The rain had lightened from a downpour to drizzle by the time they got to the Ravendale District but it made it no less miserable for the humans on the scene. A decent amount of people walked up and down the street, most with umbrellas to protect them from the elements while others only had hooded jackets and beanies. While waiting for Lieutenant Anderson to finish collecting a statement from a store owner who had seen the AX400 with a child the night before, Delmira's diligent gaze swept over the crowd, scanning every face that was visible in case someone set off an alert. Now that there was an active investigation, the need to do something to further their mission became a constant demand from their programming. Their hands fidgeted behind their back in response to the slight sense of unrest in their system, breaking the otherwise perfect parade rest pose they held.

"Can't stay still right?" Connor's voice popped into their head.

Delmira nodded slightly, head turning to the other side of the street where they had been scanning to look over a new area.

"I'm surprised they didn't give you something to stay busy. It's a small glitch of the RK800 series that was found during field-testing," Connor explained as he took out his coin and began flicking it between his hands, "The coin is not only for calibration of cognitive and physical reactions but to expel some of the excessive energy that comes with being fully engaged on the task at hand. It's something CyberLife is attempting to get rid of in any of their future developments."

Connor tossed the coin to his left but made no attempt to catch it. Delmira's body stayed stone still as their hand snapped out quickly and grabbed it midair before it could sail past. Looking down from scanning faces, they inspected the coin. A quarter, minted in Philadelphia in 1994, perfectly polished though having a small dent near the top where it looked like it had been dropped at some point. Delmira gave Connor a questioning look and received a trace of a smile from the android before he gave an encouraging nod.

The slickness from the rain only made it slightly more difficult to copy the tricks that they had seen Connor do earlier but found it pretty easy to pick up. Like their partner had explained, the longer they used the coin, the more the small distraction settled their system.

Delmira jolted as Lieutenant Anderson spoke up, quickly tossing the coin back to Connor before giving the detective their full attention.

"If you two are done," the lieutenant grumbled as he walked under an awning to get out of the rain and reviewed his tablet, "Bus driver saw it at 2:30am when he had to kick them off the Downtown bus so it could go back to the depot. It was then seen at a convenience store asking for cash to get a room at the nearby motel. We've got officers down there looking but they haven't reported anything back so I'm guessing it's a dead-end on their part."

"It stole wire cutters, there must be a reason," Connor stated.

Delmira glanced over and saw that his eyes were slightly out of focus. They could only guess that he was hacking into the surrounding security cameras to try and retrace where the android had travelled during the night.

"Wire cutters? The fuck you talking about?" Lieutenant Anderson asked, clearly confused.

"I checked the CCTV while you were questioning the clerk. The android was caught on camera stealing them. It had wire cutters, it was looking for a place to hide," Connor answered confirming Delmira's idea.

"So what's your conclusion, Sherlock?" the lieutenant crossed his hands and looking at Connor expectantly.

It was Delmira's eyes that went back to the street they had been watching earlier, now sweeping the surrounding buildings before locking on to an abandoned house sitting at the corner surrounded by fencing and trespassing signs, "Maybe it didn't go far…"

"It's discrete, good place as any to get away from prying eyes. Let's check it out," Lieutenant Anderson huffed.

Despite the lieutenant's gruffness, Delmira couldn't help but pick up an undertone of approval. They experienced a small sensation of achievement at being able to tie together the clues and a pleased smile decorated their face as Connor lead the way around the block. Even handicapped by their coding, the fact that they were able to accomplish the job that their series was originally created to do instilled them with confidence and a small feeling of joy.

A small twinge startled them to pause halfway across the street.

Joy. A human emotion. Androids are not human. Therefore they can only experience sensations akin to emotion. An imitation. But never really feeling anything.

The thought unsettled them slightly in a way that made their fingers start twitching again, the memory of Connor's coin ghosted from hand to hand in an attempt to calm their system. Maybe they really should get a coin for themselves.

