After successfully following a lead regarding 'red ice' distribution the Detroit Central Precinct had finally managed to locate one of the many members of the current underground 'red ice' ring that had been flooding the city with toxic drug. The suspected ringleader was an older man with a long sordid history of violence and dozens of drug convictions already under his belt. The suspect himself was also someone that Hank had arrested back when he brought down a massive 'red ice' ring almost fifteen years prior. It was the very bust that led to Hank's impressive promotion up to Lieutenant and put his name in the precinct's record book as the youngest Lieutenant in Detroit's expansive history.
Tension filled the precinct as the arrested man was brought in for questioning and the evidence was properly chronicled by Ben and his C.S.I. team. Those who had the misfortune of being inside the bullpen when the deplorable man was brought in to be interrogated could feel the tension in the air and were wisely doing their best to keep their heads down and their mouths shut. They all knew of the infamous man's arrest and wanted nothing to do with him.
"Hey, Lieutenant!" Gavin shouted as he and Chris escorted the well known suspect into the precinct for questioning. The arrested man's hands were cuffed behind his back, and he sneered with a venomous hatred in his hollow gray eyes as he was dragged into the interrogation room. "Found an old friend of yours lurking down at the docks!"
Hank looked up from his terminal screen and immediately recognized the suspect as his blood began to boil at the sight of the man's prematurely aged and scarred face. Even after all the years that had passed Hank had never forgotten the cold, heartless stare in that sadistic drug dealer's remorseless eyes. The man who was responsible for Hank's first personal tragedy was someone that Hank would never be able to forget.
"That fucker..." Growling under his breath Hank felt his shoulders tense up and his heart begin to thunder from enraged adrenaline. The Lieutenant had every reason to despise that man's very existence. "I can't believe he's still alive."
From his own terminal Connor looked up at the suspect as well and ran a facial scan to quickly upload all of the data recorded in the police record file on the man in question. The suspect's name was Jack Pillar; he was five foot eleven in height, scrawny from years of drug abuse, had pale skin that was prematurely aged, gray eyes, white thinning hair, and a thick scar running along his right cheek courtesy of a drug lab explosion. Pillar had been previously arrested for drug possession and assault, but the judge who prosecuted Jack had been corrupt and dismissed the charges allowing him to go free and disappear two weeks before Hank brought down Jack's infamous 'red ice' ring in full.
"Hank?" Keeping his back to the suspect Connor lowered his voice and addressed his partner across from him calmly. "Are you okay?"
"No." Hank replied sternly as he watched Gavin and Chris lead Pillar away into an interrogation room. The man's blue eyes were dilated with rage and his knuckles had become stark white as he clenched his hands into fists atop his desk. "That bastard should be rotting in Hell as we speak."
Unsure of what else to say or do Connor tested the water very carefully. "Do you want to observe the interrogation?"
"Fuck no!" Hank turned to look at Connor around his terminal screen as the door to the interrogation room 'hissed' shut behind the two officers and Pillar. "If I get him in my line of sight, I'm going to pull the trigger and put a bullet between his eyes myself! And I don't need any additions to my disciplinary file..."
"Well," in an attempt to lighten the mood Connor made a rather dark joke compared to his usually lighter ones. "you would save the taxpayers an expense if you did kill him."
Hank didn't react to the joke; he didn't even seem to hear Connor even though he was sitting right across from him.
Deciding that it'd be best to keep quiet for a while Connor resumed reviewing the case files on his terminal while simultaneously looking into Pillar's criminal history to placate his own curiosity. The information provided was enlightening and very saddening to say the least as Connor uncovered more details that explained Hank's intense rage at just seeing the man.
Inside the cold and isolated interrogation room Gavin had set about questioning the suspect known as Jack Pillar while Chris sat in the adjacent observation room recording the interview through the window and wrote down points of interest meticulously. The two officers knew of Pillar's past and of his personal connections with Hank from over fifteen years prior, which is why Hank wasn't involved. The knowledge of Pillar's disgusting and illegal deeds was enough to make every officer's flesh crawl, but the crimes he got away with made every officer want to strangle him with their bare hands. This time Pillar wasn't going to get away with his crimes thanks to a corrupt judge or any legal loopholes. This time the charges would stick, and this time Pillar would face justice.
As per usual, Gavin began to quickly lose his cool as he drilled Pillar for answers and received none in return. Refusing to give up so easily Gavin continued with the intense interrogation, his face slowly turning red from his building stress as he spat question after question toward the silent suspect. Gavin knew that he had plenty of evidence stacked against Pillar, but he still needed a confession.
"We know you did it you, jackass." Snarling in anger right in Pillar's face Gavin all but demanded for Pillar to break and finally confess. "Why don't you make it easier on all of us and give up the names of your associates, huh? I'm sure you can swing another deal with a pussy lawyer sucking off a judge just as you've done before."
Pillar himself just glared at Gavin as he discreetly fussed with the cuffs that had restrained his arms behind his back in his chair. Slipping his wrists slowly, discreetly, out of the metal restraints one by one without anyone noticing, Pillar just waited patiently for Gavin to make one little mistake before he made his move.
"I'm losing my patience here." Using a new tactic Gavin mentioned one particular detective as a means of trying to intimidate Pillar into finally spilling his guts out and potentially swaying a deal in his favor. "Answer the damn questions or I'll get Anderson in here to rip you apart piece by piece. He's been looking for a chance to get even with you for what you did, and not a single person in this building would even try to stop him."
Pillar wasn't swayed to start speaking by what he considered to be a non-threat. The criminal had nothing to lose and didn't value his life without a criminal empire to pad his wallet.
"Wow..." Openly scoffing Gavin slammed both hands down on the surface of the table in an attempt to shake Pillar as he got right in face. "YOU'RE A WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT!" Getting practically nose-to-nose with the man Gavin didn't blink and continued to insult Pillar to try and make him open his mouth. "You being executed would do the world a favor but would be a waste of a perfectly good bullet!"
Keeping his face blank Pillar watched Gavin slowly losing his cool and letting his emotions call the shots. An expert on watching body language to determine who he could and could not trust in his inner-circle, Pillar knew he just needed to keep his eyes peeled before he made a move.
All it ever took for everything to fall apart was one simple mistake and Pillar knew what even the tiniest of mistakes looked like...
Staying close by Hank and sitting behind his terminal screen Connor's L.E.D. blinked from the blue to yellow and then back to blue as he finished researching Jack Pillar's criminal history. The loyal deviant detective felt a sickening knot form in his artificial stomach as he finished his search into the deplorable man's past and now had a clearer understanding of Hank's anger toward the man locked in the interrogation room. There was a damn good reason for Hank to want to kill Pillar - the 'red ice', fraud, corruption and assaults all paled in comparison to Hank's primary reason for revenge - and Pillar's death would be something that no one with a heart would ever hold Hank truly accountable for.
With his arms crossed tightly over his chest Hank had been staring blankly at his terminal screen ever since the door to the interrogation room had slid shut. The senior detective's mind was evidently too preoccupied with his past encounters with Pillar to concentrate on his work in the present. Emotional strain and a lust for revenge were the only things on Hank's mind.
"Hank?" Turning off his own terminal screen Connor rose from his seat and stood beside Hank's desk as he addressed his partner in a low voice. "May I speak with you for just a moment, please?"
"What?" With the same blank stare in his eyes Hank slowly looked up from his screen and up at the deviant who was watching him with sincere concern visible in his soulful brown irises. "What do you want?"
"Can we speak in private?" Connor tagged on pleadingly as he waited for Hank to respond. "Just for a minute."
"If you have something to say to me, then just go ahead and say it!"
"Please." Connor was determined to get Hank away from his desk even if it was just for a few seconds, and so he asked again in a polite tone. "It's important."
