thetadispatcher

[thetadispatcher]

Nines glanced at the other android, giving only a half hearted shrug in response to the criticism. "Humans have done far worse to each other in the pursuit of far less valuable knowledge." At least he wasn't suggesting to murder a town or family due to rumors he might find something there.

John merely shook his head at the new unit, it was still shocking to him how stubborn the RKs could be when it came to deviating, but it made sense as one wouldn't want their deviant hunter turning so easily. Although it would be interesting to see if the RK900 would take longer to accept his deviancy then the RK800, and just what event would finally cause Nines to acknowledge it.

"The information might be useful to some androids as well, ones that want to go back to being machines. Mainly the suspect of a recent string of android murders, might be what is needed to prevent them from tampering and picking apart anymore brains." Nines wasn't surprised some androids didn't take to being deviant as well as others, he just hadn't expected one to turn to picking apart other deviants in hopes of finding a cure to it so quickly.

"I guess bein' stubborn ain't so bad sometimes, 'nd it gives me a unique way to help out those who weren't as lucky." Sure he had his own quirks caused by the mistreatment, but he was more then happy to use his experiences and what he'd learned to help out those who had suffered as well. It was nice to see them start to find themselves as they became more confident, learning not all humans were as cruel as the ones who owned them helped quite a bit.

"Oh boy, do I. One time he got mad at a tire, 'nd decided he'd teach it a lesson by throwin' it. Well, as everyone knows rubber bounces, so of course it shot right back into 'is face, busted up his nose real good. I was the only one lookin' at him so naturally I became the focus of his rage, he chewed me out like I did it." He rolled his eyes with a quiet scoff. "Like I have Jedi mind powers or somethin'." He brought his hand up to motion to his head. "Nah man, I'm actually king of the tires, show some respect."

"I understand, it is a part of being cybernetic that comes naturally to most. I am doing my best to acclimate to using it more frequently." Dan accepted it was just something he'd finally have to get used to, it would just take awhile as it wasn't something he'd experienced regularly in his four years of life.

"But I do appreciate you understanding my personal preferences. If you have to connect with me, a bit of warning will help." It was usually the shock of the connection that he had issue with, he could handle the slight discomfort of connection if he was aware of it.

"One less to deal with is fine with me." Dan smiled slightly, sure some of the androids could get a little annoying, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. But he could still make jokes about it, the other androids knew he didn't actually mean it.

Nines watched Rook quietly, choosing to take in what he was hearing rather then react to it.

"Well, at least you had fun." Dan said as he entered the room, deciding he'd address Nines and his lack of empathy once everyone left.

Bishop didn't acknowledge the smile, seeing no reason to waste his energies on appearances. His counterpart was doing enough of it with the way he was glaring at both.

"You aren't any better than those humans who brutalize androids."

Of course, that didn't mean he had anything resembling empathy. But it was a sign that perhaps the matter hit close to home for his copycat.

The agent didn't appreciate the irony of it.

"It wasn't right." Rook repeated, "I'm glad he couldn’t bend you in the end. You're a fighter and a survivor, but I guess we already knew that. I bet you have some stories to tell."

They weren't the happiest stories, she was sure, but she knew what it felt like to deal with a person bent on tearing her apart without any chance to get away. Rook definitely saw a bit of herself in Ellis, much like the reason why Willow likely felt so inclined to help Kelvin out.

The same sentiment didn't fully extend to Dan for the cyborg, however, though it was nothing personal.

"I see." Willow tucked her hand behind her back. "While I don't mind chatting as my current form allows, I don't think I could ever accept fully giving up this form of communication. It comes natural to me, even more if multiple subjects are involved."

Either way, she was happy to take the brownies with her. Willow carefully collected as many as she could fit in the container. They would last her for a good while.

"I will however stick to verbal communication in the future, if that's what you're comfortable with."

"Sure, we can help out with that." Rook replied, "But first, let me get one annoying twat out of your hair."

Bishop looked over as Rook marched over from the kitchen.

"Come on, Bishop, say goodbye to your new weird friend so we can go home." Rook briefly looked at the copycat. "You know, we killed the guy who made you."

Bishop almost looked happy to hear that, the android not as much.

"That isn't going to last."

"I know, but it felt nice." She gave a shrug, "Hurry up, bitch."

"How frightful. You're letting a little girl boss you around?"

"Don't think I can't twist your bolts too, tin can!"

Bishop smirked as he stood up. "Well, I better be on my way now. This was an interesting experiment for certain."

[thetadispatcher]

"Correct." He agreed with a slight nod, androids could deny what they by trying to appear as human as they could manage, but it would never change the fact they were created on an assembly line rather then born into the world.

Although sometimes he wished he could find the android that originally started Jericho, but the task was impossible thanks the androids there heavily salvaging the ones who shut down, so it was highly likely that was the fate of the first android at Jericho. The hope of finding ones that had been close to that first android were slim as well, but he felt he was making do with what he could just fine, so there was no need to start trying to repair the cannibalized androids in search of Jericho's first residents. It would just be another infected android to add to the timeline of the infection spreading.

