Hank managed to get into the hotel after threatening to kick some poor officer's ass. Apparently, Markus had been nearby and overheard Hank's threats and decided to intervene before things could go any further south.

"Lieutenant Anderson?" he asked.

Hank whirled around to see the android standing a few feet away. Blue blood was splattered on his clothes, although he himself seemed to be fine. A few feet behind him, seated on a bench in the lobby was an android Hank was pretty sure named North.

"Markus!" Hank yelled, charging past the officer.

The officer made an attempt to stop him, but Markus waved him off. The officer rolled his eyes before walking away.

"Have you seen Connor anywhere?" Markus asked, worry creeping into his voice. "He's not with you, is he?"

Hank's heart dropped. "No. I was just coming here to see if you guys knew where he was."

Markus swore lowly, shaking his head. "No, we haven't seen him. The last time we saw him was shortly before the march started. We asked him if he wanted to march with us, but he declined."

North stood up and approached them. "We've got to go back out there and find him," she said. Her voice was strong, determined, but even Hank could see the fear that was in her eyes. He wasn't sure if it was fear for Connor, or if she was afraid to go back out there, but either way Hank didn't blame her.

"We can't," Markus said. It looked like it pained him to say it. "We need to stay here in case any of the other members of Jericho show up. They might need assistance, after all." He glanced down at himself, clearly focusing on the blue blood that stained his clothes.

Hank also stared at it. Makrus must have noticed him staring because he answered, "A woman next to me. Her leg was blown off. She didn't make it."

Hank nodded, not needing anymore of an explanation.

"There's got to be something we can do though, right? We can't just leave him out there," North said.

"I'm going out there to look for him," Hank said.

Both of the androids seemed startled by his words.

"Hank-" Markus started.

"No. I'm going out there. I should have already been out there with him anyways," he said. "You guys stay here, just in case he turns up. If he does, call me and let me know."

Both nodded, serious looks on their faces.

As Hank turned to leave he saw another member of Jericho, Simon, kneeling down next to a little android boy who was clearly missing his mother. The only words he could understand as he marched passed them were something about the strange man who had helped him and how he wanted to go home.

XXX

"Was it always part of your plan to blow yourself up?" Connor asked after a while. He'd finally managed to calm himself down to a level where he no longer felt like he might self destruct, although he was nowhere near back to normal.

"What?" the man asked. He seemed startled that Connor had even spoken again.

"You're injured. And still here. So was it always part of the plan to blow yourself up, too?"

"Fuck you," the man growled out. He adjusted his position, causing him to groan in pain. "I'm only still here because of you."

Connor raised his eyebrows. "Because of me? How do you figure that?"

"You chased me."

"You ran."

"Because I thought you were on to us!" the man exploded. "I recognized you, you know. You're that android who helps the police. Even thinks it's a detective." He blew out a huff of air, blowing a blonde tuft of hair out of his face. "I don't know how the hell you convinced the cops of that one though."

Connor internally rolled his eyes. "I was designed by CyberLife to be a detective. That is what I was literally programed to do. That's how I 'convinced' the police."

"Whatever."

Silence fell between the two of them again. No other noise or signs of life made their way in the alley, forcing Connor to wonder if people were even allowed to begin searching the area for survivors yet, or if they were still working on clearing it. If they waited too long, it was highly likely that the man would die and Connor would shut down.

Connor attempted to clear some of his error messages as he tried to force himself into a sitting position. His arms shook with the effort, both of them showing obvious signs of damage even without the scans he had received earlier.

Once he made it into a sitting position he was fully able to see the rest of his body, and instantly regretted it.

His uniform was shredded. Thirium leaked everywhere, staining all of his clothes blue, as well as the ground around him. His white shirt was completely blue, holes poking through where tiny pieces of shrapnel must have pierced him.

His system beeped, warnings popping up all over that so many things were wrong. He wasn't even sure where to begin even if he had all of the proper tools.

"What are you doing?" the man asked.

Connor turned towards him, taking in the damage to the man's stomach. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but he knew the man needed help. Even if the man was a horrible person, he knew that he couldn't let him die there. He needed to stand trial for the atrocity he had helped commit.

"We can't stay here," Connor said. His body was weak, shaking even as he climbed to his feet. "It's unlikely that help will reach us in time if we do. They've probably got the whole area blocked off just in case any other bombs are still around." He tried to scan the man again but was prevented. "Are there any more bombs around?"

The man stared at him for a long moment before shaking his head. "No. There were only two of them. They were supposed to go off at the front of the march and at the back of the march to prevent as many androids as possible from running."

Connor nodded. They must have been near the back one when it had went off. "Still, unless the police find your accomplices they won't know that. And even if they do find them, they might not believe them."

He swayed on his feet, error messages filling his vision again. He tried to recall a map of the area, to figure out where the police might be most likely to set up a central command where he could recieve help, but he couldn't do it. The blast must have damaged more of his systems than he was aware of.

