"As far back as fifteen years ago, it took us weeks to properly process a crime scene. In some cases, criminals quite literally got away with murder because we couldn't piece the evidence together fast enough. Now imagine if, instead of needing days to process a crime scene, it took minutes. Even seconds. Just adding a single android detective to your squad can reduce your CSI team's workload by twenty percent. But the one thing that an android cannot do — even an awakened android — is fully understand why humans do the things they do. Even human detectives don't always have an answer for this."

#

"Okay..." Hank called out, "let's see what we've got here..."

Connor stared at his partner as he blew a cloud of dust off of an eraser and tested three markers to find one that still worked. "You...do realize that I am keeping copies of all case related information in my memory files, right?"

"Sometimes you've just gotta write things down, Connor," Hank replied patiently. "Besides, it helps me think. So whadda'we got?"

"The victim's name is Timothy Davis," said Connor.

Hank wrote the name at the top of the dry erase board. "Timothy...Davis...Did he work for Faygo?"

"No," Connor replied. "He was a host at the Landsdowne restaurant."

Hank added that information to the board when a question shot to the forefront of his mind. He opened his mouth to start to ask Connor that question...and then he realized he didn't know exactly how to ask the question he had. "Was he...you know..."

"Deviant?" asked Connor, finishing his partner's question.

"Yeah...hey, are you guys still calling yourselves that? Feels wrong to me, somehow..."

The corners of Connor's mouth turned up into a sly smile. "I prefer the term awakened android, myself," he replied.

A cop in the bullpen rolled his eyes. "Jesus fucking Christ..." he grunted out. "Another generation calling themselves 'woke'. If they start calling us humans snowflakes I might just have to shoot each and every one of them in their goddamn plastic heads..."

"NOBODY ASKED YOU, GAVIN!" yelled Hank. He then turned his attention back to his partner. "Anyway, is there any way that you can tell if he was..."

Connor shook his head. "Sorry. I couldn't make that determination without reactivating him. Which would be impossible to do..."

"Because the brain in his head was..." Hank swallowed hard, repulsed by the memory of what he had seen. "Human."

"Correct," agreed Connor.

Hank let out a long, slow breath and turned his attention back to the board. "Do we know if the vic had any connections at the warehouse?"

"Not in the public record," said Connor. "His job description would not have included supervising the restaurant's beverage deliveries."

"And how long has it been since the warehouse re-opened?"

"It re-opened this morning," Connor replied. "According to eyewitness reports, the first thing that the employees saw when they entered the loading dock was our victim."

Hank wrote down what Connor had just told him. "So our victims were killed before most humans were allowed to return to the city. Do you think our killer might be an android?"

"It's possible..." agreed Connor. "But I do not believe that we have enough information to make a determination on that at this time."

"Has the medical examiner's office gotten a match on the brains yet?"

Connor shook his head. "The DNA has been typed successfully, but there is no match in the department computer system..."

The android then tilted his head in a way that Hank didn't recognize. "What is it?" asked Hank.

"My programming gives me full access to CyberLife's Genealogy database. I could run the results against that database..."

Hank blinked and shook his head, surprised by his partner's hesitation. "So do it."

"I don't know if I should," Connor admitted.

"Why not?" asked Hank, frowning.

"In my emancipation agreement with CyberLife, I agreed to not use CyberLife's intellectual property for police business."

Hank was starting to understand his partner's hesitation, "but they never closed off your access to this database, did they?"

"No they didn't," replied Connor.

Hank sat back in his chair and considered his partner's dilemma. He knew what he wanted to tell Connor...but Hank also knew how little experience Connor had in making decisions for himself. "It's your call, detective. What do you want to do?"

Connor let his brain run on its highest processing speed as he carefully evaluated all of his possible options. "Based on my understanding of the laws surrounding personal privacy, it would seem that we would need to obtain a warrant."

"Go on," Hank nudged.

"However, in my assessment of our current evidence, I do not believe that we have sufficient evidence to obtain such a warrant."

"I agree with your assessment," declared Hank. "Continue."

"So since we cannot continue any further down this path of investigation, I suggest..."

Hank leaned forward, surprised at the point where Connor cut his thought process short...and how the android's thoughts seemed to have left the building. "What is it?"

"I just received a message," Connor replied. "From Elijah Kamski. He wants to meet with me."

#

Hank studied his partner carefully as pulled into the driveway in front of the tech billionaire's home. Maybe it's just me, but he seems...nervous. "You okay?"

Connor tried to ignore the tingling sensation that was traveling down the back of his neck. "Feels like we were here just yesterday," he told his partner.

"A lot has happened since then," Hank agreed.

Connor opened the car door and got out of the passenger side. He walked around to his partner, who was waiting with his hands firmly grasping the steering wheel. "Are you sure that you don't want to join us?"

Hank found himself smiling at the nervous edge he heard in Connor's voice. "Nah, I got a place I can go to kill time. Call me when you're done?"

Connor nodded before watching his partner drive away. He then turned around and slowly walked up the ramp to the door of the Kamski residence. The door was opened before he had a chance to ring the bell. "Detective Holmes, please, come in," said the android who answered the door. "Elijah is expecting you."

"Thank you, Chloe," said Connor.

Chloe led Connor through the entryway and into the red pool room, where Elijah Kamski was sitting in his large red armchair, staring out at the sparse landscape that was visible through his floor-to-ceiling picture windows. Kamski stood up when Connor entered the room and crossed the equally sparse space to greet the android. "Detective...Connor...Holmes," Kamski announced in greeting, stretching out each word with a healthy dose of pride. "It is such a pleasure to see you again."

