Whatever happened that day of chasing the YK and AX had gotten Connor into a mood. Hank couldn't figure out for the life of him what the hell had gotten the android so sullen. Initially, he thought it was because Connor might have interpreted the events as being a failure. A failure to apprehend the androids. But no amount of reassurance could get the plastic out of the weird funk he was in. If he was human, Hank would have thought that Connor was depressed. So it was something deeper. Did he know any of the androids? He didn't seem to recognize them in the pictures.
The next few weeks seemed to only make things worse. Together, they tackled the files one by one, tracking down every lead but none of them had led to anything useful. It seemed like the greatest encounter so far was with the AX deviant but that was a while ago. As the days went by, Connor evolved from a sad android to a snappy one. Sumo was the only one who was not on the receiving end of any of the bot's annoyance. He became more irritated the more dead ends they ran into. It was almost funny at first to watch him act so strangely human. Hank couldn't help but think 'Finally, an android with a shitty attitude.'
Eventually, the novelty wore off. He got tired of dealing with all the cheek and angst. And ever since Connor had that weird growth spurt, he looked even more like an edgy teenager with his brooding. That was definitely not what Hank had signed up for when he begrudgingly agreed to take Connor on.
Hank didn't know how he knew this, he mostly attributed it to a gut feeling, but he could tell that Connor was at the end of his rope. With what, he didn't know. But the plastic was just one snarky jab away from burning the entire police department down. Before Gavin could even step foot within a twenty foot radius of their shared terminal, Hank decided to take a lunch break, hauling Connor along as well.
He took them to one of his favorite places, the Chicken Feed. The cleanliness of the establishment couldn't be guaranteed but as long as the food tasted good, that was all he cared about. Gary Kayes gave him a quick wave before he went back to watching over his burgers. Hank noticed a familiar face leaning against the counter. It was Pedro Aabdar. Though he was sure his money had gone down the shitter from the last horse racing bet, he still greeted the man with amusement. Pedro was someone who had a good humor about him and his crimes were harmless. The neighborhood knew the man to be quite the character and they'd be worse off without him.
"Your shit tips got you skulking around the Feed again?" Hank asked.
Pedro grinned at him, undeterred. The second he took a step forward, Hank knew he'd be losing more money today. "Hank! Just the man I wanted to see. Now last week wasn't all that good but this week-! This week, I've got some super-hot tips coming in. You're going to want to put some money in."
Hank snorted, incredulous. Nonetheless, he still pulled his wallet out. He handed Pedro a few bills. "Try not to set me back a couple of hundred dollars will ya? This better be worth it."
Pedro jumped back and forth, happy to have gotten the money. "Hey man, you won't regret this!"
And just like that, he was off. Hank watched him run out into the rain and disappear around a corner before turning back to Gary. His usual was laid out in front of him. Besides alcohol, a good burger and shake can do wonders for his mood. Gary seemed to take notice of Connor when he said, "It took you some time, but you've finally given in and got yourself an android huh Hank?"
Hank took a glance at Connor. For once, he didn't look pissy, just curious. He then turned back to the Chicken Feed owner. "Nah, you know me better than that. He's working with me."
Gary did a double take at Connor. "Wait, really? He's like helping solve crimes and shit?"
Hank shrugged and began taking a few steps toward a table. "What a world we live in."
"Well don't just leave it here." The man said nervously when Connor didn't move. The plastic seemed to have been frozen, eyes narrowed at something.
"Don't worry. He follows me everywhere. Just like a poodle." Hank assured. And true to his word, once the android was finished scanning whatever it was he was scanning, he made his way over to Hank.
There weren't any chairs by the tables but Hank didn't mind. He began to eat and thought this was a good a time as any to prod the android some more. The sooner he figured out what was going on the Connor, the better. The android in question was currently fiddling around with some napkins.
Hank opened his mouth to say something but Connor beat him to it. "Lieutenant, your meal contains 1.5 times your average daily caloric intake. You shouldn't be eating that."
