After enduring a long and chaotic shift Hank and Connor set off for home and were more than ready to get away from commotion of the city and retreat to the sanctuary of the house. It was a Friday night, which of course meant the crazies of the city were acting a little crazier than usual, and that their drive wouldn't be as quiet as they'd like. The two detectives were fairly used to the sudden surge in unruly behavior, but that didn't mean they looked forward to Friday nights whether they were on the clock or not. However, the way their shifts perfectly matched up meant they could carpool to work and wouldn't be quite as bored during the morning and night drives, which made the odd day more bearable.

Passing through the quiet neighborhood with little to no sign of people in the area, Hank glanced out his side window to observe the neighborhood. Everything seemed to be calm, but Hank knew better than to take anything at face-value.

"Anything I should be worried about?" Hank asked as he pulled the Oldsmobile to a gentle stop under the red traffic light at the intersection. "Any drunks or parties getting out of control?"

Connor closed his soulful brown eyes briefly and received an update from the precinct. "Negative. There hasn't been any disturbances reported since our leave of the precinct."

There was a soft 'hum' from Hank as he pulled through the green light and made a turn onto the next block. "Call me crazy, but I have a bad feeling that something is going to happen before we make it home."

"Detective's intuition?" The deviant asked with a slight smirk to his face as he looked through the windshield toward the dark street ahead of him. "Or a paternal instinct?"

"Something like that."

"For what it's worth, I don't think you're crazy."

"At least not yet, right?"

"Right. There's a disturbingly high statistic that states one is more likely to endure a type of accident or encounter an incident the closer one is in proximity to their home."

"Well, hopefully we can just-" A fist fight bursting through the door of 'Jimmy's Bar' caught Hank's words in his throat. Two men, covered in fresh blood and brandishing broken brown glass beer bottles as weapons, tumbled into the gutter and attempted to cut into one another relentlessly. "Ah, fuck!"

"I've already called it in." Connor stated as Hank pulled the car to the side of the street and threw it into park. "I'll break it up."

"Be careful, those drunk assholes are already out for blood."

Approaching the scene of the fight tentatively Connor grabbed on to the first man's wrist and pulled the broken bottle from his hand. Pulling him away from the downed second man Connor pinned the first drunk up against the wall to keep him restrained. His forearm was pressed to the man's throat to keep the enraged drunken man from trying to resume the fight.

The second man, who had been knocked to the gutter, gracelessly scrambled to his feet and made a rush for Connor with his weapon still in hand only to have Connor easily grab onto his shirt collar and hold him out at arm's length with his free hand. With both men separated from one another Connor effectively broke up the fight without even blinking.

"You got 'em?" Hank asked coolly as he walked up to the two belligerent drunk men who were vainly thrashing about in Connor's grip. "They seem pretty annoying to deal with."

"It's okay. They won't be a problem."

"Good job." Taking the cuffs from the back of his belt Hank cuffed the second man being held out by Connor's arm by securing one cuff around the man's wrist and the other cuff around a nearby metal lamp post to keep him in place until back-up arrived. "One down."

Dropping his forearm from the first man's throat Connor took his own pair of cuffs from the back of his belt and mirrored Hank's actions by cuffing the man to a second lamp post just a few yards away from the first man. "One to go."

"Not bad for a bar fight." Rubbing his hand over the back of his neck Hank stepped toward the bar's front door. "C'mon, let's go inside and ask Jimmy what happened."

"What about them?"

The first man suddenly bent over and began to vomit up the stale beer nuts and the cheap vodka he had been drinking all evening and made pathetic noises in protest. Letting out a groan of pain the man then fell to his butt on the cold sidewalk next to his puddle of shameful puke and began snoring loudly after promptly passing out.

In response to the first man's bout of sickness, the second man threw up as well and then wrapped both arms around the lamp post to keep himself from falling down or laying in either of the two vomit puddles.

"...Nevermind." The deviant realized as he ran a biometric scan over the two men he found their blood alcohol level to be too high to be a physical nuisance, but not so high that they required immediate medical intervention. "They won't be a problem."

