Chapter 22, The Prayer

Chapter 22. - The Prayer, Part 1.

The flea market at Cadillac Heights is flooded with people trying to sell their second hand or refurbished merchandise in tents and battered buildings. Some others put plastic tables on the sidewalks, aiming to sell food and get clients. Three robbers are trying to sack a small restaurant where two young girls are having lunch. The owner doesn’t want to give them the money in the register and is engaged in a physical fight with the lawbreakers, just to end up being beaten up by them, his young son and daughter are shouting for help, asking people to call the police.

“My friends, the cops are here!” That is what one of the girls that were sitting at the tables yells out loud as she proceeds to make a video call.

Lewis and Estevez had been walking inside the market for almost an hour trying to find Crazy Al. Estevez is annoyed and tired but she can’t say that out loud, since Lewis seems obsessed to find the hacker and if she complains one more time she knows Lewis will give her an earful.

Lewis seems interested to find Crazy Al, as she knows he is the only one capable to repair Alana, Lewis wants to know what the last message that Murphy sent her was, before his memory was erased. Estevez has been putting up with her irritable partner for days, although she has her personal reasons to tolerate her and not ask to be reassigned with someone else.

Suddenly Lewis receives a message and Crazy Al doesn’t seem to be the priority anymore “There are disturbances at the food locals, let’s go” Both policewomen get their guns ready and run back where the food stands are.

However as they are reaching the place, they get to hear a familiar sound. The auto 9 pistol repeatedly opening fire. Lewis knows it’s him and runs even faster.

It takes less than five minutes for RoboCop to end the lawbreakers that didn’t seem to comply with his orders. The three perps lie on the ground now, wounded but not dead. RoboCop will proceed to call for backup and a medical unit when he feels someone has broken a chair on his back “That is my son you shot you… mechanical piece of shit!”

A group of older men are surrounding him now, the enraged father of one of the perps that is wounded on the floor plus three of his friends, RoboCop detects they are carrying illegal weapons and he has run out of patience. Lewis and Estevez have arrived to the food zone, although they are surprised to see RoboCop shooting the men without hesitation, one by one, mechanically and impassively.

One of them runs towards him in blind rage carrying another chair in his arms and RoboCop stops him with his closed fist. The man walks backwards and is scared to see blood leaking from his stomach, RoboCop is surprised as well and he looks at his own hand. He had killed him using his interface needle. He doesn’t even remember activating it on purpose.

The people that had surrounded the crime scene start cheering and applauding as they were fed up with the local bullies. Lewis and Estevez try to helplessly move into the crowd and reach RoboCop. Lewis gets to see a known character, the young girl that had called her Earlier, Jade, is now waving at Robo, trying to catch his attention as well “Hey Robo, hi!! Hi, it’s me, Jade!!! I’m your friend!”

RoboCop turns away in a senseless way, gets in his new modified golden cruiser, a new intelligent model OCP had assigned him now that he is working on his own. “Murphy, Murphy wait, it’s us, it’s us!!”

RoboCop doesn’t seem to hear Estevez either and drives away. “Well that is some fucking ass car your sweetie is got now, huh” Lewis looks at Estevez, visibly annoyed and replies, “Of course, they gave him that cruiser, now that they know I cannot put my dirty hands on it, fuckers…”

Estevez is unsure if Robo even called for backup and a medical unit and she proceeds to use her own radio to do that herself. Jade and her friend approach Lewis and both girls seem amazed at the action episode they just witnessed.

Jade: Hi officer Lewis, did you tell Robo to come rescue us? That was so fucking cool!

Lewis: No. He came on his own. What have I told you about watching your language? And what are you doing here? I just hope…you are not doing that what you used to…in the past

Jade: You say bad words all the time? My friend and I were having lunch…Who’s that?

Lewis: “That” is my partner, Officer Estevez and show some respect to her…by the way how did you know we were here?

