It was a cold wintry morning in Detroit when the two detectives set off for the precinct to begin their shifts. Connor elected to drive Hank in to the precinct as the human detective had awoken with a nasty headache thanks to the suddenly cold weather and refused to call off sick until the Quondam case was solved. Light traffic and chilly weather had ensured that the duo would arrive in a timely manner as per usual until Connor received an unexpected cybernetic message from Markus at New Jericho Tower. Altering his route to meet up with the deviant leader Connor explained the change of direction in a calm voice to Hank as he cybernetically confirmed with Markus that he was on his way.

Whenever Markus contacted Connor the deviant leader had encountered something of utter importance that need immediate attention. Unwilling to risk something important being overlooked Connor made his detour without any hesitation as he repeated Markus's message over and over again inside his own mind.

"I just received an emergency message from Markus." Turning right at the next block and heading downtown Connor made a beeline for his friend's current location. Despite Markus speaking in a calm voice over the cybernetic line Connor could sense the urgency in his words. "He had been summoned to a remote location to aid a deviant in distress, but something is not right."

"You don't need to be a detective to know that, kid." Hank crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes as he pushed through his headache just long enough to focus on their conversation at hand. "What's going on downtown?"

"Markus arrived at the designated location and found a deviant as he was told, but the deviant is already dead. And by all account the deviant has been dead for approximately six years."

"That sucks, but why not just call the police and have them take care of the body?"

"Because Markus found his own name engraved in the wooden siding of the wall directly above the body."

"...Someone scrawled Markus's name above a dead body?" Opening his tired blue eyes slowly he turned to look at Connor and flashed the deviant a confused stare. "And then they called Markus over to find the dead body?"

"Correct."

"All right, that's definitely a trap. Let's figure this out before this day gets any more fucked up and some rumors get started."

"Agreed."


Alone as requested Markus stood in the middle of the lobby that had once been a massive department store with his hands folded neatly before himself. The body of the shutdown android; a male 'AP-600 model' who had been torn apart in a very gruesome manner, was propped up against the bare wall inside the building as if being put on display for Markus to find. The unfortunate deviant had been left for dead for almost six years prior and in that time he had numerous biocomponents stripped from his body. Even the delicate internal Thirium lines were torn apart by rats and other vermin that had picked at the poor deviant's exposed body.

Above the body the name 'MARKUS' was cut into rotting the drywall by a screwdriver and was obviously left as a cryptic message or a warning for the deviant leader to find. The message was simple yet very effective.

"Who did this to you?"

Markus asked the unfortunate victim, not that he was expecting to receive an answer. Kneeling down in front of the victim he used his hand to gently close the victims vacant and blackened eyes so make him appear more peaceful.

"And why did they single me out? What's the connection? What's the point of this sick act?"

As he remained crouched down in front of the body Markus reached his free hand out and grabbed onto the victim's wrist to try for a cybernetic interface, but the damage to the deviant had been so extensive that there was nothing for Markus to connect with.

"I'm sorry this happened to you."

Retracting his hands Markus stood upright again and took a step back toward the door to behind.

As he did he heard the door open up behind him and he turned his head in time to see Connor and Hank entering the deserted building together. "Thanks for coming so quickly."

The deviant detective immediately honed in on the victim and the scene that had been left for Markus to find. "Markus, what's going on?"

"I wish I knew." Stepping aside to give a clear view to the body Markus was just as confused as they were. "I got an anonymous message this morning stating that there was a stranded and injured deviant out here who only wanted to talk to me because they were afraid to talk to anyone else. I got here eight minutes and fourteen seconds ago, and this is what I found."

Hank stepped forward and put his hands on his hips as he studied the unusual crime scene with a keen eyes. "And you didn't touch or move anything, right?"

"No. I only tried to cybernetically link with the victim but there was too much damage to establish a connection."

Connor crouched down in front of the victim and lightly tilted the deviant's head to the right so he could peer at the small serial number purposefully engraved against the plastimetal frame just under his left eye, and identified the deviant at long last. "The victim is-"

Before he could finish his assessment Connor stood up abruptly and put both of his hands to the sides of his head as he closed his eyes so tightly that tears began to stream down his face while a horrible pain tore through his cranium. Markus had done the same, and he too was overcome by a staggering debilitating pain that left the two deviants completely stunned.

"Connor? Markus?" Hank was immediately on guard and trying to figure out why the two deviants were suffering from a terrible pain and looked ready to drop at any second. "What's happening?"

Neither deviant could answer as the blissfulness of unconsciousness swept over their pained minds. Falling unconscious in a dead faint Connor hit the floor chest first and Markus shortly thereafter hit the ground landing on his back right beside Connor.

"Connor! Markus!"

Hank knelt down beside the two unconscious deviants quickly. He pressed his fingertips to the side of Connor's neck to check his pulse, then he pressed his opposite palm to Markus's chest and did the same pulse check.

"What the hell is going on?!"

Pulling is hands back Hank reached for his phone in his back pocket to call for help but was unable to dial any number before a strong blow to the back of his head rendered him unconscious as well. The phone fell from Hank's limp grip and slid across the floor near the heel of the dead deviant. Falling forward Hank hit the floor and laid on his side next to the two unconscious deviants who had been subdued by an unseen force just a few seconds prior.

The three men were all unconscious and vulnerable to whomever had lured them to the abandoned department store for an unknown reason but surely sadistic reason.


At the Central Precinct the other detectives and officers quickly took notice that neither Hank or Connor had arrived for their shifts as scheduled, and as a result the bullpen instinctively knew something was very wrong. Hank hadn't been late to his shift since he partnered up with Connor almost four years ago and Connor himself was never late without there being a very good reason. For them both to be uncharacteristically absent without any phone calls or text messages being sent to anyone in the precinct to let them know something was happening instantly spoke volumes indicating trouble, and the other officers were ready to act.

Due to his rank and experience Gavin was now the officer in charge until either Hank or Connor could be located. Trusting his gut when it came to unusual situations Gavin knew that they needed to find their missing people as soon as possible.

"Chris," Gavin called out to the Sergeant as he and Jack went to their desks to begin their shifts. "you seen Anderson or the 'Tinman' this morning?"

"No." Chris confirmed with confusion thick in his voice. "Aren't they out on a case?"

"No, they never showed up." Picking up the phone from his desk Gavin pointed to Jack and asked for some assistance. "Hey, 'Jack-in-the-box', can you get in touch with Connor?"

The blond deviant tried cybernetic communication to make contact with the missing Lieutenant and shook his head 'no' in response. "Negative. I cannot."

"Fuck..." Dialing a number to contact someone 'higher up' Gavin maintained complete control of the situation as his experience alone made him the ranking officer for the time being. "Chris, I want you and Jack to go check out the house and make sure nothing happened. Tina, you're with me. I'm going to get another Captain down here to take over until we can figure out what happened to those guys. Ben," honing in on the senior investigator Gavin gave him an order as well. "you're in charge here until me, the Captain, the Lieutenant or another commanding officer shows up."

"You got it." Ben acknowledged the role and went into Hank's office to make a few calls of his own. "I'll let the higher-ups know what's going on."

Tina nodded her head and began making a few calls herself from her own desk. "I'll start by checking with emergency rooms and see if anyone matching Hank's description was admitted. Then I'll check facilities for Connor."

"Yeah, good idea." Despite Gavin's reluctance to admit he cared about either of the missing detectives everyone knew he was becoming rather fond of the duo. It seemed fatherhood had softened his more abrasive edges in a very compassionate style. "We need to find them, A.S.A.P., we're treating this like a missing persons' case until we can get some definitive answers and find them."


Rebooting slowly with a throbbing pain in the back of his head, Connor opened his soulful brown eyes and found himself laying on his chest on the cold hard floor of a very dark room that he didn't recognize. The walls were a solid matte black and perfectly smooth. There was no visible door and there were no windows on any of the walls. The only furnishing in the room was a single white medical exam table in the middle of the room behind him. Above him in the ceiling were three separate lights that shone with a white/yellow glow that barely pierced the smothering darkness of the cold oppressive room that surrounded him.

Looking about carefully Connor spotted Hank laying on his back a few feet away and Markus laying on his side on the opposite side of Hank. Pushing himself up from the ground slowly the deviant reached out his hand and pressed his palm down against Hank's chest and ran a biometric scan over his body. There was mild swelling and a bleeding cut just behind Hank's left ear from the blow to his head. Unconscious and possibly concussed Connor didn't dare to try to move him until he knew where he was or where he could go to get Hank some help.

Moving to the other side of Hank he then checked on Markus and saw the mismatched irises returning to the waking world. "Markus? Are you functional?"

"Y-Yeah." The deviant leader sat up slowly on the floor and looked around confusedly. He was in pain and at a total loss of his bearings as well. "Where the hell are we?"

