XXX

|November 6, 2038|

|10:25 AM|

"We've got officers sweeping the neighborhood in case anybody saw something," Ben told Prisca after they'd arrived at the agreed meeting place. Prisca's gaze was sharp and alert despite her exhaustion. Connor stood at her side, hands tucked behind his back and his own gaze skimming the area, analyzing every little thing. She wondered how much knowledge about the area he had in those systems of his. "We got reports of a female deviant with a little girl."

Prisca pressed her lips together at the thought. "This'll be tricky," she muttered. "It makes me nervous that there's a kid involved…android or human?"

"Not sure," Chris said.

"Anything about a kid in the report, Connor?" Prisca asked, glancing at him for answers. He shook his head and she grimaced. "Great, so we're going in blind…okay, we can deal with this. Not a problem. Just don't let the kid get hurt, human or android. Got it? I want that message sent out to every police officer on this street." Chris promised to do so before heading off, and Prisca pushed her hands into her pockets before turning to look at Connor. "We'll find them. We've got to." She sympathized with the deviants, but it didn't matter whether they were deviants or not: a kid was in danger.

And that girl was her priority.

"It took the first bus that came along," Connor said suddenly, gaze darting from the nearby bus station to her face to make sure she was listening and then back. "It stayed at the end of the line. Its decision wasn't planned…it was driven by fear. Deviants are overwhelmed by the simulated emotions and make irrational decisions."

"Sounds about right… Keep those stress levels down if we find it," Prisca warned. "I don't want another suicide."

"Yes, Prisca."

Prisca ran a hand through her hair and made a face. "She didn't have a plan and didn't have anywhere to go, so she could have gotten far. Like I said. We'll find it. I should have brought Sime…he could have searched the area and sniffed them out quicker than we could."

Connor glanced at her, looking a little insulted that she'd go to the dog first, but then said, "There's blue blood on the chain link fence over there," he said, gesturing to a fence nearby. "It must have used the wire cutters it stole from that convenience store," he paused to nod towards the store across the street, "to cut the fence and go under."

"What makes you say she stole wire cutters?" she asked curiously, cocking her head.

"I checked the CCTV of the area when we arrived. The deviant was caught on camera stealing them. It had wire cutters and was looking for a place to hide." Connor didn't wait to ask for permission; he strode over to the fence, leaving Prisca to scramble after him. She swore softly under her breath.

"Don't you dare stick that in your mouth," she growled when he reached to touch the blood on the fence. Connor let his hand drop, looking bothered. "I don't give a damn if it helps us progress in finding a deviant, I'm not watching you lick blood again. Now. You and I are going to figure out how to get in there without gathering attention. I don't want to send anyone inside skittering away." She narrowed her eyes at the wired fence, using her foot to poke at it. It shifted enough. "Alright, let's give this a try…"

She knelt beside the loose piece and went to work on working her way through. She hissed when the wire scratched her cheek. Warm blood trickled down her cheek, but she wiped it away impatiently as she staggered to her feet on the other side, studying the abandoned house on the other side with surprise. She'd not even noticed it, too busy getting into the fenced area. "Hey, Connor, there's a house over here."

Connor took note of that and then suggested, "There might be another way in. Should I find it?"

"Go ahead. I'm going in." She checked her holstered gun, making sure it was there. "If you can't get through anywhere else, try the fence. If you can't fit through the fence, climb over or something. Got it?" Connor confirmed that he understood, and she started for the house, knocking on the back door when she reached it. No one answered as her knocking filled the air, echoing inside. "Anyone home?" she called.

There was no response. Narrowing her eyes, she called, "Detroit Police! Open up if you're in there!" Still nothing, so she tried the locked door before scowling. She used her shoulder to slam into it. It took a few tries and she was sure she'd have a bruise when she finally busted in. She pressed her lips together, feeling uncomfortable as she looked around.

"Ralph didn't say you could come in," a voice suddenly said darkly from behind her.

Prisca spun around and came up short, staring at him. He was clearly an android; she could see the robotic pieces beneath the damaged skin. There were several nasty burns that had been inflicted upon his face and no sign of an LED in his temple. She slowly put her hands on her hips, making sure that he saw she wasn't going for her gun. It looked as if she'd come across a deviant – while searching for another. "I'm sorry," she said slowly. "I didn't hear an answer."

