SEQUENTIAL ━ Connor // RK800 ✔️

eleven ━ emergency exit

Mia agreed with her mind. She had been incredibly dumb. Her lack of better choices were no excuse for how she hid in the wardrobe to call the police, well aware she'd be found and killed. All she could think about in that moment was that she would have much rather provided Connor with a lead for his case as her last stand on this Earth than try to climb out of the window only to slip and fall to her death the second her arms inevitably failed to hold her up while hanging by uncertain edges.

Connor, she thought at last, and her heart responded to the name by awakening its hurt to compete with that of her pending migraine. He had been the first responder to her call and though she couldn't begin to understand how he managed to reach her in time, it did not change the fact in the slightest — he got there first and managed to see all her facades crumble in real time.

He sees you for who you are now, her guilt riddled thoughts grew teeth, tearing right into her. A pathetic, meek human and a filthy liar. You know he knows that you lied to him. He's never going to trust you again, and why would he? What can a human ever offer a machine?

The door of the interrogation room clicked open and Mia looked up, dropping the now liquid pack of once comforting ice onto the table. Some of her hope was extinguished by seeing it was just the reception lady bringing her a glass of water, but nonetheless, any interruption from facing her thoughts alone was welcomed. Even just the short glimpse at all the noise inside the police station was a blessing.

"How much longer do I have to wait?" Mia asked the lady as she placed the glass on the table.

An apologetic smile was presented onto her, but no real, direct answer. Mia felt she might go insane before they let her out of that place, such was the cruelty of her own mind.

As the receptionist exited the room though, while she attempted to absorb as much of the world outside and its noise as she could before the deafening silence returned, Mia spotted Connor. It was but a brief second, a blink of an eye, but if anyone could, she certainly was the one capable of recognizing him anywhere. Their eyes had locked for that short fracture of a second, across too many meters and she almost forgot why she had expected him to look mad with her when she was met with the same kindness he's always had riddled in the warm brown of his eyes.

Connor had chosen that particular spot in the waiting area of the hallway specifically to maintain the best view he could on the interrogation room. When he met Mia's eyes, even if just for an instant which passed by too fast, it all felt just a little closer to being worth the trouble.

It's been two hours too long that she had been kept in there and he was starting to feel doubtful of the short-staffed excuse Barbara had given him.

Officer Brady wasn't back yet. Walking back all the way from Joel's farm was no easy feat, and though Connor had planned on waiting for his partner's return while Mia reported the crime, that single look in her eyes changed his priorities, making it far less significant to him to sit around and wait for an opportunity to apologize for stealing a car for all the right reasons, and a lot more important to instead figure out why someone who has done nothing wrong would be held up this long.

Seeing as Barbara just left the interrogation room had Connor briefly consider pressuring her for some actual clarifications, but he quickly remembered her reaction to him being an android on his first day at the station. It would have ultimately been a waste of time to try to reason with her, he decided.