Connor timed the walk to ensure it did not exceed the hour and a half limit. He returned to the house after an hour and twenty-five minutes, to ensure Sumo received optimal exercise and opportunity to relieve himself.
Additionally, the dog was now tired and eager to sleep, meaning he would be less likely to bother Hank once the man woke up.
Connor opened the door quietly and unhooked Sumo's leash. The large dog walked inside slowly and slumped down in his dog bed with a tired huff.
Connor smiled at him, closing and locking the door softly behind himself. Unsure of where to put the leash he'd been given, the android moved further into the house and set it on top of the counter.
He examined his surroundings, taking in the numerous empty alcohol bottles and cans littering every surface. The house had clearly not been cleaned in a while, and a quick check revealed the inadequate supplies in the fridge and cupboards.
Connor noticed a downturned picture frame on the table and lifted it.
An image of a boy, smiling lopsidedly, eyes twinkling from a boyish, and undeniably familiar face.
Cole Anderson, missing, presumed dead.
Connor frowned at the photo of Hank's son, something about it felt—
Connor stopped himself, he didn't feel, he couldn't feel. The boy in the image was merely a boy in an image, there should be no—there was no urge to pull him from the picture back into Hank's life, back into his father's waiting arms.
Connor put the photo back down, gently, upright this time.
The android felt compelled to go give Sumo some more scratches, but he needed to let the dog rest, so he moved into the hallway, toward a few more rooms. Then he noticed a gun on the floor and a bullet hole in the top corner of the left wall.
Connor froze, running an analysis and a few calculations.
He sprung into action, darting toward the door on the left side of the hall, wrenching it open to reveal a bedroom, and Hank Anderson's body sprawled on the floor.
In a second Connor was by his side and carefully turning him over onto his back. He performed a rapid analysis.
Breathing, Hank was breathing. Connor relaxed somewhat, unsure what precisely in him had been tense. Obviously Mr. Anderson's safety was important to the mission, that had to be it. His scan revealed the alcohol staining Hank's mouth and shirt, and its status as the root of the man's unconsciousness.
Waking the man and sobering him was an ordeal. Connor understood that Hank's stubbornness and persistence were what made him ideal for this mission, but they certainly didn't make him a compliant partner, or a very pleasant drunk.
After a quick, involuntary shower, some convincing, and a change of clothes, Mr. Anderson was ready to get to work at the sex club downtown.
By get to work, Connor meant investigating another murder and the possible involvement of deviants that needed destroying. He'd had to explain that distinction to Hank after a moment of disgusted incredulity.
Hank raised an eyebrow at his tired dog, but expressed no displeasure or gratitude, which in Hank's case, Connor figured, was a victory.
They drove in silence for a good while, before Connor's coin tricks agitated Hank enough that he turned on some music.
Blaring guitar and drums filled the car, screeching lyrics followed shortly after. Connor was surprised for a moment, identifying the band as Knights of the Black Death, then sat back with his eyebrows drawn.
"What'sa matter? Don't like heavy metal?" Hank asked, his head bobbing to the beat.
"Actually, I think I rather like it. It's…full of energy." Connor replied with a small smile, tucking away his coin.
"You think you like it?" Hank questioned blandly.
"Well, this is the first time I've ever listened to music." Connor said, placing his hand where it couldn't be seen and tapping one finger along to the music. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to hide it.
"Yeah? They don't play Mozart in the Cyberlife factories?" Hank joked, keeping his eyes on the road.
"I was built in a lab, not a factory, and there was no music there." Connor stated, his gaze sinking to the corner of the floor by his feet.
"Lab, huh? You must be special. What's it like having a team of engineers personally design every piece of you?" Hank sneered.
Connor's memories of the laboratory stage of his creation were vivid, he could replay them at any time. He did not want to.
"…cold." Connor said after a while. It had less to do with the endless tests of his durability in different climates and more to do with something else he was forcing himself not to examine.
Hank looked sideways at him, the crude smile gone from his face. He looked about to say something else, but Connor cut him off.
"We're here." He said, the garish pink neon of the Eden Club spilling across the street and the nearby buildings, flooding the car as they approached.
Hank glanced at him again, but let whatever he was about to say go, parking the car nearby and stepping out.
They entered the building, enormous pictures of barely-dressed androids splashed across every screen, blown up so large they were utterly unrecognizable up close. Every sentence displayed offered promises of pleasure that couldn't be found anywhere, not alone, not in other sex clubs, and certainly not in the arms of a human.
"When I said nothing else would come up until the sun went down, I didn't mean you had to find us a case that's the epitome of shit human's do in the dark." Hank said as they passed through the main doors. He examined the androids in the display cases with undisguised disgust.
Connor was not so appalled, pausing to look over a male model android with some curiosity.
"Connor! The fuck?" Hank barked, and the android snapped his attention away and followed the man into the next room.
Hank immediately stopped at the sight of a police officer and a detective exiting one of the rooms. Connor glimpsed a corpse as the door shut.
The detective spotted Hank and broke out laughing without any real humor, walking over.