Of course the bot would rag on him for his eating habits. Hank rolled his eyes and took another big bite just to spite him. "Everyone's gotta die of something, kid."
The android pulled a face that looked half annoyed and half exasperated. "You should take care of yourself lieutenant. It wouldn't be productive for either of us if your poor choices got in the way of our work."
The kid looked like he was 15 but acted like he was actually going on 30. Hank tried to orient himself around the jarring observation. Connor was definitely not your run of the mill child android. As if the last few weeks weren't an indication of that already. There was something to Connor that Hank just couldn't quite place. The plastic is a mixed bag of naïveté and maturity; and in all the ways that couldn't typically be seen with a human. He's said time and again that he hadn't been created to fit a role, he was made to be himself. Well Connor being himself has got to be the strangest sentient being Hank's ever met. That's what he was, wasn't he? Sentient.
He wasn't just an android who followed orders, he has goals and personal agendas too. One of which is working for the DPD to avoid being homeless.
Hank let his train of thought go in order to face the issue at hand he'd been meaning to tackle. "What's been so far up your ass to make you this miserable?" He asked bluntly.
The question took Connor off guard. "What?"
"Come on, don't act like you don't know. You've been all weird since that encounter with the 'AX400' and that YK, Alice. Now's probably a good time as any to spill it." He persisted.
The LED at Connor's temple went yellow. But even without it, Hank could tell that the android was conflicted. It was written all over his face. Connor's grip on the napkins tightened and he had a faraway expression in his eyes. "I know who the android who was with Alice is. Her name is Kara, and she is also another android like me. We were both made by Kamski."
Hank put his burger down and narrowed his eyes at the plastic. "Oh, wonderful! And you'd didn't think that sharing this information with me at any point would have been a good idea?"
He knew he couldn't command Connor to just confess everything he knew, that wasn't how Connor was programmed. He needed to approach this as though he were talking to any other person.
"I didn't tell you before because I was afraid the information would be submitted officially. Then the next logical step for the DPD would be to interrogate me to find out all that I know about Kara. I haven't seen her in nearly a year. But now that I have, I don't want the police to get to her. Without a doubt, they'd killed her. Because she killed Williams and she's a deviant in the eyes of the law."
Hank couldn't deny that logic. The android, Kara, would definitely be destroyed once the DPD ran out of uses for her. He wasn't sure what exactly Kamski's goal is for releasing these androids out into society like this. One is assumed to be a deviant while the other is working in tandem with the law enforcement to capture deviants. But neither of them belonged to the category of typical androids. Coincidentally, their 'free will' as it were had pitted them against each other. And yet, Connor's desire to protect Kara overrode his mission to capture her and Alice.
Hank didn't know how long they've been together at the Kamski mansion but the two might share a close relationship. It would make sense that seeing his fellow android of the same type be considered a runaway criminal would set Connor on edge. Now that they've lost the trail on that particular lead, it seemed as though the best they could hope for was for the two androids to have gone into hiding and avoid the police as much as possible from here on out.
This really didn't seem like something that should be put on record. Rather than clearing anything up, it would just make matters more complicated. Even worse, knowing what Kara was capable of while in full control of her actions, it might cast some suspicion as to how loyal Connor was to the DPD or if he had any detrimental agendas like tearing down the institution from the inside out. Biased as he was, Hank was pretty sure that Connor had no such intentions. The kid couldn't even lie his way out of a soggy paper bag. There was no way he could be a part of some conspiracy theory. But that wouldn't stop everyone else in the DPD from thinking so. Most of them were already wary of the plastic and would use any little reason to get him out.
Hank sighed and a thought came to his head. "If you were so afraid about what would happen to her, why are you telling me all of this? For all you know, I could just go back to Fowler and tell him after our break is over."
