A/N: Thanks for the love and allowing me to tell this story. Now I will make it worth your while. It should be noted that this story revolves mainly around three people that I'm bring in from N.C.I.S.; Hetty, Kensi and Deeks. I will mention other characters, but only in passing throughout the story. Eric has a small part too.
The fire fight get so intense that I have to duck behind a pillar; there are two cops that were hiding behind it. I look at the first one and ask.
"Tell me you packing a gun, Sheriff."
The Sheriff grunts at me, but I come to the realization that he doesn't have a gun. I turn to his deputy.
"How about you?" I ask.
"Oh, uh-uh." He says, shaking his head no.
"Crap. A bunch of cowboys up the butt and not one of them's got a darn gun." I mutter to myself.
I turn and peek from behind the pillar in time to see the perpetrator, and one of his men run away. The female cop yells out for them to stop, but one of the cyborgs that she shot at the beginning of the fight grabs her by the leg, and dangles her upside down; just staring at her. I realize that it might end badly for her, so I leave cover and run for the pair. I hear the cop screaming the entire time as I'm running over to save her, sort of. I punch the robot in the jaw with a right cross, laying him out. What I didn't notice was the cop go flying in the air. I stand my ground waiting for the robot to get back up, when I feel her fall across my shoulders, with her left leg next to my right ear, I'm momentarily winded from having her land on me with her full weight.
"Let me down! Let me down!" She exclaims.
I start to comply, but she continues talking.
"Look that jackal's getting away!" She says.
"What the." I say.
I feel the woman flip off my back, but something catches my attention. I see something on the floor that I missed when the fire fight first started. I see a trail of red in the direction of the fleeing bad guys. I look again and realize that the red trail is actually a liquid.
That looks like blood. I think.
I look down the open platform and realize that it's coming from the suitcase.
"No, wait!" I exclaim.
"Stay out of this, Detective." The woman says.
I hear her fire two rounds and it takes the bodyguard down. I hear her fire a third round, but it went wide and missed the suspect by a long shot. I see the woman line up the next shot.
"This is the Martian Police Department, Detective Deeks." She says "Did you have a nice trip?"
The crowd was silent so that when she took the shot that it echo perfectly throughout the station. In slow motion I see the guy fall to the ground as the suit case falls open. All around me, people watch in horror as the scene plays out in front of them. What would have been thirty seconds to play out, feels like a minute and a half. Some woman screams out when she sees the dead body, and then somebody recognizes the dead with entry wounds in both her head and chest. I hear a woman crying.
"It's McCanon!" A man shout.
"He killed her!" Another man shouted.
I watch as the crowd starts to run after him, like they were about to deal out a dose of mob justice for killing the woman. I start to follow the crowd, but I stop when I recognize the name. I look down and see a banner on the floor with a picture of the dead woman's face on it.
"The country singer?" I ask no one in particular.
The suspect starts to get back to his feet, slowly regaining his composure. He starts to freak out when he sees the blood on his hand. I now get a good look at the man; white male, about five feet eleven inches tall, probably about one hundred and forty pounds, eyes that are a shade of blue, and wild blond hair. I see him stand straight up looking at the crowd, and the cop who shot him. I see him stand back as he pulls out compact automatic rifle, and starts firing and wildly into the crowd; I hear him laughing manically, too. After he stops the crowd he continues firing, but he blows out the bay windows to his left. The crowd ducks for cover, but the cop keeps running. I see her twirling something on her index finger of her left hand, and then she send is flying at the suspect, who just happens to jumping out the window. I see what the object was that she threw at the guy.
It was a pair of hand cuffs.
I walk over to the window and look down. On one of the lower walkways was a car that was waiting for him, probably so he could make a quick getaway.
"Crap!" I say.
The man looks nonchalantly at the pair of hand cuffs on his wrist. Next thing I hear is more glass breaking. Both the suspect and I turn to see that female cop jumping off the platform on to his car.
"Huh?" I say, when I register the glass breaking; I look back to see that the cop was actually jumping off the platform after the suspect. I hear the car engine revving up to peel out just as the cop lands on the trunk of the car.
"Hey, wait? What the heck are you doing? You darn lunatic!" I shout after the woman.
I watch as the car drives off.
"This is insane." I say.
First day on the planet and I witness a homicide, per se. I didn't actually see the homicide take place, but I saw the killer try to get away with his victim.
Why did he want take the body? Why didn't he just leave it at the scene of the crime? I think.
The fact that he tried to leave with the leave with the body makes want to go check to see what's so important about it. I can hear people talking, groaning in pain from being shot or having glass fall on them, coughing in pain or in fear as I make my way over to the body. I hear a man expressing concern when he finds his loved one. Glad that she wasn't killed in the altercation on the platform. I squat down on my haunches and give a cursory glance of the body. I hear a little girl crying over the death of the country singer.
