A/N: Not my first story on FanFiction but it's been a while. I've always wanted to start writing again but never found the confidence. Even this short prologue I had to wrench out of myself but I wanted to start something in order to force myself a bit. I really like the series Almost Human so I had to try my hand at that. I hope you like it. Also the characters are not mine of course.

'Alright sir, if you wouldn't mind coming down to the station to make an official statement of that, me and my partner would be happy to take you there.'

The old man blinked. 'You and your… partner?'

'Yes, we…' John Kennex turned away from the man he had been questioning only to find that his android partner, Dorian, wasn't beside him as he was supposed to be. He cursed and looked around to find the wayward cop. The case they had been investigating was not a very big one, it involved a break in at an abandoned mall, but that was no reason to just wander off.

'Can you wait here for a bit sir?' John called back as he strode back through the alley to the place he had last seen his partner.

The front of the mall was a large wall of glass and steel now darkened by years of neglect, layers of grime making it impossible to see through. The people breaking in had cut the huge chain holding the doors together. John couldn't fathom what they had tried to find in an empty old building like this. According to his witness there had been two people going into the front entrance and going out again ten minutes later. John figured they must have known what they were coming for.

As he approached the entrance he saw the doors were slightly ajar. They hadn't been so when he and Dorian arrived at the scene, the only proof of the break-in had been the heavy chain and lock lying on the sidewalk discarded by the criminals. John picked up his speed. Damn it! We weren't supposed to go into the building until we appraised the situation. What is that idiot doing?

He would have run the last few meters, had his synthetic leg not chosen that moment to play up. It was dragging a bit behind him and John all but stumbled through the doorway. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness inside, he grabbed his gun and flashlight. There was no telling what he might find inside, but he figured there was probably something fishy going on in this building.

Speaking of fishy, there was something scuttling around in the darkness to his left. John shone his flashlight and saw a shadow shoot away behind a fallen bin. It seemed to be some sort of animal but just to be sure he made a few steps forward to check it out.

Only to fall backwards as something hissing flew at his face.

The thing –a cat! - shot past him into the street and John just crouched on the floor, heart hammering.

'Bloody demonic creatures!' he muttered to himself.

'John?'

He looked up to see Dorian walking out of an empty store that according to the faded signs had once been an electronics store. He wanted to ask his partner where the hell he had been but the android spoke first.

'Did you see it?'

'Did I see what?'

'The cat!'

John Kennex felt his eyebrows rise halfway up to his hairline. 'You went in here for the cat?'

'So you did see it then? Yes I heard it crying inside and thought it might be stuck or in distress. Apparently it wasn't,' his partner explained. He gave John the most sheepish look ever seen on an android face. 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go that far in I know I should have warned you. I just figured out you didn't want a part of this with your allergies and all…' his voice drifted off.

'Great, just great,' John muttered, 'still stuck with the partner that has the bleeding heart.'

Thanks for reading! TBC!