Connor's perspective

"(Y/N)?"

"Ten more minutes..." (Y/N) mumbled against her pillow.

"It's 10 in the morning."

She bolted upright.

"WHAT?! SHIT, WE MISSED THE CASE!" That seemed to work, as she jumped from her bed – not disturbing Blue in the process luckily-, sprinted into her cupboard, pulled out some clothes & almost slipped on the tile flooring of her bathroom.

It wasn't really 10 yet, but rather 7 o'clock, & if they wanted to get to Kamski's on time then Connor really didn't have to wake her up so early. Humans were such strange things, they got frazzled by the simplest of situations. It was quite amusing, watching their puzzled or shocked faces as they registered what was actually happening around them, like a scared rabbit.

(Y/N) stepped out of the bathroom in a pair of black leggings, a dark grey hoodie & a maroon scarf, a light grey beanie on the top of her head. Her hands were on her hips.

"So much for it being 10 in the morning, you liar." She shook her head, a smile dressed her lips. "Hey, at least I have time to take Blue on a quick walk." She looked back, her dog now awake and giddy with excitement. She looked back at the android, still smiling sweetly "Care to join us?"

As she strolled down the stairs into the main living area, Connor couldn't stop staring at her.

Yet he had no idea why.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Y/N) exited the car before Connor, seeing Hank outside on the phone. His facial expression seemed a mix of sentiment and worry.

"Hank?" He turned to face her, a near upset look on his face.

"What's wrong? Who was on the phone?"

"Is everything okay, Lieutenant?"

Hank let out a sigh.

"Chris was on patrol last night.  He was...attacked by a bunch of deviants..."
Connor saw (Y/N)'s face fall, her (E/C) eyes struck with concern.
"He said he was saved by Markus himself..."

"Is Chris okay?" Connor asked.

"Yeah. He's in shock but...he's alive."

(Y/N) furrowed her eyebrows in fear & possibly regret.

"God, I knew I should've been out there with him...If I didn't screw up & almost get myself killed maybe I could've-"
"It wasn't anyone's fault kid, don't beat yourself up about it."

"But that night I was supposed to be out on patrol with him-"

"But you would've been too shaken up to go out there anyway, (Y/N)."

They made their way towards the house of Cyberlife's old founder, Elijah Kamski.

"I have a bad feeling, Lieutenant. We shouldn't have come here."
"Bad feeling, huh? Should get your program checked. Might be a glitch."

They approached the door, Hank ringing the doorbell as they waited.

A blonde android in a blue dress answered the door, her face emotionless.

"Hi...We're, er, Lieutenant Anderson & Detective (L/N), Detroit Police Department. We're here to see Mr. Elijah Kamski."

"Please, come in." The android woman now had a smile on her face, beckoning them into the warm house.

"Okay..." Hank muttered as 'Chloe' shut the door after they were all inside.

'I'll let Elijah know you're here. But please, make yourself comfortable." She gave a nod after her statement before leaving the room.

Connor saw (Y/N) looking at the portrait.

"This guy must think he's high & mighty."

"Nice girl..." Hank commented on Chloe.

"You're right.." Connor replied.

"She's absolutely gorgeous." (Y/N) said, surprisingly without any sarcasm. "Think about it, she was the first android to pass the Turing Test, to make history. It's amazing."

"Geez, someone's a fan."

"I have a right to be, old man." She replied childishly.

A certain picture caught Connor's attention.

>__>__>__>__>__>__>__<__<__<__<__<__<
Stern, Amanda

Ai Professor at University of Colbridge

Born: 05/14/78 – Died: 02/23/27

>__>__>__>__>__>__>__<__<__<__<__<__<

A m a n d a . . .

He stepped back a bit, unaware of his puzzled expression.

"You alright?" But (Y/N) seemed to notice it.

"Yes...
Yes, I'm fine."

He continued looking around the room.

"So, you're about to meet your maker, Connor. How does it feel?" Anderson asked him.

"Kamski is one of the great geniuses of the 21st century. It'll be interesting to meet him in person."

"Sometimes I wish I could meet my creator face to face...I'd have a couple of things I'd wanna tell him..."

Chloe re-entered the room.

"Elijah will see you now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mister Kamski?" Hank yelled out.

"Just a moment, please."

They were now in another area, a pool in the centre with more Chloe androids in it. A painting was on the right-hand side of the room, hanging on a wall. (Y/N) was looking out the window at the flurries of snow whilst Hank looked around the new area. Elijah stepped out of the pool, Chloe handing him a robe. (Y/N) looked uncomfortable, so Connor stood next to her, but slightly in front of her. This way he could hold her hand to comfort her & protect her if needed.