He noted Bishop's reaction to his plan, flashing the man a quick smile before his expression returned to default. The action was purely for show as he had no particular feelings on the subject, he merely viewed it as doing the job he was created for, and the one his predecessor should have done.

"He jus' wanted to control me, too bad for 'im I learned early the way he was treatin' me wasn't right. 'nd I wasn't 'bout to let 'im win, not without a fight." His interactions with customers had helped him learn that his owner's treatment wasn't normal, that people could actually be very kind and caring. So he'd made it his goal to make sure he never allowed the abuse to get to him, to remind himself his owner was a liar trying everything to break him down.

"I knew he couldn't damage me severely 'cause the repairs would likely bankrupt 'im, so I used that to my advantage." Whether it was by disobeying or stepping in between the man and his other android, Ellis used his custom status against his owner at every possible turn. "I knew my worth, 'nd there was nothin' he could do to change it."

Kelvin watched Ellis curiously, he could tell the other unit was talking proudly about something which made him wish he knew what it was. But his attention quickly shifted to Willow as he noticed her approach him again, nodding as he listened to what she told him. He felt it shouldn't be hard for him to follow the information he'd been provided.

He was already rather quiet and ready to follow any orders he was given, refraining from having physical contact with the two androids was easily doable for him as well.

"Oh, that, well... Like I said there weren't many androids around for me to interact with, it was mainly humans. So, I'm not used to connecting with other androids, in fact I try my best to avoid it if I can." He knew it likely sounded weird that connecting with other androids made him uncomfortable, but he'd spent more time around humans who couldn't connect with him, and shared information verbally, so he was used to a more human approach to information sharing.

"I get it was easier to do it that way, and I am working on getting used to it, seeing as there are now a lot of androids I interact with daily that might need to connect with me." He knew it was something he'd have to get used to, but it would take awhile as he spent four years around purely humans.

"It's nothing you did, just my own experience of being around humans mainly that's the problem."

He shifted his attention to Rook as she spoke to him. "You don't have to worry about no one being here, that's for sure." He couldn't think of a time where the house was ever empty, it seemed now there was always a handful of androids present and they would alert him if they did show up. "And I'm sure being around other respectful humans would do a lot of good for the androids here, seeing as Peter can only do so much for them on his own." The extra human presence would certainly aid in the recovery of some of the mistreated androids, and hopefully would help them return to a healthier state mentally.

Dan glanced at the plastic container, handing the pan over so she could take what she wanted from it. "At least it's not a frog or coins, Peter likes to hand me those fairly regularly without disclosing what it is." It was mainly the frogs he had an issue with as he didn't like the surprise of finding he'd been handed a live animal.

"Most likely, it won't. But it won’t change the truth, whatever that may be."

It was hardly surprising that some androids would pick up superstition in their pursue of humanity. It only meant they should bother with the ones who were still willing to listen to reason, or at least who didn't deny reality. Markus didn't appear to belong in such category, so he saw even less of a reason to respect his wishes.

Bishop could tell his copycat over there was also contemplating that plan. If anything, he had to agree Nines' idea of framing some deranged android would quickly shut down any investigation. But he still crossed his arms and stared disappointed at both. Messing with Markus apparently wasn't motivating enough.

So there was some difference between the two of them after all. Bishop filed that pointless fact away and took a sip of his drink.

Rook stared at the gash on Ellis' face now that he had brought attention to it, her hand instinctively going for the scar on her cheek.

"I'm glad all that crap didn't change you." Rook said. Willow nodded as well.

"It would have been a shame, indeed." the cyborg added, before turning to Kelvin, "Oh, one more thing…"

For the sake of sparing Dan the hassle of dealing with the other Bishop's outbursts, Willow quickly informed Kelvin about how to best approach the other android, especially if he planned to be around Vincent again in the future. Touching was also unadvised with him, though being quiet and cooperative were good ways to get the other android's approval.

Now she just had to figure out what had caused Dan's reaction. She was positive she had followed the procedure properly and had limited the amount of data shared to avoid overwhelming his systems.

"…Yes, I came to the same conclusion as well." she replied, retracting her hand, "I don't actually require physical contact in order to establish a connection. If you could explain to me what caused your reaction, we may be able to work around it to make these exchanges less unpleasant."

"Well, the first reason is that Willow lives around here— More or less on the other side of the world." Rook said, "So I am often in the neighborhood, so to speak. Now that I know where you guys are, we can drop by whenever."

But it was about time they got back to their original quest. Rook considered leaving Bishop behind, but that would probably make things with the EPF a bit more complicated.

So they had to prepare accordingly. Willow once again proved that she had no need for a pocket dimension by pulling out a plastic container from an internal pocket of her coat.

"Well, Bishop has a major case of sticky fingers. A pan wouldn’t be practical to defend in the place we have to get back to." Rook explained, "And no, that isn't the strangest thing I’ve seen Willow pull out of her coat."

[thetadispatcher]

"I feel many forget just how we came into existence, but, such as it is with humans, I doubt reminding them of this fact will change much, if anything." Some androids seem to be stuck in their beliefs, refusing to accept certain truths. The RK900 felt there would be androids unaffected by the reveal of who rA9 truly was, if they even existed or were still functioning. So the group that would be upset by the reveal wouldn't be too much for him to handle, and if they wanted to be upset with him for it, that was fine as he really didn't care.

