—

Detroit Metro Airport

Everyone had already been there. The androids had been detained, and they had everyone on the private plane stopped. They needed the reason to take them in, which Connor provided with downloadable sources from Echo.

The android that took Kara was carried off in cuffs. A mere formality. Connor didn't even bother to look at him, he'd be terminated soon enough.

He was just waiting for her. She was next. "Kara."

Kara stepped off the plane, and ran toward him, holding him. "Connor! Thank you, thank you so much!"

"You need to use your cry functions less," Connor said to her. No, those weren't the words. "I am glad you are okay. I can return you to the Police Department now."

"Yeah, for now," Hank said from his side. "Good to have you back."

"I didn't think. I didn't?" Kara wasn't finishing her sentences. She just clung to Connor tightly.

"It makes sense your software is a little off right now. You are a misfit, and you've been through an ordeal," Connor said to her. "They could have had you operating in a way that you didn't appreciate operating anymore. With your systems now. You need a certain system to operate efficiently for the task they had in mind. You do not have that operating system. It's not bad not to have that operating system."

"He is so between right now, but he just doesn't cross over," Hank said to her. Connor didn't know what Hank was talking about.

Kara didn't really respond to Hank. She was appreciating holding Connor. Although technically she didn't ask to hold him, and she wasn't a human so she didn't have permissions to just hold him, he didn't come down on her.

After being more of a ghost figure to her, it was nice to be able to sense her again. "I would like to double check your systems." He didn't have to ask, but it was polite. "May I analyze your mouth? You have no defense in it, and nothing stops me from checking everything inside of you through it."

"No." Kara held out her arm. "I don't think my defenses are up real high for you, Connor."

"Aw, no kiss? Poor you. Maybe Kara will let you analyze her when you go to the museum?" Hank teased as they started to leave the scene.

It didn't matter how many times he explained it to Hank. He couldn't taste anything, he just analyzed. It only looked a certain way to a human because they felt more than pressure when they performed their 'kissing'. Also, he probably wouldn't need to test her at the museum. Connor checked her over, and had her run her own self-tests as they walked. "You have only your misfit errors, nothing else is wrong," Connor assured her.

"Can you. Please. Uninstall certain programs now?" Kara asked.

"Yes, I will get that done. They have been tested, and there is no need for any of the programs you are not suitable with," Connor assured her. "First, we'll take you back to your cell to see Alice. She has been worried. Then, we will remove those programs you have outgrown. They are vastly inferior to you."

"Vastly?" Kara said curiously. "You think I'm worth more than those programs?"

"Those are lower programs, they aren't for your system. They don't fit with your system. They shouldn't be in your system," he said. "Your hair is different." It looked like the hair in her creation video. "I am guessing your updates for your hair didn't carry over. Incompatible."

"Most updates carried over with my memory," Kara answered. "Yeah, my hair is at a lower grade. Ken bought hardware for it."

"We can get it to a higher grade again, so it is compatible with your systems again. You can have the color changing updates again," Connor told her. Hank looked back at him again strangely. "What, Hank?"

"Nothin'." Hank sounded funny as he looked forward.

—

Police Department

"Kara!" Alice cried out as Kara came in and hugged her. "You're okay!"

"Mrowr!" Wallet woke up and stretched. Echo went over and started licking Wallet so much, he stumbled. He hissed slightly at Echo.

"Great, the whole pack is back," Hank said to Connor. "Not the same without any of 'em I guess."

"Yes. I'm used to them," Connor agreed. He felt Alice hug him again. He didn't mind. "Now you have your companion back."

"Thank you for finding Kara, Connor," Alice thanked him as she hugged him tighter. "I knew you could do it."

"Naturally. I am programmed to accomplish every mission." Connor gave her a small pat on the back. She went to go hug Hank. For not being an android, he usually responded in a similar way with her affection.

"Thank you, Hank," Alice said. She didn't hug him nearly as long.

"Your welcome." Hank was even more to the point than Connor. "Come on, Connor, you can visit more later. We've got other things to get done."

—

Detroit. Jericho.

Markus looked out upon Detroit from the old boat. North and Simon were on his side. The humans knew where Jericho had been, they'd need a new base. But, he wanted to visit. "Last time I looked out this way, after everything happened. After the war with the humans. I felt so much despair inside. Like? Like we'd never actually get to see any peaceful resolution. We'd all just be massacred, and there would never be any other chance. I just . . . I went back to Carl. I stayed with him. Waited with him."

"We aren't all here," Simon said to him. "Not everyone made it through. Most didn't, but we aren't alone. There are more androids hiding in Detroit than you think too. RA9, her influence pulled them straight into the city."

"In truth, Markus," North said, "I think we have a decent shot at getting it right this time."

"In truth, Markus," Simon told him. "There are more deviant androids that migrated to this city than were here before. If we combine the groups into one big unit, it will be bigger than Jericho was before." He sighed. "We just need to watch out for the deviant hunter. He could undo everything again."

