Chapitre 6: Chapter Six: The Eden Club
DATE
NOV 6TH, 2038
TIME
PM 08:17:04
NATALIE GRUNTED SLIGHTLY AS THE CAR CAME to an abrupt stop. She nearly fell off the backseat and onto the floor at the sudden movement but was able to save herself before she face planted. She sat up quickly to find that they had finally arrived at the android gentlemen's club. The neon signs and police lights illuminated the dark surroundings as raindrops fell from the cloudy sky.
"Aw… Feels like somebody's playing with a drill inside my skull…" Hank moaned as he rested his hands on his temples to hopefully deter the headache that he was going to have to suffer from. "You sure this is the place?" He asked his two partners as he glanced at the neon pink illuminated building.
Connor nodded his head, "it's the address in the report."
"Right…" Hank sighed as he tried to collect himself, "okay… Let's get going." He started to exit the car but accidentally hit his head on the roof as he tried to get out. "Jesus…" he weakly called out as Natalie snorted in amusement which earned her a glare from the hungover man.
The detective, android and engineer all hopped out of the car. Natalie was certain that if she were completely human, she would have felt the cold rain drops pelting her skin and chilling her to the bone. Then she would have clung to her sweatshirt more in order to stay warm. However, there wasn't much flesh and blood left apart of her body to cause her to become cold. Natalie closed the door to the car as she came to stand in front of the Eden Club and eyed the building in distaste. She never once thought in her life that she would ever end up in a place like this. Sure, she knew what it is and its purpose and even had a few friends try to force her to places like this, but she honestly didn't like them.
The trio walked through the entrance of the club, "Sexiest androids in town…" Hank commented as he read the screens that lined the entrance hall. "Now I know why you insisted on coming here!" He jested towards the only android apart of the group.
"Yes, because the dead body had nothing to do with why were here!" Natalie sarcastically commented as she followed after the older man. She felt completely uncomfortable as soon as a few androids were in sight. She grew even more uncomfortable, if it was possible, once she set eyes on the few androids who were dancing on poles. Yes, she knew that they were androids and that they were programmed to act this way. However, they looked far too much like a human for her to not think that it was inappropriate for her to look at them. Plus, now she was technically part android as well… if anything they were more her people than a human was.
She thought it was so weird to see all of these androids held in tubes ready to be bought… and used. Especially now that they knew some of them were starting to gain consciousness and their own thoughts. She most certainly wouldn't want to be an android that gained deviency while being stuck in a place like this. Not at all. She couldn't even imagine what it would be like for one to go through that.
"You're not gonna take my license, are you?" The owner of the club moaned as he spoke with Ben. Hank walked over to them to hear with the man had to say while Connor observed their surroundings and Natalie stood rigidly and obviously uncomfortably besides him. "I mean, ha, I had nothing to do with this!"
The older detective sighed, "The investigation's ongoing, sir, I can't tell you anything for the moment." He finally turned to the newcomers. He nodded his head at Natalie politely, "Ms. Tyler," she returned the gesture. "Hey, Hank!"
"Hey, Ben." Hank greeted, "how's it goin'?"
Ben pointed to one of the private rooms, "it's that room there." He then sighed and grimaced slightly, "oh, uh, by the way... Gavin's in there too."
"Oh, great!" Hank huffed, "a dead body and an asshole, just what I needed…"
Natalie rolled her eyes. She most certainly remembered Detective Reed and was just as upset about having to see him again like Hank. It was obviously expected. Last time she ever spoke to the douchebag, and the first time, he tried to punch Connor and ultimately insulted her for being a 'android sympathiser'. It's quite understandable why Natalie was irritated about having to see the man again.
Hank shook his head as he moved to stand near the door. Natalie walked over with him and looked over her shoulder at the only android in their trio. "Connor," She called over to him which halted his observing of an android. If she didn't know any better, it almost looked like he had become flustered at being caught. Though she brushed it off. "Come on."
The door to the private room slide open and the trio walked through. They finally got a glimpse at the crime scene. A man laid on the bed in the middle of the room covered by a blanket while a female android laid on a heap in the corner. Two other people stood in the room as well. One was an african-american officer while the other… was Detective Gavin Reed. Oh joy, Natalie thought sarcastically.