Hank pushed open the door to the bar and was greeted by the sight of Jimmy sweeping up some broken glass on the floor while two other patrons babysat a third drunk guy seemingly passed out on the floor and slumped against the far wall. The third man was holding a bowl of pretzels in his hands as he dozed on the bar floor.

As soon as the senior detective entered the bar Jimmy stopped sweeping and gave Hank a relatively relieved look. "Hey, Hank. Good timing. Nice haircut."

"Hey, Jimmy." Running his right hand over his short hair Hank let out a tired sigh. "What happened?"

"Well," leaning casually against the broom propped up on the floor at his feet he waved over to the third drunk man in the corner. "Greg over there got riled up about androids and a weird conspiracy about all androids being spies for the government. When he started spoutin' off with his weird-ass theory his 'friends' out there, Bill and Fred, got involved and tried to start a 'revolution' of their own."

The drunken shenanigans made Hank's shoulders slump with disappointment. "You're kidding."

"Wish I was."

"How'd the fight start?"

"Greg decided that he'd lead his revolution down the street and get some attention for his cause, but Bill wanted to lead since he lost his job to an android, and then Fred decided that he should be the one to lead because he's the tallest of the three. And a few choice words were thrown around leading into a 'knife fight' with perfectly good beer bottles being shattered all over the place and staining my floor."

Hank was trying to not laugh at the absurdity of the entire situation while Connor proceeded to run a scan over the ruined bar to collect evidence.

There were three fresh and distinct blood types on the floor which proved that only the three men were involved in the fight. All three suspects have been identified and two had already been arrested outside while the third was still subdued on the floor waiting to be taken care of. Crouching down in front of the unconscious man Connor ran another biometric scan and noted that the man's blood alcohol level was also elevated but he wasn't in danger of alcohol poisoning. A fresh cut over the man's forehead oozed blood quickly and completely covered his face in red.

As Connor began his analysis the other two patrons took their leave of the bar to head for home now that the police had arrived. "Sir?" Connor called to the man to try to get his attention. "Sir, can you hear me?"

The drunken man's bloodshot eyes opened slowly, his breath reeking of alcohol as he let out a deep cough and glared angrily at Connor. "...Who da' fuck are you?"

"My name is Connor. I work the Detroit Police Department."

"A fuckin' cop?!"

"Yes. But I'm-"

The man suddenly bolted forward from the ground, both hands grabbing onto the lapels of Connor's gray blazer in a nearly unbreakable grip within seconds. Hoisting the lightweight deviant up into the air the man charged toward the bar and slammed Connor down over the glass, vodka and bourbon covered surface with a strong impact on his back. Dragging Connor over the surface of the bar the man yelled drunken slurs about hating cops, as well as androids, before he managed to throw Connor entirely through the plate glass window at the front of the bar and out onto the cold street.

"Connor?!" Hank shouted at the sight of the deviant being manhandled but couldn't do anything to stop it as Connor went through the dirty glass window. Pulling his gun from the holster on his right hip Hank pointed it at the offending man and ordered him to the ground. "You're under arrest for assaulting a police officer! Get on the ground, NOW, you dumb-fuck..."

The sight of the gun was surprisingly sobering for the drunk man and he quickly obeyed. Raising his hands into the air the man knelt down on the ground in a small pile of broken glass and became refreshingly silent in the aftermath of the carnage he had created. "...S-Sorry?"

"Yeah, you're gonna' be! Piece of shit attacked a cop and ruined a quiet night for everyone."

The two patrons who had previously exited the bar after the two detectives arrived were now standing on the sidewalk in absolute shock as Connor unexpectedly went flying through the thick glass window toward them. The deviant detective landed very hard on the sidewalk on his back and had the wind knocked out of him as his body crashed on to the unforgiving concrete outside. Standing around him in a protective manner, the two good Samaritans made sure no one messed with the downed officer as Connor fought to recompose himself and regain his bearings after being used as a makeshift bar-rag by the drunken fool.

