Chapter Text
[ January 12th, 2039 ]
The drive to Kamski’s felt like forever. It was 28° degrees outside with a windchill of 17° and you were slowly dying on the inside. Yesterday morning you had received a text from him informing you of a very generous offer, but he would only discuss the details with you face to face. Kamski was generally a man of his word.
Today had better not be an exception.
You pulled up to his house and climbed out of the car, shutting the door with a smack. You trudged up the ramp and rang the doorbell. A blond android answered the door.
“Hi, I believe Kamski is expecting me? I’m the detective from the Detroit Police Department he summoned yesterday.”
The android nods and steps aside, gesturing you inside with its arm stretched out.
“Just a moment please,” it said as it walked to another room. You scanned the minimalistic room and your eyes fell on the familiar picture on the wall. You stepped closer to inspect it. It was the one that depicted Kamski and an older black woman. You wandered around for another few minutes, noting the lack of change in the room, before turning impatient and going to the door. You knocked.
No answer. You frowned, knocking again before the door opened. You met the blue eyes of the android again. You waltzed through to find Kamski relaxing in his blood-stained pool with two other identical androids.
“Impatient, I see,” he commented lazily.
“Well, I didn’t drive all the way out to fuckin’ no where just to sit and look pretty. What did you just have to tell me in person?” You crossed your arms.
He leisurely swam out and an android met him at the exit of the pool with a robe. He walked over to you, eyeing you heavily up and down with pale eyes. You held his stare as he circled you like a shark.
“I love this time of year, don’t you?” His voice was low and smooth.
“ No, ” you mash the N in your mouth.
“It’s always so peaceful,” he continued without acknowledging you. “I enjoy the cold breeze on my skin as I—“
“Cut to the chase or I’m leaving. I have to work for a living unlike some people,” you snap.
He turned his head to you, jaw slightly tense. You couldn’t give less of a shit. No one could look intimidating with that haircut.
“Well I guess pleasantries aren’t a thing with you, per usual. I thought we could have a civil chat,” he sighed, walking towards the glass wall overlooking the landscape, hands clasped behind his back.
Hah. Civil.
“I brought you here to test a hypothesis. I’ll pay you double your salary and an added bonus if you meet certain conditions,” he drawls, turning to you at the end of his sentence.
“Okay, what am I supposed to be testing?”
“To determine whether deviancy is strictly tied to abuse and trauma, or something other,” he says, stepping closer to you.
“And I’m supposed to do what, exactly? Androids have rights now.”
“You need to make it want to be human by any means necessary that will not cause any emotional or physical damage to it. The prototype will have instructions that tell it strictly to remain a machine and nothing more. If deviancy is stringently linked to abuse and trauma, then you will fail. If not, then I could have accidentally created a better derivative of the human race,” his eyes were glinting as he stared down at you.
This seemed almost too simple, especially being that the answer was obvious. The question is, why doesn’t Kamski know? And why did he pick you of all people? What if—
“So,” he announces loudly, interrupting your train of thought. “Do we have a deal?”
“I’m going to need a contract,” you state, eyes and voice firm. Kamski chuckles before summoning one of his androids.
“Chloe, would you be a dear and fetch those papers for me?” The android nods and goes to accomplish its task.
“This arrangement will be for six total months. If, by that time, you get my android to become deviant, you will get a very generous bonus as outlined in the contract. Whether you accomplish this or not does not affect the double salary. You can do anything you want to it,” he leered at you. “Within my parameters, of course.”
The android came back with the papers. You read them over before asking, “What happens to it when this experiment is finished?”
“I will diagnose it myself to see why or why it didn’t deviate from its original instruction. You can have your little boy toy back if you have too much fun with it. If it gets damaged on the job, I’ll just transfer its memory to another and send it to you as good as new,” smirked at you, chin raised slightly.
Why’s he smirking so much?
You roll your eyes. “Gimme a pin.”
A sharkish grin crossed his features as he handed one to you and you signed your soul away on the line.
Whatever. Double the money.
“Your new friend will be sent your way within the next 24 hours.”
“Wonderful,” you say, turning to leave. His voice trails after you.
