Emma slept soundly in my bed while I sat atop the roof, my bare feet submerged in the cool water of our pool. My moleskine journal lay open in my lap, the soft beam of the porch lights casting a yellow glow over the pages.

Ever since Rupert-the-deviant-had gotten away, a thought had needled itself deep into my mind until the pressure from it had exploded behind my eyes. I had realized, lying awake in the clutches of the early morning hours, that the woman from yesterday wasn't just any woman.

She was the very AX400 model we'd been searching for.

I'd been lucky to remember as much of the woman as I had during the taxi ride to Rupert's hideout; my sketch of her back and her profile bore an immediate resemblance to the pretty female android. Though she'd altered her appearance, I knew, clear as the cold lap of water against my bare feet, who she was.

The more I'd researched Kara's deceased owner, the more I began to think that there was more to her story.

It was everything I shouldn't be thinking.

I fished my phone from my pocket.

Hank:

I think I saw another deviant today, while you were with Connor.

My finger hovered over the send button.

What was wrong with me? Didn't I want a promotion? Wasn't I committed to this?

The phone slipped from my grasp and fell into my lap. I rubbed my temples.

They'd be long gone by now, if they were smart.

"I'm digging myself a hole, aren't I?" I said aloud to absolutely no-one.

My thoughts drifted to Connor.

Twice, he'd thrown himself over the edge of death for me.

I flipped through my moleskine once more, searching for the note Emma had found. It'd been a shock to learn Gavin had been sticking his dirty nose into my personal life. I wrote a lot of things in here to get rid of the agony in my head.

Helplessness for my inability to pull myself together at the Eden Club. Self-loathing for not being able to please my mother. The pain of not being able to keep myself in one piece during investigations. My frustration at not being able to see androids as simply machines. All of it was laid bare in this little book.

It was the only release I had.

I wasn't expecting to find anything but my familiar writing and sketches, the tiny mystery doodles I now knew to be Gavin's, and Connor's message.

Yet, there was something new.

You've a penchant for throwing yourself into danger. Please take care of yourself, this recklessness causes contention with Cyberlife when I see you like this.

-Connor

Was he saying this because androids were programmed to value human life so highly, or was he genuinely concerned?

I lifted my face to the sky, as if the stars glittering above could spell me an answer.

I clocked in, busying myself with case files. After a few hours and no Lieutenant, I dug into my purse and withdrew a gift card to Chris's favorite café.

"Thanks for the hospital visit. I was gonna give it to you earlier but then everything happened." I patted his shoulder. "Good luck today."

"Oh, I'm gonna need some."

Gavin was preparing to head out for a call, and he'd be taking several officers with him.

"Did he ever find your gift?" I asked.

"He's been so busy he never noticed."

I chewed my lip. "Want me to move it so it's a little more obvious?

"Much as I'd love to see him react to android intimacy, it wouldn't go over well the rest of the day."

True, Gavin was good at holding grudges.

"Next time, then," I offered, and headed for the break room. The aroma of tea leaves soothed the pounding ache in my head. I doubt I'd even slept two hours.

Detectives didn't have a set schedule like officers, they could be called at any time. Normally, I got off around five, but this special assignment allowed wiggle room for overtime. I'd take it as training for when I finally moved up the ranks.

Mug in hand, I wandered back to my desk, only to jerk backwards, spilling scalding streams of tea over my hand and down the front of my shirt.

"Where do you reckon they went, plastic cop?"

Gavin had one hand curled in Connor's white undershirt, the other holding up my moleskine. "You think I'm some fuckin' idiot, huh? She's a sympathizer!"

Connor held the detective's gaze. "She's demonstrated her dedication to this case multiple times."

"Then explain this!" Gavin chucked my moleskine at Connor's face. It hit him square in the nose, but he caught it before it fell to the ground anyway.

Smoothing out the wrinkled pages, he reverently sealed it shut. "Violating another's privacy is-"

Gavin shoved him to the ground and I snapped.

"You got business with me, you speak to me, Reed."

