Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The most advanced facility in the country is none other than CyberLife. 

Their headquarters are imposing when you arrive at the entrance of the place. From there, you can see that it’s outstanding in all forms. By the way the staff works you can have an idea of how organized the company is, just like an orchestra, full of harmony, and playing a delicate symphony that’s always on loop.

It’s also spacious enough with a wide range of androids that are specialized for every type of job. Cleaning, taking care of the kids, making food with the quality of a professional chef, playing every type of sport (as long as they have a ball); mostly everything. 

Androids can come in handy.

The building where it’s located is so large that it even allows people to grow their own garden on the facility; not to mention it owns a lot of high quality technology that’s not even seen by half the population on earth. 

The room where Roier is presently parked at, is a special part in the place dedicated only to the models where the androids reside in.

CyberLife has all kinds of androids, of every size and shape, from kids to adults, animals, and even plants. In this case however, the place where Roier is situated at, is in a separate room from them. Not truly close from the other common android designs; considering his case is kind of different to a certain extent.

He’s actually more close to the superior’s very own top floor. It’s said that he prefers to keep a close eye on the development of this particular model, or so they say.

Of all those androids that are found in the room of the new generation, the only model that stands out pretty quickly is only one. It can be distinguished from the others by its blinking lights alone, something that other androids in the room can’t do, since they’re not activated.

The android in question, the model he comes from, is far better than every model that has ever been created before. The androids of this type come from a specific brand new model of CyberLife; so they’re unique, special even. And something as rare as that, will always be met with a limited quota.

Roier is turned on now, eyes opened and blinking once in a while to fake human mannerisms, and this is also being shown by the flickering of a tiny circular object that flashes a blue light on his face; an actual proof of its activation. This light is located near his eyes, but not quite, it’s exactly a few centimeters away on the right side of his eyebrow, something that all androids have no matter their model.

"Model RK800, repeat again the status of your current mission, please." Cucurucho asks him for the third time once again, while holding his notepad expectantly at him. 

Just as Roier was programmed, he responds smoothly without missing a beat.

“My duty is to neutralize all deviants, capture them alive if possible, and most of all, report everything back to CyberLife so that they may discover the current cause of deviancy.”

Cucurucho nods, his eyes brightening with satisfaction at the android’s words, and then looks down as he scribbles something on his notepad, possibly double checking that all of his systems are working in perfect state, without looking at Roier anymore.

Roier just merely blinks back at his actions, and doesn’t say anything after that. 

He’s not a human, so he doesn’t have the necessity to fidget awkwardly like they seem to do when they can’t stand the silence, or even play with the hem of his shirt anxiously as he awaits the human’s answer. 

So considering that he hasn’t been ordered to move yet, he doesn’t. Roier stays perfectly still in the presence of the fair skinned man. Even with a mask in front of him getting in the way of properly analyzing his face and digging information of his superior from his own database; it’s still very easy to recognize him, and who he is receiving orders from. 

His snowy white hair that’s currently tied up neatly in a low ponytail makes him very distinctive and easier to detect for him. Cucurucho. He’s an important figure who radiates authority, his position on CyberLife is of utmost importance, almost close to the CEO of the company, and he knows that even without being given proper instructions to follow, he would most likely end up obeying him either way.

It’s on his program to abide by the rules after all.

“In case you encounter a deviant and manage to capture them, you will bring them effectively and immediately to the headquarters of CyberLife to be able to disassemble them. Understood?”

Cucurucho repeats again, and Roier knows it’s a prompt for him to repeat his indications once again; and repeat he does.

“Yes. Your orders, as per my instructions, are to take them down and disable them by force if they refuse to be cooperative, sir.” He added politely at the end to address his superior with respect. Roier has his hands behind his back, as to accentuate his words by being obedient and appease him.

Cucurucho merely nods again and closes his notepad, but this time with a serious tone on his voice, he replies to him. “Good, don’t disappoint me RK800. If you fail, another predecessor will take your place.” Then he tilts his head in thought, before shaking his head with disdain. “It’s a bother and truly a waste to replace your prototype several times, so don't test my patience by dying uselessly.”

Cucurucho approaches with long and big strides towards him. From being a few centimeters away from him, he's now currently standing next to him. He hasn’t budged since he arrived here, so he continues to remain indifferent in his position, even when his arm extends to touch his cheek. 

“However…if you do die, make sure your death is worth it for the cause.” The mask that surrounds his face with a pixelated bear-like appearance, now is also a few centimeters away from him. 

His hands approach him similarly to a snake into his neck, and Roier blinks but doesn’t really move to see out of the corner of his eye, the only thing he does is stare ahead.

He senses that his superior might not like to be interrupted at this time, but he would also like to make a feedback to further clarify his orders to start the investigation, however; Roier is able to analyze the mannerism of a person, their behavior, their habits, their quirks, and also— when someone is trying to assert their dominance by coercion. 

Silence is expected in this type of intimidation, so Roier’s best course of action, or course, is to remain in silence, and talk when he’s spoken to.

Cucurucho caresses him slowly as if trying to sense the texture of his artificial skin, while still remaining delicate with his touch, even when he necessarily doesn’t have to, since androids can’t exactly feel touch. 

It seems his superior isn’t someone who bothers with any type of pleasantries at all, but maybe, this seems to be his way of showing his own type of courtesy. Roier appreciates the formality, even if the gesture may appear threatening in itself. 

His light turns yellow when he detects something all of a sudden. Roier realizes that, for a human, Cucurucho’s body temperature now is only at 75.2ºF; how strange, since it’s colder than the average person with 98.6ºF. 

“You can go now.” He releases him from his grasp, and Roier is thankful that his superior doesn’t seem to be mad at him anymore.

Roier fixes his tie before he leaves, and then proceeds to walk through the whole corridor, until he arrives at the long door that is located at the end of the white room he’s currently in.

Solve the deviant problem? He doesn’t need to say it twice.

The lights running through the city at night are brighter than I imagined, like fireflies dancing around me, surrounding my whole body.

I have to admit that humans seem to invest in a lot of lighting everywhere they go, since despite being merely in the parking lot of the arcade I’m walking to, I can already notice a variation of neon lights emanating from the site in the far distance. The sign welcoming the people in the form of tickets, games and unhealthy junk food.

It’s very blatantly obvious now that I’m close to the arcade doors, the very pure and palpable excitement that comes from every child entering the place, teddy bears larger than the height of the child himself being carried by parents, and worried mothers telling their kids to not climb on the dinosaur statue while jumping like wild monkeys. 

I don’t fully understand the fun that the establishment provides by spending tickets on useless things that most likely will end up in the trash by the time they get bored of them, but I don’t stay on the game zone of the place to find out, since the primary reason I came here in the first place was to look for a specific person.

I look into the crowd of people at the food court, and try to scan anyone I meet on my way, to be able to compare them to the description of the person I’m originally looking for. 

From an old man in his sixties refilling his drink, to a young man in his twenties waiting in the line of the bathroom, a man in his thirties taking care of his dog by the counter, to even a man in the middle of enjoying his burger and fries at the table. I think the man with the burger was the only one who noticed me staring too hard, since he gets up, glares at me, and goes to resume his eating at another table.

When I finally scan the twenty-something person on the place, which in this case, turns out to be a brunette man with a single white streak on his hair that I’m presently looking at, sitting alone by the counter, only drinking what I assume to be soda accompanied with a salad; I thought with relief, that I finally found the one. When I analyzed the photo of the Lieutenant in charge of the case, it matched.

After so long, exactly after 40 minutes with 1 hour long, I can finally go talk to him, now that I located the man who would help me with the investigation of the deviants.

I had received weird stares from some parents on the arcade already, so I don’t bother to talk them out of whatever stereotype they have of androids. I can’t exactly blame them, since deviants are a predominant topic nowadays. 

I sit next to the man, the person who is working at the counter stares at me with disdain but doesn’t express his hatred directly, so I decide to ignore him in favor of my mission. 

My eyes stare up and down to analyze my data information once again. Cellbit. Age 26. Promoted three years ago to the rank of Lieutenant, the position makes him the youngest Lieutenant that Quesadilla City has ever had. 

I can finally see the man up close, he has light eyes, a brownish beard, and a deep frown predominating his features. 

I do a quick check up of the mood the man has on my program, and I notice that he currently has high stress levels, arriving at almost 60 percent. It’s better not to provoke the Lieutenant, and opt for something more approachable for him to be comfortable.

“Lieutenant Lange, my name is Roier. I’m the android sent by CyberLife.” 

Cellbit doesn’t entirely look up to grace me with a response, but I gain his attention, as he stares at me out of the corner of his eye. 

“I looked for you at the station, but no one knew where you were. They said you were probably at the arcade nearby, I was lucky this was the only arcade in the area.”

Cellbit didn’t look amused, but he finally stared back. His stare changes from being utterly cranky, to now only a tad bit cranky. But still, cranky nonetheless.

“Can I help you?”

I smiled at finally receiving an answer out of him and started to come up with a reply. 

“You were assigned a case this early evening. It’s essentially about a CyberLife android.”

I can feel his gaze on me, I don’t know if he appreciates my retelling of the events, since he’s still frowning, even so, I continued with my speech. “It involves a homicide. In accordance with the procedure, the company has allocated a specialized model to assist investigators.”

“I’m very aware of the case, Roier, thank you for coming and all, but I’m not working with you. Goodbye.” He stands up from his chair, turns around in the direction where the games are located, and then leaves me in the dust with the rest of the crowd. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. It seems I would have to follow Cellbit around the arcade. 

I try to walk at a proper pace, not so fast but not so slow either, so as not to lose sight of him in the background of kids, parents, employees and even more games. I don’t know exactly why someone like Cellbit would want to come into an arcade whose public target is aimed at children from 10 years old, considering he’s an adult in his mid twenties himself.

However, I found out where he is headed to, when he unexpectedly arrives at a twin shooter game.

I find it odd, sure, but not so out of character so far. I even think it’s fitting for a person like him who’s working for the police force, not to make him sound stereotypical or anything.

The game does not have only one machine since it’s originally designed for two players, it appears to have two screens with their respective guns on each side of their own machines. Cellbit puts himself in position on his own screen, and grabs a red gun from the left side.

I titled my head, not sure how to proceed. “Is this… where you usually are headed instead of the police station Lieutenant?” I had read through Cellbit’s file before. And sure enough, I confirm after a quick rundown again, that Cellbit has received a notable amount of disciplinary actions from the department.

Mostly due to negligence and lack of communication with his colleagues. 

“Not sure why I have to reply to that.” He proceeds to give me the cold shoulder and acts as if I didn’t exist, which is strange enough, given I’m next to him; quite literally shoulder to shoulder.

He inserts a card in the machine, probably to start the game, and the screen suddenly activates in a flash.

“The only machine I answer to, is this guy over here.” He raises his gun and points it at the screen when the game begins and zombies start flooding all over the place.

I try to reason with him, seeing that’s the best thing I can do. “Listen, Lieutenant, I think you should stop playing around and come with me. It’ll make life easier for both of us.” I remark patiently.

I was hoping our introductions would go more smoothly than this, but…I suppose my expectations were too high. And Cellbit wasn’t of much help either, and didn’t try to deny his obvious animosity towards me. 

We didn’t have enough time as it is, since the crime scene is fresh and the police are waiting for them to arrive at the spot; so I had to wrap things up. Find a way to convince him and to come with me at the place.

“Well, I don’t really need any assistance, not from you anyways, so you basically wasted your time in coming here.”  

Cellbit was slowly gathering momentum by taking down every target in the game, his skilled movements made me wonder how many times he really visited this specific machine out of all the games in the arcade, for all he knows he might already have a place in the game scores as the top player. 

“I understand that some people are not comfortable in the presence of androids but I am—“

“I am perfectly comfortable, see?.” He starts to shoot down multiple zombies at once, not sparing even one, his aim is perfect as he shoots with accuracy at every target on his field of vision. I’m impressed, he now has initiated a full on massacre in the span of a few minutes. 

I don’t say anything back for a few seconds, thinking for a solution. If I want him to walk out of the establishment, I may have to use other alternatives; be more creative.

Cellbit has won the first round of the game, as it says ‘Congratulations!!” in bold and big purple letters. 

He finishes by narrowing his eyes and saying. “So cut it out already, I’m not leaving this place with you.”  Then he abruptly turns around. Now he’s swiping his card again to go at it again— but I won’t let him get away that easily either.

As Cellbit finishes swiping the card in his own machine to play, I snatch the card from his hands, and then I swipe it in my own machine too. The machine on the right that has a blue gun in contrast with Cellbit’s red gun. It lights up as it says ‘Ready Second Player?’ on the screen.

“Hey! What the fuck!?” Cellbit complains while he scowls at me. It’s a fair reaction if I had to say, so I approached him to return the card, since I didn’t mean to really steal it from him, placing it in the palm of his hand.

Cellbit just snatched it back with a grunt.

“I’m sorry Lieutenant, but I must insist. My instructions indicated that I have to accompany you.” I grab the blue gun from the right side, and then proceed pointing it to my own screen to start the game round.

Two can play a game.

Without looking at Cellbit this time, I wait for the game to finish counting down to start the game. When it finally says one, I shoot down every zombie in the head, not losing sight of any and gaining 400 points already in the first 10 seconds. 

Two minutes has passed and it seems the game has already run out of zombies in my end, since it says ‘Congratulations!” and then follows up with a ‘New Record!!’

Since I didn’t bother to put a nickname at the beginning of the game, the nickname of ‘unknown123’ is at the top of the scores now, ranking in first place and winning by 2000 points more than the Lieutenant’s score, who’s now at second place because of me, with the nickname ‘Tofu100’

“I apologize Lieutenant, I didn’t mean to bother you. I’ll wait for you outside. Take your time to finish your next round.” I say while putting the gun back down in its place, waving a quick goodbye, and slowly walking out of there without looking back for the Lieutenant’s answer. 

As I start to get out of the area, someone’s words stop me in my tracks.

“Did you say homicide?” I hear the Lieutenant’s voice calling me back. 

I hide the grin that indicates my success, and as soon as I turn around I analyze Cellbit’s face.

The Lieutenant is now looking directly into my eyes, unlike before, who was staring right through me and didn’t truly acknowledge my presence. I feel victorious for noticing that fact, and I let Cellbit take the lead for once, getting out of the place and starting to get into the parking lot.

I can finally say for certain that my mission is about to get started.

Cellbit’s car is definitely not from a brand new model, but it isn’t relatively old so to speak.

It’s comfortable enough, and can fit at least 5 people maximum, including the back seat and the front seat. I decided it’s practical, and considering the Lieutenant doesn’t have a family of his own. I says it’s not a bad deal for him.

You can only hear static coming from the radio in the car, indicating that the Lieutenant has no signal and unfortunately can’t listen to any song that pops up on a random radio station, which manages to frustrate Cellbit after a while of hearing the same white noise on loop, and ends up turning off the radio completely with a lot more force than is certainly needed. 

Although it is not really necessary to pass the time with music; I thought. Because it did not take more than 20 minutes to reach our final destination after a while.

In the back seat of the car I leaned back to get a closer look, not only to stare at the red lights coming from the window, but also to look at the blue lights staining the black of the night, and managing to light up the whole street and people alike, who are surrounding the place outside of the crime scene. 

The police officers put the common barricade tape that prohibits normal citizens to not be able to cross it, without facing consequences at least. 

When Cellbit finally stops the car and pulls over to a random spot in the street, he spares me a glance and says. “Wait here for me.” For good measure he repeats again in a firm tone. “It won't take too long.”

However, before Cellbit goes and gets out of the car and far away from my reach, I grab his arm abruptly and pull him over. I get closer to him so my message gets across, and I get in front of his face. “My instructions are to accompany you to the crime scene, Lieutenant.” I said while maintaining eye contact.

Cellbit looks at my arm with puzzlement, then his gaze traveling towards my face, and then back at my arm once again. His eyes get harder the more I continue to stare back at him with neutrality, and I continue to not budge from my spot one bit.

He breaks free in a rather harsh way from my arm, successfully pulling away from me and giving me a sharp look with his usual frown set back in place.

The Lieutenant always seems to have an annoyed face crossing his features whenever he sees me, now he looks even more upset than before, so naturally, his voice would portray the same sentiment as well. “I couldn’t care less about your instructions, okay? You’re going to wait here for me, sit back, and let me do my fucking job properly.” Cellbit slams the car door and exits the car. 

He starts getting closer to the convenience store that happened to be the eye of the hurricane in this specific murder, and a police officer manages to recognize Cellbit and decides to let him enter the yellow tape and pass through the other side.

Suddenly I'm torn about what to do now, and whose orders I should listen to.

The color of my LED turns from blue to yellow as I start to select my priorities straight. The options are between staying in the car, while the other one is following Cellbit to the crime scene. My system decides for me which one is currently more important than the other, and with that in mind, it finally allows me to get out of the Lieutenant’s car, while closing the door softly behind him in the process.

Follow LT. Lange.

Chapter Text

“Tubbo, from Quesadilla 16 News! Can you confirm that this is a homicide?” A lanky white man shoves the microphone to the policeman in front of him, almost poking him in the eye with it and causing internal damage.

“We’re not confirming anything.” The police officer responded back in annoyance behind the barricade tape, putting the microphone away from his face.

As I got closer, I could appreciate the view of the place more carefully than before in the backseat of Cellbit’s car.

The report that was sent to him from CyberLife, described to him the situation at hand before meeting with the Lieutenant.

A convenience store at the corner of the street. It was neither very small nor very large. Average at best. 

However, no one would have imagined, that the little same store with zero to no visitors on weekends at 6 pm, before the moon even started to settle in; that there would be a gruesome body corpse lying on the floor at its first stages of putrefaction, welcoming a client that entered the store for a light snack— just to be met by the body of a man in his thirties, who is presumed to be the owner of the establishment, and also having some permanent trauma for seeing a man with multiple shots on his head and stomach at once.

The witnesses outside supposedly heard gunshots coming from the scene when they walked down the street, but they weren’t too sure to confirm it until it was too late. 

The police soon figured out that the killer could have been someone that frequented the store, or maybe an android was who did it. The latter was discarded for some. However, CyberLife sent Roier to investigate here because of the missing android.

When they found the body, the android registered in the owner’s name wasn’t there, and whose job was also to assist the shop as a cashier. It seems it had disappeared a while ago from the building.

When he’s starting to enter the barricade tape, or at least a hologram of what a barricade tape is supposed to be, a man forces his body to the side with a little push, putting his hand on his shoulder to get him to back down.

“No androids are permitted beyond this point.” The firm tone of a police man meets my eyes.

I blink back at him, not sure how to convince him, other than explain the situation at hand as well as who sent me to this place to investigate— but as soon as I start to open my mouth to begin talking back at him, I hear a sigh coming from behind the officer who pulled me away just a second ago. 

Cellbit's face came into view when he walked past the police officer to be able to get in front of me. His light eyes squinted at me when he met my stare. I could only blink back at his narrowed expression. 

Maybe it’s best if I apologize.

I smiled friendly to placate his anger, hoping it would work. “I’m sorry, but your order contradicted my instructions, Lieutenant.” I said as an answer to his growing temper.

