With his hands in a white knuckled grip around the large steering wheel of the brand new patrol car Hank drove through the slick, icy, snowy back roads in the dark of the night with Connor at his side and as his lone passenger. The two detectives had been called out to investigate a possible homicide of a human with a deviant being involved as the prime suspect, but upon arriving at the scene the seasoned homicide detective and highly attuned deviant detective were able to confirm that the murder was in fact a tragic suicide. As it turned out, the victim's android had tried to save them when they had found the human laying on the floor, hence why the deviant in question was covered in the human's blood and in a state of panic.
A snowstorm had followed the detectives from Detroit as they left the city and made the investigation near the outskirts somewhat difficult. However, the duo was convinced that the deviant was entirely innocent. Fortunately, with the success of the peaceful Demonstration and Revolution as led by Marcus, the deviant would not be held accountable for the death in any way and subsequently destroyed. Hank and Connor made sure of that before leaving the scene to head back to Detroit to deliver their final reports and get out of the storm.
"Of course we're the ones who get sent out in the middle of nowhere during a damn blizzard." Hank grumbled as he struggled to see through the building snow and darkness on the desolate dirt roads as he drove back to the city at a snail's pace. Even with the windshield wipers running at max speed the snow was still blinding and too thick to see through clearly. "I hate winter."
"We were assigned all cases regarding deviants." Connor replied almost casually to the very basic question. His scanner was monitoring the weather while Hank drove to ensure that the two detectives didn't get stranded by blocked off roads. "I doubt that it was anything personal, Lieutenant."
"Yeah, yeah. But that doesn't mean I have to like it." Ever annoyed Hank sighed angrily as he tried to navigate the dark roads through the storm. "I need a damn drink. A big one!"
"Perhaps, you should-"
A sudden impact at the passenger side of the vehicle and a deafening 'crunch' of metal with the echo of breaking glass ended the conversation abruptly. The patrol car rapidly rolled four times before coming to a stop upside down in the dark ditch just off the edge of the snow and ice covered road. The second vehicle that had struck the patrol car swerved and smashed into a tree at the opposite side of the road coming to a forceful stop. The sound of the second mangled vehicle's horn blaring loudly resonated through the isolated area though no one else could hear it over the snowstorm.
After everything stopped spinning Hank's blue eyes slowly closed as a throbbing pain in his head stole his vision and he knew nothing more of the world around him as passed out over the steering wheel in a dead faint. The seatbelt and airbag had protected Hank from serious harm, but he had been physically shaken up and tossed around during the accident all the same.
An unknown amount of time passed, and a cold breeze rushed through Hank's messy gray hair as he steadily regained consciousness. An icy pressure on the back of his aching head roused him from his state of unconsciousness, and a single bright, white colored light beaming from the nearby ditch blinded him as he gradually opened his blurry eyes to look toward the painful illumination.
"...Wh-What the hell?"
Feeling dazed Hank grimaced as he lifted his head from the cold ground to look around and found himself lying flat on his back and staring up at the stars of the night sky overhead after the blizzard had mercifully faded away. Sitting upright Hank realized that he was laying in the middle of the dirt road several feet away from his wrecked patrol car, but he had no memory of getting out of the smashed vehicle or walking away. The single remaining headlight of his patrol car illuminated the icy road making the snow sparkle brightly all around him while a bright orange fire burned from its upturned undercarriage creating a black smoke that vanished into the black night sky.
"What the hell happened? How'd I... get out here?"
In pain and confused Hank grumbled to himself as he stared at the bright amber blaze consuming what was left of the patrol car. It was then he realized he was alone on the road despite not being alone when the accident had occurred.
"Sh-Shit! Where the fuck is Connor?!"
There was no sign of the deviant anywhere. Turning his head Hank spotted the truck that had hit his car then veered off the road smashing into the tree a few yards away. The engine was still on as were the headlights, but the front of the truck was completely smashed in, and the windshield and the side windows were shattered. Shards of glass littered the ground blending in with the snow and ice all around the truck courtesy of the numerous broken windows. The smell of leaking gasoline filled the air as did acrid smoke pouring out from under the hood of the demolished truck.
Mercifully the loud horn had stopped blaring as the smashed front end of the truck finally took its toll on the device rendering it useless. The subsequent silence that followed was only randomly interrupted by the gentle crackling of the flames eating away at the totaled patrol car or the harsh snowy wind blowing through the surrounding trees warning of the snowstorm's return.
"Asshole..."
In pain and annoyed Hank swore as he slowly got up to his feet, his legs were trembling and his hands already numb from the cold. His head was swimming with a monstrous headache, but Hank managed to push aside the discomfort and focus on the task at hand of checking on the unknown driver. Making his way over to the truck Hank pulled on the door handle on the driver's side only to find that the door was jammed shut. Peering through the broken side window of the truck Hank looked inside the cab at the single passenger who was seemingly unconscious over the steering wheel and the now fully deflated airbag.
"Hey, asshole!"
Hank shouted bitterly at the driver trying to provoke a response from the unconscious man.
"What the hell's your problem?!"
Silence.
Aggravated beyond compare Hank sighed as he reached his hand inside the cab of the truck through the broken window and pressed his fingertips against the side of the driver's neck. No pulse. The man's skin was already deathly cold and pale, and it was clear he had been dead since the truck collided with the tree.
The unmistakable stench of alcohol filled the cab of the truck and stung at Hank's tired eyes as he fought to ignore the incredible pain of his headache. Looking down at the floor of the cab Hank could see a faint amber puddle and bits of shattered glass from a broken bottle of whiskey, confirming that the drive had been actively drinking while driving around in a blizzard. The size of the puddle confirmed that at least half of the bottle had already been drunk before it broke on the floor.
"Drunk."
Following his instincts as a trained detective Hank examined the scene even closer before stepping back. It was then he noticed that the driver had failed to put on his seatbelt before he drove off while drinking, which ultimately ended his life when his truck smashed into the tree.
"And stupid. A lethal combination."
Turning away from the truck in disgust Hank slowly wandered back over to his own burning patrol car in search of his phone and in search of Connor. He hadn't seen the deviant when he awoke on the road which made Hank feel instantly uneasy. Despite his annoyance at Connor for always following him around Hank secretly appreciated having a partner who watched his back so closely and was always there when he needed a helping hand.
"Connor, where are you?"
Hank called out in a loud voice as he examined the wreckage of the totaled patrol car. The heat from the fire kept him from getting too close to the vehicle as it burned itself into a smoldering hunk of useless metal in the ditch. Kneeling down on the snow covered ground he looked through the cracked windshield to the interior of the vehicle but didn't see any sign of Connor inside or his phone.
While he was glad he didn't see Connor being burned to death in a wrecked vehicle, Hank was still at a loss of where the deviant could have gone or how to find him.
"Where did he go? I know he wouldn't just bail on something like this. The kid's too damn dedicated to helping people to do something like that."
Hank stood upright slowly and walked around to the passenger side of the car where the truck had impacted the vehicle to examine the scene of the wreck more closely. The passenger side door had been completely removed by someone, or something, very strong fairly recently. The door itself was tossed casually into the ditch beside the car since it was effectively useless. There was also a small puddle of blue fluid on the road next to the vehicle that trailed over to where Hank had been laying, then backtracked past the car and down the road toward the truck, then finally back down the from whence they came after leaving the crime scene.
"Connor? You better be okay..."
Needing to find his friend Hank called out Connor's name as he sought missing his deviant partner. The blue fluid was unmistakably Thirium, Connor's blue blood, which meant Connor was injured and bleeding. Walking down the dark yet white road a few feet Hank continued to call out for his missing partner but received no answer every time. The only response he received came from his own echo bouncing through the surrounding trees.
"Where did you-"
Through the darkness a flashing red dot just a few feet further down the road caught Hank's eye. Hank immediately recognized the red dot as an android's L.E.D. blinking in the darkness. It was undoubtedly Connor's L.E.D., and the red coloration was a bad sign.
"C-Connor?!"
Hank tried to rush toward the crimson light, but the throbbing of his headache suddenly stole his energy causing him to stop and press his hand to the side of his aching head until the intense pain finally lessened. Hobbling over to the red light, Hank looked down at the expressionless face of Connor laying on his back in the middle of the road, seemingly unconscious with a light dusting of white snow covering his body.
"Shit... Connor?"
Moving carefully Hank knelt beside the deviant and put his hand on Connor's chest. There was no movement from Connor or reaction to Hank applying pressure to his chest whatsoever.
"Wake up, kid. What are you doing out in the middle of the fuckin' road?"
The deviant didn't respond to the question. Connor's systems were failing due to Thirium loss, hypothermia, and his remaining power was too low to function properly and acknowledge any verbal commands.
"How did-"
Hank felt a cold, wet fluid on his palm as it rested over Connor's chest. Looking down at his palm Hank saw the distinct color of blue blood staining his skin and realized that the damage to Connor's body had been significant enough to cause heavy bleeding.
"Shit! Oh, shit!"
Moving as quickly as he could Hank pulled open Connor's gray blazer and found the source of the bleeding. A large sheet of twisted metal had penetrated Connor's right side and the lower portion of his chest. By some miracle the metal hadn't completely destroyed the deviant's vital biocomponents, but the damage was still critical and needed immediate repair from a skilled technician.
"No... Not again."
The sight of the fresh blood was too much as Hank felt his stomach knot at the hauntingly reminiscent scene that was unfolding all around him. The icy cold wind made his stomach tighten further as the horrible memories of the car accident from three years prior came flooding back to him. The distinct fear of being forced to relive the worst night of his life began to distract Hank from his emergency training as a first responder.
"Not this fuckin' nightmare again. Please, not this again. Not this..."
Three years prior Hank had lost his young son, Cole, in a car accident and it had left a permanent impact on Hank's mental health and outlook on life. Cole needed emergency surgery, but a sober surgeon was unavailable to perform the operation. Cole died from his injuries even after an android medic tried to save him, and Hank was unable to do anything with his own power to do anything about it. On that horrible night, Hank's life changed for the worst and sent the detective spiraling into a deep, dark depression that stunk of booze.
"Connor?"
Needing to confirm that Connor was still alive Hank shook the deviant lightly by his shoulders to try to get a response without jostling the metal debris lodged in Connor's side. Connor's artificial breaths were extremely light and strained as his system tried to compensate for the damage to his internal lines and hardware.
"Please answer me. Say something, anything."
"...Lieu...tenant?" Connor weakly replied at last as his external sensors had indicated that someone was nearby. The L.E.D. flashed red rapidly as his program cycled through its processes to analyze his current status and run a self-diagnostic. "...L-Lieu...tenant... Anderson."
"Yeah, it's me." Hearing Connor's voice even as he spoke in a stilted, static-laced manner reassured Hank that the deviant was in fact still alive. "It's going to be okay, Connor. I'm going to figure out a way to get us out of this mess, all right? You just need to trust me."
Hank insisted as he carefully put both of his hands under Connor's shoulders and carefully lifted the deviant up into a sitting position on the cold road. Grabbing on to Connor's arm Hank wrapped the limp, cold limb around his shoulders before he reached his opposite arm around Connor's lower back to grab onto the deviant's belt to support Connor's weight and take pressure away from the shrapnel in his right side. Hefting the semi-conscious deviant up to his feet Hank supported as much of Connor's weight as he could and started walking down the road with his damaged partner leaning heavily on his side as they ventured away from the car accident.
"We're going to get back to the city and you'll get fixed up in no time." Letting out a huff of white breath that disappeared in a cloud before his eyes, Hank did his best to ignore his headache as he tried to save Connor from permanent shutdown. "It's just going to be... a bit of hike. That's all."
Trudging slowly down the road back in the opposite direction from where Hank had found Connor, back toward the city still tens of miles away, the senior detective walked slowly with Connor at his side. The Lieutenant was determined to power through his headache and kept his focus on finding his way back through the snow and darkness to save Connor's life.
"Are you still with me, Connor?" Hank asked lowly but firmly as he huffed his tired breaths that escaped in small white clouds that seemed to follow him with every step he took. "Talk to me, kid."
Connor was silent for a moment before his static laden voice finally replied in a near whisper. "...Wh-What should I... say?"