Jade: Oh I saw your cruiser, I thought it was you and your boyfriend, I was going to say hello, once Maria and I had finished lunch…is there anything I can do for you?

Lewis: Do you by any chance know where that man, Crazy Al hides in here?

Jade: Of course I know. You should have come to me first! Although…the information has a price

Estevez observes that Lewis, after a morning of being irritable and upset, finally chuckles as she takes out a ten dollar bill and hands it to the young girl. Estevez is astonished as she had never seen Lewis having a gesture like that with anyone.

Jade: So it is always a pleasure doing business with you, now tell me why you are mad with your boyfriend?

Lewis: He is not…my boyfriend anymore.

Jade: Why?

Lewis: People that…made him, won’t allow me to be around him now.

Jade: Oh, why don’t you buy him from them? Save up your money and take him to your house. I wish someone did that for me!

Estevez and Lewis remain in sad silence and finally Lewis replies: “He is…way too expensive, I can’t afford him, he costs millions…”

The very shy friend of Jade, Maria, finally dares to say something, trying to comfort Lewis “You can buy another electronic boyfriend, officer? Just be careful when you marry him, you know what they do to people that marry robots…” Lewis looks at Estevez, wondering what the young girl meant. Estevez then tries to explain.

Estevez: Oh you never get to see the Media Break Anne…people that have attempted to make their fake weddings with the androids Sextronica sell, well, protesters have tried to destroy them, and they’ve thrown red paint at them...acid…

Lewis is suddenly reminded why her relationship with RoboCop was always so difficult. She is in love with a man, that doesn’t look like a human being anymore. If she could just show the world, that inside Robo’s armor there is still a soul, a heart, a man that was slowly evolving and recovering his humanity, then they decided to take all that away from him for a second time.

Suddenly Estevez makes Lewis react. Apparently Jade has more important information to share with them other than Crazy Al’s location “Did you just hear what this girl said…? Hello?”

Jade informs Lewis and Estevez she has gotten a job as a waitress at the Strawberry and Melon strip club and that she heard some cops talking about Maria’s deceased cousins. Apparently Adams when drunk has spoken about the teenagers he taught a lesson to, by showing them, their airsoft guns were more than just toys. “Then there is this cop, I hate, he always grabs my butt when I come close to the table”

“Riggs!” Estevez and Lewis say out loud at the same time, the policewomen exchange glances, they have always suspected about Adams’ illegal actions, however, they hadn’t really had a case against him, until now.

Lewis drags Estevez away from the teenagers to privately talk to her “We are this close, this fucking close to put that son of a bitch behind bars! I am sure…I am so sure he is the snitch that has been informing OCP about Murphy and me…you were right, he brainwashes Riggs and makes him do stupid shit!”

Estevez: Be very careful, Anne…don’t let your personal revenge cloud your vision…we don’t know forsure how true the words of this girl are…come on, she is a teen hooker from the ghetto and her friend…well, perhaps she just wants to blame it on the cops, for her deceased relatives, they were thieves…

Lewis and Estevez continue her journey to find Crazy Al, although there is an idea, planted in Lewis’ mind. She plans to ask Jade to collaborate with the police, to make her wear a police web camera, if she gets any footage of Adams talking about his crime, she’d be able to ask Reed to reopen the case, Lewis is not even sure if an autopsy was performed on the deceased bodies of the teenagers.

Crazy Al, is glad to see Lewis, he owns a tent that is full of crazy gadgets, small robots, GPS devices. He opens Lewis’ device and informs her that Alana’s partitioned operating system was violated, but that some lost information could still be retrieved from the cloud of the last networks that Alana could connect to.

“You are lucky, researchnetwork does have a virtual storage in the Omninet…we can find out what the last message sent to her was, come back in a week, and your pretty girl will be as good as new”

Knowing that the last message Robo sent Lewis can still be retrieved somehow soothes Lewis’ heart. Both women get in the cop car and leave the flea market.

