Chapter 19, Betrayal

Chapter 19: Betrayal.

Another cold grey Friday morning and another bank robbery is taking place again. Robberies in Old Detroit usually increase by the end of the week, sometimes; unemployed people that have given up on finding a decent way of living and that are desperate to get money for the weekend go out to perpetrate crimes.

Two suspects, a male and a female wearing clown masks know that their attempt to rob the Omega bank that is located in Zone 4 has been frustrated as the cops seem to be surrounding the building. The female robber takes one of the employees, an elder lady as a hostage, as a desperate resource to be able to escape from the police.

The female robber walks outside the building whilst dragging the hostage with her “She will kill the old bitch, she will!” That is what the male robber tells the police as he is still holding the bags with money in one hand and pointing at the police with a machine gun.

“We can’t let that. You are under arrest, surrender your weapons…or there will be trouble” That is what RoboCop tells both suspects aiming his own gun at them. Lewis is next to her cruiser protecting herself behind the pilot’s car door she had opened in advance.

Estevez and Smiths’ unit is also there, they are backing up Robo and Lewis and the three police officers that are also pointing their weapons at the suspects are in expectation waiting for Robo to make the first move.

“Shoot at the damn robot, shoot him, shoot him in the mouth!!” The female robber nervously orders her partner that is scared to see that it is a fearless machine the one that will probably kill them now. The male robber hesitates and finally decides to fire his machine gun at the police cruisers and RoboCop.

“We will walk away now!! And you will not stop us!!” That is what the suspect says as he erratically fires his weapon in despair. Robo endures the gunshots and looks back to see if the three officers are safe. The female robber hits her hostage in the head with the butt of her gun to show the police she is serious about killing her.

RoboCop is not interested in stopping the male suspect from shooting at him, and takes his chance to fire at the female robber instead taking advantage of her arrogant move; he successfully shoots at her gun making her lose the hostage.

Estevez thinks fast and runs where the hostage is lying on the ground and drags her away from the line of fire, Robo looks back at Lewis, trusting in her skills, however and as soon as Estevez and the hostage are safe, the female robber feels cornered and takes another pocket gun from her belt aiming to shoot at Lewis that is ordering her to surrender. Lewis helplessly tries to shoot at the robber and misses, once, twice.

RoboCop is overwhelmed and surprised to see that his partner; the skilled shooter is missing her target. He is annoyed as he feels that bullets are still pinging off his chest, Robo had targeted the male robber in advance and all he needs to do now is to lift up his right arm and without looking at the suspect, he fires at him to the end of his clip, in frustration.

Once the lifeless body robber falls down on the ground, his body steaming of the gunfire, Robo thinks it is time to shoot at the second suspect as Lewis has been inefficient to stop her, although he flexes back his arm as he grasps Lewis has disarmed her by beating her up, hard, whilst saying “You are not that brave without your gun, are you, are you?” Lewis seems to be acting in blind rage, probably out of the frustration of missing her target earlier.

Estevez leaves the hostage safe with Smith and runs back to stop Lewis from beating up the female suspect that is now crying and trying to helplessly cover from Lewis’s attacks.

“Stop, stop, what is wrong with you…?? Do you want to send her to the hospital so all of us are reported for police brutality?? Your boyfriend already made minced meat of the other one!! The hostage is scared! People in the bank are scared!!”

Reasoning comes back to Lewis’ mind and she pushes away the suspect allowing Estevez to do the police procedure now. Estevez nervously starts reading Miranda to the female robber that seems to be in emotional shock and doesn’t resist to the arrest anymore.

Smith is using his cruiser’s radio to report back to the station the robbery of the Omega bank was successfully stopped, he also comforts the elder lady by thinking everything is over and he didn’t have to risk his life out there. He’s glad Estevez Lewis and RoboCop contained the situation.

Unlike Robo, Smith would not hesitate to send his partner to the line of fire first as he thinks that if Estevez is ever killed in service, she doesn’t have much to lose as she is single and doesn’t have a family, unlike him, he has a wife and two kids that would surely miss him if he is ever gunned down in the line of duty.

