DETROIT: REVENGE

Chapter 03

"Investigation"

Markus was crossed-arms at the window. He liked to see the Sunrise every morning before getting into work, which made him feel calm, and he was used to it. A woman approached him from behind.

"Enjoying the view?" said North.

He came back to reality and turned to see her. "I just wanted to see the sunrise."

"Yeah… but that was hours ago, is everything alright, Markus?" North took a step and touched his face.

"I am."

"You sure?"

Markus leaned to her hand and sighed. "I was thinking about him. Everything makes me thing about Carl: the chest, the piano, his books, the studio… everything. I really miss him."

"Does it make you uncomfortable being here?"

"No, it's not that. It's just that… it's not the same without him."

"Well… you know that we can move onto another district."

"No, I gave the promise to keep his memory alive, and that means taking care of his house."

"Talk to Leo, then. Make a new agreement, make him responsible for the house."

"Hmm… He's changed a lot the last few months, he's a better person now… but he won't look at the house the way it needs."

"…Okay then," she leaned her head to touch Markus's forehead. "Why don't you go out, get some air? I know that technically we don't need it, but that's what people tell each other to make them feel better."

Markus laughed. "You win. Besides, it's time to work." They split up. "Josh send me a message."

"He's outside, waiting for us. Get dressed." She turned to leave the room but stopped at the door. "You'd better get hurry. We were told that there's a homicide… maybe an android did it." She turned to see him.

Markus walked towards her. "Who died?"

"We don't know yet."

Markus sighed. "What do we know?"

"You won't believe who's the suspect."

The car stopped just outside the Police Department. Markus, North, Simon, and Josh got out.

"This is the first time I come here," said Simon, he was nervous and excited. "I can't believe it."

"And I can't believe what brought us here." Said Markus. "Let's go."

Nines spotted them as soon as they passed through reception. "They're here."

Captain Jeffrey, Gavin, officer Chris, and officer Chen looked at the group and got ready to meet them. Jeffrey cleared his throat and shook his hand. "It's a pleasure. You must be Markus."

"I am. Do you know why we're here?"

"Please, let's talk about it in private." Jeffrey guided them to his office. "You're all investigating as well?"

"If you'd like to, I'll get in alone."

"I just don't want panic and spread information around. That's all." He got in alongside with Gavin. Nines stayed at the door, keeping it open.

"It's okay," said Simon. "Go ahead."

Markus nodded to the three, then met Nines at the door, who moved aside to let him in. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Said Nines closing the door.

"Yesterday we got two killed adults. Lieutenant Hank Anderson, and Connor, assured that the responsible one could've been an android, as there were no fingerprints except for the ones from the victims. A little girl survived, and she assured us that Connor was the aggressor, so I suspended him. Hank and Gavin were assigned to solve this case, and today Hank disappeared, after following an apparent clue at an abandoned house… as I was told, Connor came back here a few minutes after Hank left, apparently, he went to meet him. And a few moments later the house blew up, and only Connor appeared."

"Are you sure that Connor is guilty?"

Jeffery looked at Gavin, then back at Markus. "Didn't you listen to anything I said? There are two dead people and one missing."

"It's not enough proof."

"Unfortunately," said Nines. "It is. There's a security camera of a nearby store that caught him and Hank arriving at the house, but never saw Hank leaving."

"The terrible theory is that," said Gavin, "Connor tried to cover up. The lieutenant was about to discover him and he trapped him… He being when the explosion happened could mean that… he made it happen." Despite his efforts to sound sure about what he was saying, he doubted about it, and maybe Markus too.

"Do you believe that?"

Gavin wet his mouth. "Whether I believe it or not, there's no evidence to prove the opposite. We don't even have Connor."

"Where is he?"

"I don't know." Said Nines. "I was guarding the door, but… he might've found another way to escape."

Markus turned to Jeffrey. "What do you want from us, Captain Fowler?"

"Honestly? I'd like you to leave this case to the police… but I called you because you know more than us about androids: protocols, programming, and stuff like that. Maybe you'd know a way to track Connor-"

"We're not betraying one of our kind, captain, though our department was made to look after android-activity, both lawful and unlawful. Our job is to find the androids that committed crimes, make sure if it's responsible or not, find what made them do it, and so determine if it's innocent or not."

Jeffrey sighed. "Alright, what's your plan? Are you taking this case instead of us?"

"Of course not. We're not cops, but I do suggest teamwork: you get to focus on finding lieutenant Anderson and we focus on finding Connor. If we work in synchrony, we could be able to find both at the same time."

"Fine, you're already here anyway, so we don't have a choice." He sat crossed-arms. "He's the detective Reed, the one in charge of this investigation. Catch up with him and, at least let me know what you plan to do."

"We will, sir." Said Markus. Nines and Gavin watched him leave the office, then turned back to Jeffrey, who wasn't happy at all.

"Why did you call him?" He asked to Nines.

"It's… my duty, sir."

