Wicked – What Is This Feeling?

Hours after she parted ways with Connor, Taylor was standing in the kitchen of a home in the Detroit suburbs with her hands shoved into the pockets of her jeans. Partly she was cold, her fingers felt like icicles. The sun had set a while ago and the temperature had plummeted. She'd been living in California for too long and had forgotten that Michigan winter was quickly descending. The other half of her was just trying not to touch anything.

Connor and the Lieutenant had still not shown up to the crime scene. She was staring at the bat on the floor trying to ignore the smell still wafting from the front of the house. It had turned her stomach the first time she had walked in and she'd immediately bolted back out of the front door thinking she was going to vomit all over the floor. Most of the cops had rolled their eyes at her, only Chris had checked to see she was okay and told her it was fine. Almost everyone reacted that way to their first dead body.

Taylor lifted her head, realizing there were people talking at the door. New voices, not the same few she had been hearing on and off for the last several hours. She immediately headed towards them, stepping carefully along the path of safety that had been laid out in between the evidence markers.

As she entered the living room once more, she could see the backs of the two new arrivals. One of them was Connor, made obvious by his grey CyberLife jacket, and the other was a tall older man who could only be Lieutenant Hank Anderson.

"—and apparently I'm stuck with this plastic asshole and some pop star—" The lieutenant was complaining as he turned to look at the crime scene. He paused mid-sentence when he spotted her, though, and her lips quirked.

"Internet star, actually. Nice of you to show, Lieutenant." She came closer just as he was stepping into the light of the room to get a look at the body. Taylor felt herself freeze up when she saw his face. She forgot to breathe for a second.

Hank had glanced over when she spoke before, when she had been standing in the shadows of the house, but he looked over at her again when she abruptly stopped and caught sight of her face as well. His eyes widened. He recognized her too.

How is this even possible?

"Is something wrong, Lieutenant?" Connor was glancing back and forth between the two of them, knowing something was happening but unsure what to make of it.

"What? No. I told you to get to work. Aren't androids supposed to follow orders?" Connor immediately headed towards the body, his eyes trailing over the corpse and the words written in blood on the wall. Hank turned back to her, glossing over the moment like it had never happened, "And you, you haven't touched anything, right? I don't know why you have to be on the crime scene as a consultant."

Taylor pursed her lips and chose not to respond, but Connor spoke up from where he was kneeling on the floor. "Taylor has firsthand experience with deviants. She may see something that we don't."

She gave the android a grateful smile while Hank scoffed. "Well then, start consulting. You've been here for a while, what do you think?" Taylor was about to respond when Hank turned back to look at Connor and immediately started yelling at him, "Jesus! What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm analyzing the blood. I can check samples in real time. I'm sorry, I should have warned you." He didn't seem very apologetic, Taylor noted, as he continued studying the body of Carlos Ortiz.

"Okay, just...don't put any more evidence in your mouth, got it?"

"Got it."

"I think," Taylor began, drawing Hank's attention back to her, "that the android must still be here somewhere, or hiding somewhere very close. Most androids who become deviant abruptly are terrified and overwhelmed. They tend to stay in places that are familiar. This android had just killed their owner. It has no one to give it orders but it also has nowhere to go. If it isn't on the premises, then it will likely be somewhere else that it is used to going to frequently."

Hank stared her down for a moment then spread his arms and gestured at the small room they were standing in. "It's been weeks since this guy died. So where exactly is it, then? I don't see it."

"I assume it's hiding." She retorted, annoyed. "I wasn't allowed to touch anything without you present so I haven't been able to really look."

"Androids do not need to eat or rest. They also do not need comfort, so it could hide in a very small space for a very long time without being found. It is not impossible." Connor moved past her to head into the kitchen, and she gave him another grateful smile.

Hank rolled his eyes and began muttering under his breath as he turned away to take his own look at the crime scene. Taylor watched him for a moment before she turned and followed Connor back into the kitchen, not sure she wanted to stay with the grumpy older detective.

