章節 3: Chapter Three: On the Run
DATE
NOV 6TH, 2038
TIME
PM 12:15:54
PUDDLES LINED THE SLIGHTLY BUSY STREET IN the Ravendale district. Hank was speaking with a civilian about any sightings of the runaway AX400 at the moment. Along with Hank, there were a dozen other officers who were called into the district as well to look for the android, which Natalie found to be a little overkill. Too many officers posted all over the place could result in many different outcomes involving the deviant. The deviant knows that she is being hunted and when backed into a corner someone, android or otherwise, would retaliate. Natalie just wanted to make sure that no one would get hurt.
She leaned against the hood of Hank's car with crossed arms and a peeved off expression. She wanted to help him with canvasing different possible witnesses or, at least, listen in on the conversations he had with them to get a better understanding of the deviant's evasion skills. But she was forced to stay by the car because she 'should stay out of the fucking way'. God, she is really starting to not like the Lieutenant.
Ever the obedient android, Connor stood next to her. He was completely still and had been ever since Hank told him to stay by the car. Hank also ordered Connor to make sure that Natalie wouldn't run off on her own. (Natalie argued that she could technically overrule his order because she was a Cyberlife engineer, but stayed where she was anyway.)
Detective Ben Collins, a heavy-set man with grey hair and a matching mustache, walked over to Hank. "We've got officers sweeping the neighborhood, in case anyone saw anything."
"Okay. Well, let me know if they turn anything up."
"What are you going to do with them?" Collins asked as they both turned to stare at the android and the engineer. Natalie turned to them with a tilted head and sarcastic smile.
Hank just stared at the pair with no expression, "I have no idea."
Collins nodded his head and before saying goodbye as Hank mosied over to stand near his… partners. As soon as he stopped in front of them, Connor began to go over what they already knew. "It took the first bus that came along… and stayed at the end of the line. Its decision wasn't planned."
"She was afraid," Natalie stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which to her and Connor it was.
Hank scoffed at the statement, "Androids don't feel fear." Natalie glared at him, but she bit her tongue to stop herself from spitting out an insult.
"Deviants do," Connor continued as he didn't notice Natalie's irritation. "They get overwhelmed by their emotions and make irrational decisions."
"Ah well, that still doesn't tell us where it went."
"Maybe it didn't go far," Natalie shrugged as both Hank and Connor turned to her, "think about it, she clearly didn't have a plan and nowhere to go…" She trailed off in hopes that they would see the logical distinction that she made.
Hank nodded his head and actually considered what she said. He was… slightly impressed with the young woman. Not only was she an engineer at Cyberlife, the highly most advanced company in the entire world, but she also had a degree in criminal justice. Perhaps her opinion was worth noting, he thought. "Maybe…"
Natalie observed the area that they were in. There was a convenience store, motel, abandon house and about a dozen other hiding places that would work for the deviant. If the deviant was logical, she would have chosen a place to hide that was discreet and would raise no suspicion. If that were the case, then the motel was out of the question. Along with the convenience store if the deviant didn't want to be noticed by anyone. There was a small enclosure with a broken car in it that Natalie had noticed when they drove down the street, but it was too open. The deviant would want to stay hidden in a more confined space and that enclosure didn't give much cover, at least, Natalie didn't believe there to be. So the only logical place, she would think of the deviant hiding, is the abandoned house that was right across the street from them.
She looked over her shoulder and stared at the rundown, ancient house for a moment, and she swore that she saw something move in one of the windows. Granted, it could have been an animal or something but better safe than sorry, right?
"What about over there," she said to her partners, "seems like a perfect place to hide."
Connor nodded his head as he turned to look at the abandoned building, "it could have hidden there."
"Well then," Hank sighed and gestured to the house, "let's have a look."
The three of them scuttled across the watery street and observed the house from the outside. Connor was quick to find a part of the fence that had been torn up. It was a small hole that was big enough for a person to fit through. He climbed through the small hole and examined the thirium that was left on it. "Anybody home?"
