The city was in an uproar over the failed arrest of the two members of Quondam - the masked man who was leading the violence and his strongest supporter and possible lover, Marcia Stack. Two days after Quondam's threat to attack the city was thwarted, a cruel and myopic attempt to prove that deviant androids were only defective machines and that humans were superior to them, the police force was still struggling to locate the elusive duo that the comprised the small hate-filled group of domestic terrorists. Hank and Connor were still in charge of the investigation and neither detective was going to back down from their investigation easily.
Sitting behind his terminal screen Connor pressed his palm over his abdomen where his fully healed injury still ached and danced his quarter over his opposite knuckles to hone his reflexes and timing. Lost in thought as he waited for any reported sighting of either the masked man or Marcia to appear on the display before him, the deviant detective was completely oblivious to Hank walking up behind him to check on his progress.
Peering over Connor's right shoulder Hank noticed the blank screen and shook his head. "Staring at the screen isn't going to make a lead pop up, kid."
"Huh?" Turning to look up at Hank, the senior detective still sporting a swollen nose and two black eyes, standing behind him Connor's brow furrowed with absolute puzzlement. Connor's coin continued its dance uninhibited over the back of his right hand as he spoke in a casual tone. "What do mean?"
"Ever hear the phrase 'a watched pot never boils'?"
"No."
"Well, it applies here. The more you sit and wait the more you're going to drive yourself crazy." Glancing at the quarter on the deviant's knuckles Hank grabbed the coin and held it in a tight fist to get it away from Connor. "And knock it off with that damn coin. It pisses me off."
"Why?"
"Because the only time I see you messing with this thing," Hank held up the quarter between his index finger and thumb as if emphasizing a point. "is when you're thinking. And your thinking always teeters dangerously close to obsession."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry, kid. Just focus on something else for a while, all right?"
"All right. I'll handle another case for the time being."
Crossing his arms over his chest Hank gave the deviant an odd glance. "Are you feelin' okay?"
"I'm fine." Connor replied honestly with only a hint of offense behind his words. "Why do you ask?"
"You're obsessive little mind is never this agreeable with me."
"I assure you that I'm fine. And I have already made a promise to you in the past that I would stop obsessing over the little things that I cannot change. I intend to keep my promise."
Before the senior detective had the chance to say another word Tina rushed over to the two conversing detectives and handed Hank an electronic tablet. "Hey Captain, look at this."
Accepting the tablet Hank scanned over the details and clapped his free hand on Connor's shoulder and offered him back his coin. "You're up, kid. Marcia was just spotted in Midtown."
"How close is she to New Jericho Tower?" The cautious deviant asked as he rose from his chair quickly, pocketing his quarter and pressing his hand back to his sore abdomen in the process. He took the tablet from Hank's hand to view for himself and quickly chronicled the details in his memorybank. "I don't want her to get too close to the tower."
"She's about four blocks West of New Jericho as of this moment. Police drones are watching her from a safe distance."
"I'll go alone."
"Alone? No." Hank hated that idea and he didn't want to see Connor get hurt again. "She's too dangerous to be handled alone."
"The fewer officers there are in the area," the deviant replied logically as he handed the tablet back to Hank. "the less likely she is to run or try something violent."
"Connor, I don't-"
"I can do this, Hank." Speaking up and putting his foot down Connor made it clear he wanted to handle his new mission on his own. "I need to do this."
"Fuckin'-" Time was of the essence and Hank didn't have the time to argue or reason with the steadfast deviant. "All right, go. Just don't do anything stupid."
With Hank's approval Connor took his leave of the precinct and made his way to the neighboring parking garage outside. Pulling the keys from his gray blazer's pocket the deviant readily unlocked the driver's side door to his Corvette, sat down behind the wheel, turned over the engine and raced onto the street to head to Midtown.
Cybernetically he kept tabs on the wanted woman's current location through the police drones and knew exactly where to go in order to head her off. And more importantly, he knew how to keep her from disappearing again.