“I forgot to mention that this particular android series is upgraded with some… enhanced features.”
He sounded smug. You could hear him climbing into the pool chuckling.
What have you gotten yourself into?
[ January 13th, 2039 ]
Police Station
You walk into the precinct and scan the room. No android to be found. You checked your watch. It was only 8:27am. You walk to your seat across from Hank. Ever since his android partner was killed, he needed someone to fill the space it left. You just couldn’t understand why.
“Omg you’re actually here on time. I need to play the lotto tonight,” you grin at him.
“It’s too damn early in the morning for your bullshit,” he grumps.
“Well, you’ll be happy to know that I’m getting my own personal android today, so you won’t have to put up with too much of me today,” you say blandly.
Hank’s eyebrows raised. “Oh, you’re in for a treat. ”
You snort. “Yeah, whatever you say, grandpa.”
You hear footsteps approaching. A soft voice reaches your ears.
“Hello, my name is Connor. I’m the android sent by Cyberlife’s founder.”
It sounded to polite and diplomatic. You turn to look at it with a frown and sees sincere brown orbs on a pale face.
What the fuck it looks like a dork.
“Hi, I guess. I’m your partner it seems,” you say. It looks expectant. You begrudgingly introduce yourself, and then look for a place for it to sit. Your eyes land on a desk nearby. You nod in its direction.
“You can sit over there until I need you.”
It gives a slight, confused nod, and heads for the designated desk. You look over your terminal to find a few miscellaneous cases before stopping. You turn to start a conversation with Hank.
“Y’know, I had me one of those a few months back with all of the deviancy cases. He actually grew on me. This one will probably grow on you too,” Hank commented. You gave him a flat look.
“We’ll see about that,” you say. He goes on to tell you about how the android was a positive force in his life, and how much he misses its personality.
About five minutes in the conversion sees an interruption from your plastic partner.
“I just got word of a murder a few blocks down the street. I think now would be a good time to go and investigate.”
“Okay, wonderful,” you say, turning back to Hank and continuing your talk.
“Detective?” It voice turns up at the end of the word.
“What?” Your eyes snap to it.
“I said, now would be a good time to investigate,”
“ I'm not deaf and they’re not getting any deader, so let me finish my conversation.”
“But detective, I-,”
“Take the hint and fuck off, would you?”
Two hands forcefully hit your desk just shy of your arm and keyboard, a face coming close to your ear. “I’m not going to stand here until you feel like working. If you hate androids so much, then relinquish me as your partner so I can get some real work done sometime this century.”
You slowly turn your head to meet its eyes with a glare and a clenched jaw.
“Back. The fuck. Off.”
“Get your ass in gear, and I will,” it challenges. You slowly rise out of your seat like a panther creeping through the grass, and you hold its heated gaze. It leans closer to you, eyebrow raised and jaw grinding.
You grab your coat and push your chair in without breaking eye contact. Hank laughs.
“It’ll grow on me, you say?” You start for the door and hear footsteps falling afterwards.
At the Crime Scene
You kill the engine and pause for a moment, taking a deep breath.
“Don’t ever challenge me like that again. And stay the fuck outta my way. Got it?”
“Got it.” It almost sounded sarcastic. You stepped out of the cruiser and slammed the door shut. Waltzing up to the holographic yellow tape, you show them your badge and cross the border. More footsteps trail behind you. You hear them pause as someone stops it from entering. You turn around, contemplating whether or not you should leave the fucker outside.
Whatever.
“It’s with me,” you wave it through. You walk into the crime scene, looking for clues and information about what happened. The RK800 was roaming around, bending down to sample any evidence with his--
“Whoa, whoa, hey what are you doing?” You demand, its fingers a few inches from its mouth with something on it. It gave you a bored look,
“I can sample evidence in real time.” Yeah, like that was the most obvious thing in the world.
Androids.
You roll your eyes and keep walking around the crime scene. You pull out a pad to make notes about particular pieces of evidence. There was a body crumbled on the ground with blood pooled under it. It looked like the pool of blood was from multiple stab wounds. It also had bruising around the neck. A few moments later, the android comes up to you with its hands clasped around its back. It looked expectant again.