Connor let out a small cough, an unnecessary human gesture, but he did it all the same. "I would hope that you would keep what I've told you between us, lieutenant. You seemed concerned about my wellbeing and I had no other way of telling you what has kept my mind preoccupied but to tell you the truth."
Like he said, the kid was honest, through and through. Always. He snorted. "Don't get it twisted kid, I was just tired of your snarky . . . everything."
"Oh, I apologize if I've been unpleasant." Connor said in earnest. There was even a light blue hue that tinged his cheeks. "I was so in my head as of late that I didn't even realize I might have come across as rude."
Hank waved the apology away easily. "Nothing worth losing sleep over. Let's just get on with today's lead. What do we got?"
Getting right back to business, Connor opened their latest folder. Hank was pretty sure that the android already remembered everything that was written on those papers but he still looked down at the information as though he was seeing it for the first time. Little gestures like that made him think that maybe Connor wanted to be human more than he let on. Or at the very least, he seemed to admire human traits and emulated them wherever he could. Connor frowned. "Just a noise complaint about an apartment complex near a factory farm which is responsible for more than 40% of Detroit's produce."
That didn't sound exciting at all. Hank rolled his eyes. "Ugh. This sucks."
"I agree." Connor said easily enough. "But it is a lead nonetheless and we shouldn't leave any lead unchecked."
Finishing his food, Hank tossed the wrappers in the garbage and beckoned for Connor to follow him to the car. This was going to be a mundane day.
Against his initial beliefs, he would later find himself wrong. Upon arriving to the designated apartment room, Hank had given the door a few knocks and even a hits for good measure. When there was no response, he and Connor shared a look. Connor shrugged, dismissing the case. Then they heard a loud bang from inside.
"Get behind me." Hank instructed, pulling his gun out from his side.
"Got it." Connor said warily, not needing to be told twice.
Hank gave it a second before kicking the door open. He went in first, scoping out the room. Connor shadowed him cautiously, keeping his eyes out for any sudden movements. Once they had checked the small cupboards, they entered the main living space. To Hank's utter distaste, it was filled to the brim with pigeons. New and old bird shit alike made the place stink with an intensity that could rival that of a fresh, decaying corpse.
"Fucking birds!" Hank exclaimed as a flock of them flew out of an open window. The rest of the pigeons, less perturbed by the presence of people stayed and went about their business. He had half a mind to kick at them until there was not a bird left in sight but an irrational fear within him gave him pause. What if they all turned on him and pecked him to death? Ugh. Hank shuddered at the thought.
Connor went into the bathroom to their left and inspected the chaos there. When he came out, he reported his findings. So another deviant was taking refuge here. From the scribbles of rA9 on the wall and the detached LED light in the sink, it became obvious that they could be dealing with a dangerous android.
There was a worn jacket on a dusty table with an embroidered name on the inside. Who the hell still had their names embroidered on their clothing anymore? Hank didn't know if the name 'Rupert' would be useful but he kept in mind regardless.
Hank maintained his grip on his gun at all times as he inspected the rest of the room. Opening a small closet, Connor found a notebook with what seemed to be a shitload of coding and incompressible writing. That will have to be taken in as evidence.
Glancing outside, the sun was at a high point in the sky. It had to be around late noon at the moment. The farm that was mentioned in the report was in sight. It was the only area that was glistening with the glass of the greenhouses and vibrant from all the vegetables being cultivated. In the midst of the desaturated city, it stood out quite a bit. Turning back to the android, Hank noticed Connor with that weird face he always made when he's analyzing something. The kid's eyes went from the bathroom to the overturned chair to a fallen birdcage and slowly made its way to a corner of the ceiling.
"Lieutenant . . ." Connor said lowly, approaching the corner with the utmost care. He crept toward it as quietly as possible, as though the smallest sound would ruin it all. Oddly enough, even the remaining pigeons had some sense to keep quiet. "The deviant, it's still here."