“You!! What are you waiting for?? Let’s get in the cruiser and leave the fuck out of here!” Lewis energetically orders RoboCop before locking herself in the cop car in the driver’s seat. Robo observes her in silence by knowing her wish to drive has to do with her trying to regain control after feeling she was inefficient in stopping the suspects earlier. He will allow her to be in control and he is troubled by thinking that perhaps having his partner day and night with him is probably not a good idea.

Robo has been thrilled to have Lewis working overtime with him, but he’s also aware his endurance to work on the streets for many hours has to do with his technological enhancements and a human officer would be eventually exhausted to work alongside him day and night.

A few hours later, at the police station concerned Estevez looks out for her friend, as she had missed talking to her lately, and she takes her chance to approach Lewis when she sees her at the lockers room, at lunchtime, striking up a conversation on what had happened earlier that day at the Omega Bank robbery.

Estevez: Hey, you ok? You seemed pretty pissed out there.

Lewis: Yeah, I am fine, it’s that new gun they gave me…it needs calibration

Estevez: You know what you need? You me, mojitos night tonight, What do you think?

Lewis: Ah no, sorry, I will work overtime tomorrow, I can’t stay up until very late

Estevez: Again? You’re coming on Saturday again? Ok, what about Sunday…?

Lewis: I will probably sleep for most of the day…I have to cover two shifts on Monday

Estevez: But why? Do you have any problems? Is your family ok?

Lewis: I assume my brothers are okay since they never call me, heh, I just need some cash, that’s all

Estevez: Money for what? You barely spend money on…

Estevez observes Lewis has used her lunchtime to groom herself almost as if she was getting ready for a date, although her shift isn’t over yet.

Estevez: Wow, wow, spray that shit somewhere else, you wanna kill me with your toxic deodorant or what?

Lewis: Don’t you just feel gross at the end of the day? When your shift is over?

Estevez: We’re cops, we are all gross after a day of work…oh I get it, I know what you’re doing…so it finally happened eh, your new husband won’t let you hang out with human cops anymore?

Lewis: You too Barbara? Are you part of them now…? I swear of God, if you say one word now I…

Estevez: You what? Are you threatening me now? What are you gonna do, huh, beat the crap out of me? Are you gonna help him redecorate the hallway making more holes on the walls? This is why you’re dating a killing machine! You’re just as bad as he is!!

Lewis: You have been warned!! I hope you shut your stupid mouth this time!

Estevez: I don’t need to. People talk you know? You really think they haven’t seen you with him? Then you’re not around Sal’s anymore to hear the nasty things Adams says about you…one thing is for sure, no one will ever ask you out again…

Lewis: What things? What does that fucker say about me or …him?

Estevez: I am not your secretary, if Murphy didn’t dominate you and you were still around, you’d know.

Lewis: What are you talking about? He doesn’t dominate me! No man controls me! I wanna be with him and he wants to be with me!

Estevez: Ha! That is because he doesn’t have many choices…he is like a chained dog that can’t go very far, and what if he could really decide? Wouldn’t he want to go to the house he had once? With his family? Instead of living in that steel mesh cage where they keep him…

Lewis: Like the pretty house where Simon’s wife and kids live, and he will never ever take you to…?

Estevez: I’ll go now. Have a great weekend. I hope you have fun fucking a machine.

Lewis: Well I hope you have fun fucking a married man!!

Estevez: Fuck you.

Being persecuted again by the cops of the station or OCP executives is the last thing Lewis wants. She tries to recover from the bad moment wanting to believe Barbara is just hurt and jealous because she hardly spends any time with her and she is lying about the cops knowing of her relationship with RoboCop.

Nevertheless and despite the fact Estevez’s words came out from her own personal frustration there was some truth in informing Lewis to be careful, as the Riggs issue and the exciting news of RoboCop and Lewis being more than friends are often topics chosen by some of the officers to have fun when they gather at their favorite bar over the weekend.

The night falls and Vanessa Patel is heavily drunk sitting among some male officers at Sal’s club replaying the same video on her mobile phone over and over. The officers at the table hardly want to be involved and it is only her partner Wilcox the one that is trying to reason with her by asking her to put the device away.

Patel: Look look, here’s where the fucker pisses his pants ha ha ha…man I wished he had punched his fucking face instead…he wouldn’t be a fucking arrogant prick if Robo had erased that pretty face of his…did I ever tell you his dick is very small?

