Chapter Forty-Seven – Avoiding Decommission

"What do you mean 'decommissioned'? He's my partner!" Takigawa shouted, heads in the open plan bullpen turning towards the captain's office in surprise. Their new co-worker was generally open, friendly and casual. Takigawa had only been promoted a short time ago, but everyone liked him. It was surprising to see him so riled. His faithful companion, the dark skinned android, stood uniformly by the door awaiting instructions.

"Cyberlife is taking back all androids, police force included…Sorry Takigawa, I know you're attached to the thing, but it's for the best." The older man assured sympathetically, watching the Asian man seethe as he pushed off the desk and got to his feet. Charlie watched his human companion, unsure what was wrong. Cyberlife had recalled him as a possibly defective model. It was better that he be deactivated now rather than risk deviating and harming their human co-workers later.

"There has to be something you can do! We're on an important case right now! I can't do my job without Charlie! He's irreplaceable!" The long haired human urged, the android tilting its head as it watched his partner outright lie. They were working on the case around John's shop, along with a couple other small cases, but a human could be brought up to speed within a couple of hours. "Can't you at least…put it off a while?" Takigawa almost begged.

"I…I suppose…The order is for all androids to be returned in a timely manner…The delay of a day shouldn't be too much of an issue." The older man relented with a heavy sigh, almost amused by the bright smile that spread across Takigawa's face as he clapped his hand on Charlie's strong shoulder. He'd never understand why the young man was so attached to a glorified Ken doll, but who was he to argue? The CH200 didn't seem to be deviant at any rate, and the situation wasn't quite an emergency yet. It was a little inconvenient letting their androids go too. They had so many PC, CH and PL models running around the station that they were about to be short staffed.

"Thank you Sir! I owe you one. Let's get back to it Charlie." Takigawa said as he led the way. The android nodded his agreement and wished the captain a good day. Takigawa almost bounced down the steps, still riding the high of his relief. Charlie wasn't safe forever, but he had a day to make a plan. A day to hide him somewhere more like…

"Good news Takigawa?" The middle aged detective across from his desk asked. The man was a little gruff, usually buried in a coffee mug and case file, but Takigawa liked him. They had a cordial relationship, always swapping ideas and greetings across the pen. He was one of the more casual men, wearing a soft denim shirt under a worn leather jacket.

"Something like that." Takigawa replied as he sat in his chair, reassured by Charlie's silent presence at his shoulder. He searched through is computer to refresh his memory of John's case.

"Ah, you get to keep your toy a little longer." The man teased, though Takigawa knew he didn't really mean it. He'd been edgy at first, but Charlie's reliability and helpfulness had won the old man over. He seemed to enjoy watching Takigawa and Charlie spar with words from his desk, letting out amused chuckles and shaking his head.

"Couldn't let them take my partner, right Charlie?" Takigawa replied as he looked over his shoulder at the CH200, which took on an almost warm expression.

"Need I remind you we have been gifted only an extra twenty four hours to complete our investigations." The unit replied, his lack of fight irking the human somewhat. Didn't it bother him? That he was going to be deactivated? Melted down? Just because there was a chance he could be deviant? Nope. Got happening. Takigawa thought firmly as he scanned the details. He'd think more about what he could do while going over the scene once more.

"Right, let's head out Charlie." Takigawa agreed as he grabbed his jacket from the chair, leading the way out to the car. The ride was quiet as they drove, the android knowing Takigawa's moods enough to know his human was disgruntled. A human would have been touched by the concern. The CH200 was not a human. Once they arrived at the shop Takigawa stepped out with a sigh. The shop was still cordoned off with holographic tape, but the police presence was gone. They'd taken all the evidence they needed in the wake of the fire. Coming back here was really just for Takigawa to walk through it again.

"What are you looking for?" Charlie asked curiously as he followed his human companion into the burnt out shell. The building was largely stable, but they wouldn't be able to go upstairs. The steps had been burned too badly. It seemed Takigawa had little interest in that though, walking around the main shop before heading through to the back rooms.

"I'm not quite sure yet." The human replied distractedly, stepping back with a surprised yelp as he walked into the stockroom and came face to face with that had at first seemed human in the dimness. It wasn't. It was the burned out husk of an android. Poor thing had been pinned in place by twisted metal. Burned to a crisp. "Sorry…" Takigawa murmured softly, placing a gentle hand on the faded plastic skull, the hair and synthetic skin burned away.

Charlie scanned the model. A GT300. He cross refenced it. It was the one that had been present at John's shop on their last visit. The one he had interfaced with. He reached out, trying to link with it, but it was damaged beyond repair. He couldn't even scan its interior. Everything had warped and melted. He continued to follow Takigawa as the human looked around the burned remains of the stock room thoughtfully.

