Chapter Fifty-Eight – Emergency Response

"Chloe…Send the helicopters." Elijah ordered as he watched the live news. He had John's story up on the main screen, his heart wrenching as he watched the camera close up of Lin's distraught face. Saline was leaking from his eyes, his hands shaking as he shook John, desperately calling his name and begging him to open his eyes. Things had progressed more quickly than he'd anticipated.

"We don't yet know if the order was given to shoot, or whether the operative acted alone, but it's hard to argue whether android feelings are real when looking at this scene. The human in question has yet to be identified, but appears to have disguised himself as an android to get his message across. We'll keep you updated." The female caster said, her voice playing over the footage. Elijah bit his teeth together as he shifted his gaze to the Detroit screen, where things were equally as messy. The SWAT teams there were attacking, forcing the peaceful protestors back. Markus was slowly turning towards a female unit, raising a hand in a final show of intimacy as he leaned down to kiss her. On a third screen was a feed from one of his Chloe units inside the camp, which was streaming live to every streaming service she could connect to. The internet was exploding as red blood spilled, alarms blaring. Interesting…this I didn't see coming…He thought. His original plan had been for Chloe to simply film inside the camp and gain human sympathy. This made the statement far more powerful.

"Chloe, we have one more collection to make, inside the compound." He said as he got to his feet.

"Of course Elijah, I'll let them know." Chloe stated as she joined him in the hall outside, both heading for the rooftop. For this he was going to need to be in his own lab, with this own experts. Luckily he'd already had them assembled. He put in an earpiece as he spoke to the various humans and androids he had on standby. They'd have to be fast and ready if they had any chance of a happy ending in all this.