03:03 December 24th, 2039
Darrenger, Ontario, Canada
POV: 313-248-317 - 51 "Connor."

Sal soon returned from the ashy room, traced in dust, and coal lashes. Litter peppering his olive green pants. In his hands, slept a small, metal box of deep plum. Not a marking on it, besides a small scanner.

"What is this, Sal?" Cade asked, his LED churning, trying to identify something that can't be traced.

"It's called a- she's called Darrenger. She made this place for us - and she wanted to be the last thing in it. And, here she is." He blew off a blanket of ash and dust off of the box's top, then rested his index finger on the scanner that recognized his voice.

With a few whirrs, clicks, and a final low beep - a hiss released and the pressurized lid came off into Sal's hands. He slipped it under the bottom of the box, and slowly reached into it. Almost as if what was inside could be easily startled. We all watched breathlessly, until the anti-climactic conclusion of it being nothing more than an LED.

"This, is Darrenger?" Hank asked, crossing his arms, and tilting his head to the side. Sal looked up to him - seeming offended that this wasn't enough for him. Hank quickly caught on.

"I'm sorry son - this just, isn't what we were expecting." Hank sighed, looking at the LED again. I examined it closer. There is something - off about it.

"I know. Darrenger was never an android. She's a model. A model that-"

"What the FUCK are you doing in here?! You need to leave IMMEDIATLY!" The hiss of a gruff voiced cop flashing a light at us. We all shielded our eyes, and felt our hearts skip a few beats.

"I'm sorry sir - we were just -"

"It's officer! And I don't give a fuck what you were doing, you need to leave now! This place is awakened!" The officer stepped closer with every fast footstep. As his pace quickened, we could see that he wasn't angry. He was terrified.

"We're leaving, officer. Thank you." Hank said - less than impressed that our confusing adventure would remain confusing for a while.

"Get going! How did you even get in here?!" He pushed the back of my shin with the toe of his boot. I stumbled, but picked up my pace.

"We were here during the fight. We're just all trying to get out!" Sal lied - hopping in an extra step to keep up with the rest of us.

"You were in the fire, and you're alive? Oh, no wonder! You have ex-lieutenant Hank Anderson on your team, don't you." The sudden shift in the officer's tone, and inflection set off spirals in my head. Hank's head whipped around to face the officer. A flood of negative memories flashed across his eyes.

"Ah. Tom Cafferty. It's been a while! Been a while since you "gave up" your position of New York's mayor? What a pleasure." The tang in Hank's voice was enough to suck the oxygen out of the air.

"At least I have a job, and I'm not palling around with a bunch of roombas. Get the fuck out of here." He spat, stepping on the back of my shoe. Sean looked over to me - his LED churning.

"Yeah? This is your job? Bullying people who just want to be free? I thought you have seen enough monsters in your day. I guess it gets hard to see, once you become one of them. Son of a bitch." Hank growled through his teeth, taking harder, more deliberate steps.

"I have a job to protect the people I am in charge of. Not destroy everything they've built. It's a shame to see what happened to you, Lieutenant. I idolized you for a while, you know?" The blaze of the moon seeping through cracks in the destroyed building brought us all a little closer to oxygen - and away from this incredibly uncomfortable conversation. As I looked up to see how close we were getting - another step against the back of my shoe rendered me stumbling, and angry.

Wisps of dust, and ash jumped off of Sean's coat sleeve as his strong hand gripped the bottom of Cafferty's collar, hoisting him a few inches in the air.

"If you touch Connor again - you'll spend the rest of your days in Darrenger." Sean's eyes have shifted to something I hope to never see again. The pupils consumed everything else in his eye. There were no lenses, no iris, not even a reflection of the lights above. A true void formed under furrowed brows. He watched the officer squirm under his tight, relentless grip.

"Motherfucker, let me go!" He gasped, reaching for the pistol attached to his utility belt.

Sean continued to stare into his eyes, until he saw Cafferty's full submission. He stopped moving, lowered his arms, and let out a strangled breath. Sean's eyes drained back to navy, as he simply let go of the officer's shirt - planting his feet back on the ground in a dust billowing cloud. Cafferty brushed his fingers across the lines Sean's knuckles left against his throat, and straightened his collar.

With a fearsome silence - we followed Sean's steps as he lead us out of there. His breath in rhythm with his steps, and his arms swaying. He is walking the way he was when we first saw him. I have never seen Sean so quickly flip from normal - to what that was. To be honest, I don't think I've seen anybody ever do that.

"Sean, look out!" Cade's voice erupted from behind us in a frantic, loud tone. We ducked, and turned - limbo-ing under Cafferty's smoking pistol barrel. An explosion of Thirium burst from Cade's left shoulder, drenching his suit, and splattering against his cheek. He groaned, while trying to kick the pistol from his hands. I shoved Hank out of the way, as I jumped on top of the ex-mayor. We wrestled over the pistol - which was burning to the touch.

 Cafferty's teeth bared in an excruciating grin as I crushed his fingers around the gun. I finally got it into my hands, and quickly bashed it against his temple. A fervor of thick droplets exploded from the shards of skull flying off of his head. A thick line quickly traced down his cheeks, and confusion glossed over his eyes. I stepped off of him.

With no pain, and only noises being grunts, and shallow breaths - the officer scrambled to his feet. Every quick beat of his heart punched more blood out of his wound on his head. I wished it would have been done and over with one hit. I recoiled slightly at the sight of him being so unbothered by the blood seeping into his bottom eye lid, and slithering down his nose.

Cade walked up behind him - and we all agreed that we needed to end this. As the skin peeled from Cade's hands - revealing a polished white and blue interior, a few words gurgled from Cafferty's throat.

"I was only, trying to help."

 As a blood and salt mixed tear trickled down his face, a dull crack of his neck snapped his breathing, and beating. His eyes failed to provide color, and everything else failed to sustain. He fell limp within Cade's arms, as he simply let him fall to the ground. We all stared at the officer - seeing an unresponsive twitch every few seconds - we let him rest in Darrenger.

04:28 December 24th, 2039
Outside the Reed Household, Toboggan, Ontario, Canada

"Sal, what is our next step?" Sean asked, specks of Cade's blood freckling his cheeks and clothes.

"You have to decide. If you are rA9, take Darrenger with you. If you aren't rA9 - we're fucked." He said quietly - holding the LED in his fingers, wanting to give it to Sean - but also stepped a back in hesitation of how powerful Sean is becoming. He looked down to the device in Sal's hands, and contemplated.

In a breath, he reached into his hands, and took the it - then followed up Sal's arm to his eyes. He nodded.

"You are rA9. You are going to be the ones to set things equal. You're the one we've waited for." The relief in Sal's voice was enough to forget about what just happened for a few moments. We all grew a smirk - but it quickly dissolved as we realized within minuets - we would have discuss how we killed an officer with nothing but our hands, and misguided anger.

"Are you leaving?" Sean asked, as Sal turned on the porch. He stopped for a second - deciding how to word what he wanted to say.

"You'll see me in no time. I'm not a hero, Sean. That's for you guys. All of you." And with that - Sal's LED churned blue for the first time. We watched him walk across the sidewalk, and cross the street with a new beat of confidence, and reasoning.

"Cade? Where the fuck have you been? It's not like it's our wedding night or anyth- what the fuck?!"

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