Well, it took me a while, but I've finally got this chapter done. Sorry it's a little late, a personal incident meant that writing had to take a back seat for a while.

Special thanks for reviews: AnUnorthodoxDecision, xNarielx, HK800 and lordvaatithewindmage.

Not so much story this time, just one long and hilarious prank. I'm fulfilling the most requested item here – a prank gone wrong! And this one goes spectacularly wrong. Enjoy.

"So, what is this thing about exactly?" North asked while she, Markus and Josh followed Simon up to the more secluded testing block of the Jericho apartments. The group settlement had expanded right before the first anniversary of the android uprising, with Markus managing to secure three extra buildings for the androids to inhabit. Their numbers in Jericho continued to grow after all the progress Markus had made in securing android rights in the city, and one of the new buildings had been dedicated to various android improvements and customizations.

"Well, Connor came to me with an idea after the prank he pulled at the precinct a couple of weeks ago, and it had some merit to it," Simon explained with a smile as he interfaced with the lock on the front of the building, granting him access. "Thanks to his various 'experiments' with the wireless backup system, he's come to some important realisations about its practicality. After sending across a few conclusions, he suggested a little test to see how viable it will be for the entire population."

Markus scowled slightly at Simon as they continued walking. "Simon, we agreed that the backup system was not something that could become public knowledge yet. The moral implications behind it are a stepping stone too far right now."

"That wasn't what I was meaning, Markus," Simon went on as he directed them down to a smaller testing space which he used for personal projects – mostly pranks if he was to be honest with himself. Given how often he received requests from especially Hank and Connor (though Markus and North were not above pulling a few dirty tricks to get their noses in), it was little wonder he managed to get any other work done. "We're all in agreement that it can't become widespread yet, but that doesn't mean we can't experiment.

"Besides, Connor intended this as a help to the other androids involved in law enforcement. More are joining, and none of them are as advanced as Connor is in terms of bio-components and processing power. As it is right now, only he and Richard can use the backup system, but after what happened last year he is adamant that the option should be there for others too."

"Well, it's worth contemplating, even it will only be experimental right now," Josh noted. "What was his suggestion?"

"Since most androids have connection links via the mental network, Connor suggested using smaller servers and a central booster to act as backup hub. It could only be used for small groups right now, but the pooled processing power would allow android consciousnesses to be spread across the members. In theory-"

"Everyone could store different fragments of an android's consciousness, and the pieces could then be recombined into as a whole. It's ingenious," Markus smiled.

"Connor said it was Richard's idea. After running it past him originally, Richard suggested I build a prototype off his design while he constructed the code. He is unparalleled when it comes to programming and theories."

"For fuck's sake don't say that around that asshole, his ego's big enough already," North muttered sourly.

"He's still inferior compared to one of his predecessors though," Markus winked over to her, which made North smirk. Reminding the RK900 that he'd lost to Markus in the race months ago always did wonders in bringing Richard down a peg or two. It never lasted, however.

They finally reached Simon's lab and the group were surprised to see Kara and Luther inside already, along with Connor. The young family had moved back to Detroit only two weeks ago, and were as yet undecided on whether to take up residence in the apartments. For the time being, they were staying with Rose on the outskirts until the chose where to live.

The entrance of the quartet had Connor, Kara and Luther break up from their conversation to smile at the others. "Connor? What's going on?" Josh asked in confusion.

Connor smiled while stepping back slightly to properly greet the new arrivals. "Simon messaged me saying that he was going to be testing out the booster system today," he started while gesturing over to Kara and Luther. "I was already out visiting Kara, Luther and Alice when I received the news. After mentioning it to them, they expressed an interest in coming along to see it in action."

Kara beamed alongside Luther. "Connor explained to us about how it could be used to help save android minds, or even transfer them between bodies. It's brilliant."

"This is meant to be low-key, Connor," Markus scolded the RK800.

Unperturbed, Connor shrugged. "Kara and Luther are trustworthy, Markus, and Luther has expressed an interest in maybe becoming more involved in the fight for android rights. With that in mind, it seemed wrong to not inform them."

"Hey, where's the squirt?" North asked while looking around. "You didn't leave her tied up somewhere as part of a prank, did you?" she finished while crossing her arms and aiming an accusatory glance at Connor.

