SEQUENTIAL ━ Connor // RK800 ✔️

eight ━ the right information

He did not refuse his curiosity's drive just then, so he took Mia's wrist at first, then slid his hand up over hers, to guide her fingertip onto his tongue. As soon as the sample had been registered, he let go of her hand.

"The smell reminds me of home," she continued trying to explain. "It's a bit spicy because of the garlic that goes in it, and of course, the soft scent of dill sprinkled through..." She stopped herself from the motion of pouring herself a bunch of the stew in a bowl, then chuckled, "Sorry, this must sound silly. Here I am trying to explain scents to an android by naming other scents. You said you needed help with something, so let's rather focus on that." Mia turned around with her bowl and passed Connor to look for a spoon. "What can I do for you?"

She had moved away from the topic of scents too fast for Connor to be able to contradict her impression that any of it would sound silly — it intrigued him, anything surrounding the humans he was programmed to intergrate amongst with ease, and it was especially intriguing to learn of a sense he lacked by default. He was forced to comply with the discussion stirring in a different direction though and sat down at the island with her, "I am having trouble accessing one of the CyberLife files, one which lists you as a project participant."

"Which one?" Mia inquired before taking a spoonful of her food. Though she was interested in hearing what project Connor needed access to following his discoveries on the murder case he had apparently uncovered that day, she couldn't help but melt with a groan of satisfaction the second the full taste of the stew got to her. It was instinctual that her shoulders dropped and her eyes closed, and just as out of control was her smile, such that she felt compelled to raise her hand to her mouth to cover it. "Sorry," she mumbled again, chewing up the food faster and swallowing it like a stone once she realized it was rude of her to keep Connor staring. "I didn't eat all day," she admitted, finally straightening up.

"I don't mind," Connor reassured instantly. "You can keep eating. I only need to be granted access to CyberLife's file on their research in deviancy and I will be off your back."

"Deviancy?" Mia opened her eyes, wide and lucid, the spell of relaxation casted on her by the tastes of home completely gone. She tried to force a smile though being reminded of that dreadful word resurfaced within her bad memories, some more recent than she would like to admit — her wrists echoed a sense of hurt. "How would that aid you in investigating that murder, Connor?"

He chose honesty and complete transparency, as he always would when it came to Mia. "I believe Joel Reed was murdered by one of his androids and in order for that to be a viable possibility, the android guilty of the crime had to have been a deviant. It would be beneficial for me to know more about deviants and deviancy in order to locate it."

"That's not possible," Mia shook her head, immediately refusing to premise of his on-going theory. Looking down while doing so caused her to start playing with her spoon through the stew, mindlessly stirring it. "There can't be a deviant on the loose in this very town. The chances for that to happen are astronomically small. Only one in a million androids produced by CyberLife have a chance at turning deviant during their working period," she finished rushing through her defensive, mechanic explanation by catching her breath. "No. You must have missed something at the crime scene, Connor."

"There were no fingerprints of the killer, no DNA left behind, no identifying factor save for Thirium on the edge of a pocket knife the victim had used to defend himself before dying," Connor listed the initial facts. "Upon lining up the androids working at the farm, we've discovered five of them to be missing."

"Crosscheck them with the parts at the Red Ice lab—"

"Already did," Connor interrupted. "The records of only two of the five match series and model to the parts we've identified at the illegal lab, thus confirming that Joel Reed supplied from his workforce to Officer Owens' endeavours surrounding the production of the drug. However, that still leaves three androids missing, making them all suspects. The killer had to know of Joel Reed's shotgun and where to find it, along with ammunition. All three of the missing androids haven't been changed or replaced from the farm for over two years, giving them access to personal information about the victim."