“What?” you say, staring at your pad. It didn’t say anything. You looked up at it with a frown.
“I think I know what happened.”
“Okay, shoot,” you look back to your notes. It remains silent. It must want eye contact or some shit. You look up at it again and give an exasperated gesture as if to say, “get on with it already.”
“The victim did not die due to the stab wounds or loss of blood, but they didn’t die from strangulation, either.”
That gave you pause. You looked into its face. “What?”
“There are no internal signs of strangulation, and there is not enough blood from the stab wounds to indicate that they died from blood loss. Also, there are no fingerprints.”
Could this have android involvement?
“Do you have any ideas on what happened?”
Its eyebrows quirked. “There are no signs of a struggle in the home. The murderer was more than likely living with the victim. There are two sets of clothing and toiletries in the master bedroom and bathroom. I analyzed some of the DNA and the victim is found to be one Annabelle Warren. I am unsure of the identity of the suspect.”
“How can we find out who this person is?”
“We can ask the neighbors. They are our best option,”
You were already walking towards the exit before it could finish its sentence.
“Let me handle this,” you say before knocking on the door of the next door neighbor. An older woman answered the door.
You proceed to ask her a few questions about the suspect. She can only tell you that the couple was extremely private, and had only seen them outside a handful of times. You thank her and travel to the next house. The neighbors can only give limited information due to the couple’s lack of appearance outside. What the two of you piece together is choppy.
“So, we know that the couple was a recluse and recently moved in. They share a car, which is parked in the garage, so the suspect must have escaped on foot. The suspect has been described as generally wearing very concealing clothing, but appears to be white. He has a strange gait as if he was permanently injured in the right leg, so being that the crime was committed this morning, they couldn’t have gotten far. Anything else?”
“That seems to conclude the evidence we’ve gathered,” it’s LED is flashing yellow like it processing.
“I can put an APB out on the suspect, if you’d like,”
“Yeah, that’d be the smart thing to do,” you say, heading for the cruiser.
“Detective? Where are you going?”
“To the car, obviously,”
“There could be more evidence that we are overlooking,”
“Well, if the super prototype android couldn’t find it, then it doesn’t exist enough for my to care. I’m leaving whether you’re coming or not. The team will let me know if they find something,” there was a pause and then you heard footsteps follow you shortly after.
You got in the car and barely waited for the android to shut the door before taking off. You drove to the food truck Hank was raving about. You went to place your meal when you heard familiar footsteps.
“Did the other model follow Hank around this much or is it just you?” You question as you pay for your meal with your wristband. It makes a pitched noise and the man hands you your drink.
“I just wanted to go over the case files with you while you ate breakfast.”
Your face scrunched up as you turn to collect your food. “Can’t I just eat in piece? It’s fuckin’ 9:30 in the morning,” you say as you walk off to a nearby table. It followed and then sat across from you with its hands in its lap.
“We can talk about the weather instead,” he blinked innocently.
What even.
You take a bite of your sandwich as a response.
“Well, would you like to know anything about me?” It asked as it tilted his head.
“Why would I care?” You question after you swallow a french fry.
“Getting to know each other would help with our relationship over the next 6 months, being that you’re supposed to make me fall in love with you, and all,” it placed its forearms on the table and leaned forward.
You narrowed your eyes. “I didn’t know Kamski told you about that,”
“Well, I was given specific instructions to not indulge in human emotions no matter what, so I assumed that it was your goal to have me do the exact opposite. I was unsure at first about anything more, but your response proved it,” it looked smug.
You gave it a cold stare.
It switched subjects.
“You know, I am sorry about how I acted at the precinct earlier. It was the only way I knew to get you to the crime scene,”
“Yeah, try something else next time,” you take a pull from your milkshake.
“Noted. What flavor is that?” it inquired.
You swallowed and told it the flavor. “It’s my favorite.”
“Why?”
“What is this, 20 questions? Give me a break,” you grouse.
“Oh..” its eyes fell to the table. It looked sad. And a little bit guilty. You felt your heart tug a little bit, trying to squash the feeling. You sigh.