"It happened here…Something happened here to set everything off." The human thought as he paced, hazel eyes examining everything. He headed to the back door and found it open, but that could have been done by the blast itself. It sure as hell wasn't an accident. Flammable liquids and fuel be damned, that kid knows his way around a workshop, not to mention the androids would have made sure everything was put away properly. Someone did this. Was it a human? Or an android? Those guys who came here before are a possibility…I noticed some kids loitering around too…

"Sir." Charlie called as he crouched, his eyes examining something. Takigawa joined him, but to his eyes whatever it was looked like warped plastic and ash. "A bottle…It is commonly used to hold alcohol." The android reported, making a reconstruction of the bottle, putting together what it could have looked like before.

"You think John was drinking?" Takigawa asked, confused as to why it was relevant.

"Negative. The fragments show signs of gasoline. There is also cotton remnant in the ash." The android reported, watching Takigawa's eyes widen slightly. You've got to be kidding me.

"A Molotov? They just opened the door and tossed in a cocktail?" The human demanded, his chest hot with frustration. Charlie nodded his agreement, watching his human's stress levels spike. He was angry. He got to his feet and scuffed the floor with his shoe. He stared at the back door. They jimmied the door and tossed in the bottle. Idiots probably didn't even realise what would happen, didn't realise the amount of fuel and thirium stored back here. "Think you can find prints on the back door?" Takigawa asked as he stepped out into the small concrete yard, which had barely been used.

"I will scan." Charlie replied obediently, reporting multiple prints for John, David and two sets from some local teens. Takigawa winced. He hated being right. They had a past record for property damage against androids, and vandalism in the form of graffiti. They had never hurt or been violent towards another human though.

"Probably thought it would be a slow burner, enough to scare John into closing up, maybe damage one or two units…I don't think they planned for this." Takigawa thought as he looked up at the hole above. He wasn't sure what room it had been, but there wasn't really anything left now. Whatever furniture had been there was burned to ash or lying in blackened chunks on the floor. The human stiffened as he heard feet in the shop, grabbing his sidearm as he crouched. Charlie followed quietly behind. "Police! Don't move! This is an active crime scene!" The detective called as he stepped into the shop, finding two androids wearing black suits looking around with blue LEDs.

"We have been sent by Cyberlife to collect Johnathan Edwin Wishart. Do you know his current location?" One of them asked, not really responding to Takigawa's warning. He looked over at Charlie, who shook his head. It wasn't a model he recognised. They were tall, broad shouldered, dark haired, clearly built to be bodyguards of some sort. He didn't trust them. Especially not the way they were looking at him, like they were scanning him.

"Not a clue." Takigawa replied cautiously. One of the units tilted its head curiously.

"This is his last known location." It reported, unphased by the gun Takigawa still held.

"Sorry…This address is own by Mr Brown, and as you can see…he isn't here." The human replied firmly. The androids processed his words, LEDs blinking yellow as they looked at each other. It was creepy. They were creepy. They didn't give the usual type of android responses either. These two clearly had no social program installed. They weren't made to interact with people on that level. So what the hell do they want with John? He had the feeling it was definitely John they were after. The last names may have been different, but they'd come to the right place to find a Johnathan.

"We shall search elsewhere." The same android declared before retreating. Takigawa kept his gun trained on them, following slowly all the way to the door. He lowered the gun as he watched them climb into a black SUV with blacked out windows.

"Charlie, run those plates." Takigawa ordered, looking over as Charlie's LED span yellow. He knew the android had seen it. He could zoom in his vision, and it wasn't too dark out yet. The yellow meant he was processing and searching the database. It didn't take more than a few seconds before the LED returned to a steady blue and the android blinked awake.

"The vehicle is a company car, registered to Cyberlife Headquarters in Detroit." The dark skinned android announced, thinking it prudent to look up this Johnathan Wishart too. He looked over the file. There was little information since the person had never been arrested. There was a homicide incident from his youth. He was the only survivor when unknown assailants broke into his home. His father was the current CEO of Cyberlife. There was little else, not even a picture. "They are looking for the current company CEO's son. Not much information is available." He said out loud.

"Well…Let's leave that for now. It's not our concern unless they file a missing person report." Takigawa decided thoughtfully, John's interest in androids suddenly falling into place. I should probably warn him there are folks looking…He thought warily, unsure he entirely trusted the stiff units. It was strange to think he trusted them less than the deviants he'd come across. "Come on, I want to stop by the house for a bit." He said, suddenly feeling it was important to check in with Ayako and the others. Charlie gave no objection, not that he would.