Lianne La Havas – Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye

"I have news." Taylor glanced around at the multitudes of androids that were milling around the hold of the freighter. Markus usually received her somewhere more private, but he looked busy. They all did, truth be told. She shifted uncomfortably, trying to ignore the stares of the androids who had figured out she was a human.

It was a few minutes before Markus acknowledged her presence, but when he finally looked up, he gave her full attention. "What about?"

"There are two active contacts in Detroit that can help smuggle your people to Canada." Taylor glanced back over the rail at all the androids in the hold. "I know that's not ideal. We won't be able to get people out very quickly, not very many."

"Not very many want to leave," Markus responded, conciliatory.

"He wants your help. In setting up a network here. To help people get out. I told them what the situation is like here, that it might be a while before you can do much, but he'll send resources. It will be mutual." She hesitated, reaching in her pocket and pulling out a cellphone. It was an older molder, not her personal one, and she offered it to him. "If you want."

"I think you know we need all of the extra help we can get right now." Markus walked closer and accepted the phone from her outstretched hand, his fingers brushing against hers briefly. "There are several people here who will be very grateful for this."

"I'm glad I could help." She smiled. He tucked the phone into his jacket pocket.

"You could be helping more," he said offhandedly, his eyes searching her face. "Why are you still working on this investigation? What if you had been exposed for helping us? There is most certainly surveillance footage of you inside of Stratford Tower."

"Nothing happened. No one suspected anything." Taylor glanced away, trying not to think of the moment in the elevator with Connor. He hadn't brought it up again afterward. Not yet, anyway.

"You said you agreed to be a part of this because you had to know why deviants were becoming violent. Surely, you've seen enough by now," Markus persisted.

"It's more complicated than that," she protested, defensive. He leaned in closer, his eyes narrowing.

"Is it? What is so complicated? Does this have anything to do with the deviant hunter?" Taylor's mouth dropped open in surprise, and Markus arched his eyebrows in response. "I may be busy trying to run this revolution, but it's hard not to notice how close you seem to be with the one person who's mission it is to destroy my people."

"It's not like that, Markus." She said softly, the heat creeping up her neck, across her cheeks. "This has nothing to do with Connor."

"Connor, then." He was watching her now, his eyebrows lowered. As he scanned her face, she felt that familiar unsettled feeling, like he could see right through her with those mismatched eyes. "Do you have feelings for him?"

"What?" She nearly stumbled backward a step, wanting to get away from Markus's pointed stare and his accusations. How could she have feelings for Connor? She had known him for a week. He had become a friend to her in that time, as much as anyone could, but he wasn't even a deviant. He felt nothing for her.

"There are a lot of people here depending on me, Taylor." Markus leaned away, sensing her discomfort, but he didn't turn his gaze from her face. "I trust you, implicitly, but I have them to think about as well. It is hard to convince some of them that you are on our side, given the circumstances."

"I see," she responded carefully, trying to disguise the hurt on her face, turning away. "What else do I have to do to prove that I'm on your side, then?"

"It's not like that," He said. She couldn't see his face anymore, but she heard him move closer. Folding her arms across her middle, she took another step away, not wanting him to touch her. "They're scared, Taylor. Almost every android here is afraid of humans."

I've been afraid my whole life, she wanted to say, but she bit her tongue, knowing that it was petty and unfair. Hadn't she spent her adult life running away, an entire coast separating her from all of the things that scared her the most? "I have something else I have to do tonight."

"Please, think about it. I don't want us to be compromised, but I also don't want anything to happen to you." Markus said earnestly. He really did sound worried for her. "If you're found out, do you think you will have to answer to the Detroit Police, or to CyberLife?"

Taylor felt her heart squeeze in fear. She almost shuddered, but she made herself start walking away instead, not bothering to wait for someone to escort her out.

Snow had started to fall. Flakes were clinging to her eyelashes as she shivered on the doorstep, her finger hesitating over the doorbell. She pressed it before she could lose her nerve and waited, shivering in the cold. Her heavy coat was back at the station.

Chloe answered the door, the picture of composure. Their gazes met over the threshold, and Taylor's breath came out in a puff of white, an unconscious sigh. "I'm here to see Elijah."