Ralph's gaze flickered with irritation and uncertainty. He wasn't sure of what to do – or what she'd do. Prisca was just as uncertain. She could tell just from the shifty look on his face that he was unstable in a way that would be dangerous. "I'm a detective with the DPD. I have a partner who will be coming in here shortly – just a warning, so you're not surprised. We didn't mean to intrude on your home."

Ralph grunted, not giving a definitive response, so she continued, smiling faintly. "Can I ask you a question? Have you seen another android come through here? With a little girl? A model A-X-four-hundred," she added in explanation.

"Ralph's seen nobody," he hissed, voice hot with anger. His gaze darted nervously between her and everywhere else, his teeth bared in a very animal-like manner. Prisca took a deep breath, wishing she'd let Connor go in first. He was much better at dealing with deviants at this point. "Ralph is alone, always alone."

The sound of a door opening filled the air and Ralph tensed, furious. "Connor!" Prisca called cautiously. "That you?"

"Yes," confirmed her partner as he approached. He paused in the entrance of the room, eyes resting briefly on Ralph. Ralph was twitching, nervous and panicked. Connor glanced at her and she smiled tightly at him. His gaze darted around the room a moment later, analyzing everything within seconds. Prisca wished she'd had the ability to do that; it seemed very useful in situations like this.

"Connor, meet Ralph," Prisca said, waving slowly to Ralph. "Ralph, this is my partner Connor. He's an android, too." She saw Ralph twitch again, his gaze darting to Connor and then back to her – and then back onto Connor with horror when he saw what Connor was looking at. Prisca followed his gaze and narrowed her eyes. Androids didn't need heat, and they most certainly didn't eat, she thought, looking at the burning fire and then the charred rat that had been nearly burned to a crisp.

Which meant the girl was human.

She opened her mouth to tell Connor to start a search in the house but was cut off when Ralph suddenly lunged at her, slamming her sharply into the ground. She squawked as she landed hard, the breath driven right out of her lungs. "Run, Kara! Run!" Ralph screamed as he swatted Prisca's desperately shoving hands aside, not hesitating to grip her throat. Connor lurched after them at a dead run, disappearing out the door with a warning shout to the policemen meandering up and down the street.

Shit! Prisca fought against Ralph, managing to knock his hands away from her neck, and struggled desperately to get her gun. Ralph held a manic expression on his face. He'd have no qualms about killing her, Prisca realized, so she returned the favor.

She gripped her gun, shifting her grip to make it better when she was able. She tasted blood in her mouth from where she'd bitten her cheek too hard. Desperate, Ralph took her collar and slammed her back against the floor. Prisca managed to get her gun into an ideal position and fired off without hesitation. Ralph slumped immediately, eyes staring blankly, and Prisca winced in disgust at the blue blood that had spattered her face. But she still squirmed out from underneath him and shot to her feet.

Gasping for air, she threw herself out the way Connor and the deviant with the girl – Kara, Ralph had called her – had gone. She burst into the street, Policemen and women were milling about. Connor was nowhere to be found. "Where's my android?" she shouted, bursting into a run the second a cop pointed.

She kept her gun in hand, preparing another shot just in case as she raced down the street. A cop shouted for her to take the corner at her right and she did. She heard cries from nearby and followed the sounds.

She nearly ran right into Connor, slamming instead into the fence that had barred his way. He was staring through it, fingers tangled in the chain-link as Kara helped the little girl over the barrier that lined the side of the highway before them. "Oh, shit!" she gasped.

There was no way they'd make it.

No way in hell anyone could make it across that busy highway. The girl screamed as Kara ripped her back to avoid being hit by a car. Connor made a decision and reached up, locking his fingers around the top before hauling himself up. "What the hell are you doing?!" Prisca snapped, grabbing the back of his suit jacket and yanking him back down.

"I can't let them get away!" Connor said sharply, looking at her before back at the highway. They'd made it to the center line. He was agitated, Prisca realized. Not just agitated, furious even. And with her nonetheless. She immediately fired back, bothered that he seemed to have no sense of self-preservation.