Luther chuckled while Kara sniggered. Connor sighed as Luther elaborated. "No, Alice is staying with Rose for the afternoon. She is 'grounded' after deciding it would be a clever idea to mix some blue paint with the thirium pouch which we gave Connor when he visited."

North and Simon laughed while Josh and Markus smiled. "You do realise that you've had it now, don't you Connor?" Markus smirked. "With them now back in Detroit permanently, you're going to have no peaceful days."

"I barely had one of those to begin with anyway, Markus, it makes little difference to me," Connor shot back. "At least if I am to have minimal time on my hands, it is for a good reason."

"So, how did paint taste, Connor?" Simon teased.

"I couldn't possibly comment, Simon, but my systems were certainly in a state of shock for a while."

The others chuckled, at which Connor had to suppress a smirk of his own. Everything was coming together perfectly.

While most of what they had been told was true, they bit that they didn't know what that Connor had helped Alice pick out the specific paint for that prank. It caused him minimal fuss, and it got the desired reaction in that Kara would ground her – and thus leave her out of range for the 'real' prank.

Telling Richard the truth behind the reason Connor wanted him involved and leaving him clear was a small price to pay for Alice to see the results of her brilliant idea. He was currently live streaming his footage to the young android, and Alice was excitedly watching from Rose's house while speaking to him mentally.

Oh wow, they really don't suspect anything! Connor, is it bad that you're able to lie so well?

It was a skill I was given as part of my programming, should I be required to go undercover. There are occasions where it has its uses. I feel I should be concerned about you noticing and potentially mimicking this.

Do you really think I could get away with lying to my Mom?

Connor heard the sarcasm in her voice. For your sake, I advise you not to try. Parents can be ruthless when they realise you have lied to them.

Yeah, I remember what happened to you at New Year, Connor. Lesson learned.

He sighed mentally while smiling outwardly. Alice wasn't the only one excited to see what was going to happen here.

"So, you going to show off your fancy globe then, Simon? This this looks weird as fuck," North said while staring intently at the metal sphere on the table. A globe was an accurate description, as it was roughly thirty centimetres in diameter while it glowed a pale blue; not too dissimilar from the blue of their biocomponents.

"It's loosely based off the early designs for android mind palaces, though the internal structure is vastly more up-to-date. It is far from a final design as this is only a prototype and I wanted to see how the concept plays out," Simon explained while slapping North's hand to stop her from pressing the wrong button. North glowered at him in return.

"How does it work then?" Kara asked while taking a closer look.

"Once I turn it on, it'll operate on a specific frequency that androids can tune into with the right encryption key," Simon explained while pressing in a panel on the side. Everyone noticed the hum which emanated through the room while some characters flickers up on the side of the sphere. "That's the key, it is only visible to those who are in range of the device, so it's almost impossible to hack."

Spying his cue, Connor spoke up. "Simon, didn't Richard theorise that the more minds that were linked to this device, within limits, would reduce the strain of any potential backup retrieval?"

"Yes, he did. Once the mental data is compressed and separated, the more mind palaces that it is shared across allows for a smoother recomposition," Simon said while flicking several other switches.

"Then maybe we should all link up to it? We are all different models after all, it would be useful to see how all of our systems react to it." Connor hoped they would all join in, or at the very least Kara and Luther would. It was intended for them after all, the others would all just be a bonus.

Markus, North and Josh all shared agreeable looks which Kara and Luther nodded to each other. "It would be interesting to take part," said Luther while coming to a stop near the device, everyone else crowding around it to see the key required to link up to the network. Inside Connor's head, he could hear Alice's giddy laugh.

Yes! It's going to happen! Connor, are you linking up too?

Of course, I need to execute the trigger. Richard wrote the code to only work in pairs and the executor should be exempt. What happens beyond that…well, he never told me all the details, so this should be interesting.

This is going to be amazing! I can't wait to see my Mom and Dad freaking out when they realise what's happened.

You are a devious child, Alice, and I love it.

Alice giggled and Connor watched Simon play around with the device some more as all the androids joined the localised network. All of them blinked away the brief dizziness of the new connection after which Simon smiled. "Okay, looks like we've all linked up successfully. Who wants to be the test run?"

