Chapter Text
With the DPD’s stance on actions towards crimes committed against androids, it wasn’t long before they faced criticism. Sure, androids had gotten their rights fairly, they had been granted them by the president herself and given immunity. They were allowed to live in everyday society and work (although the fine details were still being discussed).
But that didn’t mean that the anti-android bigots simply disappeared. Some accepted the fate of society; some kept their discontentment to themselves.
And some took arson as acceptable.
It all happened one dreary Monday morning. The weather hanging in the air was that of misery. Not quite time to rain, instead the ugly in-between where fog and humidity choked up the sky and gave that horrible smell of dampness.
Connor was doing paperwork. Hank was doing paperwork. The whole precinct was doing paperwork. Sometimes, the job was interesting. Sometimes they helped people or caught criminals. But catching criminals and stopping crimes caused an awful lot of forms to fill out.
“ ‘m so fucking bored.” Hank taunted fate.
Fate brought in an angry individual storming into the precinct, pushing through the security gate and screaming:
“DEATH TO ALL ANDROIDS!”
Before throwing something large and flaming into the centre of the room.
Connor reacted quickly, pulling Hank away from the burst of flames. It appeared the sprinkler systems hadn’t reacted yet, or they’d got damaged in some way as the fire had already taken hold. Dreary Monday morning turned to the fucking precinct is on fire Monday morning.
Something else was thrown: it appeared this wasn’t the act of only one person, but a group. Explained why they managed to get past security, Connor mused, standing in front of Hank, and assessing the situation. The exit was a no go, or rather the entrance, what with the fire originating there and the dangerous people they might encounter.
“Window.” Hank said, voice muffled through the jumper held over his face. “Got to get out there…”
Connor nodded, scanning for the best exit. Many windows were already too dangerous to get to. More fire was being added to the mix, making it impossible to calculate how long they had to get out of the building.
Eventually he saw that the furthest window had yet to be blocked off completely by flames. He pointed towards it, with a brief, “Behind me,” before running over there.
He could see it was the right choice as he saw many of their fellow officers already outside through that route. He nodded, giving one cursory glance to check no one else was left behind. One or two of the people who’d set the place alight appeared to be trapped—he looked away. Hank needed to get out, time was dwindling fast.
Connor stepped forwards again, breaths laboured as smoke was starting to mess with his biocomponents. It would do no permanent damage, but it did serve in that moment to make him feel a little dizzy.
He gestured for Hank to go forwards, who seemed hesitant to be first but eventually obliged, when—
When the flames behind them had seemed to have caught up with them. Licking at their ankles, creeping around the front. Starting to form a ring of fire around them.
He cursed.
“Uh… don’t suppose you—” Hank coughed. “—you have a fire extinguisher up your ass or… or something?”
“No. Sorry.”
“Shit.”
That about summed up the situation. It had gotten out of control, and now they were trapped. It was only getting worse and if no one was acting to stop the spread, they might…
He shook his head. There was always another way.
So, he forced his preconstructions to find this way. At first nothing came up with his set parameters, so he changed the goal to only: Save Hank.
This gave one option. He would be able to withstand the heat long enough to bring Hank through the flames and out of the window, as long as he wrapped something around his head and Connor held onto him tight.
The downside was that the plan was risky. He might not survive long enough to get Hank through.
But it was the only way.
Connor tossed Hank his jacket, instructed him to tie it around his head, before holding out his arms and grasping the man close to him.
“The fuck are you doing?”
“Just trust me, Lieutenant. I’m getting you out of here.”
No more time to dawdle. So, holding Hank close, he closed his eyes and stepped into the flames.
It burned. It burned a lot. Red errors flashed up immediately:
SYSTEM TEMPERATURE CRITICAL
SYSTEM TEMPERATURE CRITICAL
His synthetic skin was stronger than a human’s, but he could feel the damage the flames were doing.
He closed the errors. It didn’t matter, all he needed to do was get Hank out.
His system was making this difficult. As he walked his steps faltered, limbs slowly refusing to cooperate completely to his wishes. But he forced them to do his bidding. Just one more step, he told himself. One more step. One more. One…
He felt the cold glass of the window. Pushed Hank out, before rolling out after him.
Opened his eyes. Smiled, seeing Hank safe, before everything went dark.