"Connor, Connor." chimed the young, perky officer known as Ashley Williams. "I'm sorry I didn't see you yesterday. I heard you were promoted to detective. Congratulations!"

"Thanks, Officer Williams." Connor understood that Ashley Williams appreciated his presence at the police station.

"I got you something." she beamed at him as she handed over a wrapped box. "Yesterday was your promotion and today is the anniversary of the Android Revolution, so you have lots to celebrate."

"I've never celebrated anything before." Connor turned the box in his hands and placed it on his desk. "Thank you for the gift, Officer."

"You should open it." Ashley insisted. "And please, remember, just call me Ashley. Officer Williams is so informal."

"I will remember that." Connor smiled and picked the gift back up and unwrapped it. "Headphones? I already have a pair, but I appreciate the gesture."

"I know you have some already." Ashley blushed with slight embarrassment. "These ones are really good and I know you like listening to music."

"I find the ones I already possess are sufficient for my enjoyment." he attempted to hand the headphones back to Ashley.

"Just take them, Connor." Henrietta stepped in to spare the girl any more shame.

"Yes, of course." Connor realized he had made a mistake. You should never say no to a gift presented in good faith. "I love them, Ashley."

"Oh, great." she blushed again, but not from embarrassment this time. "I have to go on patrol now, but I'll see you later, okay?"

She skipped away and joined another officer as she left.

"She seems energetic," Henrietta commented. "She also seems to like you a lot."

"I am aware." Connor frowned slightly. "Hank told me that she obviously really likes me."

"Don't you like her?" Henrietta was genuinely curious if he did. She knew a lot about how androids functioned as a machine, but she knew little about their blossoming emotional aspect.

"I do." Connor paused for a moment and averted his gaze from Henrietta.

"But?" Henrietta stepped into his line of sight.

"I don't have additional feelings for her besides that." he had awkwardly asked Hank once about how to know when you love someone; unfortunately, Hank wasn't willing to offer much information on the subject.

"Are you sure?" Henrietta thought about how confusing it must feel to be so immature emotionally. "Most humans live their entire lives not really knowing if they ever found true love. Love isn't an easily describable emotion; it means something different to everyone and there are different kinds of love."

"With humans, it seems that you know it when it happens, right?" Connor was curious if Henrietta was willing to offer some advice on the subject.

"That's why we are capable of loving those who cause us the most pain." Henrietta had experienced such a thing herself once or twice. "It's not very rational, is it?"

"Emotions aren't intrinsically rational." Connor acknowledged. "But I've learned I would rather have them than not, despite how confusing they are."

"That, I cannot agree with," Henrietta responded with a slight bit of despair in her voice as she took a seat at her desk. "We should probably go." she gestured her head in Hank's direction who was slumped over his desk.

"Are you ready yet?" Connor peered down at Hank and could tell that he was a bit hungover. "Long night, Lieutenant?"

"Yeah," he squinted in Connor's direction. "Yeah. I noticed you weren't there when I got home."

"Do you live together?" Henrietta interrupted from her desk.

"In a way." Connor replied. "I live with Hank because I have nowhere else to go. I don't require a place to sleep and I have very few possessions, but I mostly spend my time here at the station."

"Interesting." Henrietta gave Hank a smile, but it went unnoticed.

"Hank," Connor moved on from the subject. Not that he didn't want to talk about it. Connor enjoyed living with Hank, especially since Connor liked spending time with Sumo. Connor also knew that he was the sense of stability that Hank needed in his life. Hank tried to take care of himself; however, he required the occasional pick-me-up from Connor. Last night was a bit different; Connor knew Hank was desperate for some time alone. "We must depart now in order to arrive on time for our appointment at the detention centre."

"Yeah, yeah," Hank pushed his fists into his eyes and slowly stood up. "Let's get out of here."


Henrietta sat on a cold, white tiled floor. She shivered, not just because it was cold, but also because she was afraid. She knew that the mirror across from her was of the two way variety and that she was being watched. Her limbs appeared to be uncharacteristically black through her blurred vision. She had difficulty seeing anything out of her right eye.

"We would like you to try again, Henri." a flat toned voice boomed from the speakers in the room. "You must miss having a bed to sleep in. Do this for us and we will give it back."

