The building was old and decrepit; it's walls were stained with soot and dirt from long years of squalor. Then again, the building was in pretty good condition for being in the sketchy area of downtown Detroit, because it was at least still standing.
Hank and Lily stood in the elevator, with Connor behind them, his eyes closed. Lily turned around to get another look at him; he was so perfectly still and silent it made him look peaceful but kinda creepy at the same time. She shivered, it was another thing that made her want to get out of this place as soon as possible.
The building they were in was a very old, condemned apartment complex. They were heading to the 13th floor, the top floor of the building that was supposedly abandoned. Lily gulped as the elevator doors opened, indicating they had reached their destination.
The two lieutenants climbed out, finding that their android partner was still inside.
"Connor!", Hank called as the RK-800 opened his eyes at the mention of his name. "You ran outta batteries or what?"
"I was making a report to CyberLife", he explained.
"You can report back to CyberLife just by closing your eyes?", Lily asked, fascinated.
"Correct"
"Shit, wish I could do that", Hank said in slight envy.
"It would certainly make paperwork go faster", Lily joked as Connor followed the two lieutenants.
Lily felt cold chills going down her spine again; the 13th floor was very reminiscent of a typical horror movie; the tiled floor was cracked and chipped, plus the wallpaper and paint on the walls and ceiling were peeling down in huge shreds. The glass in the window was so caked in grime that it was impossible to see out of, and great clouds of dust blew around in the air as the trio moved down the corridor.
"So, what's the low-down on this guy?", Hank asked.
"We don't know very much, just that a neighbour reported seeing a man coming up here frequently, and that he was apparently hiding an LED under his cap", he explained in his usual professional manner. "There have also been strange noises coming from this floor"
"Christ, if we have to investigate every time someone hears a 'strange noise', we're gonna need more cops", Hank rolled his eyes.
"This floor is supposed to be abandoned right?", Lily asked as she bent down to examine a pile of pigeon feathers on the floor. Connor nodded, following the two as all three cops went to the apartment door.
"Ladies first", Hank joked, leaning back on the doorframe. Lily rolled her eyes.
"Why don't we let Connor do it?", she suggested, as the android looked eagerly at the door.
He stepped forward, loudly knocking on the wood. There was no response. Connor looked back at his partners, unsure of what to do. Hank shrugged, silently suggesting to try again.
"Anybody home?", the RK-800 persisted. The two lieutenants exchanged glances, Hank was unsure but Lily was confident in Connor.
"OPEN UP! Detroit Police!", the android shouted. It was then suddenly that a sound could be heard from the apartment, like a heavy piece of furniture being dragged along the floor. The trio all snapped to attention, as Lily and Hank pulled out their guns and pointed them at the door.
"Get behind me", Hank said protectively to both Connor and Lily.
"Got it", she replied, aiming at the door. Hank swiftly moved forward and kicked it open, the door slamming into the wall as it made contact. The small group entered quickly, examining the apartment hallway.
The walls were covered in dirt, and the rotted wooden floorboards creaked and groaned under the weight of the trio.
"Careful, the floor doesn't look too steady", Lily said to her partners, as they cautiously checked the different rooms. Each was empty, being stripped of all furniture and possessions from past squatters.
They reached the end of the corridor, Hank nodded to Connor and Lily, before breaking down the door similar to earlier. He was taken aback suddenly by a swarm of grey birds that flew out of the room, skittering feathers from their frantic, flapping wings.
"UGH, what the fuck is this!?", Hank exclaimed, as they uncovered a room crammed full of the pigeons.
"That's a LOT of birdies", Lily marvelled.
"Oh god, I'm allergic to feathers", Hank sneezed, covering his hand with his mouth. "Jesus, this place stinks", he grumbled.
Lily looked around the room, noticing a door to the far left. She clicked her fingers, getting Connor's attention as she nodded to the door. He nodded and the two moved forward, Lily holding her gun while Connor quickly pushed the door open.
Darting inside, Lily saw there was no sign of the deviant.
"It must've run off", she stuck her head out of the bathroom. Examining the room, Lily found something else that was disturbing.
