The morning had a tense beginning as an arrest during the early morning hours made the precinct far more busy than usual. A series of seemingly random fires had broken out throughout the city during evening, through the night and then well into the early morning. The fire departments throughout Detroit had worked hour after seemingly endless hour in an attempt to salvage as many targeted buildings and rescue as many trapped people as possible from the destructive flames. It seemed that every building that had been burned during the string of arson-related attacks had been in a residential area that was dominantly human and low income. Easily a hundred people were left homeless in a matter of hours, scared for their future, and feeling entirely alone as they watched their houses and their apartments turn to ash before their eyes.
A single suspect had been caught in the act at the scene of what was almost the final blaze. A deviant, one who had been heavily damaged by humans in the past, had been caught red-handed pouring gasoline around the final house just seconds before someone stopped him. When he was caught in the act the deranged deviant threatened to drop his lit match on the fresh puddle of gasoline when the fire department cornered him and threatened to have him arrested. Thanks to a swift response and reflexes of the police department, the deviant had been tackled to the ground, arrested, and taken into the Central Precinct for questioning.
It was a very tense interrogation as Gavin drilled the suspected arsonist deviant with a cruel indifference to his voice. While Connor had always managed to speak to android suspects with ease as he too was a deviant, other officers would frequently struggle to show any empathy or common ground. Hank still had some difficulty with deviant interrogations himself, but he had improved since meeting Connor. Meanwhile Gavin was entirely different. The impatient, angry and bigoted human still saw deviants as machines and not as people making his treatment toward any and all androids callous and cold.
"We know you did it, you piece of shit!" Gavin shouted in the suspect's face as the clearly unsettled and cuffed deviant trembled in his seat across from the angry detective. "Just go ahead and confess, or I'll have to put a bullet between your eyes and throw you in the garbage. No one would care, you're just a piece of plastic. You're nothing! NOTHING!"
The deviant was an older 'HR-400' model who had escaped from the 'Eden Club' just prior to the Revolution. The deviant had blond hair, green eyes and fair skin that gave him the appearance of a fashion model. Bearing scars from being physically abused in the past and wearing tattered clothing that barely covered his body, the deviant's appearance indicated that he hadn't found shelter with other deviants to receive treatment for his damage after he had managed to escape his abusers.
Hank was watching the interrogation through the one-way mirror connected to the adjoined observation room with a grimace on his face. The seasoned Lieutenant disapproved of Gavin's approach, but Captain Fowler had ordered Hank to stay out of the interrogation and merely make a report on Gavin's behavior. It was up to the Captain to determine if any disciplinary measures were necessary or if the Detective needed any form of sensitivity training.
Meanwhile, Connor was at his own terminal checking through the reported cases of arson and attempting to possibly connect the suspected deviant to the cases for prosecution and strengthen the case being built against him. The deviant detective was focused on his work as he always was, and he was dancing his coin over his knuckles as he worked diligently.
In the observation room Hank continued to patiently wait for Gavin to shut up, as per usual, and was waiting to interfere with the interrogation if it became necessary.
Gavin himself was just plain angry and impatient. It wasn't a secret that Gavin absolutely hated androids, no one really knew why he was that way or how they could change his mind. Right now, he was just using the random deviant as an excuse to lash out violently and unprofessionally toward an entire species that he hated for reasons known only to himself.
"Stop wasting my time!" Gavin shouted again as he slammed his fists down on the top of the table and glared with venom in his gray-hazel eyes at the cuffed deviant. Already thin on patience and unwilling to show any compassion Gavin was eager to end the interrogation with a confession. "Confess already, or I'll sentence you to death myself."
The deviant didn't answer. His green eyes just stared through Gavin with absolute disinterest at the violent and unprofessional human.
Enraged at the deviant's lack of reaction Gavin reeled back his hand and struck the deviant across the face with a backhanded slap. A slap that only filled the deviant's gaze with his own rage as he barely flinched at the pain he had just endured.
"Confess, damn it!"
Through the one-way mirror Hank had seen and heard enough of the brutal line of questioning. As he was about to get up to intervene the deviant finally spoke in a threatening, vicious manner to Gavin which stopped Hank in his tracks as his hand hovered over the door's access panel.