Sighing with an annoyed huff Hank abruptly rose from his chair and motioned for Connor to accompany him to an unoccupied interview room in the opposite direction of the interrogation rooms. The small and isolated space would allow them to talk in private without worrying about anyone in the bullpen eavesdropping or spreading unfounded rumors while the infamous criminal was in the precinct.
"All right, we're alone." Hank shut the door behind him as soon as he and Connor were inside the room and gave the deviant annoyed glare. "What's so damn important we needed to speak in private?"
"I know why you want to kill Jack Pillar." It was a blunt and honest statement that made Connor's blue L.E.D. flash to a cautious yellow. "I understand your hatred and your desire for revenge is justifiable after what he had done. I just wanted to tell you that if you in fact felt it necessary to-"
"NO. Stop right there!" The high-strung Lieutenant held up his hand as if to physically silence the deviant mid sentence. "You can't condone revenge under ANY circumstances! Do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand that. But-"
"No." Refusing to talk about it the grim subject Hank turned his back to Connor and pushed the door back open with a fast jerk before it could slide open on its own. "I don't want to hear it, and as far as anyone is concerned, we never had this illegal, albeit brief, conversation. Got it?"
"I was just-"
"I asked if you got it?"
"...Yes." Feeling a little ashamed of mentioning the revenge ploy Connor's voice dipped to a near whisper. "I got it."
"Good. Let's get back to work."
With his L.E.D. still yellow Connor followed Hank outside of the room and walked a few steps beside the senior detective in an attempt to continue to speak and apologize, but the sound of sudden gunfire and shouting voices drew their attention to other far more serious matters at hand.
"That was a gunshot."
"Fuckin'-" Hank's eyes went wide and his hand hovered over the gun holstered on his hip. "What the hell?"
With an unceremonious return Pillar stormed through the door of the interrogation room with one arm wrapped around Gavin's throat while his opposite hand pressed the barrel of a gun against Gavin's temple. It seemed Pillar saw an opportunity during the interrogation and took advantage of it.
"Shit..." Gavin swore as he pulled at Pillar's choking arm vainly with both hands to try to free himself. Knowing he needed help, Gavin called out to the responding officers in the bullpen who already had their guns trained in Pillar's direction. "Fucker hid a gun on us! Don't know where-"
Pillar tightened his arm around Gavin's throat to effectively shut him up. "You're done talking, pretty-boy. Now it's MY turn."
"DROP IT." Chris demanded as he bolted from the neighboring observation room and drew his own gun on the dangerous criminal while standing directly in front of Pillar's person. "Drop it now. You have nowhere to go, so just make this easier on all of us."
Pillar responded to the command by shooting Chris's right shoulder causing the young officer to drop his gun and sink to the floor in pain. As if to emphasize his violent intent Pillar shot three more times into the open space of the bullpen in a single direction. Two of the bullets lodged into the walls around Hank, but the third shot was aimed directly at Hank's chest as the man took notice of the Lieutenant watching over him.
Before the senior detective had time to process the sudden outburst of chaos in the bullpen, a flash of blue blood filled his vision as it splashed over his chest as the sound of a third gunshot filled his ears. Instinct pulled Hank down to the floor as a means of self-preservation the moment Connor suddenly collapsed in a limp heap in front of him.
"Shit!" Hank laid down on the ground on his stomach and stared at his injured partner laying just in front of him. The blue blood Hank had briefly seen splash over his front was now profusely soaking through the fabric of Connor's white dress shirt and his L.E.D. was flashing red. "Ah, fuck..."
The deviant detective was injured only because Connor had put himself between Hank and Pillar, effectively taking the bullet himself as a means of protecting Hank from harm. Struggling to breathe as blue blood ran up his throat, Connor laid on his back and stared blankly at the white ceiling overhead.
"Connor? Why'd you do it?"
Without any hesitation Hank pushed himself up from the ground and knelt beside the deviant's head keeping his own head low as more gunfire continued to tear through the bullpen as Pillar continued with his rampage. Slipping his hands under Connor's arms and around his bloodied chest, Hank dragged his downed partner backward into the still opened door of the interview room where he and Connor had just left, and he shut the door as soon as they were inside the room out of Pillar's line of sight.
Laying Connor down flat on his back near the middle of the floor beside the conference table in the center of the room, Hank's mind immediately went on the defensive. Drawing his gun from the holster the courageous senior detective crouched down beside the window of the interview room that peered out toward the bullpen and instantly fell into a command position.
"Stay down, kid."
Hank commanded his wounded partner laying behind him. Using his fingers Hank pulled back the already drawn blinds over the window just enough to see out through the glass without being seen himself. The sight of Pillar taking control over his precinct and his bullpen was enough to make an angered heat rise up from Hank's very being.
"Pillar has taken Gavin as a hostage and is using him as a human-shield. Looks like Chris has been shot, but he got to cover. Damn it..."
Shifting his gaze away from the gunman and over to Captain Fowler's private office across the bullpen Hank watched as Captain Fowler himself ducked behind his desk out of sight with his own gun drawn in one hand and the phone from his desk in the other as he ordered the entire building on lockdown. The frost over the glass walls activated and gave Captain Fowler the advantage of being kept out of sight while still being close to the scene of the disturbance.
"Jeffrey's on it. He's getting back-up in here."
Hank continued to observe through the window and was ready to raise his gun to aim at Pillar when two more armed men suddenly entered the building from the front doors with their own guns drawn. Another barrage of bullets screamed through the bullpen causing the gathered officers and detective to duck down out of sight onto the floor and behind any pieces of furniture that they could use. In response, Hank too ducked down and turned his head away from the glass of the window to ensure no one saw him and to protect himself in the event a bullet pierced the glass causing it to shatter.
The additional men stood beside Pillar on both sides of the deplorable man and essentially gave him three more weapons to use against whomever he wanted. One gunman was already a problem, but three of them were proving to be a catastrophe.
"Three men, all armed. I got a clean shot at Pillar..."
Hank continued to think out loud as he tried to plan his next move very carefully. No one in the precinct could afford to make another mistake.
"But if I take him down I.A. is going to have a field day with me, and finally have a reason to throw my ass outta' here."
Failing to receive a response from Connor, who would've surely been observing the chaos taking place outside the room and preconstructing potential outcomes, Hank turned his attention back to the injured deviant again and felt his heart sink. Connor wasn't moving save for his chest heaving up and down slowly as he tried and failed to take in a full breath. A massive sapphire puddle of Thirium was forming beneath Connor's back from where he was laying and only continued to grow as his bullet wound continued to bleed.
It was then Hank realized that Connor was beginning to bleed out. If Connor didn't get help soon, he'd bleed to death.
Hank's face paled as he watched his partner already fighting for breath on the floor. Keeping his head down Hank made his way over to his injured friend to check the severity of Connor's condition more directly. Pulling open Connor's blood stained gray blazer and the white dress shirt beneath - pulling the black tie away from around Connor's neck in the process - Hank stared at the bleeding bullet hole near the right central area of Connor's upper chest.
"Connor? Can you hear me?"
"...H-Hank." Connor wheezed as his soulful brown eyes glazed over and his L.E.D. cycled red slowly. "I... can't... b-breathe. H-Help."
"You'll be okay, son." Trusting his instincts as a first responder Hank put his hand down over the bleeding wound and steadily applied pressure to try to stem the already massive Thirium loss before it reached a critical level. "I'll get you to a technician, but you need to hang on for me, all right?"
Struggling to communicate Connor let out a weak breath and nodded once. "...A-All right."
"Run a self-diagnostic." In that second Hank realized that his painful lack of android knowledge was going to bite him in the ass. "How bad is it?"
"B-Bad." Connor's red L.E.D. flashed to yellow briefly before returning to red. "...M-My right ventilation b-biocomponent... damaged." The deviant swallowed once as more blue blood began to collect in the back of his throat. His words were beginning to carry a reverberating electronic echo as the damage to his ventilation biocomponent began to affect his voice modulator as well. "Th-Thirium pump... compromised. Thirium loss s-substantial; volume down t-to seventy-two percent. Imminent sh-shutdown in twenty-nine minutes, forty-two seconds."
