We pulled up to an old and beaten apartment complex. It could have been abandoned by the looks of it. I parked behind Hank and stepped out.
"This is the place?" Hank grumbled.
"Yes Lieutenant." Connor confirmed.
"Jesus. Alright lets just get this bullshit over with." He thrust his hands into his pockets and trudged up the stairs into the building. I followed after him and we made our way to the elevator. Connor followed quietly behind us.
The elevator was rickety and made me anxious, but we made it to the floor we needed. Hank stepped out as I did and we began to walk, but soon noticed Connor was not following. I glanced behind me and saw he was standing very still in the elevator, eyes closed and LED swirling yellow.
"Hey Connor! You ran outta batteries or what?" Hank joked. The android opened his eyes and his LED returned to blue.
"I'm sorry, I was making a report to Cyberlife." He explained.
"Uh... well do you plan on staying in the elevator?"
"No! I'm coming." Connor defended rather cutely. He straightened himself up and walked out towards us. I laughed slightly to myself and continued walking.
"What do we know about this guy?" I asked to change the subject.
"Not much. Just that a neighbor reported that he heard strange noises coming from this floor. Nobody's supposed to be living her , but the neighbor said he saw a man hiding a LED under his cap."
"Oh Christ." Hank groaned. "If we have to investigate every time someone hears a strange noise, we're gonna need more cops." He ran a hand through his hair and took a glance at Connor. "Hey, were you really making a report back there in the elevator?" He asked.
"Correct." Connor said.
"Just by closing your eyes?" I added with slight fascination.
"Shit, wish I could do that..." Hank commented to himself. The conversation slowed after that as we continued down the hallway. We soon came to the room mentioned and the air became tense. The android tried first, knocking on the door.
"Anybody home? Open up! Detroit Police!" Nobody answered but we suddenly heard the sound of objects falling over. I shot a look at Hank and he nodded.
"Stay behind me." Hank directed.
"Got it." I whispered. He put all the force he had into hitting the door and it gave way rather easily. Some wood splinters went up into the air along with some dust. We all took a small step inside the small hallway. There were a few doors in front of us. Hank slammed open the one directly in front and the sight before us was anything but pleasant. Pigeons were everywhere. The entire room was broken and dirty and smelled horrible. I covered my nose with my shirt and Hank grimaced.
"What the fuck is this? Jesus this place stinks." He looked around the room, "Looks like we came for nothing. Our man's gone." When he said that, I felt my body relax and I lowered my gun. The three of us began to spread out across the room and investigate. I definitely did not want to be in this place for longer than I had to be, so I moved quickly. However, Connor was the first to find something.
"What is it?" I asked coming up behind him.
"I don't know. It looks like a notebook but it's indecipherable." I looked down at the book he was holding and I couldn't tell what I was looking at either. Then suddenly I was painfully aware of how close I was to him. I felt my body become warm and I stepped away, clearing my throat. I could feel Connor looking at me but I turned towards a different area of the room. Hank was over by the walls, examining the writing on them. I also noticed a jacket on a chair near him. When I got closer to the jacket, I saw there were the initials "R.T." written on the tag.
Hank saw was I was looking at and scoffed, "He put his initials on his jacket? That's something your mom does when you're in first grade." I noticed a drivers license too.
"It's fake." I pointed out.
"Cool! At least we didn't come for nothing." Hank said with fake enthusiasm. I saw Connor walk to the sink and peer inside.
"Its LED is in the sink."
"Not surprised it was an android. No human could live with all these fucking pigeons." Hank muttered. I trailed my gaze from the sink up to the wall where the word "ra9" was written over and over again. Connor saw what I was looking at and scanned it.
"ra9... written over 2471 times. It's-"
"The same sign Ortiz's android wrote on the shower wall..." I finished for Connor. "Why are they obsessed with this sign?"
"Looks like mazes or something." Hank added. We broke away from the wall and the boys went back to looking at random things in the house.
Something felt off about the place. Like something bad was going to happen. I walked back out into the main room and stopped to take everything in. Hank was by the window now, taking in the air from outside. I noticed a couch chair pushed up against the wall where there was a gaping hole in the ceiling. It felt like a familiar situation as the one at Ortiz's. Maybe it was still here? Connor entered the room now, seemingly following a path through his scanning. I decided to approach the chair and look up into the ceiling.
"(Y/n) wait!" Connor shouted but it was too late. Suddenly a heavy body dropped onto me, knocking me to the ground. I yelled in pain and surprise.
"God damn fucking pigeons!" Hank shouted as the swarm went up in alarm. I tried pushing the body off but they got up and started running. Connor tried to get in front of the deviant but they quickly shoved him aside and bolted out the door. I was on my feet in a moment. "What are you waiting for?! Chase it!" Hank commanded. Immediately I was out the door hot on their trail. Both androids were way faster than me but I kept my pace and chased as fast as I could. We ran through the city, over rooftops and through people. But despite my efforts, I lost them soon enough. I paused and took a breath.
"What do I do?" I asked myself out loud as I gasped for air.
"Jesus Christ." Hank wheezed as he came up behind me.
"Hank I- I don't know. I lost them and-" I was rambling.
"Hey hey kid it's okay. Come on I know where we can cut them off." He began to jog away and I was close behind.
Eventually we were on a roof and I could see the deviant coming. When it jumped onto the roof, Hank and I rushed it.
"Stop right there!" He shouted. But the deviant quickly shoved Hank to the ground and I felt myself falling as well, but no ground ever reached me. I screamed as I fell over the edge of the roof, with 20 feet between myself and the ground below. At the last minute my hand had instinctively grabbed the side of the roof and I was hanging off, holding on for my life. Tired from running, I was struggling to find the strength to pull myself up. I peeked over the wall hoping someone would help me. Hank was still groaning on the ground but Connor had arrived. He was stopped in the middle of the roof, LED flashing yellow as he contemplated saving me or going after them. Connor's feet were pointed and ready to sprint. A part of me wanted him to go after the deviant and another wanted him to save me. I had faith that my strength would get me up and over but my muscles stretched in pain. There was still a possibility of falling.
"Go Connor! What the hell are you doing? Get them!" I shouted as I tried and failed to pull myself up. I gritted my teeth and I tried again, only making my muscles more tired. "Don't worry about me!" I yelled, groaning as I felt gravity pull on me more. Then he moved. I felt my heart drop as, for a split moment, I believed he was heading in the direction of the deviant. But to my surprise he rushed towards me and grabbed my hand, hoisting me up. I tumbled onto the warm cement and breathed a sigh of relief. My heart was racing as Connor took several steps back, LED still yellow.
"(Y/n)! Shit." Hank exclaimed when he realized what happened. I threw my arms over my eyes and clenched my jaw. He came over to me and checked to see if I was hurt.
"We had it." I spat through my teeth.
"(Y/n)..." Hank started but I sat up.
"If it weren't for me... you would have caught it. I'm sorry." I looked at Connor. His LED was still yellow and he was looking right at me. Hank gave me his hand and pulled me up.
"We'll find it." He reassured me. "We know what it looks like, right Connor?" Hank looked at the android and he nodded slightly. Connor's eyebrows were furrowed in distress and his eyes were distant as he stared out where the deviant disappeared. "Come on." Hank rubbed his head as he left the scene.
"Hey Connor?" I asked quietly. His eyes swiftly darted over to mine and he stared at me. Suddenly I didn't know what to say anymore. "Um.. nothing. Thanks..." I sighed and trailed after Hank.
𝙎𝙤𝙛𝙩𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 ^^
--