AN: I don't know how many of these I'm going to do, I was watching the episode of Almost Human that this is based off of and thought it would be an interesting situation to insert Harrison into. In the episode, Detective Stahl is part of the team and she's Kennex and Dorian's friend but in my story, Harrison's just the new guy.
"Why me?" a familiar voice asked from behind him.
"I beg your pardon," John said as he looked at Detective Kirk.
"Crazy clones hold a gun to your head and tell you call one person. Of all the people in this unit and the department that you could've called, you picked me. Why?"
He smiled, "Because I knew that if anyone in this place would try to save me, it would be you."
Eight Hours Ago
John hates this. They had a dead cop, one dead witness, one missing witness and, as usual, he was cleaning up pieces of a destroyed VX. It wasn't that he was too good for the job, it was just a waste of his talents. He was an intelligence expert and this was a job that just about anyone could do. Being new to the unit, John didn't expect to be welcome with open arms but he also didn't expect to have to start over from scratch.
Given what he knows about Captain Pike and the team he put together, their unit was one of second chances. There was McCoy, the disgraced detective who spent a year and a half in a coma after a raid he led got ambushed and almost everyone was killed. Stiles, the former Vice detective with the bad attitude and the short fuse. Uhura, the chrome who no one wanted to work with because she's 'perfect'. And Kirk, the humanistic android Pike pulled out of storage despite the board's recommendation because she's a good cop. Like them, all John wanted was a chance to use his skills to do good work, keep the bad guys off the streets and help the good people of this city stay safe. Was that too much to ask?"
"Jem found the missing girl. She's keeping her safe," McCoy said as he walked into the hallway.
"Kirk has a knack for protecting people," John chuckled.
"That she does," McCoy smiled.
The expression looked good on the man who was repeatedly described to John as being mad, grumpy and difficult to work with. It only took about a minute to understand that Leonard McCoy had a right to his anger, his former partner faked his death and turned out to be a terrorist. Along with McCoy's ex-girlfriend, his old partner ruined what was, by all accounts, a happy life. From what John's observed, a lot of McCoy's recent happiness comes from his life with Kirk.
The android with a soul and better instincts than half the officers on the force, Jemma Kirk was a cop's cop. She was tough but fair and compassionate, a mix of by-the-book and off-the-book depending on the situation. Most importantly, she treated everyone from poorest people in the city to the wealthiest like they mattered. It's easy to see why Pike trusts her and McCoy loves her so much.
"We get anything in there?" John asked, pulling himself back on topic.
"It was a single shooter, entered by force, discharged a large-caliber weapon, took out the bailiff first, then shot and killed Haley Myers. No DNA. No prints. Armor-piercing rounds."
"Most likely purchased on the black market, so we have no way to trace them. Do we have any idea how the shooter found the safe house?" John asked.
"Yea, we found this tracker on the bailiff," McCoy said, holding up an evidence back with a small clear disc inside. "Someone must've figured out he was on the protection detail."
"And followed him here," John sighed as he examined the device.
"Morbid, making your VX hold the bin, isn't it?"
"He can handle it," John answered quickly before he realized why McCoy asked the question. "Unlike your partner, mine has no feelings one way or the other. For example, I would never ask Kirk to hold the bin. That would be cruel. We're collecting these pieces for Scotty, hopefully he can get something from the CPU."
"The Giants just scored. The score is now two to one," John's VX alerted him.
"Hey, whoa whoa, buddy, stop," McCoy said. "I'm recording that. Me and Jemma are gonna watch it after shift."
"Oh, sorry. He's been updating me," John told the other man.
"I didn't know you were a baseball fan," McCoy said, genuine surprise on his face.
"You never asked."
"So, this Vaughn girl had the Cerebellux procedure?" Stiles asked.
"It's relatively new and unproven. It's meant to increase percentage of brain usage in human beings. Enhancements have been known to add sensory abilities or a notable increase in intelligence. Similar to, but not the same as, the enhancements tailored to chromes," Kirk said from her usual spot; next to McCoy, leaning against his desk.
"When Maya touches an item that belongs to a deceased person, she can hear them from the great beyond," McCoy added.
"That's insane," Stiles said.
"Is it?" Kirk asked. "We live in a world with genetically modified perfection," she made a motion in John's direction, "and people made out of silicon and carbon fiber." She pointed at herself. "Given everything we've seen in the last… year, is it really so crazy that she can talk to dead people?"
"Kirk has a point," John sighed, glancing at Stiles. "The problem is proving it. Arik Soong was sitting in a courtroom across town with Pike four feet away from him. Even if Maya says that Haley saw his face, that's bloody impossible."
"Nothing's impossible. Jemma download this," Scotty said as he walked into the bullpen and tapped something into one of the computers on Kirk's desk. "Sorry to interrupt but you guys are gonna want to hear what I found. We all know that facial replication technology exists, DNA can be fabricated, fingerprints can be planted."
"Yea," Stiles said, looking at the engineer. "Your point?"
