It was a rainy, dreary and very miserable day in Detroit. Connor had just let Sumo back inside the house through the backdoor but kept the rain soaked dog confined to the bathroom until his fur dried off. It was Connor's second and final day of his suspension from the precinct, and he found himself alone in the house and laying on his bed with his shiny green guitar in his hands. As he strummed absentmindedly along the strings in a rhythmic pattern the deviant couldn't help but think of the event from the day before - how he struck Gavin, how Captain Fowler was surprisingly lenient, and how Hank promised to keep any debilitating marks from getting added to his record - it seemed so surreal to know everything worked out for the best.

After everything Hank had done after losing his only son in a car accident, the odds of the senior detective having any sway with the higher-ups, or even with Captain Fowler, seemed to be frighteningly low. Keeping his trust in his closest friend and remaining patient, Connor just stayed in the house and kept himself busy as he waited for Hank's return from his solo shift at the precinct.

"I should do something nice for Hank as a 'thank you' for everything he's done for me. I also need to apologize to Gavin despite him provoking the incident in the bullpen. It'd be unprofessional to not address the situation properly."

The sound of glass suddenly breaking in the kitchen caught the deviant's ear as Sumo let out an aggressive bark from behind the closed bathroom door. Heavy 'thumping' sounded off within from the kitchen as something, or someone, began rushing about the house without an invitation.

"What was that?"

Connor asked himself aloud as his L.E.D. flashed from a content blue to an alert yellow. Setting aside his guitar Connor rose from his bed and walked through his opened bedroom doorway and down the hallway to investigate the noise. Peering around the corner at the end of the hallway Connor eyed a burglar wearing a black hoodie pulled up over his head as he began rummaging through the bookshelves and the stack of vinyl records in the livingroom.

The burglar was almost entirely concealed under his hoodie. There was a dark blue bandana over his face hiding all of his facial features, except for his dark blue eyes, and a few strands of dark blonde hair hung loose from under the hoodie down over his forehead. With leather gloves over his hands covering his fingerprints during his criminal activity, the burglar was attempting to steal valuable records from Hank's collection in the livingroom.

The burglar was completely unaware of Connor's presence or the fact that he had chosen the home of two detectives to burgle.

"Hey!" Connor shouted loud enough to startle the burglar who turned around quickly and aimed a gun directly at Connor's chest. Connor's L.E.D. blinked yellow rapidly as he cybernetically alerted Hank to the break-in via text message and requested assistance. "I work for the Detroit Police Department. Back-up is already on its way; I suggest you surrender now or just leave."

"What the fuck!?" The burglar swore as he tried to edge his way from around the stereo system and back into the kitchen. The burglar's voice was relatively deep and that of a man in his late twenties. "Rick didn't say nothing about no goddamn android!"

"Don't move." Again, Connor commanded the burglar as he tried to apprehend the thief as peacefully as possible. His own gun was still in his bedroom and secured in the drawer of the table beside his bed, far out of reach. "I don't-"

"Fuck you!" The burglar suddenly and fearfully fired a shot that grazed over Connor's left shoulder causing the deviant to wince in pain. Connor held his ground and didn't back off even as Thirium wept from his damaged shoulder. "I'll fuck you up, man!"

Thirium began to leak from the fresh wound at the top of Connor's shoulder as the wounded deviant resisted the urge to place his hand protectively over the injury as he continued to directly confront the burglar. With his yellow L.E.D. now flickering in red, an alert popped up in Connor's visual processors to warn him of the damage that he was very aware that he had just sustained.

Sumo began frantically barking again as he dug aggressively at the wooden bathroom door in an effort to escape from the room and protect his home. With deep growls and menacing barks, the massive dog gave an intimidating presence without even being seen.

"...You just assaulted a police officer with a deadly weapon." Connor stated with authority in his voice as he refused to back down. "You need to-"

"FUCK!"

The burglar panicked at the sight of Connor still standing and fired another round that pierced the exterior side of Connor's right thigh. The bullet wedged into the plastimetal frame of Connor's leg and caused more Thirium to flow from the second wound as Connor wrapped his hand over his leg.

"You piece of shit!" Squeezing the trigger again the gun 'clicked' but a third bullet failed to fire as the weapon thankfully jammed. "FUCK!"

Sumo was snarling and wildly digging at the door now as he sensed the danger and knew he needed to act in order to protect his deviant master.

Unable to support his weight any longer on his compromised leg, Connor collapsed backward to the ground as a massive puddle of Thirium formed under his wounded leg and his damaged shoulder. Using his right arm Connor turned onto his side and began to drag himself down the hallway on his side toward the bathroom and grabbed onto the doorknob with a firm grip. Twisting the knob and pushing the door open Connor pressed his palm to his bleeding leg and let finally Sumo out of the bathroom into the rest of the house.

