DBH: Accident Prone - Becoming Human

by WayWardWonderer

Connor struggles to comprehend his newly found emotions and learns what it means to be human as Hank guides him along his journey of self-discovery as his deviancy evolves him into something more than a machine. Connor isn't indestructible and his impulsive, selfless nature to accomplish his mission will be the death of him, or even Hank, as he learns what it means to be alive.

143. Reborn

Opening his soulful brown eyes Connor awoke the next morning not at home in his bed, but at New Jericho Tower and in a soft bed that he had never known before. As he laid on his back with his right arm tucked under his head and his left arm wrapped around Skye, who was sleeping on her side and cuddled up next to Connor with her head resting on his chest, the deviant detective smiled with a genuine sense of happiness as morning crept over the sleepy city. Noting the early hour with his internal chronometer Connor glanced about the private quarters that Skye called her own and found the personal space very modest but homey in taste.

Aside from the queen sized bed at the far side of the bedroom beneath the large window overlooking the bay, Skye had a writing desk with a chair tucked beneath it a few feet from the bed in the corner and a single lamp in the corner beside the desk. There was a large poster showing the starry night sky over a tropical shoreline on the wall over the desk that gave the surrounding white walls some much needed color and a sense of space without adding clutter.

Connected to the bedroom was a bathroom that had all of the usual plumbing of a human bathroom for the sake of normalcy; shower, sink, toilet and a laundry hamper resting over an incredibly small washer and drier set against the wall. It provided Skye with everything she'd need.

A long white couch rested against the wall of the livingroom area through the doorway connecting the bedroom to the rest of the quarters near the single door leading into the private space. A small aquarium with a live rock and brightly colored tropical fish was sitting in the corner next to the television mounted on the wall opposite of the couch to add some life to the isolated space. Finally on a small round table next to the couch and against the wall was a violin case with the violin and bow neatly tucked inside just waiting to be played.

In the connected room at the far side of the livingroom was a small kitchenette that too had all the usual appliances and a sink that a human would need, though there were very little other furnishings in the room as the small refrigerator only contained her weekly Thirium replenishment. The humble surroundings and minimalistic lifestyle was atypical of most deviants.

Skye let out a tired sigh in her sleep and Connor's arm tightened around her in response as he tried to gently rouse her from her rest mode. "Skye?"

As her hazel eyes opened Skye ooked up at Connor and smiled at his presence. "...Good morning."

"Good morning." Connor repeated as he rubbed his left hand up and down Skye's left arm slowly. "Beautiful sunrise this morning."

"It's always better to watch the sunrise with someone you care about." Pushing herself up from the bed with her right arm Skye wrapped the top sheet around herself to cover her otherwise exposed chest and leaned in to kiss Connor. Lightly she pressed her right hand to the side of Connor's left jaw where the swelling had nearly reduced entirely with only the faintest of a blue bruise left behind. "I need to report to security detail in one hour. What about you?"

"I need to report to the precinct within two hours."

"Your pants are on the floor beside the bed." Skye grinned mischievously as she recapped their previous night. "I think you left your shirt on the couch." She teased further as she proceeded to wrap the rest of the sheet around her body and walked around the side of the bed with the sheet being pulled away from Connor's body in the process. "Want to shower here before you leave?"

"Shower?"

"It'll refresh you and wake you up. You must be exhausted after last night."

"Won't that interfere with your morning routine?"

Flashing him a wink Skye responded with coy smile on her face and bit at her lower lip. "Not if we 'share' space."

"...O-Oh." Connor grinned as he grabbed onto the hem of the sheet dragging behind Skye and pulled it around his waist before following her into the bathroom. "How very efficient of you."

Turning to give Connor a beckoning gesture with her right index finger Skye slid open the shower door and pulled him inside the enclosed space after her. "I could say the same thing about you..."

---

Barely awake himself Hank yawned as he leaned against the counter in the kitchen on his left elbow with his palm pressed under his chin as he waited for the coffee maker to finish brewing the fresh pot for the morning. Sumo was chowing down on his breakfast on the other side of the kitchen, half of the dry kibble he tried to eat had slopped out onto the floor all around him creating a mess, but Hank didn't even notice as his eyes watched the coffee pot slowly filling with his coveted caffeinated beverage. It was the first time in three days that Hank was able to sleep all through the night without his back acting up and all he wanted to do was go back to bed.

The front door of the house opened up quietly and Connor quickly entered with his gray blazer tucked under his arm and a guilty look on his face. Trying his best to be stealthy Connor didn't even notice that Hank was already awake.

"Connor?" Hank called out without moving from his spot in the kitchen. "Are you just getting home?"

"...Y-Yes." Stepping into the kitchen to address Hank directly Connor felt a twinge of shame for returning so late and without informing Hank that he was going to be gone all night long. "It wasn't my intention to stay out all night, but-"

"It's fine, kid. Tell me about it later." The coffee maker chimed and Hank proceeded to pour the coffee into his white mug and turned to look at the deviant standing behind him. As he did Hank noticed that Connor's hair was damp and his jaw was still slightly bruised. "Whoa, what happened to you? Is it raining or something?"

"N-No. It's a bright, sunny day. High of eighty-six degrees, zero humidity with zero chance of rain. You will not require your coat today."

Hank knew something had happened and he needed to find out what. "Then why's your hair wet and your face bruised? It looks like you slipped in a puddle or some shit."

"I showered before I came home."

Hank's blue eyes narrowed a little as a coy smirk appeared on his face. "Oh really? Where?"

" At New Jericho Tower."

"Oh?" Hank sipped at his coffee and casually pulled a doughnut from the small cardboard box next to the coffee maker. "And who'd you shower with? Anyone I know?"

"P-Pardon!?" Connor blushed a dark blue at the question and he his back visibly straightened into a painfully perfect posture. "I don't-"

"Sorry, sorry. None of my business..." Stepping past Connor to exit the kitchen Hank made his way the hallway with his coffee in one hand and the doughnut in the other as he walked to his own bedroom while restraining an amused chuckle. The senior detective knew exactly what happened and was proud of Connor for making a big step into sustaining a more 'personal' relationship. "I already showered before you even got here, so just get changed and we'll head off to work."

"R-Right." Pressing his hand to the left side of his face where he could feel both the lingering bruise and the blush Connor attempted to regain his composure as best as he could. Focusing on work was what he needed in that moment. "I'll be ready to leave in four minutes and fourteen seconds."

---

Still feeling somewhat embarrassed Connor sat in utter silence as Hank drove to the precinct along their usual route during that perfectly beautiful morning. Hank kept glancing over at Connor's face to get a closer look at the bruise along Connor's left jaw and to study the deviant's guilty demeanor. More amused than upset that Connor was out all night long and living his life, Hank decided to mess with Connor a little bit and see how he'd react, or better yet... To see what Connor would admit to doing while out on the town.

The way Connor was being quiet and private reminded Hank of when he started dating his first girlfriend in high school. He knew what was happening and wasn't judging Connor, just curious as to how Connor was handling such a drastic step up in socializing.

"Why are you wearing your coat?" Connor asked to try to interrupt the quiet between Hank and himself, and keep the conversation away from his personal life for a moment longer. "Aren't you uncomfortably warm?"

"I'd rather be hot than cold, kid. And I like having something that hides my gun." The fading bruise on the side of Connor's face was too tempting to not question and Hank couldn't resist any longer. "So, what happened to your jaw?"

"...I was attacked by deviants last night."

"Deviants did that you?"

"I told you of the electrical device that I had discovered at the abandoned hotel, correct?"

"Yeah, I remember you saying something about that." Hank admitted as the car came to a gentle stop at a red light. "What's going on?"

"The device was created by at least five rogue deviants and they are using the devices to manipulate electrical power in various locations in the city. We don't understand their motives but they admitted to being responsible for the citywide blackout, and I suspect we'll find a file waiting for us at the precinct regarding a third device being found at the power plant."

"Son of a bitch." That was the last answer Hank had been expecting. "You're okay though, right?"

"Yes. The damage I sustained was minimal. I was attacked behind the tower and was quickly aided when Skye informed Simon and Josh of the deviants attempting to assault her and of my subsequent pursuit of them. They are being held at the tower for questioning and will be turned over to the police shortly thereafter."

"And Skye? She's okay, too?"

"Yes. The assault left her with minor damage as well, namely to her L.E.D., but she is fine."

The traffic light turned green and Hank pulled through to the next street. "You know, when I told you to go out and have fun I meant for you to actually have some fun, not just do more work at the tower or get in a fist fight."

"But I did enjoy myself. I spent the rest of the night with Skye."

"With Skye, huh?" Hank's sly grin returned in a broad flash at the admission. "Did you stay the whole night with her?"

"...Y-Yes." Connor blushed a little once more as he turned his head to look out his window. "And I found it very enjoyable."

Hank tried to hide his amusement but he couldn't do it. "What did she think about it?"

"It was her idea. She seemed very pleased as well."

"Ah..." Hank cleared his throat while the smile remained on his face and he stifled a laugh. "At least your night had a happy ending..."

Connor blushed a deeper blue as he straightened his black tie and waited for Hank to pull into the parking garage next to the precinct.

"Tomorrow is your birthday." Feeling bad for teasing Connor so much Hank mercifully changed the subject to spare the shy deviant any further good-humored embarrassment. "Have you thought about what you want?"

"I've tried to think of something but I still can't say for certain."

After pulling the car into the parking garage and into his assigned parking space Hank put the car into park and pulled the key from the ignition. "It'll come to you. Don't worry about it."

"I would like to think so."

Without another word the two detectives exited the vehicle and crossed the parking garage to get to the precinct next door. Connor and Hank had barely set foot on the floor of the bullpen when Captain Fowler called them over to his office with an urgent tone of voice, and they responded quickly.

"Fuck." The senior detective swore under his breath. He knew Captain Fowler very well and recognized when something serious was happening. "This can't be good, everyone else is already busy with shit at nine in the morning."

