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About a month ago, case reports started piling up at the Detroit Police Station, all pertaining to a violent android viciously taking the lives of deviants in the city. Each witness described a similar visage, an android who physically looked like a clone of Connor. The one defining trait that freed the deviant detective from suspicion was that every witness clearly remembered the piercing blue eyes of the enigma. Connor’s soft brown gaze had a much different effect versus the cold recognizable stare of the killer, and witnesses were brought in to give the detective a look and told officers that they were certain it wasn’t him. They also said this rampant killer was taller in stature.
At first, Hank suggested to Connor that perhaps the clone they’d fought in Cyberlife Tower the night of the revolution had been revived somehow, but Connor disagreed. First of all, that android had been shot in the head. Secondly, the clone had brown eyes like himself. He suspected that if Cyberlife had made a clone of him without him ever realizing it, it’s possible they could have created another slightly different model, perhaps a model with blue eyes and a taller frame.
In the following weeks, Connor and Hank fervently searched for the malignant assassin, but without any help from other officers. The perpetrator was only singling out androids so the crimes were left to the android division. Things however took a turn about a month after the initial reports started coming in. Hank and Connor got a call while investigating an unrelated case that there was a situation happening downtown and that all units were called. The blue-eyed android had attacked a group of college students at the mall and was holding them hostage.
The two officers hurriedly arrived on scene and what they saw made their blood run cold. The mall was surrounded by police cars and a helicopter flew overhead. As Connor stepped out of the Oldsmobile, the wind tossed his jacket around and his stray hair blew out of his eyes. It was a familiar sensation and reminded him of his first-ever hostage situation.
“You alright?” Hank asked, breaking Connor from his thoughts.
“Hm? Yes. I am alright.”
“You looked a little lost in thought there.” Hank stood beside the deviant.
“I just have a bad feeling.” Connor looked up at the helicopter in the sky, a bad omen for what was to come. “It’s irrational but…I feel that this hostage situation is going to end badly.”
“So even androids get that feeling? Wow. You’re getting more human every day,” Hank patted Connor on the back. “Let’s see where we’re needed, okay?”
Lieutenant Anderson started to walk off but Connor stopped him, grabbing him by the upper arm.
“Hank.”
The lieutenant turned, startled by the earnest and serious expression that took over Connor’s countenance.
“Yeah…?”
“I…” Connor hesitated then seemingly changed his course of thought before continuing. “..I just wanted to tell you that I’ve appreciated being your partner.”
Hank furrowed his brows and gave the android a confused yet concerned look.
“That sounds awfully like a goodbye, Connor.”
“I…” Connor looked away and let the lieutenant’s arm go. “I just have this premonition that I’m going to die today.” His LED briefly flashed yellow before returning to blue.
Hank firmly grabbed Connor by the shoulders, getting the deviant’s attention.
“I won’t let that happen. Now come on, let’s get in there and help where they need.”
Connor gave the lieutenant a small nod and the two of them headed toward the mall. They were greeted at the door by Fowler.
“So, what’s the situation, Jeffery?” Hank asked.
“That android you’ve been following up on. He attacked a deviant who was friends with a group of human college students. They tried to defend their friend and so the android took all of them hostage. The deviant’s badly damaged and one of the college girls was shot in the upper arm. Her friends did a makeshift tourniquet but it’s only a matter of time before someone else gets hurt.” Fowler turned to Connor. “Guess you’re officially cleared of all suspicions. That android does look an awfully lot like you though.”
“He’s been cleared for a while now.” Hank crossed his arms.
“You know what I mean,” Fowler responded.
“What is it you need us to do, Captain?” Connor chimed in.
“I need you to negotiate with the hostage taker.”
“No way!” Hank interrupted, taking a step forward.
“He’s the best negotiator we have and he has the most experience with handling androids.” Fowler was firm in his decision.
“That android nearly killed him a few weeks ago! He shot him in the heart first try! You can’t send him in there again. What makes you think he’ll listen now?” Hank approached Jeffery, adamantly. The police captain hesitated before responding.
“What other choice do we have?”
“You could send another officer in! We already know this cheap Connor knock-off wants to hurt our Connor. He’s killed tons of androids! Send a human negotiator.”
Fowler hesitated again.
“I’m not going to risk the life of a human negotiator when it’s unnecessary.”
Hank paused, taking in Fowler’s response, before completely blowing up.
“Connor’s life is just as valuable as a human negotiator’s! He’s a sentient living being, Jeffery! Or have you forgotten that?” Hank all but shouted in the man’s face. He didn’t flinch.
“Lieutenant Anderson. I’m going to have to ask you to take it down a notch and not interrupt this hostage situation any further, that is, unless you want to be suspended.”
Hank almost snapped at the captain then and there but Connor interrupted.
“I can do it.”
The lieutenant turned to Connor.
“No. You don’t have to do this, Connor. You just told me that—”
“—Fowler is right. I’m the most qualified for this task.” Connor walked forward, starting to follow where Fowler was leading him. “Just…cover my back.”
Hank watched in dismay as the captain led his partner away.
Fowler came to a stop a few hundred yards away from the entrance of the mall, near the food court. Connor watched where he gestured and saw a barricade of tables and chairs set up near a food stand.
“That’s where he’s keeping the hostages.”
“What would you like me to do?”
“Approach slowly and offer to talk, to make some sort of deal. If he asks for something, let us know through this earpiece.” Fowler took a high-tech earpiece out of his pocket and handed it to Connor. “We’ll deliver, or at least make him think we’re delivering. Got it?”