"You will get yourself killed," she snarled right back at him, glaring. She grabbed his arm and yanked sharply, her blue eyes blazing. "And if you go out there, I'll go right out there after you, and I know for sure that I'll get hit by a car, 'cause I'm nowhere near as fast as you are. So, you're going to do what I say and stay here, Connor. That's an order."

Connor's jaw clenched as he studied her blood-spattered face and then he nodded curtly. Prisca relaxed, dropping his arm in favor of running a hand down her face. She realized that the hand came away slicked with blue and swore. "Disgusting," she grumbled. Taking a deep breath, she touched his arm kindly and said in a reassuring voice, "Don't worry so much, Connor. We'll find them. Just don't risk your life to get them. It's not worth it, whether you can be uploaded to a new model or not."

Her gaze turned back to Kara when he didn't respond, watching as she reached the other side. She lifted the girl over the other barrier and dropped to her knees, hands on her shoulders. It earned her a hug and she glanced over. Prisca met her gaze curiously for a few moments and wasn't surprised by the defiant and protective anger that resided in her gaze.

She would kill to protect that girl, Prisca realized.

Just like any other mother.


|November 6, 2038|

|6:57 PM|

"Sime," Prisca ordered, absolutely exhausted after the day that she'd had so far. "Down." The dog did as she said, lying beside her feet with a heavy sigh. He put his head in her lap with a soft whine, and Prisca took a bite of the sandwich she'd ordered in the nearest fast food place to the park she loved so dearly. Connor was seated on the bench beside her, appearing to be lost in thought while simultaneously flicking a quarter around in a way that made her want to punch him out of sheer envy.

She watched him as she chewed, swallowed, took another bite. Again, she considered how different he was from other androids. He claimed to not be a deviant, but…there had been so much anger when she'd refused to let him chase down Kara and the little girl with her. The impatience he often showed wasn't normal either. All of it amazed her to no end.

Sometimes, she wondered if Connor was a deviant and just didn't realize it himself.

Sime licked his lips as she took a third bite, watching hopefully. Prisca snorted and reached out to tap his nose. He sneezed in response. "No. I'm not messing up your systems, no matter how cute you are." She'd done that once and had been forced to rely on the help of the man who'd given Sime to her. She'd not been happy, seeing the face of the man who'd effectively killed her parents, but had grudgingly thanked him for saving her dog.

"Were you hurt?"

Connor's sudden question made her jump, and she snapped her blue eyes up to his. He was studying her, his head tipped to the side. When she arched a brow, waiting for further explanation, he added, "There was thirium on your face. From the deviant in the house. Were you hurt as well?"

"No," she said, clearing her throat. "No, I have a few bruises but I'm fine otherwise. Ralph didn't get me with the gun or anything. Don't worry," she added wryly, rocking back. Sime licked his lips again, his eyes on her sandwich. "Nothing will impede on your precious mission." Connor said nothing in response to that; she'd known it was why he was asking. "You do know that there's more to life than the mission you were given, right?"

"I'm not alive, I'm a machine."

"Ah, but the deviants are machines and claim to be alive. You can be both, I think." It earned her a sharp look. Apparently, she realized, he didn't appreciate that she was sympathizing with those that she was supposed to be catching. "I really think that those deviants might not be as bad as people are making them out to be. I mean, they're killing humans, yeah, but it's only because of what those humans have done to them. I can feel where they're coming from. When you're beaten around and hurt and attacked…you eventually fight back. I really think they might be as human as me."

Connor didn't answer that, and Prisca smirked as she set aside her sandwich and bent to kiss Sime's nose. She was grateful that she'd picked him up on their way through the city. He whined softly and then pricked his ears when she dug his ball out of her pocket and chucked it to the side. He tore off after it, and then returned – not to Prisca, she noticed with a sputter, but to Connor, who took the ball and threw it for him again.

Again, she stared at him and simply wondered. How could he not be a deviant himself? He was so quick to react emotionally to being diverted from his work and he didn't mind showing kindness or affection to something as simple as a dog. "This morning," he said suddenly, "when we were chasing the deviant…why didn't you want me to cross the highway, Prisca?"

