The Simple Truth || @judas

[Merrick Rhodes]

f o l l ow    m e    i n t o    t h e    d a r k

”How much do you want for it?” The man in front of Merrick looked the picture of suspicion, dressed in dark clothes and glancing around the office as if someone was about to burst out and arrest him at any given time. Merrick wished he would calm down a bit. This was a simple trade off, something Merrick had done probably hundreds of times by now. It was practically routine. “Two hundred,” he said, leaning back to perch on his desk. The man’s eyes widened, but he nodded and rustled through the pocket of his jacket, withdrawing a stack of bills. The pair made the exchange, the money for a slip of paper. The paper was an official Cyberlife form authorizing shipments to and from their many factories. Easy to come by in Merrick’s line of work. “Just show this to the worker at the docks and you’ll get your Thirium in no time,” he told the man, who looked anxious to get away from the factory as quick as possible. First timer, no doubt about it.

Merrick waved the man out of his office and sat at his desk, pulling out a small notebook. He jotted down the figures, running is finger down a column of numbers and adding in his head. All right, he was good. Cyberlife was a large company and shipments were a bit short all the time. As long as he kept track of what he took and didn’t slip too much blue blood off the top, no one would catch on. “Mr. Rhodes!” He looked up at the sound of his name and stuffed the notebook back in his desk, standing and looking out over the factory floor from his window. He could see one of the floor workers waving to get his attention.

Merrick straightened his blazer as he descended the stairs, the whirring of machinery and voices of the engineers hitting his ears. “Yes, what is it now?” he asked, impatient. He wasn’t one who could usually be bothered for in-person management. He was far too busy with his own business and he usually preferred to delegate. The employee looked sheepish before replying. “They came back again.” The woman led Merrick outside, where the front face of the building was dripping with fresh paint. The graffiti showed a sort of modified peace symbol that had been popping up around Detroit here and there. In some cases, it had been associated with deviant androids, and Cyberlife locations were more and more frequently the targets. Merrick’s factory had been hit before, and he still hadn’t been able to figure out how the deviants were getting through security. “Don’t worry, I already called the police. They should be able to put a stop to this,” The woman said in a tone that was likely meant to be reassuring, though it was anything but to Merrick.

He whipped around towards her. “Why would you do that?” He burst out, as the employee flinched before him. He tried to regain his composure, brushing some non-existent wrinkles out of his blazer. “It’s just that this isn’t something we want to draw attention to. Cyberlife doesn’t need the bad press, and I’m sure we can handle it in-house." The woman nodded slowly, getting ready to ask what she should do next before the sound of a car pulling up to the factory stopped her. The gravel crunched under the tires as the car slowed to a halt. This is the last thing I need, Merrick thought to himself as he prepared to face whoever the Detroit PD had sent out to investigate.

Judas

coded by Taki of Adox

[Judas]

This last week had been abnormal at best. He was working alone. On its own that fact was of little note to Judas. Plenty of times he had been on patrol solo. But over a week after his rebuild and he had expected to have a new partner already. Sure the departments hesitation to put another person with him was justified after how the last partnership had ended. A year together and Judas should have predicted the outcome, the grumpy human had declared nearly every day that he would find a way to get out of this “android babysitting” job. Judas had not exactly expected follow through, or that it would result in his incapacitation and irreparable damage. It was a costly event for the department, and frustrating for Judas who was well aware of the time it left him out of commission and unable to do his job. He didn't expect it to last much longer though, there were always reasons to partner him up. Acclimating a new android, normal reorganization, and the occasional attempts to use Judas to catch a corrupt cop, he was surprised that they hadn't placed anyone with him yet.

Which made it all the more interesting when he was tasked to respond to a vandalism call at the factory. He hadn't expected to be back at the factory any time soon unless for further repair. Vandalism might not have been the most severe of crimes, nobody was hurt, but crime was crime. With the importance of Cyberlife especially, Judas had been sent as one of the closest officers. Prompt response times were of great necessity when trying to maintain relations. Even Judas had an understanding of that fact.

The white haired android got through the property's security with minimal hassle. Not that there wasn't security, which begged the question of how the vandals got inside the property to begin with. In a uniform and police vehicle he couldn't avoid questioning. He supposed whoever had called might have more information on the matter. And potentially on why their security was not cleaning up this mess themselves as they always seemed so determined to do unless they sought to make a point. There were two figures already outside as he pulled up. Judas exited the vehicle without delay once it was shut off, not believing in wasting time like his previous partner had. The human had some misguided belief that there was no urgency to handling crimes which he classified as “silly” or “harmless”. It had required Judas to correct this lazy and sluggish behavior often. Perhaps the “nagging” was why the android had received a few close range bullets through him thanks to that man.

His blue gaze landed almost immediately on the offending graffiti. Hardly had time to dry it seemed, which was good in a couple ways he could think of. For the moment he filed away considerations on the meaning of the image despite having an instant recollection of its recorded and speculative meanings. Judas approached the two figures, the male he instantly registered as the facility's authority. If not for his access to records but also his manner of dress.

”Good afternoon, sir.” Judas greeted with professional pleasantry as he approached, he saw no reason to act otherwise, even in front of Cyberlife employees who would have accepted the most basic of android behavior no doubt. ”You contacted us regarding vandalism?” He clarified although his gaze shifted for a second to the graffiti as he knew exactly what the call had been placed for.