My Chemical Romance – The Sharpest Lives
Taylor stood under the muted lights of the Eden Club's private room, hovering near Chris as he took pictures of the crime scene. Detective Gavin Reed was standing some distance away, looking bored when he should have been surveying the scene as well. She avoided looking at the corpse on the bed for what felt like the hundredth time, and instead focused on the destroyed android on the floor.
"Squeamish?" She glanced back up to find that Gavin had decided to satisfy his boredom by talking to her.
"Not really." She shrugged, tugging the lapels of her coat closer around her. Truthfully, the whole environment of an android sex club was what was getting under her skin more than the death in the room, but she wasn't about to share that with Detective Reed.
"You sure you should be on a crime scene?" He asked, raising a single eyebrow at her. She bristled, clenching her teeth.
"Are you sure you should be? You don't seem like you're doing much." Chris snorted from somewhere behind her while Gavin's face contorted with rage. Just as he opened his mouth to respond, Hank walked into the room, Connor on his heels.
"Oh great, a dead body and an asshole, just what we needed," he was saying over his shoulder as he walked in, making Taylor hide her own smile behind her hand.
"Lieutenant Anderson and his plastic pet," Gavin sneered, turning his attention away from her. "Celebrity Barbie showed up ages ago, might as well promote her to real cop." Taylor felt the heat crawling up her neck but bit her tongue. "What the fuck are you three doing here anyway?"
"We've been assigned to all cases involving androids." Connor responded neutrally.
"Oh yeah? Well, you're wasting your time. Just some pervert who, uh, got more than he could handle." Gavin laughed and turned back to the blonde beside him, smirking down at her. "Some of us know how to handle ourselves in the bedroom."
"Plenty of Tracis for you to rent out there, Detective Reed. I can't imagine you convincing anyone to go home with you willingly." She gave him a tight-lipped smile. Gavin sputtered and was about to take a step toward her when Hank stepped around him.
"We'll have a look anyway, if you don't mind," Hank said while pulling Taylor with him toward the other side of the room. Gavin froze in mid step, scowling, before turning to Chris.
"Come on, let's go. It's, uh, starting to stink of booze in here." He turned to leave, knocking his shoulder into Connor's as he walked out. Chris gave a nod and a wave to them before he followed.
"Do you have to piss off everyone you meet?" Hank asked tersely, releasing his grip on her arm. Taylor found herself face to face with the corpse she had spent the past hour carefully avoiding in the small room. She swallowed carefully, taking in his bulging eyes, the bruising along his jawline, frozen expression, before breaking her gaze.
"Shouldn't you ask Detective Reed that question?" Hank huffed at that but didn't respond. Looking closer at his face, she could see that his eyes were bloodshot, the bags underneath them looking heavier than usual. She glanced between the lieutenant and Connor, but the android gave nothing away as he stepped around her to analyze the corpse.
"It appears the victim died of strangulation." Connor said after moment.
"Yeah, I saw the bruising on the neck. Doesn't prove anything, though. Could've been rough play." Hank shrugged. Taylor grimaced, her eyes finding the broken Traci on the floor again. Gooseflesh rose along her arms and she had to suppress a shudder as she thought back to the other cases, to the deviant they had arrested yesterday, to Carlos Ortiz.
Why would this be any different?
"Whoa! Hey! Hey! Argh, Connor, you're so disgusting," She blinked at Hank's sudden shout, realizing that Connor had knelt by the other android and was sampling its thirium. The lieutenant turned away, "Think I'm gonna puke again."
"Again?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him. That shut him up, and she shook her head as she turned back to Connor. She watched, fascinated, as he took the Traci's wrist, the human skin retracting the reveal the white android skin beneath.
"The only way to access its memory is to reactivate it," He told them after a moment, releasing the android's wrist and touching its abdomen, opening a panel to reveal a tangle of wires.
"Think you can do it?" Hank asked, turning back around and finally looking intrigued.
"It's badly damaged. If I can, it'll only be for a minute, maybe less," Connor replied, gripping two wires between his fingers. Taylor knelt next to him, unconsciously holding her breath as he connected the tips together.
There was a hint of a spark, the android jumped back to life and back away from them, chest heaving. Taylor started, grabbing Connor's arm to steady herself, and met the Traci's wild-eyed gaze. Slowly, she moved closer.
"It's okay, you're safe. We won't hurt you." She could feel Connor draw closer beside her, but she didn't react to him. She kept her focus on the android in front of her.
"Is he… Is he dead?" the Traci asked, looking at the body on the bed. Taylor could read the look on her face, could taste the fear in her mouth.
"Yes," she confirmed, and then added, "He can't hurt you either."
"Tell us what happened." Connor said from over her shoulder. The Traci looked from Taylor to the other android and back, and the blonde nodded, encouraging.
"He started hitting me again and again," she explained, voice shaking. They waited for her to say more, but she didn't elaborate.
"Did you kill him?" Connor pressed. Taylor knew their time must be running out.
"No," she answered, "no, it wasn't me."