"No, your duty was to inform me about any kind of clue, choice or idea you had."

"I asked Gavin… and he said-"

"Gavin? Is Gavin the new captain of the Detroit's police?"

"Jeffrey, listen," said Gavin. "I know this seems to be so fucked up, but Connor is an excellent detective; he's cautious, observer, and knows exactly how to work. We won't find him by ourselves, but with Markus's help his chances run low."

"I already agreed not to make it public!"

"Jeffrey…"

"48 hours, captain. Just that." Said Nines. "Give us 48 hours to find him, and if by then we still haven't found him, then we'll do it your way."

After a tense moment, he agreed. "Only 24 hours and I'm counting since now." He looked at his watch. "Get out of here."

"Thank you, sir." Said Nines, Gavin sighed relieved. "Have a nice day."

"Don't make him angrier." Whispered Gavin. They left the office and met Markus and the others.

"Here's the thing," said Gavin. "We have no fucking idea of where he is. We don't know anything about Hank either, nor why he chose that family. We found nothing around the neighborhood, and that house blew up with everything we could find."

"What do you wanna do, then?"

"Our first choice seems to be Elijah Kamski." Said Nines. "I understand that detective and lieutenant Anderson met him during their deviant investigation, if there's someone out there who might know about sudden disorders on androids, it's him. We might head to Cyberlife after that, we need to talk with the technicians."

"Leave Cyberlife to us. We'll gather all information as possible about his model, while you keep outside. Do you have any starting point?"

"His house," said Gavin.

"Then let's go."

They looked around everywhere as soon as they arrived. Sumo barked at them a few times from his corner, but he gave up and went to sleep again. They searched the bedrooms, the bathroom, the kitchen, and the garage.

"Seems like nothing out of place."

"Yeah," said Gavin. "They cleaned it up very well before we got here, or there's nothing to find here."

"He's right, Markus." Said North walking by. "There's nothing here. We should split up now."

"I agree." He turned to Gavin. "We'll go to Cyberlife. D'you have his most visited places?" he asked to Nines.

"Of course."

Nines and Markus held each other arms, one transferring information and the other receiving it.

/

They looked at each other for a few seconds, then let go.

"Alright. Let's solve this."

Markus and the others left the house. Nines and Gavin remained inside.

"Where are we going, Gavin? I have a list of places the lieutenant often uses to go, a hamburger place, to begin with." Gavin looked at him raising his eyebrow. "Why are you giving me that look?" Gavin simply smiled at him and went outside. Nines smiled too and followed him. He looked at Sumo and winked at him, before leaving the house.

Gavin was already waiting for him at the co-driver's seat. "Where are we going, big guy?"

"Back to the explosion site."

"You're the boss."

"I know."

Nines turned on the car.

They arrived at what once was the building. Nines walked through the holographic police tape with Gavin behind him.

"What are we doing here, big guy? Weren't we going to Kamski?"

"He can wait." Said Nines.

"Okay. When are you telling me why are we here?"

Nines stopped.

/

Nines looked at Gavin. "Do you really think Connor is guilty?"

"Hey, don't give me that look, tin can. I admit that… he's not a bad cop, or detective, or whatever. But, we don't really…ya' know?"

"Gavin, I asked you if you think he did this."

Gavin looked up to him, he sighed and scratched his head. "No. I don't believe it."

"Me neither." He turned. "We came here to prove it."

"What could we find in here?"

"I'll tell you when I find it."

Nines blinked, and he was able now to find heat signs, pieces of metal, biocomponents, and any other anomaly possible. He was able to see every single detail; he could've rebuilt what happened just before the explosion, but he had already done that. That's how he was able to find Connor. He searched for any piece of metal, wood, or some other material; he found some stained wood. Most of it was burned, but there was a sample. Nines rubbed his fingers there and took them to his mouth to analyze it.

"It's lieutenant Anderson's blood."

"So, he was here… and, does that prove that he died?"

"Of course not. This just means he was here."

Nines located a trace of blue blood. He scanned it the same way. His Led ring turned red.

"Nines? Talk to me."

"It's thirium… and it's from…"

"Yeah?"

"An RK800 model, serial number 313 248 317…"

Gavin rubbed his face. "Don't tell me it's Connor's."

"Yes… but no." Nines stood up. "It seems to be altered, but… I don't understand how."

Nines kept looking around him until he found a small object. It was a broken Led covered in blue blood. Nines took it and placed it on his left temple. Just doing so he felt a soft electric shock, so he took it off. "It's too damaged… but I got part of what happened." Nines returned to the main entrance. "The lieutenant came here, and an android was with him. The Led is destroyed, which means that the android might've been hit in his head really hard, which made him lose blue blood, and his Led." He turned to Gavin.

"How is it that it's Connor's blue blood? He had his own Led intact this morning."

"I… don't know yet." Said Nines frustrated.

. He eyed the biocomponent in his hand. "We must track its owner."

"You can do that?"

