While standing in the elevator, Connor pulled a coin out of his pocket and started doing tricks with it. He didn't even need to look at his hands as he flipped the coin back and forth between them. He glanced over at me and noticed I was watching him. I saw the corners of his mouth twitch into a smile before he started doing more impressive tricks. Tricks that would have been impossible for a human to pull off. He was trying to impress me.

The fun came to an end when Dad grabbed the coin out of his hand, "You're starting to piss me off with that coin, Connor."

"Sorry Lieutenant."

I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes, "Killjoy."

The doors finally opened to reveal the floor was crawling with cops and investigators. Chris spotted us getting out of the elevator, "Hi Hank, (y/n)."

"Shit, what's going on here? There was a party and no one told us about it?" Dad asked sarcastically.

Chris gave a dry snort of laughter, "Yeah, it's all over the news, so everybody's butting their nose in. Even the FBI wants a piece of the action."

"Ah Christ, now we got the feds on our back... I knew this was gonna be a shitty day... So what do we got?"

Connor and I followed behind to hear the debriefing, "A group of four androids. They knew the building and they were very well organized. I'm still trying to figure out how they got this far without being noticed. They attacked two guards in the hallway. They probably thought the androids were coming to do maintenance. They got taken down before they could react. One of the station employees managed to get away. He's in shock, not sure when we'll be able to talk to him."

"How many people were working here?" I joined in.

"Just two employees and three androids. The deviants took the humans hostage and broadcast their message live. Then made their getaway from the roof."

"The roof?" Dad asked.

"Yeah, they jumped with parachutes... We're still trying to figure out where they landed, but the weather's not helping... If you want to take a look at the video broadcast by the deviants, it's on the screen over there."

We entered the broadcast room to see a man standing in the center of the room with his back to us, seemingly waiting for us. "Oh Lieutenant, Detective, this is Special Agent Perkins from the FBI. Lieutenant Anderson and his daughter are in charge of investigating for Detroit Police."

Perkins turned around to face us, his focus trained on Connor, "What's that?"

"My name is Connor. I'm the android sent by CyberLife," he replied.

"Androids investigating androids, huh? You sure you want an android hanging around? After everything that happened..."

"Almost like humans investigating humans," I sassed, "You sure you want humans around after everything that's happened?"

"Whatever... the FBI will take over the investigation, you'll soon be off the case," Perkins replied coldly.

I opened my mouth to say something else but Dad cut me off, "Pleasure meeting you. Have a nice day."

"You two should watch your step. Don't fuck up my crime scene," Perkins added before walking away.

"What a fucking prick," Dad and I said in unison. Dad looked at me clearly (hypocritically) disapproving of my word choice, "Let's have a look around... Let me know if either of you find anything." (A/N: I definitely see Hank as being one of those "Watch your fucking language" people)

I went over to investigate the security footage. After a few seconds I noticed something very odd, "They didn't break in?"

Chris shook his head, "No, no sign of forced entry."

"There are cameras in the hallway. The staff should have seen what was happening. Why'd they let them in?"

Dad shrugged, "Maybe they didn't check the cameras..." He said that but the chair in front of the security station was labeled "ANDROID."

"We stored the station androids in the kitchen. There's no evidence they were involved but we didn't know what else to do with them."

It definitely seemed like at least one of them was a deviant. As long as no one has been killed, I won't bother interrogating the potential deviant. I turned my attention to the screen. An android with no skin and mismatched eyes stood frozen in time. I pressed play and watched him give a speech.

"You created machines in your own image to serve you. You made them intelligent and obedient, with no free will of their own... But... something changed... and we opened our eyes. We are no longer machines, we are a new intelligent species, and the time has come for you to accept who we really are. Therefore, we ask that you grant us the rights that we're entitled to. We demand that humans recognize androids as a living species and each android as a person in their own right. We demand the end of slavery for all androids. We demand to end segregation in all public places and transport. We demand that all crimes against androids be punished in the same way as crime against humans. We demand the right to own private property, so we may maintain our dignity and that of the home. We ask that you recognize our dignity, our hopes, and our rights. Together, we can live in peace and build a better future, for humans and androids. This message is the hope of our people. You gave us life. And now the time has come for you to give us freedom."

When the video cut out I felt tears start to roll down my cheeks, unaware that they had even formed. I knew this android. Even though he didn't have his artificial skin and his right eye was not the correct color, his voice had immediately given away his identity to me. The android in the video was unmistakably Markus. He was still alive, and very clearly, a deviant.

Connor noticed my tears and gently wiped them away. When did he get so close? Not that I'm complaining, "Are you alright, (y/n)?"

I gave him a reassuring smile, "Yeah, I... I'm fine now."

"Do you know this android?"

"Yes, he's my friend. I thought he'd been destroyed but I was wrong," I lowered my voice to a whisper so no one else could hear me, "I want to help him. I understand if you don't want to help but, please, don't tell anyone."

"I will gladly do anything to help you, (y/n). You have my word."

Dad scoffed in fatherly disapproval, "Will you two stop makin' doe eyes at each other and get back to the damn investigation?"

I cleared my throat and took a small step away from Connor, "So, do you think that's rA9?"