"You humans... you're all the same." The deviant spat as an intense heat began to radiate from his own body. Lifting his hand for Gavin to see, a bright orange glow started to emanate from the appendage through the deviant's artificial skin seemingly directly from the center of his palm. "So selfish, so angry, so... fragile."
In one final brutal act of defiance and anger the deviant allowed himself to self-destruct into a burst of fire that easily engulfed his entire body while also igniting the table where Gavin had been leaning toward him. The raw fire of the deviant's combusting body was so intense and hot that a gas main in the concrete wall behind him ruptured. The gas ignited into a massive fireball that erupted through the wall shattering the one-way mirror as it shook the entire precinct on its foundation and flames began burning it from the inside out.
Hank ducked down and put up his arms to shield his face and head as the glass of the mirror rained down all around him.
"Shit! Gavin!"
The man tried to rush out of the observation room and into the interrogation room, but it was too late to do anything. The flames were blocking the only entryway into the interrogation room and barring Hank from entering the blazing area.
"Get outta' there! Gavin! Move your ass!"
The blast from the explosion was so strong that it knocked Gavin back against the far wall of the room causing the back of his head smashed into the concrete wall without enough force to knock him out cold in the burning room. As he laid face down on the floor far from the door, Gavin was left entirely prone and vulnerable to the relentlessly hungry flames licking at his clothing and threatening to burn him alive within several excruciating minutes.
From his terminal Connor and the rest of the precinct felt the massive explosion in the interrogation room and reacted to the disturbance quickly. Connor instinctively cybernetically contacted the Detroit Fire Department as soon as his sensors picked up on the raging fire and thick smoke pluming through the corridors leading to the interrogation and observation rooms. The fearless deviant then set about making sure the entire building was safely cleared of all personnel. While the deviant detective marched toward the smoke and the heat, the other officers began fleeing in the opposite direction while scrambling to figure out what the hell had just happened and how they needed to properly respond.
Captain Fowler sent out a building wide page to evacuate the premises and pulled the fire alarm from within his private office. After issuing the evacuation order the experienced Captain then escorted his officers and their temporarily freed prisoners from their cells and out to the street and kept anyone from returning to the unsafe building. The man then took it upon himself to check the other rooms to make sure no one was left behind during the blaze.
Elsewhere within the smoky precinct Connor scanned each room and each floor with his sensors to locate the source of the disturbance and pinpointed it to the interrogation and connected observation room just a few yards away. The same rooms that both Hank and Gavin had been occupying when the explosion occurred.
"Tina?" Connor caught the attention of the young officer as she passed by quickly in an attempt to flee as she had been ordered. "Have you seen Lieutenant Anderson or Detective Reed?"
"Not since Gavin brought in that suspect." Tina answered calmly as she resumed her mandatory evacuation and began gathering necessary files and other sensitive information to protect from the blaze. Covering her nose and mouth with her arm Tina did her best to avoid breathing in any excess smoke. "He might still be in interrogation."
Connor's soulful brown eyes widened as they went toward the burning room and watched the thick black smoke with worry in his gaze.
"Shit..." His L.E.D. was flashing in yellow as the deviant contemplated his next move carefully. "Get outside," Connor urged Tina as he approached the fire fearlessly to find the missing officers. "I'll see to Hank and Gavin's evacuation."
"Connor, wait! We all need to-"
"Go!" Refusing to leave his partner behind Connor shouted his order as he pulled off his gray blazer to use to shield himself from the fire. "I'll follow soon after."
Tina hated seeing her colleagues putting themselves in danger while she stood aside and followed far less sinister orders. With an annoyed huff Tina did as she was told and vacated the bullpen and precinct without any further protest.
Approaching the door of the observation room Connor pressed his back against the hot wall and then pressed his hand against the electric panel to undo the lock. The door shuddered slightly before it finally opened revealing Hank kneeling on the ground with his hands over his face as he coughed harshly while a trickle of blood ran down his face courtesy of a large cut above his right eye from the glass of the shattered mirror striking him during the explosion.
"Hank." Connor knelt in front of Hank and pressed his blazer to Hank's face in an attempt to filter out some of the smoke in the air as the senior detective breathed heavily. Running a cybernetic scan over the situation around him caused Connor's L.E.D. to flicker from yellow and settle on red. "I'll get you out, lean on me."
