̷S̷E̷V̷E̷N

Hank opened the glove box of his car and pulled out a small packet of tissues, handing them to Elodie. She accepted them with a small murmur, pulling one out and beginning to wipe blindly at her face. The lieutenant sighed, pulling down the sun visor on her side of the car and flicking open the mirror with the nail of his thumb. Elodie met her reflection with dull eyes. She was completely drained of colour, her skin pallid and sweaty. Only the twin blue of her eyes and the thirium remained. 

As she continued to dab at her skin, Hank cleared his throat.

"So ... Is that it? Was that the end of your android detective?"

Mention of Connor's name brought the scene once more before her eyes. The gunshot, the way the android had slumped forward with a sickening thud. Her mind reeled back to moments before, when she had been stuck motionless, when it had protected her. Saved her. That was the most perplexing part of it all, the fact that RK800 had pushed her aside and placed himself in the firing line. Saving humanity, as far as she was aware, was not the android's purpose. Elodie was not part of its mission statement. Why shield her when it could have simply attacked the deviant?

"Look, I ain't gonna pretend like what happened back there was rough." 

They were still parked where they had been when they'd first arrived. The crowd that had been outside the crime scene had thinned. Elodie was unsurprised. It was getting late, and while the rain had cleared considerably, the air was beginning to grow frigid with cold. Hank had turned on the car to let the heat run, but despite the warm gust Elodie still felt a chill in her bones. 

"But I did tell you it would be gnarly."

Elodie felt a flare of annoyance, turning to scowl at the man. 

"You knew a deviant was going to shoot and kill RK800, lieutenant?"

"Well no, obviously no— Y'know what, forget it. I was just trying to help."

Elodie rolled her eyes, an annoyed huff of air leaving her nose. She moved to prop her elbow against the windowsill of the car, resting her chin in the crook of her elbow. Beside her, she heard Hank mutter something under his breath.

"... whatever. What's your address anyway?"

"I can just take a taxi home. I don't wish to inconvenience you any further."

"Shut up." Hank replied, pushing down the handbrake. "You think I'm such an asshole, huh? That I would make you stand outside in this fuckin' weather. Take me for that kind of a guy?"

"I don't take you for anything, lieutenant." Elodie pursed her lips. "I don't know nearly enough about you to hypothesise anything of your actions."

"Hypo— Christ, kid, no need to throw around the dictionary."

Elodie did not bother replying, instead she listed off her address in a monotone voice and ignored when Hank grunted out a reply. 

The car pulled away from the curb and onto the dark suburban streets of Detroit. The landscape was bathed in a slick darkness thanks to the rain. Elodie let her eyes unfocused, surroundings fading to an inky blur. Hank didn't bother with the radio, and instead the space filled with the low grumble of the Oldsmobile. 

After ten minutes or so, Hank sighed.

"You didn't answer my question. Was that the end of Cyberlife's collaboration with the DPD?"

Elodie did not move, keeping herself still against the jostling of the car. 

"It depends." She said finally. She knew the true answer, but had not regained her capacity for confrontation. "I'm not entirely sure if it will be deemed appropriate for it to return. Connor's code is different ... And I don't really know my way around it."

"Oh yeah, and who's responsible for the code then?"

"I am."

"Right. And you don't know your way around it."

"Mmhmm."

"Figures. Kamski's sister's a fuckin' nepotism baby."

Elodie's throat tightened with irritation.

"I was in a serious car accident during the time I was working on RK800. The kind that alters your ability to recall short-term memory. So no, I am perfectly capable, I'm just ... Rebuilding my capabilities."

Elodie fell silent. She found herself surprised that she had blurted out something so personal, on an emotional whim nonetheless. It was uncharacteristic for her, but then again, she'd never had such close proximity to violence before. It was natural that she was askew. Though she knew both of the androids had been machines, it still rattled her. She tried her best to dismiss the buzz of adrenaline in her system that lingered.