"I don't know how to do that." she whimpered in response. "I can't keep it on."

"Try again for us." the voice boomed once more.

It was almost impossible for Henrietta to concentrate on one particular task. She could see all the memories of her life being played in her mind all at once; it was maddening.

"Try again for us." the voice repeated.

"I can't, I can't think straight." she cried to herself as she saw the accident being played over and over again in her head. "Where's Tom?"

"Tom is dead, Henri." this time the voice sounded frustrated. "We've been over this before, Henri. Tom died in the accident. Everyone died in the accident except for you."

"No, no, it can't," and then she remembered the pain. "No!"

"It's happening again." Captain Davis turned angrily towards Dr. Everett. "This isn't working!"

"You need to have patience with her." the doctor answered coolly. "She has made a lot of progress. You haven't the smallest clue about what it's like to be her right now, Captain. She needs time to adjust to everything."

"I was promised that I could start training her a week ago!" Davis snapped. "I need her as soon as possible."

"Give me one more week with her," Dr. Everett was not intimidated by the Captain's display. "and she will be ready. Remember, this is more than just using her as your military strong arm. She is something very special now."


"I would like to talk to them." Henrietta asked Connor and Hank as they waited outside the holding area of the detention centre.

"No fucking way." Hank responded in a harsh tone. "They don't know who you are and they were my suspects."

"Our suspects." Connor corrected the Lieutenant. "However, he is right. It might not be advisable for you to talk to them."

"You two have already had your chance with them." Henrietta needed to be able to contact the androids directly herself. "I might be able to get additional information out of them."

"That's not even what we're fucking here for." snapped Hank. "I thought you two just wanted fucking access to a program they had or whatever."

"Yes, I know." Henrietta remained calm with her tone. "But I still might be able to get something else out of them. How will you know if you don't give me a chance?"

"The Lieutenant is right, Agent." Connor wondered why she was so desperate to interrogate them herself. "If you talk to them, we risk upsetting them. We might not be able to get permission from them for the information we do require."

"Okay," Henrietta wasn't going to give up on this. "What if I assure the two of you that all I will attempt to acquire will be what we came here for? I've been assigned this case, too; I would like a moment personally with our suspects."

"I'll come in the room with you." Connor recalled all the times Hank gave him the benefit of the doubt in a situation.

"I'm not arguing with two of you." Hank folded to the pair. "I'll be watching."

Henrietta nodded her head and entered the temporary holding area with Connor. She calmly communicated with the first two androids and gained permission from them to access their programs. Connor watched how gentle she was with them. He was a bit stunned by her behaviour; after all, she seemed colder than any machine. She assured them that everything would be okay and that all she wanted was their help. She would softly caress their hands and sweetly smile into their eyes. Connor suspected she was not showing them true sympathy. It was an illusion; one which she clearly practised at.

"Hello." she smiled again so sweetly at the third android. Real or not, Connor found something so disarming about her smile. "I'm Special Agent Henrietta Monroe, but you can just call me Henri. All my friends call me Henri."

"I'm, I'm, I'm," this was an android that Connor had dealt with long before the murder. The android had been living in a squat by himself and suffered severe burn damages to his face. The android was hiding a Deviant AX400 who had recently assaulted her owner. "My name is Ralph."

"I have a favour to ask you, Ralph." that disarming smile was lowering Ralph's level of stress. "I need your help; only you can help me."

She would say anything to get what she wanted out of someone. Connor knew this because he used to be like that. It was upsetting to see someone else acting like the way he used to. It was never okay to manipulate people. Connor was suddenly not so sure if he could trust Henrietta anymore.

"Can you help me?" she slowly placed her hands on top of Ralph's. It was at that moment Connor saw Ralph's stress level jump to 100% for an instant then all the way down to 0%.

"Ralph will do anything for you." he replied so jovially. "Anything."

"I need access to two of your programs. I won't look at any of your memories, I promise." she seemed so sincere in her words.

"Of course, of course!" Ralph chirped back. "Just not Ralph's memories. Ralph's memories are for him."

At this point, Henrietta turned to Connor with a dead expression on her face. Connor wondered what was going on; something seemed wrong now.

