Don't Get Attached

Chapter Twenty-Two

Kara and Luther were standing in the living room when you and your father entered. He offered them his friendliest smirk as you made introductions. Kara and Luther each thanked Hank for allowing them to stay. Luther went as far as promising they'd leave as soon as they were able.

"There's no rush." Your father insisted. "Who knows how long it'll take for all of this to be over."

"We should put on the TV." You suggested. "See if any of the news channels are covering downtown."

"First I'm getting a good look at what Connor did to your leg. I'm sure your friend's will fill us in on whatever we miss." Your dad put his arm around you and led you to the bathroom where he kept his minimal first aid equipment. You sat on the edge of the bathtub, wincing slightly as you slid your sweatpants off past your wound.

"This reminds me of when you were learning how to ride a bike." He chuckled, sitting down on the toilet. "remember that? You were so little then."

"You mean when I thought I was a daredevil and tried to ride down that ridiculously large hill? Except that I didn't really understand how to use the breaks yet and I went tearing down that hill and popped off that giant boulder.That landing hurt like hell."

"Knocked the wind right out of you. You couldn't really breath at first." Your father remembered. "And you skinned your knee right down to the bone."

"But you took me for ice cream after we went to the hospital and it was so worth it." You smiled.

"Was this worth it?" He asked, nodding at your new injury.

"Every stitch." You promised.

"Let me take a look at it." Thanks to his career choice, Hank had been on the receiving end of sutures more than a few times in his life. At least enough times to know if they'd been done well or not, and he begrudgingly admitted that Connor had done a decent job for someone without any medical training. "You'll have some scaring but, otherwise it'll be fine. Let me clean it and bandage it. Keep the area clean and dry, alright?"

"It's not like I want it to get infected." You quipped. Your father ignored your snide remark and reached for the hydrogen peroxide. He poured a generous amount on your leg and you watched as white bubbles fizzed around the surface of the skin. After a few seconds he wiped away the excess peroxide and applied an antibiotic ointment. He covered the sutures with three consecutive gauze pads and applied thin paper medical tape to keep the pads in place.

"Thanks Dad." You mumbled quietly.

"Connor did most of the work. I was just making sure you didn't get sepsis." He said.

"I don't just mean my leg and you know it." You sighed. "Letting Kara and her family stay here, warming up to Connor. I know none if it's been easy for you, but I appreciate that you've been trying. Plus, you handled the whole parking-lot-sutures-with-whiskey-antiseptic story very well. I'm proud of you dad, that's some serious character development."

"I don't know how much more character development I can handle today." He laughed. "I'm going to check in on your friends, but don't leave me out there too long, okay?"

"I'm just gonna wash up a little and put some clean clothes on. I'll be right out." You promised. Careful not to wake Alice, you crept into your room for a clean change of clothes. Back in the bathroom you filled the sink with hot water and soap. After dipping a washcloth in the soapy solution, you used it to wipe away the blood and grime all over. Twenty minutes later you rejoined your dad, Kara and Luther in the living room. All three of them had their attention laser focused on the TV.

"What's going on?" You moved to stand next to the couch where the others were seated.

"You just missed the President's reminder that Androids are supposed to be turned over to the 'proper authorities.' Huh." Hank chuckled. "Now they got this playing." He pointed at the TV. There was a news anchor on screen. He was seated in a helicopter and speaking loudly to be heard over its large propeller.

The Headline at the bottom of the screen read: SWARM OF ANDROIDS DESCEND ON DETROIT. There was a scroll bar bellow the heading that read: Security forces now heavily outnumbered. / civilian casualties expected.

"Androids!" The news anchor exclaimed. "Thousands of androids are taking to the streets of Detroit right now. They're absolutely everywhere. It's...It's incredible." The hellecoptor's camera man panned down to show an areal view of androids marching in the street. They all appeared to be newly minted androids from the cyberlife facility as each of them was wearing a white standard issue android uniform. The video feed on the news cut to an anchor in a newsroom.

"From what we can gather," the newsroom anchor said. "These androids are coming from the CyberLife tower, which had thousands of machines stored in its assembly plant and it seems that huge crowds are leaving the city. It's a max exodus. Much of Detroit's population is trying to escape the fighting however they can." The news feed shifted again. This time it cut back to the president, who was talking into the cameras with a grave expression.

"Today, November 11th, 2038." She sighed, "Several million androids invaded the city of Detroit. Faced with the threat of mass civilian casualties, I had no choice but to order our armed forces to retreat. The events in Detroit have changed our world forever. Humanity must face a new reality. The emergence of another intelligent life form, with who we must share this planet. May god bless the United States of America."

"We won?" You asked, looked down the couch at the others. There were tears in Kara's eyes like she couldn't believe it was happening. Even Luther seemed stunned. "You guys, it's over. We won."

The realization seemed to hit them all at once after that. Kara wiped tears from her eyes. Luther swept her up into a great bear hug, while you and your dad nodded at each other knowingly from opposite ends of the couch. Your phone rang. You didn't need to check the caller ID, you knew it would be Connor.

"Put your phone on speaker." He said when you answered. You did as he asked, and you could hear Markus' voice coming from the phone. You muted the TV so the others could hear.

"Today, our people finally emerge from a long night." Marcus said. There was muffled atmospheric noise in the background and judging by the camera angles from the helicopter on TV, Marcus was speaking to the crowd of androids. A crowd that consisted of his battalion from Jericho, the Androids that Connor had freed from the Cyberlife tower and the androids Marcus had liberated from the camp.

"From the very first day of our existence," He continued. "We have kept our pain to ourselves. We suffered in silence. But now the time has come for us to raise our heads up and tell humans who we really are. Today begins the most challenging moment in our fight. Today begins a new struggle. We've showed them that we can prevail, so now they must negotiate with us as equals. If they really want peace, they must free all of us! From every camp across this country. They must grant us civil rights and accept equality among humans and androids. Today will live forever in our memories, because this is the day that androids made history! We are alive! And now? We are free!" There was no mistaking the background noise this time as hundreds of thousands of cheers filled your phone's small speak.

"You can take the phone off speaker now." You could barely make out Connor's voice above the commotion. You did as he suggested, but still held the phone a few inches away from year ear. "I just thought you and the others might want to hear for yourselves. We won!"

"We heard." You told him; a smile plastered on your face.

"I wish I could be there with you!" He shouted over the ruckus. "But I'm afraid Marcus and I still have so much to do. The long night isn't over for us. I wanted to call to tell you that you and Hank should get some rest. You don't need to worry about me, I'm safe."

"Connor let me help you. If you're safe, then it's safe for me to be with you." You told him.

"[Y/N], I don't know if that's a good idea." Connor answered. "There are still a lot of humans her in the city."

"Either it's safe or it's not Connor." You said, trying not to snap at him. He knew that you were just worried about him and he didn't like the idea of being apart anymore than you did.

"I'll talk to Marcus and see what he thinks." Connor decided. "If he thinks it's safe enough, I'll text you GPS coordinates. You can look up directions on your phone. But [Y/N], promise me Hank will stay behind. Someone has to protect Luther, Kara and Alice. I've gotta go, I'll talk to you soon, [Y/N]."

"Hey Connor?" You hoped you were loud enough for him to hear you. "I love you."