bad, huh?"

"Yeah..." Capping the bottle Chris rested his palm over his upset stomach and leaned back in his chair. "No matter how many car accidents you have the misfortune of attending it never gets any easier. I'm impressed with how well Courtney handled it."

"Guess you missed her running to the ladies room to puke."

"Oh."

"She's fine. She went up to the infirmary to lay down for a while, but she'll finish off her night patrol with you when it's time."

"Good on her. Any word from Hank?"

"Yeah, actually." Tina stared at her phone sitting idle on the corner of her desk and sighed. The message sent to her from Gavin was still sitting there waiting for a response, but she didn't know what to say. "Gavin said Hank showed up about five minutes ago and told Gavin to take off. He can tell that the Lieutenant is actually freaked out and doesn't want to risk getting on his bad side."

"I thought that was the norm' every day of the week."

"Guess this is a special kind of situation that needs to be handled with the utmost care."

A horrible burning pain and pressure in his abdomen pulled Connor away from the blissful mercy of darkness and back into the cruel waking world. Opening his glassy eyes Connor let out a groan of pain and dismissed the numerous red warnings bombarding his already blurry vision. As he made a move to put his hands to his abdomen to inspect the damage Connor felt two gloves hands grab onto his wrists, and hold him back. The sound of a Thirial activity monitor screeching and Abby's voice ordering Barry to put Connor back into emergency stasis mode caused the deviant's heart to begin racing in absolute confused panic.

As his eyes finally focused Connor looked about and realized he was in the emergency repair bay of the Zeta Facility, and that he had awoken from emergency stasis mode in the middle of the repair session. It was like a human coming out of anesthesia during surgery.

"Connor, lay still!" Abby urged as she watched Barry attempting to manually put him back into emergency stasis mode. "I'm almost throu-"

The deviant let out a horrible yell of pain around the tube down his throat as tears ran down from the corners of his eyes, and disappeared into his hair. He could see the interior of his entire torso opened up and on display in the same crude manner CyberLife would use during their routine tests and examinations. Never wanting to relive his past trauma with CyberLife caused the deviant to panic even more, and nearly sit upright on the table as if he wanted to run out of the room.

"No! Stay down!" Nearly throwing herself on Connor's chest to keep him down on the table Abby did her best to maintain control over the situation. "Look at me! Connor, look me in the eyes!"

The red flickering L.E.D. was racing in tandem with his heart and his soulful brown eyes were wide with utter fear. Breathing faster than what the air intake line could handle Connor was beginning to overheat while the pain and the panic threatened to overwhelm his mind.

"Connor, please! You're okay! The damage- Look at me!" Leaning over his face Abby made the deviant look at her at last. Waiting for his eyes to find and focus on her face Abby spoke in a calm tone. "That's good, just look at me and listen to my voice. You're okay. Your biocomponents just need a few repairs and your lines need to be reattached. It's almost over, you just rebooted before you were supposed to."

Barry managed to find the correct program and reinitiated the emergency stasis override. "Patient is returning to stasis mode."

Slowly Connor's eyes began to glaze over and his heart rate slowed. As he returned to stasis mode the pain faded and with that relief Connor's entire body began to relax under Abby's grip.

"That's it. You're just fine, Connor. You need to rest and let me help you, it's almost over."

The deviant's eyes slipped shut and the screeching monitor began to return to a more stable rhythm. As Connor slowed his breathing and let the tube breathe for him his core temperature began to drop, and by all account he was completely oblivious to what he was going through.

"Good... Stay like that." Pulling her hands away from Connor's arms Abby looked over to Barry and sighed. "Keep a close eye on his processors. If he reboots again while he's on the table he might stress himself to dangerous level."

"Understood. I'll locate the source of his reboot and prevent it from happening a second time."

Resuming the repairs where she left off Abby took in a deep breath to steady her hands and finish repairing Connor's thermal regulator. "I just hope him jerking around didn't undo the repairs or make the untouched damage even worse."

Shaking where he sat in the waiting room chair Hank stared at the dried blue blood on his coat, and refused to let Lucas pry it out of his hands for even a second. The fact that he and Connor were even in that parking garage that fateful night was because Connor caught sight of their arrested man trying to sell drugs to kids created an inner rage that Hank had never felt before. It was just so unfair. Connor was hurt because he wanted to do the right thing and stop a criminal in the act, and because he chose to protect Hank - as well as that very criminal from yet another criminal who got himself killed, Connor's own life was now on the line.

Recounting the events made Hank's blood boil and his spine chill. It was such a mixture of emotions that Hank wasn't sure what he should be feeling.

"...From what I've been told by Barry," Lucas spoke up in a whisper as he patiently sat beside Hank in the waiting room. "Connor's condition is critical but not grave. The bindings, though cruel to use, did keep his condition from deteriorating."

"You didn't hear him scream. You didn't feel his hands clawing into your shoulder. You didn't see him bleeding and trembling..." Dragging his right hand over his eyes Hank took in a slow breath to keep the tears from falling. There would be a time to cry, but the time wasn't now. "That's the stuff that makes you want to put a damn bullet in your mouth."

"Don't say things like that. Especially when Connor wakes up."

"You're right... Sorry."

"It's all right. Experiencing something like that is truly traumatic."

Dropping his hand Hank chose to remain strong on Lucas's behalf as they both awaited an update on Connor. "How're you holding up?"

"I'm okay. Gavin let himself into the apartment, which was a little unexpected, but he told me what to expect during the drive."

"Hard to believe that mouthy prick was trying to kill Connor barely a year ago."

"People change." Lucas's response was logical and sincere. "You should know better than anyone."

"I guess so."

Lucas suddenly leaned forward where he was sitting and his brow knit with worry as his blue L.E.D. cycled rapidly in yellow and red. "...Hank, we need to go and see Connor in his recovery room. Right now."

"Fuc-" The way Lucas spoke put Hank right back on his guard. "What's wrong?!"

Standing up while Hank shot to his feet Lucas made his way to the sliding glass doors of the nearby corridor and explained things as he walked. "Connor awoke during the repair procedure and is struggling with his stress levels now that the procedure is over."

"He what?! He woke up during- Ah, fuck me!"

Hastening their steps Lucas made his way to the correct room through Barry's cybernetic guidance and forced the door open with Hank right at his side. Inside the private recovery room Connor was laying on his back in the bed and fighting to get up while Abby and Barry held him down. The deviant's L.E.D. was red, his Thirial activity monitor was screeching, and he was trying to break out of Abby and Barry's grips as he tried to get up and leave the room.

"Connor!" Hank's voice echoed loudly in the room as he rushed over to the bed and put his right hand down on Connor's left shoulder. "Take it easy!"

Recognizing Hank's voice immediately Connor stopped fighting and his glassy brown eyes suddenly cleared. Looking up at Hank beside him Connor let out a few panting breaths as he fought the urge to break down and sob in relief. "...Hank."

"That's right. I'm right here. Lucas is with me, too." Making sure Connor could see his little brother Hank sat down on the edge of the bed and did his best to keep Connor from trying to move around too much as his body healed. "It's over. I promised you that you'd be okay, didn't I?"

Closing his eyes Connor let out a single heated breath as he realized he wasn't dreaming and that he wasn't back under CyberLife's influence. "...Thank you."

Putting his palm to Connor's hair Hank kept his hand there and watched as the deviant's heart rate and stress levels began to lower on the previously screeching Thirial activity monitor beside the bed. "Just rest, son. You're safe."

Abby let go of Connor's forearms and nodded at Barry to do the same to his legs. "The damage was severe but not nearly as bad is it could've been." Satisfied that Connor wasn't going to move around again Abby told Hank about his condition, while Barry got Hank a chair to sit in beside the bed. "He's going to need to stay here for two days of observation."

"Two days?"

"Sorry, it's necessary. That's the protocol for deviants who suffer from blunt force trauma to numerous biocomponents."

"Okay, yeah. Sure." Using his eyes Hank motioned to Connor's abdomen concealed under the teal scrub top and bandages covering the damage as he moved to the provided chair. "...What are we going to be dealing with?"

"I removed the bindings and repaired the holes created by the bolts," she started off in an exhausted manner. "repaired his thermal regulator, gyroscope, Thirium filter and both analysis filters, mended the damaged Thirium lines, and then I repaired the cracked plastimetal panels over his abdomen. It took about five hours, but-"

"Five hours?" Hank had completely lost track of the time and felt like he just stepped through a window into a different realm. "Son of a bitch..."

"My knees are saying the same thing." Sympathizing with Hank's loss of time Abby finished her assessment of her star patient. "With some replacement Thirium and adequate rest he'll make a full recovery in a week."

"Fuck... A week?"

"He can't work at his desk, either." Crossing her arms over her chest Abby tilted her head and watched as Lucas located a second chair so he too could stay with his brother. "He'll have to work remotely instead."

"Fine by me." Looking down at Connor's face; his complexion was far less pale than it had been and his L.E.D. was finally showing intermittent flashes of blue within the yellow cycles, Hank breathed a sigh of relief. "You rest now, kid. Me and Lucas are going to stay the night with you."

"Please." Connor replied in a frightened whisper. The horrible flashback to CyberLife had shaken him to his repaired core. "I don't want to be alone. I don't want to go back to CyberLife."

"You're never going back to that Hellhole, kid. CyberLife is gone and you're still here." Patting Connor's shoulder again Hank lowered his voice but kept notable confidence in his every word. "You won, they lost. It's over."

Nodding a little a tear rolled down Connor's face as he acknowledged Hank's words, and tried to remain calm. "...Glad you're not hurt."

"Not a physical level anyway." Despite his coat being covered in Connor's evaporated Thirium Hank draped the garment over the deviant to help him feel warm and secured as he rested. "Cooperate with Abby, and me and Lucas will stay here right beside you until it's safe for you to go home."

"We're here for you." Lucas chimed in as he cybernetically monitored his brother's vital signs to ensure he didn't begin to stress himself out again by accident. "I won't go anywhere until you're awake again."

"...Okay." Listening to the sound of Abby and Barry's soft footsteps leaving the room Connor kept his eyes closed and was grateful to feel Lucas's hand rest on his left bicep as his little brother sat down in the chair on the other side of the bed. Giving Hank a momentary glance Connor closed his eyes again and let himself fall back asleep knowing he was safe. "...Thank you, Lucas."

Leaning back in the chair Hank closed his eyes as Lucas cybernetically dimmed the lights. Trying to get some rest himself Hank kept mentally repeating that Connor was okay and never moved his hand from Connor's shoulder. "Goodnight, boys. Tomorrow morning will be a lot better, come Hell or high water."

Drifting off to sleep Connor sighed and bid Hank goodnight as well. "Goodnight, da- Hank."

-next chapter-