ANGELEYES, dbh connor

TEN

YES & NO
━━━━━━(●'ω｀●)━

THE DEVIANT IS FAST, but you're much smarter than it is and you have an advantage: you're not desperately running for your life or muddled by emotions.

You slide down the hallway as the Deviant pushes a random piece of furniture over to block your path, but instead of it slowing you down, you leap over it with ease and dash after it. It slams the fire-escape door in your face and you're forced to plow into it to save time.

Leaping over a low, brick wall, you watch the Deviant disappear over the edge of the rooftop and leap onto a different building.

It won't give up!

Concentrating, you manage to haul leap over the edge of the rooftop and land securely on a cushiony cornfield.

The Deviant runs past a plowing-machine with surprising efficiency and pulls itself up another brick wall. This is getting old very quickly. You don't even know where the Lieutenant and Connor are!

But you have to focus if you want to keep up.

You pull yourself up the wall in under a second and continue to sprint after it. A second machine blocks you off, but this time, you utilize it. You manage to climb onto the back of the truck and use it to help you up yet another brick wall.

You can just make out the Deviant as it runs through a greenhouse and knowing that you're so close to capturing it is enough to make you run even faster.

Turning so quickly that you skid, you run into the greenhouse and dodge workers as you go. You vault over a fallen shelf and run after the Deviant.

As you exit the building, you see it jump over the edge of the building and slide down a glass panel into a second building...

There's no time for calculation, no time for caution, there's only time for running.

So you don't scan. Instead, you slide down the glass panel and slide over the gap between the two buildings. Your thirium regulator stops during the moment you fly through the air, but as soon as your feet hit the ground again, you're okay.

You continue the chase through a second plant-oriented building. You run through it until you see a vast lavender field that the Deviant is running straight through.

"Stop running!" you yell and scale a high wall with the help of good timing and a small lifting machine. The Deviant is so close, you can almost reach out and grab it, but-

It leaps off the rooftop and onto a second glass panel, though this one is much wider. You slide down it so quickly that you nearly don't notice the huge gap in the panels. Quickly, you dodge it, and before you know it, you've jumped onto a moving train - the same one as the Deviant had.

"Stop!" you yell, but the Deviant won't listen.

Instead, it jumps off the train and onto a small ladder platform. You have no choice but to follow... You get a running start before you jump over the wide gap and latch onto the ladder with determination.

You scale another wall and run through a small park before climbing another wall. For a moment, you wonder where Hank and Connor are and hope they're safe. But then you see the Deviant running through another open building and your focus returns.

"Stop, dammit!"

It doesn't take as long to run through this building as it does the others, and you can see that the Deviant is slowing down. Maybe its stress levels are reaching a dangerous high or maybe it knows it can't escape you.

Either way, you can feel your mission success coming quickly.

"Stop running, I already have you!"

You run through a corn-maze that appears out of nowhere and you hold your arm up to shield your face as the corn husks snag at our clothing.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!"

But it won't listen!

One moment you're in the corn maze and the next, you're out in the open where you can see Hank wrestling with the Android.

Where did he come from?!

You don't have time to think, though, as the Deviant shoves Hank over the edge of the building. For a moment, you think he's dead. That he's falling from the highest story of the building and he's about to land on the road below as flat as roadkill.

But then you see his hands gripping the edge of the roof and you feel relieved.

SOFTWARE INSTABILITY ⍓...

Connor appears seemingly out of nowhere and grabs Hank by the wrists, trying to haul him up. He's strong enough to do it on his own, you're certain, and Hank's survival chance is 94%, but...

SCANNING...

But... But...

You have to help them.

SOFTWARE INSTABILITY ⍓⍓⍓...

You run toward Connor and Hank and, just as Connor is hoisting Hank over the edge, you help by grabbing the old Lieutenant by under his armpits. The two of you manage to yank him onto the rooftop and he falls forward, flat onto his hands.

"Shit! Oh SHIT!" he yells, his face pink with frustration and exhaustion. "We had it! Fuck."

Connor helps him up from the ground, panting but otherwise silent, clearly too busy catching his breath to talk.

"It's my fault. I should've been faster..." your scold yourself, your voice trailing off.

Hank stares at you with a strange warmth in his eyes, unlike anything you'd seen on his face apart from the few times he'd comforted Connor. "You'd have caught it if it weren't for me." ⍓

"Why-" Connor puts his muscular arms on his hips and heaves, "why does it matter? You're alive, Hank! I really thought-... Well... I'm just glad you're not stuck to the road like chewing gum."

You look between the Lieutenant and Detective, unsure of what to say next.

"We know what it looks like," Hank says, pointedly ignoring Connor, "we'll find it..."

He sighs and walks toward the rooftop's emergency exit, which you guess is where he appeared from. His movements are stiff from the running -- and near-death experience -- and Connor watches him with concern.

You stare into the distance. Your LED hasn't returned to its usual blue color yet and you're unsure of how to approach the issue. Should you do a reboot? Or-

"Hey, Connor? Y/N?"

You quickly turn to face Hank and stand, obediently awaiting his next words just in case they're instructions.

Hank sighs and shakes his head. "Nothin'..."

You tilt your head after him as he disappears from sight by ambling down the stairs. You're strangely confused. But when you look at Connor, you notice he seems very pleased with himself.

He must've noticed you staring because he smiles happily.

"That's his way of thanking us," he says, in an almost proud tone of voice, "he appreciates what we did."

"Oh..." you blink. You want to ask why, but- "You should find a way home, Connor, before the Lieutenant takes your car."

Connor gapes, "Oh crap! Thanks, Y/N! Uhhh, bye!"

And with that, you're left alone on the rooftop.

SCANNING FOR ISSUES... REBOOTING...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: omg we're almost at 100 reads!! also uhHHH im so bad at writing action scenes im sorry-

thanks for readin!