I walk down the streets of Detroit, my scruffy shoes thumping on the sidewalk. Music blasts into my headphones, hidden by my hood. I bury my bandaged hands in my pockets and stare down at the cracked concrete as a car drives by. That is, until it stops just down the street. I keep walking until a man steps out of the car. I freeze when I see his face.

"Shit," I mutter under my breath. He looks me in the eye, and I take off running in the opposite direction, my hood flying back. I weave through the few other people on the street before darting into an alley. I push off a box and grab onto the top of the wall at the end, pulling myself up and jumping off the other side. I roll as my feet hit the ground and glace up at the wall before taking off running again. I'm almost to the end of the alley, where a crowd of people is always flooding the street, when I'm tackled from behind. The charm in my hand flies out of it as I hit the ground, and I groan as my knees hit the ground sharply and gravel digs into my skin. I roll onto my back and look up at the figure standing above me. The first thing I notice is his eyes. I almost forget he tackled me when I see them.

"Who the hell are you?" I ask, snapping myself out of my thoughts. It's then that I notice the blue LED on the side of his head. He's an android. I hear someone walk up behind me, breathing heavily.

"Huh," they say. I squeeze my eyes shut, angry at myself, and tilt my head back to look behind me. "Good job, Connor. Caught her just in time." He looks down at me. "How's it going, Arna? Been a long time." I sigh.

"Not long enough," I mutter. I push myself off the ground and come face-to-face with the android. Connor. I look back at Hank. "You're working with androids now?" He sighs.

"Don't start," he says. "Arna, I need your help." I shake my head quickly, holding up my hands.

"Uh uh," I say. "You know me. I steer clear of the law. I don't help it. So unless you need someone to steal something or find someone, I'm of no use to you." He hums.

"Well, it's somewhere in there," he says. "It's a homicide case. I know you love a good death." I sigh.

"Anderson," I say, "I'm not going to a crime scene swarming with cops who wanna throw my ass in jail." He sighs and nods to Connor, who grabs my arms. I grit my teeth as Hank bends down and picks up the raven charm that had flown out of my hand.

"Well then," he says with a smirk, "I guess I can always just take you in for stealing this little trinket, let alone the other thousand things you've stolen." I scoff.

"Oh, you're blackmailing me now?" He shrugs. "I've gotten away from you before." He crosses his arms.

"Need I remind you that you're currently being held in place by an android?" I look back at Connor.

"Any chance I could get you to let me go?" He looks down at me.

"I'm sorry," he says. "I was instructed to keep you from leaving." I let out a breath and look at Hank.

"I hate you." He smirks.

"Oh," he says. "Did I mention that I have a huge bar of chocolate in the car?"

-{}-

As the car pulls up in front of the small decrepit house, I break off a piece of the dark chocolate bar, pop it in my mouth, and shove the bar into my jacket. Hank sighs and looks back at me.

"You, come with me," he says. He looks at Connor "You wait here. I won't be long." I roll my eyes.

"Then why do you need me?" I ask. He sighs and shakes his head. Connor glances back at me, then looks at Hank.

"Whatever you say, Lieutenant," he says politely. Hank sighs.

"Fucking-A, whatever I say..." I chuckle as I follow him up to the building. It isn't five seconds before I see Connor get out of the car and walk up.

"Androids are not permitted beyond this point." I frown. But isn't that guy an android? I hear Hank sigh.

"It's with me," he says. Connor walks over to us. "What part of 'stay in the car' didn't you understand?" I smirk.

"Your order contradicted my instructions, Lieutenant." Hank sighs.

"You don't talk, you don't touch anything and you stay outta my way, got it?" Connor nods.

"Got it." We walk up onto the porch, where a cop is waiting.

"Evening, Hank," he says. "We were starting to think you weren't gonna show." Hank nods.

"Yeah," he tells him. "That was the plan until this asshole found me." The cop looks at Connor.

"So...you got yourself an android, huh?"

"Oh, very funny. Just tell me what happened." He leads us into the building.

"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." He groans. "Jesus, that smell! Was even worse before we opened the windows." He shakes his head. "The victim's name's Carlos Ortiz. He has a record for theft and aggravated assault. According to the neighbors, he was kind of a loner. Stayed inside most of the time, they hardly ever saw him." Hank nods.

"Uh, state he's in," he says, "wasn't worth calling everybody out in the middle of the night. Could've waited 'til morning." The cop nods.

"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." I follow his pointing finger to where a bloody knife is laying in the middle of the floor. "Probably the murder weapon." I roll my eyes. No, duh.

"Any sign of a break-in?" Hank asks. The guy shakes his head.

"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." I take out my chocolate and pop a piece in my mouth. "How can you eat in here? Think I'd throw it right back up." Hank shakes his head.

"Kid's nose-blind," he says. I shrug. "What do we know about his android?"

"Not much," guy says. "The neighbors confirmed he had one, but it wasn't here when we arrived." He sighs. "I gotta get some air. Make yourself at home. I'll be outside if you need me." We walk up to the body, where I notice just how bad this guy looks. There's writing on the wall above him, reading, in perfect letters, 'I AM ALIVE.'

"Each letter is perfect," Hank says. "It's way too neat, no human writes like this." He looks at another cop. "Chris, was this written in the victim's blood?"

"I would say so," he says. "We're taking samples for analysis." I see Connor bend down to touch the blood on the knife, and he licks the tip of his fingers. I raise an eyebrow, almost smirking. I mean, I can't say that's not low-key hot, even if he is an android.

"Jesus!" Hank exclaims. "What the hell are you doing?" Connor looks up at him.