"I'm the most logical choice," Connor argued. "I'm already backed up on the existing network, so if it malfunctions in any way I can be restored from there. The risk is minimal for me."

The others shared a brief look before Josh spoke up. "You make a good point, Connor. Okay, what do we need to do?"

"I'll upload myself to the system, and everything should just transition from there." Connor locked eyes with Simon and smiled at him. "You all set?"

"Ready to go, Connor. Whenever you're ready."

Nodding once, Connor closed his eyes to keep up the pretence while readying the command. Just as he triggered it, however, his whole system glitched and the others all yelped in shock as well.

Con-r? What's-? Ar- ok-y? Con-

Everyone's systems went into a hard reboot as all seven of them collapsed.

Markus groaned as the first of the group to come to, a sea of red errors filling his vision before he even opened his eyes. He blinked them away in annoyance while looking around at the rest of the group, seeing how everyone was still out cold. His eyes first landed on Kara and Luther, the female android crumpled on top of Luther having keeled over in a dead faint. They then drifted to North and Josh, who were slumped against the edge of the table after trying falling against it, before coming across-

He froze rigid at seeing the last pair. Connor was lying half beneath…himself?

A quick look down at his body confirmed that Markus was no longer in his own body: he was in Simon's.

"What?!" he screeched, recoiling at the distressed tone of his (Simon's) voice. The sound was enough to jar some of the others, to which Kara, Luther, Josh and Connor all awoke. Or at least, what appeared to be them. Within seconds it was clear that he wasn't the only one displaced.

Kara and Luther had barely taken a look at each other before springing apart in a frantic shove, while Josh violently shoved North away from him with a shout. He continued to back away, panicked as Connor stared at him in shock. "Wait…what? How-I-?"

Recognising the speech pattern, Markus pushed himself up in Simon's body and crawled over to the inhabitant of Connor's body. "Simon?" he whispered cautiously.

The other android nodded slowly, looking around in shock. "Yes…Who-"

"It's Markus, I'm- I'm in your body, somehow, and you're in Connor's." Eyes wide, Simon looked down to see that he was now inside the RK800's form. Markus looked over at the others and saw that North(?) had now come to, and was staring at Josh in astonishment, while Kara and Luther were staring warily at each other, speaking quietly.

The bodily reactions gave him a clue as to who was in each body. "Kara?" Sure enough, Luther looked over at him unsteadily, while Kara reached out in support, evidently realising who was in the body. "You two have switched with each other," he said in realisation, before turning his attention to North and Josh. "North?"

"Yeah," came the wary response from Josh's body, at which North's eyes widened.

"You've done a direct switch too," Simon said in Connor's voice, which meant that-

"Shit."

Markus and Simon turned at the curse to see Markus' body sit up from where it had been partially pinning Connor's body, watching as he sat up. "Connor?" Markus asked, which was incredibly disconcerting when he was looking at himself.

"What the hell happened?!" North demanded, and the aggressive tone was decidedly alien coming from Josh's voice.

"It looks like we've somehow switched bodies, but I don't understand how," Simon said slowly, pushing himself up to take a look at the device on the table. It had now stopped glowing, and there was one panel sparking away. "Uh oh…"

"What does 'uh oh' mean, exactly?" Kara asked, the slightly panicked edge weird to hear in Luther's tones.

"Erm…the hub has shorted out."

Silence.

"…Hold on, are you saying that we're stuck like this?!" North yelled, at which Josh scowled at her for the reaction.

"Maybe, maybe not. There must have been a malfunction of sorts in the programming. I'll just-" Simon stopped abruptly as he saw an incoming call from Alice appear on his visual display, at which he looked around before remembering where his target was. "Connor, why would Alice be trying to contact you instead of her parents?"

Connor groaned awkwardly. "You'd better answer her, Simon. She'll be panicking."

"Panicking? Why would Alice be worried?" Luther asked suspiciously.

"She's going to know that something has gone a bit wrong when my connection to her abruptly died," Connor said slowly, waiting for the inevitable.

It was Markus who realised first. "Connor, why were you speaking with Alice, unless…" His eyes narrowed at Connor. "What did you do?"

Connor winced. "We might have hijacked the hub…"

North glowered at him. "'We', being?"