"Was there anyone else in the room with you?" Taylor asked next, drawing the android's attention back to her.
"He wanted to play with two girls," she said after a moment's hesitation, "that's what he said. There were two of us."
"What model was the other android?" Connor said quickly, but it was no use. The Traci shut down, leaving them in silence. Taylor stared at the android's now glazed eyes, her still exposed abdominal wires, the blue blood smeared along its skin, and felt the swell of sadness rising in her chest.
"Taylor?" She looked up to see Connor offering his hand for her to take. She realized she must have looked odd, still kneeling on the floor in front of the deactivated android. Her fingers were like ice as they slid into Connor's warm ones, and he tugged her to her feet effortlessly.
"So, there was another android." Hank was saying, already glancing toward the door. Connor was scanning her face, his head tilted to the side. "This happened over an hour ago, it's probably long gone by now."
"Not dressed like that," Taylor said, gesturing to the deactivated Traci as she pulled her hand out of Connor's. She looked at Hank pointedly, trying to duck Connor's scrutiny, suddenly uncomfortable with whatever he may have been analyzing about her.
"Taylor is correct. The deviant would have been noticed. It may still be here." He looked over at the lieutenant.
"Think you can find a deviant among all the other androids in this place?" Hank asked in return, raising his eyebrows at Connor.
"Deviants aren't easily detected." Connor responded noncommittally, glancing at Taylor. "Though we do have an expert."
Taylor blinked. Did he just make a joke? Hank was muttering about talking to the manager while she stared at the android in front of her, the corner of his mouth pulled up into a smirk. Confirmation that he had, in fact, just made a joke at her expense. "You just—"
"We should go." He inclined his head for the door, where the lieutenant had already exited the room. She opened her mouth to respond, closed it again, still staring at him in disbelief. "Humans use humor to diffuse tense situations, correct?"
"Oh, Connor." Taylor giggled as she followed him out of the private room, into the hallway lined with the glass cases that were full of androids on display. Her laughter immediately faded as she glanced around. The neon lights refracted off the glass, giving the ambiance of a cheap B-movie.
Connor crossed to a Traci directly facing the doorway they had exited. He observed it for a moment before placing his hand on the scanner. The machine rejected him, not detecting any fingerprints, and he immediately turned to her.
"Can you rent this Traci?" He asked. She must have still been reeling from the joke he had made a few minutes ago, because the question caught her completely off guard. She forgot for a moment that they were on an investigation, looking for a deviant. As the words sank in, her eyes shifted between the half-naked, dancing android behind the glass and Connor, widening. Heat crept up her neck and across her face in unbearable waves.
"Wh-what?" She stuttered. Connor must have been reading her reactions. His LED flickered yellow, processing. He also glanced at the Traci, then back at her. Taylor watched the blue darken his cheeks.
"I believe this android may have witnessed something." Connor explained, sounding quite composed, though his LED was still flickering between yellow and blue and he was very pointedly not looking her in the eyes. Taylor grinned, although her blush had scarcely faded.
"You know, I didn't mean it literally when I asked if you were designed to be a Traci model." She reached past him to place her hand on the scanner, laughing as his face darkened even more. They stood in mutual awkwardness as the glass slid open and the Traci stepped out.
"Follow me, I'll take you to your room," The android reached for Taylor's arm, but Connor stepped in front of her, grabbing on to the Traci's wrist and exposing her android skin just as he had with the one at the crime scene.
"Hey! What the hell are you two doing?" Hank came over just as Connor released the Traci, turning his attention to the lieutenant.
"It saw something," he said matter-of-factly. The evidence of his earlier embarrassment was gone now, he was focused on the mission.
"What are you talkin' about? Saw what?" Hank asked, looking between him, Taylor, and the Traci standing between them, in a daze from having its memory probed.
"It left the room. A blue-haired Traci." The lieutenant was quickly connecting the dots, but Connor was becoming impatient, bouncing on the balls of his feet and ready to move on, "Club policy is to wipe the android's memory every two hours."
"Follow me," The Traci said again, finally coming to from her daze and placing her hand on Taylor's arm. The blonde pulled away, shaking her head.
"Uh, no thanks. Time to go!" Taylor grabbed both Hank, who was laughing at her, and Connor, who was focused on the next target, and pulled them away from the now puzzled Traci before it could become any more persistent.
Once they were a safe distance away, she released them and let Connor lead them to the next android. He looked at her expectantly and she groaned. How many sex androids was she going to have to rent tonight? Hank gave her a dubious look as she glanced his way.
"You're the rich one, you do it." He said grumpily. She sighed and placed her hand on the scanner, conceding the point. Connor probed the android's memory and then led them on into an adjacent room. They followed this pattern through several androids, Taylor growing more anxious by the second.
"Maybe Alex will finally call when he sees my account and thinks I had an android orgy," she muttered under her breath, feeling grateful when Connor finally reached for the janitor and not another Traci.
"I know where it went! Follow me!" Connor called as he headed for a 'Staff Only' door near the back of the room.