Slowly, he focused on the systems that he could drain power from. He cut off his synthetic respiratory system, as its primary function was to comfort his human companions and he didn't much care for comforting the man near him. He already saw him as something not someone. It probably mattered very little whether or not he was breathing.

The next step was to pull back his synthetic flesh. He focused on the areas of his body that were still covered by his destroyed suit and allowed them to blend back to the white plastimetal that hid under his skin.

There were some androids who never wore their skin. Connor wasn't one of them.

Hank had told him once before that there was nothing to be ashamed of when it came to the white material that lurked under his skin, but Connor still struggled to understand that. He looked human most of the time, sounded human, could even project and feel human emotions, but when his skin peeled back it became very obvious that he wasn't.

A few of his error reports disappeared once he had redirected his power. Perhaps most of his errors were coming from a lack of charge and a lack of thirium. If that were the case, it would likely be a simple fix once he got out of this mess. A quick rest on Hank's couch, a few pouches of thirium, and he would be good to go.

His legs faltered as he tried to take a step, reminding him that it was likely not going to be that simple.

Still, he managed to make it over to the human. He looked over his wound. Something had punctured his abdomen, which was the cause of the blood around him.

Connor tore part of the sleeve of his jacket off, not needing it any more. It was too far beyond repair anyways. It would do just fine for a bandage, however.

"What are you doing?" the man asked. His gaze was full of suspicion as Connor approached, clearly not trusting him in the least bit. "Get back!"

Connor ignored him. It was easy to do, due to the fact that he was siphoning some of the power from his hearing to go towards other, more important areas at the moment. He sounded like nothing more than an annoying fly.

"I'm going to bandage your wound. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to keep you alive while we walk to get help," he said.

The man looked at him as if he had suddenly started speaking Chinese. For a moment, Connor wondered if his voice box had malfunctioned somehow and he really had spoken another language.

Eventually, the man rolled his eyes and gave a weak laugh. "Oh, I get it. You think that just because you save me I'll have a change of heart about androids, huh? Well forget it."

Connor removed the man hands, inspecting the man's stomach. A piece of what seemed like metal had twisted and lodged itself into his stomach, although without scans it was difficult to say how far in the piece truly went.

"No," Connor said. "I couldn't care less if you have a 'change of heart' as you put it. I merely want you to stand trial for your crimes. The victims and their families should at least get that kind of closure."

It seemed as if the man had no comment for that. He remained quiet, even as Connor tightened a bandage over his wound. Connor was sure it must have been excruciating, and yet the man didn't even flinch as he finished wrapping it.

"Come on," Connor said. He placed the man's arm around his shoulders and heaved him up, allowing him to lean most of his body weight on him.

The dust seemed to be even heavier out in the actual street. The bodies of several androids were laying nearby, although Connor couldn't tell if they were injured or if they had been permanently shut down.

SCANNING

ERROR_UNKNOWN

Connor let out an exasperated sound. He wasn't exactly sure how he was supposed to do anything if his systems were this broken. Was this how humans went through their lives? No wonder they were always anxious.

"Problem?" the man asked.

Connor gritted his teeth together and hitched the man a little higher. A brief moment of satisfaction, quickly followed by guilt, washed over him as the man grunted in pain.

"My scans aren't working."

The man nodded, seeming to be unsurprised by this. "I told you, we used something to scramble you freaks. Plus, you look pretty fucked up."

Connor ignored him and instead chose to keep walking. He wasn't even sure if he was going in the right direction, he just had to keep going. He was sure that if he just kept on the same path, he would eventually run across someone who could help them.

He trudged on and on, seeming to be walking for several blocks. How wide of an area could they have cordoned off?

Before he could ask the human how much further he thought they might have to walk his legs collapsed. Trying to prevent any more damage from coming to the human, he pushed him away, hoping that he wouldn't land on him when he fell.

"Ow, what the fuck?" the man asked.

Connor couldn't understand what was happening. He could feel his body twitching, convulsing as if he was receiving an electric shock. Technically, androids couldn't feel pain. They didn't have the same connection in their "brains" that humans did. Usually their processors filtered warnings as their own sort of "pain" in order to discourage them from doing something that could harm them, the same way a human might learn to not touch a warm plate again after they burned themselves.

But this… This had to be pain. And it had to be real.

"Hey!"

The human's voice sounded far away now, even quieter than it had been with Connor's power being directed to other places. Was he actually getting further away, or was his body taking away the last of the power that was being directed towards his hearing in order to combat whatever was going on inside of his processor.

CONTACT_HANK_ANDERSON

CONTACT_ERROR

ERROR_UNKNOWN

SCANNING

DAMAGE

DAMAGE

SYSTEM_FAILURE

"What is wrong with you?"

Connor, not knowing what else to do, screamed.