Detroit Michigan: November 7th, 2038 - 08:52pm

It was a cold and snowy night in the sprawling city when Lieutenant Hank Anderson and Connor, an android specially designed and sent by CyberLife to aid the Detroit Police in hunting down defective androids known as "deviants", had been assigned to a stakeout in a decrepit neighborhood where dangerous deviants had been reportedly sighted. Positioning themselves atop the snow-covered rooftop of a two-story office building, Connor knelt at the edge of the roof and cybernetically scanned the streets below for any sign of movement by anything with an android life signature. Indifferent to their assignment Hank stood with his back against the large rectangular concrete stairwell leading to the rooftop from the interior of the building with his arms folded over his chest. The seasoned Lieutenant was watching Connor patrol the streets from afar with absolute disinterest marked in his blue eyes.

The two detectives were assigned to work together seemingly for the convenience of the people with higher power in both the precinct and CyberLife itself. Despite the arrangement being temporary. it was clear that Hank still resented being assigned to work with Connor and wanted his obnoxious assignment to end sooner rather than later. Hank and Connor had already handled several investigations together and were successful, but Hank still wasn't impressed with Connor or wanted to deal with an android in general.

"The deviants were seen in this neighborhood, most likely using the abandoned buildings to hide from the police." Connor stated with an emotionless tone from where it knelt. It seemed as though the rumored android Revolution was just around the corner and Connor felt compelled to succeed in identifying and capturing as many rogue deviants as possible before it was too late. "Perhaps they have created a type of refuge in which they can gather in greater numbers."

"Like an army?" Hank scoffed with an incredulous reply from where he stood. "From what I've seen deviants either go rogue and attack people, or they find a 'friend' and go into hiding like those two girls from the 'Eden Club'." Recounting the previous night's events made Hank doubt his anger toward androids for only a split-second before he decided he still disliked them. "Why bother this one if it isn't hurting anyone? We're wasting valuable time when we could be looking for the deviant leader who's actually planning on doing something to the city."

"It's true that deviants do seem to follow a pattern of behavior once their initial programming has been compromised, however, I-" A sudden flash of red light from the first floor of the abandoned factory across the street caught Connor's attention and stole its words. The entire discussion of going in search of the deviant leader had been immediately forgotten. "We have movement across the street."

"The deviant?" Now curious Hank asked what was happening as he unfolded his arms and walked toward the edge of the roof to stand beside Connor. "You're sure?"

"Affirmative." Connor had managed to get a quick facial scan of the deviant trying to hide in the factory, the blue L.E.D. on its right temple flashing yellow for a moment before returning to its standard blue during such a cybernetic scan. "I spotted the deviant's L.E.D. and managed to confirm their identity; a male 'LM-100' that had been reported missing by its owner six days ago. It is our target."

"Okay then." With absolutely no interest in handling another deviant who wasn't an immediate threat, Hank pointed to the metal ladder attached to the fire escape that he and Connor had used to climb to the roof of their building an hour beforehand. "Let's go get it and bring it in for questioning. Maybe it knows where the other deviants are hiding."

The deviant across the street seemed to suddenly realize that someone was watching him from a distance. The deviant froze in place, his red L.E.D. flashed in his temple in nervous contemplation unintentionally giving away his position without fail. Just as quickly as Connor had spotted the deviant the deviant himself bolted through the empty factory in an attempt to flee the now pursuing infamous 'Deviant Hunter' who had tracked him down.

"It's getting away!" Connor shouted, its blue L.E.D. flashing to red in an instant then back to yellow. "We need to move, now!"

Swiftly Connor jumped onto the long ladder, slid down the metal rails until he was just below half of the ladder's overall length, then jumped down the rest of the way onto the snowy sidewalk below. Beginning a rapid foot pursuit of the fleeing deviant Connor had inadvertently left Hank behind in favor of chasing down its target.

"Connor!?"

Hank shouted as he climbed down the same ladder as fast he could to give chase as well. His human movements were comparably slow to Connor's quicker android reflexes and made the already aged detective move about with less grace than he cared to admit as his hands and feet slammed down on the icy cold ladder rungs in a rapid rhythmic patter.

"Connor, get back here! That's a damn order!"

Too focused on its mission Connor sprinted across the busy street through the first floor of the factory in pursuit of the confirmed rogue deviant and it didn't acknowledge Hank's order. Leaping over long dormant conveyor belts, broken down machinery and through rusted cargo containers that littered the abandoned factory's ground floor, Connor chased after the fleeing deviant as the frightened android led Connor through the factory and back out onto the snowy, icy streets where traffic was becoming more hectic and congested during the evening rush.

Autonomous vehicles sped by without slowing for even an instant as the running deviant and Connor raced through the dangerous streets as the chase continued. The deviant leapt over the hood of a speeding vehicle to cross the ice laden street while Connor unexpectedly lost its footing on a patch on unseen black ice in only milliseconds. As Connor slipped on the street and struggled to regain its balance a passing vehicle clipped it in the right shoulder and right side, stunning Connor where it stood causing its L.E.D. to flash to red in response to the powerful impact.