"I have considered it, and as such have come up with the necessary measures to ensure success. As expected, there are androids that wish to return to being mindless machines, and it would be easy to make it appear as if one tried to kill Markus in a desperate attempt to return to that state." Nines had already dealt with a few androids that had been found picking apart the brains of other androids, claiming they were trying to cure deviancy so they could return to their previous lives.

"Markus feels sorry for those androids, so he is likely not to request the attack be looked into further. Thus allowing the truth to stay hidden, meaning there will be no repercussions as the android populace will never find out." He felt it was best to use Markus' nature to his advantage, as it would limit the chance of anyone looking further into the attack, and simply just being glad it was 'unsuccessful'.

"Although I would've liked to employ a more commercial model for the job, seeing as they'd share a face with many others, thus making them harder to identify. I realize there is no one who fits that requirement willing to help with this plan." He had already adjusted his plan for that setback, now face coverings would be required to obscure the identity of the other android, which wouldn't raise too many questions from any who might catch sight of him at any point.

"And I had entertained the idea of getting a PL600 to commit the act, but there are few left and none that would agree to help. A PL600 would've been far more believable, considering Markus is in a relationship with one. They could easily get close enough to him by posing as Simon." Nines knew neither Dan or Daniel would agree to damage Markus by pretending to be Simon, and unfortunately the AP700s that shared the PL600s face design had a slight change in hairstyle that made them easy to identify.

"But I can make do with what is available to me just fine."

"My owner did complain about me being oddly friendly, sayin' I talk too much and whatnot. He got after me for it a few times." Ellis tapped the deep blue gash across the bridge of his nose, one of his more severe wounds from his owner's punishments. "But nothin' he did ever stopped me, I jus' enjoyed talkin' to nice humans too much. Like you guys." The attempts to correct his behavior never worked as the joy of talking to others was worth the temporary pain, and he failed to see how what he had done was wrong in any way.

Dan nodded in agreement, he was just happy the poor treatment Ellis had received hadn't made a lasting impact on his personality like it had for some of the other androids on the property. Which was likely thanks to Ellis being just as bull headed as his owner.

"I am prepared to give him as much time and patience as he needs, like I do with every android here. I let them take things at their own pace, and only push when it's clear they need the extra help." Dan never got mad at any of the androids on the property, instead he put his programs to good use in helping them recover and overcome whatever issues were plaguing them.

Kelvin perked up a bit as Willow explained the situation with Vincent, nodding his head to show he understood that it was best to avoid touching Vincent in the future. He gave her a smile to show he was appreciative of the help, as now he could use the information to hopefully have Vincent be comfortable with him one day.

Vincent glanced at Kelvin once more to make sure the android wasn't planning on touching him again, then he went back to carefully patching ripped clothes.

Dan stiffened as he was touched, his skin drawing back to accept the connection on it's own accord. He did his best to not have much of a visual reaction, only letting a few startled swears slip through the connection before he caught himself.

His LED started flashing yellow as he processed Kelvin's memories of the accident that had damaged him. "That explains a lot... I wouldn't be shocked if that was what caused him to deviate." He'd have to ask Peter to look into it more once he was able to get Kelvin to agree to having his code and brain examined, which he felt would be possible now that some of Kelvin's more severe issues had been fixed.

Ellis glanced at Kelvin, he could only imagine what Dan had seen that had caused so much damage to the unit, but he was just glad Kelvin was able to survive it.

Dan carefully finished the frosting and ganache for the brownies, pausing only to give Sixty a light smack with his wooden spoon when the RK800 decided to taste the flour sitting near him. "Stop putting everything in your mouth!" He scolded the younger android, who was still sputtering from the taste stuck in his mouth. "Wash your mouth out." He gave the RK800 a plastic cup, making sure Sixty was doing as he'd instructed before resuming his task.

He finished the brownies, setting them to cool as he turned to face the group. "One more reason? What's the first?" Dan asked with a chuckle as he ruffled Strasky's hair, noting the man's reaction as he gave the PL600 an annoyed look after he caught himself leaning into the android's touch. Dan knew the reaction was just a side effect of the isolation the dispatcher had sentenced himself to, a negative effect caused by his desperate attempt to keep everyone safe. "I didn't think we were that interesting." Dan watched Strasky look him over.

"We have nothing like you where I'm from, so I'd say that makes you very interesting." He also wouldn't mind spending a little more time with Dan, there were things he was still curious about the PL600 and his counterpart he hoped to better understand.

Brent soon entered the room, giving a nod to signal the order was completed. Dan nodded back at him, quickly checking the pan was cool to touch then offered it to Willow. "You may take this with you as well, you can return the pan when you come for another visit."

"Such is the price of wanting to find mysticism where there is none. Keeping in mind you all came from an assembly line can be humbling."

Then again, he came from one too and his ego was endless. There were some ideas that shouldn’t be run by Bishop, as it was suggested by the way he immediately looked way more present while pondering the idea of going through some heads. He was very tempted to suggest to do to the same to Kamski to see whether there was anything in there at all.

