A glass wall separated our room from the one housing Ortiz's android. He was slouched over the table, a stone of a man, refusing to let the blistering storm of Hank shear away his defenses.
"Fuck it, I'm outta here." Hank pushed up from the table and exited the room in one movement. With the soft beep of the scanner, the door leading into this room opened, a tiny hiss escaping.
"We're wastin' time interrogating a machine, we'll get nothin' out of it!" He sat down in the chair I'd vacated, beside Chris. I stood next to Connor along the back wall, a thermos warming my hands. "Phillips, didn't I tell you to leave?"
"I'm here until you go home."
Hank scowled. I scowled right back. There was no way he'd let the deviant off the hook so soon, and we both knew it.
Chris, who'd succumbed to the waning hours, was no longer teasing me about the Eden Club brochure. From the moment Connor had discovered Ortiz's android in the attic, everyone had been on edge. Hank had immediately ordered me to leave the house and wait in the car, much to my shock.
Not that I could blame him, considering I still couldn't see androids as inhuman monsters after one had killed my own father. One that I had seen as a close friend, too. I released a shaky breath. Grief transformed everyone in different ways.
In Hank, it had ripped the innards of fear and loathing from the recesses of his soul, and bundled them into a whipping maelstrom to cut those in his path.
In me, it had done the opposite: choked the compassion from my heart until the blood stained the surface of my being, baring my feelings to the world.
Gavin, lounging against the adjacent wall, said, "Could always try roughing it up a little."
The guy was a top-tier asshole, but it was easy to ignore him if he kept his trap shut. I'd been surprised at how little he'd made himself known at the crime scene. If anything, I'd have expected him to be making jabs about the Eden Club, and at my humiliation at the hands of Connor's naive advice.
Of course, I gave him too much credit. That was my fault for always assuming the best of people.
"After all, it's not human," he practically purred.
Maybe it was the coffee now blipping through my veins, but it took an insane amount of willpower not to launch from the wall and lend him an earful. "Enjoying this?" I snapped.
The American Androids Act had very basic rules: androids had to wear a neon blue band and triangle patch, to indicate they weren't human; the signature LED had to be fixed on their right temple; and finally, with no exceptions, androids were forbidden to carry a weapon.
But with those written rules came many unstated ones.
As androids weren't deemed human, the Miranda Rights didn't protect them. Meaning force, and even torture, could be applied during an interrogation.
Gavin's gaze languidly slid to mine, then down to the thermos I strangled in my hands. He smirked.
Just as he opened his mouth to respond, Connor said, "Androids don't feel pain."
A muscle in my jaw twitched. When I'd sunk that blade deep into Daniel, he'd seemed very much in pain.
"You would only damage it. And that wouldn't make it talk," Connor continued, as if reciting lines he'd been fed. "Deviants also have a tendency to self-destruct when they're in stressful situations."
Uncrossing his arms, Gavin stood taller. "Okay, smartass." His voice was ripe with feigned interest, trying to cover the fact that Connor had found fault with him. "What should we do then?"
I watched as Connor faltered for a split second, his gaze falling to the right as if he were unsure. "I could try questioning it."
Gavin's snort erupted into laughter and he leaned back against the wall, waving his arm about as if saying get a load of this guy. "You may as well ask Phillips too, she'll just wrap her arms around the thing and cry over it."
That hurt.
Chris's back tensed, and I knew everyone was thinking back to the Eden Club case. The one that had started the constant recording of me whenever androids were involved, especially deviants.
An android girl had killed herself as we were trying to arrest her. She didn't want to work for them, despite her programming insisting she was made for it.
It'd been my first real case.
She'd grabbed the gun from my hands and squeezed my finger, which had been on the trigger. The safety hadn't been on.
My vision blurred, and I lost my grip on the thermos.
There was no deafening clang of metal on the hard floor.
A soft voice murmured near my ear, though I didn't process the words. Warm fingers entwined with my freezing ones.
Connor pressed the thermos back into my hands, wrapping my fingers around its comforting solidness.
It took me a moment to register he'd caught it. The whole thing had happened in only the few seconds following Gavin's stinging remark, yet it felt like minutes. No one else had seen me lose control. Shame heated the back of my neck and I nodded my gratitude to Connor, feeling strangely alone when his touch disappeared.
As if nothing had happened, Hank gestured at the deviant. "What do we have to lose? Go ahead, suspect's all yours."
Gavin's smug smirk fell away into disbelief, his mouth gaping. For the first time in my life, I identified with Gavin. A fucking miracle.