"I'm Lieutenant Anderson. This is Detective (L/N) & Connor."

"What can I do for you Lieutenant?" Kamski asked.

"Sir, we're investigating most cases involving deviants. We're aware you left Cyberlife several years ago, but we're hoping you could perhaps tell us something we don't already know." (Y/N) spoke up.

Elijah had his head down for a second.

"Deviants..." He pulled it back up. "Fascinating, aren't they? Perfect beings with infinite intelligence, & now they have free will. Machines are so superior to us," he turned to look at Chloe for a second.

"confrontation was inevitable. Humanity's greatest achievement threatens to be its downfall. Isn't it ironic?"

"Something in the deviants' program seems to emulate emotion. We thought you might know something about how that occurs." Connor stated.
"All ideas are viruses that spread like epidemics...Is the desire to be free a contagious disease?"

"Put that inspirational quote in a picture frame & sell it." Connor heard (Y/N) mutter, which lightened his mood.

"Listen I didn't come here to talk philosophy. The machines you created may be planning a revolution. Either you can tell us something that'll be helpful, or we will be on our way."

Elijah turned to face the RK800, which caused him to gently pull (Y/N) behind him by a few more centimetres. He didn't want someone like Kamski corrupting her with his puzzling games.

"What about you, Connor?" He asked, growing nearer. "Whose side are you on?"

He felt (Y/N)'s grip tighten a bit, signalling her discomfort.

"I'm on the humans' side, of course."

Kamski snickered. "Well that's what you're programmed to say...but you.." They were both face to face, Elijah staring Connor down.

"What do you really want?"

Connor's eyes flicked to the woman beside him as she gently let go of his hand.

"What I want is...not important."

Kamski smirked.

"Chloe?"

Chloe made her way over to her master.

"I'm sure you're familiar with the Turing test." Elijah stood behind Chloe. "Mere formality, simple question of algorithms & computing capacity. What interests me, is whether machines are capable of empathy. I call it the 'Kamski test', it's very simple, you'll see." Kamski turned to face Chloe.

"Magnificent, isn't it? One of the first intelligent models developed by Cyberlife." He took hold of the android woman's chin.

"Young, & beautiful forever. A flower that will never wither..." He let go.

"But what is it really? Piece of plastic imitating a human? Or a living being..." He reached into the drawer of the dresser behind him,
pulling out a gun.

"With a soul..." Kamski got Chloe to kneel down. Connor could practically feel (Y/N)'s heart rate pick up, quicker & quicker.

"It's alright." He muttered to her, trying to ease her.

"It's up to you to answer that fascinating question, Connor." Kamski hesitantly took (Y/N)'s forearm & pushed her away from the RK800 gently, her eyes shot with fear. He pressed a gun into the android's hand, making him point it directly at Chloe's head.

"Destroy this machine & I'll tell you all I know. Or spare it, if you feel it's alive, but you'll leave here without having learnt anything from me." Elijah was purposely standing next to (Y/N).

"Okay I think we're done here. Come on, you two. Let's just go. Sorry to get you outta your pool-" Hank tried to intervene but was cut off by Kamski.

"What's more important to you, Connor? Your investigation, or the life of this android?" Chloe's blue eyes were staring dead at him, whilst (Y/N)'s piercing (E/C) ones were begging for him not to shoot.

He had a choice, didn't he?

Simply kill off a machine & learn something,

Or spare it & leave, learning nothing?

"Decide who you are." He lowered his voice.

"An obedient machine," Eli left the woman's side to walk around Connor. "or a living being endowed with free will..."

"Please, don't do this Connor." (Y/N)'s begging voice was trying to bury itself into his programming.

"That's enough! Come on, we're leaving." Hank cut in.
"Pull the trigger."

"Connor! Don't."
"And I'll tell you what you want to know."

"Connor, please." She pleaded.
"Please, let's just go."

T i m e    t o   d e c i d e ,  C o n n o r .

I t ' s    j u s t    a    m a c h i n e ,

I s n ' t   i t ?

Just a machine....

'Machines. They're machines, Detective.'

'Sure, whatever.'

How would she react?

Would she be hurt?

Proud?

Would she run off & never face him again?

Decisions, decisions...

One wrong thing could lead to another, & another, & another. A cascade of consequences.

He looked down at Chloe,

And pulled the trigger.