"Connor?"

Hank had managed to catch up to the chase in time to see the deviant disappearing into the night and Connor caught between the two busy lanes of speeding traffic.

"What the hell are you doing?! Get out of there right now!"

Connor tried to move out of the way of the unstoppable traffic as it stumbled backward, but another vehicle slammed directly into its abdomen causing Connor to roll up and over the hood and then the windshield of the car before it fell onto its left side between the lanes in the middle of the icy street. Determined to get up, determined to finish the chase, Connor pushed itself up from the ground with one hand and balanced on its shaking legs as its visual sensory input faded in and out of clarity. The damage to its optical relay units was courtesy of striking the hood of the speeding car with his head, and was now struggling to properly recalibrate.

From the distance of the sidewalk and through the darkness of the night Hank could see the dark blue Thirium dripping from Connor's mouth and a stain of Thirium forming on the white dress shirt across Connor's abdomen from where it stood stunned in the middle of the street. There was no doubting that Connor had been damaged by the two cars that had struck it or that the android was too stunned to make a move on its own.

"Damn it, Connor!" Hank shouted even louder and far more aggressively as he tried to get the bleeding android to move out of harm's way. "Get out of there! MOVE!"

Struggling to gain its bearings Connor turned to the sound of Hank's voice, its vision slowly returning as its visual sensors came back online, and responded to Hank in a garbled, static filled voice. "...L-Lieu...tenant?"

The bright white headlights of yet another speeding vehicle encroached on Connor directly before it with no sign of slowing down. The twin lights caused the Thirium stains on its ruined clothing to glisten brightly in a macabre sapphire tinted display of the damage that the android had sustained. Connor put up its right arm out of some bizarre and unexplainable instinct to protect itself from the impending third impact of the encroaching vehicle when suddenly a different impact at its side caught it off guard as it sailed through the air before landing safely on the sidewalk.

"I said to fucking move!" The unmistakable gruff voice of Hank shouted directly in Connor's ear in absolute frustration and anger. "What's your problem?! Fuckin' idiot..."

Much to Connor's surprise Hank had managed to tackle it out of the way of the oncoming traffic before the third vehicle had the chance to strike its body. Landing on its back on the snow-covered sidewalk, Connor tried to process the situation that had just transpired all while Hank laid on his chest atop Connor's legs trying to do the same.

The two detectives were both stunned and left nearly silent by what had just happened. Adrenaline was surging through Hank's veins while Connor was being bombarded by warnings and errors that its system had sustained from being struck by two different vehicles, then tackled to the unforgiving sidewalk by its own partner.

"Connor? Hey, talk to me." Gathering his senses Hank pushed himself up from the android's legs and crawled up to Connor's side. Patches of Connor's artificial skin were missing from its left cheek around his eye, shoulder and upper arm from where it had impacted the road after being struck by the second vehicle. "You okay, son?"

That term, 'son', seemed so strange to the android as it heard Hank's words but was unable to reply as its systems fought to prioritize its self-healing program post incident. It was one of the few times that Hank addressed Connor as a person rather than a machine, and it was very curious to think about.

"Answer me, damn it!" Frustrated with Connor's silence Hank shouted in the android's face again immediately dropping any sign of compassion in an instant. "Are you okay?"

"I'm... f-functioning." Connor replied as Thirium continued to leak from the left corner of its mouth and trail down its chin toward the side of its neck. The android gasped, or at least what could be considered a gasp from someone who doesn't breathe like a human but rather circulates air through dual ventilation biocomponents. Such biocomponents - artificial lungs - acted as a means of keeping android internal systems from overheating. "I w-will be able t-to continue on... with the m-mission."

"Bullshit!" Hank refuted as he took in the sight of the spilled blue blood, torn clothing and exposed bare white android plastimetal frame beneath patches from the scraped away artificial skin. The man didn't need to be a technician or an engineer to know what Connor was down for the count. "You're hurt!"

"'D-Damaged'." Connor corrected sharply as its ability to speak eased slightly. "Androids do not get... 'hurt'. I am a machine, not a human. I am damaged."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... So you've told me." As per usual Hank dismissed the comment as he stared at the growing stain of Thirium on Connor's abdomen. Pointing to the stain on the dirty white dress shirt with one finger he gave Connor an annoyed glance and asked about the blue tinted elephant in the room. "What's going on here?"

"My Thirium pump regulator has been damaged." Almost as if what was happening was inconsequential Connor explained the situation as its program finished running a self-diagnostic on its systems. The prognosis was not favorable. "I will shut down in less than six minutes, twenty-one seconds."

"A what kind of pump?" The senior detective questioned the comment as android terminology was still foreign to him. "And why's it important to your shut down?"

"Thirium pump. The equivalent to that of a human heart." The response sounded cold and indifferent coming from Connor's blood-stained lips as it didn't think of itself as anything beyond an obedient machine. "The r-regulator controls the heartbeat of said pump."

