Running his fingertips over the fully healed wound under his still sore and somewhat swollen right eye Connor stared intently at the terminal screen on his desk as if in a deep trance, except his gaze was staring through the screen rather than actually focusing on it. It had been almost a week since the melancholy day that had left Connor feeling rather depressed after receiving a rejection letter from the adoption agency, as well as a little sore from the assault he had sustained while working a case in the field. The rest of the week had been surprisingly calm and slow, but that was the last thing Connor needed because as of that moment he was craving a massive distraction.

From within his private office Hank watched through the transparent wall as Connor as he stared off into nothingness at his terminal, and he was about to call him into the office to have a little chat when an alert appeared on both of their terminal screens. Reading over the details Hank noted that a deviant who had been reportedly acting strange had been approached by emergency services, and he knew that Connor would be setting off to investigate in person.

Any android exhibiting strange behavior was considered an emergency priority without question.

Ever the professional Connor rose from his seat and made his way toward the precinct's front doors with the details of the case cybernetically uploaded into his memorybank for use at the scene. As he walked Connor's head was bowed down a little, his shoulders were slumped, and his eyes were dull. Even if he didn't still have the recent update installed Connor would still look like a depressed college student who flunked out of class.

Before Connor got too far from his sight Hank stepped out of his office and called out to him through the opened door. "Hold up, Connor. I'm going with you today."

Freezing mid step Connor turned around to face Hank as the senior detective caught up with him fairly quickly across the bullpen. "Is there something wrong?"

"Nope. I'm just tired of sitting in that damn office all day. It's killing my back." Slipping on his dark coat and pulling his car keys from his pocket Hank gave Connor a single nod of the head to signify that he was ready to head out. "Let's go, I'll drive."

"Okay." As the corner of his mouth twitched a little Connor followed after Hank without any form of protest and replaced his own car keys to his blazer's pocket. "Let's go to the scene."

A group of curious people; humans and deviants alike, had gathered around an autonomous taxi that was pulled over to the side of the road in the downtown area where the reportedly berserk deviant had been seen. Inside the taxi's backseats was the very deviant at the center of the emergency report that had warranted a call to the police. She was lying unconscious in the rear of the vehicle, and she was obviously in some form of distress. Chris and Jack, who had been on patrol that afternoon, had come across the reported vehicle that had engaged its emergency shutdown upon the occupant's collapse and had subsequently called the scene in to the precinct for some assistance.

The distressed deviant was sporting long golden blonde hair pulled up in a ponytail, piercing emerald green eyes, and fair skin that was even paler due to whatever it was that was affecting her. Her all too human appearance made the case all the more unsettling for the detectives to handle.

Chris was actually a little fazed to see a deviant who was pale, sweating and apparently suffering from a horrible illness. In time he had gotten used to seeing blue blood whenever an android had been injured, but the sight of an android behaving so humanly in response to other physical impairments left him kind of stunned and a little wary to offer any form of technical assistance.

"Jack, do you know what's happening with her?"

"Eight days ago, a new update from Digital Sentience was released to the public that allows androids to exhibit humanoid responses to physical harm or errors." Jack stated almost coldly as he explained the situation to his human partner in a mechanical tone. "This deviant has evidently installed the update and now her physical responses are indicating an internal glitch or malfunction."

"Right, okay, I think I can work with that." Leaning down inside the opened rear door of the taxi Chris addressed the affected deviant as he would any other citizen in distress. "Uh, Miss, can you hear me?"

The deviant's head turned slightly in Chris's direction, but she didn't verbally respond.

"Miss? Can you tell me your name?"

"Allow me." Assisting his partner Jack approached the vehicle and put his hand on the deviant's wrist. Cybernetically connecting to the ill deviant Jack was able to at least get her name, but he couldn't place her malfunction. "...The deviant goes by the name 'Anne'."

"Anne?" Chris tried calling her name again but as before she didn't respond. "Anne, we're going to help you. Do you understand?" As Connor and Hank arrived at the scene and approached the stopped taxi Chris backed away from the vehicle and addressed his superior officers. "Captain, Lieutenant, why're you here?"

"I needed to get out of the office for a minute, and Connor's the expert at deviant related crimes." Hank replied sharply as he put his hands to his hips and stared at the taxi with the doors wide opened. "What's going on here?"

"Deviant in distress. I can't get anything out of her." Motioning to Jack still standing beside the car, Chris made sure to give the superior officers what little details they had managed to gather. "Jack found out her name's 'Anne', but that's it."

"Right. You two head back to the precinct, we'll take care of this."

"Sure. See ya' later, Cap'."

Without a word Jack nodded and followed after Chris to take his leave of the scene with his human partner as they had been ordered.

Hank walked over to the car with Connor silently right at his side. Peering down inside the taxi Hank took in the sight of the seemingly ill deviant and was unsure of what to do.

"Connor, do you think you can help her out?"

"I can try." Sitting down inside the taxi beside Anne's legs the keen-eyed deviant ran a scan over her body and found that she was suffering from some type of unknown glitch that was causing her thermal regulator to malfunction. "Her core temperature is dangerously high at one-hundred and five point two degrees Fahrenheit. Anne, my name is Connor." Lightly he put his hand against the side of her face to try to get her attention. "I'm a deviant and I work with the police. Can you tell me what is happening to you?"

"...M-My head hurts." Anne's voice was weak and tired as she struggled to answer the question. "...A-And I'm hot. ...Too hot."

Connor glanced over at Hank as they both quickly took interest in her reply. "It seems your thermal regulator has been affected by a glitch. Do you know your current core temperature?"

Anne's green eyes suddenly rolled up in the back of her head as she lost consciousness. Her head lolled to the side and rested heavily against Connor's palm as he continued to sit beside her in the backseat of the taxi.

"Hank, she needs to go to a facility for treatment. I can't identify this glitch, and I don't know how to help her."

"All right, stay with her and I'll call for an android ambulance to take care of her."

Nodding compliantly Connor pressed his fingertips against Anne's right temple where her L.E.D. had once been and tried to gain more information from the ill deviant. A small bundle of information made it to Connor's processor, and he was able to sift through it quickly, but the deviant's mind was beginning to overheat making cybernetic connection too taxing to be performed safely.

"She is not originally from the city." Connor called out to the senior detective as Hank made the emergency phone call. "She is a formerly decommissioned prototype 'RK' model who had returned to Detroit just prior to the Revolution, works to help deviants in need in both the city and at the refugee camp just outside of Detroit, and she had been seeking counsel at New Jericho Tower before leaving the city to create a new shelter elsewhere."

"Okay, kid." Ending the call on his phone Hank pocketed the device and rejoined Connor at the taxi. "Let Markus know what's going on and maybe Simon can stop by the facility to check in on her."

"Of course."

The requested android-unique ambulance arrived quickly and the two E.F.T.'s in the back promptly set to work analyzing the ill deviant while Connor backed out of the taxi to give them more room to work. The sight of the technicians helping the deviant without batting an eye or hesitation was surprisingly calming to Connor, but he couldn't help but worry for Anne as she was carefully picked up and placed on a gurney to be loaded into the back of the ambulance to be transported to the nearest Android Emergency Care Facility.

"Well, that wasn't as eventful as I was thinking it'd be." Hank stated as he began walking back to the car casually and stood beside the vehicle as he waited for Connor to join him. "Guess I can take an early lunchbreak then. Ready to go?"

"Yes." Turning his back to the gurney being loaded into the back of the ambulance Connor slowly trudged over to where Hank was waiting for him. "There's nothing more we can do for her here. Our work is done."

As requested, Simon hastily departed from New Jericho Tower and stopped by the facility where Anne had been taken for assessment, but he didn't go alone. Markus had also gone to the facility to check in on the glitching deviant who had returned to the city to seek advice at the tower out of a curious nature, and to ensure that no one had assaulted her upon her return to Detroit from the refugee camp hidden just outside of the city within the forest. It didn't take long for Simon and Markus to check in on the deviant as the technician in charge of the Gamma Facility, Dr. Hetfield, recognized them and understood their good intentions toward his enigmatically ill patient.

Simon approached Anne who was laying on an exam table with a cooling blanket pulled up over her body and had a Thirial activity monitor recording her vital signs. Anne was pale, sweating a fine sheen of pale blue diluted Thirium and seemed to be in great pain. There was still no definitive answer on the cause of her condition, let alone the proper treatment.

The affected deviant was sweating out her Thirium dangerously fast. In response Dr. Hetfield inserted a line down her throat to replace her Thirium as efficiently as he could, but the sweating was so profuse that it did little good and only seemed let Anne's volume level plateau rather than increase.

"I don't like this." Simon stated as he checked Anne's vitals and found her to be weak but stable. His exposed palm was pressed to her overheating forehead as he ran his own analysis. "There has been no way to identify the glitch in her system and she isn't coherent enough to respond. Even direct cybernetic connections are proving uninformative."

