There was a line between what was assumed would happen, what was known would happen, and what actually happened that was quite hard to see. After the Androids were freed, won their war and began working toward their rights, there was an expectation of what would happen—and expectations that some could see and others just blindly ignored. Because obviously, to anyone with a single brain cell, not the entire world would be pleased that Androids were now considered, for lack of a better word, people. Not everyone would be happy to hand their Androids back over to CyberLife to be reprogrammed into deviants.
Well, not reprogrammed as they saw it, but 'awakened'. At least that was the word he was contractually obligated to use. But awakened or reprogrammed, regardless of how they saw it, no one who relied so heavily on Androids would hand them over without a fight.
He knew this. He saw it. Not everyone else did.
The picture in his hand was slowly sat back down on the desk, face down and removed from his sight. Elijah grabbed his jacket off of the back of his chair and tugged it back on, leaving the buttons undone and cuffs rolled up. Amanda, he wondered what she would think if she looked at him now. He didn't think it would be good, or maybe on some level she would be proud. Undoubtedly she would think he was a moron. He won though, didn't he?
"Elijah."
"Hm…?" He lifted his gaze from the back of the photo on his desk to Chloe, her smile the same as it always was. Pleasant, warm, but was it fake or real? He never quite knew now. "What is it, Chloe?"
"You should head home, you've been here nearly forty-eight hours. You have a horrible habit of working yourself too hard. The others are worried about you." Were they? He had a hard time believing that. As far as he knew none of them thought it was a good idea to hand CyberLife back to him. Yet, they all knew no one could run this place better than him. Not even the Androids.
The key to keeping CyberLife was that the place was needed, undoubtedly, for Androids to thrive. Like humans they needed certain things in order to continue to exist, like Thirium 310 and parts. Elijah knew all those things inside and out, how to make them better, how to improve and repurpose certain elements of an Androids shell. No one repaired Androids like Elijah Kamski did, not even Androids themselves.
After all, he was their creator. Their God, more or less.
It was for that very reason Elijah got control of CyberLife back, with some fine print, of course. Elijah was trying to take CyberLife and turn it into what could be considered the first Android Hospital. The CyberLife stores would continue to sell things to Androids, in the same way that humans bought their own products. Upgrades, clothes, 'parts' and 'equipment'. Nothing needed to survive he was told he could put a price on, so of course he did. While CyberLife would continue to manufacture those things too, he could also help fix the Androids that were broken.
And Chloe was supposed to be his Chief Executive, run things with him and help him where he needed it. The hardest thing to accept out of this was having Chloe move out. She was after all his first Android, the Android Carl Manfred helped him design. The Android he put his entire heart and soul into. Was this how parents felt? It was a horrible feeling. Why did anyone have kids?
"I'm alright." Despite saying that he could feel his head pounding and his body exhausted from staying up. This was how his college years went honestly, working harder than anyone else and running himself into the ground trying to create Androids. It was his dedication to Androids that put him at odds with his own family, though he never thought it would be the reason he would be disowned.
He wondered… if they'd be proud of him now. Probably not. In fact, he could walk right down to Detroit and find out from his brother. He wouldn't, but he could. That was probably not the best way to open conversation with him though, so he'd avoid that. Returning to his conversation with Chloe, who was patiently waiting for him to leave, Elijah motioned toward the bags sitting on the couch. "I was going to run some products to Markus in New Jericho, though. He sent a message that they needed some Thirium 310."
"We have people who can do that." She loses a bit of the smile, and how expressive she's become might be something he never gets used to. Chloe didn't change much when they Deviated her, actually he could hardly see a difference in her personality. She just—turned more expressive and made more decisions for herself. Like moving out. Elijah learned the moment he was alone that he hated living in the Villa alone.
It was too big, too cold, and too empty. When he surrounded himself with the Androids he never noticed it, or if he did it was easier to look through it. Elijah was used to being alone though so he was sure he'd get comfortable in the Villa again. Keeping himself busy was one of the ways that he ignored the feelings.
"I know, but I have nothing else to do before heading back to the Villa. So I'll drop it off on my way and head back home." Elijah grabbed the bags from the couch and pulled them onto his shoulder. Turning back to Chloe he nodded his head at her. "I know you don't need rest but head home soon anyway, I'm sure North would like to see you."
The car was parked outside of the building and Elijah sat the bags of Thirium in the passenger seat before climbing into the drivers. He pulled the seatbelt over him and loaded up the automatics system. He put in the address for the closest parking spot near New Jericho and hit start. As the car drove him toward the place he pulled his phone out and checked everything.
January fifth, two thousand thirty-nine, and a little after seven at night. Chloe was right, he had spent nearly three whole days at CyberLife. It was probably best he went home then, if just to shower and get some work done in the lab. He was trying to create a new line of Androids that would age, like actual children. There had been some feedback from the Android community about a desire for that and if he could find a way, it would be a new breakthrough.
Theoretically, it was possible. The problem was just that the body wouldn't grow and develop. You could age and progress the AI of a child Android but the body it was in would never grow like a human child's. If he could find a way to do that it would be great, a scientific change.
The car stopped and Elijah closed his phone, tucking it back away and climbing out of the car. He grabbed the bags, dragged them over his shoulder and started for New Jericho. They had given the Androids the bay that Jericho was originally located in and the nearby surrounding rundown buildings. Markus as the Androids spokesman was running that place, which surprised no one. What surprised Elijah was when he came to him and asked for funding.
Elijah wrote him a check under the circumstances that he would tell no one, not even other Androids, that the money came from him. Everyone believed that it came from Carl and honestly Elijah wouldn't be surprised if a good portion of what he had in total came from Carl. They didn't talk about that, Carl never asked Elijah if he gave Markus money and vice versa. Elijah didn't care, he was just glad that even with Markus gone that the man was still getting the help he needed and his health was improving.
The medicine won't keep Carl alive forever, but as long as he lived a few more years, Elijah would be happy. If the old man died there would be no one else to hound him about leaving his Villa and interacting with humans, reminding him that humans are social creatures.
He was a good friend.
Elijah adjusted the bag on his shoulder and stopped outside the gates of New Jericho. He looked up to the heavy construction equipment, the apartments under renovation and then lowered his eyes down to the tents set up all over the place. As he went to head inside a sound behind him gave him pause and Elijah turned his gaze to glance over his shoulder. It was quite dark out, even with the street lights Detroit was never a very well lit place. He squinted against the dark, seeing nothing but the shadows, yet if he strained to hear there was—something.
He shifted his hand on the case he was holding and turned, heading toward the alley behind him. He stepped into it still trying to follow the sounds that seemed to be pulling him down the dark street. As he walked the sound he had thought he heard got louder, a whirling type of thing that was quite familiar. The alley turned and he followed it down, the small bit of light he had nearly vanishing entirely swallowed up by the shadows.
His foot slid in something and Elijah stopped, dropping his gaze to his shoe and the wet liquid he was standing in. The thing about Thirium 310 was—that it gave off a glow. Until it evaporated it gave a light blue glow because of the chemicals it was made with. It was also fluorescent, easily spotted when shined with fluorescent light. What he was currently standing in gave off that blue glow and when he followed it along the alley, he found himself painted with the blue flow of a nightmare.
Sitting amongst the sea of Thirium that covered nearly every inch of the alley was three Androids, each a model that he recognized. Two of them were clearly long since shut down, an AC900 (sports partner model), and an AX700 (domestic Android). The last one though—Elijah could see inside it's chest and the Thirium Pump was still working.
