Tears in the Rain
This fic has been written for the spn_cinema Challenge based on the movie Blade Runner which in turn was inspired by the short story Do Androids Sleep of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick. I've taken quite a few liberties with pretty much everything, the biggest one being the time period.
The movie was set in 2019, which is far too present-day considering the author was envisioning a time when humanity was much more technologically advanced, so shifting the year forward more than a hundred years made sense.
Dean and Sam are still brothers though. Some things should never be changed.
I see so much of Dean in the main character Rick Deckard...and like the movie, it's from his POV.
Title: Tears in the Rain
Movie Prompt: Blade Runner
Pairing: Gen
Rating: R for Adult language and a smattering of violence.
Word Count: c12,200
Summary: Los Angeles 2159. Dangerous androids have escaped to Earth, Sam's missing, Dean has the mother of all hangovers...again, and it's raining. Can it get any worse?
Warnings: Mention of Dean/Lisa, Sam/Jess.
Notes: Many thanks to my Beta lap_of_the_gods :)
Tears in the Rain
Prologue
Early in the 22nd century, after wars and global warming had ravaged the Earth, humans looked to other planets for their salvation. One of the most powerful Corporations, owned by genius Dr Eldon Tyrell, advanced robot evolution into the Nexus phase, and beings virtually identical to humans, known as replicants, were used off-world as slave labor in the hazardous exploration and colonization process.
Many years later Nexus Six replicants were developed. These were superior in strength and agility and at least equal in intelligence to the genetic engineers who created them but over time some began to show signs of human emotions and, after a bloody mutiny in an off-world colony, were declared illegal on Earth.
Special police squads, Blade Runner Units, had orders to shoot to kill any trespassing replicant. This was not called execution. It was called retirement.
Chapter one
Downtown Los Angeles 2159
Where the hell are you, Sam?
I woke with that unsettling thought every morning, and with it a gnawing pain in my gut. Today was no exception.
I dragged myself out of bed, hoping today would be the day I'd get news about that idiot brother of mine, and pulled the curtains across and peered out over the city skyline. I wasn't expecting the daylight to stream in and it didn't, just the same annoying flashing neon lights that accompanied the constant stream of moronic crap from a passing advertising blimp. It was impossible to block out but somehow I'd learnt to let it wash over me to keep my sanity.
A new life awaits you in the off-world colonies, the
chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure.
New climate, recreation facilities...
Yeah, I'd like to travel to a new golden land of opportunity and adventure, where the air was clean, the sun shone and the rain didn't burn your skin. And no, I didn't have those kind of numbers in my bank account to do it, and probably never would.
So for the time being, like so many other little people in this crumbling world, I was stuck here to cope the best I could.
Industrial chimneys burned day and night since the Corporations had merged and taken control and, with hardly a shred of regulation remaining, most of the planet was now in a downward spiral. On a bad day there wasn't much chance of getting even a sliver of sunlight breaking through the smog, so today was another dreary day just like the last. My mood wasn't any better plus, as a shitty bonus, it was raining. Hard.
I didn't blame Sam for wanting out; out of this apartment, out of the city and off this planet. He had plans he said, ones that didn't involve hunting and killing, and washing layers of filth from your hair if you ventured outside for more than a minute. And a breath of fresh air would be, well, a breath of fresh air.
He had a point, but I wished he'd given me a bit more warning before he'd quit. It hadn't exactly come out of the blue, but our conversation which followed had gotten heated real fast.
Sam's eyes narrowed, fixing their intense gaze on mine. “I've had enough, Dean. If I'd told you what I was about to do you'd have tried to persuade me to stay...like you have all the other times.”
“Look, I know today was a bitch, I wasn't expecting it either.”
“The guy begged for his life! Begged. And then we killed him...in cold blood.”
“Retired him Sammy, retired him. Not quite the same.”
“And what'd he done? Nothing.”
“We don't know that, and you know our orders.”
“There's no way to tell them apart any more, and something’s changed, they now have... feelings.”
“That's not true,” I said, trying to come up with a reasonable answer, “and they're definitely not human.”
“I don't know what that means any more.”
“They're created in a lab. We're not. Easy.”
Sam sighed loudly.
“And anyway...” I continued before Sam could catch his breath, “...what's all that shit about them having feelings? A robot's, a robot as far as I'm concerned.”
“Man! Why are you being such a dick?” Sam paced up and down the room as if trying to wear a hole in the already threadbare carpet. “Created in a lab or not...with these last few retirements, you could see the fear in their very human looking eyes just before we spilled their brains all over the side-walk. That shows feelings."
There was no placating him when he was like this, so I let him carry on off-loading all the crapola that had been building up over the last few months.
“I hate it, I didn't sign on for this. It's like...like...murder..." Sam hesitated and then threw his hands up in despair as if more words would choke him. He grabbed a beer I'd opened and held out for him. He gulped the liquid down and slumped his tall frame into a chair before throwing me a soulful look.