"Connor, Hank? You guys might want to take a look at this", Lily called to her partners. All three stared in shock at the bathroom wall. It was covered entirely in scrawls with some written over each other, all repeating the same word.
"rA9", Lily said aloud. "What is their obsession with this word?"
"Any idea what it means?", Hank asked Connor.
"rA9, written 2471 times", he said. "But look here", the android pointed to the scrawls. "Some of it isn't written in ink, a lot of it is carved directly into the plaster", Connor stooped down, picking up a black marker pen covered in dust from the floor.
"It's the same sign Ortiz's android wrote on the shower wall, where he made that offering", Hank crossed his arms. "It looks like mazes or something", he gestured to the symbols on the walls as the trio stared at the obsessive-compulsive writing. Lily shivered; it only made the place creepier.
"It was here recently", Connor dropped the pen and pointed to an overturned stool on the floor; one that the deviant must've used to reach the higher part of the walls. "Some of the ink is still fresh"
Lily watched as the RK-800 took a thirium sample from the sink, as he found out its serial number and make.
"It's definitely a deviant", she confirmed, picking up something tiny and round from the edge of the ceramic sink.
"How can you tell?", Hank called from the living room.
"There isn't any food in the fridge, and I've found an LED in here", she explained, examining the small circular disc. "Plus, it's November and the window is open, no human would do that"
"Well, no sane human at least", Hank rolled his eyes as he zipped up his jacket tighter due to the cold wind that blew into the apartment. "Bird food", he said, picking up a small parcel on the dusty kitchen counter.
"Seems our deviant is a bit of an animal lover"
Lily felt a wave of compassion flow through her heart for the deviant. It was clearly just trying to hide here, it wasn't causing anyone any harm.
"R.T", Lily looked up as Connor read aloud the initials off a jacket that hung over the side of a sofa that had springs and some stuffing falling out of.
"He put his initials on his jacket?", Hank scoffed. "That's something your mom does when you're in first grade".
"He's a deviant, Hank", Lily crossed her arms. "He is going to be only a few years old at the most". The reminder of that fact made her only pity the androids even more, they were young like children; they probably didn't understand the world around them.
Lily picked up a driver's licence, the name read "Rupert Travis", but the sloppy lines and letters made it a terrible forgery.
"The ID is fake", she called to her partners as Connor looked at it as well in keen interest.
"Cool! At least we didn't come here for nothin'", Hank joked, as he looked at a poster on the wall. "Aw man, a Detroit Gears poster", he marvelled. "Think anyone would mind if I took this?", he said peeling it from the wall.
"Wait a minute!", Lily ran over to the wall. "What's this?", she stared wide eyed as she saw a secret hole behind the poster, and she pulled out a book.
"Connor come look at this!", the android was by her side in a second. "This is like, encrypted… can you decipher it?", she asked him, watching his LED turn red momentarily; Lily had never seen that before.
"I don't think I can", he confessed sheepishly, embarrassed for once not being able to complete his task. "This could take days to crack", he ran his finger along the paper, as Hank came alongside them.
"I thought I was one of the few people in Detroit who still had real books", he said, touching the leather binding with fond memory.
"Lily has some", Connor said at once, giving Hank the book so the lieutenant could store it in a secure evidence bag.
"How do you know?", Hank peered at Connor suspiciously.
"He saw them at my apartment, last Saturday", she explained quickly, not wanting Connor to be grilled by anyone. Hank still looked suspicious but he left the topic alone. After sneezing a few times, Hank finally had to sit down as he choked on the thick smell of birds, which made his eyes water.
"Are you alright being here, Hank?", Lily asked worriedly. "If you having trouble you can always wait outside"
"No just let me… sit…down", he wheezed, settling himself on a rickety armchair in the corner of the room.
"Let's not stay any longer than we have to", Lily turned to Connor who nodded politely. The two examined the apartment, until the RK-800 noticed a critical detail. The deviant was likely injured (from the blue blood he found in the bathroom sink) and following the trail of thirium which had gathered in tiny spots (although it was invisible without his scanner), he found from the discarded furniture that had been pushed over in haste, that the deviant was still hiding in the apartment.