"Before you proceed, do consider how bad it would look if the public were to find out that a member of law enforcement is harassing a central figure in the android revolution." Bishop advised, "So you can prepare accordingly."

"Stop giving him ideas." the other Bishop snapped.

"I'm hardly doing anything!"

Willow glanced at Dan, "Yes, I understood as much. Social protocols shouldn’t be difficult for him to grasp. His personality is already predisposed for socialization."

"Yeah, you're a nice dude." Rook translated.

"And I'm sure it will be the case for Kelvin as well, with a bit of patience and time." Willow added, before placing a hand on Kelvin's arm to provide him with some information on the type of person Vincent was and how to deal with him. "Look but do not touch is the preferable approach."

Though she had the feeling the android Bishop could grow fond of him as well. He seemed to prefer being around quiet androids anyway and that would probably keep both out of trouble as well.

In the meantime, he'd keep glaring at the human Bishop as long as Vincent would be around him. Bishop simply ignored him as he accepted the glass without a word.

"Yes, it was quite troubling indeed. But it's still somehow not the strangest circumstances I've seen a shady company being involved with." As it was too long to explain with words, Willow waited for a moment where Dan wasn't handling anything too dangerous and grabbed his arm to share what she had seen in a more orderly manner.

Rook shrugged, "Whatever it is, it will have to wait. We can only save one world at a time, but it's one more reason to come visit some other time. How about that, Strasky?"

[thetadispatcher]

Nines could agree that some androids might not like to know the truth behind deviancy, but he still felt it was worth discovering, so those responsible could be held accountable for all the death and destruction caused by it.

"Some might even be disappointed by learning the identity of rA9, the android to first become deviant, as they might not be this God like figure many believe them to be." The RK900 understood the importance of locating this rA9 many androids spoke of, it was proving to be difficult as there was never a model or prototype with that designation. The task was made more troubling when Peter had suggested it was a part of deviant code, which meant it would be useless in locating the original deviant, but he wasn't about to give up on it as there was a chance it could still be useful information, he just needed to find out more.

"The oldest deviancy case would be a HB300 named Seiji in Japan, he left the boundaries of the hospital he was required to be in at all times in 2028 and has never returned. He would've been in contact with many androids daily, but with the finding of Kelvin makes it unlikely the HB300 is the source. Kelvin was deactivated in 2026, and showed signs of deviancy when reactivated." Nines felt if he could access Kelvin's memory and code he could determine if the android had been the first deviant, and how the virus code spread.

"Unfortunately he is in a serious state of disrepair the makes interfacing with him impossible, but if he is this patient zero or rA9 then the virus code was likely embedded in something he sent Cyberlife, likely a damage report or something else far more important. Which would've been spread to any android that downloaded the report and slowly spread from there." He felt that if Kelvin had sent something to Cyberlife, it had to have been extremely important to have an android with the report downloaded to bring up whenever a human requested it.

"Kamski stepped down as CEO in 2028, which is when the first case is documented meaning that he likely knew the virus had left the confines of Cyberlife." An official reason for the man's departure was never given, only theories, so the RK900 felt he'd have to speculate until he was able to get solid information.

"I also wish to view Markus' code as well, he was a gift to Carl Manfred from Kamski himself in 2031, and the one of two androids with the ability to deviate others just by touching them. Connor possesses this ability, but it is less potent then the RK200's, so his reluctance to have his code searched is excusable. Markus is the one that will provide far more answers." He felt it suspicious that an android Kamski made himself would be the leader of the revolution, and have the unique ability to force other androids to deviate from touching them briefly.

"He has denied my request, so it will have to be obtained in a less polite fashion due to this not being an official investigation yet." He knew if he approached the Captain with the case he wouldn't agree to it, so he planned to get all the information he needed to make sure the man would have to allow it. "I may have to employ him for this as I am easily recognizable to the Jericho androids, so I would be identified very quickly if I damage him." He had come up with a few ideas to get the code, one being damaging Markus' head as he would likely employ Peter to fix it and the human would copy the code to his computers to check for errors. Nines then would just have to lure the human away, a far easier task, and copy the code to his memory.

Dan noted the look Willow gave the two androids as they interacted, feeling he should offer an explanation to the odd behavior. "Ellis lacks social protocols, so he's still learning how to interact with others. I think he's doing well so far." Sure the android made mistakes, but they were understandable mistakes he couldn't be faulted for as he was doing his best to learn.

Ellis smiled slightly at the older android, clearly enjoying being told when he was doing a good job.

Kelvin watched the AP700 curiously, he had seen Vincent before but the newer android never stayed put long enough for him to get a good look at him. He tilted his head slightly as he noticed Vincent's bent ear, deciding to take a closer look he approached the AP700. An action that Vincent didn't notice as he was too focused on his work instead of his surroundings.

He immediately froze as Kelvin touched his damaged ear, instantly jerking away when a gloved finger brushed over the exposed components on the back of his ear. The quick spike of pain caused Vincent to yelp, his hand shot up to cover his ear as he looked back at the other android.

