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Connor sat alone in the darkened room. There were no windows and only one door, but it was locked and the android knew there was a crudely installed bar reinforcing it on the other side should he try to break it down. That was implying he was able to move, which he wasn’t. His hands were cuffed together above his head around the radiator hooked up to the wall. They were Connor’s own cuffs, which his captor had used to trap the android instead after taking the rest of his gear. On top of that, his ankles were also bound together with an absurd number of zip-ties.
His LED flashed yellow as he tried again to get a signal, to reach anyone on the outside. But he only got the same ‘failure to connect’ error that had been plaguing him for the last three he’d been held here. Today was day four, but nothing had changed. He and Hank had been sent to check out what was supposed to be a simple case, just a sighting of a suspicious person lurking around a manufacturing warehouse at night. The building was large so they’d decided to split up and look around. After that Connor’s memory got a little fuzzy. One minute he was walking down a long row of storage containers and the next he was waking up here.
It was a group of three men Connor had come to realize, not one like in the reports. What they were up to, he still hadn’t been able to figure out. He hadn’t left this room since arriving, and it seemed to be lined with some odd material that hindered his scans and prevented him from getting any outside signal. They also wore masks whenever interacting with them, so he didn’t know their identities. He wasn’t even sure why they were keeping him around either. When they entered they would ask how much he knew about what they were up to, and then rough him up for a while.
It was becoming exhausting. His thirium levels hovered at a less-than-ideal 70% making him feel vaguely lightheaded. He hadn't been able to properly enter rest mode since arriving either, it just didn’t seem like a good idea given the circumstances. What was more upsetting though, was why no one had come for him yet. Hank must know something was wrong, even if he hadn’t seen Connor get taken, and the man was a good detective. Why hadn’t he been able to find him yet? Connor had to fight against the sinking feeling in his chest telling him that it was because Hank didn’t care. Connor knew it wasn’t true, just the exhaustion and the overall stress of the situation taking its toll. But the alternative wasn’t much better, that Hank just wasn’t able to find him.
Suddenly the door slammed open and the lights flipped on, jarring Connor from his thoughts. One of the three men, the largest of his captors, stalked into the room. He seemed agitated, fists clenching and unclenching. Connor’s scans weren’t working to tell if his heart rate was elevated, but everything else pointed to this man being utterly pissed off. He approached Connor in three large strides and then there was a hard boot slamming into his chest.
Connor coughed, hunching in on himself. It did nothing to help though as blow after blow collided with his chest, and he could hear the plastic creaking, threatening to break. With a final hard slam, the man staggered back, panting. Connor ground his teeth through the pain throbbing in his chest, refusing to let out any sound.
“You…” the man pointed at Connor, his voice sounding tight, “I should tear you to fucking pieces,” he growled. Connor’s LED flashed red in alarm, and he turned his head to try and hide his reaction from the man.
“Why is that?” Connor asked, forcing his voice to come out calm. In response the man shot forward, grabbing Connor by his hair and slamming his head back into the brick wall behind him. A small gasp escaped his lips as static filled his vision for a few seconds. He felt thirium begin to drip down the back of his neck. Before he had any time to recover, the man’s fist collided with his jaw, knocking his head to the side to connect with the hard wall once more. And then again, this time hitting his nose with a wet crunch. Connor cried out, as thirium spurted out of the now broken nose, flowing down his face. The man roughly released Connor’s hair, stepping back once more. Connor glared up at him through the warnings and thirium clouding his vision.
The man held up his phone, and the camera flashed. He typed out something for a few moments before sliding the phone back into his pocket.
“That'll show them…” a small snicker escaped the man’s lips. Then he turned around, flipped off the lights, and left. Connor felt panic trying to overtake his systems at the last comment... What had the man meant by that, and what was the picture for? It seemed like the man had been sending it to someone, but who, and why? It was getting harder to think and reason through the fog in his brain, thirium levels having dropped to 67% thanks to his bloody nose. All that was left over was that sense of panic, sending his stress levels rising into the upper eighties.
A warning flashed across his vision, warning him that he needed to calm down at the risk of self-destruction. He knew that, but everything over the past few days was crashing down on him, causing his breathing to come in quick gasps and tears to gather in the corner of his eyes. It was becoming too much to handle.
“No, I have to calm down,” he ordered himself in a whisper. He forced himself to take a deep breath, the first one coming in shaky. But he continued the rhythm, which sent cool air through his overheating biocomponents and forced his thirium pump regulator to slow its rapid pace. His stress levels began to fall, but he couldn’t stop the tears from running down his face. So he just let himself cry. Hank had told him once before that crying it out was cathartic for humans, might as well give it a shot. He cried until he physically ran out of saline solution, but he felt no better for it.
Though there was no serious damage aside from his nose - still slowly oozing thirium - everything ached. His chest felt heavy and any movement sent new twinges of pain shocking through him. His head pounded as if being pressed in a vice, and he could tell his artificial skin had deactivated on his cheek and at the back of his head where both had collided with the wall. Even though it hurt, he scrunched his legs closer to his body until his knees were high enough for him to rest his head without pulling on his arms too much. Finally, he closed his eyes and entered low-power mode. It wasn’t as restorative as rest mode, but it would at least conserve what little energy he had left.