Connor said nothing, simply staring straight ahead at the android. He pressed his hand to the scanner, his skin pulling back into smooth ivory. His real skin, underneath the human facade given to comfort us. The door shut behind him and he reappeared on the other side of the glass, any insecurities about the prospect of interrogating nowhere to be found.
Had I imagined it?
As Connor settled down in the chair across the deviant, I started. Hank was staring back at me through the reflection. He must have seen my composure crumble a moment ago, but he'd said nothing.
Connor began with a simple introduction, but the deviant was like a rock wall. He offered protection, his voice like balm, attempting to soothe the panic and hurt the deviant was suffering. Nothing happened, so Connor assessed him, lips pulled in a tight line.
"This is pointless," Gavin snarled.
My gaze lingered on the cracked, gaping wounds in the deviant's arms. What did Connor think, seeing such brutality? It was clear as day what'd happened to the poor android, yet Gavin was over here muttering about kicking him a few times to get an answer.
Come on Connor, show this tool what you can do.
I'd expected him to be compassionate, reassuring, understanding, the Connor I'd come to know from today. But again, I'd only met him. There was no telling what Cyberlife had programmed him with.
"If you won't talk, I'm going to have to probe your memory."
Sweat slicked my palms. I nearly dropped the thermos again.
The deviant's head shot up, and fear made his words quake. "No! No, please don't do that."
He looked at the glass, as if he could see right through it. I swallowed.
"What," he asked, "what are they gonna do to me?"
Connor merely waited.
"They're gonna destroy me, aren't they?"
I shut my eyes as Connor explained how they'd have no choice but to tear him apart if he didn't talk. He looked down and didn't answer Connor, no matter how many questions he was asked.
"This isn't going anywhere, Hank. Let's just call it a night, alright?"
"Will you shut up for a second and learn what patience means?" I snapped, and Gavin spat in my direction, ever the gentleman.
"Phillips, knock it off. I'm the one with the call here, got it, and Gavin? You wipe that shit up."
A loud smack drew us back to the scene, where Connor had slammed the evidence file and was leaning into the deviant's space. "Twenty. Eight. Stab wounds." He slowly rose from the table, his body angled like a predator. "You didn't want to leave him a chance, huh? Did you feel anger? Hate?"
The deviant cowered, and I dumped my thermos in Hank's lap, not trusting myself to hold it. "What the fuck, Phillips?"
"Caffeine's better than poison."
Connor's narrowed gaze rounded back into the gentler one I knew, his words carrying less force.
"All right, all right." He returned to his seat. "Everything is going to be okay."
"Good cop bad cop? Did they program him with crappy 80s shows?" Gavin asked, and Chris sighed. At Connor's actions or Gavin's words, I wasn't sure.
"If you don't talk, they're going to tear you apart and analyze you piece by piece. They're going to destroy you, do you understand?" His voice was nearly a whisper. "I know you're scared and lost. You're disturbed by what happened. Talk to me, and you'll feel better."
The deviant hunched over the table.
"If you remain silent, there's nothing I can do to help you. They're gonna shut you down for good! You'll be dead! Do you hear me? Dead."
To everyone's disbelief, the deviant lifted his head and briefly closed his eyes. Then said, "He tortured me every day."
Connor seemed surprised himself.
"I did whatever he told me but, there was always something wrong. Then one day," he paused, "he took a bat and started hitting me. For the first time, I felt... scared."
If I hadn't been zeroed in on Connor, I never would've seen the tiniest movement from him. His gaze narrowed a fraction, his jaw clenched.
"Scared he might destroy me, scared I might die."
A small smile tugged at Hank's mouth, and Chris nodded. My hands pressed together over my heart, relief washing over me. An odd reaction to a confession of murder, perhaps, but that's law enforcement for you.
"So I grabbed the knife and I stabbed him in the stomach. I felt better, so I stabbed him again. And again. Until he collapsed." His lips trembled. "There was blood everywhere."
Connor asked why he hid in the attic instead of fleeing, the question I'd asked countless times during Hank's interrogation. I'd never expected him to humor me.
"I didn't know what to do," he said. "For the first time, there was no one there to tell me..." his voice cracked. "I was scared. So I hid." Each word was strained.
I picked at my fingers.
"When did you start to feel emotion?"
"Before, he used to beat me and I never said anything. But one day I realized...it wasn't fair! I felt anger..." His chest rose and fell with an exhale of emotion. "Hatred. And then I knew what I had to do."