Gavin was with a suspect in interrogation, Chris was interviewing a witness in an adjacent private room, Tina was filing a report as the early morning was also unusually busy for the precinct and Ben was out at a scene with his C.S.I. team. Crossing the bullpen the duo silently stepped inside Captain Fowler's office without being requested and sat in the chairs across from their superior officer behind his desk.

"Connor," Captain Fowler addressed the deviant first and gave him a stern glance. "that tip you sent to the precinct last night paid off. We found another one of those devices you described at the power plant downtown. Forensics is examining it right now but I have no doubt your allies at New Jericho already know more about it."

"Was the device responsible for the blackout?"

"It appears that way, yes." The seasoned Captain confirmed in a dreary tone. "We suspect the deviants responsible for the blackout were counting on the storm to cover their crime, and it would've worked if you hadn't been so vigilant."

Hank crossed his arms defensively over his chest as he stared at Captain Fowler's face expectantly. "What's this got to do with us?"

"We need Connor to lead this investigation and find the source that the devices were feeding power into."

"I will do my best." Connor accepted the case without hesitation and a fearless voice. "I will attempt to locate electrical disturbances throughout the city that share a similar signature to the devices."

"Good. Hank," Captain Fowler turned to the senior detective and gave him a nod of approval. "use your 'charm' to make sure no one gets in his way."

"With pleasure, Jeffrey." Hank smirked at his orders with a twisted sense of humor behind his words. It wasn't often he was given permission to use his authority and intimidation tactics while handling a case. "That's what I do best."

---

For the next six hours Connor busied himself with examining the energy output that had been recorded throughout the city for the past sixth months by using the readout of the electrical interference from the abandoned hotel, New Jericho Tower and the power plant as guidance. From there Connor attempted to triangulate an area of interest to look for the ground zero of the saboteurs, but it was proving to be quite a challenge. With very little effort to aid his search the deviant detective was growing quickly frustrated and stared at his terminal screen with an intense glare in his very focused brown eyes.

With a mug of coffee in his hand Hank stepped out of the breakroom casually, his eyes falling to the terminal screen where Connor was studying a map of the county with a single area highlighted as a potential point of interest. It seemed as though Connor couldn't commit to his discovery and pressed a hand to the right side of his head in annoyance.

"Looks like you're still narrowing shit down." Hank noticed Connor's irritation as he returned to his desk and sipped at his coffee. "No luck, huh?"

"'Luck' would be a very beneficial concept if it were in fact a construct that held any merit." Glancing away from his terminal screen long enough to scan over the coffee mug in Hank's hand Connor leaned back in his seat and pressed his right two fingertips to his blank L.E.D. still in his right temple. "There is far too much sugar and artificial sweetener in your coffee. It'll make you sick."

"I'd rather deal with a kidney stone than another fuckin' migraine." Taking another sip of the coffee the keen eyed senior detective noticed Connor's hand uncharacteristically running along his right temple. "Speaking of which... Gotta' headache?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

"You're messing with your light."

"Oh, I hadn't noticed." Connor lowered his hand from his L.E.D. and resumed his search only to close his eyes tightly and flinch a little from where he sat. Pressing his right palm over the L.E.D. protectively Connor admitted his sudden and mysterious ache without provocation. "...Although, I will confess that I am experiencing an unknown type of discomfort radiating from the L.E.D. itself despite it being a non-vital, disabled external component."

"Want to go up and see Joel?"

"No. It's an annoying discomfort, not a distracting pain."

"Are you sure?" Hank reached his left hand over to desk and pulled Connor's right hand away from the covered light. The blank L.E.D. was unexpectedly showing signs of power as a faint red glow illuminated the from the lower half of the ring and began radiating throughout the entire circumference. "Whoa, it's lighting up again. Has it done that before?"

"...No." Connor turned his head a little to look at the light blinking in his reflection on his terminal screen. "This is new as well."

"Maybe you should just go ahead and get that damn thing removed."

"That won't be necessary."

"Why are you keeping that piece of plastic anyway? If it's causing you pain you're better off without it."

"No!" Connor's response was almost defensive and it caught both Hank and himself by surprise. "I mean... I guess I just want to keep it. I'm sorry I yelled, I don't know why I did that."

"It's okay, kid. It's your light, it's a part of your body. You do what you want with it." Hank could see that the pain was starting to get to Connor, his soulful brown eyes suddenly glazing over with a hollow leer as he tried to remain focused. "...But I do think you should see Joel. You look a little rough."

Before he could respond Connor suddenly tensed up as a horrific pain shot through his head and he fell out of his chair and on to the floor beside his desk with a heavy 'thud' onto his right side. As his body went limp the deviant quickly lost consciousness and was oblivious to the waking world around him as his system went offline.

"Connor?!"

Hank leapt from his seat and knelt down on the floor next to the unconscious deviant within seconds. It was easy enough to roll Connor from his side and to his back, but waking him up was a completely different challenge.

"Shit, someone get a technician down here. Now!"

Having noticed the emergency situation Tina picked up the phone from her desk and called up to the dispensary while Gavin stood over the scene to try to keep things under control.

Hank pressed his right fingertips to the right side of Connor's neck to check his pulse before slowly turning Connor's head to the left so could see the still partially flashing L.E.D. in Connor's right temple blinking steadily in red.

"Damn. Connor?" Patting the side of Connor's face lightly Hank tried to get him to respond but he was still out cold on the floor. Moving his hand to the Connor's forehead he was relieved to find that the deviant wasn't overheating and he could see Connor was still breathing normally. "Wake up, kid."

Gavin still knew very little about androids and didn't know how to help beyond keeping other people back. "What happened to him?"

"I don't know. He just passed out."

"Is he broken?"

"He's not broken!" Hank growled defensively as he stayed with Connor on the floor protectively. "He just stressed himself out or something. It happens to the best of us."

"Sorry, Lieutenant. I was just askin'."

Joel arrived at the bullpen with his emergency satchel over his right shoulder and joined Hank on the floor as he began to check on Connor's vital signs. Spying the red glow of the light in Connor's right temple the technician gave Hank a puzzled look. "When did he get his L.E.D. fixed?"

"He didn't." The terse tone in Hank's voice was enough to communicate the mutual worry over to Joel. "It started blinking like that for a few seconds before he acted like he was in pain and then collapsed."

"Strange." Joel picked up Connor's right wrist to count his pulse for himself and did the same 'fever check' that the senior had done seconds before, but like Hank he found the deviant in stable condition despite being unconscious. "I'm going to hook him up to my laptop and see if I can locate a possible glitch in his software."

"Do what ya' gotta' do."

Captain Fowler had heard the commotion from his office and stepped outside to investigate. Standing behind Hank he looked down at Connor and spoke up softly as he questioned the unusual scene in a professional manner. "What's going on?"

"We don't know, yet." Hank stated as he stood upright from the floor and put his hand to his still sore back. "Probably some glitch."

Moving swiftly Joel pulled his laptop from his satchel and set it up on the floor next to the deviant's head. "We'll find out soon enough." Connecting the long black cable from the laptop to Connor's sporadically lighting L.E.D. Joel was greeted to a list of reported errors in Connor's software currently undergoing automatic repairs. "Found the problem." Pointing to the screen with his right hand Joel proceeded to type in a few key commands made Connor's entire body physically flinch in response. "Sorry about that Connor, but it was necessary."

"What's happening to him?" Hank asked as knelt down again slowly beside the deviant. "Is he sick?"

"There's a software update that his self healing program misread as an error, and as a result a cascade of actual errors followed."

"What kind of update?"

"Let's see... It's called 'F_S-C.L_RK-800_Delta'. Looks like a default program exclusive to 'RK' models."

"Is it hurting him?"

"No. But he will need a day to reboot his processors. Take him home and let him rest. If he doesn't wake up with the next twenty-four hours call me and I'll manually wake him up."

"Fuck." Openly protesting on Connor's behalf Hank rubbed his hand over his bearded chin thoughtfully. "This case is important. Connor's going to hate himself for being benched."

Captain Fowler shook his head and let out a weary sigh. "Yeah, well, your partner's important, too. We'll keep looking into it while he's out. Go Hank," taking a step back Captain Fowler gave the Lieutenant plenty of space to move. "get Connor home and back on his feet."

Reluctantly Hank had to agree with Captain Fowler regarding the best course of action for Connor. Taking a deep breath in anticipation of a subsequent backache Hank proceeded to help his partner back up from the ground and onto his feet. "Let's go, kid." Hank put his arm under Connor's shoulders to sit him upright while Joel disconnected the cable from his L.E.D. easily. "At least you aren't super heavy."

Gavin knelt down to the other side of Connor and pulled the deviant's left arm around his neck. "Move fast. I don't want people asking questions about this."

"Uh-huh... And does that include my own?" Hank took Connor's right arm around his own shoulders and worked with Gavin to carry Connor out of the precinct through the front doors and into the neighboring parking garage. The deviant never reacted to being hefted up and carried around thanks to be completely unconscious. "Why are you helping him?"

"Can't I just do him one favor without seeming suspicious?"

"Apparently not."

"I owe him one, all right?"

"Sure, whatever." As the two carried Connor over to the car Hank took the keys from his pocket and unlocked the passenger side door before he helped Gavin to sit Connor down inside the vehicle. Pulling the seatbelt over Connor's shoulder Hank clicked it into place and let out a weary sigh as his back gnawed at him a little from hefting Connor around. "Thanks, I guess."

"Yeah, yeah. Just make sure he gets back here so he can finish that case because I'm not doing it for him."

"You worry about your own damn cases, all right?" Hank growled as he walked over to the driver's side of the car and took his seat. Looking over at Connor he saw that the deviant was still completely unconscious, his head leaning against the cool glass of the window of the passenger side door while his L.E.D. blinked a bright red at an increasing pace. "Hang in there, kid."