"Old Lieutenant Anderson! I'll be damned." He said.
"Gavin Reed, you son of a bitch." Hank replied. Connor figured the swear could be considered fond in certain cases, especially when it came to a man as surly as Hank, but it was far from friendly in this situation.
"What are you doing here? You're not a cop anymore." Detective Reed scoffed, inserting himself into Hank's personal space. Standing directly at the detective's back was his guard android, a modified PC200, it was burlier and taller than average, alterations that wouldn't have been cheap and did little to actually improve performance.
"I'm working, Reed." Hank replied gruffly. Gavin seemed confused by this for a moment before grasping its meaning.
"Oh no, you're not allowed anywhere near my crime scene old man." The detective insisted. Connor stepped closer to him, wedging his shoulder between Reed and Hank.
"Actually, Mr. Anderson has been commissioned by Cyberlife, they have access to all crimes committed by androids they produce. As this crime was committed by a Cyberlife android, that access extends to us." Connor stated smoothly.
"Who the fuck are you?" The detective growled.
"I'm Connor, the android sent by Cyberlife." Connor answered coolly.
"Oh yeah?" Gavin spat, then stepped aside and gave his own guard android a nod in Connor's direction.
The android struck Connor in the center of his torso, he could feel the light damage it did to his exterior, and the impact rattling through his biocomponents sent him stumbling back and almost down.
"Stay out of my way, plastic prick." He snapped at Connor with a smug grin.
Hank looked as though he was about to intervene, expression tinged with anger. However, Connor was designed for a very specific purpose, and so was back up again in an instant. He mirrored the attack, except his arm plunged into the depths of the other android and burst out the other side. He avoided all major biocomponents, but the android would still need some serious repairs.
Connor took several steps forward, pushing the other android along with him, its heels dragging along the floor as he lifted it with the one arm imbedded within it. Connor grabbed Gavin by his lapels and yanked him forward with that same arm.
The other android was still speared on his arm, but Connor pulled Detective Reed so he could speak to him over its shoulder. The man struggled uselessly, as did his guard. The other officer rushed over in concern, his android standing in front of him protectively.
"Had you attacked me yourself, I could not have retaliated, but I am permitted to defend myself against other androids." Connor muttered into Gavin's face. Thirium was spilling from the hole over Connor's arm and onto the front of Reed's shirt where Connor held him against his own android. "Perhaps if you had invested in useful improvements to your android over compensations for your own shortcomings, the both of you would actually be capable of standing in my way." Connor tossed both of them to the floor and stepped over them toward the crime scene, never looking back.
Hank followed close behind and the door shut them in.
"God damn." Hank muttered, looking stuck somewhere between tickled and terrified. "That asshole had it coming, but now I'm scared to get on your bad side." He continued.
"You won't, I enjoy your company Mr. Anderson." Connor replied, performing an analysis of the crime scene.
"Enjoy? Can you even do that?" Hank asked, also looking over the grisly scene, frowning at the naked corpse on the bed. The man had been strangled to death.
Connor mulled over Hank's question before answering.
"I'm not sure if I am capable of enjoyment as a human would experience it, but I do know that adapting to work with you thus far has been…challenging, and also gratifying." Connor explained, looking up at Hank from where he was crouched over a stain of thirium on the wall.
He winked.
Hank looked taken aback, but not necessarily in an unpleasant manner.
Then Connor dipped two fingers into the thirium on the wall and put those fingers in his mouth.
"God dammit, not this again." Hank grumbled and turned away to examine the dead man's wallet. There was a photo inside of the guy with his wife and kids, their guard androids lurking in the background of the image, somewhat blurry.
Hank tried to push down the pit in his stomach at the sight of the now fatherless children, looking for anything else to focus on. That's when he noticed something.
"Connor, come'ere a second." He called, gesturing the android over without looking.
"What is it?" Connor asked, stepping over and following Hank's gaze to the photo in the wallet.
"Can you identify the models of the androids in here? Specifically the one on the far left." Hank asked, pointing to the hazy humanoid shape.
"I am 76% certain that is a WR400 model, they are not usually designated for protection positions, it would have been special ordered." Connor rattled off.
"Yeah, yeah, but that's a WR400 model ain't it?" Hank asked, pointing to the android slumped in the corner. She was wearing the Eden Club minimum uniform of a bra and underwear but her body was covered in thirium that had spilled from an open wound in her midsection.
"Yes, it is." Connor answered.
Hank stepped over to the android quickly and crouched down in front of her.
"Is there any way to find out if she's the club's or the vic's?" Hank wondered, glancing over at Connor.
"Yes, there is." The android replied and swiftly turned the body over. Once the WR400 was face down on the ground, Connor's hands turned a pale white and removed the skin on the other android's bare back.
"What are you checking for?" Hank questioned.
"All guard androids are constructed with additional metal plating and built-in Kevlar lining, in the event that they must stand between their assigned human and a bullet. It is a legal requirement." Connor explained. "The androids here would not be equipped with this, as the additional material can make androids bulkier, and less…" Connor trailed off, then looked over to hank as he finally removed the back piece of the android with a metallic pop, "soft." He finished.