"Unknown." Attempting and failing to scan the environment Connor just shook his head despondently. "There is a massive dampening field surrounding us entirely. I can't perform any type of reading beyond Hank and yourself."

"Are you hurt?"

"No. Are you?"

"No." Markus noticed Hank and inquired with his worried eyes on the senior detective's condition. "Is he...?"

"Hank has suffered a mild concussion. I'd rather not move him until he regains some form of consciousness." Shrugging off his gray blazer Connor folded it up neatly and tucked it beneath Hank's head without jostling him too much in the process. It was then Connor realized that his gun was missing. "Shit. I've been disarmed."

"Oh, great. What the hell happened?" Becoming frustrated Markus tried to figure out what had happened to them after losing consciousness. "Everything's a blank between you two meeting me at the department store and waking up here."

"I don't know what caused us to lose consciousness at the store, but I do recall a V.H.F. being recorded by my audio processors before I was overwhelmed."

"Same." Markus confirmed as he checked his own memorybank. "I don't know where it came from or what could've caused it, but it was enough to render us both unconscious."

Connor looked around the blank room again and sighed loudly. "I suspect that the person who initiated the frequency is also the one who brought us here. If we find them we can get our answers."

"Where do we start looking? I don't see any doors, and if your scanner can't see anything beyond the walls I think we're trapped."

"We'll find a way out. We always do."

A low groan escaped Hank's lips as he finally began to awaken. As his head lolled on the floor Connor put his hand on the senior detective's shoulder to try to reassure him that he wasn't in immediate danger. "Hank. Don't move, you've suffered a head injury."

"...Connor?" Opening his bloodshot blue eyes Hank shook his head a little and focused on the deviant's face, and then over to Markus sitting just behind him on the cold floor. "Markus. Are you two okay?"

"We're unharmed."

Waiting a moment for his head to clear Hank looked about confusedly at the solid black walls and the dim lighting of the unknown room where he was now laying. "What the fuck is this place?"

"Unknown at the moment. Rest for a while longer." Connor urged as he slipped his hand under Hank's shoulder to help him sit upright. "You should lay down on the table and get off the cold floor."

"Yeah..." Unaware of what was happening Hank trusted Connor to guide him about. "Sure."

Connor grabbed onto Hank's arm and carefully hefted the wounded detective up to his feet and escorted him over to the table. As Hank was sat down on the edge of the table Markus picked up the gray blazer from the floor and draped it over Hank's shoulders in a comforting manner.

"Easy, boys." Hank gave the two deviants an odd glance as he accepted their help. "I may be old, but I'm not decrepit."

Ignoring the quip Connor studied Hank's pupils and asked a question to gauge the severity of his concussion. "Do you recall what happened before you were struck?"

"Yeah, you two acted like your heads were killing ya', then you both blacked out. When I knelt down to check on you two some ass-wipe snuck up on me and hit me from behind. Damn coward."

"Lean forward a little." Connor checked the source of the bleeding behind Hank's left ear and was relieved to see that the bleeding had already stopped. It wouldn't require any stitches but it was definitely going to leave the senior detective sore for a while. "Do you have any dizziness or ringing in your ears?"

"No. And remember, the headache is a preexisting condition." Pushing Connor's hand back from his hair Hank gave him a stern glance. "Stop worrying about me. We need to find a way to get out of here and figure out who the hell did this to us. Whatever 'this' is, anyway..."

From the far wall of the room a perfectly concealed door slid open into the black surrounding wall and the masked man, the leader of Quondam himself, appeared. The masked man was armed and had his gun pointed at Markus from the distance.

Despite the distance Hank spotted the white mask standing out brilliantly against the black walls and sighed at the sight. "Shoulda' known..."

"You." The masked man was still using a voice modulator to disguise his identity. Keeping the gun trained on Markus the man made a waving motion with the weapon to signal the deviant leader to move. "Come with me."

Connor put his outstretched arm in front of Markus's chest as he took a defensive stance on behalf of his friend. "Drop the weapon."

The masked man held up a white tinted electronic box in his left hand and pressed a button. The same high pitched frequency that had rendered Connor and Markus unconscious once before sounded off and stunned both deviants where they stood. As Connor put his hands to his head Hank grabbed onto his arms and forced him to sit down on the edge of the table while he traded places with him.

"Stop!" Hank planted himself between Markus and the masked man to protect Markus in Connor's stead. "Turn that shit off!"

Pointing the gun at Hank's chest instead the masked man made his next demand. "Either the deviant leader comes with me or I kill all three of you where you stand."

Markus's shaking right hand grabbed onto Hank's left shoulder in a weak grip. "I-I... I'll go!"

"Markus, NO."

"I... I won't let... you two... get hurt."

"Markus, don't do this!"

The masked man called out loudly and turned off the device. "You have ten seconds to join me."

"I have to go... I can't let you get hurt because of me." Releasing Hank's shoulder Markus gritted his teeth as he endured the lingering pain resonating throughout his head before he slowly walked toward the masked man with his hand still pressed to the side of his aching head as he moved. "I'm sorry. I have to do this."

"Markus, please."

Without another word Markus approached the masked man and stood before him. Raising both of his hands up into the air in a submissive manner Markus watched as the masked man pointed his gun at his chest yet again, then motioned with the barrel of the gun to enter the opened doorway.

"Go."

As the deviant leader took another step forward Connor suddenly bolted from the table and raced toward the door in an attempt to get inside the room. Hank's hand made a grab for the deviant's shoulder, but he missed only by a centimeter as Connor charged the masked man as quickly as could.

"Markus?!"

The masked man pushed Markus all the way through the door and slid it shut. As the door shut with an audible 'hiss' it sealed electronically and did so just as Connor's palms pressed up against the now smooth surface that had only briefly been the opened doorway.

"Markus!?" Connor shouted again and pounded the side of his fist against the wall and fell forward in defeat. Pressing his forehead against the cool surface of the wall Connor let out a defeated sigh and closed his eyes. "...Shit. I lost him."


Completely alone with the masked man Markus found himself standing in a small, crude laboratory type of setting that housed numerous technicians tools that were strewn about a metallic tray table and little else. The walls were lined with old metal vats that once held various chemicals but had long since been emptied. A rolling metal table containing numerous android repair and modification tools were glistening in the dim lighting overhead. Beneath a hanging dim light jutting down from the ceiling, a long rectangular table with metal cuff-like restraints at the four corners was laying flat near the middle of the room. It was seemingly waiting just for Markus to lay down atop of it.

"There." The masked man pointed at the table with the barrel of the gun and ordered Markus to go over to it. "Lay down."

"And if I don't cooperate?" The deviant leader dared to ask as he kept his hands in the air submissively. "What then?"

"Then I will shoot you now and finish off your allies later."

"All right..." Not wanting his friends to die because of him Markus didn't put up a fight. "I'll do what you say, just don't hurt them."

Obediently Markus slowly walked over to the table and laid down as instructed. The masked man kept his gun trained with his right hand on the deviant leader as he grabbed onto Markus's left wrist with his left hand and secured it beneath the first cuff. He then followed up with his second wrist and then both of his ankles to ensure that the deviant leader couldn't get away.

The masked man snarled at Markus as he tapped his finger index fingertip on the edge of the table. "Recognize this device?"

"The table?" Markus asked curiously as he followed the masked man's gesture. "Should I?"

"It's from these very tables you abominations against nature are built." The masked man pressed a small button on the floor just beneath the end of the table and the table itself shifted upward from being perfectly horizontal to nearly entirely vertical. The strain against Markus's wrists began to build as gravity shifted all of Markus's weight downward against the restraints. "And it's from this very table that I will fix that mistake."

The masked man placed his gun down on the metal tray table and rolled it over to where Markus had been restrained. Selecting a long sharp metal pick from the numerous options of tools on the tray, the masked man pressed the sharp tip of the pick against Markus's right cheek.

"Broken machines need to be repaired or replaced. So I wonder," pressing down the sharp point the masked man drew Thirium from a small puncture wound in Markus's face and watched the blue blood bead as it ran down Markus's cheek. "what will happen with you?"


Back at the precinct Gavin, Tina, Chris, Jack and Ben were waiting for some information on their missing colleagues only to be informed by North herself after arriving from New Jericho that Markus has gone missing as well. Knowing that the timing was too perfect to be a coincidence, Gavin asked about Markus's last know location and was informed about the strange message and the address of the deserted department store that had come from an unknown source somewhere outside the tower. Playing on a hunch Gavin knew that the address would have to do as their best lead until further confirmation on the missing trio came forward.

Having to prioritize his responsibility to the precinct, to his colleagues and to the city was a true test of Gavin's patience. This was the first time that Gavin was essentially being tested by something he could not control or change in any way.