"Oh shit..." As he heard the grim news Hank applied more pressure to the wound as if he could somehow keep Connor from slipping into shutdown if he just held on tight enough. If Connor's Thirium pump; his heart, failed then Connor would die within seconds. "Hang on, son. I'll get you out of here. I promise."
Coughing up Thirium in a violent gasp Connor felt Hank slightly roll him onto his side to let the blue blood pool out of his mouth and onto the floor. The coughing fit mercifully passed but not before leaving behind a second sapphire puddle on the floor in its wake.
Rolling the deviant onto his back again Hank swore he could feel Connor's heart thundering in his blood soaked chest like a freight train right under his palm.
Several stray bullets broke through the glass of the window causing shards to rain down into the interview room. Reacting quickly Hank threw himself over Connor to protect the already injured deviant from the falling glass, and he put his free hand over the back of his own head to keep the shards from cutting him as they fell to the floor all around him.
"Fuck! Where the fuck is back-up?!"
Annoyed and worried Hank swore as the bullets finally stopped flying. Rocking back on his knees Hank grabbed on to Connor's hand and placed it over the bleeding wound in the deviant's chest. After he gave Connor a reassuring nod Hank crept back over to the window to see what was happening.
"Shit. They're going to keep using Gavin as a hostage AND as a human shield. I hate the prick, but we can't just let him get killed."
Pulling his phone from his pocket Hank dialed Captain Fowler's office to connect with his commanding officer just across the large bullpen. It was the only way to communicate without anyone noticing what was happening.
"...H-Hank?"
"Just hang tight, Connor. I'm calling for help." The line barely had the chance to ring once before Captain Fowler answered. "Jeffrey, what the fuck's happening out there? Connor's been shot and we're stuck in interview room 'A'. He needs a technician in less than twenty minutes or he'll shutdown!"
"C-Correction." Connor coughed a little as he pathetically spoke up the moment his vision was swarmed with red tinted warnings regarding his system's readout courtesy of his self-diagnostic. "...Twenty-five minutes, and-"
"Shut up, I'm trying to fuckin' save you." Again Hank swore as he turned to look at the bleeding deviant then returned his gaze to the window so he could monitor the situation in the bullpen. "Connor's lost a lot of blood already and we can't afford to wait."
Impatiently Hank listened to his Captain while also keeping his eye on the hostage situation outside. Chris had managed to get away from three gunmen to the relative safety behind a desk with his hand clamped over his bleeding right shoulder. Tina was watching his back as she kept her own gun trained on the three gunmen in the distance and took cover behind the desk beside Chris. Officer Wilson had ducked down behind Hank and Connor's desk to get a clear shot, and ensure that all three men were being watched at all times.
"Fine! Just find a way to get it done."
Impatiently Hank ended the call and scrolled through his contacts to connect with Joel up in the dispensary as he knelt beside Connor again. The second call was answered almost immediately as the technician knew Hank only called during emergency situations.
"Joel! Yeah, it's-" Hank needed to cut Joel off and let the technician know the seriousness of the situation. "Listen, Connor's been shot."
It was clear that the technician had heard the gunfire from the second floor, but he had no idea what had happened.
"The bullet penetrated the upper right center of his chest. He's going to shut down, what do I have to do to save him?"
Connor's soulful brown eyes began to close as he let out a gasping breath and began to choke on the blood collecting in his throat once more.
Responding to the horrible sound Hank quickly rolled Connor onto his left side for a few seconds until the choking fit passed then rolled him onto his back again. Pressing his palm down on Connor's chest over his heart, precariously close to the still bleeding wound, Hank counted Connor's pulse as Joel had requested over the line.
"He's at about one hundred-thirty." Following Joel's instructions Hank's hand moved over to the upper right side of Connor's chest and pressed down, then he did the same for the left side. "It doesn't feel like he can breathe very well. His right side seems worse than the left."
"C-Correct." Connor weakly updated Hank on his condition to the best of his ability. "Th-Thirium levels down to sixty-six percent. Can't... Can't register other... vitals."
"And he's still losing a lot of blood." Listening to Joel for a few more seconds Hank's brow suddenly furrowed with a mixture of confusion and surprise. "Wait, you can do that? Okay, yeah, give me a second." Placing the back of his phone against Connor's red L.E.D. Hank issued instructions to his downed partner. "Kid? Access your self-diagnostic program and sync it up with my phone. Joel said he can get a reading on your system that way."
Connor's eyes blinked slowly, but his L.E.D. managed to shift from red to yellow for only a few seconds before returning to red. In that time a display appeared on Hank's phone showing four key aspects to Connor's vital signs: Thirium pump activity/heart rate, Thirium volume percentage, current ventilation/respiration rate and his core temperature.
"Shit, it worked!" Hank shouted as he put the phone on the floor and switched it over to speaker mode. "I can- Yeah, that's what it says on my screen, too."
'Where are you exactly?' Joel asked while keeping his cool over the line as he gave technical support from afar. 'I might be able to get some supplies down to you.'
"We're in the first interview room, right in the middle of all this bullshit. Interview room 'A'."
'All right, sit tight. I'll see what I can do.'
"Yeah, monitor his condition from your end and I'll keep-"
Another shot filled the air as yet another bullet embedded itself in the concrete of the wall below the broken window of the interview room. Voices were calling out commands and shouts resonated loudly as the officers standing off with the three gunmen proceeded to open fire and try to take down the trio of criminals without losing Gavin or anyone else in the process.
"Just get that shit down here! Fast!"
Placing his phone next to Connor's shoulder Hank reclaimed his position by the window and peered through the fractured glass at the carnage taking place outside.
"Damn it..." Hank slunk down against the wall and as he looked back over to Connor on the floor. "The fuckers aren't going to go down easily."
Suddenly Connor took in a sucking gasp for air and his glassy eyes went wide with panic as his back physically arched in distress. Wheezing in shallow breaths blue blood began to ooze from the corners of Connor's mouth and trail out of his nose in a sickly pale blue foam. The deviant detective was beginning to choke on his own blood.
"Shit, shit, shit!"
Needing to tend to his partner Hank scrambled back to Connor and put his hand atop Connor's chest to try to hold him down on the floor without hurting him. Looking down at the screen of his phone Hank watched as Connor's heart rate began to spike and his Thirium volume dropped down to sixty-two percent. The Thirium bled from Connor's chest, mouth and nose; blue tinted foam was collecting in the back of Connor's mouth and throat from his choked off breaths as the phone showed an alarming '?' regarding his ventilation rate.
"Hold on, son. I got you. I'm right here with you, don't worry."
Trying to figure out what was happening Hank pressed his ear down against the center of Connor's chest and listened to the sound of the deviant's two ventilation biocomponents attempting to draw in full breaths. A whistling sound identified a failure in Connor's internal air intake line causing his sudden inability to breathe. An accompanying, sickening sloshing noise indicated a significant amount of blue blood had collected in Connor's ventilation system as well, causing the distress and the choking sound.
Connor was now drowning in his own blood.
"Stay calm..."
Lifting his head up from Connor's chest Hank slipped his hand under Connor's neck and he tilted Connor's head back slightly. Opening the deviant's mouth as wide as possible by lowering Connor's jaw with his opposite hand Hank shook his head somberly.
"Sorry about this, but it's for your own good."
Placing his two forefingers down inside Connor's mouth Hank scooped out the collecting foam from Connor's throat before rolling Connor onto his side and delivering a firm but painless blow to the center of Connor's back between his shoulder blades to help clear out his airway. As soon as the foam began to pour out of Connor's mouth Hank encouraged him to try to inhale and take in a proper breath to ensure his airline was clear.
