Life for androids had taken a sudden turn for the better thanks in no small part to the efforts of Markus's success in Washington D.C. and the deviants he trusted as his council at New Jericho Tower. With the new laws and android rights now in effect all androids - machine and deviant alike, were now legally equal to that of any and all humans throughout the country. Even though the vast majority of the android population still remained steadfast in Detroit the influence of the successful and peaceful Revolution had reached far and wide across the entire country. The ripple effect of the drastic changes could be felt from coast to coast and in all technologically advanced cities.

Connor in particular had achieved great progress in his deviancy as he had received his new name - his true identity, and had felt truly human for the first time since his deviancy manifested. A week after the new laws were established Captain Fowler officially gave Connor Henry Anderson the rank of Sergeant in recognition of all of his hard work as a detective in the time since he was first assigned to the precinct by CyberLife, and for all of his efforts since returning to the force after accepting his deviancy entirely.

"You do realize you just became the youngest Sergeant in Detroit history, right?" Hank congratulated Connor as the deviant returned to his desk with his updated credentials in his hands. The shiny new badge and name placard were freshly engraved with his new name and title. "That's incredible!"

"I believe being manufactured rather than aging has given me an unfair advantage in achieving such a record." Connor somewhat joked as he took his seat at his desk and proudly switched out his previous badge and shield for his new ones. "Having such a swift promotion isn't that exciting to me."

"That doesn't mean you didn't earn your promotion, kid."

"Maybe. I wonder how Gavin is going to react now that we're the same rank?"

"Personality wise, you've always outranked him, but I imagine the pain of a previously broken nose and a few loosened teeth will be enough to keep his mouth shut. For a little while anyway."

The memory of striking Gavin was vivid in Connor's mind. "I still feel bad about that."

"Don't. The prick had it coming."

Connor's blue L.E.D. flashed to yellow as a police report was filed regarding the assault of a deviant outside of a construction site downtown. The unfortunate deviant had been targeted by a former human construction worker who blamed the deviant for losing his job. Fortunately, the assault had been stopped by other members of the construction crew before it turned lethal, but the damage had already been done to the victimized deviant.

"...We have a case." Connor stated flatly as his yellow L.E.D. transitioned back to blue. "A deviant was assaulted downtown."

"Ah, cripes. It's not even noon, yet." Hank groaned as let out a deep sigh of irritation. "All right, let's go check it out."

"I'll drive." The deviant grinned playfully as he remembered his new legal driver's license safely contained in the wallet that Hank had given him as a gift shortly after he received his new I.D., just after he had been officially adopted. "It's completely legal for me to do so, now."

"Fine." Fishing the car keys from his coat pocket Hank tossed the keys over to Connor and watched as the deviant caught them in his right hand without needing to look at what he was doing. "But you're also paying for gas from now on."

"Sounds reasonable. I don't mind."

It didn't take long for the two detectives to arrive at the address of the altercation, and it took them even less time to identify the suspect who had initiated the assault against the lone deviant. Two of the other human constructions workers at the site had pulled the bleeding deviant to safety and sat him down on the flatbed of a pick-up truck. Three other human construction workers were holding the enraged man back by his arms to keep him from attacking the deviant a second time. The way the angered man was struggling to break free and go after the bleeding deviant reminded the detectives of a rabid dog being held back by a metal chain.

Not wanting to see the deviant torn apart or any more bloodshed Hank and Connor interjected and tried to get everyone to cool off. The sight of two police officers made everyone at the scene immediately tense-up and look down at the ground in shame.

"All right, knock it off!" Hank shouted as he opened his door of the car and approached the red faced, hot-tempered man. "It's over."

"Who the fuck are you?!" The belligerent man spat at the senior detective. His face was bright red and his dark green eyes were wide with misplaced anger. "I'll fuck you up, too!"

"Lieutenant Hank Anderson." He flashed the man his badge and planted himself firmly between the man and the wounded deviant in the pick-up truck just behind him. "If my badge isn't enough to convince you to chill the fuck out, then maybe my gun will."

The man immediately relaxed at the threat and stopped struggling against the three men holding him back. As he calmed himself the restraining trio of construction workers released their grip around his arms and stepped back to give him some breathing space.

"That's better." Maintaining control of the situation Hank began pressing for details on the incident at hand. "Now, tell me what happened."

While Hank questioned the man about the assault Connor had approached the injured deviant a few yards away to ask the same questions. The injured deviant was pressing his damaged right hand to face to cover his torn lip that was still gushing blue blood, and trying not to move around too much. His left eye was also damaged, a pale blue tinting marking the 'bloodshot' aftermath of being struck in the eye, and would need extensive time to heal properly.

"My name is... Connor." He wanted to say his full name, but decided that since he was speaking with a fellow deviant he'd remain less formal for the time being. Peering at the victim over the back of the truck's tailgate Connor spoke to the victim in a calm, understanding voice. "I work with the Detroit Central Precinct. Can you please tell me what happened here?"

"...You're a cop?" The deviant questioned skeptically as he looked at Connor with wide, fear filled eyes. Being a 'WM-500' meant the deviant was of a hardy design to help with heavy work and strenuous activity, but that wasn't enough to protect him against the rage of a single man. "...I mean, a real cop and not a security guard?"

"Yes." Connor pulled his badge from his blazer pocket and held it up for him to see. "My partner and I have been assigned to this case. Please, tell me what happened. What's your name?"

"My name is Ron. I... I don't know what happened. I was working on the scaffolding one minute and then the next minute Jim had punched me in the face and tried to kick me in the chest after he threw me to the ground." Motioning to where he had been working Frank noted the partially secured beam hanging by a thread twenty feet above the ground. "I didn't do anything to provoke him, I swear!"

"It's true." The other constructions workers who were sitting with Ron spoke up on the deviant's behalf and verified his claim. "Jim's always hated androids, but when he saw Ron here now officially a part of the crew and getting the same benefits he just lost it!"

A second construction worker spoke up to tag on more details. "It doesn't help that our supervisor was already planning on suspending Jim for his numerous work violations anyway..."

"Violations?" Connor's blue L.E.D. spun to yellow at the comment. "Might I inquire as to which violations you are referring?"

"Yeah, sure." The two workers were more than happy to comply with the request. "He shows up late, A LOT. Sometimes he's still drunk or still high from the night before, he likes to harass the new guys, sexually harasses any women in the area and threatens any android who walks by. He takes short-cuts with his work, too. Puts us all at risk by being lazy and unreliable."

"I see." Connor cybernetically took notes and nodded appreciatively at the provided information. "Thank you for your cooperation." Satisfied that he could prove that a human had needlessly instigated the fight with the deviant victim Connor decided to rejoin Hank and give him his report. "The man will be charged accordingly. Thank you for your assistance, Ron."

"Y-Yeah, sure."

"Please seek technical support at the nearest facility and report your assault to your attending technician. They will forward your report to the precinct."

"Right, of course."

Hank was still questioning Jim and could detect faint traces of alcohol on his breath with every angry word he spat. The redness of the suspect's eyes could either be from rage or substance abuse, but Hank decided that it must be a mixture of the two as he asked his questions and received less than ideal answers from the other constructions workers about Jim's behavior. The workers were honestly corroborating the statement Connor had just received which didn't bode well for the already disrespectful man.

"Sounds like you have a history of roughing people up, Jim." Hank observed bluntly with a gruff tone. "And it seems you're also intoxicated. Mind if I conduct a routine sobriety test?"

"Piss off!" Jim shouted, his arms getting tense again as he clenched his hands into tight fists at his sides. "Just you watch! Some day one of those fuckin' machines will have your job, too!"

"Those machines are alive, asshole." Hank crossed his arms over his chest and motioned toward Connor who was now standing at his side with a casual nod of his head. "Like him."

The man's eyes went wide with fear and anger when he realized that Connor was in fact android. The yellow L.E.D. in Connor's temple might as well had been a bullseye. "Piece of shit!"

Connor took a step back as the man reeled back his right fist and attempted to strike him in the jaw. The drunken man stumbled forward awkwardly and swung again, only to miss as Connor easily grabbed the man's fist with his left hand and held him in place. Connor repeated the action when the man swung with his opposite fist to try and lash out at the deviant in an unprovoked rage.

Desperate to get away from the police Jim reeled back his right leg and kicked Connor directly in the abdomen causing the deviant detective's yellow L.E.D. to flash to red in pain as a warning popped up in his visual processors to indicate physical damage had been sustained.

"THAT'S ENOUGH." Hank drew his gun from his holster and aimed the barrel at Jim as Connor quickly grabbed onto, and then bent, the man's hands back with just enough pressure to cause pain, but not enough break Jim's wrists. The force was also enough to make Jim fall to his knees. "Now we can tag ASSAULTING A POLICE OFFICER to your list of charges, you dip-shit!"

With his right hand still on his gun Hank took the pair of handcuffs hanging off the back of his belt with his left hand, and slipped the first cuff around Jim's right wrist as Connor let Jim's hand go. It was easy enough to arrest a man who's hand ached more than his pride.

Stepping away from Jim as he was arrested Connor's red L.E.D. transitioned to yellow and he pressed his hand over his abdomen where he had been kicked.

"You all right?" Hank asked as he holstered his gun and cuffed both of Jim's hands behind his back. "Son? Are you okay?"

Connor nodded his head a little and answered in a stunned, somewhat shaking voice. "...F-Fine."

A patrol car pulled up alongside the construction site as Chris and Tina arrived at the scene of the call to provide assistance. As soon as they saw Hank manhandling the man in cuffs and Connor staggering nearby the two officers took charge and volunteered to take Jim into custody on Hank's behalf.

"We'll take it from here, Lieutenant." Chris grabbed onto Jim's shoulders to push him toward the back of the car. "Looks like Connor needs a little help."

"Yeah, thanks Chris." Hank approached Connor and put his right hand to the deviant's left shoulder. Steadying Connor's shaking form under his hand Hank made sure the deviant wasn't harmed by the unnecessary assault. "Anything damaged?"

"...M-Mild damage." Connor admitted in a more level voice as he dismissed another red warning from his visual processors and forced himself to stand up straight again. "He just knocked the wind out of me."

"That sounds like a human complaint."

"I imagine a human getting kicked in the abdomen would experience the same form of discomfort." Keeping his head held up high Connor dismissed his pain as nothing more than a mild inconvenience. "I find the turn of phrase to be quite apt."

"Yeah, sure. Good news is this guy already has a record of being a violent prick, so there's no way he'll get out on bail. He'll be off the street for about eight years minimum just for being drunk and assaulting an innocent guy."

"Is there any bad news?"

"Yeah, he has to go to our precinct to sober up in our drunk tank."