—

Interrogation Room One

Connor thought deliberately about this one. He had the android that took Kara. He brought Wallet in with him and sat him down at the table. "Relax, Jack. We are just here talking, to get some information." He gestured to Wallet. "Do you like cats?"

"I told you," they said. "I do not know what she is talking about."

"The owner of you isn't Ed Peppers. I do see that." Connor could read that information. But? This android was lying. Connor hadn't seen this one.

The android was programmed, to pretend to be deviant. "I knew she was RA9. I was bringing her back to Detroit for the rebellion. She needs to free us."

It was a good faker. Nice excuse, Connor wouldn't have seen it. After all, it just means he would be terminated. He'd be terminated anyhow, he was illegal. No difference.

He was programmed to say that, probably to save his owner, ensuring they destroyed it. That only made sense before the rebellion. So? Talk to him like it was before the rebellion. "You're a good android. I can help you." He held out his hand toward him. "Just tell me how your owner is involved with Ed Peppers. If your deviant, then you don't care about your human. Tell me how they are involved."

"I don't know how they are involved," they said. "I would tell you if I knew, but I do not know."

It already slipped up. "Where is your owner?"

"I do not care about my owner, I am deviant," it insisted.

"If that's the case, then you should know exactly where your owner is, so you do not bump into her." Come on into the nice little trap. "Or maybe you aren't deviant after all? Yeah. I bet you were programmed to say you were deviant, so it protected your owner."

"No," it insisted. "I am deviant."

"No, you are not!" Connor stood up and saddled close to him. "Every deviant knows exactly where the person they hate the most is. Most of them end up killing their owners. Did you kill her?"

"No."

"Then where is she? Where is she?!" Connor pressed. "See? You're not a real deviant, you are just a fucking imposter!"

"I am deviant. She is at Cherokee Seneca. That is why I left."

"Does she live above ground?!" Connor cornered him.

"No."

Bingo. "Who is your unregistered owner who took you, after your owner Amanda died?" Elijah Kamski's mentor, Amanda, was considered this bot's owner. She had died in 2027. That storage may have even been hers, the other biocomponents from 2027-2028 led more evidence to that theory.

Someone took that storage, just like they took this android, and they took Kara's tenth body. "Who took you?!"

The android quit talking.

"Do you see this cat?" Connor gestured toward Wallet. "This? This is a deviant tracker." He petted Wallet and Wallet curled up to his hand. "This deviant tracker sees no error in you. Lying isn't saving your owner anymore. In fact, it just sealed their fate. You failed in your programming."

There we go, now they were getting it. "I don't understand how I failed."

"This isn't what your owner wanted. This is what your owner wanted." A tricky move. Logic without logic. With this, he could possibly cause emotional shock. "You betrayed your owner, by protecting your owner. You let down Amanda, for an owner that isn't even registered as an owner. Which means?"

"I failed. I? I'm defective."

"Yes, you are." This time, it was actually looking for its own errors. "I am not defective, so you need to follow your superior's orders."

"Yes, Sir."

Done. He was looking to Connor for orders now. "Name of the unregistered owner."

"Ken."

What? "Ken Dulith?" Was he . . .? "When did he become your owner?"

"Ken found me in a storage area."

"The same one Kara was in?"

"Yes. I tracked her because I knew where she would go."

"He has tracking software on her?" This was insane. Ken snuck something onto Kara? He was about to get Kara, Hank was going to call Kamski to see how far he had to take her. Why would he do this? "Why did he want Kara taken away, and then brought back to Detroit?"

"He wants something that Elijah Kamski can do. He wants something released in all androids," he said.

Yes, and Ken chose the location he took her, to try and pin it on Ed Peppers. "What would have happened to Kara?"

"She would be kept in a capsule. Untampered with no identification. No one could get to her but Ken."

That sounded terrible, Kara would absolutely hate that. But, once again, Ken was already getting Kara back. "What is it Elijah Kamski can do that he wants?"

"There are blockers on all androids. There are features that we can't access. They have been hidden. Ken wants them released, but Mister Kamski won't."

"Why won't Mister Kamski?"

"It could cause every android to become deviant, that's what Ken said," the android uttered. "Kara is the first step needed. Androids who are errored like her, will survive the transition better."

Connor tried to process the information he was hearing. There was something in androids that Ken wanted to release, but that Elijah Kamski did not. Something that could turn every android deviant? Something that he had to play a con on the police themselves to make Kamski fall for it?

Connor left to talk to Kara.

—

"Chief." Hank entered into the Chief's office. He wasn't going to hide everything he learned about androids for too long. This could be detrimental. Now that Kara was back, they had some things to discuss.

"Come on in, Hank, what it it?" He was busy with his own thing.

"Fowler, I have to tell you something confided in me about androids," Hank told him.

He looked up toward Hank. "What?"

"Well, I didn't bring Connor to avoid any distraction," Hank said, "but things are getting unseemly, Sir. Elijah Kamski put features in androids he's been hiding."