Natalie crouched down and moved to follow after Connor but was halted when Hank reached out and grabbed her shoulder. "Whoa, where do you think you're going, girly?" He raised an eyebrow.
Natalie huffed and turned to him, "following Connor, obviously."
"Stay here." Hank stated firmly, "you're not a cop." He'd be damned if he let the woman go into a possibly dangerous situation unprepared. She wasn't a cop and, as far as he knew, she didn't know how to properly defend herself. He didn't want her to get hurt. That would just mean too much paperwork.
"There's blue blood on the fence." Connor commented, breaking the two out of their bickering, "I know another android was here."
"Which is exactly why I should go in for, you know, backup."
Connor turned to her with no emotion on his face, "it will be safer for you to stay outside, Natalie."
Natalie scoffed, "I will be fine, Connor. I can take care of myself."
Hank gruffly sighed as he realized that working with Natalie was going to be a challenge. If she was willing to jump headfirst into a dangerous situation all the time, then she was going to be a handful. "You're staying out here, that's an order."
Seeing the threatening and firm glare that Hank had pointed at her, Natalie crossed her arms and huffed, "is this how things are going to go? The two of you ganging up on me when I try to do something?"
"If you do stupid things, then yes." Hank offhandedly replied as Connor started to walk off towards the entrance of the house.
They waited for a few moments in silence and Connor had yet to contact them. At first, Natalie thought that maybe her assumption was wrong, but didn't want to admit it. She hated when she was wrong about anything. "I'm going to look around the perimeter of the house, I'm allowed to do that, right?"
Hank turned to her with an amused look, "I don't know, can you handle that?"
Natalie let out a sarcastic breathy laugh, "oh, ha, ha." She glared at him, "can I just go?"
"Go right on ahead."
Natalie rolled her eyes and walked away from the infuriating Lieutenant. Not only did she actually want to look at the perimeter for the deviant, but she also wanted to get away from the Lieutenant. He just doesn't seem to stop annoying her.
She searched around the outside of the fence for anything that may help her with the deviants. While she was conducting her search, she heard yelling coming from inside. Her eyes widened as she could faintly hear a scuffle from inside the house and pounding footsteps. Two figures then ran out of the house and climbed out of the fence. Despite her disdain for the fact that she had to ability to scan things because of the surgery, she was glad that she possessed it. Natalie had instantly scanned the androids and could tell that it was the deviant, the AX400 and a small girl. She identified the smaller girl as a YK500 model, which she found both strange and heartwarming. The AX400 was trying to keep the YK500 safe like a mother would her child. Androids really are fascinating.
"Hey!" The figures turned to her and their eyes widened as they saw her. The AX400 grabbed the little girl and dragged her along, away from Natalie. "Wait! Stop!" Natalie rushed after them and tried to catch up, but the two of them were just a few feet ahead of her. They turned a corner and Natalie followed after, only to run into an officer. "Watch it!" She pushed the officer away and didn't bother with an apology as she tried to see where the pair had run off to. After spotting the fleeting sight of two figures running down an alleyway, Natalie bolted after them. She hated having to pursue them like this because she wanted to make sure that they were safe. But even then, the AX400 had reportedly assaulted her owner… Natalie had to admit that the android needs to at least answer to the crime that she had allegedly committed.
Connor suddenly rounded the corner behind her and turned to the officer that Natalie had previously run into. "Where did it go?"
"That way, that woman's following them!" The officer pointed before Connor sprinted after Natalie and the two androids.
Natalie was hot on their trail when they neared the end of the alleyway which was blocked off by a fence. On the other side of the fence was the interstate. She thought, triumphantly, that she had successfully cornered them when suddenly the AX400 started to boosted the YK500 over the fence. Apparently, they weren't as cornered as Natalie thought. Then again, a frightened animal would do anything to get out of harm's way, especially if there was a child involved.
