It's an honor to be working with you, detective

[youcantkillme]

The start of his first day back in deployment goes like this: he reports to the Central DPD station's IT office to be processed as new equipment. He receives official, in-house access to digital police files and restricted areas. He sorts the new permissions so that they don't clash with preexisting Cyberlife access. He reports to one Detective Michael Elliot Traceur's desk a handful of minutes before he'd been scheduled.

The man... isn't there. Connor looked down the line of cubicles on one side, then the other, glancing at his internal clock. There were more than a few seats empty in either direction. That handful of minutes made a significant difference, it seemed, and Detective Traceur would probably arrive shortly if Connor waited.

He can wait. He's an android--and not just any android, he's an RK800, built with a particular emphasis on autonomy. He'll make good use of his time, except--he hasn't been assigned any specific casework, has he?

Connor's eyes slide across the desk. He has no cases, but he does have a new partner. Integrating seamlessly into a social workplace is one of his expected tasks. Would it help him to know what Michael's brand and flavor of choice for chewing gum is? No? He'll log the information anyway, taking in any papers left out, as well as the wear and tear the workstation doesn't yet have. Detective Traceur, says Connor's new access. Transferred to Central Detroit in 05/38, from...

Connor will still be standing by the desk when the detective arrives, LED cycling as he processes his research.

Comments

[youcantkillme]

If Mike glances over, he'll find Connor's eyebrows drawn slightly together and his eyes distant. 'The happiest lizard in the rock pile.' Lizards: common reptiles that are found in trees, vegetation on the ground, and rocks. Rocks provide camoflauge and warmth from the sun, but also carry a risk of exposure to predators. Mike... felt soothed by the warmth, but also that it was dangerous? ... This conclusion doesn't match the fond tone he's using, nor the context. Lizards are cold-blooded, or ectothermic animals, and...

After a few seconds Connor says, "That sounds nice."

And odd. Still, it's been long enough that his protocols are instructing him to answer whether or not he understands.

They're not far from the address, now--only a few more streets.

[secondtry]

Mike knew what those few seconds meant. Human metaphors weren't exactly the easiest for AI to process - never had been. Hank had understood them after a while, but when he heard a new one - like 'happiest lizard in the rock pile' - he needed both a little context and a little explanation. "It means," Mike started, "that I was comfortable in the temperature and the environment. That it suited me. A lot of people complained about the scrub and the sand and the dirt, but I liked it because it was always warm, and honestly, the people were pretty nice, too - you know, besides the ones that wanted to blow people up. You know you're allowed to ask me if I say something you don't quite get, right? I don't mind explaining. Promise."

And to him, anyway, it was better than making Connor - or any android - mentally flail about how to answer some of his--

What was the word? Damn it, he knew this one. It was... something completely unconnected... Ah hell, he'd either remember later or he wouldn't.

So better to go back to a more timely question. "I bet you have that footage ready." There. Nice and safe.

[youcantkillme]

Connor doesn't say anything out loud, but his eyes sharpen with understanding, and his lips form a silent 'Oh'. Connections form. 'If (tone) and (metaphor), then consider...'

He's just turning his head to speak (to thank him? to insist it won't be necessary?) when the subject changes again, this time to mutually safer ground. Connor closes his mouth, expression clearing.

"Yes. I have it downloaded and queued for transfer."

And... they've reached the right street. Overflowing trash bins dot the sidewalk, a stray dog wanders in the distance, and a small scatter of police cars and news vans line the street. They park a little ways away, neither of them leaving the vehicle.

Connor reaches for the dash-screen without needing further invitation. The file transfers immediately, and starts to play.

Static. Distorted voices, a glimpse of a floor that the viewer--the android--is trying to sweep. One of the android's hands has no skin, exoskeleton too crushed to support it. There's no thirium, suggesting that the injury is too old to be relevant to the incident at hand.

The voices raise, and the view swings up, capturing the victim and another android, this one neat and intact.