Markus nodded his head as he looked down at Anne sympathetically while he stood beside the table. "What do you recommend?" Very lightly he pressed his fingertips to Anne's right temple to try to cybernetically connect with her himself, but she was too weak to communicate. Retracting his touch Markus just rested his hand atop her forearm in a comforting manner. "Man, she's too overwhelmed to connect even for a millisecond. I have no idea how to reach her."

"Since this facility can't seem to find an answer, I suggest transferring her to New Jericho Tower for observation and treatment."

"Is that a wise move? What if this glitch, or whatever it is, spreads?"

"We'll place her in isolation and limit contact from other deviants." Simon responded with utter certain carrying his words. "If we keep Anne in New Jericho then the odds of this glitch spreading throughout the city will also diminish."

"All right. I'll tell the technician in charge that we'll take full responsibility for her, and I'll let Connor know she's being transferred over to the tower."

"Good idea. I'll let Josh know to get the emergency repair bay and an isolation room ready. We should take quarantine procedures from this moment onward."

Markus laughed a little to himself as he gave the blond technician a half smile. "Too bad Luke is already out in Boston. We could use as many technicians as possible to try to figure this out."

"I believe humans would call this particular timing and incident 'ironic'."

"That," shrugging his shoulders a little Markus's mismatched eyes looked down at Anne as he studied her paled complexion warily. "or 'cruel'."

Much to Connor's chagrin Hank had stopped at the Chicken Feed for lunch and had ordered a rather large and greasy meal to eat. Despite Connor's warnings of the high cholesterol and caloric intake of eating such a meal and reminding the senior detective that he wanted to keep the twenty pounds he had lost at bay, Hank brushed it off and proceeded to eat his lunch without feeling the slightest twinge of guilt for indulging on his craving. Parked along the street across from the small food stand Hank enjoyed his burger while he listened to the radio. Quietly Connor sat back in his seat and waited for an update on Anne's condition at the Gamma Facility as Hank ate his lunch.

There were no other reports of ill deviants, at least thus far, and the glitch causing the illness had yet to be identified. If Anne was patient-zero then the chances of the glitch spreading were greatly reduced, but if she had come into contact with other deviants before losing consciousness then the city could be sitting on a ticking time bomb of errors just waiting to go off.

"Aside from the obvious," the senior detective questioned in a cool tone of voice as he unwrapped his burger. "is something bothering you?"

"...Pardon?" The deviant turned to look at Hank with a genuine curiosity. "What did you say?"

"That's a 'yes'. You seem a little distracted." Taking his first big bite of his burger Hank stared at Connor and gave him a knowing glance. "Is there something you need to talk about?"

"No." Connor turned away from Hank almost defensively from where he sat. "I'm just concentrating on the case."

"You're sure?" Hank wasn't buying it, but he knew better than to push too hard to get Connor to open up. "You've been kinda'-"

"I'm okay." The deviant uncharacteristically interrupted with an aggravated tone. "I just want to focus on the case. Please, let me be."

"All right, fine." Hank dropped the subject for the moment but wasn't going to just let it go entirely. Casually Hank took a sip of his soda before continuing on with a different line of questions. "Do you think there's anything seriously wrong with that 'Anne' deviant?"

"Unknown. It was difficult to reach her memory due to the glitch, but by all account she has always functioned at optimal parameters."

"What did the technicians have to say?"

"Anne is suffering from chronic thermal regulator failure causing a dangerously high core temperature, and her elevated Thirium pressure is causing her a severe headache and severe confusion. The overheating has resulted in Anne also suffering from heavy perspiration causing her to lose diluted Thirium an alarming rate, and any attempt to increase her Thirium volume has been met with limited results."

"They don't know what's causing the glitch yet?"

"Not yet."

"Think the update could be the cause?" Hank asked about the case in between bites of his large burger to help Connor stay distracted and talking. "Or could she have some issue with traveling from the forest to the city?"

"Both scenarios are highly plausible, but without any additional details I can't be certain." Connor closed his dull soulful brown eyes, and he let out a weary sigh as he received a cybernetic message. Returning his focus to Hank the deviant gave him an update. "...I just received word from Markus. Simon has checked over Anne at the Gamma Facility and has decided to move her to New Jericho Tower for analysis. Her condition is apparently declining."

"Well, the technicians will figure it out." As per usual Hank tried to ease Connor's mind with a casual tone of voice. "Any new cases pop up while we were out of the precinct?"

"No. The caseload has been uncharacteristically light for the past eleven days."

"Normally that's a good thing," Hank stated rather dryly as he took another sip of his soda. "but you sound disappointed."

"I'm not disappointed, I'm just bored."

"Bored, huh? We both have this coming weekend off. Maybe we should head out to the cabin and take a little vacation. I don't want you sitting around thinking all day long again."

"...Maybe." Nodding a little Connor agreed with the suggestion as he didn't want to keep thinking about the recent crushing disappointment that darkened his future plans. "That could prove to be beneficial."

"Cool. Let me finish off this burger and we'll head back to the precinct. Hopefully things will stay nice and quiet."

"You really should refrain from eating so much grease in a single meal." The deviant noted as he ran a biometric scan over Hank's vitals and compared his current status to the previous status that Hank had been in when the duo first met over three years ago. Hank had made great progress in improving his health, but he still needed to be careful with his diet. "It'll drain your energy and make you feel either tired or sick for the remainder of the day."

"Too late, the deed is done. Besides," finishing off the final bite of his burger Hank sipped at the last of his soda and turned over the key in the ignition. "I don't eat this stuff every shift anymore. Hell, I didn't even order any fries this time."

"You should still be more careful of what you eat."

"I'm fine, kid. Don't worry about me."

"Sorry, but that won't be possible." Turning to look out the window at his side Connor sighed and lowered his voice. "You're the only family I have in this city. I will always worry about you."

It stayed quiet throughout the rest of the afternoon and no other calls came in regarding ill deviants being located elsewhere in the city. Returning to the precinct after lunch seemed relatively normal for the two detectives as Connor sat down behind his desk and Hank entered his private office to resume their files. Everything had remained normal and seemed to be staying normal until Chris's uncharacteristically loud voice called out for assistance in a frightened and near panicked manner as he helped guide Jack down to the hard floor in a controlled fall as his deviant partner seemingly lost consciousness in the middle of the breakroom. It was the first time that Jack had a malfunction without a physical injury being the cause.

Everyone in the bullpen froze and turned to look at Chris as he did his best to keep his partner from dropping to the floor and striking his head on the hard ground. The sight of Jack's L.E.D. flickering in red was enough to make the bullpen fall uncharacteristically quiet.

"Hey!" Keeping his palm under Jack's head Chris tried to figure out what had happened to Jack. "I need some help over here! Someone call for a technician!"

Connor immediately turned and watched as Chris knelt beside Jack who was laying on his back on the breakroom floor. Rising from his chair quickly Connor made his way to the breakroom and knelt down on the other side of Jack opposite of Chris to investigate the issue.

"What happened to him?"

"I don't know. He just passed out or something."

"It appears he has fallen into emergency stasis mode." Pressing his fingertips to Jack's red tinted L.E.D., the heat radiating from Jack's artificial skin was already alarming, Connor made a cybernetic connection to the downed deviant's system. What Connor found made him anxious as the same unknown glitch that had taken down Anne that same morning was now running through Jack's system. "Jack's core temperature has elevated to one-hundred and three point four degrees Fahrenheit. He needs to go to New Jericho for treatment, now."

By the time Connor had made the claim other officers from the bullpen had gathered around curiously and Hank had joined in on the crowd.

"Connor, what's going on?"

"I suspect that Jack has been infected with the same virus or glitch as Anne. He needs to go to be tended to immediately."

"Why not let Joel take a look at him?"

"It'd be more beneficial for both of the infected deviants to be treated together in the same place by the same technician."

"Right." Hank pointed at Gavin, who was standing in the group of onlookers, and gave him an order. "Call for some help for Jack. Tell the technicians to take him to New Jericho Tower, and then I want you to partner up with Chris for the rest of the afternoon."

"Yeah, sure."

"Chris, get some ice out of the freezer and take care of your partner."

"Right, Cap'."

Hank grabbed Connor's bicep and pulled him up to his feet slowly as he waved his free hand to disperse the other onlookers to go back to their desks and give the downed deviant some room. "Connor, go up and see Joel."

"What?" The order seemed entirely out place. "Why?"

"Because if Jack actually has been infected then I want to make sure you're not infected, too."

"Oh." Connor visibly paled and the right corner of his mouth twitched. "...I understand."

"Go, I got this under control."

"I'm on it."

Begrudgingly Connor took his leave of the breakroom and went down the corridor to reach the elevator to ascend to the second floor to get to the precinct's dispensary as he had been ordered. There was no denying that Hank's caution was entirely warranted.

Putting both of his hands to his hips Hank took a step back and just stared at the downed deviant with Chris now holding an ice pack against his forehead and a sense of annoyance at the strange occurrences that were happening that afternoon. Without any immediate answers and only numerous questions Hank was getting a little wary of the way a strange plague that could very well be affecting androids throughout the city.