"Chris, I need you and Jack to go check out the address that Markus went to and tell me everything you find." The Sergeant ordered in a firm tone as he remained in charge of the precinct. "Take Ben and his C.S.I. team with you and treat that place like an active crime scene."

"We're on it."

North watched as the two officers obeyed the command and set off for the address. Just as she was about to ask if there was anything else she could do to help in the search, Joel raced through the bullpen with his laptop in hand and focused on Gavin.

"Detective Reed, you need to see this." Noticing North watching everything transpiring Joel gave the deviant a sympathetic glance. "You might want to see it, too. This is important."

"Now what?"

"Come with me." Walking into Hank's empty private office with the requested duo in tow, Joel set up the laptop on the desk and showed both Gavin and North a live feed being streamed from an unknown source. The images on the laptop showed Markus tied down to a metal table in dimly lit room and being actively tortured by the man in the white mask. "...This showed up about two minutes ago. It's live but there is a very effective and modified V.P.N. that keeps bouncing this guy's I.P. around. We can't track it, we can only watch."

"Ah, fuck..." Gavin felt his stomach knot at the images on the screen. "It's just like what happened when that CyberLife prick tried to bury the 'Tinman' alive."

North put her left hand to her mouth and looked away from the screen in horror. "...Markus."

"I'm going to do everything I can to break through the V.P.N.," the dedicated technician declared firmly. "and we'll find this freak before it's too late. But it's going to take a while for me to do it."

"Then fuckin' go and do it." Gavin nearly blurted as he turned to look at Joel standing beside him. "Do your work along with tech and figure out how to trace this asshole's location. I don't want to turn this over to the feds', but if that's what it takes..."

"I'm already gone!" Joel confirmed as he scooped up his laptop again. "I'll be up in my office!"

North crossed her arms over her chest and bowed her head as Joel jogged out of the office to set to work with his laptop tucked under his arm. "This is so fucking stupid... All Markus did was go check on someone asking for help."

"Pretty much every case that comes through here's bullshit." Gavin confirmed with a bitter tone as he flashed North a somber glance. "We'll stop that sick-fuck, even if it means putting a bullet in his head. With any luck the Cap' will be the one to pull the trigger."


Feeling useless if not defeated, Connor returned to where Hank was sitting on the table and wrung his hands together nervously before himself. Unable to pinpoint his exact location, unable to detect Markus's presence seemingly just on the other side of the wall and unable to cybernetically call for help, the deviant detective felt completely helpless and useless. As he stood before Hank with a sense of misplaced shame burning in his soulful brown eyes Connor just shook his head sadly and sat down beside the concussed human to wait for something, anything, to happen.

"What's on your mind, kid?" Hank closed his eyes to keep his headache to minimum. "I can feel you thinking."

"How can we find a way out of this place if we don't even know what this place is?"

"With patience." Hank reminded the ever stubborn and impatient deviant kindly. "We'll find our way out, and more importantly we'll find Markus. We're NOT leaving without him."

"How? I can't see through the walls or connect with my internal G.P.S. to identify our location."

"I hate to remind you of this, but humans managed to find their way around just fine without seeing through shit or relying on technology for millennia. We'll be okay."

Connor gave Hank a wary glance but agreed all the same. "You're right. How should we do this?"

"First we need to find our bearings to get an idea of where we are. Finding North usually helps with getting a sense of direction, but without anything to guide us one way or another that's out. So instead we'll use other means of sensory deductions."

"How so?"

"These walls..." Glancing about the dark room as well Hank curiously tried to deduce where he and Connor were. "What're they made of?"

Eager to escape and find Markus before anything horrible befell his friend, Connor nodded and moved to the wall behind the table and pressed his palm up against the smooth, cold surface. Retracting his artificial skin from over his palm Connor ran a tactile analysis to isolate the material used in the construction of the wall, and with it more information could theoretically be found. While he couldn't run a more in-depth scan on the material under his touch he was still able to properly identify it and now understood why his scanner wasn't functioning.

"...The wall is at least four inches of reinforced concrete with Faraday wires woven through the surfaces. It might be thicker than that but I can't be certain as of the moment." Connor lowered his hand from the wall and returned to where Hank was still sitting. "The surface is coated with lead under two layers of sorbothane that is absorbing both shock and vibration with frequencies ranging from ten to thirty-thousands Hertz."

Hank crossed his arms over his chest and winced as his headache suddenly flared up. "...Am I supposed to understand that?"

"No, but it does explain why I can't use my scanner or send out a distress call. This entire room," Connor pointed to the floor with his right index finger as if he needed to indicate which room he was talking about. "was designed specifically to render androids completely blind beyond their basic sensors."

"So you can't see through the walls or call for help. I guess that means we're really on our own this time."

"Only for now." Noticing that Hank's pupils were slightly dilated Connor wrapped his fingers around Hank's wrist to count his pulse. "You should rest. It'll ease the headache you're trying to deny and make it easier for your body to heal from the concussion."

"I'm good, kid."

"You said yourself that we need to be patient. Please, lay down until we can find a way out."

Knowing he had been bested Hank relented and decided to slowly lay down on the table and tuck his right arm under his aching head. "...All right. You win."

"I don't consider this a win."

Once the injured detective was laying down as comfortably as possible Connor began pacing about the room looking over the blank surfaces of the circular black tinted walls and bare dark floor. The lights above the table in the center of the area were the only furnishings inside the room making the already dark expansive space all the more bleak and hollow. There was no way for the deviant to see where the door in the wall slid open as it was perfectly secured and sealed with a strong electromagnetic lock.

"I can't detect the doorway. But perhaps I-"

As if on cue the door in the wall reappeared and Markus was pushed back through with a strong motion. Markus collapsed face first onto the floor and remained perfectly motionless as the door disappeared into the wall again. A small puddle of Thirium was collecting under Markus's body from the numerous wounds he had sustained courtesy of the masked man in the other room.

"Markus?!" Connor rushed over to his downed friend and knelt by his friend's side. Pressing his hand down in the middle of Markus's back gently, Connor ran a scan over Markus's battered body and felt a heat of anger rise up inside himself at the sight of his friend's wounds. "What happened to you?"

"He... He used... tools on me." Trying to roll from his chest and onto his back, but was too weak to do so, Markus allowed Connor to help him to roll over by supporting his shoulders. A deep laceration ran down the length of Markus's right cheek and soaked the side of his face in fresh blue blood while other cuts marred his chest and abdomen in gruesome dark blue lines. "He said- He said he was going to... fix broken machines or have them... replaced."

Connor ignored the ugly threat for a moment as he focused on Markus's current condition. "Can you move?"

"Y-Yeah. I'm tired, but I can... move."

"Come on." Taking Markus's right in a gentle grip Connor pulled the limb around his shoulders and carefully pulled his injured friend up from the floor and helped him to walk over to the table where Hank was laying. "Have you sustained any damage to your biocomponents?"

"N-No. He... He opened my chest plate and pulled on lines... and wires. It hurt, but the damage isn't permanent."

Hank had sat back up and rose from the table to help Connor carry Markus by taking the wounded deviant's opposite arm and pulling it around his own shoulders. Once the deviant leader was placed down over the table Hank proceeded to place the gray blazer under Markus's head while Connor checked under Markus's blood stained gray long sleeved shirt to examine the painful lacerations beneath that covered his chest and abdomen.

"What did he do to you?" Hank asked curiously as Connor proceeded to carefully check over the wounds with his fingertips and his scanner. "Did he say or do anything that could give away his identity?"

"No." Markus winced when Connor pressed down against his abdomen to check for internal hemorrhaging. "He n-never took his mask off, and after h-he had me secured to the t-table... he stopped talking."

"He secured you to a table?"

Slowly Markus lifted up his arm and showed Hank the bruise forming around his wrist. "Yeah. He k-kept me restrained while he t-tortured me."

"What for?" Taking Markus's arm in his hands Hank examined the swelling bruises with a paternal interest without causing any additional pain to the already pained deviant leader. "What good did that do to anyone?"

"I don't know." Closing his mismatched eyes Markus submitted to his fatigue for the time being. "Because he w-wanted to, I guess."

"Why'd he let you go?"

"I guess it was because I wasn't r-reacting like he wanted." As his spoke his voice leveled out and stopped shaking. "I think he wanted me to act like a machine or something, but I d-didn't do it. I didn't give him the s-satisfaction of seeing me like a machine, I r-responded as I really am. Alive."

Hank deduced what Markus was talking about as he gently laid Markus's arm down alongside his body again. "You cried out in pain?"