She wound down the window, the cold night's air spilling into the car and hitting her in the face. Her eyes closed as she leaned her face towards the chill, breathing in the scent of the city — damp, metallic, polluted. The exhaust of the car had a slightly acrid scent, evident as they remained stationary, waiting for the lights to tick back to green. Distantly, she caught the aroma of coffee.

"Can we find a drive thru?" She asked as the lights turned. She could feel Hank's eyes hitting the back of her head as he shifted the gearstick.

"Yeah, I know a place. You hungry?"

"I just want some coffee. I think I'll be too tired to make it myself."

"Gotcha."

The car remained silent until they had arrived at the place Hank in mind. It was a diner, styled like one from the 50s, with a bright blue and pink neon sign barely muted by the dour weather, reading 'Cindy's All American'. In the strip of window that snaked around the curve of the building's exterior, Elodie spotted pink and white booths positioned by the windows and a long bar lined with round stools, coated in shiny blue pleather. Hank pulled into drive thru bay, barking an order into the plastic speaker.

"A large cheeseburger meal. And a coffee. And a hash brown." He looked over his shoulder, upper body still craned out of the window. "You like potatoes, yeah?"

"I'm not hungry."

"Make it two hash browns."

After a short wait, they were handed their food at the drive-thru window. Hank drove the car into the parking lot, pulling up the parking brake. The Oldsmobile groaned beneath them.

"Y' don't mind, right? It's just hit me and I don't wanna grease up the wheel."

"It's fine." Elodie replied, shrugging. 

Hank dug his hand into the bag, pulling out the hash browns, encased in a paper wrapper, and shoved them towards her. Elodie pursed her lips.

"C'mon. You've been through something. You gotta eat."

She took the greasy wrappers, nodding softly. She placed them in her lap, on top of her windbreaker, before reaching for the coffee sitting in the console. For a little while, they ate in silence. Elodie's coffee was slightly burnt, but she didn't mind the bitterness. Her mind ticked over as she listened to the rustle of wrappers from Hank's side, watching out of the window at the odd passing car.

"I like to make guesses if they're gonna come in here or not." Hank said, breaking the silence. "Sometimes. Just by, y'know, by the look of the car."

"I understand." Elodie replied, nodding. As she spoke, a red Dodge Ram turned the corner, driving down the dark street. "Them?"

"Of course." Hank replied, biting down on a chip with a loud crunch. "It's a Ram."

Sure enough, the owner of the car pulled into the diner. Elodie glanced over her shoulder as they made a beeline for the drive thru.

"Do you come here often?" 

From the corner of her eye, she saw Hank nod. He swallowed a bite. 

"Yeah. Nice place to come when it's too late to go to my usual place. Chicken Feed. By the highway underpass."

"I haven't heard of it."

"I'm not surprised. Don't suppose anyone like you would be caught dead there."

Elodie paused before she spoke again, taking a sip of her coffee. 

"I don't care all that much where my food comes from. I asked to go to a drive thru, did I not?"

"I'll admit, I was surprised."

"It's my brother that you are basing your judgments off of. Even that, you're thinking on optics alone. Elijah isn't whatever you think of him. He's much different."

"Save me the spiel, I know all I wanna know about that guy." He paused, scoffing. "And you're really telling me that an egghead from Cyberlife HQ wouldn't mind eating at an establishment with multiple health and safety violations?

"Take me there sometime when it's open. I'll surprise you."

"So you're sticking around?"

"I am."

Hank nodded, his brows flicking upwards briefly.

"Thought what happened back there might've rattled you. Dunno. Probably wouldn't have thought lesser of you for backing out."

Elodie sipped her coffee to disguise her surprise. Hank had spent the evening mocking her, yet here was a glimmer of sympathy. It was snuffed as he opened his mouth once more.

"So that means ... "

"That RK800 will return, yes. RK800 is built with the ability to be resurrected, so to speak. He's risen before, like he will again."

"You gotta be fucking kiddin' me."