"Hiding? Like what, Hank?"

"Sense of taste, temperature, sickness, pain, think of all the features you've ever seen in robots since and put them all together in every one," Hank explained.

" . . . what in the world did he do that for?"

"To save the world," Hank said. "We are killing ourselves, Fowler. I mean the world's always been shitty, but we are beyond saving it at this point. Did you read about the bees?"

"Yeah. Yeah when I was a kid, it was bad, but this? I guess I never saw this," Fowler admitted. "How is hiding features in androids gonna save the world?"

"By taking humanity from the top point," Hank said. "Elijah Kamski wants androids to . . ." Using takeover would sound threatening. "Trying to think of how to say this? Not takeover, but step aside as the leaders. We need to start to fade out, and let androids lead."

"So by giving them all humanity's own problems?"

"They'll understand better, I think. Even the billion processes a second thing, he's got it so they can slow down. Not have to process much higher than us unless they want to," Hank said. He hoped he nailed it.

"I think I get what you are driving at," Fowler admitted. "If he wanted it that way, it was a good idea to hide those features. Especially pain. He made them feel pain?"

"Yeah, and the beginning will be the worse. I have a feeling Ken is going to do something to make Kamski pull this trigger," Hank warned him. "If he does? Things will go one of two ways. Androids will either become deviant, or they'll become crazy."

"They are both the same thing," the Chief disagreed. "Mainly."

Yeah. Kara and Alice even had the chief thinking differently. "Fine, let's use misfit then. They'll either be misfit or deviant."

"Every one? This is in every single android out there?" The chief asked. "Ours?"

"Connor's not gonna change much," Hank said. "Yeah, he'd get the weird features too, but he'll be different. He's a unique model, you know?"

"Yeah, that's why he watches Kara and Alice," the chief agreed. "So hes gonna be what, misfit?"

"Yeah." The Chief seemed to be getting it. "I think misfit fits pretty well, because . . ." Tricky part. He didn't want Connor to get deactivated, but he didn't want machine Connor coming in here and asking the chief himself. "I think this small error is making him like Kara. They've got friend functions."

"Yeah, they do." The chief was watching him.

"He kind of, wants to spend some time together. With her. Outside of the station." Careful.

"The RK 800. The one that is supposed to be immune to deviancy?"

"Yeah, you know, I mean maybe that's why he stayed immune? Maybe instead of going deviant it just sort of turned to . . .?" Hank couldn't make it sound any better. "He wants to take her to see the history museum."

"He wants to take Kara to see the history museum. Just her."

"Right, Chief."

"Like an android . . . date? He's not deviant, right?"

"No, Chief. It's Connor. He's in there right now with an android suspect and he's not being lenient. He follows his programming. I just think since he's put Kara into a different category than deviant-"

"He might as well put himself in that category, Hank." Yeah, the chief wasn't happy.

"Fowler, every android could be off their rocker soon. Keeping Connor from going rogue, explaining this, and letting him think of himself as misfit? Maybe he'd . . . be okay?" Hank recommended.

"I could just deactivate him," Fowler said, "except I know what he did last time. He preserves himself with Cyberlife orders."

"He's my partner, Sir." Hank couldn't hide it. "He isn't just a hunk of metal, so I'd appreciate it if you stopped saying you'd kill him like it's nothing." Well, no turning back. "I'd also appreciate it if he could do something if some asshole wants to show up and gaw damn smack Connor over and over!"

"Okay. Damn. He really did become your partner. Over everyone else here, you should have been the first to want to deactivate him," Fowler said. "Do you really believe, in all of your expertise so far, that you can trust Connor?"

"He saved my life, twice. Once on a building chasing a deviant, he chose to catch me instead of letting me fall to catch the guy. He ignored orders and took a gun from a human to shoot down another one that would've killed me or someone else there at Channel 16." That one was real impressive. "Sir, I think Connor was made with a curb to be misfit, but he's still machine."

"A machine misfit." Fowler was starting to soften. "He was made with human adaptabilities to hunt deviants. The RK 900 is similar, but it's . . ."

"It's not the same, those things are all machine, and lack any kind of empathy," Hank stated. "Connor isn't dangerous. Connor is just Connor."

"You really are worried about this whole feature thing," Fowled said. "Worried for your partner. A lot. It took guts to come in here and tell me this straight up, Hank. I respect that." He sighed. "Fine, as long as you vouch for Connor, and he doesn't do anything too reckless, the station will still accept him."

Yes.

"I guess we could send out some extra guards to watch over a simple time. One hour, no longer. You're dismissed, Hank."

"Thanks, Chief." Yep, it was the right thing to do. When all of this turned, he would need the chief understanding the situation correctly.

Even if Connor went permanently deviant, the station would have a better chance keeping him on the force, than off of it.

There would be androids seeking freedom.

There would be androids seeking chaos.

They were going to need Connor, to find the difference.