Hi!
Thank you for reading this story and thanks to those who have supported this story or me as a writer! And thanks to 'ShadowOfSans' who gave this story its first review, thank you so much!
If you head to my profile, you can find an approximation for the date of the next chapter for each of my stories, if you want!
This chapter seems very heavy with computing instructions, just letting you know :)
And one more thing, I probably won't update this story for a number of days. To make up for it, this is the longest chapter so far ;)
Disclaimer: I do not own Detroit: Become Human or anything else you may recognise.
By the time Hank and Connor arrived at the crime scene, a huge crowd had formed opposite the apartment building. Some had cameras, others were dressed in pyjamas but they were all human; potentially the residents and the media. Hank parked behind one of the few cop cars on the street and hopped out of the car. Connor noticed as Hank stretched his back slightly before walking towards the holographic police tape, which had cordoned off the entrance.
When Connor stepped out of the car, he immediately heard the crowd gossiping about him.
"There's the android cop."
"First robocop in action."
"That's the thing that marched the army of machines."
"Even deviants aspire to take our jobs."
Connor drowned them out as he crossed the street, towards the crime scene. They were just searching for stories, saying anything to get their names noticed. They didn't matter. But why did his thirium regulator constrict and twist in response? His LED flickered yellow.
Running diagnostic scan...
Scanning...
Scan complete...
Thirium levels... 98%
Biocomponents... OK
Biosensors... OK
Audio... OK
Visual... OK
Oral analysis... OK
Motor abilities... OK
Stress Levels... ^29%
Social Integration... Not engaged
Engaging... Social integration
Stress levels... v20%
Connor took an unnecessary breath as he LED pulsed blue once again. Something had changed in the last few days. Since the revolution, he had only used his social integration program three times. But in the last two days, he had equaled that number. This was not normal, not for Connor.
Walking through the police tape, Connor forced himself to focus on the case in the current moment. He smiled when he saw that Hank had waited for him just inside the lobby. As he caught up with Hank, the two were approached by Officer Ben Collins.
"What've we got here, Ben?" Hank asked as they followed the officer through the lobby.
"Two androids. Dead. They were found in apartment number 3E. By the owners." Ben led the two into the elevator and hit the button for the third floor.
"Wait, what?" Hank questioned as the pointless elevator music played, the lights on the floor panel lighting up slowly. "They were found dead in someone else's apartment?"
"Yeah, exactly. The manager said that he had never seen them before." The elevator dinged and opened the doors at level 3.
Ben led the two down the hall to apartment 3E. "The owners are still in there, if you want to talk to them, Lieutenant." Hank nodded as Ben turned around to Connor. "The androids are in the living room, to the left of the entrance." He pushed the door open and guided the Lieutenant to the master bedroom, where the owners sat.
Connor grimaced as he walked into the living room. It was uncomfortable to see his people hurt or dead. But this was his occupation, what he was designed to do.
"Don't have any regrets. You did what you were designed to do. You accomplished your mission."
Connor ignored the shiver that ran down his back as he moved closer to the bodies. He was alone in the living room, as there was no other professionals needed. Hank would come and take a look and the two would surmise what they could. No one else was required, other than the first responders. His turned his attention to the androids.
They had both been shot in the forehead. Connor knelt down next to the two androids and moved his fingers over to the girl's forehead.
Sync in progress...
Collecting data...
Processing data...
Thirium... ST600
He moved his fingers to the guy's forehead and analysed his blood.
Sync in progress...
Collecting data...
Processing data...
Thirium... JB600
They were wrapped in each other's arms as if they were frightened of an oncoming threat. Picking up the girl's arm, the detective allowed his synthetic skin to peel away as he forced a connection. His LED whirled yellow as the connection formed but flashed red as he dropped her hand. His facial features moved into a frown as he sorted through the information he had gathered.
Bullet... Missing
Wound... Bullet exited back of head
Straight Clean Shot
Central Processing Unit... Destroyed
Unable to sync memories
Reactivation... Unavailable
He picked up the guy's arm, although he had a feeling that he wouldn't get anything more.
Bullet... Missing
Wound... Exited back of head
Diagonal Clean Shot
Central Processing Unit... Destroyed
Unable to sync memories
Reactivation... Unavailable
Diagonal?
Initiating reconstruction...
ST600 was in front of attacker
JB600 was beside the girl, off centre to the attacker
Both saw the attacker
Attacker aimed two successive shots
Victims had no time to move
!ERROR!
Reconstruction incomplete...
Connor blinked as he moved around the room to get a better angle.
Attacker stood in the middle of the living room... X
Attacker came from behind... X
Attacker location... Unknown
His LED swirled red as he moved once again to line up the bullet trajectory angles.
