"I'm not afraid of God, I am afraid of man."
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The world is cruel and unfair, Korra knew that and never thought anything would be able to change it. But the arrival of an RK-800 android in her lab on a late November evening would prove to be the cat...
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"For the first time that day, I managed to keep my eyes shut for more than five seconds"
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Pulling over to the side of the road and putting my truck in park, I looked over to Jimmy's bar, the fluorescent sign next to the door lightly illuminating the surrounding street.
"Of course he would be here, why the fuck would he be anywhere else?" I mumbled to myself, becoming quickly annoyed with Hanks behavior. Hank always did this, rather than doing his job he preferred to drown his sorrows in whiskey and it severely pissed me off. This happened nearly every night, and I didn't know how much more of it I could take. Clenching my jaw as I glared at the bar, I almost let my anger get ahead of me. I tried calming myself down with my breath rather than smashing Hanks glass over his head.
Closing my eyes for a brief moment, I turned my head to look at Connor who had his head cocked to the side with a confused expression plastered on his face.
"Your heart rate increased rapidly for a moment. Are you alright, Korra?" He asked.
"Oh, yeah I'm perfectly fine Connor, I just should have known he was here. I'm sorry," I lied through my almost gritted teeth.
"But there's no way you could have known that he was here, we still don't know. You have no reason to apologize." Connor was so rational.
"He's an android, he has to be rational," I thought to myself.
"Let's just go in," I breathed and pushed the car door open to walk out onto the rainy street.
As we walked up to the bar, I managed to notice that Connor was flipping a coin, I raised my eyebrow and noted that I should ask about that later. Focusing my attention back on the door as we approached, I noticed a 'No Androids Allowed' sign on the door.
Ignoring the sign, I pushed the door open, and looked back to see that Connor was hesitantly doing the same. I smiled at this and turned back around.
Once we were inside, I quickly saw the atmosphere change as every patron looked towards us only for their eyes to stay on Connor. The bar wasn't as packed as I thought it would be, thankfully, but the sudden change in atmosphere was slowly becoming uncomfortable. I needed to find Hank and get Connor out of here as soon as humanly possible before someone decides to do something about the android.
I took a few steps in and looked to see Jimmy working behind the bar, "Hey, Jimmy," I greeted. Jimmy smiled and waved his hand only to motion his head over to a man sitting at the bar.
"Connor," I looked over to him while he was scanning the bar, "he's over here. Pray to whatever almighty power you believe in that he's not shitfaced."
Marching over to him, I tapped his shoulder and he turned to see me with folded my arms in annoyance. Hank made a grunting sound and turned back to the bar to take another drink from his glass.
"I tried calling you almost ten times before we got here. What the fuck?" I asked as I leaned onto the counter to look him in the face. "Excuse my language, Connor," I apologized as I looked back to him.
"It's alright, I think I can take it from here." Connor replied, motioning me to move aside. "Knock yourself out," I shrugged. I was surprised but I wasn't going to argue; if someone else was volunteering to deal with Hank then I wasn't going to get in their way. "I'll be outside if you need me," I told him and reassuringly tapped his arm with my hand.
Lightly shaking my head, I walked out of the bar, giving Jimmy a wave before I pushed the door open. I looked into my bag for a moment and glared at my pack of cigarettes, and they seemed to do just the same. Cursing myself, I flipped the top off the box and pulled out a cigarette with my teeth, snatching my lighter as I held the the thing firmly between my lips. Flicking the lighter open, I ignited it and held the flame up to then end of the cigarette, blocking it from the cold wind with the other hand. Once it was lit, I inhaled deeply, the feeling of the smoke filling my lungs finally relaxing me. Exhaling, I watched as my hot breath and remaining smoke streamed from my mouth and dissipated into the cold Detroit air.
For the first time that day, I managed to keep my eyes shut for more than five seconds; it was such a liberating feeling.
"Finally, a little break," I thought.
Then my phone rang.
"Sonofabitch!" I exclaimed, taking another puff of the cigarette before holding it between my fingers and taking my phone out of my pocket.
"Captain Fowler, shit," I read out loud, cursing to myself and swiping my finger over the screen to answer it. "Good evening Captain, what can I do for you?" I asked, hiding the slight panic that was rising in my chest.
"Caulfield, have you seen the Lieutenant? Some officers have been trying to get a hold of him, as well as some android."
"I'm afraid that I'm already a few steps ahead, Sir. I helped the android find Anderson, we're at Jimmy's bar currently. What do you need him for if I may ask?"
"Homicide, a man by the name of Carlos Ortiz," the Captain spoke firmly, he had such a great sense of authority when he spoke, always straight and to the point.
"Caulfield."
"Yes Sir?" I responded, afraid of what he may say next.
"Accompany the Lieutenant and the android to the crime scene, we both know how Hank gets with androids, so just keep them both in check. Got it?" He asked.
"Of course, sir, you can count on me," I reassured him, flicking the butt of the cigarette to get rid of the buildup of ash at the other end.
"Good, have a good rest of your evening, Caulfield," he said. The line went dead before I could return his kindness.
Dropping my phone back into my bag, I lifted the cigarette back up to my lips only to be interrupted by Hank exiting the bar with Connor following on his heels before I could take another puff.
"Still smoking, Caufield?" Hank asked, crossing his arms over his beer belly and lightly smirking.
"You have your escapes, Anderson," I said, pausing to take one last puff before dropping the cigarette and crushing it beneath my foot. "And I have mine."
Now that I could see his whole face, I realized that he looked like shit. His eyes practically screamed of fatigue and tiredness, he still had faint traces of whiskey in the corners of his mouth, his hair could use a good brushing, and he had a few remnants of his lunch on his shirt. Still, he's looked worse.