Dan glanced back at the two over his shoulder, quickly assessing that Vincent was unharmed and the two had merely startled each other. Ellis quickly moved Kelvin away from the AP700 as he noted Vincent's flashing red LED, signalling Vincent was no longer comfortable with Kelvin being near him.

Dan took the time to grab a pair of liquor bottles from the top of the fridge, grabbing a glass from the cabinet nearby as well and set them down. He grabbed a small container of milk from the fridge and two ice cubes from the freezer. He prepared the drink and handed it to Vincent, giving him a wireless command to give the AP700 something to do, so he had a moment to calm down.

Vincent took the glass then left the kitchen, he cautiously approached the human Bishop and set it near him. "Dan.... Dan said this is for you." He spoke after a moment, keeping his voice just above a whisper. He bowed his head at the man then hurried off back to the kitchen to resume his other task.

"I will have to do that, it would be nice to know more about Kelvin and possibly the people who owned him." Dan was curious about the company who had owned Kelvin as not much information existed about it, and it felt odd they had ordered custom units from Cyberlife so early on.

"Sounds like you must've seen something alarming, can I ask what it was?" He was fine with not getting an immediate answer, as from how the two spoke it was clear he'd learn eventually what was going on. He glanced at Vincent as the android returned, his LED having returned to a solid red which was an improvement.

He grabbed a bowl and a pot, setting the pot on the stove top as he turned on the burner. He placed the butter into the pot, letting it melt as he measured out the dry ingredients into the bowl. Setting the bowl to the side once the butter was melted, Dan took it off the burner once it was turned off and added cocoa, oil and instant coffee to the pot.

"Brent had a bit of a set back, but he has let me know it's been dealt with so he should be done within 30 minutes." Dan wasn't surprised to hear one of the parts printers had gone down since they'd never used them this much before.

He added eggs and sugar to the pot after taking a moment to beat the eggs, then carefully added the mixture in the pot to the bowl. The PL600 grabbed out a pan once the two were properly combined, spreading the batter into the pan, setting the ovens time to 25 minutes after placing the pan inside.

Dan moved on to the next steps as he talked. "I only looked a little bit into this Jack Holt man, and I must say he's not the best example of a human." He shook his head. "Marrying the daughter of someone you called a friend is rather... Deplorable."

"I'm sure some would be disappointed to hear this, but evolution doesn't exactly happens by mistake. The deviancy had to have been caused by something Cyberlife did."

Of course, that didn't necessarily prove Kamski had a direct hand in it as he claimed, but the opposite case would imply the company failed to detect an extremely serious case of sabotage. That being said, if Willow expressed a wish to kill the man, then he was definitely implied in this.

But of course, that wouldn't be worth anything in court. Bishop pushed his shades up as he considered the logistics of identifying patient zero.

"Well, obviously reducing the timeframe would improve the chances of finding that android. Patient zero should be searched among those androids that were placed in roles that allowed them to interact with as many more as possible. It's rather simple."

Being a stubborn man, Bishop didn't see why this had to wait until Peter had something to say on the matter.

"And if you can't expose yourself, get my copycat on the case. He isn't afraid to ask questions." Whatever passed for questions with these two.

"The pleasure is mine." Willow replied. She watched the brief interaction between Ellis and Kelvin with a curious look. The two of them were very different from all the androids she got to observe so far.

"Maybe you should give sign language a try." Rook said.

"Another attempt might be more successful now." Willow confirmed. She wasn't familiar with the recipe Dan wanted to try, but it sounded promising.

She moved to stand in a better position from where she would be able to watch without being in the way.

"Well, the circumstances of the accident that left Kelvin in this state are most concerning. I may look into it once our current quest is complete."

"It must be bad if Willow wants to go on another adventure right away." Rook said while eyeing Vincent. If he was around, then his shadow had to be nearby.

Though it seemed the version of Bishop she found to be slightly more likable was more interested in his lookalike at the moment.

[thetadispatcher]

He nodded in agreement, North wasn't one to do what others told her, which is why he'd used the threat of court knowing the judge would be human. His programs had concluded that was the best course of action with the highest chance of success, as it was using something she hated to his advantage to get her to do what she was told.

"Humans are peculiar in their own ways, just as androids are now." Not that he usually gave much consideration to those peculiarities unless he saw a use in them, which was rare so far.

"I have found Peter's oddities the most useful, as he has introduced the theory Kamski played a part in the android revolution. Which, if true, could open a murder trial as he could be held responsible for the human lives deviants have ended." Nines hadn't paid much attention to Connor's retelling of his encounter with Kamski, to him it just seemed like the man was more interested in speaking using metaphors and prodding Connor on his possible deviancy.

But it seemed Peter had been more inclined to think deeper on the man's words and come up with his own conclusions, ones that made some sense. "Kamski compared deviancy to a contagious disease, never once implying it was just a software error. And the short time between him stepping down as Cyberlife CEO and the revolution is suspicious, like he knew something no one else did." Although Peter had yet to share more with him, only speaking with Dan on the subject after his initial statement at the precinct.

"If he is correct, then there is a patient zero android, the one who first became deviant and spread this infectious code slowly, before Kamski stepped in and accelerated the spread through the backdoor he mentioned leaving in his programs." Nines was still shocked a human had come to this conclusion, and the only reason he stuck around the house was to make use of Peter's strange way of thinking.