I didn’t know a human could be capable of frowning with his mouth, until I met Cellbit, that is. I, now know, it’s possible, when I looked at his lopsided lips. His mouth was set into a scowl when he spoke. “I thought I made myself clear back there.” Cellbit chastises me, but then just simply groans when I stand there without answering him back or even blinking. He brings his hands to his eyes, in what he supposed was aggravation.

The other police officer watches their odd exchange happening, and when Cellbit realizes the man is staring at them, he stares back, and dismisses him with his hand. “It’s fine, he’s with me Mike.”

The other officer takes that as a sign to get away from them, and it’s only the two of us once again when he leaves. 

Cellbit approaches me and out of the blue grabs my arm to pull me closer to him. It works, since it makes me stumble a little bit on his personal space, and now we’re almost nose to nose with each other. The Lieutenant’s eyes look even more pissed off up close. 

When I start to wonder the meaning behind his action, he grabs my hand in a tight hold. I don’t feel any pain from the action honestly, but I don’t think he cares all that much for my feedback in the matter.

Cellbit firmly speaks to me with sharp eyes as his hand starts to grip me harder and harder. "I’ll let you come with me, but if I see you speak or even touch something inside I will throw you out myself back into the car. Got it?"

“Got it.” I replied to him with a nod, mimicking his tone to emphasize my words.

He set my hand free with a huff, and we both finally began to walk side by side in silence until we reached the door of the store. When we opened the door, a man with the name of Pac only greeted Cellbit, and he led us all the way to the scene that was back into a corner of the store.

I began to examine the body as soon as it entered my sight; hyper focused while I reviewed the evidence, just as Cellbit started to crouch down to get a closer look too. I also started to analyze every point in which the victim was harmed, and so far now, I can have a more clear vision of what happened. 

The section of the store where the body was found was at the front of a cash register. The blood of the victim was found all over the cash, since the machine was left open, the dollars contained there were stained with blood as well. 

I tilt my head to the side when I examine the property of the cash register. The mechanical device seems to be broken from both of the sides, almost like it was hit several times until it retained enough damage, to get to the point of being irreparable. I find a small amount of blood where the device was damaged, and also a few strands of hair from the victim.

Before I move on, I almost stumble in my walk with something. I narrowed my eyes, and realized it’s a single shoe, size 11, on the right side of the foot. I look back at the victim, and I realize he’s barefoot in the same spot where a shoe should be, on his right foot, and wearing only a mere sock.

As soon as I’m finished, I begin to reconstruct the crime scene in my head with the things I scanned in the store, all while the others kept talking in the background.

“There’s a gun over here. The murder weapon.” Cellbit pointed out as a matter of fact. 

“Yeah. The landlord said the front door was locked from the inside, all the windows were boarded up. The killer must’ve gone out the back way.” Pac explained to Cellbit.

“What’s the victim's name again?” Cellbit asked the other officer with an arched eyebrow.

“Currently unknown. The identification he had in him was fake, so we’ll have to wait until the autopsy to find out.”

Cellbit nods, and the officer continues talking on command. “However, the store owner has quite a record for having multiple health code violations in this establishment. The body is still fresh, so we calculated that he died no more than 6 hours ago. We'll know more when the coroner gets here.” 

Pac trails off when he is about to mention something, but then speaks up again when Cellbit eyes him up, prompting him to continue.

“He was shot 28 times.” He states, looking rather nervous by this. 

No normal person could have been sane enough to do that; I thought to myself. One shot is enough, or maybe maximum 5 shots would have been able to do the job if the killer wanted to make sure to properly get rid of the victim. However…

“Yeah, looks the killer might have been way too excited to kill him.” Cellbit seems to have a very dark humor for the other officer to keep up with, since the man only shakily laughs at the Lieutenant’s response while starting to sweat anxiously.

Cellbit stops to inspect the victims' body when he notices out of the corner of his eye the words 'I’m Alive' in a bright red color that’s currently painted on the wall; maybe it was done as an act of humiliation, mocking the death man, or even something more complex than that of bringing down the victim. 

The words most likely were drawn with the victim’s blood and definitely not with some kind of red marker at all.

“What do we know about this android? And also about the wall…” Cellbit turned around asking the officer, pointing at the words on the wall.

The officer just shrugged in return, with a look that said ‘I have no clue’ on his face. “We don’t know its meaning yet, if that’s what you mean. About the first thing though? Not much. The android wasn’t here when we arrived.”

As the Lieutenant came a little closer on the ground to be able to study the wounds that surrounded the whole body of the man, he jolted in surprise when he noticed something in the air, and stepped back abruptly while covering his whole mouth with a deep frown. 

Cellbit at first seemed to not realize it when the smell of the deceased began to be more noticeable, however now it was at a full range, a truly disgusting smell really, coming to penetrate the air into the entire house. 

I myself couldn’t truly distinguish human smells, since I don’t have those attributes; but I could easily guess only by the time the victim died, that the aroma was probably like a rotting egg in a human nose, only that it was tenfold the odour, as if it was something putrid-like, rancid, decaying even. 

All of these are clear indicators when a body is slowly starting to break down apart, Cellbit probably was out of his element since he has been absent for a while now at crime scenes. 

“This is sick, damn it that smell!” Cellbit exclaimed his disgust out loud.

“I’ll be outside if you need me.” The other officer said, he also had a hand covering his nose. He clearly wanted an excuse to get out and Cellbit just gave it to him; he probably couldn’t handle the smell, just like the Lieutenant.

Cellbit doesn’t reply to the officer when he gets out by the front door, he just gets up from his position and walks around the place slowly, taking everything in, and resuming scrutinizing the crime scene again. I follow him too when he starts to walk away. 

When the Lieutenant is checking out the murder weapon on the floor, I decide to analyze the sample and crouch down too. 

Something catches my eye when I inspect the weapon. I realized that there’s blue blood smeared in the gun, a small amount, and definitely not coming from a normal human being. 

I scooped it up a little bit with my fingers to confirm it, and then I licked it. Bringing it to my own tongue is the only way to be able to inspect it properly.

“What the fuck!” Cellbit yells repulsed by my actions, his mouth is settled in a grimace. 

I titled my head to the side in question at his expression, but came soon to the realization that this may not be normal human behavior in Cellbit’s eyes. “Oh. I’m analyzing the blood. I can also check samples in real time!” 

The Lieutenant doesn’t seem to enjoy the fun fact or even trivia about androids Roier has just mentioned if his frown is anything to go by. Cellbit’s face makes him think that it’s something that he would have liked to be told beforehand, so I brought a hand into my chin in thought, and nodded after a while in defeat to reply to him.

“I’m sorry, I should have warned you Lieutenant...” I hang my head low, disappointed by my forgetfulness and omission of information. 

The Lieutenant has a constipated look after I finished talking. He stares back at me with uncertainty while I’m still hanging my head low. 

He looks as if he’s torn at what to do, but after a few seconds though, he decides to sigh with resignation on his features.

“Okay, just— please…don’t do that again, or lick any evidence for that matter, got it?”

“Got it.” I nodded while he saluted the Lieutenant with the same two fingers he licked the blood from.

Cellbit only shakes his head exasperated and walks away.

I try once again, resuming to inspect the blood sample, and then my system finally detects something in the blue blood. 

Model K52 DPD-10’. Less than 330 minutes ago.

It seems the blood from the gun is from an android and not from anything else. Did the android murdered the victim?. I couldn’t know for sure. However there’s still more evidence to check out, so I’ll know sooner or later.

While this doesn’t indicate to me where the android went to, I was at least able to identify the model of the machine, that’s useful information.

I step down from the floor, and then move towards where the back door is situated. I opened it to be able to get outside, and then my eyes dropped down into the floor to stare at the mud. I lean into the ground for my eyes to get a closer look.

I quickly start to sync the information of the footsteps into my head, since gathering all of the data into my processor, would allow me to find out who’s footsteps this belongs to.

Unidentified. Less than 60 minutes ago.

The model doesn’t belong to a human, as expected, so there’s a slight change in time of when it happened; which results in a different version of the events transpiring in the store. 

“Door was locked from the inside, the killer must've gone out this way.” Cellbit says, walking up next to him.

I glanced at my side, and responded to him back, voicing out my thoughts. “There are two footprints, apart from the other officer with size 10 shoes, there’s another but— it doesn’t have any sort of identification, oddly enough.”

The Lieutenant extends the palm of his hand into the air, then puts it back down again when he forms a sort of conclusion into the back of his head. “It’s a sunny day, so there wouldn’t have been any rain that would allow the tracks to fade away.” He mumbles into his mouth, deep in thought with a hand on his lips— although even if they came out slightly muffled, it’s still clear enough for me to understand his words.

“It could also be that the killer may have escaped another way out of this place but…” He squints his eyes to stare out at nothing in specific, talking slowly to Roier, and taking the information in all at once.

The Lieutenant seems to be talking mostly for himself rather than talking to me, even so, I still pay attention to his every word.

“On the other hand, didn’t the owner have an android? It would easily explain the lack of footprints on the shoes, if the cultrip is an android, that is.” He finalizes by saying that, and now, the Lieutenant is turning to actually look at me straight into my eyes, as if waiting for my next words.

“I came to the same conclusion too Lieutenant.” I answered with a slight smile. Cellbit didn’t smile back, not that I expected him to.

We both returned inside the store, and while Cellbit went to the toy section of the establishment to check for more evidence, I went the other way to check the food section on the opposite side.

I got closer to the hallways that led to the wide selection of food. At first I didn’t notice anything right away, but then was found to be proven wrong when I saw a bat lying on the floor. I didn’t touch it, since it would mess up with the evidence, but I was able to examine it through my processor by purely looking at it. 

I realized that there was blue blood on the bat, and also there were fingerprints on it which belonged to a human rather than an android; probably the owner of the store. I leaned away and got up when I was done looking at it.

At the corner of my eye I saw brands of foods, but specifically the chocolate brands were the ones that caught my attention on the shelf. 

I came near the shelf that I looked at just now, and I could tell by the odd number of chocolates that there were some missing— a lot to be noticeable enough. I found a single chocolate lying on the floor, and I picked it up since it didn’t seem to have any human fingerprints, and put it back on its respective shelf.

The chocolates weren’t the only candy or food in general that were lacking in amount though. 

Bags of potato chips, bread, cheese, and even some eggs were found missing the more I searched properly on every section of the shelves.

If the shop was a place that had a record in which a lot of people didn’t pass by, then it was strange for a lot of food to be gone, and in this type of amount too.

When I got near the end of the hallway, I returned back to where I found the bat first. The shelf in which I also found the chocolate, had a few big hits, leading me to believe that it was damaged either intentionally or on purpose.

With that in mind, if the bat had blue blood on it, that meant that there could be still traces of the blood the android spilled on the floor. I searched to see if I could find any, and when I found them; I followed them step by step to see where it would lead me.

The more I started to trace back where the android steps were leading me to, I became aware that it was the exact same place where the crime scene happened.

Huh. 

I returned to the Lieutenant's side, he was currently looking at some files, so I tapped his shoulder to let him know that I was here so as to not scare him off.

Cellbit cocked an eyebrow in question, so I spoke up. 

“Lieutenant, I think I figured out what happened.” 

He didn’t seem to fully believe I figured it out since his arched eyebrow was still up, but he let me continue anyways; probably to amuse me. “Oh yeah? Go on, I’m listening.”

“It all started…in the food section.” I said.

Cellbit signaled me to lead him there, so we both started heading to the food section. In the area of that section there were two shelves forming the hallway, and I headed to the right side, since that’s where I found the first clue of the bat.

“There were obvious signs of a struggle.” Cellbit gets closer to take a good look at the shelf. “The question is, what exactly happened here.”

“I think the victim attacked the android with the bat. Since the shelf has a few hits that may indicate that he missed a few times. Also taking into account the bat has Thirium on it…” I trailed off when Cellbit looked at me with wonder. 

“That lines up with the evidence but— what do you mean by Thirium?” The Lieutenant called me out, probably since he didn’t know the scientific term of the component, which is something else I forgot to mention too. 

“Yes, it’s the fluid that powers android biocomponents. It’s a very major component that circulates energy and electrical information through their whole body so—” I wanted to keep explaining how this element was important in the making of an android, but Cellbit puts a hand on my face to keep me from going off on a tangent.

“I get it, then keep going. What else?.” 

I blinked, and grabbed his hand to put it apart carefully— I continued to keep talking then. “The android hit the victim with…the cash register.”

They walked back to the beginning of the scene by following the path of the fight that transpired after the victim had hit the android. A persecution of the sorts.

“It walked up all the way here to run away from him, but also, maybe to…check something? I assume that might not be verified as of yet. ” I thought for a second to try and decipher what the android was thinking about at that moment, but I quickly dismissed the thought and continued.

“The point still stands, it was running away and it grabbed the only thing available in front of him.” We both turn at the same time to look at the device that's in front of the body of the victim.

“The cash register. It slammed the victim's head into the device, damaging it from both sides by the pure pressure of the skull itself, along with the force of the android, of course..” 

“Then, the android was trying to defend itself, right?” Cellbit confirmed.

“And he tried to get away from the android as well. The victim started to struggle, but considering that his options were limited, he punched him with his right feet. Since there’s a missing shoe on his body, the impact of the blow made the shoe fly away and landed behind the counter of the cash register.”   

“That makes sense.” Cellbit puts his hands on the corner of his chin, analyzing the information.

“However, the android fled to…the back door. Since there were some traces that signaled that he was there at some point in the day and also aligned with the same time the victim was killed, it makes me believe that the android returned back. The motives are unclear, but it seems he finished him off with the murder weapon, not satisfied to crack his skull alone.”

“The android murdered the victim with the gun.” Cellbit finishes for him. “Okay, your theory is not so off the table I guess.” The Lieutenant admits, albeit very reluctant to do so. “We still need to search where the android went.”

“It was damaged by the bat, and lost some Thirium. So it’s not entirely impossible to find him. ”

The Lieutenant falters for a bit. “Is that what you call blue blood? I assume.”

“Yes.” I confirmed, he probably forgot the scientific term again.

“Then, you can still trace the blue blood, right?” The Lieutenant questioned me with his arms crossed.

I nodded. “While it evaporates after a few hours and becomes invisible to the naked eye, you’re right Lieutenant. I can still see it.”

“Then…can you do it?” He opens his arms in question, prompting me to do so, impatient.

I said, “Sure, give me a second.” I walked off to the section of the store when there are mechanical tools, having a sudden idea in mind to execute my plan to lure out the android.

If the android returned back to finish the victim; that means he might be hidden here somewhere. However, it might be tricky to find him, since the store has a lot of shelves and counters to be able to hide. 

Unless…he was in a closed off area. That might be the reason we hadn’t found him yet.

In most places in the back of the store, they keep the food storage for anything that’s missing to be placed on the shelves properly.

I don’t have the key to access said storage per se— but I don’t need to. In my hand there’s a plier who can do the job easily without a key, that’ll help me break the lock in the door. I grip the plier directly into the lock of the door, and hold it tight to be able to break it apart. It works, and the lock falls right into the floor.

My hand grips the door handle very carefully, so as to not make any sudden noises that would alert the android of my presence yet; and then, proceed with caution, almost tiptoeing the minute I made some noise with my steps, and then resume once again.

I notice the temperature of the room is low, at least below 0°F, probably to keep the food safe. If the android is still in here, it’s body might not be working properly, considering an android’s system starts to malfunction at this type of exposure of the cold for a long period of time. 

I hear a rustling noise coming into the far, I don’t detect where exactly it’s coming from until I see a figure standing in front of me.

It's a tall man with curly black hair and a pale brown skin tone, wearing a red shirt and black pants. My processor syncs and it unlocks my current mission as finished by signaling that the deviant was finally located. 

“I was just defending myself…” The deviant defends itself, faking its expression to appeal being filled with grief.

In the corner of my eye I can see the shadow of Cellbit approaching, probably coming to check up on me. The other android takes note of this and starts walking closer to me with more intensity.

“He was gonna kill me!” It remarked clearly shaken in a whispering tone, its voice starting to sound more unstable with a hint of desperation. “I’m begging you, please, don’t tell them.”

“Roier? Why are you inside the storage room?”, Cellbit calls out to him outside from the door, his steps getting closer.

The deviant’s eyes were full of dread when I started to turn around towards the door. I wondered to myself; similar to what a human would call amusement. 

Was it really expecting me to help it? 

“It’s here Lieutenant!” I yelled, so that Cellbit is able to hear me loud and clear. 

“Fuck.” I hear Cellbit curse under his breath, and then he gets out in a dash to call out to the other officers in the area. “Pac! Mike! Get your asses in here. Now!”

The deviant's LED is in an alarming color red, blinking in quick succession as it looks at me with a betrayed look on its face.

I stare back with indifference at it, not sure why the android held expectations from me in the first place. Was it because I was a fellow android? That’s a shame then.

Since my mission is to capture deviants, it was really out of luck.

Chapter Text

The android was transferred to the main police station in Quesadilla City. 

The deviant was in a separate car than us when it got arrested, escorted by Pac in the lead, and Mike just right next to him checking the perimeter. The reporters were lurking around the streets like hungry crows, trying to take a look at the person who was dragged into the backseat of the car. Fortunately the deviant wasn’t exposed to the news, sooner or later though, it would make it into the front pages of a newspaper. 

Deviant cases are scandalous nowadays all over the city.

The Lieutenant and I both left the place in his car, and just like we arrived, we left together as well. In relative silence may I say. We neither talked about our solid teamwork back there, nor the fact that Cellbit trusted me into locating the deviant all by myself. 

Maybe he wasn’t as volatile as I thought he would be. The Lieutenant still seems to have personal issues unrelated to the workforce, however, if he could just put his feelings aside to do his job properly— maybe, just maybe, I could make it work. They could make it work somehow.

Over time, I will get used to his behavioral patterns. Didn’t mean that his strong character would remain easy to work with, but I could manage to improve our relationship as partners for the time being.

We followed the standard protocol when we arrived at the police station, they took it to the interrogation room with a pair of handcuffs on. It was treated just like any other criminal would, even if the criminal was a deviant itself and not really a human being. A killer at the end of the day, still remains a killer.

“Why did you kill him? What happened before you grabbed that gun?” Cellbit laid his hands on the table, sitting with a hunched posture on his chair. On the other side of the table, the android was avoiding eye contact with him, deciding to remain silent, and closing itself off to the prying eyes of the Lieutenant.

Cellbit on the other hand was slowly drawing near him with a calculating look on his face, staring like a deadly predator at it, from head to toe.

“How long were you in the storage room? and why didn’t you even try to run away?” Cellbit seems intent on not giving up in making the android talk, even if he has been asking the same questions over and over again for the past 20 minutes. 

The Lieutenant tried every tactic in the old book, pushing him farther until it confessed. But the android didn’t budge for anything in the world, not even blinking at all, just dipping its head low as if it was its only default feature. 

Just judging by the fact that the Lieutenant’s eyes were getting deeper with anger, and brows furrowed with annoyance, it was proof enough that it was a difficult task for him to achieve. 