"What?! Your heart?" Now realizing how seriously Connor had been damaged Hank's lingering indifference faded entirely. "Your heart is damaged?"

"That is correct. However, the damage itself is revolving around a secondary component connected to the regulator - not the regulator itself."

"And you said that you're going to shut down. As in you'll... die?"

"Also correct."

"Shit..." Hank stared at the pooling Thirium spreading over Conner's abdomen with great disdain visible on his paled face. Never one to just turn a blind eye to people in need, seemingly even to people who weren't actually people according to the law, Hank instinctively fell into first responder mode with the intention of aiding Connor to the best of his ability. "What can I do to stop this shutdown?"

"Nothing can be done." Having preconstructed its viable options through CyberLife maintenance links Connor accepted its fate and resigned itself to shutting down on the cold sidewalk in the dark of the night. "The damage is too severe, and our resources are too limited to do anything beneficial."

"So that's it? You're just going to give up?"

"It is not a matter of giving up, there is nothing more than can be done to remedy the situation."

"What's going to happen after you shutdown?" Everything that was happening was just too new and confusing for Hank to try to reason on his own. "Are you going to get repaired at CyberLife and then return to work as if nothing happened?"

"CyberLife will transfer my memory into another 'RK-800' prototype; another Connor. My s-successor will continue the investigation in my place."

"It's that simple, huh? A machine breaks down and we just toss it out and replace it with a newer model?" Hank's voice was growing louder with frustration, loud enough to be heard over the still speeding traffic just feet away, as the heartlessness of the entire situation began to righteously piss him off. He stood up abruptly and loomed over Connor laying on the snow at his feet with a new purpose burning in his blue eyes. "Fuck everything else! It doesn't matter! A newer, better model will just take its place. Why even fuckin' bother trying to fix or repair anything? Right?"

"This is what CyberLife-"

"Fuck CyberLife!" The curse echoed down the street and into the night as Hank finally said what everyone in Detroit was thinking. "I'm not talking about a piece of shit company; I'm talking about you damn it!"

"Me?" The passionate tone of Hank's words was perplexing to say the least. "I do not-"

"You're not just a machine or a fuckin' tool, you were assigned to me as my partner. And I don't just throw my partners in the fucking trash if they get a little banged up on the job! All right?"

"I..." Connor hesitated a little as it realized that Hank was sincerely worried about its fate. The death of Hank's son had permanently affected Hank's life in the most negative sense, and as a result Hank now saw death as a challenge to overcome. "Very well... There is a panel that can be accessed in my torso. If you can open it, you can possibly locate the source of the damage and repair it."

"Yeah, okay..." Agreeing to at least try to do something Hank knelt back down beside Connor again and pulled open the stained blue fabric of Connor's shirt to expose the Thirium stained body beneath. Like the left side Connor's face and left arm, there was a patch of artificial skin absent around the still bleeding wound in the android's battered abdomen. "Okay. Walk me through this process."

Guiding Hank every step of the way Connor trusted the senior detective enough to stall its impending shutdown. "Press your f-fingers down in the center of the panel one point two inches above the damage site."

"Like this?" Hank asked as he put his two fore fingertips into the directed position. There was no artificial skin covering the panel due to the surrounding damage and made it a little easier to follow Connor's directions. As his fingertips touched the panel Hank jumped back a little and retracted both of his hands for a moment before slowly replacing them over Connor's abdomen. "Jeez... You're breathing!"

He had never noticed that androids did in fact breath. It was so eerily human that it made him feel uncomfortable.

"Since when does a machine need to breathe?"

"Lieutenant?" Pulling Hank out of his odd thoughts Connor redirected the senior detective's attention back to the task at hand. "I still need help."

"Right, right. Sorry." Pushing aside the fact that he just learned that androids did in fact breathe, Hank focused on the task with full attention as he returned his hands to the designated area for proper maintenance. "Right here?"

"C-Correct." Connor confirmed, his voice beginning to reverberate more frequently as his vocal modulator became affected by the drastic internal Thirium loss. "P-Push down and a p-panel will unlock. Slide it t-to the left to exp-pose the abdominal c-cavity beneath."

"Yeah, okay. Got it." Without hesitating Hank did as Connor instructed and opened the panel near the center of Connor's torso. A massive puddle of leaking Thirium began pooling out through the opened panel and oozed over the edges over Connor's sides, clothing and Hank's hands in the process. "Ah, fuck!" Hank complained again as he pulled his hands back for a second time to avoid the leaking Thirium from staining his skin. "What a damn mess!"

"Pl-Please, Lieutenant." Connor all but begged as its visual sensors began to fail him again. The damage was going to get worse before his self-healing program would be able to mend it. "You m-must locate the s-source of the leak."

From within the collected puddle of leaking Thirium in the now opened abdominal cavity Hank caught sight of a faint flickering blue light with an accompanying steady thrum near the top of the abdomen bordering Connor's lower chest. What he saw reminded him of a heartbeat. In fact, that's what it was - Connor's heart beating.

