Nat's Universe

“What part of ‘stay in the car’ didn’t you understand?”

Hank grumbled,

“Your order contradicted my instructions, Lieutenant.”

I tilted my head slightly at the android. Contradicted his instructions? Who was this guy?

“You don’t talk, you don’t touch anything and you stay outta our way, got it?” “Got it.”

My father stalked off to talk with Ben, leaving me behind with the android. He glanced at me before turning his head towards me,

“You must be Detective (Y/N) Anderson,” I nodded my head.

“I’m Connor, the android sent by Cyberlife. I am to assist you and Lieutenant with your cases.”

The android, that I now know as Connor, explained to me. I again nodded my head and held my hand out, Hank may not be fond of androids, but I didn’t have anything against them. Connor accept the handshake before we made our way to Hank and Ben,

“So… you got yourself an android, huh?”

“Oh, very funny. Just tell me what happened.”

Dad grumbled once again,

“We had a call around eight from the landlord. The tenant hadn't paid his rent for a few months, so he thought he'd drop by, see what was going on... That's when he found the body…” Ben explained as we walked inside.

“Jesus, that smell!”

“Was even worse before we opened the windows... The victim's name's Carlos Ortiz. He has a record for theft and aggravated assault... According to the neighbors, he was kind of a loner... Stayed inside most of the time, they hardly ever saw him.”

“By the state he’s in… wasn’t worth calling everybody out in the middle of the night… Could’ve waited ‘til morning.”

I whined as I blocked my nose from the scent of rotting flesh.

“ I'd say he's been there for a good three weeks. We'll know more when the coroner gets here. There's a kitchen knife over here... Probably the murder weapon…”

I stood a few feet away from the body, I may have been a detective that has worked homicide for five years, but it’s never stopped me from almost passing out to a dead body.

“What do we know about his android?”

Dad asked as he placed a comforting hand on my upper back, something he’s always done since I became his partner. “Not much. The neighbors confirmed he had one, but it wasn't here when we arrived... I gotta get some air. Make yourself at home. I'll be outside if you need me.”

Ben left us standing in the middle of the living room, Dad moved from my side and examined the writing on the wall.

“Each letter is perfect… It’s way too neat, no human writes like this.”

“Hey Chris, was this written in the victim’s blood?”

I asked as Chris, an officer my father and I were close with, walked into the room.

“I would say so… We’re taking samples for analysis.”

I looked around the room, remembering that we had forgotten about Connor. He was crouched down next to a puddle of the victim’s blood, a finger dipped in it and was soon about to be in his mouth.

“Connor? What the hell are you doing?”

I questioned him.

“I’m analyzing the blood. I can check samples in real-time. I’m sorry, I should have warned you…”

I nodded slowly as I squinted my eyes,

“Alright, just... Don’t… put any more evidence in your mouth, you got it?” Hank warned him as he grimaces.

“Got it.”

“Fucking hell, I can’t believe this shit…”

I crouched down next to the deceased body, waving away the few flies that buzzed around my face. My eyes traced over the many stab wounds on his chest and round belly, shaking my head with a sigh. A pair of feet stepped beside me,

“He was stabbed 28 times.”

I nodded.

“Yeah, it seems like the killer had it out for him.”

I stood up and wandered around the small home, taking note of the disturbed furniture and blood-stained walls. I walked down the hallway, leaving the kitchen and peered into the doorway at the end of the hallway, a small bathroom. Slightly ripped shower curtain and flickering lights, I went to pull back the shower curtain but stopped at Connor’s voice calling both myself and Hank.

“Lieutenant. Detective, I think I’ve figured out what happened.”

“Oh yeah? Shoot. We’re all ears.”

I stalked back to them,

“It all started… in the kitchen.”

We stepped into the kitchen, I crossed my arms and listened to the RK800 explain what happened to Carlo about three weeks ago.

“There’s obvious signs of a struggle… The question is, what exactly happened here…”

I stayed quiet as my father and Connor conversed,

“I think the victim attacked the android… with the bat.”

“That lines up with the evidence… Go on.”

Connor continued to go through all the evidence and explained what happened, all the small pieces finish the puzzle if placed in the right order.

“Okay, your theory’s not totally ridiculous... But it doesn’t tell us where the android went.”

I finally spoke up, Connor looked at me and nodded.

“It was damaged by the bat and lost some Thirium..”

“Lost some what?”

Hank looked at him perplexed.

“Thirium. We call it ‘Blue Blood”. It’s the fluid that power’s their biocomponents. It disappears after a few hours and becomes invisible to the naked eye.”

Both Hank and Connor looked surprised at my knowledge of android anatomy and fluids, Hank shook his head and turned to Connor.

“But I bet you can still see it, can’t you?”

“Correct.”

Connor blinked a few before taking his attention before looking for remains of blue blood. Dad once again looked at me, arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

“How’d… How’d you know all of that?”

I shrugged.

“That, my dearest father, is a secret,”

The screech of wood being dragged on wood filled our ears.

“Hey! Hey! Hey! What are you doin’ with that chair?”

Hank raced back to the hallway and I followed, “I’m going to check something.”

Connor dragged the chair to the end of the hallway and stood on it before lifting himself into the attic. He was up there for a few minutes, we could hear the footsteps above us and loud bangs like something had fallen.

“Connor? Everything okay up there?”

I called up to him,

“It’s here, Lieutenant!”

I looked to Dad and he called out,

“Holly shit… Chris, Ben, get your asses in here now!”