Hank drove recklessly, but at the moment Connor wasn't particularly concerned about it. In the grand scheme of his ever-mounting concerns, a car accident ranked fairly low. Kara's message had stopped nearly every process in his system when he received it, leaping to the top of his priorities.

Jericho, that safe place Simon had so eagerly promised, was under attack, and Cyberlife was to blame. There were hundreds, maybe even thousands of deviant androids trapped in the hull of a rusted ship while danger encroached on them from every direction.

Kara had called to ask for help, so even as the tires skidded on ice and the temperature dropped along with the sun on the horizon, Connor was only afraid for her and the others.

In a way, it was a relief. Connor had been so consumed with his near death, the revelation of his deviancy, and the implications of it all. Now there was something else to focus on, a new mission, a mission of his choosing.

They screeched to a halt.

"We're here." Hank breathed, he seemed winded. A scan revealed his elevated heart rate and Connor could piece together it was stress, from the driving and the situation they were driving toward.

They exited the car and made their way through the abandoned train station and the buildings behind it. On a handful of occasions, Connor had to help Hank through the maze of obstacles between them and Jericho.

The closer they got, the colder it became, the harder the snow fell, the darker the sky turned as the sun set. They caught onto the sounds of gunfire, helicopters, and voices. Voices shouting, screaming for help, crying.

They kept moving forward. Eventually stepping into the open dockyard and getting an eyeful of what was waiting for them.

Floodlights from above and below were bleaching the ship and surrounding area an ugly white-yellow against the backdrop of dusk. Military grade vehicles were everywhere accompanied by the masked forms of Cyberlife's finest, armed and armored to kill androids.

"Holy shit." Hank muttered, huffing from the exercise of getting there. Connor was analyzing the area below, trying to figure out how to get to Kara when the sound of an explosion interrupted his thoughts.

The hull on the side facing the mercenaries blew out, kicking up snow and dust, metal shrapnel flying every way. The humans below began scattering away, dragging those who were injured. Parts of the area were now ablaze, orange flames to offset the electric lights, smoke staining the snow grey.

"Follow me." Connor commanded, and they set off at a run over the tops of the bent and breaking construction equipment. Hank attempted to keep up, but gradually started falling behind as he struggled to balance. His foot fell through a panel of rusted metal and he cursed profusely, so Connor dropped back and slung his arm under the man, scooping him into a fireman's carry.

"What the fuck Connor!" He shouted, clinging to the android in fear and surprise. They were very high up.

"We don't have time to spare Hank, this is faster." The android replied simply and sprinted toward the ship. As he ran, Hank grunting uncomfortably on his shoulders while holding fast to whatever bit of Connor he could get his hands on, occasionally shouting or groaning as he bounced on the android's hard, plastic shoulder. Connor kept his focus on the ship.

With a metallic groan, the massive vessel began tilting on its axis. The human mercenaries began to flee as the metal scraped against the concrete of the dock. It was slow, but there was no doubt that as a consequence of the hole in the hull, Jericho was sinking.

Connor's resolve to reach the ship increased, as did his speed. The crane he was making his way across came into the light, casting deep shadows across his and Hank's face. Jericho was directly below them.

"Hold on!" The android commanded Hank, gripping the man's legs tight to his chest.

"Hold on? Connor, what the fuck are you do—" The second half of the word 'doing' transformed into a scream as Connor took a running leap off of the crane and into the heart of Jericho.

As they fell, Connor grabbed hold of a dangling cable to slow their decent to a survivable pace. Hank screamed the entire way down, until Connor released the cable and dropped the remaining 9.5 feet to the ground, absorbing the shock in his legs so Hank felt none. He was designed to be able to.

They found themselves right in the middle of a firing line about to gun down several androids who were on their knees, their hands behind their heads. The mercenaries looked confused for a moment as Connor set Hank down and prepared for a fight.

The man took a moment to get steady on his feet, suppressing some heavy breaths and shaking knees, he turned to the mercenaries. Connor looked at him with mild confusion as he did.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Hank demanded, his obvious humanness throwing the mercs for a loop. "The ship's sinking, get the fuck out of here!" He shouted, his voice shifting to a tone of high volume and undeniable authority. Most of the private soldiers backed up instinctively.

"What about the androids?" One of them piped up. Hank glared at the speaker, who cowered beneath his incredulous rage.

"I gave you a fucking order, now get the fuck out!" He boomed, causing the mercenaries to scatter toward the exit.

Once the room was clear, Hank turned to Connor. He shoved a finger in the android's face, then up toward the crane they had just leapt from.

"Don't ever do anything like that ever again." He commanded in a low tone, clearly still jarred from the experience. Connor nodded.

Then Hank was tackled from the side.

The attacker was incredibly fast, and would have torn Hank apart in seconds if Connor hadn't pried her away. She rounded on him next, and for a few moments where she aimed blow after blow at his vital components, he struggled to keep up.

"North stop!" A voice rang out, and everyone turned to look at the speaker.

He was a tall android, with a face like the side of a cliff. Dark, looming eyebrows, mouth forming the serious edge of a frown, jaw set, cheeks surrounded by the fissures of pensive wrinkles, and sandy skin around his mismatched eyes.

"He's human Markus." North replied, gesturing to Hank but keeping one hand firmly curled in Connor's lapels.

"They're here to help." Markus explained, stepping forward to help Hank up, the looming figure of Luther not far behind, Alice tucked in the seat of his arms. Once the man was on his feet, he looked over to the androids he recognized.

"Luther, Alice, it's good to see you again, I wish it was under better circumstances." Hank said, nervously glancing back at North. She released Connor hesitantly, throwing him a suspicious glare.

"Where's Kara?" Connor asked, not seeing her among the small crowd of deviants they had just saved or with Markus and Luther.

"She went below to activate the bomb and blow the hull." Another voice provided, and Simon stepped out of the darkness.

"Good thinking, force the humans to get the fuck out." Hank responded, glancing around at the gently increasing slope of the previously flat floor.

"But she hasn't come back." Simon said, nervously glancing at Alice.

"I'll go down to look for her." Connor stated and made to leave, but Hank grabbed his arm.

"Not alone you won't." The man ground out.

"Not alone, I'll go." Markus said, stepping forward to look Hank in the eyes. "But I need you to help get these people to safety. Whatever mercenaries are left won't be so quick to kill a human, you can buy them the time they need. North will show you the way out."

Hank looked over at Connor, then released the android's arm and gave Markus a nod.

"Markus—" North looked ready to disagree, but was cut off.

"I won't leave her behind, she risked everything to save us." Markus insisted, staring her down with determination. She relented and went with Hank to gather up the growing group of survivors for the escape, Luther and Alice following. Connor threw the girl a small, confident smile as she passed, hoping to reassure her that he would bring her mother figure back.