Wilcox: Damn it, Vanessa, that same shit all over again? Who the hell cares…just get over him, delete that video, come on, you’re gonna get into trouble, give it to me, give it to me!!

Adams is leaning on the bar having a beer and looking at the scene. Wilcox is helplessly trying to snatch Patel’s mobile phone off her hands whilst she hysterically laughs by hiding it in her clothes. Adams hadn’t realized there was actually someone that had the audacity to film the Riggs and Murphy’s fight and he immediately seizes a great business opportunity. Two of the cops that are in the same table stand up and walk away annoyed at Patel’s erratic behavior and Adams thinks this is his opportunity to intervene and make a new friend.

Patel: You know. I have to thank him now. Does Robo have a TSAP account? How do I find him on the Metro? I think want to blow him, ha ha ha, do you think he still has one? That would surely piss that bitch of Lewis off don’t ya think?

Wilcox: God, you’re so sickly in love with Riggs you don’t see things as they are! The guy is a sleaze! Don’t message anyone, don’t embarrass yourself even more!!

Patel: I’m not in love with him the fuck is wrong with you…! You know if you aren’t gonna have fun with me, piss off!!

Wilcox: Gladly!! You make it very difficult to be your friend sometimes! See you on Monday! Hope you find someone that drives your drunk ass home because I am tired to do so!!

Adams: Hey hey man, that is no way to talk to a lady…come on, she just wants to have a good time

Wilcox stands up annoyed and pats Adams on the back by saying “You want her, she’s all yours and good luck!” Adams sits down and orders some beers on him to share with his new best friend Patel. He plans to convince her to hand him down the mobile phone so he’s able to send the video to his account.

Adams gains Patel’s trust by telling her silly anecdotes of Riggs, making her laugh at his incompetence. Still he has no access to the phone. His motivation to not desist is thinking all the money he can squeeze out of Schysler for the video.

Adams: You know, Riggs is a complete idiot for letting go such a pretty girl like yourself, if I wasn’t so in love with my wife, I would take you out for dinner eh?

Patel: What are you talking about man? We all know your Mrs. kicked you out of the house because you sleep with prostitutes…

Adams: No, no, no, they aren’t prostitutes, they are strippers and they have been great friends with me, those girls have offered me moral support after, well I found out my wife had been shagging my accountant for years…talking about betrayal here, huh?

Vanessa seems depressed now, alcoholic beverages although might seem to spawn euphoria and fun, they are in reality depressors of the nervous system. She finally puts the phone on the table and keeps drinking beer by replying “Yeah, betrayal sucks…it sucks big time” Adams finally has the phone in his hands and replies to her “No, no honey, no long faces today, weren’t we having fun? Come on…let’s watch the video one more time, the part where Riggs pisses his pants…what is your password, huh…sweetie…?”

“Are you having fun? Do you like spending time with me?” Miles away from Sal’s club Lewis asks RoboCop as she leans on him after being at Wildcard Edge for the last couple of hours.

RoboCop: I do.

Lewis: Do you…like, everything we just did, what we do, when we are here?

RoboCop: I like…spending time with you.

Lewis: That is not really what I meant…I mean if you could choose, who to spend your free time with, who would that be? Would it still be…me?

Tricky questions that make Robo feel unsure on what to respond. If the answer is yes, Lewis will be encouraged to keep working overtime hours, however if he doesn’t tell her what she wishes to hear, she’d probably be upset as a result and he will be distressed for not knowing how to deal with an upset girlfriend. Robo is lucky as small window pops up in in the internal screen only he can see, someone is trying to contact him on his TSAP account and he can avoid replying now.

RoboCop: Someone…sent me a message through the Metro Network

Lewis: Who is it at this hour? We’re both off duty

Sergeant Reed had been trying to engage the police radio to unit 477, RoboCop’s cruiser with no luck for more than 20 minutes. The operator had informed Reed the cruiser is at Wildcard Edge, although the radio and the Metro Network have been disabled in the vehicle.

“What the fuck is Murphy doing in Wildcard Edge? Just wasting time! Nothing ever happens there anymore!”

RoboCop: Sergeant Reed wants me to go back to Zone 4, there are riots in the area. We have to go.