Delmira briefly played with the idea of sending another report to Cyberlife but was quietly relieved by the distraction of Connor calling out that he had found traces of thirium along the perimeter of the fence line. It would be something to review another time.

Joining the detectives, they inspected the fence line and saw clean, angled cuts along the edges. A blink led them to their mind-palace where they could see the blue blood that Connor had observed along with small droplets leading to the building beyond. Blinking back out, they saw a small sudden movement in between the boards of the blocked off window.

"Someone's watching us from inside," Delmira stated, the anticipation making their thirium pump beat a little faster, "I suggest placing officers around the perimeter in case they try to find an alternative exit."

Hank nodded in agreement, bringing up a small radio to his mouth, "Surround the fence line, looks like we might get a runner."

There was a small crackling response that Delmira didn't catch as they gave Connor a shared look. Delmira pulled the fence out of its concrete post and opened it wide enough that people could walk in and out of the building without issue.

"Anybody home?" Connor called out as he knocked on the door.

Delmira glanced through the wooden slats and saw somebody standing perfectly still in the center of the room.

"Let me go first. Lieutenant for your safety please remain outside until the building is cleared," Delmira requested, not trusting whoever was on the other side not to attack as soon as the door was opened.

The lieutenant frowned while folding his arms but allowed Delmira to take point. Connor stepped back as Delmira twisted the handle and pushed the door, waiting for a few tense seconds to insure there were no sudden movements before entering.

The inside of the house was trashed and smelled of burnt meat wafted in the air but what immediately caught their attention was the WR600 with a damaged face that was holding stock still. He faced the wall behind the two androids though Delmira could see his eyes were flicking between the two investigators as well as to different areas in the house. The door shut by itself behind them and suddenly both Delmira and Connor were alone with the strange android. Connor began to approach but Delmira held out their arm to stop him from getting to close.

"Something is stressing him out greatly to the point where his stress levels make him moderately likely to self-destruct," Connor relayed to Delmira once he finished his scan.

Delmira did their own scan and found that the particular android had been reported missing and that the massive scars along its face were caused by severe burns that stopped it from regenerating properly.

"I'm looking for an AX400, have you seen it," Connor inquired.

"Ralph's seen nobody," the WR600 replied quickly, his eyes twitch towards the stairs in the corner of the room.

"Don't be afraid," Connor said softly as he began walking around the room, "I'm not going to hurt you."

Ralph looked down and said nothing. Delmira began to walk the opposite way Connor had, the two circling the android like wolves as they looked around. There was a burnt rat on the table with plates set up, a makeshift bed on the floor next to a roaring fire. A curious finding for something that didn't require heat or food to survive.

"Are there any other androids here, anyone upstairs?" Connor asked as he moved towards the stairs, knowing that he was going the right direction when he saw Ralph's stress start to climb.

"Other androids? No… Ralph is alone…" the WR600 responded, starting to shift his weight uncomfortably as Connor got closer and closer to the stairs.

There was a sudden drop in his stress levels that made Connor stop climbing up and come back down to retrace his steps.

"There's blue blood on the fence outside, I know another android was here," Connor pushed as he moved towards a door in the back of the room, watching as the damaged android's stress go down further.

"Ralph scratched himself coming through… That's Ralph's blood…"

An obvious lie. Delmira bended down and picked up a poker that had been used to stoke the fire. An alternate plan forming in case Connor's line of questioning didn't work out. Connor opened the door and saw that it lead to a kitchen but what interested him more was that RA9 was obsessively scrawled all over the walls as well as the familiar line 'I am alive'.

"He's deviant," Connor informed Delmira as he closed the door and moved to the entrance of the building. He would have to tell Hank that a proper investigation of the building would be needed to gather evidence.

Delmira felt that was all they needed to step in. They approached Ralph from his blind side and grabbed him by the front of his tattered coat, shoving him against the table with the red-hot poker inches away from his neck.

