Chapter 13:
With Josh leading the way, Hank and Connor eventually made it outside a large abandoned building. The exterior had worn down ceiling fixtures. Some kind of windowed door was below them.
"My scanners indicate the entrance to Jericho is below," Josh said.
"So how do we get inside, genius?" Hank asked.
Josh opened the windowed door and scanned below.
"The distance should be safe for a human to drop down."
He hopped down.
Hank hopped down next.
"Easy peasy."
Connor glanced down in horror feeling his head spinning.
"Come on, lieutenant. We don't have all day," Hank said.
He backed away.
"I'm going to find a rope or something to climb down."
"Connor!"
He didn't return.
"D-mn it, Connor," Hank muttered in disgust.
'What is with him?'
He returned minutes later.
"I can't find anything, Anderson."
"Get down here, lieutenant and quit wasting time."
"I-I'll meet up with you later."
Hank glanced up at him with folded arms.
"Anderson, is there any reason why you can't join us?"
'Wait, he said he's dizzy and he just stuttered. Connor never stutters.'
"No reason."
"Are you scared of heights?" Hank asked.
Connor looked away.
"O-of course not. Why would I be scared of heights?"
Josh snickered.
"Oh my g-d, he's scared of heights," he said before Hank elbowed him in the chest.
Josh caught the warning glare that Hank sent his way and stiffled his laughter with his hand.
"Listen Connor, come down here."
"No."
"Listen, everything's gonna be fine. If all else fails I'll catch you."
Josh removed his hand from his mouth.
"You're not serious?"
Josh yelped as Hank elbowed him again.
"You shouldn't need to."
Hank growled.
"I shouldn't need to but if it makes you feel more comfortable I will."
Connor sighed.
"Fine. I'll do it."
Hank rolled his eyes.
"'bout time."
Josh whispered to him.
"Are you really going to catch him?"
Closing his eyes, Connor hopped down and Hank caught him in his arms.
"Oof."
Connor heard Hank grunt and felt himself get caught in a firm grip. He opened his eyes and glanced up at his partner who was staring at him with sharp blue eyes.
"See I told you I'd catch you."
Josh let out a wolf whistle.
"Are you going to put me down now?"
Hank looked away. Connor thought he might have saw a light pink shade on his partner's cheeks.
"Of course.
He set Connor down.
"Thanks."
Josh was trying hard not to smile.
"Which way to Jericho?" Hank asked.
"This way," Josh said leading them down a narrow hallway. Eventually they found a hatched door at the end of it.
He knocked on the door.
"Hello, is this the entrance to Jericho?"
"Who are you?" a voice murmured from the other side of the door.
"I'm Josh and I'm with two other men. I was hoping to speak with your leader."
"Step back."
Suddenly the door opened from the other side. A woman with long red hair and brown eyes opened the door holding a gun towards them.
"State your business. Are you here to cause any trouble?"
"Looks like someone's trigger happy," Hank said.
The woman pointed her gun at Hank.
"Silence, old man."
"We're not here to cause any trouble. My friends need help."
"What do you need help with?" she asked.
Connor spoke.
"My brother's missing. Josh said you guys might be able to help me."
"Do you guys have any weapons?"
Connor was about to remove his gun from his gun holster on his belt when Hank's arm stopped him.
"Even if we did why should we give them to you?" Hank asked.
"Because I'll shoot you with a bullet to the head if you don't."
"How do we know you won't just shoot a bullet in our head anyway?"
"Believe me if it was me, I would."
Hank turned to Connor.
"Don't it feel nice to be loved."
Connor shrugged.
With that Hank gave up his gun as did Connor before the woman lead the three inside.
Connor saw the interior was filled with white beds and blankets all strewn across the floors next to barrels that were set on fire.
The woman lead them to blond haired man that was hovering over a young man who was injured.
"Simon, some people want to see you."
He glanced up from what he was doing to stare at the three men before him.
"Oh?"
Simon turned towards the woman.
"Thanks for bringing them in, North."
The woman didn't even spare him a glance as she waved at him non-chalantly
"Yeah, yeah," she muttered.
"So what brings you three here?"
"We were hoping you could help us," Connor said.
"What do you need my help with?"
"My brother's missing. I think he might have run into danger."
Simon sighed.
