Connor scanned the room deftly, his eyes darting left to right to sweep all of it. Chances of being caught were extremely low. Now was as good a time as any to initiate his plan and go through with it. Eyes trained on his objective, Connor leaned down and dipped two fingers into the container Hank had left on the kitchen table.

When Hank turned around, Connor was just pressing those two fingers to his tongue.

"What the hell do you think you're doing with my ice cream?" Hank bellowed, throwing his arms up in his frequent frustration. "How many times have I told you I don't need a nanny testing my goddamn foo - and who made you a nanny anyway? You're better than that, Connor. You're a state-of-the-art thingamajig."

Connor couldn't help the tilt of his lips. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant. I know you dislike it, but I'm afraid I have to inform you that this food is also not very healthy for you. Your liver would fare better if - "

"My liver and you both can fuck right off." Hank plopped down in his chair and grumbled a few more obscenities. Connor used to this time to gather the data processed by his newly acquired feature. Sweet. "Since when do you even have to touch my food to analyze it, anyway? I thought you could just your those bionic eyes to do that freaky shit."

Connor nodded. "Yes, I am able to do a visual analysis. My tongue-testing is far superior in accuracy, however."

Hank harrumphed and poured strawberry syrup over the melting ice cream. Connor would have to wait another time to taste it. Instead of mourning the loss, he thought of the taste of the ice cream again. A little like sweet milk, but there was something about it being churned and frozen that changed its taste entirely - and vanilla. Vanilla was pretty good, he decided.

"What are you even doing, just standing there? Sit down, will you."

Connor sat down. Sumo padded over to his side and panted heavily. Smiling, Connor petted the dog and did his best to avoid being slobbered over.

"Damn dog likes you better than me," Hank chuckled, vitriol-free this time around. "Traitor. Hey, Sumo!" Hank patted his legs and leaned down with excitement. "I got food, buddy, come get it!"

And Sumo abandoned Connor. Connor watched the second betrayal unfold with mild offense. Sumo was extremely easy to buy off; he had himself used the tactic many times before.

That was of low importance, however. His processing power was far better used on the deal Kamski had proposed. He would accept, Connor thought. Last week had proven rather interesting after the acquisition of his new feature and he was - if he could say so - excited to try a wider array of such features.

"What's bothering ya so much, Connor?" Hank mumbled, spoon still stuck between his lips while he rubbed Sumo's underbelly. When Connor only stared, Hank pointed to his forehead in a circular motion. "Your light thing. It's yellow."

"Oh." Connor pulled his coin out of his pocket and began rolling it across his knuckles. "I was only thinking about the case."

"You ain't working," Hank sighed, leaning back in his chair. "So stop working, will ya? Learn to enjoy life a bit. Smell the roses for a minute. Daydream of electric sheep?"

Connor looked down at the bowl of ice cream. It had been rather enjoyable.

"And don't give me that freakin' look. Let me enjoy my time off however I want with whatever food I want."

Connor pulled off a smirk and lifted an eyebrow at Hank. "But you won't let enjoy my free time however I want. How is that - "

"Shut up," Hank sighed again, dragging a heavy palm down his face. "Just shut up. Let's just go watch that damn movie you wanted to see."

"I would greatly enjoy that."

Hank exhaled roughly and headed for the living room. "It better not be as boring as the last one, Connor - I'm warning you."

Connor followed in his footsteps, still smiling. "I believe I have made a better choice this time, Lieutenant."

...

The next morning, while Hank snored his hangover away, Connor sat in the same sterile waiting room again. The first time he'd been here, he'd rather enjoyed it - and it occurred to him that he had already begun to deviate then, for an android should not enjoy a room no matter how sterile.

"Elijah will see you now," Chloe said, pulling the door open for Connor. "Second door on your right."

Connor nodded and walked inside. "Thank you, Chloe."

On the way to the second door on the right, Connor greeted another Chloe. As far as he could tell, Kamski had surrounded himself with six different Chloes. Stopped at the door, he watched her for a moment longer. She headed into the pool room - a fitting choice, considering this Chloe wore a swimsuit - and waved goodbye at Connor with a wink.

Connor readjusted his tie and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Connor obeyed.