"I don't like liars Ralph and you have done nothing but lie to us since we got here," Delmira growled as Ralph yelped in fear, vainly trying to fight his way out of their grasp without touching the glowing metal.

"RALPH KNOWS NOTHING! PLEASE DON'T HURT RALPH!" the distressed android cried out.

"What the hell is going on in there?" Lieutenant Anderson called out from outside.

Connor began to respond but crumpled to the floor when a piece of wood slammed into his head. Delmira turned to see what the sudden noise was and caught a flash of white hair and a scared expression on a little girl before Ralph used the distraction to his advantage and pushed the threatening android off of him. The three figures ran through the kitchen door as Lieutenant Anderson busted through the entrance.

"It's here! Call it in!" Connor shouted as he got up and started chasing the deviants.

Delmira was hot on his heels as they exited the house and spotted a large hole in the fence that had been hid from the outside by a tarp fluttering in the wind. The two androids jumped through, right into the path of a startled police officer.

"Which way did it go?" Delmira demanded, their thirium pump thrumming with energy both from the sudden exertion and anticipation, a feeling like fire racing through their system priming them for the chase.

"That way- they're headed for the train station!" The officer pointed down the road past the motel.

They both rushed away, like hounds in pursuit, weaving through the crowded sidewalk with graceful precision. In only a few seconds Delmira was pulling ahead, the modified muscle fibers giving them the advantage of faster speed, keeping their eyes trained on the two fleeing figures that were in view, briefly noticing that Ralph was nowhere in sight. Blaring sirens echoed over the rain and the hunter's prey made a sharp turn down an alleyway.

An officer rushed up to the street in time to point them down the road but Delmira was already turning. They saw the android pushing the child over the fence that blocked access to the highway before starting to the climb themselves. Delmira reached out and grabbed one of its leg, tugging down hard as the android cried out in alarm but it held fast and twisted to deliver a swift kick to the head with their free leg. Delmira stumbled back and the now visible AX400 quickly made its way over. Connor rushed up to the fence and clenched on to it with determination, analyzing the frightened deviant who stared back in fear. The officer who had directed them down the alley ran up and pointed his pistol at the pair.

Connor raised his hand up, "Don't shoot! We need it alive!"

Delmira got up in time to see the two slide down the embankment and hop over the barrier that flashed warnings of high speed automated cars but visibly hesitated when it got to the edge.

Lieutenant Anderson arrived beside them breathing hard before gasping when he saw the scene before him, "Oh fuck, that's insane."

To everyone's horror, the two began to cross. The screams of the little girl pierced the air as the AX400 dragged them through traffic and they were watched with bated breath until it reached to the median strip.

As Connor began to climb up, Hank grabbed his shoulder and pulled him down, "Hey! Where you goin'!?"

"I can't let them get away!" Connor said through gritted teeth.

"They won't! They'll never make it to the other side," the lieutenant assured him, leaning down trying to catch his breath.

"I can't take that chance!" Connor said pushing himself up.

Lieutenant Anderson reached up, grasping the android's coat firmly and yelling, "Hey, you will get yourself killed! Do NOT go after 'em, Connor, that's an order!"

Connor steeled himself, pushing past the lieutenant's grip only to feel a strong hand grasp his other shoulder and a massive shock go through his body that disabled his muscular systems. The force of the shock made him release the fence and tumble back onto the earth at an angle that allowed him to watch as Delmira vaulted over.

The lieutenant was cussing up a storm at both androids but Delmira glared down at Connor as they sent him a message with a furious tone, "No wonder they sent me, you are actively searching for ways to get yourself destroyed! I will capture the deviant, you stay here. The paralysis will last about two minutes for your own safety. In the meantime, think about reasons why I shouldn't report your overly risk-taking behavior to CyberLife when I get back!"

