Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Chasers: 2075 ❯ Chapter 3

Chasers 2075: Chapter One (Revised)

"Shit," Jen grabbed at the reinforced window, the car bouncing.

Kate smiled slightly, guiding the cruiser around to a vehicle lift. The car slid into place, with a control pad sliding forward under the driver's window. "Level one, District 12," Kate ordered, and with a thump they began to move.

"We're going to Lowtown?" Jen said, feeling nervous.

Kate shrugged slightly, keeping her hands on the wheel. "We go where we're needed," she answered her simply.

Jen nodded as the light dimmed around them as they moved downwards. Streets suspended between towers rose up around them as they fell away from the sunlight and into the eternal twilight that Lowtown lived in. Around them the machinery hummed, lifts carrying vehicles up and down as Jen gazed out the window.

"You been down to Lowtown often?" Kate asked intio the silence.

Jen looked over at her, wondering if there was some hidden agenda behind the question. "I know it reasonably well," she finally said.

"Watch yourself when we're down there," Kate continued as they fell slowly, "bering a police officer is no protection."

Jen felt a flash of memory, a swarming that she had witnessed years ago. The man had been left barely alive, nothing of any value remaining, "I remember."

"Eh?" Kate looked at her with a frown.

"I know," Jen quickly corrected herself.

The cruiser thumped as they hit the ground, the only light around them coming from powerful artificial lamps. Kate slid the cruiser out onto a garbage covered street. She keyed on the headlights and they were off. An update from Beth gave them an exact address, and they soon reached what looked like the crime scene. A standard police cruiser and ambulance sat there, lights shining, the officers looking nervouse as they stood around.

Kate brought the cruiser to a hault and popped the doors. "Come on," she got out, looking over the area cautiously.

The building that they stood by was badly run down, in the poorer section of Lowtown, and was practically an antique at only having the bare minimum of fifty floors. The doors were reinforced, with powerful lights mounted near the enterance to give some feeling of sunlight. Up against the sides of the building litter built up, paper and things Jen really didn't want to identify.

Kate lead the way over to what looked like the officer in charge, "Kate Williams, Special Unit One," she introduced herself crisply, "who found the body?"

"He was the first officer on scene," the seargant nodded to a man sitting by the ambulance.

"Thanks," and Kate strode off towards him, Jen following hesitantly behind her. She quickly assessed the young man, the pallor of the police officer's face and gentled her tone as she asked, "Can you tell me what you saw, please?"

'I didn't think Kate could be that gentle,' Jen thought.

"I was sent out because he hadn't reported for work for three days," he explained, "I called out a greeting, then went down the hall to the inside of the suite."

"What did you find?" Jen prompted softly.

"There was an odd scent in the air, pone that lead me to the bedroom," he sighed. "He was," he hesitated, and repeated "his body was almost broken in half." He flushed as he continued, "His genitals had also been... removed."

"Thanks," Kate gave him a smile before walking over the body, waving away the coroner for a moment. Jen joined her as she flipped up the sheet, examining the body calmly in the dim light.

"Oh," Jen covered her mouth, stepping backward quickly.

"More like ripped off," Kate took note. She looked the body over for a moment, then nodded slightly before sliding the sheet back over him.

"What do you think?" the sergeant asked, the balding older man looked at her anxiously.

"I'm glad you called us in," Kate admitted, "it certainly looks like an android crime. Can we go inside, check the residence out?"

"No problem," he eagerly passed the buck to her.

Kate rolled her eyes at the general cowardice she encountered in the regular police. 'Then again,' she mused, 'it's not like they're equipped to deal with this sort of thing.' The police's weapons were all designed to harmlessly subdue a normal human being, but against an rampaging android they were utterly useless.

Jen noticed Kate heading for the building and the tall blonde hastened to follow. Jennifer Grayson was a new recruit, and Kate wasn't quite sure how she'd turn out. But so far, she was managing. "What next?" Jen asked her quietly.

