In which the Reader must make a choice. Poll in bio.

"Right, yeah, just, tell me when it gets here."

She stood at the entrance of the Detroit Police Department. She was talking through an earpiece that, while it had been designed not to, had fallen off. Conclusion: get a replacement.

No amount of reminders could make her.

Her phone buzzed, and she dug it out of her pocket, holding it up so the sun wasn't glaring on the screen.

Mr. Stupidman
Cab is on way. Androids seen in store. U got voice recorder?

She quickly typed out a short response.

I got voice recorder. U got brain?

Not seconds later, she got another message.

Mr. Stupidman
:(

Smiling, she pocketed her phone and waited patiently for the cab. However, she needn't wait long. The car rolled up, the door slid open. Peering inside, she saw Mr. Stupidman (aka Detective Zachary Rhodes) seated in the front seat.

"Sandy!" he exclaimed. "Are you ready?"

Sandy smiled. "As I'll ever be." She hopped into the cab, sliding in next to Zach. "So, give me the briefing. What are we looking at."

"The two androids who escaped the apartment lot were seen buying clothes uptown. We assume they were trying to disguise themselves, but they did a real shit job of it. The RK800 didn't have physical cash so he used the bank account Cyberlife lent him. It's been revoked now, but really, Cyberlife should have done that the moment it went haywire..."

"Do they have any idea why their precious RK800 helped the deviant escape?"

"Well. The only logical explanation is that the RK800 went deviant. Its tracker stopped working, after all."

Sandy hummed. She knew the Connor android was supposed to join the police force in the coming months. But she didn't much like the idea of having a model that could potentially go off the rails. After all the other deviant issues, too, who could trust them?

They were going to be killed, Connor was sure of it.

If not by humans, by Ralph. He was skeptical. He had every right to be, having met only the worst version of Connor over and over again - but even after Daniel's reassurance, even though he knew Connor himself was, in fact, a deviant, he was skeptical. He was violent, and he was scared, and eventually, he'd kill Connor unless they left as soon as possible.

Even so. Connor was skeptical of himself. Amanda was still in his brain, after all, at any moment she could...

He shook his head. Even if she tried, Connor knew where the emergency exit was, having lived through that moment... too many times to count.

He didn't have the guts to let her. To see what would happen. How could he kill Markus? That's just one more universe ruined.

It had been a few days already. Daniel was growing antsier, and he was scared. Ralph didn't make matters any better, only creating situations where Connor had to sit on the opposite side of the room from him, fiddling with the hem of his coat.

It was nearing twilight when Daniel approached and kneeled down beside Connor.

"Ralph wants us to leave," he said.

Connor smiled, but it was bitter. "He wants us to go, or he wants me to go?"

"Okay, he wants you to go, but if you're leaving so am I, so technically, he wants us to go."

Connor stood from his spot on the floor. He took a deep breath, even though he didn't need to, and adjusted his tie. "If he wants us to leave, then we're leaving."

"We can't!" Daniel protested, "We'll be caught. We should stay a couple more nights. Wait for things to die down!"

"But Ralph wants us to leave, so we're leaving."

"Yes, yes, Ralph wants you to leave!"

Connor turned on his heel to face the gardener, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"Ralph must keep Kara and the little girl safe, yes. So Ralph wants you to leave!"

Daniel stood, lunging forward and grabbing onto Connor's jacket. "We have to stay. Just one more night. Just until we know we'll be safe."

Ralph stamped his foot. The unstable flooring beneath them shook. "No! CyberLife leaves!" Connor did a double take, processing only after a few seconds that Ralph meant him. He was CyberLife.

Stay with Ralph?

Don't stay?

Stay?

The door to Sandy's apartment slid open, and she allowed herself in. Her dog came bounding up to her, then sat at her feet, holding a leash.

"Sorry Benny," Sandy said, "I'm a bit tired. I think we can skip your evening walk tonight."

She took off her shoes and marvelled at the softness of her carpet as though she'd never felt it before. Benny looked up at her with puppy eyes - literally and figuratively - practically begging her to take him walking. Sandy only walked over to her couch and plonked herself onto it.

"How about, instead of a walk, we sit and watch some cartoons, hmm?" she muttered, though it was really only to herself.

Instead of turning on the TV and sorting through Netflix shows she was yet to watch, Sandy sat and stared at her reflection in the blackness of the screen. There she was, blonde hair dishevelled and slowly coming undone from the half-assed bun she'd attempted that morning, and still hadn't found the androids. The damn things were out in the bloody open. They watched the security tapes and they saw which clothes they picked out for themselves. People on the streets reported seeing them hide in an alleyway, covered in blue blood. "We weren't so sure at the time," they had said, "They'd only just appeared on the news!"

So, why, WHY, were they hidden so well? Uptown, downtown, they were nowhere.

Sandy huffed. We've finally done it, she thought. We've made AI that surpasses the human race, but we didn't stop and think about the consequences that might bring. And now they were hidden so damn well they were untraceable.

The golden retriever dog jumped up onto the couch and snuggled against the detective, and she smiled. "We'll find them, boy," she said. "How far can two androids get on their own?"

I was sick for a week, and I've also been having some writer's block. Yay?