"Just, uh... Just answer something for me." Thinking of something worthy to talk about helped Hank keep moving forward on the road with Connor being practically drug toward the city beside him. "What were you doing way down the road like that? Took me forever to find you."
"...I was... I w-wanted... to..." Connor seemed to be having difficulty finding his words. Whether that was a result of his damaged biocomponents or a missing fragment from his memory, neither could say. "I... I can't- Sorry. C-Can't... remember."
"It's okay." Not at all annoyed by Connor's lack of answers Hank replied in a calm voice as he began to slow down his pace from sheer exhaustion. "Don't worry about it. We'll figure this all out later."
"...C-Cold." Connor managed to utter the single word as his systems continued to flash warnings across his visual processors. "Feel... cold."
"Okay, I'll get you somewhere warm." Tightening his grip on Connor's side Hank pulled the deviant up closer against him to try to keep as warm as possible while out walking in the dark and snow. "Just hold on for me. That's all I need you to do; hold on."
From down the road in the direction that the two detectives were currently walking the dual glow of approaching yellow headlights illuminated the duo in an amber light. Hank grimaced from the intensity of the sudden brightness and put his hand up to shield his eyes from the painfully bright light as another vehicle drove down the road toward the two injured men at a very slow and controlled pace.
"Looks like we may have found a ride back home." Hank stated in a whisper, only to be met with silence and increasing weight as Connor fell into another state of unconsciousness against Hank's shoulder. "Connor? Are you awake?"
Silence.
"Shit. Can't say that I blame you for passing out right now."
Hank stopped walking and waited for the oncoming vehicle to reach them where they currently stood. At least he hoped they'd reach him and not turn off onto some unseen side road in the distance leaving them alone or just drive right past them as if they weren't even there.
"Hang on, Connor. Try to stay with me, kid."
The approaching vehicle was an old red pick-up truck being driven by a young teenage boy, barely seventeen years of age. Stopping at the side of the road the driver rolled down his window and looked at Hank and Connor with wide eyed worry, then did the same for Hank. "Whoa! What happened you, two?" The young man asked with sincere concern in voice. "How bad are you hurt?"
"Car accident, and we're hurt bad enough." Replying honestly Hank adjusted his grip on Connor to ensure neither of them slipped on the icy surface of the road. "We need a lift, and I lost my phone. Think you could give us a ride?"
"Yeah, yeah. Hop in!" The young driver opened his door and leapt down from the cab with the intent of helping Hank carry Connor over to the other side of the vehicle to climb inside of the cab. "Here, let me help you."
"Sure, watch his side. He's really banged up right there." Hank cautioned as he let the kind teenager help him carry Connor to safety. "What's your name, son?"
"Adam. Adam Chapman." The young man replied calmly and respectfully. "My mom and I live just down the road, you can both rest with us until you can get to wherever you need to go."
"Thanks, but I need to get him back into the city for repairs." Ignoring his own pain for the moment Hank climbed inside the cab of the truck sitting in the middle of the bench seat. Reaching out his hand he took hold of Connor's limp arm and helped Adam to guide the deviant inside the cab to sit next to him and lean right up against his side again. "He's too banged up to wait for assistance."
"Sorry, but the roads leading into the city are all blocked by snow and downed trees. No one's getting into Detroit until morning."
"Ah, shit..." Hank swore as he realized that he and Connor were stranded in the middle of seemingly nowhere. "I should've figured as much. This break in the snowstorm is the only break we're going to get tonight."
"Don't worry." Adam insisted as he carefully lifted Connor's legs up into the truck before shutting the door of the cab. "My mom can help him. She's saved dozens of androids before."
"Your... mom?" It sounded too good to be true, and Hank questioned as Adam ran around the front of the truck to get back into the driver's side of the cab. "She knows how to help androids?"
"Yeah. She's helped a lot of deviants who ran away from their abusive owners for months before the Revolution even happened." Sitting down behind the steering wheel again Adam slammed his door shut and fastened his seatbelt. "She can help him, too. There's still supplies at the house."
The kindness and generosity in Adam's words touched Hank in a way that he thought was a long dead. Someone was actually taking the time to help someone else in their time of need, and there were no strings attached; nothing to be gained or a debt to be paid. It was all coming from the goodness of Adam's heart.
"Thanks, son."
"You're welcome." Adam carefully backed up the truck on the road to turn around and drive home with his two new passengers in tow. "My house isn't too far away."
Slowly Hank pressed his hand down on Connor's shoulder to hold the unconscious deviant as steady as possible during the drive, while also trying to keep his own mind from drifting. From the level of pain that he was experiencing in his head and the definitive blackout he had endured; Hank was certain he had been concussed during the accident and wanted to remain as alert as possible until he could see a doctor for a proper diagnosis and treatment.
"What're you doing out here anyway, Adam?" Talking was the best way to keep conscious and monitor the severity of his own injuries until he had a better means of controlling the situation. "It's dangerous to be driving around in the dark after a blizzard. Trust me, I'm an expert on that."
"We lost power about an hour ago." Adam explained calmly as he drove down the road at a steady clip. He didn't want the truck to slip and skid off the road. "I went to see if I could find the source of the damage so I could report it, but I can't get down the road far enough to figure out what happened. There's a big tree blocking the way. I wanted to go check the other side of the road just to be sure, and that's when I found you two."
"Pretty big risk driving out here all alone after such a nasty storm."
"Yeah, well, it paid off, didn't it?"
"Yeah. I guess it did." Hank watched as Connor's head began to bow down as the deviant's power level continued to drop to a dangerously low level. "Hold on, Connor. Help's here."
"Can I ask what you two doing are out here too?" Wanting some answers of his own Adam wisely questioned Hank as he slowly drove down the icy road back to his home. "What happened?"
"We work with the Detroit Central Police Department." Having nothing to hide Hank retorted honestly as he tightened his grip on Connor's shoulder. "We were on our way back from the scene of a- we were coming back from a case," Hank corrected himself as he didn't want to accidentally put any macabre thoughts in Adam's head by mentioning a suicide. "and we were hit by a drunk driver."
"The other driver..." Adam hadn't seen anyone else in the area and didn't want to accidentally overlook another person in need of help. "Are they okay?"
"He's gone." It was never easy to confirm another person's death, no matter who they were or how they died. "Looks like his neck was broken during the crash. Died instantly and didn't suffer."
Adam looked over at Hank and noticed that the older man had a deep cut on his forehead and glassy stare in his blue eyes. "Are you hurt?"
"A little banged up, but believe me, I've been through worse."
"And him?" Next Adam looked over at Connor on the side of Hank briefly before returning his gaze to the road before him. "You said his side was injured."
Amused by Adam's sweet nature Hank almost laughed at the question. "He's seen some pretty serious shit too."
"I didn't know androids worked with the police."
"Well, normally the androids at the department handle things at the receptionist desk, weed out junk complaints from the real deal when it comes to phone calls, work patrol during the graveyard shift, or handle security for the parking garage. Connor was the first android to actually work on cases in the field, and he's my partner."
Adam smiled a little at the comment about hearing how Hank saw Connor as an equal. "Wow, that's pretty cool."
"Yeah, it is." Trying to remain somewhat optimistic Hank agreed as he looked over at Connor's expressionless face. He couldn't directly see the L.E.D. blinking in Connor's right temple but the red glow being cast on the side of the cab and window told Hank that his partner's condition wasn't improving. "How much farther?"
"We're already there."
Adam stated as he pulled the truck up the long icy driveway toward a snow covered greenhouse behind a large, beautiful homestead. Turning off the engine Adam threw open his door and jogged over to the opposite side of the cab to help with Connor as the wounded deviant remained unconscious. As he pulled open the passenger side door, he took one look at the wounded deviant and stepped back in fear at what he saw.
"Whoa..."
"What's wrong, Adam?" Hank watched the young man's reaction warily as he worked to help Connor move. "Tell me."
"There's... a lot of blood."
"A lot of-" Hank leaned over and peeled back Connor's gray blazer to reexamine the serious wound. While Connor had already lost a considerable amount of Thirium long before Adam had found the duo walking down the road, the amount of fresh Thirium that was quickly soaking into Connor's white dress shirt was absolutely alarming. "Damn it, all that moving must've dislodged the metal."
"Don't worry." Fairly quickly Adam came to his senses and grabbed on to Connor's arm without touching the metal in the process. As he placed the deviant's cold, limp arm around his shoulders he looked to Hank as he spoke and sought a little assistance. "We can still help him."
"Then let's move." Adjusting his grip on Connor's opposite arm that had been pulled back around his shoulders Hank urged Adam to get moving as he dropped out of the truck's cab and onto the snowy driveway. The abrupt motion made Hank's head ache with a searing pain but he pushed it aside in favor of helping his partner get treatment first and foremost. "Let's get to it."
"Mom?" Adjusting his grip on Connor's arm Adam shouted for his mother as he helped Hank carry Connor to the front door of the house. Pushing the door open with his shoulder Adam guided the two detectives inside the much warmer farmhouse and stood just inside the door out of the cold. "Mom! We need help!"
The house had no electricity save for what minimal lighting could be activated by the generator running out back. The generator was focusing primarily on keeping the heat active until the power could be fully restored to the area. A few candles were glowing on tables in the livingroom and the kitchen counter in the distance. A fiery glow at the top of the nearby staircase indicated either another candle or lantern was being used to ensure no one tripped in the darkness of the house during the power outage.
"Adam?" A woman's voice responded from the kitchen at the far end of the house as she peered into the livingroom. Rushing through the house the woman, of whom had to be Adam's mother, spotted her son holding up a bloodied android as well as a pretty banged up looking human right beside him. "My goodness, what happened?!"
"Car accident, ma'am." Hank replied as the woman gingerly put her hand beneath Connor's chin and gently lifted his head to get a better look at his face in the dim lighting of the foyer. She noted his red tinted L.E.D. blinking slowly and seemed genuinely concerned. "Your son saved us tonight."
The woman turned to look at Hank and visibly winced at the smear of blood on Hank's forehead just below his hairline. "You're both in rough shape, but he's in critical condition."
"Can you help him?"
"Yes." The woman confirmed as she took Connor's arm from around Hank's shoulder and motioned for Adam to help her carry the wounded deviant into the adjacent room. It was a modest laundry room with a wooden bench against the far wall, an older washer, and old dryer with a mountain of neatly folded towels atop of the large appliance. "We still have some spare parts and blue blood that can help him."
Grateful for all the help that he and Connor were receiving that icy night Hank watched as the mother and son duo worked together to carry Connor into the laundry room and lay him down on his back very lightly on the bench jutting out from the far wall. Adam grabbed a clean towel from a large stack that had been folded and left on top of the dryer and placed it under Connor's head like a pillow to help him feel more comfortable.
With a mother's care the woman peeled back the fabric of Connor's blood soaked gray blazer and stared down at the entry point of the jagged chunk of metal in his right side and chest. Thirium stained the entire right side of Connor's body around the wound and stretched out over his chest as the blue blood saturated the cotton material of the shirt. The already weak breaths that Connor managed to take seemed so pitiful and waning as he fought to perform even the most basic of physical motions while in emergency stasis mode.
As the dedicated woman loosened Connor's black tie and unbuttoned his stained white dress shirt beneath, she glanced up at Hank with unparalleled kindness in her dark brown eyes. "I didn't get your name."
"It's Hank. I'm Lieutenant Hank Anderson, Detroit Central Police Department." Hank put his hand to his head as he spoke again. It seemed even the simple acting of talking was enough to cause his head to throb with pain. "And that's Connor. He's my partner."
"Nice to meet you, Hank." The woman glanced down at Connor's face for a moment before returning his focus to Hank. "I'm Rose. And you've already met my son, Adam."
"I did. Thank you for all your help."
"Mom," Adam was beginning to sound worried again as he stared at the painful wound still bleeding in Connor's right side. "he's lost a lot of Thirium. I don't know if he can wait much longer."
Rose nodded in agreement as she eyed how much of the precious blue blood was soaking into Connor's clothing. "Bring me three pints of blue blood from the storage closet. I need to see which of his biocomponents were damaged before we even try to repair or replace anything."
"Okay, I'll be right back."