The impressive Robo1. A new modified cruiser that OCP had assigned RoboCop Earlier that week was a poor compensation given to him for separating the cyborg police officer from his only human companion. Although Robo has started to take advantage of the new sophisticated vehicle and he is capable of tracking down all the units from Metro West now, in case any of his fellow officers need backup.

Robo knew Lewis and Estevez had gotten into the flea market of Cadillac Heights and he had been monitoring unit 477 from afar. That is the reason why he immediately came into scene, when the riots in the food area started. He knows who Jade is and heard her calling him, however, he repressed himself from being friendly with the young girl, as he has to play the mechanical zombie, in front of everyone.

Robo looks at Lewis and Estevez on the grid, getting away from the area, and he wonders what both cops where doing there. Robo wants to convince himself he silently follows his former partner, because he is concerned about her physical safety and fears she acts impulsively out of rage at some point.

Although that is partially true, looking at the woman that was his friend and female companion for some time makes him feel his existence as a cyborg has not been that lonely after all.

Murphy is aware he will live off memories again, but resists thinking those will get old inside his mind, so he pursues, new, recorded images of Lewis from afar, so those help him go through his days and nights. Perhaps, even then, he can dream of her again.

“There will be a riot, a big, massive one; it is going to be war…that will happen in two weeks from now”

A few days later, Sergeant Reed has a meeting with his officers at the conference room and informs them, that the most dangerous drug gangs in Detroit are planning to tear each other apart in the area where Clover Hills and Cadillac Heights meet.

This is the only chance, the police department has to find the hidden facility of the Rehabs and bring them into justice for their illegal actions. However it all depends on RoboCop doing his work right.

RoboCop has to persuade Bertha to give the location of the facility in exchange of police protection. However, Robo has other plans. He knows that Bertha will be reluctant to give away the information and she will follow up with her plans to destroy the base herself. He plans to gain her trust and give more weapons to her people so they’re able to defend themselves, and track her down the day the riot arrives.

Robo comes inside the conference room, in silent mode and makes recordings of the footage that is being shown by Reed in the main screen of the room. “Can we help you, Murphy?” Reed knows Robo won’t give him an answer, as they had previously spoken about the subject privately. Robo turns around and leaves the room without saying a word.

Adams spots Lewis sitting down and comes closer to her, he enjoys Lewis misery and tries to provoke her anger: “So, tell me Lewis, now that your boyfriend has lost a few screws…who’s gonna screw you?”

Lewis is suddenly reminded of Jade and her plans to put Adams in jail, she stands up and pushes Adams out of rage, Reed energetically orders both cops to maintain the order, Lewis can’t think of anything else, but to run after Murphy.

However in the hallway, Lewis finds another obstacle, it is Riggs, who naively thinks that now that Lewis has been separated from her mechanical partner, he finally has a chance with her, “Hey Anne, I believe you and I started with the left foot, but if you need a partner now to watch your back…”

“Move! Move away!” Lewis tries to move Riggs to one side, but he is too insistent, she finally snaps and punches him on the face with a closed fist, making him fall on his back “Jesus fucking Christ! You punch like a fucking dude! The fuck is wrong with you!”

“Go fucking report me to OCP! Isn’t that what you do best!” Lewis knows she has lost valuable time and tries to helplessly run to the parking lot just to see Robo getting on his cruiser and driving away from the station.

“Murphy…wait…please…” She is out of breath and her former partner has just driven away. If she had Alana with her…she could have tracked him down, but her phone is still in repair. Lewis looks back at the hallway; she could ask Cecil for Robo’s location now, however, Lewis doesn’t know who to trust anymore.

Robo is heading up to his favorite hideout, the abandoned dock. However, it seems like a grey place for him now. He will collect the weapons he needs to hand out Bertha, duty comes first and he is a cop that was rebuilt to protect the innocent, to look after others. Not to think of himself.

