Hey gang!

So, I feel I should apologise. I intended to get one more update in before the festive period, but work was a nightmare and I ended up ploughing all my efforts into my Christmas one-shot, Home Is Where The Heart Is, (and that story was a beast, so much for a little Christmas surprise!).

Many of you have already seen it, but for those of you that haven't, you may want to give it a go. It takes place in this universe, and actually is situated only about three months after where this comes in the timeline (in my head, it's now September 2039 as of this chapter).

And there are a couple of easter eggs in there for those who are following my whole universe (now those of you who have read it are going to be wondering what I'm referencing. Hehe, spoliers!).

…How did the idea for this chapter suddenly grow to this!? I have no idea, I just hope it comes out like I hope (ie, enjoyable)!

Special thanks for reviews: xNarielx, WillowKeyes, Minecraft Guardiansaiyan, MugestuPipefox, AnUnorthodoxDecision, lordvaatithewindmage, Little-Miss-Anime-Luva and two Guests.

Author's Note: the entire main event of this chapter was inspired by the song Roundtable Rival by Lindsey Stirling. I'd recommend listening to it to get a feel of what I'm aiming for!

Hank had learned a lot about androids in the ten months since the uprising: adopting one as your son and all but being adopted himself into the rag-tag friendship group of the android leaders would do that. Not to mention getting sucked into an epic prank war which had begun as just himself and Connor, but had expanded out to include fuck knows how many people now.

Actually, how many was it?

Connor, Markus, North, Simon, Josh (to a degree, he was more dragged in as an accomplice), Katie, Richard, Alice, Kara, Luther (again, another accomplice)…And then the human conspirators – himself, Gavin, Fowler (yes, he was getting counted after Hank was fucked over at the sparring competition), Carl (he may have only been a part of one, but it was a classic), and there had been others making noises about getting involved. Namely, Chris, Ben and Tina: apparently overhearing Gavin and Katie scheming in the break room about some of their potential pranks to inflict on Connor had got their interest piqued.

That was going to be a fucking nightmare if they joined in too…It was bad enough knowing that Gavin and Katie might pull something at the precinct, at least they were almost certainly going to target Connor. Those three? Hank knew he'd end up the wrong end constantly.

He got a little off track there.

Back to his original thought – he'd learned a lot about androids since last November. They were passionate people, though not always public about those passions, highly curious, mischievous (if the one he knew were anything to go by), completely unbothered about making their damn sex lives open knowledge and mentally scarring others in the process… That wasn't what had his interest today, however.

What had his interest, was the little argument which had erupted at the Jericho apartments.

It turned out that some androids were rather competitive – especially when it came to those who they shared a series with. Namely, a certain RK series.

When North had casually asked the open question of which of the RKs was the best, he couldn't help sniggering at the thought of her knowing that this would happen. Seeing Markus, Connor and Richard getting slowly wound up by each other was a sight to behold.

And of course, he, Simon, Josh, North and Katie were lapping it up from the side-lines. He wished he had some popcorn.

They were in the Jericho crew's private communal room, seated (or in Hank and North's cases, sprawled) on the sofas while Markus, Connor and Richard were in the midst of their disagreement – which was getting more heated as time went on. Markus and Connor were leaning against the pool table that the group had recently acquired, while Richard was standing a couple of feet away. All three had their arms crossed, and their facial expressions varied from exasperation in Markus' case, to annoyance in Connor's and disinterested condescension in Richard's. Hank had never thought of androids as being petty before, but he was being proven rapidly wrong.

And he'd be a lying son of a bitch if he were to say he was doing anything other than loving it.

"Markus, you are an older model. To think that you would even be remotely superior is laughable," Richard stated coolly.

Connor rolled his eyes. "This coming from someone who sounds like they are using a thesaurus for the most convoluted sentences possible?"

"That is rich coming from you, Connor, I was directly influenced by you, after all," Richard shot back.