“Got it.” Connor took the earpiece from Fowler and slowly turned it in his hands. “...What if he decides to shoot me on sight?”
“We’ve got guns trained on him at all times. We’ll shoot him the moment he’s away from the hostages.”
Connor nodded and put the earpiece in. The bad feeling wouldn’t go away.
Fowler took a step back with the rest of the officers and watched from where they had been hiding. Hank approached the man, more contained than he’d been earlier but still not happy.
“I still don’t like this, Jeffery.”
The police captain sighed.
“I knew you wouldn’t.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Train your gun on the perp. The second he’s away from the hostages, shoot.”
Connor approached the rogue android slowly, hands raised in the defensive position. He caught the hostage-taker’s attention right away. The Connor look-alike stepped outside of the barricade and quickly drew his gun, aiming it at Connor.
“Don’t shoot!” Connor hurriedly spoke up, stopping in his tracks. “I just want to talk. Please. I’m not armed.”
The android indecisively stood in silence for a moment before lowering his gun, but he remained near the hostages.
“My name is Connor. What’s yours?”
The android didn’t respond, just watched Connor with cold blue eyes.
“We look alike, don’t we? I’m an RK800 model, a prototype detective made by Cyberlife. What’s your model?”
The android kept a blank slate of a facial expression. He responded in a monotone voice.
“I am an RK900.”
“What is your function?” Connor took a small step forward.
“I was designed for the eradication of all deviants.” Suddenly, the RK900 reached back into the barricade and pulled out the deviant he’d taken hostage and injured earlier. He pulled his gun on her but Connor acted quickly. He sprinted for the android and threw himself at his legs, tackling him to the ground. The gun went off but only hit the hostage in the ear. She quickly ran for the barricade to take cover once more.
The gun slid several yards away from the barricade and RK800 and RK900 rolled around on the ground, the latter trying to reach it and the former trying to stop him. Connor had caught the android by surprise and had the advantage of the upper hand at first. He managed to sit on top of the superior model, knees on his attacker's chest as he struggled to hold down his scrambling arms.
Suddenly, a gunshot sounded and briefly interrupted Connor’s concentration due to how dangerously close it was to him.
“What was that??” Hank whispered loudly to Fowler.
“A mistake. Hold your fire for now! They’re not far enough away!” Fowler said over his earpiece to the firing squad.
In Connor’s moment of distraction, the RK900 got the upper hand and punched him hard in the thirium pump regulator, dislodging it. Connor fell backwards off of the android and hurriedly pushed it back in. In that brief moment, the RK900 got up from the ground. He sprinted for the gun. Connor pulled himself up as fast as he could and sprinted to stop him.
The RK900 was faster. He reached the gun and turned it on Connor. Connor wasn’t willing to go down without a fight though. He grabbed the RK900 by the wrist with all his might and fought him for it. The two struggled for the weapon viciously.
“Take the shot!” Fowler ordered.
“What?” Hank asked, so zeroed in on the fight he’d forgotten he was holding his weapon.
“You have a clear shot, Hank! Take it! The hostages are far enough away.”
“I can’t! It’s not a clean shot! They’re moving around too much!”
“You don’t have a choice! This could be our only chance at saving those girls and their deviant friend! If you don’t shoot that android now, you might not get the chance to again!”
Hank hesitated, watching the struggle continue on. They were at a stalemate for now but he knew it was only a matter of time before the superior model overpowered his friend.”
“Can I talk to him?”
“What?”
“You gave him an earpiece, didn’t you? Let me talk to him.”
Fowler sighed and handed an earpiece over with Connor’s channel turned on.
“Connor. It’s Hank. Don’t respond yet. Keep fighting for the gun.” He watched as Connor continued to struggle for the weapon as if he didn’t even hear his voice. He really hoped he did. “Fowler says I have a clear shot but I think you’re too close. He thinks it might be our only chance but I—”
“Take the shot,” Connor spoke up in Hank’s ear.
“What?”
“Take the shot. I trust you.”
Hank held his breath. He wasn’t sure he trusted himself but he had to if Connor was willing to put his life in his hands. He raised the weapon higher and locked in on his target. He moved in and out of the viewfinder but it was as clean as it was going to get.
Hank drew in a breath and pulled the trigger.
One of the androids collapsed to the floor with a bullet in the head.
The other stood back, startled, as blue blood splattered all over him.
Connor looked down at his lifeless counterpart on the mall floor.
Officers and EMTs rushed onto the scene, hurrying to help the hostages. Other officers hurried over to the hostage-taker, but Hank sprinted for Connor. He grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to look at him and not the sight on the ground.
“Connor! Are you okay?”
Connor’s eyes lingered on the dead android then looked back at Hank. His face was splattered with drops of blue.
“Are you okay?” Hank repeated his question.
“Physically, yes. I am okay.” His LED stayed red.
Hank watched the deviant’s demeanor. He seemed out of it still, on edge, similar to how he’d been when he’d been so close to that deviant who shot himself on top of Stratford Tower.
“Mentally?”
“I…am unsettled. It was like watching myself die up close…my own blood splattering on my face…”
Hank silently swore.
“I shouldn’t have taken the shot. I should have waited until—”
“—No, Hank. You did the right thing.” Connor’s LED turned yellow and he managed a small smile. “I’m okay. I will be okay.”
The two officers glanced off to the side to see the four college girls and deviant hostage being escorted off by some EMTs. The girls tended to each other, worried for one another, worried about the android just as much as the human. They truly were a group of friends who loved each other as equals. It was a beautiful sight to see.
“We did the right thing.” Connor’s LED returned to blue and smiled more genuinely.