Lewis: No, no, wait, don’t reply, let him send someone else, you are off duty, here with me…

RoboCop: I will drive you home. I am temporarily off duty until a new call comes up. I will turn on the cruiser radio and take the call.

Lewis is annoyed and starts dragging herself to the driver’s seat to be able to cover up the radio’s controls with her hands preventing Robo from pushing any buttons. Robo grabs both her forearms as he asks her to step out of the vehicle so he is able to get out too.

“No, no, you are not going; let someone else take the fucking call!! It’s not fair it’s not fair”

In the middle of the physical wrestle Lewis activates the cruiser’s radio inadvertently and Reed is satisfied to see Robo has responded the call and has opened communication again. Although before he’s able to say anything, he is surprised to hear the altered voice of a woman that somehow seems familiar to him.

Lewis: Why won’t you let me go with you?

RoboCop: No. You don’t work more hours. Your reflexes already failed today.

Lewis: Don’t you fucking dare to use that against me!! I am sorry for not being perfect like yourself!

RoboCop: Let me out, step out of the vehicle, I must go.

The frustrated wrestle continues and Robo is annoyed trying to control Lewis on top of him, she seems to be stronger than he thought and it is very difficult to be holding her arms without physically harming her. Lewis keeps resisting avoiding Robo from moving her to one side, she doesn’t want him to step out of the car and she certainly doesn’t want to go home.

“I don’t want to go home! I don’t want to be alone! I don’t want to be alone!”

Sergeant Reed is sitting back at his desk wondering what he should do now. Suddenly the voice of Lewis transforms into the voice of his soon ex-wife Angie. He projects the past arguments he had had with his wife in the argument his two officers are having and he shouldn’t be listening over the radio.

Reed is saddened by thinking how many times Angie begged him to stay home, to not work overtime and he never stayed. RoboCop has no choice, but he did and he ruined things by choosing work over family. That wonderful woman has walked away from his life and his two sons barely speak to him as a result.

Lewis: Why can’t we fucking have a normal weekend like any other couple??

Robo has finally lost his patience he is still holding her arms when he slightly shakes her in frustration whilst saying in an upset voice:

“Because there isn’t anything normal between you and me!”

Robo wins the argument as Lewis finally stops resisting, Robo loses her arms and he is troubled to see Lewis’ saddened face. Robo didn’t really mean it; he had just lost his patience. His rational thoughts tell him he has to comply with the orders of his Sergeant and he’d be able to see Lewis another day, but that woman is stubborn and doesn’t seem to understand him. If he could only say something that would fix what he had just said, something meaningful to make it up for the bad moment, finally he tries to comfort her.

RoboCop: You can…take the wheel if you want

Lewis: Yeah, because that makes it up for everything…

Reed closes the radio. He doesn’t want to keep listening. His threat to separate the pair was crueller than he thought. He wouldn’t have imagined what he had just listened to that night. Reed knows now that if he tells Robo to dismiss the call both of them will know he heard their conversation, so he has to follow up the game and still ask Robo to head up to Zone 4 by knowing that one of the very few personal moments Robo probably struggles to have with Lewis off duty has been ruined thanks to him.

The instance in which Lewis takes the wheel to start the engine, she notices in horror the radio was on all the time, Reed might have listened to their conversation.

“What are we gonna do, the radio was on…he will reassign me with someone else!! Say something! say something damn it!”

Robo remains in troubled silence until they hear back Reed’s voice on the radio.

Reed: Murphy? Are you there? I lost communication earlier…can you head up to Zone 4? More units are needed in the area.

Lewis remains in silence whilst Robo replies; relieved: “I will be there in 20 minutes”.

It is the start of the week again and Schysler is at his office trying to renegotiate a certain amount of cash he is unwilling to pay his personal snitch. Adams had purchased a disposable tablet to save all the footage material he has collected from the State Prison, starring Schysler, Faxx and Moore.

Although the special feature that the device contains is the video that Patel took of the Riggs’ and Murphy’s fight and that could have saved Riggs’ from his misconduct hearing, although Patel is vindictive and decided to keep the video to herself, for her own personal pleasure. She is unaware Adams will collect a great sum of money for it now, a chain of betrayal in which everyone is looking out for their own interests.