After giving a long sigh, Connor explained. "Alice mentioned to me weeks ago that she had an idea to prank her parents. She asked me if there would be any way of making them switch bodies temporarily after hearing about how Richard and I did it months ago. After mentioning it to Richard, he informed me about the booster hub idea he'd come up with after recent events. And it kind of developed from there…"

Any other time, the group would have ripped the shit out of Connor for how awkward he was being – their current predicament overrode that thought, however. "So, let me get this straight," North started. "Alice asked you to help switch her parents' bodies, and you decided it would be a clever idea to get all of us involved?"

"It is me," Connor said in his defence. "Since when can I resist involving everyone in a prank?"

Simon rolled his eyes while studying the sphere. "So do you know what went wrong, Connor?"

"I have a suspicion that one specific part of the program failed. Richard designed the software he wrote to switch minds specifically to alternate in pairs. It appears to have worked with Kara and Luther, and North and Josh. However, I think the part which was meant to exclude me as the executor of the program was ineffective, so when the hub tried to switch all three minds which were left rather than just ignore the last one-"

"It overloaded when it attempted to handle the three-way switch, something it wasn't designed for," Markus realised. Studying the sparking device, he turned to look at Simon. "Have you got in contact with Alice?"

"I have," Simon confirmed. "She's being extremely apologetic, feeling that this her fault."

"Oh, Alice," Kara sighed and put her head in her hand, which looked rather odd on Luther's body. "I don't blame her for this, it's just an unfortunate accident." Her eyes sharpened on Connor. "You, however…

"I've not seen you discouraging her antics," Connor shot back moodily. "And I was just the helping hand for this!"

"Guys! Not the time," Simon said while analysing the sphere, blinking in surprise when something occurred to him. "Wait, Connor, you said Richard designed this program? Do you think he'd be able to help reconfigure it to reverse the process?"

"In theory, Kara, Luther, North and Josh should be able to simply switch back. We're going to be the problem," Connor said while internally praying they wouldn't need Richard's help. It wasn't that he was loathe to ask the RK900…

It was what was involved in reaching him right now that was going to be the truly embarrassing bit.

"Because we switched in a triangle," Markus realised with a sigh. "All right, first things first. Simon, can you get this working again?"

"Potentially, but I do have the slight hiccup of not being in my own body right now," Simon said slowly. "I have all the schematics saved in my mind palace, I will need to reference those. Connor, if you would please?"

"Wait, you can access memories?" Connor asked abruptly. "I asked Richard to make sure that wasn't possible, to preserve people's privacy."

"I can access Luther's," Kara confirmed.

"And I with Kara's," Luther went on.

A look to North and Josh gave them the same answer but when Josh looked first at North, and then between the three of them in complete shock, it made them all freeze.

Oh. Dear…

"Well," he said unsteadily, "that was something I could have gone without knowing." North and Markus both groaned loudly while Simon winced. Connor was practised enough now not to react outwardly, but even he was horribly embarrassed.

Coughing awkwardly, Simon nodded over for Connor to join him so that the two could interface and share the schematics required for Simon to start the repairs. "Okay, well, the good news is that I think I can get this back together pretty quickly, I have all the parts for it here," Simon breathed out in relief. "Nothing too critical has been damaged. The bad news is that I don't think I can stop this happening again without the software being changed, and I what I have seen of the programming tells me it is very advanced. I wouldn't know where to start."

Simon saw Connor with his eyes shut and braced for the news, and smiled apologetically. "I think you're going to have to bring Richard in on this one, Connor."

"If only it were that easy," Connor whined while staring up at the ceiling in annoyance.

"Where is he?" Josh asked slowly.

"China, and there's only one person who has been given authorisation to contact him outside of the FBI."

"Which is?" North said impatiently. Connor just stared at her, and then the penny dropped. "Oh hell, of course it is…"

"Who?" Kara asked.

"We're about to become the gossip of the DPD, aren't we?" Markus groaned.

Connor reluctantly agreed with him while placing a call to their only possible source of help, hoping that she was available.

Markus, is everything all right? It's not like you to get in touch with me via call.

Oh, of course. He was inside Markus' body right now, his serial number would have flagged on Katie's HUD. This was just great…

Katie, we need you to come down to the Jericho ASAP. We've got a bit of an emergency…

Shit, what's happening? Is everyone all right? Is Connor okay? I know he's down there with you.