"Whoa..." Astonished at what he was seeing Hank commented aloud about the incredible sight before him. He could see the dark blue pump that was eerily similar to that of a human heart beating in the android's chest with the same rhythm of a human heart. "That's just weird."

"Lieutenant?" Unaware of Hank's awe Connor could only ask questions while its vision continued to fail. The whites of its eyes were beginning to blacken while its brown irises began fading into a bright blue hue "Is s-something wrong?"

"What? No, no." Hank tried to push away the thought of touching a beating heart from his mind as he set about saving Connor's life. "I got this under control. How do I find the leak?"

"Use your f-fingers to f-feel for any ph-physical abnormalities."

"Physical abnormalities?" Parroting the instructions Hank nearly laughed at the absurdity of what he had been told. "I'm sticking my hands inside your body under your own directions, I think we're long past 'physical abnormalities' here."

"Pl-Please, Lieutenant." Unable to process sarcasm or any other human reactions Connor tried to get Hank to focus. "I d-don't have m-much time left."

"Right, sure. I'll do it."

Tentatively Hank rolled up both of his coat sleeves to his elbows then dipped his fingers into the dark blue fluid. Carefully he began feeling around for any physical damage in the opaque warm blue blood and then pinpoint the exact source of the bleed itself. At first there was nothing that seemed to be of interest, especially since Hank was unfamiliar with android biocomponents or internal schematics as a whole, but his fingertips pressed up against something that felt like a fissure in what was once smooth metal. The flexible metal piece was running down the center of Connor's abdomen alongside his spinal support column and connected the Thirium pump to the Thirium pump regulator.

"Wait, I think I found something. It feels like... a busted pipe. Is that even possible?"

"Y-You've located the s-source of the d-damage." Connor confirmed, its voice still unsteady, and its eyes beginning to fully transition from their usual humanoid brown irises into black and turquoise lenses that would render him momentarily blind. "If you c-can't repair the d-damage, you still m-may be able to st-stop the bl-bleeding to give m-me m-more time."

"I don't think so." Pulling his hand back from the wound Hank openly lamented after he assessed the damage through touch alone. "I've worked on cars all my life, and this feels like a crack that needs to be welded shut. I don't have the tools with me to do something like that."

"Thank y-you, Lieutenant."

"You're thanking me?" The emotionless response made Hank's brow furrow with understandable confusion. "For what?"

"For trying to s-save m-me."

"Try? 'Try' my ass! I am going to save you, just shut up and let me think!" Desperate for a solution Hank looked around the sidewalk and looked at the various bits of broken metal and debris in the street as a result of the autonomous cars striking against Connor only moments before. The way the vehicles continued on their way after striking a pedestrian just made Hank grateful his own car was an automatic and not fully autonomous. "If I can't fix the pipe, maybe I can replace it."

"Theoretically, y-yes." The glitching android confirmed in garbled manner. "But locating a c-compatible p-part will-"

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?"

"Yes."

Hank almost smirked at the naive response from the android as he tried to think of a way to repair the damage, even if it was only a temporary fix, and keep Connor from shutting down. Rummaging through the pockets of his coat Hank found nothing of immediate use, but his hand did brush against the cold metal frame of the gun in the holster at his right hip. Such contact inspired a little creativity on the seasoned detective's part.

"Hold on, I have an idea."

Removing the gun from the holster Hank began taking the gun apart, piece by piece, until he isolated the barrel from the rest of the weapon.

"No promises..." The senior detective stated as he returned his attention to the leaking pipe in Connor's torso. "But at least I can honestly say that I gave it my best shot." Reflecting on what he just said Hank shot Connor a preemptive annoyed glare. "And if you make a comment about a pun or some shit, I'll slap you."

"Lieutenant," Connor's visual sensors had failed entirely leaving it blind to the world around it. "wh-what are you d-doing?"

"I just told you, my best shot. Now, shut up and don't move."

Hank took in a breath and held it to steady his hands as he located the two ends of the pipe within Connor's bloodied torso. He then pulled the two ends free of the coupling in the pump and connected coupling in the pump regulator. With a loud 'snap' the damaged pipe was pulled free and out of Connor's abdomen in a single swift motion.

"This won't be pleasant, but it is your best bet at surviving this."

Surprised by what it just felt inside of its own body Connor let out another bizarre gasping sound in response to the Thirium leak intensifying unexpectedly.

"L-Lieutenant... you h-have... fifteen s-seconds... t-to replace the... p-pipe." Connor's already red colored L.E.D. began to blink in and out rapidly as its system prepared for shutdown, and its breathing hastened as if in response to intense pain. "N-No... s-second chances."

"Shit! Okay, hold on."

Focused and determined to do the right thing by his partner Hank moved quickly to slip the barrel of his gun into position to replace the damaged pipe that he had just extracted. The barrel was a little bit longer than the original pipe, but the diameter was identical. Forcing the barrel into place Hank didn't pull his hands away until he heard a 'click' of the metal bindings connecting with one another inside the couplings and securing in place. The length of the gun barrel and lack of flexibility caused the length of Connor's opened abdominal panel to be stretched open slightly as if a winch had been used to force the panels further apart, but by all account the leak had been stopped.