Unsure of what to expect Hank held his breath as Rose opened Connor's blood stained shirt to fully expose the wound beneath, and both humans felt a chill run up their spines. The metal had pierced Connor's side at a frightening angle and had torn into his body coming to a rest near the center of his torso. The artificial skin that once covered his side had receded from alongside where his lower ribcage would be if he were human. The lack of skin was about one inch in diameter all around the wound leaving only the exposed, cracked plastimetal frame behind. Thirium leaked from the fractured frame all around the injury at an alarming rate and Connor seemed to be having increased difficulty breathing. With each forced breath his damaged chest and abdomen would rise and fall rapidly as he struggled to breathe with the shrapnel inside of his chest and torso.
Rose gently pressed the fingertips of her two forefingers to the red colored L.E.D. in Connor's right temple before pressing her opposite hand down on his rapidly rising and falling stomach near the wound. In response the artificial skin that covered his abdomen receded further giving Rose access to the now exposed plastimetal panels beneath.
"You really do know a lot about androids, don't you?" Hank asked with admiration in his voice as he watched Rose work with an expert precision behind each movement she made. "Makes me glad that of all the kindhearted strangers to find us tonight, that it was you and Adam."
"We're always happy to help." Rose smiled a little at the comment as she pressed down on the exposed plastimetal panel and slid it open to reveal the internal components of the abdominal compartment of Connor's torso. "Unfortunately, I had to learn a lot of androids over the past few years. Many androids who found their way here were very badly damaged. I did my best to help repair them and in time I've learned a few tricks here and there."
"What can you tell me about Connor's condition?"
"It's bad."
The compassionate woman confirmed as she stared at the pool of lost Thirium that had collected within Connor's torso. His weak but rapid breaths made the sight of his exposed abdomen all the more brutal to witness. Several Thirium lines that circulated the blue blood to Connor's biocomponents had been damaged by the jagged metal which caused the initial leak, but the most severe damage was to a single biocomponent in the center of Connor's abdomen.
"But the damage is not catastrophic." Rose turned to look at Hank over her shoulder with a determined gaze. "His thermal regulator has been damaged, and he'll overheat soon."
"Can it be repaired?"
"Yes, I mean... possibly. I've never seen biocomponents like his." Looking for more information Rose turned over the lapel of Connor's gray blazer and noted his model number. "Strange. 'RK-800'. I've never encountered one before."
It was Hank's to smile a little at the observation and the confusion in Rose's tone. "He was the most advanced prototype ever created by CyberLife before they went under. He's unique."
"That makes sense." Continuing to assess Connor's condition Rose gently put her fingers inside the opened compartment and applied light pressure to the leaking lines to stem the bleeding. Connor's body twitched slightly from the agonizing contact, and he let out a low groan of pain. The verbal response of course meant that Connor's systems were still functioning, though at an uncomfortably low level. "Hopefully we have a compatible part to replace the regulator, otherwise..."
"Yeah. I know." Despite not being a technician Hank understood the severity of the situation, but he didn't want to acknowledge it all the same. "I get it."
Adam returned to the laundry room, squeezing past Hank in the process, with three bags of the requested blue blood in his arms. He also had some kind of plastic box full of additional supplies in his grip. "I just checked the rest the biocomponents, we're low on everything but I don't think it'll be too bad."
"Good. See if you can find a thermal regulator for any 'RK' model." Rose took the provided blood and supply kit from Adam and nodded at Hank. "You won't find a perfect match, so just do your best, hon'."
"Right."
Working to keep Connor alive Rose handed the bags of blue blood to Hank before sitting the box - an android medical kit - down on the bench next to Connor's legs for ease of access. Opening the lid to gather the necessary items she needed, Rose paid little attention to Hank craning his neck to see what was inside the kit itself.
What looked like several rolls of water-resistant adhesive lined the case, as well as bags of small flexible tubes, tiny metal pins, small metal clamps, a sharp utility knife, some kind of small manual suction pump and a soldering iron were contained inside. But stranger still were the rolls of what looked like white gauze that any human would use to dress their own wounds.
"I'm going to stop the bleeding." Rose explained as she set about using the clamps to pinch off the ends of the damaged and compromised lines actively leaking Thirium. Again, Connor twitched and groaned in response, but he remained in place on the bench and didn't try to resist Rose's assistance. "It'll be a little messy, but it won't be nearly as bad as it looks. If you can hear me Connor, I want you to know I'm only trying to help. Don't be scared."
"It's okay." The senior detective nodded slightly as he crossed his arms over his chest and continued to watch from the doorway with an uneasy pit forming in his stomach. He resisted leaning against the door frame as Hank wasn't sure if he'd nod off to sleep or not. "I trust you to do what's best for him."
Adam pushed past Hank in the doorway a second time with two biocomponents contained inside protective plastic bags in his hands. "These two are both model number '800'; I couldn't find anything labeled as 'RK'. I wasn't sure which of these two would be the better fit."
"Bring them here." The determined woman instructed her son as she used the utility knife to cut through the damaged lines then replaced them with the new lines within the android first aid kit. "We'll take a closer look in a moment."
Adam listened to his mother's instructions and hovered over Connor protectively as he eyed the large piece of jagged metal still embedded in his right side. "How're we going to remove that?"
"Very carefully." Rose stated as she found the point of contact between the debris and the regulator. The debris had damaged the regulator but hadn't fully pierced through the casing yet. "You pull, and I'll guide it out so that it doesn't inflict anymore damage on the way out."
"Yeah, okay." Finding a good angle to work from Adam took hold of the metal with both of his hands and held his breath. Applying a firm but careful grip Adam planted his feet and began pulling on the metal at a steady pace. "...Go."
As the process began Connor's body began to rock and threatened to slip off the edge of the bench as Adam pulled using controlled strength. Unable to keep himself steady Connor was defenseless and let out a gasping breath of pain and confusion as soon as the ordeal began. Rose looked to Hank who immediately approached the bench and put his hands on Connor's right shoulder and his right hip to hold the deviant in place while Adam pulled on the metal debris.
"Easy, we got you." Hank soothed as he kept his partner and friend as still as possible on the bench. "It's going to be over soon, kid."
The three humans worked together seamlessly, albeit awkwardly, to remove the metal without causing further harm to Connor in the process. The debris began to slide free and was accompanied by a sickening 'squelching' sound along with Connor gasping for breath.
"Got it!" Adam hefted the Thirium drenched metal into his arms and backed out of the laundry room. "I'll toss this in the shed."
Connor's red L.E.D. flashed frantically as his system struggled to process the event that had transpired, but then slowed down to a more manageable rate as his system began to stabilize. The deviant took in a single deep breath before resuming a more standard breathing pattern. The worst of the situation was seemingly over, and now he could breathe without hindrance.
Rose grabbed the small suction pump from the kit and used it to drain the excess Thirium out of the exposed cavity before continuing the repairs to Connor's damaged Thirium lines and the affected biocomponent. Without the blood in the way Rose would be able to work much easier.
"That's a lot of blood." Hank noted with that sickening knot tightening in his stomach again. Despite his many years on the force the sight of blood coming from someone he cared about; human or android, never got any easier to witness. "He already lost a lot before he even got here."
"I estimate that he's lost at least three pints of Thirium already."
"Is... How much before it's fatal? Do you know?"
"Five." Rose remained honest as she worked on cleaning up Connor's abdomen. "Androids contain the same amount of blood as a human. We can replenish what he's lost, but even then, it'll take his system hours to recover fully."
"Just..." Hank was torn about what he should be doing compared to what he actually could do for the injured deviant. "Please, keep doing what you're doing. You need to save him."
To keep his emotions in check Hank backed away from the bench and closed his exhausted eyes as the headache he had been hiding began to gnaw at his fortitude mercilessly. He wasn't sure how long he was standing there watching Rose repair and replace the damaged lines in Connor's torso, but it felt like an eternity. It was eerily reminiscent of the night Cole had died. Hank spent painfully slow hours waiting, hoping, praying for some kind of miracle to save his son. But it was too late to do anything to save his son.
Cole had been lost, but Connor still had a chance to be saved.
Adam returned to the laundry room and discreetly slipped by Hank as to not disturb the exhausted detective while he resumed aiding his mother in repairing the damage to Connor's thermal regulator. "Which one?"
"Let's try the first one." Rose turned to her son and her voice caused Hank's eyes to snap open as he watched the next procedure intently "I don't think these will be fully compatible, but we won't know until we try."
The bleeding had been stopped save for the Thirium continuing to leak from the damage regulator, but that soon would stop.
Rose took the first regulator from its packaging and compared it to the damaged one still inside Connor's torso. She compared the size and the connections around the couplings before trying use it to replace the original, then checked the second regulator just to make certain of her decision.
"Something wrong?" Hank could see the worry in Rose's warm brown eyes as she paused her actions despite her previously confident motions. "Do we need to worry?"
"Neither of these regulators are fully compatible." Holding up the two regulators one at a time Rose explained the problem. "One is too small to function without burning out within a few hours, and the other doesn't have the proper connections to attach securely."
"So what do we do?"
"I can try to solder the damage to his current regulator and hope his self-healing program can finish what I start."
"And if you can't do it?"
"Then he'll need a total thermal regulator replacement and I don't know where to find a compatible regulator for his model. Without one he'll shutdown in less than six hours, even with the cold air keeping his core temperature down for him externally."
Hank sighed and squared his jaw as he tried to make the correct decision on Connor's behalf: Risk using an incompatible part that will burn out but possibly bide enough time to get Connor back to the city, or risk keeping the original regulator in place while his processor attempts to repair the damage itself? Neither option seemed to be favorable, but in that moment Hank knew that he didn't have the right to be stubborn or wait to see how things panned out.
"See what you can do with the damaged regulator first." Hank finally decided as he stared at Connor's contrastingly peaceful face in comparison to the carnage that was his opened abdomen and damaged chest. The way Connor was hastily breathing to keep cool was a painful reminder that they were working against an unseen clock. "If all else fails we'll try to replace it with the second one later on."
"Okay." Rose agreed as she set about preparing the soldering iron and a precise amount of solder to seal the damage to the regulator without burning the delicate biocomponent during the process. It wouldn't take long to solder, although the delicate work itself would be time consuming. "Adam, get some cool water in a spray bottle ready for me."
"Sure, mom."
Stepping aside to let Adam back through the doorway yet again Hank had been a bit of a talented mechanic for most of his life and knew that it took great skill, patience and practice to master the art of welding. Soldering was just as laborious of a task, but he trusted Rose enough to let her do everything she could to save Connor's life.
As Rose set about soldering the visible damage to Connor's regulator the deviant began to physically flinch slightly and resumed groaning in pain as he became more aware of his surroundings. His hands tightened into fists at his side as he fought to endure the pain without lashing out at the person trying to help him. His L.E.D. began flashing red frantically again as if in horrible distress, but he didn't say a word or try to protest.
"Hold on, Connor." Hank encouraged as he watched the faint gray smoke rise from the fresh solder being applied to the biocomponent. Adam had returned with the spray bottle and began to rhythmically spray water over the repaired metal as to keep it from overheating while being soldered, and to wash off the remaining Thirium that coated Connor's internal systems. "It's for the best, son. It'll be over soon."
Connor seemed to hear and understand Hank's voice as his L.E.D. began to slow down its rapid cycle and resumed flashing at a slower pace. It remained red in color as the pulsing became less frantic and more consistent in its pulsing. As long as there was some color to the L.E.D. then Hank wasn't going to comment about it.
With her task completed Rose retracted her Thirium coated hands from Connor's torso with a weary sigh as she set the soldering iron back down in the kit. She pressed her hands down on the edge of the opened compartment and the panel slid shut as easily as it had initially opened. Mirroring her movements from before, Rose placed her fingertips against Connor's temple and pressed her free hand down on his stomach, the damaged artificial skin regenerating over his plastimetal frame within seconds of her manually activating the program.
"That should hold for now." Rose told Hank in a calm tone of voice as she sealed up Connor's abdomen. Reaching into the kit one last time she took a roll of what appeared to be normal white gauze and began wrapping it around Connor's torso with Adam gently putting his hand under Connor's back and shoulders to lift the deviant upright into a sitting position while Rose dressed the wound. "He needs to stay in rest mode for a few hours to enable his self-healing program at full power."
