CHAPTER TEN: SUIT & TIE

She smiles at him in a flirtatious way, leaning over the podium in an especially suggestive manner. "You have a reservation?" She asks, batting her overly-extended lashes at him.

"I do," Connor responds, a bit uncomfortable.

"Are you... waiting for someone?" The hostess says, peering over the android's shoulder.

"I'm meeting someone here, actually."

The human girl nods, "Do you want to wait for them, or sit now?"

"They actually called and said they were already here," Connor says.

"Do you know what name they put the reservation under?" The hostess asks, looking down at a piece of paper.

"I think it was BD," Connor answers, even though he's knows for sure.

"They just put their initials down?" The girl raises an eyebrow, but scans the list anyways. "Uh... yes! They should be here." The hostess gets a menu and leads Connor to a table near the back of the restaurant.

"Enjoy your meal," she says, setting the menu down and winking at Connor as she makes her way back to the front of the restaurant.

The android is partly amused and partly repulsed. He even partially regrets taking his LED off and swapping his Cyberlife uniform for a proper outfit.

"You're late," BD comments, smirking suggestively in the general direction of the hostess.

"Heavy traffic," Connor responds, not missing a beat. "Why'd you choose this place, anyhow? It's so..."

"Over-the-top?" BD supplies. "Yeah, I know. I wanted to make sure we met in a... secure setting—away from prying eyes and ears."

BD is a skinny guy with shortly cropped black hair and beady gray eyes. His white button-down seems too big for his slender frame, and he seems wildly out of place in the extravagant restaurant.

"So you got the information, then?" Connor prompts.

BD nods and slides a single piece of paper across the table. "Full name, birth date, latest residency, current job—I got it all."

Connor folds the paper over once and puts it inside of his suit jacket pocket. "Thank you," he says in a professional way. "It's taken me... far too long to obtain this information."

BD nods, "It was actually fairly simple to obtain." He narrows his eyes at the android, "Although, I do have to ask, why do you want to get involved with something like... this?" He leans in and whispers conspiratorially, "She's on the run from Cyberlife, man. If they ever catch up with her..." he trails off pointedly. "You gotta be careful around those guys," he says, leaning back in his seat. "Ever since that whole android mess, they've been out for blood."

"I've been hearing that quite a bit as of late," Connor replies neutrally.

BD nods in agreement, then clears his throat and says, "So, now that you've gotten what you've came here for, I suspect you have something for me?"

"Yes, of course." Connor reaches into his jacket pocket once again and pulls out a small vial of liquid. "Your pay."

The man reaches across the table and grabs the vial hastily. "Quite hard to come across these days," he says, eyeing the liquid closely. "Gettin' replaced by Red Ice."

"It was quite difficult for me to obtain," Connor agrees. "Took me a few days, actually."

BD gives the vial one last look before pocketing it. "It's been nice doing business with you," he says, standing up. "I hope you... succeed in whatever your goal here is."

The android stands and gives a professional smile. "I hope so, too."

BD offers a hand, but Connor not-so-politely declines the handshake. He can't take any chance of the man finding out that he's not human.

Connor waits for the man to exit the restaurant first, then follows him out a few minutes later. The flirty hostess winks at him again, but he wastes no time in following BD out of the restaurant and down the street.

It's past dusk, and there aren't very many people out on the streets. Mid-August in Detroit proves to be rather warm, even at nighttime, and it seems that most humans have opted to be the heat in air-conditioned businesses, or go elsewhere.

Connor follows BD for a couple blocks, all the way to the park, actually. He originally wasn't going to go through all this trouble to get information on Abigail, but time was running out. He was given a month to accomplish his mission, but now he only had two and a half weeks. Some risks just had to be taken.

Before Connor met the man at the restaurant, he created a vial of poison and disguised it as the payment BD requested. He thought he was getting some extra-powerful super-drug, when in reality he was getting a dangerously high dosage of flu medicine.

It wasn't the best idea, but Connor's resources were limited at the time he decided to go through with the plan.

The android watches from afar as BD sits down on a park bench. He looks around a bit before pulling the vial out of his pocket and examining it some more. Connor is only looking at him from the back, but he can see enough to know when the man tilts his head back and downs the contents of the vial.

Perhaps Connor should feel at least a little guilty about poisoning a man, but then he supposes that it really shouldn't matter to him at all. He was told to do anything necessary to accomplish his mission, even kill. This was necessary, wasn't it?

Connor edges closer as he notices the man start to fall forward. He doesn't want the human to make a scene in public. As he calmly walks up to the dying man, he notes how desperate his breaths become. How his veins bulge out a bit and his face turns a violent shade of purple. The android finds it a rather curious situation; he's never quite seen a human die like this.

He prefers quicker deaths, if he's being honest with himself. A single bullet to the head, if possible. He was a machine, not a murderer. He killed only out of necessity, not because he enjoyed it. Right?

"Help..." the man rasps out, clawing at the throat uselessly. "Please... please get help..."

Connor stands there, still as a statue. He finds the situation fascinating and horrifying at the same time. Humans, such fragile creatures.

"You... you..." the man looks up at the android, his eyes bloodshot. "You... tricked me!" He hisses as angrily as he can manage.

Connor wishes the man would just die already. This was becoming boring and a bit pitiful. "I only want to complete my mission," he responds innocently.

The man struggles against the poison, and tries to lunge at Connor. The android easily knocks the man backwards, sending him to the ground.

"You... you're one of them, aren't you?" The man gasps out, now weighing on the ground. "You're a fucking android."

Connor wishes he still had his gun so he could end this man's rambling. He needs to find Abigail.

"You're gonna pay for this," the man seethes. "You're gonna... you're gonna..." he trails off in splutter of coughs.

Connor begins to walk away, seeing that the man doesn't have much time left, anyways.

"Go to hell!" The man call out weakly. "The lot of you should be destroyed! You should all have to face justice for your actions!"

Connor turns around, a retort on his tongue. He's actually quite disappointed to see the man's finally died. Oh well, at least that's over with.

He decides to take the long way out of the park, enjoying the peaceful nighttime. Connor straightens his tie, a habit he can't quite place when he picked up, and briefly considers the dead man's last words.

Androids didn't really die. They usually just got deactivated for one reason or another. They weren't human, after all.

And even if they did die, why would there be any kind of Afterlife for them? They had no souls. No spirits that lingered after death.

They were just... gone.

I will not go to hell, Connor thinks. But only because I will not go anywhere after death.

Because if androids did have an Afterlife, Connor's certain he wouldn't be going to a good place. Not after his recent actions, anyways.

Hm. Maybe there was something to that man's words after all.