"Shit." Hank hissed, drawing his gun upwards. There was no time to react when the deviant dropped down and nearly landed on top of Connor with a loud crash. Then, it made its way out the door, leaving behind a mess of plaster and dried up paint chips.
Recovering from the shock in a matter of seconds, Connor gave chase. Hank did what he could to catch up but fucking hell, he couldn't compare to two androids. Their pace was beyond him, but he didn't give up. He stood over one of the building rooftops just in time to see Connor and the deviant jumping off a moving train to climb up another wall. Yeah, there was no way in fuck he'd be able to catch up to them at this rate. There had to be another way.
From the general direction that the two seemed to be heading toward, Hank cut past a few corners and ran to the opposite side of the industrial farm. Taking a risk, he chose one of the buildings next to the farm and made his way to the top. With how the deviant and Connor were parkouring around, it was likely they'd find themselves reaching higher ground again eventually. His intuition paid off handsomely when he noticed the deviant running toward him. Hank made a move to grab the deviant but it reflexively twisted out of his grasp and pushed him over the edge of the building. Taking hold of the ledge just in time Hank did his best not to look down and think about how close to death he was. Pulling himself up, he noticed that Connor had stopped in front of him, eyes trained on the back of the deviant. Hank could tell that he was processing which action to pursue, whether to help Hank from possibly falling off the side of a building or to go after a real lead after so many weeks of duds. But he didn't have to worry about his wellbeing for one second because Connor quickly went over to him to pull him back up.
As Hank got his feet back on something solid again he cursed. "Shit. Shit! You would have gotten it too if it weren't for me."
Connor shook his head slowly. "None of this would have happened if I had been faster."
Before he could stop himself, Hank ran a hand through the android's hair and ruffled it. He'd done this all the time to Cole when he was upset. Though Connor had a neutral face on, it couldn't hide the slight strain across his features. "It got away for now. We won't let this lead go cold."
His words of comfort drew a curious look from the plastic.
Once Hank finally realized what he was doing, he quickly pulled away. He shouldn't have done that. Cole and Connor were two separate people and the line between them had to be reaffirmed. He couldn't go treating Connor like he was anything more than his partner or his coworker just because he saved Hank's life. That's what partners were for. To give the android any more than mild concern and apathy would only result in something completely disastrous.
Making his way toward the stairs, Hank stared at Connor for a good minute. The android was looking into the distance. Perhaps he thought that if he looked long enough, he would be able to catch some movement of the deviant.
"Hey, Connor." Hank called.
Immediately, Connor abandoned his fruitless search in favor of looking at him. "Yes lieutenant?"
Just like that, the bot had dropped everything for him. Hank didn't know how he felt about that. He was halfway to thanking Connor for not leaving him to be some poor imitation of splatter art on the sidewalk when he decided against it. "I . . . never mind."
If the android was befuddled, well that was just too bad. Hank knew he was way too tired to prolong the field work any longer and far too sober to begin to process just how quickly he was warming up to a certain plastic who had a tendency to act more human than was needed.
If Connor was the one who'd previously been in an odd state of mind that behavior had now shifted to Lieutenant Anderson. The man had been drinking more than usual, often to the point of reaching unresponsiveness most nights. Connor wondered if it was due to the deviant getting away.
The rest of the week brought nothing of value to them. Try as he might to reassure Connor, the deviant could not be found. They began to refer to it as 'Rupert.' He wasn't sure if that really was the name of the deviant but since the lieutenant referred to it as such, Connor did as well. When he wasn't trying to organize a hundred leads and dead ends on a holographic board that only he could see, he played with Sumo. The pup was almost scary in how astute he was to the subtle emotional shifts of those in his company. In the last few weeks, Sumo had followed Connor around, giving him more attention. This week, he sought after the lieutenant. Though more often than not, the attempts to comfort the man were sit that; attempts.