"Great, that's great." Hank tried to sound as enthused as he sincerely felt, but his headache stole away whatever energy he felt when he spoke. "Thank you for everything. I wouldn't have known to do any of this."
"Adam, help me carry Connor up into the guest bedroom." Rose asked as she tied off the gauze and replaced what was left of the roll back into the kit. Hopefully she wouldn't need to use more gauze before the cold night was over. "Be very careful not to bend his abdomen too much until he has the chance to recover a little more."
"Please," stepping up Hank volunteered to help while tucking the bags of blue blood deeply into his coat pocket as he returned to the bench and wrapped his hand around Conner's upper arm. "let me do this. You've already done so much for both of us."
Adam nodded in approval as he moved aside to let Hank pull Connor up from the bench and onto his feet. Grabbing onto Connor's free arm Adam led the two detectives from the laundry room and toward the ascending staircase just outside the door. "This way. The guestroom is already made up and is plenty warm."
Rose followed close by as the two men hefted the wounded deviant slowly, carefully, up the staircase with cumbersome but determined steps. "There's a lantern by the door to help you see in the dim lighting. No idea when the power will kick back on."
Ascending the narrow staircase had proven itself a chore, especially with Hank's headache providing some resistance to his movements. Fortunately, Adam was proving himself to be quite physically fit and strong in spite of young age. Reaching the top of the staircase Adam pushed open the door directly in front of him and stepped inside slowly. Rose picked up the lantern from the floor beside the doorway as she joined the two men inside the room and pulled back the top cover over the soft twin bed to allow Adam and Hank to lay Connor down comfortably under the quilt.
The guestroom itself was modest but very welcoming. The soft bed had an old quilt draped over top with a thick, fluffy pillow. A wooden table beside the bed held a small lamp and in the corner of the room was an old wooden writing desk with a wooden chair tucked underneath it. There was a large window overlooking the property and if the curtains weren't already drawn then the sight of the cold winter night outside would've been spectacular.
"I got him." Hank stated as he took all of Connor's weight against his shoulder and guided the deviant down until he was sitting on the edge of the bed. It'd be easier to move Connor around by taking slow steps and guiding the limp android body around on Connor's behalf. "Good thing he's lighter than he looks."
Rose put the lantern down on the table beside the powerless lamp and took the opportunity to slip off Connor's Thirium soaked and torn gray blazer and his equally stained white dress shirt from his shoulders and arms. She then draped the Thirium stained clothes over the foot of the bed for the time being. Putting her hand beneath Connor's head Rose helped to guide him down against the pillow while Hank removed Connor's shoes and lifted his legs up onto the bed with little difficulty on his part.
"There." With Connor now lying flat on his back over the length of the bed Rose pulled her hand away from Connor's hair and eyed Hank with a stern focus in her warm eyes. Connor's L.E.D. was still red despite the treatment he had received, but that was to be expected in light of the serious damage he had sustained to a vital biocomponent. "Now that he's been taken care of it's your turn, Hank."
"...Me?" Hank tried to feign innocence but the pain in his glassy blue eyes and constricted pupils from his intense headache gave away his little secret. "I'm okay."
"That cut on your forehead says otherwise." Rose sharply argued as she crossed her arms defiantly and spoke to Hank with the 'mom voice'. She clearly had some experience with handling stubborn men in her life. "There's a first aid kit downstairs. I'll patch you up and Adam can stay with Connor for a few minutes."
In an attempt to stall his leave of the guest room Hank reached into his coat pocket and retrieved the three pouches of Thirium and held them out for Rose to take back. "After this. Connor needs this first."
"Okay, we'll get him some fresh Thirium." Understanding what Hank wanted Rose gave him a faint grin as she took the bags of blue blood from his hands. Normally she didn't approve of stubbornness but there was something about the way Hank was protectively hovering over the deviant that she found endearing. Setting two of the bags down on the small table beside the lantern Rose prepared the third pouch for immediate administration. "As soon as he's been given his blood, you're coming downstairs with me. No argument."
Appreciating Rose's terse demeanor Hank didn't dare try to argue against her terms. "Deal."
Adam quickly stepped out of the guestroom and disappeared from sight as Rose opened the pouch of blue blood and sat on the edge of the bed next to Connor's damaged right side. Gently Rose replaced her palm beneath Connor's head and tried to lift the deviant upright, but Connor was so deep into his stasis mode that his entire body was limp and too heavy for her to move with just one hand.
"Here." Hank approached the head of the bed and put his own hand under Connor's head where Rose's hand had just been. "What do you need me to do?"
"Lift his head up slightly and open his mouth." She explained simply where she sat as she squeezed the Thirium pouch once to make sure that the blue blood would flow properly. "I need to get the Thirium down his throat to replenish what he's lost."
"He still has to drink it?" That thought was almost his breaking point. Hank looked visibly ill at the mental image that appeared in his head, but he did as Rose instructed while keeping his nausea at bay through sheer force of will. "...Gross. That shit always creeps me out. It's like he's a vampire or something."
Staying focused on her task Rose tried to hide her amusement as she pressed the end of the pouch to Connor's lips. Patiently Rose waited for Connor to respond but he failed to even faintly acknowledge the Thirium being offered. Pouring a small amount of Thirium into Connor's mouth Rose watched for any sign of awareness, but Connor failed to react.
"He's too weak to swallow." Rose lamented as she pulled the Thirium pouch away and looked up at Hank sadly. "I guess I'll have to do this the old-fashioned way."
Adam returned to the guestroom and watched the scene unfolding with quiet intrigue as he stared at the wounded deviant with sincere worry in his eyes. He had a gray t-shirt neatly folded in his hands and seemed to have something on his mind but was keeping it to himself for a moment.
"Adam?" Rose looked to her son with motherly concern in her gaze. She knew that while Adam's mind had changed regarding deviants that he still wasn't entirely comfortable with providing first aid to deviants in need. "What's going on?"
"I brought this for Connor." Adam handed his mom the gray t-shirt to give to Connor to wear. "I figured he could use it since his own shirt is all torn up."
Hank gave Adam a gracious nod as he clapped the young man on his shoulder appreciatively. "Thanks, son. I'm sure once Connor wakes up he'll be able to say 'thank you', too."
Rose took the t-shirt from her son as she gave him a beaming grin of pride and easily slipped the clean garment over the deviant's head and tucked Connor's arms through the sleeves one at a time with impressive ease. As she pulled the hem of the shirt down to cover Connor's bandaged abdomen she noticed the deviant wincing slightly as her hand brushed past his injury.
"His external sensors are still active, but he can't respond to anything we're saying or doing just yet."
Rose pulled the quilt up and over Connor's abdomen as a kind gesture to help him feel comfortable. Pressing her fingertips to Connor's still red L.E.D. and her free hand to the bend in his arm laying limp on the bed at his side, Rose watched as the artificial skin receded creating a circle about inch in diameter and exposed the white plastimetal frame beneath. Just as before she pressed her fingertips down on a panel at the point of contact in Connor's arm where it bends and slid open a small panel that gave her access to large line equivalent to an artery.
"This should take about fifteen minutes to complete."
"You mean you can hook him up with the blue blood like an I.V.? Why not just do that in the first place?" Curious about the decision Hank asked the obvious question as he gently laid Connor's head back down against the pillow to continue resting. "Seems a lot easier."
"It's not as effective when the Thirium is administered through a line. If it's ingested first then his system will immediately detect the added Thirium and recalibrate his system accordingly. When it's administered through a line, especially when functioning on low power, his system won't recognize the increased Thirium volume until it's circulated through his biocomponents for at least three cycles."
"How long is a cycle?" Still not educated on android anatomy or functions Hank inquired as watched Rose clip the plastic tubing attached to the pouch to the port on the line in Connor's arm. "A couple minutes?"
"It depends." Squeezing the pouch twice the blue blood began running down the external line and into Connor's arm just like any I.V. would do for a human. "When an android of a more advanced model, like Connor, is running at full power one cycle is about ten minutes. When he's at low power one cycle takes about thirty minutes."
"Ah." He didn't need to be a technician or a mathematician to understand why ingestion was preferred over line transfusions in androids. "I see now."
Rose lifted the pouch upward and Adam took it from her hand. Attaching the pouch to a small nail jutting out from the wall above the bed where an old shelf once hung, the Thirium drained from the pouch with the assistance of gravity and without any sign of hindrance or obstruction in the line.
"Now," Rose stood up from the bed and took hold of Hank's arm in a gentle manner to remind him to uphold his end of their little bargain. "your turn."
Adam spoke up before Hank the chance to even try to protest and stall any longer. "I'll stay with him, Hank." Pulling the chair tucked away under the nearby desk to the end of the bed Adam sat down and watched over Connor carefully. "I'll let you know if he wakes up."
"Come on, Hank. A deal's a deal." Rose insisted again as she began dragging him toward the opened door. "You need to let me take care of that cut before it gets infected."
"I appreciate your concern." Unable to protest or resist Hank could only remark sincerely as he begrudgingly allowed Rose to guide him back downstairs and into the kitchen. There were only a few candles and a lantern to light up the dark room. "A little cut isn't exactly life or death."
"You're right." Rose agreed surprisingly enough as she led Hank to the kitchen table and practically pushed him down into a chair to sit. She grabbed onto the collar of Hank's dark coat and pulled it down causing Hank to pull his arms free of the sleeves in the process. "Cut or not, any head injury could be fatal if not properly taken care of." Rose spotted a deep cut on Hank's upper left arm as well now that the coat had been removed. "Not to mention a possible infection."
"Head injury?"
"You hit your head." Without blinking Rose stated her observations confidently as she walked over to the freezer and opened the door. Tossing a bag of frozen peas at Hank, Rose watched the senior detective catch it in mid-air and gratefully press it to his aching forehead. "I can see it in your eyes."
"It's that obvious, huh?" Recognizing he had no possible way to try to deny that he was hurting Hank just admitted defeat with an amused scoff. "Guess it must be pretty bad then."
"Could always be worse." Rose reminded him kindly as she pulled the first aid kit from the storage closet tucked under the staircase and joined Hank at the kitchen table. Sitting beside the exhausted detective Rose opened up the kit and began rummaging through the supplies inside just as she had done when she was tending to Connor's injuries in the laundry room. "Let me see."
Slowly Hank dropped the frozen peas from his forehead and placed it on the back of his head instead. He sat upright as he turned to face Rose in a cooperative manner as he finally allowed her to help him. Despite his gruff exterior Hank's heart of gold was made evident in his tone of voice and the gentle way he looked at the incredibly kind woman who gave him and Connor shelter for the night.
"So, are you going to tell me why you and your partner were out in the middle of a blizzard?" Using one the candlelight surrounding the kitchen to her advantage Rose asked Hank a few questions as she brushed back Hank's gray locks from his face and dipped a cottonball in some rubbing alcohol and gingerly dabbed at the cut on Hank's forehead. "Or do you want me to guess?"
"We were-" Hank winced as the cold alcohol came into contact with the raw cut and sent a jolt of pain through his entire head. "We were checking out the scene of a possible homicide. On our way back to the city we were hit by a drunk driver. Your son found us and saved us."
"Unfortunately, we do see some reckless drivers out here pretty often." Dabbing at the wound slowly Rose cleaned up the drying blood and disinfected the wound to keep infection at bay. The cold air had helped the cut to stop bleeding, but even so it still needed to be disinfected and bandaged. "Guess they think no one else will be driving on a back road or something."
"Well, this guy was wrong."
"And I take it the other driver didn't make it?"
"No." Hank confirmed with a low tone as he sat still at the table and cooperated with Rose. "He didn't make it. He died on impact."
"That's a shame. How did you get out of your car?" Rose asked curiously as she noted the lack of blood, bruising and dirt on Hank's hands. Reaching for a clean roll of gauze Rose finished tending to Hank's head wound and bandaged the cut properly. "It doesn't look like you were in an as severe of an accident as you said."
"Honestly, I can't tell you." Hank sighed as Rose placed a patch of gauze against the cut and used medical adhesive to hold it in place. "One minute I was driving, the next I was laying in the middle of the road. Must've stumbled out of the car in a daze before passing out again."