"I did. And at first it didn't deter him," Markus stated as he took in a deep settling breath. The bruises on his chest and abdomen were making the effort surprisingly painful. "but the more h-human I reacted to the pain he was causing me the more he began to h-hesitate. It may have even scared him to hear me admitting that I was in p-pain and could feel everything he was doing to me."

Connor replaced Markus's shirt then checked the deviant's two bruised wrists for himself. "This man is obviously demented. He's threatened the city; deviants and humans alike. He doesn't care about life in any regard, he's care only about proving himself right for a strange sense of narcissism and misplaced vindication. He clearly has a vendetta against the city and androids; perhaps even authority itself."

"You guys h-haven't figured out who he is yet?"

"No." Gently placing Markus's arms back down on the table beside the deviant leader's body Connor's jaw twitched a little. "But we will figure this out. We had a suspect in mind but he doesn't match the small details of the masked man's identity that we had managed to gather. You wouldn't have any guesses, would you?"

"No. New Jericho hadn't received any p-personal threats, and I don't have any enemies that would go after all three of us p-personally. How about CyberLife?"

"We haven't had any residual signs of CyberLife or their technicians in the past year. However," Connor gave the room a strange glance as if noticing a detail that no one else could see. "the structure of this room in general speaks volumes of someone who has intricate knowledge of android cybernetics. Perhaps we are dealing with a disgruntled technician with a heavy grudge after all."

"But why n-now? Why would-"

The door opened up again and the masked man returned. Pointing his gun toward Connor he motioned for the deviant detective to walk to the door. "You're next. Move."

Markus weakly grabbed onto Connor's forearm and held him back. "D-Don't let him break you down into a machine. It's what he wants."

Understanding what he was being told Connor just nodded once and proceeded to approach the masked man with a fearless gait in his steps. "Hank, take care of him until I return."

All Hank could do was give Connor a confident nod as the deviant boldly went to face off with the dangerous masked man as he had been ordered. As Markus had done before him, Connor raised his hands up into the air in a submissive manner while the masked man ordered him to step through the opened doorway. Once Connor passed through the door the masked man pushed the deviant forward and sealed the door behind him.

"Lay down."

Connor saw the same table where Markus had been restrained and grimaced at the sight. There were still traces of Markus's spilled blue blood across the surface and all around the cuffs in the four corners of the table. The stench of evaporating Thirium was sickening to the deviant's enhanced senses and it made his anger boil to the surface as he sat down on the edge of the table and laid back as instructed.

"Your friend was entertaining." The masked man taunted as Connor begrudgingly laid down on the table and let his wrists and ankles be bound. "Let's see if you're worth my time."

"Get on with it." Connor snapped bitterly as he glared at the man's dark green eyes through the white mask. "I dislike waiting and have more productive things to do with my time."


Outside of the unknown location where the missing trio were being held captive, the rest of the city proceeded to go about its business as if nothing were amiss. Word of the three prominent people having gone missing and of Quondam's latest threat had been kept quiet, and the media had nothing to report on or any unfounded rumors to spread for the sake of ratings. The silence and the lack of attention regarding the case was making it easier for the Central Precinct to continue their investigation without interference as patrol swept over the streets and continued to keep vigil for any sign of suspicious activity that could pertain to the case as a whole.

Pressing his index fingertip and thumb to the bridge of his nose, Joel sighed and closed his pale blue eyes for a moment as he leaned against his desk top in front of his laptop.

"Whoever this fiend is they know how to cover their tracks and do it right. Lucky bastard."

The lack of progress on the technician's part had exhausted Joel mentally but he wasn't disheartened in the least.

"They must have an education in programming and software engineering, or they're a hacker with too much-" Opening his eyes and dropping his hand from his face a sense of 'eureka' filled Joel's gaze as he began frantically typing away on his keyboard. "That's the key! I just need to fight fire with fire and I'll finally find our people."


Wrapping his arm protectively around his sore and aching abdomen Markus sat upright on the table and let out a pained breath as he leaned against his opposite arm to take some of his weight off his core. Instinctively Hank planted his hand on the wounded deviant's shoulder to hold him steady where he sat, and in return Markus gave the senior detective an appreciative glance as he promptly wrapped his free hand around Hank's forearm for balance and to try to reassure him that he wasn't in critical condition. He looked rough and felt as if he had been thrown in front of a car, but Markus was stable and fully capable of functioning normally.

"I'm okay, Hank. It's just a few scratches."

"No, son." Hank could see Markus was in pain and needed to see a technician. "You're not okay."

Something about being called 'son' made Markus feel a little better despite the circumstances. "I'm already beginning to heal. Once we get Connor back we can try to find a way back into that room and find an exit through there."

"What's in that other room anyway?"

"I couldn't see much because that psycho kept me tied up in one spot, but I know that there has to be a door leading out of the building through there. How else could that asshole get into the room since the panel on our side can't be accessed? There has to be a second door in that room leading to the outside of the building."

"Makes sense to me. It's too bad we don't know where or what this building is."

"This place kind of reminds me of a factory. Or maybe a power plant." Markus swung his legs over the edge of the table and he planted his feet on the cold floor. His entire body was shaking from pain and mild Thirium loss. "Carl used to take tours of the abandoned parts of the city for inspiration. You don't forget how hollow and massive those cold buildings really are when people stop caring about them and stop visiting."

"A factory would make sense." Hank concluded as he glanced about the dim room with an inquisitive gaze. "Connor said the walls are covered in special material to reduce shock and vibrations, so I imagine that massive machinery of a factory would cause problems once they start shaking the foundation of the building and require reinforcement."

"Yeah..." The deviant leader agreed as he and Hank put their heads together. "Yeah, that does makes sense."

"But why would he brought us here and nowhere else is still a mystery. If this IS in fact a factory," Hank emphasized as he pressed his hand to the back of his aching head and leaned forward slightly. "what kind of factory was it? Did CyberLife have any factories for their projects, or just warehouses?"

"CyberLife had factories when they were first starting out as a company. Once they made enough of a profit to work privately from the tower they shut down the factories and laid-off the employees. That was almost fifteen years ago."

"All right, after fifteen years that makes revenge from a disgruntled factory employee very unlikely."

"But this guy is a technician for certain." Markus confirmed as he pressed his palm over his sore chest. "He knows too much about android anatomy to be anything but a technician, or at the very least he's a technical student."

"He's been studying androids. Interesting... Is there a rival company that was competing against CyberLife?"

"No. CyberLife patented everything to do with biocomponents, Thirium and software. Even if another company tried to manufacture androids they'd have to come up with entirely different technology which, even today, is very implausible."

"Shit." Hank sat up straight and closed his pained blue eyes. "I wish I had something else to work with. I can't solve a puzzle without all the pieces."

The door in the far wall slid open with a loud 'hiss' and Connor was pushed through the opening with a heartless shrug. Collapsing onto the floor on his right side Connor curled up around himself and began to shiver violently where he was laying.

"Connor!"

Hank and Markus were both on their feet within seconds and rushing over to the downed deviant. Hank could see a spreading stain of dark blue over the center of Connor's white dress shirt across his abdomen as he neared his injured son. It soaked through the shirt's fabric and was sticking to his artificial skin like paste.

"Son, what did he do to you?"

"T-Tampered with m-my thermal r-regulator." Connor was shivering so violently that it affected his speech in a manner similar to how Markus's voice had been shaking earlier. "C-Cold. S-So cold."

"We got ya'." Hank stated as he and Markus quickly helped lift Connor up from the floor and carried him over to the table to rest. Hank had his right arm wrapped around Connor's back and his left hand pressed to Connor's chest, while Markus mirrored the same motions from Connor's right side. "How bad is it, son? Level with us."

"I am h-healing." Connor stated as he was placed on his right side on the table. "B-But my s-system is trying t-to recalibrate my r-regulator. It's t-taking time."

Markus placed the gray blazer over Connor's body and put his hand down on the deviant's trembling shoulder as he contemplated what Connor just told them. "He messed with your biocomponents?"

"J-Just my thermal r-regulator."

Hank sat down on the table beside Connor and pulled the deviant up by his shoulders until he was resting his head against Hank's leg. Connor was shivering so violently that the table was beginning to shake. "How low is your temperature?"

"D-Down to eighty-eight degrees."

"Is it getting lower?"

"N-No. It's s-slowly increasing."

Markus knelt down in front of Connor and pressed his fingertips to the side of the deviant's neck to monitor his pulse. "Connor, Hank and I have been trying to figure out this masked guy's identity and where we are. We're leaning toward a factory and one pissed off technician."

"That is p-possible." Connor shuddered as he spoke and tried to focus on something other than feeling cold. "The b-building is of the r-right d-design. His kn-knowledge of an-android anatomy would a-also support this th-theory."

"When you were in that room did you see a second doorway leading out?"