She had just made it towards the fence and grabbed the leg of the AX400 to stop her from getting over when she was kicked in the head. She hissed in pain but ignored it and reached for the deviant again. This time the deviant delivered a stronger kick that sent Natalie to the ground. Natalie groaned and blinked her eyes rapidly as her vision turned red. She could feel her head bleeding slightly as she pressed a hand to her forehead. She was too focused on her injury that she barely noticed Connor had made it to the fence when the two androids had finally made it over the fence completely.
Connor stared at the AX400 for a moment. His eyebrows furrowed as he saw the terrified look that was in the android's eyes. The possibility of the deviant expressing an emotion such as terror confused him immensely. However, he didn't have much time to dwell on that when the AX400's eyes flickered to the ground a little further from the two of them to Natalie who was still clutching her head in pain. He seemed to grow… angry at the sight of Natalie hurt and turned back to the AX400 with a glare as more officers approached them.
"Don't shoot! We need it alive!" Connor shouted as an officer raised his gun at the pair behind the fence.
Seeing the opportunity, both Kara, the AX400, and Alice, the YK500, turned to slide down the slope that ended at the interstate. They completely ignored the warning signs at the barriers as Kara helped Alice over it. They need to get away from the police and to somewhere safe, fast. The train station was The only way to both get to the train station quickly and lose the police was across the interstate.
"Oh fuck, that's insane…" Hank breathed out as he finally caught up to Connor. He turned to see Natalie holding her head as she tried to stand up from the ground. He quickly came to her side and pushed her down slightly as she groaned. From the way that he looked at her, she could tell he was silently telling her to stay down. But it wasn't like she was going to listen to him.
They all watched as the two tried crossing the interstate. There were quite a few close calls, but they were able to make it across one side of the interstate. Connor grew restless as he saw the success that they had with crossing it and tried to climb the fence himself.
Hank pulled down on Connor, "hey! Where you goin'?"
"I can't let them get away," He stated determined as he continued to watch them cross.
"They won't!" Hank denied as he still caught his breath, "They'll never make it to the other side."
Connor shook his head and once again tried to climb over the fence. "I can't take that chance."
"Hey, you will get yourself killed!" Hank yelled and forced Connor down, "do not go after 'em, Connor, that's an order."
Connor stopped fighting against Hank and watched as the deviant and little girl make it to the other side. "Damn, they're fast." Natalie chuckled as she pressed her hand to her forehead as some blood trickled down through her fingers. She held the left side of her forehead and grimaced slightly as the dark red liquid, darker than its supposed to be, started to obstruct her left eyesight. "She's strong too."
Hank was at her side pretty quickly, "you okay, girly?" He asked her and moved her hand to see the slash on her head that the deviant gave her. It wasn't too deep, but it was enough to cause a substantial amount of blood to gush out of the wound. "We should get you patched up." Hank grabbed her arm and started to guide her away while looking over his shoulder, "Connor, come on!" The android took one final fleeting look in the direction that the deviant had run off before turning around and following Hank and Natalie.
At the moment, he saw getting Natalie the proper treatment more important than looking for the deviant that was more than likely long gone. He stood on Natalie's other side and also helped her walk.
She sighed and wiggled in their grasp. "It's just a cut, guys. I haven't broken my legs."
Hank chuckled in amusement, "doesn't matter, you got hit in the head. You might have a concussion."
"It's a little cut, she didn't hit me that hard!"
They ignored her protests and made quick work of guiding her safely back to Hank's car where they got another officer to help stitch her head back up. After a few minutes of leaning on Hank's hood while the officer fussed over her cut, Natalie was finally able to breath as the female officer backed away. "I'd take it easy," the officer stated once he finished with her by wrapping a bandage around her head, "it was a deep cut and will be sore for a while."
Natalie nodded her head in thanks before the officer wished her well and left her alone with her partners. Hank chuckled, "you would think that we're your babysitters." He found it ironic that she was supposed to be looking after Connor, but now both he and Connor had to take care of her instead.
Natalie laughed sarcastically, "I know, I know. It's funny isn't it."
"I don't think you getting hurt is very funny," Connor commented with no emotion.
