Timeskip
Your POV
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"Aw... Feels like somebody's playing with a drill inside my skull..." Hank complains as we step out of the car and head towards the building. "You sure this is the place?"

"It's the address in the report," Connor replies.

I read the glowing sign as we approach, feeling uncomfortable already.

The Eden Club.

"Right... Okay... Let's get going."

Hank pauses and speaks up again after reading a poster on the way in, "Jesus... Sexiest androids in town... Now I know why you insisted on coming here! Oh, boy..."

"As I said," I start, "disgusting."

Once inside, there are different androids in these tubes, giving us lustful looks as we pass by, as if trying to tempt us to pay for a hookup session with them.

I avoid all of their stares, wanting this case to be over with already.

Connor's hand brushes against mine as we walk, causing my heart rate to spike and face to flush. I glance up at him, seeing a blueish tint to his cheeks as refuses to meet my eyes.

That tells me that that action was most likely an intentional one.

That certainly got my mind off of where we're at for a brief moment, so if that's what Connor was going for, it worked.

We walk up to the manager of this establishment and Ben, who are talking. I can't help but to notice a couple of circular platforms where androids, male and female, are pole dancing.

My nose scrunches up, not enjoying the sight.

They're treating these androids as objects, and it's terrible. Inhumane, even.

I focus on the conversation rather than what's going on around me, knowing that that would be more beneficial to me than to despise and criticize these people in my mind.

"You're not gonna take my license, are you? I mean, ha, I had nothing to do with this!" the manager says nervously, expressing his concerns.

"The investigation's ongoing, sir, I can't tell you anything for the moment. Hey, Hank! YN!" Ben says, turning to us.

"Hey, Ben. How's it goin'?" Hank greets.

"What's up?" I add, not really expecting an answer.

"It's that room there. Oh, uh, by the way... Gavin's in there too," Ben informs us.

"Oh, great! A dead body and an asshole, just what I needed..." Hank trails off as we head into the room.

"Sergeant Cross, Lieutenant Anderson and their plastic pet... The fuck are you three doin' here?" Gavin addresses us.

There's a lifeless android on the floor to our right and a dead man on the bed. I try not to look at it too much yet.

"We've been assigned all cases involving androids," Connor explains for us.

"Oh, yeah? Well, you're wasting your time. Just some pervert who, uh, got more action than he could handle."

"Ugh..." I mutter, grossed out by what he just said.

That's not what happened at all.

"We'll have a look anyway, if you don't mind," Hank retorts, not really asking for permission.

"Come on, let's go. It's uh... starting to stink of booze in here," Gavin says to Chris, targeting Hank as he walks by.

On his way past me, I ran my shoulder into him. This results in him running into the wall and I smirk, "Whoops, sorry. I misstepped."

"I'll show you a misstep," he growls at me, about to make a move but Connor stops him.

"If you touch him, you will be dealing with more than just a disciplinary and assault report," he threatens calmly.

"Tsk, whatever," Gavin replies before storming out, but not before giving me a glare.

"Night, Lieutenant. Sergeant," Chris says to us before following Gavin.

"Thanks for that, Connor," I say as we start investigating. "You didn't have to do that. It was my fault, anyway."

"Of course I had to do that," he protests, looking at me. "I'm not going to let him hurt you. Besides, it wasn't your fault. You were just standing up for Hank."

I smile, "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Connor goes to the dead android first, analyzing her blood by licking it off of his fingers.

I cringe.

That never ceases to be disgusting.

"Whoa! Hey! Hey! Hey! Argh, Connor, you're so disgusting. Think I'm gonna puke again..." Hank exclaims.

I chuckle as I head over to the dead man. Hank says, handing me the drivers license he found on him, "Driver's license says: Michael Graham. A credit card, cash in the wallet... Picture of his wife and two daughters. I wouldn't want to make that call."

I give it back with a nod, examining the body.

I furrow my eyebrows as I spot marks on his neck, "Hey, Connor. You wanna scan him? There are marks on his neck, but I don't see many other external blemishes or whatever."

"Sure."

He walks over and after a moment of this, he gives us the synopsis, "He didn't die of a heart attack—he was strangled."

"Yeah, I saw the bruising on the neck, too. Doesn't prove anything though. Could've been rough play," Hank says.

"We're missing something here..."

"Think you can read the android's memory? Maybe you can see what happened."

"I can try."

With that, we all walk over to the android and Connor kneels down beside her. Hank and I stay back a bit, trying not to crowd around. That could scare her when she wakes up.

"The only way to access its memory is to reactivate it," he tells us.

"Are you able to do it?" I inquire.

"It's badly damaged... If I can, it'll only be for a minute, maybe less. I just hope it's long enough to learn something."

Seconds pass and he manages to revive her. She gasps and tries to back away from us, terrified.

"Calm down, everything's all right. All we want is to know what happened," Connor informs her soothingly, hoping to calm her down enough to give us information.

"Is he..." the Traci trails off, darting her gaze over to the man and back to us. "Is he dead..?"

Hank and I let Connor do the talking, knowing that he's got this.

"Tell me what happened."

"He started...hitting me...again...and again. I begged him to stop, but he wouldn't."

"Were you alone in the room? Was there anyone else with you?"

"He wanted to play with two girls... That's what he said, there were two of us."

"What model was the other android? Did it look like you?"

She doesn't say anything more, having passed away once again.

Connor sighs a little and stands up.

"So, there was another android. This happened over an hour ago, it's probably long gone," Hank states.

"No, wait," I mention, "she was wearing lude clothes. She couldn't just walk out of here dressed like that."

"YN's right," Connor agrees. "It couldn't go outside dressed like that unnoticed. It might still be here."

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N O  T I M E
{ Chapter Thirteen }

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-CastrarWolf