56 Detroit 1.21.2039

6:50 am

Connor

"I'm calling in sick today," Clara moans when I get up to dress for work the next morning. She has the blankets pulled up over her face, only her fingers visible.

"You never call in sick."

"I'm very sick today."

"That won't stop the interview from happening."

"Mmmph," she moans unintelligibly.

"Have you ever thought about working for another paper?" I know she's loyal to Detroit Today and would never defect, but I have to ask. She pops her head up, letting off a heavy sigh.

"I can't leave. Horowitz gave me a chance when no one else would. And Tony's there and I've made a name for myself." She sits up, exposing her T-shirt, which reads 'I'm Big News' with a cartoon picture of a smiling newspaper. She rubs her hands over her face. "I have to do this."

"Just don't answer any questions you're not comfortable with," I advise. Her ears burn red, and she hastily turns away, sliding out of bed and to her closet. I make the bed, fluffing the pillows before setting them down precisely in the center of the bed. I can tell how distracted Clara is when she doesn't come mess them up.

"What should I wear?" She stands in her open closet, shoulders slumped.

"Does it matter?" I ask. "I thought Tony was the one doing the interview."

"It's like putting on war paint," she tells me, pulling out a black suit jacket. She nods to herself, deciding what to go into battle wearing.

Thirty minutes later, she's showered, pinning her reddish-brown hair back into a neat bun and dressed in black pants, a white shirt and a black jacket, her feet clad in high heeled boots that add a few inches.

"Well?" she asks me anxiously.

"You look ready for battle," I tell her. She gives me a wobbly smile, and I wish I could stay until she has to leave. "You'll do great. Just talk about your passion for helping androids, about how we can live peaceably together," I suggest.

She nods. "You're right. Maybe we can change things." She takes my hands in hers. "What if we can change the way people look at androids?" she asks, her voice trembling with excitement, with hope. "Show them you do love and feel and that you deserve love and respect."

"If anyone can change their minds, it's you." I plant a kiss on her forehead. "Good luck."

I move to leave, but she calls my name. "Can we talk tonight?" she asks, biting her lip and looking unsure of herself.

"Of course." I push aside the prickle of anxiety, wondering what she wants to talk about. "I look forward to it." She nods, looking nervous herself.

"Good. See you tonight."

"We've got another one," Hank says as soon as I set foot in the precinct. He's already on his way out, and I hurry to follow, getting into the passenger's seat of his old car. Knights of the Black Death blasts as soon as he starts the ignition, but he turns it down to brief me.

"Coupla androids were found a few blocks from New Jericho. They...they were dismembered."

I feel a rush of sorrow and fury.

"Markus himself came down. He identified the bodies."

"How were they dismembered?" I push back my emotions and focus on the facts. I feel the loss of two more of my people, but I need a clear mind if I'm going to help Hank find the murderer.

"They said it looked like they used a machete or some kinda sword. There's a lot of blood apparently. They were found by a group of teens looking for a place to drink. Called it in twenty minutes ago."

He pulls over to the curb near the scene. There's a squad car with lights flashing and a few passersby huddled across the street. I can't feel the cold quite like humans, but it's below freezing, cold enough to freeze components if an android were left out in the frigid air too long.

Markus waits behind the crime scene tape. Even if only a few of us are on the Android Protection Unit, the police still have to process the crime scene just like any other crime. Detective work got sloppy, I noticed, when androids were the victim.

"Oh, great, what the fuck is Reed doing here?" Hank grumbles, and I turn to see Detective Gavin Reed standing back to survey the scene, arms crossed, a look of distaste on his face. He has a fresh bruise on his jaw, and I wonder who punched him this time.

I know he hasn't forgiven me for beating him up in the evidence room, but he hasn't touched me since I was allowed back after the android peace march. I get the feeling he's waiting until we're alone so he can avoid repercussions.

