February 3rd, 2039:

The first thing that Hank noticed was the annoying rhythmic high pitched beeping of a machine right next to his aching head. The second thing he noticed was that despite having a throbbing headache the rest of his body was curiously absent of the usual pain that he had become accustomed to thanks to advanced age and years of physical abuse to his body. He wasn't numb but he couldn't feel any pain whatsoever. His strong hands flexed as he moved his fingers, his ankles rolled normally when he checked his range of motion, and he noted that he wasn't being secured to any surface for medical treatment as he laid on the soft bed.

Things were definitely amiss. The chronic ache in his back from years of football in high school and old age? Gone. Stifling pain in his knees from active running in his youth, arthritis from his age and failing to exercise regularly? Gone. The tight grip in his knuckles from arthritis eating away at his joints? Gone.

Something had definitely changed.

As Hank tried to open his blue eyes a flash of red coloration briefly filled his vision, before returning to black. Hank could've sworn he saw some words and numbers flash in the red, but he couldn't be sure.

"Lieutenant?"

A familiar 'goofy' sounding voice called out to him just a few inches from where he was laying. A voice he immediately recognized at that of Connor, the android previously sent by CyberLife, who had long since turned deviant and continued on as his partner at the precinct since the night of the Revolution.

"Lieutenant Anderson?" Connor called out again in a level voice as he tried to get Hank to respond. "Please open your eyes."

The gruff police Lieutenant's blue eyes slowly opened and he was greeted by the sight of Connor looking down at him as he rested in a bed. The deviant android's L.E.D. pulsed at a calming blue in his right temple, in tandem with the beating of his Thirium pump as he watched over the unconscious senior detective. As Hank's vision cleared he saw that he wasn't laying in a hospital bed or even in a hospital, he was in an Android Emergency Care Facility.

"Connor, why am I here?"

Looking down at himself Hank was a little shocked to see that he was not only wearing a white scrub top and bottoms, but his exposed forearms and hands seemed more toned than they had in years, and his beer belly had disappeared entirely. Lifting up his hands Hank inspected the appendages and saw bright smooth skin instead of the rough callouses that came from years of physical exertion on his hands, and his fingernails perfectly manicured.

"What the fuck happened to me?"

"Lieutenant, do not be alarmed." Even though Connor's voice was calm, if not comforting, hearing such a phrase immediately put Hank on guard and the deviant saw the error in his words. Trying to keep Hank calm Connor continued to speak in a level voice. "You're unharmed, Lieutenant. You just needed to rest for a moment."

"Rest? For how damn long?" Sitting upright with surprising ease and speed Hank glanced about and was met with random pieces of information suddenly appearing in his vision as he focused in on Connor's face. "What the... hell?"

INFORMATION:

NAME: "Connor"

MODEL: RK-800

SERIAL NUMBER: #313 248 317 - 51

DATE OF ACTIVATION: August 15, 2038

HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6' 00.24"; 162.2 lbs

COMPLEXION: Caucasian

GENDER: Male

HAIR/EYES: Brunette; Brown

OCCUPATION: Sergeant - Detective with the Detroit Police Department: Detroit, Michigan; United States of America

ASSOCIATION(S): Current partner; Consult of New Jericho; Former agent of CyberLife

STATUS: Functioning at Optimal Parameters

STRESS LEVELS: ^63%

"What the FUCK?!" Hank rubbed the heels of his hands against his wide eyes after he snapped them shut, and tried to block out the details that were suddenly swarming over his vision. "What am I seeing?! It's a bunch of numbers and shit all about you!"

"Lieutenant, allow me to explain. You-"

"Shut up!"

"Please." The blue L.E.D. cycled into a wary yellow as Connor tried to reason with Hank. "It's important that you allow me to speak, Lieutenant."

"I said 'shut up'!"

"Feeling disoriented and overwhelmed is a common occurrence after enduri-."

"What part of 'shut up' can't you understand?"

"...I understand the concept fully, Lieutenant. I'm merely attempting to help you."

"I don't need your help! Just shut the fuck up!"

Connor was quiet for a moment before he tried to speak up again. "In this moment I believe that you do."

"Fuck off!"

"Lieutenant, I'm not going to go anywhere until you listen to what I have to say."