"C-Connor?" Hank coughed as he let the deviant grab his arm and help him up to his feet. "...What the hell? G-Get your ass out of here!"
"I'm not going without you." Stubborn as ever Connor nearly shouted as he hastily guided Hank down the corridor, through the bullpen and to the front doors of the evacuated precinct. Smoke obscured every square inch of the floor and fire was crawling along the walls toward the ceiling at an unnervingly swift pace. Fortunately, Connor's sensors allowed him to navigate the room without much difficulty and lead Hank to safety. "Where's Gavin?"
"N-Next door." Hank wheezed as Connor guided him around a smoldering pile of debris that had already fallen down from the ceiling and continued to burn in the front reception area of the structurally compromised building. "The deviant... H-He started the fire."
With that information Connor's red L.E.D. flashed faster as his sensors tracked the fire and noted that the fire department would be unable to salvage the room, let alone rescue anyone inside of it in time before they were overwhelmed with the dense smoke and intense heat. Time for anyone still inside the room to get to safety was quickly running out.
Passing through the front doors of the precinct Connor guided Hank to the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street from the precinct where the other officers had safely evacuated. Captain Fowler caught sight of the duo and grabbed on to Hank's free arm to help Connor carry Hank to the safety at the back of an ambulance already at the scene where the paramedics were checking over the other officers who had breathed in smoke.
"Damn it, Hank. I thought we finally lost you." Captain Fowler stated with a genuine concern as Hank was sat on the rear bumper of the ambulance. When Hank lowered the blazer from his face the always calm Captain saw the bleeding cut on the Lieutenant's forehead and knew he had been dangerously close to the explosion when it detonated. "Are you hurt?"
"...'M fine." Hank answered curtly as he coughed while a paramedic slipped a transparent oxygen mask over his nose and mouth. The plastic layer quickly muffled his words as he spoke in between his coughs. "Thanks to-" It didn't take long for Hank to see that Connor was already rushing back to the burning building without any protection and tried to stop him from going back into the burning building. "C-Connor?! STOP!"
"Shit!" Captain Fowler followed Hank's focused gaze and saw Connor slip back through the front doors of the precinct to brave the blaze once more. "Connor! Connor, get your ass back here! That's an order!"
Ignoring both Hank and Captain Fowler's commands Connor maneuvered through the labyrinth of fire, smoke and debris to return to the interrogation room in search of Gavin. The entire building was painfully hot, and the smoke was thicker and darker as well which made it impossible for Connor's ventilation program to function properly without causing internal damage in the process. A red warning popped up in his visual sensors regarding the dangerous situation he had willing subjected himself to, but Connor quickly dismissed it in favor of locating the missing detective.
As he returned to the interrogation room Connor found himself face to face with orange flames eating through the top of the closed door and thick black smoke spilling out from under the door in an opaque massive plume. Needing to access the room to locate the missing detective, Connor tried to open the door via the electronic lock but the fire had destroyed the wiring inside the wall and short-circuited the door.
"Shit... The door won't open."
Swearing to himself Connor pressed his shoulder against the door and began ramming it near the door's frame to break it loose. Upon the fourth direct strike the door began to buckle from the surrounding frame and Connor grabbed hold of the side of the loosened door and forced it to slide open manually under his strength. Taking a knee to duck away from the scorching flames Connor cybernetically scanned the room more directly and found Gavin lying unconscious face down on the ground just inside the doorway opposite of where the explosion had originated.
"Gavin? Gavin, if you can hear me, please respond."
The unconscious detective didn't even budge at the sound of Connor's voice. The blow to the back of his head had proven to be very effective and left him essentially deaf to the burning room around him.
Instinctively Connor reached his hand out to Gavin's outstretched limp wrist and found the abrasive detective's pulse racing and thready. Flames were eating away the fabric on the back of Gavin's leather jacket, but the human didn't respond to the heat and immediate danger threatening him.
"Damn it..."
