A late-night call regarding a possibly hostile deviant trespassing on private property brought Hank and Connor to the ruins of an abandoned hotel on the seedier side of the city. There was no official confirmation on whether or not the suspected deviant skulking about the property was actually dangerous, but after dealing with deviants had become the duo's new priority after being reassigned with their primary tasks now regarding any all deviant cases at the precinct. With that very unique and honorary assignment as the lead investigators in the city's very first Deviant Division came a lot of bizarre cases, and quite often they turned out to be false alarms or the wild imaginings of paranoid humans.

With any luck their current call would be yet another false alarm, but the way Connor was detecting some movement inside the old building was proving that the call was going to be otherwise. Leaving the Oldsmobile parked out in front of the building to idle the two detectives made their way to the old hotel to begin their search and potentially find a deviant suspect hiding inside.

"You sure this is the right place?" Hank asked as he and Connor stepped over broken beams and shattered glass bottles that littered the dirty floor of the decrepit hotel's lobby. It was dark and difficult enough to navigate as it was without the garbage littering the ground. "I don't see how anyone, human or android, could live here."

"This is the correct address as given by the witness. Perhaps the seen trespasser is merely seeking shelter from the cold." Connor stated logically as he scanned the room carefully for any traces of deviants. His blue L.E.D. flashed to yellow then back to blue as he finished his cybernetic scan of the area. "I don't detect any deviant lifeforms in the immediate vicinity."

"Yeah, well witnesses aren't exactly reliable." The senior detective quipped casually as he brushed aside a cobweb to avoid walking through it. "That's why people invented security cameras and trained guard dogs to patrol these kinds of places."

Connor stopped suddenly and focused on faint movement in the doorway leading to the staff only area of the decaying building. His blue L.E.D. returned to a bright yellow illumination as he caught the motion with a keen gaze. The movement was brief but his enhanced sight as an android was infallible compared to that of an average human.

"See something?" Hank asked as he noticed Connor's sudden change of demeanor and tried to see what was holding Connor's attention. "You better have seen something with that kind of reaction."

"Possibly. It was too quick to properly identify as a human or as a deviant."

"Might've been a rat or something. Can you scan it?"

"Evidently, not. However, the odds of it being a deviant have dropped significantly considering I still don't detect and deviant lifeforms in the building."

"Well, it's all we have right now." Pointing toward the large corridor where Connor's eyes were already staring Hank motioned for his partner to keep walking ahead to locate whatever was skulking around the rotting hotel. "Let's go track whoever it is down."

"Right."

Connor stepped through the doorway first, moving very slowly and meticulously as to not disturb the already unstable structure of the collapsing building with each calculated move. The yellow glow of his L.E.D. allowed Hank to keep track of his partner even in the darkness as he trailed behind Connor at a slower pace. Hank followed after Connor, his gun drawn but safely lowered to the floor, and kept his eyes peeled for any sign of movement. Stepping only where Connor had already stepped, the senior detective followed his partner silently through the aged hotel without stumbling a single time.

Another rush of movement caught Connor's attention causing the deviant to freeze in place.

"Hank." Connor's voice was but a whisper as to not alert the person skulking about through the hotel. "The suspect is in the next room."

Hank nodded and motioned for Connor to go ahead and step through while he continued to follow close behind.

Carefully Connor pulled his own gun from the holster concealed beneath his gray blazer and secured around his back. He held the gun in a tight grip as he stealthily encroached on the possible suspect now only a few feet away. The deviant's perfect eyes could see what Hank could not - a humanoid figure trying to crouch in the shadows just out of sight.

"Detroit Police." Connor announced authoritatively as he stared at the figure just a few feet away. "Show me your hands!"

The figure, a young man wearing a thick hoodie, panicked and ran through the room toward the rear of the building before either detective had the chance to react. In his blind haste the suspect had bumped into the precariously delicate beams and loose boards that lined that collapsing walls of the old building causing the entire room to quickly destabilize and begin to fall in on itself as he fled out the backdoor.

Connor attempted to chase after the suspect, but a large portion of the old drywall fell before the doorway blocking it off entirely. Turning to look back at Hank the deviant's scanners detected a massive portion of the ceiling above Hank breaking free of its rotting wooden supports directly over the man's head.

"Hank!?"