Once the doors opened, said douchebag turned to see who entered. A large smirk was plastered on his face once he saw who it was. "Lieutenant Anderson, his plastic pet and the pet's girlfriend…" Natalie glowered at him but kept her mouth shut. "The fuck are you three doin' here?"
Connor started to explain their appearance, "we've been assigned all cases involving androids."
"Oh, yeah?" Gavin asked sarcastically. "Well, you're wasting your time. Just some pervert who, uh, got more action than he could handle." He started to laugh at what he thought was a funny joke. Yet no one else joined him in laughing. Natalie just stared at him lamely with her arms still crossed over her chest.
"If that was the case, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be here." Natalie stated lamely while staring at Gavin with an expression void of any emotion. Gavin glared at her with narrowed eyes that were so obviously filled with malice.
"We'll have a look anyway, if you don't mind." Hank dismissed.
Gavin just scoffed, "come on, let's go…" he said to his partner as he started to make his way out of the room. "Its, uh, starting to stink of booze in here…" He said while walking past Hank.
Natalie shook her head at his words. "Just get out, Detective."
Gavin once again glared at her and scoffed, "you heard the lady." His words were obviously mocking as he walked past her as well with an undertone of bitterness in his voice. As he turned he bumped shoulders with Connor.
Natalie rolled her eyes, "he's really mature, isn't he."
The other officer stood in front of Hank, "night Lieutenant, Miss." He bid the two farewell before exiting the room as well.
They then started their investigating. Hank moved over to the body in order to take a look at it, Connor went straight over to the android and Natalie walked over to the shelves that were decorated in alcohol. As Natalie looked at the deceased's belongings and Hank looked at the body, Connor examined the android. He first started with a diagnosis on the female android and found that the SELECTOR #5402 and BIOCOMPONENT #6970 were both critically damaged. Once he found that out he moved to analyze the blue blood that had trickled out of the androids nose.
"Whoa! Hey! Hey! Hey!" Hank called as he noticed Connor place his finger that was covered in the blood into his mouth. "Argh, Connor, you're so disgusting… Think I'm gonna puke again…" He looked over at Natalie who now rested against one of the walls with her arms crossed, almost in an insecure manner. "You gotta teach him not to do that."
Natalie's eyebrows furrowed, "what? No I don't. It's his job to analyze anything and everything he deems necessary, yeah it seems weird for him to… taste the blood but technically he doesn't have taste buds like us so…" She trailed off with a shrug of her shoulders in hopes that Hank got what she was trying to say.
The lieutenant just shook his head, "it's still disgusting."
Natalie shook her head while picking up a few of the man's belongings and looked through them, "Driver's license says: Michael Graham…" She started while pulling out a few cards. "A credit card, cash in the wallet... Picture of his wife and two daughters... I wouldn't want to make that call…"
As Natalie and Hank conversed, Connor was able to find that the blue blood belonged to a MODEL WR400 with the serial number #429 671 942. The android stood up and moved over to the corpse in order to examine it just like he did the damaged android. First, he identified the man:
'DECEASED
GRAHAM, MICHAEL
Height: 6' 2" - Weight: 192.4 lbs
Estimated time of death: 06:24 pm'
He then examined the man's heart:
'CARDIAC ARREST
No sign of cardiac event
Heart attack not cause of death'
Lastly, Connor moved to analyze the man's neck:
'SEVERE BRUISING
Signs of strangulation
Cause of death: asphyxiation'
With the information that Connor got from the body, he was able to construct a simulation to depict what actually happened to the man. It appeared that the man was most certainly strangled by the android. He turned to his partners, "he didn't die of a heart attack, he was strangled."
Hank nodded his head, "Yeah, I saw the bruising on the neck. Doesn't prove anything though. Could've been rough play…"
Natalie shook her head, "rough enough to kill him."
"We're missing something here…" Connor said.
Hank paused for a moment before a thought struck him. "Think you can read the android's memory? Maybe you can see what happened…"
"Good idea, Hank." Natalie smiled
Connor kneeled down beside the deactivated android and picked up her hand while his artificial skin retracted to reveal his exoskeleton. The connection didn't work, however. It seemed that the android was too badly damaged. "The only way to access its memory is to reactivate it."
