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Hank and Connor arrived at the scene of a supposed drug den. It was an older building near the outskirts of the city. It wasn’t abandoned exactly, but it wasn’t used much either. The owner used it as a rental property but hadn’t had tenants for several months now. In that time neighbors had been complaining about suspicious people going in and out of the house throughout the night. While Hank and Connor typically handled cases involving androids these days, Captain Fowler had decided they would be best to handle this case given Hank’s past experience breaking up Red Ice rings. Hopefully this wouldn’t be a massive operation though, because it was already getting late into the afternoon and Hank didn’t want to miss the basketball game playing that night. Hank and Connor got out of the car which they had parked a ways down the road to not draw the suspicion of those they were trying to catch
As they approached the house, Hank noticed Connor’s LED spinning yellow as he scanned the property for any clues. Hank also did a quick look over the property as the duo paused for a moment on the sidewalk outside. There was no car in the driveway and no garage, but that didn’t necessarily mean that no one was in there. The windows were blocked from view by thick blinds and no light escaped from them. The lawn was overgrown and tangled with weeds that spilled over into the path leading up to the entryway.
“Notice anything off?” Hank asked quietly, looking over at his partner.
“There are tire tracks in the yard, likely from a large vehicle judging from the width. They look recent, probably from earlier this week when it rained,” Connor said, pointing to the yard. There was a set of tire tracks, partially obscured by the overgrown vegetation. “There are also cigarette butts,” Connor continued, pointing to the pathway leading to the door. Hank nodded, making note of Connor’s observations.
“That lines up with what the neighbors reported. Someone has definitely been here. Let’s see if they’re still around. Connor, you go around back to cut them off if they try to run,” Hank ordered, pointing around the side of the house.
“Right,” Connor nodded, then quickly moved through the yard around to the back of the house. Hank walked up to the front door, a hand resting on the gun holstered at his side. He lifted his fist then pounded it on the door
“Detroit police, open up!” There was the sound of something crashing to the ground on the other side followed by pounding footsteps running away from the door. Hank slammed his foot into the door and it burst open. The inside of the room was a mess, drug paraphernalia scattered across the living room and kitchen on every surface. There was a man who had already made it to the back door and was currently struggling against Connor who was attempting to restrain the man. Another man stood wide-eyed in the entrance to a hallway leading further back into the house. Hank drew his gun.
“Freeze!” he shouted, pointing the weapon at the man. Instead of listening, a crazed gleam entered the man’s eyes and he charged at Hank. Hank shot once, the bullet connecting with the man’s right shoulder. But the man didn’t stop and instead tackled Hank to the ground. The gun went flying out of his grip, spinning across the floor out of his reach. The man now sitting on top of Hank reached forward to wrap his hands around the lieutenant’s throat. Hank gasped as his air was suddenly cut off and scraped at the man’s hands. But his efforts were futile as the oxygen loss made him slowly lose strength. Dark spots formed in his vision and he felt on the verge of passing out. Then suddenly the pressure was released and he began coughing and gasping for air.
Connor, having finished restraining the other man, had grappled Hank’s assailant from behind. The man flailed wildly, landing a few hits to Connor’s abdomen with his elbow. But the android didn’t let go. Hank rolled over onto his hands and knees, clumsily crawling over to where his gun had been knocked away. It was difficult, fighting through the aching fog in his head as oxygen rushed back to his brain. It was just as he was about to reach his gun that a third person entered the room, a woman. She took in the situation quickly, then lunged forward grabbing something off a nearby shelf. It was a syringe filled with a clear fluid. Hank realized her intentions a second too late, only lifting his gun after it had happened.
Connor, distracted with trying to restrain the wildly flailing man, hadn’t noticed the women behind him. She reached her hand back, then forcefully stabbed the syringe into the side of Connor’s neck. The needle roughly slid through his plastic frame and she pushed down on the plunger, injecting the substance into him. Connor cried out in pain and fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. His hand shot up to his neck and he continued screaming.