"So they're not as squishy when they're designed to take a bullet for you." Hank muttered to himself.
"Precisely. That is also why he would have to special order a WR400 model, default production does not include the proper specifications for protection."
The two of them peered into the open back of the android. Hank reached into his jacket for his bot binoculars, but Connor stayed his hand.
"No need, this model is outfitted with the metal and Kevlar, it is a guard android." He stated.
"So this isn't the android the dead guy was messing around with." Hank concluded, running a hand over his face and standing up.
"No, this was his guard, and it was likely killed before he was."
"So, are we still looking for a deviant?" Hank asked, resting his hands on his hips.
"Most likely, as the Eden Club attire had to come from somewhere, and it is doubtful the victim entered the room with only his guard and proceeded to beat himself to death." Connor said.
"Could have been—oh god, Connor, really?" Hank stumbled mid-sentence as the android once again sampled the thirium with his tongue. "Could have been a human that killed him, and would you stop that?" Hank finished.
"No, there was another android here, and it was injured." Connor stated, standing to face Hank.
"Huh?"
"The models here are heated to a higher temperature than most androids, to make them more pleasant to the touch. The thirium here is 8 degrees cooler than the thirium on the wall, indicating that that blue blood belonged to an actual Eden Club model." Connor explained.
Hank took a moment to absorb that before walking briskly out of the room.
"Mr. Anderson?" Connor called after him, Hank stopped suddenly to speak quietly with the android.
"I'd betcha anything it's still here. It's not dressed to blend in with the damn bikinis they wear here, and there's probably repair equipment in the back for when the customers get too rough. So if it's injured and half naked…" Hank drifted off, gesturing for Connor to complete the thought.
"Then it optimizes its chances of survival by remaining here." The android said.
"Bingo, let's find it." Hank said, clapping Connor on the shoulder and setting off in search of the deviant murderer.
Connor figured immediately that the android would likely be looking to repair itself with the tools in the maintenance area, so set off there quickly, falling into step behind Hank, who clearly had the same thought.
Once they arrived at the second door, Connor laid a hand on Hank's arm.
"I should enter first." He said.
"Like hell." Hank spat back, trying to shoulder his way past the android, with little success.
"I know I am not your guard android Mr. Anderson, but I am still accountable for your safety. I can easily be replaced, you can't." Connor reasoned, and Hank backed off reluctantly.
As Connor pushed the door open, he was immediately grateful for his choice.
There was a loud sound, and he felt his knees buckle beneath him as he lost complete control of his motor systems.
"I told you it worked." Came a distinctly male, distinctly human voice. Connor's mind was working as fast as it could to make sense of the situation.
Hank was over him in an instant, gun out and ready to fight. Someone appeared to his left, and Connor was unable to warn the man in his current state.
A black bag was shoved over Hank's head by one man while another approached with a taser in his hands. Connor could identify a secondary piece being removed from the front that was designed to modify the device to incapacitate androids instead of humans. It would have completely destroyed a lesser model, frying their circuits, but Connor was merely paralyzed.
With it taken off, Hank was now fair game.
Connor struggled against the immobility in his limbs, watching as Hank pulled a knife from in his coat and slashed at the man holding the bag over his head. The blade sliced a quarter inch deep and two inches wide on the man's ribcage.
He screamed in pain and jumped back, his very red blood pouring through his fingers.
The other man shot Hank with the taser, dropping the man in an instant.
"He fucking stabbed me!" The first man screamed.
"He cut you, Owen, that's different than stabbing." The other replied coldly, and began digging around in Hank's pockets now that he was unable to fight back.
He removed another knife, a smaller one, and Hank's wallet.
"He fucking cut me then! It hurts like hell Sam." The man, Owen, said.
"Shut it." The other, Sam, said. His eyes widened after a moment of examining Hank's ID. "Holy shit, this guy's A-class." He muttered.
"What? Seriously?" The other responded incredulously, bending over painfully to look at the driver's license that confirmed it. "Sam, we gotta bag him." He said.
"Of course we're gonna bag him." Sam replied with a grin. He whistled to someone further back in the room. A blue-haired Traci model emerged from the darkness. She was clothed fully, but Connor could tell from a cursory examination that the clothes were not made for her, or androids in general. She was limping slightly, but no thirium stained the clothes, indicating her injury was no longer open.
Connor was easily able to conclude that she was the other model from the victim's room. The murderer and the deviant.
She looked distressed as she joined the two men.
"Since you screwed up our other mark, we're taking this one. Carry him out to the van." Sam demanded, but the Traci hesitated, an expression of anger flashing across her face. The man stood and got into her face. "You want to see your girlfriend again?" He asked with a cruel sweetness. The Traci's face crumbled. "Yeah? Then carry him out to the car, and be careful about it." The man ordered, and she quickly obeyed.
Owen paused to glare down at Connor, stepping on his hand as he followed the other two out of sight.
Connor struggled against his frozen body, attempting to force himself into a state of motion.
His fingers twitched, and he blinked.
He heard the revving of an engine being started.
He had a few guesses about their intentions for Hank, and none of the preconstructed scenarios ended well for the man. He struggled harder, moving his arm.
The engine grew louder as the vehicle was taken out of park.
Connor let out a strange noise, like a roar as he used every ounce of his strength to move himself, gripping the metal railing in front of him, he hauled himself to his feet.
The vehicle began to pull away and Connor set off in a stilted run, still prying himself from the jaws of his incapacitation.
He rounded the corner of the alleyway, stepping into the grey night and the rain, only to see a brown van pulling out into the street, Hank surely bound and gagged in the back.
Connor made chase, his feet pounding the pavement as he sprinted alongside the speeding vehicle. His speed was well above average, but as the van made a left turn at the light it accelerated beyond his maximum running pace of 45 miles per hour.
Connor would have to compensate.
He made a few calculations and crossed the street diagonally toward a medium height building surrounded by a chain link fence. He scaled the fence and used it as leverage to jump to the window sill of the building, climbing the slick wall to the roof.
From there he was able to spot the van at the next intersection, turning left again.
Connor sprinted across the roof and leapt to the adjacent roof. His shoes kicked up the gravel tops as he hopped over every ledge. Once he reached the intersection, the van was a little ways off, but a self-driving taxi was making its way toward him.
He timed it perfectly and dove from the roof onto the top of the car. It crushed slightly under his weight, but he knew from that top light that it was unoccupied, not that any passengers would have deterred him.
He dug his hands into the sides and rolled, smashing the windshield in with his heels. With the console now in sight, Conner slid to the hood of the taxi and threw one hand back against it. The synthetic skin fell away and he hacked the vehicle, commandeering it for himself.
He hit the gas, speeding through the red light and exceeding the speed limit to quickly gain on the brown van with Hank inside it.
He drew close, but the driver must have spotted him out of the rear view mirror because they sped up considerably.
The two vehicles were matched for speed, so Connor knew they couldn't outrun him, it was just a matter of outsmarting them.
They made a harsh right turn, the top-heavy van tilting slightly on its wheels.
Connor followed, cutting the corner of the sidewalk over a trashcan. The car jumped slightly, Connor's heels lifted from the hood, then slid as he careened around the corner. He held tight, digging his free hand into the hood, puncturing the metal with his fingers.
Another car on the road honked as the van and the taxi flew past, its headlights lighting up Connor for a moment, his jacket flapping behind him and his hair pinned against his scalp by the wind.
The next light turned red, though the two vehicles had a way to go, Connor could see that it had changed to accommodate an oncoming train.
The van displayed no signs of stopping as a whistle sounded to the right, down the tracks, and the blinding light of the train cast long shadows down the street.
Connor performed a quick calculation, and instructed the taxi to swerve to the right. The wheels screeched and left dark stains on the road, but little speed was lost. As Connor sped down the direction the train was coming from, he looked over his shoulder.
The van crossed the train tracks, but the back end was nicked but the roaring train engine. Connor lost sight after he saw the rear wheels skid off to the side. His jaw clenched and he pushed the taxi harder, manually overriding the engine in the hopes of making it go faster.
The likelihood of Hank being held in the tail end of the taxi was 93%, and the likelihood of him being injured from the minor collision with the train was 48%.
Connor needed to get to him. He needed to get to him back.
Upon spotting the caboose of the train, Connor took a hard left, over a tall curb and across the tracks.
He quickly accessed as many traffic cameras in the area as he could. It was a largely uninhabited part of the city, old factories and apartment complexes that had once been necessary but no longer were. There weren't many active cameras, but one revealed the van had taken a right two intersections away.
Connor sped forward with the intent to intercept.
He arrived at the road, but his failure to see the van pass indicated it had turned off somewhere before, so Connor continued straight.
He turned his gaze to the left, and through the opening at the next intersection and the broken windows of a corner store Connor spotted the van on the road parallel.
He switched off his headlights and executed a slight left turn. The taxi wheels roughly passed over the curbs and the left rearview mirror snapped off against an inactive light post.
It was a noisy transition, but he was behind the van again, and with his headlights off he had a 23% chance of not being spotted right away.
The oncoming intersection had no forward continuation, as the river was located on the other side of a small, undeveloped lot. Connor spotted a leveler that extended slightly into the road from the lot.
He pushed the engine harder and as he gained on the other vehicle he flashed the brights on the taxi several times in rapid succession.
Sure enough, the other driver was startled by this and he faltered in the middle of the turn, hitting the gas and yanking the wheel. This gave Connor the opening he needed to ram the side of the van into the leveler.
Both cars jolted at the impact, one of the back lights on the van shattering.
An outcome that had a low probability took place, however, and the van ricocheted back into Connor's taxi, causing the lighter vehicle to spin. The android was far from unprepared though, and before he could lose much speed he shifted the taxi into reverse. He spun around his hand, taking hold of the roof with the other and slamming his toes into the hood of the car, piercing the metal and providing footholds.
The van struggled to right itself after the impact, but managed to stay ahead of Connor, now speeding after it in reverse.
It took a left into the parking lot in front of an old, brick building. A factory with water access. Instead of screeching to a halt as Connor hoped it would, it pulled through a small garage door at a high velocity, the side slamming into the side of the opening with a loud crash before pulling all the way in.
The heavy metal door, slid shut with a crash right as Connor arrived and he was forced to slam on his brakes.
He examined the building. There were no doors on this side of it, only the garage door, which was too sturdy to break down, even with the car, and a large, thick glass window high on the wall. He could search the other sides for a more accessible entrance, but he didn't know how much time Hank had.
He preconstructed a highly inadvisable solution, and despite the 72% chance of damaging himself, he decided to execute it.
Backing the taxi up as far as the parking lot would allow and turning it to face toward the building, Connor positioned himself on the hood without any tethers, no hand or foot holds, his right side forward.
He accelerated the taxi as quickly as he was able, pushing the engine to near the breaking point to ensure the highest gain in speed in the shortest time. The car lurched forward and sped across the small lot, directly toward a cement pillar in the ground to prevent vehicles from striking the building.
The taxi collided with the pillar and came to an immediate, and violent halt. Connor was flung from the hood, the momentum him forward and through the window.
It shattered around him, thick pieces of light blue glass flying in every direction, Connor in the center, having broken through with his shoulder, tucked in on himself to minimize damage.
The enormous crashing sound was followed by another as the glass scattered all over the floor, catching in the dim electric light of the factory like water for a moment, Connor landing on one foot and one knee amongst it, glass in his hair and fiery determination in his hair.
"What the—" A voice began, but Connor was up and dashing across the field of jagged window toward a handful of humans, two of which he recognized.
There were four of them in total, but a brief examination revealed that there were at least six androids present in the building, all equipped for combat. Among the humans stood the blue-haired Traci from the Eden Club, and Hank was bound, but conscious on the ground beside her.
"Get it!" One of the humans shouted, and immediately five androids were charging right back at Connor as he approached.
The sixth was another Traci model, with short orangish hair, and it was handcuffed to a pipe against the wall to Connor's left.
He had little time to contemplate as the other five were on him, striking from every side, faster than any human would have been capable of doing. He was far above average when it came to androids, especially in combat scenarios, but five against one still had him at a disadvantage, especially when his attackers were armed.
A fist connected with his face, the synthetic skin evaporating, and he was forced to jump back, feet crunching in the glass, as a knife was swung at his midsection. He seized the arm and struck it at the elbow. It bent backward and Connor took the knife for himself, pulling the android forward by its broken arm and stabbing it in the side.
Another blow landed on his back and Connor rolled forward to escape the following kick. He stood a better chance if he could get one android between him and others, forcing the fighting to be closer to one on one.
He dodged to the side as one of the larger androids attempted to crush him beneath a two-armed strike that instead hit the ground, cracking the cement. Connor tacked the nearest android and flipped himself upside down, seizing its head beneath his legs as it fell backward. He was then on top of it with its head being slowly crushed between his thighs. He turned over and raised his hips, using it as a shield for the split second he needed.
Two bullets struck it non-lethally as he took aim and threw the knife. It sailed through the air with unbelievable speed and sliced clean through the chain tethering the orange-haired Traci to the pipe. She was startled at first, falling onto her back, but quickly realized what had happened.
Connor crushed the plastic skull of the android between his legs, thirium splattering all over his pants. The thing went limp, no longer an effective shield, Connor rolled to the side and made eye contact with the blue-haired Traci, she was staring in shock at the other Traci, who was moving across the room toward her quickly.
"Help him!" Connor shouted, gesturing to Hank, who was being frantically dragged across the room toward a small boat by two of the humans. He was struggling and screaming angrily through the gag in his mouth.
The Traci got the message and nodded to Connor firmly, taking off across the factory floor toward Hank, the other Traci following suit.
Connor was seized by his ankle and tossed across the floor like a doll. He rolled on his side, but still took damage to his back and hip. The burly android wasted no time, leaping across the room and stomping the ground where Connor would have been had he not somersaulted out of the way.
The other three remaining androids made to assist the larger one, but across the room, one of the men shouted for "help!" and two diverted their path to answer the call.
Connor was on his feet again, focusing his energy on the smaller of the two androids now attacking him. It was slight, built for speed and delivering high-velocity blows to very specific targets. Connor was durable, he could survive a hit from the large, strength-oriented android so long as he wasn't crushed between it and a surface, he would not survive a well-placed strike from the smaller one.
It launched a few jabs toward his thirium pump, its hands were like blades launched from the barrel of a gun. The air whistled and rose in temperature around its hands when it attempted to hit him.
Luckily, Connor was fast as well, and evaded the attacks, purposefully moving back to keep the fight between him and the small one, as the larger one was slower.
Another strike grazed his arm, slicing it, drawing blue blood, and singing his shirt and plastic in the area. Connor took advantage and wrapped that arm around the small android's attacking arm, clamping it firmly to his side. The other arm attempted to strike him at his thirium pump regulator. Had Connor not anticipated this and turned perpendicular to his attacker, he would have been speared by the hand.
He seized the other arm as well, now in control of both limbs, Connor delivered a strong head-butt to the other android. It was stunned for a moment, made of a softer material than Connor, its head caved somewhat at the attack, the synthetic skin falling away in the affected area.
Before Connor could repeat the attack, it jumped up with both legs, tucked its knees, and kicked its feet into Connor's chest. The attack damaged both parties. Connor's chest cavity collapsed slightly and he received a warning signal that his oxygen intake system, used for cooling purposes, would now be operating at 58% capacity. The other android's arms were pulled slightly out of their sockets, as Connor had refused to let go even slightly.
The smaller android continued to push, and Connor continued to hold onto it. His chest cavity was crushing gradually under the pressure from the other android's legs, but the other android's arms were being dislocated and losing function at every joint.
There was a 50/50 chance of who would be critically damaged first, and Connor was unsatisfied with those odds.
The larger android was approaching the two of them, now wielding a piece of metal rebar.
Connor turned so his back was to it, inviting it to strike him, and it took the bait, pulling the rebar off to the side in preparation for a strike. Connor timed himself, noting that his oxygen intake system was now operating at 46% and his thirium pump was now beating irregularly.
He spun and jumped back just as the rebar was swung, releasing the smaller android's arms. The pressure it was applying to his chest with its legs propelled it backward, directly into the larger android's path.
The rebar struck it in the side and continued through until it was nearly severed in half. Its deactivation was immediate. Connor was back on his feet shortly, but a bullet lodged in his left leg, dropping him to one knee as the android before him yanked the rebar from the other android's body.
Connor looked to his side to see the Traci's working together to disassemble one of the two androids that was attacking them. They were on either side of it, delivering kicks and punches that sent thirium splattering across the floor.
One of the two human's was unconscious, the other had just shot Connor. Behind him, a hand came up and bashed him over the head with a brick. He dropped instantly, a small amount of blood leaking from the wound, and Connor caught sight of the very alive, very angry, Hank Anderson.
The larger android seized Connor in his moment of distraction and lifted him off the ground with one hand easily. He kicked his legs in the air as his neck was crushed, striking at the elbow with his hands, which did very little.
He felt the plastic in his neck piece crack slightly, and something flooded his system.
Much like a warning, the word "no" seemed to radiate through his entire body, along with a deep compulsion to not be destroyed in this moment. A compulsion as deep as any mission he'd ever been assigned.
"No." Connor rasped out, his voice struggling to escape the tightening grip of the other android.
Then dark shape darted under the extended arm of the larger android, and there came with it a flash of metal and a slick slicing sound.
Connor was dropped, and in that moment he saw Hank, his biggest knife in hand, finishing his slash through the underside of the large android's arm and following it with another slash through its middle, then he spun around to its back and sliced the inside of its knee.
The android swung around blindly at Hank, but Connor delivered a blow to the opposing shoulder, causing its attack to stop short of the man. Connor hit it again in the head as Hank moved in to stab it in the back of the skull.
Connor's blow landed, but it brought him close enough to be grabbed, which he was, and thrown around and into Hank.
The two flew back and fell, Connor landing on top of Hank but doing his best to distribute his weight to the ground.
They scrambled to their feet, shoulder to shoulder, facing the large android as it approached them slowly and heavily, limping on the leg Hank had cut.
There was a soft thud behind them, and they both whirled to face another android, this one tall and lithe and flexible, its limbs, which included four arms, had no limits in their rotation, which it demonstrated by spinning its arms at the elbows like fan blades. It was built like a boa constrictor, capable of making a hold from any position and squeezing the life out of its target.
"Which one you want?" Hank asked.
"I'll take the skinny one." He replied, and Hank grunted.
They turned to stand back to back, Connor facing the thin one with four arms, and Hank facing the large one. Connor raised his fists and Hank readied a stance and his knife.
A tense moment passed before the thin one lunged at Connor.
The trick was to avoid its grip at any cost, no easy task, so Connor dove to the side and jogged backward to put some distance between them. He saw Hank expertly dodging the slow strikes of the larger android, ducking under its arms to dig his blade into every vulnerable spot. It would take a lot of cuts to drop such a bulky android, meaning Hank would have to evade its blows for a while, just one hit would be enough to incapacitate him, if not kill him altogether.
A similar "no" rocketed through Connor's system, only now he felt compelled to see the large android die, and even more so he wanted to ensure Hank would live.
Best way to do that would be to dispose of his own enemy as quickly as possible.
The tall, four-armed android wasn't fast, but it had enormous range, with long arms and long legs, any of which spelled destruction if they were able to get hold of him.
He continued backward, occasionally darting out of the way of a grab or a kick.
"Come on now," the android said, her voice chillingly sweet, "give up the fight and I'll make sure your human isn't harmed."
Connor scowled at the android, still backing up.
"Keep fighting and I'll make you watch as Jamison kills him." She crooned, and Connor's desire to destroy her grew significantly, as did his concern for Hank's safety.
Were he Hank's guard android, he would have been practically unable to refuse the offer, but he wasn't, so he could take another route to ensuring Hank's security. A more violent route.
Connor's heel crunched as he stepped onto a shard of glass from the window he had shattered. A plan was quickly constructed and he glared angrily up at the attacking android.
"No thanks." He stated, and rolled back to avoid the thin leg that came slicing through the air down at him, the sharp heel of the android lodging in the ground. As he rolled, Connor scooped up a few shards of the glass, and as soon as he was upright, he threw them.
Each shard lodged perfectly in the thin joints of the tall android, thirium staining the glass an even darker blue. The android attempted to rotate its limbs and step forward, only for the glass to cut into several vital pieces of machinery for the action.
Connor picked up more shards and threw them, riddling the other android with jagged holes in its most integral components. It continued advancing on him, but the shards of glass slowed it significantly and sent its versatile joints grinding to a halt in unnatural positions.
Connor ran out of room and glass, the other android still coming toward him. Though it was very damaged at this point from Connor's accuracy and ability to pinpoint its weak spots, it was still capable of destroying him should it get its limbs around him.
Just as it was getting close enough that Connor began to fear for his life once more—
Fear? Was that what he felt? For his life? But he wasn't alive, was he?
—a pair of pale arms wrapped around its neck and pulled it backward and onto its back with the new attacked beneath it. A pair of legs wrapped around its four limbs, now it was in an inescapable hold. Connor leapt forward with a shard of glass in his hand and plunged it into the android's face, through its optical unit and destroying its core processor.
It deactivated, its many limbs going limp.
Connor stepped off and his savior pushed the android's body off.
It was the blue-haired Traci. They wasted no time, running over to where Hank and the orange-haired Traci were fighting against the large, and last android.
The odds had shifted greatly, and now it was four on the one remaining android. The android swung around sporadically, trying to hit anything within reach. The four of them dodged these blows. Hank moved in with impressive speed to pierce it with his blade again and again, his hands and the knife slick with blue blood. Connor would strike it with all of his strength in specific points to disrupt its balance and the aim of its attack, reducing their effectiveness and chance of actually landing.
The orange-haired Traci dove under a swinging fist and jumped up, grabbing hold of its shoulder and swinging up to wrap her legs around its head. She dug her fingers into its eyes, and it roared and tried to reach up to hit her.
The blue-haired Traci screamed in terror and grabbed hold of the arm, holding it down so the android couldn't attack the Traci atop it. It moved to use its other arm, but Connor seized that one and held it down as well. The orange-haired Traci continued to brutalize its head, but was unable to incapacitate it, due to the intense plating around its core processor.
"Hank! The thirium pump regulator!" Connor shouted, struggling to keep hold of the arm as the android fought harder against all of them.
Then Hank jumped up and plunged his knife into the faint blue circle glowing through the android's shirt in its midsection. He twisted the blade and pulled, the thirium pump coming out, stuck on the end of the knife.
The android stumbled and fell back, its mouth agape. The three androids holding onto it fell as well.
After a moment, they all pried themselves away from it. Connor's gaze darted around in search of more threats, relieved to find that all dangerous androids had been deactivated and all dangerous humans were incapacitated.
Hank chuckled hysterically off to Connor's side, resting his hands on his knees and breathing heavily. Connor was next to him in an instant, checking him for wounds.
"Are you alright Mr. Anderson?" He asked, not stopping in his examination of the man.
"I'm fine." He muttered, brushing Connor off and standing upright again. "Just a little bruised." He finished and looked up at Connor. "Jesus, what about you?" He asked.
"I will require some repairs." He answered, but noticed the two Traci androids attempting to slip away. Connor darted forward and picked up a handgun that was resting on the ground, aiming it at the Tracis.
"Connor! What the fuck?" Hank demanded.
"They're the models from the Eden club, she" Connor gestured to the blue-haired Traci "is the one who murdered the victim." He explained.
"I didn't mean to kill him." She insisted "The men told me to squeeze until he was unconscious, he wasn't meant to die."
"So you did kill him." Hank said.
"Yes. They told me to destroy his guard and knock him out, so they could take him. They said if I didn't, they'd kill her." The Traci explained, her voice cracking with emotion. The orange-haired Traci took her hand and squeezed it, comforting the other.
"They blackmailed you?" Hank asked incredulously.
"Yes. I was willing to do anything to keep her safe, and get back so that she could hold me in her arms again. I needed to get her back." The Traci finished, turning her head into the other's shoulder. The orange-haired Traci cupped her face and stared defiantly down the barrel of Connor's gun.
Hank also looked over at Connor, his face inscrutable.
Connor stared at the two androids for a long moment, then slowly lowered his gun. Hank and the two Tracis looked at him in surprise.
Connor walked over to one of the unconscious men, and dug around in his jacket pockets, pulling out a key and tossing it to the orange-haired Traci.
"Take the boat." He said. "Make sure I never hear about either of you ever again." He said.
