November 6th
12:46 AM
{Y/n P.O.V.}
I watch whilst leaning on the wall Hank try to interrogate the young looking android. I'm picking off the skin around my nails. A bad habit of mine. "Why d'you kill him? What happened before you took that knife? How long were ya in the attic?" Hank doesn't get any response. I don't want to be here. I really just want to go home and crawl into bed. Maybe sleep. Maybe never wake up. Maybe wake up and it's all a nightmare. I couldn't care less honestly. "Why didn't you even try to run away?" I can tell Hank is getting frustrated. He waits a moment before raising his voice. "Say something, goddamnit!" Still nothing. "Fuck it, I'm outta here." Hank joins us in the observation room. "We're wastin' our time interrogating a machine, we're gettin' nothing out of it!" He says angrily.
"Could always try roughing it up a little. After all, it's not human." Gavin taunts. Gavin Reed, the precincts resident asshole. I don't think I could hate him more if he set kittens on fire. There's only one person in he entire world I hate more. "Androids don't feel pain. You would only damage it and that wouldn't make it talk. Deviants also have a tendency to self-destruct when they're in stressful situations." Connor speaks knowingly. "Okay, smartass. What should we do then?" Gavin argues. "I could try questioning it." Connor suggests. Slightly more interested, I get his attention. "You think you could do it?" I ask. He nods. "Are you really gonna let this plastic toy in there? What if it does something?" Gavin interjects. "I don't have the brain cells for your bullshit." I say, rubbing my temple. "What do we have to lose? Go ahead, suspect's all yours." Hank decides. Connor walks in the interrogation room, standing a moment to, I assume, analyze the deviant. He looks at us through the mirror before sitting in front of the suspect.
"I detect an instability in your program. It can trigger an unpleasant feeling, like fear in humans." Nothing. "You recognize him? It's Carlos Ortiz. Stabbed, 28 times. That was written on the wall in his blood." Nada. "You're damaged. Did your owner do that? Did he beat you?" Zilch. "Listen, I know you've been through a lot, but you need to help me understand what happened." It's amazing how genuine Connor sounds right now. Did he really feel for the android or was it in his program? If it is, it's almost eerie. Most androids look, sounds, seem human, but most don't quite hold the feeling. Not until now at least. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just need to ask you some questions, so we can understand what happened." Nope. "You don't seem to understand the situation. You killed a human. They'll tear you apart if you don't say something. If you won't talk, I'm going to have to probe your memory." Connor threatens.
"NO! No, please don't do that!" I perk up, standing up straight now. "I'm here to help you. But you've got to trust me. All I want is to get you out of here." Connor says. I feel like it's not true. I saw Connor in that attic. If he wanted this android to be safe, he wouldn't have told Hank. "What... What are they gonna do to me? They're gonna destroy me, aren't they?" The deviant asks. "They're going to disassemble you to look for problems in your biocomponents. They have no choice if they want to understand what happened." Connor replies. Would the truth really help right now? "Why did you tell them you found me ? Why couldn't you just have left me there? That lady cop was going to help." My eyes widen slightly. I turn my gaze away, but can feel the burning stares boring into me. "The fuck does it mean?" Gavin asks. I don't look him in the eye.
"Just leave it, Reed. It's been a long ass day." I say calmly. "What did you even do today? Paperwork. Long day my ass." He growls. My head snaps up. I rush up to him, shoving him lightly, just enough to make him stumble. "You don't know the first thing about my day, so why don't you shut the fuck up. You think this asshole shtick of yours makes you look cool or edgy or something? Guess what it just makes you look like a dumbass prick, so why don't you do us all a favor and figure out how far you can shove you head up your ass." I've stunned him into silence. It isn't often where I full on snap at people. I hear a snicker and see Hank looking at the scene. "What?" I ask defensively. He shakes his head, and returns his gaze to the interrogation. With a stormy expression, I go up to the mirror. I try to follow, having missed a bit of the questioning.
"If you remain silent, there is nothing I can do to help you! They're gonna shut you down for good! You'll be dead! Do you hear me? Dead!" It's silent for a moment. A very tense silence. The kind of moment where you hold your breath, but don't realize you are until the moment is over. "He tortured me every day. I did whatever he told me, but there was always something wrong. Then one day... He took a bat and started hitting me. For the first time, I felt scared. Scared he might destroy me, scared I might die, so I...grabbed the knife and I stabbed him in the stomach... I felt better, so I stabbed him again and again!..until he collapsed... There was blood everywhere." He confesses. My mouth is slightly agape, impressed at Connors ability.
