Warning: Not sure if there will be spoilers but just in case: mild Spoilers from the good ending.

Disclaimer: I don't own DBH or its characters.

Summary: In the wake of android liberation, Hank and Connor investigate an extremist serial killer who targets androids for their biocomponents. Meanwhile, Internal Affairs seeks to have Connor removed from the DPD pending a negative performance evaluation. Things go from bad to worse when the killer sets his sights on Connor. Will Hank's and Connor's partnership with be strong enough to weather through their toughest challenge or will they be separated… permanently?

First Victim

MAY 20TH, 2039

PM 11:25:05

Connor's Objective: Find Lt. Anderson

Connor crossed the virtual police barrier and glanced up at the house before him; a single story shack build in the early two-thousands. And, according to the android's assessment, the house was in a state of dilapidation that no amount of repair could overcome. The yard was fairing no better; with unruly weeds snaking across the walkway like veins.

"Hey, Connor." Chris greeted, his voice jovial with the undertones of friendship.

"Good Evening, Officer Miller." Conner regarded Chris warmly.

"Hank's waiting for you inside, but before you head inside, there's something you should know…"Chris trailed off when he spotted Hank in the entranceway.

"Connor." Hank said sharply, "Get your ass in here already." Hank ordered and disappeared inside. "Chris, and you complain that I'm late for work." he muttered.

"Ah, you better go." Chris said allowing Connor to take a few more steps toward the door before adding, "I want you to know that I'll do whatever I can to help you guys." Chris's cryptic warning was cut off when a crime scene investigator called for his attention.

Connor gave a small shrug and entered the house. He headed toward the crime scene but was forced to a stop when Hank placed a hand on his chest, sending him back a few steps. Connor's LED flashed red for a second, he leveled a questioning glance at Hank. "You're an hour late." Hank said, "Something wrong with your computer brain or something?" Connor's LED flashed yellow before melting into its neutral blue.

"I understand your concern, Lieutenant." Connor said. "But, there is nothing wrong with my computer brain, as you put it. My tardiness can be attributed to my decision to walk rather than take a cab."

"Why the fuck did you decide to walk when your apartment is twenty miles away?" Hank's face crinkled with annoyance.

"I calculated the route and compared it to the time it would take a cab to reach my apartment and drive me to the scene, I found that walking saved me two minutes." Conner said.

Hank was about to say something else until they were interrupted by a Chloe model android. She wore a black, well fitted, business suit that magnified her beauty, which was quickly undercut by the sour look on her face. "RK800. It's about time you showed up for work."

"Hello, my name is Connor, I'm the android working for the DPD." Conner offered Chloe a hand, which she ignored.

"For an android who's supposed to be the most advanced of our kind, you sure don't believe in arriving to work on time." She huffed, "I'll make a note of it on your evaluation."

"Whoa! Hey, wait a minute. What evaluation?" Hank asked, subtly shoving Conner away from Chloe's line of fire. "Just who the hell are you?"

Chloe turned her head toward Hank and retrieved a police badge from her pocket, it was obvious that she spent a great deal of time polishing it like some sort of trophy. "Chloe, Internal Affairs." She introduced, practically shoving her badge in Hank's face.

Hank pressed his lips into a thin line then placed two fingers against Chloe's wrist, pushing her hand out of his face. "Get the fuck out of here. Internal Affairs?"

Chloe tucked her badge away in favor of retrieving a small tablet on which she took notes. "Partner seems to have a high proclivity toward rage, suggest an anger management course to Captain Fowler." Hank's eyebrow twitched, his tolerance for this android was fading quickly.

"I need a beer." Hank mumbled under his breath.

"To answer your question, Lieutenant, I have been sent here, by my department to investigate Connor." She said, "Given the aftermath of the revolution, I've been assigned the special task of weeding out those androids who are unsuited for police work." She said. "So far, five officers have been placed on permanent leave."

