T̪͐ime: ̼̓ů͖n̜̄know̩̒n
Ĺ̨o̤̾cȧͅt̠͋ion:͎͒ ̢̔unkn͙̐ò͕wṋ̊
Arms weakly struggling against the larger cuffs, trapping them tightly against a cold metal table.
Blue blood leaking steadily from a torn hole in one white palm.
Sparking circuitry the only light in an otherwise entirely dark room.
Quiet groans not penetrating the soundproof walls.
Renewed snowfall impeded their progress as they carefully drove along the winding road lining Belle Isle's frozen coast towards Kamski's house. Connor turned his coin thoughtfully between the fingers of his right hand, as he remembered his conversation with Markus 15 minutes earlier.
"Hey Connor! I was wondering where you were. The others mentioned your sudden departure earlier. Is everything alright?" Were Markus' first worried words.
With forced calmness Connor attempted to summarise the reason for his call as briefly as possible.
"I returned with Lieutenant Anderson to the DPD. You," he corrected himself, "we might have a problem. Captain Fowler will try to keep it hidden for as long as possible, but Elijah Kamsky was found dead this morning. One of his androids - a Chloe model - is missing and the other two seem to be deactivated."
"Shit." A long and weary sigh. "Thanks for letting me know. Does the Captain want me to send someone over to you?"
"Not necessary. He asked for my help in investigating this case as an android consultant. I wanted to ask if you have any issues with that proposition."
"That sounds like a good plan to me," Markus answered promptly, before insisting earnestly, "but only if you don't mind going back to your former work. You don't have to do this, you know that, right? I can send someone else over instead."
Not wanting to let Markus down again, Connor shook his head, ignoring that the other couldn't see it, and responded factually, "I'm the best equipped to do this task. If you have no further conditions?"
"If you're really sure, then go ahead." Another long sigh. "It's good to know someone capable is handling this, to be honest. Would you mind keeping me updated on your progress?"
An awkward pause ensued, then Markus continued in a more hopeful tone of voice. "Oh, and we've decided on the Hart Plaza decommissioning centre as our central meeting place for now, just so you're aware. We first thought of using Cyberlife tower, but it seems to have gone into secure lockdown for the 're welcome with us anytime, if you're looking for a place to stay or if you need me for anything."
Uncomfortable with the idea of going somewhere he didn't belong - no matter what the other android proclaimed - he drew the call to a close.
"I'll call you if I find anything. Goodbye Markus."
Another pause, longer this time, then more quietly the final response, "I'll talk to you later then. Take care, Connor."
He was still turning Markus' words over in his head - his LED glaringly yellow - when they finally pulled up next to a police car parked in front of Kamski's House.
He tried to believe Markus' declaration of being 'someone capable' but doubt clouded his processors.
He may be the most advanced model presently available, yet past experience had taught him clearly that advanced design did not keep him from failing. And failure was decidedly not an option, as the Captain had made sure to remind him.
The coin between his fidgeting fingers sped up its dizzying dance, the faint 'plink' 'plink' 'plink' the only sound beside the frantically rattling heaters and the groaning of the motor.
"Alright kid, out with it already! What have we got? The first response report can't have been that long!"
The Lieutenant's rough voice startled Connor from his spiralling thoughts, as the car came to a stop, and with a shake of his head he returned his attention to the case at hand. Within a few seconds he had reviewed the report.
"Elijah Kamski, born July 17th 2002, was found apparently drowned in his pool this morning at 8:09 a.m. after a patrol car belatedly followed up on a reported security alert triggered at 12:30 a.m. today. Due to the water temperature, the time of death could not yet be pinpointed. One of his three recorded Chloe models appears to be missing, the others were found deactivated but seemingly undamaged at the bottom of the pool. No obvious signs of struggle or forced entry, aside from the security alert. Nothing else appears to be disturbed, missing or destroyed. The forensic team won't be able to attend for another two hours, due to the increase of work and lacking personnel. Officers Chen and Miller were the first responders and are now guarding the crime scene."