On a particularly rainy night, the captain had called. Apparently there had been yet another case of a murder by android and since it happened so recently, there's been no file made, no prior investigation done. This meant that they'd have to make a profile of the suspect from scratch. That was alright with Connor. If anything, it made it all the more exciting.
The problem at hand though, was getting the lieutenant to want to go as well. At the moment, the man was currently sleeping on the kitchen table, snuggling a bottle of whiskey. Even from the living room, Connor could tell that the lieutenant was in an ethylic coma. He didn't know whether or not the man could be brought out of unconsciousness.
A loud thud took him out of his thoughts. A clinking noise indicated that the bottle had not shattered. Lieutenant Anderson had slipped and fallen to the floor. Connor rushed over with Sumo in tow. "Lieutenant?"
The lieutenant barely stirred, though he did groan a bit in pain.
Connor wondered at what the best course of action would be. It wouldn't do to just leave the lieutenant on the cold floor. He might get sick. But Connor knew he didn't have the strength the carry the man anywhere. He needed the lieutenant awake.
As he hovered over the lieutenant, calling him again. No response. At this point, the reasonable thing to do was to try and rouse the man by shaking him. "Lieutenant, wake up!" Connor exclaimed.
Hank Anderson blearily opened his eyes. It was as though he was still half unconscious. Connor decided more drastic measures had to be taken. He slapped him.
"What the fuck-!"
"It's me, Connor." He clarified. From what he could recall, inebriated people tend to be very confused about their surroundings and can't ascertain their situation objectively. Connor didn't understand why humans would hinder themselves like this. Why would anyone put themselves in such a vulnerable position? It could be dangerous and as statistics showed, fatal in numerous instances.
The lieutenant had his palm on the entirety of Connor's face and promptly shoved him away. "Not the face I wanted to see." He groused.
Connor wasn't sure how sober the lieutenant was but he wanted to push forward with the task that the captain had given them. "Lieutenant, we have a case to solve. The captain had just informed me that there's been another murder at the hands of an android. The body is still fresh."
The lieutenant seemed to turn ill at Connor's briefing. "Ugh, let's not talk about dead bodies when I'm one second away from blowing chunks."
Connor stayed quiet and helped the man up. As Lieutenant Anderson slowly dragged his feet to the bathroom, he trailed behind him. He was forced to stop when the lieutenant slammed the door in his face. Sumo whined at his ankle. Waiting for the man to finish vomiting, Connor patiently stood by the door. He wondered how it felt to forcefully expel internal contents of one's body. Surely it was unpleasant. It sounded unpleasant. But still Connor thought to himself that if he could just experience it one time, just to satiate his curiosity, then maybe it might not be so bad.
When the door opened again, a haggard looking lieutenant walked out, eyeing him warily. "So, you said there was a murder?"
Connor hoped he hid his elation well enough, seeing Lieutenant Anderson fully awake and cognizant now. "Yes, a homicide had taken place about an hour ago. A man was killed in a sex club somewhere downtown. We had been told to arrive there before forensics take over the vicinity."
Judging from the look on the lieutenant's face, it didn't seem like the man was so thrilled about the location of the murder. He sighed. "And here I thought I'd have the night all to myself. Instead, I have to drag my sorry ass along with yours to a club at the seedy part of town in the middle of the night. Fan-fucking-tastic."
Well when it was put in such a manner, it didn't sound good at all. But Connor knew better. This could be the next big piece to their overall case. It didn't matter how unsavory the area was. If it brought them closer to stopping the deviants, then all the better. For the moment, feelings that surrounded his doubts and of Kara would have to be placed to the side. He had a mission to carry out.
"My fucking head is pounding." Lieutenant Anderson groaned as he parked just in front of their destination. He pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled slowly. "Fucking lights."
Connor looked out the window and saw that the sex club was decked out with fluorescent screens and lights. The Eden Club certainly stood out in the middle of the night and it was currently agitating the lieutenant. Exiting the car, he followed the lieutenant inside. A police officer by the entrance gave them a puzzled look but otherwise did not comment on their presence. Connor had had a faint idea of what the purpose of the club was though he couldn't imagine what the interior would look like. From the way that the lieutenant had put it, he thought it was be much less sanitary.
