3rd Person POV

Obey Hank

Follow Arna     

Connor ignores Hank, too concerned for Arna's safety, and climbs over the fence, sliding down the muddy hill. He climbs over the railing as Arna catches up to Kara and Alice. He grits his teeth as she grabs Kara by the arm, quickly dodging a punch as Kara fights to escape Arna's grip. Connor darts across the lanes of traffic, trying to reach them as fast as he can. Arna looks back at him, and Kara takes the opportunity to kick her in the leg, knocking her onto the ground.

It's then that Connor catches up to them and leaps over the railing like the graceful gazelle he is, Kara quickly grabbing Alice and running down the midway before pulling her over the rail to the oncoming traffic. Connor kneels down to check on Arna as the two attempt to cross the highway.

"Arna, are you-"

"What are you doing?" she asks. "Go!" He nods and runs after them, climbing over the railing and catching up to them almost immediately. She attempts to fight him off and eventually pushes him backward as a car moves between him. He looks back as Arna jumps over the railing behind him, and when they look up, Kara and Alice are gone. They look around, but they're nowhere to be found. Connor sighs.

"Shit," he mutters.

Arna's POV

We sulk back to Hank, who says nothing, but I know he's pissed at both of us. He shakes his head and turns to walk back to the car. I step forward but stop when I feel Connor staring at the back of my head. I look back and he immediately looks away, but he hasn't moved. I frown and look at the ground.

"Connor," I say quietly. He looks up at me. "Why did you follow me?" He frowns. "I know Hank told you not to. He would have told me if he was here fast enough. So why didn't you listen? He gave you an order, but you followed me anyway. Why?" He says nothing for a moment and instead just looks at me. Eventually I nod and start to walk away.

"I don't know." It's so quiet I almost don't hear it. I look back at him. He's staring a hole in the pavement, and his LED is spinning yellow. He looks up at me, and my gaze softens. In that moment, he looks so...lost. "I don't know...but I felt like I needed to make sure...you made it off the highway." I take a deep breath.

"'Felt?'" I ask. His eyes widen, and he shakes his head.

"N-no," he says quickly. "I mean...my programming was telling me to help you." I frown and nod, looking down.

"Right." I chuckle bitterly under my breath. "Of course." I don't look at him as I shake my head and walk away. I feel him looking after me but don't look back and slide into the back of Hank's car silently, despite the looks he gives me in the mirror.

"Everything alright, kid?" he asks. I say nothing and pull my headphones, playing the last thing I had pulled up. It's not overly loud, but it does its job and blocks out the world around me as Connor climbs in the front seat, not looking back at me. I look out the window at the streets passing by and look up when the car stops in front of a food truck. Hank immediately gets out of the car and makes his way across the street, holding his hands out to stop an oncoming car.

"Whoa!" he exclaims. "Hey! Hey! Hey!" Connor follows him after a minute, and I roll my eyes before going after them.

"Hank," the guy in the truck says. "How you doing?" Hank shrugs.

"Eh, you know, same old shit." The guy looks at Connor.

"Plastic with you?"

"Only temporary." A short black man walks up to him

"Hey, hey, hey, Hank!" he says cheerily. "How you doin', man? Hey, listen, I got a shit-hot tip for you. Number five in the third, Lickety-split! That filly's one hell of a chaser. You wanna flutter?" I furrow my brows, trying to fight a smirk. Trying.

"Last shit-hot tip you gave me set me back a week's wages, Pedro," Hank says. The guy, Pedro, shakes his head.

"Come on, this is different," he says. "It's 100% guaranteed. You can't go wrong." Hank sighs.

"Yeah, right." He shakes his head and holds out a wad of cash. "Alright, I'm in." Pedro grins.

"Damn straight!" He starts to walk away but turns back to Hank. "Hey! You won't regret this!" Hank looks back at the man making food in the truck before looking over as Connor steps up next to him. He sighs.

"What is your problem?" he asks. "Don't you ever do as you're told? Look, you don't have to follow me around like a poodle!" I chuckle.

"He's an android, Hank," I say. "Did you expect any less?" He looks at me.

"Seriously, you too? Expected you to be long gone." I shrug but say nothing. Hank shakes his head and looks forward, and eventually Connor leans toward Hank a bit.

"I'm sorry for my behavior back at the police station," he says. Hank looks down at him. "I didn't mean to be unpleasant." Hank shakes his head but smiles nonetheless.