"Breathe! Take in a deep breath, kid."
Connor coughed loudly as his ventilation biocomponents were finally cleared of the choking mass. As he took in a deep breath, more Thirium leaked from the bullet wound in his chest while speckles of blue blood dotted his already blue stained lips with each cough. The failure in the air intake line was still disturbingly audible even without Hank having to press his ear against Connor's chest again.
"You're okay..."
Hank soothed confidently as he rolled Connor onto his back again. While keeping his hand under Connor's head Hank wiped the blue Thirium stain on his fingertips off against his dark coat.
"I'll get you out of here as soon as I can."
Connor swallowed once and nodded to acknowledge the promise. The fear in his usually confident eyes was unmistakable as Connor tried to focus his self-healing program on the damage to his artificial lungs while still remaining as calm as possible. The deviant's shutdown timer had dropped down to eight minutes as he continued to lose Thirium and struggle to breathe well enough to prevent his core temperature from rising.
A call on Hank's phone forcibly drew the senior detective's attention from the bleeding deviant and back to the chaos taking place in the precinct. A quick glance at the phone's screen told Hank who was calling before he even answered the call.
"Jeffrey, what the hell's happening out there?"
'S.W.A.T. is on their way.' Captain Fowler's voice was calm and in control over the line despite the Captain being incredibly tense as he eyed the three gunmen from his office sharply. He had disabled a single panel of the frosting over the glass to keep an eye on the gunmen without making himself an obvious target. 'How's Connor holding up?'
"Not good." Hank replied honestly as he closely watched Connor's chest still struggling to rise and fall with his breaths. "He's in rough shape."
'Don't worry, we'll get you out of there.'
"It's not me I'm worried about, it's him!"
'We have a negotiator on the outside working with Pillar now. By all accounts he's not going to surrender peacefully OR alive.' The seasoned Captain confirmed as he kept Hank apprised of the hostage situation in the bullpen. 'I don't want to see this end in death, but we can't let him or his associates escape.'
"Jeffrey... from my point of view I have a clean shot at Pillar." Feeling as if he was being tested Hank told his commanding officer the truth as he knew exactly where Pillar was in the bullpen. "I can take out Pillar without harming Gavin and end this bullshit once and for all."
'You're a great shot, but there's no way you can get all three men down without Gavin being put at risk.'
"Yeah, I know..." A part of Hank knew that Captain Fowler was trying to convince him to NOT take revenge on Pillar without actually saying it, while another part of him knew that his Captain, his old friend, wouldn't fault him for taking Pillar down due to the extreme circumstances. "But if you think I should take the shot, then just give me the word."
'Hopefully it doesn't come down to that.' The controlled fear was a clear sign that the man didn't want to risk either Gavin's life or Hank's career with a single well aimed. 'Until I give the word stand down.'
"Whether I do take the shot or not is up to Pillar now, isn't it?"
'Hank, I think help's coming your way.' Through the small clear patch of frost along his office door, Captain Fowler caught sight of a technician - a bold intern working with Joel in the dispensary - slowly approaching the interview room with a blue colored android first aid kit tucked under her arm. 'The door's going to open but it's going to be a friend, all right? Do. Not. Shoot.'
"I'm not trigger-happy, for fuck's sake. I won't shoot the damn messenger." Hank snarked as the door to the interview room 'hissed' open slightly. Turning his head he watched as the helpful intern very carefully slipped the kit down on the floor and pushed it through the opened door. She wisely backed off and returned to the elevator despite the body armor keeping her safe from harm. "I got the kit. Tell whoever that was to get back before they get shot."
'On it.'
Hank ended the call as he grabbed the first aid kit and placed it on the floor next to Connor's body. Opening the kit Hank stared at the various pieces of equipment stored inside the blue colored plastic box with utter confusion. Rather than the usual pieces of first aid supplies that normally accommodated such an android first aid kit, there were items that seemed designed for more advanced procedures than routine emergency first aid out in the field.
"What the hell is all this crap?"
A long hollow plastic tube was wrapped up in sterile plastic next to a metal cylindrical apparatus in the center of the case. Next to those particular tools was a bottle of pure blue Thirium and a bottle of the bizarre orange colored incrassation compound that Hank had only recently learned of when Connor's arm had been injured a few weeks back.
As if sensing the question hanging in the air Hank's phone rang again and Joel reestablished a connection with the two somewhat isolated detectives.
'Lieutenant, listen to me.' Joel sounded unusually stern compared to his typical laidback demeanor as he didn't even wait for Hank to speak. 'Connor only has six minutes left before he shuts down. You can save him, but you have to do everything I say and listen very carefully, and for the love of all that is sane do NOT try to argue with me.'
"Shit..." Feeling the pressure Hank swore again as he set the phone on the floor and pressed speaker mode once more as he stared at Connor's vital signs still on display. The deviant's heart rate was up to one-hundred and forty and his Thirium volume was down to sixty-one percent. "All right Joel, what do I have to do?"
'You see the incrassation compound in the kit?'
"Just call it the 'orange stuff'." Hank grumbled as he picked up the correct bottle and unscrewed the cap. "Got it."
'Pour it over the bullet wound in Connor's chest, that should stop the bleeding and keep his airline from leaking too severely.'
"Right." Giving Connor a sympathetic glance Hank wiped away as much of the lost Thirium from Connor's bare chest with his hand before he poured the orange liquid directly into the wound. "Hang on, kid. This is going to sting a bit."
Expectedly, Connor flinched and let out a stifled pained moan as the orange chemical stung at his injury and entered deep inside the wound itself. A gush of tea colored liquid flowed out of the wound as the orange compound mixed with the blue blood. The compound managed to disinfect the wound itself and keep any debris from entering Connor's exposed Thirium lines and managed to essentially plug up the hole in the compromised air intake line.
"Sorry, I didn't want to do it." The caring Lieutenant apologized sincerely as he watched the deviant enduring another bout of pain courtesy of the compound. "It's done. I won't do that to you again."
'Good.' Joel continued his instructions from over the line as he watched Connor's vital signs from his own phone up in the precinct dispensary. 'Now, do you see the long flexible tube inside of the plastic bag? Pick it up and open the bag.'
Tossing aside the now empty compound bottle Hank picked up the plastic bag and tore it open with his fingers. Holding the flexible tube in his hands Hank just stared at the object as if he had been handed a grenade.
"Now what do I do?"
'Listen to me VERY carefully.' The insistence in Joel's voice was less than comforting. 'At one end of the tube you'll see a blue line and the other end a rectangular plastic guard. You need to slip the blue end of the tube down Connor's throat to open up his air intake line so he can breathe again. It's like intubating a human.'
"What the fuck did you just say?! Intubate?"
'Don't argue!' Joel nearly shouted as he focused on keeping Connor alive. 'His core temperature is going to start rising and you have no way to cool him down if he overheats. Overheating can damage the intracranial processor which means Connor could suffer from what equates to permanent brain damage.'
"Right, right... Okay. I'll do it."
'Next to the tube inside the kit there should be a metal cylinder. Pick it up and press the small button at the top, afterward a small metal flank should release from the side of the cylinder. The flank looks like a thin and partially curved, blunt knife.'
"Okay." Hank picked up the requested tool and pressed the button at the top as instructed. Sure enough a small flank released from the side. "Now what?"
'Tilt Connor's head back and keep his mouth opened as wide as possible. Then use the flank to push down on his tongue to open his throat wide enough to slip the tube down.'
"Is... that going to hurt him?"
'Only a little, but it'll let him breathe and stabilize his system to keep him from shutting down.'
"He won't be able to talk with a tube in his throat."
'Four minutes! Move!'
"H-Hank?" Connor's breathing became more rapid but remained shallow as his damaged right ventilation biocomponent and failing air intake line struggled to circulate the required air for him to properly cool his core. Connor gasped in panic as tears began to well in his eyes. "H-Hank... I'm... scared."