"We try to get some solid confirmation it was an android crime," Kate answered her quietly, "and look for any information of the brand or type of machine." She smiled grimly, "Finding a serial number would be ideal."

They carefully walked through the rooms, trying not to disturb any evidence. The hall and living room didn't yield anything interesting, so they carefully entered the bedroom itself. The sheets were soaked red where the body once lay, and the room itself was filthy.

"Maybe his house cleaner went bezerk," Jen commented, taking in the layers of filth with an air of distain. It was pretty obvious that housecleaning wasn't a priority to the resident.

Kate snorted softly at that remark, but otherwise she didn't reply. "Well, well," she murmured, "what have we got here?" She activated a holo-unit that was positioned nearby the bed, and an image quickly formed in the air before them.

"Scream," the image of the fat man who now lay out on the stretcher ordered, slapping at the girl. She whimpered softly in pain and he slapped her again, "Scream, damn you!"

"Oh hell," Jen murmured, looking quite ill as she gazed at the life-like scene.

He slapped her again and again as he mounted her, finally beginning pumping away, rattling the seemingly frail body on the bed beneath him. She jerked back and forth in the image, but as he moved to slap her again, she caught his hand in hers.

There was something in her eyes as she looked up at him that obviously seemed to scare the man. He struggled to break free of her grip, but in a few moments the two officers heard a muffled crack. The android rose from the bed, and reached down. There was a soft wet tearing sound, then she cast something aside before walking right out of the room.

Kate stopped the recording, reversing the image and then zooming in. 'I got it,' she smiled, noting a bar-code and series of numbers printed on her leg. She turned. saw how ill Jen now looked and yelled, 'Don't throw up here!' She pointed, 'Bathroom's that way!"

Jen felt deeply humiliated as she stumbled blindly down the hallway towards the bathroom. 'God, how could she watch that so damn calmly?' she thought disbelievingly. She reached the disposal just barely in time, her stomach heaving.

Kate activated her comm, listening to Jen get noisily sick in the bathroom with a wry smile on her face. 'Was I ever that green?' she wondered, even as she connected to headquarters.

"Yes?" the asian face came on the minature screen.

"Hey, you're answering you own calls?" Kate said, sounding honestly surprised.

"My secretary's on her break," Gwen Musashi said dryly in reply. "So what's the situation?" she asked her calmly.

"It's a confirmed android killing," Kate reported, "but we knew that already. There is a visual record backing it up, and I also have it's code, so have Beth fire up the tracking systems." She recited the series number even as Jen walked out of the bathroom.

"We'll have tracking data for you as soon as possible," Gwen said. She paused, and more softly asked, "So how's Jen shaping up?"

"Not bad," Kate answered reluctantly. "We'll get mobile and await tracking information," she continued briskly before signing off. She looked over at Jen, "C'mon, we're moving out."

"We'll leave things in your people's hands, then," the sergeant said with satisfaction. He nodded towards the scene, "Should we seal it off?"

"Until we get the android that did it, yeah," Kate nodded. The recording they found would be saved, and the scene protected until the perp was brought in. As an android, there wasn't likely to be a trial, but if a human accomplice was involved, a trial might be needed.

With that Kate lead Jen over to the cruiser and they were gone. "Thanks for not telling the Chief about my being sick," Jen said softly after a few moments of silence.

"It happens," Kate answered a bit uncomfortably. She pushed her brown hair out of her eyes one-handedly, keeping a firm grip on the wheel with the other. Her jacket bearing the Chasers' unit insignia was the only official police gear she wore, other than that she was dressed in pants and a faded T-shirt. Jen noticed a faded logo on the shirt reading `Pink Floyd'.

"I've been a officer for five years before I requested this transfer," Jen said to her softly, "and I never saw anything like that before." The blonde toyed with her formal jacket, clealy nervous.

"There's worse, believe me,' Kate answered quietly, a bitter twist to her lips. Jen looked over at her in surprise, but the other woman didn't elaborate, just kept focused on the road. They drove on in silence, until finally Jen asked, "What do we do now?"