"Think you can do it?" Hank asked as he stood behind Connor and next to Natalie.
Said woman squared her shoulders and smiled widely, "I certainly can!" She jumped at the opportunity to finally do something than stand around and observe. She knelt down besides Connor and leaned over the android. "She's badly damaged…" She placed her hand over the android's stomach which exposed the androids white exoskeleton. Natalie continued her explanation, "when I reactivate her, it'll only be for a minute, maybe less…" She set to work with opening up the exoskeleton and started to fiddle with some wires. "Let's hope it's long enough to learn something." Finally, Natalie pulled out a large blue wire and glanced at Connor and nodded her head in a sign that said 'get ready'. Connor returned the gesture before Natalie reconnected the wire.
As soon as she did, the android gasped awake and frantically started to scramble away from the two who hovered over her. Her breath was heavy and laboured as it was obvious she was terrified. "Hey, hey. It's okay, it's alright." Natalie started out softly as she approached the android slowly. She was afraid that if she made any sudden movements to startle her, the android would try to run off which wouldn't help them at all. They only had at least a minute before she died… for good. They need to get answers. The android stared at Natalie for a moment and noticed the softness in her words and the reassurance that shined in her eyes. She still kept herself quite far away though, obviously still scared out of her mind. "Can you tell us what happened to you?"
The Traci android looked around the room quickly before her eyes landed on the corpse on the bed. "Is he… is he dead?.."
"Tell us what happened." Natalie said again though this time her words were a tad bit more rushed.
The Traci looked over to her and gulped, "he started… hitting me… again… and again." Her words were slightly broken as the emotion seeped into her voice. If they weren't on such a time crunch, Natalie would have tried to soothe the android further. However, because they only had seconds, so she couldn't so that.
"Did you kill him?" Connor imputed from behind Natalie.
The Traci shook her head, "no… no, it wasn't me…"
"Was there anyone else in the room? Maybe another android?" Natalie asked as she started to create her own hypothesis.
The android nodded her head 'yes', "He wanted to play with two girls... That's what he said, there were two of us…"
"What model was the other android? Did it look like you?" Natalie didn't get an answer for her question for the android had shutdown once again. The blank stare of the Traci android bore into Natalie's own wide, hazel eyes. She closed her eyes and sighed heavily through her nose, "she's gone."
She and Connor stood up and turned to Hank, "So, there was another android... This happened over an hour ago, it's probably long gone…"
Connor shook his head, "no... It couldn't go outside dressed like that unnoticed…" He pointed to the android who was dressed in just a bra and underwear. There was obviously no way someone would just over look anyone, android or human, dressed like that. "It might still be here."
"Think you could find a deviant among all the other androids in this place?"
"Deviants aren't easily detected."
"Ah, shit... There's gotta be some other way…"
Natalie perked up as a thought popped into her head, "eyewitness? If she walked out of the room someone must have seen her."
Hank nodded his head appreciatively towards her, "I'm gonna go ask the manager a few questions about what he saw. You let me know if you two think of anything."
The trio exited the private room and went to perform their own tasks. Hank moved over to the manager and started to question him while Connor and Natalie looked around for anything useful.
"Did you know the victim?" Hank asked the manager.
"No," the man shook his head with a shaky voice, "I mean he came in maybe two or three times… I mean these guys they don't really talk very much, you know… They come in, do their business and then go on their way…"
"You ever had any trouble with androids before?"
"No way!" He paused as Hank raised an eyebrow. "Well... Once... We lost a model 2-3 months back, bah... same model... Just vanished, we never found out what happened."
"You probably don't have any CCTV in here, huh?"
"No way... I mean... This is what people appreciate about Eden Club...discretion. They can come and go without a trace."
"Sure, sure…" Hank nodded his head in understanding yet slight distaste, "eh, business is booming, right?"
The manager smirked and chuckled slightly, "yeah, can't complain... Good thing about androids is they're up for whatever you want, you won't get any diseases and, uh...they won't tell anyone... So, why not go wild?"
"Huh, yeah…" Hank said, "yeah, the more I learn about people, more I love my dog."