He turns as we walk up, rolling his eyes as soon as he sees me. "Reed," Hank greets testily. Detective Reed had never been on good terms with Hank, making snide comments about his drinking habits any chance he gets. He'd laid off recently, and Hank hadn't been drinking. He'd switched to coffee so strong I was surprised his stomach didn't curdle and had actually started arriving at work mostly on time.

"Anderson," Reed greets him, ignoring me altogether. I don't mind. I'd rather avoid unpleasantries with him when I have an entire crime scene before me that is far more unpleasant a sight.

I walk over to greet Markus, shaking his hand like humans do when they meet. "Good to see you, Markus. I'm sorry this had to happen." I lower my eyes as if this is somehow my fault, as if I could have prevented it, but I know I'm not enough to keep our people safe. I'm only one android.

"I'm sorry, too," Markus says softly. "They were good people."

"Why were they out here?" I ask.

"We discourage the refugees from wandering, but they're free to come and go as they please. I'm not sure why they were out, but they'd only been with us a short while. They were still adjusting. Some androids find it hard to settle in. They're free, but it's hard to shake a lifetime of following orders."

I can understand that. Sometimes I still have the instinct to report in to CyberLife. I have to remind myself I don't have anyone to answer to. Clara is working on getting me to quit moving aside to make room for humans when we're out in public, but I can't quite shake the urge to treat them like they stand on unlevel ground high above me. Of course humans still treat us like we're below them. Speaking of…

"That detective is...unpleasant," Markus says, eyeing Detective Reed.

"Detective Reed isn't on board with the whole android equality movement," I tell him. "He's not bad at his job, but he's not my favorite person to work with. I don't know why he was assigned this scene." I sigh, wishing we could fast forward to a time when androids aren't murdered, when androids are treated like equals. "We'll find whoever did this," I promise Markus. "I'll keep you updated. It might not be a bad idea to heighten security around New Jericho."

Markus nods. "I appreciate your help, Connor."

I join Hank by the two bodies and take in the scene. They'd been covered in white sheets, but Hank pulls it aside as I approach. The blood is frozen to the ground in blue splatters and the sight of the bodies is a grizzly one. Even Hank looks pale. I see why they suspect the limbs had been severed with some kind of blade.

I kneel down to take a closer look. "These cuts are ragged," I tell Hank, pointing out the parts of skin that hang loose. Components stick out from the hacked limbs and shoulders. "Either they used a dull blade or it was serrated. Perhaps a handsaw. It was a hasty job."

The manner of the murders shows an absence of respect, and I wonder if it went further than harming androids. Perhaps they have a record for harming people as well if they show such callous disregard for life.

"Did they have their LEDs before?" I call out to Markus, who remains on the outskirts of the scene, a furrow permanently grooved into his brow.

"Yes," Markus tells me. "They had chosen to keep them." He frowns. "They were missing when I arrived."

I turn back to Hank. "None of the androids from the previous murders had their LEDs. I thought it was a coincidence, but now I'm not sure. Without their LEDs, androids can blend in fairly well. What if their LEDs were taken?" The skin is smooth over the sides of the brutalized androids' temples where their LEDs once sat. "They would have to have been removed while the android was still alive for the skin to heal over like this. If they had been taken after, the skin wouldn't have regenerated."

"So some sickos are taking LEDs as what? Some kind of trophy?" Hank asks, looking ill.

"It's possible. They could have been targeted because of their LEDs. Taking that away from them could be some kind of statement. It's like ripping away their identity." The lifeless eyes of the androids are disconcerting and I want to look away but I force myself to keep working, methodically scanning the scene. Both androids deviated around the time of Markus's uprising. They are different models from the ones previously murdered. There's no connection other than the fact that they're androids and they've been murdered.

"Each crime has been different," I say, standing and turning to Hank. "It implies different perpetrators, but if we're going with the gang theory, then a variety of people might be committing the crimes."