The shock of what had happened froze Hank in his place, and the two criminals took the opportunity to bolt out the back door, grabbing the man Connor had restrained on their way out. Hank shook himself out of his stupor then scrambled forward until he was kneeling at Connor’s side. The android was tightly curled in on himself, LED flashing a vibrant red and body shaking.
“Shit… Connor!” Hank shouted, trying to be heard over the pained noises his friend was making. “Come on son, look at me,” Hank grasped a hand on Connor’s shoulder
“H-Hank, it hurts!” Connor siad, voice breathless from screaming. His eyes were screwed tightly shut and his face twisted in a grimace.
“Hey, look at me,” Hank repeated, giving Connor’s shoulder a light shake. Connor opened his eyes but they were unfocused, looking somewhere past Hank’s shoulder.
“There you go,” Hank praised. Connor’s breathing was coming in rapid pants,
“Please Hank… it’s burning… please make it stop,” Connor pleaded. Hank felt a pang in his heart and had to suck in a deep breath. It was getting harder to keep his calm as he’d never seen Connor so out of it before. The android had been injured more times than Hank liked to admit, but he’d never reacted like this before. Whatever that woman had injected him with they had to do something about it fast.
“We’ll get you some help, I promise. But you need to calm down,” Hank said, moving his hand to run through Connor’s hair. Aside from the pain, Hank knew rising stress levels would only make the situation worse. The last thing he needed right now was for Connor to completely lose himself and try to self-destruct. But it was as if Connor hadn’t even heard him and the only response he got was another pained whine, the sound high pitched and metallic.
This wasn’t going to get better, and there was no way to calm Connor down when it seemed the android couldn’t even hear him. Hank grabbed Conner’s arm, wrapping it around his shoulder. Then he grasped Connor around the waist, pulling them both to their feet. Hank stumbled a bit, but managed to keep them both upright. He half dragged half carried Connor out the house and down the street to where his Oldsmobile was parked. He opened the back door, and gently laid Connor down across the back seats. The android curled back in on himself and his tremors seemed to get worse.
Hank rushed around to the driver's seat, turned the car on, and slammed his foot onto the gas. The car started with a screech then lurched off down the road. Hank turned on his sirens, using them to skip through red lights and drive as fast as he could towards one of the android clinics that had replaced CyberLife stores since the revolution. He was nearly there when he realized that Connor had been eerily silent for the past few minutes. He looked to the back seat and the sight almost made him sick.
Connor’s eyes were closed but there were blue teartracks from where they’d leaked thirium, Thirium was also slowly streaming from his nose and mouth. His skin was deathly pale, even more so than usual, and the only indication he was even still alive was his angrily flashing red LED. If Hank wasn’t already going faster than was safe he would have sped up even more.
Once he arrived at the clinic Hank parked haphazardly near the front of the building. He opened the backseat, pulling the unresponsive Connor out and ran for the front entrance. From there, it didn’t take more than a minute before Hank was sitting in a room, watching while technicians worked on his partner to try and find out what was wrong. Hank had told them everything that happened at the crime scene and on the way there. They had taken a sample of his thirium to test what the chemical that woman had injected was, and were currently connecting various machines to monitor the status of his biocomponents.
To keep busy while he waited, Hank called in to Fowler and explained what happened at the crime scene. His Captain agreed to send Chris and Ben to the scene to gather any evidence and search for the missing criminals. He also thankfully told Hank to take as much time as they needed until Connor felt better. Like Hank was going to leave Connor right now anyway, but the sentiment was nice.
The technician who had gone to test Connor’s thirium came back with a syringe filled with something. He talked with the other technician for a moment before the man administered the medicine.
“Is he going to be okay?” Hank asked. The technician approached him with a smile, but there was something behind his eyes that made Hank’s heart pick up speed.