"Don't be scared." Lightly Hank's hand grabbed onto Connor's arm and squeezed in a reassuring manner. "I'm right here with you and I won't let you shutdown, all right? That's NOT going to happen to you; not today."
Nodding once Connor closed his eyes and swallowed the blue blood collecting in his throat again. "I... I trust you."
'Hank, you have to do this.' Joel's voice called out desperately over the line. 'You're the only one who can do it.'
"Fuck!" Hank saw Connor's vital signs on his phone starting to become more erratic as the deviant struggled to breathe. Connor's heart was pounding in his chest as his body fought to heal itself in spite of the massive Thirium loss. "Close your eyes, Connor. This isn't going to be fun for either of us..."
Connor's terrified eyes watched as Hank moved from his side to kneel just above his head. Once Hank put his hand on his lower jaw, Connor shut his eyes tight enough to cause the tears he had been restraining to finally fall and run down his face from the corners of his eyes.
"I'm working on a car, not my partner..."
Hank held his own breath as he put the metal tool in Connor's mouth and pushed it down against the deviant's tongue to open up Connor's throat.
"Car. Car. Car."
Repeating the mantra seemed to calm Hank enough to keep his hands from shaking as he performed the unpleasant but necessary task. Convincing himself he was just replacing an old line in his car's engine helped the Lieutenant to not focus on the fact that he was performing an invasive procedure on his best friend.
"It needs to be done... I'm not hurting him, I'm saving him. This is helpful, NOT harmful."
Reflexively Connor fought the urge to spit the metal object out of his mouth knowing that it was there to assist his overall recovery. The feeling of being smothered and drowning was becoming almost too intense for the deviant to withstand and his heart beat even faster with fear.
Joel's voice returned to the open line as he monitored everything over the line. 'Three minutes.'
"Shut up, Joel! I'm doing it..." Carefully Hank slipped the blue end of the tube into Connor's mouth between his teeth and snaked it down slowly alongside the metal tool with a steady pace to get it down Connor's throat. The way the tube easily glided down the blood slicked internal line that acted as Connor's throat was as reassuring as it was unsettling. "Almost got it."
Again, Connor reflexively responded to the tube and swallowed as it was inserted down his throat. At the same time his fingers curled into the fabric of the carpeting beneath his body as he resisted his every instinct to pull the tube out of his mouth and lash out at the person responsible for his discomfort. As the plastic guard at the end of the tube reached Connor's lips Hank retracted the metal tool and set it aside.
"I think-" Hank felt the tube lock into place on its own and knew he got it in the right position. "It's in!"
There was a heavy pause for a moment before Joel responded from over the line once more. 'Perfect placement. Good work.'
"Is that it?"
'Shutdown has stopped for now, but he still needs Thirium. He's at fifty-eight percent and dropping.' Joel confirmed as he continued to guide Hank through the emergency repair session over the phone. 'The tube is serving as a temporary replacement for his damaged air intake line, and it can allow you to pour the replacement Thirium down his throat without accidentally choking him in the process.'
More gunfire suddenly erupted from the precinct outside the interview room causing Hank to look up at the window, but he didn't move from Connor's side. At the moment the need to stay by his downed friend was more prominent than dealing with a trio of lunatics inside of a building full of police officers who were already handling the chaos outside.
Connor's eyes snapped open and focused on the broken window in fear as bullets broke through the already damaged glass and embedded in the concrete wall behind Hank. Unable to move around or defend his partner was stressing the already distressed deviant further to the brink of a full panic attack.
"It'll be fine, kid." Grabbing onto the plastic bottle of Thirium from the first aid kit Hank opened the lid and slipped his hand under Connor's head to lift the deviant up a little from the ground. Hank repositioned the deviant to let Connor rest his head and shoulders against his knees. "After I take care of you, I'll take care of them."
Unable to verbally respond Connor just blinked once to confirm he had understood Hank's comment.
Tipping the bottle down against the end of the tube inserted down Connor's throat Hank poured the required Thirium into the tube to restore the blood that Connor had already lost. Connor flinched a little but didn't move or try to resist the procedure as he knew what Hank was doing was to save his life. The blue blood flooding his ventilation biocomponents was going to aid his self-healing program already mending the damage caused by the bullet wound.
"Joel, I need to deal with the gunmen." Hank shouted toward his phone resting on the floor nearby. "Monitor Connor for me, and if there's any change you better letting me fuckin' know A.S.A.P., you hear me?"
'Don't worry, I'm monitoring him very closely. His Thirium is currently up to sixty-five percent.' Joel confirmed in a much more relaxed sounding tone. 'You just focus on the idiots with the guns.'
"That's what I always do." As the last of the Thirium poured from the bottle down the tube Hank tossed it aside and gently lowered Connor down from his knees to rest flat on the floor again. Grabbing on to Connor's hand Hank firmly planted the deviant's palm down against the bullet wound in his own chest. "Keep the pressure until I get back. It might help."
Obediently Connor kept his hand firmly in place over the now lightly bleeding injury and began breathing easier now that the tube was in place down his throat. The added Thirium gave him enough strength to apply pressure to his own chest just as Hank had suggested.
Hank returned to the bullet shattered glass of the window and knelt down to line up his shot from where he and Connor had been taking shelter. Pillar was still holding Gavin as his hostage while Pillar's men stood by his side with their own guns drawn and aimed at the police officers surrounding them. The hostage negotiator was standing outside the precinct and using a phone on speaker mode to communicate with the three gunmen who clearly had no interest in any deals whatsoever. Every time the negotiator attempted to reason with the trio of gunmen, they'd open fire and put more lives at risk.
Glancing over to Captain Fowler's office Hank watched through the single clear panel on the door as his Captain gave him a nod of approval before aiming his own gun at the three gunmen as well. Knowing Hank was already locked onto Pillar himself ,Captain Fowler aimed at the gunman closest to his location through the glass of his office wall and remained somewhat concealed behind his desk.
"As long as we take out the gunmen together, we can save Gavin."
Hank muttered to himself as he breathed slowly and kept his hands as still as possible around the grip of his gun. Remaining calm, keeping a controlled grip on his weapon and maintaining a level head was important for detectives in any scenario. That type of mental fortitude was only refined by years of hands-on experience through active duty.
"We just need a third shot to bring this fuckin' disaster to an end..."
Despite is best efforts Connor was beginning to lose consciousness on the floor behind Hank. The compound that had been applied to the injury had stemmed the bleeding significantly, but the damage to his right ventilation biocomponent was still in desperate need of invasive repair. Thirium continued to leak internally into the compromised biocomponent at a steady rate causing discomfort and difficulty with Connor's ability to breathe and keep his core temperature cool.
Unable to speak or move a synthetic muscle, all Connor could do was lay in the growing puddle of his own blood and wait for Hank to come back to his side to check on his condition. With any luck the situation would be resolved before Connor's condition deteriorated any further.
Stranded in the middle of the chaos within the bullpen with a bullet still lodged in his bloodied right shoulder, Chris applied pressure to his own wound while Tina kept at his side and kept her own gun drawn on the trio of gunmen holding her partner hostage. As he glanced about the bullpen cautiously, Chris noticed that Captain Fowler was aiming at the suspects through the small opening his office door's clear panel, and that Captain Fowler kept looking toward the broken glass of the interview room across the way. Curiously Chris followed Captain Fowler's gaze and caught a faint glimpse of Hank inside the window taking aim at the three gunmen as well. It didn't take long for the wounded officer to figure out what was happening and wanted to do something to help his colleagues.
Watching Tina's back as she watched over his, Chris carefully repositioned himself behind the desk to keep entirely out of sight. Quietly Chris addressed Tina without giving away the plan or distracting the trio in the process while the negotiator continued to speak to the trio over the phone's open speaker. Time was running out and Chris knew that everything was going to get worse before it got better if something wasn't done soon.