Connor watches without expression, LED a serene blue. He's been digesting the footage since it downloaded, and nothing he sees now is new to him.

[secondtry]

Mike watches, since the car is still, and what he sees... It never stops being unsettling. Maybe his uncanny valley is just highly developed. Or maybe he just can't really draw a line between android and human. Or--

Hell, when it comes down to it, who knows. Why does it even matter. Most of what he sees is that these people have no sense of actual humanity. No idea how to treat people with any kind of thoughtfulness. For all he knew he was in the minority when it came to the whole idea of androids and personhood.

Still, he watched, trying to match what he saw on the screen with the setting. This... certainly wasn't a good part of town, to say the least.

[youcantkillme]

The human is larger than the android, and he's maneuvered her with a cabinet behind her, and his bulk between her and the rest of the room. The camera's rest on them as the man's voice drops to a growl, until the human closes in, arm coming up low. The cameras jerk back to the floor, scratching uselessly at it with a broom. He tries to close his hand to brace it properly, but the exoskeleton splits, weeping thirium. He stops trying.

For a moment there's the illusion of silence, with the human's words drowned out by the memory's static. There might have been a choked off sob almost lost in that distortion spike, and right on that' sound's heels is a stream of outraged explicatives.

"Where thefuck is your pussy?!" the man snarls. The cameras snap up to the human, whose bulk is right up on top of her, hiding everything from view but her legs. The cameras dart left, then back to them, then down, down to its own stained and battered Cyberlife-issue shoes.

"I--I--don't--" the other android stutters. She breaks off at the sound of an impact with a cry, which makes the cameras jump again. "I-I don't have one! I'm not a..."

"Where the fuck is it?!" the human repeats. "What did you do with it? Why did you... You knew!" Another impact and a cry, and--distortion, lost time--the thud of a falling body. The cameras jumped back to them, finding her on the ground, with him dropping to kneel over her.

"You fucking slut. You knew today was the day, you knew and you took your pussy away just to torture me!" He hit her again. She deflected the blow this time, but sounded more distraught than ever.

"I didn't! I didn't--I don't, I didn't kn--I didn't--"

Distortion. His big, meaty fists flew. "You fucking bitch! I'll teach you to--"

"Stop it! Stop it!" she shrieked. She lashed out, and it was hard enough to make him reel, head rocking back. Distortion. "Stop!"

She hit him again, then scrambled and dragged herself back--

Enough distortion for the feed to cut out completely. Connor can't tell how much time is lost, if any. The only thing that's clear is that the watching android drops the broom, joining the struggle. The human fights both of them, bellowing like a wounded animal. The girl screams and fights anyone who gets close, and the viewer reaches for both of them, to harm or help--

Distortion. The video is over.

[secondtry]

It was still an unusual thing for Mike to have an emotional reaction. Well. No, that wasn't precisely true. The rage he felt at this man? That was normal. When the androids, both of them, started fighting back, Mike found himself surprised by the streak of pride that went through him. Damn but he hoped they could find her and make sure she was okay - even though he knew he'd have to carefully manoeuver things with Connor.

And that made him wonder if this was slightly out of his reach. He was a lot of things, but that sly? He doubted it. Yet he wanted nothing more than to see this girl go free because it was obvious - to him, anyway - that this was self defense.

How the hell could he play this.

"...That's one hell of a video," he started. "If she'd been human, that would've made it an open and shut case."

[youcantkillme]

"If she'd been human," Connor repeats, adjusting his tie. "But she was not. She was a delivery unit, with a face common to model WE600s."

He could retrace every shift in posture, tension, and proprioceptive feedback as he watched the footage, but there would be no point. The odd echoes of something whisping at the corners of his thoughts are small enough to be lost in the focus of his mission, and everything else can and has already been explained away as adjusting to the conversational shift in mood. Nothing more.

"The footage indicates she was responsible for the victim's death. A study of the crime scene may turn up clues as to her current whereabouts."