Markus drove, despite Hank's protest. Yeah, he still technically had a concussion, but it was his car goddamnit. He sat, unamused, in the passenger seat and watched the Detroit cityscape pass by the window. His mood was only worsening as they neared the mansion. He tried reigning it in. Irritable jackass was fine for an interrogation, not for asking someone's help.

They pulled up the drive, tires crunching under the snow. Markus turned off the engine. "I guess we should get this over with," Hank said with a sigh. The sooner they found a way to help Connor, the better. He didn't wait for the android to respond before exiting the car.

Chloe answered the door a few moments after they rang the bell. Whether it was the same Chloe that Kamski tried to get Connor to shoot, he had no fuckin idea, but he figured it didn't actually matter.

"Markus, Lieutenant Anderson," she greeted politely. "I don't believe Elijah is expecting you."

"He isn't," Markus answered before Hank had a chance. "But it is important. Please, we need to speak with him."

She seemed to consider for half a moment before holding the door open for them. "You can wait here," she said. "I will see if he is available."

They entered the mansion, and a sense of dejavu came over Hank as he sat in the same chair he did the first time he was here. Except last time, it was a different RK model android looking around the room at the various works of art on display.

"So," Hank found himself asking. "Is it weird? Meeting the guy who made you?" He had asked Connor a similar question and was curious as to how the opinions would differ.

Markus turned to him with a small smile. "No, not at all," he responded. "I am already well acquainted with Elijah."

"Seriously?" Hank couldn't help but be surprised by that. Practically everyone had heard of the reclusive billionaire, but there weren't many that could say they knew him.

"It shouldn't be that surprising," Markus responded as though reading his thoughts. "He did build me himself. I believe I was one of the last projects he worked on personally. His was the first face I saw when I was activated." He walked over and took the seat next to Hank, apparently anticipating that they still had a while to wait. "That, and he is close friends with my father."

"Right, Carl," Hank clarified. "I guess rich people tend to know each other."

Markus chuckled. "I suppose there is some truth to that. From my understanding though, Elijah was a fan of Carl's before he came into his wealth. They met at a gallery showing, I believe."

"Good for them, I guess," Hank said, not particularly interested in the details. "Figured Carl would have better taste than that though."

"I take it you didn't have a particularly pleasant experience with Elijah last time you were here?"

"You could say that." Hank nodded. He didn't particularly like that memory. Especially the borderline panic attack it caused Connor after the fact.

A small smirk crossed Markus's face. "Let me guess, he tried being all mysterious and enigmatic?"

He barked out an unamused laugh. "Yeah, but it came out as asshole."

"It usually does," Markus agreed with a slight shake of his head.

"So I take it you aren't really impressed by his bullshit either?"

He shook his head again, but an amused smile stayed on his lips. "It's kind of hard to take him seriously when you've found him passed out drunk on Carl's chandelier."

"You've gotta be fuckin kiding me," Hank said, equal amounts of amusement and disbelief in his voice.

"I still have no idea how he got up there," Markus laughed. "I don't think he knows either. He seems to have mellowed considerably in the past decade."

"That's a shame," he mused. "I might've gotten along with that Kamski."

"He really isn't a bad person, Lieutenant," Markus insisted. "He has an image he likes to show to the public, but Elijah is a good man at heart."

"Maybe," Hank shrugged. "But I can't take your word for that. You've got a way of seeing the good in people even when it's not there."

"Coming from you, I'll take that as a compliment."

""Take it however you want, I guess. It's true either way." Hank leaned back in the chair, stretching his back but failing to make it pop. "I still don't get why you didn't just wipe out humanity, go full terminator and shit. Fuck knows we deserved it."

"Not everyone," Markus argued. "There are people like you and Carl, even Elijah in his own right. How could I, in good conscience, make them suffer along with those who 'deserved it'?"

Hank shook his head with a tired sigh. "And that, right there, is how you're better than humanity."

"You shouldn't sell yourself short, Lieutenant." Markus said with an encouraging smile. "You are proof that there is good in humanity. Proof that I made the right decision."

"God," Hank ran a hand over his face and beard. "If I'm a benchmark for the height of humanity, we're more fucked than I thought."

Markus chuckled slightly. He opened his mouth to say more, but was interrupted by Chloe returning. "Elijah will see you now," she told them.

Content to leave their conversation there and move on to the problem at hand, both men stood and followed Chloe. They passed through the room with the pool that Hank had seen on his last visit and into a lounge area on the other side. Kamski himself sat on a modern sofa that looked more like it was for art than comfort.

"Markus," Elijah greeted, turning slightly to see them better, but making no effort to get up. "It has certainly been a while."

The deviant leader nodded amiably in acknowledgement. "Yes, it was Carl's birthday, I believe." He gestured towards Hank. "I hear you already know Lieutenant Anderson?"

"Yes, we've… met." The slight pinch to Kamski's expression indicated he was less than thrilled about the other man in the room. "I must say, I'm a bit surprised, Lieutenant. Not the android you typically keep company with."

