Ex Machina (A Detroit: Become Human fanfiction)

II

The 20-minute ride in the busy traffic to Ravendale and another 10 minutes of asking around the neighborhood lead us to a motel that could easily be mistaken with tens of other similar places all around the city. Behind the desk, a black man in his 50s looks a little startled when we walk inside. I show him my badge.

"Sergeant Malkovich, Detroit Police. We're looking for a female android that robbed a store down the street last night. You seen anything?"

"An android? No... I don't take androids here."

Next to me, Connor raises its hand and a small holographic image of the wanted AX400 appears in front of its palm.

"Have you seen anyone that looks like this?"

"Fuck...," the owner exclaims. "I knew there's something weird about her. She came in last night – she was dressed normal, you know... There was no way I could tell."

"Is it still here?" I ask.

"Yeah, probably," the man points to the opposite wing of the building. "Room 28."

"Thank you," I reply before walking outside where I take my phone out. I ask the dispatch on shift to send some uniforms to cordon off the area, before turning to Connor.

"Wait for me in the car."

"I think it's best if I go with you."

"You're supposed to take orders from me, right?"

"All I want is to accomplish my mission. I'm sorry if that upsets you."

Reluctantly, I nod.

"Okay, let's go before we lose it."

As we walk towards the perpendicular wing of the building, Connor swerves right without explanation. Rolling my eyes, I toss a quick look after it before climbing the outside stairs leading to the upper floor of the motel. I ready my gun, just in case, but the door is unlocked; both the room and the small bathroom behind it seem uninhabited. Except for the wet steps on the bathroom floor.

Someone's been here recently. Probably hasn't gotten far.

Something clanks muffled downstairs. In four jumps, I take the staircase and look around for Connor. I notice the slightly ajar door of the staff entry where it was headed a little earlier, a "DO NOT ENTER" sign on it, and I hurry towards it. Pushing it, I find myself inside a small service room, another door at its opposite end swinging as if it had just been dashed. Jumping outside, I find myself on the street; the policeman at the nearest corner notices me and waves his hands heatedly. He shouts something at me which I can't fully make out, but I notice him pointing at Connor sprinting away, and I throw myself after it.

Of course, I can't keep up with the android, but if there's one thing that I'm good at, it's running. I manage to keep it in my sight even after it takes a sharp turn at an intersection. I take it as well and I spur towards the two figures about 20 meters ahead – a policeman, his gun pointed at the escapees beyond the mesh fence blocking the small deadend street, and Connor, shouting at him over its shoulder not to shoot, because we need the deviant alive. I barely manage to stop next to it and grab its shoulder when the android starts climbing the fence. In the corner of my eye, I notice the deviant AX400 and a little girl with it, who jump over the traffic barrier and throw themselves in an insane attempt to cross the 6-lane boulevard.

"Hey, where are you going?!" I shout.

"I can't let them get away."

"They won't. They'll never make it to the other side."