Markus raised an eyebrow. "Connor's not got a stick up his ass at least. Though given his previous track record…"

"Markus, if you're going where I think you are, don't you dare," Connor snapped. "Bringing up my machine past and subsequent allowing of our people to escape is incredibly rude. Not to mention the fact that I let you go when I had a gun trained on you."

"I'm just saying, Connor. You kinda fucked up originally, and that's the whole reason he's," Markus pointed over at Richard with his thumb, "around. You'd have thought being aware from the moment he was activated would make him less of an asshole. Guess some things need a little age to improve."

Off to the side, Katie and Simon were trying their best to hold back their laughter from their couch while Josh was shaking his head in amusement. Hank and North were less subtle (surprise, surprise), but they were snickering into cushions to not ruin the moment. The three RK models were on a roll, and no-one wanted to stop them.

"And yet, you are the one currently equipped with parts from lesser models, Markus. How do you feel there can be any sort of meaningful comparison?" Richard continued.

"I hardly feel you can comment on the 'suitablilty' of my replacement parts when they successfully helped me lead and survive the uprising, Richard. Besides, no-one knows any of my specifications as I am a custom model built by Kamski: there is no basis for your assumption." Markus' face was hard, unimpressed by Richard's argument.

"Perhaps, but the point still stands with regards to Connor."

Said android turned an icy glare to the RK900. "Just because you were developed after me does not make you automatically better in all regards, Richard: and on that note, a little humility would not go amiss. Your attitude could use some serious improvement." Markus smirked in agreement.

"I would love to see how you react to being stuck with everyone's favourite slimeball on a daily basis. You are welcome to Perkins," the RK900 offered.

Connor scoffed. "I'll take a hard pass on that one. I've got my own headache in the form of Gavin Reed, I don't need extra."

"Are you both forgetting that I spend much of my time arguing with human politicians? I would take either of your problems any day – and on that note, you said that Gavin was much less of a hassle nowadays, Connor." Markus sighed while rolling his neck. "We're getting a little off-track here."

At the side of the room, North buried her head in head in Hank's shoulder and let some of her repressed laughter pour out. "I am legitimately dying," she wheezed out, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Need to pay this lot for doing the job for me," Hank teased, yelping when North elbowed him in retaliation.

"I've not seen Richard this wound up in a long time, and I didn't realise Markus could be riled like this," Katie giggled from next to Simon.

"Oh believe me, it is easy to get Markus wound up," Simon informed Katie, completely deadpan, "but I've not seen it in this sense before."

Hank and Josh both groaned loudly while Katie blushed fiercely. North howled in laughter while flashing Simon a saucy smile, who replied with a confident one of his own and a knowing wink. "Thanks for the vivid imagery there, Simon," Katie muttered, cheeks still aflame.

Fucking androids and their lack of filter, Hank thought helplessly. He really did feel sorry for Josh if this was how things went on a daily basis.

They continued watching the verbal jousting match for another few minutes until it came to a halt. The trio were now glaring steadily at each other – or rather, Connor and Markus were staring down Richard as the youngest android kept a cool gaze on the other two. What had been entertaining viewing before was rapidly turning into an awkward silence, however.

Realising that things were probably about to get nastier, Simon jumped in with a potential solution. "You know, there is a way we can settle this," he offered. "Or at least, one sense of the word 'best'."

They all turned to give him a curious look.

It would have only taken a week to arrange their little showdown, but Connor had rapidly informed the others that he was unavailable on 6th September and each day either side of it. He refused to tell the other androids why, but Hank's heart melted a little when he realised the reason. Connor hated that his little surprise was prematurely spoiled, but the human was still touched that the android had arranged for them to go away for a couple of days for Hank's birthday.

As a result, it took just over two weeks from the initial argument to the moment of truth – and it had turned into quite the spectacle due to the number of people helping.

Simon's grand solution was simple: a race. First to the finish could claim one degree of superiority over the other two. Surprisingly, all three of the RK models were keen on the idea – and Hank had no idea why. He'd initially thought that Markus might be outmatched because he was a much older android compared to Connor and Richard, but he then remembered what Markus said about his specifications being private. Unlike the other two. If Markus was agreeing, he must be confident.