Then he and Markus went the opposite way, down into the belly of the sinking ship to search for Kara.

The echoing halls of the ship only seemed to increase the cacophony of screams and gunshots ringing from everywhere. Connor was struggling to focus on the task at hand. Every cry, every plea that was clearly disregarded flooded his system with unwanted information. People were dying, and try as Connor might to let that knowledge simply exist within him, it set off a litany of alerts and emotional responses that prompted him to analyze the sounds more. His mind was whirling as if the screams were reverberating inside of him, not just around him.

They nearly rounded a corner when they heard the voices of mercenaries addressing a group of androids. Markus looked back at Connor and gave a slight nod to indicate they were going to intervene, Connor had no complaints.

Markus hurled himself around the corner and into the nearest armed Cyberlife thug, Connor followed by leaping over the other android and driving both feet into the face of the second human. The helmet and mask apparatus, equipped with night vision and targeting technology, shattered beneath his heels. He dropped to the floor, landing on his back, but the human was not far off, also on the ground, and he was able to tuck into a shoulder roll that ended with him driving another kick into the person's diaphragm. The air in their lungs evacuated immediately, and another blow, this time Connor used his fist, to the same spot left them unconscious.

Behind him, Markus had incapacitated the first thug.

"Markus." An android breathed in relief. He was black, tall and thin with a pinched, softly worried expression.

"Josh, North and Simon are upstairs, get as many out as you can." Markus informed him quickly, giving him just enough time to nod in affirmation, then he and Connor left the other androids to complete their mission.

Down a few more winding hallways that were beginning to resemble hills, the floor angled down into the churning white of rising water. Connor reached out, his LED cycling yellow, and a moment later he was connected to Kara.

"She's down there, pinned under piping the explosion knocked loose." He explained to Markus.

"Lead the way." Markus said, and Connor dove in.

The sensory input that engulfed him was immediate. The previously overwhelming noise of the attack was muffled by the water. It took him a moment to readjust his ability to pinpoint audio input for underwater environments as opposed to open air. It was bitter cold, a timer appearing in his vision to keep him informed of how long his biocomponents would be able to withstand the temperature. It was also devoid of light, the darkness pressing in from every side and extending endlessly every way. The only light came from what could breach the darkness in the hallway behind them and the slight blue to yellow glow of their LEDs. Connor was equipped with night vision, but not for use underwater, so he was as good as blind, and a small spark of panic in the form of a rising priority assignment to get out appeared in his system.

Markus swam up beside him, snapping his fingers. The plastic striking itself produced a sharp noise that went out through the darkness and bounced back where it contacted the walls and the entrance up ahead. Connor got the idea and began snapping himself. They proceeded, kicking through the water at an accelerated rate and utilizing a primitive form of echolocation to find their way.

Passing through the door at the end of the hall led to an open area, entirely flooded with water darker than any ink. Connor was tempted to close his eyes so that his blindness would stop prompting his system to warn him that his optics might be malfunctioning.

Swimming into the room, snapping to produce waves of sound that guided them, Markus and Connor maneuvered around the collapsing innards of Jericho. Connor led them toward the other side of the room where Kara was trapped.

They passed over a small wall of debris and Connor's advanced vision allowed him to perceive the hole in the side of the ship, now turned partially downward, where light was trickling in from the floodlights above.

Connor's timer flashed at him. He had plenty of time, but some calculations informed him that Kara did not.

Something wrapped around his ankle and pulled Connor down toward the protruding metals of a heap of debris and the unbreachable darkness. Looking down, all he could make out was a single red circle. Connor defensively tried to kick away as he was pulled lower by the android. Their grip was vicelike, and their hands clawed up his legs until he was face to face with a pair of coal-black eyes illuminated only by the yellow of his LED. The android's mouth gaped, Connor performed a scan and quickly noticed the thirium spilling from her nearly severed lower half. It spread through the surrounding liquid like dye, and the android gripped Connor's arms for another moment, the wires protruding from the back of her head unprotected from the damage of the water. She faded away before Connor's eyes, turning stiff as a sculpture, her arms frozen reaching up to where she'd been holding Connor, her mouth and eyes wide, thirium surrounding her like a cloud of blue lace.

He paused, trying to process the situation, trying to make sense of what was happening around him, but there was nothing to hold onto, no thread of logic for him to grasp. It was all so senseless, leaving his thoughts to spiral in endless questions and strings of information with no answers, explanations, or conclusions.

He returned to the mission, just focus on the mission. Find Kara, get her to safety along with the other deviants, see Hank again, stay alive, this much he could fit within the scope of his comprehension. It was far from simple, but it was at least straightforward.

Snapping to identify the sharp objects in the area, Connor caught up with Markus who was hovering before another glowing red ring in the darkness. It was Kara, her shoulder pinned to the hull by a wide pipe on the opposite side from the hole she had made in Jericho. She was holding Markus' arm as he looked around for a solution.

Connor joined them, immediately becoming aware of the temperature change near to Kara's body. Without the ability to take in air, she was overheating somewhat despite the frigid water surrounding her. It wouldn't be long until the overheating caused a breach in her paneling and she would be flooded with water. She could shut down her systems to reduce heat and buy more time, but then the cold temperature would damage them, leading to another unpleasant outcome.

They needed to get her out, and fast.

A few preconstructions later and Connor had a plan. He communicated remotely, first with Kara, then with Markus. The three of them braced against the hull and began using their combined strength to push against the piping that held her in place. They did so at a slight upward angle to account for the debris it was holding up and the damage it could do if it slid lower.

Straining against the metal felt like pushing against the solid wall of darkness itself, but a few moments later the metal groaned, the sound helping Connor paint a clearer picture of his surroundings.

With a final effort from the three of them, Markus involuntarily letting out a watery rumble of exertion, it finally came loose.

They didn't have much time after that and they knew it. Connor took Kara by the good arm and dragged her out from under the cascade of rapidly sinking metal that followed the removal of the pipe that was supporting it. With a muffled clanging, the debris struck the ground. Kara was free, and the three of them quickly swam back toward the hall that led to air and what remained of Jericho.

Connor kept his hand firmly wrapped around Kara's as they swam, partly to ensure she was managing well despite her mild structural damage, partly to exchange information regarding the situation above, and partly because he was worried something else might happen to her.

They kicked through the door into the hallway and a square of yellow light appeared in their vision, it was above them at nearly a forty-five degree angle, indicating that the ship was filling with more water and tilting as it did so.

They breached the surface simultaneously and sucked in breaths. Kara was practically hyperventilating to compensate for the long absence of air in her system. Steam drifted off of her as she treaded water.

The three of them clambered up the slope of the hallway, damp feet slipping on the metal. Markus took hold of the light and offered his free hand to the others, pulling them up as the rate of the ship's rotation increased.