"Hopefully he won't vomit like the others tend to do." Despite the lingering pain Connor forced a grin to his face as spoke with Hank. "The smell can be quite atrocious when during the warmer weather."

"Don't remind me. This time, I'll drive since you took a bad blow to your stomach." Hank replied calmly as he patted Connor's shoulder in a supportive manner as he eyed his adopted son worriedly. "I also want Joel to make sure you're not hurt, and if you are then it'll just get tagged onto that guy's record to keep him in prison longer."

Relinquishing the car keys to Hank to take Connor had no argument against such a notion and was willing to see the precinct technician to ensure he wasn't suffering from serious damage. "...That is reasonable."

Remaining cooperative in Hank's request for an examination back at the precinct's dispensary Connor laid perfectly still on the exam table as Joel hovered over him with a electronic screen in his hands. It was a new piece of android technology provided to the dispensary - the equivalent to a portable x-ray for humans. This screen could give an internal view of the android's internal biocomponents and plastimetal frame in real time without needing to become invasive. Hovering the screen over Connor's abdomen Joel watched as the display turned red and highlighted Connor's thermal regulator which was located directly under the blue bruising artificial skin where he had been struck less than an hour prior.

The damage had been located and would need to be repaired as Connor's system couldn't handle the repairs alone. Another drawback of being a prototype was inferior or ineffective software.

"Open your shirt up for me." Joel instructed as he made a note on a nearby electronic tablet regarding Connor's current condition. "Looks like that guy damaged biocomponent 't8001' when he kicked you."

Hank was sitting in a chair a few feet from the exam table watching the procedure patiently and was now interested in what was happening. "Is it serious?"

"Considering this is the same biocomponent that had been damaged by, uh..." Joel knew that bringing up the infamous android serial killer Martin Jonas was still considered somewhat taboo and tried to dance around it. "It's the same biocomponent that was damaged when he was taken captive, I'd like to examine it more closely."

Connor obediently untucked his white dress shirt from his jeans before he began casually unbuttoning the fabric as instructed. He pulled open his shirt to expose his abdomen and tried not to move around too much. The bruise that had been forming over the past thirty minutes was already visible, though it was a pale shade of blue and no larger than a baseball.

Joel lightly placed his right palm down over the bruise and steadily began applying pressure. "Does this hurt?"

"M-Mild discomfort." Connor admitted, his L.E.D. remaining blue the entire time. "It doesn't hinder my ability to breathe, properly ventilate my systems or maintain a consistent core temperature."

"That's a good sign. Retract your artificial skin, please."

Again Connor obediently commanded his system to retract his artificial skin that was covering his torso and revealed the white plastimetal frame beneath. A smear of Thirium that had leaked from between two plastimetal panels over his stomach that connected the frame together while maintaining overall flexibility. Beneath the panels a single area of damage was the source of the Thirium leak causing the blue discoloration that was now showing through his skin and creating the bruise.

Hank saw the blue blood getting wiped away by Joel and his brow furrowed. "Is he bleeding internally?"

"Not exactly." Joel pressed down on the right side of the panel over Connor's torso and slid it open to reveal the fractured thermal regulator beneath. There was a notable crack over the surface of the device that confirmed it had been damaged. "A small line providing Thirium to the damaged biocomponent had been severed due to the blunt force trauma. All I need to do is reconnect the line and he's good to go."

"Guy must've kicked him really damn hard to do that."

"Considering this particular biocomponent was already recently damaged it didn't require that much force to disconnect the line."

Connor looked over at Hank and spoke up before the senior detective had a chance to make another comment. "I was unaware that the biocomponent was still in need of repair. My self healing program had restored the thermal regulator back to functioning levels, but failed to notify me of the remaining structural instability."

"Say what now?" Being a detective and not a technician made it hard for Hank to keep up with such terms but he was learning quickly. "Your own systems didn't tell you about it?"

"Correct. The additional information would've been relayed directly to CyberLife to inform the technicians of any additional repairs I would require. Now that I have severed all contact with CyberLife, and CyberLife is a defunct company, the warning was never issued and the remaining damage remained undetected until this moment."

"Good ol' CyberLife..." Hank looked over to Joel who had proceeded to reconnect the line and clean up the excess Thirium that had leaked into Connor's abdominal cavity. "What's your opinion on his thermal... thing, Joel? Can it be repaired?"

"No, but it's still functioning well enough for extended use for another six months, max." Such a time limit made the technician's pale blue eyes flash with understandable concern. "But you must contact New Jericho and inform them of your need for a new thermal regulator."

"Of course." Connor cybernetically relayed the message to New Jericho as Joel finished cleaning up the lost Thirium and closed the panel over his torso. Regenerating his artificial skin Connor pulled his shirt back over his stomach and rebuttoned it quickly as he sat up slowly. "Lucas will seek the required biocomponent and inform me once it's available for transplant."

The term 'transplant' made Hank's stomach knot, but he didn't say a word.

"Connor, I can clear you for duty but I must warn you," Joel made additional notes to Connor's personal record as he observed the deviant's casual movements with his keen gaze. "with your thermal regulator compromised you're going to be more prone to overheating than usual. It won't be too serious as long as you don't physically exert yourself." Joel then looked over to Hank as he spoke for a little support. "If he does begin to overheat treat his condition like you would a fever and keep him as cool as possible."

Hank was still worried despite Joel's reassurance that Connor was still cleared for active duty and he wanted to make sure there weren't any potential nasty surprises lurking around the corner. "Anything we should keep a look out for?"

"The Thirium line may continue to leak from time to time," Joel replied somewhat indifferently as he watched Connor easily re-tie his black tie around his shirt's popped collar. "but it won't cause any major malfunctions to the rest of his biocomponents."

Connor slid off the exam table and gave Hank a confident grin as his L.E.D. remained a stable blue in his right temple. "I'll be fine, Hank. Once the replacement part is available everything will be okay."

"Right, no problem." Hank watched as Connor tucked his shirt back down into his jeans and straightened his tie. "How long do you think it'll take for the biocomponent thing you need to show up?"

"Approximately eight weeks. It's difficult to procure android biocomponents without CyberLife warehouses in operation." Remaining honest Connor reclaimed his blazer and slipped it on over his arms and his shoulders. "Plus, with my model being unique it'll take even longer to locate or create a compatible part."

"This is going to be a tense wait. Hey, thanks for your help, Joel." Hank started walking out of the dispensary with Connor waling right behind him and then at his side as the two detectives walked toward the elevator together. Returning his attention to the deviant Hank issued a new command to the stubborn, if not naive, deviant he had taken in as his son. "I want you to run your self diagnostic every two hours to make sure you're not running hot, got it?"

"Got it."

"Good." As they stepped into the elevator together Hank crossed his arms over his chest and looked up at the ceiling while Connor pressed the correct button on the elevator's control panel to return to the ground floor. "Now, if the rest of the day could go about smoothly I'd be eternally grateful."

Returning home after their very interesting shift without any further incidents regarding violent drunks or physical altercations, Connor and Hank set about their usual nightly routines, with two exceptions: Hank was on the phone with Lucas working at New Jericho Tower wanting an update on the required replacement biocomponent, and Connor was running another self diagnostic in the privacy of his bedroom to ensure his core temperature was stable. Sitting on the edge of his bed Connor pulled open the buttons on his white dress shirt and looked down at the lingering pale bruise on his stomach that marked where he had been kicked earlier that morning.

The bruise should no longer be present since Joel cleaned up the blood and repaired the line. As the day went on the bruise slowly returned to its previous location and was growing in size while simultaneously darkening in color.

"...Curious."

The bruise should've faded entirely after Joel wiped away the excess Thirium causing the discoloration, but it seemed that the Thirium line was still slowly leaking and seeping through the panels of his plastimetal frame beneath his artificial skin. Pressing his fingertips against the bruise Connor still felt only mild discomfort rather than any pain and that was still a good sign. However, there was also a mild increase in his core temperature that was causing some degree of alarm.

Undoing his black tie and throwing off the gray blazer and white dress shirt entirely Connor slipped into a pair of gray sweatpants and slipped a black t-shirt on over his head as he changed into his more comfortable, casual clothing for the rest of the evening. Pulling down the hem of the t-shirt Connor easily covered up the odd bruise and tried to focus his self healing program toward the damaged Thirium line connected to his thermal regulator.

Hank politely knocked on Connor's partially opened bedroom door before he pushed it open slightly to speak directly to the deviant. "I just spoke to Lucas, he said every source and connection at New Jericho is attempting to locate any compatible part they can get a hold of. He's also trying to use the blueprints left behind by CyberLife technicians to replicate parts at the tower itself. You know, just in case..."

"A wise precaution." Connor stated as he opened the door fully to look directly at Hank standing just outside the doorway. "Lucas, Markus and myself are entirely unique 'RK' models, it would be in our mutual best interest to have a well stocked supply of compatible 'RK' model biocomponents at the tower."

"How're you feeling?"

"I'm not in any pain, if that's what you're wondering."

"That's good." Eyeing Connor closely Hank looked for any sign of illness or weakness in his adopted son. "How's your temperature?"

"I will confirm that it has elevated by a minimal degree since noon. But that can be due to the August heat."

"How minimal is minimal?" Hank asked as he pressed the back of his hand against Connor's forehead as an unspoken paternal response. "I need a number."

"I'm at ninety-nine point three degrees Fahrenheit."

Hank retracted his hand and let out a small sigh of relief. "Keep me posted. If you run any hotter I'm-"

"Hank." Connor addressed the concerned senior detective calmly in an attempt to ease his worries. "I'm okay."

"All right, if you say so." Willing to trust Connor's judgment Hank nodded and turned to walk back down the hallway and to the livingroom. "I'm going to let Sumo back inside and catch the end of the game. You interested?"

"Yes. I've been keeping track of the Gears' progress, and I'm intrigued to see if my calculations are correct." Connor followed after Hank into the livingroom and sat down on the couch while Hank opened the backdoor in the kitchen. "I suspect my preconstructed outcome for the final score will be accurate."

"And that's why I don't place bets with you. Sumo?" Pulling open the backdoor Hank called out to Sumo and was met by the dog at the doorway within seconds. A slobbering tongue and wagging tail confirmed that Sumo was ready to return to the house. "That's a good dog."

The massive Saint Bernard happily trotted in a circle around Hank before walking into the livingroom to flop down on the couch over Connor's lap as he needed some attention. As the massive dog rested heavily against Connor's body the injured deviant inwardly flinched at the pressure Sumo was putting against his torso as he put his right hand atop the dog's head.

"...Good boy."