He was touched by the instant concern. Everyone is fine, Katie, but we're…Shit, how do I explain this?

Markus, are you okay?

Not quite, Katie. We've had a little…body swapping accident.

Very funny, Markus. That's not possible.

Connor sighed in his head. You've got a date with Gavin tonight at the cinema, where you are hoping to convince him to see that new action film which has your fancy, while you know he secretly wants to watch a romantic comedy.

He could practically hear Katie's processors at work.

…Connor?

For the record, and I can't believe I'm saying this, I think Gavin's pick is better: but that might be down to my preference for terrible humour.

Holy shit, what happened to you all?!

That's a long story…

It took just over an hour for help to arrive – and, of course, Katie didn't come alone. Connor wasn't the least surprised to see not only Hank, but also Gavin tag along. Evidently things were quiet at the DPD today if all three of them managed to appear, since they were all in separate partnerships as part of the last segment of their HR partner swapping exercise. One look confirmed that all of their temporary partners – Ben for Katie, Tina for Hank and Chris for Gavin, knew what was going on. Connor was extremely glad that he'd been exempt from it that week since he'd been helping the DPD run an induction course for new android recruits.

No doubt the three new arrivals would be quickly spreading word of this mishap through the precinct, however.

Fan. Tastic

Indeed, when the trio walked into the development lab, Hank had a beaming smile on his face while Katie was biting her lip to avoid giggling. Gavin was nowhere near that controlled and burst out laughing when he saw the indignant faces of the group. "Fucking androids, only you lot could manage to get yourselves into this mess," he stated in complete amusement.

"Zip it, asshole," North snapped, which caught Hank and Katie unawares since she was still in Josh's body.

"There's everyone's favourite bitch," Hank sniggered with a smirk. "Not enjoying yourself in there?"

"Oh fuck you, old man," she huffed, definitely not in the mood.

Katie's attention diverted to the trio of Connor, Simon and Markus and she couldn't help but laugh when she locked eyes with Connor. "Sorry; but you've got to admit, this is pretty damn funny," was her giggly apology.

"Remind me to be amused once we solve this mess," Connor grumped back to her. "Have you had any luck in contacting your brother?"

"Nothing yet, but Rich did warn me it would be sporadic," she informed him with an apologetic smile.

Just as she said that, Hank came over smirking. "Well, it was about time that one of your pranks went wrong," he said smugly. "Does this teach you not to get in over your head?"

"It's Connor, he's always going to try and outdo himself," Markus stated while earning a glare from the android currently inhabiting his body.

"Well, Markus has a point, son," Hank chuckled. "You do like to be ambitious."

"This wasn't even my idea!" Connor moaned. "I'd maybe understand if I came up with this one, but I was just helping Alice out!"

The others laughed at Connor's indignation as Simon spoke up. "Okay, I think I've got this working again. Shall we give it a try?"

As Simon got to work switching Kara and Luther back, Hank pulled Connor aside to speak to him quietly. "You all right, Connor?"

Connor huffed while looking at the others. "I'm annoyed that of all the pranks to go wrong, it's this one," he admitted. "I maybe wouldn't feel so bad if it was one of my own, but Alice trusted me with this and it's completely backfired." Connor sighed sadly. "I don't want this to put her off in the future."

"Nah, I don't think it will," Hank reassured him. "This was an accident, and we'll make sure Alice knows that. We won't let this spoil the kid's fun. It's pretty adorable seeing you encourage her and I'd hate to think this would deprive you two of that. Now all we've got to do is get everyone back where they belong."

"Thanks, Hank," Connor smiled back in relief.

"Hey, this might be an inappropriate question, but are you finding out anything interesting while in Markus' body? You know, memory-wise, since I know you and Richard blocked each others' when you did it before," Hank asked.

"Actually, that's already caused a problem…" Connor winced, before continuing. "Although, I'm pretty sure that I've found out what Markus and crew are planning to use against me next," he finished with a smile.

"Oh?" Hank smirked. "Fancy catching them out with it?"

"Did you expect anything less?" he smiled back, committing everything he could see to memory.

He couldn't wait to see all their faces when this went so wrong for them.