Work Text:
In the city of Detroit, a car containing both an old man and a young android pulled up to an alleyway, rain beating on the windshield. These two men were named Lieutenant Hank Anderson and Connor, two respected detectives in the DPD.
As soon as the car parked and the engine was shut off, Connor opened the door of the car's passenger side and exited.
It was raining heavily, and Connor felt the atmosphere change as he left the warm air of the car and entered the wet downpour outside. As an android, he didn't care much. In fact, he actually liked the rain. It was a feeling, a sensation, but not an unpleasant one. His coat prevented his clothes from becoming too disorganized from the water, and Connor quite enjoyed the feeling of raindrops trailing down his face. He liked to imagine himself as a medium for the sky's tears to pass through.
Additionally, temperatures didn't bother him as much as it did humans, so that may be another reason why he liked the rain when so many humans seemed to despise it. He was aware of the health risks associated with rain, and that humans exposed to long periods of cold, wet conditions could possibly get sick by the weakening of the immune system. However, he'd never seen a human hate rain more than Lieutenant Anderson himself.
"Oh goddamn it! Connor, get the umbrellas!"
Upon seeing that the rain wasn't letting up, Hank had grown agitated, accepting he'd have to go out into it. The crime scene was outside, it wasn't in a house like Carlos Ortiz's body was. Because of this, they'd likely be spending most of the night enduring the deluge. On their way over, Hank had actually driven very responsibly. Not so he would refrain from breaking laws, or risking their lives on the wet roads, but because he wanted to delay their arrival in the hope that they'd buy enough time for the rain to cease.
It had been raining all day, and Connor had informed the Lieutenant that the likelihood of the few minutes wasted being enough to stop the rain was unlikely, but he was desperate. Unfortunately for him, it did not work. Connor didn't need preconstruction to predict what this night would turn into.
Connor headed to the trunk of the car and opened it, grabbing two umbrellas. While Connor didn't need an umbrella, and would honestly prefer to go without it, Hank insisted that Connor keep himself dry. Connor appreciated the sentiment, and had tried to explain that as an android, the rain didn't pose a risk of getting him sick in the past, but Hank was adamant. After a few similar incidents, Connor gave up on trying to reason with Hank. Connor handed Hank one of the umbrellas, both of them being the same basic black color, and he thanked him. Then, they headed to the alleyway that the body was discovered in.
When they stepped into the alley, the first thing Connor noticed was the unusual abundance of garbage laying around. It was not uncommon at all for an alley to be cluttered, but the amount was a bit higher than typical. The alley was wide enough for multiple people to stand inside of it comfortably, even with the umbrellas. There were three other people here. Detective Gavin Reed, and two other officers that Connor did not know.
"Aw, the plastic has his own little umbrella," Gavin mocked the moment they made eye contact. He turned his head to Hank, "You afraid he'll rust in the rain, like the tin can he is?"
Connor thought he could hear the Lieutenant's teeth grind together when Gavin spoke. They were off to a splendid start already. Connor may need to update the record on "the fastest Gavin Reed has been able to piss someone off."
"No, I just take care of my partners," Hank answered calmly, keeping an impressive control over his emotions. He then motioned towards Gavin's two buddies with his free hand, who were standing awkwardly without an umbrella. "Maybe you should take notes. It looks you need them." While Gavin had his own scarlet colored umbrella, the others present were drenched. It was a sad sight indeed.
"Eh, not my fault they came unprepared. It's been raining all damn day."
"I suggest we remain on topic, detectives," Connor reminded, nodding towards the wet corpse that rested among broken beer bottles and takeout containers. "Can you tell us what you have already discovered?"
"This shitty rain's washed any potential footprints away. The ground's concrete, so the only footprints would have been of blood or mud, which neither would have stood a chance," Gavin shook his head in annoyance. Connor did notice that Gavin appeared to be primarily addressing Hank though, despite being the one to ask the question. Just another insistence that Connor wasn't alive. "But we've identified the victim. A 46 year old man named Buddy Helick. Stupid name if you ask me," Gavin scoffed. "His neck appears to have been slit. I don't think it was a suicide based on the angle."