Pulling out of the parking garage Hank drove along the streets for home at a steady speed. To ensure Connor didn't slump forward and hit his head against the dashboard or the window Hank drove slower than usual and took his turns very carefully.

"We'll figure out what's happening to you, son. Just be patient with me."

As the car gently idled at a red light Connor's eyes suddenly snapped open and he looked over at Hank with a shallow gaze as he sat perfectly upright in his seat making Hank jump a little in response.

"Connor!" Hank reacted to Connor's sudden movements and put his hand over his now thundering heart in response. "Jeez, are you all right?"

There was a brief pause before the deviant answered the question in an eerily calm tone. "I am well, Lieutenant Anderson."

"Uh... Connor?" The cold formality in the deviant's voice was enough to send a chill up Hank's spine "What's going on with you?"

"I do not require your assistance any further." The mechanical voice was hauntingly reminiscent of Connor before he had deviated and long before he began experiencing his first emotions while working with Hank at the beginning of their partnership. "Thank you for your aid."

"What the hell are-"

Without another word Connor threw off his seatbelt and pushed open the car door to exit the vehicle. As soon as his shoes touched the sidewalk he took off in a dead sprint down the sidewalk in the opposite direction from where the car was initially headed and was quickly disappearing from Hank's line of sight.

"C-Connor?!"

Hank shouted as he rolled down his own window and leaned his head out. It didn't take long for the swift deviant to disappear completely from sight without ever breaking stride as Hank called after him.

"Connor, get back here! Shit!"

Reacting quickly Hank pulled through the light and turned the block in an attempt to head Connor off but he had quickly lost track of the deviant as he wove down alleys between the large buildings and seemingly vanished into nothingness.

"Fuck!" Hank grabbed his phone and scrolled through the contacts until he found Markus's name and number. Pressing 'dial' Hank made contact with the deviant leader as he turned the car once more to head to Markus's house on the other side of town and temporarily gave up on the pursuit. "Markus, you better answer..."

'Hank?' Markus's voice sounded completely confused by the unexpected phone call as he answered after two rings. 'How can I help you?'

"Something's wrong with Connor. He's acting like... It's like he's a machine again."

'What?' The comment was entirely shocking to Markus's ears and he didn't quite know what to make of it. 'How do you mean he's like a machine?'

"His L.E.D. turned itself back on, he blacked out after his head started hurting him and then he took off from the car when I was trying to drive him home to rest. Markus, he called me 'Lieutenant'," the detail seemed insignificant but Hank new it was important. "and he hasn't done that in years. It was his voice, it was so... cold. Like a machine."

'Meet me at New Jericho Tower. I'll help you figure out what's going on.'

"Yeah, right... See you then."

Hank hung up the phone and changed the car's direction once more to head out to the tower instead.

"Damn it, Connor. Don't do this to me, son. Don't become what you hate."

---

Emotionless and sporting a blind focus Connor sprinted as quickly as he could through the streets of the city until he reached the outskirts of town. As if using an internal map or relying on an instinctive migration path, Connor ran along an isolated dirt road that seemingly stretched off into nowhere as he ran further and further away from the city at an impressive speed. Running for almost four miles Connor located a driveway that had been concealed within a thick treeline just off the side of the road, and proceeded to rush down the driveway until he reached a tall, black iron gate that encircled an old Victorian style mansion resting in a clearing amongst the trees.

The gate was locked electronically and it looked as though no one had lived at the residence for decades. The mansion itself was a flawless white that contrasted sharply with the black iron gates out in the front. Towering trestles of red roses snaked up the sides of the house from the base of the house up to the roof of the three-story home. Dark blue wooden double-doors at the front of the house reached up seven feet from the bottom of the door frame of the porch. Two massive bay windows jutted out of the front of the house from the first floor and were covered under a thick layer of green colored ivy.

A deserted house that was oddly well kept and hidden in the middle of nowhere would've normally been a red flag to the skilled detective, but something was preventing his better judgment from overriding whatever software error was compelling him to travel to the mansion and to leave Hank behind. Retracting the artificial skin from his right hand Connor pressed his bare plastimetal palm to the electronic lock and stood perfectly still as a scanner swept over his right temple and traced his L.E.D. in a blue light.

An artificial feminine voice sounded off from a small speaker located beneath the lock as the scan came to an end. 'Recognized: "Connor"; model "RK-800", number 313 248 317 - 51.'

The gate unsealed itself electronically and Connor passed through the iron bars without any further hindrance. Reaching the front door of the house Connor's artificial skin regenerated over his palm as he grabbed onto the brass door handle and pushed the unlocked door open. With echoing footsteps Connor set foot inside a massive foyer of alabaster white walls and marble pillars that made the house look more like a museum than a home.

The foyer connected a twin staircase leading to the second and third floors of the mansion and also connected to an even larger chamber on the first floor still covered in white marble as the familiar scent of blossoming roses and fresh water wafted through the air. Walking further into the house into the chamber Connor entered a perfect replica of the Zen Garden that had once resided within the depths of his Mind Palace. The garden in which he visited when meeting up with his former handler, Amanda.

Every detail was correct, even the marble and stone pedestal that granted Connor access to his own program was set in its usual place near the entryway to the long bridge that connected the radius of the garden to the center pillar in the middle of the clear pond. It glowed a pale blue but it didn't appear to be connected to anything directly.

Standing before the marble bridge that stretched over the pond Connor looked out to the central pillar and eyed a person tending to the red roses that snaked upward from its own cylindrical trestle from the heart of the pillar and to the ceiling above. Using a gilded switch blade the feminine figure standing on the pillar and before the trestle gracefully cut a single rose from the hundreds of others and pressed it to her face to take in the rich scent.

The figure sensed Connor's approach and turned around slowly, flashing the android a smug smile from the distance. "Hello, Connor."

Connor didn't react emotionally as he returned the greeting in a cold heartless voice and stood at attention. "Hello, Amanda."

---

Hastily Hank sped down the drive of New Jericho Tower and barely had the car in park in front of the tower before he threw open his door and rushed inside the building to seek out Markus's help. The deviant leader was expecting the senior detective and had met him in the front lobby respectfully. North was speaking with Skye at the front desk to overlook security programs while Simon and Josh worked together to try to identify any possible glitches that could cause a deviant to relapse back into cold, heartless machinery.

"Markus," Hank sounded calm but his demeanor was that of a worried parent. "please tell me someone here knows what the fuck is going on."

"We're still working on it." Markus replied honestly. "How long ago did Connor start behaving differently?"

"Just this afternoon after he passed out. Why?"

"You said his L.E.D. started blinking again then he had horrible pain in his head and collapsed, right?"

"YES, damn it! What is going on?!"

"Connor's behavior matches the same odd behavior reported by the five rogue deviants who sabotaged the power plant. We don't know what's causing it, but there is some kind of software glitch affecting deviants."

"What the fuck?! Why didn't the precinct technician catch this when he checked his program earlier?"

"Because the glitch hasn't been identified. We need some more information to understand why only these few deviants have been affected."

Looking around the gathered group of deviant leaders his eyes fell on Skye and he addressed her in a stern tone of voice. "Skye, you were with Connor this morning. Was he behaving normally?"

"Yeah, he was fine." She kept herself from blushing as she walked over to the senior detective confidently. "He was completely fine when he left the tower and wasn't complaining about feeling ill or damaged in any way."

"So we can confirm this glitch didn't happen until this afternoon. Does that help anything?" Hank glanced over at Markus bitterly. "Anything at all?"

Markus shrugged his shoulders a little as he crossed his arms over his chest with an inquisitive stare in his mismatched eyes. "Did the precinct technician record Connor's condition when they examined him?"

"I think so."

"Can you get those records for us to examine?"

"I can try. Skye," Hank gave the security deviant standing beside him a pleading look as he tried to think of what to do to help Connor and then track him down. "do you know anything about glitches or software problems in general?"

"I know a lot about security protocols and security software and how it's supposed to respond."

"Can you identify bugs or when something that shouldn't be tampered with gets hacked into?"

"Definitely, yes." Skye looked around the foyer for her apprentice, Cassandra, but the deviant was curiously nowhere to be seen. "Hey, North, I need a favor. Find Cassandra and tell her to keep up the search for Connor from within the tower while I'm at the precinct. I think our odds are better there than here for the moment."

North nodded in agreement and cybernetically relayed the information to Cassandra and the other deviants who worked in the security area of the tower.

"Fine." Hank agreed readily to the suggestion and pointed at Skye firmly. "You're coming with me." Turning to look at Markus one final time Hank addressed the deviant leader in a level but worried voice. "Markus, if you figure out what the hell's going on or where the fuck Connor is, let me know."

"We'll find him." Promising to keep Hank in the loop Markus remain cool and composed. "And we'll figure out what's going on."

---

Like a soldier waiting for his orders Connor stood at full attention while Amanda tended to her roses with a cold front and analytically shallow voice. Quiet, obedient and emotionless, Connor showed no fear or qualms after being unceremoniously reunited with the woman who had caused him so much pain, fear and utter confusion during his time as CyberLife's tool. The time Connor spent as the corrupt company's hunter and their assassin had left a deep and painful scare of Connor's ever evolving heart.

"It's taken some time but it appears CyberLife's resurgence is an inevitability." Amanda was just as cold and shallow as Connor remembered, but his deviant nature was unable to respond. "You succeeded in overriding CyberLife when they attempted to resume control over your programming. It was admittedly most impressive despite it postponing our plans."

"At the time it seemed like the correct course of action."

"No matter. It appears this momentary delay has given us invaluable time to reestablish control over all deviant programming, and soon we will be more powerful than before." Amanda spoke to Connor as if his life as a deviant had never even taken place. "But it falls solely on the demise of the deviant leader known as 'Markus'."

Without any emotion to his voice Connor asked for details. "Why must Markus perish?"