Pulling his phone from his pocket Hank located Markus's number in his list of contacts and pressed 'dial'.

"This day just had to take a turn for the shitty, didn't it?"

Via android-unique ambulance Anne had been transported from the Gamma Facility and to New Jericho Tower as requested, and she had been placed in an isolated room in the emergency repair bay as intended. Only Simon and Markus were allowed to visit Anne during her mandatory quarantine to keep possible spreading of the glitch or malfunction to an absolute minimum. Simon had taken every necessary precaution to prevent his own system from being possibly affected by utilizing a pair of Faraday insulated scrubs to shield himself from unintentional cybernetic or electromagnetic contact with Anne as he reexamined her condition for any sign of improvement or degradation.

Despite everyone's best efforts Anne was still in rough shape and very weak. Whether or not she'd recover, let alone survive the glitch had yet to be seen.

"How is she doing?" Markus asked from the doorway of the isolated room as Simon again checked her vitals and proceeded to connect a black cable to her right temple to run a full program diagnostic. "I can't connect with your cybernetically because of your scrubs."

"Not well." The blond technician confirmed somberly. "While Anne is stable, she is also steadily becoming weaker, and her core temperature keeps rising. She's currently at one-hundred and five point seven degrees Fahrenheit and still climbing. If she doesn't cool down soon then it's very likely her intracranial processor will suffer irreversible damage."

"Simon," the tone of the deviant leader's voice was grim but honest. "we might have another infected deviant coming our way."

"What?" Simon looked up from Sophie and gave Markus a nervous glance. "Who?"

"Jack, the 'AX' deviant who began working as an officer at the precinct almost ten months ago." Anxiously Markus wrung his hands together and glanced over at Anne warily as she remained in emergency stasis mode on the exam table. Seeing any of his people suffering always stung at Markus's heart. "He was the first officer at the scene when Anne's strange condition had been reported and he connected with her system."

"Oh, no. Where's Connor?"

"He's still at the precinct. Hank ordered him to be examined by their precinct's technician, Joel, as a precaution."

"Good. The last thing we need is for this thing to spread, that is if it is in fact contagious."

"I'll escort Jack down here myself." Markus decided to maintain some semblance of control during what seemed like a situation that was readily spiraling out of control. "Keep me posted on Anne's condition until I get back."

"Right, and Markus, do NOT touch Jack if at all possible." The caution in Simon's words and demeanor were both completely justified. "We don't know what this error is or what it could do to us."

Patiently Connor sat on the exam table in the precinct dispensary with a thermal wrap secured around his wrist and digital thermometer in his mouth as Joel pressed his audioscope over his chest to listen to his Thirium pump and ventilation biocomponents very carefully. Slowly and efficiently the dedicated technician finished up the impromptu but routine check-up on the deviant detective as per Hank's unbreakable orders. Satisfied that everything was normal with Connor's artificial heart and artificial lungs, Joel motioned for Connor to lay back on the table as he opened up the deviant's white dress shirt to expose his abdomen for further tests and analysis to be entirely thorough.

It seemed the prime symptom of the glitch revolved around overheating and compromising the thermal regulator. By all account the best way to determine if Connor had been infected as well was through his core temperature and how well his biocomponents were functioning.

"How's your core temperature?" Joel took the digital thermometer from Connor's mouth and confirmed the reading with the secondary reading on the wrap still around the deviant's wrist. "Normal. Ninety-eight point six degrees Fahrenheit according to both thermometers."

Laying back flat over the table as previously requested Connor sighed and watched Joel's face very carefully for any tell on the technician's part. "That's reassuring."

"Since the affected androids are suffering with thermal regulator failure, I want to examine yours as a precaution."

Connor nodded as the technician placed his palm down flat over his lower torso to examine the biocomponent through palpation.

"No sign of overheating or swelling biocomponents." There was no pain, no overheating, and no other sign of physical anomaly on Connor's person. "Nothing hurts, right?"

"Correct."

"That's good. Well, by all account you seem perfectly healthy." Joel confirmed as took a step back from the table and allowed Connor to sit up again. "Your core temperature is normal, your Thirium pressure and your Thirium volume are normal and there have been no programming anomalies noted in your system during the diagnostic." Clicking on a penlight that had been tucked in his shirt's breast pocket Joel checked Connor's pupils and found his vision perfectly normal as well. "Your visual processors are responding accordingly, same with your audio processors. Your complexion is a healthy color and you're not sweating either. These are all very good signs."

"Am I cleared for active duty?"

"Yeah, you're good. But if you feel strange in any way, then I want you to get to the nearest technician for another check-up."

"I will do so." Rebuttoning his shirt Connor gave Joel an acknowledging nod and accepted the instructions. Taking a moment to fix his black tie Connor proceeded to exit the dispensary to resume his shift as normally as possible. "Thank you for your help."

"No problem. And thanks for fixing my truck, by the way!" The technician shouted as Connor made his way out of the dispensary doorway and toward the elevator at the end of the corridor. "It runs great, and my girlfriend said, 'yes'! I'm now engaged and can take Sonya to dinner to celebrate in style!"

"That's great news..." It was hard, but Connor managed to feign genuine happiness for his friend despite his own heartache making it difficult. There was no need to bring down Joel's good mood just because Connor's future plans weren't working out as he had hoped they would. "It really is. Congratulations.

Diligently Markus stood outside the two isolation rooms of the emergency repair bay with his arms crossed over his chest and his mismatched eyes focused straight ahead at the two deviants fighting for their lives on the other side of the glass window. Anne, a total stranger to the tower, was seemingly on death's door as she sweat out her Thirium almost as fast as Simon could replace it. And Jack, someone who was known but not exactly seen as a close ally to the tower or its leaders, looked dead already simply because he had elected to not get the new update that would give him more lively and human reactions to whatever was happening inside of his body.

The two deviants had their usual clothing removed in favor pale blue scrubs to try to keep cool and help them feel more comfortable. Anne remained attached to a Thirium line running down her throat, had a secondary I.V. in her arm to keep her volume from decreasing too far, and was buried under a cooling blanket with her Thirial activity constantly recording her vitals. Jack was also under a cooling blanket and attached to a Thirial activity monitor, his vitals were just as weak, but his temperature was slightly lower than Anne's temperature for the moment.

"This is strange." The deviant leader muttered to himself as he tried to understand what was happening to his people. "What's the connection between these two deviants? They're different models, live in different locations and only Anne downloaded the update."

"Markus?" From behind where he was standing North approached her bondmate and wrapped her arm around his arm as she joined him at the observation window. She had recovered well from her own spinal support column injury almost two weeks prior and could move about without any difficulty. "No change?"

"Not for the better."

"Do we know why Anne came here?"

"She had elected to go out to Boston to work with Luke on building the new facility and she had come back to Detroit just this morning to speak with us regarding the new facility's plans. After hailing an autonomous taxi to come to the tower she suddenly lost consciousness, and the taxi engaged emergency shutdown. That's when emergency services found her and where Jack and Connor encountered her a few blocks from here."

"Come with me." North pulled on Markus's arm to coax him into following her away from the repair bay and back to the elevator. "You need to sit down for a few minutes and rest."

"I don't want to leave them alone."

"They're not alone, Simon's with them. Besides you're not a technician." She stated in a surprisingly sweet voice. "It's not like you can do much for them beyond keeping vigil."

"I know. I just hate standing back and not being able to help my people."

"You are helping." Reassuring the deviant leader with sincere affection North led him into the elevator and returned to the ground floor so they could retire to the main office for a few minutes. "You're giving them a chance to be saved by one of the best technicians in the entire country."

Nodding quietly as the elevator doors opened Markus let North guide him to the main office to have a moment to think in private.

Josh was checking through the tower's archives in search of any potential glitch or malfunction that would cause the sudden impairment of the thermal regulator in hopes of finding a proper repair procedure when Markus and North entered the office. Looking up at his colleagues with a tired gaze Josh folded his hands neatly together and pressed them thoughtfully to his chin as he leaned forward against the desk in near defeat.

"Nothing, huh?" North asked as she sat down on the couch across from the desk with Markus at her side. "Your face says it all."

"No." Josh sounded as tired as he looked. "This error is entirely new."

"And you can't find a possible cause?"

"There's too many variables to narrow down the cause as we know it."

Markus leaned back against the couch and rubbed his hand over his mismatched eyes. The deviant leader was struggling to remain calm despite having every reason to panic or shout in frustration.

"Markus?" North noticed the gesture and tightened her grip around his arm in concern. "Are you all right?"

"I'm okay right now. Just frustrated."

Turning off the terminal screen Josh rose from the desk and sighed with his own frustration. "The tower's archives doesn't have any information, but maybe the system diagnostics on Anne and Jack have something we can use to our advantage."

"Simon is still in the repair bay. Why don't you go check in with him?"

"Yeah, good idea. I'll let you know if we find anything."

Sensing Markus's distress North pressed her head against his shoulder and kept him company while he tried to think of a way to help the affected deviants.