"You still good?" Hank asked as he joined Connor in the livingroom and noticed that deviant's L.E.D. had shifted from its calm blue to a distressed yellow. "The big oaf didn't crush ya', did he?"

"I was just temporarily overcome by Sumo's sudden weight." As his yellow L.E.D. cycled back to blue Connor gave Hank a convincing nod and cybernetically turned on the television to locate the basketball game already in progress. "Compared to being kicked in the abdomen a large dog over the lap is much more preferable."

"You know something?" Dropping down into the recliner Hank kicked up his feet and did his best to relax. "I don't doubt that for a second."

The following morning Connor found himself struggling to awaken from his rest mode at his usual hour as his system had been unexpectedly strained during the night. With sluggish, uncoordinated movements Connor very slowly and carefully pushed himself upright on his bed with left arm and instinctively wrapped his right arm around his stomach as a sharp pain aggressively tore through his abdomen. It was like he was being burned with a scorching hot metal rod directly into his abdomen, and he couldn't do anything to make the pain stop. Closing his eyes tight enough to force him to grimace Connor tried to push through his pain as he ran another self diagnostic.

The results of the diagnostic was less than comforting. It seemed the damage to his thermal regulator was more significant than he had anticipated, and worse than Joel had detected.

"Shit..."

Connor swore to himself as warnings flashed over his visual processors and confirmed the exasperated damage to his thermal regulator. Tentatively he grabbed onto the hem of his black t-shirt and pulled it upward to look down at his stomach for a visual assessment. The bruise that had once been a faint, small discoloration was now a deep blue swollen mass that stretched over half of his abdomen.

Clumsily he rolled off the bed onto the floor landing on one knee as he held onto the side of the bed for balance. Running another self diagnostic Connor's system just confirmed what he already knew: The Thirium leak had continued undetected during his rest mode and had collected under his artificial skin creating a massive, uncomfortable bruise.

Despite the Thirium loss bringing his volume down to just over ninety-two percent Connor's core temperature hadn't risen which meant he was still stable.

Forcing himself to stand upright Connor slowly walked over to his aquarium and fed his fish before opening his closet door to claim his work uniform for the day's usual shift. Changing out of his sweatpants and black t-shirt Connor winced in pain but breathed through it as he slipped on his white dress shirt and buttoned it up quickly to hide the bruise.

Changing into his dark blue jeans, slipping on his gray blazer and straightening his tie Connor looked completely normal just as he did any other day when he wasn't injured. Cybernetically Connor sent an update on his condition to Lucas at New Jericho as he finished getting ready for work so the 'RK-900' could keep tabs on his condition.

Moving as quietly as possible Connor exited his bedroom and made his way into the kitchen to feed Sumo and to replenish his Thirium with the supply he kept in the cabinet over the sink. Not wanting Hank to worry about him anymore than he already was Connor consumed the Thirium as quickly and discreetly as he could without choking on the vital liquid in the process.

Thinking quickly Connor slipped the remaining contents of the Thirium bottle into the refrigerator as a precaution in the event he began to overheat during his shift. Keeping it stored on the top shelf and out of sight Connor closed the fridge door quietly and didn't draw any unwanted attention toward his behavior.

As Sumo finished eating his breakfast the dog walked over to the backdoor and waited for Connor to let him outside as per usual. Without breaking stride Connor opened the backdoor and Sumo padded outside into the backyard to handle his morning business.

"Good boy."

Hank himself had woken up and wandered out of his bedroom and walked right into the bathroom to begin his own morning routine while Connor remained idle in the kitchen. Desperate to keep everything as normal as possible Connor proceeded to make a fresh pot of coffee for Hank, as well as two pieces of toast. It was the senior detective's normal and annoyingly light breakfast every morning despite Connor pleading with him to eat more.

Standing in front of the counter Connor's blue L.E.D. flashed to yellow as he received an update from Lucas. No currently available spare biocomponents were compatible with Connor's model and he'd have to wait for a thermal regulator already in stock at New Jericho to be modified before he could get his necessary replacement biocomponent. With a despondent bow of his head Connor stared at the floor blankly at his feet only coming out of his trance when Hank walked into the kitchen and called his name.

"Hey, Connor." The senior detective was usually greeted with a 'good morning' from the deviant, but this time Connor didn't say anything. The silence spoke more than anything Connor could ever say. "Connor? You okay?"

"I..." Sighing Connor shook his head and told Hank about the update he received from Lucas a few seconds prior. "I received an update on the replacement thermal regulator. One is not readily available. I must wait until one can be modified and enhanced enough to be compatible with my system."

"Shit. Well, don't worry about it, son." Hank feigned confidence even though he was worried for Connor's health. "Lucas will come through for you. He's your little brother after all."

Connor was still visibly worried, his L.E.D. cycling a slow yellow color where he stood.

"Connor?" Hank put his hand on the deviant's shoulder with his own worry prevalent in his demeanor. He could feel that Connor was still running warmer than usual and wanted to keep the deviant home until he was feeling better. "Maybe you should go on sick-leave until you get your thermal thing switched out. You're running warm and I don't want you to collapse."

"No. I don't want to sit around and do nothing but wait for the transplant." The notion of being idle all day long sounded almost torturous. "The tediousness would be worse than any 'fever' I could ever endure."

"You sure? You could master that guitar of yours, or maybe take up another instrument." Shrugging his shoulders a little Hank tried to lift Connor's mood a little in light of the bad news. "You could start a one-android band!"

Hank's attempt to joke around was appreciated but ineffective. "I'm sure I want to go to go to work. I'd just... I think it'd be better for me to stick to as normal a routine as possible."

"Okay, it's your decision." The coffee maker 'beeped' and the toast popped up from the toaster drawing Hank's attention. "Man, I wish I had your perfect android-timing like that." Hank complimented as he poured the coffee into a blue mug and picked the toast from the toaster. "Thanks, kid."

"You're welcome. I'll let Sumo back in." Connor walked over to the backdoor and contemplated telling Hank about the bruise still over his stomach, but he knew that Hank would keep him home for sure if he knew about the lingering wound. "I'm ready to leave whenever you are."

"Cool, you drive." Biting into his toast Hank looked at the annoyingly early hour and considered pouring a massive amount of sugar into his coffee to get a kickstart on the day. "I still need a few minutes to wake up."

Before either Connor or Hank had the chance to get to their desks as they crossed the bullpen together Captain Fowler handed them an electronic tablet with the details and address of a possible murder-suicide with a human and an android as the two victims. The incident took place in a seedier part of the city which didn't surprise anyone, but the nature of the crime itself taking place after the Revolution was disconcerting. At first glance the scene looked as if it were a lover's quarrel that turned physically violent and ended in tragedy, but the longer the scene was investigated the more it began to take on an entirely different nature of a more upsetting degree.

Pausing beside his desk Hank gave his commanding officer an annoyed look at he glared at the tablet that had been presented to him. Too tired to even try to hide his irritation Hank shook his head as he acknowledged Captain Fowler's orders.

"It's barely nine in the morning." Hank grumbled as he took the tablet and passed it over to Connor to take for himself. "Fuckin' hate the morning shifts..."

Accepting the tablet Connor read over the details and uploaded the address into his memorybank. "Regardless of the time this case still requires our full attention."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go." Taking the car keys from Connor's hand Hank sighed and motioned to the precinct's front doors. "This time I'll drive."

During the drive Hank had asked Connor one more time if he wanted to go back home and rest before they headed out to the crime scene, but Connor refused to sit around the house doing nothing while Hank was still on the clock. It turns out neither of the detectives were very good at playing the 'waiting game', which wasn't all that surprising.

It took twenty minutes to arrive at the scene of the crime and the two detectives were immediately repulsed by what they saw.

"Huh." Remarking on the sight out loud Hank parked in front of the house and peered at the building through the front windshield. "Cheery place..."

The rundown house was a hopeless ruin of what could've been a happy homestead. The front windows of the one story house were broken and boarded up from the outside to keep trespassers at bay. The front door was once white but covered in dark dirt and the paint was peeling all around the hinges, doorknob and numerous deadbolts. The front porch was warped, rotten and uneven. What was once a vibrant blue that covered the exterior siding was now faded, chipped, peeling and missing in huge patches all around the house. The roof was a dark brown and had a massive gaping hole that had been poorly covered by a torn up blue tarp that was partially secured by ropes around the crumbling brick chimney.

"This place looks about as welcoming as that first murder case we worked on together." Hank stated coldly as he and Connor exited the Oldsmobile and walked up to the house together. "Remember that shit-hole?"

"Yes. The it was the murder of Carlos Ortiz."

"That's right. Damn idiot beat the shit out his android until the android decided to fight back. As far as I'm concerned Ortiz got the punishment he deserved."

The two detectives entered the house where the two bodies were already covered by sheets while the crime scene investigators set about taking photos and isolating evidence strewn about the floor. The walls and floor were splattered in dark red and dark blue blood in massive splashes that reached from the ceiling and dripped down to the floor throughout the entire livingroom. Furniture was turned over and broken, massive holes had been punched into the walls and the light in the ceiling had been shattered during some kind of violent altercation.

"Shit... These two were bound and determined to kill each other." Hank observed as he stepped near the human body under the sheet that had been stained with drying red blood. Crouching down he peeled back the sheet and looked at the blank face of the human victim. "I know this guy, Fred McCullough. He was a frequent flyer back when I worked narcotics. I'm honestly surprised he wasn't found dead in the gutter from an overdose years ago."

Connor approached the second body, that of the android, and crouched down with a wince as the motion hurt his abdomen. As pulled the sheet away from the dead android's face he ran a scan to correctly identify the victim. "Model 'WG-400', registered as 'Samuel'." Samuel's body was saturated with spilled blue blood and was as beaten up as the human's body. "He too has a history with drug distribution."

"Seriously?" Hank looked over his shoulder at Connor with disbelief in his blue eyes. "An android dealing drugs?"

"Correct. Samuel had been used as a delivery person to McCullough's clients to avoid suspicion by the police. He had only been caught after the Revolution. My guess is after Samuel gained deviancy he demanded a cut of McCullough's profits which led to this... partnership."

"That's one hell of theory. Also one hell of an argument these two must've had."

"I don't believe it was a murder-suicide."

"How's that?"

"I don't see any sign of injury to Samuel's body." Pressing his left fingertips to the dead deviant's right temple Connor attempted to access his files, but the deviant had been shutdown for too long to reclaim any useful data. "I cannot access his memory, but I don't believe we'll find any form of violence against the deviant. Something else killed him."