Back at the precinct the other officers were anxiously awaiting an update on Connor's pursuit of the dangerous woman last seen in an uncomfortably close proximity to New Jericho Tower. It was rare to let any officer work alone when attempting to locate a known dangerous suspect, but it was also important to remain discreet to ensure that the unpredictable and violent woman didn't do anything reckless to an innocent bystander to try to elude the police or harm anyone else around her to get away and evade justice yet again.
The bullpen was tense and everyone was ready to spring into action the moment it became necessary. It was as if the precinct was caught in the middle of an impending war that had no side to be chosen.
"Any word on this Marcia-psycho, yet?" Hank asked as he stepped over to Tina's desk to check in with her and Gavin. "I haven't heard anything from Connor."
"Nothing yet." Tina sounded as disappointed as Hank felt as she confirmed the lack of updates. "Patrol is circling the area but keeping a safe distance from the suspect as requested. Same with the drones."
"Let me know if anything changes, all right?"
"Yes, sir."
Gavin silently nodded to confirm he heard Hank as he discreetly texted with his pregnant wife by keeping his phone just out of sight and under his desk. At the moment Gavin was more preoccupied with his keep his wife and daughter safe than he was interested in arresting anyone.
"And if anything from that Quondam group surfaces let me know." Hank spoke up a little louder to ensure everyone in the bullpen had heard him and knew that things were getting serious. "If she makes a move we need to be ready to make one, too."
Hearing the authority in Hank's voice Gavin finally looked up and nodded at the senior detective. "Right, Cap'. We're on it."
Relying on his stealth and discretion Connor parked the Corvette in a small public parking garage just one block away from where Marcia had been spotted. While walking at a calm pace Connor encroached on the last known sighting of the redheaded woman and kept vigilant. It didn't take the keen eyed deviant long to isolate the woman from the small mass of people she was trying to blend in with as she stalked about a shopping plaza. The bright red hair color was a dead give away and made it surprisingly easy for the deviant to track her amongst the growing crowd of diverse people. She was wearing a support sling on her right arm to take the strain off of her previously injured shoulder which meant she could also be physically weaker and thus easier to chase down.
'I've located the suspect.'
Connor cybernetically updated the precinct as he made his way toward her.
'Identity confirmed. It's Marcia Stack. Her right arm is in a sling due to her previous injury. I'm going to attempt an arrest; standby.'
Approaching quietly Connor attempted to corner and isolate Marcia from the innocent bystanders but the woman noticed Connor and recognized him instantly. Her face paled and her blue eyes went wide with fear as she turned quickly and darted through the crowd to escape.
"Stop!" Connor shouted through the crowd as he hastened his pace and began pursuit. "Detroit Police!"
Cybernetically he sent another update to the precinct to keep them apprised of what was happening.
'Marcia is attempting to flee the scene, I am in pursuit.'
The crowd quickly dispersed to give Connor the space to run through while Marcia attempted to elude the swift deviant detective. Loud protests from angry people in the crowd helped mark her path as Connor continued to chase after Marcia through the plaza.
In a near blind panic Marcia rushed through the crowd to escape the shopping plaza and began darting down narrow dirty alleyways to try to evade Connor and elude justice for a second time. Using garbage cans and fences to her advantage Marcia was able to put up some form of barrier between herself and Connor as she ran even with only one arm to use during her escape. However, the effort wasn't enough to deter the focused deviant from his mission.
"STOP." Connor called out again as he easily began to outpace the woman and catch up to her. "You have nowhere to go."
Desperate to get away Marcia awkwardly climbed through the broken ground floor window of an abandoned apartment building and ran over to the single staircase inside that snaked through the entire building.
Connor slid to a stop just outside the window and saw Marcia rapidly rushing up the aged staircase toward the top floor of the building. Initiating a scan of the building's blueprints Connor tracked her every movement through the brick walls as he located the metal ladder of the building's exterior fire escape and used it to climb up to the roof with the intent to head her off.