Robo stands in front of the water and puts his mechanical black hands on the fence. It was hard to ignore Lewis and keep on walking. She was out of breath and her voice was breaking as she was begging him to stop. That mental image suddenly inundates his thoughts, and inadvertently, he starts testing his strength by crushing the metal tubes with his hands.

This is what they made him for, this is what he is. A mechanical monster, a weird hybrid with technological enhancements, a beast, not a man. What made him think he was allowed to feel the soothing sensation of self-acceptance and love?

The tenderness of someone that did not care about the incomplete mechanical body he is starting to hate again. He yelps out of rage as he finally breaks the fence and throws it into the water. A desperate cry, no one else is there to hear.

The weekend has arrived and Lewis is back at Sal’s club with her best friend, she just wants time to pass by.

Estevez: So…you and me, single and together again, eh, what a pair? So…there is this surgeon, in Prisma, that erases scars, stretch marks, anything…he can clean up your skin in less than fifteen minutes with that new diamond laser thing…

Lewis: So I’ve heard.

Estevez: Come on, they say this doctor gives discounts to OCP employees…and it’s two for the price of one if those are cops…we should go on the weekend, that’d be fun!

Lewis: No, I’m sorry I’m not interested

Estevez: Are you short on cash? Come on I can lend you, don’t you want to look pretty for the next one?

Lewis: There won’t be a next one…

Estevez: You’re just depressed…so am I….but look, I’m sure if we get this makeover that would cheer us up! I want to get rid of a few stretch marks, that gunshot scar on my calf, and I’ve seen yours, they look, well, bad…the one on your leg is the worst…

Lewis: I don’t honestly give a shit…besides, I can’t get rid of those marks…Murphy, well, seems to like them...

The shocked look in Barbara’s face makes Lewis suddenly conscious on what she just inadvertently confessed to her friend.

Estevez: Oh…sweetie, I am…so sorry.

Finally, after days of playing the strong woman and swallowing her sorrow, Lewis falls apart. She starts to cry inconsolably and Barbara is holding on her own tears by thinking if she really is the good friend Lewis thinks she is. Barbara knows the truth.

That it was Simon the one that stole the microchip from her device and handed it to Riggs. Although her romantic relationship with Simon is terminated she doesn’t want him to be punished and transferred to another precinct. She will play now, the good supportive friend and will stay with Anne for as long as she wants, until she drinks to oblivion or cries until exhaustion.

“For the last time, tell your sergeant I don’t know where the base of those motherfuckers is anymore”

RoboCop was right, Bertha was going to be reluctant to give away the location of the rehabs base to the police, since she wants to take revenge in her own hands.

RoboCop is silent whilst he unloads the weapons he had brought to Bertha in the trunk of his new vehicle. Those will be stored in the explosive’s factory as Bertha’s people will use the location as headquarters, once the riots between the criminal gangs start.

Two of Bertha’s men are carrying the weapons inside the factory and she observes that Robo came to visit on his own this time. She is almost afraid to ask.

“So…Robo…where is, your girl, is she, alive?”

RoboCop: She is.

Bertha: Right, why didn’t she come with you today?

RoboCop: I am not allowed to be around her anymore.

Bertha: Those sons of bitches, huh, think they can control everyone’s lives…

RoboCop: You just have to resist the riots. Keep your people safe.

A few days later Jade has been temporarily enrolled by the Metropolitan police department and she is committed to gather the important information that Lewis requested. She is carrying underneath her clothes, two expensive high tech webcameras that are property of the Metro West station.

Her first attempt to get information from the cops that gather at the club is frustrated as there is so much noise around, Riggs, Adams and Smith are there cracking jokes and drinking beer but they talk about trivial topics, nothing important. Jade is bothered by Riggs’ approaches and finally walks away from the table.

She walks into the manager’s room looking for something to eat. There is usually a big bowl of fruit all the girls can eat from and a jar of water. However, what Jade gets to see, is shocking enough for her to drop her tray making a loud sound as it hits the floor. One of the dancers is lying on one of the couches, writhing in pain and the bowl of fruit is upside down on the table, the fruits are spread everywhere.