"Tina," Chris managed to catch Tina's ear and no one else's as he nodded subtly in the direction of the third gunman who wasn't in anyone's line of sight. "can you get a clean shot at the big guy on the left of Pillar?"
The fearless officer nodded her head discreetly to answer Chris as she slowly shifted the barrel of the gun toward the targeted man.
"Captain Fowler and Lieutenant Anderson have a shot on the other two from their own positions." Chris stared at Captain Fowler and waited for his Captain to glance his way to silently communicate with the man. "Get ready to fire when I say the word."
"Right." Tina whispered her reply confidently as she hovered her right fingertip over the trigger of her gun. "Ready."
Captain Fowler's eyes met with Chris for a moment through the clear panel and the officer motioned with his head toward Tina at his side, then motioned with his hand that she had a shot at the gunman to the immediate left of Pillar by shaping his hand into that of a gun and pointing to the left.
The simple manner of communication was perfectly effective. Ready to fire, Captain Fowler nodded and glanced over at Hank to relay the information with a silent confirmation to let him know to prepare to take his shot.
From where he knelt Hank watched as Captain Fowler informed him of the plan with silent hand gestures as well, then told Hank to stand down for just a moment as he took the phone from his desk and made contact with the negotiator outside the precinct. There was no reason to put other people at risk of getting caught in the crosshairs of the impending shoot-out.
Eager to bring the situation to the end Hank kept his eyes trained on the armed trio as he quietly addressed Connor who was still laying helpless a few feet away behind him.
"Looks like this is could all be coming to a nasty conclusion... It's all up to Pillar how this shit-show ends now."
Connor took in a shuddering breath and let out a stifled gasp that was a mixture of a choke and a cough. The tube was allowing Connor to breathe, but the Thirium collecting in his ventilation biocomponents was beginning to flood his chest cavity through the bullet wound in the right vent and was now compress surrounding biocomponents. The pressure was steadily disabling the biocomponents one by one resulting in additional errors. A small trickle of blue blood was beginning to rise up in the tube as Connor bled internally and couldn't do a thing to stop it.
As the tense stand-off continued outside the room in the center of the bullpen came to a head, Captain Fowler finished speaking to the negotiator over the phone and made his own covert call on the situation to his officers a few yards away. Signaling to Hank to standby and wait for his next order, Captain Fowler communicated the same instructions to Chris and Tina through the blank office window to ensure everyone was going to move in perfect synchronization.
"This is it, Connor."
Letting out a deep breath Hank stated what was happening as he held his aim steady. His eyes focused on the cold hollow gray eyes of Pillar in the distance knowing it was going to be the last time he'd say the man alive.
"It'll be over soon."
From up in the dispensary Joel had noticed a sudden change in Connor's vitals through his contact over Hank's phone, but he couldn't reach Hank to tell him what to do. His voice went unheard as Hank focused entirely on the situation through the broken window and kept his aim on Pillar.
Connor's condition began to rapidly deteriorate, and the deviant was helpless to say anything to Hank or even to Joel over the line to plead for help.
Outside the interview room and from within in his private office, Captain Fowler held out his left hand for Hank and Chris to see to ensure his right hand still had a firm grip on his weapon. Using his fingers he started counting down from three to one to signal when it was time to take their respective shots. As he reached the count of one Captain Fowler stood up from behind his desk and squeezed the trigger of his gun knowing that Hank and Tina were going to do the same. The bullet tore through the clear glass panel of the office door and found its target in the upper left shoulder and back of the gunman to Pillar's immediate right. The gunman was disarmed as he fell to the floor in a matter of seconds. The now disarmed man responded appropriately to the extreme pain and tried to clutch at his fresh wound and reclaim his dropped gun at the same time.
Tina followed suit as soon as Chris told her to fire and she immediately took her shot while she kept her position on the ground and easily took down the second gunman. The bullet struck the man directly in the center of his chest causing him to collapse to the ground in a bloody heap beside Pillar and drop his weapon all in a single motion. He didn't move after falling and didn't even seem to be conscious.
From where he had been crouching down, Hank readily squeezed the trigger of his own gun and struck Pillar in the middle of his forehead right between his beady eyes. The bullet seemed to cut through the air in slow motion and it was like the gunshot was as silent as death itself to Hank's ears. Seeing the bullet pierce Pillar's skull and cause an eruption of red blood removed the lingering hatred in Hank's heart, but in its stead was now a hollow, empty feeling.
Dead before he hit the floor, Pillar collapsed to the ground and blood pooled beneath his head.
The notorious murderer and drug dealer was finally dead.
With the tense situation over Hank let out the breath he had been holding and stood up from the ground. He stared at the body in the distance with a cold indifference as a crushing weight lifted from his heart and a fog seemed to fade from his mind. As Pillar's lifeless body fell to the floor with a heavy 'thud' Gavin eagerly ducked down and moved away from the trio of successfully disarmed and subdued gunmen behind him in a hasty retreat.
It was all over.
"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!" Gavin swore as he dove to the floor, his entire body trembling from adrenaline and fear. Sitting back Gavin pressed himself against the nearby wall and looked down at his physically shaking hands. "Shit! That was too damn close!"
"Yeah, you're welcome you prick."
Hank readily holstered his gun and returned to Connor on the floor to check on his wounded partner after seeing that Gavin was unharmed.
"Told you I'd put a bullet between his eyes."
In an effort to avoid his real feelings for a second longer Hank tried to joke as he checked on his partner's condition, but the deviant was unresponsive and seemingly unconscious.
"Connor?"
'He's going into insipid shock, his Thirium level is down to fifty percent and still dropping.' Joel explained from over the line as he heard Hank's voice speaking to Connor again. He was practically shouting at this point in order to get Hank's attention again. 'There's already emergency technicians waiting outside, let them do what they have to do to stabilize him.'
"Shit!" Hank put his hand back down atop Connor's limp hand to try to apply more pressure to the wound in the deviant's chest, only to discover that Connor's damaged right ventilation biocomponent had finally given out entirely, and he had stopped breathing altogether. Putting his free hand beneath Connor's head Hank supported his partner in his arm and waited with bated breath for the emergency technicians to enter the room. "Hang on for me, son! You'll be okay."
Blue blood trailed from the corners of Connor's mouth around the tube and dripped onto Hank's coat sleeve. The weakening display of Connor's vitals on his phone made Hank feel suddenly cold and sick for not noticing what was happening to his best friend soon.
"I'm here, son. It'll be okay, hang on for me."
The door to the interview room 'hissed' open as Captain Fowler personally led the E.F.T.'s to the source of their emergency call. Two technicians with a stretcher in tow quickly assessed Connor's condition using both the phone on the floor already displaying his vitals as well as their own equipment contained in the large military grade satchels slung over their shoulders.
The male technician pulled a suction pump from his bag and placed the end of the pump in Connor's mouth around the tube to drain the blue blood collecting in his throat to prevent additional choking. Simultaneously, the female technician pulled a pale blue tinted plastic pump from her own bag and attached it to the end of the inserted air intake tube to manually pump air into Connor's ventilation biocomponents to cool down his slowly rising core temperature.
"Remove his blazer." The female technician, her name tag read 'Mary', ordered as she kept Connor breathing with one hand squeezing the pump and pulled a large pouch of Thirium from her bag with her other hand. "We need to get him cooled off."
Hank and Captain Fowler quickly worked together to slip the bloodied gray blazer and the equally bloody white dress shirt from Connor's arms. They then watched the male technician, his name tag identifying him as 'Tim', expertly assess Connor's vitals from the phone's display. Attaching the wireless leads of the portable Thirial activity monitor to Connor's chest, Tim was able to confirm the dangerous numbers being registered.