“He’s going to pull through,” the man started, “but he will still experience a significant amount of pain for the next 24 hours.”
“What? Why? Will it be as bad as before?” Hank asked, the questions tumbling out rapidly. What was that medicine for if not to help Connor get better?
“What he was injected with, well… to put it simply it was a drug that while it makes humans feel high it has a very different effect on androids,” the technician explained. Hank could tell he was being intentionally vague, like he thought Hank couldn’t take it.
“What effect?”
“It causes a chemical reaction that increases the acidity of thirium, to the point that it begins to corrode thirium lines and biocomponents.”
Okay so maybe Hank couldn’t take it. He didn’t want to think about how the android he’d come to love as a son had essentially had his blood turned into acid. No wonder he had been so out of it, Hank couldn’t even imagine what the pain would be like.
“But he’s going to be okay now,” the technician continued, trying to reassure Hank, “we gave him a solution that neutralized the drug. His thirium filter will eliminate anything left over and he’ll be back to normal. Unfortunately there was damage to several of his thirium lines and most of his biocomponents. Everything is functional, but until they are repaired by his self-healing program he will still feel some pain.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Hank asked.
“He should wake up in a few minutes, then you can take him home. There’s nothing more we can do for him, and he’ll probably feel more comfortable at home,” the technician replied.
“You don’t have any like… android painkillers?” Hank tried. The technician shook his head with a frown.
“Unfortunately not. Painkillers work by-”
“Yeah, I got it,” Hank waved him off, not really in the mood for another long winded technical explanation he would only half understand.
“Right. Well I’ll leave you two alone then. Press the call button if you need anything,” with that the technician left. Hank grabbed a chair, pulling it up next to his bed. Fortunately the technician was right and he didn’t have to wait long for Connor to wake up.
Connor’s face twitched, his eyebrows furrowing together. Then his eyes blinked open, still a little glassy but more focused than before. His brown irises slid over to look at Hank.
“Hank? Where are we?” he asked.
“Android clinic. That bitch at the crime scene got you with some kinda drug,” Hank answered.
“Guess that explains why everything hurts,” Connor said, wincing.
“Yeah,” Hank sighed, “the technician said something about it eroding you on the inside, but your self-healing or something will fix it in 24 hours.”
Connor closed his eyes, sucking in a tight breath. His LED had thankfully stopped spinning red after the technician gave him the medicine, but it was still stuck on a tense yellow. The kid was clearly still in a lot of pain, but he was lucid now and for that Hank was grateful.
“You ready to head home?” Hank asked.
“Yeah,” Connor breathed out, opening his eyes. He sat up and turned, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Hank grasped his arm, helping him to his feet. Hank didn’t let go of his hold, instead offering support as they made their way out of the room. The receptionist in the front waved them off as they left the clinic and went back to Hank’s Oldsmobile. Hank opened the passenger door, helping Connor inside before getting into the driver's seat.
“What about the suspects?” Connor asked as Hank pulled out from the clinic parking lot. The kid was too much of a workaholic, but if it would help keep his mind off the pain then Hank would let it go for now.
“Got away. But Fowler sent Ben and Chris to check the place out. They’re good, I’m sure they’ll find them,” Hank answered.
“I should have seen her coming,” Connor said, dragging a hand down his face, “because of my mistake they might get away.”
“Hey, cut that out,” Hank scolded, “You were busy trying to restrain someone. If anything it’s my fault for letting him get the better of me there.”
Connor opened his mouth to protest, but he couldn’t seem to think of a response. After all, Hank knew Connor didn’t want to blame him for anything, but by admitting that Hank couldn’t have done anything Connor would have to admit that about himself as well. So the android chose silence.
“Seriously, don’t worry about it, kid. I think you’re suffering enough right now,” Hank said.