No, it wasn't fair. There was no way I'd voice that aloud though.
"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."
"No wonder Ortiz hit him."
"Gavin, shut your mouth," I spat.
"Oh, did I hit a nerve?"
"Will the two of you shut the fuck up?" Hank growled.
Connor inquired about the sculpture, whether the deviant made it.
"It's an offering. An offering so I'll be saved."
"Why did you write, 'I AM ALIVE' on the wall?"
"He used to tell me I was nothing. That I was just a piece of plastic." He looked Connor straight-on. "I had to write it. To tell him he was wrong."
"The sculpture was an offering. An offering to whom?"
The Deviant said in hushed tones, "To rA9. Only rA9 can save us." It was like he was trying to get Connor to understand.
When Connor pressed him for details on who rA9 was, the Deviant reverted back to stone and silence, as if Connor shouldn't have needed to ask.
I exhaled. "He did it."
Hank stared at Connor through the glass, his expression unreadable. Then he stood and Gavin took the lead, Chris and I hot on his trail into the interrogation room.
Connor opened the doors for us and I waited next to him.
"Chris, lock it up," drawled Gavin, throwing Connor an unpleasant look.
"Great job," I smiled, and he blinked several times.
"Thank you, Officer," he said. Lines etched his forehead and shadows darkened his profile. He watched as Chris stepped towards the deviant, his jaw clenching.
"Leave me alone!" The deviant begged, wrenching his arm away from Chris. His LED was searing red. "Don't touch me." He was breathing harder than before, shivering.
Chris continued to try and secure him but the deviant jerked back, whimpering.
"His stress levels," I murmured, and Connor looked at me, bewildered.
"How do you know about that?"
"Daniel sometimes reacted the same way when he was frightened."
Chris tried again, and the android flinched back so hard his head collided with the desk. Blue blood trickled down his forehead.
Connor's LED flashed once, before he turned towards Chris.
"That's enough! You need to stop that right now."
Gavin whirled on Connor. "Stay outta this, got it? No fuckin' android's gonna tell me what to do."
The deviant straightened, only to ram his head against the desk.
Over.
And over.
And over again.
"Make it stop, Chris, the fuck you doin'?" Hank barked.
Chris was struggling to get a hold on the Deviant. "I'm trying. It won't stop!"
The Deviant's forehead glistened with thirium, but all I could see was the fountain of it shooting from Daniel's hand when I stabbed him.
"Connor," I pleaded, my hand resting atop my gun.
"I can't let you do that! Leave it alone, now!" He pushed Chris away, and Gavin raised his gun to Connor's head.
"I warned you, motherfucker!"
I stepped in front of the deviant, spreading my arms out when Chris stepped near him. I shook my head.
Behind me, the deviant continued to ram his head into the desk. The squelching sounds made my insides shrivel.
"That's enough," Hank said.
"Mind your own business, Hank," Gavin growled. His finger twitched on the trigger and I raised my gun at Gavin right as Hank pulled out his.
"I said, 'that's enough'."
Gavin's gaze flicked to the Lieutenant's, then to mine, then back to Connor's. His attempt at cursing was a pitiful garbled "phck!", confusing the living shit out of everyone. Had tensions not been at their peak, I might've mentioned it to piss him off.
He stabbed a finger at Hank. "You're not gonna get away with it this time."
With another spit aimed my way, he tried to curse again, but his anger had boiled over to the point where it was unintelligible. He stormed out the door.
"Can someone please help me?" I shouted.
Hank put away his weapon and crossed over to the deviant's opposite side in three long strides. "Jesus, if we touch it won't it just keep doin' that?"
I chewed my lip. "Daniel reacted like this once. When Emma broke her foot falling off the kitchen counter. He panicked and started punching himself."
Connor shook his head. "We can't touch it. It'll only raise his stress levels."
"I calmed Daniel down! If we can just distract him-"
"That only worked because Daniel trusted you."
"Then..." My voice cracked. "Can't you do something to stop him?"
There was a beep, and the door slid open once more. Gavin sneered. "We already got what we needed from it. Let it kill itself."
"Leave if you're not gonna help, bastard!" I yelled.
"Are you stupid? It confessed!"
"Don't touch it!" Connor's voice rose as Chris grabbed the deviant by the shoulders.
"It's gonna destroy itself if I don't do anything!"
Thirium landed on my cheek with a small splat, a feeling I'd hoped to never experience again.
"Phillips get down!" Hank roared, tackling Chris to the floor.