“I ate the poisoned apple, darling, this happens to me for wanting to make more money, don’t do what I did” Jade jumps one more time as one of the managers of the place yells at her to go away:

“You have seen nothing! Nothing!”

Despite the fact Lewis did not get the information she expected, Estevez and her are debating now what they should do, with the new information presented by Jade.

Lewis: they are putting N2-14 in the food, to poison the girls, the question is why?

Estevez: We should ask Jade to bring more information about it. But with no cameras this time, she broke one of those when she ran away from the office, we can’t keep risking her safety or police property.

Lewis: But what if she gets to hear, what we need to hear from Adams or Riggs or that idiot of Smith?

Estevez: One disaster at the time, Anne…

The real reason behind the food poisoning among the strippers of the club; is a hidden network of prostitution that operates behind closed doors. The girls that want to make more money are ‘hired’ by the managers of the club as escorts for important older men. The ones that regret prostituting themselves or get accidentally pregnant are poisoned with high doses N2-14.

Jade was the one that gathered that information for Lewis and Estevez on the following days, the young girl requests to wear the cameras one more time, as she got to hear the cops talking about the deceased youngsters again, both policewomen are concerned about her safety, however Jade comforts her by telling them there is a bodyguard at the place that always looks after her, Mike.

The tall, bulky man of Mediterranean aspect is the one Jade has put her trust in, Estevez and Lewis disagree on Jade getting in the car with Mike, apparently the man that is at least 10 years older than her had offered her a ride home. Unit 477 moves silently behind Mike’s car, they want to make sure Jade is alright.

A SWAT truck starts following Lewis and Estevez unit. “Dear God it’s Michael, what does he want??” Estevez says as she keeps nervously driving.

Michael Hedgecock is unaware of Lewis and Estevez investigation and calls them on the radio, ordering them to go back to Almond Avenue as there was an anonymous call for a hidden bomb in the main building of channel 5 and they need police officers to control the situation, in the meantime him and his SWAT team look for any threats.

Lewis tries to explain to Lt. Hedgecock they cannot attend the call, and keeps telling him to call Reed, that they are busy doing their own investigation, Lewis gets engaged in a discussion with Hedgecock for some minutes, until Reed intervenes the call and lets him know unit 240 is on the way there. Michael closes the communication and the truck turns around and leaves.

“It is too late I have lost the car! and we have lost the camera too!” Frustrated Estevez parks the car; Lewis rapidly changes seats with her and asks her to try to track down Jade’s communicator instead.

Lewis starts the engine again and turns on the sirens, since the web camera Jade carries seems to have fallen on the ground and all they can hear is the struggle between Jade and two other men.

Estevez tries to engage a call to Jade’s phone number without success; however they are able to track her device using the cruiser’s GPS.

Hands on the wheel and Lewis is fearful, the same fear she felt when she was rushing to the OCP building trying to rescue Murphy “Not again, not again please” Estevez and Lewis finally find Jade lying on the ground at the corner of a no way street, both cars and Mike had disappeared.

Both women step out of the vehicle, Estevez comes close to her and she notices Jade is sweating and her face is unusually pale “Let’s call a medical emergency unit, she’s going into shock!!” Estevez tries to engage her radio in the meantime Lewis kneels down to try to ask Jade what happened.

“It was them, they knew…Mike, he tried to stop them, but they beat him up…I said no, I don’t do that anymore”

Lewis: What, what don’t you do anymore?

Jade: Sex…for money, but they did not get it…I hit him, in the face, I did not want them to find it…

Jade tries to painfully hand the broken webcamera to Lewis, and then she realizes her arm is bleeding from a circular wound.

“It’s N2-14…” Estevez says trying to contain the tears. Even if the medical unit comes in the next few minutes, Jade is already condemned as they had injected her with the deadly drug, to slowly kill her.