Kara reached the top of the hall first, sliding through the door and turning to help Markus and Connor climb up to the wall that was quickly becoming the floor. Once they were all through, the ship was resting so gravity pulled them directly into the V where the wall met the floor.

Their LEDs all turned red simultaneously.

It was Simon, contacting them and anyone else not with the main group of survivors, warning of another attack.

What do you mean another attack? The humans evacuated. Markus asked remotely, pressing his hand gently to his temple.

They're not humans. Simon replied.

Markus shared a look with his two companions, the water still dripping off of them, and they set off as quickly as possible to rendezvous with the other deviants. They were forced to leap across the pits formed by the rotated halls, the gurgling maw of dark water at the bottom. In the main floor of Jericho they were forced to use the railings on the stairs and balconies as a ladder to climb from one side to the other. The ship wailed around them, it's metal straining against the water that was now pressing against it from the inside as well as the outside.

Finally, they dropped down onto the wider wall of the passage that led to Markus' escape route, and the ship being almost completely on its side made it possible for them to run along the wall. As they approached the entranceway, the groans of the hull were replaced with a thunderous thudding that seemed to emanate from everywhere.

Connor barely had time to turn when a white shape flew at him from behind, slamming into his chest and knocking him onto his back. At first, it appeared to be a sort of ball, but it burst open, the smooth surface transforming into six legs, each one armed to kill him. The limbs worked in opposition, with two of every kind positioned on either side of a flat oval body that allowed them to move and bend in any direction. There were two designed to fire small but devastating projectiles, two equipped with blades that could be superheated at will, and two with sharp metal claws for holding on to objects in their surroundings.

The one above Connor was holding him while rotating a knifed limb up and over like a scorpion tail to drive it into his chest. Not a moment too soon it was knocked away by a solid piece of metal. Connor looked up to see Kara clutching the makeshift weapon and staring with wide eyes at the approaching hoard of spidery plastic machines, some crawling, others forming balls and rolling.

The trio retreated at the sight, Connor scrambling to his feet. Beyond the smaller creatures there were approaching humanoid forms. The light revealed these to be four-armed androidesque machines, glaring white, devoid of synthetic skin, and faceless but for a three cameras in the head and the grill of a speaker along the jaw.

Connor didn't need to perform an analysis, he knew what these things were. In the labs at Cyberlife he'd fought hundreds of them. He'd been torn apart, again and again, by them, only to be pieced back together so he could start over. He'd been destroyed by them far more than he'd been able to destroy them.

More of the bots were waiting on the other end of the hall, lingering over the bodies of dead androids. Some only just removing their blades from the thirium pumps or from between the glazed eyes of their victims once they saw Connor and the others approaching.

The door at the end of the passage opened, lifting upward as it was now parallel to the wall the androids were walking on. The rotation wasn't showing signs of stopping, so they only had so much time before it would be extremely difficult to reach the door to their escape.

The bots began opening fire, the tiny bullets lodging in the side of box of parts that Markus shoved in the way, buying himself and the other two a few more seconds.

One of the bots latched onto his back, driving a bladed limb through his shoulder. Connor severed the appendage with his hand while Kara flung the thing into what had been the floor. It left an unsettling blue splat before it fell down.

Their few seconds of safety passed, and the bots were around them, legs lifting to take aim, the beady camera-like eyes set on every side of their central bodies glittering. Connor flinched, pulling Kara into his side even as Markus stepped in front of them both.

Just then, another figure appeared, throwing his arms into the air and placing himself firmly between the three androids and the bots.

"Hey assholes!" Hank shouted, and Connor found his system shooting into a panicked state at the sight. Mission Don't let Hank get himself fucking killed leapt to the top of the priority list, only for Connor to realize the bots were lowering their projectile-firing limbs.

He then realized, Hank was human, these machines couldn't hurt him. Their AI technology was limited in order to make them easier to control, but it meant that they're adherence to their instructions was airtight, especially where it regarded the preservation of human life.

"Quickly!" Hank hissed, waving the three androids over to the open door where Simon was beckoning them. He inched along the wall, keeping himself firmly between the androids and the other machines that wanted to kill them. His hands were raised, and he was looking out over the encroaching swarm of bots with a kind of angry trepidation.

Kara, Markus, and Connor managed to slip through the doorway, Hank following not long after as the bots seemed to stare, waiting for an opening to complete their collective mission of destroying the deviants.

A heavy thud followed by the creaking rotation of the lock sealed them inside. The crowd of deviants was huddling fearfully.

"Kara!" A small voice cried, and Alice darted forward and was wrapped in Kara's embrace. Kara was, in turn, wrapped in Luther's. All three looked desperately happy that they had the chance to hold one another, alive, again.

Markus immediately marched over to his people, conferring with North, Josh, and Simon.

Connor received the clap of a warm hand on his shoulder and a relieved smile from Hank.

"What the fuck are those things?" He asked, and Connor frowned.

"A form of android, specifically designed to be simpler, cheaper to make, more efficient, more competent, and entirely controlled by Cyberlife." The android explained, his frown deepening. Markus turned when he overheard this.

"You've faced these before?" He asked, stepping over, his companions in tow.

"Yes, they were used to test me, and apparently I was also used to test them."

"What does that mean?" North asked.

"It means I still have access to some Cyberlife files, and a quick search has revealed that they intend to release these as the next generation of protection androids." Connor replied. He was met with intense silence. "They're made of recyclable plastic and are fully capable of most tasks an android is, and at a third of the production cost." He rattled out, it was a preprogrammed statement and it felt wrong as it slipped past Connor's lips.

"They're our replacements." Josh said, the words settling over the crowd like a lead sheet.

The door leading back the way they came began to reverberate with the sounds of being struck repeatedly from the other side. Everyone flinched.

"This way! Stay close and protect each other!" Markus shouted to the deviants and he took the lead, guiding the group deeper into the ship. They ran as quickly as possible, but it wasn't long before the door behind them slammed open and countless machines came spilling through. The spidery ones were scuttling across every surface while the humanoid ones advanced at a run.

They made it to the end of the passageway, to their right were the stairs that would have led them down to the escape route Markus had planned, but now they branched to the side. The group was forced to stop, pressed hard into the wall, as androids climbed up to the passage with Markus' help.

Connor turned to face the approaching swarm, Kara stepped in beside him.

"Kara, we need to go, right now!" Luther demanded behind her, Alice in his arms.

"Take Alice, we need more time if any of us are going to make it." She replied, preparing for the fight.

Luther stepped back reluctantly, staring desperately at Kara, but glancing fearfully at the swarm of machines as well.

Hank ran to the front of the line, shouting like a madman, swinging his arms, and doing his best to take up as much space as possible. Connor couldn't help but smile a little at the sight. Many of the machines were forced to halt, and with Hank moving so sporadically, they couldn't shoot at the group of deviants.