"I don't believe Elijah is expecting guests," Taylor watched surreally, her face considering her, before Chloe opened the door wider, "Please come in. It is cold. I will let Elijah know you're here, but he may not receive you."

"Thank you, Chloe." She practically jumped into the foyer, letting the heat inside the house consume her, still shuddering. She couldn't wait to go home to California. It almost never snowed in Los Angeles.

Chloe retreated down the hallway, leaving her standing in silence for a few moments. When she heard footsteps a moment later, the warmth had almost reached her bones. She glanced up, expecting to see her doppelgänger android returning, but it was Elijah himself who appeared.

"Taylor! What a surprise," He was smiling as he approached, and she tried to smile back. He took her hand in his, thankfully not kissing it this time. His felt remarkably warm. "You're freezing. What brings you back?"

"I would like to talk to you about something," Taylor glanced over his shoulder, realizing that Chloe had trailed Elijah back into the room after all. She stood perfectly still by the doorway, awaiting instruction.

"Of course." He released her hand and gestured down the hall. "Please, come in. I have a fire going in the other room. I'll get you a drink. Are you hungry?"

"I'm fine," she answered, following Elijah down the hallway. Chloe fell into step behind them, trailing silently. She didn't see either of the other Chloe's anywhere as they passed rooms in the house, eventually arriving in what appeared to be a study.

There was indeed a fireplace, with a fire crackling in the hearth. Unlike the foyer, the art here looked less self-absorbed and more chosen for aesthetic. One piece she recognized as done by Carl Manfred. There were papers strewn about the desk along the right wall, but Elijah ignored them, inviting her to have a seat in one of the chairs by the fire.

Taylor accepted, watching him retrieve a glass from a tray nearby and select one of the crystal decanters. He poured her a drink and extended it toward her. She accepted, reluctantly, cradling the glass close to her chest without taking a sip.

"What would you like to talk about?" Elijah settled into the chair across from her, fixing his blue eyes on hers. Here in the study, he looked so different than he had beside the pool, talking like a megalomaniac and forcing Connor to point a gun at the android that was standing behind him.

"I'm sure you have an idea." She glanced down at the brown liquor in her glass, reconsidering. She might need it to get through this conversation.

"Hm. That's decidedly vague." He tented his fingers, his eyes crinkling in amusement. "You could be angry at me for what happened with your little android friend. You could be here because I have an android standing behind me who looks just like you. Or maybe you just want to catch up with an old friend?"

"We weren't friends," she protested, frowning at him. They sat in silence for a moment, and she considered him, glancing back at Chloe a couple of times. "I remember when I met you. I thought you were so cool, and so smart. I couldn't believe someone like you would be a fan of someone like me."

"Don't sell yourself short," Elijah said, smiling now, the amusement clear on his face. "You were charming, even back then."

"He didn't tell you?" Her voice wobbled on the last word, and she swallowed, hating herself for it. This was it, the question that had haunted her for years, the reason she had never talked to Elijah again. "He didn't tell you why he wanted to build Chloe?"

"Of course not," The amusement was gone from Elijah's face now. His jaw was tight as he looked at her. She couldn't remember a time when he had ever looked so serious.

"You worked with him all the time. You didn't know he was a monster?" She asked in disbelief.

"Believe it or not, he almost never talked about you. Or any of his family." Elijah smiled, though the amusement from earlier was still missing. "He was also quite charming in most company."

"Why did you sell CyberLife to him?" Taylor asked next, her hand clenched around her glass now, knuckles white.

"I had bigger ambitions than the endless production of androids," Elijah shrugged now, sounding bored again. "Anthony had no vision. He was motivated by greed, by how much money androids could make him. That never interested me."

She leaned back in her chair, relaxing a bit, her brow furrowing. She couldn't puzzle out what he meant exactly, but she knew Elijah well enough to know he probably would only give her more run around if she questioned his motives. Instead, she glanced up at Chloe again, who was staring straight ahead, immobile.

"What are you going to do with the Chloe's?" Taylor asked quietly. Elijah immediately perked up, interested again, his eyes focused on hers.