"Lily", he said in a low voice, getting her attention. He gestured to the large hole in the ceiling above the chair that Hank was sitting on, where the wooden planks and plaster were broken open. Lily felt her blood run cold momentarily.
"Hank, slowly come over here", she called to him softly.
"What?", he said loudly, peering over at his two partners who both were cautiously looking at the roof above his head. "What are you both starin' at?", he asked, looking up.
No sooner had Hank done so, then a figure suddenly jumped out from the deep black crevasse in the roof and fell on top of Hank with a *thud*.
The police lieutenant let out a roar as the deviant, in a matter of seconds, did a tuck-roll across the floor with incredible speed and skill, before pushing past Connor and sprinting out the door. It all happened so quickly that Lily was left staring in awe for a moment.
"I'm going after him!", she cried out, coming to her senses as she gave chase. Taking off at top speed, Lily flew after the Deviant, jumping over the weak bit of floor right by the apartment's front door.
"God damn fuckin' pigeons!", Hank shouted as the birds scattered in a frenzy of flapping wings, sending feathers skittering around the room.
Connor scrambled up, running quickly over to Hank who shakily got to his feet. The lieutenant pushed away Connor's outstretched hand for help.
"What are you waiting for?", Hank shouted at him, pointing to the open doorway. "Chase them!".
The android didn't need to be told twice!
He leapt over the weak floor and burst through the front door, sending it creaking to the tiled floor of the corridor. Skidding as he turned sharply right, Connor spotted Lily chase after the deviant, Rupert, as she glided through the fire exit just before it shut.
Connor was just about to race after her but he heard the sound of splintering wood and a furious shout, from behind.
"SHIT!", Hank yelled as the floor gave way in the apartment and his left foot got stuck through the floorboards. The android ran over to him, carefully but quickly pulling the lieutenants foot free.
"Don't worry about me! Just go!"
XXX
Lily slipped through the hefty metal door which read "FIRE EXIT" in bold letters just before it slammed shut behind Rupert. She found herself on the rooftop of the apartment building, and she raced across the concrete roof, dodging chimneys and other air vents that stuck up through the ground as she chases the deviant.
The lieutenant gulped, as she saw Rupert agilely jump off the roof and land gracefully on the building next to the apartment complex.
"Here goes", Lily thought gravely, silently praying as she followed, jumping off the roof and feeling the cold November air blow past her as she managed to land in what seemed to be a wheat field.
"What the heck?", she wondered, running across the soil that was still damp from the recent rain. "Oh of course, we're in the sky-top farms in Detroit", she suddenly realised.
Urban Farms of Detroit was an agricultural project dedicated to taking unused city space such as old rooftop gardens and courtyards and turning them into areas of farm space to grow crops. Lily remembered that at the DCPD one Christmas there had been a fundraiser for UFD. It was a good cause, she had decided; UFD also offered jobs for people to supervise the android employees who worked there, giving support to the unemployed of Detroit.
Chasing after Rupert through the waist-high golden stalks, Lily climbed up on two UFD crates and jumped onto a concrete level of the Urban Farms where android gardeners were tending to crops in greenhouses. She followed Rupert into one such greenhouse which was growing tomato plants, sliding past two android workers.
"Look out! Stop that Deviant!", she cried as many workers jumped out of the way in fear. Vaulting over a trolley that Rupert had pulled down behind him in hopes of slowing her down, Lily raced in his direction.
"Jesus, look at that thing go!", a human supervisor said in amazement as he watched the chase.
Lily was so close to Rupert, she managed to grab onto the hem of his jacket as he jumped over a wall. She slammed into the wall as Rupert managed to tear himself from her reach, very nearly pulling Lily after him as he slid down a steep glass roof and smashed through a window which led into another UFD warehouse.
Lily felt her heart rise into her throat as she was about to topple over the side of the building. But a moment before she fell off, a strong hand grabbed her arm, pulling her back to the safe concrete floor as Connor flew past her, going over the side of the roof.
"Holy shit!", she cried, stumbling to her feet and looking over the side of the building. Connor slid down the glass roof, expertly jumping through the shattered window and vanishing out of sight as he chased after the deviant into the next warehouse.