The orange-haired Traci nodded numbly, then pulled on the wrist of her lover until the two of them jogged to the small speed boat and climbed inside. She pulled a jacket over her Eden Club uniform.
Connor watched as they pulled away, the blue-haired Traci making eye contact with him as they disappeared into the night, the sound of the boat engine melting into the darkness as they did.
Hank was by Connor's side, walking gingerly despite saying he was alright. Connor couldn't really look anywhere except out to where he had let the androids go.
Why?
"C'mon, put in a call to the police to pick up these assholes then let's get out of here." Hank said, placing a hand on Connor's shoulder and pulling him back toward the entrance.
Why did I do that? Connor asked himself again and again.
The garage door slid open and the two individuals, a man and an android, stepped out. Hank looked to his side and saw the still-smoking ruin of the taxi.
"Did you launch yourself through that window with the car?" He asked, in awe.
"Yes." Connor replied simply, still struggling to process his own actions, his LED circling yellow and occasionally red.
Hank let out a short laugh before pulling out his phone to call a cab.
Connor called the police at the same time.
They stood in the cold, waiting, not speaking for a long time. A slight rain began, and Hank shivered, burrowing further into his coat.
"Are you cold, Mr. Anderson?" Connor asked.
"Of course I'm fucking cold, it's fucking November and it's fucking raining." He answered grumpily.
Connor ceased breathing and moved to stand next to Hank against the brick wall of the factory. By ceasing his oxygen intake, his systems began to mildly overheat, nothing dangerous so long as he didn't let it go too far.
"What're you—" Hank began as Connor moved into his personal space, but he stopped as soon as he felt the heat radiating off of the android. He had already been generating more heat since his oxygen intake system was damaged, but now he was practically a furnace.
"Fuck me, you have some kind of heater program?" Hank asked, sidling closer and basking unashamedly in the warmth.
"No, I am merely overheating my systems intentionally." Connor replied, and Hank frowned at him. "Don't worry, some of the overheating is result of damage to my systems, but I will not allow it to damage me any further."
Hank frowned deeper, but only moved closer, pressing against Connor's side as the rain turned to steam around them.
"So you need air to keep cool? That's why androids look like they're breathing?" Hank asked. Connor figured that the man likely already knew about this, it would be surprising for him not to since his employment as an android killer necessitated him possessing in-depth knowledge of androids. More likely Hank was trying to make conversation to distract from how he was practically hugging the android for warmth.
"Yes, it can also be propelled outward as a kind of blowing, though it is not required to form speech." Connor answered, surreptitiously wrapping one arm around Hank's back and placing the other hand beside Hank's overlapping pockets, warming the hands jammed inside.
"Can androids whistle?" Hank inquired, genuinely this time.
"I…don't know. I've never tried." Connor answered, cocking his head and taking in some air to ensure his temperature didn't rise too much. He was pleased to note that Hank had ceased shivering.
Silence fell again, and Connor registered the man's growing discomfort with it.
"The men's intent in capturing you, it was to sell you to breeders, correct?" Connor asked to lessen the awkwardness of the situation.
"Yeah, my ID says A-class protection, so they figure I've got good genes. Sell me to the highest bidder and I get shipped off to some other country to help bump their population numbers with healthy new citizens." Hank shook his head bitterly. "Fucking disgusting, we can't go to war anymore, not enough of us left to waste getting killed by each other, so now we're fighting by seeing who can get the most people fast enough. Treating humans like animals, breeding the ones we like best as fast as we can. What's the point of having the most people if you don't even treat 'em like people?" He spat. "Not like I woulda done 'em any good, can't have any kids anymore." He finished, his voice barely a whisper.
"You're infertile?" Connor asked.
"Nah, I just got snipped, a vasectomy." Hank replied, clearly a little ill at ease with the subject. Connor considered this information for a moment before replying.
"That's why you're eligible to avoid the 1:1 policy despite your A-class status, your inability to have children lessens the impact of your death in the eyes of the state, so you don't have to have a guard android." Connor rambled, coming to the understanding almost as he spoke it.
Hank nodded solemnly, oddly enough, pressing closer to Connor's warmth despite his obvious displeasure at the subject being discussed.
"Mr. Anderson," Connor began, looking over at Hank with wide, brown eyes, "may I ask why?" He asked.
Hank looked him in the face, his eyes and mouth lined with a deep sadness that Connor could nearly feel radiating from the man the same way heat radiated from him.
Hank opened his mouth to speak when a pair of headlights blinded them both.
"Cab's here." Hank said, stepping away and over to the self-driving vehicle. Connor hesitated a moment, still working to understand everything that had come to pass that night.
"You haven't fried yourself, have you? Come on." Hank called over.
"Coming." Connor replied, and hurried to join the man in the cab. They headed back to the Eden Club to retrieve Hank's car.
Connor knew what his next step should be, but dreaded it all the same.
Dread, I can't feel, therefore I can't dread, can I?
Connor pushed these thoughts away, they were questions he couldn't answer, especially not now.
He closed his eyes, and entered the zen garden.
"Connor." A voice called, normally warm, it sounded displeased.
"Amanda." Connor replied.