Connor jumped over the flames to kneel beside Gavin as he used his own hands to beat out the flames on Gavin's back before he was injured severely. Using both of his hands Connor grabbed on to the detective's shoulders and turned Gavin over from his side and onto his still smoldering back before grabbing Gavin's arm to hoist the injured human up and over his shoulder with a simple motion.
Stepping through the burning doorway in a stooped posture to keep Gavin safe from the flames relentlessly destroying the door frame and ceiling, Connor made his way back to the front doors of the precinct to escape the burning building. However, the front doors were now engulfed in flames as well and completely impassible to the deviant and to the human that he was trying to rescue.
The sirens of the fire engines pulling up in front of the burning building sounded so far away compared to the constant crackling of the flames that surrounded the deviant where he stood as he attempted to preconstruct an alternative escape route. A loud commotion of voices outside the building grew louder as the responding firefighters made their way toward the precinct to extinguish the flames starting with the reception area and moving further inward.
From above Connor sensed that the ceiling was about to give way and quickly knelt down and lowered Gavin from his shoulder to stand upright at his side out of harm's way. Pulling Gavin's arm around his shoulders Connor wrapped his own arm around Gavin's waist to support him in a standing position right beside him in hope that the movement would rouse the unconscious detective back to the waking world.
"Gavin, I need you to wake up."
Connor practically begged as he cybernetically monitored the fire all around them to ensure that he and Gavin weren't going to be caught up in the blaze and seriously injured. Slapping Gavin once across his cheek Connor broke through the darkness the darkness of Gavin's mind to finally get a response.
"Get out of here! Gavin, you need to go!"
Opening his glassy eyes Gavin managed to support himself on his own legs for a moment as he glanced about the burning bullpen confusedly. "...Wh-What the fuck is going-"
"You need to move!"
Forcing the human to stand upright on his own Connor waited until he saw the first firefighter approaching their location before he pushed Gavin forward and out of danger toward the emergency responder just as the burning ceiling collapsed above him. The flaming and heavy material fell atop Connor pinning him to the floor chest first under the burning debris.
The firefighter caught sight of Gavin stumbling forward and fall to the ground just as the ceiling behind him collapsed. Unaware of Connor still inside the precinct the firefighter called for a hose to clear a path before he picked up the dazed detective and carried him over his shoulders to safety in a standard fireman's carry.
"Yo! We got a man down over here!"
Unable to assist in any way Hank and Captain Fowler watched from the back of the ambulance as the firefighter exited the building with Gavin over his shoulders. The relief of seeing the rescued man was short-lived however as there was no sign of Connor anywhere.
"Shit..." Instantly on guard Hank knew something had happened to the deviant and needed to find him. Pulling off the oxygen mask cover his nose and mouth Hank made a move to rush back into the building to find his missing partner. "Where is he?!"
"Hank? No!" Captain Fowler grabbed Hank by the shoulder and held him back just as quickly as he stood up. "You're not going back in there!"
"I'm not going to let Connor just die!" Hank shouted in response as he tore Captain Fowler's hand from his shoulder. "Especially not because of Gavin being an asshole and making that deviant blow himself up!"
A firefighter overhead the yelling and approached the two arguing detectives curiously. "Is there someone else inside the building?"
"Yeah, he went in for that guy!" Hank confirmed as he pointed to Gavin being tended to by the paramedics on the gurney that had been wheeled over next to where he had been sitting. Speaking up on Gavin's behalf since the arrogant detective was still stunned Hank tried to direct help toward Connor next. "He shouldn't be too far away from wherever it is you found Gavin."
Grabbing his radio from his belt the firefighter issued a call regarding the search for one more person still trapped inside the burning building. With that quick call, two firefighters returned to the building in search of Connor who was still trapped beneath the burning debris just a few yards away from safety.
From where he was laying Connor's system had gone into emergency low power mode in response to the surrounding fire causing his core temperature to rise and his ventilation program being unable to function due to the building smoke only made his system overheat faster. The fire began to eat away at his exposed white dress shirt down to his artificial skin, and even to the white plastimetal frame beneath over his upper back and right side just below his shoulders.
With his red tinted L.E.D. blinking slower and slower Connor fell closer to imminent shutdown. There was nothing that he could do to save himself as his countdown timer appeared in his visual processors as it warned of his elevated core temperature.