"I'm analyzing the blood," he says. "I can check samples in real time. I'm sorry, I should have warned you." I shake my head.

"I see no problems," I say.

Software Instability^

They look at me, Connor's LED blinking yellow for a moment. Hank shakes his head, looking back at Connor.

"Just...don't put any more evidence in your mouth, you got it?" I laugh.

"Got it," Connor says. Hank sighs and shakes his head.

"Fecking hell," he mutters. "I can't believe this shit." As Connor analyzes the body, I kneel down and look at him.

"Whatcha got?" I ask.

"He was stabbed twenty-eight times," he says. My eyebrows shoot up.

"Damn," I mutter. Hank nods.

"Yeah," he says. "Seems like the killer really had it in for him." I nod and walk away, noticing blood staining the floor and walls to the kitchen. I bend down and look over the broken chair before walking slowly over to the area in front of the knives. This is where our killer got his weapon, but why? I see a glint on the ground and touch the area. Pieces of...metal? I hear someone walk up behind me.

"There's metal on the floor," I say. I point to the broken chair. "Signs of a struggle over there, and this is where the knife came from." He bends down next to me, looking over the metal fragments.

"There's a bat over there," he says. "Ortiz must have attacked the android, and the android was defending itself." I frown.

"But why wouldn't it stop once Ortiz was down?" He doesn't say anything.

"There's something weird in the bathroom," I hear faintly. "Did you take a look?" Me and Connor look at each other, and I quickly stand up and make my way to the bathroom. The shower curtain is shut.

"What are the odds there's someone behind the curtain?" I ask Connor quietly.

"Unlikely," he says. "There are no signs of anyone else in the building." I sigh, moving toward it.

"You're no fun." He reaches in front of me and pulls back the curtain. My eyes widen at the sight of letters scratched repeatedly into the wall. rA9 rA9 rA9... I look down and squeeze my eyes shut. There's a small wooden figure sitting in the middle of the shower. Connor reaches down and picks it up, glancing over it. "Not creepy at all." We make our way back out to the living room and find Hank.

"Lieutenant," Connor says. "I think we've figured out what happened." Hank nods.

"Oh yeah?" he asks. "Shoot. I'm all ears." Connor looks at me, and I nod.

"It all started in the kitchen." He nods.

"There're obvious signs of a struggle," he says. "The question is, what exactly happened here?"

"We think the victim attacked the android," I say. "With the bat."

"That lines up with the evidence," Hank replies. "Go on."

"The android stabbed the victim," Connor tells him.

"So the android was trying to defend itself, right?" I nod. "Okay, then what happened?"

"The victim fled to the living room," Connor says.

"And he tried to get away from the android. All right, that makes sense."

"Then the android murdered the victim with the knife," I say. Hank nods.

"Okay, your theory's not totally ridiculous," he says. "But it doesn't tell us where the android went."

"It was damaged by the bat," Connor says. "And lost some Thirium." Hank frowns.

"Lost some what?" I roll my eyes.

"We call it 'Blue Blood,'" I tell him. "It's the fluid that powers androids' biocomponents. It evaporates after a few hours and becomes invisible to the naked eye." He looks at me.

"How the hell do you know that?" he asks. I smirk.

"Oh, I know a lot of things." His eyes widen in concern, which they probably should. I look up at Connor. "I bet you can still see it, can't you?" He nods.

Software Instability^

"Correct." Hank looks between us.

"Yeah," he trails off. Connor looks around before walking away. I follow behind him as he heads back toward the bathroom.

"Oh, god," I say. "Please don't tell me we're going back to the bathroom." He shakes his head, not looking back at me.

"No," he says quietly. "He didn't go there." He stops at the end of the hall and looks to the side before looking up. I follow his gaze and see the door to an attic. I grin.

"Got 'im," I mutter. Connor walks away and comes back with a chair, setting it up beneath the hatch.

"Stay here," he says. "I'll go up and see if he's there." I scoff.

"Bullshit," I say. "I'm coming up there." He looks down at me.

"I can't allow you to do that," he says. "There's a chance the deviant may still be hostile."

"Yeah, I'm not a detective. I don't matter," I say. "Plus, you should've realized by now that I don't take orders. I listen to one person. Me. I'm coming with you."

Software Instability^

His LED blinks yellow quickly, almost unnoticeable. Almost. Not to me. I notice, just like I notice everything. He nods, sighing, and climbs into the attic before reaching down and helping me climb into the cluttered space. We look around, seeing the silhouette of a figure behind a curtain.

"Jesus, I don't like that," I mutter. I go to move forward, but Connor puts an arm in front of me, stopping me in my tracks. He looks back at me, shaking his head, before continuing on in front of me. I roll my eyes before following him. He pulls the curtain back, and I jump when I see a mannequin sitting there. Connor looks back at me, his eyes asking if I'm okay, and I nod quickly before motioning for him to continue. We slowly move forward, and when we approach the back of the attic, I see a figure dash across the back wall from behind a desk. I shake my head quickly, internally screaming. Connor quietly moves the desk out of the way, and an android covered in blood runs out from behind a wardrobe.

"I was just defending myself," he says. "He was gonna kill me." He looks between me and Connor. "I'm begging you. Don't tell them."

"Connor, Arna!" we hear. "What the fuck is going on up there?" I look up at Connor. Is he really going to do this? Even he seems conflicted as he tries to decide what to do.

"It's here, Lieutenant!" he calls eventually. I sigh but nod. I have to do what Hank tells us to if I want to get my necklace back.