"It's possible. It's just as likely he might be dead. This isn't the safest part of the city."
"The rumors say you've mapped these parts. You have memories of every location in this part of the city," Josh supplied.
"I do but I'm not willing to risk my life to rescue one person."
"Two people actually," Connor said.
Hank snorted.
"It's not like you'll be alone either. We're both good with a gun. Josh here is also an android," he said.
Simon glanced at Josh in surprise.
"I'm surprised you've come here. The last person I talked to seemed to think I had some anti-android group going on."
"I wouldn't have got here if it wasn't for Markus," Josh said.
Simon's eyes shot up in surprise.
"Markus?"
"Yeah, I got in a fight with some scrap hunters and he and his father rescued me."
"Sh-t," he muttered under his breath. "That idiot."
Simon glanced back at Connor.
"Listen Connor, I'll do everything within my power to find him alright."
"You didn't seem in such a rush minutes ago. What changed?" Hank asked.
Simon frowned.
"It's my fault. I brought them here. The least I could do is help find them before it's too late."
He turned and call for North.
"North, can you come here for a second?"
North ran towards them.
"I'll need your assistance to help find someone."
She glanced at Connor and Hank glaring at them icily.
"Y'know we can't afford to do this everytime someone gets lost in the city."
"This isn't up for discussion," Simon retorted. "Are you going to help us or not?"
North smiled slyly.
"Someone has to keep you covered," she said.
Simon whistled.
"Here Tiny."
Suddenly a large brown pitbull ran up to him in excitement.
Simon pet him on the sides of his head.
"Nice dog," Hank said.
"You're coming with us?" North inquired angrily.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Simon asked.
"Who's going to help take care of everyone here?"
"Lucy should be able to handle it until we return."
"That's beside the point."
Simon sighed.
"We don't even know if the people we are trying to find are injured and last I checked you aren't a doctor, North."
"Fine."
Simon smiled.
"Then let's head out."
"Do we get our guns back?" Hank asked.
"Oh North must have taken them. I'm so sorry. North please give the men back their guns."
North sighed handing over their weapons.
Unfortunately the search had came up empty.
Connor glanced at the watch on his left wrist.
"We ought to be heading to work about now."
"Oh, where do you work?"
"For the police."
"I knew it," North said. "I knew they were trouble the moment they appeared."
"Hah, shows how much you know," Hank said. "We didn't come here to foil your operation. Don't flatter yourself."
"North, just let them explain theirselves," Simon said.
"We had no intention of sabotaging you. Josh was telling you the truth when I said we only came asking for help."
Simon glanced at North.
"Then we'll keep looking for them. They have to be somewhere."
Connor and Hank continued their search from that day onward, before and after work until one day.
"Do you have something that belongs to your brother? I could have Tiny sniff it," Simon said.
"I thought of that," Connor said before taking something from his pocket. It was a gold necklace. "This was my brother's. I was holding on to it for a while."
"I see."
Simon took the necklace from Connor.
Josh ran up to them just as Simon walked away.
'I've been scanning the inhabitants of the locals of the buildings nearby. I've detected eight inhabitants in that house over there."
He pointed to the house to the right diagonal from him.
Just then Connor spotted a couple heading to the back of the house with bloody clothes on.
'What's got their clothes so bloody?'
"What's the status of the people in the building?"
"Four of them are in the front of the house and they are two upstairs. Both of them are sitting on the floor."
Simon joined them hours later.
"What's with you three?" he asked.
"Josh was just telling us about the inhabitants in that building over there," Connor said.
"Were you thinking Markus could be in there?" Simon asked.
"Not sure," Josh said.
"Tiny's picked up on a scent trail that leads all the way to that specific building."
"Great, just lovely," Hank muttered under his breath.
"So what do we do?" Connor asked.
"You two investigate the front of the house. Me and North will sneak in the back," Simon said.
"Sounds like a plan."
"I'll call for backup," Hank said. "So don't get hasty, lieutenant."
After dealing with the situation in the building, Connor was left with two severe bullet wounds on his left side. One hit him just below his shoulder and the other one hit him just below his ribcage.
"S-Sh-t," he winced clutching his wound.
"Ralph thinks that looks serious."
"I'm sorry. After I promise everything would be alright, you still get shot. What kind of police officer am I? I'm supposed to be fighting for justice. What a laugh."
Connor chuckled.
"Ralph may not be a good guy but he's willing to help those who need it."
Ralph grabbed Connor's right arm and ushered him upstairs to his house. He removed a board on the floor in his room that contained a small chest.
He opened it and took out some cash.
"Ralph knows he may never return to Detroit but he saved all this money just in case he needed it for emergencies."
"Are you sure?" Connor asked.
"Ralph thinks you should call a cab and go the hospital."
Connor nodded and hissed when he jostled his arm.
"A-alright," he stammered.
Later that evening, Hank was lying in the couch thinking about what happened.
'I guess some people aren't as lucky in this neck of the woods.'
There must have been hundreds of people all seeking shelter at Jericho. Scratch anti-android group, it was more like a homeless shelter.
Many of the people there sustained major injuries.
'Maybe from the skyrocketing crime rate.' His mind supplied.
Suddenly Hank's ears perked up.
He turned and was quiet.
'Strange I thought I heard someone at the door.'
Then it happened. There was a light knock on his door.
Hank got up and headed to the door.
"Who is it?"
He opened the door. Hank was greeted by the sight of Connor who was clutching his hand to his rib cage which was coated in blood.
"Connor!"
"Hank?"
"What happened to you?"
"I was shot."
"Well don't just stand there. Come in."
Hank's arm supported him over his shoulders as he helped Connor to the couch before heading in the kitchen.
Connor heard Hank call out to Cole.
"Cole, do you know where I put the first aid kit?"
"It's in your room in your bedside drawer," Cole replied.
Hank sighed quickly running towards his room.
He returned minutes later with the first aid kit in his hands and began preparing a basin of water.
Connor seen him return in the living room with those items. The water basin in front of him was now housing a clean washrag inside.
Hank leaned forward clutching Connor's shirt.
"Here let me remove your shirt."
Connor provided no protest as Hank removed the buttons of his shirt.
Something about the gesture was weirdly intimate.
Connor winced as he removed his hand and Hank set his shirt to the side.
"Ghastly," Hank muttered under his breath.
He took the wash cloth from the large water bowl at his side and began to clean the wounds.
"I'm not hurting you am I?"
Connor gave him a pained smile.
"I'll live."
"Any reason you couldn't go to the hospital?" Hank asked.
"That's simple. I don't want to."
Hank snorted.
"That's all fine and everything but there's only so much I could do for you."
After cleaning the wound he took out a fresh set of bandages from the first aid kit.
"Lift your shirt."
"It's not like I hate hospitals or anything. I just have a feeling if I go there, I won't be coming out."
"What makes you think that?"
"The person who shot me clearly wants me dead."
"Oh and who was that?"
'Should I tell him? If I do, what if he was siding with Reed the whole time? What if there's more than one person involved?'
"I don't know."
Hank wrapped the bandages tightly around Connor's waist.
"You mean you don't want to tell me."
"It's nothing personal."
"When have I ever hurt you?"
"Never."
"Then what's the problem? You think you can't trust me?"
"If I didn't trust you, do you think I'd head to your place?"
Connor did have a point. It said loads that Connor even showed up here given what had happened.
'I wonder if he knows this person very well. That would explain why he didn't want to tell me.'
Connor avoided Hank's eyes.
"Look I just don't know who to trust anymore."
"I know."
"I was going to call before I came over but your phone wasn't working."
"Oh because I just got it off the charger. I usually put it on the charger when I'm not using it."
Hank finished the final touches on his shoulder wounds when Cole came in.
"Dad, you ought to use the panel to charge up your battery," Cole said. "You've been active for five days straight."
Connor glanced at Hank in confusion.
"Battery? You just told me you removed your cellphone from the charger."
"I did. Cole wasn't talking about that."
Hank sat up and dusted his knees.
"Then what's he talking about?" Connor asked.
"Connor, I'm an android. Specifically I am a KL-900," Hank said.
Connor looked at Hank as if he lost his mind.
"That's impossible. You can't be an android."
Hank raised his left brow.
"Oh? And why not?"
"Last I checked androids don't emote."
"Are you trying to say I'm emotionless?"
"Androids can't be built with emotions."
"He wasn't built with emotions."
Connor turned and saw Cole glancing at him.
"What do you mean?"
"This KL-900 was a machine body built with it's preprogrammed technology implemented. Everything else was added after that," Cole explained. "You've heard that androids have been built to replace family members. Surely it's not that much of a surprise that the assistant CEO also bought an android to replace his own family."
"You mean Anderson-?"
"He isn't my real father. I merely replicated information that I knew from my own father and programmed it in his main systems. His likes, his dislikes, his behaviors are things he shares with my father," Cole said. "When my father died he didn't have many pictures so I based him off of an old picture of him when he was in his early forties."
"Wait, you mean to tell me that your father is dead?"
"Yeah, he died when I was just six years old."
Realization passed Connor's eyes.
"Wait, you're Cole?"
"Yeah."
"I remember you. We used to be neighbors," Connor said.
Cole glanced at him with confusion.
"My dad wanted me to get a job and your father would pay me to mow the lawn."
"Weird."
Connor recalled it was sometime in October when he had been riding his bike home when he had seen the car turned over face down on the side of the road.
Hank had been tossed out of the driver's seat and Cole was still in the car.
In a foolish act of bravery, Connor had opened the car and dragged Cole out on the road before calling the ambulance on the cellphone his father had given to him.
When the ambulance had arrived however Hank Anderson was already declared dead. His wife had taken custody over Cole and the two moved out to some other place.
After the day, Connor had never heard from Cole again.
"So I guess after that accident you lived with your mother?"
"Yeah, I joined Cyberlife after I heard Kamski retired. I wanted to see if I could take his research to the next level. He's always been talking about making androids more lifelike. I figured there must be other people who might look to an android as a replacement for a family member which is why I had intended on making more custom models."
"It's a shame. If I had known who you were sooner, I would have stopped by and said hello."
"I tried to write you but your brother said you had already joined the army. So what do you think? You think my android reminds you of my father?"
Connor glanced at Hank.
Appearance wise, the android looked nothing like Hank when Connor had met him. The android looked more younger than the man who he remembered had short grey hair neatly combed and not nearly as disheveled as the android's.
The man this android was trying to replicate also had different interests from the old man he had once looked up to.
Hank had always loved heavy metal and jazz. This android whilst it loved jazz, hated heavy metal.
Connor always had a familial relationship with Hank while they were alive. Hank always looked to him as the second son he never had. Often times he would just come by to hear Hank tell him stories about some cases he worked on at the station.
At the time he was still going to school, Hank was a lieutenant and very passionate about his job. Connor pushed through school just so he could be just as successful as the man.
He never knew if he succeeded but Connor liked to think he did.
"No, they act nothing alike."
Hank snorted.
"Are you always so bratty?"
"I notice your mother isn't around," Connor said.
"After I built him, she split. Probably couldn't bare looking at him after dad died."
"Oh. How did he get back in the police force? Last I checked KL-900s aren't programmed with the same capabilities of a RK-800."
"I merely replicated the program of the RK-800 and made some adjustments based off Kamski's research."
"So Hank also has the capabilities of a RK-800?"
"Yeah so feel free to use them any chance you get."
Hank snorted.
"Don't think that means you can use me like a machine any chance you get."
Connor smiled.
"I would never do such a thing."
He winked.
"Well I ought to head to bed. You get in some charge time too, alright dad?"
Hank sighed.
"Alright."
Hank walked by the power outlet where a lot of cords were hanging out. He took one of the cords with his left hand and removed a panel by the right side of his forehead with his right.
A white powersocket appeared after his skin ebbed away and Hank plugged the cord inside.
He sighed.
"That should get Cole off my chest."
Connor was about to get up and head to his room when Hank's voice stopped him.
"Ah, ah you stay here."
"Why?"
"I can't keep an eye on you if you remain in the guest room. We can't afford to have you bleed over night."
Connor sighed.
"Alright."
Cole returned with some blankets for Connor.
"You looked like you were cold and since my dad wants to keep an eye on you I thought I'd bring you more blankets."
With that he headed back in his room while Connor attempted to cover up.
Only after laying comfortably on the couch that night that it hit him.
'Wait, if Hank was a lieutenant at the same police force why was he readmitted at the police force fresh from the police academy?'