The Lieutenant hummed thoughtfully as he drew the key from the ignition. He offered a wry attempt at a smile towards the android. "Well then, let's see what else we can find out, eh partner?" And with a last encouraging pat of Connor's shoulder, he climbed out of his car.
That last word let warmth pool low in his chest, as he hastened to follow the human. 'partner' - yes, he was Hank's partner now. An equal, if not in rank. Manually he proceeded to expand their relationship entry:
^^^ Lieutenant Hank Anderson: Friend, Partner
And despite his remaining worry over the case and its possible consequences, Connor's smile could have lit up Detroit.
Upon leaving the car, Connor couldn't prevent a paranoid glance at Cyberlife tower's imposing silhouette, through the snow barely visible on the other side of the island.
Markus had spoken of a secure lockdown - meaning an emergency evacuation of all personnel followed by the engagement of the full range of security measures, that could only be lifted by the police or military. But as he ran a ping of the Cyberlife servers he noticed something amiss.
The tower's servers were offline. All of them.
That was decidedly not a part of the secure lockdown procedures.
He wondered - even as a part of him was strangely relieved - what had gone wrong. He had the dark suspicion that he'd soon find out - one way or another.
With a shake of his head he continued onwards.
Connor reached the Lieutenant's side just as he finished greeting officer Miller who looked tiredly out of the open door of the patrol car.
His eyes widened in surprise upon noticing the android and he stuttered "W-weren't you with the others down at the plaza?" Connor looked away uncomfortably before replying "I decided to go where I could be of more use. Good morning, officer Miller." The officer hastily shook off his surprise under the reprimanding glare of his superior, before smiling ruefully.
"O-of course, yeah sorry. Congratulations on being free, man. A-and welcome back."
Connor returned the smile with a tentative "thank you.", before falling quiet again, leaving an awkward silence behind.
Not knowing how to proceed, and fingers itching for his coin, he threw a helpless glance at his partner.
The older man chuckled and murmured "Social adaptability, my ass!", before shaking his head and continuing louder "Well, we'll head in now. Try to get forensics to drag their lazy asses over here. Tell them it's a priority case, captain's orders!"
He patted the top of the car in farewell and proceeded to drag his fidgeting partner along.
Shaking the nice, if awkward encounter from his mind, Connor focused on the case and dialed up his sensory input. Pulling the lieutenant to a stop a few feet from the entrance ramp, he carefully stared at the prints in the snow.
Ignoring the fresh prints of officers Miller and Chen, he could make out two other sets of prints, nearly covered by fresh snow.
One set - long uneven strides - starting next to tire imprints further away and moving in a wonky line towards the house. The other - smaller stride, very deep and even - left the house and led back towards what must have been a waiting car. He looked up local weather maps of the hours between 11 p.m. and now, calculating the probable amount of snow before running a first preconstruction.
A car pulling up a few feet from the entrance, waiting. A long-legged person of unidentified gender and weight tumbling from the car and stumbling unevenly towards the house. Not long afterwards another person - an android, going by the even stride, but much too heavy for any known models to match - leaving the house and heading towards the car and then once around it, before driving away.
Sadly the weather had changed too much to pinpoint a timeframe.
Turning towards the human at his side, Connor passed on his findings, answered only by a thoughtful hum and a frown.
Ascending the ramp, both of them entered the house.
Wet footprints littered the entrance hall, obscuring whatever evidence might have been there before. As the report had stated, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. With a disappointed sigh Connor walked deeper into the house.
The next room brought him to an abrupt stop - his LED turning yellow - as uncomfortable memories of the previous days assaulted his mind.
Kamski's enigmatic words wrapped in an air of narcissistic arrogance.
A Chloe sinking calmly to her knees in front of him.
A gun pressed into his hands.
Conflicting orders followed by conflicting impulses.
Kamski goading him while Anderson protested loudly.
Chloe's eyes, empty but so innocent.
Rising stress levels and the roaring of cooling fans in his chest.
A damning decision …
Another failure, another success?