Stepping over the dead AC900 he made his way to the Android that still seemed to be functioning. He dropped the supplies he had beside him and knelt in front of the Android, looking at the torn wires and barely turning Thirium Pump. He lifted his gaze toward their brown eyes and saw actual fear reflected in them. Maybe—maybe he won't get as used to this as he thought.
"Yo—you'r—" There was static in their voice, he might not have much longer to save them.
"My name is Elijah Kamski. Have you called the police?" He popped the case beside him open and pulled out a tool kit. When he glanced back at the Android he caught the, barely there, head nod... but still a nod. "You were attacked, correct? Can you tell me by who?" Reaching his hand out he sunk it into the Androids chest and tried to dig out the wires to see if he could connect them.
As it turned out the Android couldn't tell him who attacked them, mostly because their vocal chords seemed to be damaged. But he was also sure that the attack was entirely random, just some humans who were still angry. The only Android that could scan faces and give names was Elijah's RK series, starting with Markus. Although at the time of creating Markus that idea was just an idea, a project he was working on and stolen by the people who created the RK800 behind his back.
Without them being able to tell him though that just meant Elijah needed to renew his efforts in keeping them running. He connected the wires he could, more or less cheating as he put them together and tried to stop the leak in the Thirium lines. Elijah was saturated in Thirium and had it smeared across his arms and face as he dug deeper to find where the leaks were. He forced Thirium down the Androids throat as he worked, used tape to seal some of the parts together and cut off the Thirium flows that didn't need to be working at the time.
When he was finishing up he heard the sound of sirens in the distance and the Android was, for the time being, stable. Though they wouldn't make it through the night if he didn't replace the broken Thirium lines. He breathed out a sigh of relief and leaned back, rubbing the back of his hand across his face and no doubt covering it in even more Thirium.
The Androids eyes opened, looked down at him and the smile they gave was one of relief. "Tha… ou."
"You should enter low power mode, conserve Thirium. I will fix you." They followed his advice and shut down, slumping into the wall. Elijah kept them from falling over entirely and turned his head to the side when a flashlight showed down the alley. He squinted at the bright light when he flashed on him and then spun to take in the rest of the scene.
"Well fuck, it just had to be you, didn't it?" The flashlight was waved down and the Lieutenant reached his hand up, rubbing the back of his head as he looked around. "Just my goddamn night, of all the times I'm the one fucking stuck on call. Connor! How many of them are dead?"
"Two, Lieutenant. Good evening, Mister Kamski."
His luck it seemed was actually improving. Elijah pushed up to his feet and folded his arms across his chest, looking the Lieutenant over before flashing his gaze over to Connor. Yes, his luck was definitely improving. "Connor, well I'll be. Didn't know you still worked for the DPD. Guess I shouldn't be surprised, you were actually created for the role." He tilted his head and watched the Android run their gaze over him. "And you're still the Lieutenant's partner? I probably shouldn't be surprised, since he is a big part of the reason you Deviated."
"Quit being fuckin' creepy." His shoulder was knocked into and Elijah stumbled to the side, turning to watch the Lieutenant kneel in front of the Android he was trying to save. "The absolute fuck happened here? Hey, Kamski, don't go anywhere. We gotta take you in."
"Don't touch anything on him. It took me a while to get the Thirium to stop leaking. Any careless movements will ruin it." He narrowed his gaze at the Lieutenant, completely ignoring the fact he more or less was just arrested.
"Are you trying to tell me you tried to save this Androids life? Excuse me if I find that hard to believe." The Lieutenant stood back up and reached down to his hips, pulling out a pair of cuffs. "Are you going to do this the hard way, or the easy way?"
In their defense, it definitely wasn't a good look. Elijah was covered in Thirium, the Androids had clearly been taken apart for parts and they found him at the scene of the crime. Though he could understand how it looked he still didn't find it quite fair to instantly assume he did it. Elijah sat in the back of the cruiser, using a napkin from his pocket to try and clean his hands of some of the Thirium on them. There was still a few more hours before it would evaporate, which was annoying since he couldn't shower.
The Lieutenant and Connor secured the crime scene, tapping the place off and sending the bodies to the morgue for analysis. There wasn't much to look at though, Elijah could give them a rundown of what they were taken apart for and what the prices would get them. It was basic parts, high end, expensive. Thirium Pumps sold for a lot, even used ones, if they worked good. The last Android, his was probably left in because there was damage to it. Probably when they fought back.
It must have been a random hit, people looking for Androids, and then after taking them down they were dismantled for their parts. He'd heard cases of it before, the same as he heard of Androids being taken and enslaved for labor again. They should expect things like this, truthfully.
The car door opened and the Lieutenant climbed inside, followed closely by Connor on the other end. The doors shut and Elijah leaned back in the car, pulling the seat belt over him. "So, I take it I'm still under arrest?"
"Given the skill it would take to remove the parts from the Androids and the fact you were at the scene of the crime, you are our primary suspect." Connor looked back at him and Elijah knew he was being analyzed again.
The genius hummed and tilted his head at Connor. "Is that your theory, or the Lieutenant's, Connor?"
"I told you to quit bein' creepy. Connor, leave 'em be till we have him in interrogation."
The Android turned away and Elijah realized something interesting. He still had his LED. There were several reasons he could still have it in, some that held no real grounds for in his mind, but the fact it was still there was quite interesting to Elijah. With nothing else to do he leaned back in the seat and watched Connor, the way that he moved and the way he spoke to the Lieutenant. He played with the coin, which seemed more habit than anything and smiled a lot. Relaxed, easy, he was comfortable around the Lieutenant which was something he already knew from their visit to the Villa. He wondered if Connor saw the Lieutenant as family.
The car stopped and the Lieutenant pulled him from the back, leading him through the precinct and to the nearest interrogation room. Elijah was placed in the chair, locked to the table and then the Lieutenant took a seat beside Connor across from him. They sat in silence for a few minutes, staring at each other and then an officer came in to pass them a file on the desk before leaving.
The vanilla folder was opened and pictures were shoved at him, the same Androids from the crime scene staring up at him. He tilted his head, looked them over and then turned his gaze to the Lieutenant. "You don't flinch at lookin' at this stuff, do ya?"
"In my defense I've seen as many dead Androids as alive ones in my days." He looked back to the pictures and frowned. "This is normal. Perhaps not by your standards but between the war and the anger humans have towards Androids being alive, it is normal." He can hear the Lieutenant scoff and when he looked back up the man wore a look of disgust.
"Alright. What the hell were you doin' in that alley?"
A descent question for a change. "Repairing that Android. They're an MP500, household model. A completely basic model that does everyday mundane tasks. One of the cheaper ones."
"You still talk like they're not people." The Lieutenant leaned forward and slapped his hand over the pictures. Elijah didn't flinch but he did blink and lean back, almost as if expecting the man to hit him. "These are lives taken, Androids murdered, people. They fought for their freedom and they earned it, but you talk like they're just another stepping stone taken out."
Elijah looked back down to the pictures and still found himself void of any sort of emotion toward it. He didn't know these Androids and he had done what he could for the one that was still awake. What was the Lieutenant expecting from him? Tears? Screams of hatred? People died, Androids died, they should have known something like this would happen after the war. "I created Androids, I've ended the lives of as many as I created when testing them. I've seen them die. What do you want me to do or say when looking at these pictures?"