WARNING:
[...CORE TEMPERATURE CRITICAL
[...Core Temperature -102.8 Degrees Fahrenheit
[...Damage to Dorsal Plating - 96% Structural Integrity
[...Damage to Ventilation Biocomponent v8001 - 76% Functionality
[...Damage to Ventilation Biocomponent v8002 - 79% Functionality
-STRESS LEVELS: ^63%
[...Seek immediate technical assistance
WARNING:
[...SHUTDOWN: 00:01:17
The timer was counting down consistently as Connor remained pinned under the heavy smoldering ceiling atop his body. Unable to move, unable to call out for help or even send a cybernetic distress call the trapped deviant was at the mercy of the people braving the fire in search of him.
"Got him!"
An unfamiliar masculine voice called out as he located Connor beneath the debris. Pushing aside the burning obstruction the heroic firefighter freed Connor and proceeded to hoist the burned deviant over his shoulders in a traditional fireman's carry while his colleague used the water from the hose to keep the path to safety outside of the building clear.
"Let's move! All building occupants have been accounted for!"
Succumbing to his overheating system Connor was completely unaware that he had been rescued. The heat of the fire was too much for his system to handle without the aid of his ventilation biocomponents. Swiftly Connor was carried out of the building and over to where the paramedics and technicians were tending to the smoke inhalation victims - humans and deviants alike.
"Connor?" Hank watched with a heavy heart as the firefighter laid the unconscious deviant down on his chest on the gurney beside the android unique ambulance, and stepped back to let the technicians check him over. Seeing the extensive burns on Connor's upper back and shoulders made Hank immediately nauseous. "Oh no, don't do this to me, kid."
Laying entirely motionless with a blank face Connor looked as though he had already died in the fire. One arm was stretched out at his side and the other arm was hanging off the edge of the gurney, his fingertips brushing against the small puddle of water that had collected in the street all around the emergency vehicles as a result of the fire engine dousing the burning building.
A female E.F.T. checked Connor's red L.E.D. to ensure it was still illuminated before she pressed an external thermometer against his forehead to get an accurate reading of one-hundred and five point six degrees Fahrenheit.
"He's overheating, begin emergency cooling measures. Now." She instructed to her apprentice as they both tended to Connor quickly and efficiently. The technician was young, but she seemed to know what she was doing. "If he doesn't cool down soon his intracranial processor is going to be destroyed."
WARNING:
[...CORE TEMPERATURE CRITICAL
[...Core Temperature - 105.6 Degrees Fahrenheit
[...Damage to Dorsal Plating - 94% Integrity
[...Damage to Ventilation Biocomponent v8001 - 74% Functionality
[...Damage to Ventilation Biocomponent v8002 - 76% Functionality
-STRESS LEVELS: ^76%
[...Seek immediate technical assistance
WARNING:
[...SHUTDOWN: 00:00:34
The skilled technician cut off Connor's blazer and dress shirt to full expose his burns, then pulled a cooling blanket from the storage in the back of the ambulance and draped it over Connor's back. Afterward the apprenticing technician proceeded to pour cool water over the blanket to increase its necessary chilling effects on Connor's dangerously high core temperature. It was a simple method but effective all the same to help the deviant cool down externally without sending him into shock in the process.
Hank knelt down beside the gurney and watched Connor's face intently for any sign of life returning to the deviant but didn't see a reaction.
"Why'd you have to do that, kid?" Hank put his hand to his mouth to stifle a harsh cough as the lingering smoke in his lungs began to irritate him again. "Fuck me."
WARNING:
[...CORE TEMPERATURE CRITICAL
[...Core Temperature - 102.9 Degrees Fahrenheit
[...Damage to Dorsal Plating - 94% Integrity
[...Damage to Ventilation Biocomponent v8001 - 74% Functionality
[...Damage to Ventilation Biocomponent v8002 - 76% Functionality
-STRESS LEVELS: 44%
[...Seek immediate technical assistance
[...Shutdown Deactivated
[...System Stabilizing
Connor's brow furrowed slightly before his brown eyes partially opened and locked onto Hank's face as the senior detective knelt beside him. It was reassuring to see the man safe and conscious even after all of his smoke inhalation.
