09:17pm

It was starting to snow gently as Hank's police car rolled up to the crime scene. Glittering white flakes replaced the rain that had showered Detroit for the last 2 months.

Connor parked the car by the side of the road; the trio had decided it would be better for the android to drive as Lily could keep an eye on the slightly-hungover Hank in the backseat.

"I'm sorry again about the window, lieutenant", Connor referred to his means of entering Hank's house previously. "I really thought you had been attacked… but CyberLife will pay for the damage"

"Yeah, trust me, I'll be sure to send 'em the bill", Hank rolled his eyes sarcastically, although the action made him clutch at his head. "God, feels like someone's messing around with a drill inside my skull", he cried, rubbing his forehead.

"You'll be okay?", Lily asked him, undoing her seatbelt.

"Yeah I'll be fine", Hank immediately dismissed her concern. "You sure this is the place?", he asked as all three people in the car looked outside at their location. They were in downtown Detroit, at the infamous sex lounge, the "Eden Club"

"It's the address in the report", Lily said as she checked over the dossier on her electronic tablet (which was standard issue for DCPD officers).

"Right… ok, let's boogie", Hank sighed as he got out of the car. Lily zipped up her jacket tight, the cold air making her hair billow in the wind.

"I've never seen snow before", Connor said, looking up at the night sky. "It's cold and…wet", he said as some landed on his synthetic hand.

"I think it's pretty", Lily smiled softly as the android gazed at her in adoration; tiny glittering white stars landed on her hair and eyelashes, there was no way anyone could've looked more beautiful, in his opinion.

"Come on you two", Hank sighed, heading towards the club's entrance. "It's fucking freezing out here". Connor obeyed immediately but Lily hung back for a few seconds before crossing the yellow holographic police tape.

Eden Club was a huge, circular building made of shimmering silver and purple glass that towered across the city skyline. It definitely wasn't as big as one of Detroit's main skyscrapers but it certainly looked like a beacon of purple light which glowed all over the city's downtown.

The erotic advertisements displayed on the electronic screens around the club made Lily turn pink with embarrassment; she wasn't exactly comfortable with entering the establishment, but if it was for the good of the investigation, then she'd make herself do it.

XXX

"Sexiest androids in town", Hank read from the monitors. "Now I know why you insisted on coming here", he winked at Connor slyly, who didn't seem to understand the gesture.

"Welcome to Eden Club", a sultry voice greeted the trio as the electronic doors closed shut behind them. Finding themselves in a sort of lobby, Lily felt uncomfortably hot all of a sudden; it was incredibly stuffy in the club, but it may could have been because of her intense blush as she looked around her.

Organised in glittering purple glass cases stood many different sex androids each wearing futuristic silver lingerie, females on the left, males on the right. They were all striking a different seductive pose while giving sultry glances to the trio who entered. Lily felt a little bit sick; the androids were being shown off like merchandise.

One android caught her eye, as Lily turned towards the glass cabinet that contained a very skinny female WR-400 android with long blonde hair the colour of cream clouds. The young woman winked at Lily seductively, making the lieutenant blush as pink as the android's shiny lip gloss.

"Come on, Lil", Hank called, giving her an excuse to quickly follow her two partners, without having to bashfully look back at the android in hesitation. The trio entered a huge room casted in intense purple light, fibre-optic trees glowed from the corners of the big room, glittering silver stars cascaded down like shimmering waterfalls across the electronic walls which displayed the animation, and the floor was a reflective shiny black.

Lined around the club's main room were dozens of more sex androids, all glossy and primped, staring out of their glass prisons like dolls on a shelf. Lily shuddered; the very sight of keeping people in shiny cages told her that something was clearly very wrong with the club.

She quickly turned her head away to the middle of the room, where she found different stages and small platforms placed around the club, with shiny strip poles in different neon colours. And on the stages, there were even more Eden Club androids. Although the club was closed so they didn't dance, they still stood pleasurably in different poses by their dance poles.

"You're not gonna take my licence, are you? I mean, I had nothing to do with this!", a slimy voice came from the side of the room, distracting Lily and making her hurry over to her partners. The trio approached Detective Collins and a middle-aged, rather greasy man who was in a heated discussion.

"The investigation's ongoing sir, I can't tell you anything at the moment", Collins was clearly irritated, looking away from the man and rolling his eyes before noticing the lieutenants and Connor arrive.

"Hey, Lily! Hank!"

"Hey, Ben. How's it going?", Hank greeted.

"This is Floyd Mills, he's the club manager", the detective explained.