Victims were in the middle of the room... X
Victims were walking out of the living... X
Victims shot in the middle of the room
Victims origin... Unknown
Evidence inconclusive...
Connor cursed silently as he blinked, allowing reality to bleed in front of his eyes. He surveyed the room, looking for evidence of any kind. He couldn't rely on his reconstruction program, which meant he would have to do this the old-fashioned way.
There was no blood anywhere else in the apartment.
Victims were not injured prior
Attacker was not injured
Connor moved towards the front door to analyse the lock. It had been broken.
Attacker broke into the apartment... X
The detective shook his head. Full body weight had been concentrated on the door in order for the lock to break. It wouldn't make sense for the attacker to use his body to open the door, if the attacker could kill two androids within two seconds, they would be able to kick the door open.
Victims broke into the apartment
This seemed more likely. It wasn't their apartment and the owners had never met them. Which means that the two androids were being chased, but that didn't make sense. The attacker could have easily killed them before the broke the door. So why didn't they? What did the attacker have to gain from killing them inside?
Connor walked around the apartment, scanning for anything to identify the attacker. From the door to the living room, there were no fingerprints.
Attacker was careful... X
Connor re-examined the door and found finger marks in the middle of the door. If his earlier conclusion about the two androids using their full bodies to break the door down, then they would not have pushed on the middle of the door.
Attacker is an android
Hank returned to find Connor standing in the middle of the living room, not moving. "Hey, Connor! What'd you find?" His hand touching the android's shoulder was what shook him out of his thoughts. His brows furrowed as he took in his surroundings.
"Hank?"
"Yeah, kid. What'd you find?" Hank laughed quietly. Connor spent way too much time in his head, sometimes.
"Not much," Connor frowned as he turned to face the dead androids. "They were being chased." Hank nodded, motioning for Connor to continue as his LED spun yellow.
"They broke the door down and ran inside to the living room. One of them must have pushed the door closed, as the attacker had pushed the door open when they entered. The two androids made it to the living room before the attacker caught up with them."
Connor moved behind the ST600 and JB600 as he continued his conclusions.
"The attacker proceeded to shoot the two androids, within two seconds of each other. The exact time is unknown. I am unable to temporarily reboot either android." Connor turned to watch Hank. The lieutenant was kneeling down beside the androids, cursing as he saw the wounds. "Hank? This wasn't an android-hate crime. I believe this was an android-on-android crime."
The deviant's head tilted as Hank did a double take.
"You're saying this crime was entirely android? No human involvement? Fuck!"
"The bullet destroyed both of their Central Processing Units completely. It had to be someone who knew what they were doing. Not to mention, no human could have shot the two androids that quickly and without a fight either. It was an android who killed these two, not a human."
"Fucking hell!"
Hank and Connor spent the rest of the afternoon finalising up the reports from the crime scene and drawing up any further conclusions. This took about three hours until they were interrupted by Hank's stomach. "Shit, I forgot about lunch. Guess it's time for an early dinner." Connor grimaced as he'd prefer to stay and work on the case but reluctantly shut his terminal down and followed Hank out of the precinct.
The drive home was uncomfortable. Hank was not in a conversional mood, which left Connor to his thoughts. As Connor stayed out of the car's window, something chilled his spine. It felt like someone was watching him, stalking him, from outside of the car and inside his processor. It reminded him of Amanda when he let her access his memories immediately after experiencing them. Which he hadn't done since the hostage scene.
-"You lied to me, Connor. You lied...to me..."
He was sure his LED would flicker yellow as he tried to contain his thoughts. But there was no yellow glow, only blue and Hank didn't notice anything strange. Was his LED broken?
Running diagnostic scan...
Scanning...
Scan complete...
Thirium levels... 96%
Biocomponents... OK
Biosensors... OK
Audio... OK
Visual... OK
Oral analysis... OK
Motor abilities... OK
Social Integration... Running
Pausing... Social integration
His social integration program was left on, that was why his LED hadn't betrayed his feelings. It was why Hank hadn't noticed anything off with him. Connor needed to restrain himself. He couldn't keep using his social integration program, that was like hiding from what he was feeling. Markus wouldn't approve. But it was like he was addicted to using it. It was so much easier to run the program than face what he needed to. Maybe that was why Hank was ignoring him, maybe he'd figured out what Connor was doing?
But all of this still didn't change the fact that the former deviant hunter felt things watching him, monitoring his every move.
"Just a little longer. We will wait until the time is right. You did well, leaving only enough information. Next time, make sure that a full reconstruction is possible. We want him to come to us, not the other way around."
"Yes, I understand. I will not fail you. I will complete my mission."