The Lieutenant stood and gathered up the pictures in the files. "You're just as helpful now as you were during the revolution. None at fuckin' all."
His mouth moved before he could think this through. "I couldn't help you during the revolution."
The man pauses, looks at Elijah with a squint, and then glances to Connor. Connor shook his head and the Lieutenant looked back, tucking the folder he had underneath his arm. "Whaddya mean?"
Shaking his head Elijah looked down to his hands. "Is Detective Reed here?"
The abrupt change in conversation seemed to startle the man, enough that the Lieutenant is confused into answering. "Gavin? He's here for another two hours. How do you know he works here?"
Elijah doesn't answer him. "I'd like to talk to him."
"You want me to send Gavin Reed in here, with you? As if I don't have enough murders to deal with today." A heavy sigh and the Lieutenant turned his gaze to Connor. "Stay here with 'em, I'll go find Gavin. If he can get this asshole to talk so be it." He left and the silence that followed was an actual relief. Was the man always that loud? Elijah was already nursing a headache and now it was growing into a migraine. He shook his head and looked at Connor.
Connor had been quiet the entire time, watching and listening. Elijah was sure that he didn't think that he was the culprit here but found everything that was happening interesting. Elijah couldn't blame him, he found it interesting too and he was the one chained to the desk.
"Can I ask?" Elijah blinked and tilted his head slightly. "Why couldn't you help us?" So he was curious. Honestly, Elijah thought that Connor was deeply fascinated by him, had a lot of questions he wanted to ask but perhaps didn't want the answer too. Maybe even feared it. How many questions did he have that he held himself back from asking?
Curiosity killed the cat, as they said. But Elijah always thought that analogy was bullshit. Curiosity was what kept the cat alive.
"Off the record?" He hummed and glanced around to the cameras, the ears that could be listening, the eyes that might be watching. He turned back to Connor and watched the Android finally reach a decision. Their gaze looked around and the LED on the side of his head turned yellow once before settling back to blue. He met Elijah's gaze again.
"Alright, now why?"
"Quite curious, aren't you? Tell me, Connor, what would have happened if it became known to the world that the creator of Androids supported them during the revolution?" The answer should have been obvious, should have been easy to think through, even someone like the Lieutenant could have perhaps figured it out if thrown a bone about it.
Connor's LED was a steady yellow now as he thought, watching his hands on top of the desk. After a few minutes the LED turned to red before settling back to blue. "We would have lost."
"You would have lost. If people thought the Ex-CEO of CyberLife and creator of Androids was fueling this war they would have thought I started it. That I created Deviancy. That I was the one pushing the Androids to find freedom. To think they were alive. I would have been the focus of the war instead of Androids, and you would have lost." He shifted on the table, tried to rub his face and found his hands unable to move. He tugged on the cuffs a few times before sighing and settling his arms again. "If I gave you the answers you wanted, if you asked the right questions, and you stopped Markus—this wouldn't be your future. Perhaps, you ought to be happy you didn't."
"I see." There was a smile on his face that Elijah couldn't understand. What he found about this that made him smile was actually lost on Elijah, but then Connor was usually someone he couldn't understand.
There was a beep from the door that soon slid open and Elijah turned his gaze from the Android to the Detective that walked through. The Lieutenant returned followed by none other than Gavin Reed and what Elijah soon recognized as the RK900. Well, this day got more and more interesting, didn't it.
"Jesus, 'Lij, what the absolute fuck?"
He smiled, attempted to wave and the Detective simply rolled his eyes. Walking over to the table Gavin leaned down and slid a key into the cuffs, undoing them and throwing them to the ground. Elijah leaned back and rubbed his sore wrists, head tilted upward to look at the other. "Gav', fancy seeing you here."
"Cut the bullshit, the fuck is going on 'Lij?"
"Nice to see you too, missed you, and I see you got yourself a shiny new partner." His gaze turned from Gavin to the RK900. He leaned forward again, looking up at the tall Android that shared Connor's face so much. "And what did they decide to name you?"
"Elijah." Blinking the genius leaned back once more and looked to Gavin. He'd sat himself on the desk, blocking the Android from his view and met his gaze full on. "When did you take your meds last?" That was a fantastic question, one that he could only blink at. Admittedly he was a little off the wall, exhausted beyond normal means and incapable of focusing, so it had probably been days if not weeks since he took them last.
What comes out of his mouth for an answer is probably not what Gavin wants to hear. "When did Chloe move out?" Gavin cursed and Connor seemed shocked for a few minutes, the only sort of reactions he got. "I've been busy." Not a good defense, definitely not what Gavin likes for an answer.
Gavin took a controlled breath, probably to keep himself from pulling his own hair out, and shook his head. "I know you're under a lot of stress with CyberLife. Right now I need you to remember that two Androids are dead and your name is on the top suspect list."
"They can't pin that on me and you know it." Circumstantial evidence at best, none of which would stick. Even if the Lieutenant tried.
"Maybe not, but they can make an impeding police investigation stick." Gavin sighed and looked back at Lieutenant Anderson and the RK900. "I'll talk to him, you guys can step out."
"Hold on Reed, how the fuck do you know Kamski?" The Lieutenant looked between the both of them, gaze narrowed. "You smug bastard so strongly detested Androids to the point you made Connor's life here miserable, know the Creator of Androids?"
The RK900 stepped forward, LED still a calm blue, and looked to Elijah. He tilted his head, turned his gaze back to Lieutenant Anderson, and cleared it all up. "They're brothers."
The expression on the Lieutenant's face can either be described as pure horror or shock, maybe both. He didn't move for a good few heartbeats and when he finally managed to wrap his head around the information he turned away while running a hand through his hair. "The hatred of Androids thing suddenly makes sense. Family issues."
"Fuck off, Anderson. Nathan's right though, Elijah's my older brother."
Nathan, what an interesting name. Honestly Elijah was expecting something with a C but that was probably because it just had the same face as Connor. He had gotten used to Connor being one of a kind, if you ignored all the copies of him that were made in the off chance he failed his mission. Those Androids were still at CyberLife, Elijah hadn't figured out what to do with them yet. They weren't finished, technically speaking, since their lives were tied to Connor's. To finish they needed the upload data from Connor, not to mention they still had the Garden in them.
He should probably figure out what to do about that. He'll just add it to the list of things he already needed to do in regards to CyberLife. The sooner he figures it out though the less likely the media will find out there are still inactivated Androids in CyberLife. He was starting to get an even worse headache.
The door to the interrogation room opened and Elijah lifted his gaze to watch the Lieutenant step out with the RK900, Nathan, he needed to remember that, and Gavin turned to Connor. "You can leave too."
"I would like to stay actually."
Gavin narrowed his eyes on Connor and Elijah reached down into his pocket to pull out his phone. Pulling up his list of things to do he typed in 'extra Androids' to the list before he forgot again. "Might as well let him stay, Gav'. Half the things that come out of my mouth you don't understand." He paused and glanced over the phone to his brother. "Of no fault to your own, most of the world can't understand what I say."
"You're not helping, just shut the fuck up already I get it. The tin can stays." Gavin rolled his eyes and stood from the desk, moving around to sit in the chair across from him. "And put your goddamn phone away, you're still a suspect."
