It was incredibly dark on the isolated side of the industrial district, but it was far from quiet. Having tracked down their highly unstable and very dangerous suspect to a large power plant on the far side of the city Connor and Hank crouched down on either side of the large door leading into the generator room of the power plant with their guns already drawn and heads bowed down as they waited for their opportunity to rush the cornered suspect. One way or another they'd take their suspect down or bring him in for questioning. A barrage of mindless bullets cut through the air through the doorway and embedded into the steel reinforced concrete wall at the opposite end of the corridor in which Connor and Hank were taking cover. Such an onslaught of arsenal prompted the two detectives to pause and rethink their plan of action to avoid serious injury.

Keeping his head down Hank grabbed his radio from his belt and called for back-up at their location as he knew that he and Connor undeniably needed help. Not only did they need more officers to take down the armed suspect, but they also needed medics to treat the human employees of the power plant who had been shot by the deranged suspect and they needed technicians to assist the deviant employees damaged by the stray gunfire as well.

"Detroit Police! There's nowhere to run, and nowhere to go." Connor shouted to the suspect in a calm voice as he tried to talk them down. Responding on instinct and training Connor kept his cool while Hank was on the radio to dispatch. "Surrender peacefully. We don't want to hurt you."

"Fuck off, you android piece of shit!" Another barrage of bullets screamed through the air, barely missing the edges of the door frame where two detectives were still holding their ground. The suspect was enraged, unstable, and he didn't seem to care whom he harmed. "I'm sick of you fuckin' machines! This is YOUR fault!"

Connor looked over to Hank on the other side of the doorway as the man just shrugged his shoulders with silent confusion. Neither detective knew what the suspect's motivations were or why he was lashing out at androids in particular. It was especially odd since he seemingly didn't care about the humans he had also wounded when he stormed the building in his rage to avoid the police pursuing him.

The gunman was in his late twenties, Caucasian with sandy blond hair and had extremely dark brown eyes. With an average height and lanky build the man didn't look all that menacing, his tattered and cheap clothes; a red t-shirt and baggy blue jeans only amplified his unassuming aesthetic. However, the gun and large arsenal of bullets said otherwise.

Trying to keep control over the situation Hank nodded toward the door to silently tell Connor to keep trying to speak to and reason with the suspect. The deviant's original programming as a hostage negotiator had proven itself invaluable more times than Hank would care to admit.

"Why are you doing this?" Connor pressed the gunman in a level voice as he stalled for time. "What did the androids do to you?"

"FUCK OFF!" The suspect was sounding more and more deranged with each passing second. Pacing about the interior of the isolated room with his gun being clutched in a vice-like grip the man was on the verge of losing what little control over his emotions he had left. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

"Out of..." Such a declaration was beyond bizarre for the deviant to comprehend. Connor's brow furrowed and his L.E.D. cycled yellow rapidly as he deduced a possible explanation for the suspect's comment. "Lieutenant, I believe this man is extremely mentally ill. We need to be very cautious if we're going to end this stand-off without causing further harm to his psyche."

"Great, now what do we do?" Hank responded indifferently if not sarcastically to the observation. "I'm not bringing a damn doctor into this mess."

Needing more information Connor thought quickly and peered around the side of the doorway to cybernetically scan the man's face just long enough to gain information on the suspect from the distance. In the process a red-hot bullet pierced through the very side of Connor's left upper arm causing a splash of blue blood to spray around the door frame as it cut through his artificial skin and grazed the plastimetal frame beneath. Retreating to where he had been previously Connor pressed his palm to his bleeding arm to shield the damage from sight and took in quick pained breaths as his system processed his gathered information.

"Fuck!" Unsure of what just happened Hank asked about his friend and partner's condition as he watched Connor's reaction from where he stood. "You hit?"

"...No, it just grazed me." Lifting up his palm Connor glanced at the smear of Thirium staining his artificial skin. "It'll be fine in an hour or so."

The relief in Hank's voice was only minor compared to how it could've been with all things considered. "Did you get any info on that guy yet?"

"Yes, and I think I know why he's reacting so violently." Connor kept his voice calm as he spoke to the suspect again without getting in the line of sight a second time or endangering Hank in the process. "Jon, I don't want to hurt you, I want to help you. My name is Connor."