The Eden Club was polished both inside and out. Though it was in a less than adequate neighborhood, it clearly came off as a high-End establishment. There were many androids swaying back and forth in pods, trying to catch the lieutenant's attention but he paid them no mind. The androids in turn did not look at Connor at all, it was as though he wasn't there.
A stout man approached them, wringing his hands. "You're not going to shut this place down are you? I had nothing to do with this! I had no way of knowing they could go deviant."
"This place is under investigation, so yeah, it'll have to be down for a while." Lieutenant Anderson affirmed gruffly. "When it can go back to normal, I don't have a clue."
The man, likely the owner of the club, looked disappointed with the news. He showed them to the crime scene and upon entering, Connor saw Reed heading out. The detective scowled when looked up. "What the hell are you two doing here?"
"Checking out the crime scene, what else?" Lieutenant Anderson retorted, his patience rather thin from the tone of his voice. No doubt he was still suffering from a hangover.
Reed shrugged. "Be my guest. I'm already done with the place. Maybe your tin can over here can figure something out."
As the detective exited the room, he nearly knocked into Connor, grumbling about the stink of booze on his way out. Connor followed the lieutenant until he was a few feet away from the victim. The man was lying in bed, his eyes wide open and the dark bruise on his neck was telling of how he died. The victim's name was Michael Graham.
Next to him in the floor was an android that seemed to have had its thirium pump ruined and circuitry in tatters. There was blue blood leaking out of its nose. Knowing that the lieutenant would highly object, Connor worked quickly in tasting the fresh thirium. He was noticed anyways.
"For Christ's sake Connor- you're so fucking gross." Lieutenant Anderson exclaimed.
Connor ignored him, seeing the model of the android pop up in his vision. The android was a WR400, more commonly referred to as a Traci. Gathering some clues in the space between the two, Connor was able to recreate a snippet of the scene that led to Graham's death.
"He has been strangled." Connor said.
"I noticed." The lieutenant replied. "But in a place like this, it ain't uncommon. So it doesn't really narrow anything down. We're also not sure if this android's the one that killed him."
Connor hummed, turning his attention back to the android. He skimmed its arm with his fingers trying to de if he could connect with it. He never liked this method of communication. It was an ability he used sparingly. Something about getting into the mind of another android always irked him. He always felt displaced and disconnected from himself whenever he'd tried it with Marcus and Kara. To do it with a seemingly dead android added to his hesitation.
"Can you connect with its memory to see what happened?" The lieutenant asked.
"I could . . ." Connor murmured, noticing that the WR400 would have to be activated before any connection could be made. "But from the state of its wires, it might only stay awake for a minute or two. The damage is pretty severe."
He dug around the complicated abdomen, finding the two main wires he was looking for. The second the two pieces connected, the android was shocked back into activation mode. It panicked and quickly shifted away from him. He slowly approached it and lowered himself.
"What's going on?" It asked, looking over to the victim. "Is he-?"
Connor jumped in, not knowing how much time they had with the android and not wanting to waste time. "What happened here?"
"We-well," The WR400 stammered. "He was hitting me. He kept hitting me and he wouldn't stop."
"Is that why you killed him?" Connor demanded.
Its eyes went wide at the accusation, and its voice raised an octave. "I didn't kill him! He nearly killed me!"
His mind raced to make sense of the information. "Was there someone else with you? Or were you alone in the room with him?"
"The client, he had asked for two girls . . ." The android stated, its eyes began to become glazed over.
"Where did the other android go?" The question was asked in vain as the android had used the last sliver of its energy and deactivated once more. Its body slumped against the wall, sliding down marginally.
