Connor opened his eyes after having done his report, and saw the car had gone dark. Adjusting his vision a bit, he looked outside to the light of the now setting sun. Its once bright yellow rays now becoming a mix of orange, and the clouds becoming a light pink. The buildings had gone from tall skyscrapers to abondonded factories. Bustling streets, now a ghost town. After having taken this in, he looked for Hank. He was leaning on the hood of the car with his head slightly tilted back and his eyes shut. He stared at Hank, curious of the mans behavior. A screne expression had replaced the usually hardened exterior. Connor waited for any kind of movement to signal he had come out of, what Hank called, the zone, and waited in the car. After a couple minutes had past, with no movement from Hank, Connor decided to see what was going on and exited the car. Quietly closing the door behind him, he stood at the oppsite side with his hands behind his back. But Hank didn't move from his position. In fact, he didn't even seem to register Connor leaving the car.

"Lieutenant?"

He had asked with a calm, quiet voice so as not to startle him. But he got no response. Hank just stayed put with his eyes closed.

"Lieutenant, are you ok?"

He watched as Hank took a deep breath in before speaking.

"Do you hear that Connor?"

Connor listened for what Hank could be referring to. Maybe a dog barking, or people talking, but there was nothing. The air all around them was still, adn as Connor looked around, a realization struck him. Hank was the only human in sight, and Connor was the only android in sight.

"I don't hear anything."

Perhaps he was missing something?

"Exactly. It's quiet. We're away from the city. It's noise, it's people, it's problems. And what are we left with?"

He stood up off the car and looked over to Connor, a small smile on his face.

"Peace. Nothing around to cause a disturbance. The quiet that puts everything at ease. Ya know?"

Connor looked away from Hank to think about what he said. When he was in the garden, and nothing could touch him, was that peace? The tranquility from the world? Is that the feeling Hank was referring to?

No. He was a machine who couldn't feel. Peace wasn't something he could ever experiance.

"No. I do not know the feeling."

He turned back to Hank and saw that the hardened expression had returned after he answered.

"Right, well that's my moment of insight for the week. We had better get on with our jobs before we both get fired. Give me the run down of the case again."

Now that was something Connor could do.

"The caller said she saw the deviants running after something, then entered one of these buildings."

Their options were an abandoned warehouse, or a three story, abandoned, apartment building. Who would ever want to live there was beyond both of them though. There was nothing around for miles except old factories.

"Alright, lets go check the warehouse."

"Actually, the apartment building would be the better place to look first. It would provide more cover and shelter than the warehouse. More rooms to hide in rather than one open space."

"Whatever you say Connor."

They made their way into the apartment building, going through the lobby floor. The old gray paint peeling from the walls in strips, wet mold stains spread across the ceiling and potted plants, long dead, sat in the corners of the room. There was a bathroom with broken tiles and cockroach infested drain. Hank quickly closed the door upon seeing their size. In the same short hall, there was an office room. When trying the electricty, the bulb flickered on, then promptly exploded causing glass to scatter across both of them.

"Ah fucking hell! Are you even getting anything from all this?"

"We cannot stop the invstigation now. If the deviants were here, there might be a clue as to what they were doing or where they went."

"Fine. Let's just get this all over with before dark."

Hank left the room in one of his usual huffs, leaving Connor to stand alone and scan the room. Once the scan was complete, he left the room to find Hank standing by the stairs.

"Figured these were safer than the elevator."

One quick glance at the elevator told Cnnor the thing was a death trap. The doors had somehow managed to angle themselves and unlike the light in the office, this one in the elevator kept flickering. If Connor could feel emotions, he might be unnerved. But he's not a deviant or a human, and therefore, could not be unnerved.

"It would appear they are."

As it turns out, the stairs were just as bad. Large water spots covered the ceiling of the stairwell and Connor couldn't help but wonder the condition of the stairs beneath them. The first set of stairs were just fine, but as Hank and Connor rounded the corner, the floor opened up and crumbled under Hanks feet.

"Shit!"

Connors hands moved at lightning speed to catch Hank before he fell through the gaping hole below him.

"God we're going to get ourselves killed before we even reach the first floor!"

Connor steadily pulled Hank back onto the part of the stairs that hadn't crumbled away yet, and scanned the rest of the stairs for more weak spots.

"Perhaps I should go first. I am able to scan the structural integrity of the stairs."

"You couldn't have told me that before we started walking up these things."

Connor just held a blank stare at Hank, who was glaring at him.

"Whatever. Let's just keep moving."