"Oh, thank God," Taylor said as she trailed Hank to join the android. They emerged in a warehouse. To the left, a loading dock, open to the cold night air. A cluster of deactivated Tracis were standing along the right wall, and in the center, one lay in pieces on a table, as though someone had been in the middle of repairing it.
"Shit. We're too late," Hank said, his eyes on the open loading dock. Connor walked further into the room with his eyes fixed on the floor. Taylor followed him, curious, remembering that he could follow thirium trails when they couldn't. "Christ, look at them. They get used until they break, then they get tossed out."
Taylor stopped, following Hank's gaze to the line of broken Traci's. He sounded disgusted. Maybe even a little sad. The same unease filled her, her stomach doing uncomfortable flips inside of her. She wished they could leave.
"People are fucking insane," Hank said, angry now, "they don't want relationships anymore, everybody just gets an android. They cook what you want, they screw when you want, you don't have to worry about how they feel."
Taylor gazed back at Connor, who was observing the line of Tracis now, silent. Hank continued, mumbling, "Next thing you know, we're gonna be extinct because everybody would rather buy a piece of plastic than love another human being. Beats me."
Taylor was standing near Connor when the red-haired Traci leapt out of the line and tackled him. Both androids stumbled into her, and she hit the ground hard, all the air leaving her lungs in a single whoosh. Her forehead smacked against the pavement with the momentum and her vision went dark for a few seconds.
When she could see again, she still couldn't breathe. She rolled onto her back, ears ringing, gasping for air. Placing her hands flat on the ground, she tried to push herself up, but it was impossible. The muscles beneath her lungs spasmed, tears collecting in her eyes. It lasted just moments and also for an eternity, until finally her lungs expanded, and she panted.
Taylor sat up on her elbow, chest heaving. She caught sight of Connor falling out of the loading dock with both the red-haired Traci and the blue-haired Traci before a trickle of red stung her eyes, making her blink rapidly and rub them. She touched her forehead, coming away with a smear of blood.
Ignoring it, she stood and went for the open door of the loading dock. She made it outside to see Connor pulling the Tracis down as they tried to climb over the fence and escape. One of the Tracis turned around and knocked Connor to the side. He stumbled, then picked up the gun that had been discarded in the scuffle and aimed it at the deviants.
He hesitated, the barrel aimed directly at the red-haired Traci, before lowering the gun. The deviant kicked him, knocking him backward. Taylor winced and moved forward to help him up. The blue-haired Traci watched the two, and then took a step forward.
"When the man broke the other Traci, I knew I was next. I was so scared. I begged him to stop, but he wouldn't. So I put my hands around his throat and I squeezed until he stopped moving. I didn't mean to kill him. I wanted to live, to get back to the one I love. I wanted her to hold me in her arms again and make forget about the humans, their smell of sweat and their dirty words."
The red-haired Traci stepped up next to her and took her hand, saying, "Come on, let's go."
The two deviants turned and climbed back over the fence. This time, Connor didn't move to stop them as they escaped.
"It's probably better this way," Hank muttered from behind them as he watched the two Tracis disappear, shaking his head. Connor looked at him, his brow furrowed, as though surprised he wasn't being reprimanded for failing his mission.
"You didn't shoot," Taylor said softly. Her fingers were still clinging loosely to his wrist as she stood next to him. Her blue eyes were fixed on his face. As Connor turned his head to look at her, his LED immediately started to flicker. Yellow. Red. Yellow.
"You're injured." She reflexively closed her eyes as Connor's warm fingers brushed against her forehead, tracing down her temple to her cheekbone. Just as quickly, his touch disappeared and she opened her eyes again, her heart suddenly a fluttering bird in her chest. His deep brown eyes were locked on hers, LED still pulsing an urgent yellow, his outstretched fingers between them smeared with red.
"Connor, if you put that in your mouth, I will fucking disassemble you—" Hank's shouting broke through their reverie. Connor blinked rapidly, turning his head toward the lieutenant. Without his eyes on her, Taylor drew in a shaky breath, trying to calm her racing heart.
"Why would I need to analyze Taylor's blood, Lieutenant?" Connor asked, tilting his head.
"I don't fucking know! You're the one always shoving blood in your mouth," the older man glared at the android before scrutinizing Taylor's face. "I still have that kit in the car. Come on."
He heaved a sigh and turned to walk off. Connor turned to her again, his eyes scanning her face, this time his LED staying a cool blue. "You do not appear to have any signs of a concussion. Did you lose consciousness?"
"Maybe for a few seconds," Taylor shrugged, but Connor furrowed his brow, his eyes scanning her face again.
"What other symptoms?" He pressed, leaning in to scrutinize her wound. She could feel the heat start to creep up her neck again and wanted to squirm away.
"I just had the wind knocked out of me. I'm fine." Connor glanced down as she spoke. She remembered he had said before that he could detect lies. She licked her lips. "We should catch up to Hank."
She turned and walked for the loading dock, hearing Connor's immediate footsteps behind her as she went. He certainly wasn't going to let her off that easy.