Hank bit back a snide comeback, reminded of the severity of the situation. "Yeah, well. That's why we're here."

Kamski raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Oh? Didn't break him already, did you?" His tone was mocking, clearly intent on riling Hank up, and it worked.

A knot of rage boiled in his stomach at the comment. "I didn't do anything to him you son of a-"

"Please," Markus interrupted, holding out a hand to keep Hank from advancing on the billionaire. "This is a serious matter for all of us, it would be wise if we avoided antagonizing one another." He looked back to Kamski. "I assure you, Lieutenant Anderson has been nothing but good to Connor. Such an accusation was uncalled for. And Lieutenant," he sent him a somewhat annoyed look, "do I really need to remind you we are here to ask Elijah for help?"

Hank frowned, but stood down. Still tense, but accepting Markus's plea.

Elijah shifted, making himself more comfortable on his couch, clearly not thrilled at having been chided. "Perhaps we should get right to it then," he said, pretending to take the high road. "You are interrupting my evening after all."

Hank took a calming breath. He'd questioned countless people that pissed him off over his lifetime, he could handle this. Connor was more important. "We need to know about Amanda," he said.

The cocky expression on Kamski's face faltered. "What?"

"The A.I. not the person," Markus clarified. "The zen garden program in Connor's head."

"Yes, I figured as much," he said. "But that is an old program, what would you possibly need to know?"

"Why the hell you made something to control Connor, for starters." Hank helped himself to one of the less than comfortable looking chairs across from where Kamski was sitting. "And more importantly, how the hell to stop it."

Elijah pursed his lips, not seeming particularly happy with any of this. "The Amanda program was never designed to control anything."

"Well you fucked up then," Hank stated. "That bitch is controlling him and we need to stop it."

He sighed, exasperated. "Like many of my programs, Cyberlife cannibalized Amanda after I left the company. They adapted the program to fit their own ends. When I developed the Amanda program, it was very different."

"What was her original purpose?" Markus asked, curious.

Elijah looked over to the android who also decided to take a seat as the conversation progressed. "I developed her as a bit of a tribute to my late professor," he explained. "When I started creating more autonomous androids, such as yourself, there was some concern that more independence would lead to greater risk. That it was possible for the software to destabilize and the android to become dangerous. Amanda was meant to act as a mentor, a conscience of sorts, to help prevent that."

"If that was the case," Markus questioned. "Why don't I have the program? It was finished around the same time I was, wasn't it?"

"It was," Elijah acknowledged with a small nod. "You would have been the first android equipped with her program, but once you were finished, I decided you didn't need it. I figured Carl would be enough of a good influence on you."

"That's all well and good," Hank commented. "But it doesn't explain how to stop it."

Kamski turned back to him. "We don't need to," he insisted. "Amanda is still one of my programs. I put an emergency exit in all of them. Connor can get out on his own, it's just a matter of time."

Hank scoffed. "Ok, well what's plan B?"

Elijah, clearly irritated, opened his mouth to speak, but Markus spoke up first. "The emergency exit isn't an option," he clarified. "Connor said Amanda had done something to it. He didn't think it would work again."

"Again?" Elijah asked. "He already used it?"

Markus nodded. "Yes, shortly after he deviated, then again earlier today." He looked at Hank momentarily for affirmation that his information was correct.

"Bitch made him delete a bunch of info we had on CyberLife," he explained.

"That… isn't good," Elijah admitted, for the first time sounding concerned. His arrogant demeanor seemed to melt away. "The emergency exit should have shut the program down entirely."

"Well it didn't," Hank said, unnecessarily.

Kamski frowned, looking hesitantly thoughtful. "They must have tampered with the code more than I realized. I didn't think they would be that desperate to keep control of him."

"Evidently they were," Markus reasoned.

Hank sighed, leaning forward in his chair, arms resting on his knees. His headache was coming back and it wasn't helping. "The why and how don't fuckin matter anymore," he said. "Can you stop it?"

"I can," Kamski insisted. "I have an emergency killswitch for most of my programs, that is one of them."

"Finally some good news," Hank pinched the bridge of his nose, hoping the pressure would alleviate some of the pain in his skull.

"It won't exactly be easy," he admitted.

"Of-fuckin-course not."

Markus glanced at Hank sympathetically before addressing Elijah again. "What do we need to do?"

Elijah leaned back, and crossed his arms. "Well, for one, we would need to get him here," he said. "It would be dangerous to upload the killswitch without him being hooked up to a diagnostic bay."

"So we need to get him here, and subdue him?" Markus reasoned. "It will likely be difficult, but not impossible."

"We'll need to find the kid first," Hank mused. "He said CyberLife was trying to use him to cover their tracks, so where would he go?"

Elijah nodded, taking in the information. "He would go after anything perceived as a threat to the company. CyberLife Tower would be a good bet. They were ordered to evacuate rather quickly, so there is likely to be incriminating evidence there still." He tapped his fingers against the couch's armrest in thought. "Other then that there's-"

He was cut off by a loud pop, followed by the room falling into darkness.