"Have you two made any progress?" Connor approached Henrietta's desk holding two cups of coffee.
"Nothing yet." Ashley replied solemnly. "It's been three days. I'm still not sure what I'm looking for."
"It's not easy." Henrietta sighed in response. "There are hundreds of thousands of lines of code to pick through. It'll take some time."
"Have you thought about asking Cyberlife for help?" Connor figured if anyone could help, they could.
"Anyone who worked for Cyberlife before the Revolution was fired, Connor." Henrietta still didn't trust Cyberlife nonetheless. "Most of their employees are androids now, none of which could be helpful in this case. If you couldn't detect the anomaly, what makes you think they can?"
"That's a good point." Connor didn't really want to get Cyberlife involved in this anyways; androids or not. "I brought you two some coffee."
"Thanks." Ashley cheered at this, forever perky as she was.
"When was the last time you slept, Agent?" Connor bent towards her to examine her face more closely. He could see mild symptoms of sleep deprivation on her face.
"Connor," Ashley interrupted. "Don't be so formal. She's your partner, call her Henri."
"Is that what you prefer, Henri?" he liked the sound of it. Calling her Agent Monroe or Agent all the time did feel cold, but he didn't want to offend her.
"Of course," Henri said dismissively. "You can call me Grognak the Destroyer for all I care."
"Grognak the-" but Ashley cut Connor off before he could finish.
"She's joking Connor." Ashley nudged Henri back into reality. "It was a joke. Anywho, I need to go home and get some sleep. My next shift starts in five hours" Ashley wrapped her jacket around herself and patted Henri on the back. "I'll help out more tomorrow."
As Ashley parted ways Hank joined Connor who was still positioned in front of Henri's desk.
"I take it things are going well?" Hank peered down at Henri who was trying her best to concentrate.
"Slow, but steady." Connor replied for her.
"Hey, Lieutenant." Officer Miller called from the opposite side of the station. "I've got something for you." He approached the three of them. "A call just came in. An android killed a man and then committed suicide; Red Ice was found on the scene."
Connor, Hank, and Henrietta arrived at the Renaissance Center where the murder had taken place. But more specifically, it had taken place inside the central tower: The Detroit Marriott. The looming sense of the towers with the backdrop of rain made Hank feel uneasy. Hank was getting tired of all this rain; it was just so fucking depressing. Everything looked as grim as it felt that day.
"Imagine being murdered at the Marriott." Hank turned his head to the surrounding skyscrapers as he exited his car. "I bet the hotel manager is in a good mood. This is probably a fucking PR nightmare for the guy."
"The Renaissance Center is known as the world headquarters for General Motors." Connor had never been to the area, but he never had a reason until now. "They were one of the few American car companies to stay in business after the boom of self-driving cars in 2023."
"Okay." Hank put his hand up to Connor. "We aren't here for a history lesson."
"Sorry, Lieutenant." Connor dropped his expression. "I just thought it was an interesting fact."
"Don't discourage him, Hank." Henrietta butted into the conversation. "Androids are full of useless facts that humans aren't interested in."
"That was a joke?" Connor wondered and if so, he was amused by it. "It's unlike you to make jokes, Henri."
"I don't think you've known me long enough to make that judgment." she peered at him with an empty expression. "I can make jokes."
"You two are killing me." Hank rolled his eyes at their silly exchange. "Let's move on."
The room where everything had taken place was on the 49th floor. It wasn't an exceptionally lavish suite, but it was certainly eye-catching now with its new paint job of red and blue. It was clear they were having an exciting party before the fun came to an end. The room was littered with bottles of beer and champagne and some scraps of food were scattered around. Obviously, a pipe filled with Red Ice was present as well. The centrepiece; however, was the dead female android and dead human male.
"So she killed him then turned the gun on herself?" Hank asked rhetorically. "Guess it wasn't that great of a party after all."
"See anything?" Henrietta questioned Connor. Androids could see a lot more than humans could, but so could Henri. She already had her suspicions about how this scene played out.
"That seems to be exactly what transpired." Connor answered, but something also seemed suspicious to him.
"Any chance she can be reactivated?" Hank inquired as he gestured at the dead android. He had seen Connor do it before a few times. It was something Connor expressed that he would rather not do. Could you imagine dying only to be brought back for a few minutes to be interrogated? A traumatic experience that Connor preferred to avoid and Hank understood this.
"Not possible." Henrietta replied before Connor could. "She has certainly been destroyed."
"No one to question this time." Hank opened up a wallet left sitting on the nightstand. "Rupert Garland, age 32. Nothing sentimental inside the wallet."
