With a quick scan of your hand, you opened the door to your apartment.
Among everything else, you had nearly forgotten about your tiny home in the heart of downtown Detroit. It was a small sized apartment, perfect for you and your plants - which were definitely dead now. It was a house covered in your favorite colors, strange small collections, and your personality.
Hank had insisted that you return home before setting out for GOR - saying that you should tell your family where you were, and to get fresh clothes - muttering under his breath about finally returning Connor's jacket because he felt Connor looked 'less goofy' with it on.
"Stay behind me." Connor's voice was sharp and his LED red.
"Whats-" You looked inside the door and immediately understood his alarm.
Your apartment had been destroyed.
Connor kept you back with his arm as he slowly walked in.
Everything you owned had been either been trashed, mutilated or broken - heads were cut off of your stuffed animals, your clothes had been shredded - even your plants looked as if they had been set onfire.
You stood in absolute shock.
"It's clear." Connor came to join you before making a quick call "Hank? Her apartment has been infiltrated, likely by GOR." He walked over to the window where Hank's parked car was visible "Yes. I will assist in helping recover as much as possible, and if it's not too much I will send over her measurements as she will be needing clothing."
"I guess I should have known." You finally managed to say, crouching to examine the glass of your favorite, now shattered teacup - ignoring the fact that Connor knew your measurements.
"Although unfortunate, I'm glad you've been with us. I would hate to know what would have happened otherwise." Connor lightly rested his hand on your shoulder "Is there anything I can do?"
You looked around at your home which now resembled a garbage dump, "Maybe look for anything not totally destroyed?"
Connor gave an enthusiastic nod "Got it."
The two of you began recklessly digging through the wreckage; you in the kitchen while Connor explored the remnants of your room. The sound of shuffling and sorting echoed throughout.
"I am curious to know your state of mind." Connor shouted from across the apartment.
Your interest was piqued "What do you mean by that?"
"As Hank drove, it occurred to me that there was a small chance that GOR would have come here looking for you. I had prepared new methods of comforting you, but it appears as if you do not need it."
"I am pretty shocked right now, I think." you mumbled as you heard Connor's footsteps approaching.
"You think?"
You wanted to cry, you wanted to scream. It felt like your world had fallen apart, but you wanted Connor to think you were strong.
You looked up to see his brown eyes staring at you as he held up a photo.
"This is my first time seeing a physical picture before. It is quite fascinating. What exactly is it a picture of?"
You smiled warmly as you gazed across the familiar sight "That's my family."
"That's a large family." Connor's eyebrows were raised in awe.
"I was an orphan," you pointed to the picture "that's me, there."
The picture was of your childhood from 10 years ago. Four adults and 20 children, including you, were lined up in front of the orphanage's humble gates. 'Rosewater Orphanage' was painted on wood above in handwritten font.
"This information was not in your file," Connor's eyes were as tender as his voice "but I feel satisfaction in learning new things about you by myself."
Did he just refer to himself as an individual?
"You were a cute child. Who are the rest of these people?"
"These were the caretakers." You pointed to the four adults "This was the owner, his name was George. He was so sweet!" You remembered how his eyes used to crinkle when he laughed.
"This was Ophelia." You moved on to the next, pointing out an elderly woman "She was strict, but you knew it was out of love. Like, how Hank is with you."
"Love?" you didn't have to look to know the expression on Connor's face "I will need time to process this information."
"Don't tell him I said anything about it." You joked before continuing on, "This was Richard, the handyman. He taught me how to change a tire."
"You talk very fondly of everyone." Connor peered over your shoulder "and who's the last one there?"
"This was Tim, an android,"
"An android?" Connor's interruption was directed to the missing blue light in the picture.
"Yes, George had Tim's LED removed." You laughed "The kids were all too scared when he first came. They thought he was a robot."
"Well in their defence, he is a robot."
You rolled your eyes "You know what I meant."
Connor looked through more pictures, treating each as if they were a precious treasure "Who adopted you?"
"I eventually got old enough to work. So I left by myself." You sadly recalled the memory.
Connor's LED blinked yellow, which you had learned often indicated deep thought "I once read in one of Hank's books a line that said 'Life is a circle of happiness, sadness, hard times, and good times'."