The detective's head whipped around, a malevolent grin twisting his features. "Comes running anytime an android's in trouble, typical." He tsked, crossing the distance until the tips of our boots touched, and his breath, soured by caffeine, seared my face in a rank gust. "Play dumb all you like," he sneered caustically. He dropped my cell into my hands and veered away towards his desk.

Upon opening my messages, I found the draft from this morning had been sent. To Hank. He knew about Kara. There were also several missed calls from Hank.

"How many times do I gotta call to get you to pick up, huh? There some magic fuckin' number to this?" Hank lumbered into the office, displeasure coloring his words. "Jesus Christ, kid," he said. "In my car, now. You too, Connor. I gotta call up patrol."

I didn't have time to be surprised at Hank using his android partner's name, or the way his gaze fell upon him not with disdain but with unruffled acceptance. I raced out of the building.

I left the passenger side-door open for Connor, thinking he'd leave me to my thoughts, but the back door opened instead, revealing his long legs as he slid onto the seat beside me.

Silence permeated the space between us, forcing me to face him. Brown eyes stared back; lines etched his forehead, and his mouth parted.

"I'm sorry," he said, taking me aback. "I accused Detective Reed of the very thing I've been doing." As if asking for forgiveness, he held out a store-bought cup, the scent of chai tea teasing the air.

My head was pounding, and my eyelids felt as though weights were pressing down on them. Hesitantly, I reached for the drink and his fingertips brushed against mine. Connor stiffened, his knuckles tightening on the cup.

"The Lieutenant was angry that I looked into his files. I've done the same with you, as well as gone through your personal journal," he explained.

I sighed. "You'd have found out anyways. No-one can keep their traps shut, least of all Gavin."

The chai was deliciously sweet, and I sank back into the seat, resisting the temptation to close my eyes.

"Officer." Connor's voice became stern, and my gaze flicked to his. "You're unfit for this mission, I suggest you resign."

I bristled. "I'm sorry, I thought I'd 'demonstrated my dedication multiple times,' or was I mistaken?"

"You appear to have a very strong emotional attachment towards androids. You almost see them as-" he paused, as if confused with his own observation, "human. This will only get in the way of the mission."

"Was it part of your mission to grab Hank yesterday?" I muttered, bitterness hardening my words. "Was it your mission to save my life, twice?"

His LED flickered yellow. "Human life is invaluable."

I gave him an arch look. "Bullshit. I saw him. He could've pulled himself up."

Connor's frown deepened.

"Your mission mustn't be as important as you thought."

My partner scrambled for a response and when he wasn't quick enough, I slammed the car door behind me and stood outside instead.

Hank's music shredded the tension like a saw, in a cacophony of wailing guitars and unintelligible lyrics. He cranked the volume higher, growing perturbed by the dead silence. "Why are you two are acting like you can't stand to look at the other?"

As soon as we'd set off, I'd folded my arms and stared out the window at the pregnant storm clouds. Connor had slid down his seat a fraction, looking back and forth, between the windshield and me, through the side mirror.

"You had something to say?" I asked.

His bushy gray hair shook like a branch in a sullen wind when he turned to me. "Damn right. Some reason you never bother to tell me yesterday about the deviant?"

"I only realized it was her this morning."

Hank nodded, hearing my dejected tone ring with truth. Even so, a tinge of misgiving shaped his countenance. "Explains the bags under your eyes. You look like shit."

"Thanks."

He adjusted his rear view and said, "This is how things'll go, understand? Reports say the kid got so sick the deviant couldn't board the train and they waited out the rain. By the time it stopped, they'd missed their chance so they're betting on today."

I sat up in my seat.

"They have to get there by one, so we got an hour."

The scent of rain was sharp in the air, heavy and pungent, the promise of it rumbling in a smoke-gray sky.

Connor had determined that the two had camped beneath the tarp covering an old rusted Camaro last night. Even more alarming, we weren't hunting one deviant. We were hunting two.

Cyberlife had designed a model specifically for people who wanted a child without the added expense of age, education, medical bills, etc. This had led to a steep decline in childbirth, but there was no way to point a finger at any couple with an android child, per se, unless you knew what the models looked like.