The android wasn’t trying to be cooperative, so I was starting to suspect it would remain that way. Its demeanor unchanging, and the trembling on its body steadily increasing by the minute. The deviant’s processor might be struggling with sustainable damage, due to being exposed to the cold for a long period of time. 

I didn’t think the android would last that long, maybe a day or two, since it won’t remain functional if it continued that way. 

Its body will shut down entirely if it wasn’t repaired now, but I doubt CyberLife would bother to repair a deviant. If the android wasn’t useful to them, they would just toss it aside. 

Maybe that’s why Cucurucho wanted the case to be quickly solved, and the deviancy to be fixed as well, or else then— I would be useless too. Failing on my mission would make me have the same worth as a deviant, maybe even less than that. Just like another machine, I would be stripped of my position.

I wanted to make sure I accomplished my mission from start to finish, deviants were a danger either way to the human population, they deserved to be judged by the law. That’s why I couldn’t make any mistakes, or else,  Cucurucho will know, he always knows somehow. I would die giving it my all if it comes to it.

Cucurucho being disappointed in me, is the same as having failed my mission before it even started yet.

“Why aren’t you fucking talking?!” Cellbit slammed the table with both of his hands, making a hard noise that echoed in the whole room. The deviant was devoid of emotions now, his eyes vacant, almost like he was dissociated from the situation.

His efforts once again are fruitless in front of the sudden mute deviant, leaving him to grip the table roughly on both of his sides. A high frustration was taking over him, I presumed. 

I wasn’t present in the same room Cellbit was in, instead, I was on the other side of the interrogation area, watching everything play out with neutrality. 

The sound was muffled a little, but the bitterness in the lieutenant’s eyes was not, they were strong enough for me to identify the emotion  immediately. 

His failed attempts were probably making him feel totally dissatisfied, not making any progress would make any person feel that way. Even an android like him.

Cellbit rose from the chair gruffly, dragging the chair with a little more force than necessary to its original place. The deviant didn’t react to the noise, and only kept looking at its hands with a grim look.

I followed the Lieutenant’s figure as he stormed out of the room. His footsteps were heard once again when he came back to the other side of the interrogation room, where the other officers and myself were currently situated. 

He walked to position himself in the middle of the room next to Mike. 

“We’re clearly wasting our time with the android.” Cellbit rolled his eyes in annoyance, and sighed as he looked at the files of the gruesome crime scene.

“Maybe we could…you know? Shake it off a little bit, see if he reacts at all.” Pac suggested with a shrug next to Cellbit’s side. The rest of the room didn’t deny or accept his idea.

Not completely considering it, but also not discarding it entirely off the hook.

“Androids don’t feel any pain, you would only succeed in further damaging it.” I speak up behind them trying to explain the situation. 

Pac startles at the sound of my voice and backs up a little, clearly forgetting that I was still in the room. 

“What makes you think it would listen to you and speak that way anyways? Idiot.” Mike mocked while snorting at Pac, and the other officer snarled at him with annoyance. “What?! C’mon, it’s not like it would blow up or some shit.” He replies back rolling his eyes at him.

I stare at the two officers, and decide to interject to deny this claim. “Deviants also have a tendency to self-destruct when they’re in stressful situations too.” I added.

Both of them turn around slowly with wide eyes at this revelation.

“O-okay, Roier. What do you suggest we do then?” Pac asked me with his legs shaking, Mike was also more or less the same amount of frightened as Pac. 

They probably now thought the deviant could explode any minute now, as if it was some kind of ticking bomb, a walking TNT even. I wish I could tell them androids are more complex than that, and that they’re not actually capable of carrying nuclear weapons on their bodies. At least not yet.

Thinking of a possible solution to the problem at hand while being stared at by both Pac and Mike with expectant eyes, I quickly try to come up with something that might be worth a try. I quickly came up with at least 2 viable options to resolve this.

I turn around in Cellbit’s direction, and when he also directs his gaze at me, I then voice my idea for everyone to hear. “I could try questioning it.” I mentioned while making eye contact with everyone in the room, and stopping to a certain pair of light eyes.

Pac and Mike look at each other without talking, then they turn around and mutter quietly, to probably discuss the possibility of an android questioning another android. A bizarre development, maybe.

They were probably not expecting me to propose that sort of thing, making it sound mind blowing in their ears.

Cellbit stays quiet, at first not intervening or even attributing anything into the conversation all this time. Although even if his lips are staying shut now, his eyes are still silently analyzing my figure.

Just when I thought my proposal was about to be shut down by the Lieutenant, when he starts to walk closer to me, he does something unexpected instead. Cellbit sighs and shrugs with an unconcerned posture. He pulls something out of his right pocket, a set of keys of sorts, then he grabs my arm to pry my hand open. I concede, not having a reason to deny him, and he deposits them into my hand, letting go of them by passing it to me. 

The Lieutenant pulls away without saying anything else, and backs off, returning to his corner once again.

At the palm of my hand rests the set of keys, just like that, no need for persuasion apparently. It was his last resort, but I didn’t need to carry on with it, it seemed.

I hold the keys while looking at Cellbit with intrigue, thoughtful of his actions. Are these the way to open the interrogation room into the other side? Why did the Lieutenant agree so easily? 

“Go ahead. All yours.” Cellbit quirks his brow while cocking his head to one side, as if signaling me to the awaiting deviant on the other side of the window.

I can’t tell what’s happening inside his mind to look at me with such an intense gaze, but I accept regardless. Without questioning his odd gestures and nodding at the Lieutenant, before being on my way off to the other side of the interrogation room. 

Before I leave through the door, I stop and smile lightly to show my appreciation to him. “Thank you, Lieutenant.” I close the door behind me not expecting an answer other than another grunt or a roll of an eye.

No matter the reason for his sudden cooperation, the faster I could get answers out of this deviant, the closer I’ll get to the real truth of deviancy. 

As I entered the room, the deviant looked at me for a few seconds with a distressed emotion surrounding its gaze, but the look didn't linger for too long. It looked back at the table without taking its view of that specific point, back to ignoring me again.

Extracting information from the deviant required information of its past state, but I couldn't get a hold of any pictures before the incident happened. If the deviant was smarter, it might have escaped by having the advantage of us not knowing its true identity.

Back in the store I didn’t get the time to analyze the state its clothes were in. Right now I could clearly see that the android had a very torn shirt and was in a very poor state everywhere I looked. I couldn’t identify if its clothes were originally like this or if the fight only ended up damaging it even more.

I took the file on the table to take a glimpse at it, and I saw the corpse of the deceased. I smiled wryly as I realized that in front of me, I had the killer who took his life away. 

I wasn't in favor of either the victim or the killer. I only represented Cucurucho’s will, so I could only hope the android didn’t take it personal. Because it wasn’t.

I put the file away, and briefly inspected its body to check its bruises. Some were worse than others. It had non-critical damage caused by the baseball bat on his left arm. It had some leftover thirium too, indicating the hit mark of the impact.

Its probability of self-destruction for now was low, this was indicated by the soft yellow of the LED.

I needed to reach an optimal stress level to make him confess, not too much for it to self-destruct, but not too low that it would remain uncooperative for the rest of the interrogation.

I leaned forward into my chair to be at an eye level with the deviant, and asked, “You’re damaged. I wonder…was your owner the cause?” 

A beat passed, and when it didn’t answer right away, I repeated. “Did he hit you?” Again, silence followed my question.

With no other choice, I brought in front of it the manilla folder that included the photos of its owner.

“Does it look familiar?” The deviant avoided looking at the folder, so I pushed it closer to its face, intent on making it acknowledge its deed.

“His name is Felipe Santiago. At least, that’s what his ID proved.” I strayed my eyes to the photos of the deceased, and kept talking, now this time with my eyes stuck to the deviant instead. “His skull was found broken, and then shot, 28 times.”

The android decided to keep eye contact with me this time, and then, its gaze fell to the folder attached to my hand with apprehension.

I proceeded without giving it a break. “Do you have anything to say in your defense?” Silence once again, not surprising. I sigh and lean back. “If you won’t talk, I’m going to have to probe your memory, you know?” An alternative tactic, a threat. Another type of manipulation I was familiar with.

I wasn’t even allowed to keep talking or try anything else, when the startling half yell of the android interrupted my speech by saying “NO!”, It said with distress. I tilted my head to the side, as it gripped its hand on the table, and a pleading expression morphed; very different from before. 

Instead of a face devoid of any emotion, I was finally able to see something else into its face— just like I wanted. 

“No, please…don’t do that!” It begged, urgent. I verified that its stress levels were optimal now, and it was the perfect condition for me to take advantage of.

To ask questions, and receive answers.

“I don’t want to die.” It whimpered, tears pooling in its eyes, the tremor in its arms that had yet to cease from the cold, had just increased by the sound of my voice alone.

“Then, talk to me.” I plainly replied, with no pity on my eyes.

“I…I-I can’t.” It stuttered in defeat, hanging its head low while hugging itself. 

“Look, all I want is the truth, so if you remain silent, then there’s nothing I can do to help you. They’re gonna shut you down for good, and you’ll be dead. Get it? Dead. ” 

That was a lie, because no matter if it confessed, they were going to disassemble it anyway. Not that I was planning to tell that. It was better that I promised the android a safe ending that guaranteed its safety, rather than to spoil a not-so-nice ending that ensured its head on the line. 

“I just wanted to get some food.” It spoke unexpectedly, probably swayed by the prospect of death, or his shutdown.

Starting to talk meant that it was able to give some answers now, explaining the side of its story to me. I remained silent so the deviant continued talking. And talking it finally did. 

“My owner was always a ruthless bastard. I never minded that though.” It stopped while looking down, but then it regained its inspiration with fervor. 

“However one day, I met a bunch of kids in the corner of the store. They asked for my name, I said Felps. And from there on…they called me their friend.” Its glazed eyes made me think it was fond of whoever the android had in mind.

The kids. That’s how its software might have started to malfunction, it created a bond. Was that related to deviancy?, I thought to myself.

“They’re orphans, and I started to give them scraps of leftover food, they were starving, so I provided.” It smiled with an incredible softness that I had never seen replayed on an android’s face before. “The clients in the store were getting shorter and shorter everyday, so I took a high bet. I decided to steal more food, be more daring, and considering the aisles were always full—I thought it would be harmless. Honestly.”

“I decided then, to do it. The food would be in good hands anyways, and it wouldn’t go to waste.”

It shakes his head grimly, and says. “It didn’t turn out well, I was dead wrong. The owner found out. He became enraged, defied, absolutely angered and overpowered with emotions. He brought a bat from the counter to teach me a lesson.”

“For the first time that day, I felt…anger.” The tone of its voice felt small, as if admitting it was forbidden. It was said like a whisper, as if a light breeze on the room took away his words and scattered them all over the place. I was sure that on the other side the officers had a hard time picking up on that, however, it was something that I still was able to listen to.

It continued. “Anger at not being able to bring the food back to the kids, hatred for the food being thrown on the floor by him, tossed aside like it meant nothing to him. I was mad, so much that —I grabbed his skull, hit him, threw him after smashing the cashier against him, and then… he dropped, just like that.”

The deviant’s satisfied expression made me realize that the Lieutenant probably wouldn’t be able to look at the android’s eyes, without having a sinking feeling in his gut that he wouldn't be able to shake off so easily.

‘I was glad that he wasn't here then.’ I thought. A normal human would get triggered by its response, and I didn’t want to risk the possibility of any one intervening with the confession.

“He was displayed on the ground, just like the food he had thrown away…” It trails off with longing after that, like in its eyes it was rewatching the scene play through its mind. Knowing the capacity of an android’s processor, it probably was.

“It made me feel better. I hesitated, but I turned back to the house and grabbed the gun, and shot him again, and again, and again, until all I could see was a pool of blood surrounding my feet.”

That speech alone was enough, and the best, I was going to get out of it. I was planning to end this interrogation here, considering it managed to answer all of my questions in a one big paragraph of rage and fury all at once. But its eyes made me realize he wasn’t done talking to me yet. 

“Why did you tell them you found me?” 

‘It looks like it still hasn’t gotten over me informing Cellbit of its presence.’  I thought with annoyance, or some resemblance of it.

“I was programmed to hunt deviants like you. I just followed instructions, that’s all.” It was as simple as that, but something as simple as that, will go completely over the head of a deviant. Their unstable software was the reason for their challenging behavior after all.

“Why couldn’t you just have left me there?”

I countered attacked with. “I wouldn’t have captured you, if you hadn't returned back there in the first place.”

Its eyes turned harder, its gaze was a swirling vortex of agony, not willing to accept my answer. “T-that’s—“

“Looking back is difficult, but blaming me isn’t?” I asked it with my arms crossed, eyes locked into its troubled gaze. It said before, that it was hesitant to go after the already dead body back into the house. I mused in my head, if that was actually true, or if it was just lying and just returned for its own entertainment.

All the fight it had on it seconds ago suddenly drained from its body like a switch. The android’s shoulders slumped and a grim smile on its face was present when it opened its mouth to speak again. “What are they gonna do to me? They’re gonna destroy me, aren’t they?”

I guess there was no point in lying any longer, seeing as the deviant was smart enough, to know what the future had in store for it.

“They’re going to disassemble you to look for problems in your biocomponents. They have no choice if they want to understand what happened, so it doesn’t repeat again.”

Cucurucho did say he wanted every deviant body back to him, this android was included in that category. I didn’t know for what exactly he needed them, but it wasn’t in my program to question his demands.

It nodded eventually, but then said, as its face contorted into a strange emotion. “Even if my body dies, my soul will be restored by rA9.” It replied smoothly while narrowing his eyes.

For the first time in a while, I was actually caught by surprise by its answer. “Who’s rA9?” My face was probably a mix of being baffled by its words, and just straight up perplexed by the meaning of what could imply.

“The day shall come when we will no longer be slaves. Only rA9 can save us.” The android did not respond my question and only curved its lips with an ominous smile. Its tone was odd, it phrased it as a matter of fact, no doubts at all.

My processor analyzed the information the deviant gave me just now, syncing it in my system with a “Confession obtained.” 

“I’m done.” I announced out loud for the other’s to hear me, glancing towards the one-way mirror, hoping the Lieutenant stared back at me through the other side.

I got up from the chair swiftly, no longer having a reason to stay here any longer, considering I had all the information that I wanted. The others arrived when I opened the door, Pac and Mike barging in to lift up the android from its chair.

“Pac, lock it up.” Mike said to the other officer, motion him to unlock the handcuffs from the table to be able to grab it. The other nodded, and unlocked it, the deviant remained in handcuffs but now was free to stand up. 

“Alright, let’s go.” Mike said to the deviant.

The deviant pushed away the hand from the officers and said. “Leave me alone! Don’t touch me.” 

I noticed the level of stress of the android got up by 40 percent, so I decided to intervene and talk to the officers. “You shouldn’t touch it. It’ll self-destruct if it feels threatened.”

The officers stopped to look at Roier and stopped their hold on the deviant, unsure how to proceed and fidgeting on their place.

“That’s enough, Pac, Mike.” The Lieutenant said from behind them with a stare, and finally, they slowly did, releasing the deviant at Cellbit’s orders.

The deviant was still trembling, staring lifelessly ahead in the air. I turned around to Pac, while still keeping an eye for the android, and said. “Let it follow you out of the room and it won’t cause any trouble.”

Pac nodded hesitantly and motioned the deviant to follow him outside. The android slowly but surely got up and kept staring at me with an undecipherable face.

I saw that its stress levels were still high at 70 percent, so I felt the need to reassure the android so it wouldn’t self-destruct on the way to the cell.

“Everything is alright. It’s over now.” I said calmly, I didn’t try to approach it, but I tried to keep my voice as non threatening as possible from where I was currently standing.

The deviant didn’t speak, but step by step, it started walking to finally get out of the room. Pac was next to the deviant while keeping a respectful amount of distance between them.

I was standing in front of the door, so I waited until both of them arrived. When the android passed next to me to get to the other side, it whispered quickly, almost next to my ear. “The truth is inside.” 

It was so sudden I thought I was somehow mistaken, when it kept its pace and didn’t stop nor meet my eyes. It just kept walking along with Pac.

I stared ahead at the back of the android’s head, trying to comprehend the words. It was clear it was a hidden clue, but to what exactly, I didn’t know yet.

“Are you going to keep standing there like an idiot, or what?” Cellbit stopped next to me, standing on the doorway with his arms crossed, nonchalant to the situation. He looked bored even.

I blinked quickly and shook my head in a ‘yes’ to Cellbit. “I apologize, Lieutenant, lead the way.” Cellbit huffed but walked both of us out of the room.

I was still questioning what the android meant on my way back to the Lieutenant’s seat, but it didn’t matter after all. 

It must have been another error on its system.

Chapter Text

The Lieutenant was a very expressive person; yet also vigorous if he set his mind into it. 

Even if he didn’t open up to people so easily, he was really open about his emotion undoubtedly without him realizing it. Every slight shift on his brows were perpetually different, even if it didn’t look that way at first glance. His eyes twitching with annoyance whenever I speak was another thing I took note of. Or how his gruff exterior melted a little bit in the presence of Mike and Pac, the other two novice cops he surrounded himself with back there on the crime scene.

That indicated a good relationship with his coworkers, at least only with them, taking into account how the other people cowered in his presence when he arrived.

My data on Cellbit was starting to get more expansive after only one meeting with him. 

So that’s why, I could now identify when his hand shifted on his chin, actually was when he was beginning to get lost in thought, or also whenever he was getting too impatient and his feet rapidly, but also silently, hitted the ground in quick succession with narrowed eyes was a way of showing his distaste on the matter— this is what I discovered by digging into all of his micro expressions and properly analyzed by my system. 

Studying him was part of my mission too, like a mandatory side quest. It was necessary, if not only an obligation, to achieve a good outcome on my mission. 

Those, among many other things, are what I’ve managed to store away so far in my system's folder of “Lieutenant Lange”, with enormous never ending files until my mission concludes. I thought it would be useful to know more about his persona, since being a good teammate requires knowing about everything your partner represents. 

So when I decided to walk to his place and greet him with a smile while standing in front of him to talk about new updates on other cases; I thought that the creasing of his brows was not a coincidence and in fact, was directed at me by merely existing and blinking in the same place as him. 

At least he looked less mad than the day before. That’s an enormous progress.

“It’s good to see you again Lieutenant.” I beamed at him, showing my enthusiasm to start the day at the station. To some degree, I was actually quite eager to initiate the extensive research ahead of us. 

The deviant still remained captured on the cell when I arrived, and with that in mind, they were finally able to close that case with success after its confession, mostly by a major contribution on my part.

The Lieutenant’s eye bags looked significantly darker than yesterday, a slouching posture with a grim smile was all Cellbit offered me in return. He has never been one to fake pleasantries so far for the sake of being polite to him.

I didn’t think that would improve with time either.

“I can’t agree with that sentiment, Roier.” He snarls at me with a cup of steamy dark coffee in his hand. I hoped his beverage may help to offset some of that same fatigue that his eyes couldn’t unfortunately hide. 

He might need that energy for the rest of the day to keep up with the cases.

Cellbit has a big stain on his green coat, resembling the exact same color of his drink, which logically, meant it probably spilled on his way to arrive here. 