An irrational reflex happened upon Connor. He almost wanted to grab a fistful of his hair and just pull it out of frustration. Instead, he just sighed and stood back up again from his crouching position. The lieutenant had an odd look on his face. He seemed half amused and half wry. Slapping a hand on Connor's shoulder, he said, "Don't get too upset. She gave us as much information as she could. At least now we know they weren't alone."
"I know." Connor exhaled loudly. For some reason, the act of doing so made him feel slightly better. Not much, but a little bit. That still left the question as to where the true deviant could have gone. It could have ran but there was no way they wouldn't be noticed in the standard uniform provided by the club. The chances might be slim but there was a possibility that the android didn't leave just yet. If it was still lurking around in the club, then maybe they could catch it.
They left the room of the crime scene and the lieutenant went back to the owner to ask him some more questions. In the meantime, Connor looked around the club a bit more. The entire area was bathed in purple light while there were streaks of pink here and there to bring attention to the androids in the pods. They mostly moved in slow, repetitive motions, their faces looking impassive. Connor examined one android outside of the pods, dancing on a pole. The Traci had the image of a male with brown hair and green eyes. It seemed to have noticed him and stopped dancing. Out of curiosity, he reached his hand out to touch it. They immediately synced up and Connor saw flashes of its memories. The android had been in the same spot all night, facing one way. For the most part, it hadn't witnessed any other android walking a path that began at the crime scene to its field of vision. Until a blue-haired android turned a corner just in its line of sight. Jerking himself out of the connection, Connor knew he had to let the lieutenant know of his findings.
"Lieutenant!" Connor called out.
Lieutenant Anderson had just ended his interview with the owner and approached Connor. "Did you find anything?"
Connor eyed one of the androids in the pod. This one was a female with a sharp black bob. She gave him a soft smile and made a beckoning motion with her hand. She should be in perfect position to see where the blue-haired android headed. Connor turned back to the lieutenant. "I need you to rent this android . . . this Traci."
The lieutenant looked absolutely baffled at his request. "Connor, now is not the fucking time-"
"Trust me lieutenant, it's important." Connor insisted. Though Lieutenant Anderson grumbled, he did what Connor asked. When the WR400 was freed from its pod, she sauntered out and looked between him and the lieutenant. Before she even spoke a word, he grabbed her hand and connected with her. Sorting through her memories, he found the piece of footage he needed and let go on her. A trail was formulating from all of the Traci's memories. These androids were going to help him find the deviant.
"The deviant headed this way lieutenant, let's go." Connor was already walking. The anticipation was coursing through him. He remembered the owner of the club informing them that every Traci had their memories wiped clean every two hours. It's been an hour and fifty-five minutes since the murder took place. They were working at a very quick deadline, but they hadn't failed yet.
"It saw the deviant? What do I do about this one?" Lieutenant Anderson asked.
"Just tell her you decline! She should stop whatever she's doing." Connor answered, looking back just once before marching onwards with his immediate task at hand.
At a distance, he could still hear the lieutenant stumble over his words as he tried to send the android back into her pod. "Listen sweetheart, you're a pretty girl and all but I really can't. See, I'm with the kid and- no wait, that sounds super fucked up. I'm not with him with him, we're just- he's just- you know what, I decline. I decline!"
When the lieutenant finally caught up to him, they went on a rapid pattern of unlocking the pods and having Connor scan their limited surveillance footage. They zigzagged through the club, turning many corners in an effort to trace the deviant's path. By the time they examined the last android, their records had led them to the back storage room. When they entered, the small warehouse was dim. The garage entrance where supply trucks would usually stop in front of was left wide open. Connor walked over to the opening and looked out into the streets.
The lieutenant sighed. "It could be anywhere by now."
"Maybe." Connor offered. But something within him told him that the deviant truly didn't leave the vicinity. She would have been spotted on the streets right away. He took a full look at the warehouse, and wondered if the Traci might actually be hiding in this very room.
