Accident Prone - Becoming Human

Something In the Air

It was early in the partially sunny morning and Connor was standing outside the house leaning back against the rear bumper of the Oldsmobile in the driveway as he watched the wind blow through the green leaves of the surrounding trees. The air was physically charged with an energy like a storm was coming, but there was nothing beyond the few white, thick clouds hovering high in the sky. Inquisitive, soulful brown irises studied the strong gusts of wind as it blew in sporadic gales throughout the city as he waited for Hank to join him outside. Sensing something unexplainable in the air Connor pulled his gray blazer tighter around himself as if to stave off a bitter chill.

The front door opened and shut sequentially as Hank walked outside with his car keys in his right hand and walked over to the driveway. Unaffected by the unusual weather Hank spun the keys around by the keyring on right index fingertip and sighed openly.

"All right." Pointing to the driver's side door of the vehicle Hank let Connor know he was ready to head out. "Let's go."

Connor turned to look at Hank for a moment before he stood upright from the bumper and took his usual spot as the front passenger while Hank sat behind the steering wheel of the aged car. "The weather seems very unusual today." Connor observed as Hank backed down the driveway at a steady clip. "Even for this time of year."

"We're in Michigan, kid. Unusual weather comes with the territory."

"Yes, I'm familiar with the highly unpredictable weather of the immediate area, but something feels... different. At least it does today."

"You got a bad feeling?" Teasing the deviant a little Hank tried to gauge what Connor was trying to tell him. "Kinda' like when we went to talk to Kamski just before the Revolution?"

"Perhaps. I wish I could explain it further, but I cannot." Staring out the front windshield Connor shook his head a little as if frustrated by his own lack of personal understanding. "Do humans experience such unusual feelings about a day despite having no actual reason to feel in such a manner?"

"All the time." Hank turned off their block and headed toward the precinct as he too began to watch the clouds curiously. "And since you're a detective I have to tell ya', if you have a bad feeling about today then it's pretty much guaranteed to mean something strange is in the air."

"Has such a feeling happened to you?"

"Yeah. Twice." Looking away from the clouds Hank cleared his throat a little as he told Connor a little more about his past. "The first time was when I was still a rookie. I had a bad feeling all shift and before the day was over I took a knife to the left side of my neck. The second time was the night my former... partner got shot."

Connor's blue L.E.D. shifted to yellow then back to blue as Hank brought up his late wife, Barbara. "Last night I received a report regarding a riot at the prison. Perhaps it's this report that has caused this 'bad feeling' that I'm currently experiencing."

"I hope you're right, but I'm starting to get a weird feeling myself..."

Actively scanning the weather with his cybernetic connection to the Doppler system Connor monitored the wind speed and direction very closely. "I suppose we'll just have to endure the day and wait to see what happens."

"We should also cross our fingers and hope that some stupid bullshit doesn't ruin our shift."

Arriving at the precinct right on time without any incident during the drive in Hank and Connor were promptly greeted by Chris, whose right arm was still in a sling as his shoulder healed from the bullet he took almost a week before, as he stood expectantly beside their desks. Recovering well from his painful injury Chris was placed on typical desk duty and racking up some pretty decent overtime as he healed. Meanwhile Gavin - who had been taken hostage and resulted in the previous week's shoot-out, was required to talk to the precinct psychiatrist for a few weeks to ensure he wasn't going to suffer any form of P.T.S.D. from the close encounter and was on an assignment outside the precinct at that very moment.