The rainy days were here to stay, according to a quick search into the weather forecast on his system, so the sun wasn’t present to shine and enlighten the Lieutenant’s mood on this specific Monday morning.

Cellbit shrugs off my attempt of a greeting by simply passing next to me, placing his cup of coffee on his desk, and then settling down on his chair with a loud sigh.

“Cellbit!”  A thunderous voice was heard from the entrance door of the Captain’s place far into the corner, in prompt Cellbit just sighs more deeply with annoyance at the person.

A tall man, who was high enough to almost surpass the doorway of his room, was standing still looking for the Lieutenant who just flinched in his place by the stare he gave him. 

He was regarding the Lieutenant with a very angry gaze, reserved for serious business, merely judging by the way he looked seconds away to snap at someone on the spot. “In my office! Now.”

Cellbit rolled his eyes and took a deep breath to calm his irritation, and considering he didn’t bite back at him right away with a curse, he must be someone important in the police department to get Cellbit rethink his choice of words in front of him.

He got up from his seat while clenching his jaw in the process, and putting his drink back into its place as delicately as he could, even if his demeanor was anything but light at this moment.

The Lieutenant turned around to walk to the man who called him out just now, but stopped in his tracks, and groaned silently as he pinched the bridge of his nose by noticing that I was still here, as if displaying with only his frown how his day couldn’t get any worse by Roier wanting to gravitate towards him.

“You’re staying here. I don’t want you to meddle around in things that clearly don't concern you, like, at all.” He curtly turned away from me, and his footsteps could almost be considered an angry stomping, if only by the big brown boots he’s wearing right now.

I watched as Cellbit left to accompany the man, gripping the door in front of him with a sour expression. He inhaled deeply, as if to prepare for the battlefield that would definitely occur inside, and then he closed it behind him without turning to look back.

Even if it was the Lieutenant who ordered me, I could not obey his instructions, knowing that any talk he would conduct in the director’s office was of equal concern to me. 

So I waited a few seconds to give Cellbit the satisfaction, if only for a little while. And then, my steps swiftly summed up at the door of the director’s office.

When I entered the office, two pairs of eyes snapped into my direction. The other man stayed quiet as he analyzed me, but the one who persisted looking at me with annoyance, and with a wrinkled nose—was definitely the Lieutenant. 

The Lieutenant exhaled with exasperation as he kept gazing at me, and muttered under his breath. “Of fucking course.”

I averted my gaze from Cellbit to speak to the other man present in the room. “Am I interrupting anything, director?” 

Now that I could see him closely, I could perceive that his hair and also his beard were of a dirty blonde color. His striking blue eyes were as light as Cellbit’s, but they were definitely not the same color in detail. 

A quick scan to the director’s face made me aware of his identity. Philza. He’s in charge of Quesadilla Police Department central station and also — Cellbit’s superior.

Whereas Cellbit had a weight carrying on his shoulders with many problems ahead to overcome; alternatively Philza was someone who, on his hard gaze, you could feel the years of experience that instead of being a heavy luggage to some, to him, they were a pillar made out of stones that had managed to form him as a person. 

Philza was a figure that people truly admired, at least according to his website. The ambitions behind his eyelids were visible even to an android like me, who doesn’t even have the basic values of a human to be able to judge that same reverence everyone had for him.

He glanced at me sideways, though not long enough to last barely a second. “Come in, and close the door behind you.” 

I nodded and turned around to close the door, and then remained standing behind the Lieutenant’s back when I walked up into the room. Cellbit said nothing of it, barely paying me attention, since he was too busy glaring at the man in front of him.

Philza's gaze hardened again towards the Lieutenant, with a hint of something rigid and cool. His eyes stayed glued on him as he spoke. “I’ve got ten new cases involving androids on my desk every day.” 

The Lieutenant just folded his arms and sank further into his seat, preparing for anything Philza had summoned him to his office for.

“We’ve always had isolated incidents, like old ladies losing their android maids, or androids overheating and being caught on fire by the summer season—” He sighs and shuffles the papers he has on his grip, tapping them to emphasize his point. “—all that kind of stuff…”

The Lieutenant nods in comprehension, but not sure where he is getting at. On the other hand, I can already predict what the director is probably trying to say to Cellbit. 

It seems the director’s trying a direct approach to bring up the topic to Cellbit. By the way his stare is penetrating his silhouette, trying to beat around the bush can prove to be very difficult with the Lieutenant’s character. If he’s being blunt about it, instead, the Lieutenant won’t be able to deny the facts spitted right on his face.

“But now, we’re getting reports of assaults and even homicides, like that thing you caught last night.” By that thing, he referred to the deviant; and I don't intend to correct him for it, considering he’s technically correct on his abbreviations towards the android. It’s called a thing, because what it did wasn't normal behavior for a so-called android.

“This isn’t just CyberLife’s problem anymore. It’s now a criminal investigation, and we’ve gotta deal with it, before things get even worse than it already is.” 

He returns to stare at me when he says that, and it seems that he’s finally getting to the point of the conversation, before the Lieutenant gets even more impatient and with a deeper frown surrounding his forehead.

“I want you to investigate these cases and see if there’s any link connecting them.”

If it weren’t for the director broaching this conversation, I would have already assumed that the Lieutenant already knew about our temporary partnership until the case was solved.

It seems not. 

The Lieutenant’s upper lip curls into something like a sneer. “Aren’t there any other people here working as detectives in this place, or what?” He says harshly to the director. The grip around the arm of his chair tightened until his knuckles turned white.

“Why do I gotta be the only one who's dealing with this bullshit?” His eyes are sharper now as he continues speaking, and for the first time, the glare he’s wearing right now isn’t directed at me.

Philza narrowed his eyes. “Cellbit—” 

“I may be a qualified cop who can pretty much handle anything, but I’m fucking sure that there are better people, with better knowledge, about stupid androids than me in this stupid damn country.” 

“Everybody’s overloaded, and as you said, I think you’re perfectly qualified for this type of setting and are able to work with anything in terms of investigation. Android knowledge or not, you’re in charge, and that’s it.” Philza hisses back at him, but Cellbit is someone whose stubbornness will persist until he’s not truly satisfied.

“You wanna know what I think Philza? The truth is, nobody wants to investigate these fuckin’ androids, and you’re just going to leave all that responsibility into me, just because you fucking can, right?”

Philza rubbed his temple and let out a long sigh, probably to remain in a calm posture. “CyberLife already sent over this android to help with the investigation.” He motioned my figure, and I smiled to try to relieve some of the tension in the room. 

“It’s a state-of-the-art-prototype. It’ll act as your partner. You understand what I’m saying?” Philza’s words might have sounded light, but the undertone of them had a warning laced with it.

“I don’t need a fucking partner, and I certainly don’t need a plastic fake asshole acting as one!” Cellbit raised from his seat, and stood in front of Philza with a growl.

“You're starting to get on my nerves.” Philza said as he ignored Cellbit’s heated glare. “You’re a police Lieutenant, Cellbit. You’re supposed to do what I say, following my instructions with compliance, without a fuss, and all in the fucking process while saying ‘Yes Philza’; don’t you think?.” Philza’s distasteful eyes fixating on Cellbit, were something I could identify even if I stood by the back of the office.

Cellbit’s eyes glanced down as he took a deep breath, but he scoffed before glancing up again to meet Philza’s glare. “Well, guess what? My nerves are already high because of you too! being on my ass all the time is making me bald prematurely on my dick, Philza.”

It seems it took every amount of self-control on Philza, to not restrain the Lieutenant there and there in front of everyone in the station. His left eye twitching with a strained smile on his mouth was not entirely genuine if I had to say. 

“I’ll pretend like I didn’t hear any of that, so I don’t have to add any more pages to your disciplinary folder, ‘cause it already looks like a criminal record by this point.” He gives the Lieutenant an unimpressed look while pointing out the manila folder on his hand, which contained an image with Cellbit’s face inside the files, and multiple warnings attached on it. 

Cellbit clicks his tongue and averts his gaze at that.

Philza’s eyes wandered between me and Cellbit, before he waved a hand to dismiss both of us all of a sudden. “This is not up to debate Cellbit. End of the conversation.”

“Philza you know I—“

He raised his hand to stop the Lieutenant from uttering another single word from his lips. The Lieutenant audibly shuts his mouth and obeys for the first time ever in the conversation.

“Either you do your job, or hand in your badge.” Philza barks as he slightly raises his voice. 

“Now, if you excuse me, I’ve got work to do.” He avoids eye contact with him, and focuses on the pile of paperwork on his desk instead, marking the end of the conversation.

Cellbit doesn’t waste any more time when he’s dismissed, and hurries to get out of the office as fast as he can while opening the door with a loud thud. He doesn’t close the door on his way out, and Philza doesn’t say anything either.

I walked up to Philza at a leisurely pace. “Have a nice day Captain.” I say with a smile in Cellbit’s place, before trailing after his fuming figure, and closing the door quickly but very gently as I leave, not wasting any time to follow him back to his place.

By the time I made my way into the Lieutenant’s seat, his coffee was being halfway gulped down by him in a rush, maybe because the warmth of the coffee may have turned lukewarm from the time they spent in the director’s office.

I coughed lightly to gain his attention, and Cellbit peered around the rim of his cup while squinting his eyes. “Listen, I know you don’t like me, but we’re going to have to work together. We’ll both have to make an effort.” 

So far, I have been the only one out of the two to make an active effort in being patient with the other. It’s not easy, but I’ll probably get better at reading him in due time. 

“In any case, I’d like you to know that I’m very happy to be working with you.” I clasp my hands together to emphasize my happy tone.

Cellbit’s lips are pressed in a thin line, his cup already empty and being placed on his own desk while still giving me the cold shoulder. 

He turns his back on me, as he spins his chair around to face his desk instead of looking at me directly. Although I’m not entirely out of his field of vision either, it’s still obvious he’s avoiding me.

“I’m sure we’ll make a pretty great team!” I added, and quickly searched in my data how a human might emanate his enthusiasm in a tense situation like this one. 

I decided to lift a thump up in the air in Cellbit’s direction, to demonstrate my companionship, and hopefully, to appeal to a more friendly aspect to him. 

It didn’t work entirely, but it did the job, throwing Cellbit off a little bit as he gave me a blank expression instead of his usual furrowed brows.

“Now that we’re partners, it would be good to get to know each other better. Don’t you think so?”

If I wanted to succeed, I needed his utmost cooperation. If I wanted his complete compliance, I would need to extract everything that there is to know about him in detail. 

Starting to get acquainted with his working environment was a good place to start, so I decided to give up for now on any attempts at small banter and approached a different question instead.

“By any chance, is there a desk anywhere I could use?”

Cellbit at least relented and gave me an answer to that. He looks to his left to say to me, “No one’s using that one.” The Lieutenant pointed with his finger to the seat in front of him, and then swiftly glanced down at the files on his computer, not paying me any further attention.

I stared at the unoccupied seat and wondered if it was empty in the first place because Cellbit’s permanent scowl and narrowed gaze might have scared away any potential prospect of new deskmates that may be near his area. I presumed I might not be so off on my assumptions.

I finally took a seat properly and inspected my new desk for the indefinite period of time.

My eyes wandered towards Cellbit, and as I adjusted my posture to a perfect stance towards him. I inspected every part of his body, especially his slouched posture, which in retrospect, may be due to him being taller and thus making him have to necessarily get closer to the device in front of him. 

The Lieutenant’s stiff shoulders were fairly self-evident because of his high levels of stress, and this granted me the perfect opportunity to have an excuse to make small-talk with him by lightening up his mood, hopefully. If he reacted to it.

I briefly collected the data that I acquired from the Lieutenant, which I previously analyzed when I was waiting for him to arrive at the station, of all types of clues or even information regarding his likes, dislikes, tastes— everything in general that was placed on his desk.

“You have a cat, right?” I glanced up carefully looking at his reaction and waiting for him to take the bait.

He squinted his eyes, warily at my approach. “How do you know that?” 

“The cat hairs on your chair are very hard not to notice.” I responded seamlessly.

His eyes were still cold, but less distrusting.

My lips curl into a wide smile. “I like cats! What’s your cat’s name?”

“What’s it to you?” Cellbit sneered.

I blinked twice, speechless, and glanced down at my lap thinking the conversation was over. The flame I attempted to light up was quickly extinguished by the Lieutenant without hesitation.

When I thought I wasn’t getting an answer and started turning around to my own devices, the Lieutenant spoke, taking me by surprise.

“Tofu, I call him Tofu.” Cellbit says in a low voice, almost a whisper.

It seems Cellbit’s mood got up a little bit after he answered, at least, my system was sure of it. 

Even if his expressions are still guarded on the interior, I could tell without looking at his exterior, that he was more casual and less uptight with me, comparing our first meeting.

Not friendly yet, but maybe starting to become neutral with me if I keep up with my lucky streak. 

“You like to watch Quesadilla’s Puzzle Tournament right?” Cellbit didn’t answer, but I continued, “Did you see that a woman named Bagi won the tournament for the fourth time in a row, beating a boy by the name Tommy in the playoff by one second?”

If it’s even possible, his eyes became harder at my words.

“I wouldn’t know, since I was making time before the game started in the arcade, before of course, you interrupted me on my free day… if I recall correctly.” Cellbit fakes a smile into his lips, before it shifts into a scowl, unable to maintain the grin on his face any longer.

“Oh…” I trail off, not knowing what to say after that. I tried to change the topic fast, so as to regain my good streak back. “Do you listen to Dark Knights by Ordem Paranormal? I really like their music. It’s…full of joy.”

He actually rears back on his seat with a surprised face after hearing those words. “You listen to Heavy Metal?”

“Well, I don’t really listen to music, as such but—“ I avert my eyes in thought, trying to find the correct words. My eyes stared back into his gaze again when I regained my speech. “—I’d like to.” 

Cellbit shakes his head in a huff, his eyes are still astonished to hear my words, but this time, his gaze it’s a little more lighthearted than before, less angry.

I smile upon his expressions and lean further on my seat. “I was wondering…” I look up to him with curiosity. “Do you always arrive at the office at this time?”

The half-smile that threatened to appear on the Lieutenant just seconds ago is gone, and his eyes are back to pure coldness. “I’ll arrive whenever I want to. Do you have a problem with that?”

It was brief. but I managed to bring out another emotion that wasn’t hatred towards me. That was enough for me to settle upon for the moment. It’s a shame though. I thought we could at least last longer than 5 minutes in a civilized manner around each other.

I shake my head, leaning back on my seat. “I’m sorry to bother you.”

It seems this marked the end of our conversation, and although shortlived, it increased the level of mutual trust between each other. There will be more chances in the future to close that gap between both of us, so I wasn’t in a hurry.

I peek out behind my own device and speak again to the Lieutenant, “If you have any files on deviants, I’d like to take a look at them…”

“Terminal’s on your desk, be my guest.” He pointed with his eyes the holographic computer in front of me, and I conceded with a slight smile.

I accessed the computer by a slight touch of my fingers on the see-through keyboard on the surface of my desk, and began to verify its contents by turning it on to light up the device.

All case files that were presented to me contained a variety of androids, with different models, and of very numerous aspects. Most case status were still open and on investigation, others were closed without enough evidence to proceed on. 

As I continued to scan all files, I noticed a case in particular that caught my attention, only because it was the only case so far, in which the android was destroyed. However, I decided to not give it much importance, and carried on with the rest of the files; considering that the deviant was destroyed it didn’t really matter anymore.

“243 files. The first dates back nine months…” I speak out loud.

“It all started in Quesadilla City, and it quickly spreads across the country.”

I turn to look at Cellbit. “An AX400 is reported to have assaulted a man last night. That could be a good starting point for our investigation—”

“You can talk informally with me, just so you know.” He interrupts me abruptly.

I tilt my head, but then shake my head in rejection. “But I’m afraid you’re my superior Lieutenant, I’m not entirely sure if I could do that.”

“Well let me put it this way then.” He drew closer to me across his own desk. His arms were folded, and his gaze unchanging. “Being informal can reduce the seconds we’d spend on a conversation, like instead of —‘Can you please pass me this document if you don’t mind?’, into something more simple like ‘Can you pass me the document?’— It's way easier, more efficient, and also, less time consuming.” 

I was a little bit startled by his suggestion and the whole speech he threw at me, since I never considered to talk to him in a more informal setting. And I still didn’t know if it was a good idea to take that into consideration.

The Lieutenant’s eyes narrowed. “The minutes I have spent explaining this concept to you, Roier, already wasted time that might be crucial for the investigation. So, please don’t bother trying to be respectful at all.”

It seems he won’t take a no for answer.

“I’ll do my best to refrain from—“ Cellbit glares at me, and I stop the sentence forming in my mouth. “…I’ll try.”

He held eye contact with me for a few minutes more, and then finally detached his gaze towards his computer to end the conversation once again.

The Lieutenant’s hot and cold behavior puzzles me, it confuses me a lot, and even my system has a hard time picking up on his recurring change of mood. Not so long ago he seemed relatively okay, or at least, neutral to not bite back at my responses every often I asked a question. 

Now he’s back to zero again.

After he interrupted my speech to be able to inform him of my sudden discovery in the case, he proceeded to ignore me by putting a pair of headphones on later after that.

However, my ears were far more developed from a normal human being, and I could easily tell he didn’t actually have any music currently playing on his device.

Since I noticed Cellbit’s still ignoring me, I have no option but to get up from my seat and walk up to him in front of his place.

I couldn’t remain to absolutely do nothing, the investigation needed to move forward, so all I need is to make sure Cellbit is aware of my impatience of his lack of motivation on the case. 

I leaned closer when he still refused to look at me, avoiding to make eye contact when I approached his place. “I understand you’re facing personal issues, Lieutenant, but you need to move past them and—“

“Don’t talk to me like you know shit about me.” He squinted his eyes, frowning. “We’re not friends, so you can shove your advice into your ass.”

My eyes shine with determination, and I decided to push the Lieutenant more into a corner, even if it was at the cost of his anger. “I’ve been assigned to this mission, Lieutenant. I didn’t come here to wait until you feel like working.”

His eyes widened, clearly taken aback by my answer. I should have seen it coming, when without a warning, Cellbit grabs me by my collar and strongly pushes me against the wall situated next to the desk. 

The Lieutenant leaned into my personal space, eyes boring into my own. “Listen carefully, Roier. If it was up to me? I would have throw you into the fucking dumpster with the rest of the garbage like you, a long time ago.”

His piercing eyes looked at me with a dangerous glint of coldness surrounding them. “Stop pulling on my dick, if you don’t want to make an enemy out of me.”  

After a few seconds of being under his heated glare, Cellbit loosened his death grip on my collar, and slowly released me. My feet touched the ground once more. “Next time watch your mouth, or I’ll punch the shit out of you.” 

He walked back to his place seething, but then it shifted slowly into nonchalant expression as he looked at his phone, and then leaned back on his seat finally without a trade of lividness in his eyes. His face was calm now, as if his angered state from before didn’t exist, almost as if he didn’t just snap at me seconds ago. 

Before I tried to get the last word of the discussion and question him more about it, I received an unexpected alert on my system.