"The human vocal chords can't be faked. Recorded, yes. Duplicated, yes. And to the human ear, they can seem identical. However, if an auditory specialist, such as myself, tirelessly analyzes the audio print, it is possible to discern whether or not a voice is a recording or as in this case, organic," Scotty said.
"Anybody get that?" Stiles asked.
"I did," John said. "There are nearly undetectable differences between our voices when they're live as opposed to being recorded."
Scotty nodded, "Thank you, my friend. I pulled some audio from the hologram testimony and picked out a voice from the safe house."
"The killer's voice," Kirk said, the lights under her skin slowing to a stop.
"Jemma, if you'd be so kind," Scotty said.
"Where's the other one?" the recording played and the small group looked at each other.
"That voice is one hundred percent real, coming directly from vocal chords," Kirk told them and Scotty nodded.
"Which means that whoever was saying this was actually in the room with the witnesses and fired that gun," McCoy said. "We're not going to like this are we?"
"It's a match to Arik Soong," Kirk told them.
"What about an identical twin? That would explain why someone with his voice killed the witness and the bailiff," John said.
"No," Pike said as he walked into the room. "We checked that out. Soong's an only child."
"Narcissistic, sociopathic…" John muttered. "What if this person's not a twin but a copy?"
"You think he cloned himself?" Kirk asked, the lights in her face coming to life again.
"No, we checked with the Anti-Replication guys," McCoy said, looking at his partner. "Avery said there's no case file on Soong."
"Oh, come on, those ARD guys are so backlogged. We'd be idiots to trust their records," she told them.
"Hello, people cloning is bloody complex. Unless Soong had a secret PhD in biogenetics, he wouldn't have the skills," Scotty pointed out.
"We did a thorough background on Soong. If he was harboring a clone, we would've found evidence," Pike added.
"Doctor Fuller was a fertility specialist. I'm checking his available files," Kirk said.
"There was never a motive we could find," John added to the android's thought. "But cloning is a reproductive technology. What if that's a connection we missed?"
"Let's find out. Good job, guys," Pike told them before he walked away.
"Is he going to be okay?" Scotty asked.
"This case was always hard on him," Kirk said with an unnecessary sigh. "He'll be alright, he just needs us to do our jobs and find out who killed his witness."
"I'm worried about him," McCoy said.
Kirk sighed, "We all are."
"Misses Jones, I wanted to ask you a few questions about Liam Fuller. You knew him, didn't you?"
"Yes," the woman sitting across from John said. "I hadn't seen him in many years before he died. Is that what this is about?"
"In a manner of speaking," John told her. "I found an article by Doctor Fuller that was published twenty-two years ago on stem cell cloning. You were his research assistant."
"I was. It was a lifetime ago. When they passed legislation banning cloning, research funding dried up overnight. Doctor Fuller had to give up that work and refocus his career."
"By any chance do you recall an Arik Soong taking part in that study?" he asked.
"I wouldn't know," she sighed. "The subjects were anonymous."
"I've looked for more of his work on cloning, but I haven't been able to find anything," John said.
"We worked a lot out of his mother's house. If his old research still exists, you might try looking there."
"Hello?" John knocked on the door. Nothing. "We should take a look inside."
"Do we have probable cause, Detective Harrison?" his VX asked.
"Yes, I'm worried about Misses Fuller's health. She's of advanced age," John said.
"Yes, Detective," the VX said before popping the lock. "I'll notify the precinct of our location."
"Anybody home? Misses Fuller?" John called out as he walked into the house. "Clear the upstairs."
John looked around before he found an office. He attached storage device to the computer activated a bunch of windows on the screens. Genetics reports, incubation and growth data, photographs. He also found a letter from Fuller to Soong, threatening to expose the experiment and the clones. "There's our motive."
"The second floor is clear," his VX said as it stepped into the room.
"Send this and all the files on this computer to Captain Pike immediately," John ordered before he decided to look around the house. He made his way down to the basement and found four beds. It looked like the clones had been staying in this house at some point since Fuller was killed. There was a thud above his head.
John drew his gun and went to find his VX. The android was on the floor, his head in pieces. John spun when he heard footsteps behind him. "Police. Stop right there."
It was no use. The gun was knocked out of his hands from someone on his right and he was hit in the head by someone on his left. After that, everything went black.
"Wakey, wakey, cop," someone said. John registered a few things as he came to. One, his head hurt. Two, he was handcuffed. Three, Arik Soong did have clones and they were holding him hostage. "Here's how this is gonna go. You're gonna give me a name and we're gonna call that person to talk about getting you out of here and getting Arik home. Pick fast."
John had to think about it for a moment before he decided, "Detective Jemma Kirk."
"Okay," the clone that appeared to be in charge said, picking up John's phone and calling Kirk. He was nice enough to put the call on speaker.
"Hey, Harrison, listen to me. You got to get out of there," Kirk's voice filled the room.
"You must be someone very special," the lead clone said. You could almost hear a pin drop on the other end of the call.
"Who is this?" Kirk asked.
"I think you know. Of all the people he could have contacted when his life depended on it, he chose you, Detective Kirk," the clone told her.