Not only could they come without an LED, and mimic children's behavior, such as running rampant fevers and craving affection, they were built to become your little love leech. In light of this news, I felt a gaze searing into my back, and I found Connor assessing me.

"Where would they be?" Hank asked him, and Connor gestured with his chin to the vicinity of the busy highway below.

"The sewers would provide suitable coverage."

Hank grunted in approval and we set up patrol along the fences, down the block, and we waited.

Connor looped his fingers through the mesh.

Up above, the heavens shattered, and flooded Detroit within minutes. It drenched me immediately, plastering my hair to my head and my clothes to my skin, and I loathed my existence.

Teeth chattering, I wandered along the fence, blinking through the sheets of silver at the rushing waves of traffic. Connor had left his post to stalk the perimeter in the opposite direction and I tailed him, keeping my eyes peeled.

He may be Cyberlife's most up-to-date prototype, but I'd been so close to catching Rupert. I'd trained for this, studied for this. I was no less competent than him.

A smile played on my lips.

There, in the downpour, two figures emerged from the tunnels, and blurred like runny swatches of ink in the rain.

If Kara wasn't the malicious person she was made out to be, I had to warn her. Or they'd tear them apart like scrap. I curled my fingers into the chain links, hauled myself over the barbed wire, and dropped down the slope. Blinking rain from my eyes, I held one hand over my brow as a visor and strained my ears.

The only thing I could hear was the squeal of tires on the road and the heavy rain.

Two shapes, ephemerally shifting through the torrential downpour, appeared on the divider in the middle of the highway.

Mists had shrouded the world, parting only when a car slid past, the rain dancing off its roof as if urging it onward.

Breath clouding the air, I crossed the expanse of road, swerving out of the way when a car came too close. The force knocked me off balance and I almost backed into the path of a minivan.

I pushed through, climbing onto the divider and coming face to face with my targets.

"Kara!" Her name slipped from my mouth, but she didn't hear me.

I stepped closer until the girl beside her noticed me and startled. Instantly, Kara spun around, her short white hair slicing the rain like a blade through butter. A film of raw desperation glistened in her gaze. I held my palms up in supplication.

Kara pushed the girl behind her, one arm outstretched.

I yelled over the din, "I'm not here to hurt you!"

She glanced at the road, then at me, then at the girl.

"The police are looking for you," I continued, and she hunched in on herself, as if she could feel them surrounding her. "They'll be waiting for you at the train station."

"What do you want?" She tried to snarl but terror strained her words.

The girl behind her peeked between her legs. It was so hard to imagine she was an android, with her small mouth opening with terror. She reminded me so much of Emma that I instinctively wanted to protect her.

"Why did you take her?"

I shouldn't be doing this. I should be tackling her to the ground and cuffing her.

Kara spared a look at the girl and said, "He would've hurt her." Desperation made her voice quake.

"Don't board the train right away. Stay out of-

The girl screamed something, and I squinted through the drops, fear rooting me to the spot.

A figure slipped through the ocean of cars with terrifying agility.

I waved at Kara to leave and she grabbed the girl's arm.

They waited at the edge, looking for an opening. The figure was closing in and I moved in front of Kara, frantically searching for a gap to push them through.

Something bowled into me, knocking me to the ground. My head smacked against the concrete and I cried out as the person on top of me pinned my arms down. His gaze was cold, blank, and determined.

A chill skated down my spine; he blinked, confusion lining his forehead. "Officer?" Connor asked, pulling me up. His fingers slid through my hair to feel the back of my skull. "I'm sorry, I couldn't tell it was you. Did I hurt you?"

My traitorous gaze flickered to Kara, who was still desperately waiting for a gap in traffic to wade through.

Connor released me and charged at them.

Kara scooped the girl into her arms and dived through an opening. Connor vaulted over the hood of a car speeding down the road, dropping into a roll and skidding to a halt as another nearly mowed him down.

I ran after him.

