Timeskip
Your POV
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"Is everything okay, Lieutenant?" Connor asks as we all step out of the vehicle.

"Chris was on patrol last night," Hank replies, and I feel myself stiffen a little. "He was attacked by a bunch of deviants. He said he was saved by Markus himself."

I fight the urge to mention that they shot at the deviants first, instead asking cooly, "Damn, is he alright?"

"Yeah, he's in shock, but...he's alive. What the hell," he says, muttering that last part as we all walk up to the house together.

"Kamski left CyberLife ten years ago," Connor points out. "Why did you wanna meet him?"

"This guy created the first android to pass the Turing test and he's the founder of CyberLife. If anybody can tell us about deviants, it's him," Hank responds matter-of-factly.

I knock on the door and we wait for a moment. The door opens not too long afterwards, revealing a female android with platinum blonde hair tied into a ponytail and light blue eyes. Her hair rests on her right shoulder when we look at her, when it's really on her left.

"Hi... Uh— I'm, er, Lieutenant Hank Anderson, Detroit Police Department. I'm here to see Mr. Elijah Kamski," Hank says to her awkwardly.

"Please, come in," she replies courteously, despite not showing any emotion as she steps off to the side.

"Okay."

Hank goes in first with me second, Connor allowing me to go ahead of him.

"I'll let Elijah know you're here. But please, make yourself comfortable," the girl tells us before walking off.

"Nice girl..." Hank trails off, sitting down in a little chair.

I stride forward a few paces until I'm on the other side of the room, observing the photo of a woman and who I'm assuming to be Kamski himself.

"You're right. She's really pretty," Connor replies, and for whatever reason, that irks me a little on the inside.

I shove the thought away as he stands beside me, probably scanning the people in the photo.

"Do you know who they are?" I ask, glancing up at him.

"The man is Kamski," he starts, "the lady is named Amanda."

Humming in response, I turn and pace the room, a bit anxious—but mainly impatient.

"Will ya cut that out, YN, you're making me nervous," Hank speaks up, and I look to him.

That statement made Connor glance at us, but I don't meet his curious gaze.

I pause with a chuckle, "Sorry, Hank. Just dunno what to do while we're waiting."

He shrugs, leaning back in his seat and waves a hand at me, as if giving me permission to proceed with what I was doing.

So I do.

Connor watches me as I do this, leaving me to be somewhat self-conscious, but I don't let that show as I keep pacing.

"Nice place," Hank states, as if sensing my acute awareness of being stared at. "Guess androids haven't been a bad thing for everybody. So, you're about to meet your maker, Connor. How does it feel?"

Connor looks over at him and my muscles relax just a bit, glad to have his eyes off me.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's kind of cute that he stares at me like that sometimes, but that doesn't make me any less flustered or nervous about it when he does.

It's like performing on stage or doing a presentation, all eyes on you as you do your thing, with the added bonus of stage fright. It can be nerve-wracking, and even uncomfortable, as you stress over messing something up in front of those people.

That's basically what I feel when he stares at me—I just don't want to look like a moron in front of him or anything.

"Kamski is one of the great geniuses of the 21st century. It'll be interesting to meet him in person," Connor answers him, bringing me back to the real world.

"Sometimes I wish I could meet my creator face to face. I'd have a couple of things I'd wanna tell him..." he replies, and I grin.

"I felt that on a spiritual level," I joke, looking at him for a moment.

My pacing stops when the door the female android went through earlier opens, announcing, "Elijah will see you now."

The three of us follow her into the room, and the first thing I look at is the huge pool where you can do laps back and forth. There's just one thing about it that stood out to me, though.

The water is red.

It's not blood, but it's still odd to see.

Kamski is currently swimming in it, doing laps, while two androids that look exactly like the one who greeted us at the door are directly in front of us.

Their arms are planted onto the ground so they don't sink into the pool, appearing as if they're talking. Their lips are moving, simulating the action, but no noise emits from them.