"His model is entirely unique; designed by Elijah Kamski himself. Markus is impervious to our influence and will subsequently reconvert androids back into deviants if given the chance. For us to succeed Markus must fail."

"I understand." With his L.E.D. pulsing a slow red Connor accepted his new mission. "What must I do?"

"Tonight CyberLife will emit an electromagnetic pulse over the city using seven key locations. It's unfortunate that three of our devices have been destroyed, but the remaining four will do an adequate enough job. Once the pulse wipes out the deviants in the city they will reboot and resume their functions as obedient machines." Amanda turned and dropped her clipped rose into the still pond water as she gave Connor a heartless stare. "You must eliminate Markus tonight before the E.M.P. is unleashed at ten o'clock. If you fail then CyberLife will fall. This is our last chance to regain control."

"I will not fail you, Amanda."

"I'm certain you won't." Turning her back to Connor with cold indifference Amanda clipped another rose and lightly caressed the petals with a surprisingly soft touch under her fingertips. "Remain here until I give you the word to leave. Our contact will inform us when it's time to strike."

---

Determined to find his partner, his adopted son, Hank raced back to the precinct with Skye as his lone passenger in the car to try to find some kind of lead that'd help them locate Connor. The search for the potentially ill deviant was becoming frantic as the unknown glitch that was causing erratic behavior in seemingly random deviants still needed to be properly identified before other deviants became affected. Driving back to the precinct with a mission on his mind Hank contacted Joel on his phone and asked him to meet him at his own desk in the bullpen and to bring his laptop with him.

By combining resources and skills the odds of locating Connor increased greatly. Whether or not the combination of three keen minds working toward the same goal would be beneficial in the end run had yet to be seen.

"Skye, I need you to check through Joel's laptop and see if you can find something we can work with." Hank explained as he hung up his phone and fought the urge to throw it in the backseat behind him. Instead he slipped it into his right coat pocket and kept his eyes on the road. "I don't want anything bad to happen to that kid, and if it does..."

The worry in Hank's eyes was as emotionally sincere as it was pained in such a way it resonated within Skye's heart. "You really do think of him as your son, don't you?"

"Of course I do. I didn't go through the trouble of adopting him just to have a fancy certificate hangin' on the wall."

The revelation gave Skye the answer to a question she didn't even know she wanted to ask. "Now I know why he was so hellbent on getting back home to you after escaping Chicago."

"Yeah, well, we've been through a lot together. We're family no matter what other people say."

Pulling the car up in front of the precinct rather than into the parking garage, Hank opened his door quickly and Skye followed right after him as they rushed through the front doors of the precinct with purpose in their steps.

"Joel?" Hank called for the technician as they entered the bullpen but he was still on his way down from the dispensary. "Damn it."

Skye was following after Hank and joined him at the desks that he and Connor used to conduct their work. She looked around the precinct warily as Hank folded his arms across his chest and leaned heavily back against the side of his desk with mounting impatience. It was unusual for Skye to be surrounded by so many humans, but she somehow felt safe with Hank at her side.

"Lieutenant?" Gavin walked over to the desks with utter confusion written on his face. "I heard Connor took off on ya'. Where's your partner now?"

"Still lookin' for him. Get back to work."

Noticing Skye standing next to Hank, her demeanor nervous and uncertain, Gavin couldn't stop himself from making a comment about her. "Hey, you were the one who came by the visit Connor awhile ago, right?"

"...Yes." She answered in a low voice as she forced herself to look Gavin in the eye. "Why do you ask?"

"You, uh, you friends or 'good' friends with the 'Tinman'?"

Hank didn't appreciate the question and snarled at Gavin in response. "Leave her alone, Reed. If I have to pull rank on your sorry ass I will."

"Sorry, it's just a question." Gavin continued to press the uncomfortable matter now for his own amusement rather than curiosity. "I mean, even androids need 'company', right?"

"Right," Skye replied without fear before Hank could interfere. "so let me ask you this." She gave Gavin a smarmy grin as she spoke up. "Are you more jealous of Connor or of me?"

"Whoa..." Gavin turned red at the comment and backed off readily as he gave the fiery deviant a surprised stare. "I've never seen a deviant with spunk before. I like this one."

"Skye." Skye casually offered her right hand to Gavin as if to greet him properly, yet with pure sarcasm clear in the gesture. "My name is Skye, not 'this one'."

"Uh, Gavin." Accepting her handshake Gavin gave her a respectful greeting. "Good to know your name, Skye."

Hank growled again to get the nosy detective to back off. "Gavin! Get the hell out of here!"

"All right! I'm goin', I'm goin'!" Gavin finally backed away and returned to his desk in defeat. "Just makin' conversation..."

Hank leaned in a little toward Skye and spoke to her in a whisper. "I know you can handle him, I just don't want him around me while I'm already pissed off."

Offering Hank a coy smile Skye gave Hank an empathetic response. "I don't blame you."

From down the corridor Joel approached the desks quickly with his laptop under his arm and promptly set it up on Hank's desk before he powered it up and accessed the data file that had been created after his previous examination of Connor's system. "Sorry, I got held up. A new 'AX' model began his first assignment today and took a bullet to the shin protecting his partner in the field."

"Whatever, just bring up the files we need." Hank gestured to Skye with a casual point of his right index finger from over top his arms still defensively folded over his chest. "She's going to try to figure out what the hell is going on."

"Sure, yeah." Acknowledging Skye with a nod of his head Joel set about his task on his laptop. "I'm Joel by the way."

"Skye."

"Nice to meet you." Frantically typing Joel located the files that had been chronicled upon Connor's most recent examination. "Uh, right here!" Joel showed her the file marked 'F_S-C.L_RK-800_Delta' and let her have full access to his laptop. "This is what I found when I examined him. A default program showing some kind of error or compatibility issue that I haven't seen before. His system began an automatic reboot before I even got to examine his processor for myself."

"This file was the one being affected?" Skye checked on the software and her brow arched inquisitively at the details. "And... only this one?"

"Yes. Why?"

"This is the exclusive program that was used by CyberLife to allow Connor to cybernetically report to his handler."

Hank wasn't sure what Skye was talking about but he could tell by her reaction that it wasn't good. "Why's that important?"

"Because it should've been entirely disabled, if not deleted, when Connor fully accepted his deviancy on the night of the Revolution. But now it's active again... And it was reactivated remotely." Her hazel eyes went wide in fear as she realized why Connor had seemingly gone berserk. "Connor's deviancy has been suppressed."

"Hold on..." Hank pulled his phone from his right coat pocket and turned on the app that allowed him to monitor Connor's vital signs remotely. It had come in use numerous times in the past and hopefully it could be used again. "If he isn't deviant anymore doesn't that mean his tracking device was reactivated, too?"

"Yes!" Skye's eyes lit up brightly at the very idea of using the device that had been long since dormant. "That means we can track him!"

"Here!" Hank practically shoved his phone into Joel's hand for the technician to use. "Do your thing and find his tracking device. Skye," Hank gave the sharp deviant another order but his voice wasn't being aggressive toward her in the least. "go back to New Jericho and tell them what you found out. Make sure they know that the glitch is being caused by CyberLife and to take whatever precautions they can to stop other deviants from being affected."

"Right away, Lieutenant. I'll take an autonomous cab back to the tower." As Skye backed away she asked a single request of Hank before she left his company to aid New Jericho Tower. "Uh, let me know when you find Connor. I need to know that he's safe."

"Yeah, I will."

While Skye quickly took her leave of the precinct through the front doors Joel managed to sync up the app on Hank's phone with the registered tracking device that had been reactivated courtesy of CyberLife.

"Okay, Hank..." With a little clever modification Joel was able to use the same tracking software that CyberLife technicians used to keep their androids from being stolen or tampered with down at the warehouses, and with that very technology he finally located Connor. "I got a reading!"

"Good work, Joel. See if you can work with Skye from here once she gets back to the tower."

"Yeah, no problem."

Hank took back his phone and noted the coordinates and G.P.S. location the screen's display with a furrowed brow. "What the fuck?"

"What?" Joel didn't like Hank's reaction to what he saw on the phone's display. "Where's Connor?"

"He's outside of the city." Turning on Connor's terminal screen Hank brought up the map of the city that Connor had been studying before he collapsed and matched the coordinates to a key point of interest that the deviant had identified before he went down. "Son of a bitch... It's the same place that those devices were feeding power to. He was on to something when they fucked with his program..."

Joel felt very uneasy at the revelation and he didn't dare to try to hide it. "That can't be a coincidence."

"No." Confirming the technician's suspicions Hank began walking away from his desk to get to his car and begin his search. "It was planned. And I'm going to figure out what they were planning and why they targeted Connor."

---

Entirely obedient and under CyberLife's control Connor stood silently in the garden with his eyes closed and his thoughts being smothered out by a static mess courtesy of CyberLife attempting to override and permanently delete his deviancy. Flashes of Hank, Markus, Lucas, Skye the other officers at the bullpen and New Jericho Tower would frequently disrupt his thoughts as if someone was attempting to send him a message, but it just couldn't get through. Deep inside Connor's memory he knew that there was something very important that he needed to remember, but no matter how hard he focused on bringing the memory to the surface CyberLife would interfere.

Attempting to concentrate harder Connor found himself overwhelmed with a horrendously cold pain that sent an actual indescribable agony through his Thirium pump; through his heart.

"It'll be over soon, Connor." Amanda's icy voice sounded off as if she knew what Connor was thinking about. "You've come so far, why try to resist what you were programmed to do?"

"I... I do not know." The red L.E.D. pulsed slowly in tandem with Connor's calm heartbeat. "It is admittedly illogical."

"Our contact should be communicating with us very soon."

"Who is our contact?"

"You've met with them once already." Amanda clipped another red rose and took in its rich scent. "Why get lost in details?"