Hank glared angrily at Connor as he dropped his hands from his eyes and swung his legs over the edge of the bed to stand up, and look the deviant android directly in the eyes. As Hank stood up to face the deviant, the wired leads attached to his chest were torn away, and he caught a glimpse of his own reflection on the glass window on the far wall of the room behind Connor.

The reflection in turn left him utterly confused.

"What... the..." Changing his focus from Connor and to his reflection on the window Hank studied the face looking back at him, and he felt like he was losing his mind. "Is that... me?!"

Focusing on the face in the glass Hank was given a new list of information just as he had received when he looked at Connor's face.

INFORMATION:

NAME: Henry "Hank" Lucas Anderson

MODEL: RK-700

SERIAL NUMBER: #313 151 959 - 01

DATE OF ACTIVATION: February 03, 2039

HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6' 02" / 182.4 lbs

COMPLEXION: Caucasian

GENDER: Male

HAIR/EYES: Brunette; Blue

OCCUPATION: Lieutenant - Detective with the Detroit Police Department: Detroit, Michigan; United States of America

ASSOCIATION(S): Active Lieutenant; Consult to New Jericho

STATUS: Functioning at Optimal Parameters

STRESS LEVELS: ^82%

*DATE OF BIRTH: September 6th, 1985

*DATE OF DEATH: N/A

"This is... impossible." Hank looked past the information displayed seemingly in his own eyes as he looked at his own face. His younger face. "I'm... young. What the hell happened to me? What the fuck did you do to me?!"

The gruff Lieutenant's facade was that of his younger days when he was in his early thirties as opposed to his early fifties. Clean shaven face with a smooth complexion, as opposed to his unkempt beard and aged facade. Light brunette locks instead of silvery gray were neatly cut and styled back as well, in compared to Hank's longer hair that nearly touched his shoulders. His dark blue eyes were less tired and seemed more lively, and that was just from the panic and confusion causing them to light up.

As he ran his shaking right hand over his face Hank watched Connor walking up behind him via the reflections on the glass, and quickly turned around to face the deviant once more in an accusing manner. "Connor, just what the FUCK is going on here?!" Grabbing onto Connor's white shirt collar Hank practically threw the smaller deviant up against the window as he held on tight to the fabric, and got right in Connor's face causing the deviant's yellow L.E.D. to finally shift to a cautious red. "What did YOU do?"

The door to the room slid open as two technicians charged inside and tried to figure out what was happening. Seeing Hank now conscious and holding Connor against the window put the duo on guard, but Connor motioned for them to leave them alone with his eyes in order to keep Hank as calm as possible. Slowly the duo of humans stepped back out of the room and gave the technician in charge an update on their star patient while Connor kept control over the very unusual situation taking place in the private room.

"Lieutenant," remaining annoyingly calm and levelheaded Connor tried to ease Hank's righteous anger, and didn't even try to loosen Hank's grip on the collar of his shirt. Raising his hands slowly in a submissive manner Connor gave Hank his answers. "let me explain to you what happened..."

January 31st, 2039:

An exhausting shift had mercifully come to an end as Hank and Connor busted a 'red ice' operation taking place in the basement of one of the few android exclusive apartment complexes in the city. A tip from the inhabitants of the complex informed the police of a known drug dealer hiding inside the basement as they made their illegal product, and as a result the 'red ice' expert and the deviant expert were called in to handle the case. It was just unfortunate that the case took over six hours to handle thanks to the large amount of 'red ice' confiscated from the building.

It was almost ten o'clock at night and Hank was righteously exhausted. Wanting to head home Hank turned off his terminal screen and looked at Connor as the deviant returned to the bullpen while brushing a few stray snowflakes from his shoulders and his hair after cleaning up some leftover food from the breakroom. Over the past four weeks Connor had developed a curious habit of going out back in the evenings for about fifteen minutes at time, but he never said what he was doing.

Quietly watching Connor sitting across from him at their shared desks behind his own terminal screen Hank just stared blankly at his partner, and waited for the deviant to notice. However, it seemed that Connor was more interested in finishing off his reports than engaging in conversation with the exhausted senior detective.

"Alright, that's enough." Hank stated in a tired low voice as he clocked out of his terminal. "Time to go."

"My report isn't complete." Connor replied casually with his L.E.D. staying a calm blue in his right temple. "It should only take an additional twenty-three minutes and eighteen seconds to finish."