As Hank spoke with the manager, Connor approached one of the androids who stood in a tube across the hall from the crime scene. He stared at her for a moment before coming to a conclusion that most likely would help their investigation. He moved over to the side to the panel and placed his hand on it in order to purchase it. However, he was unable to do it considering he didn't have any fingerprints. "No fingerprint detected. Please try again." The automated voice said.
Natalie walked over to Connor with a smirk, "gotten bored, Connor?" She started to tease, "you decided to enjoy your time here with the 'sexiest androids in town'."
Connor shook his head, "I have an idea, Natalie. Do you mind renting out this android."
The woman's eyes were blown wide as she had to stop herself from coughing out in surprise. "Whoa, Connor! I know I'm supposed to be looking after you, but I don't think that includes-"
Connor cut her off quickly as his circuits started to heat up. "No, no. That's not what I meant. I can probe the androids memory and see if it saw anything. Like the android leaving the room after it killed our victim."
"Oh," Natalie said nervously, "yeah, that makes more sense." She then shook her head once she was able to get over her shock. "I would like to help, but I don't have fingerprints anymore, remember." She took a quick glance around their surroundings to make sure that no one was watching them before raising her hands as the artificial skin retracted to show two white hands that matched Connor's when he did the same. "If you want to rent an android, we're gonna need Hank do to it."
Connor nodded his head as he marched over to the lieutenant. "Excuse me, Lieutenant. Can you come here a second?"
Hank turned away from the manager, "found something?"
"Maybe," Connor lead Hank back over to the android where Natalie stood with her hands on her hips. "Can you rent this Traci?"
The Lieutenant blanched, shocked, "For fuck's sake, Connor, we got better things to do…" he made a move to walk away before Connor continued on.
"Please, Lieutenant! Just trust me."
Hank grunted and walked over to the panel and started to rent the android. "Hello. A 30 minute session costs $29.99. Please confirm your purchase." The automated voice said as Hank looked over to Connor and Natalie. He glared slightly at Natalie who raised her hands in surrender. Though it looked like she really wanted to laugh out loud.
"This is not gonna look good on my expense account…"
He continued on with his purchase anyway, "purchase confirmed. Eden Club wishes you a pleasant experience."
"Yeah, you're welcome," Hank muttered as the Traci android stepped out of her confinements.
"Delighted to meet you." Her seductive, silky voice said as she started to walk towards a private room to lead her client to. "Follow me, I'll take you to your room."
Hank only glanced at her blankly before turning back to his partners, "okay, now what?" He and Natalie watched as Connor stood in front of the android and grabbed her arm with his now exposed exoskeleton. "Holy shit, Connor... What the hell are you doin'?"
He didn't get an answer when Connor started before only a second later he let go of the android. "It saw something."
Hank's eyebrows furrowed as he had no idea what Connor was really doing. "What are you talkin' about? Saw, what?"
Natalie piped up, "the deviant leave the room…"
Connor nodded his head, "a blue-haired Traci." Then a thought dawned on him, "club policy is to wipe the androids' memory every two hours. We only have a few minutes if we wanna find another witness!"
As Connor walked away to start looking for another witness, Hank pointed at the Traci who still looked at him lustfully waiting for him. "Hey, what am I supposed to do with this one?"
"Tell it you changed your mind!" Natalie suggested as she swiftly followed Connor.
Hank considered the idea and turned to that android. "Uhh... Sorry, honey, changed my mind! Nothing personal, you're... a lovely girl... I just, uh... You know... I'm with them and... I mean, not with them like that... I'm not that... That's not what I... You, um... Wow... I just…" Hank sighed in defeat before following after his two partners.
That pushed them all into searching mode. Connor asked Hank to rent multiple androids in order for him to probe their memories. He followed a trail of the Traci android walking towards the entrance before turning back around into the club. The Traci then entered The Red Room then into the blue room before hiding in a room. They bolted into what they thought would be the deviant's hiding spot only to find that it wasn't there. They exited it and were slowly losing hope in finding it.
As Connor and Hank walked over to a few other androids to probe their memory, Natalie took notice of a janitorial android cleaning a few feet away. She glanced around herself to find that Connor and Hank were already preoccupied with another Traci android. She took a deep breath and approached the android quickly. The skin on her hand once again melted away as she grabbed the androids shoulder.