With a quick nod, Connor began the way up the stairs again

The second floor wasn't much different from the first. Peeling walls, old furniture. Each room had an old rotting bed with the occasional gray mouse to be seen. While Hank checked out the next room, Connor was left to check the bathrooms. Something about Hank having seen rat sized cockroaches in the first bathroom and not wanting to see more. Some of the furniture was out of place sure. Like tables overturned or chairs broken. But after a quick scan, everything was shown to have been that way for months. Only one more floor to go and they still hadn't found a thing.

"Maybe the deviants really went in the warehouse."

Finishing up the second floor, the two of them found themselves back at the stairs once more.

"Third floors the charm."

That wasn't right.

"I believe the correct saying is, 'Third times the charm' Lieutenant."

"Ya I know what the saying is. We're just going to the third floor...and ya know... Nevermind."

They made their way up the next two levels of stairs. Connor leading and avoiding the spots with extreme wood rot. Finally, they made it to the door leading into the hall, but something seemed off to Connor. His hand hand was hovering over the nob as Hank spoke up.

"What is it Connor?"

"I don't know. Something just doesn't seem right."

"Well, that's what we're here for. Open it up."

Connor looked back at Hank who readied his gun. Connor thrust opened the door and the two rushed in. Hank was in front of Connor in under a second sweeping the hall. Unlike before though, every door in the hall was open and the contents of the rooms were scattered throughout. Connor took in everything in around him. To Hank, it appeared like the place was ransacked. But to Connor, the puddles of blue blood said another thing. "An android was injured. But by what?" Two sets of footprints walked away from the spot and Connor followed them to the end of the hall. Looking up, there was a window and a fire escape.

"Shit."

"You find something Connor?"

Hank came out of the last room after having done a sweep for the deviants.

"Yes. There are traces of Thirium on the floor leading from the door, to the fire escape."

He pointed to the window at the end of the hall.

"Think they escaped out the window?"

"That seems to be the most likely option."

"I've swept the rooms. No deviants anywhere. Everythings ripped apart though. Looks like they were searching for something up here. But what for beats me. Nothing is here that would be worth anything to them."

The two stood there in the hall for a moment. Connor was going over everything they had gathered since entering the building. On previous floors, nothing was out of place. But here on the third floor, the deviants left nothing unturned.

"I'm going back downstairs to my car. I need a break from the smell of rotting wood. Come out when you finish whatever it is you need to do."

Connor watched as Hank walked down the hall and to the stairs. Once he left, he took to the first room. Making sure to scan every piece of evidence, he moved to the next room. This process continued on for the next few rooms. Everything was ripped to shreds or torn apart. The shower curtains torn from their racks, cupboard doors ripped off their hinges, the island drawers pulled out, showing nothing but empty slots for silverware. But nothing appeared to be taken or missing. He was able to revert everything back to its place and noted that if everything was together, the rooms were no different from the first two floors. So making his way to the last room on the floor, he wasn't surprised that it was the same thing over again.

Finally finishing his sweep of everything, Connor left the last apartment and made his way back to the stairs. He was only halfway down the hall when he heard it. It wasn't much but it was there. The sound of something sliding across what he could only assume was the floor. Stopping in his tracks, he turned around and headed towards the sound. It was coming from the room he was just in. He entered once more and moved stealithly around the room. As he rounded a corner to the kitchen area though, the floor beneath him let out a groan, giving away his position. He expected a deviant to come running out at him. But instead, nothing happened. Whatever was causing the sound had stopped upon hearing the floor creak. Figuring it was too late to get the upper hand now, he called out to whoever was making the noise.

"I know you're there! Make this easier on yourself and come out!"

Silence. His ears were met with an still silence. He slowly walked foreward again and changed his tone.

"I am unarmed. I'm not going to hurt you."

As he scanned the kitchen once more. This time though, there was something different. The drawers to the island had been pushed back in. The side to it was also slightly cracked open.

"It makes a box. Perfect hiding place if you didn't know to look."

Scanning the side, he saw small fingerprints that would have pulled the side panel shut again.

"Human? They heard me and got spooked. They didn't finish closing the side panel."

Connor made his way slowly to the kitchen island. How had he missed this before? He thought his scan was 100% complete. After a few more steps, he stood in front of the panel. Connor remained silent as he knelt down to the ground. And ever so slowly brought his hand up to move the panel away. As he did so, he began to hear something almost inaudible.

Breathing.

His fingers curled over the small crack as his palm laid against the outside. Steadily, he slid the panel away. Of everything that was possible, Connor expected this the least.