Trailing a heavily damaged and malfunctioning deviant to the modest Eastern Hotel in the heart of the city had placed Connor and Hank in a very dangerous situation. A clearly damaged deviant 'WR-600' referring to himself as 'Ralph' was wearing ragged clothing, sporting nasty scars along the left side of his face, and his left eye was totally destroyed. Ralph brandished a menacing hunting knife in his hand as he tried to escape the detective duo who were trying to reason with him from the far end of the second floor of the building's exterior landing. Desperate, frightened and evidently scared, the armed deviant was proving himself to be a worrisome threat during the tense confrontation.

Keeping his distance from the deviant Connor fell back onto his initial programming as a negotiator to try to end things peacefully. A quick cybernetic scan over the deviant's scarred face gave Connor all the information he needed to make a move without anyone getting hurt in the process.

"Hello, Ralph. My name is Connor." Connor raised both of his hands up slowly to show Ralph his gun before slipping the weapon back into the holster stretched along his back and under his gray blazer. As long as he was disarmed he'd appear harmless. "I don't want to hurt you, Ralph. I want to help you."

"Ralph isn't crazy." The unstable deviant stated as he pointed the blade at Connor then at Hank who was standing at Connor's side. "Ralph knows humans want to hurt Ralph. Ralph won't be hurt again!"

"No, he doesn't want to hurt you." Speaking calmly Connor insisted that Hank was harmless as he subtly nodded to Hank to follow suit with his own gun and to holster the weapon slowly. "We just want to know why you're here and why you broke into that house. That's all."

"Ralph's house is gone. Demolished by humans..." Ralph was referring to the abandoned house just down the block from the same hotel. That house was the same one that Connor and Hank had considered as a possible hideout for rogue deviants before the Revolution, and it turns out they were right all along. "Ralph needs to find a home. Needs to get off the street. Ralph is alone and cold."

Hank could understand the deviant's desperation and chimed in alongside Connor to talk Ralph down. "We can help you with that." Using a low voice Hank slowly lowered his gun and placed it in the holster at his hip as Connor had suggested he do. "Why don't you go to New Jericho Tower? It's a sanctuary for all androids in need of help."

"Ralph knows that humans will follow." The damaged deviant's head twitched in an unsettling manner as he glared at Hank with utter hatred in his only functioning right eye. "Ralph will not let the humans find other androids. Ralph is smarter than humans. Ralph knows!"

Wisely Hank whispered as he addressed his partner discreetly. "Connor, this android is seriously damaged. I don't think we can reason with him this time."

"Agreed." Connor had tried and failed to scan Ralph's systems to identify the main source of the erratic behavior. The deviant had suffered such extensive damage over a long period of time that it was impossible to identify the exact cause with direct interfacing. "But we can't let him go, he might hurt someone out of a paranoid delusion."

"So what do we do?"

"We call Markus." Connor urged quietly as he kept his eyes trained on Ralph at all times. "Maybe he can talk some sense into him."

Ralph wildly swung his sharp blade when he saw Hank make a move for his coat pocket as he assumed that the man was going for his weapon again. "Don't hurt Ralph! Ralph doesn't like pain..."

"I'm not- I'm NOT going to hurt you." Hank replied calmly and made another very slow move for his pocket. "I just want to call someone."

"Lie! You're lying to Ralph!"

"No, he's not." Connor watched Ralph's every movement carefully as he put himself between the dangerous deviant and Hank. "We want to-"

Ralph suddenly lunged at Hank, but Connor was just as fast as Ralph and responded with lightning quick reflexes to the incoming assault. Grabbing on to Ralph's wrist Connor held the lethal knife at bay and away from Hank as the human wisely backed off from the threat. The two deviants struggled for the knife and leaned heavily against the black railing that lined the second floor's safety exterior balcony of the hotel.

Connor wanted to disarm Ralph and Ralph wanted to attack the two detectives who were just trying to help him.

Despite not wanting to shoot Ralph or anyone else, Hank slowly drew his gun from the holster ready to fire as soon as Connor was clear, but until then all he could do was watch and wait to see what happened.

"Let it go!" Connor demanded as he tried to keep the knife back, but Ralph's panic gave the deviant more determination to win than Connor. "We don't want to hurt you! You need to cooperate with us."

"NO!" Refusing to let go of his grip, Ralph continued to fight back against Connor with every ounce of strength that he had. "RALPH WILL NOT BE FOOLED!"

The pressure being applied against the railing proved to be too much for the barricade as the two deviants struggled for the weapon. The worn-out bolts securing the railing to the concrete balcony began to buckle and bend under the increasing pressure before finally giving way with a loud metallic 'creak'. The railing snapped causing the two deviants to topple over the edge of the balcony and down into the parking lot almost twenty feet below.

"Shit! Connor!?"

Hank had made a dive to grab for Connor's hand but missed by just centimeters. Looking over the edge Hank eyed the two deviants lying motionless below in the parking lot and felt his heart skip a beat at the sight.

"Oh, fuck!"