"There..." Hank pulled his blue stained hands away from Connor's torso and leaned down over his fallen partner to check on him. "Connor? Kid? Can you hear me?"

Connor was disturbingly still on the snowy sidewalk looking more like a corpse than a human, or even a machine, as blood continued to weep from its broken body. There was no further motion from Connor;s breathing and the Thirium pump seemed unnervingly still in Connor's chest.

Needing to know for certain Hank leaned down lower and eyed the blank display of the L.E.D. in Connor's right temple and sighed with defeat. It was dark and gray. The breathing motion Hank had only recently become aware of had ceased entirely and he didn't see the android's Thirium pump, his heart, beating anymore.

"Fuck..."

Bowing his head enough to let his long gray locks fall over his face Hank apologized to Connor as he finally accepted defeat.

"I'm sorry, son. I tried."

Suddenly a flash of red returned to the L.E.D., faint at first, then it quickly returned to a standard brighter illumination. A weak breath caused Connor's chest to rise and then fall as its Thirium pump quivered back to life as the android's system rebooted.

"Connor?" The returned signs of life made Hank's blue eyes light up with optimism as he straightened up his posture where he was kneeling. "You still with me?"

There was a heavy silence in the air before a response was weakly uttered. "L-Lieu... tenant?"

"Yeah, it's me." The Lieutenant's relief was as palpable as it was audible when he heard Connor respond. "You okay?"

"...N-No." The bloodied android admitted pathetically, its voice still reverberating with a bizarre electronic echo. "But... your s-solution has st-stopped the leak. F-For now."

"Great, I didn't kill you. Now what do we do?"

"I n-need... I need a p-permanent repl-placement. Or I w-will... resume bleeding out."

"Where do I find one?"

"C-CyberLife."

"No! No fuckin' way!" Wanting absolutely nothing to do with the greedy corporation Hank refused to go near that oppressive tower secured on Belle Isle. There was only one way out to the isle and that meant driving down a secured drive with armed guards and far too much red tape for Hank's liking. "If they hear that you need a new part, they'll just throw you away and send out a clone. I told you that I'm not going to let that happen."

"There is... n-no choice."

"No, not true. There's always a choice." Hank put his hand down on Connor's undamaged shoulder and squeezed once to try to reassure him. "There's a whole stock of replacement confiscated parts that had been stolen by deviants back at the precinct. I'll get you a replacement part and no one will even know it's missing."

"The... evidence list." The android logically accounted for such a notable discrepancy. "It w-will be... inaccurate."

"Relax." Replying curtly Hank pocketed the remaining pieces of his gun and prepared to help Connor get up and off the sidewalk at alst. "Evidence goes missing all the time."

"That d-doesn't... p-put my m-mind at ease... Lieutenant."

Not all surprised by the response, Hank shook his head a little as he pressed his fingertips back down on the opened panel in Connor's torso to seal it up again. The artificial skin failed to regenerate around the damaged area as Connor's systems were already strained from the massive loss of Thirium from attempting to heal other more critically damaged areas in his body, which wasn't at all surprising.

"Come on." With a controlled strength Hank grabbed onto Connor's arm and hefted the android up into a sitting position on the sidewalk. "Let's go, on your feet."

"I c-can't walk." Truly helpless at the moment Connor admitted that it had been left temporarily immobilized from his waist down. "I... can't f-feel... m-my legs."

"Shit. All right, 'plan-B' then." Hank kept his hand around Connor's shoulder to help the android remain in an upright position as he thought of a solution. "Hope this doesn't suck for either of us."

Kneeling down in front of the android Hank pulled Connor forward until Connor's upper body was laying over his shoulder and the android's weight was supported entirely by the senior detective. Standing up slowly Hank hefted the limp0 body up from the sidewalk with his arm wrapped around Connor's leg to keep him from falling away, and then walked down the sidewalk to his car parked behind their stakeout building.

"Damn Connor, you're pretty light for being made of metal. What gives?"

Connor remained uncharacteristically quiet as Hank carried it to safety. Its blinded brown eyes had shut, and its breathing rate had slowed considerably.

"Connor? You still with me?"

The strain of being so severely damaged had caused most of Connor's systems to power down into low power mode until the damage itself could be repaired by a technician.

"Never thought I'd miss having you spell our boring facts and details. Hang on, I'll get you patched up."

Hank hastened his pace as he carried Connor back to the Oldsmobile during the cold, dark night without another back-up plan in mind. Though no longer in immediate danger of shutting down, Connor was still in desperate need of emergency repair. The older detective was nearly out of breath when he returned to the car parked behind the building where the stakeout had taken place, but he didn't slow his stride as he knew his partner's life was on the line.