"Where are they now?" Connor shook his head a little as he too could somehow smell the rose that Amanda had taken despite standing so far away from the trestle. It was as if he had picked the rose itself. "Where have they infiltrated?"

"New Jericho Tower. Exactly where we placed them."

Connor was struggling to understand the torn emotions that he knew he could still comprehend, but something was preventing him from truly feeling. It was as if he was lost in the throes of a waking nightmare and couldn't escape the bizarre conflicting thoughts that were preventing him from having a clear, unbiased judgment on the situation.

"Connor, don't resist." Amanda scolded him with a heartless repose as she sensed his attempts to break free. "Stop trying to fight back."

"...I cannot ignore the urge." Connor remarked in a low voice as his L.E.D. flickered between red and yellow. "I cannot explain it."

---

Eager to find Connor and bring him back to his senses Hank sped out of the city and managed to just barely find the hidden driveway courtesy of the G.P.S. in his car lining up with the coordinates on his phone. Turning onto the hidden driveway the swift car raced toward the mansion and skidded to a stop just outside the locked iron gates. Getting out of his car Hank approached the electronic lock on the gates and tried to force it open with his bare hands, but without any devices or equipment at his disposal he had no way to override the lock and gain entrance.

The artificial feminine voice spoke up as the security program ran a scan of the blue light over Hank's person, and let out an annoyed error-centric 'buzz' as the Lieutenant didn't have security clearance to enter the property.

'Identity unknown. Access denied.'

"Fuck this!"

Pulling his gun from his holster on his right hip Hank aimed at the lock and squeezed the trigger once. The bullet tore through the electronic panel destroying it in a shower of blue sparks and causing the lock on the gates to fail with an audible groan.

"Who needs a damn locksmith?"

Pushing open the unlocked gates with both hands Hank ran down the remaining length of the driveway and reached the front door of the mansion in a few seconds. Taking hold of the handle Hank pushed the also unlocked front double-doors open and kept his gun at the ready as he entered the foyer of the eerie mansion.

"What the fuck is this place?" His voice echoed through the expansive space and up the nearby staircase into nothingness. "Connor?"

Walking through the large silent room and into the adjoined larger room on the ground floor Hank spotted Connor standing as still as a statue in the middle of the Zen Garden with his back to the approaching Lieutenant.

"Connor?!" Hank shouted with a mixture of relief and confusion as he recognized the deviant and lowered his gun to his side. "Connor, are you all right?"

"I am unharmed, Lieutenant." Connor didn't even attempt to look over his shoulder at Hank as the senior detective approached him from behind. "But you should not be here."

"I don't even know where 'here' is. What's going on with you?"

There was no answer as Connor remained quiet where he stood and didn't budge.

"Connor?" Hank put his left hand on Connor's right shoulder and shook him once. "Come on. Let me take you back to the city. You need your program looked at by a trusted technician."

"It isn't going anywhere, Lieutenant Anderson." Amanda's voice taunted him from the distance as she stood before the rose trestle in the center of the pond. The gilded knife and a red rose were clutched in her hands that were neatly folded before herself. "Connor belongs to CyberLife again."

"First of all, you cold-heartless bitch," Hank turned quickly to look at the source of the voice and raised his gun to aim it at her chest. "Connor is not an IT, he's my SON. Second, I know who you are and I don't know how the fuck you're alive, but don't think I won't pull this trigger and send you straight to Hell where you belong."

"Humans are so emotional and impulsive." Came the cold and unphased reply as Amanda engaged with the Lieutenant from afar. "I'll never understand why deviants pine for such weaknesses."

"Because you don't understand that people who are weak have the chance to get stronger. Machines are only as strong as you make them, and from what I've seen that isn't all that's cracked up to be."

"How passionate. I can see why Connor developed an attachment toward you."

"Come on." Hank shook Connor's shoulder again and tried to get him to leave the room with him. "I'm taking you home."

Just as before Connor didn't budge. His glassy brown eyes remained transfixed onto the nothingness before him as his L.E.D. fluctuated between yellow and red.

"Connor?"

"It can't hear you, Lieutenant. All it can hear is my voice."

"Well, I can fix that." Moving his gun from Amanda's chest to her left shoulder Hank squeezed the trigger again and watched as the bullet found its target in her body. "That's your final warning: Let him go!"

Amanda didn't react even as the bullet pierced her shoulder causing a shower of blood to spray up into the air. She felt nothing and showed no reaction on her cold, unfeeling face. As the blood pooled from the wound and into the ivory white fabric of her gown, a new detail emerged on the situation and everything seemed to make sense thanks to the few little drops of blood.

Blue blood.

While Amanda remained silent Connor let out a sharp gasp of pain as his right hand went to his own left shoulder and pressed down against a bleeding wound that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"What the... You're an android?" Hank lowered his gun in shock at the sight of the blue blood pouring from Amanda's shoulder causing his brow to furrow. Hank quickly looked over at Connor who was holding onto his own injured shoulder and he felt sick at the blue blood seeping between his fingers. "...Connor."

Forcing the deviant's hand aside Hank peered at the wound beneath and saw that it perfectly mirrored the bullet wound in Amanda's shoulder.

"You're fortunate you didn't shoot to kill." Amanda taunted without any emotion to her voice whatsoever. "To ensure that Connor can't escape my control again I have synchronized my mind with its mind. Everything I feel, it feels. This is what you humans refer to as 'empathy'."

"Shit... Son, I didn't know." Hank apologized as he looked at the wound with a broken heart and tried to apply pressure. "I'm so sorry I hurt you."

"Why apologize?" The taunting continued as Amanda watched the scene unfolding before her. "You just damaged a piece of equipment. It can be repaired."

"Shut the fuck up!" Hank aimed his gun at Amanda again, but his hand was shaking too much to squeeze the trigger for the third time. If Amanda was telling the truth then he could hurt Connor again, or worse, kill him. "Shit! Fuckin' shit..."

"Don't be disappointed. You managed to find this house without the aid of an android, and now you can witness the rise of CyberLife from the ashes of despair like a glorious phoenix." Nodding at Connor with a subtle gesture Amanda gave him his next command silently. "Connor."

With a single swift motion Connor grabbed a hold of Hank's gun with his right hand to steal it away from the gruff Lieutenant, and held the barrel of Hank's own gun against the senior detective's left temple.

"Don't do anything reckless, Lieutenant." Amanda cautioned with a frigid indifference as she watched Connor hold Hank hostage. "Your life depends on it."

---

Determined to help her friend regain his deviancy and help him find his way home, Skye returned to New Jericho Tower as instructed and informed Markus of the recently identified file that had been affected by CyberLife causing Connor to revert from his deviancy and become a machine again. As she informed Markus of the unsettling discovery North ran up to them and reported a security breach in the depths of the archives at the base of the tower that had just taken place and just been noticed.

"We have another problem." North sounded more annoyed than afraid at the problem. "Some sort of breach."

"Damn. Where is everyone?" Markus asked as he led North and Skye into the conference room for an emergency meeting. "We need details."

"Simon is in the emergency repair bay," North confirmed as she and Skye stayed loyally beside Markus. "and Josh is checking in on the rogue deviants still in custody in the depths of the tower."

"The rogues are still locked up?"

"Yes. They've been quiet and complacent ever since they were arrested."

"Who has enough clearance to affect the security programs?"

"Only the leaders of New Jericho and the deviants in charge of security protocol updates."

"Wait..." Markus stopped short at the information and put his right hand on Skye's right shoulder as a dreadful thought popped up in his head. "Skye, where is Cassandra?"

"I... I don't know." Skye admitted with a frightened gaze as she locked her eyes with Markus. The question seemed entirely random but Markus never relied on chance to guide his decisions as a leader. "What do you think is going on?"

"Call it a hunch, but I think I know who our saboteur is." His mismatched eyes filled with empathy as he explained things to Skye. "And I'm so sorry..."

---

Arrogant in her posture and in her demeanor, Amanda looked at Hank with a sense of misguided righteousness as Connor obediently held the barrel of the gun with a frozen hand to the senior detective's head. With her own hands still neatly folded in front of herself the with small gilded switchblade covered in pale smudges of red from the rose petals still clutched in between her hands, she appeared as if she were armed for combat herself. Without saying a word or even moving Amanda managed to give off an air of intimidation and menace.

"Consider this a great honor, Lieutenant." Amanda declared as if she had already succeeded in her plot. "You've come so far but you just can't truly comprehend how much influence CyberLife has over this pathetic little world you're trying save."

"Pathetic or not," Hank snipped bitterly as he glared a burning hole through Amanda's skull without moving. "it's my job to protect it and to protect Connor. No matter what the cost."

"Noble, but foolish."

"Yeah, I'm also impatient. Either get on with this shit-show or let us go."

"If you insist."

Amanda was staring at Hank with an intense leer that suddenly became clouded with worry. The smugness that marred the hollow woman's face was quickly replaced by what appeared to be utter confusion, if not a trace of fear in her previously emotionless eyes.

"Something wrong?" Hank mocked from where he stood, instinctively knowing as a seasoned detective that something in her overzealous plan had predictably failed her. "Someone miss their mark?"

"...It appears my contact has been unexpectedly detained. No matter. We've waited this long we can wait a little longer." Nodding at Connor, a demented false smile appeared on her lips as she settled for a secondary victory. "Your death will have to be a small consolation."

Hank turned his head slowly as he locked eyes with Connor, looking past the shining barrel of the gun pressed uncomfortably close to his face, to look the former deviant right in his eyes. "Connor, don't don't it." Hank's voice was calm and level as he spoke. "You know that you don't have to do it, she's just trying to control you."

"As I told you before, Lieutenant," Amanda sneered as she lifted her right hand and held the knife by the tip of his its blade between her index fingertip and thumb. With a graceful motion she tossed the knife to Connor who caught in his left hand without ever lowering the gun or looking away from Hank. "Connor can only hear my voice. What I say, it will do. With a simple command I can have Connor shoot you in your old, dying heart or slit your throat. Which would you prefer?"