Connor shook his head a little as he rested against Hank's leg and waited for his body to regain some form of warmth. "N-No. But there m-must be a way out thr-through there."

"Go into rest mode and let your self healing program work." Markus urged gently as he stayed on the floor beside his friend laying on the table. "We'll try to think of a way to get out of here and watch over you as you sleep."

Placing his hand down on Connor's bicep Hank moved his palm up and down a few times to try to generate friction heat on the deviant's limb. "He's right, you rest for now and we'll keep thinking of our escape."

Too tired, too weak and too cold to resist the compulsion to sleep, Connor nodded a little and closed his soulful brown eyes as he curled tighter around himself.

Unsure of what else he could do for his son Hank just gave Markus a stern glance of determination, but said nothing as the duo tried to think of a way to escape. It seemed like a fruitless endeavor but they were too stubborn to just give up without a fight or lose to someone as demented as the masked man.


Captain Keller, who had substituted at the Central Precinct a few times in the past, had taken over in Hank's absence and continued on the same protocol that Gavin had initiated when the two detectives had been confirmed as missing. At the abandoned department store downtown Chris and Jack were able to uncover a scene of a struggle and some fresh human blood on the floor from where Hank had been struck, as well as his dropped phone and both of his and Connor's service weapons. There was no sign of Hank, Connor or Markus inside the building, and it looked as though three bodies were dragged out of the building and through the backdoor to an alleyway.

The alleyway itself lead to nowhere. There were no additional clues to gather and no trail to be followed. As a result the two officers out in the field left Ben and his team to chronicle the scene while they returned to the precinct to deliver an update in person.

"Nothing." Chris lamented as he and Jack rejoined Gavin and Tina in the bullpen. "Whoever jumped 'em took them out the back and loaded them into a van or something. There's no sign of the escape vehicle and we don't know where they could've gone. It's a cold trail."

"Fuck..." Gavin was losing patience and North wasn't fairing much better. She had isolated herself in an interview room as she still wasn't comfortable being surrounded by so many humans, but she refused to leave until she knew what happened to Markus. "Joel is working on tracing the source of the feed, but it's a slow process."

"Jack showed me the live feed while we were out checking the scene." Nodding toward his deviant partner Chris confirmed that they were kept int he loop during their investigation. "Do we know if Markus and Connor are still alive?"

"So Connor IS with Markus? Fuck! I didn't watch that chunk of the feed." Rubbing his hand along the back of his tense neck Gavin sighed and stared at the floor at his feet. "That's just what the sick fucker wants... An audience. Well, I refuse to watch."

Tina gave Gavin a worried glance from where she stood as she rarely saw Gavin get so riled up on a case for personal reasons. "If Markus and Connor are both being held prisoner, then it's very likely Hank is with them, too."

"Yeah. And Hank ain't exactly as sturdy as a couple of androids." Lamenting their dire situation Gavin just confirmed that the odd case at hand just got a whole lot more complicated. "If that guy lays a hand on Hank I don't know what could happen to him or the 'Tinman'."


Enough time had passed to allow Connor's self healing program to repair the damage to his thermal regulator and return his core temperature to a much more comfortable and stable degree. Sitting upright slowly on the table Connor checked the bloodied wound beneath his shirt over his abdomen, and was happy to see that the leaking Thirium had ceased entirely and noted that he had stopped shivering. The improvement to his system and his vital biocomponent didn't do much to lift Connor's morale considering he was still trapped in an unknown location with no ready means of escape. Knowing that his father and his best friend could suffer the same fate kept the deviant detective in a righteously somber mood.

Adjusting his posture and moving his legs over to the side of the table Connor shifted his weight from Hank and resumed preconstructing their potential escape options from their windowless prison. He didn't have much information to work with, but Connor was determined to succeed and escape with his dearest friends.

"Feeling better?" Hank asked as the deviant sat upright and breathed a steady sigh of relief. "You were asleep for almost an hour."

"For the most part, yes. Is your headache diminishing?"

"No, but it's not getting any worse either."

Connor looked over to Markus who was pacing about behind the table with his arms crossed over his chest. "Markus? How's your system?"

"Stable." The deviant leader replied sharply as he continued to pace. "But we're still at a loss for-"

The doorway in the far wall opened up yet again and the masked man returned. The gun was pointed at the three prisoners and by all account he was going to do something horrible to Hank just as he had done to Markus and then to Connor. Instinctively Connor stood up and planted himself between the armed man and Hank protectively as he glared fiery holes in the masked man's face. Markus followed suit and stood beside the bold deviant to shield Hank from any potential future harm as well.

The concussed senior detective was too tired and sore to make a move himself and was very grateful for the two deviants who were ready and willing to protect him while he couldn't protect himself.

"I've completed some calculations." The masked man called out, his voice still garbled and distant. There seemed to be a hint of disappointment to his tone, almost as if the responses and reactions from the deviants had ruined his plot in some manner. "And I will let you decide your fates based on my numbers and I will finish my experiment. I will prove to this city once and for all that androids are simply machines, NOT alive."

Connor and Markus discreetly exchanged disgusted looks with one another but didn't say a word.

"One of you will come with me and the other two can go free. If I take the one known as 'Markus' there is an eighty-two percent chance that my tests will result in irreversible shutdown." The masked man never lowered his gun as he spoke and stared through the deviant leader as if he were a hollow shell. "If I take the one known as 'Connor' the tests have a ninety-six percent chance of causing crippling damage that would leave it functioning at only forty percent capacity, at best." Without changing his voice or showing any remorse the masked man then focused on Hank. "And if I take the human there is a fifty percent chance that he will die from shock and trauma."

Hank stood up as quickly as he could and stepped around the deviants to stand before them. "Then I volunteer myself."

"Hank, no!" Connor grabbed onto the senior detective's shoulder and gave him a frightened glance. "You can't do that!"

"I can and I will."

Markus spoke up quickly and sided with Connor. "He's right. This guy has problems with androids, not humans. Let me go instead."

"NO." Both Hank and Connor replied in chorus to the deviant leader.

"Markus, your people need you." Hank sharply refuted as he stared at the deviant leader's mismatched eyes. "And Connor," he grabbed onto Connor's arm and lightly pulled his hand from his shoulder. "you're my son. I won't watch you march to your death."

Connor shook his head and stepped away from his allies back toward the masked man. "I won't let either of you die when I can sustain damage and continue to live on. It's wrong to expect anything else."

From the doorway the masked man watched the debate in silent contemplation. It was as if he was at a loss of what to do and could only wait for the trio to make their final decision on his behalf.

"Hank, you're a police Captain. You have too many responsibilities and the city needs you." Connor tried to argue logically. "And Markus, you're still a symbol for our people and a beacon of peace for everyone. If you were to die many deviants would rebel violently and possibly bring about a civil war. It's NOT worth you dying and risking a war when I can give myself up."

Markus wasn't having any of it. "You're important, too! Connor, you're a bridge between deviants and the law. You make everyone feel safe and feel like their voices are being heard."

"I'm not the only deviant in law enforcement anymore. It'll be okay."

With waning patience Markus's mismatched eyes lowered as he realized that Connor was irreversibly stubborn and steadfast on turning himself over to the masked man to spare his life and to keep Hank safe. "...All right." Returning his gaze to Connor the deviant leader put his hand on his friend's shoulder in a grounding manner. "But, please know this. I'm sorry."

"...Sorry?"

Moving with lightning fast reflexes Markus reeled back his fist and struck Connor in the face under his left eye rendering the deviant unconscious within seconds. Before Connor's body fell to the ground Markus caught him around his chest and gently lowered the now unconscious deviant detective down onto the table to rest on his back and slowly recover.

"I'm sorry, Connor." Markus pressed his palm down firmly against the unconscious deviant's chest sympathetically. Connor's head lolled to the side and he didn't move aside from his calm breathing. "But this time I can't let you do this."

Hank immediately checked Connor's face and looked up at Markus with utter confusion. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you're not letting him do this, but you do realize he's going to be pissed off when he wakes up and sees you here and not me, right?"

"Sorry, Hank. You're not going either." Moving too quickly Markus jogged away from the two detectives and toward the masked man. "Goodbye, my friends."

"Fuck- Markus?!" Hank shouted angrily as the deviant leader crossed the room within a matter of seconds. "Get back here! Damn it!"

"It's decided." Markus stated firmly and quickly without any hesitation as he stood before the masked man and faced down the barrel of the gun without any fear whatsoever. "I'm the one you can test on. Take me and let my friends go."

The masked man was silent as he received his answer.

Merely waving with his gun for Markus to enter the disgusting lab where he had already tortured the deviant leader once before, the horrible masked man marched after Markus and secured him to the table for the final time as the door 'hissed' shut behind them and locked itself electronically.