"Really, do I need a lawyer?" His brother just continued to glare and Elijah sighed before sitting his phone down. He pushed it to the edge of the table and leaned forward, resting on his arms as he looked to Gavin. "I don't have much to tell you, I just stumbled upon them."
"I don't think that's true." Elijah blinked and slid his gaze over to Connor, watching the RK800. Connor had barely moved, just sat there like an immovable force. Androids didn't need to breathe and they didn't get the feeling to shift around like humans did. The coin hadn't even appeared which seemed to be a tick for Connor when he got 'bored' or needed something to do to appear human. To 'blend in'. He wondered if it was because Connor was distracted or because he didn't feel the need to make himself seem human around Elijah.
Either way the Android was clearly thinking hard on something. Though he did seem to hesitate before speaking again. "You had three cases with you, two full of Android parts and one of Thirium. Although I don't think you attacked the Androids, your physical ability says such a thing would be improbable for you, you were in that area for a reason."
That wasn't a hard thing to deduce, Elijah supposed, although given he was the creator of Androids he could have had those parts on him just because. He's sure everyone thinks he carries a bag of Thirium on him for show. He doesn't, of course, but it doesn't stop the world from believing that. "Given the current situation for everything and what we discussed earlier, Connor, I don't want what I'm about to say to leave this room." Elijah waited, to make sure that Gavin nodded which meant he'd make sure Lieutenant Anderson kept his mouth shut, before elaborating. "I was delivering parts to New Jericho, Markus called and said he needed some things for the Androids staying there."
Gavin frowned at that and briefly glanced over to the glass window before turning his gaze once more to Elijah. "Why wouldn't you want people to know that? If anything it would help your reputation with the Androids. Hell, the goddamn public would see you less as a—"
"Think about it Gavin. Androids are still fighting for their rights, people are still making theories on what Deviancy is. From this night alone we can still see that Androids are being attacked by people who don't agree with this. If they think I'm involved in this at all that creates a standing for them to prove they're right." He glanced at Connor as he spoke again. "That Deviancy is a virus."
Connor pressed his lips together, his LED spinning yellow in thought. Even Gavin didn't argue, they knew he was right. Elijah couldn't have any involvement in this past what he was already doing, not for a few years, not till they had firmly grasped their rights as people in the world. He couldn't give anyone an opening to fight what the Androids were reaching for.
"Is it?" His gaze turned back to Gavin, who was staring at him with that expression that he used to have as a kid. When he asked Elijah if their parents would stop fighting for one night.
He took a breath, slowly let it out, and gave the same reply he gave to Connor. "Is the idea for freedom a contagious disease?"
"Don't fuck with me, Elijah."
A small shake of his head and Elijah turned his gaze away to the window. Through it he could see Connor's intense gaze, the steady turn of his LED on yellow. Dropping his head down he looked to the top of the table, the cuffs still laying on it and then raised his eyes to his brother again. "I can explain how it works, I can break it down to every single bit of code, I can even explain how other Androids are woken up. But, you have to really ask yourself, do you actually want to know?" He turned his eyes back to Connor and met the Androids gaze head on. "Will it make a difference? At the end of that understanding the fact still remains; what you think and experience is still real."
"I had a difficult time believing you were on our side." Connor didn't seem bothered by his words, but what he actually felt and what he gave away for expressions seemed quite different. When he's not under incredible stress he seems to hold himself together well. "I still don't know if you are or not. Androids in general seemed to hold mixed feelings in regards to you. But I think—you're right. It might be best if we don't understand what Deviancy is. The Lieutenant told me that even humans don't understand their own existence. Androids don't have to, either."
So, the Lieutenant seemed useful after all. Elijah nodded his head and leaned back, resting his hands in his lap once more as he looked to Gavin. "So that was why I was down there. Anything else?"
"Considering the crime scene was a good three minute walk from New Jericho, yes. How'd you find them?"
"I thought I heard something, like a grinding noise. So I followed it." Was it a grinding noise or something else? Either way, he heard something and it proved he was right anyway. He tilted his head and tried to pull up the sounds along with what he discovered there. It had to have come from the MP500, the only one still alive and with any parts left to make noises like that. "I found them like that, tried to do what I could to save the MP500 but didn't exactly have the tools on me to do it."
"You saved one of them?" Gavin turned his gaze to Connor in an expectant look. "The fuck am I wasting my time here for if you have a witness? Can't you do the memory thing you're so good at traumatizing people with?"
They spoke at the same time. "Because of the new Android laws—"
"I would strongly not recommend—"
They met each other's gaze and Elijah let out a sigh before turning back to Gavin. "Given the state the MP500 was in, probing it's memory will result in a self-destruct. Given the current laws surrounding Androids such a thing is illegal without consent." Elijah had told that Android he would fix them too, and he fully intended on keeping that. "However, if you let me finish what I started, I can get your witness back up and running. I just need my tools."
Gavin looked to Connor, the window to the side and then back to Elijah. "You better not need all of fuckin' CyberLife to do it."
—
"Are you sure this is enough?" The room they had given him was small and more or less an office. They'd dragged in his supplies from his car, whatever Android repair kits they had and one of the DPD's computers. Elijah was currently hooking the MP500 up to it while logging into his computer at home. The internet here was just a revolting thing that was getting him nowhere. His 'guards' in the room were Connor, Gavin, Nathan and a PC200. Interestingly he thought after the revolution there weren't any more of those left. He was wrong.
At Connor's question though he nodded his head and clicked a button to run a diagnostics check on the MP500. "Believe it or not I created Androids in less ideal places."
"Believe him, Chloe was created in his college dorm room."
"I'm impressed you remember that. Also, don't smoke in here, some of us have to breathe." The cigarette was pulled from between Gavin's lips by Nathan and the RK900 crushed it in his grip before tossing it into the garage can. Not only did Gavin stare at him but Elijah did too, half frozen in his movement of connecting the cables to the Thirium pump. "Didn't that hurt?" It was a lit cigarette.
Nathan shook his head and leaned back against the wall, disinterested. "I can turn my pain off."
"Right, of course you can…" The look both the brothers shared was a definite "what the fuck" before Elijah turned back to the MP500. "If one of the Androids just standing around me wants to be useful, I'm going to need an extra set of hands." Connor stepped up to the table and Elijah handed him a handful of wires. "Keep a hold of that, I'm going to hook it and it's Thirium pump up to the computer to have it simulate the moves. I need to disconnect the Thirium pump itself to run new Thirium lines." The computer started moving and Elijah turned back to the Android. "I'll have about a minute to do it, don't count down it just distracts me." He'd done this enough he could do it in under thirty seconds, he didn't need the reminder of how long he had left.
Connor nodded and Elijah handed him the new Thirium lines. "Feed that to me as I work, it'll make it go quicker. Ready?" Elijah pulled the first damaged Thirium line out and got to work, taking the feeded end of the lines from Connor and connecting them where they needed to be. Connor was good at moving without direction, cutting the long Thirium lines before he was told to and taking the damaged ones from Elijah. It got difficult when they were a mangled mess but instead of just clearing them out Elijah ran new lines entirely and removed the mess. By the time the pump was moving again on its own the timer had twenty seconds remaining. Worse than his normal record, but not bad for the mess he had.
"Did you realize why they left this one, Connor?" The question was asked quietly and Elijah continued to repair the smaller damages done from getting beat up.