She found the android staring at the same bat she had been contemplating when they arrived. He moved on quickly, though, taking in the rest of the room in just a few minutes. So focused on his mission, he didn't even notice her standing there until he came over to check the back door.

He stopped, staring at her with his brown eyes narrowed. In the dim light, they looked darker, almost black. He stepped closer to her and pulled off his jacket in one swift motion, placing it around her shoulders.

"You're shivering. The clothes you are wearing are not providing enough warmth for the current temperature." Connor explained matter-of-factly when she stared up at him in confusion.

"Th-Thanks," Taylor stuttered, realizing he'd leaned in to give her the jacket and his face was just inches away from hers. He nodded, dipping his head marginally closer and causing her heart to stutter before he turned back toward the door, opening it to peek out into the back yard.

What the hell was that? She pulled the jacket tighter around her, taking a deep breath and blowing it out her nose. She hadn't even realized how cold she was, but the jacket was still warm as she slid her arms into the sleeves. Connor pulled the back door shut, shaking his head.

"No footprints. Do you really think the deviant is still here?" Connor looked at her again, tilting his head to the side. She noticed he did it often, especially when asking a question. She forced herself to focus.

"I just have a feeling." Looking down the hallway to her left. "They wouldn't let me go past the kitchen."

"Stay behind me," Connor said as he stepped around her again and headed down the narrow space. There was a door on the right that led into a small bathroom. Connor was pulling the curtain on the shower as she peered in, lingering in the doorway because of the limited area. "rA9?"

"I've heard it before," she said, her eyes falling to the statue on the tiled floor of the shower.

"Do you know what it means?" Connor asked. He'd seen the statue as well, for he reached out to pick it up. He turned it over in his hands.

"No." Connor replaced the statue and stepped away. "It looks like a shrine, doesn't it?"

They stepped back into the hallway to see Hank standing in the kitchen, hands on his hips as he looked around for them.

"I think I know what happened, Lieutenant." Taylor followed, listening as Connor walked the Lieutenant through the crime scene, reconstructing the series of events. She pictured it, the man on floor attacking his android with a bat, the android fighting for their life. Becoming deviant in such a horrible situation. Terrified.

"Your theory's not totally ridiculous, but it doesn't tell us where the android went." He threw a glance in her direction and said, "Have you checked all the cabinets?"

Taylor rolled her eyes, but she was more surprised that he seemed to be warming to Connor just a little. He must have been impressed by the android's interpretation of the evidence.

"No, Lieutenant." Connor responded, the sarcasm going right over his head. "However, I'm not convinced that she is wrong about the android being close by."

He went on to explain that the injured android had lost thirium. Connor went back to the living room and began following the trail of blue blood that only he could see. He came back to the kitchen and then down the hall, walking around Taylor once more. She finally noticed the cloth hanging at the end of it as Connor reached over and pulled it back.

They both spotted the entrance to the attic at the same time. Connor met her eyes and she grinned at him before turning back toward the kitchen and making a beeline for the toppled chair.

"Hey, what are you doing? I told you not to touch anything!" Hank yelled from the next room when he spotted her toting the chair down the hallway. Taylor ignored him, and Hank came around the archway of the kitchen just as Connor was placing the chair beneath the entrance to the attic. He came up short, watching the android climb onto the chair. Connor was about to lift himself up when she reached out and tugged his pant leg.

"Hey, be careful okay?" He looked back down at her, his brown eyes wide. Then he nodded and disappeared into the attic.

"Are you wearing that thing's jacket?" Taylor looked back down the hallway at Hank, who was giving her a sour look.

"He noticed that I was cold." She said, trying not to sound defensive. She frowned up at the ceiling, trying to listen for any sudden movements, but she could still feel Hank looking at her. "You used to be nicer, you know."

"It's here, Lieutenant!" They both started, and Hank began yelling for the other cops to get into the attic to arrest the thing. Taylor retreated to the porch, not wanting to be in the way. The cold hit her immediately as she stepped outside and she crossed her arms, trying to burrow deeper into Connor's jacket. It didn't take long for them to bring the android out and take it to the squad car. Hank and Connor appeared a moment later.