My stomach flipped when a car's front end clipped his hip, sending him stumbling. He held out both arms for balance, nearly colliding with a semi, but he didn't stop. Something primal sparked within him, erasing any concern for himself.

I skidded to a halt as several cars in a row sped past, drowning me in waves of filth. Another two steps and I couldn't advance again.

At this rate, he'd get himself killed.

I stretched out a hand right as his clamped around Kara's upper arm.

She wrestled with him, pushing him back. The girl struggled to rip Kara free as cars swarmed them on either side, close enough to send Connor's suit jacket fluttering.

Kara used the terrain to her advantage and timed it perfectly. She shoved him hard into the oncoming path of another semi, its rushing speed sending the road into a rumble that threw him off kilter.

Connor slipped.

I caught his back and threw us to the side. The semi tore past, its horn blaring through the sea. Gripping his arms, I hefted him up.

"We gotta get out of here!" I yelled into his ear.

I pulled us to the opposite bank and he collapsed against my shoulder.

"Are you hurt?" I pressed him into the space beneath the bridge, moving aside his jacket. I pulled at his dress shirt, tucked into his jeans, looking for some kind of mark on his hip. His skin was perfectly fine.

"Jesus, why'd you scare me like that? I thought you were gonna get run over."

"I must report to Cyberlife," he said mechanically.

"We need to get out of here first," I told him. "We gotta tell Hank they got away."

"I must report to them. It's urgent."

"You can wait a moment."

He leveled a straight look down at me; his LED pulsed yellow.

I stumbled backwards. He knew I'd gone after them to warn them. Why wasn't he saying anything?

"Did you get hit?" he asked.

It was clear as day what I'd done, but he wasn't acknowledging it.

"I'm alright," I murmured.

Connor removed his jacket and draped it over my shoulders. It was too late to protect me from the biting cold, but the gesture surprised me so much I accepted it wordlessly. His hands gently pressed into my shoulders as he straightened the material, his warmth increasing with each second. He reached out a finger towards the hair plastered to my face, as if to move them out of the way, and stopped short of touching my skin.

His nostrils flared and he backed away, but his warmth remained, lighting the places he'd touched like a match. I shivered, but not from the cold.

"I need to make a report to Cyberlife."

"You keep saying that, you're starting to freak me out. Come on, let's find Hank first."

When we reached the main sidewalk and started down the path, I peered over at him.

Connor's hair was somehow still in its usual style, but the curl at the front had completely come undone, framing one side of his face.

His white dress shirt clung to his skin. It was a struggle to tear my gaze away from the muscles rippling over his torso, the shape of his forearms, the blatant sight of his skin peeking out beneath a thin veil of delicate cotton.

Hank accosted us, pausing at the sight of Connor's jacket over me. "I thought I told you I didn't want you crossing the highway."

"Why not, Lieutenant?" Connor inquired, tilting his head.

"Because you could've been killed," he said as if it were obvious. "Phillips, what's wrong? Jesus, did she get hurt again?" His voice was sharp with disbelief.

"No, she's fine."

I trained my gaze to the flagstones, awaiting Connor's damning report.

"She believed she'd spotted the deviants, but when I went to check with her, we found two stray cats. I'm sorry, Lieutenant."

A moment's hush settled over us before Hank said, "They probably left earlier than we expected. Let's call it a day."

When I stepped through the door of our apartment, I found my things had been thrown haphazardly into a suitcase.

Mom stood against the kitchen counter, her ponytail a tangled mess. There was a small creak to my right. Emma peered around her door, her cheeks pink and stained with tears.

"You're not her mother," Mom murmured darkly. "Stop filling her head with things she needn't hear. She may visit from time to time, but you're not staying here anymore."

I ran a hand down my face, suppressing a laugh. "At least I was one to her." For Emma's sake, I squashed down the things I desperately wanted to fling at her, all the bitter, angry, hateful words I'd let fester like a pit of snakes in my mouth. Feeling lost and confused and ripe with acidic vitriol, I embraced my little sister.

She wrapped her arms around my neck and sobbed.

"Don't cry," I whispered.