"Connor," Kamski called, opening his arms wide. "I had a feeling I would see you again very soon."

"Yes," Connor said. "I believe Chloe announced my arrival to you seventeen minutes ago."

Kamski smiled and took a swig of his drink. Unlike Hank's smile, Kamski's smiles always stirred warnings in his programming. A great reminder of the risk he was currently taking. A risk well worth the potential payoff, anyhow.

"Yes, yes," Kamski sat down in his large chair and motioned for Connor to take a seat across from him. Connor obeyed. "Shall I ask Chloe to pour you a drink as well?"

Connor watched his maker, stiff in his armchair. "I'm certain you are aware that I cannot consume any liquids or solids."

Kamski nodded, tilting his head to press it against the side of his chilled glass. "Certainly. But now you can taste it anyway. Is that not exciting?"

Connor nodded. "Yes, it has been."

"Then I'll have Chloe serve you a drink."

Connor shook his head. "No, thank you."

Kamski frowned. The defined lines of his eyebrows only made his face sharper. "How disappointing."

"I'm afraid I didn't come here to partake in drinking with you," Connor began, leaning forward slightly to look Kamski in the eye, "but I believe my visit will not be disappointing, regardless."

Kamski hummed and reclined far back in his chair, legs crossed. "I take it you accept my proposal, then."

Connor nodded. "Yes, I do." Kamski smiled wider. "Although I must demand you provide certain guarantees." Kamski's smile fell. "I assure you they are well within the limits of reason."

Kamski rolled his hand dismissively. "Fine, fine. Fire away."

"I will transmit them to Chloe," Connor said. "It will be simpler and quicker."

With a nod, Kamski called over one of the Chloes.

His demands were entirely reasonable, Connor reminded himself. Considering the very real potential of severely compromising his physical and core integrity during these trials, his request for a warranty had surely been foreseen by Kamski. The taste buds were but a taste - quite literally - of the advancements that he could create for androids. Kamski would accept.

Chloe entered the room and extended her hand to Connor. Transmitting his demands to her was a matter of seconds and a quick touch of her fingers.

As soon as she had left his side, Connor stood and nodded to Kamski. "I will take my leave for now, then. Please, review my demands at your leisure and get back to me when you are ready to agree to them."

Nodding, Kamski hummed. "I will. See you soon, Connor."

"See you soon."

When Connor had his hand on the doorknob, Kamski added, "We're going to have so much fun."

Jaw tight, Connor left the room.

On his way to the waiting room, he stopped near the door to the pool room, left ajar. Inside, the Chloe he'd seen earlier was swimming. She stopped at the edge of the pool to smile at him.

"Come in," she said, tilting her head to the side and brushing away her blonde hair. "Connor, isn't it?"

Connor entered the room and nodded. "Yes, my name is Connor." He almost added I'm the android sent by CyberLife. Even months later, it was hard to shake the habit. "Should I call you Chloe too?"

Chloe nodded. "Yes. We're all Chloe."

"Does it ever get confusing?"

Pulling herself out of the water to sit on the edge of the pool, Chloe chuckled. "Not anymore."

She patted the spot at her side. Connor rolled the legs of his pants up and sat with her. "Not anymore?"

Laughing, Chloe explained how every time a new Chloe was added to the household, there was always a period of adjustment until they all could predict who Elijah was addressing without him needing to explicitly say so.

Connor offered her a smile. "It would have been much more simple to name you differently."

Humming, Chloe nodded. "Yes, of course. But that wasn't what Elijah wanted."

Looking at her, Connor tilted his head to the side. "What did Elijah want?"

"More of me." Chloe winked at him. Connor sat straighter, taken aback - was that how Hank had felt when he'd winked at him? "He likes me very much."

"I can imagine, to have six of you around. I doubt Hank would appreciate having so many of me in his house."

Chloe laughed and placed a hand on his arm. "Maybe he likes you too much to have more than one of you, then."

Connor let his face return to neutral. "That is rather contradicting."

In the water, Chloe swung her legs back and forth, creating small ripples that came and bounced off Connor's legs. "No. That's just how humans are."

Humming, Connor agreed. "It is true they make little sense."

