Accident Prone - Becoming Human (The Final Chapters)

Epilogue

Epilogue:

Three years had passed since the loss of Hank Anderson and in that time many more changes had taken place throughout the city and with his surviving family. For the first time in history Detroit had a mayor who was an android as Markus himself stepped up to the challenge and won the election with a rather impressive lead. Every police precinct now had its own deviant division to help protect its deviant residence and to ensure deviants weren't taking advantage of their new rights as equal and free people. With the city at peace and everyone able to finally coexist without any tensions or plots of violence to undo the delicate tranquility of the population, Detroit had entered a new era of progress and prosperity.

With the end of fall and the sunset right around the corner Connor found himself lamenting the decision to pull down the old basketball hoop from over the garage to put away for the wintertime. He had spent hundred, if not thousands, of hours playing basketball in the driveway with either Hank or Henry, and it had become his daily routine to play a game as a means of de-stressing after a long day of keeping the peace as the Central Precinct's proud deviant Captain.

Making one final shot and watching the orange basketball soar through the hoop and then bounce on the driveway, Connor put his hands to his hips and didn't bother to stop the ball from rolling away as it passed his foot and went down the driveway toward the street. Connor was now twenty-six years in age and for a prototype that was an impressively long time. Age was affecting Connor as if he were a forty-something human and he knew it was beginning to show.

"You still have a great jump shot, dad!"

"Henry?" Turning around Connor saw his son walking up the driveway and now dribbling the basketball in his right hand. His son adult son had a bright smile on his face as he returned home for an unexpected but very welcome visit. "You weren't supposed to come home until tomorrow!"

"I know." Tossing the ball into the air Henry watched as the ball found its way into the hoop smoothly and bounced down on the driveway beneath the net without any obstruction. "But there was something I needed to get before I graduate tomorrow."

"Oh?" Curious about what his son could be missing Connor picked up the basketball and threw his arm around Henry's shoulders as they walked into the backyard and up the back deck of the house together. "And what's that?"

"You'll see." Eyeing the aged basketball hoop with a grin Henry felt entirely at ease as he returned home from school. "I hope..."

"Hope?"

"I know you didn't do anything with Papa's things after... you know." Henry hated mentioning Hank's passing just as much as his father did. "And I wasn't sure if you managed to finally do anything with them after I went back to school."

"I see." Opening the backdoor Connor and Henry stepped into the kitchen as Connor cybernetically turned on the overhead lights. The old house had been kept the same after Hank's passing and after Connor purchased the home for himself, but it would never feel the same without Hank's presence. "I haven't thrown anything out or donated anything yet."

"And is everything still in his room?"

"...Yes." Connor stared at the entrance of the hallway as Opal jumped down from the back of the couch and readily rubbed against Henry's ankle to greet her favorite person in the whole world. While Henry picked up the cat to hold in his arms Connor nodded at the closed bedroom door down the hallway and didn't dare to enter the space as he was still trying to find the best way to keep Hank's memory alive. "I haven't touched anything in his room since the night before the funeral."