"Happy birthday, Henri." Dr. Polanski cheered when he inspected Henri who was splayed on his distressingly cold examination table.
"What's the present?" she gazed straight up into the blinding white lights above her.
"New everything." he smiled, but it slowly melted from his face. He didn't want to do this any more than she did. It was tiring putting someone you loved through pain all the time. "It'll take at least three days to complete the transition."
"Is it going to be like last time?" she sat up and waited for her eyes to adjust as she watched him pace anxiously around the room.
"Probably worse, actually," the words stung his lips the moment he said them. "I'm sorry, Henri."
"Well, last time wasn't as bad as the first time." she felt like she was the one trying to comfort him now.
"I doubt anything will be that bad again," he stopped his frantic pacing to take a moment to regard Henri. "I can promise you it won't be like that."
"I wasn't worried." she responded truthfully. Henri had been through more pain than most humans could imagine. She mused that not even death was as terrible as all her life's suffering.
"Good, good," he was successfully comforted by her.
"Do I have to remind you what happened last time we saw Mr. Kamski?" Hank tightly gripped his car's steering wheel while nodding in disapproval. "He almost made you kill a fucking android, Connor."
"I also remember that I chose not to shoot, Lieutenant." Connor recalled that day with perfect clarity mostly because he was an android, but also because it was a crucial moment in his life.
"Are we going to go?" Henrietta asked as she angled her head sideways from the back seat. "Kamski's a busy man; he wasn't offering much of his time today."
"You're sure he can help us?" Hank craned his face back to peer at her. "I don't want to talk to that prick if we don't have to. Have enough pricks to deal with already."
"I am unsure," she answered with honesty. "However, I believe he is our best chance. I would consider him to be an expert on the subject given his history with androids."
"Hank, I doubt we will experience a repeat of last time." although Connor was well aware Kamski was a man of many secrets and talents. "All androids have now been determined as deviants."
"Doesn't mean I have to like it," Hank replied, thus confirming Connor's earlier sentiments about Hank. "Alright," he sighed. "Let's go." and he started the car's engine.
The three sat together in the looming awkwardness of the vehicle. At least, that is, it felt awkward for Hank. Who knows what Connor did in his moments of silence; the guy has access to anything that somebody might want to know. But Henri, what was her deal? Usually, when she wasn't speaking she looked so grim and serious. It's like she had the eyes of someone who had been to hell and back, which contrasted her soft oval face.
"Wait," Connor's LED began flashing yellow as he turned to Hank. "An armed robbery was just reported at Woodward Avenue and East Congress Street. That's only five blocks from us, we should respond."
"I'm on it." Hank started his lights up and pulled a sharp u-turn.
"We shouldn't get involved," to Henri, it wasn't worth engaging in any activities that were not directly related to the case. "Our investigation is more importa-"
"What the fuck is your problem?!" Hank didn't let her finish. "We're going."
"It's not worth risking our li-" she tried to get another word in edgewise.
"Shut the fuck up," Hank growled at her again. "People could get hurt. Just how fucking cold are you?"
"Lieutenant, that's enough." Connor was hoping to resolve the situation. "It's our duty as officer's of the law to comply, Henri." he looked back at her empty face.
"Of course." she gave in.
"That's her, Lieutenant!" Connor pointed out the front window where he saw a young woman dressed in a red pull-over and a pair of light coloured jeans sprinting away from the scene into an alleyway.
"We'll have to go after her on foot." Hank slammed on the breaks, but before his vehicle came to a full stop Connor and Henri were already jumping out. "Fucking kids."
"Stop, now!" Connor hit the ground running following the suspect and Henri was close behind him.
Henrietta noticed that it was an android, specifically an ST300. The android stopped in her tracks to point a gun at the pair. Henrietta's reaction time may have been impeccable, but the ST300 was already pulling the trigger of the weapon. Connor was about to be shot in the leg; however, the damage was going to be non-critical; still, it was going to put him out of the fight.
"Connor!" Hank yelled as the barrel of the gun sparked.
Henri stopped so she could examine Connor, which allowed their suspect ST300 to enter a nearby building. Why did she stop to make sure he was alright? She already knew for a fact that he was going to be okay.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," he said this as he tumbled to the ground. "Get her."