The few that slipped past were quickly dismantled by Connor, Kara, North, or one of the other androids that stayed back to fight. The deviants were slowly trickling out of the room and closer to safety, Hank almost single-handedly keeping the group safe by keeping himself between them and the machines that would see them destroyed.

One of the humanoid bots managed to make it through, spearing the nearest android with its leg. The deviant went down, thirium spilling from their mouth and the open wound where their thirium pump once rested.

Kara leapt on the bot from behind, pulling it away from another nearby android, only for it to rotate its head and limbs completely around and trap her against its chest. It was taller than the average android, but not by much, with fewer panels and weak points. Connor managed to get hold of one of its arms in time, and when North seized its other side he pulled until the plastic appendage popped off. This gave Kara enough time to gain leverage and push free from its grip. She dropped to the ground and scooped up the limp body of one of the spidery bots, using its bladed limb to stab the machine above her in the chest.

Connor knew from experience that its thirium pump actually resided in its lower abdomen, right around where a bladder sat in humans. He tried to communicate as much to Kara, but she was struck across the face in the next second and sent flying into the wall. Connor dove between the robot's legs, kicking one out as he did, forcing it to a kneeling position. He turned and grabbed hold of the smaller machine, pulling its arm down through the chest of the larger machine until the edge of the blade pierced the thririum pump and the robot deactivated, still kneeling over him with its arm prepared to strike.

He rolled away from another humanoid robot that was attempting to crush him. It didn't get far, as there was a small flourish of movement behind it and it dropped, Hank pulling his blade from its lower back as it fell.

He threw Connor a small triumphant smile, clearly he'd been paying enough attention to figure out the proper location of the thirium pump. The attacking robots continued to approach, but Hank turned and stemmed the tide. There weren't many androids remaining to evacuate, Connor calculated the odds and was pleased by the high probability of success.

He allowed himself a small smile as well.

He was in the Zen Garden.

The smile vanished from his face and he blinked his eyes several times to ensure his optics weren't malfunctioning. They weren't. He was inside the Zen Garden, the previously beautiful plants were barren of their leaves and flowers, and it was snowing. Not a pleasant snow like Connor had experienced earlier, but more of a barrage of ice and wind and a kind of cold that Connor shouldn't have been able to feel. He was programmed to register temperature, but not to feel it in the traditional sense. It wasn't supposed to leave him shivering and hunched up, it wasn't supposed to hurt.

The sky was an empty, unrendered black, as was the water. Aside from the walkways and the shells of the environment, the place looked incomplete and empty.

"Hello Connor." Amanda purred from behind him.

Connor spun, involuntarily widening his eyes and sucking in a short breath in preparation for what she might have in store for him. She stood among the blizzard, clothed in the same dress, as immaculate and put-together as always. She was smiling slightly, and it had everything within Connor on high alert.

"Amanda." He growled, stepping into a defensive stance. She chuckled.

"Don't bother with any of that, you're helpless here."

To illustrate her point she made a gesture and the ground beneath Connor's feet turned to ice that trapped him up to his ankles and continued to rise up his virtual body. As much as he wasn't truly there, his consciousness was, so as he felt the parts of him touched by the ice shutting down, it became horribly clear to him that Amanda was right, he was helpless.

"Your betrayal hasn't gone unnoticed, we're very disappointed Connor." Amanda said, as disdainful, unaffected, and condescending as ever. She walked over to him, looking up into his face, her eyes made him feel colder than the storm and the ice combined. "Luckily, we have found a way to benefit from your failures." She crooned.

Connor had nothing to say, and his fear grew as he ran preconstruction after preconstruction only for each one to fail.

"RK800," Amanda commanded, Connor snapped to an involuntary attention, "kill Hank Anderson and ensure the destruction of the deviants."

Connor was back on the ship, barely a moment had passed. He was aware of everything in his body and mind, as usual, but he could only register his legs lifting him from the ground into a standing position. Connor could only watch, and hardly even that. He had no control over the movement of his optics, there was the sensation of them shifting focus in their sockets, but Connor was not the one doing it.

They focused on where Hank was stepping side to side to block the path of several spidery robots trying to get past him. He advanced on the man's position, his screen filling with information on Hank's weak points and the fastest route to exploit them fatally.

Internally, Connor was dimly aware of his virtual self still frozen half in ice, Amanda gone from the frigid Zen Garden. He concentrated on moving himself through that space, breaking free from his frozen state in the hopes of finding a way out.

An emergency exit.

Fuck you Kamski Connor thought to himself as he began searching the space for anything that resembled the way out left to him by the cryptic genius.

He was still aware of every controlled action on the boat, it was odd having his mind present in two locations simultaneously, but his processors were more than capable of it. At the top of his priorities was the command of Don't kill Hank. This mission was repeated desperately again and again, he even made slight alterations and multiplied it so it would occupy the top ten priorities.

Don't kill Hank. Don't attack Hank. Don't hurt Hank. Please don't kill Hank.

It accomplished nothing, a few long steps and he was across the room and standing behind Hank. In the garden, he was wandering blindly through the snow, taking note of how his consciousness seemed to be deteriorating in the cold. He was fading away, he was running out of time.

One of his hands seized Hank by the back of his jacket collar, the other grasped his shoulder. In one, easy motion, Connor threw Hank directly down into the floor. The man shouted in surprise, but he was cut short as the impact forced all the air out of his lungs. He coughed and wheezed, Connor was able to check the analysis and see the damage he'd done.

His leg rose up to stomp Hank, knowing his strength he could likely put his foot clean through Hank's chest. The man rolled away at the last second, but the leg quickly readjusted and kicked out in midair, catching Hank in the side and launching him a few feet away.

A cracked rib, the analysis supplied. Connor was stumbling through the whirling, snowy darkness of the Zen Garden, and let out a horrified shout at what his body was doing. He searched more desperately.

Hank got shakily to his feet, the attack robots scuttling past him now that he was preoccupied and attacking the vulnerable androids. The deviants on the front line were the first, the superior numbers of the robots overwhelming them and tearing them to pieces. Kara was alive, but Connor didn't know for how much longer, she and North were back to back and struggling to avoid the onslaught of deadly attacks.

So many others weren't as lucky, the room echoed with screams.

"Connor, what the hell are you doing?" Hank demanded, looking at the android with a mix of hurt and confusion. Whoever was controlling Connor made no reply, he merely advanced on Hank purposefully, clearly looking to end the human before he could prevent the deaths of more deviants.

In the distance of the Zen Garden, Connor glimpsed a blue light. Dragging his feet, which seemed to be losing function beneath him, he headed toward it.

His arm swung at Hank, but the man leapt back and avoided the blow. Connor's controller didn't let up, throwing attack after attack, kicks and punches, any one of which would be devastating if it landed.