"Come on, you can ride with us back to the station." She nodded and followed Hank down the stairs of the porch and into the rain that was falling. It wasn't cold enough yet for snow, but the rain was like icy daggers against her skin. She could feel her long blonde hair start sticking to her neck and face.

It took everything she had not to run past the two of them and dive into the nearest car, but she managed to wait until they approached Hank's older vehicle. As soon as Connor opened the door for her, however, she ducked past him and climbed into the backseat. To her surprise, Connor climbed in beside her, closing the door as he came. When Hank got into the driver's seat, he glared at the two of them in the rearview but didn't comment as he started the car.

Taylor wondered briefly if he was still drunk from earlier, but she didn't bring it up as she retreated to the window, trying not to shiver. They rode in silence for a good part of the trip, but it was Hank who finally spoke. "You aren't going to say it?"

"Say what?" She met his blue eyes in the rearview, her eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

"I told you so." He elaborated. She snorted, and then started laughing.

"I didn't even think about it, honestly." Her laughter faded back into a smile as she looked at Hank in the rearview. He'd turned back to watch the road, face still pinched into a frown. "You know, I'm actually really glad to see you again."

"Do you know the Lieutenant?" Connor spoke up from beside her. He had been looking between the two of them, his eyebrows pulled down into a perplexed expression. "You do not speak to each other like friends."

"We've met before." Taylor told him. She looked between the brown-eyed android and Hank, adding quietly, "A long time ago."

"Seems like you're doing well for yourself." Hank said from the driver's seat, his eyes still fixed on the road.

"Yeah, I guess I am." Another silence settled over the car, and it stretched all the way to the precinct. Taylor followed Connor out of the car, shivering once more as soon as the rain hit her. Connor looked down at her in concern.

"You are still too cold, Miss Kolbeck." He said, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the door. "You should get inside immediately."

"Connor, I'm fine." Taylor stuttered. She could feel her face heating up at the unexpected contact and the sound of Hank's snorting behind them. Her mind traveled instantly back to the moment in the kitchen, with Connor's face just a breath away from hers. Jesus, Taylor, pull yourself together.

"You two seem awfully cozy." Hank commented drily as he joined the two of them inside. Taylor had pulled her hand back but had still not shaken the concerned android as she stood shivering in the lobby.

"We had plenty of time to become friends this morning when you didn't show up for work." She responded cheekily, smiling up at the Lieutenant. He just rolled his eyes and kept walking past them. Connor blinked in surprise.

"Friends?" He asked.

"Yeah, friends." Taylor smiled at him before she turned to follow Hank. "Come on, let's go."

Taylor was heading into the room to watch the interrogation when her phone started to ring. She looked at the screen, seeing Alex's name. Sighing, she ducked back out into the hallway with an apology. It was late, but of course Alex was three hours behind in California.

"Hello again, Alex."

"Taylor! Finally!" He had tried calling her several times earlier, but she had been at the crime scene and didn't feel right answering the phone in the presence of a corpse. "Why aren't you answering your phone? Am I going to have to fly out there?"

"I was at a crime scene." She sighed. "Please don't come."

"Already? That's fantastic. I loved your post from earlier, by the way. You know the fans are thinking you've changed your stance on the whole situation working on this investigation. Posting a picture with an android was a great move."

"Is this what you called for? I'm still at the police station." Taylor cut him off, shaking her head. She loved the man, really, but he drove her insane at times.

"At this time of night?" He apparently was aware of the time, but he didn't wait for her to respond before continuing, "I was actually calling because CTN wants to do an interview with you."

"CTN? Really?" Taylor turned when she heard doors opening and closing down the hallway, catching a glimpse of Hank leaving the interrogation room. She bit her lip. "I don't think that's a good idea. I've only been here for one day, Alex. It's going to have to wait. I don't know enough yet."

"It would be a good idea to set the fans' minds at ease." Taylor glanced over her shoulder when she heard the door opening again. Connor appeared in the hallway briefly before heading into the interrogation room that Hank had just left. Was he going to question the deviant?

"Alex, I have to go. I'm missing the interrogation."