Without thinking twice Connor rushed back to his partner and pushed him backward out of harm's way just as the ceiling gave way and came crashing down with a thunderous impact directly on top of Connor's back instead.

Thrown off balance by the shove, Hank fell backward and landed on his side on the floor completely untouched by the slowly imploding building. As the ceiling collapsed downward a massive cloud of smothering dust erupted into the air causing Hank to cough and choke as he pulled his dark coat over his face to shield himself from the fluttering debris that threatened to smother him and enter his lungs.

The dust cloud steadily dissipated, and Hank was left looking at a dark pile rubble atop a motionless body lying on its side. One arm was bent under the body while the opposite arm was outstretched and limp running alongside their body with their gun resting in their grip. A red glowing L.E.D. in the body's right temple indicated an android in distress and in need of immediate help.

"C-Connor!"

Hank scrambled up to the pile of debris on his hands and knees as he began hefting aside the heavy slabs of wooden boards and drywall off of Connor's body piece by piece until the deviant had been unburied. Pressing his hand down on Connor's shoulder Hank shook him once as he checked in on his partner while calling his name.

"Connor? Talk to me, kid."

A loud 'groan' of the dying building sounded off with an eerie chorus of breaking beams and crumbling bricks all around Hank as he continued to kneel over Connor's body in a protective manner. Time was running out, and Hank would have to leave the building with or without Connor in only a few seconds if he planned on escaping from the hotel intact.

"Come on, Connor. We're getting out of here!"

Reacting quickly Hank grabbed onto Connor's extended arm and draped the limp limb around his shoulders. Wrapping his own arm around Connor's waist Hank hefted the deviant up to his feet to half carry and half drag his downed partner and friend out of the building before it collapsed entirely on top of both of them.

"We need to move, NOW."

Racing to the relative safety of the snowy sidewalk outside the condemned building Hank carried Connor over to the parked Oldsmobile and sat him down beside the vehicle opposite side of the imploding hotel. Crouching down beside Connor the senior detective radioed for assistance at the location to seal off the area and to report the escaped suspect while also using his body to shield Connor from the massive dust and smoke cloud coming down on top of them. Dust and plaster filled the air all around Hank as he knelt beside Connor and waited for the collapse to end.

Once everything finally became quiet and still, Hank patted the deviant's cheek twice lightly to try to get him to respond. If the sound of a collapsing hotel couldn't awaken Connor from his stunned state, then Hank doubted that a voice speaking his name would do any better.

"Connor? Open your eyes."

Raising his voice a little to ensure that the familiar tone could be heard Hank tried to rouse Connor out of his state of unconsciousness and back into the waking world.

"Connor, look at me."

Slowly Connor's head lolled slightly as his L.E.D. transitioned from red to yellow at the sound of Hank's voice. The soulful brown eyes opened and focused on Hank's face curiously as Connor's system came back online.

"...Lieutenant?"

"Yeah, it's me." Letting out a small chuckle of relief Hank was glad to see Connor awake again. With a firm hand on the deviant's shoulder Hank held Connor steady and reassured him that he wasn't alone. "Are you okay?"

"M-Minor external damage to my right hip." Moving very slightly as he spoke Connor's hand was resting against his hip where a deep cut was slowly leaking Thirium and staining his palm in dark blue blood. "There is also moderate external damage to my lower back. However, I can remedy the wounds easily with my self-healing program."

Efficient as ever Connor confirmed his condition as he ran a self-diagnostic over his systems. His L.E.D. flashed yellow quickly then slowed as it cycled back to a normal, calm blue as the leak caused by the wound stopped. Looking over to Hank next Connor ran a biometric scan next to ensure his human friend wasn't injured or in need of medical attention.

"Are you injured?"

"No, I'm good. Thanks to you." Eyeing the blue blood staining Connor's clothes warily Hank motioned for the deviant to turn slightly to the side. "Let me see your back for sec'."

"It's not-"

"Just do it." Not taking 'no' for an answer Hank wanted to see the wounds for himself to ease his personal righteous worries. "Humor me on this."

Quiet for a moment Connor studied the fear in Hank's eyes and decided to cooperate for his sake. "...Very well."