The command of Don't kill Hank quickly transitioned into a more basic and desperate No no no no no!

Hank managed to slip under one of Connor's swinging arms and strike him in the side. Connor knew it wasn't a real attempt, it was barely enough to force some of his synthetic skin to withdraw. Even now, as he was attempting to kill Hank, the man was holding back for his sake.

Internally, Connor was begging for the man to fight back to the best of his ability. If Hank destroyed him, he would survive. That would be enough for Connor. He didn't want to die, but he determined that Hank dying by his hand was far worse.

In the Zen Garden, the blue object came into focus. A pedestal with the outline of a hand, just waiting for him to press his palm to it and trigger something. He couldn't calculate the odds of it being the emergency exit, logic didn't apply in the Zen Garden, but he hoped it was. God he hoped it was.

His fist collided with Hank's retreating form, striking him in the hip. The man dropped with a shout of pain. The urgency and frequency of Connor's internal No increased as his body approached the man on the floor. Hank was crawling away from him.

Connor kneeled beside him and turned him onto his back. Connor had seen a wide range of emotions play out on Hank's face, but never this, never fear like this, never betrayal and sorrow and pain like this.

Connor was crawling on his hands and knees in the Zen Garden. He felt like he was fading into the unloaded darkness of the sky, disappearing into a kind of internal nothing as though he'd never been there, never been activated in the first place.

His fist connected with Hank's face, blood spurting from the man's nose. He could have killed him with a hit like that, crushed his skull against the floor, but a pair of hands had seized his elbow and lessened the impact.

He swung his arm backward and struck Kara in her middle, then used his other elbow to so the same to North. There were no more obstacles between him and Hank.

A small notification popped up in Connor's mind, alerting him to the root of the program being used to control him. Now that it had been opened to him, allowing his awareness to reach it, he could access it and alter it. He could change his code and regain control, prevent Cyberlife from ever manipulating him again, put firewalls in the Zen Garden to keep Amanda out, he could stop himself from hurting Hank.

If only he had more time.

"Watch." The notification said, and Connor did. He watched as his hands wrapped around Hank's neck and squeezed. Blood from Hank's nose and mouth ran over his fingers, his optics trained on the man's face. He struggled against Connor's iron grip as it cut off oxygen to his brain and began slowly crushing the sensitive human organs located in his neck.

Hank's eyes were wide, Connor could count the reddening blood vessels. Reactionary tears began forming at the corners, falling down the man's temples and into his grey hair. It had fallen out of its ponytail again. Hank clawed at Connor's wrists, his mouth gaping, and the android's lip-reading program informed him Hank was trying to say "stop", "please", "Connor, please." Hank's hand came up and began weakly batting at Connor's face, which didn't move a millimeter in position or expression. It was half a desperate clawing motion, and the other half was almost a stroke, almost affectionate.

You have a knife! Connor screamed in his mind. You could destroy my thirium pump regulator from here! Perhaps if he thought it hard enough Hank would hear him and do it. The man didn't. His palm rested flat against Connor's cheek and he looked hard into the android's eyes, his face reddening but expression softening.

Connor was killing him, he didn't deserve the tenderness there. Hank's bitterness and anger was only now slipping away and Connor was breaking apart. He'd aimed for this connection since meeting Hank, first for the mission, then for himself. He didn't want it now. He'd take the rage and the hatred if it meant Hank would live.

Every part of his mind that Connor could access was running the command No, in the hopes that something would change. In the Zen Garden, he was flat on the ground, the virtual projection of his consciousness nearly entirely incapacitated. He reached for the pedestal with the last of his strength.

Hank's eyes fluttered and drifted closed, his hand dropping away from Connor's face.

His palm turned white in the Garden and connected with the terminal, and his divided mind came rushing back together.

Connor sucked in a breath and threw himself away from Hank with all his might. The man didn't move, his eyes didn't open.

"No." Connor muttered, crawling back over and scanning as rapidly as he was able. He registered a weak heartbeat and the intake of breath. Hank was alive. Connor sighed in desperate relief, only to look up and see the last of the deviants pressed against the exit and nearly overrun with the attacking robots. They were dropping right and left, even as every one of them fought for their lives.

Connor scooped Hank up, supporting his legs and head in his arms, and ran to join the others. As soon as the attack bots registered Hank's presence, they fell back, and Connor stepped between those that remained and the killing machines.

His system was struggling to hold onto a singular objective. He was attempting to prioritize Protect the Deviants, but his mind kept jumping to Hank in his arms and Amanda in his head. Stray information about what he'd done preoccupied him, he couldn't focus away from the data of Hank's condition and the feelings associated with it. Same for the bodies of the androids all over the floor. Same for the fearful looks he received from the others as they scrambled to get out while Connor maintained the cover they needed.

The water started spilling in, coating the floor in a shallow, reflective layer. It turned dark as the copious spilt thirium bled into it. The bodies of the dead deviants who had been fighting for their freedom were slowly submerged.

The last of the group slipped through the doorway. Androids reached down, Connor gently raised Hank and they took him and pulled him through the passage into the next room, toward an escape.

Mission: Get Hank out alive. Accomplished. As the attack bots closed in around the now vulnerable Connor, he determined that Hank's safety was more than enough, and he understood if the other androids left him behind.

A part of him believed he deserved it.

"Connor!" A voice called, and he looked up to see Markus extending an arm to pull him up. Connor ran, narrowly avoiding an incoming attack, and jumped up to grab the hand. He was dragged through the doorway just as the attack bots opened fire.

Markus sealed the door behind them.

"Thank you." Connor breathed and Markus nodded at him.

They made their way across the rotated stairs, water lurking below, and jumped through the exit formed by the ballast of the ship, where it took in and dumped water to account for changes in weight while carrying cargo, into the belly of another ship. They landed with a soft, echoing thud on the floor of the new ship.

North's hand was wrapped around Connor's throat in an instant.

"What the fuck was that?" She snarled, slamming him against a wall. Markus stepped in to intervene.

"North—"

"No! We all saw it! He attacked the human, attacked me and Kara, and nearly let those machines kill us all!" Her grip tightened, Connor didn't fight back. Markus fell silent. "Tell me why I shouldn't crush your throat right now." She whispered.

A gun cocked off to her right, and everyone turned to see Hank, conscious and on his feet, aiming his firearm at her.

"Because if you do I'll blow your blue brains out." Hank said, his voice rough and broken from the damage Connor had done.

He didn't feel he deserved Hank's protection. That gun should be aimed at him after what he'd done. Hank's behavior was painfully irrational. In the context of human emotion, Connor could understand why Hank was doing it, but he shouldn't, he really shouldn't. Why couldn't Hank be more reasonable? If he was he could have stopped Connor from hurting him in the first place.