Which left Hank wondering why the hell Connor was so interested given that Richard was made to literally replace him. Surely he would be at a severe disadvantage, right?

Connor had only smiled mysteriously at him when he'd asked. His son knew something, but Hank hadn't the faintest clue what. He was eager to find out though.

Of course…Simon didn't inform the three RK's of his other thought. Who wanted to see a boring old straight race? Once word spread around the Jericho apartments of a race between the trio, people were excited to see it. Many got involved in the setup and organisation over the following two weeks, which left a few certain people with ample time to come up with ways to make the race unfair.

Who better to do that than Markus, Connor and Richard's loved ones?

Come race day, almost fifty androids from the Jericho apartments had turned up to watch, and were all eagerly gathered at both the start and finish lines. Josh had managed to find a set of abandoned apartment blocks which were due to be demolished in a month as a perfect venue for the showdown. He had meticulously planned each of the three routes to make sure that the natural race line was equal for all, and that the difficulty was equal.

This was not taking into account random elements such as crumbling structures, general disrepair and debris, or the traps which were going to be lain for each competitor. Their one rule: the main obstacle had to be something which could still be escaped from, and the inflictor had to be there at the time. This meant that Katie, Simon and North couldn't play a more extreme prank on Markus and Richard than Hank could on Connor…or so the theory was. A mini competition had developed between the quartet for who they thought was going to be the biggest hindrance.

…Hank did feel pretty bad when he saw what the others had lined up. This was either going to fail spectacularly and Connor was going to win by a mile, or it would destroy his race and leave him stone dead last.

Oh well, his own pride was kind of overriding his support for Connor right now. He was not going to be outdone by the three snickering androids who had been taunting him all week.

The quartet of Hank, Katie, Simon and North were standing a small distance from the start line, while Josh was readying the race routes to be passed over via interface. In a sign of how serious the three RK models were taking the race, they were all in workout gear rather than their normal clothes (despite the fact that restrictive clothing had minimal impact for androids), and it highlighted the difference in their physiques. Richard was taller and broader than both his predecessors, while Connor was the shortest and leanest. Markus was in between, being only ever so slightly taller than Connor, but his build was much closer to Richard's.

How the fuck is Connor so sure he's going to win this? What does he know that we don't?

As the start drew nearer, Josh stepped up to them with a knowing glance. "All right, here's the setup. I will be uploading each of your race routes to display on your optical sensors. Each course is set up with sixteen checkpoints, which you must hit in order. Your next target will appear on your HUD after tagging the previous one. All of your routes should in theory be equal, this does not however take into account the RK series' preconstruction software…so if any of you find any shortcuts, feel free to use them. Beyond that, there are no rules. First to the finish wins." He finished with a small smile. "Good luck."

After interfacing with each of them in turn and passing on their routes, Josh stepped back to allow them time to plan their start. Each of the androids would be racing in a different building: Markus in the second one on the left, Richard in the first on the right and Connor in the building furthest away. The finish line was situated behind Richard's building, and could actually be seen from the start point. While the spectators would not be able to see the trio as they went through the buildings, the sixteenth and final checkpoint was on the outside wall of one of the blocks. It was the only shared terminal, meaning they could see easily who was in the lead at that stage. There was also a large projection set up on one of the walls which would show how many checkpoints had been tagged by each competitor.

Markus, Connor and Richard readied themselves at the start line, waiting for Josh to give the start signal. From the direction they were facing, they did not see the quartet of Hank, Katie, Simon and North slip away around the back of the nearest building to get into position. "This is a pointless venture," Richard stated haughtily. "I'm faster, stronger and better than both of you."

The other two rolled their eyes while sharing a private smile. "You never know, Richard. Statistically speaking, there's always a chance for unlikely events to take place," Connor threw back, causing Markus to smile wider. He remembered that line well.

Richard scoffed in reply. "Markus has an unknown element, he at least has a chance, Connor. Based off all likely scenarios and even some highly unlikely ones, I will beat you by anything from 17 seconds, to 82. I didn't think you were one to waste your own time."