Hank caught up to her, out of breath. He was seriously regretting eating that burger, as it gave him a massive stitch as he tried to follow his partners.
"C'mon Hank!", Lily yelled, spotting a staff walkway that would take them to the next warehouse. "There's no time to lose!". Hank groaned as he ran after her.
XXX
Connor slid down into the warehouse; it was indoor and slightly darker than the rest of them, except they however were intensively farming tall shoots of some plant his scanner couldn't identify due to him passing by too quickly. He raced up some steps past a group of confused android workers and into a courtyard full of bee hives and lavender bushes.
"There he is!", Connor spotted Lily as she ran after Rupert, both the deviant and herself were running down the tall metal staff-walkway. Connor jumped over a row of lavender and past a honey-bee hive as he climbed up some machinery and made it onto the roof.
The android and young police lieutenant ran together, side by side as they tried to grab the deviant, but Rupert managed to swiftly dodge, and jump off the side of the building.
"Jesus Christ!", Hank shouted. as Connor jumped off (again) after the rogue android as Lily watched in fear. She trusted Connor indefinitely but she still worried for him, and seeing the android slide across a greenhouse roof and onto a moving train was absolutely dangerous.
Rupert looked over his shoulder at Connor, clearly irritated from the fact that the RK-800 had managed to keep up.
"Let's see how he likes this", the deviant thought smugly as he jumped off the train onto a maintenance ladder on a wall at the side of the tracks. Connor jumped off and grabbed hold of one of the ladder's rungs, climbing up after Rupert, over another brick wall and through a rooftop orchard.
"Be careful, asshole!", a female supervisor shouted at Rupert as he shoved her aside. Connor chased him, climbing up onto a concrete roof full of solar panels. It was here that power for the whole farms was created, Connor thought as Rupert grabbed a metal toolbox and threw it at him.
The android ducked, as the toolbox flew over his head at terrifying speed and smashed through a huge solar-panel, which would cost thousands of dollars to repair. The RK-800 didn't worry about the damage the deviant caused however his one mission was to capture him.
Connor jumped up on a few crates, climbing on the roof of a greenhouse, watching Rupert race past lettuces and other vegetables through the glass floor. The deviant pushed over trolleys, cannisters and equipment, trying to litter the path behind him as best as possible. Connor spotted Hank and Lily at the other end of the greenhouse coming out of a staff door, ready to cut off the deviant as it left the cornfield at the greenhouse's exit.
He jumped down into the rows of corn off the glass roof, shielding his face from the stalks that pushed past him as he ran through.
Lily watched the cornfield, her gun at the ready, as suddenly Rupert flew past her, shoving her to the ground as she accidentally let out a shot. It knocked off the deviant's hat as the bullet tore through the fabric, but otherwise no one was harmed. Hank grabbed the deviant who was momentarily hesitant to run from the sound of the gunshot, but struggled as the older lieutenant tried to wrestle him to the ground.
Racing through the corn, Connor heard a loud gunshot and a shout from ahead, making his robotic heart pound in fear.
"Lily…?"
"Stop right there!", Hank shouted as Connor managed to leave the dense foliage; he saw Hank struggling with the deviant, and Lily was on the floor!
*Software Instability: Corrupted Drive at 62%*
His blue blood rushing through his ears, Connor raced to her side but saw that she was luckily unhurt, so he grabbed her hand and quickly pulled her back on her feet. She gave him a grateful look, as he scanned her for any injuries, breathing a sigh of relief when it was certain that there was none.
A shout from Hank made both heads dart in his direction, as the deviant pulled Hank off him and gave the lieutenant a hard shove, making Hank trip and fall backwards, accidentally toppling over the edge of the building.
"WOAH!", he shouted, hanging onto the stone edge.
"Hank!", Lily cried out, trying to run to his aid but Connor was much faster. The android grabbed hold of the lieutenant's hand, managing to slowly pull him up due to his weight.
"Don't worry about me! Go after him!", he pointed quickly to the Deviant that was climbing over a small brick wall and down into another area of the urban farms.
