Hank was just about to comment on this suggestion when something caught his eyes, drawing the android’s attention away from the bat and towards where a large window was thrown wide open to let in a chilly breeze. The opening was considerable, definitely large enough for a full grown man to fit through and likely how the murderer escaped, not to mention probably the way all these damn pigeons had gotten in. It was not, however, the open window itself that caught the mechanical man’s attention but rather something small twitching jerkily on the ground before it.

Hank moved slowly over to the oddity, keen eyes quickly finding it to be a pigeon as he approached, though this was entirely not surprising whatsoever as over 73% of the things in this apartment happened to be pigeons at the moment. This particular bird, however, was inherently damaged by the android’s calculations as it flopped uselessly on the ground in a pathetic attempt to distance itself from the machine as Hank approached, one wing dragging the floor and leaving a sticky crimson trail in its wake.

The android knelt down to better examine the bird that merely cooed angrily at his presence and shuffled a pace farther before finally giving up and slumping to a halt once more, once white feathers stained dark and matted with crimson blood all down its left side. Upon closer inspection, a large hole existed in the creature’s side just where its wing connected with its body, the mangled injury revealing white bone and torn muscle where the joint connected the flying component to the rest of the thing’s small body. It only took a short reconstruction to determine that the unfortunate bird had likely caught the bullet from Connor’s panicked shot when the sudden flock of pigeons startled the detective upon entering the room.

“Find anything, Robocop?” Connor questioned eagerly, light footsteps floating their way into the android’s audio processor as the man approached and the machine failed to hide the dying bird before the human was upon the scene. The detective’s excited footsteps fell to a staggering halt, the guy’s lilting voice dying out on a soft croak as his deep chocolate orbs fell on the gory picture before him and widened a fraction. “What happened?” Detective Anderson questioned gently, crouching down beside the machine to gaze pitying at the suffering creature as it gave a soft coo and a weak flutter at the added presence before falling still once more.

Hank froze up, he knew exactly what happened… Yet the android found himself reluctant to convey his findings to his companion as he was near certain Connor wouldn’t react too awful well to knowing he was the cause of this. “I,” The machine began reluctantly, LED spinning a frantic yellow against his temple as the prototype fought within himself, priorities conflicting with one another and leaving him silent. Hank’s programming dictated he tell the truth, androids were made not to lie to their human masters, but… “I don’t know, Detective. I found it like this.” The android replied hastily, the words strained as they forced their way through his lips with a fight.

“Shit.” Connor muttered sadly, coffee eyes dismayed and sympathetic as they gazed upon the pathetic creature. “Maybe we can help it?” The man tried hopefully, leaning forward to get a closer look at the bird’s wound but always careful not to touch and instantly pulling back when his presence caused the pigeon to struggle and vicariously only begin to bleed out a little faster, crimson blood oozing steadily from the injury to stain the wooden floor below a deep, murky brown.

Hank ran a quick scan of the creature but the results were not promising. The thing’s chest cavity had been punctured and more than one vital organ had been damaged beyond repair upon the bullet’s entry, there was no hope for the unfortunate pigeon. “I’m sorry, Detective. My analysis shows there is a 0% chance of survival.” Hank stated flatly yet the machine found his gaze steadily fixed to the blood stained floorboards below to avoid seeing Connor’s face as he relayed the grim readings. Though that didn’t spare the android from the soft “Oh,” that escaped the human, the noise quiet and sad in a way the made Hank quite near tempted to erase the sound from his memory entirely.

“We can’t just leave it here to bleed out.” Connor insisted unhappily, his stress levels and heart rate both steadily ticking up in the corner of Hank’s vision only to spike drastically as the bird gave a pathetic chirp and flopped weakly an inch away.

Hank could. Hank should. This dying bird held no pertinence to the mission whatsoever and there was absolutely no reason for the android to concern himself over the pathetic creature in the slightest. The machine should just walk away and leave the thing there to die the slow death fate had intended for it.

The android’s eyes found there way to Connor’s, locking with coffee orbs swimming with remorse and guilt as the detective stared imploringly at the machine, as if hoping Hank would do something despite how absolutely illogical such a hope would be. The man's face was pale and his pink lips tugged down into a sad frown as his distraught gaze bore into the robot and before Hank himself knew what he was doing, the android had scooped the small bird into his hands and pulled it back to himself.

There was nothing they could do to save it - But Connor didn’t want to let it lay there and suffer either. The pigeon jerked weakly in the android’s grip, once powerful wings pressing against strong, unyielding hands in a pathetic excuse for resistance until Hank tentatively stroked a course thumb over the tiny feathered head of the creature and stilled the panicked protests of the dying bird.

Connor watched intently, brown eyes wide and fixated on the already half-limp creature lying in the android’s grip as the machine left one hand wrapped around the thing’s middle and pulled the other up to its head, wrapping large fingers around the frail bone and readying his grip.

“You shouldn’t watch, Detective.” Hank advised softly, waiting for Connor to give a sick nod, the man’s hand coming to cover his mouth as he scrambled back upright and turned away with a mumbled “‘M gonna check the bathroom,” before retreating the scene.

The android tightened his grip and twisted his hand with a single, sharp jerk.

S***w@r* I*st@b**i**