Alive // DBH x BTS

Chapter 2 - Jungkook

Officer Jeon collapsed into his chair both exhausted and relieved. Hank, a friend at the desk opposite him gave him a thumbs up. Returning the gesture, he turned to see many of the others were trying to subtly glance at him, with varying levels of success. 

The glass walls of the chief's office meant they all must have been watching his 'discussion'. He thought he'd done fairly well- kept the shouting to a minimum - flailing hand gestures...not so much. Still his case hadn't been taken from him and that was far more important.

He'd been working on it for nearly two months now but until today, any useful information was few and far between. At least a dozen crime reports all linked to a single perpetrator- a thief called Gloss.

Little to no leads had came of it though. He had learned early on how to block security camera transmissions and all the humans security guard descriptions were vague at best. He was short, and wore a face mask - green, pink, blond hair- never enough to positively ID anything. And the android security guards, of which there were very few, were always gone. Stolen along with whatever spare parts and software codes he'd come to take.

Not that he was particularly high up on DPD priorities. Most were robberies of scrapyards or backstreet mechanics. No one was ever harmed. A suitable assignment for a rookie cop like him. Or so they had thought until today. Today Gloss had broken into Cyberlife itself and stolen a number of classified files and suddenly Jungkook had to all but wrestle with the chief to let him continue working on this case. Now he had a week to prove himself capable and a partner, curtesy of Cyberlife as a babysitter.

His mouth pinched into an angry pout as he looked at the new video footage they had received. It was from  an android that had been prematurely activated in the scene of the crime. There were several others to look through once he fled but this was more than enough. It was stumbling on a waterfall after wandering around in a desert. 

His thief's hair was still bond and fell across narrow, almost catlike eyes. They were fixed intently on the screen in front of him. He didn't say a word, though his mouth was fixed a in quiet smirk. He took whatever he was looking for quickly. The whole thing took less than a minute and before he left, he drew a symbol on the glass doors.

"Officer Jeon?"

"Yep" he looked up, but his smile melted when he saw who he was faced with.

" I'm Kim Taehyung, the android sent by Cyberlife"

It didn't look like a police officer even in the uniform. It was tall, with long dark hair styled back out of his face. His mouth was turned done in a little frown that looked very serious though his big eyes made him see younger. 

He didn't really look like an android either. Most androids looked... artificial as though their features had been designed and regulated to look a certain way, which they were. This one's face was more angular, its eyes and mouth were a bit too big. Not strange but particularly uniform either.

It gave a hesitant smile that, for a moment, looked almost natural enough to be human. Except for the blue LED on his temple and far too stiff posture.

"Yep"

"I have been assigned to help you-"

"Yeah, yeah I know I got the speech." He turned back to the footage on the screen. They had sent him a robot babysitter to watch over him. It brought up a chair and sat down beside him. Jungkook began using different analysing software to ID the criminal. He felt the androids gaze on him.

"What are you doing?" It's voice was so calm and grated on his nerves. It shouldn't be here. He was perfectly capable of doing this on his own.

"I'm trying to put a name to this guy," He replied without turning around.

"He's not human, officer, it's an android - a deviant."

Jungkook just scoffed. As if a android could pull off a feat like this. He knew of deviants, of course, far too much. They were broken machines that decided the could feel and acted out irrationally and dangerously. He knew how they could ruin lives. Shaking his head of turbulent memories he returned his focus to the screen. And frowned. No matches came up. 

Beside him the android, what was his name? Tae? began to type on the monitor next to him. He pulled up an image that looked uncannily like the man in the footage. They looked exactly the same and completely different to each other, as if someone had made a doll of the real thing. The image came from an old advert.

"Your kidding" Jungkook breathed, leaning in to look at the photo.

"It's a DT200 model, a very old one that's no longer in production."

"That's probably why no-one recognised it" he murmured, his eyes still jumping from the image to the camera footage. He couldn't understand it - deviancy made androids unstable and illogical but somehow this one had the presence of mind to break into one of the most secure companies in the world

"It's ... odd" the android hesitated, "this model isn't one very prone to deviation,"

"Why?"

"Well, deviants tend to arise from models designed for human interaction, like carers and entertainers. Their software has programs that allow them to be sociable around humans. It's more likely for something to go wrong-"

"So robots like you tend to deviate more"

If he'd been expecting a reaction he was disappointed.

"I have several self diagnosis programs in place to prevent that officer" the android replied blankly. There was a long pause before it continued

"This model, wasn't built for social interaction. It was made to play music. Specs say it has an impressive amount of memory storage but that meant any interactive protocols were virtually non existent.

"So it was just a fancy music box"

Taehyung nodded, "pretty much."

~~~~

They spent the next hour looking through old records and case files. For a long time they found nothing. Any other androids of the same model were accounted for, either in use, in storage or in a junkyard. They couldn't find any incidents the had been reported relating to an DT200. Then after the third time, the android suggested the widening their scope outside of Detroit, Jungkook found what he was looking for.

A little less than two years ago, an android of the same model had been stolen from a preforming art school nearby. One student had snuck it out of the school and assaulted a police officer when he'd come to retrieve it. Apparently, upon investigation they found that this student would take the android out of the school regularly. He refused would say where. Eventually the search was called off and the boy was expelled.

"You're kidding" the young officer said for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Taehyung looked at him confused. "I know him - he works at diner just off the freeway"

"Jung Hoseok? Then we should go and talk to him," the android jumped up and grabbed his jacket. He grabbed its arm.

"Where are you going?" he pulled the an android back down to his seat.

Taehyung stared at him confused 

"He's our only concrete lead and-"

"And it's too late at night. He won't be there." Jungkook almost felt sorry as Taehyung's face fell into a disappointed frown. "Anyway it's late, and my shift ended twenty minutes ago. We'll go together in the morning"

"Oh - okay, I'll see you tomorrow then officer," and it gave a much brighter and open smile.

He couldn't quite return it but mumbled as he left, "just call me Jungkook."

"Goodbye Jungkook!"