I knew what those wide pleading eyes were asking. He wanted me to quit as well but I wasn't sure. I didn't find it so easy; being a cop was all I knew.
------
Dad had lived and breathed being a cop as long as I could remember and I'd been desperate to follow in his footsteps as soon as I was old enough. Well sooner, because with Sam's nerdy help we'd knocked two years of my age and I'd been able to get into the Academy well before the legal limit. I was stoked, it even made moving to the rougher part of the city not quite the hell I'd always thought it would be. I begged Sam to join as soon as he was old enough.
But he had other ideas.
He earned a scholarship with the only remaining College that hadn't sold it's soul to Satan, aka the faceless Corporations, and soon my little brother was on his way to becoming a hot shot lawyer.
Then Mom and Dad were gunned down.
------
It was one of those rare times Dad had taken a week off from the job to spend it with Mom. It was their anniversary and he'd spent a small fortune on tickets to an off-world haven; all sun, sea and sand. A romantic second honeymoon, he'd said. Too much information Dad, I'd replied. He laughed a laugh I hardly ever got to see and Mom was so excited.
By all accounts they'd had a great time, but like all the off-world havens, the Corporations did what they always did and shared facilities, mostly with the military. They did it for two reasons; to pool resources and for protection but that didn't help in this case. The new generation Nexus Six replicants rebelled, broke away from their unit, stormed the hotel and took everyone hostage. Their demands for their freedom and a shuttle off the planet fell on deaf ears, and the Authorities hit back hard with all that we don't negotiate with terrorists crap. It was bloody, it was a complete massacre, and no one in the place survived.
So from that moment all replicants were under suspicion and the Blade Runners were formed, a specialist unit to track and kill any that stepped foot on Earth.
I signed up immediately. Didn't even have to say anything to Sam as he joined the Department the very next week and fast tracked to my unit and we'd worked together ever since. Until three months ago.
------
Sam's eyes continued to plead and I was getting desperate, so I did what any self respecting cop did when his back was against the wall. I fought dirty.
"What would Dad say if he was alive...and Mom?"
“Don't...even...go...there.”
"They would have been so proud of you, man."
"I'm not changing my mind..."
"No...I wasn't expecting you to...always thinking of yourself.”
"What? No I don't. Shut the fuck up!"
"Why? Don't like hearing the truth?"
And at that point I wish I had shut the fuck up as Sam shot me a devastated look I hadn't seen since Mom and Dad died. "Is it too much to ask to want a better life? To hate what we've become...killing without question.”
"So I'm a cold hearted killer now am I?" I asked more as a question to myself and one I didn't want to answer.
"You know that's not what I meant..." Sam huffed and began throwing his clothes into a holdall.
He eventually broke the silence as he zipped up the bag.
“I'll be in touch,” he said, his voice now flat, exhausted of all emotion.
And with that, he was out of the door, casting a quick glance back to see me take a swig from a bottle of whiskey before the door closed.
A few hours later the bottle was empty.
------
It felt like a lifetime ago but it was three months and two days ago to be precise. Not that I was counting.
Usually any arguments we had were over in a couple of days because we either ignored them, or occasionally threw a few punches. Anything would have been better than this.
I carried on working, but two weeks and a couple more bloody retirements and nightmares later, I'd had enough. So I quit too. Now I was brother-less, jobless and had a continuous mother of all hangovers into the bargain.
My stomach didn't seem to care my head was throbbing and my eyes could hardly focus, and it gave its usual complaint that breakfast was needed. I didn't check the fridge as it was empty the last time I looked and unless the food fairy had made a delivery in the night, it was breakfast at Tiffany's as usual; the only place in the city with a great view.
First I needed a shower and was grateful the antiquated water system still worked even if I did have to thwack it with a wrench every morning. I stood and let hot steamy water wash away the previous night's bender, until I felt semi-human.
Yeah semi-human...that would be funny if it wasn't so depressing. Me the ex-cop, ex Blade Runner and ex-killer. At least I had some clean clothes in the laundry basket. There was nothing worse than starting the day in yesterday's underwear.
It didn't take long to get dressed and put on my favourite boots, and I was on my way with thoughts of hot strong coffee spurring me on.
I paused with one hand on the door pad and instinctively glanced back to check the room, still half expecting to see my brother getting ready to follow me, but there was his neatly made bed in the corner and his empty closet to remind he wasn't. My heart sank.
The door shut automatically behind me and I picked up my stride to get out of the place as quickly as possible, the sound of my feet on stone echoing around the corridor. The apartment block was half empty these days in fact I was the only inhabitant on my level. But it had its compensations, nice and quiet after a hard days work but pretty damn creepy now I walked along them alone.
I needed to think and look for work, and for that I needed coffee.
Damn it Sam - no messages, no calls. When I find you, I'm so going to kick your ass.
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Chapter two
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