Chapter 2: Personal

Connor met Hank outside of the sandwich eatery, bringing him a large soft drink in the process. The Lieutenant had to step out to take a phone call, and took his sandwich with him, but had asked his partner to get his drink for him.

Connor sat Hank's drink down before him on the table and then sat opposite of him. With it being sunny for once, it was nice to sit out in the terrace area of the eatery, even in the middle of July. Connor observed his surroundings for a moment as Hank hung up his cell phone and started digging into his sandwich. Androids and humans walked by on the sidewalk, traffic went on as normal. There was a couple sitting at the far end of the terrace as well. People were coming and going from the eatery. A few security drones flew by overhead. It looked like the average, bustling day in downtown Detroit.

"Thanks, Connor."

Hank wore a dark brown button-up shirt and jeans. Connor remained in his usual suit, and did so on the job. After hours or on their day off, Hank often made Connor wear normal clothes, something that had taken the prototype awhile to get used to. Hank's words were along the lines of "sick and tired of seeing you in that stupid suit all the time."
Connor didn't mind it anymore.

Connor shook his head. "Do you always have to eat something stuffed between pieces of bread?"

"Hey, it's healthier than what I had this morning…there's lettuce on there." Hank took a drink of the soda Connor brought him and gagged. "What the hell, Connor…"

"Oh, it said diet. I figured you could use one."

"Very funny." After a few bites of his sandwich, Hank motioned to his android partner. "So, you really don't think it was a robbery?"

Connor thought it over, reconstructing what he was able to gather at the crimes scene. "I highly doubt it. Seems…personal."

"Personal, huh?"

"There was nothing there the deviant would have a use for. The clothing was for women, too small for his form. And with only $74.16 in the cash register…makes it highly doubtful. Besides, the register wasn't even touched."

Hank shrugged. "Good point. What makes you think it's personal?"

"A hunch I guess."

Hank smirked, nodding. "Always listen to your gut…well, in your case your wiring or…whatever."

"You could've done better on that one," Connor said, smiling.

"It's all this healthy eating…throwing me off my groove."

"I wouldn't exactly call this healthy eating. It's only 177.3 calories less than what you had this morning."

"But there's lettuce!" Hank waved him off. "What do you know, you don't eat."

Connor tapped his fingers on the table. "There sure has been a spike in android-related crimes lately. I wonder why?"

Hank shrugged. "Maybe it has to do with all the tension with humans lately? This past week has had more protesting and fighting, it seems."

Hank's cell phone dinged, and he picked it up to look at the notification. "Alright, owner's on their way to the crime scene. Let's get going."

Hank stuffed one last big bite into his mouth and carried his trash over to the bin to throw away. He took his diet soft drink and headed for the car, Connor at his side.

The crime scene was only a few blocks away, and so the drive wasn't long, around fifteen minutes. Ben and a few other police officers were still there, preventing public access and questioning potential witnesses. Hank and Connor looked around the clothing store one last time in case they missed any clues. There was an emergency button under the cash register that hadn't been pressed. This told them that the victim either didn't have time to push it, or hadn't been expecting the need to.

Connor stooped down next to the bodies, looking them over one more time. He licked the blue blood of the WR600 to make sure it lined up, and the scan passed.

"Dammit Connor, what did I tell you about doing that shit after I ate?"

Connor stood up, looking to the lieutenant. "Do you need to know the exact words you said? Because I can replay the conversation."

Hank shook his head, though a smile cracked on his face. "Look at you, all witty today. You're on a fucking roll."

"Hank, Connor."

Ben Collins walked over, escorting a woman in her late 50s. She wore high-end clothes and shoes with lots of gaudy jewelry. "This is Joyce Hendy. She is the owner of the store. Mrs. Hendy, this is Lieutenant Hank Anderson of the Detroit Police Department and his partner Connor. They will be asking you a few questions."

"O-of course," the lady said, dipping her head. Ben headed back for the front entrance.

