The Man and the Tin Can (Gavin x Connor)

10. Interrogation

"Connor! It's time." Tina informed the android, after leading Jordan to the interrogation room with Chris.

Connor jumped, his LED flashing red for a split second, snapping out of his thoughts. "Coming."

He braced himself by taking a deep breath to cool himself down, and went to the interrogation room, Officer Chen by his side.

"Hey, Con?" Chris called to the android, catching Connor's attention. "Do androids daydream?"

Connor then caught a glimpse of Katelle, sitting by the table, tapping his foot nervously.

"Oh, right, sorry. You ready to go interrogate that guy? If he tries anything, we'll be here, behind the glass." Chris reminded him, while Tina held up a thumbs up, to lift Connor's mood.

The android nodded and touched the pad with his hand, making the door open.

Katelle looked up, anger in his eyes.

Connor expected a snarky anti-android comment, but the man was silent.

The android sat down. "My name is Connor, and I'll be the one to ask you a few questions about yesterday's incident. Is that okay with you?"

Jordan snorted at how Connor was acting so polite and professional. "Sure, whatever."

Clasping his hands together, Connor collected himself, trying to get it out of his mind that he has to interrogate a man who attempted to shoot him.

"You and your accomplice killed an AK500 android. It's 3 most important biocomponents were missing. Is it true that you were involved in illegal biocomponent trafficking?"

Jordan hopelessly nodded, throwing his arms out childishly. "Yeah. You caught me, congrats. Woo hoo!"

Connor's eyebrows crossed for a second. He couldn't tell whether this was a panic reaction or if the suspect was really giving up.

"Alright... Before I get some info on the trafficking ring, may I get your accomplice's name and location, where we could find them?" Connor asked again.

"Sorry tincan, but nah. Any other questions?" Jordan looked relaxed in his seat, with his legs spread out, as if he's looking down on Connor.

Of course he just had to become suspiciously cheerful, snarky and difficult all of a sudden.

- - -

Once the interrogation was over, Connor walked off to the bathroom to fix his tie and hair.

As he looked into the mirror, he processed the new info about the trafficking ring he had gotten.

Its' activity was discreet and well-planned, but Jordan and some other criminal on the loose literally shot an android outside, where anyone could see.

No matter how much Connor wrecked his brain about this, he couldn't get to anything.
Then a thought crossed his mind. "Could this somehow be related to the repetitive android-framing murders? Is this mess a planned distraction from that investigation, to slow us down?"

The info about the "secret" android ring would be too difficult to investigate with this little info, plus, it didn't even sound real. It's too good to  be real.

It was a dissapointing conclusion, but otherwise, he hit a dead end.

Maybe Gavin or Hank would be able to help him with this, though he doubted it. If an android can't properly progress throught an investigation, how could a human?

Connor looked at the mirror a bit longer than usual. Maybe a bit too long. "Am I becoming stupid..? Useless..?"

Deviancy had its benefits, but it's downfalls weighed down on him very heavily.

When he was with Hank, his adoptive father, he felt loved and complete, like he has a purpose. His job felt fulfilling with that man.

Now that he retired, working felt harder and harder, even with all of his scanning systems and android knowledge.

Being partenered up with Gavin Reed changed Connor in some way.

Gavin was definetly a good detective, he's no worse than Hank, but the problem was... Connor didn't feel the same working with him.

"Why do I even care? I'm an android, I'm not supposed to care! I just have to do my job and-" Connor felt a need to punch the mirror in front of him, but then the bathroom door opened.

"Uh... Connor, you alright in there? You were here for a pretty long while, we got worried..." Chris told him.

"Oh! Everything is alright. Sorry for taking such a long time." Connor apologized awkwardly then moved to leave the bathroom.

"Admiring yourself in the mirror, eh? Can't blame you, you're really handsome!" Tina commented cheerfully, after she caught them both leaving the restrooms, with some files in her hands.

"Oh, uh... Thanks, Tina!" Connor accepted the compliment.

"When I put away these files... Would you like to go on a short break with me and Chris? To get some coffee, you know?" Tina asked.

Connor had decided that he really did need a break, since he was getting dizzy from all the brain storming. And he found it hard to say no to kind people. "Sure!"

The kind police-woman put away the files in her desk drawer, then went to the break room with the two men, making herself some coffee.

"So... Connor, I asked you this... Uh, dumb question before the interrogation..." Chris stammered nervously.

"Why is he scared to ask me such a simple question? It's not cause I'm... Different... By being an android, right?" Connor thought to himself, then raised his eyes up to answer Chris.

He knew making eye contact is important for a conversation, but he kept it as short as possible, glimpsing at the background once in a while, cause after deviancy, he found himself being nervous making long eye contact.

"Yes, they can. When I was a machine, I couldn't daydream for my own sake, I could only process information needed to complete my mission. If that even makes sense..."

"Wow... That's some interesting stuff, Con! Wait, uh, you know Markus and North, right? Androids can... Fall in love with each other?" Chris pressed on some more.

"What about android and human romance? I've seen this one movie on TV, and I thought it was great, though it was extremely controversial on the media and got lots of backlash..." Tina added.

Connor closed his eyes, a bit stunned from the topic. "I- I don't know... I don't think I felt romantic love for anyone before..."

"Awww, that's sad... Don't worry though! With that smile, your sweet personality and looks, you'll be able to snatch any guy or girl you want!" Tina patted the android on the shoulder and chuckled, then went on to talk about a funny case involving blowtorches in public restrooms, from 2 years ago.

Connor went inside his head and thought about the words Tina said. "Anyone? Then why doesn't Gavin want to talk to me?"