On the sidewalk Connor was laying on his back and covered in his own blue blood and shards of glass from the shattered window. Thirium was leaking from the numerous scratches, cuts and deep lacerations that marred his face, neck, arms, back, torso and legs. He hadn't suffered any breaks to his limbs or any internal damage to his biocomponents, but Connor was still stunned and waiting for his system to recalibrate after being assaulted.

As the sapphire puddle blossomed beneath his body Connor felt a strong pair of hands grab onto his shoulders and try to hold him steady.

"Lieutenant!" Chris was supporting Connor upright while Jack knelt beside him. "Ah, man, what happened?"

"...A drunk patron inside the bar dislikes police officers." Connor replied curtly as he looked about and saw the other responding officers hovering protectively over him. "And I got too close to him."

"How bad are you hurt?"

"A few Thirium lines have been compromised," the deviant detective confirmed as he ran a self diagnostic over his systems. "but nothing vital has been damaged."

"Do you need us to do anything for you?"

"No. I will go to a facility myself once Hank rejoins me. I'll be all right."

"Yeah, okay." Chris motioned for the two patrons, who were also witnesses, to stay put for a moment. "C'mon, Jack. We better help the Captain so he doesn't have to file an incident report against himself."

"Chris." Connor's hand reached up and grabbed onto the Sergeant's forearm in a firm grip. "The suspect also dislikes androids. You go inside and assist Hank," looking up at the blond haired deviant still hovering over him Connor motioned to the other drunks still cuffed to the lamp posts. "Jack you stay out here and keep an eye on these two men and take witness statements. It'll prevent further incident."

"Very well, Lieutenant." Jack respectfully obliged and obeyed the order. "I will do that."

Chris patted Connor's shoulder twice before he got up from the sidewalk and entered the bar to help Hank. "Take it easy."

Laying back against the cool surface of the sidewalk beneath him Connor took in deep slow breaths to ease the burning ache spread over his entire body as he continued to bleed. A majority of the deeper lacerations had small fragments of glass that would require careful removal, and it was these wounds that ached the most severely.

The door to the bar opened wide and Hank rushed through to kneel down beside Connor. "Ah, kid." The sight of the Thirium and glass made Hank's brow knit with worry. "How bad is it?"

"Not critical, but it is painful."

"Can you stand?"

"Yes, I can move."

"Give me your hand." The senior detective took a firm grip of Connor's hand and slowly pulled the deviant up as he himself stood upright. Once the deviant was on his feet Hank ran his hands over Connor's torn up blazer to brush as many glass fragments away as he could. "Man, let's get you patched up."

"I'd like that very much." The stinging of the glass shards made Connor's body shudder with pain. "It'll be impossible for my wounds to heal properly until the glass has been extracted."

Putting his hand on Connor's shoulder where there was no blood or wounds, Hank guided the deviant over the sidewalk and back to the car parked on the opposite side of the street. "Can you sit up front or should you lay down in the back?"

"I'll be okay in the front seat."

"Okay." Opening the passenger side door of the car Hank helped the deviant to side down and didn't dare shut the door until he was certain Connor was really going to be okay. As soon as the deviant nodded in approval Hank closed the door and walked over the driver's side to sit down. "That asshole is going to spend a few years behind bars for assaulting a police officer." Hank stated calmly as he turned the key in the ignition and turned over the engine. "Hopefully he'll sober up and stay sober by the time he's eligible for parole."

"I hope he gets the help he needs." Lifting up his hands Connor stared at the blue smears that marred his artificial skin and ran down his palms and his arms. He was shaking a little where he sat and his eyes were glassy. "He has an explosive temper and an addiction personality. That can be a lethal combination."

"You sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I'm just trying to process being thrown through a window."

Laughing a little Hank shrugged his shoulders with good humor. "You know, you do make a pretty good bar rag."

"I very much prefer being a clean cop over a dirty rag."

Giving the deviant a shake of his head Hank continued on down the street to the nearest facility to get Connor cleaned up. "I can't say that I blame ya', son."