"Ma'am. I'm sorry you had to see this, but we need your help," Hank greeted.

The owner looked down at the bodies, her eyes fixating on the victim. "Oh Lizzie, she was such a sweet girl. Hard worker. I can't…I can't believe this. I just talked to her this morning. She-she didn't seem like anything was wrong."

"Do you know this android that attacked her?" Connor asked, pointing to the dead WR600 beside the victim.

Joyce studied the dead android for a moment and her eyes lit up. "Oh my goodness that's Sam! He…he was hers, I think. Oh wait, he belonged to her father at some point. Had got him to do the landscaping around all the houses he owns. He and Lizzie were quite close. I'd see him come in from time to time to give her things or pick up something from her on behalf of her father. Her father's name is Kent Hubb. He would be the one to talk to if you need more information on Sam."

"Do you have any idea as to why he would attack her?" Hank asked.

The owner shook her head, clasping her fingers in front of her. "No. He's always been gentle around her. Although…there was that one time…"

"What one time?" Hank echoed, eyebrows furrowing.

"There was this time, a couple months back. I had just come in, the store was about to close, I came to check on everything and count the cash register. Sam was already here, visiting with Lizzie and waiting for her to get off. A guy friend of hers stopped by, someone she had been close with in college or something. They talked and hugged, and everything was going fine until Sam shoved him away. I stopped the situation before it could get any worse and her friend left. Eventually, when Lizzie clocked out and left, her and Sam were arguing. But…they seemed fine the next day. I'm not sure if it would be related to this or not, for how long ago it was…but it just popped in my head."

"Anything else?" Connor asked. "Was there anything big going on in Elizabeth's life? Something that could've cause an emotional shock to Sam?"

Joyce shook her head, confounded. "N-no, not that I am aware of."

Hank heaved a sigh. "Here, I'll escort you out. You shouldn't be looking at this. If you think of anything else that could help us, please let us know."

"Of course," Joyce said as she allowed Hank to escort her to the front of the store.

Connor watched them go, then turned back to the bodies. He thought over the store owner's words, having analyzed her behavior and heart rhythm during the questioning. [Store owner told the truth.]

It looked as though they would be speaking to the victim's father next while waiting for a new plug for the WR600. By what he gathered, Sam had known Lizzie for a while, before becoming a deviant, as part of the family. When he became a deviant, it must have allowed them to become closer. The store owner's story about what happened with the victim's friend a couple months ago made Connor curious. It certainly had potential to be an emotional shock for Sam back then, of jealousy. It apparently worked itself out in the end. However, Connor knew that if Sam was capable of jealously over Elizabeth then, there could certainly be another. He logged it away, his LED indicator flashing momentarily. [WR600 could have been driven by jealousy or rage/Crime of passion?]

The RK800 was distracted by a sharp whistle. He turned away from the bodies towards the front of the store, seeing Hank beckoning him. Connor left the bodies behind and went to his partner.

"You all done here?" Hank asked.

Connor dipped his head. "Yes."

"Good, let's get back to the station," Hank replied, digging for his keys in his pocket. "I'll have her father meet us there for some questions as soon as he can get there."

The transit was packed. Markus stood, one hand on a strap-hanger as he waited impatiently for his stop. The metallic rolling of the tracks resonated from the underbelly of the train. Over that, people talked or listened to their music or played with their phones. Markus took a detailed scope of the passengers around him.

Humans and androids rode the transit. Some sat together, some stayed within their own people. But it was quiet. It was peaceful. There were days it wasn't. There were days humans picked fights with androids, angry about the growing list of rights the deviants were receiving from the government. Sometimes there were physical fights. Sometimes there was worse. It made Markus and his followers have to work harder to preserve what little they had for now and keep it from falling apart.

Unlike his destination he was heading to, this train was peaceful at the moment. It was relieving to see. A delicate scenery that two races could intermingle without hate or rejection. The transit's wheels grated along the path, slowing the transport vehicle down to a gradual stop. Markus weaved his way through the crowd to get off at the station.