"Thirium levels are critical." Tim announced firmly as he wrapped a Thirium pressure cuff around Connor's bicep. "We need to get him to the facility, now. We can't afford to wait for him to stabilize before transport."
Without waiting for any prompts from the two technicians, Hank began lifting Connor's body up from the floor under the deviant's shoulders while Captain Fowler grabbed on to Connor's legs. The two detectives gingerly placed Connor down on the stretcher while the two technicians continued to work in tandem to keep Connor's system from shutting down.
The attached Thirial activity monitor gave the technicians a clear view of the deviant's faltering heart rhythm as Connor's system fought to repair itself. Hank picked up his phone from the floor and looked at Connor's vitals still on display - his heart rate perfectly matching the display on the monitor. While the stretcher was wheeled out of the room Hank swallowed the anxious vomit trying to rise in his throat.
As Connor was wheeled away from where Hank was still standing the connection to his phone began to weaken until it was finally severed entirely leaving the phone's display entirely blank.
"Hank." Captain Fowler put his hand on Hank's shoulder and pushed him forward. "Go with him. We know it was a good shooting, all right? I won't let I.A. try to fuck with you over this. I gave the order, you just obeyed. If they want to kiss anyone's ass for this incident, I'll proudly present them with mine. Both cheeks."
"Yeah, yeah." It pained Hank knowing he was about to accompany his partner to an emergency care facility, and there was nothing that he could do to help Connor along the way. "Sure. Uh, keep me posted on what's happening here."
With nothing left to do Hank pocketed the phone after he tore his eyes from the now blank screen. Handing Captain Fowler his gun from his holster, Hank didn't say another word as he followed right after the gurney as Connor was wheeled outside of the precinct.
The interior of the bullpen was still in absolute chaos as the bodies of the three gunmen were isolated from the rest of the room with thin white sheets draped over their bloody corpses. Chris was sitting on a desk while two paramedics checked his right shoulder and wrapped up the bloodied injury to prepare him for transport to the nearest hospital. Another paramedic was checking over Gavin nearby confirming that he was unharmed, just scared shitless and in need of some time off.
Bullet holes had damaged the walls with large gaping imperfections in the concrete and paint throughout the bullpen. Large portions of glass had been broken from the interview room window and private office door, and now littered the floor in a thin layer of crystalline debris. The transparent walls of Captain Fowler's office had several holes in the glass causing a spiderweb like crack to blossom around the holes all through the compromised walls.
The outside of the precinct was just as chaotic as the inside as S.W.A.T. personnel (too late to the scene) converged on the building. An ambulance was parked outside waiting for Chris and Gavin, while a second android unique ambulance was parked next to it waiting for Connor.
Determined to keep his eyes on his dying partner, Hank jumped into the back of the ambulance right alongside Connor and refused to move from the deviant's side until he knew that Connor was in good hands at the Zeta Facility.
"Look, I know protocol and I know I should be up front." Hank preemptively argued with the two technicians. "But that bullet that's in his chest right now was meant for me. I'm not going anywhere until I know he's going to be okay and the bullet is removed."
Unwilling to try to reason with Hank, the two technicians just slammed the rear doors shut and slapped the side of the ambulance twice to signal the android driver to return to the facility. Loud sirens blared and bright flashing red and blue lights illuminated the streets as the emergency vehicle sped off to the nearest Android Emergency Care Facility, the Zeta Facility, with its single patient in tow.
Slowly Connor's vitals continued to drop as the technicians fought to raise his Thirium volume and keep his core from overheating. The normally lively deviant was disturbingly still and completely unresponsive to the voices speaking around him, and he was oblivious to the hands pressing down against his wounded chest. The attached Thirial activity monitor began to screech as the effects of the incrassation compound had begun to wear off and the heavy bleeding continued. More and more Thirium collected in Connor's right ventilation biocomponent and it was becoming harder for the technician to manually supply air to the deviant's overheating system.
"His Thirium pump is beginning to falter into an arrhythmia." Tim keenly noted as he used an audioscope to listen to Connor's chest. It didn't take him long to notice the difference between the functions of the two artificial lungs. "Total right ventilation biocomponent failure. Left is compromised but functioning."
"Connor?" Hank spoke up over the sound of the screeching monitor as he watched Connor's red colored L.E.D. pulsing slower and slower in his right temple. "We're losing you, son. Just hang on a little longer." Grabbing on to Connor's limp hand Hank held on tight. "You're almost to a facility, just hang on."
The ambulance stopped outside the Zeta Facility with a controlled speed. As the rear doors of the ambulance were pulled open from the outside Hank jumped up and the two technicians helped lower the stretcher out of the back to the awaiting care of the two android technicians who had met the ambulance in the parking lot. With four technicians now hovering protectively over Connor's dying body Hank felt the sickening knot in his stomach tighten to its absolute limit.
"Patient in critical condition." Mary told the other two newly responding technicians as she jumped out of the back of the ambulance alongside the stretcher. "Thirium pump is struggling to beat on its own and the right ventilation biocomponent has failed entirely."
Wandering slowly into the facility after the hastily wheeled away gurney, Hank was met by the receptionist - one of the 'Jerry' models who went by the name 'Barry' - who tried to tell him everything that was happening to Connor and of everything that was still going to happen to Connor under their care. Too bad Hank didn't hear a word that Barry had just said.
Sitting in a hard plastic chair in the waiting room, Hank just stared blankly at the linoleum floor as the horrible memory of the day played out in his mind and the haunting nightmare of the night Hank lost his previous partner relentlessly overwhelmed his every thought and emotion. The last time Hank had encountered Jack Pillar had been two weeks before the man had put out the hit on Hank's partner as revenge against Hank for busting his drug ring, and unfortunately the hit was a success for all the wrong reasons.
"I got him, Barb."
Hank began whispering to someone that only he could see as he waited for an update on Connor's condition.
"He's dead now. I'm sorry I couldn't stop him sooner, but he'll never hurt anyone again."
Staring at his shaking hands Hank expected to see a red smear of blood to appear like it always seemed to do after every shooting he had to take that resulted in death, but it didn't do it. Not this time. There was no blood and there was no guilt.
"...It's finally all over."
Six long hours passed by since Connor had been rushed into the emergency repair wing of the Zeta Facility. It took four hours to repair the damaged right ventilation biocomponent, one hour to cool off Connor's system and another hour of observation to ensure Connor remained stable as he recovered. Once the procedure was mercifully over Hank was shown back to the recovery room where Connor was laying perfectly still with the tube still down his throat. He was breathing on his own again and seemed far stronger than before. Two other androids were in the recovery room along with Connor, but they were surprisingly in worse shape; one had been burned up in a house fire and the other had been pushed in front a truck by an anti-android bigot.
Dr. Abby Grayson, the technician that Hank and Connor had met (unfortunately) more than once, was checking on the other two androids while Hank joined his partner at the far side of the room. She recognized Connor and Hank instantly, and in a way she was wondering how many more times she'd encounter those two particular detectives while she worked in that particular facility.
Sitting beside Connor's bed Hank just stared at the deviant and looked at the freshly repaired wound in the right side of his chest with a sickened gaze. The right ventilation biocomponent had to be replaced entirely, while Connor's Thirium pump needed minor repair as it had begun to strain itself from attempting to boost his self-healing program while his Thirium levels were critically low for so long. Only the faintest of a scar was visible on Connor's artificial skin courtesy of the lingering imperfection in his plastimetal frame beneath where the bullet had pierced his chest.
The recovering deviant's L.E.D. was pulsing at a normal rate in yellow, which was a vast improvement over the chronic red it had become while he was at the precinct and bleeding out. By all outward appearance, it was like Connor had never been shot and was merely sleeping even as he rested in a pair of dark blue scrubs to replace his heavily damaged and dirty uniform.
"I'm glad you pulled through, son. I don't think I can take losing another partner."