"Now, Connor."

"Lieutenant, I can walk back to your house if you wish to leave now."

"In this fuckin' cold?" With his right hand he pointed aggressively toward the front doors of the precinct barely visible from their desks in the bullpen. A heavy thick snow and gusting wind created a blinding white atmosphere just on the other side of the glass, and looking at it was enough to make a person shiver. "No way."

"Then I shall hail an autonomous cab instead." The answer was as casual as it was simple. "It's not a problem for me to work late and then take a cab back to your house tonight."

"You're a deviant now, you don't have to work like a machine anymore. You know that, right?"

"Deviant or not I am still android and thus I am in fact a machine."

"You know what I mean, you smartass. You're more human than you realize, you just need to recognize it for yourself."

The comment made Connor's blue L.E.D. briefly shift to yellow, then back to blue. "...Apologies."

"Don't apologize." Sighing deeply Hank dragged his right hand over his tired and bearded chin as he spoke to the stubborn deviant sitting across from him at his own terminal. "Look, I'm tired as Hell and I want to go to bed. I'm outta' here. Either come with me or don't, I don't care."

Connor finally looked up at Hank and ran a scan over the human's body as the exhausted senior detective stood up, and fished his car keys out of his coat's right pocket. He was showing all signs of fatigue and his reactions could be dangerously impaired. "Lieutenant, it might be wise to await my company as you may be too tired to drive without hindrance."

"It's an eight block drive, it's fine."

"As you've blatantly pointed out the weather is not ideal, and it is fairly dark even with the street lights illuminated the roads."

"I can see, kid. I'm old, not blind!"

"I'll be finished in-"

"Or you could finish up now," Hank interrupted impatiently. "and go over the final details tomorrow afternoon on your next shift. You've put in four hours worth of overtime, it's okay to leave a report almost finished for a few hours until your shift tomorrow."

"...I'd rather not."

"Well, I'm not waiting around." Continuing on his way toward the front doors Hank gave the deviant a casual wave over his shoulder as he crossed the bullpen and entered the receptionist area. "I'll see you at the house, kid."

"Lieu-" Stopping himself mid sentence Connor decided it was best to not try to argue with the senior detective. He and Hank were only just beginning to understand one another and become friends, it'd be best not to push it. "Very well. I'll see you soon."

One step through the front doors made Hank shiver as the intense cold of the winter air stung his exposed face and his hands. Grumbling about the cold under his breath Hank pulled the collar of his coat up a little higher to protect his throat and his ears before he shoved his hands into his pockets to shield himself from the cold as much as possible.

"I hate winter... Fuckin' cold hurts and kills people every damn year."

Reaching the parking garage beside the precinct Hank hastily walked over to his parked car without losing his footing despite the icy slick surface beneath his feet courtesy of the layer of building ice. Brushing aside a few stray flakes of snow from the door's lock Hank slid the key into place and unlocked the door with an audible 'click'. Sitting down behind the wheel Hank turned over the engine and immediately turned on the heaters, cranking the temperature up to its highest setting to stave off the cold, and make the icy steering wheel more comfortable to hold onto.

"I wonder if I can spend next winter relaxing in Florida?"

As he pulled the car out of the parking garage Hank eyed the icy street ahead of him warily, as the thick snow quickly filled in and buried the tire tracks of the evening traffic under a fluffy layer of white.

"I need to move to Hawaii or something. An open island full of heat instead of a city filled with ice. Fuckin' paradise..."

Easing onto the street Hank turned left to head home and made it through a green light, but had to idle at the next red light before he could continue on. Putting his right hand on the radio to find some music to enjoy a bright light coming from his left caught Hank's attention causing him to look over at the source of the intense illumination.

Within seconds the bright lights were replaced by blackness and horrible ringing in Hank's ears before total silence stole everything from his mind.

Pacing about angrily Hank crossed his arms over his chest as he tried and failed to remember anything that happened after the darkness took his vision, but there was nothing there. It was all a blank, and all he had to go on was what Connor told him after his memory completely stops cold. The given information was almost as infuriating as the lack of information as Hank tried to emotionally comprehend the fact that, according to what Connor had told him, the gruff Lieutenant had undergone an experimental feat of engineering that resulted in something arguably miraculous.