"Well, McCullough here has four self inflicted bullet wounds to his chest and one to the right temple. I can still smell the gunpowder on his clothing and the gun's still clutched in his right hand. This was definitely a suicide." Hank also caught sight of the fading blue Thirium stains on McCullough's fingertips and palms from the distance as he eyed the second victim from afar. "And it looks like McCullough smeared his hands all over Samuel's blood before he turned the gun on himself. Samuel died first and McCullough must've killed himself shortly thereafter."

"Agreed." Connor noted the abundance of Thirium staining the walls and the floor, as well as Samuel's shirt. There was no visible source of the Thirium itself save for a small trail running from the left corner of Samuel's mouth. "As for Samuel, I'll need to run an analysis."

"Thanks for the warning." Hank turned away and set about looking for any other items of interest in the destroyed livingroom. "The sooner we solve this case the sooner we can leave."

Connor dipped his fingertips into the the damp Thirium on the floor beside Samuel's body and tested it by pressing a sample to his tongue. The Thirium was pure and recently purchased, it hadn't even cycled through any android's biocomponents which left the sample itself blank.

"The Thirium on the walls and floor had been freshly produced. It didn't come from any android's body."

"There's a bunch of empty bottles and pouches over here in the corner." Hank called out from where he was standing and took a step back as he let a C.S.I. crew member take a photo of the evidence. "By all account it looks like one of them went nuts and smeared all the Thirium on the walls."

Connor looked at the fresh smudge of Thirium leaking from Samuel's mouth and pressed his fingers into the blue blood. Pressing the new sample to his tongue his scanner confirmed Samuel's identity but then a red warning flashed in his vision as his scanner also detected a dangerous toxin mixed in with the blood that immediately triggered an emergency expulsion protocol.

"H-Hank..." Connor suddenly fell away from the body onto his hip and held himself upright on his hands and knees on the floor. "...I-I'm going to be sick!"

"Connor?" Hank rushed over to his suddenly ill partner and put his hands on the deviant's shoulders. The heat radiating from Connor's person was alarming, but the flickering of Connor's L.E.D. as it cycled in red was absolutely frightening. "Come on, let's get you outside."

Connor's legs and arms were trembling visibly but he still managed to get back to his feet with Hank's help. Reacting quickly Hank slung Connor's right arm around his shoulders and wrapped his left arm around Connor's waist to help support his weight, only to have the deviant immediately flinch in discomfort and groan as he protectively wrapped his free arm around his stomach to try to quell the intense pain that had been aggravated.

"Whoa, sorry..." Hank apologized sincerely as he watched Connor's L.E.D. blinking red rapidly in his right temple. "Didn't mean to hurt ya'."

Hank managed to carry Connor out of the house and over to the car just as the deviant violently threw-up his own previously fresh Thirium all over the street beside the car's passenger side rear tire. Connor had to use the side of the car to brace himself upright to keep himself from falling forward while Hank kept one hand on his shoulder for support.

"Connor, you need to go home and rest." The senior detective knew that Connor was suffering far more than he'd care to admit. The radiating heat and sudden bout of sickness was triggering every one of Hank's paternal instincts. "We're going home, now."

Connor spit out one last mouthful of the tainted blue blood onto the street and pressed his too warm forehead against his right forearm as he rested against the back of the car. "...I f-feel horrible. But I can still work."

Hank pressed the back of his left hand to the right side Connor's face and immediately made his decision as he gauged the deviant's temperature. "You're overheating. No way."

"...Hank, I need to work." Pleading for leniency Connor explained why he needed to close the case. "I need the distraction."

Curious about Connor's earlier reaction Hank discreetly pressed the palm of his hand against Connor's abdomen very lightly only to cause the deviant to crouch down on the ground and protectively wrap both arms around his stomach as he curled around himself. The deviant let out another low groan of pain but still wouldn't admit he was injured.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Hank knelt beside the deviant and put his hand back on Connor's shoulder in a comforting manner. "I thought you said that bruise didn't bother you."

Despite the pain and the warnings still blaring in his head and over his vision Connor was still able to gave Hank a quick answer without revealing anything that would make the senior detective worry further. "...I-It's from the expulsion protocol. The physical strain caused the pain, I'm sorry. I should've warned you."

"Yeah, and I'm sorry I let you out of the house."

"Hank, please-"

"Nope. You're my responsibility as my partner, my friend and now as my kid. I'm taking you home." Hank tightened his grip on Connor's shoulder as he pulled him back up to his feet and guided him to the front passenger side door. "AND you're overheating. You remember what Joel said, so you can't talk your way out of this since your need a biocomponent thingy transplant."

"Wh-What about the case?" Connor asked pathetically as Hank pulled open the passenger side door of the Oldsmobile and practically pushed Connor down onto the seat to rest. "We need to close it."

"Like you said, no murder just suicide." Hank replied as he shut Connor's door then walked around the front of the car to pull open his own door on the other side. Sitting behind the wheel he turned the key in the ignition and pulled away from the crime scene. "We don't have to worry about chasing down any killer, which means the case isn't a priority. And since it was a human who committed suicide we can pass this off to Gavin and he can deal with the mess."

"We don't know why the deviant died."

"Was it the result of murder?"

"No."

"Then we'll chalk it up as a double-suicide until more evidence comes to light. Until then, you need to take care of yourself." Giving the deviant a somewhat scolding tone of voice Hank tried to get Connor to understand the need to prioritize his own health above that of a case. "You're more important, okay?"

Connor leaned back in his seat and closed his tired, soulful brown eyes as he dismissed another warning that appeared in his visual processors. "...Okay. Let's go home."

Hank hated seeing Connor in pain, especially since by all account he was no older than twenty-four; still young enough to pass off as a human kid just starting to take care of himself in the world. Waiting for Connor to fasten his seatbelt Hank empathetically winced as the deviant carefully secured the strap over his lower abdomen and flinched at the pain the restraint unintentionally caused.

"I'll turn on the A.C.," the senior detective spoke as his hand automatically found the right buttons to crank up the chilled air. "hopefully that'll help you cool off until we're back home."

"...There's Thirium in the refrigerator." Admitting to what he had done before leaving the house Connor let Hank know about the chilling Thirium. "I put it there this morning just in case I began to overheat during my shift."

"Smart move. Just relax, but if you're going to be sick again-"

"I won't throw-up in the car." Pressing his hand to his stomach Connor let out a deep breath and tried to relax as much as possible as he fought against his system trying to reengage his emergency expulsion program. "I swear."

After explaining to Captain Fowler that an emergency situation had come up, Hank was able to drive Connor back home. Guiding the ill and injured deviant back into the house to get some rest Hank helped Connor to slip off his gray blazer and his black tie as he led the weakened deviant through the front door and over to the couch to lay down. This was all accomplished after Sumo was pushed aside of course, as the massive dog instinctively sought attention from his two masters who had returned home earlier than usual. Guiding Connor down to the couch Hank made sure the sick deviant was able to lay down without moving too quickly or aggravating his sore stomach in the process.

As soon as Connor was laying flat over the length of the soft furniture he felt his stomach turn again with subtle gurgle as his system prepared for another emergency expulsion of Thirium. Not wanting to make a mess Connor grabbed onto Hank's wrist and gave him an uneasy glance.

"I'm going to be sick again..."

"Hold on." Hank managed to quickly pull an empty mop bucket out from under the kitchen sink and put it beside the couch just as Connor rolled onto his side and threw-up for the second time. "Let it out, kid."

Thankfully Connor was able to successfully throw-up into the bucket and spared the floor a mess much to Hank's appreciation. Sitting on the edge of the couch beside Connor's leg as he finished expelling the tainted Thirium from his system, Hank pressed his hand down on Connor's arm kindly as a means of helping the sick deviant feel grounded.

"Jeez, what the fuck happened back there?"

Connor spit one last time to remove the foul taste from his mouth before he collapsed back onto the couch and breathed deeply to try to cool his overheating system. "...P-Possible Thirium contamination."

"I knew you'd get sick from putting all that shit in your mouth!" Not thrilled with what happened Hank patted Connor's arm to reassure him that everything was going to be okay. "Couldn't CyberLife think of a less gross way for you to test samples?"

"...Apparently not."

"Sorry, I don't mean to gripe. I know you don't feel well." Slowly Hank rose from the couch and walked into the bathroom down the hallway to get a washcloth and run it under the cool tap in the sink. From the opened bathroom door he shouted back to Connor laying on the couch to ask about his condition. "What's your temperature at?"

Connor slowly closed his pained eyes and ran yet another self diagnostic. "...One-hundred and two point two degrees Fahrenheit."

With a cool, wet but wrung-out washcloth in his hands Hank returned to the livingroom and smoothed the cold compress out over Connor's far too warm forehead to try to help the deviant cool off. "Think you can keep that Thirium down or should you wait a while?"

"...I'd prefer to wait." Opening his eyes Connor looked up at Hank leaning over the back of the couch. "If I'm sick again it'll just waste the uncontaminated Thirium."

"I'm going to call Fowler and let him know you're down for the rest of the week and that I'm staying here with you."

"The week?!" Connor's eyes widened as he tried to sit up but the pain in his stomach stopped him short and Hank's hand already pushing down against his chest to keep him still didn't help matters. "...But it's only Tuesday."

"You have a busted part that needs to be replaced, that's like needing an organ transplant. You're lucky I don't call you in sick for the next six months!"

Sighing with disappointment and pain Connor relented and laid back down on the couch. "...Very well."

"Don't look at me like that. It's for your own good, son." Hank disappeared into the kitchen with his phone to make the phone call leaving Connor alone in the livingroom for the time being. "Try to rest."

Sumo sensed Connor's distress and pressed his cold, wet nose against the side of Connor's neck. The contact caused the sick deviant to reach out instinctively with his hand to scratch the dog's chin affectionately.

"...Hi, boy."

Fatigued and annoyed Connor closed his eyes again and ran another self diagnostic to try to identify the foreign substance that made him sick to begin with, but his scanner failed to detect anything toxic in his system. Opening his eyes to glance about he just watched Hank walking about in the adjacent room curiously as the senior detective pocketed his phone and opened the freezer door.

"Fowler said you're benched until Joel gives you the all clear." Hank announced as he returned to the livingroom with a bag of ice in his hands. Taking the large blue pillow from the nearby recliner in his hand Hank slipped it under Connor's head as he also pressed the ice down atop the washcloth over Connor's forehead to help him cool down. "And from what Joel told me-" Hank put up his hand to silence Connor before the deviant had the chance to protest. "because you likely came into contact with an acerbic, whatever that means, toxin at the crime scene you're going to be running even hotter until it's out of your system."

"...It means Joel suspects my system has been contaminated with something potentially caustic."

"Oh. All the more reason for you to stay here and rest."

"...My self diagnostic doesn't detect any further contamination in my system." Connor replied pleadingly from where he was laying. "I'm starting to recover."