As Lieutenant Anderson looked on, Connor honed in on a corner of the warehouse. Among a group of inactive androids, a yellow LED light stood out. Approaching it, he saw that it was the blue-haired Traci. Before he could shout out his findings, a different Traci shoved him to the floor. A fight ensued as Connor tried to fend off the brunette android. The lieutenant had his hands full with their deviant.
Somewhere along the way, the brown-haired Traci was able to get a hold of a screwdriver. She slashed at him with it but Connor had already found his footing again. He dodged her attacks as fast as he could. In some moments, he narrowly escaped getting stabbed. When she came at him once more, he hooked a foot around her leg and tripped her. She had a fistful of his shirt and they both went tumbling out of the warehouse. Connor quickly rolled into his stomach and got back up. By then, the Traci was standing as well though she seemed to have lost her weapon. They ended up downgrading to a fistfight where Connor tried to do as much damage as he could to incapacitate the accomplice. He doubted his punches were all that effective but it seemed to be enough for him to hold his own.
And then the deviant came out of nowhere to push him against the wall. As Connor tried to regain his balance, the two androids tried to run by climbing a metal fence. He quickly put a stop to that, dragging the blue-haired Traci back down which caused the other WR400 to stop fleeing as well. The lieutenant tried to enter the scuffle but had his gun knocked out of his hand. Fortunately for them, the gun slid right to Connor and he grabbed it without hesitation. The two Traci's froze when they saw the gun trained on them. "Don't move; either of you." Connor warned them.
"You saw what happened to the other Traci, didn't you?" The deviant asked. "That man broke her. It was only a matter of time before he broke me too."
Connor's grip on the gun faltered. His arm slackened until the gun was pointing downwards at the ground. The Traci continued. "I was scared, so I grabbed his throat and squeezed real hard until he stopped moving. Until he stopped breathing."
"You-" Connor began but was quickly interrupted.
"I hadn't meant to kill him. I didn't want to." She insisted. "I just . . . wanted to get away from him. I needed to run back to the one I truly loved. All we ever wanted to do was to get away from all of those disgusting, terrible humans. Their tight grasp and verbal abuse was all too much."
Her gaze found the brown-haired Traci and they shared a look. Connor didn't know what to say to that. He watched them, speechless as they were finally able to jump the fence, uninterrupted this time. When they were on the other side, the deviant gave him a fleeting look before disappearing into the night with her lover. It began to rain but Connor hardly felt the droplets. He was still blindsided by what had just happened. Were androids really capable of love? That seemed to be too enormous of a question for his fatigued mind and body to handle at the moment. He was too surprised to even be disappointed that he'd let the deviant get away. A part of him wanted to say that the deviant didn't actually love anyone, she just said whatever she could to earn herself a getaway. But the other, larger part of him told himself that the Traci looked genuine. She really believed that she was in love. And that feeling was clearly reciprocated by the other Traci.
"You know what, it's probably better this way." Lieutenant Anderson said. He didn't seem upset either. With both hands on Connor's shoulders, he led him out of the rain and back into the warehouse. "This is going to be one hell of a report to write up. I already dread having to justify spending more than six hundred dollars on sex bots as a work expense. Jeffery is going to have a fucking field day with this one."
++++++++++++End of Part VI++++++++++++
Can I just say I am so sorry for the long wait? Because I am; sorry that is. I thought midterms would just be a quick ordeal but then I got hit with three papers due the week after that and I wanted to cry. Anyways, you guys probably don't care about my junk. I'm curious though, how has anyone else's midterms gone if you're in school? Did you do well? Anyways, I hope you all liked this little chapter. Please excuse any horrific grammar and spelling issues in this one, I wrote it all in a rush. I may be slow to update but I really want to see this entire thing through. Just warning you all ahead of time, the next update will happen in December. When in December, I'm not sure. Since I just got through midterms you all know what's next; finals. The horror. So I'll see you all next month! Definitely before Christmas, I can say that much at least.