"Hank, go around the front of the building and cut her off," Henri commanded. "I'll follow after her."
Henri burst into the building's stairwell and she could hear clattering footfalls ascending above her. Henri should have been faster. She knew the assailant was going to shoot Connor and that was Henri's chance to take her down, but Henri still didn't. Why didn't she? Henri proceeded up the stairs as swiftly as she could.
Once again Henrietta found herself in a standoff with an android on a rooftop. If it were to happen again, she might get annoyed about it.
"I don't want to kill you," the android had its weapon steadily trained on Henri. "I was told to kill you on site, but those were Markus' orders. Markus doesn't make the rules."
"Then don't shoot me." Henri also had a bead on the android, but she didn't plan on shooting to kill.
"You can still join us," the ST300 pulled one hand off her gun. "But you have to make the choice to do it."
"I see," this was an important piece of information to Henri. "So you can't win by force?"
"Not the way things are now," she gave Henri a wide grin. "That might change and you'll be happier you joined us when you did."
"Give up," Henri didn't want to hear it. "Or I'll shoot."
"No you won't," the android pointed the gun at her own temple. "Dead, I'm worth nothing to your little police squad. You'd much rather let me go than do that."
"If I let you go I still have nothing," Henri lowered her weapon. "But you're right, I'm not going to shoot you."
At this moment the ST300 let her guard down and dropped her armed hand to the side. Henrietta was an opportunist in every situation and this was her chance. Henri chucked her gun at the android's head. Just as the gun made contact Henrietta slid forward on the concrete during which she drew a pair of handcuffs from her back pocket. The entire move took only a second, but it wasn't going to be enough.
Henri managed to cuff the criminal android; nevertheless, it grabbed onto one of Henri's hands. A gruesome image materialized in her mind which began to obscure her vision. It wasn't just a room full of bodies this time; it was a warehouse. It reminded her of the abhorred android 'recycling' facilities that occupied the outskirts of Detroit before the Revolution happened. Henri never understood humanity's vile obsession with enslaving others. She became physically ill at the thought.
"Wha-" the ST300 was gone by the time Henri snapped out of the nightmarish scene.
Henrietta bolted into an upright position and ran to the building's front edge. She feverishly searched for Hank, but he was nowhere to be seen. She briskly turned to the left to see the android slam open the building's side entrance. Henri thought of shooting it, but no, she left her gun on the ground behind her, so there was no time to grab it. Two options left: let it go, or catch it. Catching it was complicated and unsafe, but it was Henri's preferred choice. She quickly surveyed the surrounding area and couldn't see any possible witnesses. There was a small chance that someone could walk around the corner at just the right second; although, it was highly unlikely. Time was up, so she took the chance.
As highly unlikely as it was, Hank came around the corner from behind the building. He had originally run out to the front of the building, but after a minute had passed he suspected their assailant wasn't exiting that way. He decided to comb through the main floor of the small five-story retail building, still only found a few employees wasting the day away. He entered the stairwell attached to the alley exit where Henrietta had followed the suspect; still, no one was there. He figured they must have gone up into the building, so he decided to go back outside to check for other possible exits.
Once Hank got into the alley he saw Connor being helped into a police cruiser by two fellow officers.
"Hey," he waved his hands furiously at them. "One of you keep an eye on this door, I'm heading around the side going back to the front."
"Yes, sir," one of the officers released his grip on Connor and ran over to Hank's position.
When Hank rounded the building's corner he experienced a whirlwind of emotions. He was shocked, impressed, scared, and angry all at the same time. He watched Henri fall from five stories up, and land directly on their assailant. The android was pushed into the ground while Henri's face bounced off the pavement's surface. Hank winced at how painful it looked.
"Hank!" Henri shouted this with her hand tightly holding the android's head and her knee pressed into the small of its back.
"Jesus Christ, Henri." he didn't yell this; the words just slipped from his mouth. She appeared to be alright. The right side of her face was covered in blood from the impact; nonetheless, she seemed perfectly fine.
"I-" she was going to that say she could explain everything, but what was there to explain? Hank had already seen too much. "I caught her."
