NOV 7TH, 2038

AM 03:59

NEON PURPLE BILLBOARDS shined through the police car windows. Connor and Hank were in the front while I sat in the backseat. I stared at the screens, purple hues, and fishnet-clad legs displayed. "Aw... Feels like someone's playing with a drill inside my skull," Hank peered out the window, "You sure this is the place?"

Connor looked down at the GPS, "It's the address in the report." Hank nodded and sighed, "Right... Okay, let's get going." And with that, Hank exited the police car, muttering something I couldn't hear. I quickly followed after him, Connor directly behind me.

"Sexiest androids in town. Now I know why you insisted on coming here!" Hank looked back at me with a sly grin. I shook my head and grumbled some expletives. We walked past the holographic police tape, suddenly surrounded by the same purple screens as were outside. "Oh boy..." Hank squinted from the bright lights.

Entering the club wasn't the worst part. Androids were kept in tubes with only clothing that covered sensitive areas. I held my hands to each side of my face, averting my eyes. I felt weirdly ashamed to even be inside this building. We walked past androids on stripper poles to see Ben talking with who I assumed was the manager.

"Hey, Hank!" He greeted Hank, nodding his head to acknowledge me as well. "Hey, Ben, how's it going?" Ben seemed to ignore the question, "It's that room there. Oh, and by the way, Gavin's in there too." Ben warned, eyeing Connor up and down in knowing. "Great! A dead body and an asshole, just what I needed," Hank clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Inside the room was a circular bed with the victim sprawled out under the blanket. On each side of the bed were Gavin and Chris. On the right, an android was lying dead on the ground. Gavin looked back from the bed, setting his sights on Hank and Connor, "Lieutenant Anderson and his plastic pet, what the fuck are you two doing here?" I was last to enter the room, "Oh, hey, Y/N!" Gavin looked mildly surprised, "Wow, you look like shit." I rolled my eyes, "Thanks," I grumbled.

"Thought you should know, you're wasting your time. Just a pervert who, uh, got a little more action than he could handle." Gavin let out a hearty chuckle, elbowing me in jest. I didn't laugh with him. Hank briefly surveyed the room, "We'll have a look anyway if you don't mind."

Gavin uncrossed his arms, "Come on, let's go." He motioned to Chris, "It's starting to stink of booze here!" He pointed at Hank as he spoke and shoulder-checked Connor on his way out. Chris walked up to Hank, nodding to the right, "Night, Lieutenant."

As soon as Chris left, Connor immediately got to work, crouching down by the victim. Connor stood up and looked at us, "He didn't die of a heart attack," He walked to the other side of the room, "He was strangled." Hank shrugged, "Yeah, I saw the bruising on the neck. Doesn't prove anything, though, could've been rough play." I cackled, drawing the attention of both Hank and Connor, "Android law clearly states an android cannot knowingly injure a human. Androids understand their strength. This was purposeful." I explained, Connor nodded in agreement.

"We're missing something here..." Connor said after looking over some liqueur bottles. It walked over to the deceased android, "Think you can read the android's memory? Maybe you can see what happened." Hank suggested with a shrug. Connor mulled it over for a moment, "I can try..."

Connor squatted down, pressing his white plastic fingers to her LED. Blue blood dripped from her nose. Connor swiped some thirium onto his fingertips, bringing it to his mouth. "Woah! Hey! Hey! Hey! Argh, Connor, you're so disgusting!" Hank glared down at Connor, visibly repulsed by the thought of consuming any blood, "I think I'm gonna puke again..." He groaned.

Connor studied the thirium on his fingertips. He gently picked up the android's wrist and connected those same fingertips to her wrist. He set her wrist down, "The only way to access its memory is to reactivate it." I leaned over to get a better view, "Think you can do it?" Connor began to access her abdomen plate, "It's badly damaged... If I can, it'll only be a minute, maybe less. I hope it's long enough to learn something."

He grabbed two wires inside her abdomen and connected them. The android gasped and began to crawl away with urgency. She pressed her back against the wall. She was gasping and almost sobbing with such raw fear it scared me. Connor kneeled to be at eye level with her, "You were damaged, and I reactivated you. Everything is alright." The android locked her eyes on the dead man, "Is he... Is he dead?" She tucked her knees closer to her body, "Tell me what happened," Connor had a pleading look; he looked desperate for answers.

The android blinked hard, "He started... Hitting me... Again and again. I begged him to stop, but he wouldn't. It was like he was enjoying it." She kept blinking rapidly. "Were you alone in the room? Was there anyone else with you?" Connor's speech quickened as the android got closer to shutting down. "He wanted to play with two girls. That's what he said. There were two of us." Connor's eyes widened, "What model was the other android? Did it look like you?"

She shook her head before completely freezing. Connor rose, "So there was another android," Hank fixed his gaze on the dead android, "This happened over an hour ago. It's probably long gone." Connor was also staring at the android, "No..." He shook his head, "It couldn't go outside dressed like that unnoticed." Connor turned to look back at us, "It might still be here." Hank looked at him quizically, "Think you can find a deviant among all the other androids in this place?" Connor sighed, "Deviants aren't easily detected." I hummed in thought, "Maybe there's an eyewitness? Someone who saw it leave the room?" I suggested, "We'll go talk to the manager. Let us know if you think of anything," Hank stated, grabbing my arm and bringing me out of the room.