"Yeah nice to meet ya", Hank shook the manager's hand tiredly although it was obvious he didn't care. "I'm lieutenant Anderson, this is my partner lieutenant Dover… and Connor", he glanced over his shoulder towards the android, who gave a tiny smile of politeness. The owner ignored the RK-800's presence (which was sadly unsurprising), and instead reached his hand out to greet Lily.

She awkwardly went to shake Floyd's hand, but became increasingly embarrassed when the man bet down and proceeded to kiss it.

"Enchanté, miss", he said smoothly, but it only made Lily turn red and nervously nod as a last attempt at being polite. Connor and Hank looked at each other, both clearly not happy.

"It's that room there, Chris is looking over the evidence now", Ben stood between Floyd and Lily, much to the relief of everyone (except the manager, who looked quite put out).

"Thanks", Hank said quickly, heading to the private chamber as Lily readily followed with Connor in tow. The manager gave the android a disapproving look as Connor walked past him.

"Oh uh, wait a minute", the detective called to the trio. "Gavin's in there too"

"Great", Hank rolled his eyes in irritation. "A dead body and an asshole, just what I needed"

"As if the night could get any worse", Lily thought bitterly.

She was still not talking to Gavin since the incident in the break room, although the detective had been apparently asking for her throughout the week. She glanced over her shoulder to Connor, who didn't look reluctant to see Gavin again in the slightest.

"I wish I could be as calm as him sometimes", she thought with a smirk. It seemed like nothing ever got under the RK-800's skin; no matter the situation, Connor seemed to remain professional as always.

The door to the room slid open, and the trio walked into the crime scene. They were in one of the private rooms where patrons would take the androids they had hired to engage in the club's explicit activities. The room's walls were covered in the usual LED screens which were displaying red glitter instead of purple, with a shiny black floor and a white circular bed in the middle of the room. On the bed, lay the figure of a man that was mostly concealed by a silk red blanket.

As Lily examined the room, she noticed another body, but this time it was of a young girl lying dead in the corner of the room. The girl had silken blonde hair and had a face identical to that of the same blonde android that had winked at Lily in the club's foyer.

The lieutenant blushed again even just at the memory!

As the trio entered, the other cops in the room turned their attention to the arrival. Chris nodded politely to the three, while Gavin looked over his shoulder. He stared at the young lieutenant for a moment, their eyes catching, before giving her a small, pleased smile.

"Lily", he acknowledged her politely with a nod, as she crossed her arms and looked away. Gavin looked almost hurt for a second, but quickly brushed off the feeling by noticing the two people behind her.

"Plus lieutenant Anderson and his plastic pet", Gavin snorted. "The fuck are you doing here?", he gave a smirk towards Hank and Connor.

"We've been assigned all cases involving androids", the RK-800 answered, ever polite. Lily's eyes flickered to the dead girl on the ground, who was clad in the club's signature silver silk lingerie.

"Oh yeah?", Gavin said accusingly, as if he was expecting Connor to be lying or something. The android merely looked back at him, unfazed.

"You're wasting your time", Gavin gave a cocky smirk and a sarcastic shrug towards the newcomers, making Lily re-focus on the conversation. "Just some pervert who got a little more action than he could handle", he laughed loudly at his own joke, before realising no one joined in. Connor looked especially confused, clearly not understanding the innuendo.

"C'mon, let's go", Gavin called to Chris, brushing past Hank. "It's starting to stink of booze in here", he directly mocked, although the police lieutenant stood unyielding to the detective's sharp words.

On his way out, Gavin shoulder-checked Connor, which went unnoticed by all except the android himself. He wanted to say something, to do something, but he couldn't. Connor stood with a blank expression, only adjusting his grey tie to give his hands something to do, other than pretend to swear at the cocky detective's back.

"Night Lily, night lieutenant", Chris called to the two humans as he left, following Gavin out the room.

Lily checked about the room, looking at all the different labelled evidence (although there wasn't much). Checking over her report, she found that the dead guy on the bed was a man named Michael Graham, and he had died from an assumed heart attack.

As she got up to look at something else, Lily noticed something. Under the victim's chin, there were several long, ugly purple bruises that wrapped around his neck.

"Hey, this guy did die from a cardiac arrest, right?", she called to her partners, checking over the electronic dossier in her hand.

"Yeah, why?", Hank put down a leaflet he'd been holding.

"He's got some pretty nasty bruises here, he could've been strangled", she told them, as Connor came over to her, staring intently at the body. Scanning the dead man, his LED flashed yellow.

