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[ Hank had seen a lot of things during his time on the force, and he'd lived through a lot of rough situations. This was far from his first brush with death, and while it never failed to send waves of adrenaline coursing through him, he was still able to maintain composure better than most people. He felt a little floored by the whole situation, but he was able to keep his head, get Connor cleaned up, and get them both out of there.

The deviant's body had already been collected, and it'd get locked up in the evidence room for all the good it would do them now.

Still, the deviant had been ready to shoot anyone in his way, and several good men had been spared thanks to Connor's quick actions. Hank had been spared too, and the fact that Connor could successful keep a desperate gunman from creating any casualties other than himself and still think he needed to apologize was something else.

Yeah, yeah, Hank got that technically Connor had failed his mission on this one, but he'd done something far more important. Baseline objectives weren't always the most important factor to consider when taking action, and the thing that really took Hank by surprise the most wasn't the near death scenario, it wasn't even the way Connor himself looked like he could use some patching up, but instead was Connor's decision to prioritize human lives over his mission.

He keeps his eyes fixed on the light as he lets a small, disbelieving laugh slip past his lips. ]

You saved everyone in that hallway, and you want to apologize for not doing a better job of it?

[ Very incredulous. ]

[ Connor doesn’t need to worry about watching the road, which means he stares at Hank. ]

Yes. [ Tone flat, as if it’s obvious. To Connor, reflecting on it and considering how he’ll report it to Amanda later, it really seems this black and white. ] I was not fast enough.

[ Again. Not quick enough to grab Rupert, and not quick enough to tackle the deviant before he grabbed a gun and became someone who needed to be neutralized immediately.

His LED cycles yellow, visible in the reflection of his window. Not wanting to let his statements end only with his failures, though, he adds, ] I will attempt to make better decisions next time, Lieutenant.

Edited (reconsidered, added more, sorry) 2018-07-21 22:55 (UTC)

[ Absolutely no one would ever think to criticize a human cop who had done what Connor just did. They'd be considered a hero, and praised for everything they'd done right, but here was the android focusing on his perceived mistakes.

Look, Hank got it. Androids were faster and stronger than humans, they had better reflexes than any human could, hell their ability to analyze and process the situation blew humans right out of the water, but even they have limits. They're not miracle workers, and Hank can't imagine a single person in that hallway felt that Connor was at fault for not acting faster.

No, there was no way that the people Connor had just saved were anything but grateful. Hell, Hank doesn't even want to be alive sometimes and even he was thankful.

He steals a quick glance at Connor before answering. ]

You made the best decision you could have. There's nothing wrong with anything you did back there.

[ Connor is starting to think that maybe he shouldn't discuss this with Hank. Amanda will have better input about what he could have done differently. Amanda—

Amanda would have wanted him to charge the deviant to disarm it, risking it shooting other occupants in the room as he moved towards it. Or she would have wanted him to shoot its hands, disarm it from a distance without irreparable damage. Why hadn't Connor done that? Because he'd wanted—

Connor doesn't want things.

Because he'd seen that Hank had a 40% chance of survival and he felt—

Connor doesn't feel things, either.

...Maybe he shouldn't talk to Amanda about it just yet.

Connor doesn't know how to respond to Hank about this anymore. He's been staring at the dashboard ahead of him, and now he looks down at his hands. At the hole punctured right through one of them, the way the edges are ragged plastic instead of the false human-colored skin he has over the rest of him. ] I'm glad you're satisfied, Hank.

[ Hank doesn't have Connor's ability to look at a situation and analyze someone's chance of survival in a split second. He can't play odds to determine whether someone is worth risking a mission for or not, and in all honesty even if he did he'd never use it. Hank's concern is, and has always been, saving lives over solving a case. Sure, he'd prefer to do both whenever possible, but if the option is in front of him he knows which one he'd go with every single time.

Connor isn't the same. At least from what he can tell Connor wasn't programmed to think the same way he does about these issues. Failure isn't an option, and Hank doesn't trust CyberLife to prioritize lives over covering their own asses. Maybe they did though, maybe Connor was just following his orders, but Hank has seen enough from these deviants they're hunting down to have his doubts about that.

Now probably isn't the time to bring it up though, at least not directly, so Hank nods slightly at the comment. He is satisfied. He's satisfied that Connor saved him and others, even if Connor isn't. ]

Let me ask you this, Connor... would you feel the same way if you didn't have any other options? If your only choices were to kill someone-- a deviant who was ready to kill anyone in their way, but you'd save a hallway full of innocent people, or to take the bastard in alive, but those people all die in the process...

[ Another quick glance at Connor to see how he's taking the question. ]

Would you still feel like you did the wrong thing? If you couldn't see any alternatives when you do... whatever it is you do? Those were your only two options. Would you really think that there was anything to apologize for?

But that isn't what happened. That question has no use. [ It's a coward's answer, a deflection, and Connor regrets it immediately.

Regret. That's not supposed to be in there either.

He searches for a remedy, LED cycling hard through blue, occasionally flickering to yellow. Perhaps if he shows Hank that he understands what he was trying to accomplish. ] You're asking me if I would still feel I needed to apologize, if I thought like a human.

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