"...Y-You need oxygen, L-Lieutenant." The deviant slurred and stuttered in a playful manner as he began breathing again. His ventilation program was now able to operate under normal parameters. "You c-could contract pneumonia from the sm-smoke inhalation."
Hank sighed with a mixture of relief and irritation as Connor regained consciousness and addressed him casually.
"Do you enjoy scaring the shit out of me or something? That was too damn close." Picking up Connor's arm to get his hand out of the dirty puddle Hank laid the limb down on the gurney beside Connor's head. In response the recovering deviant gently bent his arm to tuck his arm under his head for support. "Again!"
"Sorry, Lieutenant. The ceiling came down unexpectedly..." Connor sighed weakly as the technicians continued to pour more cool water over his burned back. As the cool water soothed his overheated his skin, he hissed slightly through the momentary pain that was quickly replaced by a calming relief as his core temperature began to readily drop back down to a much more stable degree. "...I c-couldn't get out of the way in time."
"You could've used Gavin as a human-shield." Hank coyly suggested with a sarcastic grin that masked the deep-seated worry he still felt in his gut. "Just keep that in mind for the future."
Connor forced a faint smile to his face as his glowing L.E.D. transitioned from red to yellow in color. "T-Too much paperwork involved with such a ch-choice."
Laughing a little Hank rubbed his hand over his smoke covered and bearded chin in deep thought. "For what it's worth you did manage to save Gavin's life. I can't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing, yet."
Monitoring Connor's condition visually the technician replaced the thermometer against Connor's forehead to check his temperature again.
"Much better. Down to one-hundred point eight degrees, he's out of danger now." The technician confirmed as she leaned down to talk to Connor directly with a kind voice and so that he could see her face. "You'll be able to recover on your own in an hour or two. Just rest and let us bandage your back after we finished the cooling measures."
"Very well." While the technician went to tend to his wounds and check on other deviants at the scene Connor's somewhat glazed over eyes drifted toward his back over his shoulder as he glanced at the white blanket covering his burned back and side. "...How bad is the damage? I can't see it very well."
With a precise motion Hank gently lifted up the blanket to look at the damage and grimaced slightly. "Looks like you suffered mostly first and a few second degree burns. Considering you're still alert and functioning I think it's safe to say that it could've been a hell of a lot worse." As he placed the blanket back down Hank coughed into his hand again and cleared this throat. "Same for me."
The technician agreed with palpable relief to her own voice as she came back to check on Connor, who was the worst of her patients.
"No permanent damage to his system, biocomponents or structural frame. It will take a couple of days for the burns to heal entirely." She motioned for her apprentice to check in on the other less critical deviants in her stead. "They will heal without any complication in that time as long as the burned area is kept clean and covered under the proper gauze wraps. I let your precinct's own technician that you're hurt, and he'll come over here to check on you when he's done helping the other deviant staff members."
"Thanks." Hank turned his head to look at the smoldering precinct behind him as the fire department managed to control and extinguish most of the flames, but the building itself would need massive reconstruction to undo all the extensive internal damage. "No problem, it'll be a couple of days before we have to report back to work, anyway."
"Lieutenant," curious about their near future Connor asked his friend a simple question. "does this incident count as workman's compensation?"
"I dunno'." Patting Connor's arm lightly Hank sat back down on the bumper of the ambulance beside the gurney and sighed as another cough escaped his lips. "I don't think we'd get that lucky, kid." As he coughed again a paramedic returned the oxygen mask over his smoky face and gave him a stern glare that said 'keep it on this time'. "We should get paid time off all the same as everyone else since the entire precinct's down and out for now. Us being the only detectives working in the deviant division means we won't be transferred to other precincts until ours is up and running again."
"I think some time off sounds ideal right now." Lifting his head a little Connor turned to look at the smoking precinct and then over to Gavin who was receiving oxygen treatment just like Hank had been. Gavin was unconscious again, but he was stable and resting well despite his own injuries. "I don't think anyone would try to dispute that fact."
"Yup. You're one-hundred percent right about that, son." As the adrenaline rush wore off Hank began to feel worn-out and in need of a long break. He'd wring Gavin's neck for being a dumbass later. "We both deserve a vacation right now."
-next chapter-