"What?" Now Hank was angry, he stepped into Chloe's personal space, her LED turning Red for a split second. "Well, investigate someone else, Connor's a great detective."

"That remains to be seen, Lieutenant." Chloe said, "With her efforts thwarted, the anomaly known as Amanda had the other RK800 models destroyed along with their specs. In short, not much is known about the Connor model, he could still be a danger to society."

"That's fucking gratitude for ya," Hank grunted, "and after all he did to help free your people."

"Make no mistake, while I appreciate my freedom, I take my job very seriously. And the fact-of-the-matter is, Connor disobeyed several direct orders and ultimately sided with high-profile criminals." She said.

"Yeah, well, where I come from, we don't persecute one of our own for doing the right thing even if it goes against the law." Hank spat. "Not everything his black and white."

"It's okay, lieutenant." Connor placed a reassuring hand on Hank's shoulder, "She's right." Connor said. "While, I don't regret my decision to become Deviant, I did technically fail my mission."

"What are you saying?" Hank couldn't believe his ears. He took a step back as if he'd been slapped. "You actually agree with her, are you fucking kidding me?"

"Don't misunderstand, Lieutenant. I am simply saying that IA's decision to investigate me isn't completely unwarranted." Connor said, his LED flashing to yellow as Chloe's relationship with him increased.

"I'm glad you agree, I will send you a schedule. You are to check in with me periodically." She said. "A warning, missing a meeting will have a negative effect on your evaluation so I expect you to show up," she said, "and on time." She pushed passed Connor and sauntered out of the house.

Hank's hands twitched, he'd work with Special Agent Perkins again if it meant getting rid of Internal Affairs. He shoved his hands in his pockets, forget the beer, he needed whiskey. "Well, At least this night can't get any worse."

"Well, well, well, looks like we've got a Cyberlife rivalry on our hands." Connor noted that Hank may have spoken too soon as Gavin strode toward them. "The first android verses the last android, wonder which one of you will come out on top. My money's on the hottie."

Connor chose to ignore that comment to which Gavin responded by leaning into Connor's personal space. Gavin jabbed a stiff finger into the android's chest. "I'm going to enjoy watching the Captain toss your ass out." Gavin said, ramming his shoulder against Connor's, for good measure, as he left the scene.

Hank steadied Connor with both hands and said. "Ignore him, we've got a crime scene to investigate."

"Right, of course." Connor said.

The pair of detectives crossed the threshold of the living room, the victim, a female android, was lying prone on the floor in the center of the room. Connor took the lead and ventured toward the victim, sinking down next to her when he was close enough. He leaned over the body and gently turned the victim's head to the side in order to get a look at her face. His LED slowly melted into red before fading back to blue.

The front of the android's skull was caved in. Cause of death, severe blunt force trauma to the front of the head? Connor studied the android's face. Android model number AX400. Registered name, Tina Jones. Connor shifted his gaze to Tina's torso and discovered that biocomponent #8451 had been removed. Cause of death, removal of Thirium Pump Regulator?

Connor shifted the subject of his analysis to the floor surrounding the victim. Through his mind palace, he could see traces of Thirium, the majority of which was concentrated around the Android's head. Two thick stark blue parallel lines were stamped perpendicular to the body. The killer knelt down next to the body after the murder.

Connor recreated the android's final moments and turned his attention toward his partner, "I know what happened." He stated. "The android was attacked from behind and forced to the ground thereafter, the culprit proceeded to slam the android's head into the ground a total of twenty times." Connor said.

"Christ." Hank breathed, glad that the victim's blue blood was no longer visible to his human eyes.

"Shortly after the android shut down, the culprit removed the android's Thirium Pump Regulator." Connor's LED Fluttered a stark red at the memory of losing his own Thirium Pump Regulator at Stratford Tower. "But I don't understand why the culprit would take such a thing if not to kill the android."

"The sick bastard, probably wanted a souvenir." Hank offered callously with a shrug of his shoulders. "Sometimes people don't have a logical reason for doing things."