Hank gave the steering wheel a slap with the flat of his hand. The motion was sudden, and loud. Elodie jumped reflexively, coffee sloshing from the mouthpiece of her cup and spilling onto her shirt. Hank glanced over, swearing under his breath as he dug into the paper bag for the bundle of napkins. Elodie took them, dabbing at the spill.

"I take it that wasn't the response you had in mind."

"Doesn't take a genius, aye?" Hank replied gruffly. He shoved his finished burger wrapper away. "No. It was not the response I 'had in mind'. I thought I could go back to doing my job with being tailed by a goddamn android and its freak maker." 

Hank stopped abruptly, clenching his jaw. It was obvious he was frustrated, and as much as Elodie wanted to hold his words against him, she was far too exhausted. Instead, she drew her eyes away, shrugging her shoulders.

"I gather you find me a tad unsettling." She said simply. Hank snorted, nodding.

"That's the understatement of the century."

"And I understand that you resent my interference and you have displayed no love for anything android adjacent."

"You fuckin' betcha."

"Then it seems we are destined to never get along, lieutenant. Because I doubt I'm going anywhere anytime soon. So I'd suggest finding a way to accept that, lest we continue this hostile work environment."

Hank was still for a moment, silent in reflection. Elodie dared to glance sideways at him, to see if there was anything detectable on his weathered features. She had never met a man so openly angry at the world, unsurprising given how sheltered she was, first by her parents and then by the virtue of spending her entire adult life in the secure walls of Cyberlife. She found herself wondering what Elijah would have done with a man like Hank. She almost couldn't imagine them in the same metaphorical room, Hank's frayed edges were fundamentally incompatible with the steely perfection of her brother. 

From the corner of her eye, she saw the man open his mouth to speak, closing it seconds later. Then he shook his head, a sharp motion, his hand falling to the ignition, turning the keys. The Oldsmobile coughed to life, the headlights illuminating the street before them just as a Mini Cooper rounded the corner

"Not a chance in hell." He said beneath his breath, though whether he was referring to her words or the car's probability, Elodie remained none the wiser.

—

Elodie ran her eyes over the brick façade of Carl Manfred's house, sucking in her cheeks before pacing up the driveway. It hadn't been since last year that she'd graced his doorstep for his annual Christmas party, though it wasn't as though he hadn't reached out to her in the time being, she'd received the 'get well soon' and birthday cards and nursed the subsequent guilt for never having sent him a note of thanks. She'd been overwhelmed, too much so for the man she considered a pseudo-family member, but she was beginning to regret leaving him on radio silence.

She'd awoken that morning to a message on her phone, placed by Carl's android Markus, an RK200 designed and gifted especially for reclusive painter. One of the birds Elodie had long ago designed had developed a fault, and would she kindly see if there was space in her schedule to make a quick repair? Elodie seized the opportunity for a palette cleanser, a quick stop before she was due to head to the station. She left not long after Lex departed. He had waited up against her wishes. They had argued and his side of the bed was left cold. The wake wake of their fight, stony silence remained.

Markus greeted her at the front door with a pleasant smile, stepping aside to allow her into the expansive atrium. While Elodie wasn't a fan of great displays of wealth, she had a soft spot for the Manfred mansion. Marble flooring, warm wood, high ceilings. Carl had a taste for the classic, and as she stepped into the living room, she was greeted with the familiar sight of the book cases overflowing beside a grand piano and the painter seated at the far end of the room. He glanced up from his breakfast, setting down his cutlery.

"Elodie! It's good to see you, my girl."

Markus strode ahead to pull out a chair opposite Carl for her. Elodie nodded in thanks to the android before turning to face Carl. A kind smile had spread across his thin lips, and he turned off the television behind her with the click of a sleek remote.

"Something to drink?" Markus prompted.

"Just a coffee."

"And the chess board, Markus! I'm a foolhardy man, I admit, but I hold out hope that I might meet someone I can best in a game."

