The order on his priority queue was in front of his eyes. He ran the calculation. Hank had a high chance of survival. He would make it. Connor ran after the deviant.
"Please, I've done nothing wrong."
Connor felt a swell of accomplishment. He had caught it. Hank came over seconds later. Connor was relieved he made it, but not surprised.
"You bastard!"
The sudden anger was not what Connor was expecting. He had finished his mission properly. There had been no mistakes and the deviant was cornered. Why was Hank yelling at him? Connor watched, still processing what was happening as Hank cuffed the deviant and shoved it away from the edge. He was confused, and he didn't realize what the deviant was doing until it was too late. He was just glad he hadn't logged the mission as a success to CyberLife yet.
"Fucking androids."
The words were unpleasant. Connor had a feeling that single choice had destroyed all the work he had made that entire day towards a better relationship with Lieutenant Anderson. It was the same decision he had made many times before in testing, and each time he had made it he was given a mark for satisfactorily completing his task. Hank had even told him to chase the deviant, he was technically following his orders. It was unlikely for him to have fallen.
Anderson didn't talk to Connor on the walk to the car, but Connor didn't mind. He was sure any conversation would end poorly, anyway. Yet another area where he had been so confident in his ability to succeed but was finding only failure. This was all very different from the tests he had gone through. He shook his head, dislodging his disappointment at the failed mission. He would learn from this like he was designed to.
It was still only 3pm by the time they were done at the scene and in Rupert's apartment, so they went back to the office. Lt. Anderson sat at his desk without a word and started typing up a report, leaving Connor with nothing to do. He opted to not ask. Instead he sat at his own desk and logged any evidence he had found. The body of Rupert was being taken care of by another, and the Lieutenant had taken the book, but Connor's memories also counted as evidence, and he needed to upload all pertinent ones to the system.
Even that didn't take too long. Connor pulled his coin out and analyzed the events that were most troubling him. Saving Anderson on the roof would definitely have caused the deviant's escape, but in the end he still had evaded custody, albeit by a different means. On the other hand, if Lieutenant had fallen, that would have been an irreversible loss. Then again, he hadn't fallen. His probability had been high enough. If Anderson had been a little more aware, the deviant might not have gotten away. Connor felt he would have been able to stop it, too, if he hadn't been shaken by the Lieutenant's sudden anger.
Both sides had excellent arguments and Connor wished he had more data to run through the proper simulations for different outcomes, but Rupert wasn't in custody and Anderson was difficult to figure out. It made things...
"Can you shut the hell up with that damn coin?" Anderson burst, effectively pulling Connor from his processing. Connor put the coin in his pocket. He sat there for a few more seconds, trying to determine the best course of action.
"Are you finished with Rupert's book?"
The Lieutenant tossed the book at him, mumbling about how much he disliked androids yet again. Connor was starting to realize how unpleasant the consistent reminder was.
He wondered if he should remind the Lieutenant to be more careful with evidence. Anderson probably would be even more unpleasant if he did, so he simply gave a curt "thanks" instead. The book would take his whole focus, and he put his relationship with the Lieutenant into the background.
An hour and a half later the Lieutenant stood up and grabbed his coat to leave.
RECONCILE WITH LT. ANDERSON
Connor grit his teeth and put the encoded book to the side. He had not been looking forward to this.
"Lieutenant," the man stopped and glared at him. Connor stood up. "I understand that you don't like me, and you don't agree with my decisions at times, but I believe it is imperative for us to work together. I will continue to try and better meet your expectations, but it's reasonable to expect you to put effort into making things work as well. "
"The fuck did you say to me?"
"Look, no matter how much you might disapprove, I'm your partner now. It would..."
"We are not partners. I am a human, you are a machine. I work the case, you do whatever the hell I order you to do and watch my goddamn back. We are not friends. Hell, you aren't even alive! I'm not 'building a relationship' with a goddamn Ken doll!"
Anderson was inches from Connor's face. There was no way to retaliate to that. No amount of reasoning or logic would persuade the Lieutenant. Connor had once again failed, and the frustration of it was almost a secondary physical barrier.
"I understand, Lieutenant. Forgive me for stepping out of line. I will try to do better in the future."
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The way the android had spit out those words took Hank by surprise. He watched as Connor pushed past him and headed for the break room, his robotic walk looking even more stiff than usual. The hell was CyberLife doing putting so much investment into giving an android an angry setting?
It didn't matter. Hank was going home. It was still pissing rain and he was in a bad mood. Time to get shit-faced in front of his TV and forget everything but how to fucking breathe.
Back and Forth
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