Only Half Bad (ON HOLD)

Which Side Are You On?

"This is it?" I ask, stepping out of the police car. My eyes scan over the store in front of me. The front was glass complete with a sliding glass door that opened as you stepped near. The glass allowed you to see inside, and, well, it was obvious this place was extremely small. Probably meant for tourists who were simply 'dropping by'.

"A casher claims a homeless android came by here with a small child, looking for money. When he refused she stole one hundred dollars from the desk and ran." Conner spoke mechanically as he climbs out of the car. His door shut rather loudly followed by my own, softer door. "She apparently ran before he could catch her."

"Well I would assume so, if we were called." Hank grumbles, his form stalking towards the entrance. A rather annoyed look sat on his face. He didn't really seem like he wanted to be here at the moment. Truthfully, Who did?

My eyes shift over to Conner. The android steps out in front of me with a rather odd look on his face. Stepping to the side I look where he was, seeing an abandoned house across the road. For a moment Conner was still as a statue, eyes locked onto the house a few yards away from him.

The house was absolutely disgusting. A fence lay around it, acting as a warning to anyone dumb enough to try and worm their way inside. From what I could see there was a caving in roof teaming with mold. Limbs from long gone trees lay rotting on top of it, sticking up into the sky like towers out of the ground. Windows were cracked and even broken just below the roof. One even had a shutter hanging off of it by a thread. And that was only what I COULD see. I fear what lay behind the fence.

"Well she couldn't have gone far... you said she was with a child?" Conner stepped around the side of the car, stopping at the edge of the road. His eyes were still glued to the house. Suddenly everything clicked. Conner was going to search the house for any sign of a deviant. A deviant with a child...

I had to make sure they weren't there before he went snooping around.

"There's no way she would stay close to this store. It would be too dangerous." I offer, quickly making my way to stand next to Conner. My eyes scan over the hose as I grip onto his arm tightly. "And she was with a child, unless she was desperate she wouldn't stay there."

Conner shifted beside me, his eyes settling on my shorter form beside him. As I was clinging onto his arm like a small child I didn't blame him for he weird looks. Yet I didn't have time to worry about that. There was a deviant I had to help... without him finding out about the whole helping part.

That had been the reoccurring challenge with all of this. Almost as soon as I had joined the police department I had seen it. Helping deviants along with trying to hunt down what Detroit saw as evil were rather... differing jobs. Every day I came into work a policewomen, and came home as a criminal. This deviant case had only made it worse.

I...I don't wanna die. Please (Y/N). Save me.

I couldn't let another deviant die because I didn't do everything in my power to stop it. If I didn't try I had no right to call myself a good person.

"We can't do anything until we talk to the clerk, anyway. Why don't you and Hank go inside while I stay out here? Maybe catch some Deviants as they try to leave the house, hm?" I look up at Conner for a moment, eyes locking before he slowly nodded. Without me noticing he seemed to slip away from my grasp.

"Yeah, that sounds good. But be careful, (Y/N). I don't want you to get hurt in the middle of our investigation." Conner spoke, turning towards Hank. Hank himself was watching me with an eyebrow raised in question. When Conner turns to him he looks at the android in almost shock.

"The robots with me? Damn (Y/N) I thought you cared about my wellbeing." Hank shakes his head, offering me a smile before turning around. The detective quickly walks inside, sliding glass door opening quickly. It stayed open, however, as Conner stood right in front of it. He stood, still as a rock. His back was facing me, oddly enough, before he turns his body completely to look me in the eye.

"She." He whispered, drawing my attention to him completely. I cross my arms as I turn my body to face him as well. Shivers we running up and down my spine from the cold. Not that I could pay much attention to that around right now.

"Wha-"

"You called the deviant a she." Conner spoke softly, the detective voice lost again. "Why? It's an android. A machine. Not a she."

I smile softly, tilting my head as I watch Conner closely. Questioning. That is what he was doing right now.

Questioning was one of the first signs of android deviancy.

Or at least, that is what Daniel had explained to me. He had been friends with many other androids. As he had worked in a rich man's house it was easy to grasp why. He had explained to me that most androids of his abusive owner's had ran away, labeled a deviant and thrown on a missing person's list. Many times police had questioned each and every android in the house to find out what had happened. After about five times, he had.

It all started with questions.

"She is a she, just the same as you are a He, Conner." I step forwards and lay a hand on his arm. My thumb rubs over his clothed skin for a moment. Only a moment, yet I hoped he understood what the gesture was trying to say. "Now, go inside. Help Hank finish your mission."

Conner's eyes follow me the entire time. More than ever he reminded me of a puppy, following around its mother cluelessly.

"Okay."