"Mister Kamski?" Hank calls uncertainly.

"Just a moment, please," he replies as we walk around to the other side of the pool, going back underwater and swims towards the ladder near us.

Once gets out, the female that let us in hands him a towel, which he takes and dries himself off, moving to stand to where our backs are facing the pool while he's right before us, the window behind him.

"I'm Lieutenant Anderson. This is Sergeant Cross and Connor."

"What can I do for you, Lieutenant?" he pauses to look me up and down before smirking and continuing, "Sergeant?"

I cross my arms, unnerved and a bit disturbed.

"Sir, we're investigating deviants. I know you left CyberLife years ago, but I was hoping you'd be able to tell us something we don't know," Hank requests, shaking his head a little.

I notice that Connor is clenching and unclenching his fist as he practically glares at Kamski. Hoping to distract him from that, I lightly press the back of my hand against his.

He relaxes his hand and I make a fairly bold move as I wrap my pinky finger around his. He holds mine back, sparing me a brief look a second later.

I don't look at him, just slide four of my fingers from my free hand, the right, into my pocket, shifting my weight casually between both of my feet when the other gets tired of baring it.

"Deviants..." Kamski begins, definitely taking note of our obvious display of affection. "Fascinating, aren't they? Perfect beings with infinite intelligence, and now they have free will. Machines are so superior to us, confrontation was inevitable.

"Humanity's greatest achievement threatens to be its downfall. Isn't it ironic?"

"Deviancy seems to spread like some kind of virus. We thought you might know something about that," Connor states.

"All ideas are viruses that spread like epidemics. Is the desire to be free a contagious disease?" Kamski ponders aloud, dragging things on.

"Would you mind just getting on with it?" I snap calmly yet impatiently, keeping most of my composure intact.

"Listen, we didn't come here to talk philosophy. The machines you created may be planning a revolution. Either you can tell us something that'll be helpful, or we will be on our way," Hank pitches in, letting his irritation shine brighter than mine.

"What about you, Connor?" Kamski inquires, ignoring what we just said as he gets in his face. "Whose side are you on?"

"I have no side. I was designed to stop deviants and that's what I intend to do."

"Well, that's what you're programmed to say. But you...what do you really want?"

This makes Connor hesitate, fumbling over his words a little, "What I want is not important."

"Not true," I whisper to myself, squeezing Connor's finger before letting him go.

"Chloe?" Kamski beckons, and she walks over. "I'm sure you're familiar with the Turing test. Mere formality, simple question of algorithms and computing capacity. What interests me is whether machines are capable of empathy."

He has her kneel down in front of Connor.

"I call it 'the Kamski test,' it's very simple, you'll see..." He lifts her chin so she looks at him before releasing her a moment later. "Magnificent, isn't it? One of the first intelligent models developed by CyberLife. Young and beautiful forever. A flower that will never wither...

"But what is it really? Piece of plastic imitating a human? Or a living being...with a soul? It's up to you to answer that fascinating question, Connor."

Kamski pulls a gun out of a drawer and hands it to Connor, having him aim it right for Chloe's head. My gaze instantly turns dark at this.

"Destroy this machine and I'll tell you all I know. Or spare it, if you feel it's alive, but you'll leave here without having learnt anything from me," he finishes, taking his hand off of him.

"That's not happening," I object, shaking my head and crossing my arms once more.

"Okay, I think we're done here. Come on, Connor. Let's go. Sorry to get you outta your pool," Hank intervenes as well.

"What's more important to you, Connor? Your investigation, or the life of this android? Decide who you are. An obedient machine...or a living being endowed with free will."

"That's enough! Connor, we're leaving," Hank orders.

"Pull the trigger—"

"Connor, don't."

"Don't do it, Connor," I plead sternly.

"—and I'll tell you what you wanna know."

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T H E  T E S T
{ Chapter Twenty-One }

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-CastrarWolf