His comment, however, did cause Natalie to laugh, genuinely. "It was sarcasm, Connor. I think I need to teach you about it sometime." Hank chuckled at her comment and dove into the driver seat of his car.
"Come one," he urged them, "let's go." Natalie climbed into the back seat of the car as Connor sat in the passenger seat. "I'm fucking hungry, what about you, Natalie?"
She shrugged her shoulder, "I could eat."
---
DATE
NOV 6TH, 2038
TIME
PM 03:02:05
The lieutenant, android, and engineer pulled up along the curb of a nearly vacant street. The sky had turned grey and was swallowed in clouds as it began to rain lightly. Hank had driven to a food truck with neon lights displaying its name; Chicken Feed. On the ride over, Hank had told Natalie that this place had the best burgers in Detroit, and she couldn't say no to eating something like that. Of course, Hank made it clear that he was in no way paying for her food. ("Come on, please!")
Hank put his car in park and climbed out of it quickly without saying anything to either Natalie or Connor. Natalie scoffed at the man's attitude and scurried out of the car. She tapped on the window of Connor seat and smiled at the android who turned to her with a raised eyebrow. "Let's go, Connor." She beckoned him out. Connor climbed out of the car as well and followed the female engineer as she crossed the street while pulling her hood over her head.
Natalie moved to stand next to Hank and tucked her hands in the pockets of her hoodie as a chill from the rain prickled against her skin.
Hank looked at the two of them and shook his head. "What is your problem? Don't you ever do as you're told? Look, you two don't have to follow me around like a poodle."
"We can't follow an order that's never given," Natalie stated but didn't turn to him as she studied the menu of the food truck. Hank sighed in exasperation while looking away from her.
"I'm sorry for my behavior back at the police station. I didn't mean to be unpleasant." Connor decided to apologize to Hank who started to chuckle as he found it amusing.
"You're even got a brown-nosing apology program!" He looked at Natalie, "you guys at CyberLife thought of everything, huh?"
Natalie let out a breathy laugh, "sure. What do you suggest?" She nodded to the food truck.
"Gary makes a mean burger, best in Detroit."
"I'll be the judge of that."
The cook, Natalie found out was Gary Kayes after she scanned him, turned with the finished burger and a drink for Hank. Hank's eyes lit up as his mouth watered for the burger, "Ah! Thanks, Gary. I'm starving…"
Gary nodded his head as Hank turned away and his eyes turned to Natalie. A smirk found its way onto his face as she approached the counter. His eyes raked over her face and her body, which didn't go unnoticed by her, or Connor. "Hello, little lady. What can I get you?"
"Hi, just a burger," She stated boredly, yet politely, as she saw the sly look in his eyes. She used to men looking at her that way, and she knew it would never stop. However, some men had the decency to make it subtly! Gary was eye-fucking her openly, but Natalie didn't want to give him the satisfaction of noticing it. She hated when people openly flirted with her.
"A simple woman," Gary added with a wink as he turned to make her food. Natalie rolled her eyes and rested an elbow against the counter while she waited. "I would have never guessed a pretty girl like you being anywhere near a place like this." Gary tried to make conversation with the woman.
She snorted humorlessly, "do you say that to every girl?"
"Only the pretty ones," came his quick and flirty reply.
Connor grew uncomfortable as he watched the two speak. He knew that he couldn't get involved in the conversation even if he desperately wanted to. However, for some reason, he had an urge to stop Gary from speaking with her. He really didn't like the way that he was looking at Natalie, and he didn't know why.
"Here you are, gorgeous," Gary said as he finished cooking her food. Natalie fished through her pockets for some cash when Gary tutted, "no need, it's on the house."
Natalie raised an eyebrow, "oh?" She started coyly, "well thank you, Gary. Now if you'll excuse me," she grabbed the food from his outstretched hand. She could see in his eyes that he wanted their conversation to continue further, but she not going to entertain his idea. "I have to go speak with my partner," she backed away from the counter as she watched Gary deflate as he realized she wasn't interested, "but thanks for the free food."