"Peter has not spoken to me on the subject further, but I will not make it a legal issue as I can tell he has yet to find the patient zero android, or much proof of it's existence. But I have started my own investigation into Kamski, as it would be wise to look into the possibility he is responsible for the revolution and the resulting loss of human lives." The RK900 knew he'd be able to tell the moment Peter or Dan found out something major on the subject, then he would get them to share what they learned with him whether they wanted to or not.

Ellis nodded, he normally waited unit he was given verbal cues to how someone felt as he'd learned some people naturally looked annoyed or intimidating, and he liked having the extra confirmation for how someone felt until he better understood their personalities.

He shifted his attention to Willow, returning the smile. "You must be Willow, I'm Ellis. It's nice to meet you." He greeted, glancing at Kelvin as he waved back at Rook, giving her a momentary smile before his expression went back to default.

"'nd we always enjoy havin' nice humans come 'round, don't we?" He turned to Kelvin who stared at him blankly, titling his head slightly, the mechanic's LED flickered red as he realized his mistake. "Oh, dang, I forgot you're deaf, I'm real sorry 'bout that." He wasn't accustomed to dealing with others who had disabilities, nor was he designed for it. So he sometimes found himself forgetting to adjust how he interacted with the disabled units and humans, although some took the behavior as a compliment.

Kelvin seemed to pick up on the word 'sorry' as he gave Ellis a thumbs up, to let the android know he wasn't offended by his actions and understood it was easy to forget he couldn't hear.

Dan watched the two for a moment, he was proud of the mechanic unit making an effort to learn how to communicate and deal with other who had disabilities. Sure, he made mistakes, but that was to be expected of an android only built to fix vehicles as they lacked social protocols.

"I been interested in a recipe for fudgy layered Irish mocha brownies, now would be a good time to try it." His LED cycled yellow as he brought up the information he would need to bake the brownies.

Dan began gathering the items and ingredients the recipe called for well he continued talking. "Kelvin seems to be more present then normal, which is greatly appreciated. I'm sure he's happy about it as well." He could only imagine how good Kelvin felt now that the fog in his brain had been lessened.

"Did you find anything important I should know?" He felt that should be addressed first before they discussed how to tell Kelvin about Jack, as he knew the human likely wouldn't want to take the android back based on how he refereed to him in his book. He also hoped the human had just over exaggerated the crash to make his book sell better.

Sixty watched the PL600 work, sitting himself nearby on the counter. His attention shifted to some movement at a nearby smaller table, but he didn't watch for long once he realized it was merely Vincent mending some torn clothes. The AP700 was clearly focused on his task and he didn't want to startle him on purpose, he knew better then to do that.

Bishop gave a rare nod of approval. "Here's hoping she doesn't waste her chance."

So perhaps Nines wasn't so bad at his job after all. He was definitely smarter than his colleague, despite the attitude, though he had yet to figure him out. It would take a while if he kept focusing on meaningless details.

"Perhaps it's due to me not finding my own humanity jeopardized by the existence of different forms of sentient life." Not the ones in the room at least. "Your prudish boyfriend and the individuals you interact with at the precinct don't constitute a particularly heterogenous group."

Bishop then pushed his shades up, signaling he was done with the topic.

Willow slowed down to match Kelvin's pace. She knew well how having to work around permanent damage in order to function felt like, so she didn't mind.

Besides, that gave her time to check on her surroundings again and eavesdrop on whatever was getting Bishop all worked up. It would be entertaining to force him into more social interactions. He sounded kind of miserable.

"I'm saying it because some people end up worrying if they said something wrong." Rook explained. Willow could look a bit intimidating at times, after all.

Though that didn't seem to be the case as the cyborg smiled upon spotting Ellis.

Rook patted her arm. "Hey, Willow. I see you made a new friend." she asked, waving her hand at Kelvin.

"So have you."

"I sure did!" Rook replied, "It's fun around here. There's a lot of cool guys and they're even nice enough to make you second breakfast."

"I wouldn't ask, if it would be an issue." And Dan clearly had no trouble with it. "I will try whatever you'd enjoy preparing the most… And I would like to watch."

[thetadispatcher]

"I have approached her on the subject, letting her choose if she'd like to speak with a counselor without it being legally required, or have it be court mandated. Of course she chose the former, with the knowledge if she misses an appointment it will become a court issue." North had made sure Nines understood she disliked him, and what he was doing, but it didn't bother him as doing his job was far more important. A job where hateful things were normally shouted at him, so he had grown accustomed to it in his short time working.

"I do not care if she likes me, I was not made to serve her so her opinion of me is meaningless." The RK900 didn't see a point in trying to befriend anyone, unless he felt they'd provide him with useful information he could apply to his work.

"I am merely noting the choice of words, most human males would choose a different response." Most he'd dealt with used the word 'real' as they felt the need to call attention to the fact they were humans, but it was usually ones being arrested just assuming things, and feeling the need to make it clear they were better then an android.