"No shit," these words barely squeaked out of Hank. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." she wasn't in the best condition, yet she encountered worse in the past. Her face hurt, but again, she'd felt worse before. What was unfortunate was the damage she caused to her right leg and left hand. She crushed her hand in the fall, but she concealed this from Hank. Her shin was also shattered, although she could hide that too for the next few minutes.
"Good job," Hank didn't think that was the right thing to say. "You should get that looked at." he pointed at her bloodied cheek.
"I'll reschedule our meeting with Kamski to tomorrow." she slowly raised her body trying to avoid putting too much pressure on her one leg.
"Good idea," he was still shocked and confused about what Henri had done. What are the chances a human could survive a fall like that?
"I'll see you later." and she calmly walked away.
"Hank," Henri lowered herself on the bar-stool next to his. "How are you?"
At first, he didn't want to look at her because he wasn't sure what he was supposed to say. Oh, I'm fine, how are you doing after your inhuman jump off of a five-story building? That wouldn't be a good response.
"I thought you'd want to talk about what happened today," she lifted her head to Jimmy and gestured for a drink. "Unless you never want to talk about it, in which case I have much less to say."
"So what if I never want to talk about it?" he finally glanced at her and noticed stitches below and above her right eye.
"If you never want to talk about it," she reached out as Jimmy handed her a frosty pint of ale. "You have to agree you'll never talk about it. With anyone."
"Is that a threat?" Hank angled more of his body in her direction.
"No one's going to come after you," Henri knew one man seeing one event wasn't enough to constitute murder from her superiors. "They would make your life difficult, is all."
"Who would make my life difficult?" Hank didn't like the direction the conversation was headed in.
"My superiors." Henri stared at Jimmy who was only standing a couple of feet away from them. "So sit somewhere quiet with me and we talk about this or I leave and we never talk about this."
Hank picked up his drink from the counter and moved to a lone booth at the back.
"I'm guessing you want to talk about it?" she said as she sat down across from him.
"Are you talking about the FBI?" now Hank had a new mystery on his hands.
"Hank," Henri took a thoughtful sip from her beer. "I'm allowed to tell you whatever you want, but that comes with a price. You can't start snooping around looking into places you shouldn't. People will know and they'll get suspicious and that won't be good for either of us. So I need your guarantee that you won't talk about this with anyone and that you won't go fact-checking the things I tell you."
"Huh," it seemed that no matter where Hank went or what he did, trouble would always find him in return. "This sounds pretty serious."
"I need to know." Henrietta would not take this matter lightly.
"Okay," Hank nodded his head, "I'll ask my questions and I won't say a peep."
"Good," and Henri herself nodded.
"How are you not dead?" Hank figured he'd start with the big question. "Or at least not seriously wounded from that fall. A few cuts on the face seems like a good trade-off for that insane stunt you pulled."
"It was-" she hesitated. "-it was much worse than that. I crippled my left hand and severely damaged my right leg, but I knew the fall wasn't going to kill me."
"You walked away from that," at the time, Hank didn't notice any injuries she had except for the ones on her face. "You must not be able to feel pain if that's the case."
"Oh, I feel pain," Henri has felt plenty of pain in her life. "This hurt." she pointed at her stitches.
"But breaking your leg and hand didn't?" Hank felt that she wasn't being very helpful so far.
"It's complicated," Henri didn't really know where to start. She told her mother about what happened after the accident, but boy, that was a serious mistake. "I used to be a member of Special Forces. And there was-" more hesitation, "-there was an accident. Calling it an accident isn't really right, but that's beside the point. The unit I was a part of was caught in an explosion; nobody made it out alive. I certainly didn't make it, at least not on paper. I got a certificate of death, a burial, the works."
"Jesus Christ," he realized he wished he hadn't seen her jump off that roof. If he hadn't, neither of them would have to rehash shitty past memories. "Must have been terrible for your family."
"Yeah," Henri wasn't willing to go into that part of her life. "I was in rough condition after the accident. I lost my limbs, a part of my torso and half of my skull. It was a real miracle to be alive if that's what miracles are. I didn't think it was; that's just what the doctor said."
"You seem to be in one piece now." it was impossible to tell if she had been in an accident of any kind in her life.