Hank admitted as Connor's L.E.D. blinked rapidly and cycled into blue. Connor's soulful brown eyes opened slowly, and his head lolled to the right to look Hank in the face. The recognition was instant, and Connor's entire demeanor seemed to be strong as he regained consciousness and started to move around.
"Hey kid, welcome back." The Lieutenant patted Connor's shoulder and let the deviant know that he was all right. "You saved my life back there... Thanks."
A slight grin formed on Connor's face around the end of the tube still resting in his mouth as the external ventilation line continued to provide fresh, cool air into his artificial lungs. Reaching his hand up toward the tube Connor began to pull on it to try and remove it, only to have Hank reach out and stop him.
"Don't do that, kid." Hank urged as he gently pushed Connor's hand down and away from the tube. "Let the technician remove it for you."
"That's my cue." Abby had overheard Hank's comment and rushed over to the bedside to handle the situation. "Stop pulling on it, you know better."
The kind technician lightly scolded as she used her hands to straighten Connor's neck and tilt his head back. As she took hold of the end of the tube to disconnect it to the attached external ventilator, she nodded at Connor and gave him easy directions to follow.
"Cough a few times and I can remove the tube easier. Take in a deep and then... cough."
Connor obeyed and coughed as the tube was finally pulled from his throat by the kindhearted technician. A blue stain of Thirium had coated the tube both inside and out, but Connor was no longer bleeding internally and he could now breathe on his own without difficulty.
"Better?" She asked as Connor put his shaking hand over his mouth to stifle his coughing politely. "Be honest."
"...Y-Yes." Connor replied hoarsely as he looked up at Abby hovering over him and he pulled her audioscope from around her neck to take a listen to the deviant's repaired chest. "...Thank you."
"Good." Pressing the bell of her audioscope to Connor's chest Abby ordered her most stubborn patient to breathe on his own to test his new ventilation biocomponent before she'd determine if he could go home to rest. "Deep breath."
Connor did as he was instructed and was able to breathe without any pain or complication. It seemed he was on his way to a full recovery.
"No biocomponent rejection and a stable Thirium pressure. I'll leave you two alone while I process his paperwork and discharge orders." Abby put her hand on Hank's shoulder briefly as she passed the senior detective by to give him some reassurance as well. "He'll be out of here within the hour, but he still needs to rest at home for the next forty-eight hours to ensure his system doesn't get overly exerted while still recovering."
"Yeah, thanks." Hank sounded somewhat upset despite the good news. Remaining quiet he just stared off into space beyond Connor and beyond the entire world around him as he process everything that had happened that day. "That's great."
"...Hank?" Connor slowly sat upright on the bed carefully as his chest still hurt when he moved, and he swung his legs over the edge of the bed as he steadied himself with both arms supporting his weight. The deviant's entire upper body felt like a lead weight and he was too tired to bear such a burden while feeling so weak. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, kid. I'm Just... thinking." Putting his hand on Connor's shoulder supportively, Hank tried to push him to lay back down on the bed for a while longer. He didn't want to see Connor moving around too fast too soon. "Rest a little longer and we'll head back to the house after Abby clears you."
"Not just yet." Connor refused to lay down and was hesitant at first, but decided it was time to ask his friend the hard question. "Are you thinking about what happened to Barbara?"
Closing his blue eyes Hank nodded a little in response.
"Do... you wish to talk about it?"
"Not really, but there's no point in holding it in any longer." Crossing his arms defensively over his chest Hank rubbed thoughtfully at his bearded chin as he tried to put his thoughts and emotions in order. "You read the report, you know that Pillar was the prime suspect in her murder. We could never directly connect him to the shooting, but the caliber of the bullet matched a gun that he had been known to favor. Pillar was also seen in the vicinity at the time of the shooting, and he had the motivation to go after her. We just didn't have any concrete evidence to connect him to Barb's death."
"It was because you had him arrested." Connor tagged on despondently as he understood what happened. "That's why Jack Pillar targeted her."
"Yeah. She died because of me." The Lieutenant lamented as he thought about his late wife and her fate. "I got her killed."
"That's wrong, Hank. She died because a corrupt judge let Pillar go and he shot her in the back like a coward." Despite never meeting Barbara, Connor knew that she'd never want Hank to blame himself for her death or let corruption cloud his own personal judgement. "There's nothing you could've done to prevent it."
"Pillar shot you too." Hank needlessly argued as he opened his eyes again. "This time it was because of me."
"No. I pushed you out of the way and accidentally stepped into the line of fire in the process. What happened to me wasn't your fault either. I was mine and mine alone." There wasn't a hint of doubt as Connor took full responsibility for the incident. "I should've been faster."
"Maybe I should've listened to you earlier." Hank refused to let Connor bear the entire burden of the day's events on his shoulder alone. "Maybe if I had watched the interrogation then I would've been able to take Pillar down sooner without anyone else getting hurt." Putting both of his hands to his chin Hank mentally reflected on everyone who was harmed by Pillar that day. "Chris, Gavin... you. All were put in harm's way because of me."
"Chris? Is he all right?"
"Bullet to the shoulder, but he was stable when we left." Hank looked absolutely regretful as he sat in deep contemplation. "He lucked out. If the bullet had been an inch or two to the left, it could've killed him, and his wife would've been left alone to raise their son. Pillar got the jump on Gavin and threatened to shoot him while using him as a human-shield. You were right, Connor." Admitting defeat Hank gave the deviant a somber glance. "I should've taken Pillar out when I had the chance."
"No. I was wrong about that." Connor stated firmly as his voice returned to full strength now that the tube had been removed from his throat. "It was wrong of me to suggest that you take revenge on Jack Pillar. Killing him wouldn't bring back Barbara, and all it would've done is hurt your career. It was a foolish thing to say to you. I'm sorry I ever brought it up."
"Well, maybe it was fate. I took the shot that took Pillar down and killed him, and I felt absolutely nothing when he hit the floor. No anger, no relief, no sense of justice..." Shrugging his shoulders as he shook his head Hank wondered if he'd ever feel anything now that Jack Pillar was dead. "It was just absolutely nothing. That's all I still feel right now, maybe that's all I'll ever feel toward the fucker."
"Maybe that's because in the end that's all that someone like Jack Pillar was worth; nothing."
"Maybe. Guess we'll find out over time." Hank stood up from his seat and slipped off his dark heavy coat. Passing it over to Connor to take Hank let out a weary sigh and put his hands to his hips as if needing more time to think his decisions through. "Even though it was a good shooting I'm going to be benched for at least a week while I.A. makes sure I didn't do anything that'd personally affect their own paychecks. And as much as I hate to admit it, right now I need a drink."
"No one would blame you. Today was... bad." Gratefully Connor put Hank's coat on over his arms and shoulders and buttoned it up to cover the scrubs before laying back against his recovery bed. Once again, Connor's clothing was ruined, dirty and would need to be mended or replaced. "It was very bad. It was a bad day for all of us, but for you it was the worst."
"Actually, kid... This day is only in the running for the worst day of my life." The loss of Barbara and Cole were still raw wounds festering in Hank's heart of gold. Losing another person that he cared about would absolutely break him. "I don't think I can take anything else like this happening to me and keep on standing. Not anymore."
"You're not alone anymore either." Sitting upright on the bed Connor stayed beside Hank and pressed his palm over his sore chest. As much as he hated laying around just to heal, Connor knew that it was important to cooperate for not just his health, but for Hank's health as well. "I'm not going anywhere, and I won't let someone like Jack Pillar be the one to take me down."
"Thanks, kid. I mean it." Putting his hand to Connor's shoulder Hank supported his recovering friend as they waited for Abby to return to give him the clear and let him heal in the comfort of his own home. They both needed to get a break from chaos and workplace drama for a while. "As soon as you're cleared, we're going to go home and stay there for as long as we both can stand it."
-next chapter-