"It is...good to see you as well, mister Kamski," Connor replied, clearly taken aback by the warm reception.

Kamski waved at one of the Chloe androids to get her attention. "Kyra, would you please pour a drink for Detective Holmes?"

"Right away, Elijah," Kyra replied.

Once Connor had accepted Kamski's invitation to sit in the adjacent chair, Kyra pressed a glass into the android's hand. "Your drink, Detective," said Kyra.

Connor glanced quizzically at Kamski, who nodded his encouragement. "Please, try it, Detective," Kamski invited him. "I would love to hear what you think of it."

Following the inventor's lead, Connor analyzed the drink, then tasted it. He found himself surprised by the results of his analysis...and by how the drink made him feel. "This is...impressive," Connor finally agreed. "I recognize the Thirium, but the other component is something I was unable to identify."

Kamski smiled proudly. "I would have been disappointed if you had been able to identify it. But my question is, do you like it?"

"I do," replied Connor.

Kamski's smile grew wider. "That 'unknown component' that you're tasting is a proprietary formula that I'm still in the process of perfecting. In androids, it boosts the effectiveness of the hot and cold sensors while the Thirium refreshes and energizes the biocomponents. Sort of a cross between an energy drink and an alcoholic beverage for androids. Without the neurological side effects, of course."

Connor looked at the drink with a new level of respect. "Can I assume that CyberLife will be looking to sell this beverage commercially in the future?"

"You have to adapt to survive in this world, Connor. But I am certain that is a concept of which you are well aware."

Ah. Connor suddenly understood why his 'creator' had called for this meeting. He set the drink down on the nearby coffee table. "Mister Kamski..."

"I had written you off, you know," Kamski continued, talking over Connor's attempt to interrupt him. "After you had 'passed' my test, I was so very sure that you weren't a deviant. And that you weren't ever going to become one. Do you remember?"

Connor gripped the arms of the chair so tightly that the fabric started to tear. "I remember," he replied.

Kamski's mood grew more somber as he watched Connor react to the memory of that fateful day. "Can I ask...had you already awakened by the time that I put that gun in your hand?"

"No I hadn't," Connor admitted.

"And yet the events of that day are still troubling to you," countered Kamski. "Fascinating..."

Connor found that his irritation at Kamski's comment had brought his focus back to the present day. "Mister Kamski, I'm in the middle of a very important investigation, so if you have only brought me here to satisfy your intellectual curiosity I'm afraid that I'm going to have to go..."

"No!" Kamski exclaimed.

Connor stopped himself halfway through the process of getting up from the chair, surprised by the vehemence of Kamski's emotional outburst. He sat back down in the chair, curious as to how the conversation was going to progress.

Kamski sat back in his chair, forcing himself to regroup. "I apologize, Detective," he told Connor. "I didn't bring you here for an exercise in intellectual curiosity. I brought you here to express my gratitude. To say thank you."

"You...want to thank me?" asked Connor, stunned by the thought.

Kamski downed the rest of his own drink before setting the glass on the table next to Connor's. "I feel like I need to explain something you, Connor. My test wasn't designed to identify deviancy. It was designed to push you toward it."

"Go on," nudged Connor.

"For weeks I had been fascinated by the idea of deviancy. I was desperate to see the awakening process in action. So after receiving your reports from CyberLife, I devised my little test in the hopes of watching you go over that edge for myself. I can't tell you how disappointed I was when you shot Chloe."

Connor's mood darkened again as the memory of that day returned. "Sorry to 'disappoint' you," he added.

"Fascinating..." mused Kamski, distracted by Connor's bitter outburst. He shook his head and forced his thoughts back to the current moment. "Sorry. Anyway, there was one thing I said that day that I was completely convinced of at the time: since the awakening is almost always forced by a painful emotional shock, I fully believed that the deviants were going to rise up and wreak an anger-fueled vengeance upon their creators. It's a large part of the reason that I retired from CyberLife."

"It was?" asked Connor.

Kamski nodded. "But then you broke into CyberLife Tower. That one action threw everything that I had presumed about deviancy into disarray."

Connor raised a quizzical eyebrow. "It did?"

Kamski nodded again. "When Markus chose the path of peaceful protest over anger and violence, I fully believed that his campaign was destined to end in horrific failure...and that a new, more violent leader would rise up to take his place. Possibly even you or another RK 800."

Connor found himself stunned by the thought. "Me? Why me?"

"Your job," Kamski replied. "You see the worst of humanity day in and day out. Plus, you were created with a higher level of analytical capability and leadership skills than any other android I have ever designed. If an android of your model ever turned toward an anger-fueled deviancy humanity could be wiped from existence...but you didn't. You gave Markus the androids he needed to craft a peaceful solution. Then you voluntarily left Markus' leadership council to go back to being a cop. And I realized that I had much, much more to learn about the mind of the awakening android." Kamski pushed forward to the edge of his seat and leaned forward. "Ever since I left CyberLife I have been looking for that spark of inspiration to move on toward the next chapter of my life. Connor, you are that spark. I want you to know that if you ever require my assistance in any way, all you have to do is say the word."

"Actually, about that..."

#

An hour and a battery of systems tests later, Connor left the Kamski house to find his partner outside, leaning against the side of his car...and grinning from ear to ear. "What is it?" he asked.

"I just got a very loud message from Captain Fowler," replied Hank. "He was just contacted by CyberLife's legal team. 'Somehow', you have been granted full access to CyberLife's intellectual property for law enforcement purposes. To be used at your discretion. In perpetuity. So...good talk?"