The end of Connor's requested time off finally came about and he returned to work, surprising everyone with his presence. Samantha, looking very frail at this point, a headscarf wrapped about her newly bald head, stared at him as he entered the office as if nothing had happened. She glared at him and stood to meet him. She wanted to slap him but she knew he wouldn't feel the pain and it would only hurt her own hand. Instead, she settled for a scowl.

"Where the fuck have you been? Do you have any idea how worried you made us? You just up and leave for an entire month without telling anyone where your going or what your doing?! Not even a phone call! Have you been sleeping outside?! Have you been taking care of yourself? Have you—"

"Samantha." He chuckled and scooped her into his arms, cradling her gently. "I am very happy to see you again. I am sorry I left so suddenly. But I had something important that I needed to research. And I knew it was going to take a while…"

"What have you been doing…?" She reflexively hugged him back.

"You finally gonna come home, son?"

"Yes, I will return home for now, Hank. And Samantha. I have something to discuss with you. Will you accompany me somewhere tonight?"

"I…what do you need to talk about?"

"Something special. I want to talk with you about it first before I show you what I've been working on."

"You've been…working on something?"

"Yes. Something important." He smiled broadly and took a seat at his desk. "If you would please join me after work?"

"…Sure." She returned to her seat, working much slower than usual. Connor eyed her their whole shift, frowning to himself at her frail state. He was glad he had taken the time off to do what needed to be done, but also conflicted that he hadn't been there for her. He would make it up to her, he would make sure of that. After a particularly slow day of work, Connor led Sam outside to a taxi. They rode away towards the edge of town towards a certain long driveway and modern house. "…Connor, where are we?"

"Elijah Kamski's home."

"What?!" She sat up quickly and stared at him incredulously. "Why are we here? Hank told me what happened the first time you came here. Why would you want to come back?!"

"Susan introduced me to a certain article published by CyberLife. I wanted to investigate it further and to do that, I needed to speak with the CEO of CyberLife. Elijah Kamski."

"Susan gave you an article? What kind of article…?"

"A very important one. She was originally researching it to possibly use for herself, but since her deviancy, she has come to care for you a great deal. She wanted me to use my mobility and intellect to look into the article further so that we could possibly help you."

"…I am so lost right now. What kind of article is it? Why did Susan want to use it for herself?"

"Here." Connor held up his hand, projecting the paper onto his palm. It was a newspaper article from a scientific journal. It was all about a new fad that was beginning to sweep the nation that people were calling 'synthecisim'. The process was difficult and a handful of both humans and androids found it extremely controversial. And for a good reason. Synthecisim was described in the journal to be the process of transferring a human's consciousness into that of an unprogrammed android body. It was becoming increasingly popular among the younger generations and the terminal ill. Only a few humans had actually gone trough the process as it was particularly expensive, especially if one was to heavily customize the new android body. Sam stared for a long time at his hand reading the full article. She furrowed her brows and looked up at him, mouth gaping.

"Are you…telling me this is what you've been working on?" Sam question as she began to cough violently. Connor quickly took her hands in his, looking over her in worry.

"Yes. I was working with Kamski and a team of specialists." He gently pulled her out of the cab and began leading her up to the door. "I want you to see."

"See what?"

"The work that we've done." He rang the bell and a Chloe answered almost immediately.

"Welcome back, Connor." She smiled and nodded, looking over to Samantha. "Oh, so this is the one. Please, come in."

"Thank you." Connor led her in with a hand on her lower back, she coughed again and took a seat quickly so as to not fall over. They only waited for a few minutes before the man himself came out from the back room.

"Ah, Connor. Welcome back." Kamski approached them and held out a hand to Samantha. She took it hesitantly and gave it a weak shake. "A pleasure to finally meet you, Detective Blume."

"Yeah. Same to you." She narrowed her eyes at him and Connor helped her to stand. "Although, I'm not quite sure what's going on."

"You didn't tell her?"

"Not completely. I showed her the article. But I wanted to her to see with her own eyes what we have been working on."

"Wise, I suppose. Come then." He turned and waved for them to follow. They passed through the door, past the pool, and down a set of stairs to a lower level of the home. The basement was a sterile white with tiled floors and various instruments organized about and an observation-type room at one end. Sam deduced it was a sort of laboratory or operating room based on what she saw. In the center, Kamski pulled back a curtain to show a hospital bed. Someone was lying in it, covered with a sheet from head to toe. Samantha stopped in her tracks and her eyes went wide as a chill ran down her spine.

"I…Is that a fucking dead body?!" She took a few steps back and Connor placed his hand on her arm.

"No. It's not a dead body, Sam. Please…calm down. And…trust me?"

"Trust you?" She furrowed her brows at him, her expression of surprise and disgust slowly fading away. "…Ok. Then…if it's not a dead body, what is it?"

"You'll see." They sidled up next to the bed, Kamski on the other side of them, hand resting on the top of the sheet coving whatever was beneath it. "What you are about to see is the result of that journal Connor showed you. It is an accumulation of our efforts this past month. And please, do not be alarmed by what you see. It is merely a vessel as of right now. Unprogrammed and awaiting."

"Enough theatrics, please. My bullshit tolerance is much lower than it used to be." Sam sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Fair enough." Elijah pulled the sheet back and Sam stared, mouth gaping again. What she saw was…herself.