"Oh, wow," he mutters. "You've even got a brown-nosing apology program! Guys at CyberLife thought of everything, huh?" The guy in the truck hands Hank a box and a cup, and Hank grins as he takes them.

"Here you go," the guy says.

"Ah!" Hank exclaims. "Thanks, Gary. I'm starving." He walks towards a table, and Gary points to Connor as I walk after him.

"Don't leave that thing here!" he calls after Hank, who shakes his head.

"Huh, not a chance!" he replies. "Follows me everywhere." I look back in time to see Connor walking away from Gary. "See." I chuckle quietly at Hank as Connor leans on the table. I rest an elbow on the cool metal as I look around.

"This Pedro," Connor says. "He was proposing illegal gambling, am I right?" Hank nods.

"Yeah." Connor frowns.

"And you made a bet?"

"Yeah." I laugh at Connor's obliviousness, ignoring the looks the two send me, thinking they're being subtle, Connor in confusion and Hank in...Hank-ness.

"Your meal contains 1.4 times the recommended daily intake of calories and twice the cholesterol level," Connor tells him. "You shouldn't eat that." Hank looks down at his burger, then back up at Connor.

"Everybody's gotta die of something." He goes back to eating as I hold back a snort.

"Can ask you a personal question, Lieutenant?" Connor asks. Hank gives a small nod. "Why do you hate androids so much?" Hank's small smile disappears.

"I have my reasons." I frown, looking down at the table.

"Is there anything you'd like to know about me?" he asks. Hank quickly shakes his head.

"Hell, no," he says. He holds up a hand. "Well, yeah, um... Why did they make you look so goofy and give you that weird voice?" I fail to hold back my laugh, and they look at me.

"Seriously?" I ask. "That's what you want to know? That doesn't even make sense! There are absolutely no problems with Connor's voice, and definitely not his face." Hank shakes his head, and Connor answers him anyway.

"CyberLife androids are designed to work harmoniously with humans," he says. "Both my appearance and voice were specifically designed to facilitate my integration." Hank nods.

"Well, they fucked up." Connor nods.

"Maybe I should tell you what we know about deviants." Hank nods.

"You read my mind. Proceed." I roll my eyes.

"We believe that a mutation occurs in the software of some androids, which can lead to them emulating a human emotion." Hank closes his eyes.

"In English, please." Connor sighs.

"They don't really feel emotions, they just get overwhelmed by irrational instructions, which can lead to unpredictable behavior." Hank nods.

"Emotions always screw everything up. Maybe androids aren't as different from us as we thought." I look up at him, surprised. "You ever dealt with deviants before?" Connor looks past us, most likely remembering something that happened to him.

"A few months back," he says, "a deviant was threatening to jump off the roof with a little girl." He looks up at us. "I managed to save her." Hank nods.

"So, I guess you've done all your homework, right?" he asks. "Know everything there is to know about me?"

"I know you graduated top of your class," Connor says. "You made a name for yourself in several cases, and became the youngest lieutenant in Detroit." I nod, actually somewhat impressed. "I also know you've received several disciplinary warnings in recent years and you spend a lot of time in bars." I chuckle under my breath.

"So, what's your conclusion?" Hank asks.

"I think working with an officer with...personal issues is an added challenge," Connor says. "But adapting to human unpredictability is one of my features." He winks smoothly, and my elbow slips off the edge of the table, making them look at me, Connor confused and Hank smirking.

"And what about our resident troublemaker?" he asks. "What do you know about her?" I frown at him. I look at Connor, who seems to be thinking about what to say. He eventually looks up at Hank.

"A small criminal record of theft and resisting arrest," he says. "Other than that, nothing." He looks at me, his gaze soft. "You've somehow managed to erase everything known about you." Hank chuckles.

"Yeah, that wasn't her," he says. "That was one Hadley Lawson." He looks at me. "What's Hadley been up to anyhow? Haven't heard anything." I smirk.

"That's 'cause there's been nothing to hear," I say. "We've been good kids recently." He lift an eyebrow, and I roll my eyes. "With the exception of one necklace." I look at Connor as his LED blinks a pale yellow before going back to blue.

"I just got a report of a suspected deviant," he says. "It's a few blocks away." He looks to the side, like he knows exactly where we're going. "We should go have a look." He looks back at Hank. "I'll let you finish your meal. I'll be in the car, if you need me." He walks away, and Hank looks at me.

"You goin' with him?" he asks. I nod.

"Hell yeah," I say. "No way I'm staying here with you."