"If he was the jealous type I'd know by now. We've walked in on nude suspects enough for him to have some more notable reaction then what's common. Although I find it odd he still is bothered by it, he's served long enough to expect someone on drugs might start stripping." He understood that drugs caused humans to act in ways they normally wouldn't, so he expected to see some rather unsavory things. But Gavin's harsh reactions came as a surprise to him, he'd believed the human would be used to it at that point in his career.

Sixty nodded, comparing how Nines acted with Dan and Peter's relationship was the best example he had for how siblings acted. Nines didn't act like Peter, but he at least acknowledged his predecessors occasionally which Sixty felt was good enough for someone like the RK900.

Nines still had a ways to go in figuring out who he was, so there was a chance he'd become more accepting of the two RK800s eventually.

Kelvin quietly followed behind them, doing his best to keep up as his odd gait made him a bit slower then the others. He didn't mind it as he could easily find whoever he lost sight of, his ability to track had been left intact after the crash and he found himself relying on it more then expected.

Sixty went ahead to meet the PL600, quickly explaining the situation to him the best he could.

"Shouldn't be too hard, but the warnin' is appreciated." Ellis replied with a nod, he felt the need to express his gratitude as he'd never gotten much of warning before about people when he worked at his owner's shop.

He moved to stand near Kelvin, he hadn't interacted with the other unit much, but he knew enough to know it was best to keep an eye on him just in case.

Dan turned his attention to Willow once Sixty had finished talking to him. "Anything in particular you'd like me to make?" He asked with a smile.

Bishop listened with contempt to the story of North's many, totally expected shortcomings. It really wasn't surprising to hear of the existence of such clubs, nor that an android employed at one exhibited the most violent behavior.

It was also expected that nothing had been done about it. In fact, Bishop was willing to bet nothing beyond peer shaming would keep being done about it until consequences hit. That was how it always went, after all.

"Right. Well, that's inevitable when you have a highly traumatized population. North should be seeking professional help, public shame isn't sufficient."

It was going to be a public safety concern as much as it was a social issue and arguing with Dan wasn't enough.

"Even if you don't care about her, it should interest you in virtue of being a law enforcement officer that the causes of her behavior are addressed. It's simply irresponsible to stand around shaking heads waiting for the consequences."

Perhaps it was the fact North's actions didn't concern the planet and people he actively fought for, or perhaps it was the topic that made Bishop able not to be quick with his judgement. Either way, he'd rather discuss responses to trauma instead of Nines' less than professional work relationship.

Bishop looked up, "You brought up the topic, you don't get to complain about how I decide to contribute." he replied, with a wave of his hand, "And it's all you'll get to know. We can't have your colleague get jealous now, do we?"

As a clone, Willow worked with a looser definition of what qualified for a twin. Nines' efforts to have nothing to do with either RK800 didn't change the fact that they looked a lot alike.

"Yes, that's typical behavior from the youngest sibling." And she would stick to that thesis even if Nines' disagreed with the concept. It was amusing and any efforts to change her mind would have only reinforced the impression.

She was more interested in Kelvin's reaction anyway. So they were after the right person. With a face and an identity, it would be no trouble hunting this Jack down. Willow quietly followed along, her hands folded behind her back while she planned on where to look for the human.

"Then, I'm more than glad to give Dan a reason to do so."

Though she also felt like checking on Rook. Willow didn't enjoy leaving her double on her own for too long with Bishop around. It never ended well.

"Oh, Willow is nice. You just have to figure out how to take her." Rook reassured.

A little disclaimer was in order. Willow meant well despite her general demeanor. She just so happened to be a clone of somebody who enjoyed being a nuisance and only did so much to avoid leaning in on that side of herself.

[thetadispatcher]

"I understand she went through something traumatic that ended with a loss of human life, but one would think she'd realize her talk of genocide makes those around her uncomfortable... Or at least wait until she has all necessary information before passing judgement on a human." Not to mention it didn't look good for androids to have one like her be a part of Markus' close circle, he was still shocked nothing bad had come of it yet.

"She only heard that Peter had visited an Eden Club in another town, she didn't ask what he had done there. Yes, one would be correct in guessing it was for the act of sex, but with a human as odd as him, I feel it is best to question that." Nines had learned Peter had a vastly different way of thinking then most humans, he'd witnessed the young man's thought process enough times to know there was nothing normal about it.

"He had gone there merely to find someone to spend time with, 'hang out' as he put it. You can rent a household unit, but they charge far more. And according to him, he thought they'd appreciate something different from a customer. Well, his abnormal requests of the HR400 to play video games with him and talk eventually caused it to become deviant, which led to the unit discovering three other deviants in the establishment." Nines wasn't surprised Peter's strange treatment of a Traci caused it to deviate, as the human had caused a few of his android coworkers to deviate as well from his treatment of them.

"Eventually he helped them escape and brought him back to Detroit with him, which is how they ended up at Jericho." The human had also admitted that he'd figured out where Jericho was long before Conner, merely from thinking about places a bunch of androids could hide unnoticed and taking the name into consideration, eventually he realized the deviants were likely hiding in an abandoned freighter with the same name.