Elodie laughed softly. They had done this song and dance before. Chess was one of her interests. She liked memorising the pattern of pieces and how they corresponded to different strategies. The Nimzo-Indian, the Sicilian defence, Queen's Gambit. She took her time, trying to find the most optimal move on the board. Carl meanwhile was a player of instinct. He seemed utterly disinterested in theory, preferring reaction and retaliation. The juxtaposition made for fiery matches. Carl was yet to ever beat her.

Markus cleared away what remained of Carl's breakfast and fetched the chess set. Carl set his eyes on Elodie.

"How are you? I trust you got the flowers I sent while you were still in the hospital."

"Well enough."

"Ah, clipped as always. You did have me worrying. Elijah assured me of your well-being in our last call, but I never know how to read that man. All these years and he remains an enigma."

"He was telling the truth. I recovered and I'm doing quite well."

"You don't seem so sure."

Elodie blushed as Carl called her bluff. Carl was either wise with the years he had lived or had always been a perceptive man, but the end result was the same. Regardless, nothing seemed to get past him.

"My memory isn't what it used to be." Elodie admitted with a shrug. "Luckily my long term is intact. I at least have enough sense to be able to repair your bird."

Exactly why she had jumped at the opportunity. Elodie was only human, she needed a win to fluff her ego. Who knew, maybe it would manage to jog her memory? Fat chance, she thought, but worth the shot.

"I'm glad to hear it. They're very sweet, those little birds. You should be calling yourself an artist." There was a twinkle in his eyes as he spoke. Elodie gave her head a small shake.

"I think I would pervert the word, or at least, actual artists might think so."

"Started taking into consideration the thoughts of others, have you?" Carl raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."

Markus set the chessboard down in front of them and silently arrange the pieces in their respective positions. Elodie had been given white for the round. She pressed her lips together as she planned her first move. Pawn to e4.

"So tell me, aside from the accident, what else has been happening in your life?"

Carl deliberated with his chin clasped. She weighed the idea of honesty and arrived at half-truth. She had still not managed to decompress fully, and the prospect of riding into the station as unfocused as she was felt daunting.

"I was assigned something new at work." Elodie replied carefully, watching Carl scoot one of his pawns forward. "Monitoring an old project in the field. Hopefully it will help me reboot my memory."

"And how are you finding that?"

She plucked her queen and sent it diagonally across the board to pressure the f7 square. Elodie sucked in her cheeks.

"Challenging. The android is, well, just nothing I've ever worked with before. Ironic, given I was the one who made it. I suppose I find myself beginning to second guess all of my preconceived notions."

It had saved her. This was a thought she had not been able to shake. Yes, it had saved the young girl in its previous mission, but the child had been a hostage. Elodie had not. Upon analysation of the scene, she had been an afterthought at best. RK800 should have decommissioned the deviant on the spot. The hesitation had cost it its life and sacrificed the objective in the process.

"Hmm, your preconceived notions." Carl had not spotted the blaring threat, pressing ahead with a move of his knight. "Would they have to do with your view on humanity?"

"It's not humanity when it comes to androids."

This debate was one of Carl's favourites, and not just with Elodie. He had a thought experiment that he brought out when he'd had a few too many glasses of wine, but as the years wore on and his medication gave him less opportunity to drink, so too had the pretence fallen. Carl was one of a slowly growing school of thought, that androids were not simply automation but the next leap in human existence.

Elodie found the idea amusing, but dismissed it outright. Now she sensed the conversation making the familiar turn and tensed at the idea. Her arm was rigid as she angled her bishop. Carl's next move was yet another blunder, grumbling as Markus set down a fresh cup of coffee beside Elodie. The android watched the board as Elodie went in for the kill.

"Checkmate."

"Rats. What's this one called?" Carl turned to Markus. The android briefly observed the board.

"Elodie used a popular tactic named the Scholar's Mate. This is a common opening tactic played against inexperienced players to catch them off guard."

"The name is befitting." Carl shifted his gaze back across the table as Markus began to rearrange the board. "So? You've neglected the question."

"I suppose you could say that, yes. I'm not so much questioning humanity as wondering if an android can interpret an objective in abstraction." She spoke carefully, choosing her words with much the same preciseness as she slid chess pieces across the board. "The android I'm supervising made a decision that was a mistake. It shouldn't have done that."