"Our mission is to capture deviants at all co-"

Delmira cut off the signal as they slid down the muddy bank and leapt over the barrier. They couldn't get distracted here. They activated their scanner and suddenly there were numbers and warnings flying past their vision as cars sped by. Their heightened reflexes allowed them to get to the median with little trouble, though at one point they did have to jump and leap off the hood of a speeding cab to gain enough height and momentum to pass between two close vehicles.

Delmira chased the two figures down the median until the AX400 realized that they were still being followed and decided to take their chances with the second half of the dangerous highway. As soon as they attempted to cross the first lane however, the android was clipped by a car that sent both it and the child sprawling onto the second lane. Quickly gathering it's bearings, it grabbed the little girl and held her close as another car sped by the place she had been mere milliseconds before. This small lapse in their escape was just enough time for Delmira to catch up to their position. The AX400 managed to push the child to safety in a short break between vehicles just as it was grabbed from behind. There was a brief struggle, the rain making the jacket the deviant was wearing slick and it managed to rip itself out of Delmira's grasp and shove them into the path of an incoming garbage truck. Quick thinking lead to the modified RK800 rolling out of the way of the first vehicle but unfortunately not fast enough to roll back in time to avoid having their arm slashed by the sharp bumper of another car.

Delmira cursed as they got up, swiping away the warning that they had sustained damage and saw the two escaping over the ridge, both having made it across. Despite the injury, the android followed in hot pursuit. They two fleeing figures attempted to take narrow alleys and sharp turns to shake off the insistent predator but whatever decision they made, it seemed like their hunter was always two steps ahead.

It was when Delmira cut them off at an underpass that the deviant android realized there was no chance to get away from their pursuer. The AX400 made sure it's body was between the approaching android and the child before crying out, "Why are you doing this? Why can't you just let us go?"

Delmira scowled, narrowing their eyes before speaking, "To name a few of your recent crimes: you violently attacked Todd Howard last night and kidnapped his daughter, you-"

"It's not true! He's lying!" the small girl interrupted stepping out to the side which startled Delmira when they saw it was not a human child but rather an YK500 android, "He's the one who tried to hurt us! Kara saved us by escaping!"

The AX400, Kara, quickly pulled the child behind her again before pleading, "Please, you have to understand. He already damaged me once bad enough to need repairs when I defended her the first time. He was absolutely furious last night, high on red ice. He would have killed her if I didn't do anything!"

Delmira frowned as they processed this information, taking a moment to glance down at their damaged arm to watch as rivulets of blue blood dripped down to the ground and mixed with rain before closing off the surface veins to prevent more thirium from leaking. They knew Todd was a violent man more than capable of destroying the two androids before them. Under the law, he had all the right to do whatever he wanted with his property but the idea of the human so purposefully and viciously damaging the two androids, especially the child, disquieted them. When they looked back up, the pale blue eyes of the AX400 turned into a different pair staring back. Dark, fearful, pleading. The lingering smell of cigarettes and rotting flesh.

The fire that had coursed through their system during the entire chase fizzled out and in its place was left uncertainty.

"If you take us back, they'll destroy me and Alice will go back to him where he'll kill her. I beg you please, I was only trying to save her life," Kara whispered over the light rainfall that cascaded around them, her fate in the hands of the android blocking their way out.

Delmira looked around nervously before asking, "Do you believe that falls under your primary programming?"

"Wh-what do you mean?" Kara responded, taken back by the question and knitting her brows in confusion.

Delmira glanced behind their shoulder to make sure no one had found them yet, their LED a constantly circling red knowing that this would be a long shot before turning back and carefully wording their question, "As an AX400 model you're primary function is as a domestic worker, housekeeper, and caretaker of young children. When you first arrived on the premises of Todd William's home did the primary instructions given to you include taking care of Alice? If so, do you believe that the act of removing Alice from the situation where they could be harmed fits with the definition of being their caretaker and, therefore, being in line with your programming?"