For her, it felt quite weird to be watching an event from someone else's perspective. This was obviously something that she never thought she would experience in her life. Though it proved to be quite useful for what she was looking for. She watched from the androids perspective as the blue-haired Traci sauntered past the janitorial android and into a room labeled with red text: 'PRIVATE STAFF ONLY'.
Natalie gasped once she allowed herself to be dragged back out of the android's memory and into reality. It took her a moment to try and collect herself as Connor and Hank approached her. "We couldn't find anything useful." Hank commented as he didn't notice her flustered appearance at first.
"The trail seems to end here," Connor explained, puzzled.
Natalie shook her head, "no, no. It doesn't end here." The other two finally noticed her shocked and nervous behavior. They watched they way she played with her fingers and shifted from one foot to the other.
"You alright, girly?" Hank asked her with skeptical eyes.
She nodded her head and gulped slightly, "yeah, I'm fine. But I think I know where the Traci went." The two of them had their eyebrows furrowed as Natalie led them to the staff door.
"Fucking-A. This is crazy…" Hank sighed out as the door opened and Connor and Natalie started to walk down the white hallway. He followed after them and eyed the back of the brunette's head. He wasn't sure how she knew it, and he felt like he should. If they were to work together on an investigation concerning deviants, they shouldn't hide things from each other. There is always the possibility of their secrets hurting each other if they didn't disclose it with anyone else.
He brushed it off though when they made it to another door, "wait! I'll take it from here." The two others nodded their heads and allowed him to step in front of them with his gun raised. He pushed the door open roughly and surveyed the warehouse to find nothing. "Shit…" He breathed out in defeat, "we're too late…"
"She could still be here, Lieutenant." Natalie commented as she started to walk around the room in search of any clues. They looked around the room that had multiple androids either waiting for repairs, to be trashed or to be put back to work.
"Christ, look at them… They get used till they break, then they get tossed out…"
Natalie nodded her head as she approached the back brick wall of the building. On the wall, written crudely and quickly was the familiar letters, 'RA9'. Why were there so many references to RA9 in places where deviants are found? Also, why was there some sort of tingling feeling in the back of her mind every time she saw the words.? What the hell was really going on!
"People are fucking insane…" Hank started to complain as he lazily paced the room, "they don't want relationships anymore, everybody just gets an android… They cook what you want, they screw when you want, you don't have to worry about how they feel…" He sighed before finally resting against one of the beams with his arms crossed. "Next thing you know, we're gonna be extinct, because everybody would rather buy a piece of plastic than love another human being… Beats me…"
As Hank ranted loudly, Connor examined a bit of blue blood that was on the ground. He followed the small trail to the back of the warehouse where a group of androids stood silent and still. He examined them closely and noticed… that one of the androids LED had changed from a pale blue to yellow. It was the blue-haired Traci, there was no doubt about it. Before Connor could truly do anything to get to the deviant, another android jumped out of the line and attacked him.
She pushed him up against one of the metal beams and held him there. Hank ran over, "DON'T MOVE!" He pulled out his gun and raised it to the deviant only to have the blue-hair Traci jump on top of him and begin wrestling with him like the other was with Connor.
Natalie rushed over to Hank to help him out. Connor is an android. He should be able to hold his own against the other android though there was no guarantee that Hank could do the same. So she thought it was more important to help the human.
As Connor tussled with the other female android and stopped her from stabbing him with a screwdriver, Natalie pulled the Blue-haired Traci off of Hank. Traci then rounded on her and threw kicks and punches at Natalie who was easily able to block them and retaliate with her own.
The Traci did however get the better of her slightly when she pushed Natalie onto the table in the middle of the room. Natalie pushed the Traci away and tried to get back up only to find a screwdriver lodged in her shoulder. The blue-haired Traci starred in slight shock and fear after she stabbed the woman but decided to forget about it and get back to the other Traci.
Hank ran over to Natalie who grunted slightly, "jesus christ…" He trailed off when he was able to see that she was wounded.