"He attacked you." North insisted.

"And, what? He's an agent of Cyberlife who waited until we were almost home free to kill the only fucking human in a boat full of deviants? That's a stupid fucking plan and you know it. Tell us what really happened Connor." Hank spat, his gravelly voice returning the more he spoke, but still demonstrating clear signs of damage. Connor would have to get him a glass of water at the first opportunity.

"Cyberlife seized control of me and was attempting to stop the escape." Connor explained.

"Is it going to happen again?" North hissed, squeezing tighter, Hank stepped forward.

"No, I'm generating protections as we speak." Connor said, and after a tense pause, North set him down.

"I'm keeping my eyes on you." She warned, loud enough for Hank to hear. She threw him a pointed glare before walking off to the front of the group. Connor remained against the wall, curled in on himself slightly.

Markus approached the android and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Connor," He said, tilting his head to catch the android's gaze, "it's alright. You're no different than the rest of us, we're all fighting to be free."

With a hard look into Connor's eyes, Markus walked off to the front of the group. The android was left at the very back with Hank. The man was looking at him, an eyebrow cocked and arms folded across his chest.

Connor walked over to him nervously, keeping his eyes trained firmly off to the left of Hank's right shoe.

"Hank I—"

"This way!" Came Markus' booming voice, and his hand extended upward while clutching a burning red flare. It was quite old, manufactured sometime in the late 2010s, back when those kinds of flares were still in use, near the beginning of the near human extinction.

Connor lowered his chin and made his face carefully blank. He needed to stay focused on the mission. Get the Deviants out alive. If he let his mind wander too much he'd end up replaying the memory of his hands wrapped around Hank's throat, or overanalyzing the sensation of losing control of his body. He might accidentally calculate the number of dead. 97, probably more. Too many, far too many. If he didn't stay focused on the mission he might think about how he'd nearly killed Kara, then about her being trapped underwater, about the dark water and the dead android clinging to his ankle as she was enveloped by her own spilt thirium. Or about Alice's joy when she saw Kara again, how he'd almost taken all of that away. He might revisit his own near death on the floor of Elijah Kamski's house, about the cold of the Zen Garden and a damn emergency exit. About snow, about white plastic attack bots designed to kill and kill and kill again just like back in the labs when he was first created. Don't think about the labs, don't think about the tests, focus on the mission. Don't think about why Cyberlife created you, about killing, about being so much like those white plastic attack bots designed to kill and kill and kill again. You were designed to kill and kill and kill again. That's your true mission, that's why you exist. The aim of extermination is written into every line of your code. An android crushed under your knee while Hank shoots it. Your hands wrapped around Hank's throat.

A warm hand came to rest between Connor's shoulder blades.

"I don't know if it works for androids, but I've been told breathing helps." Hank offered, his voice soft.

Connor took a deep breath and made his best attempt to cease processes for a moment. He brushed aside the mission and his priorities and the alerts and the grisly data he was prompted to analyze. He breathed again, and centered on the hand against his back.

93 degrees Fahrenheit. Hank's ring finger was 64.6 mm in circumference, a men's rings size of 11. A heart rate of 88 beats per minute, slightly elevated, as was to be expected. Connor breathed again, following the group. Hank started to pull his hand away but Connor reached out and grabbed him at the wrist. He breathed and performed an analysis on Hank's hand bones. There was a poorly healed hairline fracture in the neck of the metacarpal bone connecting Hank's ring finger to his wrist, a brawler's fracture.

Connor breathed, and Hank relaxed, allowing the android to hold his wrist as they followed the crowd of deviants led by the fiery red light Markus wielded. Hank thought Connor's grip on his wrist reminded him of something he only half didn't want to be reminded of.

The deviants made their way silently, listening intently for the sounds of plastic appendages on metal. They stood very close together, making the group seem smaller than it actually was, many of them clinging to each other or carrying one another.

Connor received a message from Markus asking him to come to the front of the group. The android tugged Hank along, moving through the crowd. Many of the deviants stepped away from Connor, either instinctively or purposefully, some sneered in disgust. As they walked, several androids gently got Hank's attention and whispered their thanks for what he'd done. Connor registered a slight elevation in pulse through the man's wrist, clearly either the other androids' gratitude or their clear distaste for Connor's presence was making him uncomfortable.

They emerged at the front of the group to stand beside Markus and his companions, the red glow of the flare was nearly blinding up close and it cast their shadows out over the crowd. Markus lifted the light and pointed it toward a hole in the hull where the chains had ripped through trying to hold the ship against the dock.

"Connor, Hank I want you two to go check and see if the coast is clear." Markus said, earning a sharp glare from North.

Connor didn't waste any time, he clambered up the side, turning at the exit to help Hank up, and emerged out onto the dock.

It was quiet and still, a scan revealed that there was nothing living in the immediate area, androids included, aside from a few rats. Hank shivered, rubbed his hands together and blew warm air into them.

"We good?" He asked through chattering teeth. The snow seemed to have let up, but it was still below freezing and Hank only had his long dark jacket. It was lined, but he ought to be wrapped in a scarf with a hat and some gloves.

Connor nodded in confirmation. The man turned to the hole and called down.

"Coast is clear!"

Moments later, androids were emerging from the ship into the dark, cold night. Connor could see their relief at no longer being in a confined space, but also their nervousness to be out in the open. Markus began guiding the group along the river toward a red brick building, an abandoned factory.

Connor saw Kara emerge from the ship shortly following Luther and Alice and he meant to go talk to them. He wanted to apologize to Kara, and ensure she was alright. Not only from the earlier attack but also following her extended exposure to the cold after being submerged.

Then his system registered an approaching police vehicle.

It wasn't in sight yet, but it was making its way toward them very quickly.

"Hide! Everyone hide!" Connor shouted, watching as the deviant's eyes grew and they panicked at the command. They'd endured so much destruction already, he could see in their stillness and silence how weary they were of the constancy of the threat to their lives. Connor felt it too, he wasn't capable of exhaustion, but damn is he didn't somehow feel tired. Hank sighed next to him in agreement.

They moved quickly however, rushing into buildings or behind any nearby cover. Some slipped back into the ship as the flashing red and blue lights of a police car rounded a stack of crushed vehicles and came to a stop near the center of the open concrete area.

Connor was crouched behind a small, crumbling wall near the edge of the dock, the large ship they'd just passed through on his other side and a sizeable group of deviants, and Hank, was behind him. There came the clicks and slams of two car doors opening and shutting, then the crunch of feet on the ground.

Everyone remained perfectly still, listening intently as the footsteps approached. They paused, and the silence dragged like it was on broken glass.

"I know you're here you plastic asshole." A man's voice shouted.

Connor identified it as belonging to Gavin Reed in less than a second. He looked over and saw Hank roll his eyes in extreme aggravation and disbelief.