Kara continued to look at them in confusion until it suddenly clicked. The broadness of the term "caretaker" could encompass many things, including looking after the safety of a child and removing them from a dangerous situation. A loophole within the definition.

"Yes… YES. Alice's father was identified as a danger and as her caretaker I had to think about her safety and future which is why I decided to remove her from the situation," Kara answered cautiously, making sure to use the correct terminology and not breaking eye contact during the entire response.

"Then by that definition, I can assert that you were only following your primary program when you left the presence of your owner last night," a gentle smile made its way to Delmira's face that quickly turned into a strained grimace as a stabbing headache seized their mind, "As such, I must firmly instruct you to return to your owner as soon as your programming dictates that the danger has passed. Have a good day."

Without waiting for a response, Delmira quickly turned around and walked back towards the highway. It took everything in them not to run back to the two androids that they could hear rushing away towards the train station and take them into custody. Due to the loophole that Delmira had exploited, there was technically no recorded proof that Kara had gone deviant and as such they would not fall under the parameters of the modified RK800's own programming to hunt them down.

Delmira leaned against a wall, unease circulating in their system the longer they thought about it. It was a technicality covering for another technicality. Connor would be displeased that the two androids got away, but it… felt right to let them go.

'Speaking of Connor,' Delmira thought to themselves with a sharp frown, pushing away the uncomfortable sensation that seemed to make their headache worse, he would shortly be on the receiving end of some very strong words for attempting to put himself in such high risk of destruction.

Their thinking was interrupted by the whoop of a siren and Delmira glanced up to spot Lieutenant Anderson in his personal vehicle pulling up. They dutifully got into the backseat of the vehicle and quietly glared at the android in the front seat.

"The FUCK was that!?" Lieutenant Anderson yelled in outrage as soon as the door was slammed shut, "You could have gotten killed!"

"Our duty is to the mission of catching deviants at all costs," Delmira replied leaning back in seat.

"Fuckin' androids and their fuckin' mission," the lieutenant growled through gritted teeth as he began driving.

Connor turned around to look back at Delmira, his eyes widening when he spotted the thirium-stained jacket.

"You're hurt," Connor stated simply, "Delmira I should apologize to you, I-"

"Do you want me to be deactivated in less than 24 hours of my creation Connor?" Delmira cut him off coldly, "My actions are defined by what you decide to do in a situation. I have to follow your lead. Should you have listened Lieutenant Anderson's orders and stayed put I would not have had to chase the two androids, which as you can see got away regardless."

"There were two androids?" Connor whispered, surprised by the fact.

"The child was a YK500 but that is not the point. You do understand that if you are destroyed, I fail my primary objective and therefore am flawed in the eyes of CyberLife. I will be deactivated and dismantled in order to find what went wrong and unlike you, my body is merely a modification of an existing series. An altered creation with one-of-a-kind coding. An experiment. I do not have the privilege of being reuploaded should I be destroyed," Delmira finished explaining.

Connor looked away, the sensation of regret and something else making him unable to meet Delmira's eyes, "I'm... sorry. I'll make sure to take into account the possible consequences of my actions and how they affect others in future investigations."

There was a tense uncomfortable silence in the car before Delmira gave a hard flick to the back of Connor's head that made him reach up and rub the spot while giving the other android a puzzled stare.

"That's all I can request from you," Delmira responded with a nod.

Lieutenant Anderson sighed, "Fuckin' Christ, wish you'd told me the stakes of you crossing that highway, I would've dragged your ass back down too."

Delmira smiled brightly at the lieutenant, "I doubt you could have Lieutenant but thank you for being concerned for my safety."

Lieutenant Anderson gave a grunt, "All this runnin' around has me starving. I'm gonna grab lunch before heading back to the station."

With that, Lieutenant Anderson cranked up his music and sped off to his favored food spot.


Public Opinion: Skeptical | Software instability: ? | Hank: Neutral | Connor: Trusted | Amanda: Trusted


Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think!