'Requesting assistance at my location. The suspect is on the move and heading to the roof of the abandoned South Tree Apartment building on Eighth Street. I'm actively in pursuit.'
Ascending the ladder and metal fire escape balconies with great ease, Connor pulled himself up and over the edge of the rooftop and positioned himself just outside the metal door leading to the roof access. His incredibly accurate scanners had kept track of Marcia as she frantically tried to race up the nine floors of the building to get to the roof, but gravity was quickly wearing out her resolve and she slowed considerably during her desperate escape.
Timing his next move perfectly Connor grabbed onto Marcia's left shoulder as soon as she burst through the unlocked metal door and held her back.
Kicking, screaming trying to jerk her shoulder free, Marcia was obviously pissed about being caught. "LET ME GO!"
"Marcia Stack, you're under arrest." Connor informed her as she continued to try to break free of his strong grip. "You're being charged with one count of public menacing, one count of attempted domestic terrorism, three counts of assaulting a police officer, one count of attempted murder of a police officer and two counts of resisting arrest. Is there anything else I should add?"
"FUCK YOU!"
"One count of disturbing the peace and one count of verbal assault." The deviant quipped easily as the caught woman flailed about wildly. "Stop resisting."
Still kicking wildly Marcia managed to bring her right heel up and strike Connor directly in his abdomen causing the deviant to groan in pain as he felt the wind nearly forced from his body. The brutal strike aggravated his still sore abdomen where his healing injury persisted and forced his grip on her left shoulder to suddenly lessen. As the deviant attempted to regain his balance Marcia brought up her left elbow and struck Connor in the throat stunning the deviant entirely as his air intake line temporary collapsed in on itself.
Connor fell to his knees and coughed harshly as he pressed his right hand to his abdomen and his left hand to his throat.
Free again Marcia began running across the roof to the edge and peered at the neighboring building seven and half feet away.
"D-Don't do that!" Connor managed to shout through an electronic echo in his voice. Recomposing himself he got back to his feet and raced after her in an attempt to keep her from trying to jump. "You'll never make it!"
Marcia climbed up onto the edge of the building and tried to square her jump properly.
"DON'T DO IT!" Connor called out again as he found himself at arm's length from the woman. "You'll fall!"
Just centimeters out of his grip Marcia jumped from the edge of the building with her left arm outstretched in an attempt to grab onto the neighboring rooftop to escape Connor again. Reaching the edge of the roof just as the woman began her fateful leap Connor quickly scanned and analyzed the event taking place before him with a grim preconstruction.
Marcia would never reach the other roof during her jump.
Once she missed she'd fall straight down the nine floors onto the hard black asphalt of the ground below and had a ninety-eight percent chance of dying from the intense impact. If Connor were to jump after her he could use his own body to shield her from the impact, pushing her chances of survival up from an irreversible two percent chance of survival to a seventy-four percent, but Connor's own chances of survival would plummet down to a near lethal twelve percent.
The deviant reluctantly made his decision and stopped as he reached the edge of the rooftop.
'Suspect has leapt from the roof.'
Connor cybernetically reported as he watched Marcia leap and then begin a horrifying fall. Planting his feet firmly near the edge of the roof all he could do was watch as Marcia's left fingertips failed to grab onto the neighboring rooftop before she fell while screaming in terror. The horrific sound of her body colliding with the ground below was as sickening as it was haunting. Everything suddenly went silent after Marcia hit the ground.
'...Suspect is down.'
It was over.
'Requesting C.S.I. and an ambulance to my location...'
Closing his eyes after Marcia hit the ground Connor instantly felt sick at the sound of her bones snapping during the impact and could almost instantly smell the blood as it pooled from her body. Keeping his eyes closed Connor ran a biometric scan from where he stood and found her vital signs expectedly non-existent.
'I repeat: The suspect is down.'