She brushed him off, "go after them!" Her injury wasn't severe and didn't not hit any major biocomponents or any of the remaining human parts that she had. She'd most likely only have to repair her exoskeleton when she got back home at the most, maybe even get some blue blood to replace the amount that she was going to lose.
Hank watched in astonishment as Natalie jumped back up to her feet and pulled the screwdriver out of her shoulder without even flinching. He was going to protest about her getting up and to put pressure on her wound when he saw the blue tint on the screwdriver and her clothes. There should be red there, not blue…
Hank put the revelation to the side for just a moment and rushed out of the warehouse. Hank ran out and tried to stop the androids by grabbing one of their hands as soon as he was close enough. Though the two androids merely pushed him quite hard into the wall where he lost his grip on his gun. "QUICK! THEY'RE GETTING AWAY!"
Connor sprinted after them as they tried to climb over the chain-linked fence. He successfully pulled the blue-haired Traci down and pushed her to the ground. The other Traci pulled him away which allowed the other to get free. They fought a tad bit more which included the red-haired Traci grabbing a metal pole and trying to use it as a bat. Though Connor was able to hold his own against the two of them quite well.
Natalie eventually came out and threw the blue-haired Traci off of Connor as she pinned him to the wall. She punched and pushed her a few times which caused the Traci to stare at her surprised. She thought for certain that the woman was a human! Though now that she noticed the blue blood seeping through her shirt and on her hands after Natalie pulled the screwdriver from her shoulder, Traci felt somewhat remorseful for hurting her. She pushed that aside when she then remembered that she and the male android were trying to stop her and the other Traci from getting away.
The red-haired Traci pushed Connor away and caused him to topple into Natalie and the blue-haired Traci onto the ground. The red-haired Traci returned to them all with a trashcan and hit them with it which allowed the blue-haired Traci to get away from them.
Connor scrabbled to try and get up when he noticed Hank's gun laying on the ground. He grabbed it and raised it to shoot at the red-haired Traci… but something stopped him. He didn't know what did… there was obviously a strong pull in his software telling him to pull the trigger… but… something even stronger didn't let that programming get through.
Just as Connor came to the conclusion that he would spare the android, she kicked him in the chest and sent him to the ground. Natalie ran over to his side and pulled him back up. She placed a hand on his forearm as the blue-haired Traci came to stand in front of them.
"When that man broke the other Traci… I knew I was next…" She started. "I was so scared… I begged him to stop, but he wouldn't… And so I put my hands around his throat, and I squeezed… until he stopped moving… I didn't mean to kill him… I just wanted to stay alive...get back to the one I love." The red-haired Traci then came up behind her and laced their hands together. Natalie's heart ached at the display. "I wanted her to hold me in her arms again... make me forget about the humans…" Just as she said that, Hank walked over to them and listened to her speak. "Their smell of sweat and their dirty words…"
"Come on," her lover said, "let's go."
The trio then watched as the lovers climbed over the fence and ran off into the night. Connor glanced over at Hank who stared back at him in slight confusion yet appreciation. "It's probably better this way…" Hank commented while looking at Connor before glancing at Natalie quickly and turning around to go back into the warehouse.
Natalie sighed deeply through her nose and shook her head. She had a feeling that Hank noticed her injury and most likely felt uneasy about the situation. She kept the fact that she was a cyborg, part android, from a man who obviously held a strong dislike for androids. There was no doubt in her mind that Hank most likely hated her with a passion now.
"You're hurt, Natalie." Connor commented as he gently turned her to face him so he could get a closer look at her shoulder.
She chuckled dryly, "I seem to do that a lot, huh? Get hurt."
Connor's hand became stark white as he reached for her shoulder. She didn't flinch at his touch because she obviously couldn't feel her body like she could before. "I don't think that any biocomponents would have been damaged…"
Natalie shook her head, "no, no biocomponents are damaged. I-I am losin' a little bit of blue blood, but that's an easy fix."
Concern manifested in Connor's mind as he nodded his head slowly, "okay." Concern… an emotion that androids aren't meant to feel… The two of them made their way back into the building to search for Hank so they could leave. Natalie wasn't looking forward to the awkward and stiff car ride. If she tried, she could probably get Ethan to pick her up or even walk back home on her own. Though she had a feeling that she should face Hank instead of running away.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone