Author's Note:

Hey guys! Enchanted Mask here :p A big thank you to everyone who has favourited/reviewed/voted, etc on this story. It really means a lot to me that people enjoy my work :3

Speaking of, a quick word about The man made from machine; I've actually written up to 16 chapters of this and they're all very long and detailed. However, I don't want to release them all at once because it would make people impatient and wonder why 10 chapters come out instantly, then have to wait several weeks (or however long it takes!) for the next chapter, as I feel that would be a bit unfair.

I'm also constantly going back and re-reading and editing parts, mainly grammar or little things but nevertheless I don't want to submit somthing that is incomplete, it seems a bit silly and unprofessional, so I'll always do my best to avoid it. I hope everyone enjoys this new chapter about our precious cinnamon bun Connnor and be sure to review and favourite if you liked it :)

Take care of yourselves,

Enchanted Mask

XOXO

XXX

01:14am

"Are you sure you're okay, Connor?", Lily asked as the android stood next to herself and Hank outside on the front steps of the DCPD's HQ. The RK-800 assured her he was fine, as Hank stared up at the rainy night sky.

"You need a lift, Lil?", he asked. The lieutenant knew she'd left her bike at home (due to taking the bus to work instead because of the rain), and her plain white bicycle was pretty much her only means of transportation. The buses wouldn't be running this late, anyway.

"I'd be grateful, thanks Hank". Lily turned to Connor as Hank went to the DCPD car park to drive his vehicle to the front steps. "What will you do now?", she asked the android.

"I will return to CyberLife as of now, but I hope to work with you again in the morning", he explained politely. Lily nearly fell backwards as she met his eyes.

Connor was smiling at her!

It was the first time she had ever seen an android, let alone one as reserved as him, actually smile at anything or to anyone. She felt blessed.

"It rather suits him", Lily thought as she grinned back.

"Goodnight Lieutenant", he gave what looked like an adorable little bow to her, before descending down the steps.

*Software Instability: Corrupted Drive at 32%*

"Goodnight… Connor", she called to the android, who looked back at her with gleaming eyes at the mention of his name, before disappearing into the dark rain of the night. Lily felt her head spin with warm, fuzzy feelings.

"Hello? Earth to Lily?", Hank joked, his head sticking out the driver's window of his car. Lily nearly jumped out of her skin, she hadn't even noticed Hank pull up right in front of her.

"Sorry, Hank", she apologised as she quickly darted into the passenger seat.

"Jesus, how long were you standing out in the rain? You're soaked!", he gestured to her hair and clothes.

"I was just… away with the fairies for a moment"

"Clearly", came the gruff voice next to her. Lily looked out the window as the car pulled away from the DCPD HQ.

"Where did the android go, anyway?", Hank asked. "Not that I care"

"He said he was going back to CyberLife, but he'll be at HQ tomorrow morning", Lily explained.

"God, I hope he isn't", Hank snorted. "He wasn't even on the case for more than about two hours and Gavin already tried to blast his fucking face off!"

"Why did you step in?", she asked, peering at the driving Lieutenant curiously. "You could've let Gavin shoot him, but you didn't. Why?"

"I didn't want anyone getting shot, android or human", he grumbled. "Especially not with you in the room as well", he turned to meet her gaze.

"I know I put on a front to seem pissed, but I do care about you. Your old man told me to, well, keep an eye on you for him", Hank explained. "'Course, that was before the… er-"

"Yeah", Lily cut him off, not wanting to talk about it anymore. Hank seemed to understand and handed her the case of one of his favourite music cases.

"Here, put that on", he told her.

"A CD? Really Hank? You're so old-fashioned, gramps", she grinned, putting the disc into the car's stereo.

"Watch it, young lady", he growled, but Lily could see him smiling as he jokingly warned her.

Looking out the window to the night sky, she gazed about the darkened city streets. Detroit could sometimes look dangerous at night, due to the notorious underground criminal gangs which smuggled everything around the city from weapons to the infamous drug, Red Ice. But Lily had lived here her entire life, and no matter how many grave headlines that were posted on the News Channels, she always wanted to remember her hometown as the beautiful, prosperous paradise from her childhood.

XXX

They listened to 'Knights of the Black Death' for a few minutes with no talking between either police officer, until Lily spotted a pet advertisement on one of the city's massive digital billboards. She gasped, which grabbed Hank's attention.

"What is it?"

"I don't have any food for Scramble and Smartie at home!", she gabbled. Hank rolled his eyes so hard that they disappeared momentarily.

"Jesus Christ, I swear you worship those damn cats"

"They're the ones who've helped me through everything when you're not there", she thought to herself. Lily shook her head as quickly as the thought disappeared, immediately feeling guilty.

"I was gonna get some at the 24/7 store after work but… then we had the investigation and, oh god it slipped my mind". The ploy of sweet-talk suddenly became very tempting.

"Hank… you don't suppose…?", she implored him with big, pleading eyes. He sighed heavily over the loud music. "Please!? Can we just really quickly pull up in front of the nearest convenience store? There's one close by in Camden". Hank was unmoved. "C'mon! We're already in East Downtown!", she argued, but still got no response.

"I'll buy you donuts". Lily smirked as Hank's eyes briefly flickered over to her in interest, before re-focussing on steering the car down the lamp-lit streets.

"O'Mansley Donuts?", he asked, not looking at her.

"Yep, a huge, deluxe box of Detroit's best O'Mansley Donuts. Sound fair?".

"Deal", he said immediately. "But I want them as soon as you get out of the store"

"Result!", she grinned to herself.

XXX

After another 5 minutes, Hank pulled up to the curb, parking on the side of the road; the 24/7 was just visible around the street corner. It's bright orange-and-white neon sign lit up the whole road, reflecting throughout the puddles. Lily undid her seat-belt, noticing they were in the Ravendale District.

"Be back soon", she said hurriedly, getting out the car.

"Don't forget the donuts!", Hank bellowed after her. Lily quickly ran into the store, not wanting to test her partner's patience. The rain once again pelted down on her black hood.

"God, Connor walked off by himself without a coat or umbrella, I hope he's okay", she worried about her new android friend, rushing into the warmth of the bright store. Taking off her hood, Lily grabbed one of the shopping baskets and made a beeline for the pet food, which was luckily right by the door. She noticed that there was barely anyone else in the store; aside from herself and the cashier, only a young mother and her little girl, who were talking to the employee at the checkout.

"It's not as if that's unlikely, not many people are out this late", she thought, checking her watch which read: 01:32am. It was just past half 1 in the morning, but the mini-market was open 24 hours.

Making her way through the store, Lily grabbed her basket's-worth of groceries: milk, cat food, bread, shampoo, and to pamper herself, her favourite coffee beans. Passing by the bakery section, Lily was certain to put the biggest box of O'Mansley donuts into her shopping bag, in order to keep her end of her deal with Hank. Heading to the checkout and waiting in line behind the mother and child, snippets of conversation between the family and cashier began to catch Lily's attention.

"Please, could you spare some money so we could get a room for the night? We only need 30 dollars", the woman pleaded.

"30 dollars!? Lady, that's theft!", the guy behind the counter laughed a little rudely.

"Look, this is a convenience store, not the Salvation Army, ok? You better leave, if you're not gonna buy anything", he dismissed them, eyeing up and down the young woman. "You're holding up the line of customers who actually have money", the employee gestured to Lily, and the guy who was now standing behind her in the queue. The dark-haired woman looked down sadly and left the line; her little girl taking hold of her hand and walking away with her mother.

"What will we do now?", the little girl asked, not noticing as her small toy fell from the backpack on her back. Lily watched them go, not noticing the cashier put on a warm smile as he also eyed her up. Lily thought she recognised the woman, she had a familiar face, but the lieutenant couldn't place where she had seen her before…

"Can I help you?", the employee asked in a smooth, slick voice.

"Just give me a minute, please", she quickly answered, putting her shopping basket to the side of the checkout before picking up the girl's toy and running after them. Luckily, the parent and child had only reached the door when Lily had given chase. She held out the little's girl's toy to her, which was a plush fox. The girl hesitantly took it, as Lily smiled at her.

"That's a pretty toy you have, what's its name?"

"Ralph", she answered timidly, rubbing the toy's soft fur against her cheek.

"She's adorable, is she yours?", Lily stood up to address the woman, who smiled in thanks.

"Yes, Alice is mine", she nervously answered, while resting her palms on Alice's shoulders. "I'm Kara", the mother held out her hand to the off-duty officer.

"Lily", she smiled, shaking Kara's hand. "Listen, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I overheard you're in a bit of trouble". Kara sadly looked down at the little girl.

"Yes, we just need some money for the night, but please, don't feel as if you have to-"

"No, I'd be happy to help you both out", Lily smiled. "Wait here", she gestured to the inside of the store.

"I think we'll stay outside, thanks", Kara warily eyed the store's security camera.

"Are you sure? It's still raining out there". Kara nodded. "Ok, well, take this then", Lily handed her own umbrella to the mother who gave her a grateful nod and went to wait outside the shop.

Lily quickly went around the store, her basket still being kept aside, as she grabbed a few things and checked her purse. Making her way back to the waiting cashier (as the guy who had been in the line behind Lily had already bought his stuff and left), she paid for everything she had collected.

As she pulled out her credit card to pay, Lily noticed the cashier was making eyes at her. Ignoring the awkward gesture, she grabbed her plastic shopping bags and tried to quickly hurry out to Kara and Alice, but the cashier stopped her before she could leave.

"Hey… can I get your number?", he winked at her, leaning forward over the counter. Lily cringed, turning bright red.

"Er, sorry… but I have a boyfriend", she quickly lied before almost racing out the store. Quickly locating Kara and Alice under the supermarket's shelter from the rain, Lily went to them and handed each a sandwich and a bottle of water.

"I hope you both like cheese and ham", she smiled.

"Thank you very much, but this really wasn't necessary…", Kara began.

"Oh nonsense, I'm sure you're both hungry", Lily assured her. "And this is for a room for the night", she handed Kara a fistful of notes, as she dark-haired young woman examined them.

"50 dollars!?", she exclaimed with wide, astonished eyes.

"I only hope it's enough, it should let you get a room at a hotel for the night, and there's hopefully enough left for breakfast in the morning", she pointed behind Kara to the Eastern Motel down the street from the store.

"Will you both be okay- WOAH!", Lily was taken aback as Kara suddenly gave her a big hug. She looked down at Alice, who also joined the hug. When they all eventually pulled away, Lily noticed some tears on Kara's face.

"Hey, it's ok", she comforted Kara, brushing away her tears.

"Thank you, no hu- I mean, person has ever been so kind to us before", she said with a shaky voice, trying to regain her composure.

"Well then, hopefully you'll find better people", Lily smiled.

"Why are you helping us? We're complete strangers", Kara asked. Lily didn't hesitate to answer.

"Everyone goes through rough times, but there's always something to look forward to, cause it does get better, trust me", Lily said almost a little too emotionally, remembering…

She mentally shook her head; she didn't want to think about that right now.

Quickly checking her watch, Lily realised that Hank was probably pissed from waiting for so long.

"I honestly have to go, but I wish you the best of luck", she gave Kara another hug, and bent down to hug Alice as well.

"Bye, Lily", Alice said quietly.

"If you're ever in trouble, ask for Lieutenant Dover at the DCPD, we're located in downtown Detroit", she told Kara. The dark-haired young woman did a double-take.

"You work at the DCPD?", she stared with wide-eyes.

"Yeah, don't worry, we don't bite", she joked at Kara's sudden expression. Waving goodbye, she quickly jogged down the street to Hank's car. Opening the door, Lily jumped into the passenger front seat and held out a box to Hank who was still sulking at the steering wheel.

"Donut?", she offered him, teasingly.

"You've been gone for about 15 minutes! What the hell were you doing?", Hank said as he grumpily grabbed a donut and scoffed it down quickly.

"Just making friends", Lily smiled as she looked out the window into the rainy night.

XXX

01:49am

Lily got out of Hank's car, as the lieutenants exchanged "goodnight's". Watching her partner drive off into the rainy mist, she turned, shopping bags in each hand into the building of her apartment block.

She lived in the Greektown District of the downtown area in the city, one of the more pleasant places in Detroit. The neighbourhood had some very beautiful parks and high-rise buildings, as well as it being mainly a shopping district. Her apartment wasn't far from the famous Greektown plaza, which held a cinema, a popular chain coffee house (St. Clair Café), a fountain, a huge CyberLife store, as well as a very beautiful art shop called "Bellini Paints".

Lily was very grateful that she lived in a good neighbourhood.

Finally getting out of the rain for good that night, Lily trudged up the steps to her floor, self-consciously aware of how loud her footsteps were. Finding her floor, she headed down the hallway, hearing little bits of sound from each apartment as she passed, such as Tv's, music and loud conversations.

Standing in front of her home and putting her shopping bags on the floor, Lily fumbled with her keys, eventually managing to one-handedly unlock her front door. She heard the sound of frantic scratching inside her apartment, and she grinned as she opened her door.

Immediately, the police lieutenant was tackled to the floor, and attacked with a frenzy of kisses. Giggling, Lily pushed her attacker off her chest, as she grabbed her shopping and proceeded to fight her way inside, against the vicious bundle of orange-gold fur at her feet. Putting her stuff on her kitchen counter and turning on the light, she embraced one of her cats, Scramble, as the other feline, Smartie, slowly ambled out towards her.

"Hello my darlings, did you have a nice day?", she kneeled down to her pets. Smartie made her way over to the lieutenant, rubbing her fur against Lily. Scramble on the other hand was going crazy, he leapt up into his beloved mistress' lap, rolling around in pure joy at her return. Lily cuddled her cats for a minute or two, before she had to drag herself away and put all the food she had bought earlier that night into her fridge and cupboards. Attending to the needs of her pets, she put out some of the fresh wet-food into each cat's bowl; it was the expensive kind, as both were quite picky.

Her apartment was quite modest, it had 4 rooms: her bathroom and bedroom joined her kitchen/living room via a small hallway, as well as one small room along the corridor that she used for a study.

Lily then went to put away her shoes and hoodie, which had been left forgotten since now. Moving around her apartment, she went into her bedroom, changing into her nightwear which was a white t-shirt (with a character from a Magical-Girl anime she loved when she was a kid), her pink underwear and some white bunny-slippers. Lily looked around her bedroom, she didn't feel like sleeping.

Turning off the light and closing the door, she headed down the corridor into the biggest room in her home. On one side was her front door and where she kept her shoes and a few other essentials, with her kitchen at the back of the room and the island counters (where Lily ate on high-stools like at a local bar), and her living room taking up the rest of the space.

She slumped down on her pale purple sofa, and turning on her radiator with a remote control, Lily rested herself, tired from her long day. She felt too exhausted to sleep, but didn't want to stay awake and do something like watch TV. She smiled at Smartie, as the lazy cat wearily climbed onto the sofa next to her mistress and made herself comfortable.

Lily absentmindedly reached out to stroke the cat; Smartie was mainly cream-coloured but had big patches of fluffy black fur over her face and body, unlike Scramble's ginger hair. The latter cat proudly marched over to his owner, sitting on the floor next to her, like he was guarding over Lily. She yawned, and decided she might as well lie here and sleep for the night.

Using the remote (which controlled most of the electronic devices in her home), Lily turned on the small starry lamps around the room, but made every other light in the apartment switch off. Grabbing a soft blanket that rested on the sofa with her, Lily pulled it over herself, making sure not to disturb Smartie who snored peacefully next to her like a fluffy hot-water bottle.

"Man, I wish I could sleep like her", she thought sadly, remembering… that.

Not wanting to think about anything else, Lily turned over, her mind disagreeing with her as the images of everything that happened that day flashed through her stressed head.

"Thomas being abused… getting kissed by Gavin… the crime scene… helping Kara and Alice… meeting Connor…"

Connor…

The android was the thing in Lily's head as she succumbed to the deep black void of sleep.