He made haste after leaving the confinement of the train, running down escalators to go into the nearby shopping district. Using his built in GPS and scanning down North's, Simon's, and Josh's signals, he was able to find them pretty quickly.

He saw them and saw the trouble that was about to go down. A group of human protesters were arguing with his friends. Simon and Josh had a hold of North to keep her from reaching forward and popping the leader of the protesters in the face. Another android sat on the ground behind them, gripping a damaged arm that emitted blue sparks. Markus recognized him from Jericho, a PL600 like Simon called Gus that had red hair instead of blond. The protesters were a small group that Markus and his gang had conflicts with before. The leader was a middle-aged man named Mel, and he was always looking to cause trouble for androids.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on?!" Markus yelled, getting between the two groups.

"Oh hey, it's Robo-Jesus, fuck off Markus, this doesn't concern you," Mel snarked.

Markus rounded on the human protesters, biting back anger. "It does if it concerns my people. What's going on?"

"They attacked Gus, Markus," North spat, still riled up. "He was just passing by and-"

"That's not what happened!" the leader interjected, jabbing a finger at North accusingly. "Stop saying that shit. We were protesting, minding our business, when that fucker came in and attacked us!"

"Gus wouldn't hurt anybody," Josh said as he stared at the humans.

A few humans in the small protesting crowd snapped their disagreement. Markus did a quick scan of each person. Within the group of eight protesters, four were injured. Slices on their arms and chests, nothing notably deep. One of the protesters had a stab wound in their forearm.

"You guys don't mind your business when you protest," North hissed, tearing her arms out from Simon and Josh but she remained where she was because of Markus. "Your little wounds are from him defending himself!"

"You bitch, that ain't true. Just wait 'til the cops get here."

Mel stepped forward threateningly, but the motion didn't intimidate North at all, and she was ready to meet him head on. Markus stepped in the way, however, and grabbed up Mel by the collar, lifting him from the ground.

"Listen to me," Markus growled. "I've always stood by my decisions for peaceful solutions to everything, but I'm about to make an exception with you. The next time I hear about your little group causing harm to my people, your "protesting" days will be over."

Markus let Mel go and shoved him back into his friends just as a cop car pulled up with flashing lights. Markus glared at the hushed protesters for a moment, then turned to face the two police officers who got out of the vehicle. He was relieved to see Chris Miller as one of them. The cop he spared all those months ago at Capitol Park was a good man, a good officer, and now an advocate for android rights.

"Oh boy, should have known," Chris said, shaking his head.

"We got attacked during our peaceful protest! That fucker right there, he came running into our group like a damn animal and started stabbing us! You have to figure out a way to get him destroyed!" Mel said, pointing down at Gus, who winced from the raised voices and looked away. His LED flashed a bright red.

"Peaceful protest, huh?" Chris asked flatly.

"Don't believe them, Chris. They're lying. Gus wouldn't do anything like that," Simon said, glaring over at the group.

"Alright, alright." Chris sighed, motioning to the human protesters. "My partner will take your statements and check over your injuries before you go to the hospital. I'll take the statements from the androids."

"But they didn't see anything, they showed up after it happened!"

Chris ignored Mel, stepping over to Markus and his group. He took out a tablet, but he didn't bring up an app for their statements. "You think your friend could tell us what happened, or at least show you what happened with your little handy exchange technique you guys do?"

Simon knelt down beside Gus, gently putting a hand on his shoulder. "Gus? Can you tell us what happened?"

Gus drew away. "I-I didn't do anything."

"Tell him what happened, Gus. It will be alright," North said softly.

The android trembled, LED flashing red. Josh shook his head. "He's too stressed at the moment. We'll only make it worse prying him. We have to wait until he calms down."

Chris shrugged, lowering the tablet to his side. "I'm sure it's Mel's fault like usual. You guys go ahead and get him some help. Give me a statement later when he's able to talk."

"Well, sure, if you trust us. I wouldn't want you getting in trouble though," Markus stated.