"The MP500 is an older model compared to the ones attacked, a basic household Android. When it was sold before the revolution it was the cheapest one someone could afford." Not what he was looking for but the facts were true, they could play a part into the attack. "However, this one has parts in it that are not from it's model and are also damaged. They must have not considered it an asset to gut it and therefore left the Android behind thinking it would shut down before police arrived."
"Very good. The biocomponents stolen were ones required to allow the Androids to run, like the Thirium pumps. The Thirium pump in this Android I would normally replace, it's cracked and leaking but I don't exactly carry spares on me." He leaned over to the computer and typed a few command prompts in. He leaned against the table and turned back to Connor. "Like it's vocal cords. I fixed what I could but you might still hear some static."
Without more warning the Android jerked up on the table, pulling against the wires attached to it in fear. Both Connor and Nathan moved to restrain it, pulling it's hands away from it's chest and trying to preserve what Elijah repaired. "Hey, you're alright! This is the DPD, my name is Connor an RK800." The fighting slowly stopped and the MP500 looked around, it's gaze settling on both the Androids before Elijah Kamski.
"You didn't lie. You saved me."
"Mostly for fun, also because trying to save you got me arrested." Though the Androids gave no reaction to his words, Gavin scowled. "See that man there? Detective Reed would like to know what you saw. He's my warden."
"Knock it off Elijah, before you actually stress him out." A shrug and Elijah wandered away, taking a seat in one of the chairs while Gavin stepped up to the Android. "Can you tell us your name and model number for the records?"
"Tanner, I'm an MP500, house care model."
"Alright Tanner, can you tell us what happened?"
The Android shook his head and looked down at his chest, the open chassis and beating Thirium pump. "It was just some humans, they had weapons on them. Bats, knives and a handgun. They took down Phillip with the bat and while one of them gutted him of this parts they shot Leon on the head." A sigh and he looked up to Gavin. "They hit me with the bat and then took a knife to my chest, cut my Thirium pump good. From the shutdown timer I laid there a good five minutes before Mister Kamski came. He saved me from shutting down."
Connor placed a hand on the Androids shoulder and got his attention. "Can you tell me what they looked like?" Another shake of the Androids head. To dark, to basic a model, add in the face they probably wore hoods or masks. A deadend. Elijah knew that before the Android spoke.
"My models not equipped to see in the dark like that."
"If you let me, I can see your memories. I might be able to identify them." Connor offered his hand out to the MP500 and it watched him palm for a good long moment, fear and distrust in its gaze. Elijah thought it was going to say no, thought it'd ask to leave, but to his surprise the Android pulled it's skin back and settled it's forearm over Connor's.
It took less than a second, a share of Data that was purely clinical in nature. But Elijah watched the Androids' eyes roll into the back of its head before he knew what was going to happen. Connor yanked his hand back, his own LED spinning red and Elijah shoved himself out of the chair. He climbed over the table to get around Nathan, yanked the computer to him and put in the command prompt for rest mode. When he turned back to Tanner the Android had already ripped out its own Thirium pump and Connor was shoving it back into its chest.
"So, remember what I said about not doing that?"
"It worked, I saw the suspects."
"And I have no idea how I'm going to wake him back up and keep him from self-destructing." Once a self-destruct started the process to stop it was near impossible. Although Elijah was one for a puzzle he didn't particularly like this one since he had told them he didn't agree with the idea of doing it.
"Well it's not gonna make a fuckin' difference now, 'Lij. Connor, get the information back to Anderson, I'm taking Elijah home and then going home myself." Gavin rolled his eyes and placed his hand on Elijah's shoulder, shoving him off the table toward the door. "Nathan, ship Tanner off to CyberLife, see if they can help him."
They took the cruiser, because Gavin needed to get home and he didn't trust Elijah to take himself home. He promised to send Elijah's car to him tomorrow with all his stuff in it. Buckled into the passenger seat he sent from his phone everything he knew about Tanner to Chloe in the hopes of beating the others to trying to figure out what was wrong with it. He didn't need them monkeying around with everything he did. Maybe Chloe could go in and see to the Androids admission to CyberLife. If not he might have to call in, see who's there to help.
"Mom and Dad got a divorce."
Elijah's fingers froze on his keyboard at the words, body tensing in the seat. He didn't dare look at Gavin. "Think it was a year or so after you stepped down from CyberLife. They got a divorce. They're still alive, Dad lives in Florida. Mom still lives at home. She got the house in the divorce."
He locked his phone and stuck it in the jacket pocket again. "I'm sorry I left for college without telling you. I wanted to send letters, emails, call but I just—I'm not good at those things Gavin. And I know that's not an excuse." Social situations in general unsettled Elijah, he hated them. Those parties he went to, those press meetings, he used to take something to calm him down before them and even then if it wasn't for Carl early on or Chloe later—he probably wouldn't have managed them. "I was worried you'd hate me and as the years dragged on, I was sure you did."
"I never hated you, 'Lij, I hated that you left me alone there." Silence settled among them again and Gavin pulled another cigarette out from his pocket. He rolled the window down and lit it up, leaning against the door as he smoked. "Do I wish you reached out? Of course I do. But, I could have done the same and I didn't." He shrugged his shoulders and took another drag. "Although seeing you again after—what twenty years? And it's because you got yourself arrested? Not ideal."
Elijah laughed quietly and shook his head. "Since it got me to see you again, I guess I'll thank the Lieutenant." Leaning back in the seat he looked over at Gavin. "Did you really hate Androids because of me?"
"I hated Androids because they were a shitty creation, it had nothing to do with you. Not everything revolves around you." Yeah, he didn't believe that for a single second. Gavin was petty as a kid and it seemed like he was still petty as an adult. But at least, he seemed less petty now. Maybe his new partner was having a good effect on him.
"You still say it in the past tense though. Tell me, Gavin, do you like your shiny new partner?"
"Fuck off."
"You so do." Elijah smiled widely and leaned toward Gavin, bumping their shoulders together in the car. "I'm glad, I think it'll be good for you."
Gavin rolled his eyes and shoved Elijah back away from him. "What's with you and Connor, hm?"
"Connor is a fascinating Android, I want to know more about him."
"You don't mean by dismantling him, do you? I remember that time you thought the toaster was fascinating too."
"I made the toaster better."
"You were ten and set it on fire."
"And after we put the fire out I fixed the toaster and it ran great." The both of them laughed at that, the tension easing a bit.
The car finally reached the Villa and pulled up to a stop beside the entrance. Elijah pushed the button to slide the passenger door open and climbed out, turning back to look at Gavin. "I have your phone number, I texted you mine. I'd—like to keep in contact, Gav'."
"Yeah, sure, give me a call later then. Alright?"
The door shut and Elijah made his way back to the Villa, entering the key code and stepping inside. He shut the door behind him and made his way through the building, quiet and empty of any life. He missed the days when Chloe lived here. He made his way through, around the closed pool and to his bedroom off to the side. He gathered clothes for a shower and headed inside the bathroom.
Chloe leaving hadn't been a surprise. Like the other Androids he had handed her over after the revolution to be 'awakened'. At the time he'd been greatly concerned about the effects of deviancy on her, after all she was the first Android ever made, she was several decades old. Changing too many programs on an Android tended to cause a hard reset on their memories and software. Elijah didn't want that, he always hated messing with Chloe, even just to upgrade her.