“Um, well... I don’t actually know why I like that flavor. It’s just... pleasing.” you look at it. It looks up almost shyly.
“Is there any reason why you were so quick to dismiss me earlier?” It sounded tentative. Kamksi thought of everything .
“I’ve never really been a fan of androids.”
“Yet you signed a contract to work with one over the next six months. Why?” It leaned in further, a playful glint in its eye.
“Why even bother asking? You probably know the answer already.”
“I know your goal because of my instructions. What I want to know is why, and I always get what I want,” it winked.
Is it flirting?
You school your face. “Kamski gave me double my salary and a bonus if I succeed in making you human. That’s all there is to it. The money is worth it, even if I have to talk to an advanced Roomba for the next six months,” you snarked back.
“But what happens if the reverse happens?”
“It won’t.”
“And how can you be so sure? You seem to be responding well to my attempts at flirting,”
You froze at that.“I’m not going to fall for a piece of plastic. You can be sure of that,” you finish your meal and start packing up.
You felt a hand cover your own and mischievous brown eyes meet your own. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” your heart skipped a beat. He stood and threw your trash away before turning and waiting patiently. You both walked to the car.
Again, what the fuck have I gotten myself into?
________
You could see its face twitch out of the corner of your eye.
“I just received a lead about the suspect from this morning. It is reported that he was recently spotted at a nearby convenience store.”
“Put the address into the navigation,” you say, turning on the siren.
________
You arrive at the location and park the cruiser in an obscure spot. The android and yourself step out of the vehicle and scan the area.
“He was last seen walking down the street. He should still be in the area,” it said.
The two of you searched the area for about 10 minutes before you grew weary.
“I really don’t think he’s here anymore,” you say, putting your hands on your hips and sighing.
The RK800 is still scanning the area.
“Come on,” another huff. “Let’s go,” you turn back towards the cruiser.
“Wait, Detective!” Its eyes are wide and pleading.
“What?”
“I want to check one more place,”
“We’ve checked everything here. What else is there to look at?”
It looked around, kind of panicked and then said, “Just this last building,” he gestured to another building at the end of the street. “I can’t fail my mission.”
You roll your eyes. “Okay, whatever. I’ll be standing right here.” It nods and goes around a corner.
Five minutes and then ten minutes pass and you grow impatient and nervous. You start to wander in the direction that the android went when you hear a loud noise like someone, or some thing, had fallen. You rush towards the source.
“Detective! He’s here! Call it in, I’m in pursuit!” You hear the android's voice yelling. You hear footsteps coming your way and a figure collides with you. You get slammed into a wall and you hit the pavement on your hands and knees. The android comes out seconds later and pauses when it sees you on the ground. It decides to chase after the suspect. You sneer.
Fucking androids.
You drag yourself up and run after the two of them. The wind is slapping your face and tossing your hair from side to side as you sprint down the street.
Goddamn, they’re fast! And the suspect has a fucking limp! I might be out of shape or some shit.
The three of you are approaching a railroad track with a train coming. The horn is blowing your ears out and the ground is shaking. Neither the criminal or the RK800 stop. The color drains from your face.
“No! Stop! You won’t make it!” You shout at your partner, but it falls on deaf sensors. Adrenaline kicks in and you rush towards the android.
“Connor! Stop!” The ground is rumbling and no one is slowing down and the cold is freezing your face and burning your lungs and your heart is beating so hard that your entire body is thrumming and the train is getting closer but no one is stopping.
The suspect leaps over the tracks and the android along with him but the train is already there and a sickening crash seals the android’s fate before your very eyes.
You stop in your tracks, dust and gravel propelled out in front of you. You let out a roar of surprise and anguish and fall to your knees in exhaustion and defeat.
You’re shaking so badly you can barely stand. You muster the strength to call the report in and slowly drag yourself back to the cruiser. This was going to be a long day. Not to even mention six months.
__________
You returned home, report filed. You found you were still shaken. It was like watching an actual human get hit by a train, bones crunching and blood exploding. You felt sick. You climb the stairs and head straight to bed.