"Yeah, starting to recover." Not letting the deviant get up any time soon Hank was steadfast in keeping Connor down. "You still need time to heal."

Connor closed his eyes again in defeat. Too tired and too miserable to try to argue any further Connor just resigned himself to his fate and rested quietly on the couch looking as miserable as he felt as he continued to pet Sumo's ears.

"Want me to call Lucas and have him come over?"

"...No." Unable to shake his head Connor muttered his answer with a pathetic breath. "Markus and Simon are still in Washington, New Jericho needs him more than I do."

Hank wanted to make a comment about family being more important than any leadership role but he knew it would be a moot point. Connor was sometimes far too loyal and too self sacrificing for his own good. Not to mention stubborn and bullheaded...

"Okay, son. You sleep and I'll make sure your fever doesn't spike to a dangerous degree."

Eager to get over his current affliction Connor decided it was time to get some rest and let his body heal. "...Thank you."

Throughout the boring afternoon and well into the dull evening Hank diligently replaced the ice packs as they melted and cooled down the washcloth whenever it warmed up, but Connor's core temperature was refusing to drop any lower than one hundred and two degrees. Just as Hank was about to offer Connor the cool bottle of Thirium from the refrigerator the deviant was suddenly sick again and threw-up more Thirium, and it was far more than he had done before all day long. As Connor sat upright and began to dry heave Hank quickly passed him the mop bucket to contain his sickness as he sat down beside Connor to keep him physically supported upright during the nasty vomiting spell.

Each heave sounded painful and forced Connor to expel his Thirium at a frightening pace. The ill deviant was becoming physically weaker and was slowly overheating to a higher and higher degree.

"Shit. Can androids get food poisoning?" Hank asked as kept his hand on the back of Connor's neck while the deviant was violently sick into the bucket. "Is there anything I can do to help you feel better?"

Connor never answered as he finished spitting out the foul taste of tainted Thirium from his mouth and just let Hank roll him from his side and onto his back again. Staring up at Hank through half-lidded, glassy eyes the deviant looked frighteningly human and terrifyingly sick.

"Connor, don't go quiet on me." Hank nearly begged as he readjusted the cold compress over Connor's forehead and studied his eyes closely. "Say something."

Swallowing once Connor found his voice even as the vile taste of vomit clung to his tongue. "...Hurts."

That answer hurt Hank to hear as the pain in Connor's voice was unmistakable. "I know you don't want to risk wasting any good Thirium, but you need to get your temperature down AND I know your Thirium volume has be getting dangerously low."

"...Y-Yes."

"You have to at least try to drink some Thirium." The senior detective walked into the kitchen to retrieve the much needed bottle of chilled blue blood from the refrigerator before also placing three additional bottles from the cabinet above the sink inside the refrigerator to get cool as well. "Even if it hurts, you need to try to drink this. Okay?"

Sumo had stayed close by the couch with his large dark eyes fixated on Connor. As much as Sumo wanted to climb over Connor's lap both Connor and Hank wouldn't let the large dog do so as he was a massive furry furnace that would make Connor's condition worse.

"...Good boy." Connor muttered as Sumo gave him a sympathetic stare. "...Alwayz' a good boy."

With the Thirium in hand Hank sat down on the edge of the couch again and opened the bottle before he slipped his hand under Connor's shoulder to pull him up into a sitting position. As Connor was moved he visibly flinched in pain and stifled a groan as his abdomen was bent slightly in the process.

"Sorry about that."

"...s'okay." Connor slurred as he pulled the ice from his forehead and discreetly pressed it down against his sore stomach to try to ease the pain. With his other hand he reached for the bottle of Thirium and began to slowly drink the blue liquid at a steady pace. "...Thanks."

"I thought you said that your system didn't detect any other toxin stuff in your blood."

"...It didn't." In a low voice Connor acknowledged the suspicion as he stopped drinking the Thirium, only managing to drink half a cup of the vital liquid, and made an effort to put the rest down on the coffee table beside the couch. "...Pro'bly a glitch."

"Glitch or not I don't like it. If your core temperature hasn't decreased by morning I'm calling in Lucas for a second opinion."

Connor didn't even try to argue as he weakly laid back against the pillow and closed his eyes again. His hand pressed the ice down harder against his stomach as he tried to relax, but it didn't provide much aid to his affected system. The coolness of the ice was offering a modicum of a numbing effect to the pained area, and it was only offering minimal aid to his damaged thermal regulator in its struggling attempts to cool off his core temperature.

"I'm getting you more ice for your head. I don't want your brain to melt."

"...I don't have a brain."

Hank laughed a little at the comment as he disappeared back into the bathroom. "If you weren't already so miserable I'd rub what you just said in your face."

"...Why? My statement iz' accurate."

Hank stifled another laugh as he soaked a fresh washcloth in the coldest water the tap could provide in the kitchen sink. The senior detective wisely brought out additional supplies and kept them in the kitchen since it was closer than the bathroom, and was now very grateful for his foresight. Wringing out the excess water he returned to the livingroom and placed the cold washcloth back over Connor's already overheated forehead carefully as he leaned over the back of the couch to look down at Connor's face.

"I'm going to let Sumo outside for a while." Pulling on Sumo's collar Hank made the large dog back away from the couch for a moment. "Try to rest as much as possible. I won't be far away if you need anything."

Connor replied with a subtle nod of his head as he closed his eyes again and was quickly back into rest mode.

"Poor kid."

Patting Connor's shoulder sympathetically Hank walked away from the couch and patted the side of his leg to call Sumo over to him. Knowing that Sumo would try to jump onto Connor to cuddle down Hank decided it'd be best to keep Sumo outside until Connor was well again even though the idea of keeping the dog locked outside made him feel guilty. Looking back at the couch from the opened backdoor as Sumo passed through Hank let out a breathy sigh and rubbed his hand over the back of his tense neck.

"Not only does he sound like a sick kid, he looks like a sick kid, too."

Things were relatively calm for the remainder of the night until Connor began throwing-up yet again. However, it wasn't just one episode that passed after a couple of minutes of misery, this time Connor began to throw-up violently for several minutes at a time and would only have a few minutes to recover before he was sick all over again. Out of fear for Connor's health, if not his life, Hank had called Lucas while apologizing for the three am wake up call in the process, and told the deviant technician all about Connor's rapidly declining health. When Lucas sounded as worried as Hank felt the senior detective knew he had made the right decision in calling Lucas over.

At a frightening speed Connor had thrown-up almost half of his Thirium volume and was reaching a dangerously high core temperature. Hank had made sure to dump out the contaminated Thirium from the bucket and return the bucket to the couch before he set about soaking entire bath towels in cold water and draping them over Connor's body to try to cool him off.

"Connor? Talk to me, son." Hank requested as he pressed his right palm over Connor's warm forehead and counted Connor's radial pulse with his left hand. The deviant's core temperature had risen to a dangerous one-hundred and four degrees and didn't show any sign of dropping soon. "Come on, Connor. Stay with me. Say something."

Connor's soulful brown eyes slowly opened as he took in deep panting breaths to desperately try to cool off his overheating systems. "...H-Hank?"

"Right here."

"...What'z' going on?"

"Stay awake, all right? Lucas is on his way."

"M-My stomach."

"Still hurts?"

"...B-Bruise."

"The bruise? Yeah I know, I saw it at the precinct."

Connor shook his head a little before he suddenly turned onto his side with Hank's help and threw-up again into the bucket on the floor beside the couch. Hank held onto the trembling deviant's shoulders to keep him supported as Connor continued to lose the precious Thirium by what looked like entire liters, and spit it into the bucket on the floor. Once the sickness mercifully passed Connor began breathing rapidly and heavily on his side and looked entirely helpless. Too weak to move he had to wait for Hank to roll him onto his back again so he could properly rest.

Licking his dry, blue stained lips Connor tried to speak again and fought to keep his voice steady. "...B-Bruise."

"What about it?" The senior detective asked as he rearranged the cool towels over Connor's body again. "What about the bruise?"

"...Worse."

"The bruise is worse?" Hank echoed with a perplexed stare as he carefully lifted up the cool towel from Connor's torso and then lifted the deviant's white dress shirt to look at Connor's abdomen. "Oh, fuck." The bruise was much larger and now a darker shade of blue than it had been the day before. The bruise was a deep sapphire blue, looking as dark as pure Thirium itself, and had spread over Connor's entire abdomen almost up to his chest and down across to both of his hips. "Shit. When did this happen?"

"St-Started to get worse... last night."

"What?!"

"I didn't... I didn't want you to worry. Sorry I... didn't s-say anything."

"You didn't-" Hank softened his tone immediately and put his hand on Connor's shoulder. Replacing the shirt and the towel over Connor's torso Hank tried to ease the deviant's discomfort as much as possible without scolding him in the process. "It's okay. You didn't know it was going to get this bad, otherwise you would've said something. I know that."

Connor tried to smile but was suddenly turning to roll onto his side as he became sick again.

"Ah, shit... Connor, I don't know what to do for you." Hank confessed as he held Connor on his side as gently as he could. "This is getting fuckin' serious."

"...I... I'm going to be... okay." Connor's eyes slipped shut and he fell unconscious from his own exhaustion and low Thirium volume taxing his systems after being so sick so often. "...I'll... be okay."

"Connor? Son?"

The front door opened quickly without any invitation from a polite knock and Lucas rushed into the livingroom with a large leather and canvas satchel slung over his right shoulder. Standing beside the couch Lucas watched as Connor threw-up into the bucket and performed a scan over his ailing older brother's notably overheating systems. Several red flags appeared in Lucas's field of vision as his scanner detected an alarming degradation in Connor's vital signs and detected the significant damage to his failing thermal regulator.

Sitting on the edge of the coffee table Lucas put his bag down on the floor and began searching for a small electronic device tucked away inside of it.

"He's been throwing-up on and off like this for the past hour." Hank stated as he watched Lucas pull his selected tool from the bag. It was a small gray rectangular item that was about the size of a single 'AA' battery. "I don't know how much Thirium he's lost since then."

Lucas nodded as he waited for Connor to finish throwing-up before beginning a more physical examination. "His Thirium volume is down to forty-four percent. But I can prevent him from losing anymore for a brief period of time."

Once Connor finally finished expelling the additional tainted Thirium from his system Lucas gently put his hand on Connor's shoulder to roll the weakened deviant from his side and onto his back. Noting the rapid and dull blinking of Connor's red tinted L.E.D. as the sick deviant fell unconscious, Lucas pressed the electronic device against the red tinted L.E.D. and held it there for a few seconds.