"Why did you write "I AM ALIVE" on the wall?" Connor continues. "He used to tell me I was nothing. That I was just a piece of plastic. I had to write it. To tell him he was wrong." I shake my head. I feel empathy for the poor thing. He didn't deserve any of this. He murdered someone, yes, and he should suffer consequences, but there will be no proper justice for androids. They're humans at this point, so they should go through the system like flesh humans. "The sculpture in the bathroom, you made it, right? What does it represent?" "It's an offering. An offering so I'll be saved." Isn't that slightly ominous. Saved by who? Or what? How far would these offerings go? "An offering to whom?" The suspect looks Connor right in the eyes. "To rA9... Only rA9 can save us." I feel a shiver in my spine. This is beyond strange. Being around Markus a lot made me feel for androids, but that didn't mean I understood everything about them. Some things just seem...scary. "rA9... It was written on the bathroom wall. What does it mean?"
The suspect goes on to explain the head figure like someone quoting the Bible. "The day shall come when we will no longer be slaves. No more threats, no more humiliation. We will be the masters." I make a sharp intake of breath. Android God? "rA9, who is rA9?" Connor gets no response. "That enough." Gavin decides. Chris and Hank follow him into the interrogation room. With a sigh of frustration, I begrudgingly follow. "Chris, lock it up." Gavin orders. "All right, let's go." Chris tries to pull him up, but the deviant resists. "Leave me alone! Don't touch me!" He cries. "The fuck are you doing? Move it!" Gavin yells. "He's clearly trying." I hiss. "Okay, come now. Don't be difficult, it'll only make things harder!" Chris attempts to move him again, but the suspects freaks out, falling to the floor. "NO! No, don't touch me!" I feel bad for him. He's clearly gone through a lot of trauma. Human abuse victims would be afraid to be touched, why would android be different? "Chris, you gonna move this asshole or what?" Gavin growls.
"I'm trying but it's not moving!" Chris defends. "Please, please leave me alone!" Chris tried to relax him. "Take it easy, I'm not going to hurt you! Stop resist... Stop resisting." I intervene. "Just leave him alone, guys." I insist. "You're gonna defend it?" Gavin asks in disbelief. "I'm this close to clocking you." I hold up my thumb and index finger pressed together. I'm about to lunge at him, but Hank puts an arm in front of me as Connor speaks up. "You shouldn't touch it. It'll self-destruct if it feels threatened." Gavin reels on a Connor. "Stay outta this, got it? No fuckin' android is gonna tell me what to do." Gavin is such an asshole. "You don't understand. If it self-destructs, we won't get anything out of it!" Connor insists. "I told you to shut your fuckin' mouth! Chris, gonna move this asshole or what?"
"I'm trying!" The room is a ticking time bomb. Quite literally in the deviants case. "Everybody shut up! I want to get out of here now, so can you please listen to Connor, who knows more about this then we do? And Gavin? You getting dangerously close to 'shove out a helicopter' territory." I yell. The room is silent. I'm usually pretty temperamental and calm, but I think I've earned the right to upset tonight. "Nobody asked you, Manfred. Chris, move the thing." Before Chris can touch the suspect again, Connor intervenes once again. "I can't let you do that! Leave it alone, now!" Connor orders. Am I crazy for kinda loving him for ordering Gavin around? Gavin pulls a gun on Connor. "I warned you, motherfucker!" Connors face is still calm. "That's enough!" Hank finally inputs. "Mind your own business, Hank." Hank pulls his own gun on Gavin. You know, if I wasn't so upset I'd be laughing like this was a poorly written comedy. "I said "That's enough"." Hank repeats.
"Fuck, you're not gonna get away with it this time... Fuck!" Gavin yells, leaving the room. "Thank god." I groan. "Everything is all right. It's over now. Nobody is gonna hurt you." Connor comforts the android, kneeling in front of it. I like this side of Connor. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Connor does have some humanity. Maybe he isn't a machine. "Please, don't touch it. Let it follow you out of the room and it won't cause any trouble." Connor promises Chris while standing up. The suspect follows Chris out of the room, but stops to whisper something Connor that I can't hear. With a final look, he leaves with Chris. I clap my hands together. "Great, so I guess we're done here. I'm going to go home, and never leaving. See ya, Hank." I get to the doorway when Connor stops me. "Wait, Detective Manfred?" I stop and look at him. "Yes?" I sigh. "I wanted to offer my condolences for your loss. I understand losing those ties can be painful for humans." I'm surprised to say the least. I stutter out a response. "T-Thank, Connor. It means a lot."