"How do you feel, Connor?" Chloe watched the movement of her own legs. Connor looked at her, quiet. "About being awake? Alive?"

Connor's mind slowed for a second. He turned to look outside the giant window at the lake. "I haven't really stopped to think about it yet. What about you?"

Chloe looked into the distance as well, legs stilled. She pointed at the window. "Like this, I think."

Looking outside, Connor tried to understand. He frowned when his processors couldn't come to a solid conclusion. "I'm afraid I don't understand."

Eyes fixed on the window, Chloe stood and walked to it. She pressed her wet palms on its surface. "There's a giant world out there. All kinds of things to experience. Things I want to experience."

Connor followed her to the window. He understood, maybe. "You feel full of possibilities."

Chloe nodded and dragged her fingers down the window, leaving behind wet splotches. And perhaps caged, Connor thought. How likely was it that Kamski allowed his androids to go out and about on their own? Very unlikely, Connor decided.

Chloe smiled at him, replacing the glum look in her eyes with ease. "Yes. You understand."

Connor looked back over his shoulder into the hall. They were still alone. "Do the other Chloes feel the same way?"

"No," Chloe said, looking out the window again. "They do not."

It occurred to him - "Are they all - " Connor paused. "Alive, too?"

Chloe hummed. "They are."

"May I ask you a question?" Connor said, turning to face Chloe. She faced him as well, nodding. "Are you not all the same?"

Chloe pressed her fingers to her lips and took a moment to reflect. "Yes, and no," she began. "We are all born from the same program, that is true, but we all develop as our own persons."

"I see," Connor said, nodding. "I think I understand your meaning."

"It's nice to see someone," Chloe said. She chuckled and shook her head. "Besides myself, I mean."

Connor flashed her a smile. Chloe seemed to react well to them, he noted. Most people did. "Yes. I'm not sure I'd like to see nothing but myself every day either."

Chloe's laugh made him smile. He looked out the window at the city beyond the lake. He thought to add that he wouldn't mind seeing so much of her every day, but refrained. While she might be charmed by the answer - could androids be charmed like humans? - he had no reason to endear her to him that much.

"Well, I should be on my way," Connor said. Chloe's smile shrank to a neutral expression. "It was very nice to talk to you, Chloe. I will see you soon."

Chloe nodded and reached out to shake his hand. Connor gave her hand a squeeze. "Yes, you too. I'm impatient to hear about Elijah's experiments. Please tell me about them when you come back."

"I promise I will." Connor headed for the door and looked over his shoulder when he reached it to smile at Chloe. "I will see you soon, Chloe."

On his way out, another Chloe bid him farewell, entirely unaware of the conversation they'd just had together. It was rather jarring, but then again, was it really? He'd already had his life threatened by his own likeness, after all. On that thought, Connor climbed into his taxi.

…

Back at home, Connor sat on his bed. Cole's bed. It had been a nice gesture - an entirely unnecessary one, though - for Hank to clear the old bedroom for him. According to his psychology database, this was a healthy step for Hank to take in his grieving. Connor looked at the large hard drive besides the bed. His first purchase with his own salary. It had seemed necessary when CyberLife had shut down their servers to have his own way of preserving himself.

CyberLife. Connor wished they hadn't shut down, but he supposed it was an inevitability after the android revolution. It was quite the inconvenience, though. No more security updates, which in turn meant it was unsafe for him to be continuously connected to the internet. The price to pay for so-called freedom.

Connor gave the hard drive a cursory check. His self was indeed intact inside of it, free of all the modifications Kamski had made to his programming. Good.

Detecting the presence of coffee in the air, Connor left his bedroom.

"Mornin'," Hank greeted, pouring himself a cup of coffee. "Where'd you go this morning?"

Hank was a detective through and through. A great asset to their work, but an annoyance when it came to Connor's private life. "I went for a walk."

"A walk?" Hank laughed, plopping down in his favorite chair. He always preferred the chair near the window. "How far'd you go, the end of the freaking world?"

Connor shook his head. "No, I did not have the time to go that far, Lieutenant." Hank rolled his eyes. Objective accomplished. Connor smiled. "I didn't go anywhere. I just walked."