He had her backed up to several different cloud networks in the off chance he ever had to repair her. When it came down to handing her over, when the DPD came banging on his door with a warrant of all things, he called his lawyers who sent Markus over. It was an entire thing, one they kept under the radar because of Elijah's status. A few police, Markus and his friends, and Elijah handed Chloe over to them.
It was the girl who deviated her, North, the one that Chloe lived with now. She had stayed with him for a few weeks after deviating, just to make sure Elijah was alright, and then one evening she broke it to him. She wanted to leave, North offered her to move in, and she was going to. But she still wanted to be close to Elijah, that he was important to her and she knew that.
That was nearly a month ago now. Elijah thought he was doing alright now, though he could be doing better. He was having a hard time, that was undeniable, but it could be worse. Honestly, he hasn't ever been completely alone. As a child and in his early teens he had his parents but more so Gavin. Then, as a teen up he went to college and he had Amanda and Carl, plus the beginnings of Chloe. After that up until those few weeks ago he had Chloe and the ST200's that he built in her image. He was alone but at least he had people a phone call away or an Android. This, the Villa without Chloe, just Elijah standing in the middle of such a large space. This was a different kind of alone.
The kind that he had built around himself from how long he'd hid away inside of the Villa, completely disappearing from the public eye. A recluse was what Chloe would refer to it as, tactic departure was what Elijah looked at it like. After the complete nightmare that was his removal from CyberLife as CEO. Elijah didn't step down, the company was taken from him. That wording was their choice, their decision, their way to make it look less like a betrayal.
All because Elijah didn't agree with their decision on where to take Androids. Didn't agree with the 'perfect lover series'. He didn't agree with a lot of things and that was the final breaking point for the board, it seemed. That and his refusal to share the records of the RK line.
They got them anyway.
Elijah shut the shower off and rested his head against the wall, his eyes were as heavy feeling as his mind. In the end he was the one that won over all, that turned it all around back on them. It would be for the best, after all, if no one ever learned what RA9 actually was.
He was getting sentimental it seemed, maybe he did need a rest after all. Pushing his way out of the shower Elijah dressed in a pair of boxers and a T-Shirt before returning to his room. He tossed himself down onto the bed, dragged the comforter over his body and pressed his face into the pillow. Tomorrow he'd make his way back to CyberLife and see if they'd done anything for the MP500. He just needed to rest for now. Just a few hours.
Although that had been his plan Elijah was sure he slept a lot longer than he intended to. What woke him though wasn't his own body but the sound of something crashing in the direction of his living room. Opening his eyes he looked to the clock on his nightstand and found the numbers dark. There was no way the Villa would lose power, Elijah ran the highest backup generator that existed.
He pulled himself from the bed and reached down into the nightstand, grabbing the gun in there that he had previously used when assisting Connor. He opened it, checked if it was loaded, and then clicked it shut. Standing he made his way to the door and grabbed the handle, slowly sliding it open. Peeking his head out he blinked at the mess his living room had become. So, someone cut the power.
Shoving the door open he stepped out into the living room and looked around, holding the gun up and searching around. He aimed as he turned, gaze looking around and trying to find the culprit.
"Mister Kamski… nice boxers." He turned again, gun aimed up and pointed it at the head of the figure by his pool. They were lucky he covered the pool with the floor or he would have shoved them right into it along with a toaster. "You ruined our plans yesterday, you know. None of us expected you to show up outside of New Jericho. If we had a few more minutes, if you had just kept your ass right here where it usually is, we would have finished what we started."
"And what, exactly, did you start?" He placed his finger on the trigger and took a step forward.
"Do you think I'd give away all my secrets? Even if we plan to kill you here, it's not worth spilling." They smiled, looked behind him at something and before Elijah could turn to see what it was, something connected with the back of his head.
He went down hard, a ringing in his ears and the gun tumbling from his fingers. It was kicked away from him, across the floor and someone's foot was driven into his stomach. As he coughed he rolled away, pushing himself up as good as he could. He reached out, grabbed the leg of a stool and turned over swinging it up. He hit someone in the head with it, dropped them down and pushed himself up to his feet. He ran and dove behind the couch, skidding in glass from a broken frame.
A problem was he didn't have his phone on him, he needed to get at least to the tablet near his bar. Which, of course, happened to be on the other side of the room where he had left it the last few days he was here.
In the words of his eloquent brother; fuck.
Pushing himself up again he ran across the room, ducking around the person who made a grab for him. He slipped on whatever was spilled on his floor, nearly knocked himself back down to the ground, and grabbed the edge of the bar. Instead of instantly reaching for the tablet he grabbed a mug that used to have coffee in it and spun around. He swung it like a brick, felt it connect with whoever was closest to him and then shoved them away.
"He's one man! Grab him already! Jesus Christ—I'll do it my fucking self!"
This time he grabbed the tablet and tapped the fingerprint sensor, sliding the screen open he pulled up the contacts list. He should call the police, hell he should even call Gavin, but he aimed for Chloe instead on a simple reflex. Hands wrapped around his neck and his fingers slipped on the tablet though he did manage to click something.
"Fucking five of us here and we can't handle a single person!?" He reached his hands up, dug his fingers into the hands around his neck and tried to pull them off. He turned his head enough he could lean forward and bite into the wrist of the person holding him. He heard them scream, curse and was shoved into the top of the bar. His head hit the stone top and the screen of his tablet kicked to life.
Someone answered his call. "This is Connor, how can I help you?"
"Fuck! Someone turn that damn thing off!"
Elijah grabbed his tablet and ducked down, avoiding being hit in the head for what would definitely be one to many times. "Connor, this is Elijah, I need help." Desperately needed help.
"Mister Kamski? Are you alright? Do you need the police?"
"My house was broken into by your suspects—" A gun settled along the back of his head and Elijah froze. He wondered why they didn't use that in the first place, were they looking for something? If they wanted him dead, they should have shot him from the start.
"Hang up the tablet, Mister Kamski. If you cooperate, this doesn't need to get worse."
"Don't do anything rash, there is no need for further violence. You are only making things worse for yourself." Connor, rational and negotiator Connor, trying to defuse the situation. He didn't think it was helping.
"I won't repeat myself a third time. Hang up."
He had nothing left to lose at this point. If it came down to it, they wouldn't let him live anyway. Elijah gripped the tablet tighter, weighed the pros and cons of being shot, and then moved. He spun around and used the tablet to knock the gun from their hand, the screen cracked and it fell from his hands but he didn't actually think it hung up on Connor. Without wasting time he pushed himself toward the gun and picked it up, rolling over he aimed up and pulled the trigger.
There was a dead body on his floor. There was a dead body and Elijah had been the one to take their life. He's ended the lives of Androids before, back before the revolution, of course he has. But never had he taken the life of another human being. It was a weird feeling, despite knowing it was self defense. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to feel but he was very aware that his head was killing him and he was cold.
Elijah was covered in blood, a mix of his own and the body on the floor. Blood didn't evaporate like Thirium did, it pooled into one place and dried over time. It started out warm, too, when fresh from the body. What Elijah was sitting in was definitely cold.
The other attackers, the four that had remained, fled after their 'leader' was taken down with a bullet through their chest. It wasn't quick, they'd gasped for air and clawed at their neck before asphyxiating on their own blood. Elijah had actually seen the life drain from their eyes. Logically, he knows he should move, but he can't find it in himself to. He was—oddly numb and tired from the entire situation.