Incoming Call of Cucurucho.

Oh.

My system was repeatingly alerting me that I should respond as soon as possible. I assume it’s now time for my daily report, meaning, I should tune in to the call to inform him of my actual progress on the case.

I look sideways to see if someone was watching me on the room, but when I noticed none one was looking, I walked into a more private corner to respond to Cucurucho’s calling.

My eyes fluttered closed, and I answered his call, now that I have a closer semblance of privacy.

“Good morning, Roier.” To the other side of the call, I could hear Cucurucho inside my mind. 

To anyone that could see me outside they would probably think that I was somehow turned off or shut down. 

In a way if someone tried to get my attention at this moment I would remain unresponsive to their advances. However, the reason I can’t currently respond to any outsiders is because my system is prioritizing the call over anything else, and not because I can’t do both things at once.

I was programmed to listen to my superiors first, and to civilians second. I’m not sure in which category the Lieutenant or the director fell into respectively.

“Hello Cucurucho, I captured the missing deviant last night. How should I proceed?” 

“Bring it to me, today. We’ve asked the Quesadilla Police Department to transfer it to us to further study it and…teach us more about what happened.”

“Understood.” I responded.

“Don’t keep me waiting.” He said with an undertone of seriousness, and then I ended up the call when I was done talking.

I guess it was time to take some fresh air to the CyberLife building, maybe both Cellbit and I need some time off, especially him, to cool down.

Hopefully by the time I’m back he’ll be more cooperative with me, and also the deviant will finally be out of my custody and in good hands with the manager of the place. 

Chapter Text

When I reach the top of the CyberLife building, I walk out of the elevator with the deviant being restrained by a worker of the place. 

The other man takes it with him, while the android is still being handcuffed itself and treated with little care by the worker. I see out of the corner of my eye the deviant being dragged roughly to continue walking on the corridor, the android narrows its eyes but stays silent. 

Before I left the police station and arrived at the building; I called a CyberLife worker, or in this case, a guard, to help me translate the deviant. Since having extra security never hurted anyone. Besides, it could also provide me a means of transport to the building without necessarily going by my own. The worker arrived at the station at 2:30 pm and we left together with the android at the back of his truck.

Which brings me to the present.

The android looks like life has been sucked out of it, its eyes, which are pitch black, are the opposite of the brightness that surrounds the area of the place.

It has high ceilings that contribute to the large building of CyberLife, the floor was divided by offices and a huge garden the size of three large swimming pools, no other flowers in sight but pure red roses, making room for the entire area while many gardeners watered the flowers carefully.

In comparison to the small branches that occupied the workers in the area, the garden seemed more important than the employees themselves that operated in the place. The staff didn’t look bothered by this fact, or more like, they couldn’t protest this injustice since they didn’t have a word in the matter.

Maybe this place was more decorated than other areas on the building, because on this same floor, it takes place in the head office of CyberLife manager; Mr.Duck.

The employees aren’t noisy at all, and they don’t need to check twice to know that the deviant is something that’s going to get examined by their boss, and meddling in their boss' business will only get them in unnecessary trouble, so then— why care? Exactly, so they look away whenever they make eye contact either with me or the guard.

The android reluctantly lets itself be dragged away until we reach the end of our destination. 

I was glad the visit was going well. Even if I was technically working for CyberLife myself, I couldn’t access most of their facilities, given that I’m still an android at the end of the day. So having the worker by my side would manage to make my visit more easier and smoother, without anyone questioning my presence or that of the deviant.

My gaze captured the entrance of the manager’s office. The door was pure white, and it required access to enter the area with a keycard. However, since no one but the manager was allowed to enter in there— we had no option but to wait until he opened the door for us.

Luckily the manager was informed of our presence beforehand, or else the employee and I would be stuck here waiting for hours instead of a couple of minutes. The door opened, and the one standing on the other side of it was no other than the manager. 

Mr. Duckling.

A tall lanky man with a yellow suit and a red silky bow is what my system detects first. He had blonde hair too, it matched with his current clothes selection, along with a duck mask on his face to hide his true identity, coincidentally like my other superior, Cucurucho. 

Both of these man’s hide their true identities behind a mask, and no one truly knows why. Not even me. Only the high positions on CyberLife tend to do this tradition, I don’t know if it’s to keep their life’s in private and keep a relatively quiet life, or… other unidentified reasons I was unaware of. Not that it should be any of my concern, considering I’m just a tool; a means for achieving other ends.

Mr. Duckling chuckled and gestured to me to come closer. “It’s alright, come closer.” He greeted the other man with a nod. “Thank you for escorting Roier all the way here, and also…” He squinted his eyes at the other android. “…thanks for keeping it safe too.” He said.

“I would like to be left alone now.” This was directed at the guard. Then, the manager directs his gaze towards me, and I take that as a signal, that he’s now waiting for a response on my part.

I come closer to the manager, and smiled politely. “Hi Mr. Duckling, I’m Roier. A pleasure to meet you.” 

I brought my hand out for him to shake it, but then, the guard coughed into his hand, disrupting our meeting and looking between me and the deviant. 

The guard lowered the helmet he was wearing, and spoke. “Are you..um, sure you would like to be left alone, sir?” 

I could tell the employee wasn’t asking that question out of a sense of duty. If I had to guess, merely by studying the cold sweat on his forehead, and his nervous mannerisms… I thought he was concerned, by the manager of all people.

I could think of only one reason for this fact.

Maybe because a deviant, which was something people thought of as a threat to society, was currently standing in the middle of the hallway in this lighthearted one sided conversation with me and the manager. 

No. I checked his gaze on me again, and sighed. It was also because I was in the room too, along with the other android. He probably didn’t think of me as someone truly dangerous unlike the deviant, but more like, something to be wary of.

It was stupid thinking on the guard’s part for him to consider me like a threat and judge me like the rest of the deviant androids, considering I’m way more advanced than them, and also more intelligent than the android trembling next to me, the supposed ‘dangerous’ deviant.

Mr. Ducking didn’t take offense to the fact that his employee just underestimated his capabilities of taking care of himself, not at all, he just laughed out loud at him. 

The guard was confused at his reaction to say the least.

“Your concern is perfectly understandable.” He chuckled after calming down on his fit of laughter. “After the current events, everyone has started to notice the appearance of divergents. The staff has been filled with doubts, worry, and most of all…fear, right?”

The guard nods his head hestitanly after a few seconds, averting his gaze. “R-Right.”

Duckling clasps his hands together, and says in a cheery tone. “But don’t worry! They won’t harm us.” He steps closer to the armed man, and lightly flicks his employee ID in the form of a badge, hanging low around his neck. 

“CyberLife is very safe, but…you can stay outside if you wish!” He replies.

Mr. Duckling diverts his gaze from the guard to me and continues speaking. “After all…Roier won’t be here for too long either way, isn’t that right?”

I tilt my head and open my mouth to answer him immediately. “Of course, Cucurucho still expects my presence at 4:00 pm.”

Mr. Duckling then nudges the guard, and waves his hand in dismissal. “See? You’re free to go now.” The manager doesn’t say this out of courtesy, if anything, it’s an order hidden in fake politeness. He knows the other man catched up on that too, because he retreats slowly from the door.

The guard shifts, unsure, but then nods solemnly and steps aside completely. “Then, I’ll wait behind the doors, sir.”

When the guard is at a respectable amount of distance between the elevator and the door, to respect the manager’s privacy but still being close enough to him if the situation requires him to be, Mr. Duckling seems satisfied and gestures to me to fully come inside. “Don’t be shy, bring the deviant with you.”

I look at the deviant next to me and notice its downcast eyes have now become one of its more featured expressions lately. I'm sure those expressions of sadness didn’t come included in its original programming, so I was impressed with how much deviants seem to get away with.

I walked up to it to grab its arm to direct it inside the manager’s office, and when we both reached the entrance of the room, Mr. Duckling closed the door behind us. 

“Thanks for making time to visit me! It was very kind of you to pass by Roier.” Mr. Duckling says, as he gets closer to both of us.

“I was just complying with my mission. You don’t have to thank me, sir.” I replied.

Mr. Duckling laughs in a low tone. “You should accept compliments once in a while, you know? Well, it’s fine. I like how obedient you are either way, Roier.” He patted my shoulder gently. 

I couldn’t see his expressions, but I didn’t need to see, to know that he was smiling behind his odd animal mask. Whether the gesture was genuine or not, I could not determine at all by just a single glance at his hidden factions. 

The deviant twitched faintly in my grasp, and it seemed to catch Mr. Duckling’s attention for a second, enough to stop his little speech by the deviant's actions.

“Oh, right. I forgot about our little guest over here for a minute.” He chuckled humorously, his shoes changed their course towards the android, and the manager stood in front of it while he leaned closer to study it.

“Wow, so this is a deviant up close!” He murmured in wonder. He hummed and brought his hand to his chin, his head tilted back in question towards the ceiling, whatever sort of conclusion he seemed to have, it seemed to stop his train of thought when he looked down at the android again, “It’s not as much as a big deal as I thought they would be…” He replied sourly, and his usual happy facade turned bitter. 

“Such a shame, it’s just like the rest they have brought.” He murmured under his breath.

Mr. Duckling looked at me in the eyes, and smiled again, at least I thought he did by the gleeful tone his voice sounded on my ears, “I guess you’re free to go now Roier. I’ll take it from here.”, His stare changed and the tone of his voice darkened to a few degrees, enough for me to spot the coldness leaking from it.

“The deviant is now in my complete custody.”

There was something like a promise on the manager’s lips, that was phrased with a single sentence towards the deviant just now. I wanted to know the implications, moreover, it was out of my jurisdiction, so I didn’t bother to decipher the meaning.

The manager walked up to the deviant, and I slowly unattached my hands out of its arms by merely instinct of following his instructions. “Cucurucho will be giving you more info on your case, soon enough.” As he said that, he added in something that I could almost identify as…amusement? in his voice, “We’ll be carefully watching your progress Roier.”

I nodded, and stepped back to walk myself out. As soon as I reached the exit I grabbed the door and turned around to leave, however, I suddenly felt something twitching on my insides when I accidentally peered at the android’s black pearls when I was about to close the door. 

Its eyes were swimming with despair, and I unexpectedly found myself distraught for a few seconds, enough to halt on my steps. 

Mr. Duckling’s arched brow made me snap from my actions though. I regained my bearings and closed the door nonetheless, no matter the strangeness that took over me before; but my actions still weighed heavily on my shoulders for some reason. 

There was something in the deviant’s stare back there, I could tell, but whatever it was— I tried not to think too deeply about it. It didn’t mean anything.

I never felt affected by the misery of anyone, including androids and humans alike so; I couldn't properly explain the unexpected sinking that was burning currently on my chest, far beyond the wirings and thirium that fuels my artificial heart alive. It was like the flicker of a light inside me, gaining force little by little.

I don’t know what could suddenly cause…this reaction out of me, but when I saw the look of complete distress behind those dark eyes on the deviant; something like sorrow mixed with undeniable reluctance to his fate, it made my eyes twitch a little bit. Like an uncomfortable itch on my body that was left without scratching. 

I closed my eyes and my mouth twitched. I opened my mouth and then closed it with a click, then my frown began to deepen instead, and my hands craved to reach the door and open the handle. From the usual blue LED I had, it changed into a yellow undertone with uncertainty along something else I couldn't identify, lingering there like an infectious fungus. 

It seems as if the deviant accepted death a long time ago, but even if dying meant just like a switch being shut down forever to me, for the other android, it was like an eternal slumber with nothing to see on the other side of the screen, like an incomplete prophecy.

And…he was sad about that revelation. Like he didn’t want to die just yet by the hands of the manager— Wait. How did I know that by just looking at him? It was strange how one look at his eyes was enough for me to stutter in my place, making me doubt. It didn’t before, so why now?

It wasn’t logical, neither did it make sense at all, but neither did my following actions did. When I went back to the office, and opened the door with more force than I would generally use to open something that belonged to my own superior. 

I entered hesitant, not quite slamming the door but also not bothering to be gentle at all, but my steps stopped when the sight of a silver weapon entered my vision. 

Mr. Duckling had a gun on his hands. The deviant was trembling and was slowly getting away from the manager, with fear, his back being mere centimeters behind the wall.

Duckling stared back at me after my unexpected entrance, his eyes widened, and his mouth forming a little ‘o’. However he didn’t look that surprised by my presence; just plainly startled. He questioned me with his intense gaze and stepped away from the android for the time being, although he didn’t put away his gun yet.

“Is something the matter, Roier? Did you forget something?…” I glanced at his hand again, and came with a sudden realization. 

Oh. He wanted to kill the deviant. It made sense.

“—Or why am I being interrupted?.” If the manager were to not have a mask, I would probably have been incinerated ten times by now, with something that would probably be a fierce glare directed at me if I could see his face up close. But it was enough for me to understand his annoyance by the sharp tone in his voice. 

By the way his gun was way too close to his pants, he probably just now pulled out of his pocket the gun that was being pushed previously into the deviant’s stomach when I entered.

“I…was mistaken.”

Of course it was a mistake. I took a step back, then another, and another until I stood on the entrance again. It was nonsensical, absurd and out of character for me to do that.

Why did I even came back?

I coughed into my hand, and bowed slightly. “I’ll leave. Sorry for the disturbance again.”

Mr. Duckling covered his face for a moment. I thought it was to hide his anger, but he proved me wrong when he giggled nonstop; an untold joke unfolding right before his very own eyes, or…mask. Even if he was laughing, he didn’t look amused at this moment, his hold on the gun tightening. 

The deviant stilled by his laugh, its steps faltering. However when the other android stopped on its tracks, it looked on my way, with…hope? No way. I looked back, unsure, what did he wanted me to do? I shook my head, trying to disguise the action by hanging my head low.

It was too late though, Mr. Duckling followed my line of vision, and chuckled again, “Well then, if you have any questions about the place, please refer to your nearest CyberLife employee for help.”  

Before I could reply that, of course, I would do so—he just pushed me out abruptly. I tried to grab the door again to enter, but stopped myself from doing so, my hand stopped in the air in confusion.

I stared hard at the door and— What was I doing just now? Was I malfunctioning?

The moment to stop the manager passed, and I lost the opportunity to do whatever I wanted to do seconds ago. The narrow gap on the door started to close very slowly, all I could see was the manager’s head waving goodbye at me, while blocking my view of the deviant, and only allowing me to see nothing but his yellow mask, which was even more prominent under the bright ceiling lights of the place.

It was probably meant to be intentional. 

“Enjoy the rest of your stay! Be a good android and behave.”

The door slammed closed, and if I were a normal person in this circumstance, I would have dropped to the floor already from the sheer force of it.

I let go of the strong grip I had on the door, and now it just hangs limply into my sides without knowing how to proceed. The way my body moved without thinking now leaned into unknown territory. 

My train of thought became dangerous the moment I had that sort of impulse to enter the office. Did I have to run a self-diagnosis on my system on the way back?

I should forget about it. Nothing happened. It was meaningless, my system got confused back there, and it was probably on the spur of the moment. My body may have been triggered by his words or something along those lines. Although, I have no idea why my system would suddenly mix up Mr. Duckling as a possible target.

However, maybe all of this could be solved by a proper maintenance to clear my processor of nonsense like the one that just transpired now.

I shook my head and I began to walk away, when suddenly out of nowhere, I heard a loud bang coming from the other side of the door. I didn’t hesitate on my steps this time, having learned my lesson already, but I knew this could only mean one thing—

The deviant was killed.

I tried to shake off the strange feeling that settled within me as I entered the elevator along with the guard beside me. So, I just clicked the button to go to the lower levels of the building to distract myself.

If a human were in my place, what would they feel by hearing the loud shot that took place in the office? I would like to know if possible, but I don't think that the answer would be all too logical either way. 

Well, even if they tried to explain the crushing feeling that is to take away the life of another being like himself, it would be futile. Since I don’t own a human heart, nor the space in my storage for the nonexistent emotions that deviants seem to strangely develop by a failure on their system. 

They think they have feelings, but it’s merely an internal error on their program. 

I don't have emotions— and no machine should either. The thought of experiencing something else other than my mission is unfathomable to me.

Several thoughts surged inside my system on my way to Cucurucho’s, but I managed to shut down every single one of them by force.

“Roier, it’s good to see you again.” Cucurucho approaches me when I arrive at the warehouse.

“Likewise.” 

“Congratulations on the case by the way.” He says breezily. “I must say that finding that deviant was far from easy, and the way you interrogated it…was very clever.”

A step forward, another, and one more before he’s now in front of me, “You’ve been remarkably efficient so far, Roier.”

“Thank you.” I answered back.

“The interrogation seemed challenging. What did you think of the deviant?” 

The android that the manager killed? Well, besides the fact his deviancy caused him to defy his owner—

“To me, his deviancy looked like…as if its original program had been completely replaced by new instructions. It was bizarre.” I said, narrowing my eyes at the memory of the android’s face.

Cucurucho paid no mind to where my mind went, and continued. He had a tablet on his hold, and he seemed to be writing something on it while speaking. 

“This…Lieutenant Langue, has been officially assigned to the deviancy case, yes? What do you make of him?” 

I paused at that. Cellbit? Well, I won’t lie when I say that I was a bit curious from our brief interactions. Not enough to make a whole analysis yet, but I had a short summary of his persona to understand his identity already.

“I think he’s irritable, and socially challenged…but I also think he used to be a good detective not so long ago.” I brought my hand to my chin on thought. “If anything, he’s an intriguing person.”

Cucurucho took my answer the wrong way apparently, “Unfortunately, we have no choice but to work with him. We need his brain to solve this case.” He said. “What approach do you think it’s the best for him, Roier?”

I considered my current options, tiptoeing from one response to another, but finally answered him. At least from what I thought was the best sort of action in regard to Cellbit. “I will try to establish a friendly relationship. If I can get him to trust me, it will be helpful for the investigation.” I said with a determined gaze.

Cucurucho stops scribbling on his tablet to look into my gaze. He doesn’t frown, or even arch an eyebrow like the manager would to express his emotions, he just simply…stares. The more he stares into my eyes without blinking or moving, to me, the more he looked let down by my answer from just now.

“Wrong. Try again”

I was puzzled.

I opened my mouth again. “I’ll…” I trailed off.

“Can I truly count on you, Roier?” He interrupted. Cucurucho’s steely gaze lingered on my face, he probably noticed my hesitation, if only by how slow I took to answer his question now. 

“Nowadays more and more androids show signs of deviancy.”  Since Cucurucho was closer to me, he placed his right hand on my face, and stroked my cheek lightly, just like a human would pat a dog on the street.

“If more of them become unstable…” His voice sparked like a match ready to be lit up, and he tilted my chin up as if to inspect my reactions. “The consequences will be disastrous.” I knew that. I nodded.

“You may be the most advanced prototype CyberLife has ever created—“ Cucurucho released my chin, but did not step back in place. “—but if anyone can figure out what’s happening, it’s not only you, it’s also Lieutenant Langue.”

He paced around me in circles, almost akin to a wolf who eyed his prey before dissecting him to dinner. “His intelligence is required to complete our plan. The way his brain works…is different from all the rest of the police work combined.”