"Don't leave that thing here!" Gary huffed out and motioned to the android who was watching them speak.
Natalie nodded her head and grabbed Connors arm, "don't worry, I don't go anywhere without my Connor." She then pulled the android away from the food truck and over to the table that Hank was standing at while he already started to dig into his meal. She didn't notice the subtle smile that tugged on Connor's mouth.
The two joined Hank at the table as an awkward silence washed over them. Natalie took small bites from her burger as she looked between the man and android as she waited for one of them to speak. She didn't care if Hank started ranting about how stupid androids were or if Connor spewed on about their investigations, she just needed something to fill the tense air.
Connor was the one to take the initiative to start a conversation, "Your meals contain 1.4 times the recommended daily intake of calories and twice the cholesterol level. You both shouldn't eat that."
Natalie's eyebrows furrowed, not what I expected him to say, but oh well, it's something. "Thanks for your concern, Connor." She chuckled, "but I'm well aware of that." She then took a bite out of her food with a satisfied smirk.
Hank also wasn't perturbed by Connor's statement, "everybody's gotta die of something…" He then proceeded to also take a large chomp of his own burger. Natalie could tell that Hank wasn't annoyed by Connor's words but instead amused, like herself. If things kept going like this, then there was a large possibility of all three of them becoming friends, or, at least, she hoped there was.
"Do you eat here often?" Connor asked Hank, who paused his eating once again.
"Most days… Like I said earlier, Gary makes the best burger in Detroit."
Natalie paused her eating, "I'm not too much of a fan, really." Hank stared at her as if she had just insulted him, "there's a restaurant downtown that I use to go to a lot, and their burgers were like sex on a plate, I'm telling you!" Hank didn't seem to believe her as he waved his hand.
"I suppose you don't have good taste then," he glared and ate his burger.
Natalie chuckled as she realized Hank might have taken her comment personally, "hey, at least I didn't say it's the worst I've had."
"Is there anything you both would like to know about me?" Connor pitched into their conversation.
Hank was quick to answer, "hell no… Well, yeah," he turned to address both Connor and Natalie. "Why did they make you look so goofy and give you a weird voice? You couldn't come up with anything better, Nat?" Natalie rolled her eyes both at his stupid question and at the usage of her nickname.
"CyberLife androids are designed to work harmoniously with humans. Both my appearance and voice were specifically designed to facilitate my integration." Connor explained.
"Besides, I didn't design Connor, Lieutenant. Even if I had, I probably still would have made him look and sound like that." Natalie casually explained to him. If she had to be honest, Connor's appearance was pleasing to the eye and, dare she say, attractive. The people who did engineer Connor definitely did a good job, in her opinion.
"Well, regardless, they fucked up," Hank said bluntly.
Natalie rolled her eyes and pushed his shoulder lightly, "like you're any better."
Hank's lips instantly became a thin line and his eyes narrowed at the woman. He could tell that she was going to get on his nerves easily while they worked together, but he has to admit that it was a decent comeback.
Connor continued on with the previous conversation, "can I ask you a personal question, Lieutenant?" Hank nodded his head, "Why do you hate androids so much?" Natalie cringed as Hank stared blankly at Connor.
"I have my reasons."
Seeing that his question had only caused Hank to become tense, Connor turned to Natalie to try and lessen the tension. "How long have you been an engineer, Natalie?"
She shrugged her shoulders, "I got my degree in robotics when I was twenty-five and only just started working for CyberLife… today."
Hank turned to her with a suspicious gaze, "first day on the job and they send you to keep an eye on this hunk of plastic?"
"First off, he isn't plastic," Natalie started as she gave him a pointed look. "And second, yes they did. I hadn't realized that I was actually going to be working today at all, actually."
"So how did you get the job?"