Unlocking the driver's door to the Oldsmobile easily, Hank pulled it open and then pulled his seat forward to gain access to the backseats of the two-door vehicle. Hank carefully bent down to lay Connor's body over the backseats of the car without jostling him too much in the process. Putting his hand beneath Connor's head Hank guided the unresponsive android down into a laying position on its back as if Connor were any other human capable of feeling pain or discomfort.

"I gotcha', son."

Speaking more as a guardian and less of a detective, Hank pulled his blue stained hand from Connor's head after the android was laying down. An old, worn-out navy blue blanket used during extreme cold or to keep Sumo comfortable during car trips was wadded up and tossed onto the floor of the backseat near Connor. Hank pulled the blanket out of the car to shake it out a little, a small plume of dust and dog hair erupted from the disturbed fabric, before he draped it over Connor's bloody body to try to keep it warm.

"I'll get you somewhere safe, kid. You gotta' trust me right now."

Going to CyberLife was out of the question as they'd just throw Connor's current body in the garbage and replace it with a new model. The precinct wouldn't give a damn about Connor, either. They hadn't even officially hired on a technician yet despite having almost a dozen androids working in the precinct. The painfully limited options left just one place that Hank could take Connor and keep the injured android safe from further harm and hopefully begin to heal.

"Fuckin' hell... The kid better not say a word about this to CyberLife."

Mindful of the traffic Hank drove back to his own house as quickly as he dared, his stakeout and fleeing suspect no longer of importance. He didn't bother to call in the failed chase or escaped deviant knowing it'd require him to return to the precinct to fill out a report on the situation, and that was time he couldn't waste.

Glancing up at the rearview mirror Hank studied Connor's face in the reflection with worry evident in his blue eyes. The L.E.D. in Connor's temple was still red and blinking in and out, and its breathing was slow and shallow. The fact that Connor was breathing at all was still incredible to think about.

It was so... human.

In fact, as much as Connor tried to deny it, it was behaving more human than android with every passing moment it spent with Hank. That was something that Hank had in fact noticed but didn't mention.

Pulling his aged car into the driveway beside his house Hank parked it quickly and threw open his door. Removing his seatbelt and stepping out of the car Hank again pulled up the front seat and bent down to drape Connor back up and over his shoulders. Carry the downed android into the safety of his home, the navy blue blanket still covering Connor's battered chest and abdomen, Hank walked around the side of his house to avoid his neighbors potentially seeing him with a limp body over his shoulders.

Walking through the backdoor of the house Sumo, Hank's loyal Saint Bernard, barked once as his master returned home at long last. Acknowledging the dog as he kicked the backdoor shut behind himself with one foot Hank readjusted his grip on Connor's legs to ensure he didn't slip or lose balance.

"Good dog, Sumo. Stay down."

Hank stated casually as he walked past his happy pet and laid Connor down on his back across the soft beige couch in the livingroom. Adjusting the blanket over Connor's bloodied chest and abdomen with a ginger motion Hank made sure the temporary fix was still holding firm.

"Good. Stay like that."

Pulling his phone from his coat pocket Hank scrolled through his contacts and selected Officer Lance Wilson. The younger officer had been very patient with Hank's chronic absenteeism at the precinct and was even polite to Connor when the android reported to the precinct in search of Hank the morning after their first case together.

"Just need to make a quick call, kid."

Needing to fill the silence in the air Hank continued to speak to Connor, of whom remained expectedly silent from where he laid, as a means of keeping himself calm during such a hectic moment.

"Hey, Wilson, it's Hank. Look, I need a favor..."

Alert and keeping vigil Hank stood beside the front window in the livingroom with a bottle of cold beer in his blue stained hand as he waited for his contact's requested arrival. Watching through the window for any sign of Wilson or some CyberLife creep trying to locate Connor to drag it back to the tower against its will, Hank sipped at his beer and occasionally glanced over his right shoulder to the couch where Connor was laying and waiting for help. Due to sheer weakness and a lack of awareness, Connor's head had lolled slightly to the left which gave Hank clearer view of the L.E.D. against its right temple and made it easier for him to keep track of the android's condition.

The L.E.D. had stopped blinking but had remained red in color. Whether that was a negative change Hank couldn't be certain. From beneath the blue blanket Connor's chest was also barely rising and falling with its noticeably shallow breaths, but at least it was still breathing after everything it went through. In fact, the breathing made Connor look more human than anything else at the moment.

Ever loyal to people in need, Sumo was laying on the floor next to the couch as if trying to keep Connor company throughout the night and was watching Connor's every vague movement very carefully. The big brown eyes of the Saint Bernard were watching over Connor as Sumo kept his chin resting on his outstretched paws.

"Good boy. Keep an eye on him for me."

Hank commented again as he turned his head to look back through the window overlooking the snowy street. An unmarked police car appeared in front of the house and pulled up behind the Oldsmobile in the driveway. Wilson himself exited the car and made his way to the front door with an unmarked cardboard box in his hands.

"Good timing."

Eager to get the strange night over with Hank didn't wait for Wilson to ring the doorbell or even knock. Sitting his beer down on the small table next to the door Hank pulled it open and met Wilson before he reached the end of the front walk and he just stood in the door to wait for him.