"Look at me." Rose instructed as she studied Hank's pupils in the bright candlelight. She gently put her hand to his chin and lightly turned his face as she watched his eyes moving while he tried to focus on her face. "You might have a mild concussion."
Hearing her diagnosis Hank smiled as he noted the sizable bump on the back of his skull supporting such a theory. "I have to agree."
With Hank's forehead bandaged, Rose next tended to the cut on Hank's upper left arm with the same motherly care that she had shown earlier. It was a cut that the senior detective hadn't even noticed that he had suffered until Rose began fussing with his orange and blue dress shirt's left sleeve to look at the wound.
"I didn't even feel that." Hank admitted as he took off his long-sleeved shirt entirely to expose his arm fully for Rose to clean. "The wonders of the human body, I guess. You don't notice how fu- hurt, you really are until the adrenaline wears off."
"Probably caused by some broken glass." The keen woman deduced as she set about cleaning the deep bloody laceration along Hank's bicep. It was oozing blood, but it wasn't a severe blood loss which meant the glass missed any major veins or vessels beneath. "And you'll need a few stitches to properly close this up."
"You're not volunteering, are you?"
"Only if you trust me." She gave Hank a confident grin as she arched a brow as if challenging the senior detective's endurance. "Do you?"
"Why not? You saved Connor, and he's a fu-" Hank caught himself again before he cursed so as to not offend his gracious host. He didn't want to say something that might make things tense as the snowstorm outside the house began to build in strength as round two passed through the city miles away. "Connor's more complicated than a simple cut to the arm. So, I think a needle and some thread should be no problem."
Rose nodded as she took a small suturing kit contained inside the first aid kit and sterilized the curved needle. Wiping down Hank's arm in alcohol the meticulous woman prepared to place the first stitch with a controlled, precise motion in the painful cut. "Before we do this would you like a drink?"
"Normally I'd say yes, but after tonight..." The smell of the spilled whiskey in the drunk man's totaled truck was enough to repulse Hank away from the very idea of having a drink that night. Not to mention the throbbing headache was a fantastic reminder of his worst hangovers. "That's the last thing I want to do."
"All things considered, I understand. Try not to move."
Hank held his breath as the sharp, curved needle pierced through his skin and Rose set about stitching the wound closed with white silk thread. "So... Tell me about yourself, Rose." He insisted as he made polite conversation and tried to distract himself from the burning pain in his arm. "This house seems pretty big for just you and Adam. Can I ask about your-"
"My husband passed away two years ago." Rose stated sadly without taking her eyes from her work. "Complications from pneumonia after he began treatment for lung cancer."
"I'm so sorry." That was a painful loss that Hank could relate to. Cancer ran in his family and always made him wary of any strange lumps, moles or aches that liked to pop up as he aged. "I lost my mother to ovarian cancer when I was in high school. She didn't suffer, but my dad and I did."
"It was a little difficult to keep up with the house at first, but Adam and I managed to do it. And as we continued on with our lives with the family greenhouse we found ourselves providing shelter to deviants fleeing abusive owners and seeking freedom." Rose seemed to connect to Hank with their shared sense of loss of family through needless illnesses and pain. "It was like a reminder that just as quickly as life ends, new life always finds a way to begin."
"And that's how you learned so much about androids and their inner workings, right?" Hissing a little as the needle pierced through his skin again and again Hank brought up another interesting subject to help distract himself from the uncomfortable procedure. "Why did you keep touching the L.E.D. in Connor's head?"
"When an android is too low on power to respond to basic functions then manual intervention is necessary. By pressing down lightly against the L.E.D. and pressing against the damaged area on an android's person, it's possible to remove the artificial skin so that repairs can be done."
"I didn't know that. Hell, I had no idea that androids even had a type of a manual override. I've had to repair Connor before, and I just figured he was the one retracting his skin as he gave me instructions as oppsed to me doing anything manually." Hank's brow furrowed as another question popped into his head. "What about the gauze? Why'd you wrap him up? It's not like he can get an infection or something."
"It's not traditional gauze that you or I would use on our own wounds. It's a special type that has the same components used in creating artificial skin and is laced with Thirium to help the self-healing program take care of external wounds. By wrapping up an injury in this gauze it tricks the android's sensors into thinking that artificial skin is in place and their syste, will focus on running the healing program for more serious damage rather than keeping the artificial skin active while the added Thirium keep external damaged covered healing on its own. It'll also keep foreign matter from getting inside the exposed frame or Thirium lines."
Feeling like it was a dumb question Hank bit his lower lip and asked anyway. "Is that a problem? Stuff... getting inside their frames or lines, I mean."
"It can be. Like us, android skin keeps their internal biocomponents from getting damaged or dirty." Rose was speaking like a natural teacher as she continued to stitch up Hank's bicep. "It's a primary function, yet elective, as an android can disable their skin at any time. But..."
"But if the android can't respond and remove their skin to treat the damage, then the repair program can't function properly."
"Right. And if foreign matter gets into their biocomponents it can cause complications such as overheating or ventilation failure by blocking off Thirium flow. It's almost like a human suffering from a heart attack or a stroke."
"Turns out deviants are just as fragile as humans are after all." Hank laughed a little at the ironic comparison as he watched his arm get stitched up. "Guess I'm finally starting to catch on."
Rose didn't say anything further. She was too focused on her work, too worried about Hank and about Connor to really say anything else.
"You took a big risk helping so many deviants." The curious detective pressed in a gentle manner as he remembered what Adam said earlier. "If you had been caught you would've been charged with aiding a felon and sent to prison for who knows how long."
"It was worth the risk." The compassionate woman finally replied with the utmost confidence in her voice. "To help so many people who just needed the chance to have a life of their own... It really helped me to cope with losing my husband."
Seeing the pain in Rose's eyes Hank gently pressed her to keep talking. "And Adam?"
"It took some time, but Adam saw deviants in the same way that they saw themselves. Alive." A proud maternal smile graced Rose's lips as she continued to tend to Hank's arm. "And now he's much more involved in helping deviants and all androids in general achieve equal rights."
"You must be proud."
"I am incredibly proud." Rose smiled a little more as she rhythmically placed the final stitches in Hank's arm. "What about you? Do you have a family?"
"I... I have Connor." Hank stated in a somber tone as he suddenly looked away from Rose. It wasn't that he was ashamed of thinking as Connor as his family, he just didn't want to talk about his painful past. "I'm an only child, my parents were only children, and they've since passed. My wife... she died too. Six years ago. I'm a widower."
"I'm so sorry. I know how much it hurts to lose your spouse." As she spoke with Hank like a friend Rose could see that Hank was holding something back, something painful. She didn't want to open old scars, but she knew all too well how much grief can damage a person if they hold it inside for too long. "Kids?"
Hank sighed a little as he thought about Cole but didn't answer. It was just too much to talk about with a woman he was just barely getting to know. There was no point in denying that Cole's far too brief life and far too early death had left a massive impact on Hank's own life.
"I'm sorry." Tying off the silk thread Rose finished placing the final stitch and snipped off the remaining thread after applying the last stitch. "I didn't mean to drudge up the past."
"You didn't." Hank confirmed as he watched Rose secure clean gauze over his fresh stitches. The woman was a natural caregiver and protector. "I've been living in the past for over three years now. I've only recently begun to move on with my life and look at the future again."
"That's good to know. It's never easy to move on from tragedy."
"Tell me about it." Glancing at the kitchen window Hank watched as the snowstorm built in strength as the wind whipped and fresh snow and ice was blown about in blinding gusts. The wind was strong enough to shake the house on its foundation and make the few lights being powered by the generator flicker a few times. "Storm's back and worse than before. Just great..."
"I'm not sure when the roads will be cleared, so you're going to be staying here for the night." Rose admitted as she finished with the gauze and then packed up the first aid kit. "We lost power about four hours ago and have been using the emergency generator ever since. I can't get a signal on my phone to check for an update on when the weather will break or when utility trucks will be out to restore power."
"It's fine. We'll check the roads in the morning and won't move until Connor's stable enough to be moved." Hank pulled his shirt back down and carefully slipped the sleeve over his bandaged arm before he grabbed his coat to shrug back on. "I lost my phone and without Connor's scanner I'm completely lost."
Rose noticed that Hank was layering up despite being in the relatively warm kitchen and began to worry he was hiding another problem. "Cold?"
"I'm all right." Hank moved the frozen bag of peas from the back of his head and onto his arm over the fresh stitches. "It's just needing to ice down my head and arm that's making me feel chilled."
"I'll get you something warm to eat." Rose volunteered as she stood up from the table and walked to the counter. "I can whip up a warm batch of vegetable soup in just a few minutes. Having a personal greenhouse really has it's perks."
"No, please. You've done enough already."
"I don't mind. It's not often we have company since Markus led the Revolution and freed the deviants." Insisting that Hank accept the offer Rose reassured him it wasn't an inconvenience whatsoever. "And I love to cook. Why don't you go check in on Connor while I put on a pot of soup to simmer?"
"Yeah, good idea." As Hank stood up from the kitchen table his head began to swim, and he stumbled forward slightly. He managed to catch himself with his hand against the table's surface before he fell over. "Ow, damn..."
Rose noticed that Hank was suffering from a dizzy spell and was at his side in a flash. "Come on. I'll help you get upstairs."
Not wanting to worry the kind woman Hank tried to convince her to not worry. "I'll be fine."
"I'm sure you will be, but right now you need some help."
Hank wanted to protest out of a deeply seated stubbornness, but his head was aching far too much to try and argue. Relenting out of sheer pain Hank let Rose put her hand to his lower back as she helped guide the concussed senior detective toward the staircase and guided him back into the guestroom at the top of the stairs where Connor was peacefully resting.
Adam was still sitting in the chair watching over the deviant silently when Rose and Hank returned to the room. "The first Thirium pouch is almost gone." The attentive teenager noted as the last of the blue blood entered Connor's body. "And he hasn't woken up yet."
Without a word Rose set about replacing the empty Thirium pouch with a new Thirium pouch while Adam vacated his chair and left it for Hank to sit in.
"Should I do anything else, mom?"
"No, Adam." Rose checked the line in Connor's arm for a moment before she approached her son. Putting her hand to Adam's cheek she coaxed him into bending down a little so that she could kiss his forehead. "It's late, get some sleep. I'll wake you in the morning."
"Okay, mom." Glancing at Hank for a moment Adam respectfully acknowledged Hank before leaving the room. "Uh, goodnight, sir."
"Goodnight Adam, and call me 'Hank'. I don't mind."
"Right. Hank." Adam departed the guest room quietly and headed down the dim hallway into his own bedroom for the rest of the night. "I'll see you in the morning."
"He's a good kid." Hank commented as he sat down heavily in the chair and resumed his vigil over Connor. "Reminds me of Connor in the way he's so eager to help people without any fear."
Smirking at the comment Rose rested her hand atop Connor's chest and pressed down. From beneath her palm she could feel Connor's Thirium pump rapidly working to circulate the replenished blue blood throughout his body as it targeted his damaged thermal regulator to focus the self-healing program accordingly.
"What're you doing?" Unsure of what was happening Hank asked another question as he watched Rose's dark brown eyes curiously. She seemed to be in a trance as she hovered over Connor and he was intrigued by her concentration. "Something wrong?"
"No. I'm counting his pulse."
"P-Pulse?" That answer through Hank for a very obvious loop. "Connor has a pulse?"
Rose chuckled warmly at the sincere question. It wasn't the naivety in Hank's voice that amused her, it was the surprise. "Androids don't have the usual pulse points as a human would, but they do have a palpable heartbeat."
"I knew they could breathe, and I knew they had beating hearts, but it never occurred to me that they could have tangible pulses."
"And just so you know his pulse is strong and stable."
"Good to hear. Thanks."
Having become aware of two voices speaking around him - one familiar and the other strange - Connor's L.E.D. suddenly flashed from red to yellow as his head lolled slightly against the pillow and his glassy brown eyes partially opened. Taking in a deeper breath Connor's chest rose and fell enough that Rose herself pulled back her hand so that he didn't feel smothered.
"Connor, it's about time you woke up, kid." Hank grinned as he watched Connor's systems finally come back online. At least to an extent. "You're safe."
