Thirium 310

Chapter 10

November 6, 2038
8:14 pm

"I'm heading out," I say as I drop the bags on the ground. "Josh you got this?"
"All good," he says. I nod and start to head out.
"Where is she going?" I hear Markus ask Josh.
"I don't know, she goes out and helps androids. . .she's always out," Josh says. True.

As I head to the exit a hand grabs ahold of my shoulder and I stop to look back to who it belongs to. "I want to come," North tells me.
"North I don't think it's a good idea," I say.
"I don't care, I want to come, so I'm going."
"North," I hesitate. "I'm going to the Eden Club. . ."
"What? Why?"
"I uh, saw on the news that there was a dead Traci, I wanted to see if there was anything for me to do or see," I say carefully, not wanting her to know about how I actually found out about the case. She considers for a moment then looks me in the eye.
"I know that place better than anyone and there are probably cops and detectives surrounding the place. I can get us in and out. We won't get caught." That's actually a good idea. She knows the ins and outs of that place, knows the androids, the people.
"Alright, let's go."

It didn't take long to get here using the sewers, just a few minutes. The bright purple lights of the Eden Club light up the street, as well as the flashing police car lights. "Follow me, we'll get through the back," North says. I follow her as we keep to the shadows and head towards an alley. North walks in but I see something that makes me stop and stare. Leaning against one of the detective cars, Gavin Reed. He's looking down on his phone, possibly waiting for someone. Humans aren't all bad. They have flaws, tons of them but they're good. Gavin never reported me, I would have received it. I wonder why. Just then, officer Miller walks out of the building towards Gavin. "Celeste," North calls. "What are you doing?" I look back at her.
"Got distracted, let's go." I look back at Gavin one last time and follow North.

"No one's really ever in the warehouse, at least not at this hour, so our best bet is at the back of the club," she says.
"Okay." We climb the fence that encloses the building, the garage doors are open and as we jump down, two figures emerge from the door inside. "Hide!" We run behind a dumpster situated beside the wall. I already saw who it is, quickly scanned them, plus I would have guessed nonetheless; Hank and Connor.

North takes a peek. "Detectives. Great. . .wait, is that an android?" she asks.
"Yeah. That's Connor." What a pest.
"Connor, Connor, Connor. Why does that ring a bell?"
"The deviant hunter."
She widens her eyes. "That's him?" I nod. "Well if they're back here, they must have found something. Another Traci must have been involved with this case."
"Yeah, exactly what I was thinking. But we can't do anything yet. They might miss it or there may not be anything here. We'll wait until they leave before we reveal ourselves," I say.
"Sounds like a plan."

We wait a few moments, watching them look around the warehouse. At one point they each stand at the edge of the room looking out to where we are. We press our back against the dumpster to hide ourselves, which is the most logical thing to keep doing, but I have to know what they're seeing.

Connor examines a group of androids as Hank leans against the wall. Pfft. Leave all the work to the android. I turn my attention to the sudden commotion coming from Connor's area; a blue haired Traci is attacking him. They found her.

"North, she's there. She needs our help." I looks back at the scene and Hank is running to the two fighting androids but is jumped by another, a brown haired Traci. "Come on." I signal North to follow me as we get out of our hiding spot just as the quarrellers make their way outside.

I run to Connor and push him away from the blue haired Traci. "Get over the fence," I tell her. She looks at me skeptically. I pull out the necklace from under my shirt showing her. She looks at it and recognizes it instantly.
"You're the-" she starts but I cut her off.
"No time to talk. Just get out of here." She nods and makes her way to the fence. Connor gets up and comes towards me. I dodge him and he slams into the wall. I see how North is doing with the brown haired Traci. North rips the Traci out of Hank's grasp as he falls onto his back, his gun falling out of his holster. North starts kicking him and I run to her.

"Stop," I pull her away from him. She looks me in the eye, anger and disappointment swirl in her orbs. "They're fine now, let's go." She runs towards the Traci's as I offer my hand to Hank who takes it. "Are you okay?"
"Uh. . .yeah, yeah. I'm. . .just. . .fine. . ." he stares at me questionably. I brush it off and leave him, making my way to the androids, but as they start climbing the fence, Connor aims Hanks gun at them.

"No!" I run right in front of him. In front of the gun. His gaze moves to meet mine. "Don't do this."
"Get out of the way. I won't hesitate to shoot if you don't comply," he says.
"Wouldn't you have shot me already if you wanted to?"
He arches his eyebrow. "I'd rather take you alive."
"Is that so?" He looks behind me and changes his aim. I follow, using myself as a shield.
"Celeste, what are you doing?" North asks me from a distance. I cringe. She used my name.
"So that's your name," he says. I look behind me quickly; the Traci's and North are on the other side of the fence.
"You don't have to do this Connor. Just put the gun down."
"I can't."
"You can." He looks me in the eye as I slowly walk back, to the fence. He still has the gun trained on me, but he doesn't shoot. We stare at each other for a brief moment until one of the Traci's speak up.
"When that man broke the other Traci, I knew I was next. I was so scared. . ." Her words bounce off the alley walls, captivating us all to listen. She proceeds to explain that she blocked his airway. She didn't mean to kill the man, but wanted to stay alive. A common pattern. The androids are defending themselves, even if it means killing a human in the process. As I listen to her I stare at Connor. Slowly, he lowers the gun as he processes her words. "Please, just let us go."

I keep walking back as Connor stares just past me, at the Traci. Now's my chance. Quickly, I climb the fence and jump over it as a gunshot echoes. My feet hit the ground and I analyze my wound, nothing critically damaged. I'm okay. The Traci's and North run down the alleyway, but I turn towards Connor. "You missed. I mean, you hit me but nothing critical."
"I know," he says. "I didn't mean to shoot I-I'm. . . I wasn't paying attention. Your movements startled me." I pull my shirt up a little and look at my wound. I know it's okay to take my eyes off Connor because he dropped his gun. I watch as blue blood drips down my artificial skin.
"You put the gun down. I thought you said you couldn't," I say and run down the alley towards the girls. Maybe Connor isn't as much of a threat as I thought.