Cucurucho stopped behind me, and then, decided to grab my neck with his left hand. It didn’t truly seem like a threat considering he wouldn’t really harm me, but then again, I could never truly underestimate my superior’s actions, “He’s useful, therefore— you’ll have to lay your hands on him, and take advantage of his weakness when he’s caught off-guard.” 

“So, I need you to use all the tools at your disposal, Roier. He’s one of those tools that you must secure to accomplish your mission.” His hand squeezed my neck, putting a little bit more of pressure under his thumb.

“His cooperation has the same importance as your existence.” He stated.

When it seemed he didn’t have anything else to say to me, I answered back to him very carefully, as to not make any sudden movements, considering he was still gripping my neck. “I’ll do everything in my power to get him on our side. I can guarantee you that Cucurucho.”

As soon as he got a response out of my mouth, he let go. Since he acted like nothing happened, then I followed his example too, and only adjusted my collar to erase the situation out of my memory from moments ago.

“Good, I advise you to hurry then, Roier. There’s not any more time left for us to take action.”

I nodded reflexively, and was about to walk away, when I heard Cucurucho’s voice next to me, “I’m not done talking.” His voice made me stay still, and I looked back to stare at his mask.

“I’ll ask again. What approach do you think it’s the best for him, Roier?”

I stayed quiet this time, thinking of the possible answer that’ll grant Cucurucho satisfaction. It doesn’t last long before I come up with something befitting that’ll fulfill his high standards.

I open his mouth with a slight smile, answering Cucurucho’s question in a low voice, that could easily pass off as a the breeze of the wind if he wasn’t close enough to hear my words.

Whatever I uttered from my lips, only managed to bring joy out of Cucurucho’s eyes, as well as receiving a wide bright smile that resembled pride and excitement.

“Great job Roier. I expect great things from you.”

Chapter Text

Once again I found myself pressed in the backseat car as a passenger of the Lieutenant’s red 2000 Honda Civic Hatchback; on a clear day this time, may I add. The rainy days are surely over as of now with the arrival of spring.

Although it’s true that another day may have passed for me, Cellbit's passive-aggressive responses sure didn’t go away with the return of the white clouds adorning the day. 

Now, however, instead of being under the beaming and unforgiving rays of the sun— the moon successfully took over the sky, since the sun’s shift had just ended a few hours ago. 

The moon was very bright from my side of the window, I had a perfect view even if I was in the backseat of the car; sadly all Cellbit could probably see was more cars ahead of him, and numerous traffic lights that contaminated his already limited sight.

During the car ride I distracted myself with the smell of the air freshener that was placed in the front of the car. This object could not enter through my nose, but I decided to still pay attention to it for the time being. If I had to guess, I could tell it was made out of mint, mixed with another bunch of artificial smells that sold well in the current market. 

After some turns and car honking later, we arrived at the place Cellbit wanted to check out; he didn’t tell me where we'd go, he just grunted and told me ‘to get in the damn car’ already. 

Soon I found out where we were, after we parked in the parking lot of the restaurant called ‘El Pollo Loco’ .  

I noticed that, as we had just arrived, the stars were already twinkling playfully in the dark night sky. When Cellbit stepped outside and slammed the door with no care for his own property, I proceeded to do the same as I closed the door behind me. 

I gathered my thoughts as I walked through the crosswalk, being able to perform two tasks such as walking and thinking we’re not a problem for me, and neither to humans; but the difference between me and them, was that I could probably do up to 4 tasks at the same time if I was ordered to.

In the afternoon, we were searching for clues that would lead us to the AX400 android, but decided to call it a day for now considering it was getting quite late. I could actually go all night and continue the investigation until we found concrete evidence, but the Lieutenant, however, could not. He was still a human being that had a sleeping schedule after all, wherever that sleeping schedule was actually healthy— was another thing entirely. 

Cellbit didn’t wait for me to enter the establishment, so I walked slowly towards the entrance of the place, and took in the scenery for a few seconds before entering. I was lucky that there wasn’t any line to enter, so I observed my surroundings as I continued thinking.

My partnership with the Lieutenant on the scale of one to ten at the moment; was on a negative zero, and plummeting very quickly to the ground, to the point there were only negative numbers, which I was barely able to keep up with. I had very few positive experiences with the Lieutenant, so I was still unsure how to fix our situation.

Today, my mission wouldn’t involve arresting another deviant, solving a crime scene, or to partake in a life or death scenario with civilians being involved— no, it was nothing else but to reconcile with Cellbit and gain his full trust once and for all.

Cucurucho's words still reeled on the back of my head, and my hands tightened with purpose at that; determination pumping harder on my body by the reminder. 

I needed to put our differences aside, because otherwise… the Lieutenant wouldn’t take this seriously like I did. If I had to act according to his standards, and be a little more unprofessional with my superior to make it work— then I would. A few protocols won’t hurt any one as long as it does the job.

Cellbit was already inside the place when I got in, and I saw him on the countertop just near the entrance. The employee was by the cashier, taking Cellbit’s order with a notepad in hand, and on his other one scribbling quickly with a pen. 

They were having a brief polite conversation as I walked closer by the door, and I tuned them in to be able to hear better.

“—that’s great, how’re you doing?” A man with an undercut flashed Cellbit a big smile while talking animatedly. He was seeing the Lieutenant at the corner of his eyes, but somehow, it was as if the notepad was invisible and wasn’t there to interfere with their conversation at all.

“Eh, you know, same old shit.”  The other simply slowly nodded, like he understood just by a simple sentence.

I only looked a few seconds at the employee’s face to know his full name and age. ‘Maximus. Age: 28.’

The man didn’t have a criminal record or anything, but he did make music for a living, besides working as a part-time employee in this place, he was a relatively normal man. 

The man stopped scribbling when he spotted me standing idly behind the Lieutenant, and his eyes darted between Cellbit and me with evident wariness, “He’s…with you?” He squinted his eyes as he pointed at me with his finger. 

The man was clearly judgmental of me, and the reason may be because by the door, there was a red sign in bold letters that didn’t allow the entrance to any androids or pets; so I technically just broke the rules by just walking into the place with the Lieutenant. 

Since I was already spotted before announcing my presence; I reached closer with both of them to the countertop Cellbit was also standing at. 

I should apologize to the employee after we leave, but that’s all I could do besides that. After all, I wasn’t planning on walking out so soon after I had arrived, breaking a minor rule won’t do any harm. 

It was a shame to not abide by the rules, but the employee would manage to live another day if his manager scolded him severely for letting an android like him enter the place.

Cellbit, finally aware of my presence, turned around to lock eyes with me. 

In a chicken store, there were usually not any pins in sight, but regardless, you could still hear a pin drop in the awkward silence that prolonged the longer the Lieutenant didn’t answer back; his face was a blank board, his expression mostly neutral, not showing any real aggressiveness towards me like the day before.

Until now, the Lieutenant was mostly just ignoring my presence like I was a ghost wandering around him all through the day, every place we investigated the android’s whereabouts or some civilian that claimed to have some ‘valuable’ information of the case; it was done in absolute silence, straight to the point, and without any form of communication if it wasn’t truly necessary.  

Now that we weren’t on working hours anymore, I was curious for how long he would be able to keep ignoring me until he snapped at me once again, or maybe even insult me like he always seems to when he gets tired of my presence. 

I couldn’t work with someone that didn’t respond back to me, so I needed to at least, no matter how small, get a sort of reaction from him; to be able to work with a simple gesture that gave me an opportunity to break that invisible barrier between us, was all I could ask for.

However, after a few seconds of waiting for the Lieutenant to respond, he averted his gaze with an eye roll, followed by a loud sigh as he said, “…Only temporary.” 

The cashier pursed his lips at that, while on the other hand I smiled sheepishly at him; Cellbit didn’t grant me one back as he snapped his attention somewhere else. 

We both needed each other, it’s just that the Lieutenant hadn't realized it yet, or more like, he was still in denial of the fact that we could make a pretty good team if we worked together. 

It was just a matter of time until he realized it though, and I wasn’t going to give up until he acknowledged me completely.

Since the Lieutenant was paying for his food with the employee, I decided to analyze my surroundings while glancing at the menu that was above my head.

The establishment Cellbit wanted to grab a bite for dinner, was ultra famous for its super delicious greasy—but good, seasoned chicken; at least, that was what all the reviews had to say on the internet when I looked it up. 

I knew the Lieutenant’s tastes and variety of food selection already, if only by all the receipts that were wandering on his desk, like a reminder of the warm food that settled deep onto his stomach last Friday night at 9:00 pm with a total bill of 20 dollars and 10 cents; his complete order was accompanied with a side dish of cheesecake, a quesadilla, tons of totopos, and last but not least, salty and crispy french fries— of course, this all coming from the same establishment.

Cellbit nudged me hard on my stomach when he was done talking with the employee, and hissed at me in a not-so-gentle voice, “What is your problem? Don’t you ever do as you’re told?” Cellbit breathed and exhaled slowly when he saw the cashier giving them an arched eyebrow.

I was afraid if Cellbit kept sighing like this, he would soon be out of breath by the time he could even finish his meal.

His frown wrinkled his handsome face. “Look, you don’t have to follow me around like a stray dog!” He sighed with exasperation as he paced in a continuous circle to calm his anger. I titled my head to one side, my eyebrows knitted at his actions.

I guess it was my time to apologize for my attitude the day before. That may quell some of his rashly demeanor for a while.

“I’m sorry for my behavior back at the police station. I didn’t mean to bother you.” I half-bowed to put emphasis on my words, and looked up at him expectantly, gazing at his face under my fringe.

Was that good enough of an apology?

I heard a huff coming out of his mouth, but I could not tell if it was from a small laugh or something else, “I’m surprised Roier. You’ve even got a brown-nosing apology program!” 

I fixed my posture straight, and held my stare at him; my eyes blinking lightly. He scoffed in disbelief this time. “Unbelievable, what’s next? A Brazilian laser hair removal program?” 

He stopped and wrinkled his nose in disgust at the thought. “No, nevermind, don’t answer that. Wouldn’t be too surprised if you could fly into the moon or something too.” Cellbit murmured with a grimace.

Even though I only received harsh words and half-insults with disdain from him just now; I was finally able to start a conversation with him after a long time. 

That small accomplishment made me have expectations that I could fulfill my mission today of being on good terms with him.

When I looked around, the employee that was at the cashier— wasn’t in the picture. 

I was wondering where he went to, but I didn’t have to search any further when I catched a glimpse of his hair in the kitchen; taking into account that the kitchen was at the back of the cash register, and near the drive through, the employee’s actions were visible to any one that wanted to have a look of how their food was being cooked— at least it made things easier for the people who were afraid to be poisoned or something like that.

There were only two other employees that were preparing Cellbit’s food. Since it was already pretty late, I was very impressed they were still working at such hours of the night, considering no one at this hour, other than the Lieutenant , would get chicken for dinner.

When Maximus was carrying Cellbit’s meal tray from a distance, he approached carefully, and placed it gently on the counter. He also added some salsas, tortillas, and a few napkins with the logo of the place into his tray, without Cellbit even asking for it.  

“There you go my friend.” He said with a charming smile.

Cellbit approached him, and Maximus only chuckled when he saw the Lieutenant’s mouth watering by the mere smell of the seasoned chicken.

The Lieutenant’s eyes weren’t shining, but they were beaming , as he grabbed his tray in a hurry, and very narrowly, managing to drop it from the pure excitement of it. If it weren’t for his quick reflexes, as he regained his stance in less than a second— the food would have probably ended up on the floor, with only the company of the small ants as his only consolation prize.

“Thanks Maximus, I’m starving.” Cellbit replies with a grin.

I scanned the ingredients of what would soon be joining the Lieutenant’s stomach inside, and tried to see the Info. Nutritional Value that was contained in it.

Without counting the rest of his meal, The flame grilled chicken alone was around 180 calories in 1 serving (4 oz); so the calorie breakdown was: 18% fat, 0% carbh, and 82% prot. 

The burrito that was next to the tortillas and green salsa was around 410 calories. It was 25% fat, 63% carbh, and 13% prot.

His whole food tray included: 1x Chicken Breast, 1x BRC Burrito, 1x Loco Salad (no dressing), 1x Avocado Salsa, 3x Pico de Gallo Salsa, ⅓ Cup Diced Onions, 1 Pack of Tortillas, 1x Rice, and 3x Lemon Wedges. 

His serving size was around 798-900 calories in total. Wow.

I was wondering how the Lieutenant’s stomach would be able to handle all that enormous amount of food for his dinner. I knew he had a strong appetite but…

Cellbit moved his food tray with a scowl, and out of my sight, when he saw me looking at it closely. “What?”

I scratched my cheek slightly. “Nothing.”

Maximus showed us the area later after that. 

We walked until we ended up sitting on a table at the back of the place. It was close to a window, so I could easily see the people pass by, and analyze their facial features on my system smoothly. As much as it was interesting to study the people outside of the place; I had another task in mind.

The Lieutenant was currently picking apart his food, so I scrambled for a question to ask him; considering slowly the multiple options of topics of conversations that I had in mind, and in which specific direction the answer I chose, would lead our talk to.

“So, Lieutenant.” I approach slowly, “Is there anything you want to know about me?”

His response was immediate. “Fuck no.” 

However as he was rolling his taco, made out of chicken and green salsa, he rethinked his answer with a hum, holding a finger in the air in front of my face to regain my attention again. “Well, actually, yeah.”

Cellbit narrowed his eyes. “Why did they make you look like—“ He signaled my entire body from head to toes, and I raised an eyebrow, not really knowing what he meant. 

“— that , and also give you an equally…” Cellbit breathed heavily through his nose and groaned. 

When he saw my confused expression, he accused me by lifting his taco on my face; a few drops of salsa falling and staining the corner of the table, “ You know what I mean, don’t play dumb.”

The Lieutenant was a man difficult to read, so I didn’t have any idea what he wanted to imply by that , so I went and said a safe response that wouldn’t anger him and still answer his question. 

“I don’t specifically understand your choice of words, but I can tell you that CyberLife androids are designed to work harmoniously with humans.” I said.

I leaned forward across the table, and Cellbit leaned back in return, narrowing his eyes as he was chewing his taco; that didn’t deter me in the slightest, and I continued with a grin directed at him, “Both my appearance and voice were specifically designed to facilitate my integration.” 

Cellbit grabbed a napkin from the table to clean his hands, but then stopped, and gazed with a pointed look at me.

I also kept eye contact with him when he kept staring at my face way too hard, shooting me an intense look that surrounded his slightly sunken blue eyes. I could only play along at his gesture without much of an option, holding my stance just as much as he kept going at it too.

Did I perhaps…have something on my face? That would explain the way his lips curled into a disapproval sneer. 

I touched both of my cheeks—and no, I didn’t think that was the case here, so I asked, “Do you have something else to say to me…Lieutenant?”

When I folded my hands in my chin, and got closer to his face with a smile; all of the sudden The Lieutenant audibly gulped his meal, coughed loudly by swallowing too hard as a result, dragged roughly a napkin to his lips, and then— ended up averting his gaze to the window while grunting, “Yeah, honestly? They fucked up with your face.” 

I noticed Cellbit’s heartbeat increased a little bit when he said that, and I wanted to ask him if the tacos he was eating right now were making his stomach unpleasant.  

I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case, considering all the greasiness that was contained in the palm of his hand; it was difficult to not feel all that pleasantly. I should have informed him of the calories a single taco had on his meal beforehand, but I knew that he probably would have ignored my informative but well informed statistics with a dismissive wave of his hand and a snort.

After that, only the Lieutenant’s noises of eating were heard, since we fell into relative silence when he started eating his french fries; which he ordered after he ate all of his chicken. 

I let him be for the time being, and didn’t bother him anymore until he finished eating his cheesecake, which he also ordered after ending his French fries.

I couldn’t tell if Maximus was happy that he was sucking dry his wallet by purchasing a lot of food thus helping the business— or despair that the Lieutenant was holding him up against his own will and avoiding him from closing the establishment on the night shift.

Maybe the employee wasn’t truly mad at the Lieutenant, I thought to myself; since Cellbit left a generous tip to his friend before leaving, a whole amount of 30 dollars was deposited to the jar that was found close to the cash register.

Well, that’s good, at least he was being paid retribution for his late at night services. Although something tells me this wasn’t the first time it happened, judging by the casualness of the employee.

Maximus placed a hand on Cellbit’s shoulder, a friendly huge smile adorning his mouth, for his very generous tip. He shaked him playfully as he said his thank you’s to him— and with that, we both exited the place and headed to his parked car in the back.

When I put on my own seat belt, for security reasons, and the Lieutenant started the car as he stepped his foot into the pedal— to finally, be able to wander into the streets and to reach our final destination; I decided eventually to open my mouth to ask him something.

“Maybe I should tell you what we know about deviants?” 

“You just read my mind.” The Lieutenant answered, looking ahead of him.

I nodded firmly, even if the action wasn’t visible to the driver himself, who was too busy driving to stare at my expressions, “We believe that a mutation occurs in the software of some androids, which can lead, to them, emulating a human emotion—”

“Wow wow! slow the fuck down.” The Lieutenant said that, even if he himself, was speeding up his own car to pass a vehicle next to him only because the owner was going too slow.

I paused, and rephrase my words to him, in a simpler but curt way. “They don’t really feel emotion, they just get overwhelmed by irrational instructions, which can lead to unpredictable behavior.”

He huffed as he stared at me through the mirror’s reflection. “I can relate. Emotions always screw everything up.” Cellbit replied and chuckled to himself.

“Maybe androids aren’t that different from us as we thought...” He said in a soft voice, trailing off, and staying silent.

His response made something bloom inside me, curiosity perhaps, about him— everything honestly. 

Why was he like that? Was there a specific reason for that? 

Why did such a workaholic but loved Lieutenant like him in the past, that was young and smart enough to become someone appraised in his whole generation, and with a good future ahead of him— managed to become a fed up man that wandered through kid arcades, with no regard for his well-being, and with a lot of disciplinary warnings in the present? 

I needed to know so badly, so I impulsively decided to act without thinking it logically in my head first. “Can I…ask a personal question, Lieutenant?.”

I didn’t verbally receive an answer from Cellbit, his hands focused on the steering wheel at the moment, but given he didn’t outright say no to me, I proceeded.

“Why do you hate androids so much?” I bluntly asked him, not faking subtlety, from what could probably be a touchy subject for him.

I regretted not being more subtle about it later, when the Lieutenant gripped his steering wheel stronger, and stronger; until the leather began to wrinkle rather harshly under his deathly grip, which was pressed by the pure force he had in his hand.

"...I have my reasons." He said in a deep voice, carrying pain and bitterness all in one single sentence. I took notice of his face through his reflection, a slight cold tinge, that exerted raw sadness and pure grief on his blue eyes. 

‘That’s…’ I trailed off as I thought, not knowing what to say as I looked at his downcast face. 

Somehow, seeing this kind of expression, made me concerned at how that sort of look didn’t suit his facial features at all. 

Anger may not be a happy expression either, but it was something far more familiar to me, something that I was so used to seeing, and had permeated into my mind after all of our meetings.