"Lieu... Lieutenant?" Recognizing Hank's voice Connor called out to his friend as he tried to orientate himself as he laid in the bed. "...Are you close?"
"I'm right here." Hank confirmed as Rose hovered protectively around the bed and watched Connor's reactions very closely. "You're going to be okay."
"Where..." The guestroom was totally unfamiliar and Connor's G.P.S. was being blocked by the severe weather outside. "Where are we?"
"Safe." Was Hank's succinct, honest reply as he repeated what he said earlier. "How do you feel?"
Connor's dull brown eyes blinked slowly before opening again, his eyelids still only partially opened. He turned his head to look at Hank at the foot at the bed and then noticed Rose standing beside him. The off-look in Connor's soulful brown eyes spoke volumes of confusion and concern.
"She's a friend. She's been helping us both." Hank confirmed as he watched Connor's eyes struggling to focus on Rose's face. He knew what Connor was thinking and wanted to keep him as calm as possible. "Are you in any pain, son?"
"...Pain." Connor swallowed once, the small amount of Thirium that Rose had tried to give him earlier finally being ingested into his system. "I... can't..."
Rose took the third bag of Thirium from the small table as she sat on the edge of the bed next to Connor. Putting her palm beneath Connor's head she coaxed him into sitting upright slightly as she pressed the pouch of Thirium to his lips. "Drink this, it'll help you regain your strength."
Thanks to his low power and interference from the storm outside, Connor's visual processors were unable to fully focus, let alone allow the deviant to perform a scan of his environment. Aware of the deep blue color that was distinct to Thirium and Hank's lack of objection, Connor was willing to trust his friend where his own scanner failed him. Cooperatively Connor slowly began to drink the required Thirium that Rose had offered to him. It wasn't long until the pouch was empty as ingestion truly was more effective than a line insertion when it came to replenishing blue blood.
Connor's yellow L.E.D. flashed briefly to blue before returning to yellow as his system accepted the added Thirium and began recalibration.
"...Thank you." Connor managed to utter as Rose guided him back down against the pillow and pulled the pouch away. The yellow L.E.D. transitioned back to red as a new found physical discomfort settled in Connor's abdomen causing him to physically wince and take in a sucking breath between his teeth. "Th-That helped me."
Keeping a close eye on the deviant Hank could see that Connor was in pain and just wanted him to admit it so he could be helped. "Come on, son. Level with us." The encouragement in Hank's gruff voice was friendly rather than aggressive. "How do you really feel?"
"I feel... Damaged." Connor admitted as his hand lifted up slowly from his side and pressed against his abdomen over the bandages where the metal debris had been lodged. The fractured plastimetal frame still needed more time to mend itself. "Right here."
Rose smiled as she returned her fingertips the L.E.D. in Connor's temple and held them in place for a few seconds before retracting her touch. "Better?"
"...Yes." The L.E.D. in turn shifted from red to yellow once more as the pain in Connor's abdomen began to lessen and allowed him to relax. "Thank you." The deviant repeated as his renewed strength faded away and his systems returned to rest mode causing him to drift off to sleep again. "I need... to rest."
With a very soft touch Rose lifted Connor's eyelids one at a time and looked at his unfocused, hazy brown eyes before she sweetly brushed the rogue lock of his brown hair from his face just above his left eye. As her palm briefly made contact with Connor's forehead, Rose suddenly became slightly alarmed and fully pressed her palm down against his forehead for a few seconds before she pressed it against his cheek in a manner similar to how she had cupped Adam's cheek moments prior.
Ever guarded, Hank had been watching Rose's movements like a hawk from where he sat. "Something wrong?"
"He's running a fever."
"A fever?" Questioning the bold claim Hank gave Rose a wide eyes stare of disbelief. "But he's an android, how is that possible?"
"The damage was to his thermal regulator. It's the biocomponent that keeps androids from overheating." Pulling back the quilt from Connor's chest and abdomen Rose hoped that the removed layer would help Connor to cool down while he rested. She stood up from the bed without jostling Connor and started walking toward the door. "I'm going to go get some ice. Hopefully it'll keep him stable until his self-healing program can mend the damage."
"Stable?" Hearing such a dire term was enough to make Hank's stomach twist with dread. "Is he in danger right now?"
"If he overheats for too long," Rose answered with a grim voice as she stepped through the opened doorway. "then it can cause permanent damage to his other biocomponents or his intracranial processor. Even a permanent shutdown."
"Shit..."
"Stay with him and make sure rests." The big-hearted woman requested in a sweet tone as she slipped out of the guestroom. "I'll be right back."
Alone with Connor, who was looking far too human and too vulnerable for Hank's comfort, the senior detective couldn't stop himself from thinking about all the nights he stayed up with Cole whenever the little boy was sick. Those nights seemed so long and like such nuisances to bear, but now Hank found himself pining for those sleepless hours he spent walking him all through the house and just sitting with his son and reading him story after story after story until he at last drifted off to sleep in his arms.
"I swear you're going to be the death of me, kid."
Hank openly complained as he watched the deviant breathing slowly as he remained in emergency rest mode. The white bandages were keeping his wound from bleeding. The layer of gauze was still visible against the fabric of the gray t-shirt as it rested loosely over the deviant's upper body and stomach.
"You're more of a handful than puppy-training Sumo."
After a few minutes Rose returned to the guest room with two bags of ice in her arms, as well as a cold damp washcloth. It was as if Rose had dealt with that exact scenario several times before.
"Since androids can't sweat it's important to keep him as cool as possible externally." Rose smoothed the washcloth over Connor's forehead then placed the first small bag of ice at the back of Connor's neck and placed the second bag of ice was placed under his shirt over top of his central chest. "I'll be back to check on him in an hour. You should try to get some sleep. There's another guestroom right next door you can rest in."
"I'll be fine here." Hank again insisted as he leaned back in the chair and tried to ignore his throbbing head and the numbness in his stitched-up arm. "It won't be the first time I've had to get some sleep while sitting up in a chair."
"Okay. I'll bring you something for your headache." With a gentle touch of her right hand to his left shoulder Rose comforted Hank as best as she could. "Try to relax and eat something when your stomach can handle it. There will be some soup down in the kitchen for you, feel free to help yourself."
Hank nodded a little as he closed his tired eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. He was still clutching at the bag of frozen peas as he pressed it his forehead to ease his headache, but he decided that at the moment Connor needed the cold compress more. Reaching over to the bed Hank placed the chilled bag under Connor's shirt next to other bag of ice to help him keep cool. As he placed the ice down near Connor's chest Hank faintly felt Connor's 'heart' beating in his chest with the exact same pulse and rhythm of a human heart.
The senior detective physically flinched a little before retracting his grip and laying Connor's shirt back down over the deviant's resting form.
"You do have a heart after all. I guess I shouldn't be surprised at this point, after all, I did see it with my own eyes once before..."
Running his hand over his bearded chin thoughtfully, Hank spoke to the sleeping deviant as if he were in fact awake. It was a strange habit that Hank had developed after losing his family to tragedy. Speaking to people even if they couldn't hear him helped Hank to deal with his tense emotions in a healthy manner.
"When we get back to the precinct, I'm demanding a raise from Fowler AND a new phone since he made us take a patrol car instead of letting my drive my own car to that crime scene. This is absolute bull-"
Rose gave Hank a slightly amused glance as she caught him talking to Connor, as well as himself, from the opened doorway. There was a thick blue quilt in her arms and a bottle of aspirin clutched in her grip.
"Uh..." Embarrassment flushed over Hank's face as he realized he had been busted. "Hi. I thought you were going to bed."
"Not yet. I wanted to make sure you're both comfortable. I'll be downstairs if you need anything else." Rose sweetly stated as she handed Hank the medicine and draped the blanket over his legs. Tending to Connor one last time Rose removed the now emptied second pouch of Thirium from the line in Connor's arm and manually returned the artificial skin over the limb to keep the internal line protected. "You two both need to rest, and you can't do that if you're uncomfortable."
"Thank you, Rose. For everything." Hank happily took two of the aspirin and patiently waited for the medication to ease his headache. Until he could see a doctor and have his wounds professionally tended to, the over counter medicine and home remedies would have to do. "We both appreciate everything you've done for us."
"You're welcome, Hank." Rose turned to step out of the room and walked through the door quietly to set about in the kitchen downstairs and only requested a single thing from Hank in return. "Rest."
While the chair wasn't the most comfortable piece of furniture that Hank had ever encountered, it was certainly better than laying in the middle of an icy, dirt road in the dark on a cold, snowy night. With no memory of what happened after the accident or before waking up in the middle of the road, Hank tried to theorize every possible scenario to help fill in the blanks.
But it was a fruitless endeavor. Hank's head hurt too damn much to think for too long.
Folding his hands together on his lap beneath the quilt Hank leaned forward in his seat and bowed his aching head slowly. The night was proving itself to be too emotionally taxing for the already emotionally strained senior detective, and he was reaching his breaking point.
"All right, I don't know who might be up there or what you have planned for me," Hank muttered under his breath. "but all I can say is this: You've already taken one son from me, don't you dare take Connor, too. He's all I got. He's what's keeping me here."
Speaking in a very low voice as to not draw Adam or Rose's attention Hank continued pleading with whatever deity could be listening to him.
"If you take him then you have to take us both, because I have nothing else in my life worth living for."
Using his thumb to wipe away a single tear Hank leaned back in his chair and proceeded to watch Connor resting in the bed in peaceful silence.
It wasn't long before Hank had finally managed to drift off into a deep sleep as his own body also needed to recover after being in the car accident. The extreme cold, head trauma, and moderate blood loss was enough to drain any and all energy Hank had recouped since waking up in the middle of the road.
Unfortunately, the much needed sleep was accompanied by unwelcome nightmares about the night Cole had died three years prior. Nightmares that haunted Hank's sleep for those three years had only recently begun to decrease after befriending Connor. Nightmares that were so vividly detailed that Hank often awoke with real tears running down his face.
Barely two hours had passed when Hank was startled awake by a loud wheezing gasp as a voice called his name hoarsely in a desperate plea.
"...H-Hank?!"
"Connor." Hank was instantly on his feet and over the bed as Connor began to hyperventilate and panic. Pressing his hands down on Connor's shoulders Hank held his friend down on the bed and watched nervously as the L.E.D. began frantically blinking in red in time with Connor's racing heartbeat. "Hold on son, I got you. I'm right here."
"C-Can't breathe!" Connor rasped as he fought to articulate his words. His system was in critical condition and needed repairs. "O-Over... Overheating!"
Hank didn't need Connor to tell him that final detail. The intense heat radiating from Connor's body was palpable under Hank's palms as he did his best to keep Connor as still as possible in the bed. Unable to do anything beyond holding Connor steady Hank just mentally asked for help and hoped that someone would be able to figure out what to do.
Adam had heard the commotion from his own bedroom and came running into the guestroom to help out. He took one look at Connor and raced downstairs in search of his mother for help.
"Mom?" The teen's voice echoed throughout the house as he tried to locate Rose. "Something's wrong with Connor!"
Blue blood was beginning to leak through the gauze wrapped around Connor's torso and soak through his gray t-shirt quickly. Connor's frantic breathing as he desperately tried to increase the power to his ventilation biocomponents and cool his overheating body only made the Thirium leak faster.
"Try to stay calm." Hank instructed in a calm voice of his own as he lifted up Connor's shirt by the hem and looked down at the reopened wound and grimaced. The white gauze was turning blue fast as it became saturated with the lost Thirium. "We'll get you taken care of, son. Just slow your breathing. You're going to be okay."
Rose rushed into the room with Adam right behind her in a blur of swift motion. Leaning over the bed she spotted the leaking Thirium and pressed her hand to Connor's forehead again to check his temperature.
"He's going to burn up. Adam, get the smaller thermal regulator, It won't work as a permanent replacement but it can buy him a few more hours."
"Do it." Hank agreed as he watched the fear, actual fear, build in Connor's soulful brown eyes. Connor was many things - stubborn, strong, dedicated - but being afraid was never one of those things and it never would be. "Whatever it takes to save him, do it!"
