I rub my hands together as the car pulls up outside the expensive-looking house a day later. Hank is pacing outside as he talks to someone on his phone. He eventually puts down his phone, and Connor looks at me and nods before we both get out of the car.

"Is everything ok, Lieutenant?" Connor asks. Hank looks up at us and nods.

"Chris was on patrol last night," he says. "He was attacked by a bunch of deviants." My eyes widen as I cross my arms. "He said he was saved by Markus himself." Connor frowns.

"Is Chris ok?" he asks. Hank nods.

"Yeah, he's in shock but...he's alive." He sighs and shakes his head. "What the hell..." He looks up and starts walking toward the front door. Connor and I glance at each other before following him.

"I have a bad feeling, Lieutenant," Connor says. "We shouldn't have come here." I chuckle.

"You have a bad feeling about this?" I ask, referencing an old movie series I used to watch with my parents. Hank rolls his eyes as he looks at me.

"Bad feeling, huh?" he asks Connor. "Should get your program checked. Might be a glitch." He walks up to the door and knocks. Before long, it's opened by an android with blonde hair who smiles at us, but it's obviously not real. Just programming. Hank stares at her.

"Hi," he says. "Uh...I'm, er, Lieutenant Hank Anderson, Detroit Police Department. I'm here to see Mr. Elijah Kamski." I roll my eyes.

"Please, come in," she says. We follow her through the door and into a large entry hall. She looks back at us.

"I'll let Elijah know you're here," she says. "But please, make yourself comfortable." With that, she walks out, and I look up at the large portrait of Elijah Kamski on the wall.

"Great," I say. "A narcissist."

"Nice girl," Hank says, sitting in one of the red chairs. Connor nods as he walks around.

"You're right," he says. "She's really pretty." I frown but quickly smirk to hide it.

"Someone got a little crush, huh, Connor?" I ask. He looks at me, his LED spinning yellow. Hank looks between us before sighing.

"Nice place," he says. "Guess androids haven't been a bad thing for everybody. So, you're about to meet your maker, Connor. How does it feel?" Connor looks at him, his LED blue again.

"I don't know," he says. "I'll tell you when I see him."

""Sometimes I wish I could meet my creator face to face," Hank says. "I'd have a couple of things I'd wanna tell him." I walk up to Connor as he looks at a picture on one of the walls. He almost looks...zoned out. He frowns.

"Amanda," he mutters. I look between the picture and him.

"Connor." He looks down at me. "You good?" He nods.

"Of course." The female android from earlier walks back in.

"Elijah will see you now," she says. She leads us into a side room which contains a pool that looks red. I furrow my brows at the sight of the pool.

"Mister Kamski?" Hank calls.

"Just a moment, please," says the man in the pool. He climbs out, and the android helps him put on a robe as he tightens his man-bun. I roll my eyes.

"I'm Lieutenant Anderson," Hank says. "This is Arna Ortega and Connor." Kamski sighs.

"What can I do for you, Lieutenant?" he asks.

"Sir, we're investigating deviants. I know you left CyberLife years ago but, I was hoping you'd be able to tell us something we don't know." He smiles, and the look makes my blood chill.

"Deviants...Fascinating, aren't they?" he asks. "Perfect beings with infinite intelligence, and now they have free will. Machines are so superior to us, confrontation was inevitable." He chuckles. "Humanity's greatest achievement threatens to be its downfall. Isn't it ironic?"

"Something in the deviants' program seems to emulate emotion," Connor says. "We thought you might know something about how that occurs." I sigh. Why does he constantly bring up the fact that androids can't actually feel? Kamski chuckles.

"All ideas are viruses that spread like epidemics," he says. "Is the desire to be free a contagious disease?" I frown.

"Listen, we didn't come here to talk philosophy," I say. "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." Kamski looks at Connor.

"What about you, Connor?" he asks. "Whose side are you on?" Connor frowns.

"It's not about me, Mr. Kamski," he says. "All I want is to solve this case." I look up at him. He didn't actually answer.

"Well, that's what you're programmed to say...but you...what do you really want?" Connor glances at me, then back at Kamski.

"What I want is not important." My face softens. Kamski chuckles.

"Chloe?" He turns back to her as the blonde android walks over calmly. "I'm sure you're familiar with the Turing test." He turns her to face us. "Mere formality, simple question of algorithms and 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." He walks up to her. "Magnificent, isn't it? One of the first intelligent models developed by CyberLife. Young-" He turns her head to look at him. "-and beautiful forever. A flower that will never wither." He places two fingers under her chin before looking back at us. "But what is it really? Piece of plastic imitating a human? Or a living being...with a soul." He pulls a gun out of a drawer behind him and holds it up by the barrel to show that he's not going to shoot us. He puts it in his other hand and places a hand on the android's shoulder, making her slowly drop to her knees in front of us. "It's up to you to answer that fascinating question, Connor." He steps forward and presses the gun into Connor's hand, pointing it at the android. "Destroy this machine and 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."

"Okay," Hank says. "I think we're done here. Come on, Connor. Let's go." He turns to walk away, but I just stare at Connor. "Sorry to get you outta your pool." Kamski doesn't look away from the tall android.

"What's more important to you, Connor?" he asks. "Your investigation, or the life of this android? Decide who you are. An obedient machine...or a living being endowed with free will."

"That's enough!" Hank exclaims. "Connor, we're leaving."

"Pull the trigger-"

"Connor! Don't."

"-and I'll tell you what you wanna know."

"Connor," I say quietly. He glances at me, his LED a never-ceasing yellow. "Connor, you saved my life. Twice." I place a hand on his arm, smiling softly. "Don't let this be any different." He lets out a quick breath, pulling his arm back.

Software Instability^

"Fascinating," Kamski says. "CyberLife's last chance to save humanity...is itself a deviant."

"I'm..." Connor looks at him. "I'm not a deviant."

"You preferred to spare a machine rather than accomplish your mission." He reaches down and helps up the android on the floor. "You saw a living being in this android. You showed empathy." He places a hand on the android's shoulder, and she simply walks away as if nothing happened. "A war is coming. You'll have to choose your side. Will you betray your own people or stand up against your creators?" He shakes his head. "What could be worse than having to choose between two evils?" Hank walks over and grabs Connor by the shoulder.

"Let's get outta here," he says. I follow them to the door, and Connor lets me through first.

"By the way," Kamski calls, "I always leave an emergency exit in my programs. You never know." I look back at Connor.

"Connor," I say. He looks down at me, and his face softens as he nods and follows me outside, where he heads straight for the car. But Hank is having none of that.

"Why didn't you shoot?" he asks. Connor sighs and turns around to look at him.

"I just saw that girl's eyes...and I couldn't, that's all." He turns away, and I frown sadly.

"You're always saying you would do anything to accomplish your mission," Hank says. "That was our chance to learn something, and you let it go." Connor walks back up the ramp to stand in front of Hank, ending up in front of me as well.

"Yeah, I know what I should've done! I told you I couldn't." He sighs. "I'm sorry, okay?" I place a gentle hand on his arm, and he flinches but doesn't move away. Hank looks down before smiling.

"Maybe you did the right thing," he says before walking back to the car. Connor watches him walk away, and I move my hand to his shoulder.

"Hey," I say quietly. He looks down at me. "You did do the right thing." I smile softly. "Saving someone's life will never be wrong." I squeeze his shoulder gently before walking away.