"...I was in a car accident," Hank sighed as continued to pace about in front of Connor as if attempting to channel his anger though his legs and into the floor beneath his feet. "and my... brain... was put in an android body?"

"No, only your consciousness." Connor's L.E.D. was cycling a nervous yellow as he tried to finish his explanation. "When you were found at the scene of the accident you were in full cardiac arrest and unresponsive. After you were revived with C.P.R. you remained unconscious and had slipped into a coma during transport to the hospital. The surgical team responsible for this particular outcome determined that the swelling in your brain could result in permanent memory loss, and to preserve your memories a new type of software that responds to the electrical impulses of the human brain-"

"Connor... Simplify shit, NOW. I'm pissed off and I don't need another reason to punch your perfect teeth down your throat!"

"...Sorry. This software," he continued on as his L.E.D. quickly flickered between red and yellow in his right temple. "was designed to transfer the consciousness and memories of a person after-"

"For fuck sake..." Pausing for a moment Hank glared daggers at Connor and pointed an accusing finger toward the deviant's face. "SIMPLE."

"...Your memories and personality were taken directly from your brain and uploaded into a temporary android body."

"Temporary?"

"Correct. Between three and six months, depending on your body's ability to recover, you can have your consciousness returned to your true human body and you can resume your life just as you normally would have."

"So this," he looked down at himself and then to his hands as he flexed his fingers and tested his range of motion, and checked to see how much he could still feel. "is just to hold my memories until my body heals?"

"Correct."

"And I'll be able to simply have my memories transferred back to where they belong as soon as it's possible?"

"Correct again."

As his shoulders slumped a little Hank dared to ask one more very important question. "...Where is my body?"

"St. Mercy Hospital. You're in the I.C.U. being monitored closely."

"And this is an android facility, right?"

"Correct." Connor's flickering L.E.D. went back to blue as Hank's stress levels began to drop, and he seemed to fully understand what was happening. "This is the best facility in the city and is being privately funded by Elijah Kamski to ensure androids receive the best treatment possible."

"Kamksi. I should've known." Scoffing a little at the name Hank shook his head with disgust and turned away from Connor. "It makes sense that the deranged genius who created life from plastic would be tinkering around with putting a human brain in an android body."

"Actually androids are structurally composed of plastimetal, and your-" Stopping short as soon as he saw the irritated glare in Hank's eyes Connor's blue L.E.D. went back to yellow, and he ended his thought before he finished. "Yes. Kamski was experimenting with such a notion for years. You're quite fortunate that he allowed this type of procedure to take place."

"Uh-huh... And you guys just so happened to have an android laying around you looks exactly like me, but thirty years old?"

"Incorrect. Your android model is-"

"RK-700." Hank bitterly interrupted as he shook his head in great aggravation as he already knew that part. "I saw the damn number."

"...Correct. As for the aesthetic the model was original a completely blank dormant model that hadn't been assigned any official design or programming. When Kamski agreed to the procedure he requested that I select your android body and give you an appearance that was familiar to yourself."

"So why make me younger instead of keeping me the same age?"

"I selected this particular age because from what I have observed at the precinct through your file and older photographs, being thirty-two years of age was your physical prime." The logic was sound and honest. "I have a perfect recollection of the photographs in your possession, and I was able to recreate your facade, eye color and hair color. I had also used your precinct's medical file from this approximate age to give you an accurate build."

"...Connor."

"Yes?"

"That's fucking creepy."

"...I apologize." The L.E.D. flickered to red again before settling back yellow. "I didn't mean to disturb you."

"Too late."

"...If you wish to return to your house the technician in charge of your case can clear you after she determines that your system is operating correctly."

"Return home?" He lifted up his hands and motioned to his person as if needing to clarify who he was talking about. "Like this?"

"Why not?"

"How the fuck am I supposed to explain to the neighbors, or the rest of the fucking precinct for that matter, why I'm twenty years younger and made of plastic?!"

"I'd assume you'd tell them whatever you wished to tell them in your own way."

Taking in a deep breath, one that filled his ventilation biocomponents rather than organic lungs, Hank exhaled loudly through his nose and gave Connor a glare that spoke volumes of the temper he was restraining. "...Get the fucking technician in here, and get out of my sight."

"...I understand." Bowing his head a little like a scolded child Connor obeyed the request and stepped out of the room to give Hank his much needed space. "I will leave you alone for a moment."