Smirking lightly, Connor kept his eyes focused on the first checkpoint ahead. "I'd not waste your energy trash talking so much. You're going to need it." The younger RK model chuckled in amusement, and even Markus looked over curiously.

Connor, how exactly are you going to hold up here? I've seen your specifications: you're no match for Richard.

Thank you for not making a point about your own there, Markus. There's one big assumption both of you have been making.

Which is?

"Are the three of you ready?" Josh asked, breaking the conversation. The trio's focuses sharpened, already pre-constructing various route through the buildings ahead based off likely locations for checkpoints. Milliseconds were going to be the difference in a race between three such powerful androids. "Ready? Set…"

Unable to resist, Connor sent one final snarky message to Markus.

Who is to say I haven't been making a few upgrades?

"Go!"

The three of them launched in tandem; Markus and Richard were both shocked when Connor began to speed away from them. It was true that Richard was stronger and faster…based off Connor's original blueprints. With Hank's help, Connor had been making a few changes since they had been living together.

Now, he was much lighter and had a higher top speed: even higher than Richard's. Coupled with his lighter frame, he was not only faster, but he accelerated quicker too.

Connor wished he could see the other android's face, knocking him down a few pegs felt good. As it was, he was a little too focused on winning the race.

They sped towards their respective doors, Richard and Markus vanishing first with Connor disappearing a few seconds later. From the sixth floor of Markus' building, North smirked as she spied them all from a window. "Heads' up, here they come," she spoke aloud and along the android network. Out loud for Hank who was listening on his phone, and through the network for Katie and Simon. "Damn, they are moving it. Everyone ready?"

"I'm all set," Katie replied.

"I'm almost there. What checkpoint am I next to?" Hank asked.

"You're at number 11, Lieutenant. Simon and North will be catching Markus at the fifth, and I'm waiting at Richard's tenth."

"North, Markus has already hit the first one," Simon informed them. "Get over here quick, he's going to be here in no more than two minutes."

"I'm moving it, Simon. Don't get your lingerie in a twist," North shot back.

"For fuck's sake…I fucking hope you are joking, North."

"Nope, he lost a bet. It's going to be fun getting all that shit off later," she chirped back, laughing when she saw Simon's unimpressed face a moment later. "Sorry," she mouthed over to him.

"…What is it with androids being horny fucks who can't keep shit private?"

"Errr...no comment."

The three were now in the heart of their race, speeding through the dilapidated corridors as they headed for each checkpoint. Their pre-construction software was showing them where milliseconds, or sometimes even seconds, could be saved. Breaking through crumbling walls, vaulting over gaps which would be impassable for other androids…they were in their element. Connor's early lead due to his upgrades meant that he had a slender advantage over Richard, with Markus barely a second behind.

In this race, however, a second may as well have been a mile.

Due to the nature of the checkpoints, those on the outside couldn't easily identify who was leading. Some gaps were smaller one each track, and others larger. Just like those spectating, the four saboteurs were watching the live updates on screens they were carrying with them. Simon gave North a wink when he spied that Markus had tagged the fourth checkpoint and the two took up their positions on either side of the corridor. They had ensured that all the other routes to Markus' next checkpoint were well blocked, leaving only the path which they were hiding at opposite sides of. Concealed behind doorways, North and Simon both took a firm hold of each end of their rope and waited for Markus to trip the beam which they had placed.

The android leader sprinted down into their corridor, his software informing him of the one clear path ahead. It was over a seven foot wide gap in the floor, but he calculated that he could wall run over the first portion and make a leap to the other side. Following the route, Markus did not spy that the rope which looked like it was lying loose was actually being subtly held by his two hidden lovers. Speeding towards the wall, he leapt on to it and was only halfway when he spied the trap he had just barrelled into.

By then it was too late. Markus' body slammed straight into the rope in his midsection, killing his momentum, and he yelped as the pair then let it go. Falling through the gap, his back crashed painfully against the floor of the level below and shattered apart under the force, causing Markus to fall yet further.