"Here's what you need, Lieutenant." Wilson confirmed as he passed the box into Hank's hands without question. A few stray snowflakes were now clinging to his clothing, his raven black hair and matching goatee as the early winter settled over Detroit as the air continued to chill. "No one saw me leave."

Accepting the cardboard parcel Hank looked down inside the small box and eyed it curiously. "You're sure this will work?"

"Yeah, positive. I ran the test myself and this part is compatible with all androids."

"Good, thanks." Hank was about to shut the door when an interesting thought popped into his head. "You know, you're taking an awfully big risk doing this for me. What's in it for you?"

"Well, to be honest with you, I'm doing it for Connor."

"Connor?" The answer was entirely unexpected and deserved clarification. "What for?"

"A few months ago," Wilson replied honestly as he let out a foggy breath into the chilly November air. "my cousin was a first responder to a hostage situation downtown. He was shot by the suspect - a deviant android - and left to bleed to death on the terrace. It was Connor who was sent in to negotiate and he took the time to tie a tourniquet around my cousin's arm to stop the bleeding. He saved my cousin's life."

Hank flashed the ghost of a smirk after Wilson relayed the story with absolute gratitude behind his words.

"He saved one life, so now I'm going to help you save his." Came the simple and sincere answer from the kindhearted officer. "That's all."

"I thought I was the only one who referred to androids as people, not 'its' these days."

"Well, I had a lot to think about while I visited my cousin in the hospital." Wilson replied honestly as he peered into the dim livingroom where Connor was laying over the couch. "Androids... They're more like us than we originally thought."

"Yeah, don't I know it."

"Goodnight, Lieutenant."

"Goodnight, and thanks again."

Quietly Hank shut and locked the door and carried the box over to the couch to finally tend to Connor's wound. Sitting on the edge of the coffee table beside the couch Hank placed the box down on the floor and picked up the replacement part that Wilson had brought for Connor without anyone noticing his departure.

"Good thing you're better at making friends than I am, kid. Let's just hope we don't run out of people we can ask favors from before we get this deviant mess sorted through."

After pulling back the blanket Hank opened the panel on Connor's torso once again and he looked down at the gun barrel that was now drenched in Thirium. The Lieutenant wrapped his hand around it to hold tight. Giving one forceful yank of the barrel, Hank pulled it free and the result was Connor involuntarily jerking up slightly, its back arching as if in extreme pain, and it let out an eerie gasp that sounded incredibly human.

"Oh, shit!"

The unexpected and violent reaction made Hank swear loudly, which of course Sumo barked at in return.

"Sumo, down!"

Hank practically ordered as he put his hand on Connor's chest and pushed the android back down until he was lying flat on its back once more.

"Easy, easy... It'll be over soon."

Moving his hands quickly Hank inserted the replacement part where the gun barrel had just been inside Connor's torso with surprising ease. There was another audible 'click' as the replacement part was accepted and the Thirium pump and Thirium pump regulator began to resume a normal function as full Thirium flow had been returned to his vital biocomponents.

As the new part was accepted into its system Connor's breathing improved as the effort took less work to accomplish and its Thirium pump itself, its heart, began beating at a healthier rhythm. There was no sign of further distress or additional bleeding around the replacement parts either.

Leaning over the android for a moment Hank wiped the Thirium from the gun barrel against his coat and watched the glowing L.E.D. begin to brighten as Connor's self-healing program began to respond to the compatible replaced part. By all account Connor was now officially stable.

"Good. That's good. You do your thing and I'll do mine."

Hank simply requested as he replaced the blanket and rose to his feet. The man stepped over Sumo as he made his way to the small table in his adjacent kitchen to get a clear space to work. Placing the gun barrel down on the table Hank pulled out the rest of the pieces of the gun from his pocket and began to properly clean and reassemble the weapon for future use. Pulling a fresh bottle of beer from the refrigerator Hank pried off the cap and downed a large swig of the chilled beverage to steady his nerves.

Looking back into the livingroom from where he was standing Hank saw Sumo sniffing at the side of Connor's neck for a moment before he circled around in place to settle back down on the floor beside the furniture. It seemed so strange to have another person in his house, let alone an android that Hank wanted absolutely nothing to do with.

"Didn't think I'd end up babysitting a damn android in my own damn house. How things change..."

It was just past dawn when the glowing L.E.D. in Connor's temple flashed from red to yellow. Connor's previously compromised system began to fully reboot; its visual sensors returning to normal function and its auditory sensors regaining full power. Opening its heavy eyelids and letting out a weak sigh from its still somewhat pained chest Connor glanced about the area and realized that it was inside Hank's house. The android had no memory of arriving at the house and couldn't determine how long it had been forced into emergency stasis mode. Lifting its head up from the armrest of the couch Connor looked about the livingroom and spotted Sumo laying on the floor beside the couch and Hank sitting in the worn-out beige recliner a few feet from the end of the couch.