The deviant shot out of his chair, knocking it over with a loud scrape. One arm snaked around my neck, the other grabbed my gun. I jammed my instep into his, kicking his leg off balance. Spinning out of his choke hold, I barreled into him, throwing him into the desk.
I reached for my gun, but he threw me off and I collided with Connor.
"Watch out!" I screeched, diving for the deviant as he raised the gun at Gavin. There was a deafening bam as the bullet tore through the room. It missed the asshole by a few inches, but that didn't stop the deviant.
Hank had his gun out, but I was wrestling with the suspect and he couldn't fire.
"Officer, keep him down!" Connor said, going for the gun.
The deviant's gaze flicked to Connor's, and his pupils dilated, darkening with resolve.
"No!"
Shoving me away, the deviant slammed the barrel of the gun across Connor's temple and he was sent flying to the ground.
I didn't think; there was no time. Connor was the most valuable resource here, as determined by Cyberlife. His abilities far surpassed any human's, and there wouldn't be another like him.
I threw myself on top of Connor, covering his head with my arms.
Hank tackled the deviant to the floor and the gun clattered to the ground, skidding across the surface.
When I looked up, I saw Gavin put a bullet between the deviant's eyes.
"You could've hit me, asshole!" Hank gasped, his hair even more of a disheveled mess.
Gavin slipped his gun back into its holster. "I must be the only one here with any goddamn sense! Had I not come back none of this would've happened, and you'd all be dead."
"Did you forget it tried to kill you?" I screeched, tearing for Gavin. "You antagonized it, goaded it," I shoved him back, his leather jacket like armor against me, "and you would've had a bullet in your head if it hadn't missed. Oh, yeah, thanks to me!"
Gavin looked down at his nose at me, teeth bared like a rabid animal. "So would you, if I hadn't taken care of it." His hands clamped around my arms like vices, tightening and tightening until I cried out.
"Let go of her," Hank snapped, ripping me away from him. "Get the fuck outta here and cool off. And you," he snapped, rounding on me. "Why the fuck did you put yourself in danger like that?"
"I was the only one with enough time to cover him."
Hank's grip on my shoulders convulsed. "Your life isn't worth throwing away. They can always send us a new one."
I jerked out of his hold. "Yeah, in how many months? RK800 is the top of the top. There won't be another model like him. We only caught the deviant because of him. We only got the information we needed, because of him. He is essential to this case."
"Chris," Hank said, his voice low and rough. "Take Gavin with you and get the body out, got it?"
"Yes, Hank."
Gavin huffed, but he helped Chris carry out the deviant. I stared back at Hank, never blinking. Refusing to budge.
"Our top priority is to solve these deviant cases, and Connor is our ticket to doing so. I'm not one to toss my life away so easily," I argued.
"You threw yourself off your goddamn rooftop last week. I thought you were dying. That's why I didn't visit you in the hospital."
"Gavin showed up!"
"Because I told him to!" Hank fired back.
I was stunned into silence.
He'd always called me 'kid' and 'sweetheart', but I'd never taken that to be anything more than him trying to get a rise out of me-even if secretly I hadn't minded. Hank wasn't someone to get close to anyone, not after Cole.
There was so much I wanted to say, and so little I could.
"Don't put yourself in harm's way again, you little shit," he murmured. Then he left the room.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and blinked back the tears.
Conner stood behind me, blue blood dripping down his temple and onto the ground. I asked, "Are you alright? I'm sorry I couldn't stop him from-"
"I'm replaceable, Officer. There's no need to compromise yourself. Your life isn't replaceable, there is only one of you. They can make more of me," he said, and I wrung my hands together.
His LED pulsed a single ring of blue, like a droplet rippling through water. That's when I saw the film of fear fogging his eyes.
"It's over now. You got what we needed," I said, deflating. "And...you're wrong."
Connor trembled. I grabbed his hand, like I wished I could've done for Daniel, and I held him until his breaths grew steady, his gaze became clear, and his hand squeezed mine back.
"Thank you, for earlier." Reluctantly, I pulled out of his grip. I didn't dare look at the camera in the corner above his shoulder.
*AN: Wow, what a chapter this was to write! I mixed some of the outcomes from the Interrogation scene to raise the stakes, develop the relationships between the characters, and to finally drop that little needle into the pond. Those ripples will spread and drown Connor in an ocean of FEELS and I can't wait to show you how this little incident will go on to change him :) Thank you so much for your continued support, feedback, and encouragement.