"I don't understand." Connor said.

Hank shrugged again, a hum rumbling from the back of his throat. Learning that there didn't always have to be a reason behind human behavior was something Connor would have to do on his own. "Crime scene investigators couldn't turn up anything unusual in the rest of the house but given that you can see blood blue, you should scan the house, just in case."

"On it." Connor said, he'd already picked up on the killer's path. The trail of blue blood lead Connor into the deeper parts of the home, toward the master bedroom.

On his way, the android noticed a Century Magazine on an accent table. It was the Person of the Year issue, featuring: Markus, North, Simon and Josh on its cover. The caption read. They Are Alive—the faces behind the Android Liberation.

Connor continued his journey to the master bedroom. Inside, he saw a queen-sized bed, surrounded on either side by matching nightstands. To his left was a large wardrobe with traces of Thirium glowing like a beacon behind it. "Lieutenant." Connor called.

Hank entered the room quickly, never too far out of earshot, at least not since the events at Stratford Tower. "What is it, you find something?" Hank asked.

"There are traces of Thirium behind that closet." Connor pointed out, the pair of them crossing the room together to get a better look.

Hank butted his shoulder against the wardrobe but it wouldn't budge. He let out a grunt, "Damn thing must weigh three hundred pounds. It would take more than one person to move this." He commented.

"Unless…" Connor placed his hand just above Hank's and gave the wardrobe a simple nudge and it peeled away from the wall easily. "…that person is an android." Hank gave Connor a look that said, fuck off.

Then, Connor's face grew taunt as he took in the sight before him. "What is it?" Hank asked, "The wall looks blank to me, what do you see, Connor?" when Connor didn't answer right away, Hank felt a cold chill wash down his spine. "Connor." he said firmly.

"It's a symbol of some kind." Connor said finally, his LED returning to blue, "I'm not sure what it means."

"Ok, well, what's it look like? Hank asked.

Connor withdrew a memo tablet from his front right jacket pocket and used the stylus to draw out a perfect reproduction of what he saw. He started by drawing two perpendicular lines that crossed at a central point. At the top, above the vertical line, he wrote an N and at the bottom he wrote an S. To the right of the horizontal line he wrote the letter E—it looked more like an M that was turned on its side—

Hank was about to comment about how it looked like a compass until Connor wrote the letter J on the left side of the horizontal line. Then, Connor moved the stylus to the top right quadrant and wrote 8451 and two other numbers (each a combination of four integers), and did the same for the other three quadrants. Twelve numbers, three in each quadrant. "These numbers coincide with different biocomponents." Connor said.

"At first glance, this looks like a mathematical plane, but these numbers don't appear to be coordinates. And what do the letters represent?" Hank asked.

"That's a good question Lieutenant." Connor said, "I have no idea."

"I wouldn't worry about it, we'll figure it out." Hank clapped a hand against Connor's back, "at least we found another clue." He said. "And, more importantly, you didn't taste any of the evidence this time."

"As I've told you before, I am not tasting it, I am analyzing it through the receptors on my tongue in order to determine its composition."

"Sounds a lot like tasting to me." Hank said. "Come on, I'll give you a ride home." Hank paused for a moment; the idea of dropping Connor off at his crappy apartment gave the decorticated detective agita.

Situated in the underbelly of Detroit; Connor's apartment was a hotbed for criminal activity. "Listen, Connor, my house is a little big for one person…" Hank said, shifting this weight from one foot to the other.

"What are you suggesting Lieutenant?" Connor pressed; he knew full well what Hank was proposing but it was fun to watch his gruff-around-the-edges partner flounder from time to time.

"I have a spare room you can use… if you want." He grumbled then changed his tone when Connor's LED flashed yellow, "Now, don't read too much into it, Sumo just likes having you around, is all."

Connor's mouth twitched into a knowing smile, his eyebrows quirking ever so slightly. "Okay." Connor said, "For Sumo's sake. I do worry that the he gets too lonely without me." he teased.