Scrambling back to his feet Hank raced down the balcony and rushed down the metallic steps to reach the parking lot and subsequently get to his partner. It took Hank only a minute to get down to where Connor had fallen, but it felt like an eternity as the man tried to not fear the worst.

Connor was laying on his side curled around himself, his hands gripping desperately at his abdomen as he breathed through his clenched teeth in pain.

Miraculously, Ralph had already gotten to his feet and disappeared into the night by the time Hank had reached the parking lot. Ralph left no trace of himself behind to be trailed as his vanished into the city and out of sight.

"Connor," Hank knelt beside his partner and put his palm on the top of Connor's head as he spoke in a soft voice. "how bad are you hurt?"

"B-Bad." The deviant detective stammered as he weakly rolled from his side and onto his back. His hands were still clutching at his abdomen but now Hank could see why as dark blue Thirium oozed around his fingers as something shiny and metallic jutted out of his torso. "...Very bad."

"Oh, fuck. Is that what I think it is?"

Ralph's knife was fully embedded in the center of Connor's torso all the way up to its hilt. Thirium was leaking all around the stab wound in rhythmic gushes that synchronized with Connor's frantic heartbeat in his chest.

"I'll call for help." Hank stated as he made another grab for the phone in his pocket. "I'll get the E.F.T.'s out here."

"N-No time." Cautiously Connor wheezed as he used his shaking hands to pull open the front of his blue stained, formerly white, dress shirt. He scanned the resulting damage the blade had caused to his body with a thick grimace on his face. "The blade has pierced my secondary ascending Th-Thirial line - an artery. I will bleed to d-death in less than four m-minutes if the bleeding isn't stopped immediately."

"Wha-" Such a grim warning made Hank's own blood suddenly run cold. Slipping off his heavy coat Hank folded it up and tucked it beneath Connor's head to try to give his friend some form of comfort and support. Remembering how Joel had managed to perform far more delicate repairs in the darkness of an abandoned tunnel just a few weeks back, Hank was determined to save Connor's life by thinking on his feet and staying calm. "What do I have to do to save you? Talk me through this."

Connor forced the numerous red warnings from his visual sensors as he pressed his fingertips to his red L.E.D. in his right temple, causing the artificial skin over his abdomen to recede. "F-Find the pierced artery and t-tie it off."

"Tie it off? How?" Hank asked as he pushed down on the white plastimetal frame that was now exposed courtesy of the removed artificial skin, but the panel couldn't open because of the knife obstructing its movement. Taking a firm grip on the handle of the knife, Hank gave Connor an uncertain glance and held his breath. "I have to pull out the knife to look inside, and you're going to bleed a lot more. Are you sure about this?"

"Yes."

"Kid, you know that it's wrong for a stab victim to have the penetrating weapon removed without having a direct means to stop the bleeding. Are you REALLY sure?"

"...Yes." With his options limited Connor nodded weakly. Tucking his arm under his head he peered down at his bloodied torso and held his breath. "Do it."

"Okay, yeah. Hold still." Using a precise firm yank the knife was pulled from Connor's abdomen and the deviant gasped in pain as his entire body jerked in response to the painful moment. "Sorry, sorry!" Hank put his palm down on Connor's chest to try and still the pained deviant under his touch. "It's out. Now what?"

"O-Open the panel. Locate the leak."

Hank pressed down harder on the plastimetal frame causing it to unlock at last now that the obstructive knife had been removed. Sliding the panel open Hank looked down inside Connor's bloody torso and saw a gush of Thirium leaking quickly from where the blade had made contact with the mentioned Thirial line.

"Shit, man. I'll never get used to seeing your insides on the outside."

"T-Two minutes." Connor gasped as his countdown clock ticking toward imminent shutdown recalibrated after the knife was removed. "And counting..."

"I see it." Hank reluctantly dipped his fingers into the collecting pool of blue Thirium and used his fingertips to isolate the damage as requested. The effort gave Hank flashbacks to the first time he had to repair Connor in the street. "I think I can- Wait! There's something going on here..."

It wasn't the Thirial line that had been damaged but the connecting point between the line itself and the Thirium pump regulator. The knife had managed to wedge itself between the two points of contact severing them cleanly without actually causing damage to either the biocomponent or the main Thirial line.

"Hang tight, son, I got ya'." Blindly Hank replaced the connection point at the end of the Thirial line and secured it into the coupling at the bottom of the regulator where it belonged. There was an audible 'click' as the connection was restored and the leak stopped immediately. "Got it."

"Y-Yes... That worked." Feeling much better Connor took in a deep breath as the countdown stopped with twenty-two seconds remaining. "The leak has been successfully s-stopped. Thirium volume down to sixty-four percent, but it is holding."

Hank sighed and sat down on the cold surface of the parking lot beside Connor. He rested his bloody hands over his knees as Thirium dripped from his fingertips staining the already dark asphalt with darker spots of blue next to the detective's shoes.

"I can drain the excess Thirium from my abdominal cavity," Connor confirmed as he looked down at his body with a keen eye. "and replace what I've lost either at the precinct or the house."