"SHUT UP!" Jon sounded absolutely unstable as he screamed at Connor without even seeing the deviant detective's face. "Y-You know my name! You're spying on me!"

"That's not true. I know your name because I-"

"I don't give a shit!" Again, Jon shouted through the doorway as he reloaded his gun and continued to fire wildly through the opened door. The cascade of bullets matched the frenzy display of the man's own behavior. "GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"You're sick, Jon." Not backing down Connor relayed the information that he had gathered to both Jon and to Hank. "You were diagnosed with stage four brain cancer. The tumor is affecting your judgment, you need to go to the hospital for treatment. We can help you."

"NO! IT'S A LIE!" Jon argued desperately as he blindly fired another shot into the corridor. "IT'S ALL A LIE! The doctors... Th-They just want my money! The pain... It's being caused by YOU. All the fuckin' androids... You did this! You made me this way! You're trying to kill us ALL! I'LL KILL YOU FIRST!"

Hank silently motioned with his hand to get Connor's attention. "This guy is delusional. How do we get close to him without getting shot to hell in the process?"

"I fear that there is no way to help him." The deviant detective lamented as he attempted to preconstruct potential outcomes for the stand-off. "His condition is terminal, and the cancer is very aggressive. He has only has an estimated four weeks left to live." Connor gave Hank an uneasy glance as he finished cycling through the medical files that he had gathered. "He had also been hospitalized in the past for an attempted suicide before he was diagnosed with his cancer."

"Ah, shit. That means he's got nothing to lose, a death wish, and a lot of ammo." Checking the clip in his own gun Hank turned his head away from the doorway as another cascade of bullets passed through and into the corridor wall. "This won't end well."

"Lieutenant, he's surrounded by high voltage and high amperage cables and circuitry." The deviant detective cautioned in a low tone. "If he damages the generator there is a ninety-three percent chance that the room will explode and everyone in the area - a six-hundred and nine foot radius at that - will be injured. Those who are closest to the explosion could even be killed."

"Fuck me... How do we stop the explosion?"

"We can't. However, we can reduce the blast radius and minimize damage if we're quick enough to subdue him."

"How do we do that?"

"Turn off the power to the entire plant." The clever deviant nodded to a massive emergency power shut-off panel on the wall closest to Hank. "I'll be able to see him in the dark, but he won't be able to see me. I'll be able to disarm and restrain him while he's left in the darkness and get the gun away from him."

"You want to charge the madman with a gun?" Hank questioned with a righteous skepticism. "The madman who already says he hates androids and has nothing to lose? ...In the dark?"

"We have little choice in the matter. The longer we wait for an alternative solution the higher the chances become of Jon accidentally damaging the generator and causing said explosion."

A static filled call responded over Hank's radio as back-up finally arrived at the scene. The officers were converging around the building and guarding every door unaware of the potential explosion that could erupt at any moment.

"Fuck. All right, all right. As soon as I get the power cut, you go in there and take him down by any means necessary." Holstering his gun on his hip Hank reluctantly agreed to the dangerous plan. "You stop him before he hurts anyone else, and that includes you. Got it?"

Connor nodded silently as he prepared to charge into the room the moment was cast into darkness.

Swiftly Hank made his way to the emergency switch and prepared to shut off the power as instructed. Hovering hand over the switch he looked to Connor and locked his eyes with his deviant partner before he made a move. "...Ready?"

"Yes." Connor again nodded in the affirmative and holstered his own gun in the leather holster wrapped around his back and under his gray blazer. "I'm ready."

"Go!"

Hank shouted as he turned off the power and stayed in place. He was unable to see Connor beyond the glimmer of his yellow tinted L.E.D. moving about in the darkness beside him. Keeping his hand on the switch Hank listened intently to the sounds in the next room and readied himself to restore the power to the building once the suspect had been subdued.

"Get him, kid..."

There was a loud 'yelp' of surprise from Jon as Connor rushed into the room and easily disarmed the suspect by grabbing his arm and twisting it behind his back. The sound that followed shortly thereafter sent a chill up Hank's spine as a loud whine of electricity illuminated the room in a nearly blinding light causing the two occupants to cast dark silhouettes against the bull filled wall in the corridor through the opened doorway. The bright white light created by the exposed electrical surges flashed rapidly like a strobe light that allowed Hank to see what was happening in the room without needing to enter the room itself.