"Wait for Beth to work her magic," Kate answered dryly.

Back at the office Gwen got up from her desk and popped out the recording of the call. As she headed down the short hall towards Beth's work station, she could hear her talking even before she opened the door, and had to smile at what she heard.

"Sorry, I'm already double-booked on Thursday. How about meeting me next Tuesday for a quickie?" A short pause in the conversation, "Don't get huffy!" The red-head noticed her boss' amused gaze and quickly said, "Sorry, got to go!"

"How many dates have you got going at one time, anyway?" Gwen asked with a smile as she looked Beth over. The pretty redhead was in her typical tight T-shirt and skintight pants, looking like an living advertisement for wild sex.

"Who counts anymore?" she shrugged. Beth looked up at Gwen curiously, "Do you have need of my humble technical skills?" The short, Asian police officer looked like the model for a cool business woman, but a fire glinted in her dark eyes.

"Kate sent us some data on the latest Android killing," Gwen answered, and wasn't surprised at the change in Beth Harris. Her comic posture disappeared, and she became all business. Gwen passed her the recording and Beth extracted the code in seconds.

"A sexaroid model," Beth noted as she ran the android's code through the computer. A sales image appeared, a sexy young woman standing in an inviting way. "I wonder if they're really as good as the stories say they are?" she mused to herself, then she shook her head. "What region is she in?" she then asked, keying in data with blinding speed.

"It," Gwen corrected Beth just a bit frostily. "It's in Lowtown, over in Old Tokyo," she answered her crisply.

There was a soft hum of machinery and a map appeared as the room's larger holographic projection tank descended from the roof mount. A few red dots then appeared on the map, indicating exactly where several sexaroids in the area were.

"Can you narrow things down a bit?" Gwen asked Beth.

The red-head bit her lower lip, "It's a mass produced type, with only a general tracer built in." Beth called up the information Kate sent to them, and a smile appeared on her face, "But there's been some customization done!"

With a few adjustments only two blips appeared, in different parts of the map. "Nice work," Gwen smiled down at Beth before opening up her comm and calling Kate.

Gwen didn't notice the faint blush of pleasure on Beth's as she waited to hear Kate answer. "Yes?" Kate finally replied.

"We've got a track on the rogue sexaroid," Gwen said with a smile.

"So where is it?" Kate asked her eagerly.

"There's a small problem," Gwen said a bit reluctantly, "we've got two matching track signals from that general region."

In the cruiser Jen looked over at the driver seat watching Kate take the call, and wished that she could hear it too. 'I wonder when I'll be the one who's getting the calls?' she thought to herself wryly, and a bit nervously as Kate looked away from the road.

"Where are the two androids located?" Kate asked crisply.

"One's in the local marketplace, the other's stationary in an apartment,' Beth reported before she handed the comm back to Gwen.

"We'll go after the mobile one first," Kate said decisively, "but keep a lock on the apartment one, just in case, all right?"

"Got it," an amused sounding Gwen answered, and Kate realized that she'd been barking orders at her boss. Before she could say anything else, Gwen was gone.

"Plot me a course to the nearest market," Kate barked to Jen.

The blonde scrambled to bring the cruiser's onboard computer on line, frowning slightly as she worked the terminal. "Did somebody lobotomize this damn thing?" she complained, finally calling up the route Kate wanted.

"Yes." Kate grabbed the wheel and firmly twisted it around, pulling off an completely illegal U-turn into the other direction of traffic. They bobbed and swerved wildly, even as Jen gripped the dashboard in a white knuckled grip.

"Hold on," Kate said dryly and bumped the car right up on a sidewalk to evade a blockage. Jen firmly closed her eyes at that point, just hoping they reached their destination intact. Finally, Kate crisply said, "We're here."

The market teemed with people, and mixed in there were a many androids going about their business. People cried out, selling their wares from stalls, fruits and meats laid out ready to be picked. Household servants, android companions and others moved through the mob smoothly.