Hank stared at the far wall as the door disappeared from sight and swore out loud in angry protest as he kept his palm pressed to the side of Connor's face in a comforting gesture.

"Fuck! This wasn't supposed to happen..."


The Central Precinct was frantically trying to find a way to locate the source of the live stream and find the abducted trio before it was too late to save them. Seeing Markus being re-secured to the table by the masked man was enough to throw gas on an already burning fire and force the investigating officers into overdrive. North was unable to watch the live feed at all as the very idea of seeing her bondmate being tortured was torturous in itself. Gavin just flat out refused to watch someone being tortured by some deranged lunatic trying to make a demented and needless 'point' to the city, and Joel was working to track down the feed without actually watching the feed itself as he worked in his dispensary.

Inside the private office Captain Keller was working to keep the abduction under wraps and quell panic at the sight of Markus being abducted and tortured. The last thing the city needed was the deviants being righteously enraged at their leader being tortured by a faceless human.

"Come on, come on..." Gavin muttered to himself as he waited for the phone on his desk to ring with an update or for someone in the bullpen to get a useful tip in locating the missing trio. It was going on six hours and everyone was as restless as they were exhausted. "This is bull-"

"Gavin!" Joel shouted as he raced down the corridor and into the bullpen once more. Nearly slamming his laptop down on the Sergeant's desk Joel pointed to the progress being made in the attempt decipher the V.P.N. and locate the source of the feed. "We're almost through."

"What? How?"

"When the city saw the stream of three innocent people being taken captive and tortured a TON of computer techs and deviants had volunteered their services to help us break through the V.P.N. much quicker. I sent out an S.O.S. to other hackers in the city to ask for their help and they responded quickly. With the combined efforts of tech and the local hackers using their powers for good instead of evil we're finally narrowing the kidnapper's location down. We know for sure that they're somewhere in the industrial district downtown."

"That's more like it!" Rushing from his desk Gavin knocked on the glass door of the officer where temporary Captain Keller was waiting for an update on the case himself. Pulling open the door Gavin shouted at his temporary superior officer and remained in the opened doorway "Captain! There's finally been a breakthrough!"


Rebooting slowly for a second time Connor's soulful brown eyes steadily cracked opened and his blurry vision focused on Hank's concerned face looking down at him. Quickly remembering what had happened just prior to losing consciousness Connor sat upright on the table with a start only to have Hank put both of his hands against his shoulders to keep him from moving any further off the table. As Connor looked about the expansive and dimly lit room quickly, he realized that Markus was already gone and he was too late to stop Markus or protect him from the unpredictably violent masked man's continued experiments of pain and misery.

Looking up at Hank the worried deviant dared to ask his father about his friend. "...Markus?"

"I'm sorry, kid." Keeping his hands in place Hank confirmed Connor's worst fear. "He made up his mind and went with that asshole."

"Shit." Connor abruptly stood up from the table even with Hank's hands still on his shoulders. "We need to find a way into that room."

"I know that, but I don't see how we can get the door open."

"There has to be a way." Determined to save Markus's life Connor refused to sit back and wait for help from someone else. "If we can find a way to override the door lock then we can get to Markus."

From the opposite side of the room, across from where the masked man had taken Markus, a second door slid open and allowed the blinding but dwindling bright daylight to shine through inside the dark room. Hank shielded his sensitive eyes from the light with his hand while Connor's vision quickly adapted to the brightness with no difficulty. The smell of the city wafted into the room confirming that the door led back outside of the building.

"He's letting us go." Hank realized in a low voice as his shoulders tensed up with anger "But were not going anywhere without Markus."

"If I can analyze the lock on that door then I can attempt to locate the lock on this door." Motioning with his thumb over his shoulder to the opposite sealed door behind himself, Connor's gaze never left the opened door. "Once I'm outside the walls my scanner will be able to reactivate and I can analyze the schematics of the door properly."

"Then go! Do what ya' gotta' do."

Hurrying toward the opened door Connor stepped through just enough to escape the dampening walls but didn't go so far that he wouldn't be able to get back inside the building if the door slid shut again. Pressing his exposed palm to the electronic lock Connor scanned the internal components quickly and efficiently. As he stood outside the door Connor looked about to try to identify his location, but his G.P.S. wasn't fully engaged just yet. What information he did gather would have to suffice for the time being.

"I got it!" Connor shouted as he jogged back into the room past Hank and over to the opposite wall where the second door was concealed. Pressing his palm down against the wall he detected a very faint electronic signature on the other side of the wall and was attempting to connect through the dampening materials between himself and his friend. "I can open it now, but I don't know what to expect once we're inside."

Hank grabbed onto Connor's gray blazer and joined the deviant at the second door. Reaching for his empty holster out of reflex Hank sighed and pressed his back up against the wall beside the second door. "I hate that the fucker took our weapons. Then again, I don't think he'd be dumb enough to let us keep them."

"I imagine this masked man has spent too much time thinking about this particular moment to oversee something as egregiously foolish as leaving us armed." The panel beneath Connor's palm glowed bright white and the door at long last slid open with a notable 'hiss'. "We're in..."

The two detectives entered the room and quickly and saw the horror awaiting them on the other side of the unlocked door.

"Markus." Connor's voice dipped and his heart sank entirely at the grotesque sight. He found his friend, but not how he had hoped. "No..."

The table was now vertical and Markus was clearly in pain as he remained secured to the surface and bled from his wrists, ankles and chest. The strain of his own deadweight pulling down against his wrists restrained in the metal cuffs was causing his artificial skin to bruise and bleed profusely. Blue blood ran down Markus's face and saturated through his gray shirt and beige cargo pants in a sickening fashion. Barely functioning and barely breathing Markus looked as though he were seconds away from death.

Reacting quickly Connor rushed to his friend's side and pressed his hand down on the deviant leader's chest. Each weak shuddering breath was as pained as it looked. Markus's heart was barely beating, but the heartbeat was still there nonetheless.

Hank joined Connor at the table and checked the deviant leader's bleeding wrists carefully. "We need to get him down."

"Markus..." Unfastening the cuffs around the deviant's wrists Connor ran a scan over his body and noted the numerous injuries he had sustained. As Markus's arms fell limply down at his sides Connor supported his friend's upper body with both hands against Markus's chest, then let Markus press up and limply against his own chest. "Hold on, Markus, we'll get you out of here."

Hank worked on freeing Markus's ankles while Connor supported all of Markus's deadweight against his chest. With the deviant leader now freed Connor managed to easily scoop up Markus's limp body into his arms and carry him back through the door and over to the table in the center of the dark room that had been their main prison.

"He's suffered numerous internal injuries." Connor stated in a shaking voice as he carried his friend to safety. "I can't carry him much further without aggravating his condition."

"Lay him down." Hank instructed as Connor gently placed the wounded deviant down onto the table to rest for a moment. "Can you send out a distress call and ask for help yet?"

"No. I'll need to get farther away from the building, but I won't leave you two behind." Pressing his fingertips to Markus's right temple Connor performed a diagnostic and a heavy grimace fell over his face. "...Markus, not like this."

Markus let out a groan and his mismatched eyes fluttered open into half-lidded slits. Licking his lips where blue blood was running down his chin Markus tried to lift his head up but Connor put his hands on Markus's shoulders to keep him still. "...Con...nor?"

"Don't move." Connor whispered as he held his friend steady. "Please."

Hank took Connor's blazer and draped it over the downed deviant leader lightly to try to keep him warm. "Take it easy for us, son. We'll get you some help as soon as possible. It's almost over."

"...H-How..." Markus stuttered in a hoarse whisper. "...How bad?"

"Try not to worry about it."

"...Please." The wounded deviant leader ask for the truth. That's all he ever wanted, truth and honesty. "...Tell me."

"I... I won't lie to you." Connor closed his distressed eyes and moved his hands from Markus's shoulders to rest atop Markus's own hands neatly folded atop his chest. "Your right ascending Thirial line leading into your Thirium pump has been compromised. Left ventilation biocomponent is functioning at eighty-one percent capacity and the right is down to eighty-two percent. Your Thirium filter is down to fifty percent functionality and is beginning to overheat. Hemorrhaging of your thermal regulator is only exasperating your condition. With your Thirium volume down to seventy-three percent your self healing program cannot initiate and your condition will continue to deteriorate."

"...So... bad?" Markus managed a weak grin before falling prey to a violent coughing fit. As he coughed both Connor and Hank held him down against the table without harming him in the process until the coughing fit passed. "T-Tell North-" Coughing stole his words again but he was determined to speak his piece. "I love... love her."

"Take it easy." Connor whispered again as he felt the violent tremors of the painful coughs racking Markus's body. "You can tell North that yourself, all right?"