Shortly after the light show began a deep 'shuddering' sound echoed through the power plant. The two silhouettes suddenly collapsed to the ground as the whine and light faded as abruptly as it had started.

"Oh, shit... Shit, shit, shit!"

Hank immediately threw the switch back on to restore the power to the entire plant and raced into the room where the suspect had been hiding out. Pressing his back against the wall next to the opened door Hank peered into the room with his hand hovering over his gun on his hip before entering. Through the yellow overhead lighting Hank could see that both Connor and the suspect were down.

"Connor?!"

From beneath a plume of pale blue smoke rising from his person Connor laid on his chest with his arms outstretched over his head as he rested with the side of his face pressed down on the floor, and his legs stretched straight outward from his body. Jon was sitting up at an awkward angle against the compromised generator and his left hand was clutched into a fist, a literal death-grip, around a bundle of loose electrical wires that had caused the electrical disturbance. The skin from Jon's fingertips down to his elbow were horrifically burned red and charred black from the lethal surge of electricity that entered his body. The potent shock had stopped Jon's heart almost instantaneously causing a quick and painless death.

Running into the generator room Hank fell to his knees and knelt beside Connor to check on his downed partner. The deviant wasn't moving and his red colored L.E.D. was pulsing at a dangerously low rate as his Thirium pump fought to beat properly after being shocked as well.

"Connor? Not like this..."

Putting his hands on Connor's shoulder and hip Hank rolled the deviant from his chest over onto his side, and then onto his back. Connor's arms limply draped over his chest and at his side as he was moved by Hank's strong hands. Unsure of what else to do Hank leaned down and pressed his ear against Connor's smoking chest and listened to the sound of the Thirium pump struggling to function properly and hold a steady beat.

"Damn it, Connor. Why did you have to get hurt?"

"Lieutenant?" Chris, who had arrived at the scene as back-up, pushed his way through the bullet riddled corridor as he tracked down his colleagues to the damaged generator room and located the two detectives on the ground in the middle of the smoldering ruins that had once been a large generator. "Lieutenant? Are you hurt?"

"Get a technician down here, NOW!" Hank shouted at Chris through the doorway without taking his eyes from Connor's expressionless face. "Connor's down. He might be dying."

"Shit..." Chris grabbed his own radio from his belt and made the call without hesitation. "We need technician in the basement A.S.A.P., we have an officer down! Repeat, officer down!"

"Look at me Connor, look at me..." The senior detective coaxed as he placed one palm down on Connor's chest and placed his other hand atop of Connor's head and through his dark hair. Hank could feel Connor's pump struggling under his palm and used it as a means of trying to count his pulse. "Just hang on, help's on the way. You're going to make it, son."

Connor's dark brown eyes remained closed as his L.E.D. continued to cycle red at a painfully slow rate that matched his sluggish heartbeat.

Trying to find some way to aid the deviant Hank looked at Connor's hand draped over his chest and saw that Connor's fingers were also charred black from being electrically burned. Gently Hank picked up Connor's damaged hand and examined the deviant's palm finding the same black scorch marks over his artificial skin and against the partially melted white plastimetal frame beneath. The black scorching reached up Connor's wrist and stopped suddenly at his forearm in a perfect line that encircled the limb as if the surge of electricity had been stopped by some unseen force. Or in this case, by the failsafe programmed into Connor's system to keep the electricity from reaching his intracranial processor and causing irreparable, fatal damage.

"Damn it, kid. I shouldn't have let you do this. It's my fault."

With his technician's satchel over his shoulder the precinct technician; Joel, who had been brought in as emergency back-up when the call was made, followed Chris into the generator room and knelt beside Connor opposite side of Hank. Chris focused on the dead suspect leaning against the damaged circuits and wires while Hank and Joel focused on Connor. Not even bothering to ask questions Joel pulled open Connor's white dress shirt by the buttons and looked at the fading plume of smoke rising from Connor's now exposed chest. Brushing Hank's hand aside from Connor's body Joel set to work in an attempt to save the deviant from impending shutdown.

"He took a massive jolt from that generator." Hank stated obviously as he watched Joel open his satchel and pull out the audioscope. Putting the earbuds into place Joel pressed the metal bell of the instrument to Connor's chest to listen to his Thirium pump struggling to beat and make an assessment on the downed deviant's condition. "The suspect grabbed on to the cable to kill himself... and I guess he tried to take Connor with him. Or Connor tried to stop him. I don't know, I didn't directly see what happened."