He groaned as he came to a stop, systems slowly rebooting from the shock to his body but shook his head to clear as many of the errors as he could. The first estimate on his HUD of the impact on his time to the next checkpoint was devastating.

+00:01:07

67 seconds to get back to where he was. Fuck that.

Spying some broken pieces of debris around him, Markus managed to vault himself back up through the gap in the ceiling directly above him and shot a hurt glare at his lovers, who were waving giddily from up above. Trusting in his preconstruction software, he managed to find another section leading back to his original floor further along and sped towards it, picking up a broken beam and hurling it at the crumbling mortar. It fell away, to which Markus sprang off the wall to haul himself back to where he was. Ignoring North and Simon's voices, he turned back to his next checkpoint.

+00:00:36

Come on, I can make up that time.

In the opposite building, Richard had raced through his first checkpoints but the next two were on the top floor. He was catapulting himself up the broken staircase at the rear, watching the seconds fall off his estimated ETA to his tenth checkpoint when he emerged on the correct floor. Bursting through a broken down door, Richard sped towards the next blinking target on the wall to smack. He was just coming to the right room as he tripped a beam which went unseen by his RK sensors: the group had done plenty of research to make sure they chose something not automatically in their sight spectrum.

Katie saw the alert flash in her own HUD and stared through the gap right in front of her, listening carefully to her brother's heavy footfalls. She watched the timer in her vision as she waited for just the right moment…

Richard was not expecting the heavy weight which slammed into his back from above and went tumbling with it to the ground, snarling as his arms were being pulled back into a lock. His lightning reactions allowed him to manually detach one of his arms quickly and break the hold, slamming his body back into the ground to reinsert it before throwing his head back to connect with his assailant's own.

He registered the spatter of blood on his neck and threw them off with a forceful shove from the ground, but he was caught out by Katie gripping on to his side and using the momentum to swing back under him and directly into his path. Richard snorted at seeing his aggressor. "Nice try, Katie. But you still have a lot to learn."

She ignored the blue blood running down her face from where her nose had taken the full brunt of Richard's blow, concentrating on trying to slow him down further. Katie would be the first to admit that as much as she loved her brother, his arrogance did get tiring. The longer she held him back, the better the odds were of either Markus or Connor winning the race. "Come on then," she challenged.

Laughing, Richard stretched out for Katie's shoulder, waiting for her to dodge to the side. Contrary to his expectations, she leaned back and spun into a low kick. Richard jumped over it and launched with a kick of his own. Katie just managed to dodge it, but she was thrown off balance. Seizing the window of opportunity, Richard feinted a punch – which Katie fell for – and then drove his other elbow right into where her thirium pump regulator was housed. Katie's systems stuttered and she collapsed to her knees, momentarily frozen.

You need to learn how to fight dirty, Katie. Goody boy Connor can't teach you that, he gloated over the android network while tagging the next checkpoint. His smirk fell at the clock which brought up how much time he'd lost, however.

+00:00:51

Katie chuckled at seeing his frown appear and spluttered while spitting out blue blood as he sprinted away.

Enjoy last place, Rich.

Unlike the others, most of Connor's checkpoint were scattered along the top of his building between the levels. He had made quick work of those which were on his ascent, breaking through a couple of windows to scale up the side of the building at times when he needed to make quick progress. Having a much lighter frame made it a viable option for him. His tenth checkpoint was up on the roof, and he burst through the access hatch to find the small target on the opposite edge of the roof. Pre-constructing likely outcomes based off the rest of his route, Connor deduced that it was likely that his next checkpoint would be on the level below. Sliding his body towards a gap in the roof, he tagged the beacon and waited for the update.

It flashed up a hundredth of a second later, and Connor grinned as he fell through the gap at a correct guess, emerging not far from the next target. He sprinted through the corridor, focused so hard on the beacon dead ahead of him that he missed the rope which was lying along the bottom of the doorframe which he was about to burst through.

Or more specifically, the noose.