"Except the wallet itself." Henrietta pointed to the front of the wallet where an elaborate design had been stamped into the leather. "It's well worn and unlikely to be something he purchased for himself."
Hank was mildly impressed by Henrietta's observational skills.
"Do we know anything about the android?" Hank placed the wallet back down and turned to Chris.
"We didn't find anything in the room to identify her with." Chris pointed to a red purse on the floor. "Nothing in there besides cash, a change of clothes, and some makeup."
"She's a prostitute." Henrietta was casually leaning against the wall. "I think there was a third person here, Hank."
"I agree with her." Connor said this while crouched next to the dead android lying on the carpet. Once again, he was impressed by Henri's astuteness. "I found a partial handprint in this android's blood. There are also no fingerprints to be found, so it's possible it could have been an android."
"There are no signs of a struggle, either." Henrietta added. She was equally impressed by Connor's own astuteness. "It was likely Garland was passed out when he got shot."
"Maybe she couldn't handle the life of a prostitute anymore, so she killed him and ended her own life." Hank conjectured.
"No." Henrietta pushed away from the wall and looked at Hank. "If she was in the room with a third person, why not kill them, too? My theory is that whoever this third person is, they made her do it. She's forced to shoot him then herself and it just looks like a murder/suicide. Clever way to cover your tracks."
"She would have fought back if she didn't want to do it." Hank countered her theory.
"Not if the other person was an android." Connor quickly stood up with a pleased look on his face. "The other person was an android and they were controlling her."
"Is that even possible?" what androids were actually capable of doing was beyond Hank.
"Yes," Connor remembered how Markus and himself were able to make androids become deviants with a single touch. "If all our suspects so far have had this anomaly in their code, as Henri predicts, then it is likely that it is being transmitted through physical contact."
"None of this helps us catch this guy." Hank interjected.
"This place has CCTV." Henrietta answered. "We should be able to find out who else entered the room."
"I'll go examine the video footage." Connor knew he would be the most efficient one of the three at combing over the recordings.
"Alright, sounds good." Hank replied as Connor excused himself from the scene. "Any other thoughts, Henri?"
"Has anyone else on this floor been questioned?" she was a bit surprised by Hank's question, but maybe he was finally starting to like her.
"A couple in the room next door heard the gunshots." Officer Miller shrugged at Henrietta. "They phoned the police immediately and were the only ones who heard anything."
"How far could it have gotten?" Henrietta stepped outside of the room and looked back and forth down the hall.
"The call came in an hour ago." Hank joined her. "He could be long gone by now."
"Chris said the couple called the police as soon as the heard the gunshots." she stood stiffly and rotated her head in Hank's direction. "Officers would have been on the scene within a few minutes."
"Whoever it is we weren't looking for them until now." Hank was sure the suspect was gone by now. "They likely already escaped."
"Humor me." Henrietta was trying to concentrate on the sounds of the building. "Stop anyone else from leaving the building."
"You heard her, Chris." Hank turned back at the room. "Block all the exits."
"What if this android also felt guilty for what it had done?" Henrietta locked her eyes on the stairwell exit. "What if it was actually an accident? It didn't even know what was going to happen, so it got scared and hid."
"A double homicide accident?" the idea was a bit absurd for Hank.
"Possibly" she grinned at Hank. "Like all the others, it doesn't know about the anomaly in its code. It was surprised as anyone else."
At this point, Connor called Hank to inform the two of his findings.
"There was a male android who came in with the pair." Connor explained what he saw on the CCTV footage. "The two androids met the human in the hotel lobby where they proceeded to the room. There are cameras in the lobby, at all exits, and in the elevators. It seems that the male android never left the building and there is no footage of him on the elevator after his arrival."
"Connor, start checking floor by floor for him, we will do the same here. Send Officer Miller this guy's picture." Hank gaped blankly at Henrietta who was still focused on the stairwell.
"We should check the roof." Henrietta looked back at him.
"Chris!" Hank shouted into the suite. "Get your men to start going through the place and find this guy!"
"Hank, c'mon." Henrietta hollered as she pressed the elevator call button.
Henrietta had been watching him for a while now; almost two weeks at this point. He was the difficult kind of prey. He never wanted to be alone, so there were always witnesses around. There couldn't be any witnesses and it had to look like an accident. A man like this just simply couldn't be killed through the lens of a scope because too many people would come asking questions. She needed him alone.
She watched him take part in his traditional routine. He was a lady's man; a handsome billionaire. Oh so stereotypical in Henrietta's opinion. But just because he liked going home every night with a new lady, that doesn't imply he was a bad person. Henrietta liked killing scumbags, but orders are orders and she always obeys.
