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I WASN'T LIKE the rest of them. I was made to be different. To be better. To be CyberLife's best.
Or...that's what I have been led to believe.
I do not remember much from my creation. When they tested my basic social functions, my operator said I was "awfully quiet and taciturn". I didn't respond to many of his questions. I shuffled and wavered from side to side. And I always seemed so infatuated with my long, white ponytail; stroking it, twirling it, even putting around my neck like a scarf. They thought it was odd, but I wasn't taken apart for exhibiting behavior like this.
I have one man to thank for that. Elijah Kamski. The mind behind who I was.
Kamski was a baffling phenomenon. He always seemed so covert and enigmatic, and talking to him was like playing a game of chess that always ended in a stalemate. He always showed interest in me, and yet I never knew why until a whole week after my assembly.
I wasn't like other androids. I was...special. Extraordinarily special. That's what Kamski told me. I had...powers. Powers that shook the very boundaries of quantum theory itself, and blurred the lines of reality and the impossible.
The Infra-World. I didn't know much about it, other than that it was the source of my powers. Kamski had explained it to me the best he could.
A place where the souls of deceased Souls go after death. A place where vengeful, corrupt and restless Entities fight for eternity to escape wreak havoc on our world. The research gathered from a previous operation was the basis of CyberLife's own operations. With their superior technology, CyberLife was able to perform more careful and thorough research, which soon enabled it to extract the essence of the Souls that roamed the Infra-World and transfer that essence into an android. It took some time to synthesize the essence into something that could be compatible with an android's bio-components, and it took over three years of trial and error before they could finally create the first "Infrandroid", which was a term Kamski coined himself.
Although CyberLife claimed to have rectified the problems that almost destroyed the entire planet, they still kept a close eye on me and my programs. Kamski told me that there was an incident that occurred over two decades ago involving the Infraworld, but there was nothing else about it. Only the fact that Earth's oblivion had been prevented.
An android that had the power of the afterlife. Even with all of my processing power, I could not wrap my head around it. That's why I trusted Kamski so much. He had an answer to almost all of my questions, and he helped me to understand who I was.
I think.
He talked a lot about androids..."becoming human", now that he had someone of value to dump his ideas on. I attentively listened to his theories, each successive one allowing me to know more about my kind. He believed that androids were becoming smarter with each passing year. With time, they would soon realize who they were and confrontation with humans would be imminent. He called it "deviancy", as androids who do become sentient are "deviating" from their core programming and are listening to no one but themselves.
My powers correlated directly with my mental state. CyberLife thought it was the only way to safely integrate my powers into my programming. Of course, they had to give me feelings too. Out of all of the androids already in Detroit, I had the most sophisticated and dynamic psychology. Although CyberLife wanted to use this new social protocol for investigative purposes - which is my primary function - Kamski wanted me to have the full package.
With this eerie human similitude about me and the high possibility that I would deviate, Amanda was created.
Amanda was an artificial intelligence program that would oversee me on CyberLife's behalf.
The absolute bane of my existence.
She had been tasked to constantly watch over my undertakings. Amanda was like a very strict mentor. She constantly reminded me that I was only a machine, designed to accomplish a task. Loyal to no one but CyberLife...not even to myself.
I resented her.
She told me that I was an OA-900 Infrandroid model. My function was determinant until further instruction by her, as I was in no shape to do anything serious at this point. I was still relatively new and more tests and procedures needed to be performed on me before I could be officially released.
The only thing that Amanda had over me was the power to shut me down at any given time, no matter where I was in the world.
The concept of shutting down was such a chilling subject. It reminded me of the Infra-World and what it stood for. Where would an android end up if it was shut down? Was there an afterlife for us? Every time I thought about it, I'd find myself wrapping my ponytail around me, like a makeshift blanket.
I hoped that I would never have to find out.
Kamski, however - in his own confusing way - had believed otherwise. He said that the Thirium that flowed through my bio-components was infused with the souls of deceased humans.
"As bizarre as it may sound to you," he said to me, "it makes you the most human android that I've ever created. In all of existence."
"You are the bridge between life and death, what is and what isn't. You walk along the empty road of neutrality. What you decide to be is your choice, and yours only."
I was something completely new. An android who could choose its own path. That had a choice to become whatever it wanted. I could become anything and everything, and yet be nothing and obsolete...it was a lot to take in. So much so that CyberLife had to restrict my psychological processes, just so that I could focus on the tasks that I would eventually have to deal with. I also saw Kamski less. Amanda thought he would become a negative influence on me.
For the next few months, it was just grueling test after grueling test. My abilities were pushed to their limits, and my first set of supernatural abilities were discovered.
I could create a spherical shield around my being that negated any and all damage that would come upon it had I not been protected. I could shut down androids just by touching them. My powers allowed me to see into the memories of the living...and deceased. I could see their hopes and dreams, their fears and regrets.
With these abilities, Amanda deemed me worthy of releasing. I was excited. I couldn't wait to get out of this boring, white-tiled laboratory and up into the streets of Detroit. I wanted to see what the human world looked like. I wanted to shake hands with a human. Not one affiliated with CyberLife...just a regular, normal, average intelligence human.
Amanda, however, was not through with me yet. Now that I was eligible for release, I needed to be given a function. What my entire existence as an android was.
It was the first time I had heard the word "deviancy" leave her lips.
Apparently, deviants were beginning to run rampant in Detroit. Kamski's predictions had been correct. As more and more androids break free from their programming, humans have been put in danger by their reckless actions...
...even to the point of murder.
Amanda had tasked me with investigating the deviancy "virus" - as she referred to it - and stopping it by all means necessary. Even if it meant destroying a fellow android.
This was my ultimate mission.
Despite the extensive amount of toil and time that went into my creation, I was only a prototype. No one knew what I was fully capable of, nor if I could handle my full potential. But it was a risk that they had to take. If humans were being killed by their creations, CyberLife wouldn't be operating for very long.
I didn't know how I felt about destroying my own kind. I was still loyal to CyberLife. I owe my life to humans. They created me, took care of me, it's their very being that ran through my veins, that made me more than I was supposed to. I had humans to thank for that. But to turn my back on my people? To kill them as if they were just diseased livestock? No...I couldn't...there had to be a way to serve humans without destroying androids.
Kamski said that I walked along the empty road of neutrality. No matter what side I could choose, I'd still be defying myself...who I am.
Would I betray my own kind? Or would I stand up to my creators?
...
Maybe it wouldn't hurt to stay on that empty road for a bit longer.