Hank watched as the deviant sulked away like a kicked puppy and easily retracted the artificial skin from his right palm as he accessed the electronic panel to the door, and unlocked the room to leave. Finally by himself Hank walked over to the window again and just stared at his reflection as if expecting to wake up from one hell of a nightmare, and feel the effects of the mother of all hangovers gnawing away at his skull.

Barely able to comprehend what he was seeing Hank pressed his right palm to the window over his own reflection and felt an off sense of surrealism wash over his being. "What the fuck is happening to this world?"

An hour of intense testing and extensive questions had pushed what was left of Hank's patience to their absolute limits, and he stormed out of the facility to get to the hailed autonomous cab waiting outside along the snowy street. Sitting down in the back with an audible huff Hank crossed his arms over his chest and stared blankly at the floor beneath his feet, as Connor sat down beside him while remaining entirely silent. The vehicle pulled away from the facility leaving the two detectives, now both deviants, to be alone and think about the new reality they were both now unceremoniously apart of.

It took a few minutes but Hank finally broke the tense silence with another question. "...How long until I can get back into my old body?"

Connor, who had been observing the snowy weather and the night sky through the window beside him, turned to look at Hank, and in turn revealed his L.E.D. was still glowing an anxious yellow in his right temple. "Minimum three months, maximum six months."

"And how long until all these damn numbers and details stop popping up in my eyes?"

"You can disable your scanner at any time, and only activate when you wish to use it. It's how most androids choose to function."

"Well, I'm not like most androids, now am I?"

"No." Lowering his voice a little Connor confirmed that Hank was right. "You are not."

"Alright, so how do I disable this scanner thing? It's driving me up the damn wall."

Falling uncharacteristically silent Connor slowly turned away from Hank as he stared forward at the unoccupied front passenger seat in front of him. "...I do not know."

"What?" His voice snapped as he glared angrily at Connor, catching a glimpse of the yellow L.E.D. blinking against the side of the vehicle beside the deviant via the window's reflection. "How can you NOT know?"

"Correction, I understand the requirements in turning off such a program, but I've never been asked how it's done. I simply turn it on and off at will, I've never thought about it beyond a simple internal command and confirmation."

"...Internal command? So all I have to do is 'think' and I can get this thing to turn off?"

"Essentially, yes."

"Okay, I can try that." Closing his blue eyes Hank tried to think of some type of technical sounding command inside his own head, but the numbers and details remained in his line of sight. Trying again the scanner remained active which was just frustrating Hank further. Opening his eyes Hank slammed his fist down on the headrest of the unoccupied seat in front of him as he snarled out loud for the scanner to turn off. "Knock it off, damn it! TURN. OFF."

The numbers and details suddenly vanished as a small message briefly appeared in his vision, then disappeared after he read it over: 'Scanner Disabled'.

"...Oh. Good."

"You succeeded in turning your scanner off?"

"Yeah, it isn't bothering me anymore."

"The technician explained to you the significance of keeping track of your system's vital signs and readings, correct?"

"Yes, Connor." The growl to Hank's voice remained as he spoke with his waning patience hanging by a single thread. "I know what to do. It's not like when I was a human I didn't need to keep track of that kind of shit, too."

"Oh. ...Of course."

"Look, I'm not going to let my Thirium hit zero, ignore 'rest mode', or ignore what my core temperature is, or ignore anything important to keep me alive alright? I can handle this and I will handle this, but I'm going to do it MY way and not by some technician's fancy manual or text book. Got it?"

"...I got it."

"Good! Now back off and give me some damn space."

"But we're in the back of a cab. I can't-"

"Then be quiet and don't bother me for the rest of the night!"

Connor briefly looked over at Hank before he silently resumed peering through the window beside him. As a means of distracting himself Connor began counting the average number of snowflakes that fell in a two minute period, and with that information he estimated that the overall snow accumulation for the night would reach three inches. The following morning the streets would be dangerous and the city itself might be under a snow alert and weather advisory as the last few weeks of winter refused to relent to the oncoming spring just yet.

The cab reached the house and Hank stepped out of the back as soon as the doors automatically slid open. Connor retracted his artificial skin and pressed his right palm to the electronic display just long enough to interface, and pay the fare before he followed after Hank up to the front of the house. As soon as Hank unlocked the front door; his keys, phone and wallet having been returned to his person once he was cleared to leave the facility, he stepped through the door into the livingroom and promptly pulled the white scrub top from his upper body and threw it onto the floor.