"Great. Strength in numbers for them and multiple suspects for us. Fuckin' nightmare if you ask me," Hank mutters. "Any human blood anywhere?" he asks.

I shake my head. "We just have the trace I found on the nose ring in the alley. It's all we have to go by right now."

"We've been looking into the symbol your witness in the parking lot saw, but nothing has come up so far." Hank motions for two officers manning the scene. "We're done here. Make sure they get the respect they deserve," he says. The officers nod. I recognize both. While they didn't join the Android Protection Unit, they've always been polite to me.

"I say we follow up on that guy now before the scene gets too stale," Hank says. "These can't be expert criminals, so why are they getting away with this?"

I've been wondering the same thing. There have been no fingerprints at the scenes. Detectives took a couple of shoe impressions, but Detroit is a big city, and it's not enough to go on. "They're confident now, but it's going to turn on them sooner or later," I tell Hank. "They'll slip up."

"Hopefully they already did."

We duck under the crime scene tape, and I go to speak to Markus one last time. That's when an explosion rocks the ground, flames bursting up from a couple of blocks away. Markus meets my eyes, my own horror reflected back. "New Jericho," he says and takes off running.

I hurry after him, Hank shouting commands to the officers before following.

New Jericho is on fire when we arrive, the side of the building in ruins. Androids flee the warehouse, eyes wide with fear. I hear sirens whine in the distance, but they'll be too late. Markus runs to North, who supports a woman with a smoke-stained face.

"What happened?" Markus asks, his relief at seeing North unharmed clear.

"I don't know," North tells him. "It happened so fast. There are still androids inside."

Markus nods. "Get them to safety," he tells North before diving into the smoking building. I follow after him, ignoring Hank's protest from where he jogs to catch up to us.

It's difficult to see through the billowing smoke. Debris litters the floor, and a group of androids stumble forward, some of their clothing singed.

"Get out of here," Markus says, directing them toward the doors. At least the entrance isn't blocked. But there are still androids trapped somewhere. We hear cries for help deeper into the building. Flames still rage. We make our way through a melted door frame, narrowly avoiding bits of ceiling that collapse behind us.

There is a wall of flames ahead, and we see androids cowering on the other side, LEDs flashing red. One body doesn't move. "We need to get over there," Markus says. "Follow me."

He leads me through another doorway. The smoke is so thick, I can barely see. A door lies between us and the stranded androids. Markus pulls his sleeve over his hand before trying the knob. "Locked," he says before lifting a leg to kick at the latch. It gives after four forceful kicks, hanging up on rubble on the other side. He pushes his shoulder into the door and we squeeze in.

Flames lick around us, perilously hot. I see a group of androids huddled as far from the flames as they can get. Marcus carefully picks his way across the rubble to them. "We need to get you out of here," he says, holding out a hand to help an android child up. The others follow.

I lean down to check the vitals on the unmoving android. He's dead, and I see a metal rod sticking straight out of his pump regulator. My shoulders slump. Too many androids have died recently, and now another pays the price of violent prejudice.

"We need to get out of here before the ceiling collapses!" Markus shouts to me from the doorway.

I rise, leaving the android. There's nothing more I can do for him except get justice. We've only gone a few feet when I hear another cry for help.

"You go. Get them out. I've got this," I tell Markus. He nods, hurrying the frightened androids out. I move farther into the building, pushing through the choking smoke, following the sound of the voice.

Instead of finding an android, I find the heart of the explosion. There's ruins of a bomb lying on the blackened floor. Everything in the vicinity has been torn apart, flames licking the remains of the walls. A hole gapes in the ceiling, and I can see daylight streaming through an outside wall.

The cries for help have stopped and something feels off. I turn in a circle, scanning the room. I don't see the figure moving toward me until it's too late. A bag is thrown over my head and something prods me in the back. I feel an electric pulse that radiates through every circuit in my body. Darkness folds in on me, and I sag into rough hands that drag me from the ruins. I can't even manage a cry for help as my body shuts down.