Kate scanned the crowd, watching the movements cautiously while Jen puled a visor out of her pocket and pulled it on. A glowing overlay of the scene appeared before her eyes, sensors marking all the androids in the crowded street.

"There's too many of them out there," Jen cursed softly, trying to spot the sexaroid in the teeming crowd of people and machines.

Kate smiled to herself slightly, then cupped her hands around her mouth as she shouted, "Police! Nobody move!" The crowd stopped in surprise watching them, but a female figure in the middle of the pack began to try and move away. "Bingo," Kate gave a dangerous smile as she charged into the crowd after her.

"Shit," Jen cursed softly, and scrambled after her running partner. They broke through the mass to see the girl fleeing down a side street. "Stop, police," Jen barked at her. She looked around for Kate, but didn't see her.

The alley was tight and stifling as Jen ran forward, brushing aside dangling pieces of cloth and cables. The android was also slowed down and finally Jen closed the distance to order, "Stop!"

The android turned around, her long black hair flowing around her as she faced her persuer. She met Jen's eyes calmly, looking for something deep within them. She took a half step towards her, and Jen drew her pistol.

"Shut yourself down and surrender," Jen said, trying to keep her voice level while pointing the pistol at her. "There may be some extenuating circumstances," she offered.

There was no warning signs, the android was just suddenly chargiing towards her. Jen pulled the trigger, the recoil jerked her arms up, and the back pf the android's head simply exploded outward as the bullet hit. The body staggered another step, then dropped to the pavement.

"Not bad," Jen heard someone say from right behind her. Kate had her own gun in her hand as she walked up the alley towards her. She shook her head, looking down at the fallen android, "Next time, try to go for the motor control unit in the base of the spine. That way, it's disabled without damaging the central processing unit."

"Where were you?!" Jen demanded, her voice breaking from the adrenalyn pumping through her system.

"Get hung up in the crowd, rookie," Kate shrugged. She knelt down, pulling a clear plastic back from her pocket, using gloved hands to gather any fragments from around the android's head. Then she pulled a larger bag over the android and picked it up, putting it over her shoulders as she remarked, "Not bad for a first time."

They walked quietly together back to the cruiser, Kate laying the android down in the backseat of the cruiser, the two taking their seats in the front. Jen's hands shook slightly, securing herself into place, and she puffed out a small breath.

"The Chasers do this sort of thing often?" Jen managed to ask.

Kate started the cruiser up, pulling out onto the road. "Pretty often," Kate admitted. She looked over at the visibly shaken Jen and said, "It helps to keep in mind they're not human. They may act like it, but they're machines."

Jen just nodded slightly, but didn't say anything in reply. The trip back to the station was mostly silent, both women lost to their own thoughts. It wasn't until they pulled into the garage that Jen spoke up again. "I still can't believe I had to face android all alone," the blonde shook her head mournfully.

"I was there backing you up all the way," Kate said patiently. 'Was I ever as green as this kid?' she wondered, running a hand through her short brown hair, trying to reign in her temper before she said something rude.

"But what if she had... !" Jen started to protest.

Kate snapped, "I need to know if you can hack this job, Jen! I'm not going to be out there to back you up most of the time." Her expression was grave as she pulled the android out of the back seat, "I don't want to have to bury anymore fellow officers."

Jen gaped after her in surprise as the older policewoman strode away, carrying the android inside the station.

* * * *

Not long afterward Gwen Musashi nodded to the pathologist even as she walked into the morgue. "What have you got for me?" she asked Dr. Richard Davis coolly.

"Ran standard tests on the cyberbrain and on the physical body," Dr. Davis reported. He frowned, "What's left of the brain, anyway. Would you please ask your cowboys not to go for the head shots, please?"

"The rookie," Gwen shrugged at him helplessly. The Asian young woman looked over at him impatiently, waiting for his report.

Dr. Davis flipped open his notes, scratching slightly at his short, beard. "Sexaroid, modified for realistic pain response," he said disdainfully, "her body shows signs of long term abuse, especially in the cloned skin."