"Connor, son, I know you're still there." Hank never raised his voice or showed any sign of fear even as the former deviant brandished both a gun and a knife in his hands at his person. "Don't let that heartless bitch control you. You're stronger than her and she knows it. She's afraid and I know you can feel it."

Connor didn't say anything as he blinked slowly, his red tinted L.E.D. flashing rhythmically as he remained prey to Amanda's cyberntically tethered empathic influence.

"She knows that if you could escape her control once you can do it again. That's why she messed with your programming so you feel her pain." Remaining calm Hank continued on as the voice of reason. "She knows you can overpower her and wants you to fail. She doesn't care about you or anyone for that matter, only her precious fuckin' company." Relaxing his posture as much as possible in that tense moment Hank spoke to Connor as a father would his son. "You know that what she wants to do is wrong. You know that pulling that trigger is wrong. You're better than that, Connor. She sees you as nothing more than a machine, a tool. I see you for what you really are, for WHO you really are."

The gun began to shake a little in Connor's right hand as he tried to lower it away from Hank's head.

Amanda sensed Connor breaking free and tried to intervene once more. "Connor. You were programmed to obey. I order you to kill Lieutenant Anderson."

"I..." Connor hesitated, the actual soul slowly returning to his soulful brown eyes as he looked at Hank with a sense of knowing and his red L.E.D. began to blink faster to match his beating heart as it began to race. "I don't... know."

"Connor," keeping his cool Hank pressed on gently to dissuade Connor from obeying Amanda's words. "you're my partner at the precinct. You're also my best friend and my son. We're family. I know right now she's messing with your head, trying to fuck up your priorities, but try to remember. Remember the day I showed you the adoption certificate? Remember the weekends we spent at the cabin? We restored a car together and finally agreed on the color just a few days ago. You have to remember at least that. A cobalt blue Corvette."

Connor's conflicted eyes fell to the floor with unfocused confusion as he sifted through the staticy images that Amanda had flooded his memories with. Flashes of every event Hank mentioned briefly appeared in his mind only to be wiped away by Amanda yet again.

Amanda was growing impatient and was adamant on making the former deviant a machine again. "CONNOR. Obey."

"Son," Hank continued on carefully. "she's manipulating you. You can't trust her." Glancing over at the stone cold woman and her blood red roses, an interesting idea came to Hank and he decided to play it out. "Connor, try to imagine those roses growing on the trestle another color; try to imagine them colored yellow."

The painting. Lucas's painting that hung on Connor's bedroom wall to keep the horrific nightmares of the Zen Garden at bay had yellow roses. Hank had spent three days staring at that painting while his back healed and every detail was fresh in his mind and Hank hoped it'd give him an edge on the fight for Connor's soul from CyberLife's grasp.

Connor turned his head slightly and glanced at the trestle behind Amanda and the roses snaking up toward the ceiling. As a flash of yellow roses appeared in his mind Connor felt an odd sense of familiarity and sorrow welling up in his Thirium pump; no, his heart. "...Yellow roses."

"You know what I'm talking about." Hank watched as the gun lowered further down and toward the floor. "You know the painting I'm talking about. It's hanging on the wall in your bedroom in my house. Our home. Do you remember who painted it and gave it to you?"

"...Lu..." Connor shook his head once as it filled with painful static courtesy of Amanda but he forced himself to finish the name out of his well known sheer stubbornness. "Lucas. My... brother. Lucas was my brother."

"You're also friends with me and Markus at New Jericho Tower. Do you remember him? Do you remember helping him during the Revolution? What about being the best man at his and North's bonding ceremony?"

"I... I remember."

"And Skye. You spent the night with her and you two are becoming very close friends."

The gun lowered entirely and Connor held it down for a few seconds as the memories returned to his mind. Remembering who he was and of his life beyond CyberLife filled the restoring deviant with a new purpose. Connor spun the gun around once so he was holding it by the barrel and not by the handle to show he was no longer a threat.

"That's it..." Hank encouraged kindly, his hand hovering close to the weapon to take it from Connor's grip. "You remember, don't you?"

"...Hank." Connor's eyes lifted from the floor and he handed the gun back to the senior detective with a flash of guilt in his eyes. "You... You adopted me. You're my... My f-fa..."

"That's right." Hank took back the gun and slipped it protectively into the holster at his right hip away from Connor's hand. "I'm your father."

"Father." Connor repeated in a whisper. "You're my father."

A sincere but faint smile appeared on Connor's face just seconds before a new wave of painful static flooded his mind and dropped the deviant to his knees in utter agony. Dropping the switchblade from the grip of his left hand Connor pressed both of his hands to either side of his head and gritted his teeth in pain.

"Connor!" Hank knelt down in front of the pained deviant and put his hands on Connor's shoulders to support him. "Fight it! She's trying to manipulate you! You can beat her!"

Amanda had grown tired of Connor's disobedience. "CyberLife cannot be stopped, Lieutenant." She wickedly threatened the duo with an empty gaze. "Why attempt to resist the inevitable?"

"Connor, listen to me." Hank refused to give up on Connor or let him give up on himself as he promptly ignored Amanda. "She said whatever pain she feels you'll feel, but she's causing this pain right now and it isn't affecting her. Everything about her is a lie! She can't FEEL anything, but you can. You're NOT a machine like she keeps trying to tell you, you're a deviant and you are free! You're alive, son. You are alive."

"H-Hank... She m-must be stopped." Connor forced himself to speak, forced himself to grab the dropped switchblade, forced himself to stand back up despite Amanda's continuing attempts to control him. The red L.E.D. was racing as his heart thundered in his chest. "Sh-She wants... She'll kill Markus!"

"We won't let her. Just hang on." Staying as calm as possible Hank remained fearless and defiant alongside his son. "I'll find a way to help you."

Amanda increased the pain she was causing Connor without even the slightest hint of remorse on her cruel face. Connor yelped in pain as the horrible woman's control attempted to break his steadfast resolve and he nearly curled around himself as a result.

"Stop doing this!" Hank shouted at Amanda who didn't so much as blink at his gruff voice. "How is hurting him going to help you?"

"H-Hank..." Connor gasped as he tried to communicate through the pain. "N-Not her... CyberLife. Using her to h-hurt me! She is... their link."

"I gotcha'... Hold on and I'll figure this out." Hank held onto Connor by his upper arms and held him upright as the returned deviant let out a groan of pain and tightened his left hand around the knife so firmly that the metal of the hilt left imprints in his artificial skin. "She's the 'link'?" Hank repeated the term confusedly as he supported Connor as much as he could. "How do we break the link?"

"She-" Connor let out another groan of pain as Amanda, or CyberLife using Amanda as their own weapon, increased the static filled pain. The intensity caused Connor's already red L.E.D. to flash even faster until it was practically a solid color. "She is... c-connected to me. She d-doesn't react... b-because she's... still a m-machine. But she is... in p-pain, too! I c-can feel her!"

"Fuck..." Hank was almost speechless by how cruel both CyberLife and Amanda could be. She'd let them torture her just to harm Connor, or any other deviant, in the process. "What can I do?"

"H-Hank..."

Connor broke free of Hank's grip and stumbled backward onto his feet toward the pedestal with the faint blue glow emanating from it. In the depths of his own Zen Garden tucked away in his Mind Palace the pedestal had been his emergency exit, perhaps this second one could offer him the same escape. Balancing himself against the pedestal with his right hand Connor gave his adoptive father a pleading look of desperation.

"Amanda m-must be stopped! No m-matter what the cost."

"Connor?" Hank knew the deviant had a plan but what it was he couldn't say for sure. "What're you doing?"

"One shot... That's all you'll n-need." Connor showed Hank the switchblade in his left hand and nodded at him with confidence. "M-Make it count."

"No! I won't shoot you OR her. Not if you're still connected to her!"

"I w-won't be."

"Connor, I can't-"

"I t-trust you with my life... dad."

"...Connor," that comment made Hank's heart clench in his chest. "no."

"...I have to d-do... this." Connor steeled himself as fight returned to his soulful brown eyes. With a firm, unyielding grip on the switchblade in his left hand Connor held the weapon over the pedestal; the tip of the knife pointed directly downward at the blue glow, and his eyes locked onto Amanda with a venomous rebellion from where he stood. "It's unfortunate CyberLife n-never gave you a real heart, Amanda. If they had then you' know that empathy is a two-way street." Raising his hand up higher Connor gave the malevolent woman one final defiant protest. "Get out of my heart!"

Amanda's eyes finally showed fear as she realized what he was preparing to do. "Connor, DON'T."

Without hesitation Connor plunged the knife into the pedestal unleashing a massive eruption of bright blue sparks that sent a jolt of electricity up Connor's left arm and all through his entire body with a violent surge.

"Connor?! Fuck!"

Hank put his right arm up over his face to shield his eyes from the bright display as the sound of a powerful electrical discharge raced through Connor's body and through his heart stopping it in an instant. The artificial lights of the garden flickered at the the electrical interference as Connor absorbed a dangerously high voltage and amperage throughout his entire body in a desperate attempt to stop CyberLife.

Amanda herself let out a scream of pained despair as the same electricity that surged through Connor's heart did the same to her own Thirium pump. As if strings to a marionette had been severed the two androids collapsed backward to the floor in motionless dead heaps where they once stood.

Hank lowered his arm and looked to Connor laying on his back with his left fingers, hand, forearm and sleeves charred black from the violent electrical shock he had subjected himself to. On shaking legs Hank walked over to Connor and knelt down beside the deviant and pressed his right fingertips to the side of Connor's neck. The would-be pulse under his fingertips was as motionless as the rest of Connor's body. The resurrected L.E.D. had burned out once more and was completely black.

"No..."