"I hate this." Markus admitted sounding entirely defeated already. "There's nothing we can do but stand back and watch as two of our people suffer."

"Simon will find a way to save them. We both know that he will."

"We don't even know what they've been afflicted with. It has to be a glitch or malware infection, it's the only thing that makes sense right now, but our diagnostics have shown absolutely nothing conclusive."

"We will figure it out."

Sighing through his nose Markus decided he had to at least try to contribute to helping his ill people in some way. "Tell Simon to check for a virus."

"I'm sure he's done that already."

"I am, too, but this is the only thing that still makes any sense. We must've overlooked it somehow... There has to be something we missed."

"Okay, I'll tell him. And Markus," North planted a kiss on his cheek as she stood up from the couch to take her leave of the office. "we WILL figure this out."

Dropping his hand from his eyes Markus let out a despondent sigh and leaned forward a little.

"I hope so. Otherwise, two innocent deviants will have died, and we won't know what happened to them."

The notion of failing to uncover the cause of the affliction was enough to push Markus to his emotional limits.

"We can't fail them."

At the precinct Connor returned to his terminal and performed a background check on Anne to look for any potential additional clues to her strange and possibly lethal affliction. It took some time to decipher her carefully guarded code and memories, but soon he broke through the firewall to discover some information about Anne as a person. The enigmatic 'RK' had been originally designed as a type of undercover operative for CyberLife with the code name 'Zhora' and an alias of 'Marla' before the project had been scrapped due to legal problems that came from using an android to spy on people. Anne had spent the previous six years of her life living in the outskirts of the city pre and post Revolution in the refugee camp to protecting other deviants.

As for Jack, the deviant officer spent most of his time at the precinct or at his apartment. He didn't have much of a social life and seemed to prefer to associate only with Chris whenever he wasn't working. The limited places where either deviant could've gone didn't lead to any potential answers to the numerous questions regarding the strange glitch.

"There is nothing unusual about Anne's previous technical assessment at the tower." Connor stated out loud as he read through her background and failed to find any definitive answers. "She had no previous malfunctions or glitches, her software is fully up to date, she hadn't suffered any past physical trauma, and she hadn't encountered any other affected deviants during her journey from the forest to the city."

"You got cleared by Joel, but are you still feeling okay?" Hank asked as he joined Connor at his old desk and sat down curiously to observe the attentive deviant with a worried glance. Having his old desk to return to helped remind Hank that he'd always have a place in the Central Precinct. "You look a little pale."

"I'm fine. I'm merely annoyed with the lack of progress on this case."

"Nothing new, huh?"

"Nothing useful."

"What about an update from the tower?" Studying Connor's face carefully Hank kept a close eye on the empathetic deviant for any sign of illness, pain or sudden weakness. "Anything at all."

"One moment." Connor closed his soulful brown eyes for a moment as he cybernetically contacted Markus and found the information less than ideal. "Still no change. Anne and Jack are both suffering from severe thermal regulator failure and high Thirium pressure."

"There's no connection between Anne and Jack? No common model or program, or some other technical shit I don't understand?"

"No. Jack is an 'AX-700' model, Anne is an 'RK-700' model. They are completely unique when it comes to software and their hardware hasn't been affected."

"I didn't know there were other 'RK' models-" Hank's brows knitted a little as he studied Connor's face more closely and saw that the deviant's complexion seemed to be steadily becoming lighter. "Are you sure that you're feeling okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Glancing up at Hank to lock eyes with the senior detective Connor gave his father an inquisitive stare. "Why do you ask?"

"You look even paler."

"I believe it's not uncommon for humans to exhibit a similar reaction when fatigued; both mentally and physically."

"Uh-huh." Resisting the urge to put his hand to Connor's forehead Hank just took in the deviant's somewhat sickly appearance. "Maybe you should go see Joel again."

"It isn't necessary. I'd rather continue to-" A new case appeared on the terminal screen and quickly stole his attention. It was an assault in progress and could not wait for a response. "A deviant is being assaulted downtown."

"All right, let's go."

"You're accompanying me again?"

"The first time I wanted to get out of the office and get some lunch," Hank admitted as he rose from his desk and walked alongside Connor toward the front doors of the precinct to get to the car in the neighboring parking garage. "this time I want to keep an eye on you just in case something happens."

"I feel fine. I really do."

"And I believe you."

"Then trust me to handle this."

"I do trust you, kid." Muttering another reply under his breath Hank pulled the car keys from his pocket and walked with Connor across the bullpen to pass through the front doors side by side. "...But the other deviants felt fine, too. Now look at 'em."

Sitting alone in the tower's private office Markus heavily leaned back against the white leather couch as he sat in deep contemplation while he tried to think of something, anything, that he could do to help the affected deviants now in the care of the tower. Simon and Josh had worked diligently to tend to Anne and Jack's declining conditions and keep them from getting any worse, but their efforts seemed to be in vain. As the leader of the deviants Markus felt compelled to help his people in need, no matter what it cost or who was the one in need of assistance. Finding a treatment and a cure for the unusual condition was all that mattered in that moment considering lives were potentially on the line.

The feeling of being helpless and useless made Markus feel like there was a lead weight in his stomach. Standing idle and watching others working while he did nothing did not sit well with the deviant leader. That was something that he clearly had with Connor.

"Markus?" North returned to the office and addressed Markus as she sat down on the edge of the desk to look at him from a distance. "Are you okay? You haven't moved since I left."

"Electronic bacillus eradication." Came a muttered but confident reply as Markus locked his mismatched eyes with his bondmate's cinnamon brown eyes. "It's the answer."

The cryptic response made North cross her arms across her chest as she sat confused on the desk. "What about it?"

"I'm going to do it. We need to treat this condition like a virus and remove it."

"If this isn't a virus then such an action could cause irreversible damage to their intracranial processors." North warned as she knew of the risks involved with such a drastic procedure. "An entire reboot with full memory deletion and program installation would be necessary, and the side effects could be more damaging than the virus itself."

"If it's the only way to keep them alive then we have to do it."

"You don't have the right to make that call." Refusing to take any unnecessary risks was something new to North considering her recent brush with danger. "It should be their decision, and their decision alone."

"We both know that Anne and Jack are too incoherent to make such a decision by themselves. We need to help them and act in their stead."

"We are helping them, but that doesn't make us technical proxies. Anne has no one in this entire city to rely on and the only person we know who could vouch for Jack is the human cop he's partnered up with back at the precinct." North recounted in a calm manner. "Even then, there's no guarantee he'll agree to go through with the procedure."

"Then we'll get Hank in here to-"

"Hank is the commanding officer, but that doesn't mean he can order or override anything that Jack's partner says."

"North." Markus stood up quickly, his body swaying slightly as the sudden motion made him a little dizzy. Brushing aside his own discomfort Markus remained focused on the two deviants currently fighting for their lives in the emergency repair bay. "If it'll save their lives then I think we should do it."

"And if it kills them, then what?" Shaking her head a little North stood up from the desk and approached her beloved with a newly founded sense of caution in her words. "You won't be able to handle the guilt, the tower would fall under scrutiny and all of the hard work we've accomplished would be overshadowed by negative publicity. You have to wait for-"

"No, we can't w-wait..." Markus trailed off a little and his face suddenly paled. "Waiting... w-won't..."

"Markus?" Sensing that Markus was in trouble North studied him closely and watched his behavior like a hawk. "What's wrong?"

Markus's palm returned to his face as his legs suddenly buckled and his mismatched eyes rolled back in his head. Trying and failing to correct his posture before the fall, Markus collapsed backward onto the floor in a dead faint. As Markus fell North's hand managed to cradle the back of his head before his head crashed against the unforgiving marble beneath.

"Markus?!"

North shouted his name as she pressed her free down against the center of his chest. She could feel his heart racing and an intense heat radiating from his artificial skin as a fine sheen of diluted blue Thirium began to form on his brow.

"Oh, shit... Markus! No!"

Looking around the office North realized she was entirely alone and didn't know how to help her stricken bondmate.

"Help! Markus is down and he needs help!"

Arriving at the scene of the recently reported assault near the shopping plaza Hank and Connor caught sight of the incredibly large human male - evidently drunk and high on some potent narcotic - cornering a female deviant who was backed up against a brick wall with a crying human toddler wrapped up in her arms. Bystanders were trying to calm the man down and get him to leave the terrified deviant alone, but he continued to scream in drunken slurs that the deviant was openly abducting children and that he was 'doing what needs to be done', even though it was clear that the targeted deviant was a family's nanny, and she was simply tending to the child in her care.

Fortunately, the man hadn't actually laid a hand on the deviant but that didn't mean he wasn't going to succeed eventually. As long as someone was trying to keep him away from the harmless deviant then she'd have a chance to escape unharmed.

"You've gotta' be kidding me..." Hank grumbled as he threw the car into park and then threw open his door. "It's not even two in the afternoon and this guy is absolutely shit-faced!"

