spellbound | d:bh x hp [ currently on hold ]

five ; the deviant hunter

d e t r o i t — 2 0 3 8

“We had a call around eight from the landlord. The tenant hadn't paid his rent for a few months, so he thought he'd drop by, see what was going on... That's when he found the body...”

I walked around the house, scanning some of the evidence.

“...Jesus, that smell! Was even worse before we opened the windows... The victim's name's Carlos Ortiz. He has a record for theft and aggravated assault...”

Ben continued, “According to the neighbors, he was kind of a loner... Stayed inside most of the time, they hardly ever saw him —”

Ben looked to the entrance of the house. I heard some footsteps.

“Oh there you are, Hank! We were starting to think you weren’t gonna show — I...didn’t know you have an android now?”

Lieutenant Anderson? Having an android. I turned around. I thought he hated androids —

An RK800 series android.

He must be the other partner.

I heard Lieutenant Anderson scoff.

“Oh, very funny. Just tell me what happened.”

And so, Ben gave Lieutenant Anderson the briefing that I had a few moments ago.

“Uh, state he's in... Wasn't worth calling everybody out in the middle of the night... Could've waited 'til morning.” complains.

Ben goes to stand beside me, looking at the corpse. “I'd say he's been there for a good three weeks. We'll know more when the coroner gets here. There's a kitchen knife over here. Probably the murder weapon.”

“Any sign of a break-in?” I asked.

From my peripheral vision, Ben shook his head no. “Nope. 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.”

Again, I inquired, “What do we know about his android?”

“Not much. The neighbors confirmed he had one, but it wasn't here when we arrived. I gotta get some air. Make yourself at home. I'll be outside if you need me.”

With that, Ben left the house.

I saw that Charles was here, too. He was at the side, putting a number “7” on an evidence.

“Psst, Charles.”

“Oh hey Tine, you’re here too.”

“Of course. Wouldn’t miss my first homicide case in Detroit. Uh, do you know anything about that android?” I pointed to the RK800.

“Yours’ and Hank’s partner? From what I’ve heard, it’s the only one of its kind — the most advanced prototype Cyberlife has ever created, sent to us to help in the deviant case.” He explained.

“People call it the deviant hunter.”

“An android investigating other androids. Fascinating,” I said.

“Err, Jesus! What the hell are you doing?” Lieutenant Anderson exclaims. I went to see what was going on.

The RK800 was bent on one knee, fingers with blood on it to his mouth.

Did it just lick the blood?

“I'm analyzing the blood. I can check samples in real time. I'm sorry, I should have warned you.” The RK800 said.