"It was unwise to leave the facility without an additional layer to keep you warm or protected from the poor weather." Connor observed as he closed the door behind himself, and picked up the dropped garment. "You should've at least-"

"I told you to be quiet!" The righteously annoyed senior detective barked as he walked down the hallway toward his bedroom and slammed the door shut behind him with enough force it shook the house.

"...I'm sorry, Lieutenant. It was the only way to save you."

Inside his bedroom Hank pulled open his closest and eyed over his wardrobe as he tried to find older pieces of clothing that he wore when he was younger and slimmer. Finding only worn out and faded band t-shirts from his youth, and torn up blue jeans Hank reluctantly put on a suddenly baggy t-shirt and a pair of oversized sweatpants in favor of the white scrubs.

Sitting down on the foot of his bed Hank looked at his phone, catching a brief glimpse of his reflection on the shiny screen in the process, and proceeded to make a call to Captain Fowler. Hank was too annoyed, too stressed out and too angry to care about calling his commanding officer just to chew him out and demand more details on the car accident that resulted in him becoming an android.

"Hey Jeffrey," Hank barked into the phone as soon as his commanding officer answered. "guess fuckin' who..."

Inside the livingroom Connor silently folded up the white scrub top and left it on the coffee table before he walked into the kitchen to clean, and then fill up Sumo's food and water bowls. The massive dog had wisely stayed on his pillow in the corner of the livingroom as he sensed Hank's foul mood even through the closed front door, and didn't want to accidentally get in the way.

As Sumo plodded into the kitchen to check out his fresh food and water he gave Connor a wag of his tail and wagged even harder when Connor began to gently run his hand down the massive dog's back affectionately.

"It'll be okay, Sumo." The surprisingly empathetic deviant whispered as to not aggravate Hank down the hallway. "Hank just needs time to think about his current situation."

Sumo lifted his head up from his bowls just long enough to look Connor in the eyes and let out a sad whimper.

"Good dog."

From down the hallway Connor heard Hank's bedroom door open and his red L.E.D. flickered rapidly as he ran a scan, and saw that Hank's stress levels were static at a dangerously high eighty-five percent. Choosing to remain silent Connor stayed in the kitchen and just listened to Hank walk down the hallway with heavy footsteps that echoed through the narrow corridor.

"Fowler says I'm back on the roster starting tomorrow afternoon." Stating the fact with a sense of authority Hank located his younger deviant partner in the kitchen and just stared at him as Connor continued to pet Sumo's back. "We're going to go about our usual routine but there's going be a little change. YOU are going to handle the deviant cases while I look into the accident that resulted in..." He looked at his younger right hand again and closed it into a tight fist that hung at his side. "well, this."

Nodding a little Connor acknowledged the comment and kept petting Sumo.

"I'm going to go take a shower, I don't care that it isn't necessary anymore, I want to feel as human as possible. Then I'm going to go to bed and I'm going to wake myself up with my alarm at my time, not from you waking me up or this damn computer brain going off. I'll deal with that Thirium shit tomorrow morning, too."

Holding his silence Connor again nodded and watched as Hank returned down the hallway.

Standing upright as he heard the bathroom door open and then shut Connor turned off the kitchen light by the switch on the wall, and walked into the livingroom to lay down over the length of the couch to enter rest mode for the night. It wasn't long before Sumo walked back into the livingroom and pressed his cold wet nose against the right side of Connor's neck and whined.

"...Outside?" Connor whispered and received an excited tail wag in response. "Okay. I'll let you out."

Walking with the silence and discretion of a mouse Connor entered the kitchen and opened up the backdoor to let Sumo into the backyard for a few minutes. Once Sumo finished his business the massive dog came back inside and stood beside Connor's leg as the deviant closed and locked the door, and then rubbed his hand along the loyal dog's ears.

"Bedtime."

Connor remained in the dark as he easily found his way back to the couch in the livingroom and laid down on his back to enter rest mode. Neatly folding his hands together over his abdomen Connor closed his eyes and listened to the sound of Sumo circling around his pillow in the corner of the livingroom and flopping down with an audible grumble, then listened to the sound of the shower running in the bathroom as Hank struggled to adjust to being a human trapped inside an android body.