Adam disappeared in a flash back through the door as Rose set about removing the bandages from around Connor's torso to expose the bleeding wound and reopen the panel that gave access to the internal compartment in his abdomen. Thinking quickly Rose pressed her fingertips to Connor's flashing L.E.D. and held them in place for almost ten seconds patiently. In that brief, yet long period of time, Connor began to still and his body fell into a manually activated stasis mode.
"We need to move fast." Rose stated as she pressed her palm down to Connor's stomach and caused the artificial skin to recede from his damaged plastimetal frame and subsequently opened the panel beneath. "He doesn't have much time."
"I thought you said the replacement regulator could work for six hours?"
"That was before he began to overheat." Staying calm Rose explained everything as Adam returned to the guestroom with the requested regulator and repair kit in his hands. "Now the regulator has to cool him back down while also maintaining a consistent temperature. It's just too much to handle since it isn't fully compatible with his model."
"How long will he have until it burns out?"
"Maybe two hours." Rose's answer was bleak but far be it from Hank to damn her for her honesty. "Okay," she used the small clamps in the repair kit to isolate the lines connected to the damaged regulator before she took the replacement from Adam's hand. "this will work."
Hank watched as Rose unfastened the damaged regulator from its couplings and slipped it out of Connor's torso with a bizarrely calm demeanor. Adam took the unnervingly hot biocomponent from her hands as Rose slipped in the temporary replacement with skilled confidence.
In response Connor's L.E.D. flashed between red and yellow for several seconds before it finally settled on a rapidly blinking yellow.
"His system has accepted the regulator." Rose sighed with relief as she closed the panel in Connor's torso. It was difficult to keep the deviant stable considering his prototyping, but Rose was determined to help the deviant survive the night. "We'll still need to find a permanent replacement part. This only bought him a few more hours before he overheats again."
"I don't think we can find a perfect replacement." Hank shook his head solemnly. Not only were too far away from the city and trapped by a storm, but Connor's system was too complex to be repaired so easily. "When I said Connor's unique, I meant it. He's the last of his model created by CyberLife. When Markus succeeded in the Revolution and freed the deviants, CyberLife was forced out of business and all of their unfinished and deactivated prototypes that were identical to Connor's model were incinerated."
"Oh my God..." Rose's eyes went wide with horror as she turned to look at Hank. "I had no idea that happened."
"A lot of people don't, Markus and his allies don't like to talk about it." Rubbing his hand along the back of his tense neck Hank weighed their limited options and knew that they needed to act fast if they were going to save Connor's life. "Even if we could get back into the city the odds of finding the appropriate part is, well, nearly impossible."
Trying to think of an alternate solution Rose sat on the edge of the bed and rested her palm lightly on Connor's chest to monitor his pulse. "There has to be something we can do."
Adam spoke up nervously from the doorway of the guestroom where he had been standing and listening to the discussion from the distance. "We can."
Hank turned toward the young man with intrigue in his intense blue eyes. "What're you thinking, son?"
"We can repair his original regulator right here, right now." Adam held the hot biocomponent in his hands very carefully knowing that it wasn't going to be able to handle the burden of keeping Connor's system stable. The original regulator was evidently damaged, but it wasn't irreparably so. "I can try to weld the metal shut and replace the wires inside with tools from the shed."
"Adam..." Rose sounded defeated as her only son tried to offer a ray of hope. "Neither of us have every tried something like that before."
"I know, but, if Connor's just going to die anyway what's the harm in at least trying? We can't let him go without a fight."
Hank nodded and put his hand on Adam's shoulder as a sign of utter agreement. "You have a point. Think you can do it?"
"I can try."
Rose looked at Adam, then to Hank as if waiting for a sign before she made her decision. "It's up to you, Hank."
"Go for it." The man finally replied with a confident tone of voice. He had a good feeling about Adam, and he was willing to trust him yet again that deathly cold night to save Connor's life. "At least then we can say we tried everything."
Reluctantly Rose agreed to the proposition as well and supported her son. "Go out to the shed." She placed the repair kit in Adam's hands to ensure he had full access to all the spare wires and lines they had in storage. "The welding torch should be by the tool bench. Use the generator to keep the torch as hot as possible while you work, otherwise the couplings won't properly hold."
"I will, mom. I'll back as soon as I can."
Adam took the kit and hurried down the stairs to get the original damaged biocomponent from the laundry room. The teenager was just as determined to help deviants as his mother had been, and he was proving himself to be a dedicated and kind person in his own right.
"He can do it." Sensing the worry in the air Hank reassured Rose as she stared at the doorway with a blank expression. "I know you said Adam wasn't as comfortable with taking care of damaged androids as you are, but I think he's ready to turn that corner. I have faith in him."
"I hope you're right." The last thing Rose wanted to do was see her son try his hardest and still fail. "I don't... I can't imagine how much it'll hurt him if he can't save Connor tonight."
"Hey, Connor's a lot stronger than he looks." Hank sat on the edge of the bed beside Rose and put his hand over top hers as she continued to monitor the deviant's heartbeat. Beneath his touch he could feel Rose's hand relax a little as if feeling comforted by his presence. "Everything will be okay. I know it."
Rose gave Hank a heartfelt appreciative glance as she slowly retracted her hand from beneath Hank's hand and rose from the bed. "I'm going to get more ice for him. The cooler he is, the better off he'll be until he can get a replacement regulator."
Staying put Hank watched as Rose left the guestroom and sighed wearily. Turning to look at Connor over his shoulder Hank curiously pressed the back of his hand against the side of Connor's neck for a basic fever check.
"Damn, you are burning up. An android with a fever. Now I'm convinced I've seen everything."
Hank scoffed a little as he pulled his hand back and rested it atop his lap again.
"And you have a heart beating in your chest. Anyone who still tries to say androids aren't alive are thoroughly full of shit!"
Over the next tense hour Rose and Hank systematically placed and replaced bags of ice and cool washcloths and towels over Connor's body in an attempt to compensate for the weaker thermal regulator in his core until a permanent replacement could be found. Connor remained lost in the throes of his emergency stasis mode as his self-healing program struggled to repair the extensive damage to his plastimetal frames and Thirium lines, and poorly attempted to keep his internal system from overheating at the same time. The way Connor would physically twitch and loll his head back and forth against the pillow emphasized how hot and uncomfortable he truly was even while unconscious.
Despite Hank and Rose's best efforts, Connor continued to suffer from significant overheating. The additional ice packs and cold towels were helping but not nearly as much as they had hoped. They were melting quickly and becoming less effective over time.
"Hang in there, kid." Hank muttered under his breath as he pressed the cold washcloth down against Connor's overheated forehead. The frantic red blinking of Connor's L.E.D. was as unsettling as it was crimson. "Adam will be back any minute."
Rose took in a deep breath as she began pacing about the room anxiously, her eyes watching the storm outside the bedroom window. She had faced a countdown when came to saving android lives many times before, but for the first time she felt truly helpless to do anything about it. The only thing keeping Connor alive at that moment was a failing biocomponent and the only thing that would allow Connor to survive rested solely on Adam's shoulders.
"How much longer until the regulator fails?" Hank dared to ask as he kept his hand on Connor's forehead. "It hasn't been that long, has it?"
"Connor's burning very hot. About twenty minutes." Rose estimated as she continued to pace about the room while waiting for any sign of Adam's return. "I wish I could've-"
The opened doorway filled with motion Adam came running back up the staircase two steps at a time and rushed into the guestroom with the newly repaired thermal regulator in his hand. "I got it! I know it'll work!"
Surprised by Adam's sudden return Hank stepped back from the bed as Adam readily handed the thermal regulator over to his mom. Rose accepted the biocomponent with rejuvenated hope and gave Adam a smile. Turning the regulator over carefully in her hands Rose inspected Adam's work and found that the regulator looked nearly pristine, only a faint line on either side of the rare biocomponent showed that it had ever been damaged. It was like looking at a scar as opposed to active damage.
"We can't wait any longer." Rose anxiously announced as she returned to the bedside and went about removing the ice packs and cold towels that were smothering Connor's body. After lifting up the soaked shirt again Rose proceeded to open the panel in Connor's torso. "Time's running out."
Hank and Adam watched in silence as Rose set about clamping off the line connections to the temporary regulator and removed the overworked, failing biocomponent from Connor's body. It didn't take Rose more than a minute to switch out the two regulators and unclamp the lines now feeding Thirium into the replaced vital biocomponent to activate it properly.
Rose put her palm to the side of Connor's face and gently turned his head so she could see his glowing L.E.D. with her own eyes. Steadily the frantic red blinking slowed into a calmer rhythmic pulse as it cycled into yellow for a few seconds then finally transitioned into a calm and healthy blue.
"It worked!" The emotionally tense woman sighed with relief as she jumped up from the bed and wrapped her arms around Adam's neck and hugged her son tightly with righteous pride. "You saved him! You did good, Adam! So good..."
Hank agreed as he patted Adam's shoulder with approval. "Thank you! Thank you for taking that risk for us, and for him!"
"You're welcome." Adam sounded more relieved than either Hank or Rose as he happily reciprocated his mother's hug and tried to hide his humble embarrassment of being so openly praised and thanked. "I'm... I'm just glad I could help!"
Finally stabilized and cooling down Connor remained in his rest most and showed no sign of further distress while the three humans all celebrated his impending recovery together on that cold, dark night.
Once Connor had finally stabilized and his core temperature returned to its normal degree, Hank was able to fall back asleep in the chair beside the deviant's bed and finally rest his aching head properly. Rose and Adam had returned to their own bedrooms in an attempt salvage what few hours of night were left as they practically collapsed into a deep sleep after enduring the frantic and desperate event that had unexpectedly befell them. The entire snow covered house was exhausted thanks to the unusual night before, and being smothered under a choking blizzard that isolated the farmhouse from the rest of the world only made the group feel all the more drained as they did whatever they needed to do just to survive.
The sound of the power being restored to the house and of the emergency generator outside automatically turning off roused Hank from his slumber. Glancing at the bed Hank saw that Connor was beginning to wake up as well, his brown eyes opening fully and his L.E.D. flashed to yellow briefly before returning to blue as his memory of the night before allowed him to gain his bearings.
Leaning forward where he sat Hank called out to the deviant in a wary manner hoping to get a positive response. "Connor?"
"...Lieutenant." Connor attempted to sit upright in the bed, but his system was still running its self-healing program as the physical damage to his torso was the last to heal as his biocomponent took priority over everything else. Laying back down Connor studied Hank's face intensely as he registered the exhaustion and worry that marred the senior detective's expression. "Are you injured? I cannot run a scan over your person at this time."
"Me? Just a few cuts." Breathing a sigh of relief pointed to the bandage on his forehead and to the concealed bandage around his bicep. "YOU'RE the one who nearly died last night."
"My system indicates that biocomponent t8001 had been damaged by blunt force and penetrating trauma. But it has since been... repaired." Connor was audibly confused by the entire reading as he had only fragments of memory to give him context regarding the events last night. "The damage should've resulted in my shutdown. How were you able to repair it?"
"I didn't. Adam did."
The name was unfamiliar to Connor and made his brow arch inquisitively. "...Who is Adam?"
"Another friend." The answer was as sweet as it was sincere as Hank brought Connor up to speed. "The kid saved your ass, so be sure to thank him when you see him before we head back to the city."
"The damage was to my thermal regulator, not to my-"
"Never mind, Connor." Trying to not chuckle at Connor's lingering naivety Hank brushed the comment aside. "It was a figure of speech."
Connor's L.E.D. flashed to yellow and his eyes blinked quickly as he received a report from the city now that the storm had cleared. "Captain Fowler wants to see us at the precinct. It seems the storm has passed and all electronics as well as cybernetic functions have been restored to the area."
"So the roads are clear?"
Once more Connor's L.E.D. turned yellow again as the deviant finally scanned the area for an update on the current events. "Correct. Shall I summon an autonomous taxi to bring us back to Detroit?"
"Yeah, but do it in an hour or so. You look as terrible as I feel."
"Well then," Connor gave Hank a sly smirk as he thought of a witty retort. "I must look like shit."
"Smartass." Hank laughed lightly at the joke as he wiped his hand over his face and sighed. "Stay there, I'm going to let Rose know you're awake. She'll want to check on you before either of us leave."
"Rose?" Thinking of the kind woman that helped him the previous night Connor was able to figure out who Hank was talking about. "She is the lady who gave me the Thirium, correct?"
