[ Human ]

Stratford Showdown (17)

Timeskip
Your POV
•-•-•-•-•

I watch as Connor does his cool coin tricks while the three of us are going up an elevator. We're in the Stratford Tower, and my mind races with the thought of my friends.

My family.

Hank snags the coin away from Connor, bringing me back into reality. "You're starting to piss me off with that coin, Connor."

"Sorry, Lieutenant."

I stare at the numbers above the elevator until it reaches the floor we're going to.

The ninety-seventh floor.

We walk out once the doors slide open, the S.W.A.T. team, FBI, and other investigators are surrounding the hall and are in the actual room where Markus' message took place.

Chris heads over, "Hi, Hank. YN."

"Hey," I greet, as if breathless while I study our surroundings.

"Shit, what's going on here? There was a party and nobody told me about it?" Hank asks.

"Yeah, it's all over the news, so everybody's butting their nose in. Even the FBI wants a piece of the action," Chris replies.

"That's just what we need," I state sarcastically, "the Feds on our backs during our investigation."

"Ah, Christ," Hank mutters. "I knew this was gonna be a shitty day... So what do we got?"

"A group of four androids. They knew the building, and they were very well organized. I'm still trying to figure out how they got this far without being noticed," Chris explains.

I really dodged a bullet by not tagging along.

They were spotted in the cameras, but I doubt that that was even unavoidable.

Two cops are speaking somewhere nearby, and Chris continues, "They attacked two guards in the hallway. They probably thought the androids were coming to do maintenance. They got taken down before they could react."

"Are they hurt or anything?" I inquire, a bit concerned.

If it was up to North, she'd probably have them killed or something.

"No, they're fine," he tells me.

"That's good," I reply quietly, nodding.

Must've been Markus making the decision.

"One of the station employees managed to get away. He's in shock, not sure when we'll be able to talk to him."

"How many people were working here?" Hank questions.

"Just two employees and three androids. The deviants took the humans hostage and broadcast their message live. They made their getaway from the roof."

"The roof?"

"Yeah, they jumped with parachutes. We're still trying to figure out where they landed, but the weather's not helping. If you want to take a look at the video broadcast by the deviants, it's on that screen over there."