"Her name was Kelly McCanon." A woman said.
I turn and to my surprise it was the female cop that jumped off the platform not even ten minutes ago.
Who the heck is this woman? She had to of jumped at least thirty feet down to the waiting car. I think.
"She was a famous country singer. In fact, she was the only country singer in the universe. I guess they're extinct now." She says.
"And the suspect?" I ask, as I bend over to do a preliminary check of the body.
"I dunno." She says.
"Tell me, is that crazy getup you're wearing a standard issue Martian police uniform?" I ask.
The woman is wearing red boots that come up to the bottom of her calves, and thigh high black socks with buckles with garter straps attaching to her underwear. She's wear red hot pants, with a heart on the belt buckle. She's wear a red brassiere under a red leather jacket that comes down to her rib cage, and black gloves. She wears a choker that buckles in the front, and wears chain-link earrings with three links in each. Her gun is in a shoulder holster under her left arm. I hear her giggle before responding.
"Course not."
And Hetty has no problems with her officer roaming around like that? Okay. I think.
"So, what's your name?" I ask.
"The name's Kensi." She says, as she drapes herself over my shoulders. I feel her rub my shoulders, as she continues.
"Ooh, what a sexy back. I just love broad shoulders." Kensi says.
"Hey!" I say, sitting up right.
I hear Kensi grunting when she falls on her butt.
"What was that for, I was just being nice!" She exclaims.
"Listen. What's going on here? Is this somebody's idea of a sick joke? Annie Oakley here isn't even human." I says sternly to Kensi, getting in her face.
I hear Kensi gasps when she realizes that McCanon wasn't a human. She stands up, looking over me, and into the chest cavity of the dead woman and sees the light flickering on and off in its chest.
"It's a darn robot." I say.
I stand up right as I wait for a response from Kensi. When she doesn't answer I ask.
"What's wrong? What's going on?"
I see Kensi walk away to pick up her sunglasses.
"Spaceport police. This is their jurisdiction." Kensi says, and then walks away.
Some bright light gets my attention, and I turn to see that the vultures known as the "press" have already shown up and are taking pictures of the deceased. I turn back to watch Kensi some more. I grab my carry-on luggage bag, and then run after Kensi. We leave the space station, get in her car, and then head to the police station. When we enter the police station I hear the news reporter on the television say.
"In response to the Kelly McCanon incident, The Martian Police Department has created T.C.S., Technological Criminal SWAT to investigate. Lieutenant Lange of the M.P.D. decline further details."
In the squad room I see the plasma screen light up and a picture of the deceased was on the screen. Kensi and I were on the stage off to the right while Hetty took the podium. I see other veterans that have been on the force for several years. In the back I see Detectives Sam Hanna and G. Callen who have been on the force for the past twenty years, partners for the last five of them. I see Nell Jones who start here about two months ago. She has taking a shining to a guy name Eric Beale who also started not too long ago. The man down in front by the projector is Eddie, from the look of his aged body, and weathered, and hard-lined face he must have been a veteran off the force for the past twenty-five to thirty years.
"The million dollar question is, just what do we have here, a woman or a robot?" Hetty asks.
Some random man, whose name I never got from Kensi, stands up and continues with the briefing.
"Ma'am, the results from my preliminary findings are well, uh, interesting." The man said.
Define interesting. I think.
"I learn that the, uh, victim- shall we call her- is not a human nor a cyborg. After examining the body I concluded that she was entirely a robot. Her body tissue was of man-made organic origin. And she functioned through artificial intelligence. While no one is capable of creating a human brain." The man said.
"Yet." Hetty said.
Out the corner of my eye I see Kensi is blowing bubbles in her gum.
"Her computer brain was very sophisticated." The man said.
The entire time he is giving his findings he is sliding through different photos. First was of the skin on the out layer of her body. Next was of the musculoskeletal system, and the skeletal system. Final picture was of the woman's brain, or what qualifies as a brain for a robot.
"And, as I mentioned, her physical construction was created organically, but it was done with a technology much more advanced than the Second series models. I believe that the victim was a prototype built outside of regulations. It could also, uh, mean that there are other illegal models like her running around under our noses." The man said.
"Yes, thank you. And now Detective Deeks will give his report about the scene." Hetty said, motioning for me to approach the podium.
"Hi, I'm Martin Deeks from the Los Angeles Police Department." I say from the podium.
There was a yawn that tore through the silent squad room. It was coming from Eddie. I sigh to myself, and then shoot a glance over a Kensi, and she gives me a thumbs up.
"Uh, the suspects appeared. I mean, they seemed like they wanted to transport the body without anyone noticing. Um, probably to finish their work somewhere else in private. Officer Kensi there had been trailing the suspects and the all heck broke loose." I say.
"Miss. Blye, can you fill us in?" Hetty asked.