Lily reluctantly nodded, jumping over the wall and leaving her partners behind. She found herself in a huge field, split into 3 different sections, all layering down to the edge of the rooftop. Running down a small flow of shimmering water that splashed onto her jeans, Lily jumped down onto the lower level.
She followed the deviant down each layer until they reached the edge of the building; and there was no-where else to run.
"Hold it right there!", she yelled, pointing her gun at the Deviant. He slowly turned around, and it was there when Lily managed to get a proper look at him. He wore a basic dark grey denim jacket, with woollen fingerless gloves, ripped black jeans and black boots. He was covered in dust and dirt, and all his clothes were torn.
Lily also suddenly realised that he was missing an ear; causing her to wonder at what had happened to him, to make him become a deviant.
"Please", he begged, looking at her with tears in his eyes. "I've done nothing wrong", he held up his hands in fear.
"You've tried to kill a police lieutenant, I'm afraid that is something illegal", she stated, although her grip on the gun was wavering.
"He attacked me first, please", Rupert pleaded. "I just want to be free... you know what they'll do to me if you turn me in".
Lily pondered this, sure Rupert had pushed Hank but he still didn't actually force him off the roof.
"He'll be killed if I arrest him", she thought. "Just because he doesn't want to spend the rest of his life taking orders". Hesitantly, Lily lowered her gun.
"I'm sorry", she said to him in all honesty. "I'm really, really sorry. But there's nothing I can do", Lily tried to explain, as Rupert put his eyes to the ground in shame. "Please just come quietly, no one else has to get hurt"
"I-I can climb down", Rupert gabbled, trying to look for a compromise. "Please, if you give me just ten seconds I can get away, I can climb down there, look!", he pointed to the side of the building. "There's a place I know I can be safe- if you just let me go I'll never cause any trouble again! Please!", he was practically kneeling in front of Lily.
The sight made her heart wrench, as she looked over her shoulder quickly to scan the area. Connor and Hank were still out of sight, and there were no security cameras.
"I…", she thought. "If I give you 15 seconds, you can definitely get away?". Rupert looked up at her in respect, making her feel reassured in letting him go.
"Thank you thank you!", he breathed, running forward to embrace Lily in gratitude.
"Go quickly", Lily said worriedly, suddenly spotting Connor's head appearing over the wall on the other side of the rooftop. He was catching up.
"I'll never forget your kindness, no human has ever been this good to me!", Rupert clearly hadn't heard her.
"Seriously you need to go now!", she cried, looking back over her shoulder, but it was already too late!
XXX
Connor spotted the deviant and Lily on the other end of the rooftop, as he vaulted over the wall and raced across the field, making water splash up as he darted through the tiny rivers that flowed consistently throughout this section of the rooftop farm.
Squinting in the distance, Connor saw that the deviant had grabbed a hold of Lily, with its arms around her as if it was almost hugging her. He felt his heart almost stop from fear and other feelings he hadn't ever recognised before.
Anger
His two new emotions were anger and jealousy
*Software Instability: Corrupted Drive at 68%*
While he knew the deviant must've been hurting or attacking Lily instead of embracing her, the sight of seeing another person with their arms around her in such a way made him clench his fists in jealousy; but the feeling was soon replaced with fear for her wellbeing.
Connor saw Lily look over her shoulder, he knew it must have been her trying to get help, and he didn't waste any time as he charged into the deviant.
Lily watched helplessly as Connor rugby-tackled Rupert, with both androids sprawling to the floor as the RK-800 pinned the deviant to the concrete ground, pulling Rupert's arms behind his head to restrain him.
"Connor wait-", Lily tried to desperately explain.
"Model 874-004-961, serious malfunctions have been detected in your software", he coldly told the deviant who struggled underneath him. "You've been deemed defective, and will be sent back to CyberLife for deactivation". Lily stared in shock as Hank tiredly ran up behind her, panting from the chase.
"Good job Connor", he wheezed, congratulating the android. "What happened?", he turned to his two partners.
"This deviant tried to attack Lily", Connor glared intensely at Rupert.
"No wait! You've got it all wrong-", she tried to speak.
"I know what I saw, lieutenant", Connor replied confidently.