Connor put one hand on Lily's waist, making her skin suddenly set alight and her heart rate almost explode into a frenzy of pumps. The android didn't seem to notice her reaction, thinking his action was commonplace like a pat on the back or something to that extent. Lily carefully looked at him, the RK-800 turned to her; his warm brown eyes glowed at the lieutenant as if she was the only person he ever wanted to look at. She only dared to gaze at him for a few glorious seconds, before tearing away her line of sight to stare at the body instead, her face glowing rose pink.

"I've really gotta learn to stop doing this", was her sole embarrassed thought as she blushed harder.

Connor still gazed at her in adoration, his breath catching in his throat; wanting to touch her cheek and pull her close, and it was becoming harder and harder to focus on the cases full stop when all he could think about was Lily. Finally succeeding in ripping away his stare and steadying his nerves, the android came to a shocking revelation;

"When did I start breathing?"

It was terrifying, this shouldn't be happening! What he was feeling was in no way part of his programme!

"Am I ill?", he thought to himself. When he was around her, he couldn't think properly, he became nervous, his artificial breath became ragged and shallow, his thirium pump would pound loudly in his ears and he felt hot and flushed; he couldn't even think clearly.

If Connor didn't know better, he could only assume some kind of virus had entered his software, making him feel these symptoms… but it only ever happened when he was near, or thinking about, Lily. His eyes moved to the lieutenant who still examining the body before them, as Connor desperately tried to calm himself down and re-focus.

*Software Instability: Corrupted Drive at 79%*

"H-he didn't die of a heart attack", he stuttered at first, before finally managing to regain composure. His two partners looked up. "He was strangled"

"Yeah, the marks on his neck do look pretty nasty", Hank came up behind him. "Doesn't prove anything though, could've been rough-play".

"God, people actually like this stuff done to them…?", Lily thought with a shudder. It was another reason to why she wanted to get out of the club as soon as possible.

"No, we're missing something here", Connor shook his head, as Lily crouched down on the other side of the room. She was staring intently at the dead blonde Traci on the floor. The android had been violently attacked; her face was brutally battered, exposing her white plastic skin. A trickle of thirium ran from her nose, it was clear she had suffered some kind of brain damage.

"How did she die?", Lily asked quietly. She was pretty shaken up; the Traci reminded her too much of Madison, and the thought of her best friend ever being in a situation like this was more than frightening. She carefully reached out and closed the eyelids of the dead girl, making her look like she was peacefully sleeping.

"I might be able to read its memory", Connor and Hank came over to the dead Traci, as the RK-800 analysed the robot body. He reached out and took a sample of thirium from the WR-400, licking the blood and running diagnostics.

"Whoa, hey HEY!", Hank shouted angrily. "Urgh, Connor you're so fucking disgusting! I think I'm gonna puke again", he said as his face went a pale shade of green. Lily couldn't help but pale herself.

"It's badly damaged, I may only be able to reactivate it for a few moments", Connor explained after finishing his scan.

"You won't hurt her, will you?", Lily asked worriedly.

"No, I promise I won't harm it", he reassured her, as Lily looked relieved but still maintained her worried gaze on the Traci.

Connor's hand melted away to reveal the white casing beneath his synthetic skin, before he reached and touched a panel on the android's stomach, opening up a compartment where two thick cables lay broken. He reached into the android's body, carefully taking hold of the two huge wires and slotting them together with a loud click. No sooner had he done so, then the cables pulsated bright blue, as cyan thirium pumped through the cables, restoring life.

Immediately, the Traci's blue eyes mechanically snapped open, and she let out a small shriek of fright, quickly kicking Connor in the chest and sending him sprawling backwards, as she frantically crawled away.

"No! Please get away!", she cried, gasping for air as she faced the trio. Connor sat up with a tiny groan, as he touched the place he had been painfully kicked with a stiletto.

"It's okay, we're not going to hurt you", Lily said, quietly crouching down and holding her hands out in surrender. "You were damaged and he reactivated you", she explained, gesturing to Connor behind her. "Everything's going to be okay, but we need to know what happened". The Traci's eyes flickered to the dead man on the bed, making her shudder at the sight.

"Is he… is he dead…?", she whimpered. Lily nodded sadly, but carefully moving closer.

"Yes, but please, tell us everything you know"

"He started... hitting me", the android shivered, as more blue blood began to run down her face from her nose; she touched it, and the sight made her shudder more.

"It's alright, he can't hurt you anymore", Lily reassured her.

"Did you kill him?", Hank asked from over Lily's shoulder, who swatted at him, signalling him to be quiet.