"Let me speak to Detective Harrison," she said.
"That's not the way this works. You have someone I want, and clearly we have someone you want, so let's see how we can accommodate each other."
"You listen to me, you hurt him in any way…"
"I suggest you listen, Detective. I'm going to send you a set of coordinates. I want Arik Soong brought to that location in two hours. You will come in one car. If you bring reinforcements, we will know. If there are drones in the area, we will know. If we detect anything amiss, he's dead. And don't even try coming to this house. I know you know where we are," the clone ordered.
"You must be the smart one," Kirk deadpanned.
"We all are," Soong's clone told her. "You have two hours."
"They won't negotiate with you not even for me," John said as the call ended. "You're not gonna get what you want."
"I beg to differ. You heard her on the phone, you're important to her," the clone said. Sadly, he was right, Kirk had a soft spot for everyone on their team. It's what makes her who she is.
"I say we kill him anyway! They shot Allen!" one of the other clones said, putting a gun to John's temple.
"And they'll pay for it, but not right now. We have to get Arik back," the leader said. "We have to put the family back together."
"You're not a family," John told them. "You're trophies for a narcissist who's held you hostage your entire life. Why do this for him? Why kill innocent people for him?"
"Because he is us," the lead clone said. "How far would you go to save yourself, Detective?"
He couldn't believe they were really going to do this. He wasn't worth letting a murderer go. Especially since they had the man dead to rights. If anything, killing him would only make the case stronger. It's not that John was in a hurry to die, he was just willing to sacrifice himself so more people didn't have too. Soong and his clones had blood on their hands and it wasn't going to end if they let the man out.
"We're here," Kirk said from outside the fan. "It's just us, like you asked. Where's John?" The door slid open and one of the clones pulled him out.
"Get off of me," John growled. He looked at the Detective across from him, Kirk's usually exuberant expression was replaced by a coldness that he'd only ever observed once, when some attacked Pike at the precinct. She's pissed. No doubt a result of having to trade their prisoner for his life.
"You wanna go, we can go," the clone said.
"Take the cuffs off and fight fair," John told him. The clone gave him a look before he turned to face Kirk, who was more of a threat than John was at the moment.
"Where's Arik?" the clone on his other side asked. Jemma looked at her partner, who was also upset. McCoy went around the police transport vehicle for a moment before returning with Arik Soong and Captain Pike. The grim expression on his CO's face was enough to make John wish he was dead. All Pike's hard work putting Soong away and John destroyed it by being careless.
"It's him," the clone on the roof of the van confirmed.
John watched as Pike slowly led the criminal across the field. It was the longest few minutes of his life. That's when he noticed something odd. Kirk and McCoy sharing a look. Granted, they did that a lot. The silent communication between the partners and couple wasn't what he found odd, it was the look itself. They were up to something. He looked at Kirk who gave him a wink and he took that as his chance to make a break for it. John slammed his elbow into the face of the clone closest to him, breaking his nose.
"Harrison, down," Kirk called. He ducked just as she shot the clone on the van and McCoy shot the leader. Both detectives advanced, Kirk pulling John behind her as they did. McCoy kicked the weapons away from the downed clones before he gave Kirk a nod. "Chris, we got him. Scotty, shut that damn hologram off."
"Hologram?" John asked as McCoy cuffed the only surviving clone. Scotty jumped out of the transport van with a tablet in his hands. The engineer put in some commands and watched as Pike and Soong flickered before they disappeared.
"Yea, hologram. You didn't think we were really gonna give these idiots what they wanted, did you?" she looked up at him like he was an idiot.
"The thought crossed my mind," John told blonde as she uncuffed him.
"They messed with the wrong team for that. Remind me to tell you about the guy I electrocuted for putting a bomb around Bones' neck," Kirk smiled, reaching up to examine the cut on his face. It was an unnecessary gesture but he allowed her to fuss over him just the same. "You okay?"
"It's just a scratch," he chuckled.
"You ever scare us like that again and I'll give you a hell of a lot more than a scratch," she said as she pulled him into a hug. John wrapped his arms around her and let out the breath he'd been holding. They weren't mad about Soong, they were upset that the clones tried to leverage him for Soong's release. What's more, they were genuinely worried about him. John felt like a dumbass.
"Copy that, Miss Kirk."
Current Time
"You had no way to know that we'd come up with some craziness to find you," Kirk chuckled.
"Stranger things have happened around here," John smiled. "In the few months that I've been a part of this unit, I've learned that out of everyone, you have the most heart. It's what makes you special. So, gun to my head, you're the person I call."
"Anytime. Just please limit it to one hostage situation a week," she told him.
"Can do," he sighed.
"You catch the end of the game?"
"No. My VX lost it's head," John chuckled. "Sorry that was rude."
"And funny," Kirk smiled. "Me and Bones are gonna order a pizza and watch the game. You wanna come over, watch it with us?"
"I'd like that, Kirk."
"Jemma. If you're gonna watch baseball with me, you gotta call me Jemma."
"Yes, ma'am."