He was talking to a young and beautiful woman. Her hair was bleach blonde and longer than Henrietta had ever seen. Henrietta remembered how long her hair was when she was a child. She loved having long hair; unfortunately, things change when you enter the military. It was just always easier to have her hair cut short. Now that she was not technically a part of the military anymore, she could start growing it out again. Alexander Jones seemed partial to the long blondes though.
Henrietta waited for her victim's date to excuse herself to the restroom. Henrietta followed behind the fair-haired woman.
"I need to tell you something." Henrietta grabbed the woman's wrist and spun her around. "That guy is a sleazebag."
"What?" the woman yanked her arm free.
"Seriously." Henrietta implored the woman. "He comes in here five nights a week and picks up the first blonde he sees. He's a gross fucker."
"But that's Alexander Jones." the woman pleaded with Henrietta. "I might not get a chance like this again."
"A chance to catch syphilis?" Henrietta responded. "Come on, the guy is a player. What, he'll purchase your drink and that's it? Is it worth it?"
"Shit..." the girl sighed. "You're right, I'm out of here."
Henri watched the beautiful blonde make her way to the bar's rear exit.
"Looks like your date is ditching." Henrietta informed Alexander Jones about his pretty date's escape.
"Jolene!" he yelled at her. "Jolene! What the fuck?"
"Sorry, bud." Henrietta shrugged at him.
"For fuck's sake." he scowled at Henri. "Wait, I know you. Is this some kind of revenge? I'm sorry, lady, but you're not my type."
She wasn't his type because he preferred those long-haired, blonde, pencil girls. Henrietta wasn't as appealing with her short, red hair; it was too boyish he had told her. Maybe he was a scumbag after all.
"Gonna go home alone then?" she got closer to him and gazed at him seductively.
"What the fuck is your problem?" he backed away from her and left the bar alone.
"No witnesses." Henrietta whispered as she smirked to herself.
From there, killing him was a piece of cake. He lived in the penthouse suite in a condominium which was relatively new, but no high-rise was safe from Henrietta. She looked through his balcony window and could see him sitting on his sofa, drinking, in silence.
"What a terrible fate you have met." she mumbled to herself as she slowly slid the balcony door open.
He wasn't facing the balcony and he was intoxicated at this point, so he never saw Henri coming. It was simple, really. She grabbed his neck and twisted it so hard that the bones in it snapped. Not a single sound came out of his mouth; he never felt it. She picked up his body and slung it over her shoulders as she grabbed his bottle of amazingly expensive scotch. She easily climbed the stairs to his loft and pivoted herself to face down them.
"What a terrible fate indeed." she spoke as she tossed him back down the stairs.
Henri poured a bit of whiskey at the top of the stairs and threw the bottle after him. It shattered into a thousand stars on the floor next to him. It wasn't how she preferred to do things, but it was enough.
Hank slowly opened the stairwell door to the roof. He insisted on going first as if he could protect Henrietta. She knew if it came down to it, it would be her protecting him in the end. She steadily followed close behind him. The roof itself was fairly large with plenty of places to hide. It was perfectly silent besides the drops of gentle rain.
"Go around." Hank gestured with his head at a massive air-conditioning unit.
Henrietta gradually moved alongside the large unit with the intent to meet Hank on the other side, but by the time she got there, he was nowhere to be found.
"Hank?" she tried to speak softly. "Hank?"
She peered around the corner of the unit only to see their suspect holding a gun to the Lieutenant's head.
"Shit." Henrietta nodded disapprovingly.
"I didn't want this." the android held Hank closely in his arms. "You should have left me alone. I finished my job, I need to go home."
"You need to let him go." Henri kept her gun trained on the assailant.
"The humans must die." he shook his head in anger. "But she didn't want to be a part of it. I loved her, you know?"
"We can work this out," Henrietta desperately looked in Hank's eyes. She couldn't live with herself anymore if something happened to him. "But you gotta let him go."
"Not everyone understands what must be done." the android pushed the gun's muzzle closer to Hank's skull. "Do you understand? It must be done, he deemed it so."
"Who did?" Henrietta was trying to hide her own stress. "Who said it must be so?"
"Our one and only saviour, who else?!" the android shouted in response. "Humans must be stopped, don't you understand? I know you're not like them, so you understand."
"You need to put the gun down." she wondered what he meant when he said she wasn't like them. How would he know anything about her?
"Please, stop them." he reached a hand out at Henrietta. "Come, join us and stop this. I don't want to be here!"