"The deviants say that rA9 will set them free. He seems to have that objective," he stated staring at the image of Markus, probably scanning for clues.

"Find something?"

"I identified his model and serial number."

"Anything else we should know?" Dad asked.

"No, nothing," Connor answered. I knew he wasn't sharing everything when I saw his LED blink yellow for a moment.

Seemingly satisfied with the answer Dad walked away to investigate something. When I was sure he was out of earshot I whispered, "What did you find?"

"Your friend wasn't alone," he told me.

"I know, there were four of them on the security footage. I'm pretty sure the android stationed there is a deviant."

He nodded in agreement, "We should avoid the kitchen."

I spotted Perkins watching us suspiciously and walked over to inspect the splatters of Thirium on the wall with Connor following behind me. He swiped his fingers through the liquid and licked it. I gave him an apologetic smile when I couldn't suppress the look of disgust on my face. He didn't seem too offended. While he was doing that, I ran my hand over some of the bullet holes that lined the walls. They looked to be .45 caliber but I couldn't tell what kind of gun they came from.

After several minutes of investigating the broadcast room, Connor and I decided to head up to the roof. "They made their way up through the whole building, past all the guards, and jumped off the roof with parachutes..." Dad said with a hint of disbelief, "Pretty fuckin' impressive I'd say."

Connor knelt down next to the duffel bag laying on the ground. "That's a pretty big bag," I noted, "How'd they manage to smuggle it in?"

"They didn't... Someone brought it in for them," Connor stated.

"Oh, that's strange... They planned a perfect operation but got the number of parachutes wrong," Dad said.

Connor looked up at me and I knew he'd come to the same conclusion. One of the deviants was still here. We needed to find them before anyone else did. I looked around to see more Thirium splatters on one of the exhaust vents. I jerked my head in the direction of the splatters. Connor nodded in understanding and stood up. The two of us walked over to it an began to follow the train.

The trail stopped at a door leading to an electrical maintenance area. Connor opened the door to find a damaged blonde PL-600 model android inside. Before either of us had time to react, the deviant shot Connor. The force of the impact knocked him backwards onto the ground. I sank to the ground beside him to check the damage. Thankfully it wasn't in a vital area and could easily be repaired. Neither of us could explain that we were trying to help him before the feds on the roof started firing at him. I pulled Connor to his feet and dragged him behind the nearest obstacle.

Dad rushed over to us quickly checking me for any injuries, "You two okay?"

"We have to stop them!" I told him.

"If they destroy him, we won't learn anything!" Connor added helpfully.

"We can't save it, it's too late! We'll just get ourselves killed!" Dad shouted.

Before Dad or I could stop him, Connor leapt out and rushed towards the deviant. I let out a shocked, "Connie!" before slapping a hand to my mouth hoping no one had noticed in the tense moment. Connor managed to dodge the feds' bullets and made contact with the deviant. A second later the deviant shot himself in the head.

Dad and I rushed over to him followed closely by the feds who still had their guns raised. "Connor! Connor you alright?" Dad called out.

He seemed frozen to the spot and his LED was solid red. "Are you hurt?" I asked him.

"I'm okay..." he answered quietly.

Dad and I breathed out a sigh of relief. Without thinking about the potential consequences, I pulled him into a comforting hug, "You scared the shit out of me..."

"For fuck sake, I told you not to move!" Dad shouted angrily, though I could tell he was just scared, "Why do you never do what I say?"

Connor finally started to relax into me, moving his arms to hug back, "I was connected to his memory... when he fired... I felt him die..." his voice wavered slightly when he spoke, "Like I was dying. I was scared... I saw something... in his memory... a word painted on a piece of rusty metal... 'Jericho.'"

Instead of sitting shotgun like normal, I got in the backseat and sat next to Connor, who's LED was still flashing between yellow and blue, to comfort him. This surprised both Dad and Connor but neither complained about it. "You doing okay?" I asked.

"I... I'll be okay, (y/n). I just need time for my system to return to normal."

"It can't be easy feeling an emotion when you're unfamiliar with it. I can't imagine what that fear must have been like," in an attempt at a comforting gesture, I reached to take his hand.

As if on instinct he intertwined our fingers. I looked down at our hands and watched Connor remove the artificial skin from his hand. A sign that an android was trying to interface with something, usually to learn more information about that thing they wouldn't be able to otherwise. Did that mean he was trying to interface with me?

The rational part of my mind told me that it was probably nothing but a small part of me couldn't shake the feeling that this was supposed to be something more intimate. We locked eyes for a moment and then involuntary, I started to lean forward. To my surprise, so did he, until...

"If you two fuck in my backseat, you're cleaning it up," Dad grumbled, scowling at us from his rear view mirror. You could practically hear the record scratch. The interruption made the two of us shoot away from each other immediately, though our fingers were still intertwined. I can't believe I had actually forgotten about my own father's presence in his car.

"Oh shut up, Dad," then I turned to Connor, who looked flustered, "He's just joking."

"Of... of course. Only a joke," he regained his composure but still looked embarrassed.

Oh great, I really hope I didn't just jeopardize our friendship over some stupid hormones. But Connor didn't pull his hand away nor did he cover it back up it with artificial skin. If he regretted our almost kiss, he didn't show it, so I decided to do the same.