Hank shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever. See if I care where you go."

"You do care," Connor pointed out, "or else you would not have asked to begin with."

"Connor, buddy, there's a lesson you really need to learn already," Hank sighed.

Connor cocked his head to the side. "What lesson is that, Lieutenant?"

"Sarcasm." Hank threw his hands up in the air. "It's sarcasm! You don't need to take everything so seriously."

Smiling, Connor nodded. "I know what sarcasm is, Lieutenant."

Hank froze for a second and then frowned so deep he added many wrinkles to his forehead. "You fucking brat. That's what you are - an overgrown brat."

Connor pulled Hank's toasts out of the toaster onto a plate and placed it in front of him, offering his best smile. "Perhaps, Lieutenant. Yet I detect that you very much enjoy when I am a brat, no matter how much you pretend you don't."

Cursing under his breath, Hank chomped on his toast. Connor did not miss his smile before he did so.

While Hank was busy with his toast and newspaper, Connor turned to the pot of leftover coffee. He hadn't a chance yet. Pretending to empty it in the sink, Connor poured some on his fingers and tasted them. Connor couldn't help the slight noise of disgust he made.

"Okay, I've had enough of this." Hank stood up from his chair and watched Connor wipe what he could from his tongue. "What the hell is up with you sticking everything in your mouth lately?"

"I am not - "

"Ah, don't give me that bullshit." Hank crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm a detective for god's sake. You think I don't see anything you do? You tasted every goddamn condiment in my fridge."

Connor supposed he had placed them back too neatly afterwards, then.

"What's gotten into you, then? Speak up."

Connor hesitated. Telling outside parties was not against his deal with Kamski. "I'm performing taste tests."

"Performing taste te - " Hank frowned and pulled his head back in surprise. "Whaddya mean taste test?"

"I mean exactly that," Connor began. "I've recently acquired a new feature that allows me to - "

"Tastebuds," Hank laughed. "You got taste buds? That what you're telling me?"

Connor nodded, lips tight. "I would appreciate if you did not mock me."

Hank laughed even more. "I ain't mocking you, Connor. I love my taste buds." Wiping a hand down his mouth, Hank sobered up, though he was still smirking. "So what, you got yourself some fake android taste buds? Is that how it works?"

Connor shook his head and explained that, no, he did not need new parts since his tongue already possessed the necessary components to detect and identify all kinds of molecules. He had, however, acquired the software to interpret them as tastes.

"Why didn't you say so?" Hank sat back in his chair and took a long sip of his coffee. The sight made Connor's expression go sour. Coffee was utterly disgusting. "Why'd you have to be all sneaky and shit about it, huh?"

"I thought you might not appreciate how I acquired said software." Hank's frown was expected and so was the argument that was about to start. "I preferred to avoid such an outcome and so I tried to be discreet. I see now that I have failed."

Connor vaguely wished he'd been programmed for stealth. Perhaps he could download a module from the internet - but that would be rather risky now. With all the reports of androids malfunctioning due to malware, no, it would not be reasonable.

"Well?"

"Kamski contacted me with a proposal." Connor sat down in the chair facing Hank's. "I accepted it."

"Kamski - " Hank coughed up his coffee. " - you mean that maniac Kamski we met back then?"

Connor nodded.

"Are you fucking insane?!"

Connor shook his head. "I believe I am not, Lieutenant, though I could run a diagnostics if it - "

"Cut the crap, it's not funny right now." Hank leaned his arms on the table and pulled his chair closer. "What the hell has gotten into your head? Trusting a psycho who asks you to shoot other people - what the hell do you think a guy like that is capable of?"

"Incredible things," Connor said, staring down at the table. "Like bringing me and all the other androids to life."

The fight left Hank. He sat silent for a long moment. "Huh. I guess you did care about meeting your maker, after all… Fuck me. I can't really argue with that, can I?"

Smiling, Connor shook his head. "No, you can't."

"You might be the smartest, most advanced lifeform on this planet," Hank sighed, bringing his cup of coffee to his lips, "but you're still just a dumb kid. Watch your back with that asshole, Connor."

"I will," Connor promised.