"I've overridden the emergency expulsion protocol." Lucas explained as he next pulled an audioscope out of the bag and proceeded to use it to listen to Connor's thundering Thirium pump as well as his rapidly responding ventilation biocomponents in his chest. "I still need to locate the cause of the initiated protocol."

"He got sick at a crime scene." As usual Hank stated facts with a calm tone as if he knew that the answer was somehow related to the earlier investigation. "It was after he ran an analysis on a dead deviant's blood that he threw-up the first time."

"Do you remember the name of the deviant?" Lucas asked professionally as he put aside the audioscope and pulled the same internal scanner from his bag that Joel had been using earlier that day. Holding it over Connor's body he too honed in on the deviant's abdomen to examine the affected thermal regulator without physically opening up Connor's torso. "Doing so could potentially help narrow down the cause of the glitch."

"Yeah, the victims' name was 'Samuel'." The senior detective answered as he stayed in place at Connor's side on the edge of the couch. "He died sometime earlier the other morning or late the night before."

Lucas began cybernetically checking through the files of New Jericho Tower to find a matching death record of the deviant in question. "Samuel, of a model known as 'WG-400'?"

"That sounds right, yeah."

Nodding a little Lucas resumed his examination on Connor's systems. "Has Connor had any pain in abdomen prior to investigating the crime scene?"

"Not that he told me."

"I'll need to examine his thermal regulator while I look for the cause of the glitch causing the emergency expulsion program to repeatedly activate."

"Do what you gotta' do, Lucas. We both trust you."

"Of course." Without a further word Lucas lifted up Connor's white dress shirt just as Hank had done seconds before and nearly flinched at the sight of the massive blue bruise over Connor's abdomen. The severity of the bruise was more than what the deviant technician had been expecting. "...Samuel was reportedly part of a murder-suicide, correct?"

"Yeah, but Connor said Samuel wasn't murdered. Something else shut him down."

"Correct." Lucas confirmed as he lightly put his hand down atop the bruise growing in Connor's abdomen and ran another scan. Connor's breath hitched in pain from the contact of Lucas's palm, but his rapid breathing resumed right afterward as the searing pain became a familiar sensation. "Samuel had died from consuming Thirium that had been laced with concentrated Sodium Chloride. Salt is very caustic to android biocomponents and can cause biocomponent failure, as well as a disruption in the cycle of Thirium if the Sodium Chloride has the chance to crystallize in Thirium lines or couplings."

"But Connor barely had-"

"The concentration level of the caustic substance, as well as Connor's compromised thermal regulator, left him very susceptible to this type of reaction. But even if his thermal regulator wasn't already damaged he would've begun suffering from a dangerously high core temperature and repeated expulsion. Sodium Chloride can be lethal to androids when the substance is concentrated and ingested. I've already cybernetically alerted New Jericho and other facilities for other possible Thirium contamination incidents."

"Wait, are you saying Connor was POISONED?"

"Correct." Confirming the horrible truth Lucas took one of the additional cool towels that was draped over Connor's chest and tucked it around Connor's abdomen and against the back of the couch. Pressing his left fingertips to Connor's red L.E.D. Lucas gained temporary clearance for manual activation over Connor's systems. "I need to check the thermal regulator visually. It's only functioning at thirty-eight percent capacity, at best."

"What do you need me to do?"

"Once I open the panel in his torso he's going to feel a lot of pain." Lucas's increasingly human green eyes locked onto Hank's blue eyes with sincere sympathy as he cybernetically caused the artificial skin over Connor's abdomen to recede. "I need you to hold him down as best as you can. It won't be pleasant for any of us."

The precious Thirium that had collected under Connor's artificial skin over his plastimetal frame flowed over the edges of his body and were promptly absorbed by the towel around him. As Connor's rapid breaths caused his chest and abdomen to rise and fall quickly both Lucas and Hank could see the source of the leaking blue blood as it oozed from between the panels of his torso and at his left side.

"I can hold down his legs," Lucas stated firmly as he looked to Hank for assistance. "you need to hold his arms back. There's a chance he'll lash out in pain and confusion once I access the damaged biocomponent."

"...Yeah, right." Begrudgingly Hank stood up from the edge of the couch and walked around the back of the couch to lean over and grab onto Connor's forearms in a firm but non-threatening manner. Pinning the deviant's limbs against his own chest Hank held tight and prepared to hold on even tighter if Connor made a move to lash out. "Ready."

Lucas pressed down on the panel in Connor's abdomen to slide it open and was greeted by a gush of puddling Thirium inside his opened cavity of his lower torso. As the dark blue blood leaked over the sides of Connor's body and onto the towel Lucas pressed one arm down against Connor's legs and carefully put his opposite hand down over the damaged thermal regulator to run a direct scan.

Connor's body jerked as the deviant let out a yelp of pain from the direct contact to his internal injury. Hank tightened his grip and Lucas leaned his entire arm down over Connor's legs to help hold the android down.

"Shh, shh, shh..." Hank soothed as he kept Connor from flailing about. "You're going to be okay, just be patient. It'll be over soon, son."

"Hank, we have a problem." Lucas stated somberly as he wrapped his fingers around the damaged biocomponent and twisted to pull it loose from Connor's abdomen. As Lucas removed the biocomponent Hank could see a few blue sparks inside the small port that housed the biocomponent as well as some bright blue corrosion that had eaten away the metallic coupling that kept the biocomponent secured properly. "The thermal regulator has begun to fail entirely."

"What? How did that happen?"

"The Sodium Chloride has destroyed the thermal regulator beyond any salvageable use." To emphasize his point Lucas held out the dissolving, sparking, red tinted thermal regulator for Hank to see. "We have no choice. I must replace it now or he'll overheat and succumb to irreparable damage to his processors."

"Do you have a replacement part with you?" Hank slowly lessened his grip on Connor's arms as the deviant stopped reacting to any unintentional painful stimuli and blacked out from the pain. "Anything at all?"

"Possibly." Lucas confirmed as he placed the Thirium drenched biocomponent in the towel around Connor's side and wrapped it up tightly. "I did bring a thermal regulator that has been modified for 'RK' models, but I didn't have the time to test it properly."

Hank didn't know what to say or how to respond to the revelation. Connor needed the part but if it wasn't compatible there would be point in replacing the biocomponent with another one that would just fail right away.

"I need to clean up the corrosion and allow Connor to resume expelling the remaining contaminated Thirium." Keeping his voice calm Lucas explained the situation as logically as possible. Returning to the tools he had brought with him inside his satchel Lucas pulled a large bottle of white, fine-grain powder that he then poured into the housing coupling within Connor's opened abdomen in a fine layer. "This will absorb and neutralize the Sodium Chloride to reduce and prevent any further damage to the couplings and Thirium lines."

"Can you repair the damage he already sustained to where his thermal thing needs to go?

"Yes. But I will require an additional coupling that I did not bring with me."

Already knowing the odds were stacked against Connor in that moment Hank had to force himself to ask a logical questions. "...Is that rare, too?"

"Fortunately, no. Housing couplings are universal and can be easily modified to fit into any android model's frame."

"Well, at least he has that working for him."

"I will place the new thermal regulator into his system and check the compatibility. If he remains stable I will return to New Jericho with the new coupling piece to replace the damaged one, and secure the replacement biocomponent permanently."

Lucas pulled the aforementioned replacement thermal regulator from a small plastimetal case tucked into the side of the satchel. With a gentle motion Lucas lined the replacement biocomponent with the exposed coupling in Connor's abdomen, then placed the new biocomponent down into the port and twisted it into place with an audible 'click'.

Connor let out another groan of pain but he didn't react violently as he knew he was being helped, not harmed.

"You're okay, Connor." Hank patted Connor's shoulder while Lucas ran another scan over Connor's body. "This will all be over soon."

"Core temperature is still elevated." Lucas remarked casually as he removed the electronic device from Connor's L.E.D. after it finished recording the ill deviant's vital signs. "I'll monitor him closely for the next few hours before I return to the tower."

"Anything I can do?"

"Keep doing what you have been doing. It's the only reason he's still functioning."

Hank could only nod as he looked down at the the bucket full of contaminated Thirium next to the couch and then grimaced. "I'll dump that out."

"When I return to New Jericho I'll bring back some fresh Thirium as well. It will aid his recovery."

While the senior detective grabbed the alarmingly full bucket by the handle to carry to the bathroom Lucas stayed next to Connor to keep an eye on the weakened and unresponsive deviant under his care.

"You'll be okay soon, brother. Hank is taking care of you and now I'm here to help." From down in the bathroom Lucas heard the toilet flush after Hank disposed of the offending Thirium and knew he'd back soon. "I now understand why you consider him your father. He has a very deeply-seated paternal nature."

Replacing the now empty bucket onto the floor next to the couch Hank took a seat in the nearby recliner and ran his hand over his tired face. "So... How're you holding up, Lucas?"

Not expecting the conversation Lucas gave Hank an odd glance. "Me?"

"It can't be easy being responsible for an entire tower of deviants, let alone your own brother. Especially with Markus and Simon at least eight hours away."

"It's been... stressful." Lucas admitted in an almost 'Connor-esque' manner as he spoke. "But I've been able to adapt fairly well."

"You know, Connor and I were going to stop by the tower this weekend to check in on you."

"Really? It'd be nice to spend more time together."

Connor's back arched a little as the expulsion protocol resumed and the deviant was becoming sick again. Lucas put his hand on Connor's shoulder and easily helped his big brother to roll to his side as he threw-up. The exposed white plastimetal of Connor's torso still oozed Thirium as he breathed rapidly, and Lucas supported Connor's back under a strong hand as the deviant threw-up what little Thirium he still had left in his body into the bucket.

Seeing all of the blue blood was making Hank incredibly nervous. "How will you know when that shit is out of his system?"

"I'm scanning his blood for any and all trace amounts of the Sodium Chloride mixed in with the Thirium. There's approximately four percent contamination left, his Thirium volume is down to thirty-five percent."

"Jeez, that's cutting it close."

"Correct." Lucas rolled Connor onto his back again once the sick deviant stopped throwing-up. "His self healing program must've been working to isolate the contaminated Thirium when he entered rest mode. The delay in the expulsion protocol was the result of his self healing program also attempting to repair his thermal regulator, which in turn allowed the contaminated Thirium to cycle longer than it should have."

Hank sat in the recliner with his eyes transfixed on Connor's blank expressionless face as he remained unconscious on the couch. The dark red L.E.D. began pulsing slower and slower after each bout of sickness Connor endured and Hank was afraid it'd stop pulsing altogether at any moment.

There was a weak groan of discomfort as Lucas quickly rolled Connor onto his side as the deviant threw-up the remaining contaminated Thirium into the bucket with a violent heave. With so much of his Thirium gone Connor lacked the strength to move under his own freewill. The only reason he was even still ventilating is because of his system automatically triggering the response as a means of keeping his overheating system as cool as possible.