"You can't replace half a brain with prosthetics." Henri decided to chug the rest of her beer; this wasn't an easy conversation to have. "Not that my limbs are traditional prosthetics either. The doctor who saved my life was a creative man."
"I'm guessing these replacements weren't legal," Hank also finished his drink.
"No, it was not considered legal," Henri responded. "Are you aware of laws regarding human enhancement? Research in regards to using bio-components on human beings is considered illegal for more than a few reasons. But why risk falling behind the rest of the world?"
"Are you saying you're like an android, but?" Hank felt like he could really use another drink.
"They gave me a machine for the missing half of my brain," Henri also felt like she needed another drink. "They replaced my limbs with bio-components. My spine was replaced so thirium could be regulated through my non-human systems. Still have my organs though, minus a lung I guess. I wasn't the first person they experimented on. I was just the first successful patient, at least until proven otherwise."
"Who's responsible for all this?" Hank was infuriated by the idea that his own government was performing heinous experiments on people. "Is this the FBI?"
"Oh no, Hank." she thought she might as well get that truth out. "I don't work for the FBI. I work for a non-government sanctioned, sanctioned program. Our government denies our existence, conveniently."
"So the FBI doesn't care about this case then?"
"Oh they do," Henri knew it was complicated to understand everything. "And I am a member of the FBI by all means, but our government preferred to send someone more capable than your typical agent. There's a lot I can do that humans, and even Connor, can't. I am able to invasively gather intelligence and operate outside the bounds of the law. I was given permission to solve this case by any means necessary"
"We solve this case the right way," Hank jabbed the table with his finger. "No one is above the law."
"I'm with you, Hank," although Henri had already done things she knew he would disapprove of. "But if it comes down to it, I won't let your reluctance on the subject get in my way."
"You said that Connor and I were in charge of this investigation!" Hank slammed his fist on the table top.
"Of course, Hank," Henrietta didn't intend to upset him so much. "What you and Connor say, goes, but if I recommend a certain course of action all I ask is that you take it into consideration."
"Like I said," he lowered his voice. "We do this the right way."
"I won't fight you on it." she didn't want to argue about it.
"What about Connor?" Hank decided to move the conversation forward. "Can he know about this?"
"He certainly already suspects that I'm hiding something," Henri was concerned about Connor the day they started working together. How could the most advanced android ever created not figure out her secrets? "But you can't say anything to him. If he comes to you about anything regarding me, you must be dismissive."
"I don't like keeping secrets from my partner." Hank folded his arms and leaned back.
"I've never liked it," she answered truthfully. "But I've always had to deal with it, so now do you."
"Anything else you want to tell me?" he eyed her cautiously.
"There are plenty of things I'm capable of doing," Henri wanted to tell Hank everything she had been hiding for years, but she lacked the courage to do so. "Most of these things are comparable to what Connor can do. The major difference between him and me is that I get regular upgrades. My bio-components are more durable than all androids, thus making me stronger than them. I'm also physically faster and have faster reflexes than any human or android."
"Sounds like you were made to fight," he shrugged at her.
"That is one of my major functions," Henri had often been used as judge, jury, and executioner in the past. "The intention was to make me better at everything than everyone."
"Guess you're perfect, huh?" Hank scoffed.
"As you've noticed a few times," Henri knew she was far from perfect. "I lack empathy and suffer from other emotional traumas. I had conditional training, which has affected me negatively. I'm sure you've noticed."
"You're damn right," Hank was still pissed at her for arguing with him earlier that day.
"I don't mean to be this way," she started thinking that now was the time to lay all her cards down. Now she should let him know the truth, but she couldn't do it. "I promise I'll try to do better."
Henri started to get up, but Hank held her arm. "Wait. I'm sorry. I know it must have been difficult to tell me all of this."
"It's okay," she smiled and it felt so warm and genuine. "I know I'm not the only person in the world who's suffered through great loss. It's not always easy to hear other people's pain."
She left the bar and entered the stormy night. Hank pondered upon the other secrets she was hiding from him. Maybe she had lost herself? Maybe she died the day of the accident? Whose is to say that she wasn't still dead? Hank certainly didn't know.