__________
Connor was startled into awareness when the door slammed open once more. It had only been four hours and twenty-two minutes though he wasn’t sure what time it was. It was two of his captors this time, and he felt tension building in his chest. They stepped forward and the larger man roughly gripped his arms and shoulders, restraining him while the other man - the leader of the trio - undid the handcuffs. He didn’t have the energy to fight back even if he wanted to, as his thirium levels had fallen to an even lower 64% while he was in low power mode. His nose and the back of his head had stopped leaking, but he was still left feeling woozy.
The leader unhooked Connor’s hands from around the radiator but placed the cuffs back on immediately afterward. Then the other man forced him to his feet and began pushing him forward. With his ankles still zip-tied together, he had no choice but to hop.
“Wh-,” his voice failed him for a moment, “where are we going?”
“Just shut up and move,” the large man gave a particularly hard shove that almost sent Connor to the ground. Connor looked around as he finally saw where they’d been keeping him. There was a long room with a few other doors and an elevator at the end of the room. The room was barren and hairline cracks could be seen on the walls near the ceiling. They led him to an elevator and it was then he realized they’d been in the basement this whole time. Exiting on the ground floor, it became apparent that they were in an office building of some sort, though it looked abandoned. Like the basement, there was no furniture and the walls were in various states of disrepair. And strangely, he still hadn’t seen the third member of the group who’d taken him since the first day when he’d arrived.
They pushed him outside and he was greeted by the morning sun. Now outside, he attempted to connect to a server again to try and make a call to Hank, but it was taking longer than usual as his biocomponents struggled from running on reduced thirium levels for so long. He was still trying as he was shoved towards a dark transport van. The large man opened the double doors of the back, then shoved Connor in. Connor grunted as his head bumped against the floorboard, reigniting the pain from a few hours earlier. The doors slammed shut and so did Connor’s attempt at connecting to a server. It was just like the basement, there was something lining the vehicle preventing him from connecting. The two men got into the front of the car and then they were moving.
Connor watched out the windows on the double doors of the trunk, looking for any indicator as to where they were going. Nothing stuck out as he couldn’t see any street signs, only the occasional building tall enough to be in view. But that at least told him he was in the city somewhere. The drive was fast, lasting only fifteen minutes before the van stopped.
They got out of the car and the large man came around to the back, yanking Connor out as well. They were somewhere on the outskirts of town now, likely not that far from where they’d been keeping him. They had parked behind a large building and began shoving him along toward the front where there was a parking lot. It was empty except for two cars parked on the far end from the building. There was a small group of four gathered in front of the cars. Connor squinted, his enhanced eyesight struggling to process through the low thirium levels. Finally, he recognized who they were, and his chest clenched with hope. It was Hank! And Officer Miller and Collins were with him, and a third person Connor didn’t recognize.
“You got lucky, plastic,” the large man hissed into his ear, “your boss agreed to a prisoner exchange. You for our friend.”
Connor felt his thirium pump pick up its pace, and he fought to keep the smile off his face. It wasn’t over yet, not until he made it to Hank. The leader’s phone rang, and he picked it up.
“Yeah… We’ll send ‘em over on the count of three.” the leader said. The large man bent down, finally cutting the zip ties from around Connor’s ankles and undoing his handcuffs. Connor listened to the countdown, and on three began carefully walking towards Hank. The man Connor didn’t recognize also began to walk. They passed each other in the middle but Connor didn’t even spare him a glance, eyes focused fully on his friend. When he was only a few feet away Hank rushed forward, pulling him into a tight hug. Connor wheezed as the movement sent pain through his damaged systems, but he didn’t pull away, instead burning his face in the lieutenant’s shoulder.
“Shit, thank God you’re… I don’t know what I would have done,” Hank rambled, bringing a hand up and cupping the back of Connor’s head.
“We’re glad you’re alright Connor, well, mostly,” Officer Miller said with a kind smile. Hank pulled out of the hug, instead holding Connor at arm’s length with a hand on either shoulder. Hank grimaced, and Connor noticed tears pricking at the corners of the older man’s eyes. He moved one hand, cupping it lightly against Connor’s cheek and turning the android’s head to see where the synthetic skin was still missing from the damage.
“Those bastards,” he said through clenched teeth.
“You should have seen Hank, I thought he was going to start shooting at them as soon as you got close, “ Officer Collins said.
“I thought about it,” Hank said, now moving his hand to gently prod at Connor’s broken nose. Connor winced at the contact. “Now I’m thinking I should have.”
“Hank, why-” Connor wasn’t sure what he wanted to say. He wanted to ask why it took so long for them to come and get him. But seeing the look on his friend’s face, Connor knew that Hank was probably thinking the same thing. He’d probably been doing everything in his power to get Connor back, even foregoing sleep if the dark circles under his eyes said anything. So instead Connor simply asked, “can we go home?”
“Of course, son. But first we need to get you checked over at the hospital, okay?”
“Okay,” Connor nodded.
“We’ll go take care of the report, take care of him, Hank,” Officer Collins said with a wave, heading back to his patrol car.
“Hope you feel better soon,” Officer Miller added, following after.
“Thank you,” Connor replied.
Hank finally released his shoulders, but kept a hand on his back, offering support as they walked over to his Oldsmobile. He helped Connor into the passenger seat, then ran around getting in the driver’s seat. As they pulled away from the lot, Connor felt the exhaustion of the past few days washing over him tenfold.
“Hank, I think I’m going to rest for a bit.”
“Go ahead, son, I’ll wake you up when we get there,” Hank said, his voice gentle. Feeling completely secure and at ease now that he was back where he belonged, Connor closed his eyes and went to sleep.