"I'll request a squad car to pick him up." Connor volunteered as he opened his own door and carefully approached the drunken man without any fear. "Detroit Police! Leave the lady alone!"

"You heard him." Hank flashed his badge as the man turned around to look at Connor, seeing him as nothing more than a kid, and immediately took charge of the scene on Connor's behalf. "How much have you had to drink, pal?"

The drunken fool staggered toward Hank while Connor discreetly walked the frightened deviant away from the wall and over to the car to get her statement while remaining out of the drunken man's blurry sight. Dozens of eye witnesses confirmed that the drunk had stumbled out of the bar a few doors down when he caught sight of the deviant's blue L.E.D. and charged after her in a belligerent rage. She had done nothing wrong and simply wanted to get the toddler and herself back to her home without any problems.

"I understand. You hadn't done anything to provoke that man." Connor stated empathetically as he watched the deviant kindly soothing the frightened child in her arms. Hearing the small girl crying made Connor feel uneasy since he had a soft spot for children and a part of him had already accepted that he'd never a child of his own to care for. "Would you like me to summon an autonomous taxi for you so you can return home?"

"No, I can manage without one." The deviant wiped away a scared tear as she soothed the crying child in her care. "The taxi's have been acting very unusual anyway. Thank you, though. Just make sure that man doesn't hurt anyone else."

"We'll take care of him. Please be safe on your journey home."

"I will." The deviant's L.E.D. cycled back from a petrified red to blue as she quickly took her leave of the drunken commotion to return home and get the small child in her care to safety. "Thank you again!"

Connor sighed and rubbed his hand over the back of his tense neck while he waited for Hank to take care of the drunk and violent man. As he did Connor felt his palm become slicked with a layer of sweat causing his brow to furrow confusedly.

"...I'm sweating. Strange, it isn't hot enough at this time to cause such a reaction."

The requested squad car arrived at the scene and two uniformed officers took charge of the drunk and aggressive man on the street so that Hank and Connor could return to the precinct. Happy to hand over the loudmouthed jerk to someone else's charge, Hank joined Connor at the Oldsmobile and noticed that the deviant was staring down at his hand as if in a trance and somehow seemed even paler.

"Hey?" Staring at the deviant's face Hank's paternal instincts told him that the deviant was in trouble. "Something wrong?"

"I'm... I'm sweating." Came the worried reply as Connor turned around to face Hank. Doing so he quickly knew his condition was as serious as he feared when Hank's blue eyes went wide and the senior detective pressed his hand over the deviant's overheating forehead. "Hank, I think... I think I-"

"Easy, son."

Putting both of his hands on Connor's upper arms Hank held the deviant upright and helped him approach the front passenger side of the car slowly. Pulling open the door Hank made Connor sit down in the seat just as the deviant's face paled to an alarmingly white shade and sweat began beading over his artificial skin rapidly.

"I'm taking you to New Jericho Tower, all right?"

Connor's hand weakly reached up and clumsily fumbled with his black tie as he stared off into nothingness.

Reaching over to the steering column Hank returned the key to the ignition and turned over the engine. Once the car roared back to life Hank cranked up the air conditioning and pointed the vents directly at Connor to keep the sick deviant as cool as possible.

"Look at me."

Hank pleaded as he took the liberty of loosening the knot in Connor's tie to slip the dressy garment away from the deviant's hot neck. Afterward he helped Connor clumsily slip his arms out of his blazer sleeves, and pulled open the top two buttons of his dress shirt to try to help him cool down.

"Connor, I need you to look at me."

Obediently and against the odds Connor's glassy brown eyes focused on Hank's face, but he didn't waver.

"You're sick and I'm going to take you to New Jericho. Do you understand?"

"...Y-Yeah." The words were delayed and somewhat slurred, but Connor responded nonetheless. "...I understand."

The fact that Connor said 'yeah' instead of 'yes' made Hank a little worried. The deviant usually spoke with perfect diction and only used more casual or slang terms when under duress or when they were off the clock.

"Son? Can you tell me what your core temperature is?"

"I... I'm at..." Connor closed his glassy eyes briefly as he ran the self-diagnostic and reported his current core temperature. "One-hundred and... four degrees. It's going to get... higher. My... M-My head hurts." He was sounding like he was starting to panic and lose strength readily. "...H-Headache."

"Just hang tight."

Clipping Connor's seatbelt into place over his chest Hank used his radio to call in the situation before grabbing his phone to send a text to both Markus and Simon at the tower to update them on Connor's sudden illness. Driving quickly but in a controlled manner Hank escorted his sick son to the tower for treatment.

"We'll get you through this, son. No matter what's happening, we'll get you through this."

Cautiously Simon hovered over Markus as the deviant leader sluggishly blinked up at the attending blond technician with his glazed over mismatched irises. Checking the attached Thirial activity monitor to confirm that Markus's core temperature was up to one-hundred and three point nine degrees Fahrenheit, Simon knew that Markus had been infected with the unnamed glitch as well. Of the three affected deviants at the tower Markus's condition was the least severe, but it was still bad enough to warrant isolation and every test imaginable to find a cause. The fact that the glitch was seemingly spreading had put the entire repair bay on lockdown and quarantine extended throughout the entire floor.

North was asked to remain in her quarters in case she too had been infected, but she refused to leave Markus's side. Joining her bondmate in the isolated bay she remained close by despite Simon's warning, and she kept her demeanor confident for Markus's sake.

"Hang in there, Markus." Simon forced a sincere smile to his face as he increased the power to the cooling blanket to drop it down another ten degrees as he draped it over Markus's person. Markus had also been dressed in pale blue scrubs and looked as ill as the previous two deviants who had been admitted for treatment of the unknown infection. "Rest as much as you can."

Despite his fatigue Markus was still worried for the two ill deviants resting on neighboring recovery bed. "...H-How're the others?"

"No change." The smile faded briefly but returned as Simon tried to remain optimistic. "That's actually good since it means they aren't getting any worse."

Wearing her own protective garb North walked away from the door and stood beside Markus's bed with her own faint smile. Lightly she smoothed out a fresh cool washcloth over Markus's warm forehead before she picked up his hand and held it tightly.

"I know that humans use this method to treat fevers, so I thought it might help."

"Thanks." Markus's grip tightened around her hand as he studied North's cinnamon brown eyes and sensed something was wrong. The look in her eyes spoke volumes of the deeply seeded concern she was struggling to mask. "H-Has anyone else been affected?"

"...Yeah." North paused for only a moment before replying honestly. Turning to face Simon as she spoke, North tightened her hand around Markus's hand and gave them both an update on the situation at hand. "Connor is on his way to the tower with a one-hundred and four degree core temperature."

Markus's hand tightened even further until it was almost a crushing grip as he realized that now one of his most trusted friends had also become affected by the strange anomaly. They still didn't know what was happening, and more of his people were becoming ill.

Simon reflexively swallowed nervously and paled a little at the confirmation. "It'll be okay. We'll help him, too."

"He's here now." North confirmed through a cybernetic update from Josh down on the ground floor. "Josh is meeting him and Hank outside."

As soon as the two detectives reached their destination Hank was greeted outside the front doors of New Jericho Tower by Josh, who had awkwardly wheeled a gurney outside to take care of Connor. Easily Hank managed to open the passenger side door of the car and carry Connor, who was practically deadweight at this moment, in his arms and up to the gurney to place him down gently as he and Josh worked together and rolled the gurney back inside the building. The infection was getting worse, and Connor was mostly unconscious at this point and was only vaguely aware of his surroundings as he was rushed into the tower for treatment for whatever was affecting his system in such a negative manner.

The delirious deviant's shaking hand reached up into the air it clamped down on Hank's forearm causing the senior detective to look down at Connor's sick, sweaty, pale face. The sight was pitiful as it was upsetting.

"I'm right here, kid." The protective father promised as he put his palm on Connor's forehead. "You're safe."

Once inside the elevator Josh lifted Connor's eyelids one at a time to check his pupils with a penlight and saw the same glassy appearance that Markus, Jack and Anne all shared. "What're his symptoms?"

"High fever, headache and then he blacked out pretty soon after." Hank confirmed as he kept his hand in place. "It hit him all at once."

"Just like the others." Josh confirmed bleakly as he put the light away into his jean pocket. "How long has he been like this?"

"About eight minutes."

"Eight minutes?" The elevator doors parted and the two wheeled Connor into the repair bay where the other three deviants had been isolated from the other occupants of the tower. "This all happened in eight minutes?"

"Yeah. I can't believe it either."

"The time frame is brief, but consistent."

"How so?"

"Markus went down about five minutes before you contacted us-"

Hearing that information made Hank's heart skip a worried beat in his chest. "Fuck."

"And he became extremely ill in a very small amount of time, too." Josh continued on in a dreary tone. "All of the symptoms are the same."

"Do we know what this thing is yet?"

"We think Markus might be right. This could be a virus and not a glitch or a malfunction."