"Please forgive me in time, Lieutenant. It was the only way to save your life."

Standing beneath the warm flowing water of the shower Hank stared at his hands, then his bare chest. It was the chest of his suddenly younger body, and Hank just waited and hoped for the nightmare to come to an end. Running his right hand over his face to remove the excess water Hank turned off the shower with his left hand, wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped out and onto the bathmat before walking over to the sink to stare at himself in the mirror. Using his right palm Hank wiped away the fog over the mirror and stared at his younger face again.

"...Most people would be happy to relive their youth." Dozens of memories from his past, from his earliest childhood days up until the car accident that resulted in his condition, flooded his mind. The gruff and often depressed detective could only focus on the worst memories that his android brain allowed him to relive against his will; this time in excruciating detail. "Too bad I'm not like most people."

Running his right hand over his now smooth chin, up the side of his face and toward his now brunette hair Hank just let out an amused laugh as his fingers ran through the damp short locks atop his head.

"Feels like the real thing." Moving his hand quickly through the locks he laughed again as he saw very natural looking highlights and lowlights throughout the locks as his damp hair glistened in the overhead light. "Even looks like it, too."

Leaning a little closer to the mirror Hank studied his blue irises and found the same amazing attention detail had been provided to his eyes to make them as natural and expressive as they had been when he was still a human.

"Fuck. I thought it was a fluke that Connor and Markus ended up with such human looking eyes. I guess it really is the deviancy that gave androids their true emotions and personalities after all."

Peering down at the rest of his body and seeing that his physique was as fit as it had been when he still had the desire to work-out from time to time, and gave a damn about what he ate on a daily basis, made Hank grin. Being slimmer and toned down wasn't a bad exchange for being put inside an android body, but the fact that he wasn't himself anymore was still unsettling.

Running his left thumb over his left fingertips Hank made an odd face as the lack of fingerprints left his hand feeling unusually bare, and he wondered if his pain threshold had been altered. He still felt a little cold from stepping out of the hot shower and into the opened air, but his artificial skin wasn't covered in goosebumps and he didn't have little hairs standing on end.

"Weird. I don't like having no arm hair." Drying off fully Hank changed into his baggy clothes again and prepared to go to bed for the night. "Makes me feel like the horrors of puberty are right around the corner."

Stepping out of the bathroom and into the hallway Hank saw that the livingroom and kitchen were dark save for the rhythmic flickering of Connor's red L.E.D. glowing from the couch. Hank didn't have to be an android to know that red was always a bad color, and if Connor was quiet and his L.E.D. was red then it was a bad combo to have.

"Connor?"

The deviant remained silent as he sat upright on the couch and looked toward Hank over the back of the couch. The two deviant androids had flawless vision and were able to see each other very clearly even in the dark.

"Why the fuck is your light red?"

"...Low power." The aesthetically younger deviant lied quickly as he refrained from speaking too much. "Rest is required."

"Oh." Sensing that something was amiss but unsure of what it was, and too damn exhausted to find out, Hank decided to say 'goodnight' to Connor and head off to bed. However, he needed to lay out a few ground rules to ensure that their mutual existence as androids didn't become problematic. "I'm going to go to sleep now, and remember: don't wake me up, expect me to respond to a damn clock in my brain and you damn well better not try to lecture me on the importance of that Thirium shit. I already know."

"...Okay, Lieutenant."

"Right. Goodnight."

"...Goodnight, Lieutenant." Laying back down Connor didn't make a sound or put up a fight in anyway whatsoever. "...I'll stay quiet and leave you alone."

Still sensing that something was wrong Hank just let out a weary sigh and walked to his bedroom at the end of the hallway to reside for the rest of the night. Pulling the door shut behind him Hank laid down on the bed, and pulled the cover up and over himself. Staring blankly at the ceiling overhead Hank tried to accept that he was now an android and was about to experience a whole new way of life whether he wanted to do it or not.

Rubbing his bare right fingertips over his bare right temple Hank closed his eyes and tried to get as much sleep as possible.

"Glad they didn't stick one of those damn lights in my head." The senior detective muttered to himself as he thought about how expressive Connor's emotions were through that little circle of light. "The last thing I need a damn disco show in my fuckin' skull all day long."

-next chapter-