SEQUENTIAL ━ Connor // RK800 ✔️

fourteen ━ deviant behaviour

• • •

"Alright, Connor," Mia ran her hand to the base of his head. Though he's argued briefly that he didn't need anything comfort-oriented given his lack of pain receptors, she insisted valiantly on arranging a pillow under his head while he laid down on a table she had cleared of all her father's stuff. Laying on his front and resting the side of his head onto the pillow, he was forced to face away from her while deactivating his synthetic skin in full. She has already put in place the apparatus needed for the operation, improvised as it was, and also added a towel over his shoulders to avoid staining the clothes otherwise unnecessary to remove for the sake of an intervention in his head area.

"I'm going to need you to keep your hands moving and keep talking throughout the operation. I don't have my terminals set up to check on your live reports from these crucial systems, so I'm counting on physical, live cues to tell me if I've touched anything that shouldn't be touched in here. Got it?"

"Got it," Connor shifted only briefly to retrieve the coin from his pocket, before settling back into position and falling still. The only part of him kept actively engaged remained his hand, where he rolled his coin in its usual dance over now plastic white knuckles. "What should I talk about?"

He became aware of Mia opening the back of his head up, but felt nothing else, thus only managing to assume that she already started working.

Indeed, Mia connected the tubing to some of the Thirium carriers inside Connor's head that she needed to drain at least to half capacity in order to see the tracker implant. All the tubes led to a bucket by her feet from which a much thinner tube connected back to Connor, in his right wrist. That way, she could ensure he doesn't shut down during the process due to any major blood loss.

"Anything you want," she informed him. "Just talk to me."

Of course, the latest thing to be on his mind that required to be discussed happened to be his worries about the deviancy virus having infiltrated his systems. However, it did not seem like the right topic for a time when Mia wished to test the consistency levels of his cognitive capabilities. The only other thing on his mind was one he hadn't actually had the time to consider since Brady pointed it out to him at the police station, before they had to leave.

"Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure," Mia answered briefly, aiming to just keep him going on whatever he wanted to say. She was already halfway to the spot of the tracker with her probe meant to confirm its exact location nearing the target.

"What is it about your experience at Eden Club that you enjoyed the most?"

"What?" she paused her movement only momentarily stunned by the direction he chose to take the conversation into. "How do you...?"

"Your bank account records were part of the case file they had on you," he explained. "Brady granted me access to the file, which is how I could find out in time of the false accusations and the gravity of the situation we were in. Of course, the bank statement was only spanning back four months, but given the pattern of weekly Sunday visits you've had at the Eden Club, all at the same hour, for the same amount of money, I believe it is safe to assume it is a habit that goes back more than just the last four months. Something must have kept you going back."

"So you're asking me for a product review?"

"Yes," Connor agreed with her interpretation of it, as it made more sense than his own. His was shrouded in a confused feeling he was better off not exploring.