SENTIENT

Abstruse

He can't even get himself to see her face, knowing she won't look at him the same way again. Sitting on the armchair, his foot bouncing anxiously. Cold towel hanging on the back of his neck, he was fidgeting with his fingernails.

She sat on the other side of the sofa. She wanted to get close, but Connor already told her twice to keep her distance. He said he could be dangerous, but she didn't believe him.

"I have to be reset," he exhaled a quick breath.

"I can't... I won't let them do that to you," she shook her head.

She was now crouching at his knees, not caring about their distance. Her hand caressed his cheek to feel that his temperature has cooled down a few degrees.

"You're going to be fine... these nightmares... I'll make sure they won't come back," she promised.

Not knowing, at first, how she will make that promise, but certain that she will always be by his side when it comes again.

"It's not the first time that it happened," he confessed.

"I know, you told me it's been a few days since the explosion, and then the cases involving children... I understand," she said.

He shook his head, his hands clutching onto hers. Red still flickered in his LED, "No, that's not what I meant... I'm... starting to remember."

"Remember what? What is it?" She followed his eyes, fluttering left and right in confusion.

"This house...," he paused. "It belonged to Hank."

"Hank? Who's Hank?"

"Lieutenant Hank Anderson." His eyes widened. The jitters in his feet were gone.

It was 2040 and the streets were exactly the way Connor remembered them when he was there. Potholes, dust and dirt.

All of the buildings were made of steel and metal sheets in this industrial complex. All of them dark, except one. Lieutenant Hank Anderson positioned his force at the front entrance of the 1600 square feet factory, as well as around the back.

The large metal doors slide open with the click of a remote. A remote that was held in the hand of the twisted Detroit Mad Bomber.

The force pointed their lasers straight to his heart, but he had no fear. He knows that if he had to go, he will go out with a bang.

"David, put your hands where I can see them!" Hank yelled at the ST200 model, drawing his automatic handgun to the target.

The doors slid to a full open and revealed what was there inside the old factory. A young girl – can't be older than sixteen – with hands tied and mufflers in her mouth. She was a crying mess.

Hank was caught off-guard. Connor hadn't realized this was going to be a hostage situation. A life for a life. The Mad Bomber has never taken hostages before, not like this.

Not including the twenty human lives he trapped inside a theater building; eight people trapped inside a music lounge; twelve people on the 12th floor of an office building; and fifteen people inside a metro station.

All of them burned alive as his makeshift bomb detonated from his remote distance. He was nothing but a coward to Hank and the good people of Detroit, but this did not deter him from his deranged mission.

David laughed in satisfaction, "Hello, Hank. Connor." He showed them the remote in his hand, "Hello, the rest of you people."

"Let the girl go, David!" Hank exclaimed. He was definitely looking, and feeling better, without the liquid confidence he used to depend on. It has been going on for two months.

"I'm gonna burn the whole town down!" David laughed the devil's laugh.

Hank insisted, "I won't let you do that. Just let her go."

Connor stepped in, "You don't need her, David. You already proved to the entire city what you wanted!"

For the last four years of his life, David roamed around Detroit seeking chances to "cleanse the world" of those he considered inferior, especially humans who owned androids or use their services on a daily basis.

It was expressed through a note he left at one of the crime scenes that David considered himself living in a time of slavery. Even after the outcome of the Battle for Android Rights in 2038, David believed humanity was not punished enough for the hardship it caused androids. He planned to wage the biggest riot yet to fix what he deemed to be an error in humanity.

"I'm gonna burn the city hall, Hank, and then maybe a school, or a shopping mall." He provoked and then, let out another laughter. It was maniacal.

"David, we got a bomb squad right behind us, we also got a firefighter and disaster response right outside those gates," Hank returned, standing firm on his grounds, just as the other FBI agents and SWAT team.

"We have all these weapons pointed at you. One sudden move and it's over for you," Connor added.

Once David grasped the reality that he was outnumbered, he slowly loosened his grip on the girl. She struggled to break free and ran towards one of the FBI agents that attended to her. The girl never thought she would be able to return to her family again – but she did.

"That's right, David," said Hank. "Now put that remote down. Slowly!"

"Put it down and put your hands where we can see them!" Connor shouted.

The Mad Bomber did as they told. He eventually revealed both of his empty palms. At this moment, Hank immediately sent the rest of the squad to apprehend and detain him. "Get him out of here!" He commanded. It was alleviating to say after six months of chasing leads and hardcore profiling.

Six FBI agents rushed towards the old abandoned factory building. They knocked him down to the ground and pinned him tight. They cuffed his hand behind but he was still grinning.

The Mad Bomber is now smiling at Hank, the same one that haunts Connor to this day. The kind of smile that contains only malicious intents. Before Hank knew it, the building combusted into the largest flame ever seen from the Windsor side of Detroit River, leaving six dead and sixteen injured.

"Connor! Connor, look at me!" AJ called. She held his shivering face. "It's over, Connor. I'm with you, I'm with you all the way."

"I did wrong, didn't I...? I should've seen it... Hank didn't deserve it, he was..." He's now frantically wailing, until AJ held him still again.

Her arms cradled him, "It was an evil man. What happened wasn't your fault. He can't hurt you anymore, Connor."

"I can't keep doing this, AJ... I can't. I have to be reset," he whimpered in her arms.

"We're partners, Connor. I won't let them tear you apart, you hear me?"

The LED on the side of his temple was glowing red. At the end of the night, she grabbed a screwdriver from one of the drawers in the kitchen and pried open the red LED on his temple.

She said, "You don't have to come to work tomorrow, I can just tell them you're following a lead or something."

"Where do you want me to go?" He asked.

"Nowhere, just stay here. Alright?" She said, brushing the side of his face. He shuts his eyes as she does.

She looked down by the foot of the armchair. That's when she saw it; the book she remembered from the deviant's attic.