GLITCH [CONNOR]

A New Mission

After staring at the screen for hours, Faye's eyes had gotten blurry. It took her several blinks before her sight would focus on the computer screen in front of her. She had no grasp how many times she had watched the video in front of her. And it didn't become easier every time she pushed play. Yet, she pushed play.

A hooded man moved on the screen, he had his back facing the camera and in front of him was an android of model AJ700, designed for home assistance. The android was meant to mimic the looks of a female with a Hispanic background. She was wearing her black and white uniform, showing her name on the right of her chest, it said "LUNA". The android was standing perfectly still, not even blinking, it had probably been ordered to stand so still. 

The masked man moved more into the frame, revealing the bat he held in his left hand. He didn't say anything, only stared down the android before he started hitting it repeatedly. Blow after blow the android took and all it could do was stand still. One of the hits was so forceful that it made a large dent in the head. Blue blood poured out and the LED on its temple was bright red. Faye could feel her body shake, she couldn't understand how this was happening, how somebody could do this much harm to someone, even to an android.

After watching the video titled "Bat VS Robot-bitch" countless of times, Faye knew exactly the moment she would have to pause the video so that she wouldn't start crying out loud in the police station. She hit the pause button and all the action on the screen froze. That was the second that got to Faye the most, it wasn't the heavy-hitting or hove the man seemed to take pleasure in dealing out this much damage, it was the look on the android's face. The android had fallen due to the beatings and it was now staring directly into the camera and Faye could swear on her job that the android actually looked afraid. It had a look of terror as if it was trying to reach out to the camera, begging for someone to come save her. "watch it, tech support." Gavin remarked as he purposefully walked into Faye's chair.

"This is my desk, Gavin," Faye gritted through her teeth as he continued walking away. 

"If it was up to me, you'd be in a call centre." He exclaimed as he walked away towards the break room where he spent most of his time. If it was up to me, you wouldn't even be here, is what Faye would have said if Gavin wasn't too far away. That was only what she told herself if she actually dared she would have risen up and given that scum hell. She told herself that it wasn't worth it, that she was better than that.

But all that came from the ash-blonde woman at the corner desk of the open office space, was a sigh. She sat the furthest away from Captain Fowler's glass-encased and elevated office. The person who's desk was opposite of Faye's was her only colleague, Cybercrime Detective Mendez, who right now was inside the glass-encased office. 

From that distance, it was hard to read the lips of Captain Fowler or even make out the expression on Mendez's face. There was no way for her to know if Mendez was getting good or bad news, so Faye went back to work. She hesitated for a moment before pushing play again and cast a look behind her.

The wall behind her had police androids lined up after it and the ones just behind her had the perfect view of the horrors occurring on the screen. Were those androids also watching the video too? Were they also petrified? Moved to tears like Faye? She gave them a pained grimace before turning back to the screen.

Before Faye could get through the video for the 100th time, Mendez came out of Captain Fowler's office. The black-haired woman sulked away to her desk in front of Faye's. "What did he say?" The look on Mendez's face told Faye that it wasn't good.

"I'm being laid off." She sighed.

"What?!" Faye exclaimed, "why?" She could feel worry rise inside of her, both from the fear of her too getting laid off but also that it meant that Faye would be all alone at the station. Mendez was the only one that talked to the computer freak in the corner. The two Cybercrime Detectives stuck together, and now they would be separated.