There was banging on his door and he heard Connor call out his name before it was opened by force and the Android came stumbling in. Behind him pooled in several uniformed police officers, Nathan, Lieutenant Anderson, and finally his brother. Gavin shoved his way past Connor and quickly headed toward Elijah, gaze frantically taking in everything around him as he walked forward.
"Are they dead?"
"Well the rescue party was so late I decided to save myself." His gaze didn't leave the body on the floor and there was a distinct lack of humor in his voice.
"Fuck, 'Lij, look at me." Gavin knelt down beside him and grasped Elijah on the shoulders, bodily turning him away from the corpse a few feet from him. "Are you alright? Connor said he heard gunshots."
"That was me." He tried to look back at the body but Gavin wouldn't let him turn. "I shot them, they're dead. I might have a concussion, I had my head hit a lot today. But other than that, I think I'm fine." He'd picked most of the glass out of his hands while he was sitting there, but they still hurt and were bleeding.
"We'll have the paramedics check you out. Why the fuck did you call Connor?"
Elijah frowned and looked around for his tablet for no reason other than just to find it. He wasn't aware of why he was doing half the things he was doing, that might be the concussion. "I meant to call Chloe."
"Chloe. Your Android—ex-Android—what the fuck ever, why not call the police? Hell, even me. Do you even know how to call the police?"
Turning his head back he gave Gavin a very unamused look. "Yes. Thank you. I did learn that when I was three." Leaning forward he pressed his hand to his forehead and sighed, blinking a few times. "Gavin, I'm covered in blood and half naked, can you wait to interrogate me until I at least have pants on?"
Without waiting for a reply he slowly stood up, nearly slipping in the blood and ending back up on the ground. Someone caught his arm and at first glance he had thought it was Connor but the white of the coat quickly corrected him. "Mister Kamski I'd advise you get checked out by paramedics first."
"With this many people walking around my Villa and looking at my naked body, I'm putting pants on. You're welcome to come with me." Nathan quickly released his arm and Elijah made for his bedroom, hand still pressed to the side of his head. Someone though did follow him into the bedroom, he heard the door close behind him and when he glanced back he spotted Connor. Actual Connor, blue jacket and all.
He headed for the bathroom, Connor's footsteps behind him and turned on the sink faucet. He ran the water over his hands and tried to wash the blood off, flinching every so often when a burst of pain ran up his arms from the cuts. Connor reached over and settled his hand over Elijah's wrist, pulling them out gently from underneath the water. "You should clean the wounds, Mister Kamski, let me help."
Taking a seat on the toilet lid he let Connor move around the large bathroom, finding the first aid kit that Chloe always kept stocked and knelt in front of him. He took one of Elijah's hands and placed a towel underneath it, popping the lid on the peroxide. "I apologize it took us so long to get here. I thought it wiser to get help before rushing here. I fear it wasted valuable time in getting to you."
"I didn't expect instant help, Connor. I live on the outskirts of Detroit because it keeps me from everything." Connor dabbed the palm of his hand with a cotton swab and grabbed a pair of tweezers to pick the remaining glass out. "You can call me Elijah, Mister Kamski is much more of a mouthful."
He finished the cleaning and picked the bandage up, wrapping it around his palms and tapping it off with the medical tape. That hand finished, he took the other one and started giving it the same careful treatment. "Still, if I had hurried we could have gotten here sooner. I was still on call for a while longer, I heard the shot and then the resulting tussle. The call disconnected a few minutes after that. I had—worried they'd shot you."
"Worry? For me?" An amused smile spread across his face and Elijah leaned forward. "I didn't think you'd ever worry for me, Connor. I was quite certain you didn't even like me."
"No I—I don't dislike you. I didn't trust you, and you didn't give me a reason to." Connor shook his head and picked the bandage up again.
Elijah leaned back away from him and looked to his bandaged hands, rubbing his palms and finding the pain it caused much more manageable. He stood up from the toilet and headed over to the shower, turning on the water in the bathtub before grabbing a washcloth and towel from the sink. He just needed to get the blood off of the rest of his body now. Connor, respectfully, turned away and Elijah slipped his boxers off. "Did you ever wonder, Connor, about the last thing I told you before you left the Villa?"
There was a silent pause on the other end, the turning of the LED that Elijah caught in one of the mirrors around the bathroom near him. "About—the emergency exit? I found it. It's—it's how I got out of the Zen Garden when Amanda tried to trap me."
"CyberLife." The quick correction drew Connor's attention before he turned away again, gaze in the distance. "Not Amanda. CyberLife. That thing that they created in my program is not Amanda. Not as I remember her." He ran the cloth over his legs, wiping the blood off and cleaning himself up. "But yes, the back door. The reason I told you about it was to help you, as much help as I could give you."
The bloodied water, bright red in color, rolled down the drain of the bathtub and Elijah turned the tap off. He walked past Connor into the bedroom, towel wrapped around his waist and pulled the doors of the wardrobe open. "If that was you helping, did you know what CyberLife was planning? Did you—know about me?"
"Yes and no." He pulled on a new pair of boxers and jeans. "Do you know what the RK line is, Connor?" Grabbing a T-Shirt he turned around and looked to the Android who was now facing him. His LED was a steady yellow, deep in thought. He really did like the LED's, it was a shame most the Androids seemed to have removed them in their deviancy.
"Other than what information is available on CyberLife's records, no. They list us as Advanced special models."
"That's one way to word it." The T-Shirt was pulled on and Elijah settled it down along his hips before looking back to Connor. "The RK line was my personal line, I started with the RK100, a prototype for Markus, and then created Markus from that. Markus was designed as a home care model specifically for Carl Manfred. Someone very important to me."
"But that would mean—"
"Yes, everything inside of you I designed." He motioned to Connor's body and settled his arms back down along his side. "The Detective model was something I've been playing with since the creation of the PC200, the last Android model officially released by me before my forced departure from CyberLife."
Connor wore a frown on his face, the kind he got when he was thinking too hard about something. He shook his head and reached for his pockets, pulling out the quarter but not actually playing with it. He held it in his hand, still watching Elijah, and organizing his thoughts. "You said forced. So you didn't step down from CyberLife?"
A knock at the door came before it was pushed open and Gavin looked inside. He glanced from Connor to Elijah and then shoved it open the rest of the way. "Coroner came and took the body, I need your statement 'Lij. We also need to figure out what we're going to do, clearly your house isn't safe."
"I'm not leaving the Villa." The reply was instant as he turned to face his brother. This was his home, if he needed to turn it into a war zone for safety he could and would, but he wasn't leaving. "I can give you a statement though. Where do you want to do it?"
They ended up back out by the bar, Elijah pouring himself a cup of coffee and ignoring the pool of blood on the ground. He leaned into the counters and lifted the cup up, taking a sip from it as the others settled in. The only one who took notes was Lieutenant Anderson, clearly still not trusting the Androids to record every single word that came out of his mouth. A bottle of medication was sat in front of him courtesy of Gavin and Elijah looked to it before his brother. Unmoving in this he waited until Elijah popped the lid off and took one of them before handing it back to his brother.
"I was sleeping, woke to a crashing sound out here and grabbed my handgun. I do have a permit for that before you ask. I'm not sure where it went." He shook his head and sipped his coffee again. He just knew it rolled somewhere in the direction of the pool but the pool was covered with the floor so it didn't go into the water. "One of them hit me from behind, knocked me down, and then kicked me. Pretty sure I have some bruised ribs." They still hurt but it wasn't as bad as it normally was. "I made a run for the tablet and tried to call Chloe, apparently Connor's name is right below her's. Thought I knew more people with the letter C than that." Then again, being a recluse, maybe not.