"I won't look at your memories, Ralph." she slowly pulled her hands away and Ralph's stress spiked back up. "I know you did nothing wrong, Ralph. I know it's not really your fault."

"Not Ralph's fault, not his fault." he shook his head back and forth. Connor could see his level of stress rise up to 83%.

"You can tell me, Ralph." she locked eyes with him.

"Connor, what the fuck is she doing?" Hank shouted from the other side of the bars.

"I know you didn't do anything wrong, Ralph." Henrietta continued. "You can tell me."

"Connor, stop her!" Hank yelled again, but Connor didn't move. What was she even talking about? What did she mean when she said he didn't do anything wrong?

"No, nothing wrong." Ralph was swaying back and forth cradling his head in his arms. His stress level was at 97%.

"It's okay." Henrietta quickly grabbed Ralph's arms and he began to calm down once more. "You don't have to say anything else. I'm sorry."

It's as if Henrietta knew exactly how stressed Ralph was getting. Connor thought she was genuinely sorry for upsetting Ralph so much. She had no intention of causing him harm or discomfort.

"Ralph likes you." he grinned while a few tears trickled down his face. "But Ralph doesn't want to say."

"It's okay." she slowly released her grip on him once more. "You never have to say, Ralph. I know."

Henrietta and Connor left the holding cell only to quickly be berated by Hank.

"What the fuck was that about?!" Hank shouted furiously in Henrietta's face. "What do you think you were doing in there? And you," he turned to Connor. "why didn't you stop her?"

"I was aware that Agent Monroe could handle the situation." it has also never occurred to Connor that there was a chance these androids were actually innocent. "I think she may be on to something, Lieutenant."

"These are convicted criminals, Connor!" Hank fumed. "There's no question about what they did."

"They weren't lying to us, Agent." Connor added. "The evidence also made their guilt clear."

"But we came here because we suspect there is something wrong with them." after her contact with the three androids, she was certain there was something wrong with them. "What if they were programmed to do something bad? What if someone or something programmed them to do something they didn't want to and they never knew about it?"

"You said earlier that you believe there's an anomaly in their programming that is undetectable by a machine." Connor wondered if she had suspected this even before she examined the evidence related to the three cases. "If you find this anomaly in their program's code, do you think you could find out who is responsible for this?"

"Jesus Christ." Hank scoffed at the notion. "Are you two serious, do you really think that's true?"

"Yes." both Connor and Henrietta replied flatly.

"Fuck." Hank sighed at the two of them. "Is he right? Can you find out who did this?"

"There are no certainties," Henrietta responded. "but, it's the best chance we have of making any progress in this case.'

"I'm trusting you," Hank pointed at her. "I'm trusting both of you on this."


"Do you know how long it will take you to find this anomaly?" inquired Connor as he positioned himself next to Henrietta's desk. "Is there anything I can do to assist?"

"I don't know and no." she bluntly replied without looking away from her screen. "I did recruit Ashley to help me out. She took a minor in computer science at university, so she's somewhat familiar with programming. Unfortunately, she can only assist me when she's off duty and she isn't 100% sure what to look for."

"But you are?" Connor was curious about Henrietta's own educational background. Any information regarding where she was and what she did before the FBI is classified information; this in itself he found suspicious. "Do you have knowledge of the subject?"

"I know plenty about androids, Connor." she smirked to herself. "I also know plenty about computers. I'm sure I'll find what I'm looking for. I'll know it when I see it."

"I will leave you to it, then." Connor didn't feel it was the right moment to start questioning Henrietta on her past. Connor swivelled away from her to make his way back to his own desk.

"Connor," she stopped him. "Thanks for sticking up for me yesterday, with Hank, that is. He's a tough one to crack, but I can tell he really cares about you and trusts you."

"It may not seem like it," Connor smiled in reaction to her observation. "but, Hank is a good person; he cares more about competency and empathy in a person than anything. You seem to struggle with empathy, but you've shown us that you're quite intelligent."

"Oh..." Henrietta was caught off guard by Connor's bold statement. "Is that so?"

"I apologize." Connor briefly panicked realizing it wasn't the best thing he could have said to her. "That's not what I meant. You showed empathy towards Ralph yesterday."