Schysler: Let me see if I get this straight…you want 50 grand for a mobile phone video? You must be delusional officer Adams…

Adams: It is not an ordinary video. This can be great proof that your robot is indeed losing it and needs to be put offline. Isn’t that what you and your girlfriend had been planning to do for months at the state prison, until, she sadly died in the explosion?

Schysler: I don’t know what you’re talking about. Shall I remind you I am the head of Security concepts and I can make your job redundant any day? You really don’t want to mess with me…

Adams: Why don’t we just calm down. We are just trying to do business here. Perhaps you’d be interested to know that an illegal association with a convicted criminal is considered a federal offense? And I am not saying that because of you…I mean if you liked to fuck that pussy, who am I to judge, eh, but you should know, someone else was also banging that bitch and surprisingly, he works in this same building too…

Adams is smart and had persuaded the female guards of the State Prison to let him in the facility so he could look for footage or captured images of Moore visiting Faxx in prision. Adams is clever and had put his gun on Schysler’s desk in advance, as a silent way of telling him he wouldn’t be able to get the information he stores in his personal tablet for free.

Schysler looks at the photos and some fragmented scenes from the video camera surveillance of the prison and although he knows Moore and Faxx aren’t romantically related, he feels betrayed to see Faxx had her own hidden agenda and he is now intrigued to know the reason why they had been conspiring behind his back

Schysler: Do those videos have audio? Could you know what they talked about?

Adams: Broken audios, just some cropped footage I was able to save from the surveillance room without being caught. Although, this video, is complete and in full color!

Adams plays the video of the fight of Riggs against Robo. But pauses it before it ends. Schysler knows the amount of information presented by Adams will be very useful for his plans. However he also fears Adams talks, as he also seems to have photos of him and Faxx dialoguing in prison and some audios too. This is a business negotiation that is tainted with blackmail.

Schysler: 30 that’s as much as I can give you…I can’t write a bigger check at the moment

Adams: 40, I need to pay my bills. I have a family to feed.

Schysler: Your family of strippers and whores eh?

Adams: They are way more loving than any other fucking family I have ever had…one of these days, you should come with us…I will ask one of the girls to sit on your face…

Schysler: Okay, 40 and you destroy all evidence of me and Faxx talking at the state prison, understood? And! If you try to fucking blackmail me one more time, I will get you fired…and I’d probably ask my friends in the rehabilitation crew to go visit you sometime, you know, to see how you’re doing…

Adams: Yeah I don’t want those fuckers popping my cherry. You have a deal here. Mouth shut, files delivered…we should celebrate don’t you think? Aren’t you gonna offer me a glass of wine?

Schysler: It’s 9 am in the morning…

Adams starts walking around Schysler’s luxurious office, gun in his hand, looking at the cabinets where Schysler keeps his collection of wine bottles.

The disposable tablet is still on the desk and Schysler knows Adams likes to play mind games and he won’t fall into the trap by trying to snatch the tablet without paying for it.

Schysler cannot show how eager he is to grab the tablet to browse the contents. Adams finally takes out a bottle of wine out whilst saying: “How about we share this one?”

Schysler: That…is a bottle of Dutch red wine my grandfather brought from Holland in 1987…

Adams: So, no sharing then…?

Schysler just wants Adams out of his office, before people finding out he’s there, he takes out his check book and he is ready to pay the amount he is demanding for the valuable information stored in the disposable tablet.

Schysler: Just take the bottle consider it as a gift from the corporation. Here’s your check and get the hell out of here…

Estevez has been tossing things out of her locker to a plastic basket in frustration. Lewis has been observing in silence wondering if she should approach her friend to try to mend things. Lewis is afraid to be left without friends at the station. Barbara knows way too much about her personal life and she’d be terrified to see her relationship with RoboCop exposed one more time.

Lewis: Hey, I know what you need, you me, that Mexican place you like so much? Tonight…?

Estevez: I am sorry no. Not really in the mood to go out.

Lewis: What did that bastard do to you this time? That’s why you’re changing lockers, aren’t you?

Estevez: He always does this stupid thing of pasting crap on my locker or throwing stuff in it to make me forgive him when he messes things up…

Lewis: Oh yeah, I’ve seen the balloons and flowers and all that shit glued on to it. What did he do?

