(Not) Alive - Machine | Detroit Become Human [finished]

10 - Chase

After grabbing her black uniform jacket, Angie had run behind Lt. Anderson and the android.  She caught up with them as they both climbed into Hank's old jaw harp: a 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass, a vintage model that must have been dashing but needed a good restoration. Connor had taken the passenger seat, so Angie got in the back.  Hank protested:

- I've to deal with that one already, he said, showing Connor with his thumb, don't need someone else to stick to me!

- I've just saved the file, I know all the details, I'd be useful ... and I'll be discreet, I promise!

He gave up in to her arguments, or just getting tired of arguing, she didn't really know. Ravendale was about twenty minutes away, Angie took advantage of this time to review all the details of this aggression.  She rarely went to the investigations places so she wanted to be well prepared.

All the information she needed was on her tablet connected to the police station's secure network.  The man who complained was Todd Williams, he was divorced and unemployed, he lived in the modest district of Corcktown and was known to the police for violence and for dealing in Red ice, the new drug in  fashion for a few years.  Apparently his domestic android, who was called Kara, had recently been repaired after an accident and then started messing around, to use his words.  She had refused to obey an order, pushed him violently, then hit him before kidnapping the little Alice.

After asking him about it, it turned out that Alice was an android child who also belonged to Todd Williams and that Kara used to care for. They both allegedly fled by bus.

- This is what the suspect looks like, announced Angie, holding out her tablet with a photo of Kara displayed to her two teammates;  she looked like a young woman of about 25 with brown hair and blue eyes.

Connor recorded the information and Hank glanced at the tablet as well. Once at his destination, Lieutenant Anderson inquired of the police already there and the employee of the bus company.  Connor was waiting for him standing by the vehicle, impassive in the rain that had started to fall.  Angie had stayed safe in the car, but opened the window to hear the exchange between the two men when Hank moved closer.  Connor analyzed the situation:

- It took the first bus that came along... and stayed at the end of the line. Its decision wasn't planned, it was driven by fear.

- Androids don't feel fear, Hank retorted.

- Deviants do. They get overwhelmed by their emotions and make irrational decisions.

Obviously he seemed to know a lot about deviant androids, he was there for it.

- Ah well, that still doesn't tell us where it went, Hank said.

- It didn't have a plan, and it had nowhere to go. Maybe it didn't go far...

- Maybe...

Angie intervened in the conversation:

- We're looking for two androids actually, the AX400 took a little YK500, Alice, when she ran away.  Connor, do you think the little one is deviant too?

- The YK500s are programmed to stay close to the human being their parent, Connor explained, if it left on its own accord with the AX400 there's a good chance it's deviant too.

- If they stayed around they must have found shelter for the night, Angie said, looking around.

- I'll see if I find a clue, Connor said, scanning the area.

A few moments later he called them.  Angie went out of the car to join him, he had passed to the other side of a chain-link fence in which an opening had been cut with pliers.

- There's blue blood on the fence.  I know another android was here.

A dilapidated house, visibly uninhabited, was behind the fence and Connor began to enter.  Angie turned to Hank who shrugged blasely, so she too went through the hole in the fence and around the house to join the android.  He motioned for her to remain silent and gently turned the handle on the front door.

The interior was in a worse state than the exterior, pieces of furniture disappeared and broken, tags on the tattered wallpaper, broken windows ... They found a partially disfigured android, electronic circuits and blue blood could be seen through the scars on the left side of his face;  his led was red.  Connor motioned for Angie to stay on the doorstep as the android seemed unstable.  He tried to question him anyway.

- I'm looking for an AX400. Have you seen it?

- Ralph just wanted to be nice ... Raph wanted to help ...

He wasn't very cooperative and they didn't have time so Connor raised his voice.

- Where is it ?

- She she...

Angie heard a noise towards the back of the house.

- They ran out the back door! She yelled. Quickly Connor!

They rushed out, went back through the hole in the fence and looked for the two fugitives.

- This way ... They are heading towards the station!  Angie shouted.

They chased them through the soggy streets, avoiding passers-by and vehicles.  Angie was trained and enduring but she was quickly overtaken by the android who never breathed out.  A policeman indicated to them the alley where the two fugitives had turned, quickly, not to stop or they were going to escape them.  The young woman accelerated even further when she had them in sight.

No !  They were climbing the fence separating the street from the highway, soon they would be out of reach.  Angie met the brunette android's gaze through the wire fence, a gaze that seemed to beg her to let them go, to let them live.  Angie was shocked, she had never seen a deviant before and she didn't expect so much pain. Their silent exchange was interrupted by the policeman pointing his gun at the two deviants;  but Connor intervened.  Had he been touched by Kara's pleading gaze too?

- Don't shoot! We need it alive!

Obviously, he only cared about the investigation.  But wasn't that what she was supposed to do too?

Kara and Alice had crossed the guardrail of the highway, despite the multiple holographic signs warning them of the danger. Connor wanted to run over the barrier after them, but Hank, who had finally joined them, breathless, stopped him.

- Hey! Where you goin'?

- I can't let them get away, Connor protested.

- They won't! They'll never make it to the other side. Hank replied cynically.

But the detective android didn't want to give up.

- I can't take that chance, he said, regaining his momentum to cross the barrier.

Angie holds him back by his jacket.

- It's too dangerous !

- Do NOT go after 'em, Connor, that's an order! Lieutenant Anderson concluded firmly, which quickly calmed the android even though he was clearly still upset.

Angie held her breath, the two deviants had managed to pass the first part of the road and were on the central reservation. They passed over a barrier to cross the second part, Kara firmly held Alice's hand and sometimes protected her with her own body when a car brushed past them.

Suddenly Kara fell on her knees, Angie suppressed a cry.  The android pushed the little girl forward so that she was safe.  She finally managed to get up in extremis and join Alice, they were finally safe on the other side of the railing. Angie huffed, and her heart gradually returned to a normal rhythm.

- Come on, Angie, I'll offer you lunch before we go back to the station, Hank offered as if nothing had happened.

The young woman finally looked away from the road to follow her superior.