There is no more remedy for Lewis to sit down, next to Jade, to be her company in her last moments. “It will get ugly” Lewis thinks to herself. Jade will start convulsing and will die minutes after.

“I wanted to be a cop and a stripper too”

Lewis: You can’t be both, just choose one of the two…

Lewis tries to joke and follow up the conversation, she is not asking about the perpetrators anymore. Jade reaches out for Lewis’ face, perhaps one of the very few people that were nice to her in her short life. The final moment arrives, and soon after Lewis is now holding the deceased body of the unfortunate teenager.

“I knew, I knew, we should not have left her alone with that man! We risked her life, we killed her!” Estevez keeps ranting whilst Lewis remains in silence. Both cops know now that their hopes to catch Adams and Riggs are gone; and they will have to be brave enough to look at the last recordings of the web camera if they want to put under arrest the ones that murdered Jade.

That same evening, at the police station, Reed is the one that is brave enough to watch the recordings of the web camera. Mike’s car was intercepted by another vehicle, two of the other guards of the club stepped out and forced him and Jade to step out of their car too.

The two men argued with Mike on how Jade must work as an escort now and how the three of them should teach her a lesson for sneaking around the hallways of the club, apparently, the two guards had found out that Jade used to prostitute herself in the streets before working as a waitress in the club.

Mike tried to stop them from their attempt to rape her and was beaten up by them. “I don’t do this anymore, not anymore!” were the helpless cries that could be heard once the web camera was dropped on the floor in the middle of the physical struggle of Jade against the two men.

“It’s the cops!!” one of them shouts and more confusion can be heard, “Did you call the cops, you little bitch??” The other man replies, Mike is suddenly conscious again and tries to fight the guys, or that is what can be heard, more confusion, yelling among the men and Jade crying, all sounds mix altogether, the only image the web camera is projecting is the pavement and a car wheel. Finally the car wheel moves, the guards drive away as Lewis and Estevez’s unit is approaching the crime scene.

Unfortunately for Jade it was too late. Mike could not be seen anywhere and all the two policewomen could find was Jade slowly dying by the influence of the N2-14. Apparently their last revenge was injecting her as they could not finish the rape act.

The case against Riggs and Adams is gone now. Lewis and Estevez know that their chances of getting any information on the corrupt acts of her colleagues have dissipated. Reed explains to them the new case they have against the club is more important.

The murder of Jade and the forced prostitution the girls are suffering at that place should be the priority. “She did not die in vain, if we can get those fuckers” That’s what Reed tells the two frustrated police officers that are sitting at his office and seem to be staring at the void, not at the screen where the video was shown.

There is no response from any of the women, so Reed speaks one more time:

“These things happen all the time many lives like this are lost every day, at least she died serving the police force”

Estevez: She died, because of us Sergeant!

Lewis: Did channel 5 blow up in the end?

Reed: No. It was a false alarm; apparently a writer that went crazy because he was fired from one of the sitcoms he worked for was the one that was creating the disturbances.

Lewis: Ah. She fucking died for nothing then. Are you really gonna start crying now, Barbara?? What for, she is fucking raped and dead by now!

Estevez: I can’t…I don’t want…stop talking to me like this…don’t you have a heart?…I don’t want to work with you anymore…

Reed: Ladies, fuck sake! You have an important case now, finish it and do it efficiently! Stop being emotional, this is not fucking high school to keep reassigning cops with other cops if they can’t stand each other, I won’t do any of that paperwork again…

The meeting is over and Lewis and Estevez leave Reed’s office without talking to each other. Estevez bumps against Kaplan and he notices she’s been crying. She explains to him about their frustrated mission and how Lewis will probably do something out of rage and she doesn’t want to get into trouble.