"Nah, I trust you. Not North though."

"Hey!"

Chris chuckled, winking playfully at North. The female android shook her head, though a smile formed on her lips.

"Just get back to me later. Maybe I can actually book Mel this time and we won't have this problem again. I hope anyway. You guys stay out of trouble."

"See ya, Chris," North, Simon, and Josh said.

"Take care, Chris," Markus added.

Josh and Simon helped Gus to his feet. The injured android, still overstimulated and stressed, drew away from their touch. With gentle encouragement, they were able to get him to walk with them. Gus held himself like a nervous child, looking around. A little blue blood trickled down his arm from the injury, random blue sparking from shorted wires snapping within the arm.

"We better get him back to the center and see what we can do for him," Markus said. After a short diagnostic scan, Markus couldn't see any other injuries on Gus besides his arm, but his central core processing was through the roof, showing extreme distress. Markus couldn't understand why such a small injury would cause such a reaction. Then again, Gus was always sensitive, and so the humans' words and threats were probably a bigger cause than the injury itself. He wouldn't know for sure until Gus opened up to them.

The Detroit Police Department had become a cluster of energy and noise since the last time they were in during the morning hours. Phones rang on several lines, people talked over each other in the front lobby, waiting to speak to law enforcement or for the release of a friend from jail. An officer walked by with a cuffed man who spouted nonsense as he was taken to the back.

Hank and Connor left that mess behind, entering the bullpen where their desks were. Connor got distracted by one of the police K-9s while Hank was going on about the last baseball game. When the lieutenant turned around, his partner was gone, stooped down petting the dog on the next aisle.

Hank almost yelled out at the RK800, but stopped himself, watching as Connor smiled when the dog thumped its tail on the floor, staring up at him. The sight made the older detective smile. He kept it to himself, but he found these moments with Connor endearing. His partner was highly intelligent and rational, able to kick any kind of ass with near ease, but his post-deviancy behavior allowed him to have innocence akin to a child at times. When Connor stepped back around to join Hank once more, he continued his conversation, heading towards the break room to get a bottled water.

As they were leaving the break room for their desks, they bumped into Detective Gavin Reed. The younger, brash detective sneered at them, and Hank barely caught himself from rolling his eyes.

"What's up, Lieutenant? Still have your plastic dog following you around I see."

Hank pretended he had to swallow something, putting his hand to his mouth. "Oh, sorry. Just threw up a little in my mouth."

Gavin snickered, taking the bait. "Well, maybe if you wouldn't drink so much, you could keep a lot more shit down instead of flinging it outta your mouth."

"Oh, another fucking drinking jab. It's like you can't come up with anything else clever, Gavin."

"If I may," Connor said, looking between the two law men. "The Lieutenant doesn't drink as much as he used to. He is getting better, Detective Reed."

"Yeah, cause you act like my nanny sometimes," Hank grumbled.

Gavin snorted. "A nanny and a pet? Oh, he has multiple uses then."

Hank glared at the younger detective. "Hey, only I can insult Connor, shithead. He knows I'm just messing with him. That's not the case with you."

"So?" Gavin folded his arms. He glared at the RK800. "Why you with this old asshole anyway? You say you have free will, yet you let him order you around? He still treats you like a dumb machine…I mean granted, you are still a dumb machine, but I thought you could do whatever you want now? Go mingle with a copy machine or something. You'd probably get more enjoyment out of it."

"Why you!" Hank snapped, jerking forward.

Connor stepped between them with one graceful step, stopping the lieutenant from grabbing Gavin up.

"Please, Lieutenant," Connor pleaded. "He is only trying to incite this reaction out of you to get you in trouble. I advise you to just walk away. We can ignore him."

Gavin laughed, smacking his hands together. "Yes, let him ignore his problems. Look how well that's played out for him so far."

"Yeah and believe me, I know from experience, karma is a bitch. I'm looking forward to the day it comes back to you," Hank said, stepping away. He motioned at Connor, still glaring at Gavin. "Connor, initiate an insulting sendoff while we walk away from this prick."