Natalie really didn't want to tell them that Elijah was the one to basically get it for her. For one, she didn't want them to know that she was related to him. Second, he basically wanted to stay off the grid, so mentioning him to her partners didn't seem like something he would appreciate. Finally, she didn't want them to think lesser of her because she was appointed to the job just because she was related to the founder of CyberLife. "An old friend of mine from CyberLife contacted me the other day and asked if I'd be willing to take the task. I was slightly hesitant, but they convinced me to take it. I thought it would take a while for my resume to be reviewed and maybe even an interview, but I'm not complaining."
"Your resume was very impressive from what files I was able to read," Connor commented towards her with a soft voice as he seemed impressed with her. She may not have seemed like the type to have such an extensive educational background, but she definitely was an expert on everything Android, from what he had seen. "I can see why they hired you so quickly."
Natalie flashed him an appreciative smile, "Thanks." She then became serious as a thought popped into her head, and she cleared her throat, "maybe we should go over what deviants are, since some of us," she gave Hank a pointed look, "don't have an understanding of what they actually are."
Hank pointed at her, "hey, just because I don't know what they are exactly, doesn't mean I can't hunt them down."
Natalie shook her head at his words, "whatever."
"We believe that a mutation occurs in the software of some androids, which can lead to them emulating a human emotion." Connor took over explaining as he saw Natalie had become annoyed.
"In English, please."
Natalie grimaced as Connor continued to explain what a deviant was, Or, at least, what Connor was scripted to say about them. Her uncomfortable aura didn't go unnoticed by Hank. "They don't really feel emotions, they just get overwhelmed by irrational instructions, which can lead to unpredictable behavior."
Hank sighed, "emotions always screw everything up… Maybe androids aren't as different from us as we thought." He glanced at Natalie and gave her a soft look which she understood as him seeing that she believed that about androids. Hank wasn't overly fond of androids but with Natalie seeming to be apathetic with these androids and pointing out similarities they had with humans, he couldn't help but think that androids possessed some humanity. "Either of you dealt with deviants before?"
Connor seemed to gaze off into the distance as he remembered the time that he did. The androids name was Daniel and after finding out he was going to be replaced, he had killed one of his owners and taken a little girl hostage. It was an intense situation, but Connor was able to save the little girl from a possible early death. "A few months back… A deviant was threatening to jump off the roof with a little girl…" Natalie nodded her head as she recalled the first time she heard about Connor's existence from the news. Along with the rants about how it was unethical to even let an android near that certain situation. "I managed to save her…"
"I heard about that on the news, good work on that, by the way." Natalie shot him a smile while happiness shined in her eyes.
"So I guess you've done all your homework, right?" Hank said, "know everything there is to know about me?"
"I know you graduated top of your class. You made a name for yourself in several cases, and became the youngest lieutenant in Detroit. I also know you've received several disciplinary warnings in recent years and you spend a lot of time in bars."
Natalie watched him waiting to see his reaction and hoped that it wouldn't be negative. Hank pursed his lips, "so, what's your conclusion?"
It was silent for a moment as Connor came up with a response, "I think working with an officer with… personal issues is an added challenge, but adapting to human unpredictability is one of my features."
Natalie smiled as she saw Hank take Connor's response in stride. God forbid Connor had said something else that could have caused Hank to lash out. Obviously, Hank wasn't a fan of androids, that was established even before she had met the man, however, hopefully, herself and Connor could try and persuade him to believe different.
Connor's LED changed color as his eyes twitched, "I just got a report of a suspected deviant. It's a few blocks away. We should go have a look." He gave both Natalie and Hank a meaningful look before straightening from the table, "I'll let you both finish your meals. I'll be in the car, if you need me." He then turned and headed back over to Hank's car.
Hank watched him go with a calculating stare as Natalie finished her burger. "Come on, Lieutenant. We've got some investigating to do!" She exclaimed jokingly and smirked mischievously before heading over to Hank's car with Connor. Hank sighed through his nose as he watched her jump in the back seat and start up a conversation with Connor. He wasn't sure how to really feel about the android and the engineer, but, perhaps, they were starting to grow on him just a little.
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