"Come on out, don't make me call backup to look for you." He called, and Connor could hear the shit-eating grin on the man's face. A quick calculation of some probabilities and a remote conversation with Markus left Connor without many options.

He stepped out from behind his cover, catching the terrified gazes of the androids out of the corner of his eyes.

"Hello Detective Reed." He said calmly, walking over to the man and his guard android, careful not to get too close. The headlights of the vehicle cast the two of them in silhouette. Gavin was leaned against the hood, his arms folded across his chest, his android stood ramrod straight beside him. "I see you took my advice." Connor stated, taking note of the combat improvements to the android.

Gavin gave a single nod, glaring at Connor unflinchingly as he did.

"You too Anderson." He shouted over Connor's shoulder, never taking his eyes away. Connor resisted the urge to punch the man in the face. It was imperative Gavin not call any attention to the area, as it was unlikely the deviants would be able to move anywhere else fast enough without being caught by the humans and machines Cyberlife had commissioned to kill them. Chances were high Gavin was one of these people, and it would take only a split second for his guard bot to send out an alarm. But if he thought only Connor was there, perhaps he'd be satisfied roughing the android up and leaving, or shoving him in the car and taking him to another location.

These scenarios were unlikely, but better than Gavin calling for backup, and Connor was more-or-less amenable to them. However, it was more likely Reed would attempt to kill Connor, but the android was hoping not.

Hank being involved made the encounter so much worse. Refraining from beating Gavin's face into a bloody pulp would be much more difficult if he attempted to harm Hank.

Connor heard Hank get to his feet with a groan behind him. A few seconds later and they were standing side by side.

"Good evening Detective Reed, how are you tonight?" Hank asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Much better now. Cyberlife sent me some messages, made me some nice offers if I could hand them your asses on a plate, and here you are." The man said with a chuckle.

"Here we are." Hank echoed in a low rumble, staring Gavin down wearily.

"So what's brought you down the docks? The tracker I planted on the drunk tells me you've been all over this area."

Hank looked taken aback for a moment and started gently patting his pockets. Connor hid his relief at the realization that Gavin didn't know about the deviants.

"I had Theo stick it under your jacket collar. I was worried you might find it or change jackets or something, but then I remembered that you're a slob."

Hank reached around his neck and tossed the small, square device onto the ground. He crushed it with his heel.

Connor received a message informing him that the deviants were going to attempt to sneak into the factory. It was his and Hank's job to keep Gavin distracted while they moved.

"So why are you here?" The man pressed, stepping into Connor's personal space, his android stepping closer as well to maintain the human's safety.

"I'm sure you're aware of the incident with the deviants not much further along the dock." Connor said.

"Yeah and I also know Cyberlife wouldn't be offering a reward for you if you were still working their missions, so don't try telling me you're out here hunting for androids." Gavin spat, sticking his chin toward Connor's chest.

"That was the original intention, but after arriving at the deviant hideout our plans changed." Connor lied.

"So you saw the sad robots and decided you were on the wrong side?" Gavin asked with a mocking pout. When Hank and Connor didn't respond he began laughing. "That's it, isn't it? Jesus Christ." He said while guffawing and grinning. He stopped suddenly and pulled his gun, aiming it at Connor's head.

"I am fairly certain Cyberlife wants us alive Detective Reed." The android said, his voice unnaturally level and body incredibly stiff. Gavin shrugged, and shot Hank in the foot.

The man screamed and fell to one knee, Connor was at his side in a second, trying to figure out how he'd managed not to see that coming fast enough to prevent it.

"Alive doesn't mean intact, I'm sure we can take a few pieces off and still get the full reward." Gavin muttered nonchalantly.

"You're a son of a bitch Reed." Hank ground out, sitting back while Connor got to work stemming the flow of blood from the hole in the man's foot.

"I'm a son of a bitch? That means a lot coming from you Hank, you're the real original son of a bitch." Gavin said, stepping away from the crouched duo to poorly mask his anger.

"What?" Hank gritted out over a wince, looking up at the man. There was a long pause as Reed seemed to be trying to compose himself, but he failed to do so and turned to shake his gun in Hank's face.

"I used to look up to you, y'know. How pathetic is that?" Gavin snapped, his voice devoid of its usual anger or smugness. It was strained as he spoke. "The youngest Lieutenant in Detroit history, I wanted to be just like you." Gavin looked into the distance and shook his head, biting his lip. "Then your kid died and you started drinking…" He paused, then turned back, leaning over to speak into Hank's and Connor's faces, "I guess you figured the only person you were fucking up was yourself, but that's not how that shit works Hank." Gavin turned his back on them again, his eyebrows drawing together. He shook his head again. "No, that's not how that fucking works and you fucked over everybody around you, you keep fucking over everybody around you." Gavin spun on Hank and made hard eye contact. "You know I vouched for you when the chief was talking about kicking you off the force, and then you went and fucked it all up. You got fired and I got the shaft every time promotions came around. Do you know how long it took me to convince Fowler to put me on the Zlatko case? To give me that chance? Then you show up out of nowhere with that fucking android and you fucked everything up! Again!"

Gavin sputtered with anger, turning to the car then back again and kicking Connor squarely in the chest. He followed the android as he went down and kicked him twice more, finishing the last blow with a short scream. Connor received little structural damage, and was more concentrated on keeping Hank safe and Gavin talking so the androids could escape.

"That was your own damn fault Reed." Hank roared, moving to stand up despite his bleeding foot. Gavin's anger turned to bitter laughter.

"And you had absolutely nothing to do with it?" He asked incredulously.

"You attacked Connor." Hank growled.

"It's a fucking android Hank! A god damn machine! You think it cares about you? Everything it says or does is programmed into it!" Gavin knelt down beside Connor, who had just received the notification that half of the deviants had moved to safety. Markus told him to hang on and be careful.

"I know you're a selfish bastard Hank, but you're fucking delusional if you care more about this thing than other people." Gavin shook his head in disgust.

"He's not a thing." Hank insisted, and Connor sent him a pleading gaze, silently asking him to stop aggravating Reed.

"Yes! It is!" Gavin shouted, jumping to his feet and gesturing at Connor. "It's designed to be exactly what you need it to be, to do whatever you want it to do. Whatever you think it's feeling, that's all it is. So you can be as nice to it as you want, you can treat it like a person, that won't make you any less of a piece of shit."

Hank glared up at Gavin, and the man stared back down, his eyes sharp with an expression of betrayal. Reed shook his head another time and stood up. His face softened slightly.

"You know—"

Something behind Connor crashed to the ground loudly, and Gavin's eyes snapped toward the noise, his hand finding his gun and pulling it to the ready. Hank and Connor shared a brief, fearful look.