Only a rough pat on his shoulder and the gruff whisper of "Come on kid, focus." drew him back to the present - his LED calming down to blue again.
Officer Chen stood sopping wet and shaking, wrapped in a thermo blanket in a corner of the room, tired gaze forcefully directed towards the huge pane of windows.
As soon as she noticed Hank heading towards her, she tried to collect herself, straightening her shoulders.
"G-good morning, L-lieutenant. Nothing new to r-report.", she commented between chattering teeth, directing a curious glance at the android.
Before she could say anything further, Connor stated, "The Captain asked for my assistance as a consultant of the android movement. Are you alright, officer?"
With forced cheer she remarked, "yeah, I'm fine. Thanks. I just hadn't planned for a swim, that's all!"
Offering a twitchy smile, Connor turned his attention towards the rest of the room as his partner interviewed the officer about that morning's events.
Kamski's body lay face up next to the pool, showing signs of attempted CPR.
Leaning over the red tiled edge, Connor could see the bodies of two Chloes at the bottom.
Looking around the room, he also noticed a phone carelessly thrown onto a table not too far away.
The android focused his attention on the corpse and, seeing the slight swelling around the bent neck, quickly determined the apparent cause of death.
"Officer Chen, if it's any consolation, you couldn't have resuscitated Mr. Kamski. He died of a broken neck, not downing." Dipping a finger into the water to note the temperature and checking the remaining body heat, he continued "I'd say his time of death lays between approximately 12 a.m. and 1 a.m. this morning."
In the back of his mind he was aware of the Lieutenant patting officer Chen's back encouragingly, while he turned his attention to the dropped phone.
Analysing it for prints, he only found Kamski's and carefully picked it up. On the back he noticed traces of dried chlorine.
As advanced as his design was, brute forcing the device only took a few seconds and he studied the available data.
Two received calls, one from a number registered for Dirk A. Crestwood, CEO of Cyberlife at 12:06 a.m., the other from a phone belonging to Dr. Elliot J. Kimble, head of Cyberlife's R n' D department at 12:08 a.m., both only taking a few minutes.
Even more interesting was that the internal logs had noted multiple unsuccessful previous hacking attempts between 12:15 a.m. and 12:25 a.m.
Apparently the security alert had not been triggered by this phone.
He relayed this information to the Lieutenant and turned back towards the pool.
Maybe the deactivated Chloe models could offer further insight?
After a short pause of consideration, Connor methodically pulled off his clothing to the incredulous shout of "What the hell, Connor?! Jesus -" and officer Chen's muffled giggling, before he climbed into the pool.
Deactivating his buoyancy subroutines, he felt his chassis fill with water as he sank to the bottom.
The sudden near silence of the water pressing against his auditory sensors, only broken by the rumbling of the water pumps in the walls, made him pause for a few seconds in wonder before he managed to concentrate on his goal.
Adding a picture of the android bodies' exact positions in front of him to his database, Connor grabbed both Chloes and pushed off the ground, slowly rising back to the surface.
The first sound his sensors picked up when leaving the deafening water, was the near panicked cursing of Hank, whose shaking hands proceeded to roughly heave him and his heavy cargo out of the pool.
"Jesus Christ, warn a guy, will ya?! What if the water had fried you as it did these ones? Huh?"
Connor tilted his head in confusion. "It can't have been the water that did this, Lieutenant. All android models' circuitry, even the first ones', was made to be waterproof. I'm fine."
Ignoring the continued cursing, he turned towards the bodies. Initiating an interface with first one then the other, he frowned before commenting grimly "These androids were hacked. Someone overwhelmed their systems and 'fried' their circuits - as you put it. Their buoyancy protocols failed in the process and they filled with water, dragging their heavy frames to the bottom of the pool."
Connor turned to officer Chen. "Where exactly was Mr. Kamski when you found him?"
The woman closed her eyes in thought before pointing at a point not far from Connor at the edge of the pool.
"He was floating head down in the water over there. I tried to grab him, but slipped on the wet tiles and fell in."