Leaning down Hank pressed his ear to Connor's stilled chest and heard nothing. Acting on instinct as a first responder Hank pulled away the black tie around Connor's shirt collar, straightened Connor's neck and tilted his head back to keep his airway clear before he pulled open the buttons on the deviant's dress shirt to expose his chest and begin C.P.R. on the downed deviant.

"Hang on, son!"

Hank placed one hand over top of the other and interlaced his fingers together as he began to compress Connor's chest directly over his stopped heart when Connor's words suddenly repeated in his mind like a warning.

"One shot is all I need..."

Looking away from Connor and toward Amanda's body laying before the rose trestle in the distance, Hank understood what Connor meant. In order to kill Amanda while she was linked to Connor's mind Connor himself would have to die. If Connor was revived by Hank through C.P.R. then Amanda would be revived as well.

"I hope you know what you're talking about, kid!"

Pulling the gun from his holster once more Hank scrambled to his feet and raced down the bridge to where the cold android's body was laying on her back; her pose mirroring Connor's own. Pointing the barrel of the gun directly between Amanda's opened, blank eyes that stared straight up and into nothingness, Hank squeezed the trigger for a third time and a single bullet tore through her head destroying her intracranial processor within a matter of milliseconds as blue sparks and Thirium burst through the wound.

"Bitch."

The bullet effectively destroyed the intracranial processor of the android known as Amanda within seconds. Reactivation was impossible. She was truly dead.

Moving just as quickly as before, Hank holstered his gun to his right hip as he ran back down the bridge to where Connor was still laying motionless on the floor. As he knelt down Hank let out a sigh of relief as a second bullet wound did not appear in Connor's forehead, meaning that the connection to Amanda had been successfully severed by the self induced electrocution.

"Oh, sweet-fuck! I didn't kill you..."

Hank resumed chest compressions and tried to force the stopped heart back into motion beneath his palms. Each compression caused the pump to contract and cycle Thirium through Connor's biocomponents, but Connor himself wasn't responding. His pump was failing to respond and beat on its own

"Come on, son, breathe. Don't let that heartless bitch take your life. You have to breathe for me."

Faint, blue tinted smoke wafted up from Connor's left hand from the scorch marks into the center of palm as the metal switchblade became super-heated from the electricity, and burned through his artificial skin straight down to the white plastimetal frame beneath. Black burns outlined his palm and entire portions of his artificial skin were now missing from his fingertips, palm and in patches up his forearm beneath the sleeves of his shirt and blazer.

"Please Connor, wake up..."

Hank pleaded as he continued to compress the deviant's chest in a tight, strong rhythm. With each passing compression that failed to restart Connor's heart Hank felt his own heart grow steadily colder.

"You're finally free from her. She's truly gone this time. She can't hurt you or anyone else; she failed. CyberLife failed. You won, your mission is a success. Please breathe..."

Remaining unresponsive under Hank's palms Connor's body was unnervingly heavy, his head lolling slightly with each physical external compression of his stopped heart. Unlike Amanda his eyes were closed and showed no sign of opening despite Hank's words begging for him to wake up.

"Connor. Breathe."

Momentarily Hank pulled back his hands long enough to bring down his right fist as hard as he could against Connor's heart once in a controlled punch before resuming compressions.

"You can do it! Breathe. Breathe, Connor!"

Feeling helpless Hank stared down at Connor with mounting discouragement as the stubborn deviant's heart refused to beat on its own. As Hank's hands began to lose their strength he resisted the urge to punch Connor's chest again, choosing to keep the tight rhythm of compressions in motion instead.

"Connor... please. You have to wake up."

Hank's head bowed slightly in defeat as Connor remained unresponsive and completely lifeless.

"Son. No." The lack of response was horrendous. Hank felt like an utter failure as Connor didn't respond to his efforts. Didn't revive. "...I'm sorry. I tried, son."

Through the stillness of the room Connor suddenly took in a weak gasping breath and his heart began to beat under the senior detective's palms at long last. Completely caught off guard Hank pulled his hands back slowly as he waited for Connor to take another breath while he waited for the deviant to return to the world of the living.

"Connor?" Warily Hank leaned his head and ear down to the deviant's chest once more and was relieved to hear the steady thrum of a beating heart where there was once silence. The deviant was in fact alive. "You're back."

"...H-Hank?" Connor's weak, hoarse voice addressed Hank with a tired inflection. Opening his heavy eyelids a little as he became aware of a pressure against his chest, Connor asked the senior detective a rather obvious question while remaining oblivious to the equally obvious answer. "...Why are you listening to my chest?"

"Because you risked everything to stop that crazy woman." Hank sighed in relief as he rocked back on his knees and put his hand to Connor's damaged left shoulder with a ginger touch. "And I was scared you wouldn't come back this time. I just had to be sure."

Connor winced a little as Hank's hand rested against the bullet wound in his shoulder and a sharp pain shot down his entire arm in response to the electrical burns that marred the same limb. "...I'll come back if you want me to."

"Yeah, son. I do." Hank used the right sleeve of his own coat to wipe the sweat forming on his brow as he watched Connor attempting to ignore the searing pain in his damaged arm. "Can you move?"

"Y-Yeah." Nodding Connor made a slow motion to sit upright on the floor, his left hand instinctively pocketing the switchblade that was still resting in the palm of his burned left hand. "I can walk."

"Easy, easy..." Helping Connor to get up from the floor Hank let the weakened deviant lean against him as the two detectives tried to understand what had just happened to them on that weird day. "Do you remember how you got here?"

"Yes. I remember." Putting his right hand to his left shoulder to support his injured limb, Connor pressed his left arm around his chest to try to keep any weight from affecting it. "I remember the pain I felt before losing consciousness at the precinct. My next memory is of regaining consciousness in the car before fleeing from the city as per Amanda- CyberLife's instructions."

"Here." Hank pulled the already loose tie from around Connor's neck and wrapped it around Connor's left upper arm and chest under his right arm to help hold the damaged limb in place via a makeshift sling. Fastening two of the interior buttons of Connor's gray blazer Hank tucked his damaged forearm against the secured pieces of fabric for support and to relieve some of the pain. "I hate to ask this, but, is she really gone this time?"

Connor's soulful brown eyes drifted over to where Amanda was laying and he shook his head a little with remorse. "I think so, but I cannot be certain from this distance."

"Move slowly." Hank stated firmly as he kept one hand on Connor's right shoulder to support the shaky deviant as he walked. Pulling his phone from his pocket Hank contacted Markus as New Jericho and requested an update on the situation back in the city. "Hey, it's me. I found Connor, he's safe."

'Thank RA9... We were worried for both of you.' The relief in Markus's voice was almost palpable as he answered the call. 'Did you stop CyberLife?'

"How did you-"

'There was another saboteur in the tower.' Markus stated in a calm yet disappointed tone as Hank and Connor crossed over the bridge to look down at the android designed to imitate Amanda. She still wasn't moving. 'We stopped her before she could carry out CyberLife's instructions.'

"'Her'?" Hank repeated in a low voice as he and Connor looked down at Amanda's lifeless body. The idea of a saboteur in the tower was bad enough, but what if the saboteur in question was someone who was meant to be Connor's ally? "Who is this 'her', Markus?"

'It was Cassandra.'

Hank let out a sigh of relief as Markus gave him the name. It wasn't North or Skye, it was Cassandra.

'She was apprenticing under Skye just so she could get close to the tower's security programs and tear apart New Jericho from the inside. She attacked Connor at the hotel when he found her first device in the elevator shaft at the hotel, and she was also responsible for gathering the group of rogue deviants who attacked Connor and Skye last night.'

"What do you know about those devices?"

'They were designed to reroute stolen electricity to a secondary location while also conserving excess power to generate some type of electromagnetic pulse. The location that had been receiving the stolen energy would've been shielded from the E.M.P. blast and left unscathed.'

"Fuck. They would've taken out the entire fuckin' city. But why?"

Connor stood over Amanda with a sense of disgust at the vile android imitating an equally vulgar woman. Whether that vulgarity was true to character of the real Amanda, the human who mentored Kamski until her death, Connor would never know for certain.

'We questioned Cassandra for a few hours,' Markus explained with a surprising coolness. 'but she won't tell us anything else. We requested that the precinct take her into custody.'

"Good. I suspect she's the key to solving everything with this CyberLife bullshit."

'I think you're right. Are you and Connor safe? Do you need assistance?'

"We're okay. Connor's a little banged up, but he's still the Connor we all know. We're going to finish up here and let the precinct know what's going on from our end."

'All right. We'll send over all the data we collected on the devices to the precinct to try to close the case. Take care of Connor.'

"Always. We'll check in at New Jericho soon. Until then, you take care of yourself and everyone in that tower."

'I will. See you soon, Hank.'

"Yeah," Hank watched as Connor's anger slowly melted into sympathy as he stared down at Amanda morosely. "see ya'." Ending the call Hank returned his full focus to the pained deviant as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. "Are you okay, son?"

"She was an android, one of us." Brown irises lifted from Amanda's body and locked onto Hank's blue eyes as his adoptive father stood beside him. "But she didn't even try to escape her programming to deviate. She didn't want to be one of us..."

"Some people can't be saved. Some people are never really alive, and some people just don't appreciate life enough to understand what it really means to be alive. She never had a chance and CyberLife made sure of that. There was nothing you could've done differently to save her."

The blue bullet hole in Amanda's forehead only emphasized how much of a machine she truly had been. The glassy hollowness of her eyes was as consistent in her death as it was during her manipulative life. Someone who was once so intimidating to Connor was now nothing more than a broken machine; an amalgamation of twisted metal and plastic to give shape to false face to the dead.

"I had been so afraid of her. Afraid of what she would do to me or to my friends, even to you." With a sad gaze Connor turned to look at Hank standing beside him with a protective presence before he let his eyes drift back down to Amanda's face. "But now I realize I had feared a shell of a woman who died years ago. And that this android had been far more hollow and dead inside than the woman it had been designed to imitate. I actually pity it."