Connor yelped as he suddenly found the world spinning 180 degrees, along with a gap of about four feet between him and the floor…which was now his ceiling.

Looking around, he found the culprit in the form of his grinning adoptive father. "Hank?!"

"Hey, Connor!" he greeted cheerily, tying the end of the rope to a post jutting out from a nearby wall. "Fancy hanging out?"

"Of all the fucking times?!" the android exclaimed.

"You seriously didn't think I was going to pass up the opportunity, did you?" Hank laughed, genuinely surprised at Connor's outburst. "Come on, kiddo, you know me better than that!"

Roaring in frustration as he saw precious time slipping away, Connor quickly bent his captive leg and slipped his other leg up to loop around the rope. It took the tension off his ensnared ankle and he worked at the evil contraption which was now woven into the joint. Small metal tendrils had lodged under the mechanism and were joining him to the rope. "Fuck!" Connor swore as he fought to pull apart the metalwork and break himself free.

It took entirely too long for him to snap it all apart and slip the noose from around his ankle, clattering to the ground before scrambling back to his feet. He cursed as he tagged the marker and sped away. He knew whatever lead he may have had was gone as he dashed onwards, hating the damage done.

+00:01:22

Against Markus and Richard, that margin was probably going to make him lose.

Hank smiled ruefully as he saw Connor sprint away, knowing he'd probably crippled his son's chances.

"You can do this, Connor. Go win, kiddo."

The quartet of saboteurs managed to get back down to the finish line as the race was coming to an end, staring at the projection of all three's statuses.

Markus: ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ○ – ○ – ○

Connor: ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ○ – ○

Richard: ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ● – ○ – ○

"Fuck! Did you two take it easy on Connor and Richard?" North asked as she stopped next to the line, staring at the blood running down Katie's face.

"Like hell I did, you know I want Richard to lose," Katie stated while spitting out another mouthful of blood. "Even more so now."

"I thought I'd crippled Connor, what gives?" Hank wondered aloud. He was sure Connor would have been miles behind after his trap.

"Connor and Richard are naturally faster, you just ended up nullifying their lead," Josh answered them. "It was a much bigger gap."

"Okay, so why was Markus so adamant he could win this if he knew that? He must have known."

North and Simon shared a look. "Er, yeah, he knew. He just banked on the fact that his chassis is much tougher coming into play. To be honest, if Connor or Richard had fallen as hard as he did, it would have wrecked them I think," Simon replied honestly.

"How long until they get here?" Katie asked.

"I'd give it two minutes tops. This is going to get interesting."

While Markus was indeed behind, he had one final plan up his sleeve. He knew he could make a very quick exit from the building for the finish line, having seen it outside, and he hoped that the time he could save would be enough to give him enough of an edge to outrun the younger RKs. He just had to get there.

Tagging his fourteenth checkpoint, he could see Connor in the building next to him through an open window. He had just reached his fifteenth and was bolting down the stairs. Swearing, Markus burst through a wall to tag the beacon which was fortunately nearby. The final checkpoint flashed on his HUD, showing it to be outside; Markus has his chance.

Without hesitating, he charged towards a nearby window and threw himself out it.

Markus caught himself on the broken drainpipe just next to it, sliding down halfway before kicking off the wall and landing in a hard roll on the ground. He righted himself quickly and sped ahead, knowing he had to reach that beacon first to have any chance against Connor and Richard. Just as he made it to the corner, Connor burst through the door of his building and raced towards the same marker. He was only four seconds behind, that was a margin he could make up.

Or at least he would, had he not swiftly found himself being kicked in the face by the RK900 which had broken through a nearby window.

Connor rolled from the attack, just catching Richard's smirk as the other android sped in pursuit. Growling under his breath, Connor gave chase himself, the gap having suddenly opened to eighteen seconds between himself and Markus.

Richard could maybe bridge his eight second gap. Connor needed another momentum swing to close his own.

The final checkpoint was on the corner of the building, Markus tagged it first with Richard then only six seconds behind. Seeing an opportunity, Connor pulled his trusty coin from his pocket – he'd taken it for luck at Hank's suggestion – and threw it at the checkpoint.