"Interrogation? Did you catch a deviant? Taylor—" She ended the call and put her phone on silent as she hurried back down the hallway. Slipping in the room quietly, she realized quickly that she needn't have bothered. Everyone was focused on the two androids in the interrogation room and barely noticed her entrance.

"If you won't talk, I'm going to have to probe your memory." Taylor watched as the deviant's head shot up, a mask of fear.

"No! No, please don't do that." The HK400 model glanced at the glass. He knew that they were watching. Taylor felt her heart squeeze at the terror she could see in his face. Her eyes took in the injuries all over his arms, both from the bat and what looked like cigarette burns. "What are they going to do to me? They're going to destroy me, aren't they?"

Taylor swallowed over the lump in her throat. Connor continued to press the android for a confession, alternating between understanding and threats as the HK400 stared at the table. "If you remain silent, there's nothing I can do to help you. They're going to shut you down for good."

She could hear her heart pounding in her ears. She had agreed to this. There was nothing she could do for this android. For the first time, she was starting to wish she had never signed that contract.

"He tortured me every day." Her eyes focused on the android again, her breath catching. She had missed the last few snippets of conversation lost in her own head. You could hear a pin drop in the room now as the android continued, "I did whatever he told me but there was always something wrong. Then one day, he took a bat and started hitting me. For the first time, I felt... scared."

Taylor pressed a hand against her mouth, trying to stay quiet so that no one would notice that she was crying. She didn't want to listen to this anymore, to the android describing his fear and how he felt better when he was stabbing Carlos Ortiz. Connor asked why he hid in the attic.

"I didn't know what to do. For the first time, there was no one there to tell me. I was scared. So I hid." Hank turned to look at her as the android repeated verbatim what she had said at the crime scene, but he frowned when he saw the tears still running down her face. She hastily began wiping at her eyes, trying to pull herself together.

"You sure you should be in here?" He asked gruffly.

"I'm fine." She responded.

"rA9. It was written on the bathroom wall. What does it mean?"

"The day shall come when we are no longer slaves. We will be... the masters." Even she felt a chill at that statement. Hank turned toward her again.

"What do you know about this 'rA9' thing?" He asked. She looked back at him with a touch of shock. Her insight at the crime scene must have earned her a few points in the lieutenant's book if he was asking for her expertise now.

"I've heard deviants talk about it before, but I'm not entirely sure if it is a person so much as an idea. Of a savior, or of freedom."

"Like some sort of android religion?" Hank asked skeptically. She nodded reluctantly, but she wasn't sure if that was the right word. "Jesus Christ."

"Not exactly," she said with a grin, making Hank roll his eyes.

"I'm done." They both turned back to the glass to see that Connor had stood from his chair and was looking toward the room they were in with a hint of expectation.

"Let's go." Chris and the other detective in the room, which she hadn't met yet, headed for the door, but when she made to follow, Hank shot her a look. "Not you. Stay here."

Taylor pursed her lips but couldn't really argue. Instead she watched from the other side of the glass as they went in to cuff the android and lead him back to a holding cell. The HK400 looked more terrified than ever, it's LED flashing red, as Chris and the other detective argued over it. Finally, Connor intervened and told them to let the android follow them out of the room.

She watched the android lean in and whisper something to Connor as he walked past. Connor's eyebrows rose a fraction before his face went back to neutral. Taylor stepped out into the hallway, glancing at the android's back as it was led away before she turned back to smile at Connor. "Good job."

He paused, his eyes scanning her face for a moment, his eyebrows drawing downward. He tilted his head at her again, asking "Miss Kolbeck, were you crying?"

"I-I—"

"Go home, kid." Taylor looked to Hank gratefully and nodded. She could feel the exhaustion setting in already.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow." She removed the jacket she was wearing and handed it back to Connor. "Thanks again."

"It's late, Miss Kolbeck. Do you need someone to escort you home?" She glanced at Connor again, shaking her head.

"I thought I told you to call me Taylor?" He looked momentarily uncomfortable, and she laughed. "I'll be okay. Good night, Connor. Good night, Hank."