"Well, I trailed the suspects and saw they were equipped. I didn't think they were carrying a dead robot." Kensi said.
"So, what does that mean? That it was McCanon's impostor riding the shuttle?" Eddie asked.
"Shut up, Eddie!" Hetty exclaimed.
"Hmm." Eddie grunted.
"What did her manager have to say?" Hetty asked.
"Well, ma'am, according to him, he didn't see any difference between the woman he sat with and the real country-western singer. And nobody saw her come out of the arriving terminal. The only suspicious passenger he saw was Detective Deeks." Eric said.
Screw him! I think.
"Well, it seems that the trick for us is to find out where the real McCanon is." Hetty said.
"You know, maybe she was feeling her wild oats. Might have found herself some kind of wild lover." Eddie said, and then kissed his hat.
I roll my eyes at Eddie.
"Eddie, will you zip it!" Hetty exclaimed. "Just how was she acting inside the shuttle?"
"She acted fine. She was holding a normal conversation. Nothing seemed unusual about it to me. Heck, I wouldn't have been unable to tell her apart from a human." I say.
"Uh-huh. Uh." Eddie says, clearing his throat as he stands up. "Are you telling us that this robot was really McCanon? You think this prima donna was a machine from the beginning?" Eddie asked.
Something about Eddie's question remember about Kensi' reaction when I stated that the victim was a robot, so I started to back up like I was expecting Kensi to help me, but I was just buying time.
"No. I'm just saying that you can't distinguish it from a human being. Oh, hey, yeah, Kensi. When you realized that the corpse was a robot, you seemed shock, even upset. Did you think something was wrong?" I ask, but I don't give her leeway to think her answer over. "Well, did ya?"
"No, sir." Kensi said, and then looked away from me.
Something about how she looked away made me suspicious, but I let it go. Kensi blows one last bubble, and then Hetty concludes the briefing, She pulls me into her office, and gives me a side arm. Saying something about her people don't go unarmed. What caught my attention was the fact that Hetty has got a gun that was sort of a relic, a Beretta 92FS; I'm not exactly sure how she knew I would want this particular model, and I don't care. I head to the armory and grab a couple boxes of ammo, load the gun and magazines, and then I meet Kensi at the car. The drive to my new place was made in silence. It wasn't until we were walking to the elevator that Kensi started talking again.
"I hope you like your new place. It's probably not as nice as you're used to, but there's a housing shortage here. And besides, the rent is reasonably on this end of town." Kensi said.
"Gee, a regular Park Avenue." I said.
Kensi stops, and turns to glare at me. When I get out of the alley way we were walking in Kensi looked up, and I follow her gaze. I'm taken back by the complex being about twelve floors high, but what gets me is where there should have been sky, there's more artificial constructions in the sky above us.
"Whoa!" I say, out loud.
I hear the elevator say as we were getting off at my stop.
Twelfth floor.
"I'm sure it's better when you get inside." Kensi said.
Kensi unlocks the door, and we walk in. I wrinkle my nose at the smell prevailing throughout the apartment.
"Hmm." I grunted.
"Ugh, it smells stale. Hey is that all your luggage?" Kensi asks.
"Well, you know, with all the excitement at baggage claim today; ah, just as well. Probably stuff I wouldn't have need anyways." I say.
"There's enough trash here from Earth already." Kensi says, moving away from the door.
"Well, you do have a point about that." I say, agreeing with her.
I go to turn the video screen on, and some music is playing. I realize that it country music, and there was a person the screen playing a guitar. It was Kelly McCanon.
"Oh, look at this." I say.
I hear the newscaster start talking over the music.
"This is a tape sent by the suspect of yesterday's Saint Lowell spaceport shooting". He said.
"What's this some kind of memorial program?" I ask, as I was unbuttoning the top two buttons of my trench coat.
There were a few more scenes, and then the music started to die down. The screen fades to black, and then snow covers the screen. When the screen comes back into focus, I see someone with a guitar case come on screen as the newscaster started talking again. The man adjusted the camera lens.
"The following scenes contain graphic content, viewer discretion is advised. If you have children, please set your monitor to "L"." He says.
We get a good look at the person on screen. I recognize his face instantly.
"Hey, that's the guy." I say.
The suspect pulls a black screen down with the words RIGHT NOW written on them. In another part of the train we that Kelly McCanon and her manager were by themselves.
What are they doing by themselves? I think.
I'll go take care of the baggage babe. The manager said.
All right. Hurry back. McCanon said.
We see the suspect walk on to the camera, and I can see what looks like gun in one hand, and a guitar in the other. I see the suspect raise the gun and prepare to fire as McCanon was aware that she wasn't alone anymore.
Who are you? McCanon asked.
The only thing that could be heard throughout my apartment were the sounds of gun fire and McCanon's scream.