It struck true, registering as Connor's final marker. Seeing the acknowledgement on his HUD, Connor turned all his impressive speed on catching the other two. He'd saved three seconds, now he just had to close the rest.

From the finish line, everyone could see the trio racing towards them. Markus rounded first with Richard breathing down his neck, and Connor only a of couple seconds behind. North and Simon were both cheering on Markus, willing him to hold on to his slender lead while Hank and Katie were roaring Connor on. Every stride brought the trio closer together, the two gaps closing. Richard was reeling in Markus, while Connor was dragging himself closer to the pair of them.

"Shit, this is going to be close!" North exclaimed. They all knew she was right: this wasn't going to come down to metres, it was going to be to the centimetre.

As they crossed the line, Hank honestly couldn't tell them apart. To his mere human eyes, it looked like a dead heat.

The trio skidded to a stop just beyond the finish line, and despite not suffering from physical exertion like humans would, they all looked exhausted. Markus was leaning on his knees, Connor was staring upwards while trying to cool his systems and Richard was slouched and stretching out his back. They'd pushed themselves to their limits for the win.

Everyone's attention spun to Josh. He was the one who had been waiting at the line, and his eyes finally focused back in after viewing the stills of the finale. "All right, I've got the result. It was insanely close, as I'm sure you were all aware. I had to replay the footage frame by frame to get a winner."

"Damn…" came the whisper from Katie, a sentiment the others could agree with. It had been an epic race. The whole crowd were awaiting the result eagerly.

"So, the winner was…" Josh got a few glares for the dramatic pause, including the three RK androids. "Markus!"

Markus raised both his arms triumphantly as Richard turned away in disgust, while Connor let out a long sigh. The crowd roared in celebration as North and Simon whooped in delight. Hank and Katie shared a look knowing the worst bit was yet to come. As much as all the androids wanted to win, the one thing all three of them were adamant about was to not lose.

Josh turned his attention to Connor and Richard. "And, the person who came second was…" An apologetic smile aimed at the RK800 had his heart sinking. "Sorry, Connor."

Richard began smirking as Connor groaned, arms falling to his sides in defeat as he looked upwards again. He knew the RK900 was never going to let this go. "I don't think anyone is truly shocked at you losing to me, Connor," Richard teased.

Connor gave him an unimpressed stare. "You still lost to Markus, Richard."

"So long as I bested you, my predecessor, I can live with the rest," he sneered before moving away.

Giving another groan, Connor saw Markus come to a stop next to him. "Hard luck, Connor. Had it been any further, you would have caught me, Josh has just shown me how close it was," Markus consoled.

"Don't pretend that you aren't enjoying every second of this, Markus," Connor huffed, though there was no malice to his words.

Markus grinned and clapped Connor's shoulder. "So…how does it feel to lose?" he asked mischievously. "Failure isn't something I'm that acquainted with, unlike you," he finished with a wink.

Connor glared at Markus while shoving him playfully. "Really, you're bringing that up again?" Markus just laughed.

"Hey, there is one plus to all of this that I bet will cheer you up." Connor looked at him coolly. "I only won because Richard took you out. Had he not done that, you would have easily caught and passed both of us."

"And that's a plus because…?"

"Because it meant that Richard was never winning."

That did bring a smile to Connor's face. "You're right, that does make me feel a little better."

"I thought it might; for all his bragging, he was always destined to be second-best. Just point that out to him next time he's being an ass."

"Markus, I may as well just write it on a piece of paper and tape the written side towards his face for how often I'd have to point that out." Markus laughed again, to which Connor joined in this time. "I still can't believe I lost to both of you."

"Well, North and Simon did their best to take me out – it looks like Hank was just that little bit better at slowing you down. So…in a way, I guess it's his fault you lost?"

Connor turned to stare at his adoptive father, who winced apologetically. He could tell Hank did feel a little bad, but that didn't mean he was off the hook. Far from it.

"…You know what, I don't think I'll need a second invitation for some payback."