"Sumo!" The deviant steadied his voice as the massive dog appeared in the now opened doorway with his hackles up and a snarl on his lips. "Attack!"

The large Saint Bernard went barreling out of the bathroom barking, snarling and growling as he targeted the burglar on instinct. Despite being a gentle giant Sumo knew how to be aggressive and protect those who needed his protection.

"FUCK!" Dropping the gun quickly at the sight of the massive dog charging at him, the burglar wisely sprinted through the kitchen and practically tore the backdoor open and off its hinges as he fumbled with the sealed lock and ran into the backyard to try to escape Sumo's wrath. "Fuckin' dog!"

As the burglar fled from the house Sumo gave chase and barked loudly during the entire pursuit. The Saint Bernard wasn't one to take 'no' for an answer so readily, and he was going to make sure the burglar knew to never set foot on the property ever again.

"...Good dog."

Slowly Connor fell from his side and onto his back in the hallway and closed his eyes as his system automatically activated his self-healing program as his system entered emergency low power mode. The sudden Thirium loss and limb weakness were enough to cause such a reaction. Now that he was no longer in immediate danger Connor was able to rest and let his body heal.

The text messages sent to Hank took immediate priority over anything else happening at the precinct. It took Hank only five minutes to drive from the precinct back to the house ready to take down whatever thief was foolish enough to try to threaten his home and his friend. Slamming on the brakes the old car came to an abrupt halt on the street in front of the house Hank sprinted up the front walk to the front door with his gun already drawn.

Throwing the front door open with a hearty 'bang' Hank marched inside and quickly scanned the scene of the burglary.

"Connor?! Where are ya', kid?"

There were several shards of broken glass on the floor of the kitchen from the damaged window, as well as small rain puddles on the floor that had been tracked inside by the burglar's footsteps. The backdoor was still wide open as well, indicating the burglar's escape. A chilly breeze was flowing through the opened door causing the house to feel unusually cold. Several dropped vinyl records were scattered over the livingroom floor next to the burglar's abandoned gun after the burglar panicked and fled from Sumo. Effectively, the burglar left behind plenty of evidence to connect the burglar to the crime once he was caught.

"Shit... Connor?"

Keeping his gun in front of himself and aimed at the floor, Hank took a cautious step forward and called out for the unseen deviant. Stepping over the dropped records and the burglar's gun, Hank listened to every sound of the house very carefully.

"Kid, can you hear me?"

A whimpering sound from the hallway immediately drew Hank's attention away from the mess on the floor and toward the source of the noise. Sumo was laying down in the middle of the hallway, his thick fur soaked in rain and faint blue stains, as he whimpered sadly and seemed to be sensing painful distress.

"Connor?"

Hank called out again as he approached the hallway slowly to see what had Sumo so upset. Standing at the end of the hallway Hank saw that Connor was unconscious on his back in the middle of the short corridor surrounded by something blue, and he saw that Sumo was resting his chin over Connor's stomach as the loyal dog laid down and whimpered beside his fallen deviant master.

The blue stain was a forming puddle of lost Thirium collecting under Connor's body. The blue blood was steadily soaking into Connor's own clothes as well as Sumo's fur creating a truly macabre sight.

"C-Connor?!"

Hank holstered his gun as he knelt beside Connor and put his hand down against the deviant's chest. Feeling Connor's chest still rising and falling with a steady rhythm as his artificial respiration continued and his Thirium pump thrummed at a normal rate, Hank breathed a sigh of relief. Trailing the source of the lost Thirium to a wound in Connor's left shoulder and a second wound in his right leg, Hank began lightly shaking the deviant to try to wake him up.

"Connor? Open your eyes..."

Connor's L.E.D. was cycling red slowly but then hastened as it shifted into yellow. Opening his soulful brown eyes Connor lifted his head up and looked at Hank with genuine relief in his gaze.

"...Hank."

"Thank fuck..." Seeing Connor open his eyes made Hank relax slightly as he kept his hand on the deviant's uninjured right shoulder for support. "What the hell happened?"

"Burglar. He didn't expect anyone to be here." Connor stated calmly as he sat upright on the floor using his elbows to balance. The wounded deviant was leaning into Hank's hand for assistance. As he shifted his weight to the left Connor managed to keep pressure off his injured right leg as he moved about slowly in the messy hallway. "He got off two shots before his gun malfunctioned."

"And then he just left?"

"No." Looking down at the massive dog as Sumo continued to lay beside him, Connor put his hand on Sumo's ears lightly. "Sumo 'persuaded' him to leave."

"Sumo?" Hank looked over at the old dog still laying over Connor's stomach and uninjured left leg in total shock. "Sumo chased him off?"

"Yes. Sumo must've then returned home after I had lost consciousness."

"Good boy." With a slight shake of his head Hank patted Sumo's back once and continued to help Connor sit upright on the floor. "Can you move at all?"

