SENTIENT

Accomplice

It was too dry for spring and too humid for summer. Too warm for winter and too cold for autumn. The trees were too quiet. The waters made no noise. Not a single ripple that indicates life.

Connor felt the grass under his shoe. He was alone in the garden.

There's never an established understanding of the place. Maybe there's nothing to it, but something was there for him. Hiding between the flower beds, the wild bushes, and the branches. He just hasn't found it yet.

He was truly alone, until a noise was heard from behind the trees. Between the gap of the cherry blossom trunks. A shadow walked and vanished into thin air.

It was just a dream. Even though he did not remember closing his eyes.

"Connor, we're here." AJ's voice brought him back to life, "You alright?"

When they arrived, they found themselves in a shady neighborhood. No public transport. Little connectivity to the rest of the city. The only commercial activities are corner shops and alley ways.

In one corner of the block, there was a homeless shelter run by the Sentient Lives – a revolutionary organization with an ideology of Android equality, equity, justice, and pride – formed after the Android rights movement by the supporters of Markus, the deviant leader. They stared at the arrival of the uniforms.

Old and deteriorating buildings, many of which are abandoned entirely and the address led them there. They took the stairs to the third floor. AJ announced her presence and then knocked on the door of Michael Simonelli's unit.

"Open up, Michael! This is the police!" AJ announced once again. No response, only silence.

There was a window at the end of the hallway. Connor walked up to it. From there he studied the location of the building itself. To the south, the building was met immediately with acres of dead woods. The darkness would make the woods a good place to hide illegal activities.

For a second, they had themselves fooled thinking Michael wasn't home. Until they heard the ruckus going on inside. First, a loud crash and then a thump. Connor exclaimed, "He's making a run for it!"

The two of them drew their weapons as Connor broke down the door with a single kick. Inside, they identified Michael Simonelli for the last time before he leaped from the balcony of the emergency stairs.

"Michael, stop!" AJ chased, but she was too late.

He swiftly vanished into the dark and it would be dangerous to pursue without back-up. Even more dangerous without a probable cause. AJ sighed in frustration.

"Detective?" Connor kept his tone down and hushed for her to come his way.

Slowly, he pointed his gun straight at the locked closet. Something can be seen moving from under the door. AJ moved to her back-up position, while he unlocked the door carefully.

The closet door slid open. Creaking noise filled the empty room. It was finally revealed who was inside – a male AP500 housekeeper model.

It's an old model and possibly one of the first batches commercially sold by CyberLife. The deviant did not show any hostility – which makes it easy for AJ and Connor to bring him back to the station.

The deviant was registered to Michael Simonelli in its purchase. They have successfully put up an APB. Now, all they needed next was a confession from the deviant.

"You must think that you're doing Michael a favor, didn't you? You knew Michael's step-father abandoned him so you killed him!"

Connor made himself louder, but still there were no signs of distress or agitation from the AP500 that Michael named Xander.