Despite his terrible attitude and less than pleasant personality, Connor must admit Detective Reed was an exceptional detective. It just sucked that he had to be so rude.
"Any idea how long the body's been up here?" Hank asked the detective. Before Gavin could answer, another voice spoke up.
One of the officers piped in, the female one, looking at Connor with hopeful eyes, "You're that android detective right? Can you see anything that we can't?"
Connor scanned the officer's face, identifying her as Officer Charlie Kiptin, before answering, "I can scan for a variety of substances and chemicals that are invisible to the human eye, if that is what you are asking."
The officer's face brightened. Connor could not blame them. He fully believed that having Gavin for company while being soaked in the rain for what may have been hours could make anyone eager to go home. The officer looked at Gavin, eyes pleading with him to allow Connor through. The other officer, whose name was Officer Logan White, did the same thing, even pressing his hands together in a praying motion. After the android revolution, android officers needed to have permission from the leading human on a case to gather evidence in order for it to be used. Connor couldn't do anything until Gavin, who was in charge of Buddy Helick's case, approved of it. In the distance, lightning flashed, followed by the sound of thunder a few seconds later.
Gavin, his discomfort in the rain overtaking his hatred for Connor, sighed before stepping aside to let Connor examine the body. As suspected, Connor's scans picked up Red Ice in the man's beard, the hair locking the small dust particles in place and preventing them from washing away. Drops of water fell from Connor's umbrella and landed on the man's face, casting the illusion of him crying. Fitting for a murder. Upon inspecting his hands though, Connor noticed traces of thirium embedded under the man's fingernails. Connor frowned, before looking around the scene with the scanner still activated. Even when thinned out and washed around because of the rain, Connor could still detect very faint traces of thirium spread across the scene.
Hank, noticing his expression change, asked, "What do you see, Connor?"
When Hank spoke, it brought the others to attention, and the three other people on site turned to Connor as well, anticipating his findings.
"The victim appears to have been high on Red Ice at the time of his death. There is residue in his facial hair," Connor reported, standing up from the crouched position he was previously in. "Thirium is also present under his fingernails and on the ground." A strong gust of wind threatened to rip the umbrella out of Connor's hand, so he tightened his grip. Hank would be unhappy if he not only got wet, but lost his umbrella in the process.
"You think an android killed him?" Officer White asked Kiptin, the two murmuring amongst themselves. They were present as a deterrent for curious citizens and possible threats, but were curious nonetheless.
"If they were fighting it would explain the thirium," Officer Kiptin responded, with no option but to speak loudly over the deafening pattering of the rain. In normal conditions, Connor believed they would be whispering, according to previous interactions he had observed among humans.
"Androids aren't known for attacking unprovoked. If the man's high, he may have threatened the android's life. It was likely self-defense," Hank reasoned. It was true. When Daniel had deviated on Connor's first mission, he'd killed his owner and held the daughter Emma hostage out of fear for being replaced and thrown out. The android of Carlos Ortiz had been physically assaulted after repetitive abuse and snapped. The Traci in the Eden Club had witnessed the client kill the other Traci, and knew she was next if he wasn't stopped.
As Hank and Gavin discussed the possibilities, Connor approached the body once more. Reaching down with two fingers, Connor pressed the man's torn neck where blood had accumulated, raised his bloodied fingers to his face. He gently brought his hand closer, before sticking the fingers into his mouth for his tongue to come into contact with. Ignoring the inevitable sample of rainwater that came with the blood, Connor analyzed the blood. The pop-up in this visuals suggested that the blood was roughly 6 hours old.
"What the fuck did you just do, tin can?" Gavin demanded, his voice carrying more horror than he'd heard from the man before, and Connor turned to see everybody looking at him. The officers looked mortified, staring at Connor with wide eyes. Their identical faces were comical. Both of their mouths were wide open, and they appeared to be struggling to find the words to speak. Gavin's expression was priceless, lips curled up and eyes creased squeamishly.