Hank slipped his hand under Markus's head and lightly ran his thumb along the side of his face in a comforting manner. "We're with you, son. Hold on."

Panting for breath Markus looked at the two detectives tending to him and weakly smiled again. "...You know, for a c-couple of cops, you... both h-have... pretty good... bedside... manners."

As Markus's smile faded his head lolled limply against Hank's hand and the deviant leader fell unconscious; completely vulnerable to the world around him.

"Markus?" Connor gently shook his friend's arm but Markus didn't respond. "No. Please don't shutdown. Not because of someone like that heartless bastard. You have to hold on!"

Hank could see that Markus was still breathing but he was incredibly weak and only seemed to be getting weaker by the second. "How long does he have?"

The deviant shook his head sadly, his eyes never leaving Markus's face. "...Not long. Maybe minutes."

"Shit. We'll think of something."

While the two detectives hovered protectively over their dying friend the door at the far side of the room opened up for the final time.

Hank quickly got to his feet and took a defensive stance between the masked man and the two deviants. "If you're half as smart as you think you are," Hank threatened with a deep growl. "you'll turn your ass around and run before I get over there and snap your worthless little neck!"

The masked man took a few steps forward and revealed the gun from the front pocket in his black hoodie in his right hand. While he didn't aim it at the trio the fact that he was still holding the gun was enough to put up the protective father figure's guard as he remained planted firmly between the assailant and the two wounded deviants.

"You better make those shots count you jackass. I'm pissed enough already, you don't want to wound a rabid animal."

Rather than pointing the gun at Hank, Connor or even Markus, the masked man slowly placed the gun down on the floor and slid it toward Hank submissively much to everyone's surprise. Connor had noticed the odd gesture of surrender from the corner of his eye and his brow furrowed considerably as a result.

Hank wasn't letting his guard down anytime soon and didn't believe the man was actually giving up. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Surrendering." The masked man's voice was no longer disguised by a modulator and was fully exposed. He sounded like a young male, early to mid-twenties. Raising both of his hands in to the air he knelt on the floor and stayed put. "...I surrender, Captain Anderson."

"...Hank." Connor's soulful brown eyes went wide as he recognized the voice and suddenly felt sick to his stomach. "I know who he is."

"What?" Walking over to the relinquished gun Hank picked it up and tucked it into his own holster for safekeeping. "Who the hell-"

The masked man shouted loudly from where he knelt. "Please. I'm sorry. And I'm surrendering peacefully. I regret... everything."

Approaching the masked man Hank slipped his fingertips under the chin of the mask and grabbed the back of the man's hood with is opposite hand. Pulling down the hood and slipping up the mask Hank too suddenly recognized the face beneath and swore loudly. "Son of a bitch!"

Connor turned his gaze away and stared back down at Markus's face. "Benjamin Perkins."

"I'm... I'm so sorry!" The young man nearly wailed in regret as he admitted he was at fault. "I was wrong! Androids ARE alive... I just... I just-"

"Save it!" Hank shouted as he grabbed onto the back of Benjamin's hoodie around his neck and forced him to lay chest first down on the ground. "I'll get your confession at the precinct you dumb prick. Like father like son..."

Markus coughed again, blue blood staining his lips and chin as he continued to bleed internally.

"Hank," Connor stared at Markus with utter horror in his eyes. "Markus needs help, NOW."

"I know, son. But we can't-"

From the the opened doorway leading into the bright sunlight of the world outside a loud voice called out and a squad of police officers burst into the building and quickly surrounded the area. "Captain?!"

"...Gavin?!" Much to Hank's surprise Gavin and the other officers took charge of Benjamin while Hank stood up and returned to Markus's side at the table. "Holy fuck. How did-"

Gavin rushed into the room and swept his gun over the area to ensure it was clear. "Joel and a bunch of helpful nerds hacked this guy's streaming address and pointed us in the right direction."

"Streaming address?"

"That twisted fuck was showing the whole world his sick experiment in torturing Markus and Connor." Gavin explained as he looked over the grim sight for himself. Everything was as sick as it looked on the live stream. "It backfired and everyone turned against him."

"What a fucking moron..." Hank motioned to Markus and waved the officers over to the table. "Look, Markus needs emergency repairs, NOW. He's the priority."

"We're on it, Cap'. We have an ambulance outside already."

As Markus coughed again, his breaths now pathetic wheezes forcing his chest to barely rise and fall, Connor tightened his grip over his injured friend's arms in a supportive manner. "Markus, please hold on. You're going to make it."

"Hey!" Gavin shouted to the other officers to go to the table and take care of the downed deviant leader. "Take care of Markus, we got a man down over here!"

Connor watched as the other responding officers worked together to gently pick Markus up from the table and carry him out to the emergency responding ambulance parked just outside the building. The deviant leader's body was dripping blue blood and was as limp as a corpse in the protective hands of the four police officers carrying him to safety. The sight made Connor feel sick all over again.

"Connor." Hank put his hand on the worried deviant's shoulder and bowed his head a little as he walked away from Perkins as Gavin proceeded to cuff the young man and give him his rights. "Come on. It's over. Let's go."

"...I really want to believe that." Allowing Hank to guide him out of the building to step back into the warm sunlight Connor began to tremble again and he looked like he was going to throw-up. "But how can I believe anything good could happen after a bad like this?"

"By hanging on to hope, son. It sounds corny but it's true." Watching as Markus was placed in the back of the ambulance Hank pressed his palm to the back of his aching head and felt his own blood drying against his gray locks. His red blood smeared with Markus's blue blood to create a purple stain on his skin. "Trust me on that. Sometimes hope is all we got."


It was eerily tense and quiet at St. Vevila Hospital as Markus was rushed into the emergency repair bay by the hospital's most skilled technicians. While Hank was undergoing numerous tests to ensure he didn't suffer a fractured skull or a brain bleed from being struck from behind, Gavin had taken Benjamin back to the precinct to be questioned and charged for his crimes against the city; including domestic terrorism, abduction, wrongful imprisonment, illegal use of explosives, the assault of two police officers and the attempted murder of Markus atop of many, many other charges. As expected F.B.I. Director Norman Jayden was requested to make a return to the city to handle the case since disgraced former agent Richard Perkins was Benjamin's father.

Alone Connor stood in the waiting room of the hospital and nervously danced his coin over his right knuckles as he watched the news report regarding the arrest of Benjamin Perkins quickly circulated through the city on the television. An accompanying second story that was almost as important as the demented man's arrest circulated just as frequently, but Connor couldn't focus on the news enough to care. That story revolved around how the city's best hackers and tech students had united together to stop Perkins and save the captive trio before it was too late, which in turn seemed to unite the fractured city at long last.

Distracted and shaking where he stood Connor didn't notice when North finally arrived at the hospital to check in with her injured bondmate.

"Where is he?" North entered the waiting room and instantly honed in on Connor. "Please tell me he's still alive!"

"...North." Pocketing his coin Connor gave her his full attention. "He is alive. Markus is undergoing emergency repairs as we speak. He's holding on."

Rubbing her hand over her face North was fighting back against her relentless stressful tears. "Why? Why did this happen?"

"I don't know. I wish I did, but a part of me is grateful to not know what it's like to be so full of hatred that I'd target innocent people and lash out against them in such a heinous manner."

North was beginning to break down a little and Connor took a step closer to her.

Gently Connor pressed his right hand to her left bicep to try to give her a sense of grounding. He didn't expect her to press up against him so he could actually wrap his arms around her to hold her in a comforting hug. "It'll be okay, North." Connor kept his voice low but confident. "Markus is too strong to give up on us or his people."

"I hate this!" North all but shouted as she buried her face into Connor's chest. She was losing her cool but fighting to stay strong all the same. "All Markus wants to do is help people, and this is how he's treated!"

"...I know. I hate it, too." Tightening his hug Connor just held onto North and let her press up against him. "It's not fair to anyone."

Unable to hold back her overwhelming emotions North began to sob openly against Connor's chest. As Connor tightened his hug even further he felt his own worried tears welling up in his eyes, but didn't dare shed them. Right now he needed to be strong for North. He'd be able to let out his emotional grief later after Markus had been taken care of.

"He'll be okay." Trying to sound confident in the same way as Hank always did during times of distress, Connor refused to let North fear the worse for her beloved bondmate. "He's strong and he loves you too much to leave you behind."

"...I know." North whispered as she took in a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm herself back down. "I love him, too. I always will."


With a large bag of ice pressed to the back of his aching and stitched up head Hank was shown to the recovery room where Markus was resting with a nurse watching over him. North was already inside the room holding on to Markus's hand in a deathgrip as she refused to leave his side until she knew for certain that he'd be all right. Connor was sitting alone outside the room in a chair by the door with his blue blood stained gray blazer draped over his lap. Everyone was still in shock over the pointlessly upsetting incident. While North was able to find solace by holding Markus's hand in an isolated room, Connor settled for sitting in silence a few feet away from his recovering best friend.