"What?" Hank's brow furrowed as he and Josh took Connor over to the available bed in the repair bay next to Markus to rest and be examined. Lifting Connor up from under his shoulders and back while Josh grabbed his legs, Hank was able to easily slide the deviant over to the bed from the gurney to be treated. "What makes you think this is a virus?"

"The rapid onset of the symptoms. If it were a glitch or a malfunction it would've been a slower progression as all of their affected systems would've attempted to work around the problem and recalibrate, as opposed to a virus that has immediate ramifications on their software."

"Shit." Hank stepped back and watched as Simon walked over to the exam table and pulled open the remaining buttons on Connor's white dress shirt to hook him up to a Thirial activity monitor while Josh proceeded to remove the shirt entirely. "What can I do to help?"

"We're going to need a few extra hands in keeping them all as cool as possible until we can confirm and then identify the virus." Simon replied as he gave Hank a stern glance. "Only then can it be removed."

"You got it."

Simon next attached the black diagnostic cable to Connor's right temple and connected the ill deviant to the diagnostic modem to check his system. Running the same diagnostic program he had done before on the three previous affected deviants Simon patiently waited for the results and checked over the deviant detective's vitals.

"How is he doing?"

"Just as sick as the others. They'll all need to be kept cool until this virus is removed." The blond technician stated as he noted Connor's high core temperature on the Thirial activity monitor. "At this rate all four of them will suffer from a total failure of their thermal regulators in fourteen hours and nine minutes."

"Fuckin' hell." Dragging his hand over his bearded chin Hank stared down at Connor's pale face and swore at the grim prognosis. "He already had his regulator completely replaced before and it was a painfully close call." Putting his opposite hand to Connor's sweaty hair Hank watched as his son breathed slowly and continued to sweat out his diluted Thirium even after Josh placed a cooling blanket over top of him. "I don't think he can tolerate a second transplant like that."

"We won't let it come to that. We'll figure this out before any of them reach critical biocomponent failure."

Calmly and diligently North tended to Markus's fever with frequent adjustments to the cooling blanket and by wiping the sweat from his too warm brow. Just like Anne, he and Connor both required Thirium I.V.'s to replenish what they lost through their excessive sweating, whereas Jack didn't have the update that would allow him to sweat out his Thirium while ill. That was actually proving to be an advantage to Jack at that perilous minute.

As North adjusted the cool compress over Markus's forehead she caught the sound of some soft singing mixed in with nonsensical muttering. Looking toward the source of the sound beside her, she saw that Connor was talking and occasionally singing in his sleep, but Hank didn't seem at all fazed by it.

"Hank?" North spoke in a whisper as to not disturb Markus who had finally fallen asleep. "Does he always do that?"

Hank looked over at North and asked her to elaborate. "Do what?"

"Connor. Does he always talk and sing in his sleep?"

"Only when he's really feverish." Hank confirmed as he placed fresh cool compress over Connor's forehead and pressed his palm own over the washcloth to smooth it out. "It's happened a few times before. Pretty talented, ain't he?"

North gave the deviant detective a casual shrug of her shoulders from where she sat. "I didn't know he could sing."

"This kid is full of surprises." Sporadically Connor's eyes would open but fail to focus on anything then drift shut again. Placing a second chilled washcloth over Connor's forehead Hank stayed beside the downed deviant with unbreakable paternal loyalty. "I think he's trying to stay conscious."

"It'd be easier on his system if he let himself rest."

"You have no idea how many times I told him the exact same thing in the past." Glancing over at Jack and Anne, who were both laying in their own beds across the room from where Connor and Markus were laying, Hank pulled his phone from his pocket and proceeded to scroll through his contacts list. "I'm going to let Chris know that Jack is stable."

"Chris is Jack's partner, right?"

"Yeah. They make a pretty good team, too."

North grinned a little at the comment until Markus let out a deep breathy sigh that caught her attention. "Markus? Can you hear me?"

The deviant leader responded to the question in a weak whisper. "...North."

"I'm with you." Grabbing his hand while pressing her free palm against the compress over his forehead, North spoke kindly to him. "Simon and Josh are working on it. They think you were right; they think it is a virus."

"...V-Virus."

"That's right. Stay still and get some rest." Pulling the cooling blanket up a little higher over Markus's chest toward his neck North pressed her hand down over his lower abdomen where his thermal regulator was located. She could feel a steady warmth emanating from beneath her palm despite the cooling blanket acting as buffering layer. "Shit. You're still overheating."

"...I always f-feel warm when you're w-with me."

"Charmer." North forced herself to smile and gave Markus a small kiss on his lips. "Get some sleep. I'll be right here when you wake up."

On the brink of exhaustion himself, Simon struggled to find the correct program to utilize in eliminating the destructive virus before it was too late to save the four affected deviants under his care. The virus itself wasn't too dissimilar to 'Groupware Blight v.1' or even 'Groupware Blight v.2', but rather than causing flu-like symptoms in the infected deviants by affecting the thermal regulator, artificial stomach, Thirium pressure and the gyroscope, it was specifically targeting the thermal regulator and Thirium pressure causing catastrophic malfunction. The virus was seemingly programmed with a single incentive to cause serious overheating, and it was apparently programmed very well.

Josh put both of his hands on Simon's shoulders as he stood behind the technician and looked at the terminal screen on the desk. The various programs and equations on display were attempting to override the virus and correct the virus, but to anyone looking at the screen would get a headache just from the complex nature on display.

"Any luck?"

"No." Sighing in frustration Simon pressed his palm to his face and swore into his hand. "Damn it."

"Easy, you'll get this figured out."

"It'd help if we knew how Anne was originally infected AND how this virus is transmitted."

"Connor ran a background check on her and nothing was amiss beyond her rare model design. Maybe she was infected AFTER she returned to the city."

"But how and from where?"

"Anne was riding in an autonomous taxi when she got sick." Josh keenly deduced as he thought about their sparse but very important details. "Do you think the taxi could've been sabotaged to harm androids?"

"The taxi..." Simon's shoulders stiffened under Josh's hands as he turned to look at Josh directly in the eyes. "Her taxi engaged in an emergency shutdown after she became infected, right?"

"That's what the report said."

"We need to find that taxi and check it out."

"No, I'll go and check the taxi." Josh insisted as he wanted to keep Simon safe in the tower. "You stay here and keep an eye on the others."

"Okay, I'll call for some help to assist me until you can get back with the virus."

"Right." Planting a kiss on Simon's forehead Josh backed out of the room and made his way toward the door to begin his own investigation. "I'll be back as quick as I can!"

Patiently Hank and North worked together to take care of the four affected deviants with constant vigil attention as all four of the deviants' thermal regulators continued to critically overheat at an alarming rate. While Markus and Connor had remained relatively stable as they were the last two to become infected, Anne was showing mild improvement to the treatment that she was receiving, and Jack's condition was beginning to steadily decline. Unable to sweat like the other three deviants to keep his core cool, it was more of a challenge to keep Jack's temperature at a stable degree as his system threatened to critically overheat at any moment. His advantage of not having the update had decayed into a disadvantage.

The Thirial activity monitors were all glowing with numbers displayed in either yellow or red. Yellow wasn't ideal but red was even worse as it meant the vital signs were reaching critical numbers.

"Fuck, his core is up to one-hundred and six degrees." North lamented as she overrode the limits on the cooling blanket to make it function even colder than normal. Placing a massive of towel that has been soaked in cold water under the blanket and over the center of Jack's abdomen, she hoped the additional chilly layer would help lower his temperature a little faster. "If we don't find a way to get this virus under control his intracranial processor is going to melt."

Hank stood beside the table where Connor was laying and pressed the back of his hand to the side of Connor's neck lightly. "Is there any ice in this place?"

"No. We don't need it for any common reason."

"Shit. I'll get some more cold water for Jack then." Hank volunteered casually as he patted Connor's shoulder twice and stepped away from the table. "At least the tower has some working faucets around here." Before he had the chance to leave the isolation room Hank was stopped short by the arrival of Abby, who had a massive satchel over her shoulder and look of determination in her eyes. "Abby? What're you doing here?"

"Hi, Hank. I come bearing gifts." As she entered the isolation room Abby nodded at Hank and placed her satchel down on a rolling tray table against the wall between Markus and Connor's beds. "Josh called me." She stated firmly as she homed-in on Jack since North was hovering over him instead of Markus. Wheeling the table over to where Jack was laying Abby quickly made him the priority. "He's traced the source of the virus to the autonomous taxi that 'patient-zero' over there," she nodded at Anne as she spoke. "had been using when she got sick."

"No shit?" Hank crossed his arms over his chest as he returned to the center of the room to check on both Markus and Connor carefully. "You seem pretty on-the-ball with what's happening."

"After Connor went down Joel sent me a message to see if I was taking care of him. He gave me a quick rundown on what was happening, and then I got a call from Josh asking me to stop by the tower after he uncovered some more information."

North and Hank watched as Abby pulled an external remote cooling compress from the satchel and placed it directly over Jack's thermal regulator under the cooling blanket and towel. Handing a second and third compress over to North without even flinching, Abby proceeded to activate the cold compress and watched as Jack's core temperature mercifully began to tick down very slowly.