The android nodded in thanks and reconstructed the most probable chain of events in his head.
Kamski had been swimming close to the edge of his pool, next to his Chloes. Someone grabbed him from behind and broke his neck in one smooth movement - the missing Chloe? - before leaving the pool. As there were no signs of the other androids interfering, they either chose not to, or had been deactivated in the same moment the murder took place, maybe distracting Kamski enough for his attacker to succeed without any struggle.
Whoever had visited Mr Kamski - he made a mental note to follow up on the phone calls of Mr. Crestwood and Dr. Kimble at some point - must have arrived shortly beforehand or afterwards, either drunk or otherwise impaired.
One of them had hacked the Chloes and tried to hack Kamski's phone.
Maybe the missing Chloe had been hacked as well?
But, going by the difference in gait, the unknown visitor had not left the building on foot. The other set of footprints could only have been the missing Chloe.
Connor calculated the weight of the android in question and frowned - too light to have been responsible for the deep prints - before he had an idea.
What if the unknown visitor had been carried back outside to the car? But if so, why?
Had they been a witness? Or an accomplice? The instigator?
Endless questions and possibilities crowded Connor's mind until the call of his name brought him back to the present.
He summarised his findings as precisely as possible, while climbing out of the pool, letting the remaining water drain from his chassis and putting his clothes back on.
Both humans were thoughtfully silent for a few minutes. Then the lieutenant made a low noise in the back of his throat and pointed at officer Chen. "The security alert!" Turning back towards Connor he continued, "Someone must have triggered it! But there were no signs of forced entry." He ran out of steam and ran a hand roughly through his hair in frustration. "What the hell happened here?"
Connor carefully turned the information over in his head before answering "Neither the hacked androids nor the attempt on the phone would have triggered the alarm, from what I could gather. No signs of forced entry means that the unknown person was let in voluntarily."
He started to pace up and down along the window front in agitation, fiddling with his coin as he spun the thought further.
"So either them or the third Chloe must have triggered the alarm consciously. It can't have been Kamski, as he didn't even try to fight off his murderer. If it was Chloe, then why trigger the alarm only to leave the crime scene while carrying the unknown person? That leaves only the unknown visitor themself. Maybe they caused the alert upon seeing the victim dead, only to be overwhelmed by the missing Chloe. But if so, why did she take the body with her?"
He stopped on the spot, looking a little helplessly towards the lieutenant.
The other man shrugged "Compassion? Maybe she knew them? Or she didn't mean to harm them and panicked? Maybe she did place the alert, but decided that the visitor needed more urgent help? You said whoever came here, was 'impaired', maybe they were already wounded?"
'Compassion' - guilt welled up in Connor. He hadn't thought of Chloe as a person with feelings, hadn't even considered the possibility, still unconsciously clinging to the image of androids as purely logical beings.
You're not the deviant hunter anymore, Connor! He reminded himself roughly. They're not just machines!
Forcefully he dragged his attention outward again, barely catching the lieutenant asking after security cameras.
Using his access to Kamski's phone, Connor reviewed the available camera footage, before shaking his head.
"The only security cameras are outside and were covered by snow. I can't make out anything clearly. I'm sorry, Lieutenant."
He was answered by a loud curse.
The older man turned towards officer Chen before barking, "I want an SO out for Mr. Crestwood and Dr. Kimble! Try to get a warrant for their addresses - as urgent as this case is, that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Look up hospital records for emergency patients admitted between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m. and have patrols report any sighting of a Chloe model!" He paused before adding, "But tell them not to engage. We don't want this clusterfuck to go to hell in a handbasket, clear?"
Officer Chen saluted awkwardly, arm half trapped in her thermo blanket, before hastily leaving the room.
The lieutenant scratched his head thoughtfully. "You done here, Connor?"
Receiving a nod, he sighed and turned towards the exit. "Then let's go. I need something to eat."
Unconsciously slipping the phone into an evidence bag and putting it into his pocket, Connor threw one last lingering look at his dead creator, before following behind.