Connor blinked. "Oh…I have 41 different responses for just Detective Reed logged away from various scenarios. Which one would you like?"

"I don't know, pick one that really gets the point across!"

Connor thought it over a moment then turned to Gavin.

"Go fuck yourself, Detective Reed," he said politely.

"Hah!"

Hank shoved past Gavin while laughing. Connor followed after him. They sat at their desks and while Hank gave Captain Jeffrey Fowler a call on the desk phone, Connor transmitted all of the evidence and notes he took at the crime scene into their computers. After Hank got off the phone, they reviewed the notes and exchanged theories. Connor picked up a behavioral change in Hank as the older man fixated on some notes. He wasn't quite as talkative or chipper as he was when they arrived at the police department. The detective android at this point knew the lieutenant well enough to know something was wrong.

"Is something the matter, Lieutenant?" Connor asked, cocking his head slightly. Despite them having become good friends and partners, Connor still called him by his title at times out of old programming habits, but for the most part had stuck with calling Hank by his first name, per Hank's request.

Hank was quiet, thinking. He scratched the back of his head, letting out a soft sigh. "You know I don't think of you as a machine, right? I mean, of course you know that, I just…fuck I mean…"

"You're doing it again," Connor stated, amused.

"What?"

"You're letting Detective Reed get to you. I know what he says is…how do you put it? Full of shit? Everything's fine, Hank."

Hank slowly smiled, and Connor continued. "Although, I think he may have been right about the copy machine."

Hank frowned.

"I would get more enjoyment out of it than I would talking with him."

Hank smacked his desk, chuckling. "Heh, that's for damn sure."

"Do you think Detective Reed will ever change?"

Hank snorted. "Doubt it. Maybe when pigs fuckin' fly!"

"But…that's biologically impossible."

Hank groaned. "That's the point of that saying, son. It won't ever happen."

"Oh," Connor said, and then glanced across the rows of desks where Gavin sat at his own. "There has to be a reason why he is the way he is."

"Yeah, it's called just being an asshole. Welcome to being human, Connor. Humans are just nasty to each other because they can be. Gavin thinks he's better than everyone else. He's in this for the glory, not for protecting the innocent."

"You really don't like him, do you?" Connor asked.

"Let's just say if I came across Gavin getting mauled by a bear, I would push up a chair and watch. And take pictures. And post them on the internet."

Before Connor could remark on that, Hank's desk phone rang and he answered it. "Lieutenant Anderson speaking." There was a pause as he listened. "Oh, of course. Send him over."

He hung the phone up and got to his feet. Connor watched him before moving out of his chair as well.

"The victim's father is here to speak to us."

After a few moments they saw Kent Hubb being guided back to them by a police officer. Connor immediately scanned him. He was 50 years old, was a car mechanic and owned a few rent houses within Detroit's suburbs. He was a broad man covered in tattoos with a graying beard. The physical scan alerted Connor to the man being distressed. He had been crying, and his heart rate was up.

"Mr. Hubb? Lieutenant Hank Anderson, this is my partner Connor. We'd like to ask you a few questions about your daughter."

Kent nodded, briefly shaking Hank's hand. "I-I'll do my best. I just…I can't believe this is happening."

Hank pulled a chair over for the grieving father, offering it to him. Kent weakly smiled thanks and sat down. Hank sat down at his desk while Connor came around to stand next to his partner.

"I'm sorry about the loss of your daughter. We will do all in our power to figure out what happened," Hank said. "Please, tell us about your android Sam."

"W-well, I got him a little over four years ago, pre-owned. I got him to help me keep up with the properties I own. Never had a problem with him. After Lizzie moved back home for awhile from finishing college, I noticed his behavior was slightly off, but it was nothing bad. Never turned it in. He and Lizzie became friends, you know, and well it kept her around more often so I didn't think anything of it. Well then the deviant thing started happening and I realized…that Sam must've been one for a while. I didn't turn him in though, I mean he was part of the family, Lizzie would've been crushed. A-After it all blew over and life started returning to normal, I still allowed Sam around. He wanted to be with us and I didn't have a problem with that."