"I believe I've already done it. I'll keep them here." He leaned forward, smiling at her again. "What would you like me to do with them?"

"What if they become deviant?" She asked, avoiding the question, staring at Chloe.

"I suppose it would be up to them at that point." Elijah shrugged, leaning back in his chair. Taylor glanced back at him finally, raising her eyebrows. He seemed amused by her reaction. "What did you expect me to say? That I would keep them prisoner? Do you think I'm a monster, too?"

"I don't know what to think about you," she replied honestly. Elijah smiled again at this, almost looking pleased. "You did put a gun in Connor's hand and make him point it at Chloe."

"Oh, Taylor," he laughed, shaking his head at her. "I knew he wasn't going to shoot." She gave him a skeptical look, but he just shrugged, "I could see the way he kept looking at you the whole time."

Connor glanced around the lobby of the Detroit Police station uncertainly, shifting on his feet, waiting. Taylor had called him and asked him to meet her down here, but it had been nearly an hour. There was a small bit of worry, nagging in the back of his mind, growing with each passing minute that she didn't appear.

He saw her the moment she stepped through the doors, sunlight bouncing off of her blonde hair. She stopped several paces inside, her blue eyes glancing around the room, trying to find him. He hadn't seen her since they parted ways after leaving Elijah Kamski's house the day before.

She finally spotted him, her face stretching into a smile as she crossed the lobby to meet him. There was nothing in her arms, not even the usual bag that she carried with her. Her stress levels were already reading higher than normal. She pulled to a stop in front of him, looking slightly breathless.

"Hey. Thanks for meeting me."

"Is something wrong?" Connor tilted his head as he considered her again. She'd pulled her blonde hair back into a messy ponytail, but it looked like she may have just rolled out of bed. There were dark smudges under her eyes again, like when she hadn't been sleeping. That nag of worry was quickly growing.

"No, I'm okay. I just needed to talk to you." Taylor glanced around the lobby again, like she expected to see someone else there, or someone to be watching them. She reached out and took his hand, pulling him with her through the staff entrance, toward the quiet hallways in the back.

When they were alone, she turned back to him and released his hand. She looked momentarily nervous, but she seemed to steel herself, taking a deep breath in through her nose. He'd watched her do it many times before. "Taylor—"

"I'm no longer on the case." Her blue eyes focused on his brown, and she delivered the phrase with a detached calm. Clearly, she'd already reconciled with this fact, but he knew his LED was flickering red, processing. She seemed to hesitate at this, "I wanted to tell you first."

"What do you mean?" He managed after a few moments, still trying to figure out some alternate meaning than the obvious one she was presenting him with. "You can't be off the case. We need you."

Taylor smiled at that, fleeting and a little sad. She reached up and removed the lanyard from around her neck, the one with her DPD identification attached, her hair falling over her right shoulder. She pressed it into his left hand, closing his fingers around it.

"Can you give that to the Captain for me?" His fingers tightened reflexively, and she released him again, though she didn't step back. She stood just a few inches away, her face tilted up toward his, watching him carefully.

"I just wanted to say thank you," she finally said, when he didn't respond. "I'm really glad that I met you. I'm really happy we became friends."

Taylor paused again, waiting for him to say something. He knew his LED was still flickering red. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to undo this, to make her stay here, to help them solve the case.

She considered him for another few moments, and then her fingers reached up, brushing against his cheek. The small distance between them shrunk to nothing as Taylor leaned closer. He didn't have time to think of what was happening before she pressed her lips softly against his.

Every thought, everything he had just been worried about fluttered out of his head, like so many birds. His insides felt like they were crackling, like he'd touched a live wire and had sparks crawling through him. Taylor leaned closer still, pressing her mouth more firmly against his, his thirium pump accelerating in response.

And just as quickly, she pulled away. Her eyes, which she'd briefly closed, fluttered back open, and she smiled sadly at him, "Goodbye, Connor."

She turned, walking back down the hallway and away from him. Squaring her shoulders, she didn't turn around, didn't look back once. As she disappeared around the corner, the reverie around him broke. Connor looked down, his left hand clenched into a fist around Taylor's badge, his right hand raised, outstretched, into the spot where she'd been standing moments before.