"You'll be okay." Henrietta slowly reached out in return and approached him. "You don't have to do anything."
Her fingertips made contact with his and she used this opportunity to take him down. She grabbed his fingers tips, quickly pulled him downwards, and then kneed him in the head. He was left stunned by her move. She held her grip tightly on the android for a few more seconds before letting him slide to the damp ground.
"Are you alright?" Henrietta looked so concerned for Hank.
"Yeah, yeah." he replied, still in shock. "I'm fine."
Henrietta bent down to pull the gun from the android's hand, but he began to struggle against her. Hank attempted to intervene; however, instead he only got in Henrietta's way. The android pushed them both to the side and stood upright, holding the gun to his own head.
"I won't disappoint him." he took a few steps back. "Markus, forgive me." and he pulled the trigger.
"I fucked up." Hank planted his fists on Henrietta's desk. "Henri. I got in your way."
"It's not your fault." he wasn't wrong, but she didn't want him to feel guilty.
"I misjudged you." Hank nodded in despair. "You're younger, healthier than me."
"Hank, you made a mistake." she turned up at him. "We don't have to think about it again."
Connor watched this from a distance. To him, it sounded like she had saved Hank's life. Connor was grateful for this; he wasn't sure what he would do if Hank died. If it wasn't for Henri, who knows what would have happened on that roof. He was happy to have her around.
"Think on the bright side," Henrietta tried to be positive for Hank's sake. "We have a new suspect. We might not have gotten that information from him elsewhere."
Both Hank and Henri turned to look at Connor who was still observing them.
"Have you had any luck?" Henri asked.
"As it turns out, Markus was reported missing two months ago." Connor never saw Markus after the night they gained independence for androids. "But I was able to make contact with an old friend of his. An android named Simon used to be one of his close companions."
"What did he say?" Hank often wondered about the other androids who helped the Revolution.
"He only agreed to speak about Markus in person." Connor had only a few encounters with Simon in the past. "And he requested that I come alone."
"When are you meeting him?" Henrietta questioned him.
"Not until two days from now." Simon was very specific about the time and place he wanted to meet Connor. "He wants to meet at 8 pm at the Ferndale train station."
"Whether or not he wanted you to go alone, I'll keep an eye on you." Connor may know Simon, but she doesn't, so she didn't believe that Connor would be safe. "Hank and I were going to give Carl Manfred a visit tomorrow. He was the previous owner of Markus. We're hoping he has at least seen Markus recently or can provide us with some information."
"Mother?" Henrietta panicked when she saw her mother sprawled on the kitchen floor. "Mother?!"
But her Mother couldn't hear Henri because her mother was dead.
"Oh God, no." Henrietta clutched her mother's limp body closely. "Oh God, no. Why?"
She hated her mother so much for so many reasons, but she loved her just the same. In the end, Henri wasn't even surprised her own mother would take her life like this. Henri's mother suffered every single day. All the days she ever knew her mother, the woman was suffering. Henri always felt responsible.
"I shouldn't have left." Henri whimpered into her mother's soft, dark hair. "I shouldn't have left you."
It was obvious that her mother had drugged herself to commit the suicide. Henri's mother always loved whatever drugs she could get her hands on. At first, Henrietta suspected it was an accident, but that wasn't true. She knew it wasn't true because her mother left behind two handwritten letters. One letter was addressed to Henri and the other was addressed to Henri's father.
Henri slumped in the kitchen chair and held the letter in her shaking hands. The name Etta was written so neatly on the front of the envelope. Henri's mother always called her Etta. It was a special term of endearment that Henri only ever allowed her mother to get away with.
My Angel Etta was printed on the top of the letter. I love you and I miss you every day. This was the second time I lost you, and once is enough for any mother. I hope you'll be happy someday, I know how much you hated the world and me. Find yourself a nice boy, one that can make you happy. You deserve to be happy and you never deserved me. I'm sorry for all those years of suffering I put you through, but I wish you had still been there for me when I needed you most.
"Fucking ridiculous." Henri spat in her mother's direction. "Still making me feel bad about you being a piece of shit."
Please don't wash all your family away. Please go see your father. Please give him the letter I wrote. Tell him I loved him and miss him, too. Remember the line at the end of that story? I look upon the stars and what do I see? The only thing I ever saw was you.
And Henri wept when she read the final line. She never imagined herself crying this much when her mother passed away. Maybe it was because she thought her mother didn't deserve it, or maybe it's because Henri saw it coming, but either way, it still hurt. It hurt more than anything. It hurt more than all the awful things the world had already put her through. It would hurt for the rest of her life.
