Partners [Path Unlocked 🔓]

Chapter 14 - Connor Anderson: Friend

"Oh fuc-!" Connor tried to scream, jerking another hasty step backwards but the man wasn't quite quick enough and was brought to the ground with a heavy thud as the attacker leapt upon the detective from above, springing forth from the ceiling like some kind of mousetrap in the crappy board game everyone bought 'cause all the parts and pieces looked cool but no one ever actually enjoyed.

Connor's words fell way to a sharp cry of surprise and his gun clattered uselessly from his hands as a flash of silver metal glinted across Hank's vision and the police prototype spurred into action just as the deviant slashed out a long kitchen knife, wielding the thing far above his head and trying to bring it down upon the pinned detective. The attacker slashed downwards, seemingly aiming for his victim's throat with his wild strike but missing his mark by a mile as Connor skillfully twisted to the side at the last moment with a sharp jerk of his upper body that nearly threw the deviant off entirely and left the poorly planned blow falling across the man's clavicle rather than anywhere lethal.

Connor released a sharp hiss of pain, a crimson blossom already beginning to spread across the now torn material of his exposed button-up to seep slowly through the fabric until the entire right shoulder of the thing was ruined by the deep stain. "What the absolute fuck!" The man managed to snarl out as Hank grasped the attacking android by the back of one arm and was able to pull him the rest of the way off his companion after the detective's earlier move had dislodged the deviant.

The deviant twisted and writhed against the prototype's hold, flailing wildly and swinging his free arm out to slash blindly at mid air as he cursed and spat unintelligibly at the wind, knife blade glimmering in the dim light and revealing crusted blood staining the blade alongside the fresh, still dripping streak ripped from Connor's shoulder. "You don't understand!" The deviant tried to protest, deep toned voice cracking in the middle and giving way to a static buzz of a sound that sounded much closer to the dial up tones of ancient computer than any normal human speech pattern.

Hank wordlessly threw out his other hand to grasp the malfunctioning machine's kitchen knife, wrapping his large digits around the dull blade to still its random strikes against the blameless air and to tear it mercilessly from the android's iron grip. The cold metal tore into the prototype's synthetic skin and sliced through hard plastic to let blue toned blood spill from within the mechanical man's internal components, the near neon liquid pouring out over the used knife to mix with red and smudge both colors against the HK800 model's wide palm in a murky purple and ran over his fingers to drip from the large digits.

"Detective Anderson, Detroit Police!" Connor began the legally necessary spiel as Hank tossed the knife aside, the man pulling himself up from the floorboards with a pained groan and reaching a hand into his back pocket to pull forth his leather wallet once more. "You are under arrest for the suspected murder of Travis Ortiz." Connor concluded flatly, determined glint hardening usually soft eyes as the human flipped the thing open to reveal a Detroit Police Department badge and showed the thing to the still struggling android.

"No! No! You don't understand!" The defective machine protested once more, screaming now as Hank got a solid grip on both of the things wrists and held them securely behind his back, steely grip digging into synthetic skin so the fake flesh there dissipated, revealing pale, white plastic underneath. "He was gonna kill me!" The thing cried out desperately, jerking roughly against the police prototype's grip to no avail as Hank's relentless fingers never yielded in the slightest.

It didn't take million dollar scanners to sense the truth in the captured android's words, however, just a decent pair of working eyes would suffice. Burn scars melted and warped the sleek plastic of the machine's forearms in more than one place and deep gashes in the thing's well built biceps left metal mechanics on full display, scarring marks of brutal force ripping cruelly through fabricated muscle and false skin to reveal the true machine underneath. The olive green shirt that hung poorly off the android's toned frame, stretching in all the wrong places yet hanging incredibly loose in the stomach area, was torn at the lower hem, a huge chunk of the fabric ripped away to reveal a massive hole in the deviant's side.