"Yes, but I will require some assistance in standing up."

"Sure." Moving swiftly Hank wrapped his arm around Connor's waist while the deviant wrapped his arm around Hank's shoulders for support. Sumo reluctantly stood up and allowed Connor the room to move about the hallway as he whimpered sadly and took a few steps back. "Where do you need to go?"

"Just inside the bathroom. My self-healing program has already repaired the wound to my shoulder, but I must extract the bullet from my leg before my program can finish the necessary repairs."

"Okay, let's get you cleaned up then." The protective senior detective guided Connor into the bathroom and sat him down on the edge of the bathtub carefully. There was a faint trail of blue blood dripping behind the duo as they walked but it was a simple enough mess to clean up later on. "I'll get that first aid kit for you. Do you need anything else?"

"I'll need a knife."

That was a request that Hank hadn't expected and drew his brow in confusion. "A knife?"

"To extract the bullet."

"Son of a..." The very idea was too painful for Hank to even consider for himself. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes. It will be painful, but the bullet must be removed."

"Sure. Right." Hiding his nervousness Hank agreed to get Connor the first aid and a knife as requested. "I'll be right back."

While Hank disappeared out of the bathroom to get the requested knife Sumo walked inside the bathroom right over to Connor and rested his chin atop Connor's knee as he continued to whimper sadly. The massive dog was always keen on the emotions of his masters and he knew when someone was injured or sick.

"You did good, Sumo." Connor put his hand atop the dog's ears again and rubbed them affectionately. "Good boy. You saved me."

"Got a knife." Returning to the bathroom Hank pulled the first aid kit from under the sink and sat it and the sharp hunting knife down atop the sink in the bathroom as he spoke to Connor. "I called Fowler and let him know what happened. Chris will be stopping by to pick up the gun and take photos of the break-in." Sitting beside Connor on the edge of the bathtub Hank pulled open the already torn fabric of the black t-shirt over Connor's left shoulder to look at the healed wound. "Bullet must've just grazed you and lodged itself in the wall behind you."

"Correct." Connor confirmed as he tore open the denim fabric from over the middle of his right thigh to expose the second bullet wound. Pressing his fingertips over the injury Connor ran a quick scan and reached for the knife resting on the nearby sink. "It isn't deep. I can extract the bullet myself."

"Uh..." Watching the way Connor picked up the knife without a second thought made Hank a little uneasy. "You want something to bite down on? Like another bullet?"

"No." Connor gave Hank a sideways glance as he pressed the tip of the knife down into the still bloody wound. "That won't be necessary."

The deviant's L.E.D. began to cycle more and more rapidly in yellow as the pain increased, the color shifting from yellow to red within a few seconds. Breathing frantically through his gritted teeth Connor dug the tip of the knife down into his leg until he located the offending bullet. It didn't take long for the metallic tip of the knife made contact with the metallic projectile wedged in Connor's plastimetal frame.

"...F-Found it."

"Shit, kid." Hank watched the painful sight with a thick grimace presented on his face. "Are you sure you can do this?"

"Y-Yes, I can d-do this." Despite his best effort to sound calm Connor stammered as he carefully slid the knife down against the side of the bullet to pry it loose from his interior plastimetal frame. As the bullet became dislodged Connor let out a gasp of shocked pain and his hand started to tremble causing him to drop the knife onto the floor beside his bare foot in response. "...I a-almost have it."

"That hurts just to watch." Hank bent down and picked up the Thirium covered knife from the floor and placed it down in the sink. "Do you need any help?"

"No. The b-bullet is now loose." With impressive control Connor replied very coolly as he pressed his index finger and thumb down into the wound again and pulled the bullet from the injury in his thigh. "...Got it."

"Nice work, now put it on the sink. It'll be taken by Chris later."

Connor's blue bloody fingers dropped the bullet on the edge of the sink before he leaned back to sit upright on the edge of the bathtub. Taking a towel from the rack on the wall beside himself Connor wiped off the residual blue blood from his leg and sighed with relief.

"Bandages, please."

"Sure."

Hank reached up to the sink and opened the lid of the first aid kit with his right hand. Taking the roll of android-unique gauze from the kit he tossed it to Connor who caught it easily. As he watched Connor wrap the gauze around his leg, over top the wound and the Thirium soaked denim of his jeans, Hank crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the bathroom door frame.

"Why didn't you shoot the burglar, kid?"

"I didn't have my gun with me."

"And you confronted him anyway?"

"I didn't know it was a burglar when I went to investigate the sound of the breaking glass." The foul weather outside made it possible for a tree branch or other debris to get blown into the window, hence Connor's lack of precautions. "It was only after I saw the thief attempting to steal your records did I realize the severity of the situation."

"But you never went back for your gun to arm yourself?"