"He won't be hurting anyone now", Hank said reassuringly to Lily. "Come on, let's get him back to the station", Hank took one of Rupert's arms as Connor held the deviant down while it was being handcuffed.
"Are you alright, Lily?", Connor gently touched Lily's arm, his anger immediately washing away into concern for his partner.
"Connor I'm fine, he wasn't going to hurt me!", Lily said, pulling away from his touch, not realising that it hurt the RK-800's feelings. "Please, Hank, maybe we're doing the wrong thing here", she tried to explain to the other lieutenant.
"God Lily, this deviant tried to fricking push me off the roof! You think that we shouldn't take him in?"
"It was an accident! He was scared! He didn't mean to hurt anyone! Before we got here he was just hiding, just keeping to himself. He wasn't causing any harm!"
"Don't matter", Hank shook his head dismissively. "He still assaulted both of us and caused a shit ton of damage in the Urban Farms, we have to take him in anyway", he explained, restraining Rupert who looked at the ground in shame. "Come on Connor", Hank called to the android as he led the deviant away.
"Why are you doing this?", Rupert finally spoke, staring at the other android with sad eyes. "You're one of us!"
"Shut up!", Hank shook Rupert, trying to silence him, but the deviant was persistent.
"You're helping humans", Rupert snarled at Connor who angrily glared back. "But you're just their slave!", the deviant looked at Hank.
"I said shut up!", Hank grabbed Rupert by the collar, turning him to face the lieutenant in the eyes. "Listen, if I wasn't pissed already about you trying to push me off the roof, I am now because you not only tried to hurt me, but also my partner", Hank angrily pointed towards Lily.
"So you better shut your mouth, else I'll feed you a knuckle sandwich, got it?", he shouted into the deviant's face, although Rupert said nothing and only glared back.
"Androids don't need to eat food, Lieutenant. I don't see how giving him a sandwich would-", Connor spoke at the wrong time.
"You shut up too!", Hank rolled his eyes at the RK-800.
"Please can everyone stop fighting!", Lily stepped in between the three men. "He wasn't going to hurt anyone, Hank!"
"I was"
All three turned to stare at the still-handcuffed deviant in amazement.
"I was going to throw her off the roof", he lied, not looking Lily in the eyes.
"No he wasn't! He was going to surrender peacefully", Lily tried to defend him, having no idea why Rupert was suddenly lying about the situation.
Rupert however, was more than grateful for her kindness. He had never met a human so willing to help an android like himself, and so he didn't want her to be punished by trying to aid his escape. If he was going down, he didn't want to take her with him.
However, he still had no intention of being taken back to CyberLife.
"Let's go", Hank said gruffly. Connor said nothing, but feeling silent anger towards Rupert, the thought of anyone wanting to hurt Lily was enough to make his blue-blood boil. Lily herself could only gaze in shock and sympathy, as she trailed behind the three.
Connor stood next to Hank and the deviant; looking over his shoulder in concern. He didn't know what Lily was thinking, but he hoped he could comfort and console her in any way possible.
Rupert closed his eyes as he was being led away, only hoping that if he ever met the younger lieutenant again, he could apologise and explain why he did what he was about to do.
"rA9, save me"
XXX
It all happened so fast; one minute Hank was holding on to the deviant's handcuffs, until suddenly Rupert yanked himself free from Hank's grip, and ran backwards.
Connor's heart leapt as the deviant rushed past him; the RK-800 immediately gave chase, terrified that Rupert was going to harm Lily. Connor ran after him, but luckily, the WB-200 raced past the younger lieutenant and towards the edge of the rooftop.
Connor tried to stop him; he knew if the deviant destroyed itself then they wouldn't learn anything. Lily and Hank watched in horror as the two androids struggled for a moment, before Rupert flung himself from the rooftop, Connor still clinging onto his jacket.
And there was a moment when Connor and Lily's eyes connected, as the RK-800 was falling backwards off the building.
"Don't look, Lily", was his only thought as he felt his body fall through cold, empty air.
"CONNOR!", she screamed, his brown eyes pleadingly gazing at her with worry, as he disappeared from view, plummeting down off the rooftop.