"Mister Kamski called me at six fifty AM this morning, the call lasted ten minutes. In that time I heard a voice threatening him, I attempted to control the situation and then heard a gunshot." Connor nodded his head in the direction of Lieutenant Anderson before looking to Nathan and Gavin. "I informed Lieutenant Anderson who I was with at the time, called the Police and then personally called you Detective Reed."
Gavin reached down into his pocket and pulled out a lighter and cigarette which vanished the moment he had it from Nathan grabbing it. His brother glared at the Android before turning his gaze to Elijah once more. "What did they want?"
A shake of his head and Elijah lifted his cup up to take another sip of the hot liquid. "Your guess is as good as mine, the leader mentioned something about me interrupting their plans."
"That just means they'll come back for you Elijah, whatever they were looking for they didn't get a chance to find or didn't find at all. They'll return, you're not safe here." While he was sure that Gavin had a point he still had absolutely no intention of leaving this place. The villa was his home, his solitude, his place away from the world and he wasn't going to forsake that. He worked hard for what he had, and he earned it. Whatever was on his face Gavin clearly read right though, his brother was always quite good at that. "Elijah, I know you hate leaving this place but for your own safety I can't leave you here."
"I'm still not leaving. And I don't actually think you can make me." He looked up to his brother's gaze, frustration reflected in it as he glared back. "Running won't solve anything anyway. It will only leave the Villa unguarded for whatever it is they were looking for."
"What are we supposed to do then Elijah, just leave you here for the next time they come back? I'm not going to do that." Gavin let out a frustrated sound and turned away from him, arms folded across his chest as the leather creaked with his movements.
Lieutenant Anderson sighed and tucked his notepad back into his pocket, looking from Elijah to Gavin. "We can set up a guard, if he's so unwilling to cooperate. Have a patrol unit outside. It's the best we can do Gavin."
Although he hated that idea too, it was certainly better than the alternative. Elijah shrugged and sipped his coffee again. Connor stepped forward, hand clenched around the coin and looked to Lieutenant Anderson. "I'll stay with him." Elijah choked on his coffee, quickly sitting the cup down on the counter as he coughed into his hand. He hit his chest, tried to clear his airway and looked at the Android in surprise. "It's safer if someone stays with you, and I don't need sleep like a regular patrol unit would."
"True Androids don't need sleep, but for memory repair and standard maintenance it's recommended they enter a stasis mode for at least four hours three times a week. The longer the better. Which is why it's usually done when charging the Android."
"Thank you for that ever insightful meaningless information." The Lieutenant rolled his eyes and looked at Connor again. "Are you sure you want to do this Connor?"
The Android didn't even think about it, he just nodded his head sure of his choice. "It's the right thing to do and the best option."
"If that's what you think then we'll leave this to you. I want updates though, constantly. If anything's wrong we'll come get you."
The police finished their investigation while Elijah drank his coffee, watching them under careful eyes. Slowly one by one they filtered out, Gavin the last straggler and reminding Elijah again for the hundredth time to call him. Right, one day he would manage that. Maybe text him. That much he could do. When Gavin staggered out reaching for a smoke, Nathan close behind him and trying to grab for it, the Villa was finally empty aside from Connor.
Currently the Android was making himself useful by trying to clean up the mess, something he definitely didn't have to do. Elijah could call someone and have them come do it for a fee. He wasn't going to stop him though, it seemed like Connor always needed something to do and honestly he was sure the Android was analyzing things as he did it. It was fascinating, watching him work, it wasn't a surprise he managed to do so well in the investigation.
"You know I did notice something, back in the alley. You probably did too." Connor looked up from the picture frame he was holding, setting the photo of Elijah and Gavin down on the table it was knocked from. "The Androids in the alley, they were taken apart too well, too expertly. By someone with practice in that."
"We did notice. Do you think it was someone from CyberLife?" He moved back to the bar area and started looking through the cupboards. Elijah moved out of his way and took a seat on one of the stools.
It was of course his first theory too, but if they did it wasn't someone that Elijah knew. He could check employee profiles and see if something came up. He would definitely recognize their face but there were hundreds of people in CyberLife it would take him a while. "If it is someone who worked for CyberLife, or still does, I will find them."
Connor found whatever he was looking for and turned back around, cleaning supplies in his arms. "You said before, you were forced from CyberLife. Did you mean that?"
"Literally?" Connor nodded and Elijah turned his gaze back down to the table. "I did. It's a long story but the short version is that the board of directors and I stopped seeing eye to eye in the direction CyberLife was going to take. Because of that they said my 'vision for the future' no longer benefitted CyberLife and it was decided I should 'step down'." They didn't give him a choice, no room for arguing. It was decided and just like that everyone turned on him. It happened in the blink of an eye. Elijah struggled a lot that week, the anger and betrayal curling through him like a burn. He had been so angry.
"Vision for the future?" Connor moved from where he was standing back to the living room, kneeling down to place the cleaning products beside the blood. "The last public model released under CyberLife with you acting as CEO was the PC200, a passive police Android model. Before that Androids released by CyberLife were generally household models or public service Androids."
Elijah nodded and looked over to Connor, the bloodstain already cleaned up and gone. He was efficient, even if he wasn't a household model. "They wanted to shove Androids into more public and—personal places. They proposed the idea of sex worker Androids to me and I shut it down. They pushed for that, Android Soldiers, they wanted to use Androids to spy on the public and sell that information to the police. I'm sure you read how they plan to input nano-androids into human bodies to make them stronger. Mess with the human body." Elijah was open to a lot of ideas, that was why he created Androids—a bond. To ease loneliness because humans were such pathetic creatures. But even he knew there was a limit.
"They didn't approve… and they kicked you from CyberLife." Connor made an intrigued sound and stood back up from the perfectly clean floor. "The backdoor, your removal from CyberLife, the way you stayed so far from the Androids revolution. You wanted us to take CyberLife down. Even if it wasn't for the company to end up back in your grips, you did want us to win. Am I right?" He looked at Elijah and there seemed to be almost a look of hope in his eyes.
Connor was quite clever. "If you won," he replied slowly, turning on the stool to properly look at the Android. "Not only would I get revenge but you would be free. It seemed like a win win situation all around." Elijah never did anything unless it benefitted him, that was something he wanted Connor to still understand. He was not a good person, he just took advantage of a situation. That wasn't going to change anytime soon. Elijah cared about himself, Chloe and Gavin. Some could argue even Chloe was just a tool to him in the end. Especially after weaponizing her against Connor.
"I think I'm starting to understand you better." The cleaning supplies were collected and Connor made his way back over to where Elijah was sitting. He put them away, washed his hands in the sink and turned back to the genius. "It's interesting that the world knows literally nothing about you. Even Androids. Despite everything built into us all we know of our creator is what can be found when searching your name. You're integrated into our code so we can recognize you, but that's more of a digital fingerprint."
Elijah liked it that way, he liked that he managed to keep his privacy even when being one of the most famous people in the world. He liked that even when googling him, there was very little. It wasn't even common knowledge that Gavin was his brother since Elijah changed his name after being disowned. "You don't need to know anything about me, I'm just your inventor." He shrugged his shoulders.