"...No." The deviant's hands faltered for only a moment before he resumed wrapping up his wound and answering honestly "I did not."

"Bad move." Sighing openly Hank shook his head and then asked Connor an interesting question. "Do you know about the other gun hidden in the livingroom?"

"There is a second gun registered in your name?"

"Yup. In front of the stereo system there is a weak panel in the floor that I hollowed-out into a hidden storage space. Inside that little hidey-hole is a metal lock box containing the revolver that I had been playing 'Russian Roulette' with when you found me passed out on the kitchen floor."

"Oh." Curious about why the gun was hidden away Connor could only theorize Hank's own reasoning. "...You hid it for your own protection?"

"More like I hid it because I didn't need it anymore." Watching with an empathetic grimace Hank just stared as Connor dressed his wounds accordingly and mopped up his own blood from the floor with the towel. "Pretty ballsy standing your ground against an armed burglar by yourself, kid. But you do realize that records can be replaced, right? You can't."

"Yes. You're right," Connor admitted as he finished tending ot his messy damage. "it was foolish to confront the burglar without a weapon."

"Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your fortitude, but I don't ever expect you to put possessions over your own life. Got it?"

"Got it."

Connor finished wrapping up his leg and slowly stood upright on the damaged limb to test his strength and his pain threshold. Sumo was still watching Connor's every movement and whimpering with loyal concern for the deviant as he sat vigilant at Connor's feet. The dog's sad demeanor didn't elude deviant detective's attention and made Connor's head tilt a little to the side in confusion.

"I told Sumo he did good a job. Why is he still upset?"

"Dunno'." Hank shrugged his shoulders dismissively at the question as he waited for Connor to make another move. "Probably because he's never actually attacked anyone before. First time for everything, I suppose."

"Oh. I told him to do so, and he merely obeyed." Cautiously Connor took a step forward and shifted his weight on his damaged limb carefully. His L.E.D. was cycling between yellow and red as he endured the lingering pain in his leg. "...Obeying my command is a good thing."

"That doesn't mean he enjoyed it. You know what kind of a giant, lovable idiot he is with people." Giving Sumo's chin a quick rub Hank did his best to help Sumo understand that he wasn't in trouble. "Being aggressive just isn't in his nature."

Mindful of his injuries Connor took a careful step forward and began to stumble awkwardly on his weakened limb. Pressing his hands down against the top of the sink Connor caught his balance and stopped himself from falling over in the process.

"I gotcha'." Without any invitation Hank stood up and grabbed on to Connor's arm to steady the deviant on his feet. "Let's get you out to the livingroom and let Chris take care of things for us. By the way," the senior detective guided the deviant out of the bathroom, down the hallway and over to the couch to sit down while Connor's self-healing program kicked on. "Fowler said your little 'tiff' with Gavin won't be marked on your permanent record. You're in the clear."

"That's good." With Hank's help Connor propped his bad leg up on the coffee table and immediately felt Sumo pressing his chin atop his knee still seeking forgiveness for attacking a human. Reaching out again Connor rubbed Sumo's back lightly and ran a quick self-diagnostic over his own systems. Aside from moderate Thirium loss and loss of strength in his right leg, Connor was stable. "I'd prefer to have as much of a clean record as possible."

"I want your record clean, too." Hank joined Connor on the couch and let out a deep sigh of relief as he ran his hand over Sumo's head to help ensure the loyal dog that he didn't do anything wrong. The distraught Saint Bernard wagged his tail slowly at last and he stopped whimpering. "Your perfect record helps balance out all the infractions in mine."

"That's something I'm happy to accommodate." Empathetically Connor stared at Sumo and proceeded to rub the dog's ears a little more and then softly rub under Sumo's chin affectionately. "I believe Sumo wants to have a clean record as well." The massive bundle of fluff licked at the side of Connor's hand and his tail wagged a little more. "You are a good dog, Sumo. You don't have any reason to be ashamed of your actions."

"Yup." Hank agreed as he too continued to pet Sumo's ears and glanced over his shoulder toward the front window as red and blue flashing lights filled the street. Chris had arrived to check out the scene of the burglary as requested, and he had come alone as instructed. "You're a damn good dog, Sumo."

"Once my leg has healed, I'll give Sumo a bath and then a treat."

"He'll hate the bath but love the treat, so I think he'll find that to be a good response to his behavior."

"What about the broken kitchen window?" Glancing at the kitchen Connor sighed and knew the springtime rain wasn't going to stop any time soon. "That is a repair that cannot be ignored."

"Well, you fixed it once before after you broke it, so this time I'll fix it." The senior detective replied almost casually. "After Chris leaves, I'll get a tarp out of the garage to cover it up for the night."

"And tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow, we go about our business and keep living our lives one day at a time. You know, after we make a quick stop at the hardware store."

-next chapter-