SEQUENTIAL ━ Connor // RK800 ✔️

twenty-five ━ point of no return

"They are aware," Connor responded immediately, keeping his composure.

"How much with you?"

"Sixty-five pounds."

"In all three bags?"

"The backpack," Connor was unalarmed by the question. "The other two concern only our contact in Greenland."

After a second of consideration, the captain nodded, "I'll tell you what, you look far more capable for this land of work than the last guy they sent."

Rory, Mia couldn't help her eyebrows raising at the alluded confirmation that the lead had been correct to its end.

"Well, save for your lady here," the captain turned his attention to her. "What's the deal? Mute?"

"She's my translator," Connor interrupted him from even thinking of taking another step past him and towards Mia. "For the transactions at the destination."

"Foreign transaction, ay?" His attention had been successfully brought back to Connor and with that, the captain had finally decided to lead them down the hallway, further into the ship. "It's good for business," he pondered out loud, more so for himself given the amount of times he had repeated that same phrase before he finally looked over his shoulder. By then, they were somewhere below the ship. Mia had lost count just how many stairs they've climbed down on. "Hope you too are ready for these next five days, ay? The last fella didn't look so good when we reached land. The cold didn't do him good, and it's colder still out there."

"We are prepared," Connor responded unphased by the backhanded attempts of the man to seed fear into them.

Finally, the captain of the freighter stopped before a door to the left, pushing it open with his foot to reveal a small room that had it not been for the dim light from the hallway, it would have been entirely plunged into darkness. There were no windows, just a small vent above the old mattress and thin blanket spread on the floor.

"We had plans to make more crew quarters down here, but our plans got canceled from above, so the room's off the books," the captain explained. "You lock it from the inside and stay here until we are into the ocean waters. We'll knock on the door when we get there. That bucket over there is for when you get sick," he pointed to the corner, then immediately next to it, to the small door, "through there, you've got a toilet. Unless the last guy's made a number on it, it should be decent. It ain't five stars in here, but you'll make it past the border checks. Guaranteed."

Five stars? Mia thought to herself, stepping after Connor forward. This looks worse than a prison cell.

"Don't make throw bodies overboard in five days, alright?" The captain laughed, watching them make the decision to step inside.

Connor was first to step inside, but Mia found herself hesitating.

We've come so far, she argued with herself, but truly all she needed to step into that dark room was to see Connor's eyes as he waited there for her.

No turning back now, Mia thought to herself.

11:12 PM, Eastern Docks, Detroit

With his LED flickering yellow, the RK800's system reboot wrapped up and returned, one by one, all his senses to him, until he could blink his eyes open and realize he was still laying down in a puddle of a docking region parking lot, next to the vehicle of his targets, most likely long gone. It was still raining and everything stuck to him some extra weight while he raised up, first on all-fours, then on his knees and finally to his feet. Registering no further malfunctions in his systems, he turned around and immediately sat back down in the driver's seat to which the door was left wide open.

He ripped the inactive EMP jammer off of the surface sticking it to the inside of the compartment and, with a quick scan,  determined it had been handmade, improvised out of a voice synthesiser issued specifically for the RK-series.

"Now you see why the target is dangerous," he could already hear Amanda's disappointed tone building up to a scolding about his lead running cold, right into a trap.

She's certainly creative, he gave his target the credit, tossing the EMP aside. Mia, he pulled her name from the file he was given on her, one otherwise incredibly thin given it claimed she's worked so many years for CyberLife, restlessly taking the least free days available, staying the most overtime she could, if the company records were to be believed.

Something's missing, he sighed himself back into the seat with that thought. Something had to be missing from his case files for the target to escape him again. Even with a fellow RK800's help, he should have been closer to getting them, but he's never felt further from success.

• • •

AUTHOR'S NOTE |   
This chapter was a lot harder to finish than it had the right to be, oh my gosh.. someone needs to stop me from deleting and rewriting scenes four times in a row, because it's mentally draining me. However, I am genuinely glad I was able to post this tonight, as promised. ( btw, won that race i mentioned yayy )

And before someone asks, yes, it's relevant we get the newer RK800's pov here, and not just because it underlines beautifully how Connor was always meant to grow into his humanity and how it was bound for him to eventually fall in love with Mia too. I have big things planned that this special chapter layout I employed here sets up.

My initial plan for this book was to finish it before my birthday, but with another half an act to go now, I believe the more realistic goal would be to finish before the middle of October.. 😅 my bad, the last chapters are pretty heavy and detailed as well, and I really don't wanna rush through and accidentally ruin things right at the end.