"Of course, detective. Not many people know that Leds keep activated a connection, and it takes it months to finally disappear. Even taken off, the Led stays linked to the neural network of the android; we cannot determine the android's model this way, but we can get its location… unfortunately, this Led is badly damaged, and it's probably that doing the tracking I might experience some sort of short circuit."

"A what?" he asked nervously.

"Fear nothing, detective. I can resist… just stay calm."

Nines took with caution the Led to his left temple once more. As soon as he connected it, he felt an energy discharge that made him shout and fall to his knees.

"Nines!"

Gavin tried to get closer, but Nines raised his arm to stop him. He kept going until the Led overheated; it turned black and smoke emerged from it, Nines took it off quickly and threw it away.

"Nines, hey!" Gavin kneeled upon him and hold his face. He was still resisting the malfunctioning, his own Led turned red. "I'm talking to you, asshole!"

Nines opened his eyes, controlled his breath and his Led turned back to blue. "Gavin, I'm okay… I got it."

"Uh, really?"

"Get in the car." He stood up. "It's not that far."

They left the car and walked down the street. Nines was looking carefully at his surroundings: the people and androids walking, vehicles going and coming, stores; then he caught a broken fence. They headed there to an alley.

"There's something I don't get," said Gavin. "The android is apparently damaged, right?"

"Yes." They turn the corner and found a yard with an abandoned car, trash cans, and undergrowth. "There's thirium at the house."

"Then, why only there? There shouldn't be some path or trail?"

"Yes…"

.

"Then where is it?"

"Gavin, if you're a so good detective, why don't you find it yourself?!" Nines turned to him. "Stop making such obvious questions and help me find that android!"

"Well excuse me, your majesty." Gavin didn't shout, but he wasn't happy about it. He moved aside pushing Nines and started looking around the yard. Nines fixed his hair and did the same with his vision, looking down and up to the building's windows as well. Gavin stopped looking and simply walked through the yard, occasionally eyeing Nines, then looking back to the floor. He reached the other side and leaned on the wall. He was about to smoke a cigarette when he found something on the ground. "Hey, Nines." He turned and approached Gavin. There seemed to be a whole on the ground, covered in dirt, concrete, and plants.

"Seems like someone dug here."

"And did a bad job. You see? They didn't even bother in covering it upright."

"Maybe they were in a hurry. Let's dig."

Gavin tried looking for something to use as a shovel, but Nines used his own hands instead to dig the ground. They found there was a black bag, big enough to hide a human body.

"Another victim?" asked Gavin.

"Let's find out."

Nines broke the bag carefully so as not to damage the body inside, however, as soon as he saw the clothes, he stepped back startled.

.

"Hey, hey!" Gavin stood in front of him. "Big guy, what's wrong?"

Nines looked at him, but then again to the bag. Gavin turned and kneeled to discover what was inside. He thought he was ready, but when he got closer and removed the bag, he found Cyberlife clothes. "What the…" He opened the bag, and doing so, he stepped back terrified. "The fuck!?"

Laying in the ground, inside the bag, it was Connor. He was wearing his RK800 uniform, looking with lifeless eyes to the void. Blue blood was coming from his mouth and nose, and he had an injury in his right temple, right where his Led was supposed to be. Gavin started walking in circles, cursing loudly. Nines was still shocked; he could do nothing more than stare at him.

"Nines!" Gavin shouted, and he snapped out. "Easy! Easy…"

"No… Gavin…"

"It's okay… alright, it's not okay, but you gotta keep it together, you understand? We need to call to the DPD, they need to come for him…"

"I already did so… Gavin…"

"What?"

Nines opened his mouth, but couldn't say what was on his mind. He looked down back at Connor, and kneeled upon him… feeling sadness. He felt the need to touch his face.

. "No." Said Nines. He stepped back and found a trace of blue blood. He analyzed it. "This isn't him."

"Say what now?"

"This isn't Connor. I-uh, not the one we know. This is the android with the altered blood. The same one from the house… the owner of the Led." The trace took him to the abandoned car. Nines broke the window with his elbow.

"Hey, calm down!" Said Gavin.

Nines looked inside and was able to get another piece of the puzzle. "Someone drove this car, and he brought him… in the backseat. He didn't care about hiding him. He came from…" Nines searched around him for any kind of entrance, big enough for a car. "…There. An alley. He came from there, making sure not to leave any marks. He parked it here, he lifted… the android, and buried him. Then he fled…"

"…Right… but that leaves us with several questions."

"Three, to be precise."

"Of course, um… which are those three?"

"First one, who was driving? And, where is he?"

"Do you think this could be our mastermind?"

"Perhaps… second one, why did he kill this… android? And the third one… why Connor?"

"There's a fourth question you're missing." Nines stared at him confused. "Who was responsible for Hank's disappearance, and the killing of those people? Him?" He pointed at the corpse. "Or the one who did this to him?"

"I... I don't know."

They stared at each other, looking for answers that any of them had. Soon they heard the police siren.