Feeling absolutely sickened by the end result of the eventful chase Connor just stood outside the alleyway as the gruesome demise of Marcia Stack was officiated and handled by the C.S.I. team that had been requested to the scene. Unable to look down the alley or think about anything beyond Marcia's death, Connor was more like a statue and less like a detective as the C.S.I. team charge of the gruesome scene. The smell of fresh blood and the echoing sound of her bones snapping made the deviant's artificial stomach turn and threaten to rebel at any moment as he failed to keep the woman's final moments from replaying inside his mind over and over again.
Unable to shake the guilt from his mind Connor preconstructed all of his previous options and tried to find out where he had gone wrong with the pursuit. It seemed as if nothing could've been done to keep Marcia from falling to her death, but in Connor's mind that simple answer simply wasn't acceptable.
"Connor." Hank arrived at the scene with Ben and promptly addressed the distressed deviant while the other detective secured the scene. "Are you hurt?"
"...No." Whispering his response Connor shook his head slightly as Hank stood beside him. "I am unharmed."
Patting Connor's shoulder once Hank looked up at the roof of the building and swore in horror as he noted the incredible height that Marcia had fallen from during her failed escape attempt. "Fuck... She tried to jump?"
"...I attempted to stop her, but she wouldn't listen to me."
"It's okay, kid." Looking back at Connor's face Hank could see the empathetic distress in Connor's soulful brown eyes. "You didn't push her and she didn't listen to an officer of the law. She chose to jump to her death."
"I was unable to stop her."
"That's NOT your fault."
"That doesn't ease my mind. I... I saw it. I heard it. I can even smell it."
Tightening his grip on Connor's shoulder Hank pulled the deviant away from the alley. "Come on. Give your statement at the precinct and then go home."
"I don't want to go home."
"Well, you're sure as fuck not going to keep working after witnessing that." The sight of the mangled body under the bloody sheet made Hank's flesh crawl. "You need to go home and you need to think about something other than death."
It was a slow walk back to the Corvette but once inside the vehicle everything seemed to be rushing by so fast for the shaken deviant. Still in shock Connor sat quietly in the passenger seat and pressed his palms to his face as he leaned forward and balanced his elbows atop his knees. Feeling a tad nauseated Connor breathed slowly through his hands and tried to force the horrible image and sounds from his mind.
"Connor," Hank had been watching Connor from the corner of his eye very carefully. "are you going to be okay?"
"...I don't know." The admission in the deviant's voice was as emotionally draining as it was sincere. "I really don't."
"Talk to me. What happened up there?"
"I chased her. I climbed up to the roof of the apartment with the fire escape and waited for her to pass through the roof access door. Once she did I restrained her and informed her that she was under arrest."
"All right, that's routine." Listening intently to Connor's story Hank did his best to ease the deviant's guilt. "What next?"
"She struck me once in the abdomen and once in the throat. While I was stunned she broke free of my grip and ran to the edge of the roof."
Hank already knew where the story was heading and knew it was important for Connor to talk it out. "Keeping going."
"I told her to get back from the edge, but... she wouldn't listen to me. Despite my warnings that she would be unable to successfully jump to the next roof she jumped anyway."
The details were as sickening as the fall itself. Hank was quiet for a moment as he sympathized with the deviant's pain. "Kid, you didn't do anything wrong. She chose to jump."
"And I chose to not jump after her."
"Are you seriously upset that you didn't risk your life to save hers?"
"It's my job to serve and protect. I failed."
"No, son." The senior detective replied firmly as he pulled the car back into the parking garage of the precinct and put the vehicle in park. "You didn't fail. She fucked up her own life and you decided that your own life was better than that. There's nothing wrong with not wanting to kill yourself over someone like her."
Sitting up quickly Connor rubbed his hand over his face and began to breathe through his gritted teeth. "I-I don't feel good."
"Okay, come on."
Moving quickly Hank opened the driver's side door and watched as Connor fumbled to get the passenger side door open. As soon as the deviant was out of the car he gracelessly stumbled toward the concrete wall of the garage a few feet away and proceeded to throw-up. Resting his right hand on Connor's back Hank waited for the deviant to finish being sick, and painting the garage floor a deep sapphire blue.