“I can’t control her anymore… she is slowly losing it…she will kill Adams one of these days…”

Kaplan is mortified not knowing what to do. What if he approaches Murphy and lets him know that Lewis seems to be too emotionally affected lately? Then again, haven’t they erased his memory and that is the real reason why Lewis seems to be acting more and more like a solo vigilante and less as part of a police team? What if Murphy doesn’t react at all?

RoboCop is unaware of Lewis’ frustrated mission and he has his own problems. His main focus is the riot that will take place in less than two weeks and Tyler has noticed he barely sleeps now. He is resting on his chair watching the connective TV of the laboratory in almost in zombie mode in the meantime Tyler is working on her personal laptop, sitting down at her personal desk.

Channel 5 has taken advantage of the fake bomb threat started by the frustrated writer and Casey Wong and his team of journalists are making fun of it, as they got free publicity when the SWAT team revealed the threat was fake.

“Casey Wong: So, what an explosive evening are we having now, eh?”

Tyler: How interesting is that crap show that you barely speak to me now?

RoboCop: It is not.

Tyler: I used to think you and I had made some advances…that we were friends by now, but I feel that after, well you know, you don’t want to speak to me anymore. I did what I could …and I will uninstall directive 4, as soon as those apes are not breathing down my neck anymore.

RoboCop remains in silence. He hasn’t even bothered to remove his helmet so Tyler is not even sure if he is making eye contact with her. She knows he is experiencing emotional pain and keeping it to himself. However the doctor wonders if she’d be able to make him trust in her again. The hysterical laughter of Casey Wong and Jess Perkins on the TV show seems almost as if they were making fun of their awkward conversation.

Tyler: I believe, I haven’t been a good friend to you and I apologize…

RoboCop: Why…do you say so?

Tyler observes she has Robo’s attention now as he has slightly moved his neck and seems to be looking at her now. She takes her chance to drag her chair closer to him, so they can be face to face now.

Tyler: Well when you want someone to be your friend, you set the example and you trust in them first, by telling a story, showing something…so what if I tell you a personal story and then you tell me, what is wrong with you?

RoboCop: I am…fine.

Tyler: When we were building you, I had a great motivation to work day and night. I am not saying that you aren’t the biggest and most important project I have ever worked on in my entire career, but…there was…there was someone who motivated me, and I …well I…

Tyler is almost regretting telling her personal story; however Robo seems very interested in listening what she has to say about it. Tyler goes on and explains to him, that his very creator, Robert Morton was very important to her on a personal level.

The hurtful story on how her love was never corresponded and how she mourned Morton’s death silently, seems to have caught Robo’s attention, although he has no emotional attachments and barely remembers the arrogant executive that came up with the idea of bringing him into life again.

“Then I realized one day…he was the same with all the females of the team, I found him at the spare parts depository, with…another one of the technicians, I am sorry, I am so sorry, this is just bad taste for you to hear, since, well, we were rebuilding you in the room that was next to it, nevertheless when he died…”

There is awkward silence between them for a while. Tyler thinks that trying once more to be friends with the one that she still calls her creation is futile, and feels very embarrassed to have shared that personal secret she has kept to herself for years.

Tyler turns off the TV and stands up as she will start packing her stuff and call it a day, when RoboCop dares to speak, almost as a whisper.

RoboCop: She…dies in my dreams

Tyler: I see. So that makes perfect sense…this is why you don’t want to sleep eh, how, does she die?

RoboCop: Gunned down…in front of me

Tyler: Murphy this is pretty normal, when you are so in…when you care about someone you will always be afraid of losing them, especially now, that you guys were separated in the most cruel, awful way…

RoboCop: What if…I cannot stop it

Tyler: Do you pray Murphy? Do you believe in God?

RoboCop: Why would someone like me, believe in God?

Tyler: Correct. You’re right, but you see, on and above everything, I like to think perhaps there might be someone up there that sometimes listens to what we have to say

RoboCop: Have you ever been listened?