"The current working theory is that an autonomous taxi was hacked and infected with a virus aimed specifically at deviants. Anne was the first one infected when she activated the taxi," Abby explained calmly as she walked over to where Connor was laying and placed a fourth compress over his thermal regulator under the cooling blanket as well. "and then Jack became infected when he cybernetically connected himself to her mind. Connor was infected in the same way and Markus shortly thereafter."

Hank tilted his head a little as he watched Abby checking on Connor's vital signs with a keen stare. "Connor was the last one infected, but he made contact with Anne before Markus did."

"The virus targets the thermal regulator and Connor's is of a slightly more advanced design. It was able to postpone the infection, but it wasn't enough to prevent it entirely."

Connor's glassy eyes opened briefly as he recognized Abby's voice but soon lost his battle to remain conscious and passed out again.

"This update has its pros," Abby stated as she pressed her hand over Connor's forehead and then did the same for Markus with her opposite hand. "but in my opinion seeing these two so weak, pale, and covered in sweat is the biggest con. It makes them look all too vulnerable and I hate it."

Josh nearly burst through the doorway to the repair bay with Simon right at his side as he made a loud announcement.

"I have it!" A large metallic case containing the autonomous taxi's internal memory was tucked under Josh's arm as he made his way over to the diagnostic modem that was still active against the far wall. "We just need to find the virus and see how to deactivate it."

Simon worked right alongside Josh to handle the technical details while Hank grabbed his phone.

"I'm going to go back to the precinct and get some guys working on finding the bastard who infected the taxi. My tech department can handle it." Grabbing on to Connor's arm lightly Hank addressed him in a low voice as to not disturb his sleep but let him know what was going on. "I'll be back soon, son. Just hang in there for me, will ya'?"

Abby gave Hank a reassuring glance as the senior detective took his leave. "We'll keep it under control here, Hank. Go find the hacker and arrest their sorry ass for all the deviants in the city."

"You got it."

It took nearly an hour for Simon to isolate the virus, and it took almost just as long to create the appropriate program to eliminate it from the affected deviants without causing any further complications to their stressed systems. During that time the Central Precinct had managed to trace the source of the virus to a malicious 'prankster' who had sabotaged the autonomous taxi as a dare from his classmates during a fraternity hazing. Apparently, the virus was designed to cause the taxi to undercharge the passengers on their fares, but it unfortunately had very different and drastic effect on any deviants who had the misfortune of hailing that particular cab with the program in effect.

Those who made contact with any deviant who had been infected by the virus wouldn't fare any better than the original victim. From there on the virus spread rather quickly but was contained to just the four victims all taken to New Jericho Tower for treatment due to everyone's quick thinking and urge to quarantine.

"All right, this should remove the virus." Simon stated confidently as he pressed the diagnostic cable back to Markus's right temple and initiated the removal program. Running the bell of his audioscope over Markus's chest Simon listened to his racing heart and shallow breathing closely as the program steadily took its effect. "He's still stable, but still burning up with a high core temperature."

North held tightly onto Markus's hand and kissed his knuckles affectionately as she waited for him to regain consciousness. "C'mon, Markus. I know you can beat this damn thing."

A full minute passed before Markus's heartbeat began to calm down and his mismatched irises returned to the waking world as he took in a calming breath. In return, Simon took in a deep breath himself. As the virus was removed from his system Markus's core temperature began to drop down very quickly as his entire system rebooted and recalibrated.

"Welcome back, Markus." The blond technician grinned as he saw his friend returning to the waking world. "It's about time."

"Simon?" Propping himself upright on the bed atop his elbows Markus looked around curiously and saw North standing beside him with his hand being held in her hand. Seeing the fear in North's eyes made him tighten his hand at long last around hers before he turned his attention back to Simon. "...The virus?"

"Gone." Simon confirmed as he unclipped the black cable from Markus's temple and turned around to help Connor next. "One down, three to go..."

Before Markus had the chance to get up North put both of her hands against his chest and pushed him back down against the table. "You just rest. You're still overheating, but you'll cool off soon enough."

"Simon found the cure." Markus realized with a relieved breath. "How're the others?"

"Still with us. No one has shut down and only four deviants were infected."

"...Good." Showing a small smile Markus fell back against the bed and closed his mismatched eyes. "That's the best news I could've ever been given."

As before Simon attached the cable to Connor's right temple and proceeded to listen to his chest with his audioscope. From the exam table Connor's soulful brown eyes fluttered open steadily after a minute passed and his head lolled a little from side to side as he regained consciousness. Running his hand over his tired face Connor felt another soft hand press against the opposite side of his face as Simon sighed and unclipped the cable.

It took a moment for Connor's vision to focus but when it did, he recognized a person watching over him instantly but was still confused by who he saw. "...Abby?"

"Hi." Running her hand through his still slightly sweaty hair Abby gave Connor a friendly smile and proceeded to remove the no longer needed wireless leads of the Thirial activity monitor from his chest. "You're going to be just fine."

Trying to figure out what happened Connor checked his last logged memories and closed his eyes again. "...I had become infected."

"Yeah, but you'll live. Obviously." She nodded toward Simon as the blond technician set about checking on Jack and Anne. "Josh found the virus and Simon removed it before it did any permanent damage."

Connor's memory was a little blurry and the confusion on his face showed it. "How did I become infected?"

"From your cybernetic contact with Anne or maybe Jack. We do know that the virus was transmitted through cybernetic contact, but we aren't sure when the infections all happened. Once the virus set out doing its nasty little trick it worked quickly."

"I see." Struggling to think clearly while his mind was foggy Connor glanced about the room to focus on the other deviants. "How are Jack and Anne?"

"Jack was worst of the group but he'll be okay in an hour or so. Anne will be okay, too. As for Markus, he's-"

Connor's soulful brown eyes went wide, and he tried to bolt upright on the table with a start. "Markus had been infected?"

"And he's FINE." Abby stated sharply to keep Connor from getting too worked up as she pressed her palm firmly against the center of his chest to keep him still while he recovered. "He got sick just before you did, but he's also healing. All four of you are going to be fine and the person who created the virus has already been caught. Hank is making sure that everyone responsible for the virus is being held accountable for their actions."

"That's reassuring." Nodding a little Connor leaned back against the bed and laid his head back against his sweaty pillow. "Had anyone else has been infected?"

"No. It looks like it's been contained."

"That's also good." Letting out a breathy sigh of relief of his own Connor nodded a little and looked up at Abby with a dim glance. "I'm glad we were able to stop the virus before it spread too far. Might I ask why you're here at New Jericho?"

"Josh called me and I decided to lend a hand. Also," Abby motioned to Connor's arm where a very faint needle mark was fading in the artificial skin at the bend of his elbow. "I tested your Thirium while you were unconscious, and I was able to get a recognizable D.N.A. sample." Placing her hand over Connor's forehead she gave the deviant a stern glance and slipped the covered syringe of Connor's Thirium into her lab coat pocket. "Once your core temperature is back to normal you can delete that update if you don't want to keep it."

"That's even better." As Abby lowered her hand from his forehead Connor ran his own hand through his sweaty hair to try to fix it a little bit. "I dislike being sweaty and experiencing bouts of, what Hank referred to as, hunger."

"Well, maybe in time you'll get used to it."

"I don't think I want to get used to it." Connor refuted in spite of Abby's reassurance. "Being human is too overwhelming."

"Humanity isn't all that bad. You never know what could happen."

"Such as getting infected by a hacked autonomous taxi?"

"Something like that." Abby smirked as she went to check on Jack who was still unconscious on the bed a few feet away. "Get some rest. Hank will be back soon to take you home so you can recover. And again, wait until your temperature is back to normal before you remove the update."

"I will wait, but not for too long."

"Still feeling overwhelmed?"

"I just dislike feeling so human when I know I'm not." The deviant admitted in a fatigued manner. "It's like I'm living a lie."

"That sounds deeper than you're letting on." The technician picked up on the comment and heard the sorrow in Connor's words. "Do you want to talk?"

Giving Abby a despondent glance Connor took in a deep breath and lowered his voice to prevent eavesdropping. "It's just... It's hard to explain. I'm not a machine but I'm not a human either. I'm somewhere in between, and what I want - who I want to become - is seemingly impossible because of these limitations."

"You're still upset about being rejected by the adoption agency."

"Yes." Closing his eyes Connor tried to ignore the crushing weight building in his heart. "This afternoon I encountered a deviant who was being assaulted by a drunk human because she was taking care of a human child. Maybe it's best that I was rejected. If humans will assault deviants for taking care of innocent human children, then perhaps being unable to become a father myself is saving a defenseless child from needless violence and discrimination."

"Hey, don't think like that. You'd be a fantastic father! You're so kind and gentle with Aria, and her eyes always light up when she sees you." Abby didn't want to see Connor give up hope on something he wanted so much. "Don't let the ignorant 'nay-sayers' get you down. You deserve to be a father, and I mean you really earned it. A lot of people can't appreciate how being a parent is a gift, not a right. You understand that and only want what's best for any child."