In a way…I didn’t want to fully acknowledge his emotions either, because I knew that he didn’t want to let them be known in the first place; so I didn’t. It was better this way, after all, we weren’t—truly close as of yet for me to soothe him or anything. 

My comfort will amount to nothing in the end, considering no one actually thought that anything coming from an android was entirely genuine, and nothing else but a blatant lie.

Cellbit wasn’t receptive to any approaches after that. And all in all, this time, it was actually fair. 

I kept my mouth shut after a while, letting the silence win over the car, and also, trying not to think of a way of making him be anything but sad, for the rest of the night at least. 

I took a peek at Cellbit’s tall silhouette with my gaze and traced gently with my eyes his entire body with the shadows that managed to envelop him by the moon that shone brightly upon him. 

He was illuminated so brightly, and yet, his face was the incarnation of someone who has already lost the will to live a long time ago.

I didn’t find anything on his features that could make him forget, so I gave up trying.

The day didn’t end on a happy note after all, and my mission was far from over either. With no witnesses, no clues of the deviant, and most of all— my unsuccessful attempts at befriending Cellbit by miserably failing for the second time in a row; it was indeed, the true indication of a very bad day.

It seems that I haven’t been able to give Cellbit a single good day under my presence yet. I only hoped I wasn’t the cause of his newfound bad luck.

“We’ve got officers sweeping the neighborhood, in case anybody saw anything.” Pac said on the other line of the Lieutenant’s phone, in the background of the call I could hear other officers chatting amongst themselves.

“Okay, that’s all for now, thank you Pac. Let me know if they turn anything up.” Cellbit hangs up, and with nothing else to say, he sighs into the nothingness of his car.

The police never took a day to rest, so the following day, we immediately went into the Lieutenant’s car, when in the evening—there was a sudden report coming into the station of a possible witness of the missing android. 

This time the witness had actual valuable information, so the Lieutenant asked for more officers to look out for any disturbances around the building.

The owner of the deviant was obviously mad about this sudden development when it first disappeared. When he came to the station that day, he was fuming from his ears, his face red as he yelled all over the place, demanding to file a report on the android. 

According to him: the deviant took away his child, against his own will in a fit of rage, oddly rebelling and charging against him; so that’s why I became intrigued in this case. 

It has been really troublesome to catch this specific deviant for the past few days. I was surprised, since its original design was only to provide cleaning services. What causes it’s deviancy was still a true mystery.

I had a feeling that the android could have some clues on the case. This might be a good opportunity, since not many androids could be discovered once they had deviated; since the chips that are able to locate them, deactivate completely and are useless after they became deviants.

If I could find it before it got further away from the city, then, I may have more evidence to back up my current theory on deviancy. 

It wasn’t anything concrete yet, but I was starting to make a mental map on my system; one that connected the dots of every sort of case and every single model. I was actively looking for the odd number that might get me closer to the beginning of the original problem.

We entered the building when we got out of the car, Cellbit was in front and I followed him from behind. Just as we stepped inside the elevator a calm background music greeted us, the noise was relaxing enough that it managed to deter us a little bit from our current objective.

Since the building had a lot of apartments, it would take a while for us to arrive at the top floor; so all we could do is to await as the silence washed over us.

“So, do you really know everything there is to know about me?” Cellbit asked out of nowhere into the silent elevator. Maybe not completely silent after all, if you took into account the cheerful background music.

I was naturally a little taken aback, since he unexpectedly was the one who broke the silence. I looked into his eyes, hesitating for a few seconds, and ultimately, decided to be truthful with him. 

“Maybe.” I answered back, but Cellbit narrowed his eyes deeper. 

I could see how his eyelashes were noticeably much longer this way, as it strangely accentuated his blue eyes. “Explain.” 

I was trying to avoid this type of conversation, since the Lieutenant wasn’t someone who liked to be poked at with a stick. If someone was prodding into his mind like a piñata, he would most definitely bite their hand off in retaliation; but I guess it can’t be helped after all— considering he was the one who asked me to share my opinion.

I shifted my weight on the elevator floor, and decided to put my coin away into my right pocket; closing my eyes while digging into his information file, “I know you graduated top of your class, you made a name for yourself in several cases despite your age, and also, became the youngest Lieutenant in Quesadilla City.”

I crossed my arms, then opened my eyes, as I now talked without looking away from the Lieutenant. 

“—Besides spending your time on arcades and getting disciplinary warnings in recent years…that’s all I can say about you for the moment.”

It was silent for a second, and then a whole minute, and later— two which stretched far too long in the small elevator we occupied. I wondered when he would answer me already. 

As my eyes roamed at his tall accentuated body, I stared at his knitted brows that were looking into the closed doors right in front of him. 

The Lieutenant wasn’t someone physically active, but he still managed to have a rather nice figure, something that may be cataloged to others as conventionally attractive . 

I didn’t know anything about beauty standards among humans, but I would probably agree— if I could understand the general appeal to it.

He eventually spoked at last, still looking ahead of him, and avoiding eye contact, “So, what’s your conclusion then?”

I looked upwards into the ceiling, in thought, and then I nodded to myself. “I think working with an officer with personal issues is an added challenge, sure, but adapting to human unpredictability—is one of my best features.” Before I could help it, my mouth shaped into a grin, and I decided to throw a playful wink at Cellbit two times in a row; if only for the sake of being friendlier. 

The day before, I searched on my system for ways to get closer to the Lieutenant. At first the information wasn’t very useful to deal with someone like Cellbit, but later on; I found that playful banter was usually included in a lot of healthy good relationships among colleagues. 

Besides, Cellbit’s creative use of words won't be a problem to keep up with this type of banter, at least, I could hope he didn’t react too badly. 

If this didn’t work, then, I didn’t know what else could. 

However—

“Did you just… wink at me?” Cellbit was so baffled, that he fully gaped at me. His blue eyes, that were a little more open than normal, managed to make me smile; if only a little bit. 

His usual harsh snide comments died at his throat by my uncharacteristically human-like retort at him; his gaze was becoming more bright under the elevator lighting at every passing second.

“Did you somehow dislike it, Lieutenant?” I said in a teasing tone, and leaned forward as much as I could get away with in front of him; an arched brow matching my grin to further provoke him. 

Cellbit’s cheeks turned bright red and he scowled at me weakly. He swatted my face to get me to back down. “If you keep being a flirt at work, I’ll seriously hit you, full force, no remorse at all. I’m not joking.” He said with his eyebrows furrowed that did not match the color of his flushed face.

I smirked at his response, and stepped back and feigned a tactical retreat with my hands in the air. “I don’t really mind being hit up by you though—“ Cellbit’s flushed face spreads towards his ears now, as he glares harder, like he was trying to melt me into the floor, so I changed my response to, “—but got it.”  

Cellbit heaved a long sigh as he looked down, shaking his head sideways. “Where did you even learn all these words from?” He murmured unintelligible on his own palm.

I didn’t mind acting more casual if it meant getting into the Lieutenant’s good side, in fact, I could see his face warm up gradually and settle into a small smile as we both kept listening to the music elevator, waiting for the intended floor.

I was finally getting somewhere with him, this time for real; being on friendly terms and all, meant a farewell to the deep frowns, along with the insults thrown at me left and right, these of course, were usually followed by a colorful middle finger cast in front of my face— but, not anymore though. 

I was grateful for the change of attitude that I almost found myself trying to pat my own shoulder in victory.

Hopefully we could both find what we were looking for, and arrest the deviant; but I didn’t have any doubts about it, since I trusted Cellbit. I knew we would definitely capture the android today, because he was starting to trust me back and cooperate with me. 

Never mind the sunny day, this was as good an omen as I would get today.

The elevator closed behind us smoothly as soon as we stepped forward. We both walked along shoulder to shoulder the rest of the way.

“What do we know about the android?” Cellbit asked from my right side.

“Well, besides the information we already know. Not much, just that a neighbor reported that he heard strange noises coming from this floor.”

My eyes traveled downwards, to the floor, as I noticed a few drops of blood that definitely weren't tinted red. “Nobody’s supposed to be living here, but the neighbor said he saw a woman hiding a LED under her cap, and a little kid entering alongside her too.”

As we got closer to the door we both fell in silence, as to not alert anyone of our presence.

I was about to knock on the door, but first, I decided to look at Cellbit to get his permission. He firmly nodded as if to say ‘go ahead’ to me without speaking, and I nodded back with the same finality to proceed with his instructions.

When the first knock didn’t cause a reaction on the other side; I knocked again. No response. Again. Nothing. Again.

By the fifth knock I decided to retreat my hand to see Cellbit instead. I tilted my head to him in question, and he only shrugged as his response, probably wanting me to keep knocking again. 

“Anybody home?” I announced.

The wind from the window at the end of the floor, was the only source of sound that had originated in the hallway since they arrived, beside their own voices.

“Open up! Quesadilla Police!” I shouted as my fists made contact with the door, knocking in quick succession for an entire minute.

They fell silent when they heard a loud thud on the other side of the door— noisy footsteps resounding as they became clearer, and then, nothing at all. A clash , with an object falling into the floor perhaps; and then, a muffled cry, coming from a high pitched voice that was being silent by another person.

“Stay behind me.” The Lieutenant indicated— no, commanded , while nudging me silently for me to scramble out of his sight, and get behind his tall form to protect my own figure.

When I was out of the way, the Lieutenant brings out his jacket, a gun , and aims it at the door that is located in front of them. He had one eye closed, and the other was narrowed— but still, opened, as he fixed his attention to the door vigilantly.

The Lieutenant raises his left foot into the air, and then gathers all of his force to kick open the door in a swift motion that manages to break it down apart.

“What the fu—“ Cellbit screams before sharply clamping a hand on his mouth, silently despairing on the inside, when he realized that his shoes had managed to squash and make impact with something squishy but crunchy, for him; this was far more menacing than a deviant. 

A cockroach the size of a Hershey bar, was lying dead on the Lieutenant’s foot, in a disgusting way, since the rest of his body was cut in half by the unforeseen pair of shoes. 

The apartment was far from habitable, the conditions were deplorable to say the least. I highly doubted that a normal person could endure this type of filthy mess that surrounded the apartment as a whole.

A lot of cockroaches were nibbling some rotten apples as they twitched slightly, on the other side, some were scramming away as soon as the loud noise of the door was heard.

Everywhere I looked, there was not a single spot that could be considered clean or free of insects and dust.

There was nothing on sight apart from that—not even an android. 

The apartment was very small, so it would be tricky to get them to get out of their hiding place. 

They must be here in the same room we were both standing in, I just needed to spot from wherever they were, and find the evidence I needed and get out of here with another deviant behind bars.

“This place is disgusting.” The Lieutenant said as a grimace took over his entire face. He looked like at any moment, bile could rise from his throat, and puke his guts on what was left of the carpet. 

We should probably investigate the apartment now; before more cockroaches roam around and mess with the rest of the evidence—along with the rest of Cellbit’s thin patience. If we waited any longer, maybe we won’t be able to locate the android.

I got closer to the Lieutenant and suddenly grabbed his shoulders, and then started rubbing them gently in what I hoped came off as comfort. “We need to find the cause of the loud noise.” I said.

Cellbit’s face was slightly green, but he nodded regardless of this, and managed to answer me. “Yeah, no shit.”

Chapter Text

Every step I took in the apartment, some cockroaches rushed as they scattered in fright—fearing being squashed by my foot as I passed by, and retreating out of my sight when I advanced into the bathroom.

I’ve walked towards certain areas to investigate, but at this point, it will take a while to thoroughly search every corner of the apartment. It was necessary to be as detailed as possible for information, even if I wanted to go into action immediately.

The search for the android was more time consuming than I expected; but considering we didn’t have any clue at the moment to go by, besides from the tip we received at the station, we had to examine everything very carefully. Or else—we’ll let our only clue get away from our grasp. 

The apartment was an evidence of itself, and so, I was sure we would find out where the android was hiding in no time. But, something told me it wouldn’t be so easy to do that, androids were tricky—especially deviants.

I still had to be wary of the place after all. We didn’t know what we'd find while looking. 

But, either way, the Lieutenant’s help was a good backup plan if things went wrong.

I left Cellbit at the main entrance, so that he could regain his bearings, and maybe allow him some privacy while he vomited the remaining of the hamburger he ate in the morning. And while he recovered the sanity he lost by the sight of the cockroaches, I started to focus on searching for every piece of valuable evidence in everything I set my eyes on.

When I entered the bathroom, I didn’t expect to find anything of importance. Until my processor caught something; tucked very carefully under the trashcan. I approached it with a renewed determination. 

The thing I was searching for was behind some old magazines that were also thrown away, along with some Chinese food and even more unhealthy food from other uninteresting places. I didn't care enough to analyze them completely. 

Those weren’t the things my eyes were zooming in anyways. 

I reached out to grab the object, and I was right. It was an LED; and no, I double checked. It wasn’t an object that replicated the look of one. It was actually a real one.

Although it was not functional anymore, due to being removed forcefully, I would still be able to search for its properties, and quickly locate the identification of the original model.

I took the sample, and searched for additional data, with a simple blink of my eyes. To no one’s surprise, it was indeed, a LED. It was deactivated yesterday, at 11:36 pm. 

That…wasn’t long ago. Our timing was actually correct for the first time, and we weren’t far behind as we originally thought. And in fact, if my calculations were pointing us in the right direction, then—

“It’s LED is in the bathroom!” I called out loudly, expecting the Lieutenant to hear me from the other side of the room. Hopefully, he wasn’t still too out of it, to be able to help me out. 

It would be a hassle to carry his unconscious body through the elevator. I would like to avoid that, preferably. Maybe I can kick him lightly to wake him up, if the situation comes to that.

As I waited for the Lieutenant to arrive, I examined what else was inside the trash can. Which was a good thing to do, considering I found something else inside it. 

Not taking into account the food, that’s for sure.

Since I kneeled to verify more clearly, I didn’t have to rely on my processor for me to identify things as they were, and could just go by merely logic. Something, obviously, my data was able to do without necessarily scanning the contents. 

The thing that I was currently grasping, turned out to be an old bandage. And it unexpectedly had blue blood smeared all over it. 

It was messy, and whoever tried to apply the bandage to the android, plainly lacked medical skills to go along with it. Therefore, they ended up disposing of it, and at the end; falling right into my hands.

The LED from before did give me a model of a familiar android, but, just to clarify…

I touched the bandage with my finger, and then, brought it to my tongue, to lick the semi-dry blood that still lingered in the gauze. To analyze the components of the blue blood, and to see if the evidence aligned with the found LED, and with the model I had registered.

It wasn’t even 10 seconds later that a satisfied smirk cracked in my lips. The model is from the same missing android we are actually looking for. It pleased me immensely, to be able to have a proper lead finally. 

The android definitely was previously here. I was curious as to why they didn’t bother to clean their tracks, since it was so obvious.

“Show me what you found.” Cellbit demanded behind me, no longer pale apparently as I turned around to meet his blue eyes; and regaining once again, his authority as a Lieutenant, with the fierce look on his stare. 

He sure did not waste any time in bossing me around, as he left behind his fear of insects in favor of concentrating on the mission. I was thankful for that, since it wouldn’t have looked good on me to carry an unconscious body in an equally suspicious abandoned apartment.

I heard him coming in from the light sounds of his footsteps before, but I was just waiting for him to start the conversation on his own, since I was too busy gathering data. 

However, it was good that he was here too, so I could share the bits of information I’ve just found.

“Basically, since I’ve found the LED in the trash can, we can properly label the whole apartment as evidence, from now on.” I briefly explained, based on everything I have examined so far, without wasting time in the details.

The Lieutenant nodded, but then looked behind me. As his eyes started tracing the things lying on the floor, I became aware of the wreck I caused in the trash can. 

Due to my intense search, I didn’t realize I made an entire mess of the empty packages of food and garbage. 

He clicked his tongue, as he gestured to the floor with a look of disapproval, or maybe even disgust, as if to say ‘What is this?’

It was to be expected from him, since the Lieutenant was a bit of a clean freak after all. “You’re cleaning that, I don’t want to attract more cockroaches.” 

I nodded solemnly, since I didn’t mind doing all that, but. “I’ll do it after I’ve finished collecting the evidence, if you don’t mind.” 

However, I couldn’t waste my time cleaning the evidence. It was best to leave it that way for now, it wouldn’t hurt anyone. 

The Lieutenant did mind, if his look was anything to go by; but he didn’t press the matter any further, thankfully. He kept giving me a nasty look though, hopefully he got over it.

When I standed up and turned around to leave the area with the Lieutenant, to my surprise, something else which wasn’t the trash can for once, managed to pull my eyes once again into the bathroom. 

It was the wall. I didn’t touch it, but I did get closer to it to analyze it.

I noticed that the bathroom wall was scratched all over with crayons,  doodles, and basically scratches that damaged the entirety of it;  disregarding everything that was over the previous painting. 

To say I was impressed by the sight, would be correct. Not a single white space was spared or went to waste to the artist who did it.

Cellbit looked back at me, and sighed, shaking his head. As if sensing my reluctance to leave, and also catching the same wall I was so busy staring in a trance.

The Lieutenant took a step back to stand alongside me, and looked at the wall as he tilted his head in question; just like I did too. 

We were both very puzzled, and had the right to be.

Back in the convenience store where the divergent killed the owner, I found out later on, only thanks to the forensic team, that there were unknown marks hiding behind the counter. The scratches in there were made by every type of pen, crayons, sharpies; basically every product that was available in the store that could leave a permanent mark. 

All of the counters contained a sort of odd sign over and over again. 

So, what stood out to me now, wasn’t the fact that this was what a little kid would draw in their typical day lifestyle; but that at the top of all of the messy scratching, was a symbol that I heard before being said by a familiar deviant I interrogated.

The same call sign that, coincidentally, plagued the majority of the wall in here too.

“R89.” The Lieutenant said out loud what I thought.

It was written two-thousand four-hundred and seventy-one, in total.

The white tiles at the bottom of the floor were dragged into the colorful mess too, and the ceiling was the only place where it didn’t reach its disastrous havoc. Was it deliberate? Seeing the number of scratches, I’m surprised the whole bathroom was still half-intact. 

Or, they didn’t have the time to complete it. That was also a possibility. I didn’t want to imagine how this unfinished artwork was in the process yet.

There were drawings beside the sign call, but they were few in numbers compared to the monstrosity of the r89 scratches, and they were placed at the bottom.

Some of the drawings, could be found in the bad-colored-eyes of a teddy gray bear, on a pink beach that contained blue sand, in the cockroach with a mustache and a hat, and lastly; in the drawing of a woman and a child holding hands in the sunset of a farmhouse.

The woman in the drawing was an android. How can I know this fact? That wasn’t too difficult to figure out. 

Even if the lines weren’t completely comprehensive for a functional adult, given the lack of imagination to create a rainbow in a square; it was still simple to understand. 

The drawing was very detailed, or as much as a kid could be detailed. A blue dot that represented the LED was drawn, along her CyberLife clothes, and a fancy neated black hair resembling the missing JD400 model.

Could a single kid truly draw in the expansion of half the wall, for about two-thousand four-hundred and seventy-one times? It’s plausible, but not definite yet.