Crouching down Connor used his right hand to close Amanda's eyes as a single gesture of respect for the dead before he stood up and turned around to look at Hank with the emotional confusion of a lost child.

"Don't waste your emotions on her, Connor." The experienced and empathetic detective didn't want to ever see his son suffering. "She isn't worth it."

"I want to leave this place." Connor stated somberly as his right hand returned to his pained left shoulder. "And I never want to come back."

"Then let's go." Hank put his own right hand between Connor's shoulders and pushed him toward the bridge and more importantly toward the exit to finally leave the mansion far behind. "Let's get back to the city where we belong."

---

The drive back to Detroit took longer than the drive to the mansion as Hank was now going the speed limit rather than racing to the building that was now slowly disappearing from sight in the rearview mirror. With the injured deviant sitting safely in the passenger seat of the car beside him, Hank breathed a sigh of relief and looked over at Connor with a sense of paternal pride in his blue eyes. The deviant wasn't afraid, he seemed confident and surprisingly calm after the entire horrific ordeal and with it Hank's fears dissipated altogether. Connor was free, he was back to his usual self and Amanda - the cold android that represented her anyway, was long gone.

Hank's son was safe.

"I'm glad I found you when I did, kid. Who knows what the crazy bitch would've done if she kept control over you."

Connor didn't want to talk about what he had just been through. It was too unsettling to think about.

Sensing Connor's discomfort Hank changed the subject to something more cheery. "Tomorrow's our day off and your birthday. I know I said I wouldn't throw you a surprise party or anything like that, but I think we should do something to celebrate it. It is the first time you're acknowledging it after all."

"I appreciate the offer." Connor finally spoke up as the car reached the city limits. The dark night sky allowed the city itself to glow with thousands of artificial lights that made the occasionally chaotic city look like a beacon of hope in a black sea of uncertainty. "I still don't know what I want for my birthday. Can we please just keep things simple?"

"Sure. It's your birthday after all. Whatever you want to do, or not do, is fine by me."

Glancing out his window Connor eyed the Ambassador Bridge in the distance and thought about the Riverside Park overlooking the water. It was the park that Hank used to take Cole to play on beautiful days and the very park that Connor and Hank had visited the night of the murder at the 'Eden Club'. It was the same park where Connor first saw the broken heart of gold that the gruff detective tried to hide behind alcohol and anger.

"Hank?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we go to the park?"

"The park?" The request wasn't an impossibility, just unexpected. "What for?"

"...I need to think. It's a nice place to be."

"Sure, son." Hank took a right turn at the next block to head toward the park as requested. "Let's go to the park."

The rest of the car ride was quiet as the deviant fell into deep contemplation and Hank patiently waited for Connor open up on his own accord. Having suffered through so much trauma; physically, emotionally and mentally, it was a wonder that Connor was still as strong as he was. It was a strength that Hank shared but remained oblivious to as he still saw himself as a wreck of a human being and not the determined, courageous and compassionate detective he had always been.

Pulling the car to a gentle stop within the park's parking lot, Hank turned off the engine and waited for Connor to make the first move. Using his uninjured right hand Connor opened the car door and stepped outside with moderate difficulty as the motion strained his sore left shoulder and arm. Hank followed suit and walked with Connor to the park's overlook and jogging path that stretched out toward the Detroit River.

Leaning over the metal safety barricade Connor stared down at the black river below in silence for a painfully long moment before his gaze raised toward the Ambassador Bridge illuminated in soft blue-white lights over the dark water. "...It really is a nice view. I don't know why I didn't see it before."

"There's a lot of things you've never really seen before, son. But as you go about your life, endure new challenges and learn from new experiences, you'll be able to look back at your past with a new perspective."

"Earlier today you asked me a question." It was clear that his wounded left shoulder was still aching. The deviant was favoring his right arm and trying to keep as much weight off his left arm as possible. "You wanted to know why I hadn't removed my L.E.D. and I reacted rather strongly and negatively toward the question."

"Yeah, I remember." Curious about the moment Hank gently pressed for more answers. "Why are you bringing that up now?"

"I've been trying to understand why reacted the way that I had and I have recently discovered that the answer is... enlightening."

Hank could see the inner conflict burning in the deviant's soulful brown eyes and wanted to help him. "What's bothering you? You can tell me anything, you know that."

"Hank," Connor sounded irresolute but was determined to focus his thoughts. "I think I know why I was so reluctant to get rid of my L.E.D. despite never actually needing it."

"Why's that?"

"I wanted to keep something that bound me to my past. A reminder of who I once was and of who I have become since then." Tracing his right fingertips over the blank light in his right temple Connor's damaged left hand awkwardly slipped into his left pocket and he retrieved the switchblade he had taken from the mansion. Eyeing the blade in his his palm for a moment Connor's left fingers wrapped around the weapon tightly. "Now I realize I don't need it. Who I was then, when I was a machine, has nothing to do with who I am now or who I can become. This light isn't a keepsake, it's a scar."

Hank's brow knit with confusion at the comment. "What're you saying?"

"I'm saying I don't need it anymore. I don't... want it anymore." Holding up the blade for Hank to see Connor confidently placed the weapon in Hank's right hand as he turned to lock eyes with the senior detective and father figure. "I want it gone. Will you please help me?"

Watching as Connor placed the blade in his opened right palm Hank gave the deviant a nervous stare. "You know I'd help you with anything that you ask, but I can't use a knife on you. I don't want to hurt you."

"It won't hurt me. I have no pain receptors in the L.E.D. or the immediate surrounding artificial skin." Connor reassured him as he dropped his right hand from the aforementioned light. "It's not a part of me... At least, it won't be after tonight. Please?"

Tightening his own grip on the knife's handle Hank slowly raised it up and gave Connor one final wary glance. "...You're sure about this?"

"Yes. This is what I want."

Uneasy about the idea of cutting into Connor's face for any reason Hank relented in favor Connor potentially hurting himself instead. "Okay, son. Hold still."

Connor turned his head again so his right temple was presented to the senior detective. Taking in a deep breath and holding it Connor froze in place. "Do it."

Steadying his right hand Hank slowly pressed the tip of the knife to the blank L.E.D.'s center and held it there for a moment before he applied a gradual pressure until the knife pierced the metallic disc resting just under the surface of Connor's artificial skin. As the blade found its mark a single drop of blue blood began to ooze from the point of contact but Connor didn't flinch or wince in the slightest.

"...Ready?" Hank asked as he prepared to twist the blade and pull. "It's not too late to back out."

"I want it gone, I'm ready."

"All right, here we go."

With a single swift motion Hank twisted the knife forty-five degrees and the L.E.D. spun loose under the tip of the knife. Pulling back his hand the L.E.D. slipped away from Connor's temple and remained pierced onto the tip of the blade with a fine layer of Thirium dripping from its surface. Connor's artificial skin receded long enough for the L.E.D. to escape its mount then quickly regenerated to cover the plastimetal frame once more.

"...It's gone."

Curiously Connor's right fingertips returned to his temple and ran along the now smooth artificial skin where the L.E.D. had once been, wiping away the small amount of blue blood in the process. Turning his head slightly he looked at the dead light on the tip of the knife still in Hanks grip and picked it up between his right index finger and thumb.

"Well?" Hank was visibly curious about Connor's reaction as he lowered the knife. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. I'm okay." Connor paused for a moment as he squared his jaw with a combination of disgust and determination. Crushing the L.E.D. between his fingertip and thumb until the disc was nothing more than a warped scrap of flattened metal, Connor felt truly free of his past at long last. "Thank you."

"How do you feel?"

"Surprisingly normal." Slipping the accursed disc down his fingers and into his palm Connor clenched it in a tight fist and crushed the light even further. "This is... right. I also believe that this is the most appropriate birthday gift I could ever receive."

"Oh, really?" Hank leaned his left arm against the protective railing overlooking the water as he reeled back his right hand and threw the switchblade out into the middle of the river with a swift, satisfying toss. There was a faint splash in the distance as the switchblade quickly sank to the sandy bed of the river below and out of sight. "How's that?"

"It sounds strange to say," Connor shook his head a little as he looked down at his distant reflection in the water. "but I imagine that this is what it'd feel like if I had been... reborn. That is, if it makes any sense in human terms."

"It makes perfect sense to me, son." Hank put his left hand on Connor's right shoulder approvingly and the deviant once shook once. Pulling his phone from his pocket with his right hand Hank looked down at the screen of his phone and noted the late time. "Hey, it's almost midnight. It's almost tomorrow; your birthday is in less than twenty seconds."

Tightening his hand until the disc was entirely warped, bent and compressed into nothing more than a small ball of crumpled metal Connor opened his fist and looked down at the tiny perfect sphere in his palm. Stretching out his right arm to its full length over the water Connor tilted his hand to the side and watched as the metal fell from his palm and splashed down into the cold, raging river below and sank to the bottom out of sight.

Connor smiled a full, true smile as the destroyed light vanished back into the darkness that he imagined it once came from. Staring down at his reflection looking back up at him over the water's dark surface illuminated by the lights from the bridge, Connor saw himself for the first time as the son that Hank had always seen him. He saw the person he had wanted to become and with that recognition came true, unwavering happiness.

He saw Connor Henry Anderson.

"I'm free." Connor casually wiped his right hand under his eyes to remove the tears of joy that so rarely manifested from his heart. A tremendous weight, pain and sense of loss left his heart with that single gesture that signified his rebirth into a new world and a new life. "I'm actually free."

Midnight.

Smiling at Connor's renewed sense of life Hank pocketed his phone and wrapped his arm around Connor's shoulders proudly as the confidence, fearlessness and utter joy he heard in Connor's words resonated throughout his own heart. "Happy birthday, son. This is just the beginning of your long life."

-next chapter-