SEQUENTIAL ━ Connor // RK800 ✔️

four ━ hostile and tense

The missing person case had hardly been a challenge. Though he was aware of the advantage that he held over certain humans in solving these things and spotting the connecting elements which turn the mundane into patterns and the insignificant into clues, Connor was certain anyone in that police station could have picked up the trail of the missing boy if only they had tried, which begged the question — why haven't they done so already?

Joshua Carter, seventeen years old, has been missing for well over a week already. The missing person report had been filed in by his new English teacher, and only later had it been confirmed with the boy's mother through a protocol home visit from Officer Owens himself. If they spoke of anything else other than validating the information that Joshua was not at home, none of it went on record. The police did not investigate further, even as the details presented by the teacher were downright disturbing in what they entailed of the boy's well-being. According to the report's single page, Joshua showed all the most common side effects of Red Ice consumption.

He did not have access to the terminal of the police station, nor the permission to own credentials to access any of their past cases to check if Red Ice was as big of a problem for the town as he knew well it was for Detroit — Mia's habit of having the radio as background noise in the lab had clued him in on a lot of current human problems.

However, even with those impediments, a brief phone call with the school teacher booked Connor an invitation to interview not only her, but her eldest son as well, in the confinements of their own home. Neither were expecting an android to show up for the questioning, but the teacher's worry about the rise of Red Ice dealers frequenting their town compelled her to cooperate nonetheless. It was through her that Connor found out the youth of the town have been affected by the rise in Red Ice production and usage.

Her son was even able to provide him with a location. According to him, it was 'too dangerous to even pass it by on a bike'. He suspected all those who go there are addicts — to Connor, that information turned into an obvious lead, which again, he knew any of the current officers could have been on had they merely just asked the teacher for more information than the formal and succinct report they took on the disappearance.

He looked out the window at the abandoned silos of the location now. They were right outside what the map would dictate to be the edge of the town. According to town records, his scans affirmed this used to be a farmstead. It went out of service due to the debts of the previous owner in 2024 and has been owned by the bank since. Agents have tried to re-sell the land, but given the state of every single appliance, rusted and destroyed by time and human-made vandalism beyond recognition, all those placards in the front of the property righteously stopped getting replaced a couple years back. It was also around the same time the sales agents stopped trying that the borders of the town were modified and the property was officially outside its premises. A place belonging to no one. To nothing.

"Yes," Connor confirmed. He didn't expect Jackson Owens to agree to drive him there after the rocky start they had, but it was a pleasant surprise of progress that he seemed receptive to the news on the case brought to him.

"Alright then," Officer Owens turned off the engine of his car and instead of reaching for the door handle, he clicked to lower his window. "What are you waiting for?" He questioned without looking at Connor. "This is your case, not mine, android. Get out there and find the missing kid, yeah? Or are you scared?"

"Androids do not feel fear," Connor corrected his misconception once again, a little more disappointed this time by how wrong Jackson could get. Progress was made, but apparently not nearly enough just yet. Alas, Connor pushed his own door open and exited the car.

With a cigarette between his lips and one hand aimlessly trying to feel the lighter in the space between the seats since the diffused yellow light above did not help with clearing up sight in the slightest, Officer Owens called after him before he could have shut the door. "Do you got a gun on ya?"