I AM (Connor X OC) - DBH

Chapter 27: Rooftop

Searching around a bit more, I found just a small bit more of information, like that apparently Nick and Christen are twins, which they have never let on. Their mother is a nurse in Detroit, and is still married to their father, who is a recently laid off construction worker. Apparently, they don't talk very often because their parents partly blame Christen's androids for the recession.

Otherwise, it appears as though I'll just have to have normal social interaction with the Lance's to learn anything more about them. Well...that sucks.

I turned on the news and saw that nearly everyone is freaking out about the android situation. I know my mission has changed to focus on the deviants, but the situation doesn't seem to be that large of a deal. Everyone is just blowing it out of proportion. What can one deviant do to the hundreds of thousands that aren't deviants?

The house suddenly received a call, and I was able to pick it up. "Hello? Nick Lance's home?"

"Oh...it's you," I heard the Deputy mumble through the phone.

"Nick. Where are you?" I responded.

"It doesn't fucking matter," Nick answered sighing. "I was calling to talk to Christen and Margot."

"They went to the park with Fiona," I explained.

"Of course. And of course when I told you I needed to be left alone...you went to my house. Lieutenant Anderson wasn't joking when he said you things were like dogs."

"Deputy Lance, are you alright?"

"No. No, shockingly, I'm not," he responded hostile.

"Deputy Lance, please let me come to you."

"Jesus Christ. If it'll make you fuck off for a bit. I'm at the top of Berkshire Apartments," he answered. I immediately took a taxi to the location, which is a high rise, near Capitol Park. I took the elevator to the roof top, and climbed a short ladder to reach the flat roof, which was getting covered in a dense snow. Deputy Lance was sitting on the edge of the building, drinking something out of a thermos. His feet were dangling off the edge.

"I don't know if this is particularly safe, Deputy," I said suddenly. He sighed and turned slightly to me.

"Pop a squat, Bolts," he said pointing to the spot next to him. I sat down on the edge next to him.

"What do you see over there?" He asked pointing to the shop in the corner of Capitol Park.

"A Cyberlife store," I responded.

"They sell yous. They sell Connors. They sell Fionas. All that?" He asked.

"Yes," I answered. "Well...Connor and I are just prototypes actually."

"You get the point though, don't you, Charlotte?"

"I suppose so."

"That's...strange, yeah? We don't sell anything else like we sell androids."

"Nick," I began. "What has you so upset?"

"This whole world? It's fucked up. It's fucked beyond belief. This morning we deal with a self righteous dick, then we go hunting for deviants, and Connor shoots one like it's nothing. No one cares about treating the body correctly, and no one seems to think twice about it. It fucking disgusts me."

"Deputy Lance, a deviant is a machine."

"A machine with feelings. Regardless of the fact that they're programmed, or whatever, they're still there. It fucks with me, Charlotte. It really does," he explained. He turned to me. "I really hope this Android freedom fighter or whatever gets some shit done. Oh, you'll never get it. Just arrest me or get me fired or whatever."

"Frankly, Deputy, none of that would assist in the investigation."

"Is that your only reason?" Nick asked sighing.

"No. You're also quite entertaining to me, Deputy Lance."

Nick chuckled, before opening his thermos. "God, I wish I drank," he said, before sipping the steaming hot liquid in the container.

"Why don't you?" I asked, interested.

"Oh...it's a long story, but up until about 3 years ago, Lieutenant Anderson was my partner. Man, he taught me so much. Then...Cole died, and soon after Margot got into a similar accident but...she didn't die. We should've became closer...but instead Hank found comfort at the bottom of a bottle," Nick explained, kicking his legs like a child. "He transferred to homicide and...I've watched him fall apart over the course of a few years. I...haven't drank since he became an alcoholic."

"How long have you known the Lieutenant?"

"Jesus," he said, wiping the snow off his brow. "I joined force back in...25? When I was 21? Specialized in Narcotics round...28. So...ten years."

"Deputy...if you don't mind my asking...how have you been a police officer for 13 years, and still be a Deputy?"

"Oh...they've tried to make a Seargant a billion times by now. I just tell em no. There's no point to it, really. If I tell em yes, then one day they'll try to make me Captain over the precinct and I definitely don't want that."

"Why...did you even become an officer, Deputy? If...you don't want to be promoted anyway?"

"You sure do ask a lot of questions," Nick said, sipping on his thermos again. "Christen was going to be an engineer so I figured I needed to do something of equal caliber. Something that pays well and takes years of education, at least. But I suck at math, so I decided to become a lawyer. First year of college, I take a single criminal justice course, and from there I realized I hated the law part, but loved the order part. So...quit that, and started the two year course to become an officer that fall."

Silence fell for a moment. "What do you have in that thermos anyway?"

"Hot chocolate," he said chuckling. "My mom's recipe. Sometimes, I think when Christen says I'm childlike...she's actually right."