Kent Hubb grew quiet, eyes lowering to his fidgeting hands in his lap. Connor kept a constant analysis running for the man to signal any sort of deceit or giveaways. Hank glanced up at Connor for a moment, but the android didn't notice, his focus solely on Mr. Hubb.

"Any idea why Sam would attack and kill her?" Hank asked.

Kent sobbed for a moment but soon collected himself. He shook his head. "N-no. He was always kind and well-behaved. Even with him being a deviant, he never showed any kind of aggression or ill will towards us. I…I just don't understand. He never would've hurt her."

"The store owner told us about a male college friend that came to see her at the clothing shop while Sam was there with her about two months ago," Connor said. "According to her, Sam shoved this friend away, causing a conflict. When he and Miss Hubb left, they were arguing. Did you know about this?"

Kent thought it over, slightly shaking his head. "No. I-I don't recall that, but now that you mention it, about two weeks ago she went on a date. Sam was really down and…frustrated. I told him that him and Lizzie could never be together, not like that. I told him to let it go. Sam got up and left. We didn't see him for almost a week."

"When you saw him again," Connor asked. "Did he have any noticeable behavioral changes?"

Kent nodded. "Yeah…jumpy. Glitchy? I don't know. He seemed confused. He said weird things, was forgetful. Kept saying something about hearing static in his head. B-but he wasn't different towards us. There was no signs of hate or aggression towards me or Lizzie, and we went about life as normal."

"Anything else you can think of that could be related to this?" Hank inquired.

Kent wiped his eyes, a shaky breath coming from his mouth. "Not that I…I can think of. It's all too much right now. I just…I can't believe this. Lizzie was a good girl. This shouldn't have happened to her. And Sam…I just can't see him hurting her. Not on purpose."

Hank stood up. He walked over to the victim's father just as he got to his feet. "Go home, Mr. Hubb. Get some rest. Give yourself some time. If you think of anything else that could be of use to us, please give us a call."

"I sure will…th-thank you, Lieutenant."

The man turned and left, heading for the front lobby of the police department. Connor and Hank watched him go for a moment, both quiet and thinking over the man's words.

[Victim's father told the truth.]

"Well?" Hank asked.

Connor shook his head, leaning on Hank's desk. "No deceit. He was telling the truth."

"Whatcha thinkin'?"

Connor processed his thoughts, linking the stories from Mr. Hubb, Mrs. Hendy, and the evidence found at the crime scene. "I think Sam loved Miss Hubb. I think he had an emotional shock post-deviancy that created issues that he didn't know how to handle. I think he had an emotional overload and killed her, because he loved her, but couldn't be with her, and so he killed them both. Maybe it was accidental, a crime of passion. When he realized what he had done, he self-destructed."

Hank pursed his lips for a moment, thinking, a long finger tapping on his desk. "Thing is…there's no laws against humans and androids being together romantically. So, he must've been told by her father it wasn't possible like he said, meaning he wouldn't allow it, or she turned him down."

"Guess we won't know for sure until we can get him reactivated," Connor said.

"You were right…it was personal."

Connor didn't say anything, thinking through any other possibilities it could be that the WR600 would kill a human girl he obviously loved. To him, it was irrational to kill someone you love. But Hank often told him that love was the most irrational human emotion of all.

He felt Hank's large hand plop onto his head, patting him. It broke him from his thoughts and he looked over at his partner. "C'mon, let's go home."

A/N: And there's Chapter 2! Don't worry KAL fans, Kara, Alice, and Luther will come in soon as the story starts rolling. Thank you for all who has favorited/followed this story and all the feedback I've received so far! Hope you all enjoy what's to come, I have so many plans for this, hehehehe. Have a great weekend. :D