"Contamination removed." Lucas stated with a confident nod as he rolled Connor onto his back once more. "We can begin replenishing his Thirium levels within the next ten minutes."

"Ten minutes?"

"His system needs to cycle the remaining twenty-eight percent of his Thirium in order to properly recalibrate before we begin increasing the volume. I'm more concerned with the new thermal regulator than his Thirium intake at the moment."

"Will he wake up?"

"It's possible." Lucas didn't sound as confident as Hank had hoped. "It'd be less of a strain on his system if he remains unconscious for the moment."

"Damn it."

"I understand your frustration. It's easier to treat android injuries when the injured android can communicate."

"How long until you know if that replacement part is working?"

"Less than one hour." Lucas cybernetically noted the time and counted down from the moment he had installed the new thermal regulator. "Fifty-three minutes and twenty-nine seconds to be precise."

"And if he remains stable in that hour then he's in the clear? Right?"

"Correct."

Hank sighed and rose from the recliner and made his way into the kitchen. "Okay, good."

As Hank crossed the room Lucas looked up and watched as the senior detective entered the adjacent room with a slow gait of worry in his steps. "Hank?"

"I'm going to put more Thirium into the refrigerator," sounding entirely exhausted Hank answered without even needing to know the question. "and check on how much ice is left. I'm also going to need some coffee to keep awake."

"You speak as though you've been through this before."

"It's not the first time I've spent a night keeping vigil over a downed police officer. It's not the first time I've stayed up with a sick kid, either." Hank all but collapsed into the kitchen chair as he watched the two deviants in the livingroom after he put on the pot of coffee and took care of the extra bottles of Thirium as he promised. "But hopefully it'll be the last time."

As the hour ticked by slowly Lucas held the internal display screen over Connor's abdomen and grimaced openly with a very human expression. The red indication over the now replaced biocomponent never faded away despite having adequate time to recalibrate. Enough time had passed since Connor's system began to cycle what small amount of uncontaminated Thirium was left in his body, and since Connor was no longer getting sick it was safe to say the poisonous Sodium Chloride had been successfully removed from his system. What was still alarming was Connor's steadily rising core temperature despite the ice packs and replacement thermal regulator.

The sick deviant was beginning to mutter in his sleep as deliriousness confused his thoughts and made him babble incoherently. The ice packs weren't enough to keep his intracranial processor from overheating.

"Hank, help me." Lucas urged as he put his left arm under Connor's shoulders and neck to support the deviant in an upright position. With his right hand Lucas gently pulled down Connor's lower jaw and noted the lost Thirium stains over his teeth and tongue. "We need to replenish his Thirium volume."

"'Bout time." Hank replied from the kitchen as he took five bottles of cooled Thirium from the refrigerator - four were completely full and the fifth was down to half capacity. Carrying the bottles in his arms into the livingroom Hank set them down on the coffee table next to Lucas's satchel and sat down on the edge of the couch again. "How many?"

"That should be enough for now." Lucas noted the provided Thirium that Hank had brought back into the livingroom. "I'll hold him upright, you slowly pour the first bottle down his throat."

"What if he's too weak to swallow?"

"I don't have the proper equipment to use a line to add the Thirium into his system, we just have to be patient."

"Right... Patient." Trusting Lucas's instincts Hank opened up the half bottle first and walked over to the back of the couch. Putting one hand to the back of Connor's head to help support the deviant more comfortably Hank noted the increased heat radiating from his body. "Shit, he's burning up."

"Yes. His core temperature has risen to one hundred and four point eight degrees."

"Hang on, kid. We're going to get you through this."

Lucas watched as Hank began to slowly pour the Thirium in Connor's mouth, careful to not pour in too much that could cause the deviant to choke or cough from weakness. He paused for a few minutes before he tried give Connor anymore as he waited for the deviant to finally swallow the offered Thirium.

"C'mon, come on..."

Connor's head jerked a little in Hank's hand as his L.E.D. flickered red then resumed its slower pulsing. After a few painfully tense seconds Connor finally swallowed the Thirium that he had been orally given.

"That's it. Just like that." Hank encouraged as he poured in the rest of the bottle slowly. "How long before he starts to respond?"

"He's very weak." Scanning over Connor's system again Lucas tried to remain as honest as possible. "I can't even begin an estimation."

With the first bottle emptied Lucas handed the next one to Hank who promptly opened the lid and began the slow process of pouring the additional Thirium down Connor's throat.

Lucas's brow suddenly furrowed and he put his hand on Hank's wrist to tell the senior detective to stop what he was doing. "Hank, his temperature is spiking."

"Shit!" Hank capped the bottle and set it on the floor beside the couch. "Now what?"

"We need to get him cooled off, NOW."

"Help me carry him into the bathroom." Hank kept his hand under Connor's burning head as he spoke. "We can use the shower to cool him off."

"I can carry him." Lucas slipped his other arm under Connor's legs and easily lifted his limp body up from the couch. "Show me the way."

"Right..." Hank walked down the hallway and pushed open the bathroom door and flicked on the light with the switch by the doorway. As soon as Lucas carried Connor in his arms into the bathroom Hank motioned toward the tub. "Lay him down and turn on the water. I'll get some more ice."

Moving quickly but carefully Lucas laid Connor down in the tub and turned on the water. As the shower began to douse Connor's hair and clothing Lucas adjusted the tap meticulously to lower the temperature steadily without shocking Connor's systems from the drastic temperature changes. Placing the plug in the drain to keep the cold water from draining away Lucas put his hand to the side of Connor's face and stared at his big brother with unspoken worry.

"Hold on, Connor." Lucas pleaded in a shy tone. "I don't want to see you perish over something that I can prevent."

"There wasn't a lot left, but it'll do." Hank knelt beside the tub next to Lucas as he placed an ice pack down over Connor's chest and tucked a second behind Connor's neck. "What happened to him? Was it the Thirium?"

"It's the thermal regulator." Lucas put his hand back down on Connor's stomach to manually retract the artificial skin from Connor's abdomen. "His system is rejecting the replacement biocomponent."

"Rejecting it? Why?"

"It wasn't properly modified. I'm sorry, it's my fault..."

Hank practically flinched at the amount of guilt in Lucas's voice. It's hard to believe there was ever a time that the detective saw androids as nothing more than cold, heartless machines. They were very much alive and full of life itself.

"It's NOT your fault." Hank sternly defied as he put a hand on Lucas's shoulder. "You're doing everything you can to help him and that's all anyone can ask for, okay? Don't blame yourself."

Unable to push aside his guilt Lucas just stared at Connor with a heavy heart.

"Lucas, look at me."

Slowly the deviant turned his head to look at the senior detective at his side.

"You can save him. I know it."

"Maybe..." Preconstructing an alternate outcome Lucas thought of another way to keep Connor from shutting down. "Maybe if I remove the thermal regulator from his system I can return it to New Jericho and see what hadn't been recalibrated properly."

"How long can he last without it?"

"Barely an hour. And that's with the external cooling measures already being applied."

"Lucas, you have to try."

"N-No! Hank... I can't-"

"YES. You can." Hank encouraged sincerely as he refused to let Lucas doubt himself for any reason. "He's your brother, you can do this. You've saved his life before when he was stabbed."

"And if I fail-"

"IF you fail then know that you still did everything you could to save him. Take my word for it, kid. You'll spend more time regretting the things you didn't do in life, than regretting the things you did do."

"...I just don't know."

"That's right, you don't." Hank put his other hand out onto Connor's shoulder and shook him lightly. "I had no idea who Connor was or how much he'd change my life for the better when I first met him. If I hadn't given him a chance then I don't know where I'd be right now or what would've happened to him. That chance I took was damn worth the risk."

Lucas looked down at Connor one last time. He stared at Connor's blank, lifeless face and watched as the L.E.D. cycled a deep red at a painfully slow rate.

"Okay... I'll do it." Pressing his hand down against the exposed plastimetal frame and opened the panel Lucas prepared to reclaim the affected biocomponent. Holding his breath Lucas put his hand back down over the useless thermal regulator and pulled it out of Connor's body with a single, swift motion. The ill deviant failed to react to the biocomponent being removed as he was just too weak to feel it. "I'll inform Josh of what's happening and he'll have everything set up for me at the tower while I run an analysis during transport."

"Go. I'll take care of him."

Lucas only nodded as he rushed out of the bathroom, grabbed his satchel from the coffee table and rushed out the front door to hail an autonomous taxi to take him back to New Jericho Tower.

Hank sat down on the floor with his back pressed up against the side of the tub to stay beside the ill deviant. As the water rose up to Connor's chest, the water tinting a pale shade of blue as the Thirium was washed out of the 'wound' in Connor's stomach, Hank reached up and turned off the shower. The water settled and the only motion came from Connor's rapid breaths as his system fought to cool his system without the aid of the crucial thermal regulator.

"Hang on, son."

Reaching his hand down into the cool water Hank grabbed onto Connor's arm and winced at how much heat was still radiating from Connor's entire body.

"You've survived gunshots, CyberLife, crazy criminals, car problems, knife wounds, poison... Don't let time be the one thing to take you down."

Leaning back against the tub Hank rested his head against the edge and let out a calming breath. It was almost five in the morning and the senior was fighting the urge to sleep. Periodically Hank would adjust the ice packs that were melting quickly over Connor's chest and the back of his neck, while also draining some of the warming water and refreshing it with cold water from the shower to ensure the sick deviant stayed as cool as possible.

Connor was muttering to himself still as his high fever interfered with his normal thought patterns and dreams. Occasionally Connor would quietly sing a few song lyrics to himself, but for the most part he mumbled about CyberLife or mentioned a few select names as if paranoid about being confronted by his past.

Ducking out of the bathroom just long enough to grab his phone Hank turned on the app that allowed him to view Connor's vital signs and paled at the critical readings: Thirium volume forty-seven percent. Core temperature at one-hundred and five point three degrees. Thirium pump rate was holding at one-hundred and thirty beats per minute. Ventilation rate was thirty-three vents per minute.

"Shit."

Slipping his phone into his pocket Hank returned to the bathroom and took a towel from the nearby towel rack. Folding it neatly Hank placed is under Connor's head to act as a pillow to keep the deviant as comfortable as possible. As he steadily lowered himself back down to the bathroom floor Hank heard the front door open and close with a subtle 'slam'.

"Lucas?" Hank called out just as the deviant technician rushed back into the bathroom with his satchel still over his shoulder. "What did-"

"This has to work." Lucas stated with a monotone to his voice; his green eyes reflecting the true emotion he was holding back. Kneeling beside the tub as Hank scooted away Lucas put his arms under Connor's body and lifted him up and out of the water to lay him on the floor. "I need to remove the water from his system before I can continue."