Oblivious to Connor waking up Hank remained asleep with his rebuilt gun clutched weakly in his hand atop his lap. The two now empty beer bottles were resting on the floor beside the recliner under Hank's opposite hand as it hung limply over the corresponding armrest.

"...Lieutenant?" Connor's voice had been restored to its normal sound, no more reverb or echo accompanied its words. "Lieutenant, are you awake?"

"Connor." Hank woke up with a start as soon as he heard Connor speaking to him. From where he sat, he could see the L.E.D. in Connor's temple was now yellow which gave him a sense of relief. "How do you feel, son?"

"I am..." Responding to such a question seemed unusual. It was made all the more bizarre since once again Hank used the term 'son'. "I am weak."

"Yeah, massive blood loss does that." The senior detective commented as he rose from his recliner and sat down on the edge of the couch next to Connor's legs to check on him again. "Go figure."

"I did not lose actual blood, I lost-"

"I know. Thirium." Rolling his eyes Hank had to break things down for the somewhat naive android. "I was just speaking in simpler terms."

Unable to actually feel embarrassed Connor just responded in a humble manner. "...Oh."

"Looks like some of the damage to your face is already healing up." Hank observed with a genuine interest as Connor's face was less patchy and appeared almost entirely normal. Lightly Hank put his hand under Connor's chin and turned the android's face back and forth slowly. "With any luck no one will even notice that you got your shit rocked last night."

"Yes." Connor confirmed as it pressed its fingertips to its face where the damage had once been. There was no sign of any missing artificial skin or scrapes from hitting the cars and the street. "My system is now able to fully regenerate the artificial skin that had been damaged by the impacts I endured."

"So that means you're healing, right?"

"Correct. My systems are all functioning, though my Thirium pump regulator is only functioning at seventy-four percent function. It will regain full function within the next four hours, nineteen minutes and forty-eight seconds."

Hank crossed his arms over his chest as he stared down at Connor with intrigue burning in his gaze. It was as if he was trying to figure out the solution to a puzzle that was still missing some of its pieces. Then again, he'd have the same reaction to any and all androids in his life regardless of how he knew them.

The quiet staring was quickly noticed by Connor as it propped itself upright on its elbows from where it was still laying. "Is there something wrong, Lieutenant?"

"No, nothing's wrong. But there is something I want to know."

"What's that?"

"Why the fuck do you need to breathe?" Remembering how shocking it was when he noticed that Connor did in fact breathe was still shocking as Hank asked about that particular function. "You don't have the human equivalent to lungs in there too, do ya'?"

"In a sense. Yes."

"You- You do?" The answer he received wasn't one Hank was expecting and made his brow arch inquisitively." What the hell for?"

"It's called dual ventilation biocomponents. Their function allows me to regulate my body temperature to prevent overheating and are designed to imitate human lungs." Connor explained with a surprisingly casual tone, but then again it was routine knowledge to the android and as such it was just a known fact to be shared. "The result is a physical reaction that imitates breathing while also serving a vital purpose in keeping my internal processors and biocomponents from suffering heat induced damage."

"Uh-huh... And that's why your pump thing looks like a human heart, too?"

"Correct." Ever honest Connor confirmed the question with a slight nod of his head. "The design was used to simplify the construction and overall function of the Thirium pump to make repairs and identifying malfunctions or isolating damage more efficient for technicians. It's contained within a spherical pouch of flexible latex to ensure it also beats in a similar manner."

Hank had no idea what that meant but he was satisfied to at least get some kind of answers to his questions. "Look, we still need to make a report about that stakeout last night, so you just rest for a couple more hours and then get yourself cleaned up. Okay? We'll figure out our story on the way to the precinct."

Connor pushed back the blue blanket still draped over itself and looked down at its torn-up clothing and the fading blue stains from the evaporating Thirium that once drenched its white dress shirt and gray blazer. "Yes. I will do so."

"Good." Hank yawned and walked away from the couch, stepping over Sumo once again in the process, to walk down the hallway to his own bedroom at the very end of the short corridor. "Until then, don't bother me. I need to get some damn sleep before we handle any more problems. I'm exhausted..."

"Very well." Agreeing with the notion Connor set an internal alarm to awaken him in three hours. "I will now enter rest mode."

Patiently Connor watched over the back of the couch as Hank disappeared from sight down the hallway. Laying back down over the furniture it closed its eyes in an effort to cybernetically make a report to CyberLife, but then decided against it. Something in its protocol told it to wait, something unfamiliar. Maybe it was because of the damage he sustained the previous night that it was behaving in an uncharacteristic manner.

Then again, maybe it was because of Hank's influence over his mind and behavior that was resulting in such a strange manner.

"The Lieutenant saved me." Raising its voice Connor called out to Hank as it decided it needed to acknowledge the deed. "Lieutenant?"

Hank replied with a sleepy and somewhat annoyed yell from down the hallway through his partially opened bedroom door. "...Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For saving my life."

There was a brief pause before Hank yelled once again from down the hall and through the door. "You're welcome. Now, shut up! Go to sleep!"

-next chapter-