"It's okay, kid. Let it out."
Spitting out the rest of the stressed induced Thirium onto the ground Connor dragged his arm over his mouth. "...I'm sorry."
"For what? I puked plenty of times after walking away from scenes like that." Keeping his hand on Connor's back Hank noticed that there was some third layer of fabric under his palm as opposed to just the gray blazer and white dress shirt that the deviant always wore. "Hey, are you bandaged up again?"
Connor shook his head 'no' as he waited for his stomach to settle a little before speaking up. "...No. I'm wearing Kevlar."
"Seriously?" Withdrawing his hand Hank crossed his arms over his chest as if ready to challenge Connor on his claim. "I thought you hated wearing it since it slows you down in the field."
Turning around to look at Hank directly in the eyes Connor sighed and pressed his right palm to his still upset stomach. "...I promised that I'd take steps to ensure I'm putting my own life as a higher priority and I intend to keep that promise." Feeling the Kevlar under his shirt Connor's soulful brown eyes flashed with misplaced guilt. "Maybe that's why I couldn't stop her from jumping."
"What do you mean?"
"I was too slow."
"Stop it."
"A woman is dead and I chose to not jump after her and try to save her. It's my fault."
"It's NOT your fault. She chose to jump and you chose to not jump. She made her decision and you made your own." Sensing the horrific distress that was overwhelming the deviant's conscience Hank's paternal instincts kicked in full force. "Look, by all accounts I shouldn't be saying this, but it needs to be said: She wasn't worth it. She wasn't worth your time and Heaven knows she wasn't worth your life."
"Then why do I feel- I feel... I don't really know how to... describe it."
"Like shit?"
"Horrible." The deviant finally clarified with an emotional stare in his glassy eyes. "I feel absolutely horrible for what happened to her. You say it isn't my fault, but I still feel horrible regardless of the circumstance."
"It's because unlike her you care about other people and you have a sense of value in all life." Urging the deviant to return to the precinct with a guiding arm around Connor's shoulders Hank patiently waited for Connor to begin walking. "Kid, I know you've never done this before, but I think you should talk to the precinct 'shrink' for a few minutes. Then go home."
"The 'shrink'?"
"Psychiatrist."
"Oh."
"She'll help you understand your guilt and understand why it's misplaced."
"Hank, I don't-"
"I can only help you so much, son." The senior detective quickly interjected before Connor had the chance to argue against it. "And you've been through A LOT in your life. If you don't want to talk to her," Hank paused just outside the precinct doors to give the deviant a sympathetic glance and lowered his voice. "then maybe you can talk to Josh at the tower. You need to get this off your chest and not keep it bottled up inside."
"...I'd rather speak to someone I don't know as a friend. It would feel more private to speak to my old therapist again."
"Good idea. Talk it out upstairs with the precinct psychiatrist for a minute and then go home for the rest of the day, and maybe make an appointment with your therapist since you haven't spoken to her in almost a year now. We'll keep looking for the masked guy now that his partner in crime has been subdued."
Nodding weakly Connor stood up straight and dropped his hand from his upset stomach. "Okay. I'll go."
"And by the way..." Pushing open the large doors to the precinct Hank clapped Connor on the right shoulder as the two walked through the receptionist area side by side. "I'm proud of you."
That compliment gave Connor pause as he and Hank set foot inside the bullpen again. "For what?"
"For putting on the Kevlar to protect yourself without me asking you to do it, and for finally realizing your life is worth protecting."
"You're the one who helped me to see that I really do matter, Hank." Connor admitted in a small voice as he sensed his fellow officers all watching him from where they were sitting. He knew they had been worried about his safety, too and it showed in their concerned eyes. "It's not selfish to want to live or to want a decent life worth living."
"Well, you kept me from throwing my life away. So, now we're even!"
"I thought we weren't keeping score regarding good deeds."
"We're not." The kind detective and proud father smirked broadly at the sharp retort. "But it is a fact. We're both worth keeping around."
-next chapter-