"Ah, how very human of it." Carl said with a smile. This time he opened, placing his king's pawn forward two spaces.

"It could have been a mistake in the code. Something not quite up to snuff. There are logical reasons why a piece of artificial intelligence might make a mistake. Earlier models even had a habit of hallucination, even as they were fully convinced of their own veracity."

Elodie knew she was trying to convince herself more than the man across from her. Carl shook his head with a sigh.

"Or it could have made an error in judgement, like you or I are also capable of making."

"Androids cannot make errors in judgement, certainly not ones that involve other people. That would require theory of mind, the ability to theoretically assess and ascribe the mental states of other people. An android can attune to the environment, take objective data such as heartbeat and body temperature, but they cannot read minds."

"Neither can human beings."

Her next sound was of frustration, making a quick move on the board before leaning back in her chair. She folded her arm across her chest.

"I know what you're getting at, Carl. Androids aren't human. It's a fundamental truth. Androids are not alive."

"Aren't they?"

"No, of course not. Something alive, something human, would be able to survive without another source to lean on. Androids need us, their creators and their owners. Without humans, they would have nowhere to derive their objectives, no one to answer to."

Carl's tone was jovial but his eyes were cold as they assessed her. He raised an eyebrow expectantly at Elodie as she shook her head. The man sighed as he looked past her shoulder, to strip of window nearby.

"There have been many different people who have been considered with or without humanity over the whole of human history, Elodie. Take myself for example, I'm a disabled man, an aging one at that. Many people have denied me a claim to my own humanity and have deemed me too incompetent by their standards. You must see the comparison."

She was aware that her unease was shifting into outright discomfort. At any other instance, Elodie would have dismissed the argument. The previous night had changed everything.

"I'm sorry Carl, I just don't. You're comparing apples and oranges." Elodie replied, her arms folding against her chest.

"And by what standards do you deem that?"

"Just the basics of computing, for one. I don't even think you have to get into the philosophical aspects of it. A computer cannot do something with explicit command."

Carl smiled warmly as Elodie took a sip of her coffee.

"Even if androids were anywhere equivalent to computers, how much different is that from humans? I don't think many of us would be able to do much of anything in this world without some form of intervention. Parents and their children, teachers and their students. Friends, partners. We're all just learning from one another in the end."

"That might be true." Elodie replied, her jaw tensing. "But androids exclusively defer to humans. Most humans are able to make decisions on their own, separate of gaining consensus from others."

"There are many kinds of people that require the ability to be deferential. Children, for example, are wholly reliant to their parents for providing the basic necessities to survive in life." At this, Carl smiled warmly at her, the corners of his eyes crinkling. "We are a lot more interconnected than you give us credit for, Elodie. I think in a lot of ways, we have a lot to learn from androids. Humans in comparison to machines are entirely too fallible, too greedy, too proud."

Elodie blushed, averting her eyes from his. As much as she respected the man, his ideas made did not sit well with her. She had never thought of her job as creating life, and the concept frankly made her queasy. She didn't want to explore the logical consequences of his proposition, how they framed humanity and its relationship to machines.

Almost as if he could feel her discomfort, Markus stepped into it peripheral vision, it's hands clasped behind his back.

"Carl, it's time to take your midday medication." The android murmured, casting a quick glance in Elodie's direction. "Sorry to interrupt your conversation."

"It's no problem, Markus." She responded, smiling at the android gratefully. "I've taken up enough time. I should make the repairs and then be off to the station."

She took the last sips from her cup and set it down, rising from her seat. Before she could bid Carl goodbye, he cleared his throat and gestured down to the board. With a start, Elodie realised she had lost. The discussion had clouded her mind and she had continued to play on without thought. On the board, her pieces stared down the barrel of Carl's queen.

"Checkmate," Carl offered with a smile. "Best keep your wits about you, Elodie. Many things can happen when you don't check your blindspot."