Relenting to the request Connor turned slightly to shift his weight onto his left hip and leg while Hank lifted up Connor's gray blazer and white dress shirt beneath to examine the damage. Two large, deep scrapes ran along Connor's lower back exposing his white plastimetal frame beneath as his artificial skin was torn open and weeping blue blood at an uncomfortable pace. The blood loss was being caused by the size of the scrapes rather than the severity of the wound itself.

"Yeah, it's not serious. But I want to get your back cleaned up to make sure nothing nasty got stuck in your system." As he dropped down Connor's blazer and shirt Hank raised his finger in a disciplinary manner at the deviant as he proceeded to scold him appropriately. "Next time something's about to fall on my head just tell me to move. Don't you put yourself in the line of fire like that ever again, got it?"

"Yes, Lieutenant." Tucking his shirt back down and securing his gun back into the holster, Connor acknowledged the simple request. "I got it."

"Okay then." Letting out a breathy sigh Hank tried to focus on the situation that brought them to the hotel to begin with and tried to ignore the fact that his partner got hurt protecting him during the collapse. It wasn't the first time Connor put himself in danger to protect him, but Hank hoped that it'd be the last time. "Did you get a good look at the suspect?"

"I can confirm that it was not a deviant, or an android of any kind. It was a Caucasian teenage male, approximately sixteen years old, carrying a can of cherry red number twenty-three spray paint." Such a response was as detailed as it was vague considering the circumstances. "They had their hair concealed under their hood and I didn't see their eyes, but I estimate that they were also five foot eleven in height and one-hundred fifty-five pounds."

"Ah, Jeez..." Hank sat on the road beside Connor and laughed a little at the absurdity of the pointless call as they leaned back against the Oldsmobile's side. "All this work for one vandal trying to tag a piece of shit building that no one cares about anymore. Let's get back to the precinct. We have more important cases to handle."

"What about the vandal?" Not wanting the case to be a total loss Connor redirected Hank's attention elsewhere. "They escaped the hotel before it collapsed and are actively fleeing the scene."

"We didn't see them doing anything wrong beyond trespassing in an abandoned building, and even if we did, who gives a shit?" Speaking with irritation thick in his voice Hank was clearly exhausted and fed up with responding to pointless calls. "That building was left to rot by the city, and that kid putting up some 'tag' or whatever else, would only make the building look better in my opinion."

Clearly Hank didn't see graffiti as an actual crime. It was just street art.

"Fuckin' hypocrites... They ruin everything they touch."

"Hypocrites?" The comment made Connor's brow arch a little inquisitively as he continued to focus his self-healing program to tend to his bleeding back and hip. "In what way?"

"The assholes who made the laws against public vandalism are the same assholes who let buildings and roads decay everywhere just to save a few bucks and sell properties at a mark-up to opportunistic entrepreneurs. But every artist who wants to shine a little light on a dark place get labeled as vandals, arrested and fined for doing something for free."

Rubbing his hand over his bearded chin Hank leaned back against the car's driver's side door and crossed his arms over his chest as he helped Connor to understand his mindset a little better as their friendship continued to gain strength. It was nice to have a real friend to talk to again.

"The city then uses all the money from those fines from harmless crimes to fix the roads or put up a new building, then let the roads and buildings rot from cheap-ass neglect while fining the people who try to be creative and make the city look more colorful all over again. It's a bullshit cycle of bureaucratic abuse."

Connor looked at the lingering dust cloud rising up from the ruins of the nearly fully imploded hotel as police drones began circling the ruins, and then decided that Hank was right about the notion of a street artist being a serious crime was ridiculous. Standing up carefully Connor favored his left side as his right side tried to heal while he put his hand to his bloodied lower back to help support his own weight for a while longer. He was sore all over but didn't want to complain about anything.

"I suppose that's a fair assessment on the overall situation." The response to the request to section off the dangerous building had brought in several more drones as well as a specialized demolition crew to cordon off and then clean up the area in the morning. There was no reason for Connor or Hank to linger in the destroyed area any longer. "And you're right, we do have more important cases to solve as it is."

"Cool. Well, let's get you patched up at the new dispensary on the second floor, file our report, and then head for home." Putting his hand on Connor's shoulder Hank helped the deviant walk over to the passenger side of the car and opened up the door for Connor to sit down inside. "If we're lucky we'll catch the end of the monster movie of the week and salvage at least one good thing after tonight's bust."

-next chapter-