You giggled at the thought of the quote being in Hank's literature "Are you saying that something really good will happen to me after all of this?"
His voice was confident "I will personally see to it that it does."
"Are you programmed to say that?"
Connor smiled softly "I'm not programmed to say a lot of the things that I've said to you."
Before you could respond you heard a quick tap at the door to see that Hank had left himself in.
"Knock knock, hope you're not doing anything I wouldn't do." Hank surveyed the damage "You weren't kidding about this place being trashed."
Connor put down the pictures, giving the new arrival his full attention "I never 'kid' Lieutenant."
"O-fucking-kay you never kid." Hank grumbled to himself before placing a bag in front of you "I have no fucking idea why I was picked to choose women's clothes, but here."
You opened the bag to find surprisingly vogue athletic wear "I'm shocked- This is so fashionable!"
You thought you saw him blush "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Adding a new note to Lieutenant Hank Anderson's file: is good at choosing women's fashion." Connor nodded to himself, his LED blinking rapidly.
Hank eyes shot daggers "Don't you dare."
"What is this...?" You interrupted their banter as you pulled out a bulky black garment.
"It's a bulletproof vest." Hank's voice became serious "That GOR's a shooter and honestly, who knows what else that sick fuck is capable of."
That was true. What little you knew of GOR was warped and twisted - like how he exploited androids for their thirium - like how he exploited you.
"I've been meaning to ask," Hank reminded you of an important question "why does putting human blood in red ice kill people?"
"Right, we never got round to talking about this." Hank sighed "Connor, would you do the honours? You know I'm bad at this... scientific stuff."
"Yes, that is true." Connor grimaced as Hank punched his arm "The symptoms are close to that of mad cow disease," he rubbed the spot of impact before continuing "When a cow eats the meat of another infected cow, it results in neurodegenerative disease - deforming their brain and spinal cord-"
"Is my blood infected?" you gasped.
"No, it is not the same cause, but rather the same effect. Basically, human blood has a neutral pH, but when it comes in contact with the hydrochloric acid, a component of red ice, which has a pH of 1.1, an acid-base reaction occurs where-"
"It fucks up the blood." Hank simplified.
"Simply put," Connor adjusted his tie "This 'fucked up blood' enters the drug user's bloodstream. When the body tries to break down the DNA from the red ice, mutated nucleic acids are formed and then when the body tries to use that nucleic acid, it results in the body degenerating."
You blinked hard, trying to process the depth of the situation "So it doesn't have to be just my blood?"
"No. That's why we need to stop him, and you've got the memories to help us do it." Hank finished for Connor as he gave you a small pat on the back.
"I'm surprised you managed to figure that all out at the crime scene." you managed a weak smile.
Hank laughed despite the dark topic "Nah, I was just pissed off at the vampirism. Connor told me the rest later." he placed the clothes from the bag in your hands "Go get changed kid."
"I can assist you if you need help." You looked over to find Connor smiling innocently.
"Yeah, you'd like that wouldn't you." Hank grabbed Connor's collar, invoking deja vu "We'll wait for you in the car."
You returned Connor's small wave goodbye as Hank dragged him away, leaving you behind in the mess of your possessions.
You changed into the hand-picked outfit, leaving the bulletproof vest for last - with the amount of straps and buttons this thing had, you knew it would be trouble.
You slung it over your head, fumbling with the straps while you took one last look at the trinkets you had hanging in your window. You looked at the dried roses on your counter, the broken jewellery box, the smashed clock that you had saved up to buy.
You felt heat building up in your eyes as you continued to struggle with the vest.
Why? Why did GOR have to destroy your home?
Why...?
"This-!" you ripped the vest off "fucking thing!" you threw it hard across the room, hoping it would break something even further, but instead a hand caught it.
You looked up to see Connor leaning against the door frame.
"I can't get this damn thing on." You quickly wiped away your tears of frustration.
"I said I would assist you if you needed it." He sauntered over, placing it back over your head.
"Why aren't you waiting with Hank?" You asked as he worked his way around you, deftly tightening the straps.
"I never listen when he tells me to wait." His fingers ran over each button, securing it with a snap.
"You know that's deviant behaviour, right?" You joked.
Connor pushed in the final clasp.
"I know."