"No!", the girl yelped instantly. "No it wasn't me! I swear I didn't do anything", her LED was flashing a fierce scarlet red, showing her fear and stress.

"Who killed him if it wasn't you?", Connor implored.

"I-I don't know I was in shutdown, I don't… I didn't do anything!", as she was becoming more visibly upset, more thirium leaked from her body. Soon she wouldn't have enough left.

"Was there anyone else with you?", the RK-800 insisted.

"He… he wanted to play with two girls. That's what he said! There were two of us-"

"What model was the android? Did it look like you?", Connor begged for more information.

The Traci backed away from him, but suddenly she gave a little jolt, and her pupils became wide; creepily wide. The bright red LED fizzled out into blank. Her body slumped forward, as a final gush of thirium poured like a bright-blue waterfall from her nose. The android's limp body fell forward as Lily caught her, thirium seeping into the lieutenant's jeans.

The blue-blood's sickly, overpowering smell of metal oozed around the room, making Hank gag. Lily took no notice, resting the Traci down in a comfortable position. Her blue eyes were open, dead, empty, doll-like as Lily closed them, leaving the Traci in the most dignified position that could be managed.

"Holy shit", Lily breathed, closing her own eyes and rubbing the bridge of her nose. She felt sick, and not from the reeking odour in the room.

"Well, at least we know there was another Traci", Hank said, covering his nose and mouth with his hands, trying to repress the foul smell. "This happened over an hour ago, it's probably long gone"

"No…", Connor said quietly, even he looked a little bit shaken up from the android's death.

"What?", Hank looked at him questioningly.

"It couldn't have gone outside dressed like that and still not look suspicious", he gestured to the scantily-clad silver lingerie the Traci was wearing. "It might still be here", Connor explained.

"Maybe someone saw it leave the room?", Lily spoke up.

"Maybe", Hank nodded. "I'm gonna go talk to that creepy manager, and see if he knows anything", he turned to leave but before doing so, Hank spotted the futuristic panels on the room's desk.

"Now this is the kinda shit I want in my car!", he exclaimed, marvelling at all the different buttons. "Look Lil! This even has a built in mini-bar!", Hank called over to his partner, pressing a button as a *ping* was heard and out from the panels came a cocktail glass filled with a vibrant green drink.

"See, wouldn't it be cool if you could do that, huh Connor?", Hank nudged him. "I'm starting to like technology", he grinned, draining the entire glass in one gulp.

"I wonder what else this can do?", he absentmindedly said aloud, pressing something randomly on the panel. Suddenly, a noise was heard and one of the room's walls began to move. It flipped upside down similar to a murphy bed, but became a metal-grid wall with chains and hand-cuffs attached.

Everyone stared in surprise.

"Er, okay, let me just reverse that", Hank said unsurely, pushing another button, this one flashing blue. Another wall flipped open, displaying rows of all different types of vices; whips, canes, cuffs, chains, gags and-

"Holy shit, Hank! TURN IT OFF!", Lily cried, running over to Connor and clamping her hands over his eyes, much to the RK-800's confusion. "Don't look, Connor!"

"R-right", the lieutenant said, flicking switches and tapping screens. The walls suddenly changed from a deep red-colour to various erotic images, the bed began to vibrate, and the loud sound of moaning was played on the room's speakers.

"NONE OF THESE WORK!", Hank yelled above the sound of sex noises.

"PRESS THE RED BUTTON! IT'S ALWAYS THE RED BUTTON!", Lily shouted, now trying to single-handedly cover both Connor's eyes and ears; but the android was clearly just confused as to what was going on. Hank scanned the control device again, searching for the token "red thing" to push. Upon finding no miracle button, he pressed a glowing pink one instead.

"The next best thing", he gruffly thought, jabbing the champagne-pink button with one finger. Miraculously, the music, walls and everything else all went back to normal, leaving the room as it once was, and the trio all rather shaken up.

"Well, I take that back", Hank broke the sudden silence. "I don't like technology". His words caused Lily to crack a grin, as Connor looked at her in amazement, still unsure as to what just happened.

"Let's-not…. do that again", she coyly smiled, unable to help herself grin like crazy.

"Hey! I had it under control the whole time", Hank said jauntily, leaning back on the desk. Unfortunately, he accidentally pushed a switch, which transformed the room one last time by opening a compartment in the middle of the chamber's ceiling, which rained down a number of brightly coloured, suspicious-looking objects.

"Urgh, HEY!", Hank yelled as he was pelted with a dozen of them.