Tyler: Well once, when I was a kid, I had this white cat, I kept dreaming he died by falling down from the branches of tree we had in the garden, a friend of mine, of religious parents, said to me “Pray for him” I did not understand the concept as my parents were into science…no religion talk was allowed in the house

RoboCop: Did you do it?

Tyler: I badly tried yes. A cousin came to the house one day. I asked him to help me break the branches of the tree so the cat would not fall and die. He helped me out and we kept the secret.

RoboCop: Did it work?

Tyler: More than that, the next winter, we were flooded with snow, and a snowplough lost control in front of my house, the driver tried to forcefully stop the vehicle, but it moved forward, breaking that tree, making it crush our shed, my dad was inside…but suffered no harm…guess why?

RoboCop: The branches…you broke…

Tyler: Both dad and the cat lived long lives…perhaps, someone listened? Perhaps someone might listen to you? Break your own branches Murphy, don’t let your fears take over your life…

RoboCop will reflect upon the conversation now, he can hear the hollow sound that Tyler’s high heel shoes make whilst she walks away from the laboratory.

Perhaps someone might listen, perhaps he should sleep now.

Lewis has been off duty for at least two hours, however she is still at the forensics room witnessing Jade’s autopsy. This is the least she owes her, Lewis thinks to herself, as they came late when trying to save her.

Dr. Carlos Garcia approaches Lewis and gives her the report on Jade’s overdose and injuries.

Lewis: Do we have enough ADN from the fuckers to put them under arrest?

Garcia: We do…she was attacked by two different men, however there was a third one…that well, had sex with her Earlier that day, we have collected the samples and will get the results in a few days, do you roughly know who the suspects might be? Do you think they are in the system?

Lewis: I know who they are…I just need the official report, so I can go and give them what they deserve…so that disgusting Mike guy…was having fun with a 17 year old…I can put him under arrest too…even if it was consensual, because she was a minor

Garcia: Lewis, she was 16, not 17…it seems she started her sexual life around, 12, 13 years old and also…

Lewis: You know doctor…I don’t want to know more. Just…write the report and send it to my sergeant, please.

In the meantime Garcia tells the members of his team to go home Lewis drops her body weight on a chair and is making a huge effort to not get emotional whilst she looks at the deceased body of Jade lying still on the operating table. Such a young life wasted and lost. Lewis was under the illusion that Jade could be saved. She could not save Murphy, she could not save her young friend.

Garcia: Officer Lewis, it’s time for all of us to go home. Isn’t there anyone waiting for you at home?

Lewis thinks she doesn’t need to go home to see anyone, as there is already someone, sleeping at that same station that means everything for her.

The only thought that Murphy is alive and probably resting by now and the mental image of her walking towards him, and imagining him reacting to her presence and touch, brings a smile to her face, it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t remember her yet, she is just happy to know he exists.

Lewis: I was…going to ask if there is someone coming to identify the body. Did Jade have any relatives?

Garcia: Just a grandmother…apparently she lived in several foster homes and doesn’t really have a family that responds for her, just this lady that agreed to come tomorrow.

Lewis and Garcia are standing now, looking down at Jade’s body in deep compassion. Garcia finally dares to say: “Would you like to say a few words, officer? For her, before we put her back in the freezer?”

Lewis: I…kinda suck for that, I would not know…how about a prayer, doctor? Do you know any?

Garcia: I do…the problem is, my mother taught me a few in Spanish, when I was a child…sounds bad but I never cared to learn any more prayers in English when I grew up, would that

bother you?

Lewis: Of course not doctor, please, go ahead…

Although Lewis can’t fully understand the words said by Dr. Garcia, somehow that prayer in Spanish seems calming for her, a bit of love and respect, to say goodbye to a very unfortunate girl. Lewis remains in respectful silence as she closely listens to Dr. Garcia, saying a beautiful prayer for Jade:

“Padre nuestro, que estas en los cielos, santificado sea tu nombre, venga a nosotros tu reino…”