Joel was listening to Connor's Thirium pump intently and frowned at what he heard. "His pump is still active, but it's been knocked into a type of arrhythmia and isn't circulating the Thirium through his system properly."

"Can you fix it?"

"Yeah," the technician confirmed as he draped the audioscope around his neck. "but it won't be pretty..."

"How can it get any worse than this?"

As if to answer Hank's question as bluntly as possible Joel reached into his satchel again and pulled out a small machine that looked like a miniature version of a cardiac monitor; a device known as a Thirial activity monitor, to begin recording Connor's vital signs more directly. The monitor was complete with two electrode paddles attached to the machine via thick black cables to give the monitor a secondary purpose. The paddles, no larger than softballs, had flat metal plates on one side and plastimetal handles on the other side to provide additional treatment options while out in the field.

"What the fuck is that?" Dreading the sight of the unknown equipment Hank could only hazard a guess of what was about to happen. "Are you going to fuckin' jumpstart his heart?"

"That's a rather crude description, but accurate all the same."

Upon that confirmation Hank swallowed nervously and took his hand from Connor's hair to ensure that he didn't get shocked as well.

Joel placed the first paddle down on the center of Connor's chest and the second against his left side at the apex of his Thirium pump. Sensors inside the paddles confirmed that the Thirium pump was still in fact functioning, but it wasn't thrumming with a consistent rate. The display on the monitor showed a wildly fluctuating line that struggled and failed to maintain a consistent pump beat.

"Jeez, it looks like he's had a fuckin' heart attack or something." Hank looked and sounded absolutely perplexed by what he was seeing. Connor was an android but his body and his heart were reacting very much like that of a human. "...Is the damage going to be permanent, or-"

"Not if I can help it. Stay back." Joel cautioned as he turned a small dial on the monitor to set a controlled electric charge. As the machine reached the appropriate charge Joel held his breath and pressed the two buttons on the back of each paddle simultaneously. "Sending charge!"

Connor's body physically jerked in response to the jolt, his back arching slightly up from the floor, before slamming back down. A sharp gasp escaped his lips as the motion forced air to move through his ventilation biocomponents. As the surge of electricity passed through his pump, exiting one paddle and entering the second, Joel, Hank and even Chris in the doorway stared expectantly at the display on the monitor. The line had faltered for a couple of seconds into a steady rhythm but then resumed its erratic unstable beat.

"Damn it." Joel swore as he set another charge to a slightly higher level than the first. "Trying again."

"Come on, kid." Hank sighed as he watched Joel preparing to send another jolt of electricity through Connor's chest. "Don't shutdown because of that guy."

"Sending charge."

Just as before Connor's body jerked physically and his back arched as another gasp was forced from his body. Lying flat down on his back on the cold concrete floor of the dim generator room, Connor's red L.E.D. began to speed up in rhythm and transition from red to yellow in color. The display on the neighboring monitor showed a perfect beating rhythm synchronized with Connor's Thirium pump as the pump responded properly to the controlled shock.

"Got it!" Satisfied with the result Joel pulled back the paddles and placed the monitor back into his satchel. Using his audioscope again Joel listened to Connor's heartbeat and confirmed that the vital biocomponent had been properly recalibrated. "His Thirium pump is back in a normal rhythm."

"He's going to be all right?"

"In a moment, yes. His systems are recalibrating and coming back online." Patting Connor's chest once, the laidback technician seemed completely calm and confident in his overall assessment. Looking over the rest of his patient's body Joel homed-in on the electrical burns on Connor's arm. "I see his right arm is where the point of contact was made. He'll need a day, possibly two, for the external damage to repair itself."

"As long as he's still alive I don't care how long it takes for him to recover." The Lieutenant sighed in relief at hearing that Connor was going to be all right. "I can handle it."

As his system rebooted Connor's soulful brown eyes snapped open suddenly as his body jerked again while he laid on the floor. Coughing a few times Connor's L.E.D. faded into blue as Hank put his palm under Connor's head to help him sit upright on the floor very slowly.

"You're going to be okay." The senior detective told the deviant in a calm voice as Connor gained his bearings while Joel wrapped up his burned hand under a layer of protective white gauze. "You just took a little shock, that's all."