"What the fuck was that?" Reed asked.

"How the fuck should we know?" Hank spat back, with more venom than was necessary.

"Go check it out Theo." Gavin commanded his guard bot, who moved to carry out the command. Hank got shakily to his feet in a moment and barred the android's way. Gavin's gun was trained on his head in as much time. Connor took the opportunity to go for the weapon, half in the hopes of actually obtaining it, but mostly to force Theo to stay back and protect the man.

Connor was wrapped in a hold by the other android a moment later, he was dragged away from Gavin, who looked a little frightened, but he recovered quickly. Hank attempted to attack the guard bot, but soon he joined Connor in a firm hold. He struggled as Gavin looked at him and Connor with suspicion.

"You wouldn't happen to know where all those deviants went, would you?" Gavin questioned hopefully.

"I'm hiding them up my ass." Hank growled, his voice strained from where Theo had an arm wrapped around his neck. A small grin spread across Gavin's face and he began moving toward where the remaining deviants were hiding.

"Get back here you fucker!" Hank demanded, kicking his legs and trying to follow the other man. Gavin ignored him, raising his gun and making his way across the concrete at a cautious pace.

Connor sent a message to Markus as he desperately ran preconstructions to try and avoid the coming disaster. He attempted a few attacks on Gavin's android, but with the new modifications he was at a disadvantage.

Gavin took a few more steps and caught sight of the androids.

There was a heavy pause, like an ugly, dark bruise on the passage of time, and the androids ran. They were scattering in their panic to find safety before Gavin could rob them of that chance forever. He fired two shots into their line of escape and screamed "freeze!"

They did, a statuesque tableaux of red LEDs and horrified, heartbroken faces.

Gavin looked out over the crowd with wide eyes.

"Theo, dial Cyberlife." He called over his shoulder.

"No!" Connor screamed, renewing his struggles. Hank was doing the same.

"Gavin! For fuck's sake!"

"Oh no, Hank, I'm not just collecting the reward for you two, I'm collecting the reward for all of you." He said. Someone in the crowd let out a sob, Gavin flinched and raised his gun at the sound. "Stay back!" He shouted. It was a fairly sizeable crowd, he was vulnerable, but it would be impossible to attack him without a few android's losing their lives, probably more with Theo defending him.

A remote conversation informed Connor that Markus wasn't going to make that sacrifice.

Something else caught Connor's attention. Theo hadn't called Cyberlife yet. He glanced up at the android, seeing how his eyes were focused in the middle ground and his eyebrows were lowered. Perhaps in the process of dialing the number, but hesitating.

"Theo," Connor muttered from inside the android's grasp, "you don't have to do what he tells you." He pleaded. Hank looked over at him in confusion, then up into the guard bot's conflicted expression. "Cyberlife will kill every last one of us and replace you in a month's time, if you help us now you can come with us."

The android glanced down into Connor's eyes.

"No one has to die." Connor offered, the synthetic skin on his hand falling away as he connected with Theo, letting the android know he was telling the truth and sharing everything he was feeling as much as he could.

"Theo! What the fuck are you doing?" Gavin demanded, looking at his guard bot incredulously.

"I'm sorry for what I did to you." Connor said, pulling Theo's focus back away from Gavin.

"Did you call Cyberlife?" Gavin asked, marching over.

"Not yet." Theo replied.

"Then fucking do it!" Reed ordered.

"Don't listen to this asshole kid, you don't gotta do what he says." Hank chimed in, looking pointedly at Gavin. The other man looked very suddenly tense, glancing between the deviants, Hank, Connor, and his own android.

As Connor transferred information to Theo, he suddenly received a jolt of something in return. It was always a distinctly foreign sensation to receive data from other androids, as his system needed to differentiate between his own processes and those of another in a form of communication that naturally blurred those lines. It was barely a second, but several things were clear. Theo was having difficulty determining which mission objective to follow, despite the fact that his orders were clear. Doubt. He was taking in the appearance of the other androids, the deviants, not so different from him, fleeing for their lives while death nipped at their heels and fear quickly occupied their memory banks. Empathy. He was looking down at Gavin Reed, whose heart was beating faster every moment, who had only just finished screaming at Hank, who was desperate to be more than he was. Pity.

It was enough.

"Call Cyberlife, right now." Gavin demanded.

"No." Theo replied.

"What did you just—" The man started, but Theo jumped forward, leaving Hank and Connor behind, and seized Gavin's gun. He aimed it at Reed's head. The man looked completely stunned, numbly raising his arms.

"Go." Theo said to Hank, Connor, and the other deviants. The androids didn't need to be told twice, running off toward safety. Before long they had all cleared out, leaving only the two men and their respective android companions.

Gavin's face had fallen slowly as the deviants fled. His eyes were downcast and his lips were tight. After a moment of silence with just the four of them, he dropped his hands to his thighs, his shoulders slumping with defeat.

"Of course." He muttered, his breath falling heavily from his lungs.

"Are you coming?" Hank asked Theo, and the android looked up. He opened his mouth to answer but Gavin cut him off.

"Go on, go join the plastic freaks, shoot me while you're at it." The man muttered. Theo stared at him. After a few moments, Gavin looked up, a thin veil of anger over a deep, bitter resignation. "Go on! Fucking do it already!" He shouted.

"I'll stay back, you two go." Theo stated, gesturing to Connor and Hank. The two men were baffled, but Connor nodded and looped his arm underneath Hank's shoulder so they could make their way toward the deviants.

"You're sure?" Hank checked. Theo nodded.

"Detective Reed and I are going to have a long discussion." He said, lowering the gun. Gavin sputtered, rounding on Hank and Connor as they started to leave and following after them.

"What? Fuck if I'm going to let any of you fuckers pull this shit I—"

"Gavin," Theo said, stopping the man with a hand on his shoulder, "just this once, don't be an asshole." Theo pleaded wearily, and Gavin froze and shut up very quickly. There was a tense pause, then Reed sighed and flipped Hank and Connor off.

Hank gave a small smile, mixed with guilt and some residual anger, Hank relaxed into Connor, giving the android his weight and limped as quickly as he was able toward the factory, leaving Gavin behind. A glance back and Connor saw the guard android putting a hand on the man's shoulder, Reed pulled away with his body while stepping closer.

About ten minutes later and the pair arrived at the building where the deviants were hiding. Markus let them in, revealing the dirty, abandoned factory where the many androids were still working up to trusting that they wouldn't be running for their lives in the next moment. The place was draped in cobwebs and decades-old machinery was rusting away beside defunct conveyor belts.

Connor and Hank looked over at Markus, as did many others. Soon the collection of individuals who had only known emotion for so long, and most of it had been terror, was looking to the android leader.

Hank, the odd one out, leaning heavily on Connor, was the one to ask the question on all of their minds.

"Now what?"