"And the brain?" Gwen asked.

"We can't be entirely certain because of all the damage that was done," he said, looking up at her over his glasses, "but I couldn't find any obvious traces of logic-failure in my examination. She may have been a free-will."

Gwen actually looked a bit startled at that bit of news, "But the free willed androids don't kill people, normally."

"Normally, no," Dr. Davis agreed with her. He looked down at the body even as he said, "I don't envy you handling this one."

* * * *

Kate put as much distance as she could between herself and Jen. She really didn't want to continue this debate right now, and she needed to check in with the boss, too. The halls were well lit, but still looked dark and foreboding in their wing of the police station.

Kate knocked on the unmarked door at the end of the corridor and pushed it open as she heard a shouted, "Come in!"

Gwen was bent over her desk, studying two separate screens with a frown on her face. Normally, the Asian woman was rather difficult to read, so Kate figured something must be wrong. In her most perky tones Kate asked, "You wanted to see me?"

Gwen shot her a glare. "Why a head shot?" she complained. "It makes a study of the body almost completely useless," she griped.

"The rookie did pretty good, considering the sexaroid charged her," Kate said with a shrug. She grabbed one of the chairs in front of the desk and sat down, leaning in towards Gwen. "Now, what's really wrong?" she asked pointedly.

Gwen leaned back, rubbing tiredly at her eyes. She looked to be short on sleep again, but Gwen always seemed to be spreading herself thin. Considered to be the authority on android crime, she was called in by a lot of other units, as well as handling all her duties here.

"With all the damage," Gwen sighed, "we can't be sure. But it looks like the killer was a free willed robot."

"No way," Kate said firmly. "Free wills slip out of peoples houses and go underground," she frowned, "they don't kill people." She paused, "At least, they never have before." Kate looked visibly disturbed by the very idea.

"The news-feeds will certainly get a hold of this," Gwen said softly, "and then the firestorm's going to start up." The dark hared woman got up from her desk, walking over to look out into the shadows of morning. The sun wouldn't get by the buildings to be visible there for hours, yet. "The politicians have never liked having the free wills out there to start with, and this will give them the perfect reason to force the police to go after them. Namely, us," Gwen concluded.

"It's not that bad of an idea," Kate said dryly. "I wouldn't mind trying to bring in those rogue androids," she continued, even under Gwen's troubled gaze.

`I knew she didn't like androids,' Gwen thought, `but I didn't know it was quite that bad.' She hid a sigh, "The free wills haven't committed any crimes. At best, they're wayward pieces of property, running loose."

Kate snorted softly, but otherwise didn't argue. "Here's my report," she said, putting her data pad on the table.

Gwen looked up and noticed that Kate's eyes looked a bit unfocused. "How long have you been on duty?" she asked her crisply.

"What time is it?" Kate asked, and looked just a bit surprised at the answer. "All right, what day, then?" she followed up.

"Go home and get some rest," Gwen sighed. Kate was about to protest but she added firmly, "I'm sure I, Beth, and Jen can handle anything that comes up. Now I'm ordering you to go home and catch up on your sleep."

* * * *

Jen tentatively entered the Chasers' computer room, watching Beth working away at her desk. She had several screens displaying data for her, while she was playing a game on the other one. She was typing a report furiously on one screen, reading data off another, all the while keeping her game going on the last screen.

"Whoo- hoo!" Beth suddenly burst out, as the words `You Win!' appeared on the center game screen. She cleared it, even as she started another one.

"Do you do that all the time?" Jen asked her curiously, looking around her curiously.

"Pretty much," Beth smiled up at the pretty blonde. Her breasts were barely contained by her T-shirt, and she was presenting quite a view to her colleague. "How's the cannon I gave you working out?" she asked her curiously.

"Pretty good," Jen smiled, then she reached up to rub her shoulder as she admitted, "it's got quite a strong kick, though.