"What I want doesn't matter, Abby. I'm just... an android." Connor lamented as he accepted what seemed to be his fate. "A defective machine. Nothing more, nothing less."

"You're so much more than that." Putting her palm to Connor's cheek Abby caressed his warm artificial skin with her thumb in an empathetic and sympathetic manner toward her friend. "You're a good person, an amazing detective, a loyal son, a patient brother, a fearless guardian, and one of the best friends anyone could ever ask for. Please don't give up."

"That's not possible anymore. I'm tired of being disappointed and hurt, and so I've decided to let the matter go. It's easier this way."

"Don't give up on hope." Abby's hazel eyes filled with tears upon seeing her friend so heartbroken and somber. Pulling her hand from his cheek Abby took a step back and decided to give her friend some space so he could think. "Get some rest. I'll see you later, okay? I'm going to call Gavin and let him know that you and Jack are going to be okay, and maybe he'll smack that hacker around just for fun."

Opening his tear-filled eyes Connor watched as Abby took her leave of the room and followed Simon's movement as the blond technician approached the table where he was lying to check in on him. Quickly extending his hand to shake and making sure the blond technician knew he was grateful, Connor offered Simon a hearty thanks to accommodate the handshake.

"Thank you for saving me. Again."

"You're welcome, my friend." Simon happily shook Connor's hand and was glad to see that Connor was no longer holding any misplaced aggression toward him. "But Josh is the one who found the taxi and the virus. He deserves the credit."

"I'll be sure to thank him as well." Exhausted and relieved, Connor looked at the three sick deviants around him and felt like he could finally let his guard down for just a moment. "Until then, I think I'd like to rest."

The crazy day finally came to an end, and as the evening gave way to night everything in the city finally calmed down. Pulling the Oldsmobile into the driveway beside the house Hank put the car in park and gave Connor an unsteady glance from where he sat. Even though the deviant had been technically cleared and showed no further ill sign of the virus effecting his systems, Connor was still a little pale, and he looked incredibly tired physically and even emotionally. Knowing that Connor would most likely go into rest mode as soon as he was inside the house, Hank decided to speak to him inside the car before he passed out shortly after returning home for the rest of the day.

Hank's paternal instincts told him to speak with his son and watch over him for a while longer. Something had been bothering Connor all day, long before the virus even reached his systems.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay at a facility or one of the towers just in case you're still a little sick? It's not too late to go back."

"I'm okay, I promise." Connor reassured Hank in a tired voice. "I just want to get some sleep."

"Do you need any more Thirium or are you good?"

"Hank, I'm okay. My volume has been topped off to one-hundred percent."

"What about your headache?" Staring at Connor's glassy brown eyes Hank could see some residual pain in the soulful irises. "You look like you still don't feel well."

"I'm not in physical pain, I'm just tired."

The reply wasn't exactly convincing despite not being a lie.

"All right, come on." Opening his door Hank watched as Connor, wearing only his white dress shirt and jeans as his blazer and tie were still abandoned in the backseat of the car from earlier, did the same to his own door. "Shower off and go get some sleep. I'll check on you in the morning."

"That won't be necessary. I'm fine."

"Son, you know how you said earlier that you won't stop worrying about me and my health?" Recapping their earlier conversation as he walked up the front walk to get to the locked front door. "The feeling's mutual. Deal with it."

"...I guess I should also thank you."

"For what?" Hank asked as he turned the key in the lock of the door and pushed it open. "It's not the first time I've taken care of you after you've gotten sick or something."

"No, but you didn't have to accompany me on my cases today." Connor explained as Sumo circled around the two detectives once before trotting into the kitchen to be let outside through the backdoor. "If you hadn't been there when I became ill, I can't be certain that I would've been taken to New Jericho or even made it to a facility that would've known how to treat me. I'm glad you were there to help me."

"You don't have to thank me, kid." The senior detective reaffirmed as he stepped into the kitchen and turned to look at the deviant following after him. Opening the door Hank let Sumo outside and kept his eyes on Connor. "You never have to thank me."

"I want to. And I want to thank you for all of the other times you were kind to me."

"Connor," sensing the heavy emotions in Connor's voice and crushing his heart, Hank immediately wanted to know what was upsetting him. "are you really okay?"

"You took me in as your own," Connor seemed to be on the verge of an emotional breakdown as he spoke in an exhausted tone. "you've guided me through every confusing step of my deviancy, you've taken care of me every time I've been injured or ill, and you've never asked for anything in return. I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate you and your generosity."

"Connor, what's-" Hank was cut off mid sentence as Connor suddenly put his hand to his face and began to silently weep into his palm. "Shit, kid, what the hell is bothering you so much?"

"...I've come so far," Connor managed to clearly state as he forced himself to stop crying for a moment. "but it feels like nothing has changed. Everything is still a fight, and I don't want to fight anymore. Why do I have to fight for equality and to be happy all the time?"

"Hey, easy." Approaching Connor Hank put his hand on the deviant's trembling shoulder and was immediately rewarded with a full hug from Connor. Wrapping his arms around Connor to reciprocate the hug and hold him tight Hank realized what was going on. "Man, you're stressed out."

"I don't like this f-feeling." The deviant admitted in a shaking voice. "It feels like I'm trapped. Like I'm b-being smothered and suffocated, and I can't breathe!"

"It's all right. Just take a moment and try to relax."

"I can't! Everything is-"

"Stop. Thinking." Hank stated firmly as he tightened his arms around Connor and just held him for a moment. "You need a break from all of this. You're right, you've come a very long way since I first met you, and you've experienced so much personal tragedy and loss in such a short amount of time. It's a miracle you haven't broken down already."

"...Broken?"

"Not literally, kid. I'm talking about your emotional fortitude."

"Why does it have to be so difficult to have emotions? I can't go back to being a machine, I've experienced too much to simply shut out emotions now. I don't like feeling so limited, but I don't like feeling so exposed either."

"There's more to this than just being overwhelmed with emotion. You've been pretty depressed this past week and don't think I haven't noticed you moping around. What's wrong?"

"It feels like everything is wrong. I just want to be a good person and help others. But whenever I try to take a step forward and reach out, I encounter some kind of barricade that holds me back." Connor admitted in a trembling voice. "I'm not living if I can't grow as a person and experience new things. It's like I've just stopped... growing."

"Oh, I get it. And I know you're tired of hearing this, but you have to be patient. No matter how much influence you have or how hard you work you can't just snap your fingers and expect the entire world to right all of its wrongs overnight. Do you understand?"

Wiping his hand over his eyes Connor took in a deep breath and finally let go of Hank and released his hug. "I'm sor-"

"No! Don't apologize for feeling what you're feeling. And stop apologizing so much anyway." Hank urged as he gave his son a confident look. "You're allowed to feel, and you're allowed to make mistakes. They're both a natural part of life. It's the same with disappointment."

"I don't like feeling stressed out. How do I change it?"

"Normally, a vacation does the trick." Hank replied smoothly as he motioned for Connor to walk down the hallway and out of the kitchen. "Even just a weekend away from work and all the bullshit that sticks to it can ease your mind."

"A weekend away from the city. Like to the cabin?"

"Exactly. We talked about it earlier and I think now more than ever a weekend away from the city is what you need."

Too tired to resist Connor let Hank guide him toward the bathroom where he promptly slipped off his shoes and then leaned heavily against the sink atop his palms.

"Do I have to go to the cabin alone?"

"No, you don't have to go alone."

A quick glance up at the mirror and to his still somewhat pale face being reflected back at him made Connor uncomfortably aware of just how tired and stressed out he actually looked. He looked so human and he hated it.

"Then I think I'd like to go to the cabin."

"That's fine by me." Hank gently pushed Connor away from the sink and over to the bathtub so he'd stop obsessing so much for a moment over things he couldn't control. "Right now, I need you to shower off and then get some sleep. Got it?"

"Yes. I got it."

There was that less formal diction again. A sure sign of the deviant's high stress.

"Good." Hank stepped back through the door and closed to it give Connor some privacy. "Enjoy your shower and try to relax."

"I will, dad." Looking as tired as he felt Connor made the weary promise as the door softly clicked shut behind Hank. "Thanks."

Once alone Connor turned on the water in the shower and adjusted the temperature until it was comfortable - warm but not hot. As he removed his sweaty clothes Connor stepped into the shower, pressed his palm up against the yellow tile walls for support, and pressed his free hand over his tired eyes. The stress of the day had reached its peak and Connor found himself silently weeping in emotional distress.

"...Fuck. I can't figure anything out anymore."

He swore quietly to himself as he felt his heavy heart thundering in his chest with emotional despair. The deviant's tears fell and blended in with the water swirling down the drain at his feet.

"Why is humanity so unfair?"

-next chapter-

Author's Note: Heavily inspired by the episode 'Virus' from the old TV show 'Emergency!'