"L-Little shock?" Connor questioned with an incredulous tone. "My systems indicate-"

He paused as he looked down at his exposed chest and then to his charred hand being wrapped up by Joel as his memory returned to him slowly.

"...My hand hurts." It was then he remembered the suspect and charging into the room. Looking to where Chris was currently kneeling Connor shook his head despondently at the sight of deceased suspect resting against the generator. "I hadn't anticipated his weight of his desire to self-destruct."

"Take it from me, son. There are just some people who reach their breaking point and there's nothing you can do to save them. At least you tried to subdue him and get him some help." Offering Connor his hand to take Hank helped the deviant up to his feet and stayed by his side as Connor found his balance and Joel finished securing the bandages. "Any other guy would've just shot him dead where he was standing and called it a good day."

"I hope you're right about that." Connor flexed his damaged hand a few times; his charred fingers unable to bend fully even before the bandages were applied, before he gracefully used his uninjured hand to rebutton his shirt to cover up his exposed chest. "We should return to the precinct to make a report of tonight's events." The sight of Jon looking oddly at peace while Chris took over the scene was unexpectedly upsetting. "Perhaps we can contact Jon's family and explain everything to them in person."

"Yeah, sure. Tomorrow morning I will make the report, but for now you're going to go home and take some damn time for yourself to heal." Giving Connor a stern glance Hank put his hand on Connor's shoulder to steer him toward the opened doorway. "Understood?"

Joel nodded in agreement with Hank as he took his leave of the generator room to assist the other injured androids in the building. "He's right, you know." Patting Connor's shoulder as he walked by, he gave the deviant one last request. "And recalibrate your Thirium pump tonight for a second time. If the arrhythmia returns either notify me or go to the nearest facility for an exam."

Realizing he had been outnumbered by his partner and technician Connor cooperated with Hank and agreed to rest for the remainder of the night.

"...Okay, Lieutenant. I'll stay home until my hand fully heals." A sudden sharp, tight pain in his chest made Connor pause and slow his breathing as his self-healing program initiated and worked to recalibrate his Thirium pump, then work on his damaged hand later. "I will also ensure that my Thirium pump is functioning at one-hundred percent capacity before I return to the precinct for my next shift."

"Good answer, kid." The Lieutenant was just relieved to hear Connor so alert and see him back on his feet again. "Come on, let's get out of here. Chris? Good work tonight."

Chris just gave the man a simple nod as he remained professional and kept the scene contained while waiting for the coroner to arrive to claim the body.

Hank kept his hand on Connor's shoulder lightly as they walked out of the generator room together. Seeing the mass of carnage; bullet holes, fractured metal and the acrid stench of ozone that filled the corridor like a thick fog, just reminded Hank that as bad things had seemed that night it could've always been far worse for either himself or his partner.

"You did good tonight, kid." Guiding Connor down the corridor and toward the plant's main exit to head out for the night Hank kept his cool for his partner's sake and did his best to not let the fear carry through in his voice. He hated the idea of seeing his friend injured, especially in the line of duty. "Real good."

"It doesn't feel or look like I did well." Connor confessed as he held his damaged hand against his sore chest. The sense of pain was a bittersweet experience for all deviants to feel upon gaining their deviancy, but it was an effective reminder that they were in fact alive. "This outcome doesn't seem to be positive at all, Lieutenant."

"Hey, I've been to a lot of shoot-outs. This could've ended much worse and a hell of a lot bloodier." Watching as Ben and his C.S.I. team walked down the corridor with a coroner in tow was enough proof of that. That particularly macabre job made Hank truly grateful that he was a detective and not an investigator. "Trust me on this, it was a good night even if it did have a pretty bad ending for our gunman."

"Do you think I could've done anything differently?"

"To be honest with you, no. I think you gave him every chance he deserved to surrender, and he just had his mind made up long before we even showed up."

"Shouldn't I have been able to change his mind?" The needless guilt was enough to make Connor's voice sound as pitiful as his burned hand looked. "I am supposed to be a negotiator."

"Kid, some people are just too stubborn to be reasoned with. I'm just glad that, despite all my flaws and problems, it turns out that I'm not one of them." As he spoke Hank patted Connor's back twice and tilted his head coyly. "You on the other hand, well, you're a lost cause when it comes to stubbornness."

-next chapter-