"What the-", Lily wondered aloud as one fell directly into her hands. It was squishy and bright pink, and made of rubber.

"EWW!", she screamed, dropping it instantly in a mixture of shock and disgust.

"What are these?", Connor asked innocently, bending down to pick one up.

"Don't touch 'em, Connor!", Hank yelled, quickly running around the room to try and hide the sex-toys. Suddenly, Detective Collins, Gavin, and Chris all burst into the room, armed and ready for attack.

"What's going on-", Collins shouted, before taking a look at the room and his mouth hanging wide open. Gavin did a double-take, as Chris went red in the face.

"Jesus Christ, what happened in here?", Gavin said, staring at the place and putting away his gun. "You guys look like you've had fun", he joked, a little snarkily but still mostly in shock.

"Where did all this come from?", Collins asked, as the trio looked at each other in embarrassment.

"Just... had a bit of trouble with the buttons", Hank said as inconspicuously as he could manage.

"Looks like a lot of trouble", Chris grinned. Hank pushed his nose in the air.

"Yeah, yeah whatever", he said trying to shrug it off. "I'll go question the manager now", Hank made an excuse to escape, pushing past the group and heading outside, Collins and Chris following in his wake.

"You alright, Lil?", Gavin asked softly, as soon as the others had left.

"Yeah, I'm fine thanks", she said, looking over her shoulder. She didn't really want to talk to Gavin, still pissed off at him for attacking Connor previously. The android in question was tidying away the sex-toys that were still strewn on the floor, and trying his best not to listen in.

"Lil", Gavin suddenly said seriously. "Is that a dildo in your hood?". The lieutenant went crimson red, as Gavin carefully pulled out the offensive item from her hoodie with a slight grin.

"Oh my god, why do they even keep these things in the fricking roof!?", she stared at it incredulously.

"Well, when you're in the mood I guess…", Gavin said, dropping the toy carelessly on the floor and leaning a little too close for comfort, before noticing Lily was backing away a tiny bit.

"You sure you're okay?", he persisted, touching her arm gently. "You don't look so good", his hand carefully reached out and brushed against her cheek, which was pale in comparison to the dusky-purple shadows under her eyes. Lily didn't know how to react; she certainly didn't want his affection, definitely not now, and she couldn't help but notice that behind Gavin, Connor was staring.

His brown eyes big and hurt, and intently watching the pair.

"Y-yeah I'm fine", Lily said hurriedly, pulling away from Gavin's touch and walking to the door, leaving the room as quickly as she could (and nearly tripping up on more of the sex-toys scattered across the floor), her face bright red in embarrassment. Gavin stood silently as she left.

"Fuck!", he snarled to himself, gritting his teeth. Deep in thought, he spun around; finally noticing that Connor was still in the room. The android was pretending to busy himself with tidying the chamber, but stopped as he picked up a small packet which he had never seen before. "Condom", was written on the front of the wrapper.

"Know what it is?", the RK-800 spun around at the sound of Gavin's voice; the detective was grinning at him maliciously.

"No", Connor confessed sheepishly, as Gavin snatched it from the android, holding up to his face.

"Something you'll never get to use", the Detective snarled, pocketing the packet of contraceptives. He pointed to the door.

"Lily is mine, get it?", he spat, shoving Connor backwards. "If I find out you've been even looking at her, you're a dead man"

"I'm not a man", Connor stared back, looking angry. "I'm a machine, and I have no interest in her", he said defensively.

"Like she has no interest in you", the android said boldly.

Gavin didn't even wait a second to slam Connor into the wall, his hands around the android's throat.

"Listen here, asshole", he spat, looking murderous. "You stay away from her, she's a human like me, I've been pursuing her for months and I sure as fuck ain't gonna give up now for some pretty-boy robot freak". Connor stared back defiantly, his blue-blood pounding in his ears. The detective suddenly grinned wickedly, loosening his grip and letting the android go.

"All's fair in love and war", he gave Connor an evil smile, his arms outstretched. "And I declare war", Gavin spat at Connor's feet, before walking out cockily.

*Software Instability: Corrupted Drive at 81%*

The RK-800 watched him leave, as the electronic door slammed shut behind him. Connor turned, facing the mirror on the other side of the room; looking down at himself. He didn't understand why he had suddenly defied the Detective, why he had probably just signed his own death warrant, despite very much not wanting to test Gavin's wrath.

"Why did I do that?"

Connor moved forward to the floor-length mirror, still looking over his reflection. He put one hand on the cold, smooth glass, resting his forehead against the shiny, reflective surface.

"What has she done to me?"