The Straight and Deviant Path

Progress is as Progress Does

Connor blinked at the two of them, As if this possibility had just occurred to him. "Well... yes, it could be me. But there's not enough evidence to suggest that for sure. I mean, I'm not technically a detective. I won't rule myself out, but let's not panic." The words came out almost cold, firm and analytical as he always was. Neither Hank nor Markus looked convinced.

"Look! This is a worrying development, but until we know more, all officers on the case are suspect to be who the killer is addressing. We can give the note to the forensics team, and just do our best to keep moving with this case, ok?" Reluctantly, Hank stuck the note into a little plastic baggie and handed it off as evidence. Markus' face was still pressed into a stern look, but he always looked that way. Connor had learned fairly quickly that Markus always, always looked grumpy.

"Fine, but I'd be careful Connor." The revolutionary finally said. Connor huffed.

"Of course, getting destroyed wouldn't help us at all." He maneuvered around the android, moving through the crime scene. He found a few traces of thirium, all belonging to the android victim. This killer was incredibly intelligent, it seemed. Never left a single trace. Whatever Connor found, it was what the killer wanted him to see.

Unsatisfied, Connor left the crime scene and met Hank and Markus outside. "I couldn't find anything else, what about you?"

"Nope." Hank confirmed, looking frustrated. "This guy's good."

Markus blinked, eyes twitching. "I contacted Jericho, but they haven't seen any suspicious or new androids passing through."

"Meaning that our killer probably never came to Jericho." Connor finished, almost miserably.

"So in short, we got nothing." The android nodded glumly at his partner, damn near defeated. He never had this much trouble with a case, it was disheartening to say the least. A warm hand thumped onto his shoulder. "Don't look so down kid. Every officer has a case that stumps em at first, you'll get it." The gruff words brought a little smile to Connor's face, and he nodded.

"Thank you lieutenant."

"Yea yea, let's get back so we can file our reports and get through all that fuckin paperwork waiting for us, yea?" Hank snorted, clearly not favoring his own idea.

"We should. But first, Markus, do you need any help getting back to Jericho?" Markus shook his head.

"No, I can get there fine on my own. I'll contact you if anyone at Jericho finds something."

"Same here, goodbye." Markus gave a friendly nod of his head, then shook Connor's hand. He felt his thirium pump speed up, and a warning of his temperature flashed in the corner of his vision. By the time he dismissed it, Markus was long gone. The sputter of Hank's car rattled him back to reality, and he glanced over.

"Ya comin?" "Y-yes Lieutenant!" Connor rushed into the car, and they drove off back to the precinct. What had that been?

One thing Connor found he disliked about deviancy, was how much his mind tended to wander. He was programmed to run through data again and again, meaning his processors were constantly looking for things to focus on. Introduce emotions into the mix, and he began to hyperfixate on irrational things, analyzing them in every single way possible. In other words? He was overthinking. No matter what he did, he couldn't get Markus off of his mind. What had he thought of Connor? Was Connor good enough in the investigation? Had he worked well enough? Logically he knew these thoughts were irrational, and had no basis. But his processors kept going, making him relive each interaction in excruciating detail. For what felt like the fifth time today he shook himself, forcing the thoughts to the back of his awareness as he typed up his report. Why was it so hard to focus?! Markus shouldn't be taking up this much processing space! With a defeated groan, Connor's head landed defeatedly on his desk.