Having his tattered clothing removed very carefully with some assistance Connor slowly laid down flat over the exam table as the on call technician at the Delta Facility poured orange incrassation compound over his numerous bleeding wounds. The cleansing liquid stung a little, but it aided the deviant's self healing program allowing the smaller cuts to repair themselves almost instantly. The larger cuts would effectively repair themselves at a slower rate, meanwhile the deeper lacerations had the numerous glass fragments washed out with sterile saline solution as the incrassation compound set to work in aiding Connor's self healing program.

The technician, a young man fresh out of college and earning his keep as a promising intern, was in charge of Connor's care that night. Dr. John Urban was as astute as any other more experienced technician and followed basic treatment protocol to the letter.

"The good news is you won't need stitches to keep your artificial skin protected." Dr. Urban stated confidently as he hovered over Connor. "But you will need to apply gauze over the deeper lacerations until your self healing program repairs the damage. I also recommend seeing your own personal technician for a follow-up exam within the next forty-eight hours, but that's still entirely up to you."

"I understand."

"I'll give you the necessary bandages and extra Thirium before you go." Opening the large glass supply cabinet Dr. Urban gave Connor a kind smile as his hazel eyes lit up with enthusiasm and he swept his dark hair back in a more professional manner. "You will need to shower off the residual blue blood and ensure that all the glass particles are flushed from the wounds."

"I will do so."

Hank had briefly gone home to get Connor some new clothes and returned in time to take the deviant back home for the night. Tossing the clean black t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans over to the deviant Hank watched as Connor painfully slipped the garments on over his head then his legs to get dressed again.

"Ready to go home, son?"

"Yes, I'm ready." Standing up from the exam table slowly Connor grabbed his boots and managed to slip them back over his feet before walking out of the treatment room. "I'll be fine in a few hours."

"I'm just glad that glass didn't cut into you anywhere vital."

"As am I. That was very fortunate."

"I'll tell you one thing, kid." Hank grabbed onto Connor's shoulder and patted once. "Shit like that makes really grateful that you sobered my ass up when you did."

"I sobered you up for you own health." Connor reminded him casually as they exited the treatment room and were given extra bandages and bottles of Thirium from Dr. Urban. Taking the offered items in his hands the deviant gave Hank a nod of respect as they walked through the waiting room together. "Not taking you to the emergency room because of a bar fight or alcohol poisoning is just a perk."

"Thanks all the same."

"You're welcome." Connor was fussing with the white bandages over his hands awkwardly as he walked. "I'll shower off and redress my wounds once we're home. I'll easily be able to replenish my lost Thirium without needing technical assistance."

"Good. Now let's just hope those three drunk idiots don't try to do anything else while they're drying out in the drunk tank tonight."

"Jimmy is pressing charges against the three men, yes?"

"Yeah. He's had enough of the bigoted clientele that's been showing up at his bar as of late since he used to have that 'no androids' allowed sticker on his door. Hopefully this will keep them at bay and keep his bar in one piece."

"If it were only that easy to solve all our problems."

Hank gave the deviant a sympathetic glance as they headed out into the parking lot to return to the car. "Everything will work out, son. I know it."

"Detective's intuition again? Or is this one simply a 'good feeling'?"

"More like a fleeting faith in humanity and deviants. It's about time that type of feeling returned to this damn city."

"...You're right. It should." Connor didn't want to remain pessimistic toward the future and decided to let the sense of resentment toward the bigoted humans who attacked him go. They had all been arrested and would be charged for their crimes, there was no reason to dwell on something so negative. "It seems like there's fewer deviant-related hate crimes happening in the city as a whole. Maybe things really are starting to change for the better."

"They are changing, kid. You just need to keep your chin up and keep aiming for the stars in an otherwise dark world surrounding you."

Smiling appreciatively toward the hopeful comment Connor and Hank walked side by side and made their way back to the car sitting idle in the parking lot. It wasn't an atypical Friday night for the two detectives, but considering how tragic the events could've become they were willing to call the night a respectable win and just head for home.

-next chapter-