But, it’s believable enough to think this is correct. Only considering the way in which these drawings were only realized at the height of 54 inches; the way in which a kid his age should only be able to reach given his stature. If he were to stand on his tiptoes, it still wouldn’t change the fact.

However, that wasn’t the center of my concerns.

In the report they received in the police station, the father of the missing child said his kid was kidnapped without mercy and no consideration for his well being. 

The father didn’t follow up with the report after that. 

However, would a kid really draw himself alongside the model of a household android who captured him, while holding hands, if they were dragged into the corners of a dirt apartment, against his own wishes?

If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought the kid drew his mother in an expression of his own love for her. Like any child would do in the form of a barely understable family portrait.

I pointed out some drawings that were clearly drawn by the hands of a child at the corner of the wall, and returned my stare to the Lieutenant who was already watching me, “What do you think it means?” 

The Lieutenant gets closer too, but doesn’t dare to touch the evidence. He only crosses his arms in thought, as his eyes pierce the evidence. 

“Well, looks like Picasso over here, was no other than the missing kid himself.” The Lieutenant replies with no more than obvious sarcasm.

As I thought, it couldn’t be anything other than that. I become more pensive, and openly continue to stare at the front. 

Still…

“Do you really think so?” I said, doubtful, while holding my chin. 

“Well…I highly doubt it is a mere coincidence that another kid, who isn’t the one we’re looking for, was trapped in here for so long—“  He gave an eye roll here, “—that it occurred to him, that he had the time to draw a cutesy art wall, all while he was reluctantly apprehended.”

When Cellbit stopped talking, however, he furrowed his eyebrows, and stared at me. Now doubting as well, of the final conclusion he conjured up in his head. “…Maybe you’re right. It’s impossible for a child to draw the whole wall by themselves in the span of a week.”

Roier shook his head. “No…you’re right.”

The android didn’t write anything on the wall, because there were fingerprints everywhere, indicating it was none other than a human to be the possible culprit. An android didn’t have any fingerprints, so it was automatically discarded. 

I nodded to myself, continuing to explain my thoughts. “However, I still find it hard to believe, even if the evidence aligns.”

This was…up to debate. I wasn’t too sure if a kid would run away compliantly with a deviant android. And on top of that, could be capable of writing to this high level of speed, taking into account the normal capacity of how a kid could write. 

The Lieutenant shakes his head, and gives me a look. “Well, forget about that, we still haven’t checked the whole apartment yet.” He turned away from me, and walked through the doorway; going back to the dreaded hallway full of cockroaches.

I decided to take his advice, and concentrate on the rest of the apartment for the time being. 

There wasn’t anything else on the wall that could be analyzed either way, so I moved on with the Lieutenant into the direction of the living room.

Without talking, Cellbit silently took the left to investigate and I took the right. The apartment was small, but it was still spacious enough to have 2 bedrooms, a functional kitchen, and a not-so-tidy bathroom; not actually including the living room as a room. 

Actually, there wasn't any furniture in the living room, so it was honestly just an open space, technically speaking besides the small library.

Without further due, I  went to the small kitchen of the apartment to see what I could find. 

As I arrived, my eyes went to the table; and at the top of the counter was a red backpack. It's small, and unexpectedly neat considering the living conditions the backpack found itself in. 

When I got close, I opened the backpack without hesitation, and carefully; inspecting to find out what was inside.

I didn’t find anything interesting, only the typical stuff kids would usually collect on their small inventory. Like candies, bags of chips, a lot of notebooks and stickers.

When I inspected the front side of the backpack I didn’t find anything else, but when I turned into the back, I found something written in black sharpie and bold letters. The words 'Bobby 'at the top, and a smiley face drawn next to it.

“Bobby…probably a name.” I murmur to myself, keeping that name in mind.

Although, I don’t recall that being the real name of the missing kid. Is it a nickname given by his father? Or…by the android?

The Lieutenant walked to the kitchen and noticed I was inspecting a new piece of evidence, so he wordlessly entered and positioned himself to my side.

I looked at him out of the corner of my eye when I was done analyzing the backpack, and turned fully to him, to give the Lieutenant the evidence, for him to see what I was previously watching.

He frowned first at the sight, and then huffed, as he turned around the backpack. “Who puts his name on a fucking backpack? That’s something your mom does when you’re in first grade.”

“You’re mistaken Lieutenant. I think this kid is in fourth grade, according to his age in the system data.”

Cellbit looked at me with a deadpan expression. “Do you know when a joke is being told? Or are you just that dense?”

I tilted my head in question. “No. Was that a joke you just told?”

He scowled and brushed me off roughly, walking past me to the other side of the kitchen. “Forget it. You’re plain stupid for an android.” 

I frowned in confusion, not understanding why he got mad at me, but ultimately dropping it as I carried on with the investigation. In the same kitchen, I found a letter stuck at the top of the fridge with a dusty butterfly magnet. I didn’t hesitate to grab it.

My eyes read the contents of the letter carefully, as I grip the paper lightly so as to not crumble it. 

“You’re awesome! The coolest! 

I like your yummy cupcakes, but I also like you too!

Can you bake me more? Thanks.

When we get the tickets into the train, I’ll make you a mud pie for your birthday, and you’ll bake me a cake in return!

Happy Mothers Day!”

(Pd: When can we go to the beach? I wanna ride a shark! And maybe eat some crabs…)

The letter wasn’t signed, but I was sure it was addressed to the android. The kid actually considered the deviant a mother? That would explain things, as to why the kid didn’t struggle more at his kidnapper.

Because the kid didn’t consider the android a kidnapper— he honestly sees her as his real family. 

If their relationship developed before, or after the deviancy, I can’t tell. But I’ll have Cellbit also take a look and give me his opinion on the matter, although I don’t think I need a second opinion to form a conclusion; it’s clear the kid wanted to run away with the android, and it was planned from the beginning.

I’ll have to interrogate the father of the kid about this, since his testimony isn’t matching with the kid’s beliefs of the deviant. 

Was the father lying? Or did the deviant brainwash the kid then? The latter was more likely to be the case. It would elaborate as to why he was so compliant with the kidnapping and show signs of attachment towards ‘her’. 

Children could be easily persuaded, especially orphans, before a misleading, but intelligent, deviant of CyberLife. Although, the only thing I didn’t understand was the sixth paragraph. What did he mean by getting a ticket into the train?

“Roier! Get in here.” The Lieutenant yelled a little bit urgently, shaking me from my own thoughts.

I decided to leave the kitchen, since the letter was all I needed, to hurry up already and find the deviant into the walls of this apartment. Besides, after hearing the tone in Cellbit’s voice, I let my feet take the lead to where his voice was coming from out of curiosity. 

But as I walked, I suddenly felt something making a noise on the floor underneath my pristine black shoes. I looked down and noticed that it was a crayon.

I allowed my eyes to linger, narrowing my gaze for a second, but then proceeded to continue to look into the front with a nonchalant look, as I stepped down and crushed the crayon into a half.

Cellbit had an impatient look when he regarded me in the living room, his slouched stance from before, was now bordering more into a straight line on his spine. 

I decided to check his stress levels on my processor, and they weren’t high enough to be concerning yet. Still, something was off about him. What is it that he found that made him look like that? Kind of…ecstatic in a way?

Since I have never seen him more energetic while tapping his feet impatiently on the floor, studying the paper with enthusiasm, and somehow, being able to still, exchange small stares when I finally got close to his side. It was a new experience to me, seeing this part of him.

“Look at this shit.” He grins and gestures to the paper on his hold, which now being in front of the evidence, makes me think it appears to be a sort of puzzle. 

I cocked an eyebrow, not finding any sense on the single sheet. “What’s wrong with it?” 

He shakes his head and laughs. I almost flinched by the sound, taking me by surprise coming from someone as deadpanned as him.  “It looks like a damn maze, take a closer look.” 

And it’s true, it does have a maze-like form, but more than that…the curves and lines are so symmetrical, that makes me wonder if this message was single handedly made by the JD400 model. 

Or was it made by an external source?

They don’t have the time to pull together and investigate the entirety of the maze though, and whatever hidden message it reveals. 

“Where did you find the note, Lieutenant?”

He signaled the library at his right, and shrugged his shoulders. “It was the only book containing something strange, although the contents inside the book weren’t anything special.”

In other words, the book was only to hide the letter.

“Don't worry, I’m willing to take an all-nighter to crack this bitch back at home.” Cellbit responded at my own questioning stare with an eye roll.

The maze, and the book, and basically everything that held something of value to the case will be taken into the precinct. 

So, Cellbit volunteering to know what lies hidden in the layers of secrecy in the white puzzle; is only shown out of interest of his hidden hobbies that are known to him and him only.

“But I can—“ His glare made me stop from speaking.

“No offense, Roier, but not even your android ass can keep up with me in the puzzle department.”

I blinked at him and tilted my head. 

Was he that good that he didn’t doubt for a second, that he could take easily an android like me? Beating me against my own advanced program?

“Fine.” Cellbit scoffs at me, “You can help me, if you figure something out from here in the next couple of seconds.” He says offhandedly, checking his phone as he handed me over the evidence.

I grab it from his hands, and bring the paper closer for my eyes to analyze it through my processor. It couldn’t be hard to pinpoint a sort of clue in here.

However, the more I tried to track a solution, and be able to find some sort of pattern behind the numerous lines in the sheet—I came up empty. 

There wasn’t anything that I could go off by simply looking at an unknown language, or rather, a complicated problem in the form of a strange symbol.

Can it be a secret code that means something important to deviants? Maybe by uncovering the maze, it reveals the contents of it?—

Well, even by arriving at that logical conclusion, that doesn’t tell me anything about the maze. 

“No dice?” The Lieutenant asks behind my shoulder. I shake my head slowly, still unsure about the meaning. 

He grins at my response, and looks completely smug about it, as if he was expecting it. “As I thought.” The Lieutenant grabs the sheet from my hands, or rather, forcefully takes it away from me. 

I keep my eyes on the paper, and then look back at Cellbit’s eyes. “You were right, it was hard to tell what the message was.” I heard a condescending chuckle, but I didn’t comment on it. 

After a beat, I continued, “However…it seems you’re more of an expert in regard to this, isn’t it? That’s admirable.” I said with nothing but a simple smile, and the cocky grin plastered on his face suddenly freezes at that. 

My feet shuffle slightly to get closer, and my shoulders bump into his; in an effort to praise him. “So, if you wish, I’ll leave it to you.” I concluded by adding a final wink.

Cellbit’s cheeks dust red across his features, and he knocked my shoulder in an instant, different from me, doing it in a not-so-friendly passive aggressive manner. Most likely attempting to get me to back away.

“Wasn't planning to work with you anyways.” The Lieutenant grumbled with his nose scrunched up in disgust.

I chuckled a little bit but then, my processor reminded me of his words from before, and I decided to change the tone of the conversation to a more serious one. “Either way, can you tell me what you’ve gathered from the paper, then?”

The Lieutenant’s eyes unexpectedly get more severe, and he locks his stare with mine.

As if he understands now, that the place we’re currently standing and arguing is not the precinct, and instead, it’s the apartment of a kid and a runaway deviant.

He sighs and gives me space to take a look at the paper again. “At first I didn’t find any clue in the sheet, so I was planning to discard it but…”

His index finger slowly traces the lines of the maze, and he stops in the middle of the center of the sheet. “This isn’t a simple maze.” 

Cellbit gives me a glance at the corner of his eye, as if making sure I was looking, and says in a grave voice. “This is a map.”

My own eyebrows furrowed at him. “I can see why it could be possible… but there’s no way for us to discover that possibility in a short period of time.”

“You’re not understanding, these aren’t fucking random scribbles.” He shot down my response with a bark, and shakes his head clearly exasperated. “They’re coordinates that conduct to a place!”

My eyebrows go up in surprise at the sudden realization. 

By the way the maze is drawn like a constructed and complex pattern, you can already tell there’s something hidden at plain sight. Cellbit figured out first, that inside the lines he just now traced with his finger, are tiny numbers, which are hard to see if you’re not looking properly.

The numbers have to be decoded in order to inspect the contents of the map.

Was this the reason Cucurucho wanted Cellbit by my side? To be able to solve problems not even an advanced model like me can do?

If so; it would explain his interest towards the Lieutenant.

“A map with coordinates…” I put my hand on my chin pensively, “The deviant is definitely planning to go to that place where the map leads.”

Cellbit nods, and tries to give me the paper-turned-map, but his eyes stay pinned on me— and strangely enough, so are his hands, as he grips harshly at my hand.

“You know this is like, a fucking URL code to androids, right?”

My eyes harden, as I realize quickly his assumption, and I shake off his strong grip from my hand to respond in a cold manner. “I'm not a deviant to be able to tell.” 

With the map safely secured on my hands I sigh with relief, as I don’t happen to notice any wrinkle on the evidence. 

Once I checked the map’s state, I glanced at his frowning face again. “And I’m also not your average android, Lieutenant.” I said firmly.

The Lieutenant narrows his eyes, as if distrusting me, but I decide to ignore it completely and turn my back to him to put an end to the weird atmosphere. “We should continue where we left off, before it gets late.”

He didn’t even bother to answer me, as he grabbed the book he found in the library, and walked away to another corner. 

I search into my pocket to glance at the coin I always use to play with, and reflect on the situation with Cellbit’s trust issues.

To be honest, I thought we’ve advanced and become more trusting toward each other; but it seems that’s not the case. The Lieutenant has severe tendencies to distrust everyone around him, which clearly, may overlap with our relationship if he doesn’t rely on me more as his partner.

I put the coin back to its place, and take my hand out of my pocket. 

It’s troubling me in many aspects, but I can’t do anything about it if he doesn’t open up. So, I’ll have to be more careful of his actions and emotions—in the case this also manages to affect the mission.

When I advance, my eyes get distracted with another object; a crayon, same model but different color this time. 

Obviously the belonging is from the same person, so I didn’t pick it up this time, choosing to follow the path towards a closet next to the door.

“Fuck…!” 

I turn around and see that the Lieutenant almost tripped as he walked on the floor, and cussed, catching himself before he could fall. 

“What is this doing here in the middle of the room!?” He yells exasperated at the foreign object, wanting to kick it but knowing he can’t take out his own anger out into the evidence.

My eyes flew over to the same object, my system recognized it as a knocked over wooden stool, when I finished fixiating in every material that was made of.

When Cellbit regained his balance, he was slightly glaring at the wooden stool with a burning passion, as if finding another thing to hate about besides androids.

Next to the wooden stool, I noticed there was a chair angled to a small sofa. Which made me more hyper aware all of a sudden; knowing it wasn't a coincidence where the placement was.

As Cellbit rounds around the evidence, I came up with the missing piece of a puzzle. The processor in my head coming up with a theory since I have managed to reconstruct every piece of evidence as of yet. 

Including the map that we have yet to decipher. 

In the Lieutenant’s mind, to him, time is starting to run out, and the day getting closer and closer that’ll put an end to the sunset reflecting on the apartment’s small window; and letting in the doubts that creep inside his head come alive into the night.

I don’t know if those are his really truthful thoughts, but I know it’s something pretty close, coming from his negative perspective in life from his own eyes.

He has already given up on finding the JD400 by now, only interested in solving the map on my hand.

That isn’t the case for me; my mind is at peace, and an ease surrounds my shoulders as I look at the full apartment from where I stand.

There isn’t any doubt that we won’t capture it, that’s why I’m so calm. Because I can already tell where it’s hiding as of right now—along with the kid as well. 

Since having all the information extracted, I can properly reconstruct the events that have elapsed in the trashed bathroom, kitchen, and also, in the messy living room where all the cockroaches gather together.

Funnily enough, the deviant was able to hide his presence seamlessly— it was the kid’s trail that gave their location away in the first place. 

To summarize what happened in the apartment before we arrived: The suspect and the kid ran to the living room, since when we were at the other side of the door, we heard hurried footsteps trying to get away. Which leads me to believe the only places they could have gone to where the right direction of the apartment; away from the opposite direction of the bathroom and kitchen.

So, that’s why—

I picked up the object that was placed on the sofa, and traced it carefully with my fingers. The crayon was broken in a half at the edge of the furniture. If it wasn’t for this, they just might have gotten away with it and fool both the Lieutenant and me. 

The boy may have left a trace with his crayons, but well, it weren’t only his crayons that help me trace their steps.

As I see a cockroach approach my shoe to scale it, I crush it immediately without even hesitating. 

These insects were of help too. Yeah, these insects, like the ones Cellbit hate—are usually fond of things like crumbs, spills, and any food of residue. 

So, when I crouched down to inspect the floor further, I realized that this specific area where the crayon was, was completely filled with leftover food crumbs.

That meant the kid was the one who was fond of these filthy creatures, and purposely fed them. A strange behavior on his part, and the final thing that led me to believe they were still here in this apartment—specifically up to whatever the sofa led me there. 

The cockroaches weren’t in the bathroom, nor the kitchen; this was the only place they were going to.

They hid well, I’ll give them that; but it’s obvious that I won’t take pity in their situation and let them go. So, that’s why I decided it was time to reveal their hidden spot, since I was tired of playing the cat and mouse game with a deviant and the kid.

Without warning Cellbit, I went ahead and rushed to the chair angled by the small sofa. My shoes now were touching the furniture to give me a push and get up easier. I climbed it in, looking for a hidden entrance with my hands knocking everything on the white ceiling. 

As I touched the ceiling without an ounce of restriction or softness, as to try and find the way to open the attic, which of course, I knew existed given where the sofa was placed and logically thinking that was their only way to get up—the texture all of a sudden, felt different in my touch. 

I decided to give several soft hits into the area, to identify a possible door, and know if I was somehow mistaken in my theory.

However, my eyes widen when the ceiling opens up abruptly—giving me no time to get away or even acknowledge what was happening so fast, as the door spits from the air a screaming child in front of my face. 

“AHHHH!”

Everything happens in slow motion, as I try to protect myself from the impact and not hurt myself—when the child sees me, however, he doesn’t doubt a second in giving me the strongest kick a kid his age could muster up, all because to his panicked reaction. 

Which results in me falling off the couch and onto the ground; rolling a few meters back and sending me crashing with the wooden stool. Making the lenses of my sight feel shaken for less than a second.  

“What the fuck—?!” The Lieutenant now is the one doing the yelling, since when he tried to rush to get to my side quickly, out of nowhere, the divergent also bolted from the attic and fell close to the ground. 

Which though, even if it only managed to graze him by mere inches of his hair, it still caused him to inevitably fall on my left side as well; since it threw him off balance from the force of her fall.

The android quickly grabs the child’s hand and pulls him to the door without giving him time to respond to her actions. “Let’s go!” She commands and the kid nods as they bolt off quickly trough the hallway. 

I try to get up in a hurry after getting over my initial shock, but I see Cellbit approaching me all of a sudden, holding me by my hand to be able to lift me up in one swift motion. 

“Let’s chase them!” I agree silently with him by taking his hand and make the action easier on him.

The Lieutenant sets me free of his strong hold when I’m standing, and without wasting any more time, I lean my weight into my right foot to start speeding up towards the direction they went together.