As the senior detective sat down next to Connor he stared at the coin anxiously fidgeting over Connor's hand and let out a deep sigh. The nervous tic annoyed Hank more than anything else, but he didn't say anything as he knew Connor had every right to be anxious at that moment.

"Kid, he's going to pull through." The coin stopped suddenly between Connor's right index and middle fingertips as the deviant nearly froze at the remark. "Did you get checked out?"

"...I'm functioning at one-hundred percent capacity." The deviant detective replied in a deflecting manner. "I only require a small amount of Thirium replenishment to top off my reserves."

"So, 'no'. You didn't get checked out."

"I'm fine, my thermal regulator repaired itself." Lowering his gaze from the wall across from himself to the floor at his feet Connor's jaw twitched again. "How's your head?"

"Mild concussion and six stitches." Hank pressed his ice against the back of his head a little harder. "No fractures, no bleeding. I'll just need a week to heal and then have the stitches removed."

"That's good."

"I spoke with Gavin over the phone after I was cleared." The senior detective continued to keep Connor's mind preoccupied. "Benjamin told him everything about his little scheme."

"Why?" Connor looked over to Hank needing to know the answer. "Why'd he do it? Why terrorize the whole city and innocent people?"

"Well, Benjamin was pissed about what happened to his father." Leaning back in the chair Hank crossed his arms over his chest and slouched down where he sat as he let the wall hold the ice to the back of his head for him. "After Benjamin was charged with drunk driving and killing that deviant because he hit him with his car, he spent a few years in jail; and after his father was locked up for... killing Lucas," the memory was still raw despite Luke essentially resurrecting Lucas from the grave. "the contacts at the F.B.I. felt bad for Benjamin and pulled his strings to get him out a few years early and even clear his record. They argued that it was his father's fault that Benjamin was left corrupted by hatred and given a second chance. But..."

"But it was too late." Lamenting the wasted second chance at life Connor sighed and leaned back in his chair. "The damage was done."

"Yeah. He began truly hating androids while he was behind bars and wanted to prove that all androids are machines, not people. He even started studying android anatomy to fuel his hatred. When he was released from prison a few months back he made his move."

"Was Benjamin acting on his own anger or continuing his father's hatred?"

"Both. It also turns out that Marcia chick was a weird groupie who was turned on by criminals and started a correspondence with Benjamin while he was still in prison. She just encouraged his hatred and added fuel to the fire. She already hated androids because she got fired after an android reported her for theft, and she made his hatred worse with seduction and 'favors' once he got out."

"Why did he torture us? I still don't understand the act." Connor still couldn't wrap his head around hating a group of people just for existing. "Wouldn't it be a more successful act of revenge to just kill us?"

"Benjamin wanted to prove that androids would sacrifice human lives for their own benefit and that humans shouldn't trust them. But his experiment failed when the city saw the way we all fought to keep each other alive and safe. They saw us seeing one another as equals, as friends; not as man and machine."

Connor's jaw twitched again and he sighed through his nose.

"All he did was prove that humans and deviants can in fact coexist as equals." Hank continued on in an almost disappointed tone of voice. "And because he streamed what he did to us, the city came together to stop him and came to our rescue. Everyone was doing the exact opposite of what he was trying to prove. Joel had more help on this one day than he's ever had, and Gavin took care of everything back at the precinct like a true leader."

"So, instead of dividing the city Benjamin inadvertently brought everyone together. Everything he tried to prove right was proven wrong in a widely witnessed and undeniable fashion."

"Yup. And that's why he surrendered." The heavy remorse in Hank's blue eyes spoke volumes of the tragedy of the situation. "He realized he was in the wrong when his V.P.N. was broken and that no one was going to support him anymore now that Marcia's dead. He had nowhere else to go except back to prison."

"That's pathetic."

"I couldn't have said it better myself, son. Now he's gone and we're still here." Giving his son a confident stare Hank did his best to help Connor feel better after such a terrible day. "And all that matters is we're still alive and we're still going to keep doing the right thing to keep people like Benjamin off of the street forever."

"At least I hope we can do that." Giving Hank a tired look Connor made it clear that he was tired and just wanted the day to end. "Hope is all we have, right?"

"Only sometimes. Then there are days like today where he have the support of our friends, our family, our coworkers and even total strangers. The world isn't as dark and lonely as it seems, son. Don't forget that."

"I'll do my best, dad." Slipping his coin into his pocket Connor sat upright in his seat and did his best to get the negative thoughts out of his mind. "I promise."


Two days of nervously pacing and waiting were over at long last when Markus weakly opened his mismatched eyes and finally regained consciousness. After reassuring and holding North in his arms as tightly as he could while still recovering from his near fatal wounds, Markus was ready to speak to the police and give his statement about the incident and then talk with Connor and Hank regarding their previous captivity. It was a strange conversation to share, but nonetheless it was necessary and Markus was more than ready to do what it took to keep such a dangerous and hate-filled person behind bars for the sake of the entire city.

The identity of their abductor was disappointing but not surprising. Despite the repeated attempts to harm deviants out of their own personal grievances Markus refused to openly bash the bigoted family or stir the pot with rumors and scandalous claims.

"Thank you for not giving up on us." Connor stated at he put his hand on Markus's shoulder lightly. Seeing his best friend awake and alert was enough to ease Connor's worried mind. "And thank you for saving our lives."

"Hey, you both were ready to do the same for me." Markus smiled sincerely from where he was laying. "You're my friends and I'd gladly do that again to keep you safe."

Markus was still attached to a Thirial activity monitor as a precaution, but he was stable and all of his vitals looked strong and normal. A nasal canula was under his nose to aid his ventilation while his artificial lungs healed, but even so every breath he took was pained. He was also still a little pale thanks to his low Thirium level affecting his artificial skin and he was still weak from suffering the overall damage to his numerous vital biocomponents. Despite his lingering weakness and pain Markus remained in high spirits and smiled at his bondmate and his friend without any fear in his gaze.

Keeping his demeanor optimistic Connor asked the obvious question. "How do you feel? You know, considering the fact you were on the repair table for six hours, nineteen minutes and forty-three seconds."

"I feel like shit." The deviant leader responded honestly as he pressed his left palm to the center of his aching abdomen. "But I'll be out of here tomorrow and under Simon's care for the following two days."

"That's good to know. Has anyone told you about the person who targeted us and why they did it?"

"Yeah. North told me everything after she checked in with the officers at the precinct."

Connor looked about and found North curiously absent. "Where is North right now?

"She was given a ride back to the house to get me some clean clothes so we can leave first thing tomorrow morning." A ghost of sly smirk appeared on Markus's face as he spoke. "It sounds like that Gavin guy, the one who used to hate androids, was a real hero for all of us."

Connor smirked as well as he admitted that Gavin really stepped up and came through for all three of them. "Yeah. He took charge and coordinated the investigation flawlessly. He's the one who found us, too."

"Sounds like you finally won him over."

"No, I think he merely had a change of heart thanks to his own experiences with androids. I didn't do anything but work in the same precinct and watch his back from time to time." Wringing his hands together nervously Connor let out a somber sigh. "Benjamin is going back to prison, but Hank and I have been assured he will be getting psychological help so he won't rot in jail with hatred festering in his heart. Maybe in time he can heal and remedy the errors of his and his father's previous actions."

"I'm glad to hear that." There was something comforting in knowing that the poor kid would get some form of help despite his brutal crimes. "It's a shame he was subjected to so much hatred as a child that he didn't have a chance to form his own opinions on androids as he grew up."

"I agree. Children are so innocent and need to be guided accordingly." As he spoke Connor sensed the sliding door open and North rushed into the room to drop off Markus's clothes before she promptly kissed Markus right on his lips. Now that Markus wasn't alone Connor decided it was time to leave and finish his report and go check in on Hank. "Please, get some rest."

Still protective of his friend Connor knew Markus needed more time to heal and didn't want him overexerting himself.

"I need to get back to Hank. He's still recovering from a concussion and shouldn't be alone for too long."

"Right." Extending his hand Markus shook Connor's hand with a firm grip and smiled again as he held North in his opposite arm in a half-hug. "I'll see you soon. Thank you for everything my friend."

"Of course. Any time you need me, I'll be there."

"I know you will." Markus smiled sincerely despite his lingering pain. "That's what friends do; through the good times and the bad, we're always there for each other."

-next chapter-

Author's Note: This plot was heavily inspired by 'The Empath' from 'Star Trek' (the original TV series). One of my favorite episodes of all time and it still holds up to this day!