“Okay,” Connor agreed. They spent the rest of the drive listening to Hank’s favorite, Knights of the Black Death. When they pulled into the driveway both got out of the car, though Connor a little slower. Hank waited for him, once more offering an arm for support, before walking up to the front door. Hank entered first to take the brunt of Sumo’s excitement at their return.
“Down boy!” Hank said, pushing the large dog off of him. Sumo huffed, then moved around Hank to sniff at Connor. Connor gave the dog a scratch behind the ear before going to the couch and laying down across it, breathing heavily. Hank frowned. It didn’t seem right that Connor was so out of breath after such a short walk, but the technician had said that nearly all of his biocomponents had some slight damage. Hank walked into the kitchen and pulled a bottle of chilled thirium from the fridge before walking back into the living room.
“Here,” Hank placed a hand under Connor’s back to help him sit back up before handing him the thirium. He wasn’t sure what Connor’s thirium levels were at, but he knew the android had lost some blood in the car so it couldn’t hurt.
“Thanks,” Connor said, unscrewing the cap and drinking some of it. Hank waited until he’d had enough before taking the bottle from him and setting it on the coffee table in front of the couch.
“Wanna change into something more comfortable?” Hank asked. Connor was still in his jeans and white dress shirt and tie, which didn’t seem exactly cozy.
“Okay,” Connor answered, and tried to stand up but his legs wouldn’t support his weight and he fell back onto the sofa.
“Don’t push yourself, I’ll go get them,” Hank said quickly. He went to Connor’s room, pulling out an old band t-shirt that Hank had given him and a pair of sweatpants. He reentered the living room to find Connor had managed to take his tie off and was working on the buttons of his shirt. Hank set the change of clothes on the coffee table then went to his own room to change and to give Connor some privacy. It didn’t take him long to change, but he still waited in his room a few extra minutes to make sure Connor was done before he came back.
When he returned to the living room, Connor was laying on his side once more. He’d managed to change into the new clothes and his work outfit was in a messily folded pile on the floor. Hank hated seeing Connor like this, the kid looked absolutely miserable. He only wished there was anything they could do to help with his pain other than wait it out. He picked up the old clothes and stopped by the laundry room to drop them in the bin before going to Connor’s room.
He grabbed one of the pillows from off the bed before heading back into the living room. He walked over to the sofa and lifted Connor’s head slipping the pillow under. Then he pulled the blanket off the back of the sofa and draped it over the android. Connor’s eyebrows were still pinched in that pained expression and that hazy look had returned to his eyes. Sumo looked up at Hank from where he lay in front of the couch and gave a small whine, also clearly concerned about his friend.
“How bad is it?” Hank asked. He nudged Sumo out of the way so he could sit on the floor in front of the sofa and be eye-level with Connor.
“Unpleasant?” Connor offered.
“On a scale from one to ten, with ten begin what you felt earlier at the crime scene.” Connor thought about it for a few seconds.
“I guess… a seven?” he said hesitantly. Hank reached out and began to gently comb his fingers through Connor’s hair. The android closed his eyes, lightly leaning into the touch.
“Why don’t you get some rest, sleep through the worst of it,” Hank suggested.
“Mm..” was all Connor managed, but Hank took it as a yes. He sat there for another few minutes, rhythmically running his hand over Connor’s hair until he was sure he was asleep. Then he got up, allowing Sumo to reclaim his spot while Hank settled into his recliner.
He switched on the TV, catching the basketball game at halftime. Yet he found he didn’t really care much about it anymore and spent as much time watching the game as glancing at Connor. Though he was in rest mode, he still had that pensive look on his face and his LED hadn’t changed from yellow since leaving the clinic.
Along with the worry that had been plaguing him all night, there was also some guilt. The only reason that Connor hadn’t noticed that woman coming up behind him was because he’d been busy dealing with the man who got the better of Hank. And then he hadn’t been able to reach his gun in time either. If he’d been just a little faster, Connor wouldn’t be suffering like this right now.