"I don't want you to go," she cried, and I hugged her tighter, fighting back tears.

"You're strong, Em," I pet her head, smoothing her hair. "You can come over anytime." I placed my mouth near her ear. "Email me, call me, text me, contact my work place. You're not alone."

Emma refused to let go, and I held her as Mom snatched my things and dumped them outside.

"Now."

I slowly pulled away from my sister and looked into her large teary brown eyes. I wiped away the tears that had escaped with my thumbs and smiled at her.

"Don't worry, Em. I love you."

"Get out," Mom said again.

The door slammed with finality, and I held my head high as I left the building. The rain continued to pour down mercilessly and I squinted up at the floor where we lived, knowing Mom was watching.

When one daughter fails your visions, you purge them from the nest and single out the other. But Mom didn't know her own daughters well, and she had certainly deluded herself into thinking that Emma adored her.

Fury coursed through my lungs as I dialed up the apartment two blocks away. I was too stubborn to wait in the lobby and figure out the numbers, so I did it walking through the flood of the heavens.

The woman at the front desk was an android, and she twitched at the water sluicing off my body when I stepped into the lobby. Another grabbed my things and took me to my room to settle in after I paid for the next few months. I'd stayed here once before, when I'd been going to school and mom had kicked me out when she'd discovered it was not to study fashion, but law enforcement.

The room was spacious, with furnishings of cherry wood to accent the cream walls. Plush baby blue throw pillows beamed from their place against a grey leather couch. My room was to the right, the city's skyscrapers droll in the gray thunderstorm through the floor-to-ceiling windows. On the opposite side of the room was the kitchen, complete with a high table top and bar stools.

Though I made little, it was surprising the quality you could find in Detroit now that androids had taken over most of our lives and cheapened production costs.

It was around seven at night when I received a call, straight from DPD. "Phillips, what's going on?"

"Captain Fowler?" I stammered, completely floored.

"Are you alright? Hank said you weren't going with him to Eden Club."

"What do you mean?" My grip tightened on my cell as I stared out at the city, not understanding the situation.

There was a small pause before, "Fine, tell me about it tomorrow, I don't have time for this."

He cut the call and I stood there, dumbfounded. Eden Club. The place that had torn me apart, made me realize I saw androids as human. The woman's dead body seared my memories, blue blood trickling down her forehead.

I dialed Hank and the second he picked up, my words rushed forward like a wave.

"What the hell is going on? Fowler called asking about-"

"Calm down, kid," he sighed. "I'm not having you join this scene, got it?"

"Because it's Eden Club?" I snarled.

How could he be doing this to me? He knew how much these cases meant to me. I needed them on my files. Especially something related to the Eden Club: I needed to rewrite the past, to prove I could redeem myself.

Hank sounded bone-tired, apathetic, almost. I wondered if he'd been drinking, wallowing in his past. I bit my lip. I'd seen him like that once, and it'd rattled me to the core. "Are you alright, Hank?" I murmured, forgetting my anger for a second.

"Oh, just great. I'll be out of money before the night ends. Look, stay home, got it?" When I didn't respond he said, "Connor read your journal and I'm glad he showed me. This is too raw for you, still."

"I've grown-

"No you damn well haven't. I saw your notes. Connor nearly rushed off to your place after we got the call to the Eden Club, worried about your health. I'm not putting you through this again, got it?"

"He doesn't care about anything but his damned mission!"

A heavy silence greeted me. "Tell that to the stray cats, kid."

I sputtered for a retort, and unable to get out a coherent sentence, faltered completely.

"You remember what I told you about being careful? I mean it. Ever since he reported to Cyberlife this evening, he's been...fuckin' odd. He worries about you. I gotta go; stay home and let us handle this one. Take care of yourself. One of us will check up on you later."

Hank was being strangely considerate. It made my heart swell.

He clicked off and I collapsed on the edge of my bed. My hands shook.

All I could think about was Connor's face after Kara had fled. The little notes he'd been leaving me, the way his hands had so lightly caressed my shoulders as he'd put his jacket over me.

What was happening to me?