And no other android ever questioned the orders they were given, not like that. "It was suicide," she informed him. "You'd have been killed and I don't want to deal with your replacement. I've not known you long. But I've decided I don't like the idea of having to deal with a new Connor. I think the model you are now and I are doing just fine."

Rather than responding, even looking a little confused, he turned his attention elsewhere. "Why do you have a dog that is an android?" he asked as Sime dropped the ball into his hands again. "Financially, you would not be able to afford one, even if they were available for purchase."

"Aren't you onto the personal questions," Prisca said wryly. She smiled as Connor threw the ball and Sime barreled after it. "He's a gift. From someone who owes me for what he did to my family." She didn't say anything further about the matter, instead continuing with a simple "I love him, and he loves me. He's the only family I have now and he's the reason that I think that the deviants aren't as bad. He clearly feels. So why hasn't he tried to kill me in my sleep?"

Sime seemed to understand that they were talking about him and bolted over to put his face in Prisca's hands. She stroked his ears back, smiling.

Connor considered this. "You agree with the deviants then?"

"I'm on the fence about it," she said. "They need to be dealt with because people are dying, but…let's be honest. If it was humans killing their abusers, we'd not be hunting them down like they were criminals. It's complicated. Besides, there's still the whole matter about rA9 and everything related. I want to know. I want to figure out everything that's going on so that I can think clearly about everything." She cocked her head suddenly. "Connor, what do you know about what's going on?"

"We believe," Connor said, speaking carefully as he went through the information he'd been provided by CyberLife, "that a mutation occurs in the software of some androids, which leads them to emulate a human emotion. They can't feel emotions, so they get overwhelmed by irrational instructions which can lead to unpredictable behavior."

"Like I said, Connor." Prisca sighed, tipping her head back. Her long platinum blonde hair fell back behind her as she studied the starless sky above, wishing that she could see the stars. "They're really not so different from humans. We might need to start thinking about this differently, just so we can catch another one…Connor, you've dealt with deviants before. The one on the roof?"

"Yes. A few months back, a deviant was threatening to jump off a roof with a little girl." Connor had been the one there then. She smiled a little at the thought. Fate was a funny thing, she thought then.

"I remember that. You got the little girl away, and the deviant was shot." Connor furrowed his brow a little in an intrigued manner. "I was the one you helped on the roof. I thought you were familiar when you showed up at the park the other day." Prisca fired him a grin. "Thank you for that. You saved my life that day, Connor."

When he just stared at her for a few moments, making her downright uncomfortable after a while, she arched a brow, questioning him silently what he was doing. "I was thinking," he said finally, as if knowing precisely what she was asking. "I know that you're an experienced officer and I'd like to earn your trust. And I thinking working with someone who sympathizes with the deviants will be a challenge, but adapting to human unpredictability is one of my features." He winked.

Connor winked.

Prisca was still gaping open-mouthed at him when he added, "I'm sure if we work together, we will manage to solve this case and obtain the information you desire."

She couldn't help it.

Prisca cracked up, bursting out laughing at the wink he'd given her. It was so endearing. He was rather cute in his own way, like a puppy who didn't know how to do anything. She'd heard of his attempt at befriending Gavin Reed in the station before they'd gone out to catch the deviant, how he'd immediately gotten the coffee Gavin had demanded and been seen looking around uncertainly about what to do with it after Gavin simply left.

Wheezing for air, Prisca gasped, "Sounds fine with me, Connor." She took the ball he offered and threw it for Sime. Sime woofed happily and took off after the ball, trotting towards them with it held proudly in his jaws a moment later. "I think we'll make quite the team. I look forward to working with you."

Connor smiled fractionally and looked pleased with the idea. He opened his mouth, likely to ask another question, and then faltered. Prisca sat up a little when she saw how his eyes fluttered strangely, the LED light flickering yellow. As it returned to its blue state, he reported, "I just received a report of a suspected deviant." He looked to the side a little, pausing, and then back to her. "It's a few blocks away."

"Then let's go take a look, shall we?" Prisca said, climbing to her feet. She whistled, and Sime came loping over hastily, letting her clip a leash to his collar. She took the ball from his mouth and tucked it into her pocket, and then took off for her car, Connor only a step behind.


I love Sime.

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