Hank and I stood side by side and questioned the manager, "Did you know the victim?" Hank asked. The manager, a really sleazy-looking guy, quickly shook his head, "No, I mean, he came in a couple times. I mean, these guys don't talk much, you know? They come in, do their business, and then go on their way." He explained. "Ever had any trouble with androids before?" I queried. The manager glanced behind him, "No way! Well, once. We lost a model about three months back. The same model... Just vanished, and we never found out what happened." I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Connor was approaching and tapped Hank on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, would you come here a second?" Connor gestured behind him, "Find something?" Hank asked, his eyebrow raised. "Maybe." That was all Connor said before leading us to Traci in a capsule. We stood, staring at the android, "Can you rent this Traci?" Hank appeared taken aback, "For fuck's sake, Connor, we have better things to do." Hank started to walk away, "Please, Lieutenant!" Connor pleaded, "Just trust me." Connor seemed confident.

Hank, with a groan, rented the Traci. "Hello. A 30-minute session costs $29.99. Please confirm your purchase." Hank looked back at Connor with a stern face. Connor nodded, silently telling him to do it. "This is not going to look good on my expense account..." Hank pressed the confirm button, "Purchase confirmed. The Eden Club wishes you a pleasant experience." The robotic voice stated. "Yeah, you're welcome," Hank muttered.

The short-haired Traci left the capsule, "Delighted to meet you. Follow me, and I'll take you to your room." She extended a hand. "Okay, now what?" Hank questioned, I shot him a look. Connor reached out and grabbed the android's arm, probing its memory. "Holy shit, Connor. What the hell are you doing?" Hank was caught off-guard, "He's probing her memory to see if she saw anything." I leaned into Hank, explaining what was happening. He glanced at me and then continued to stare at Connor and Traci.

Connor jumped back, "It saw something!" He seemed rather... Excited. "What did it see?" I asked. "A deviant leave the room, a blue-haired Traci." Connor looked into his memory momentarily, "Club policy is to wipe the androids' memory every two hours. We only have a few minutes to find another witness." Connor began looking around, scanning the area.

He walked to an android dancing on a pole and probed its memory. "It saw the blue-haired Traci, I know which way it went!" Connor sped away to where he thought it went. "Then go for it!" Hank called after him. Connor probed the Traci dancing between the red and blue rooms. Hank turned to me, "There are androids everywhere. How will he know which one saw the Traci with blue hair?" I inhaled, "Well, Connor can replay a memory through probing, so if he can see the general direction of where that Traci went, then he can probe other androids in that area."

Connor rushed into the red room, "Can you rent his Traci?" He frantically called back to us. Hank got there faster than me and quickly confirmed the purchase. After probing the male Traci, Connor hurried into the blue room. As Connor requested, Hank rented the Traci immediately on the right.

Quickly, Connor marched into an available room. He looked around but didn't see anyone in there. He walked back out and spotted a janitorial android. Connor didn't waste any time in probing it.

"I know where it went! Follow me." Connor opened the door to a staff room. "Fucking-A, this is crazy." Hank and I chased after Connor as he went down the corridor. "Wait," Hank said, "I'll take it from here." Connor stood beside me as Hank opened the door, his gun drawn. Hank went down the steps, scanning the room, "Shit, we're too late." I had pulled out my firearm at this point, "I wouldn't get my hopes up."

Hank leaned against the warehouse door, watching the rain. Connor and I both searched the inside of the warehouse. Hank looked back into the warehouse, "Christ, look at them. They get used until they break and then get tossed out." I sighed, staring at the racks of clothing and androids.

"People are fucking insane. They don't want relationships anymore. Everybody gets an android instead. They cook what you want, and they screw when you want, and you don't have to worry about how they feel," Hank shook his head in frustration, "Next thing you know, we're gonna be extinct because everybody prefers to buy a piece of plastic than love another human being." I snorted, entertained by Hank's ramble, "I don't know Hank. I think people are too lazy to connect and prefer to buy love. I mean, it's hard finding the right person; it's easy to buy the right android." Hank looked back at me weirdly, and I realized how I may have sounded, "For the record, I have never bought an Android. I'm on your side of the argument."

Suddenly, Connor was getting into a fight with a pixie-cut Traci. Hank rushed to them, his gun aimed, "DON'T MOVE!" He shouted. The blue-haired Traci tackled Hank down. Connor threw the pixie Traci over a shipping container. I joined Hank, pushing the blue-haired Traci onto a shelf. The shelf slid back, but the Traci kicked me in the stomach with her stiletto heel. She focused her sights on Hank, pushing him over a table. Hank tumbled onto the floor, and I crawled over to him, still clutching my stomach.

The blue-haired Traci ran to the other Traci. Hank charged towards the two as they held hands, but he was effortlessly pushed back into a wall. The Tracis dashed towards the chain link fence, "Quick! They're getting away!" Hank yelled. I limped to where he was slumped against the wall and sat beside him. We watched in awe as Connor weaved and dodged the Traci's attacks, eventually having a gun pointed towards the pixie-cut Traci. However, he didn't shoot. The pixie-cut Traci kicked him under the chin, launching him backward. Connor stood up to stare at them.

"When that man broke the other Traci, I knew I was next. I was so scared... I begged him to stop, but he wouldn't. So I put my hands around his throat, and I squeezed... Until he stopped moving..." She looked down, "I didn't mean to kill him. I just wanted to stay alive and get back to the one I love." The two androids linked hands and gazed into each other's eyes, "I just wanted her to hold me in her arms again, and make me forget about the humans... Their smell of sweat and their dirty words..." She trailed off. Hank and I stood on either side of Connor. The pixie-cut Traci squeezed the blue-haired Traci's hand, "Come on, let's go." She ushered.

They scaled up the fence and ran down the sidewalk. Hank was the first to say anything, "It's probably better this way." Connor glanced at Hank and back at the fence again. Hank walked back to the warehouse, Connor and I still lingering by the fence. "I think you did the right thing." I placed a tender hand on Connor's shoulder. He gazed at me, undoubtedly an internal conflict in his eyes. "Thank you. It means a lot from you, Detective."