"Yup. She's the one. She also cleaned up your wounds, bandaged you up and helped keep you from overheating last night."
"She is very kind."
"Yeah, that she is, kid." Hank readily agreed as he stood up slowly. His headache had mercifully abated but he was still moving cautiously just in case he did in fact have a concussion. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Just keep resting and take it easy."
Much to Hank's surprise Connor obeyed and remained in the bed while Hank ventured downstairs to find Rose and Adam. Rose herself was stirring a large pot of vegetable soup on the stove, just as she promised to make, when Hank walked into the kitchen. Adam was outside in the backyard chopping firewood to stock up in case another blizzard hit the area.
"Connor's awake." Hank announced with a smile as he approached the woman who saved them both the previous night. "Figured you'd want to check in on him before we leave."
"That's good!" Rose beamed as she scooped a helping of the soup into a bowl and placed it on the table for Hank. "When the power returned I got a news report on my phone saying that the roads have been cleared and are safe for travel. It'd be for the best if you got Connor back into the city and have a real technician examine his condition more thoroughly though."
"I think it's safe to say that Connor would agree with you, not that you did a bad job or anything. The kid's just a stickler for perfection and details."
"Here, have a seat." Relieved to know that everyone was going to be okay Rose motioned to the bowl of soup that she had prepared for Hank. "I'll check in on Connor while you eat. There's fresh coffee as well."
"Thanks." The idea of a little caffeine to keep his headache at bay actually put a little spring in his step. "Coffee and warm food sounds like the best thing in the world right about now."
"Please, help yourself." As Rose passed by Hank, she lightly touched his arm as sign of goodwill and trust without getting too affectionate with her new friend. "There's plenty to go around."
Graciously Hank poured himself a cup of coffee and spotted Adam through the kitchen window as the teen walked around the backyard. The respectable young man had not only braved a blizzard to ensure his home was safe, but he was willing to pick and help two complete strangers in the middle of the dark storm and found a way to save Connor's life when all of their options seemed impossibly limited.
"You did good, son. I owe you one."
Thinking of the way Adam had saved Connor's life, not just his own, Hank knew that the brave young man was destined to help the world become a better place for everyone in it. There was still hope for the future of mankind AND deviantkind thanks to kind and selfless people like the Chapmans.
"We both owe you one."
After being checked over by Rose for any sign of complications to his thermal regulator, Connor had cybernetically summoned an autonomous taxi to take Hank and himself back into the city to report to Captain Fowler. Once back home they'd be able to deliver their report and get themselves cleaned up. Undoubtedly Hank would need to see a doctor and Connor would need to see a technician in the one of the new facilities slowly opening throughout Detroit due to the serious injuries they had both sustained during the car accident. While the healing deviant sat on the edge of the bed he slipped on his shoes and slipped his torn gray blazer over his 'new' gray t-shirt to layer up and get dress. Pocketing the black tie to be worn again only after he was back in his uniform Connor focused on getting dressed as necessary to keep warm during the ride back to the city.
Adam, who was curious about Connor, knocked on the door frame to speak with the android before he and Hank left for home. Connor heard the knocking and looked up in time to see Adam entering the guestroom and quickly deduced their identity.
"Hey."
"Hello." Connor greeted the young man standing in the doorway, his L.E.D. remaining blue as he spoke. "You're Adam, yes?"
"Yeah. I just wanted to make sure you're okay before you left." Modest in his demeanor, it was clear that Adam was still a little wary of deviants but was pushing through his discomfort to do the right thing. "You were in pretty rough shape when I found you and Hank last night."
"Yes. I am functioning at near optimal capacity thanks you and your mother." Connor's expression softened and his brows arched as he addressed the teenager with true emotion in his voice. "Lieutenant Anderson told me that you are responsible for my recovery. Thank you for your assistance."
Adam's eyes lit up with a sense of pride upon hearing that comment. He could hear and see the life flowing through Connor's very being confirming that deviants really are alive.
Carefully Connor stood up from the bed and extended his hand toward Adam to shake. It was a gesture of respect that he had learned from working with Hank, though it was seldom used by the senior detective himself.
Proud of his work Adam happily shook Connor's hand and smiled gratefully and with mutual respect. "I'm glad I could help."
"As am I."
The autonomous taxi arrived at the homestead within an hour after being summoned and parked itself at the end of the driveway as it awaited its passengers. Hank had taken notice of the cab after hearing a vehicle's tires crunching up the snowy driveway and toward the house as he sipped at his coffee. Peering through the side window of the livingroom Hank saw the cab parked just behind Adam's red pick-up truck and viewed the ugly yellow cab as a godly chariot constructed from gold and ivory. Relieved to not to have to drive anymore after the accident, and glad that Connor didn't have to drive either since he was still recovering, Hank sighed and stepped away from the window to give Connor a head's up about the cab's arrival.
Hank was about to shout up the staircase toward Connor when Rose approached him with warm smile and stopped him before he could begin. Falling silent Hank just returned the smile as he truly appreciated the generous woman's kindness and support that she had shown to both of them during the night.
"You didn't tell me that you and Connor helped Markus with the Revolution." Rose's smile was truly brilliant as tears of utter joy formed in her eyes. "Thanks to you, the Demonstration freed all the androids, and three deviants I had become very close with were able to cross the Canadian border to safety. Thank you."
"Connor told you about that, huh?"
"He told me a lot about what you two went through together. He's very fond of you and thinks of you as a mentor on top being his partner and friend."
Hank hid his faint blush behind his hand as he looked away from Rose and back up the staircase.
"It's okay." Spotting the embarrassment Rose brushed the moment aside casually. "Connor was trying to recover the memories he lost during the accident, and he found that retracing his steps back a few weeks before the accident helped."
"Was, uh, was he able to remember the accident at all?"
"Yes." Rose gingerly took Hank's hand in her own and held tightly. "You won't be able to remember what happened, but Connor saved your life last night."
"I don't remember anything that happened after the crash." Curling his fingers around Rose's fingers Hank held tight and asked the tense question. "What did he tell you about last night?"
"After your patrol car was struck by the other driver, Connor turned his body to try to shield you from sharp debris while your car rolled into the ditch."
Hank vaguely remembered the car rolling several times before coming to a stop on its roof in the ditch, but he had no memory of what he or Connor had been doing during the accident itself.
"After the crash, Connor broke off his door and freed you from the cab of the car just before it caught on fire. He couldn't carry you because of the metal in his side, but he was able to drag you away from the car and into the road to ensure you weren't harmed by the burning wreck. After getting you out of harm's way he checked on the other driver and found him already dead."
In a way Hank was relieved to know that the driver had been dead long before he regained consciousness. At least then he knew that while he was laying helpless a few feet away from another person they were already gone and that he couldn't have done anything about it.
"The accident damaged Connor's systems," Rose continued on softly. "including his ability to transmit a call to the precinct to ask for help, and the storm was making it even worse. That's when he decided it'd be best to return to the address of the case that you two had been working on to find some help from other cops still at the scene. He collapsed when the metal in his side pierced his thermal regulator, and he began losing Thirium too quickly to do anything more."
"That explains why I ended up in the road and found him so far away." Hank sighed and glanced at the top of the staircase just as Connor began to slowly limp downward with Adam at his side. The sight of Connor's ruined white dress shirt draped casually over his shoulder made Connor appear all the more human, like he was simply on his way to work and not recovering from what should've been a fatal injury. "You ready to go, kid?"
"Yes." Connor confirmed as he stopped at the base of the staircase and pressed his hand to abdomen. He was stable enough to move but not stable enough to return to work as if nothing had happened just yet. "I still require maintenance."
"Yeah, same here." Rubbing his palm over the back of his head Hank turned to Adam and extended his hand toward the teenager to shake. "Nice to meet you son. Thanks for everything, you're a good kid and you're going to be an even better man."
"Thanks." Adam shook Hank's hand with a firm grip to reciprocate the respectful gesture. "I'm glad everything worked out okay."
"Rose." Hank wanted to do the same to her, but felt it was oddly impersonal to just give her a handshake. "Thank you for everything."
"You're welcome." Picking up on Hank's hesitation Rose made the first move and hugged the senior detective. He was much taller than she was, but Hank was willing to bend down a little to reciprocate the affection. "Goodbye, Hank. Take care of yourself." As she let go of Hank she turned to Connor and gave the deviant a hug as well, mindful of his damaged torso. "You too, Connor."
"I will do my best, Rose." Connor replied sweetly as he happily hugged the kindhearted human who had saved his life. Hugging was one of the few things that Connor liked that was normally reserved as a human exclusive sign of affection. "I do hope we can meet again."
"So do I." Rose admitted as she let him go and put her palms to his cheeks in a kind manner. "Just promise me you'll take care of each other. I'd hate for either one of you to get hurt while protecting Detroit."
"I promise."
Hank patted Connor's shoulder and opened the front door. "Come on, son. We have a lot of reports at the precinct to fill out."
"Coming, Lieutenant." Connor followed close behind Hank as the duo stepped outside and set foot on the freshly fallen snow that had blanketed the property during the night. When the snow wasn't blowing and spinning cars off the road it was quite lovely to look at. "I've informed Captain Fowler of last night's incident and he'll handle the paperwork regarding the totaled patrol car."
"Good. Give Fowler some damn work for a change."
The two detectives walked slowly side by side to the awaiting taxi in the side driveway and climbed inside the warm, idling autonomous vehicle. Connor cybernetically communicated their destination to the taxi's G.P.S. while Hank eyed Connor warily from the corner of his eye.
"You sure that you're okay?" Hank asked sincerely as the taxi slowly drove off down the road back to the city. "You were limping a little back there."
"I'm, what you would call, 'sore'. My self-healing program is functioning at one-hundred percent power, but even so it will take some time before my system is operating at full parameters." Connor's reply was less than comforting but it was honest and accurate. With his systems functioning at a higher power Connor was able to biometrically scan Hank's vital signs and noted that he was in rough shape as well. "I see you've suffered an injury to your skull during the accident, and to your left bicep. My scanners indicate mild cerebral swelling which is indicative of a concussion, as well as a minimal irritation to the skin and muscle on your afflicted bicep."
"Yeah, I figured that out already." Hank crossed his arms somewhat defensively over his chest, his right palm slowly rubbing over the concealed stitches in his left arm. The man knew he'd be sore for a week. "So... you saved my life."
Such a statement seemed to come out of nowhere and made Connor's blue L.E.D. flash to yellow to reflect his confusion. "Lieutenant?"
"You got me out the car before it caught fire, and you did so while you were injured. Thanks."
"You don't have to thank me."
"You're right, I don't. But I want to, so just shut up and let me thank you."
"Very well, Lieutenant." Connor sat in quiet contemplation for only a minute before he began speaking to Hank again. "The other driver was intoxicated. He was also not wearing his seatbelt, which undoubtedly contributed to the fatal break in his neck. Do many humans drive in such a reckless manner?"
"Unfortunately, yeah." That was an all too common problem seemingly everywhere in the world. One of humanity's many flaws was the arrogant notion that they were indestructible and wouldn't need to answer to the consequences of their actions. "They do a lot, actually."
"Have you driven in such a state?"
"I've done a lot of stupid shit in my life, but I've never driven anywhere drunk, Connor. Never."
The hostility in Hank's voice made Connor shrink down a little where he sat. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend-"
"Forget about it." Not wanting to argue or get upset Hank sighed again and could sense that Connor was still worried about his wellbeing. It'd take time but Hank knew he'd break his bad habits and become a better person as long as he had Connor to keep him going. "Look, if I promise to not drink for a full week will that ease your mind after this shit show?"
"Yes." Suddenly Connor sounded unusually enthusiastic about the proposition. It was as if he were trying to broach the subject himself and now he didn't need to worry about doing so in an offensive or intrusive manner. "I find that greatly comforting."
"Fine. One week." Holding up his finger for emphasis Hank agreed to the simple arrangement. "But if you do one stupid thing during that week, you're buying me a double shot at 'Jimmy's Bar' as an apology, deal?"
All Connor could do was offer Hank a kind smile as they sat side by side and enjoyed the snowy view during their right back to Detroit. "Deal."
-next chapter-