"I'm not offended." Henrietta wasn't required to show empathy during her training; actually, empathy was discouraged. Empathy often got in the way of a mission; it could affect one's choices. "I'm not used to working with others, Connor. The last time was, well, long ago anyways. I'll do better."

"Hey, tin man," it was Gavin, of course. It was his favourite nickname for Connor, but not a particularly accurate one. "I need you to look at some stuff for-" he suddenly realized Henrietta was standing there. "What's a lovely lady like you hanging around a scrap of plastic like this?"

"This is Special Agent Henrietta Monroe." Connor learned to not be bothered by Gavin's weak jabs. "Agent Monroe, this is Detective Gavin Reed."

"FBI, huh?" Gavin raised his eyebrows at this. "Pretty nice for an FBI Agent. And what are you doing with him?"

"She's here to assist the Lieutenant and myself in our newly assigned case." Connor hoped that Gavin wouldn't offend her. "But, how can I help you, Detective?"

"Oh yeah," Gavin looked Henrietta up and down as she remained emotionless and speechless. "I need you to paraphrase some documents for me. I don't have time to be reading all that shit."

"Of course." Connor nodded. "I'd be happy to help."

"Let me know when you get bored of hanging around the tin man." Gavin winked at Henrietta as he went back to his desk. "I'm sure we could have some fun."

"Have a pleasant day, Detective." she bluntly replied and glanced at Connor. "Is he always like that?"

"Detective Reed is good at his job," Connor answered. "despite his demeanour and appearance."

"He is clearly on something." she noticed he displayed signs of drug abuse. "His complexion is slightly pale, the hollows of his eyes are dark, and he just proved he is incapable of concentrating for long periods of time. He may be functioning, but he has a problem."

"He displays symptoms of emotional trauma as well." Connor agreed with her assessment, although he never took the time to make one himself. He didn't dislike Gavin, he just didn't care for him. "I wouldn't be surprised, Agent."

"I'll get back to work." Henrietta turned back to her computer just in time to make eye contact with Captain Fowler who was standing just outside his office. "Wonderful." she whispered to herself.

"Henri." he barked at her. She could see Hank was already sitting in the Captain's office. "My office, now." she complied.

"I expect you to do what you're told, Agent. What happened yesterday at the prison was unacceptable." the Captain took a rather unpleasant tone with her. "You may work for the FBI, but Lieutenant Anderson is your acting superior."

"I understand." she turned to Hank who refused to make eye contact with her. "I was out of line, Lieutenant, I shouldn't have done it."

"You're damn fucking right." Hank almost whispered this as he scrutinized her.

"I'm very sorry." of everyone here, she cared the most about whether or not Hank liked her. "It was a mistake and I regret it. Both you and Connor told me not to do it, I should have listened."

"Alright, okay, good." Fowler was starting to sound annoyed. "Do it again and that's the end of this investigation for you. And I've had enough of your petty intolerances, Hank. Dismissed."

The two slowly stalked out of the Captain's office together.

"I really am sorry." Henrietta stopped before reaching her desk. "When we started, I told you I wasn't going to cause you any trouble; I broke that promise."

Hank didn't respond to her, but he shook his head in placation.


Henrietta sat comfortably on the rooftop with the black sky painted in bright stars behind her. It was a cool, crisp night; a beautiful night. She took pleasure in the silence that could be found on the highest rooftops in New York. The sounds of the city that never sleeps were a distant murmur. She smiled to herself, but she shouldn't do that. But why not enjoy the small things life has to offer? Why not enjoy what she could? Besides, if she was going to be stuck doing this kind of work forever, she may as well enjoy it. It would be a secret pleasure; to murder someone.

"I won't get emotional about it." she muttered to herself while she steadied the rifle in her hands.

She looked through the scope and into the window of the 37th floor of the adjacent building. Someone was having a good time. A bald Caucasian man was prancing around the room with two naked female androids. He had a drink in one hand and a pipe of Red Ice in the other.

"But he is a scumbag." Henrietta reassured herself. "He is the worst of the worst, Henri. He is not a good man by any means."

He tossed his empty glass at one of the androids and it did some mild damage to her face. She laughed it off, picked up the glass and got him a new drink.

"What a piece of shit." and she pulled the trigger.