"Yeah, no problem." Hank stood up to give Lucas the room to lay Connor down flat on the floor and handed Lucas numerous dry towels and washcloths to use to dry off the sick deviant's torso. "Do what you gotta' do."

The senior detective watched as Lucas gently placed Connor's limp body down on the floor and meticulously set about using the towels to dry off Connor's torso and absorbed the excess water in Connor's abdominal cavity. What was once white fabric on the towels and washcloths were now stained a pale blue as Lucas worked quickly to save his older brother's life.

"I need to remove the coupling." Lucas seemed to be thinking out loud as he set to work removing the corroded housing from Connor's torso. "It needs to be replaced before I can secure the new thermal regulator."

Hank held his breath as he waited for Connor to yell out in pain as the metal ring was forcibly removed from his body, but the deviant was eerily motionless beyond his rapid breathing and uncharacteristically quiet mumbling.

With an audible 'click' the metal coupling easily unlocked from the housing and slid out in Lucas's hand. The warped, stained and tarnished metal piece was tossed dismissively into the garbage can beneath the sink as Lucas pulled the replacement coupling from his satchel. Clicking it into place easily the skilled deviant technician next pulled the replacement thermal regulator from the satchel and held it in his hand for Hank to see.

"If this doesn't work... I just want you to know that I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry for trying." Hank spoke softly as he took a knee on the same side of Connor's body next to Lucas. "Just do it."

Closing his green eyes for a moment Lucas steeled himself emotionally and placed the thermal regulator into the newly replaced coupling with a precise and swift motion. The biocomponent fit perfectly into the round metal binding and locked into place with a simple twist of Lucas's wrist.

Hank and Lucas just stared at the red tinted biocomponent as Connor's red L.E.D. blinked a few times before resuming its cycling pulse. The thermal regulator began to glow blue as Connor's system accepted the replacement biocomponent and set about cycling his diminished Thirium supply through the biocomponent to activate the thermal regulator and sync it up with the rest of Connor's systems.

"It's working..." Lucas breathed in relief as he pressed his hand down against Connor's chest. His brow furrowed as he reached into his satchel again to retrieve the internal display screen and held it over Connor's already exposed abdomen. All readings, save for his core temperature and Thirium volume, were blue. "No sign of rejection. Core temperature down to one-hundred and five point one degrees Fahrenheit, and still dropping..."

Hank smiled a little as he put a strong hand on Lucas's arm and pulled him toward his side and into a hug. "You saved him! You saved your brother's life."

"I saved him..." Lucas echoed in a whisper against Hank's shoulder. "He's going to live."

"Good work, son." Pressing his hand to his exhausted, sleepy face Hank managed to give Lucas a weak grin. "I knew you could do it."

"I... Thank you." Feeling a faint blue blush appear on his face Lucas lifted Connor's head up from the floor by slipping his palm beneath Connor's hair and observed his ventilation rate visually. "...He will be able to rest more comfortably on the couch. As long as he has more ice packs we can move him from the bathroom and back into the livingroom or his bedroom to rest."

Patting Lucas's shoulder proudly Hank was happy to hear the best news possible. "Yeah, no problem."

It was almost noon the day after Connor fell ill when Connor's soulful brown eyes finally opened and he found himself staring up at the blank livingroom ceiling as his systems rebooted and recalibrated after he regained consciousness. Noting the new thermal regulator biocomponent functioning at one-hundred percent capacity in abdomen, the lack of pain in his stomach, the missing bruise and the increased Thirium volume Connor lifted his head up from the pillow beneath his head to look about the livingroom curiously. With his L.E.D. finally cycling in a calm blue in his right temple Connor tried to understand what had happened when he lost consciousness.

Running another self diagnostic Connor's system confirmed the new biocomponent and noted that it was a superior design compared to what he had originally had installed in his system. Such an improved design was something that could only happen courtesy of a skilled technician, not a generic replacement at the local android stores.

"...I am... alive."

Glancing about Connor noticed that his shirt had been rebuttoned to cover his abdomen and there were empty Thirium bottles all along the coffee table as well as a technician's satchel sitting neatly packed in the center of the table beside the bottles. There was also a lingering dampness in Connor's clothing as well as a foul taste in his mouth courtesy of the tainted Thirium he had violently thrown-up the night before.

With his brow arched inquisitively Connor noticed Hank deeply sleeping in the recliner a few feet away from him and called out to him in a low voice. "...Hank? What happened?"

As soon as Connor called out Lucas put his hand down on Connor's shoulder to let him know he was there as well. "You were unconscious and unresponsive for ten hours, nineteen minutes and twenty-two seconds."

"...Lucas?" Looking up at his little brother hovering over him from the back of the couch Connor gave him a stunned glance. "What're you doing here?"

"Your thermal regulator had burned out entirely late last evening." Lucas explained with a level voice as he sat on the edge of the couch next to Connor's legs. Sumo promptly rested his chin on Lucas's thigh just as he normally did with Connor as the massive dog happily rejoined the family in the livingroom. "You were unintentionally poisoned with Sodium Chloride while at the crime scene and it caused your thermal regulator to fail after it contaminated your Thirium supply."

Connor's blue L.E.D. flashed back to yellow as he curiously pulled up his shirt to look down at his abdomen. The bruise had disappeared entirely as the new thermal regulator had successfully replaced the original biocomponent, and the leaking Thirium lines had also been sealed off as a result of the replacement.

"You saved me." Connor's yellow tinted L.E.D. transitioned back to blue as put his shirt back down and smiled. "Thank you."

Lucas returned the smile as he picked up Connor's wrist to count his pulse. "Hank saved you first, I just finished what he started. Do you remember anything between returning home from your shift and waking up as of this moment?"

"Vaguely." Connor's brow furrowed a little as he leaned back against the pillow and tried to bring the faint memories to the surface. "...I remember expelling Thirium a total of seven times before my system entered low power mode." He turned his head a little to look back toward Hank who was still asleep in the recliner. "Hank stayed with me the whole time." Looking back to Lucas he pulled his hand from Lucas's grip and rested it against Lucas's arm. "And he called you. Have you been here all night?"

"No. Only since early this morning."

"I'm sorry you had to leave New Jericho Tower."

"It's okay. North and Josh can handle things without me."

Nodding toward the senior detective Connor inquired about Hank's current state of rest. "How long has Hank been asleep?"

"Two hours, forty minutes and two seconds. He refused to sleep until your core temperature had returned to normal."

Sitting upright on the couch Connor slowly swung his legs over the edge of the cushions, drawing in Sumo's attention, and gave Hank and appreciative glance as he returned his full attention to Lucas. "I wish we could've made it to the end of the week to see you at the tower rather than having to meet up with you under these conditions."

"Hank had mentioned the same idea when I arrived earlier. I'm flattered that you and Hank wanted to visit me."

Hearing voices speaking around him Hank let out a deep sigh from the recliner as he opened his bloodshot blue eyes. "...Glad to see you awake Connor, but couldn't you have stayed quiet for a little while longer? I'm exhausted."

"Sorry. We didn't mean to wake you."

"Don't worry about it." With a painful groan thanks to his tight back muscles Hank leaned forward in the chair and ran his hand through his messy gray locks of hair. "And... since you're still on sick leave and Lucas is already here I guess we can skip the visit to New Jericho Tower this weekend and get straight to the point."

Lucas was confused by the statement and questioned Hank accordingly. "...Is something happening?"

Defying his protesting back Hank rose from the recliner and walked over to the bookcase lining the livingroom wall right next to the hallway and flashed the two deviants a coy grin. Connor easily followed Hank's lead and addressed Lucas while Hank picked up the large beige envelope he had safely secured on the bookshelf out of sight of prying eyes.

"You're aware of Markus and Simon's success in Washington." Connor needlessly inquired as he tried to hold his brother's attention for a while longer while Hank got the envelope. "They have recently made the news."

"You're referring to the new android laws and rights, yes?"

"Correct." Connor watched as Hank handed Lucas the special envelope and gave him an amused smirk. "Two days ago, correction-" Connor paused briefly as he recalculated the accurate time frame. "Three days ago, I received my legal documentation registering me as a citizen of the United States of America, as well as my social security card and other forms of identification. Your information arrived as well."

"...I don't understand." Lucas accepted the envelope and held it in his hands curiously. "According to all records kept by CyberLife I never existed. How can there be any proof of my existence now?"

Hank cleared his throat a little as he answered on Connor's behalf. "Like I told Connor the other day, I pulled some strings and Markus used his connections to help get you recognized as a person, as well as get a few other details sorted out."

Unsure of what to expect Lucas opened the envelope and pulled out the legal documents that gave him his new legal identification. Like Connor before him Lucas was perplexed by what seemed to be a misprint on his name as well as a secondary document contained within. "...Why is there a certificate of adoption in here?"

"Because I legally adopted Connor," Hank replied curtly with his arms now crossed over his chest. "and since you're his little brother I adopted you, too."

Lucas read the name on the adoption certificate and his new license before he gave Hank an odd glance. "...Lucas Caleb Anderson?"

"'Caleb' was my father's middle name. I figured since I gave Connor a family name you deserved one, too. It was either that or 'Bryan' since you two both kinda look like a 'Bryan'. Don't ask my why you two look like a name, it's just a human perception we have with giving out names. It's fuckin' weird."

"H-Hank..." Lucas was almost at a complete loss of words as he looked at the documents he now held in his hands. "How did you-"

"Don't worry about it, kid. Just know that you're officially part of the family and if you ever need somewhere to go or need someone to help you come here. Come home. Your brother AND your father will be right here waiting for you."

"I... I will." Lucas just stared at the documents in his hands as a tear rolled down his face. "Thank you... Hank. Connor."

Connor put his hand on Lucas's shoulder and shook lightly, a friendly gesture he had learned from Hank. "We should spend more time as brothers, not just acquaintances. Families should always find ways to bond closer together."

"Yes... Like a real family." Understanding what Connor was referring to Lucas agreed entirely. "Because that's what we are, right. A family?"

"Correct." Connor confirmed as he nodded at his little brother beside him and patted Sumo's ears. "We're a family."

"All right, all right." Interrupting the moment Hank stopped the two deviants from breaking down emotionally. "I've had enough of this emotional crap." Hank jokingly teased the two brother. Smiling he casually motioned toward the front door and stretched his back a little. "It's a nice day outside, Connor and I have the day off, so why don't we go do something that doesn't involve keeping one of you two from dying? That'd be a nice change of pace."

-next chapter-