Estevez: Marlene…is pregnant again, for the third time. He is a motherfucker. I feel so betrayed.

Lewis: And you really believed him when he said to you the relationship he had with his wife was “platonic”

Estevez: Please don’t lecture me…I can’t be bothered. Just don’t tell him where my new locker is, alright?

Lewis: I won’t. So, are you and I okay? Are we still friends?

Estevez: Of course. Just be careful, Adams, Riggs, all of them, won’t leave you alone so easily

Lewis: Right, because me fucking a machine is quite amusing for all of you, eh?

Estevez: I am sorry about that. Forget I said that. I was just…annoyed with him, Simon, not Murphy

Estevez walks away and Lewis goes to the shower rooms and as she undresses to look at herself in the mirror, she’s reminded of a recent concern. Lewis had been checking her arms every day since last weekend hoping they would heal soon.

Unfortunately bruises take a long time to fade and Lewis knows that she’d have to come up with a good excuse the next time she is with her boyfriend at Wildcard Edge or the Yellow Bridge and he is interested to see her without her police shirt. Lewis is used to endure physical exhaustion and pain and she isn’t really bothered by some bruises that will eventually fade away, however she fears Robo not wanting to be close to her again if he gets to see what he inadvertently did to her.

The next time they’re alone at Wildcard Edge, their favorite hideout, Lewis is nervously trying to avoid taking off her shirt in front of Robo thinking of a good excuse that wouldn’t make him suspect he physically harmed her in the wrestle they recently had over the police radio.

“Not today, I am cold” Lewis thinks she is badly lying as the heating of the car is on and Robo won’t believe her lie, she tries to elaborate it further, making it sound even worse.

“I mean, I have a cold…that is why, I am cold” Surprisingly Robo seems to have believed her badly elaborated lie as he replies: “I understand. I keep forgetting what others feel and I cannot anymore”

Lewis leans on his chest whilst saddened, wondering if it would be possible for Robo to get over everything they did to him one day, how normal, his life could ever be and how happy he really is, now that she has persuaded him to have a man-woman relationship with her.

Music is on as usual, a sad song starts playing, the female singer describes the first time she lied besides her lover and how she was able to feel her heart close to his. The song makes Lewis suddenly conscious that it doesn’t matter how close they are, it’s impossible for her to listen to her own lover’s artificial heart beating.

They will never be able to lie together in bed, her resting on his chest, listening to his heart. All she can hear now is the subtle sound his sophisticated mechanical part makes when is silent. The music and the lyrics make her feel a lump in her throat and she can’t stop silent tears from rolling down her eyes.

Anne sadly observes her tears falling and sliding on the blue metal by knowing, he doesn’t even feel them. However, and as tragic as his circumstances might be, she wouldn’t want him to die. Anne holds on to the metallic rings on his shoulders and closes her eyes in emotional pain by just imagining how meaningless her life would be if RoboCop is ever shut down permanently.

Over the last few months she had been engaged in a personal fight to establish a physical, closer connection with him, as a desperate attempt to soothe her own emotional suffering; and now that Murphy has stopped resisting and is finally willing to accept her love and affection, Anne acknowledges that being his female companion, his lover, can be far more painful than just being his friend and partner.

Robo had noticed her struggle to get a paper tissue from her thigh pockets to clean her eyes and nose. He thinks Lewis is just sick and probably saddened for not being able to do much that day. Robo had made a great effort to broaden his senses so he doesn’t miss anything important regarding Lewis anymore.

Robo wants to demonstrate, to make her feel she is in company of a man and not just a programmed officer, the moments when they’re together after duty. Robo is well conscious on how Lewis has been loving and patient for him to develop sensations. He is glad to return the favor, when he is the one that has to adapt to the limitations of her human body.

Furthermore, as long as he gets the company, the physical contact and the affection from her side, he is content and his day is complete. Lewis notices Robo has started to caress her hair and back by telling her,

“Do not worry, you will heal soon”

Anne is comforted by his words, she deeply sighs as she feels his hand caressing her hair. Robo also takes a deep sigh shortly afterwards, a subconscious mimetic response of empathy from his side; a sigh or a yawn is usually contagious among two people that are close. Anne finally smiles by thinking,

“So he can still do that”.