"Sorry, it's got to be powerful to penetrate an android's body," Beth shrugged. She looked up at Jen, grinning, "You did that headshot, didn't you?"

"I know, I know," Jen sighed, "I got that lecture from Kate, too." She paused, "Is Kate always that fierce with people?"

"No, not really," Beth said quietly. She debated a moment about passing on a bit of the office gossip, then decided to go for it. "Give her some time. I've heard her last partner, Lynn, was killed by a android," she said quietly.

"That explains what she said," Jen said softly. She looked over at Beth thoughtfully. "So let me get this right," she asked, "the androids go rogue because they can learn?"

"Sorta," Beth said with a little nod. "The android's best selling feature, other than the human interaction, is that they can learn about their owner's likes and dislikes," she explained. "But human beings are basically pretty messed-up creatures, and in about ten percent of the robots, they can't deal with it," she said.

"So they crack up," Jen said softly. "But what about the free wills?"

"No one's entirely sure what really causes that, but somehow the android develops individual thoughts of it's very own," Beth said seriously. "Enough of that," she declared, suddenly producing a bag of snacks from beneath her workstation and passing it over to Jen. "Help me monitor the system, and we'll dish some dirt," she grinned up at her.

"I'm too new here to know any dirt," Jen said with a mournful sigh. She munched on a handful of snacks, then looked over at Beth and said with a smile, "But I bet you've got some good stuff on everyone."

"Not too much," Beth said with a chuckle. "Kate seems determined to be single, and the boss hasn't had a girlfriend in months," she said.

"Girlfriend?" Jen echoed, clearly surprised.

"What, it hasn't made it down the police grapevine yet?" Beth said, chuckling. She took a breath, straining her little shirt, then laughed quietly . "Personally. I'm hoping to bet a promotion on my back," the grining Beth said.

Gwen paused in the doorway, just a bit surprised. 'I thought I was being fairly secretive about my private life, but obviously not,' she thought. She backed up a bit and made sure to step loudly as she made her way back up the hall.

Entering the room she saw all the snack foods were gone, and Beth bent over a terminal, working fiercely. Jen sat nearby, typing up a report on another station. "At ease," Gwen smiled. "Kate's gone home for the night," she said, "and I expect things will be slow tonight. Buzz me if something comes up." And with that, she was gone.

* * * *

After locking up her car, Kate walked across the parkade, knowing just what was waiting for her. She cringed a bit as she entered the lift, waiting for it to happen.

"What floor would you like, Mrs. Williams?" the elevator's A. I. asked her chirpily.

"Shut up," Kate growled, and gave it her level number. The elevator was thankfully silent as they ascended.

"Have a nice day!" the elevator said sweetly as she left. Kate just grumbled in reply.

Kate fumbled at the door for a few moments, then stumbled inside. She slammed the door shut behind her, and sighed softly at the blessed silence. No electronic voices at all disturbed her here in her sanctuary.

The set of rooms was midway up the tower, away from the darkness of the lower levels but not in the bright sunlight afforded the upperclasses as well. 'There's probably a significant metaphor in there somewhere,' Kate mused, 'but I'm too tired to figure it out.'

A smile tugged at Kate's lips as she opened up the battered refrigerator. The front still showed the pliers marks from when Kate had forced out the AI monochips but she hadn't really had a choice. There was only so much cheerfulness a person could take from a piece of machinery. She pulled a food pack out and headed for her antique microwave.

Kate headed to her bedroom while it was heating up, pulling her clothes off and stumbling into the cleanser. The sonics rattled her teeth, but she left feeling clean for the first time in days. A robe was thrown on and she went out to grab her dinner.

"Ow!" Kate carefully juggled the hot container of food over to her favorite chair and flopped down. She scrolled through the holo-signals while she ate, catching a bit of the news and a few of the music stations as well.

Kate could feel her eyelids begin to drop and she lay back in her chair. `Just a bit of a nap,' she thought, letting them close, `then I'll go to bed.' A few moments later, and she was snoring away.