"We need to find this 'Ralph' deviant first." Trying to collect his thoughts Hank brought up their escaped suspect. "He tried to kill you, Connor. He almost did too."

"No." Connor disagreed as his hand raised up from the ground and pressed against his abdomen to close the panel. "He wanted to kill you. The fact that the blade so cleanly severed a contact point instead of destroying a biocomponent means he wanted to disable me just long enough to escape after we fell, not actually kill me."

"Oh, well, as long as he just wanted to kill me, then I guess we can just let him go!"

Connor gave the senior detective a bemused glance as he slowly lifted his head a little higher up from the coat tucked under his head as he rested on the ground for a few more minutes. He didn't want to push himself after losing nearly forty percent of his overall Thirium volume.

"Hank, he needs to be captured but," the deviant's voice had stabilized as his self-healing program began to disperse what Thirium remained in his body evenly to the other biocomponents. "not because he harmed me, but because he needs assistance. I think it'd be best to have Markus escort him to New Jericho Tower to be repaired by his fellow deviants without any humans around."

"Speaking of repairs," Hank pointed at Connor's bloodied torso. "the Gamma Facility is two blocks east of here. Let's get you some fresh Thirium and cleaned up before we head back to the precinct."

"I'd rather not stop by that particular facility again."

"Why's that?"

"I fear that if the Gamma and Delta Facilities notice my frequency regarding damage and glitches that they may try to intervene with what I can and cannot do in the field as a detective. They have a legal obligation to report any such repeated patterns of patient admissions, just as a hospital are legally obligated to report signs of suspected physical or sexual abuse with their own patients."

"You're a DETECTIVE. Getting banged up and sick while working with the public always goes with the job." Hank reminded Connor of the risks that came with the job that he had decided to continue after he was given the right to pick and choose any career that he wanted. "Don't worry, they're not gonna' file an over-reactionary report about a cop to the cops just because you have a reputation as being a magnet for trouble."

"Thanks, Hank. I appreciate having such a reputation."

"No problem. Come on, we'll let Fowler know to put out an A.P.B. on Ralph and tell him what happened tonight. Hopefully, we can arrest Ralph without any further incidents."

"I hope so." Connor reached out his hand toward Hank who got to his feet quickly, then pulled the deviant up slowly behind him. Swaying a little on his feet Connor waited for his gyroscope to recalibrate before letting go of Hank's hand. "...I-It would be unfortunate if Ralph were to be arrested and locked away instead of receiving the help he needs."

"Whoa, easy." Hank put his hand on Connor's shoulder and held it in place to hold him in place. "Do you have the strength to walk to the car?"

"Yes, I can make it." Confirming the question with a subtle nod of the head Connor began taking slow meticulous steps toward the car parked a few yards away from where and Hank were standing. Fortunately, no one else had been injured during the confrontation and there weren't any bystanders who were frightened by the confrontation in the parking lot. "Thank you for your help."

"Yeah. No problem, kid." Patting Connor's shoulder as they walked Hank just sighed at all the Thirium staining his hands and Connor's shirt. "Just stop getting hurt and making me stick your hands in your guts."

"I'll do my best to prevent such further incidents in the future." Rebuttoning his shirt as he walked Connor gave Hank a coy smirk that the senior detective just barely caught. "It's a good thing you're a skilled mechanic. Without CyberLife constantly updating my software and programs I will be more prone to missteps as I'm now aware I am in fact alive, not just a disposable tool."

"And never forget it, kid." Pausing in the middle of the parking lot Hank noticed the hotel's manager watching them through the window his office overlooking the opened parking lot. "Shit. I'm going to tell the manager that the deviant he called about is gone and that he's going to want maintenance to repair that broken railing before some drunk idiot falls over the edge and tries to sue."

"That's a wise precaution."

"Sit down in the car and rest until I get back." Hank urged as he handed Connor the keys to the Oldsmobile to hang on to. "I get the feeling this guy wouldn't want an android dripping blue blood all over his 'fine establishment' after he called us to get another android out of the area."

"To be fair, Ralph was very dangerous had no business being around humans."

"I don't care what's fair, I care about what's less of a pain in the ass to deal with. I hate paperwork." Just as Hank was about to step away from the car he stopped quickly and turned to face Connor with an accusatory look on his face. "BUT... just because I hate paperwork doesn't mean that I'm not going to take you to a facility whenever you get injured or a virus again."

"I'm aware." After he unlocked the car Connor tilted his head curiously as an interesting popped into his head. "Perhaps by the time I require additional technical assistance there will be other facilities opened in the city. The designated Zeta Facility is going to the largest facility in all of Detroit. Maybe there will be new technicians that aren't familiar with my rather... interesting technical history."

"Maybe. Then again, I get the feeling technicians might float from one facility to the next just like cops do at precincts and nurses do at hospitals. Face it, kid," continuing on his way Hank teased the deviant and kept his spirits up. "you'll never escape your reputation as an amazing detective and a hopeless klutz!"

-next chapter-