Hank looked into the kitchen, eyes falling on the bottle of scotch stored on top of the cabinet. He wanted nothing more than to drown the whole night away, and anything he was feeling. It would be so easy too, but… no, he couldn’t do that anymore. When Connor woke up he would need Hank. Not drunk out of his mind belligerent Hank, but calm and sober Hank. However shitty Hank may have felt, he wasn’t about to make this even harder on Connor. Besides, the kid hated it when he drank.
Hank turned down the volume on the TV until it was a low murmur in the background and closed his eyes. The long day caught up to him and within moments he was asleep.
Hank woke up, squinting at the early morning sun coming in through the window. It took a few seconds for the events of yesterday to catch up with him, and then his eyes darted over to the sofa. Connor was still there, though he was awake now and absentmindedly watching the news now playing on the TV. Seeming to notice Hank’s eyes on him, Connor looked over.
“Good morning, Hank,” he greeted. His voice lacked its usual energy, but that was to be expected.
“Mornin’” Hank responded, then let out a long yawn. “What’s your pain at now?” he asked.
“A five,” Connor answered.
“That’s better,” Hank said, stretching his arms above his head. Sleeping on that chair always left his back aching in protest, but there was no way he was leaving Connor alone until his friend felt better.
“Hank,” Connor hesitated, “Could you maybe bring me some more thirium?” he asked. It was then that Hank noticed the bottle from earlier sat empty on the coffee table.
“Sure, of course,” Hank got up from the chair, quickly retrieving Connor’s requested thirium. This time the android was able to sit up on his own - another good sign - taking the offered thirium with a soft ‘thanks’. But Hank still hovered close by just in case.
“What are your levels at?” Hank asked.
“Eighty-five percent,” Connor answered.
“What, why didn’t you tell me earlier that you needed thirium earlier?” It wasn’t dangerously low Hank knew, but it wasn’t really good either.
“You were sleeping,” Connor answered, looking away sheepishly.
“I don’t care if I’m sleeping, son. If you need something just tell me. I’d rather you wake me up than me sleep in and find you dying because you don’t have enough blood.”
“It wouldn’t have been that bad, Hank,” Connor responded, “my self-healing program just needs to make a lot of repairs right now so it’s taking more thirium than usual. But it would stop if my levels became critically low.”
“That’s not the point,” Hank said, sinking down onto the sofa next to Connor. The android still wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“I’ve already caused you enough trouble, it wasn’t a big deal so I thought I’d let you sleep,” Connor said. His fingers fiddled with the cap from the bottle of thirium, a poor substitute for his coin which was still in the pocket of his jeans.
Hank scrubbed a hand down his face. How was he going to get it through Connor’s thick skull that he cared about him and wanted him to be okay. He’d never tried telling him directly, expressing mushy feelings not something Hank did, ever. But Connor was changing him, and if this was what he needed to do to make Connor understand then, dammit, he’d just have to do it.
“Listen,” Hank sighed trying to fight the embarrassed blush off his cheeks. He hadn’t even said anything yet and already it was difficult. “I care about you, okay? Not because of your skills as a detective or what you can do, but just you. It’s not a trouble for me if you need something, get it? I want to help you when you need it, so… just let me,” Hank finished, a blush definitely burning on his cheeks. Connor had turned to look at him with wide eyes and now it was Hank avoiding eye contact.
“...You mean it?” And Connor’s voice sounded too small and hopeful, and fuck anyone who made this kid think he didn’t deserve to have people care about him.
“Of course, son,” Hank looked back at him with a small smile. And suddenly Connor was hugging him, face pressed against Hank’s shoulder. Getting over the surprise, Hank wrapped his arms around the android, rubbing small circles on his back. After a few moments Connor pulled out of the hug and for the first time his LED flashed a calm blue. It was only for a moment, but it was enough for Hank to feel the last of the tension leave his body. They still had a ways to go before Connor felt completely better, but Hank knew he would be okay. That’s all that really mattered.