"Oh, Connor, you're so disgusting," Hank's nose wrinkled up. The man had witnessed Connor do this several times in the past, but he still expressed displeasure at seeing it. Connor wasn't ashamed when Hank complained though, he knew the words held no weight. No matter how many times Connor did it, Hank wasn't repulsed by Connor himself, and Connor was thankful.
Hank, thankfully, decided to explain the situation to the others for him, "Eh, don't worry about it. He can analyze the blood or whatever. Yeah, it's pretty gross, but you'll get used to it. I've seen him analyze worse." Gavin shook his head while muttering to himself, probably cursing the android's existence, eyes still trained on Connor's hand for a moment longer before turning away. The two officers calmed down, apparently much more accepting of this.
"Wouldn't be the first time I saw an android do something weird like that. Saw a housekeeping one taste the laundry detergent to determine the scent because her olfactories broke."
"As long as it's safe… I don't want the guy to shut down."
Hank pulled Gavin to the side to let Connor and the officers do whatever they wanted for the time being. This was probably about the most they'd get from the scene. He'd ask Connor for a reconstruction later if the weather didn't take a turn for the worse and chase them all out.
"So? What do you think happened?" Hank asked, curious for Gavin's speculation.
"Well, the victim's some Red Ice druggie, and they appeared to have been fighting an android before their death," Gavin recounted. "My guess is they were trying to destroy one of them in its haze to harvest its thirium for future use. They don't appear to have accounted for the possibility of it fighting back though. Maybe he was too high to remember the revolution and thought he was getting free blood," Gavin joked, before going serious again. "We have no leads on the killer, and it appears to be one of those self-defense situations. It'd probably get dismissed anyways."
"The murder weapon appears to have been a knife. This isn't like a gun, where we can trace the bullet back to the gun and narrow it down. The knife was probably the victims anyways."
"Hey, Connor, how old's the body again?" Hank called out, and Connor looked at him from down the alley.
"Approximately 6 hours, Lieutenant! The android is likely long gone!" Connor yelled back over the rain. The storm was making it difficult to hear.
"How'd he figure that out? Was it in that blood it was drinking?"
"Yeah, and it wasn't drinking. Connor didn't fill a glass and start chugging it, Reed," Hank said, voice deadpanning.
"Same difference! Why couldn't the lab be in his fingers or something?" Gavin said, disgust creeping back into his voice. "I mean, it started tasting a random dead man's blood! That can't be sanitary."
"Get used to it. It is what it is, you'll be fine. CyberLife probably accounted for that already, but Connor appreciates your concern," Hank said sarcastically.
"Oh, you can stuff it. Can't you like… tell him not to do it or something?"
"Connor's his own person, and the feature saves a ton of time, so why would I do that?"
The wind suddenly kicked up, and because it had been channeled through the alley, it hit the piles of trash with an amplified force, kicking a sopping newspaper (who even still used those) covered in decaying fast food into Gavin's face. The paper flew into Gavin's face with a wet slap!
Gavin screeched, "Ew! Get it off of me!"
Hank, however, burst out laughing, "Oh this is golden!"
Hank glanced over at Connor, who had an amused smile on his face, as well as the other officers.
When Hank returned his attention to Gavin, the man had already furiously torn the newspaper from his face and chucked it as far as he could, which was pretty far for a wet newspaper in the rain. Hank decided not to mention the suspiciously colored liquid running down the side of Gavin's face.
Wait.
Hank looked back over to the others, just to see the two officers talking by themselves, Connor no longer over there. What he did see, though, were the two officers sharing a black umbrella between the two of them that they definitely did not have before.
There was only one place they could have gotten that umbrella, especially of that type.
To the right, Hank saw Connor scanning a dumpster, empty handed, no umbrella in sight. And he was already completely soaked, covered head to toe in water.
Goddamn it, Connor!
If Hank didn't like the android so much, he'd make Connor walk home himself!