"Also the fact Dan lacks such components should've crossed her mind, but she has a hard time thinking that way. I heard from Simon that Dan and her got into a lot of arguments about humans." The two units had wildly different experiences with humans, which led to them arguing over North's desire to kill them.

The RK900 raised his eyebrow at Bishop's choice of words. "Really? Odd you feel the need to proclaim that..."

Sixty took a moment to think over what she had said before he nodded his head. "I get it. But it's cleared up now, so it's all good." He waved his hand, showing he wasn't bother by the fact he hadn't picked up on what she actually was, despite being a detective unit.

"Oh, Connor isn't moody, and Dan isn't one to share things he knows about other people, he prefers to let them share it when they feel comfortable." Sixty paused as Strasky shook his head, giving the man a confused look. "Not Connor, the other one." Strasky corrected, but he understood Sixty's confusion as the other RK800 was the closest thing to a twin, so he'd probably forget the RK900 could be one as well despite being a different model.

"Oh, Nines, yeah he is. I think he likes to see how long it takes me to figure out what he already did." It didn't bother him enough to question the RK900, so he could only guess why Nines never felt like telling him certain things.

"Dan does like to talk well he cooks or bakes, so I'm sure he'd be thrilled to have a reason to do that." He knew it was because of Peter's mother always helping Dan in the kitchen and gossiping with him, so the PL600 found the action familiar and likely comforting to do, even if it was with other people.

He paused as he received the message Dan had sent him, letting the image appear on his hand. He took a moment to examine the human in the picture before he turned his hand to show Kelvin. The other android leaned in to get a better look before leaning back, nodding his head excitedly to confirm that was indeed the human he was waiting for.

He then showed the image to Willow so she would know what the man looked like as well. "Well, looks like Dan figured out who Kelvin is looking for. I'll let him know and tell him to meet us in the kitchen." He motioned for Kelvin to follow him as he left the room, leading the way to the kitchen.

Dan nodded his head in agreement, he'd seen Peter pick fights with other humans due to different opinions, mainly ones on androids he didn't agree with. "Or as Peter explained it, 'you're not me, whoa.'"

"Sure, Sixty wants us to meet in the kitchen anyways. Seems that was the Jack Kelvin is waiting for, maybe you can learn why Kelvin cares so much about him." Jack clearly didn't have any respect or feelings for androids, so having Kelvin distracted would be necessary so he wouldn't pick up on any of the words he could lip read.

"Sure, I'm always down to meet new people, 'specially if they're nice." Ellis paused as Dan lifted the car up, giving him an easier exit out from under it. "Thanks." He nodded to the PL600 as he stood up, Dan returned the nod as he set the car back down once Ellis was clear of it.

"Let's go meet up with 'em then." Ellis started to lead the way to the kitchen with Dan following behind him, looking a bit amused by how easy it was to excite the other android.

It wouldn't be right to say that Bishop couldn't relate to that so called 'emotional baggage'. It was mostly that he didn’t give a single damn about the whole debacle.

"Can she really be blamed? Humans reinvented slavery and took the time to design what I'm sure is an extensive catalogue of accessories for its own most depraved enjoyment."

And there was no amount of nonsense that would convince him there were other reasons for doing that. Bishop pushed his shades up, before raising an eyebrow at Nines. "Why should I? Mine didn't come out of an assembly line." Did it, Bishop?

That was apparently the hill he would die on in absence of anybody who could disprove his claims.

Willow could think of better words than Strasky's suggestion. She didn't exactly go around shouting about being an AI in a cloned body. She could understand the confusion.

"This is hardly your fault. I actively try to blend in most of the time. I find it's better than having to repeatedly explain the circumstances of my existence." She raised her hands in a shrug, "And what better place is there for a cyborg to hide than among androids?"

There was some irony in an android making assumptions because she looked normal enough, but she wasn't about to point it out.

"I'm more appropriately defined as a cyborg. But you had good reasons to assume I was just another anomaly like Dan, or your moody twin. In fact, I was expecting either of them to give me away."

Or that other Bishop. She knew he was able to detect her.

"I can tend to the software, but Peter should address the physical damage. I believe a talk with Dan may be in order regardless. I don't trust the human we're looking for to be respectful and I could do with a snack." Willow added while inspecting her hand, "My blood sugar level is getting a little low."

She had helped because she could, but any excuse for sweets was good in her book.

Rook watched the exchange with curiosity. Whatever kind of mess had happened, it sounded like they all had a great time playing games together.

"Come on, guys. Humans can't even be nice to each other." she scoffed, "But now I want to meet Kelvin properly. Something tells me I should."

Or at least she should check on Willow. This was the sort of story that caught the cyborg's attention and as nice as it was of her to care, they still had work to do.

"I should check on her. Hey, Ellis, do you wanna meet my sister? I bet she's going to like you."

[thetadispatcher]

"I have to clarify if it was standard or not, as with a lot of models it is an add-on acquired later. I am not saying that coming with intimacy bio components is any better in the case of most androids, but I have noticed those who receive it as an upgrade tend to have more 'emotional baggage' as the humans put it. " Nines explained, getting a few confirmation nods from the other androids at the table.

"Take North for example, she came with it standard, and has a concerning obsession with wanting to kill humans. Not that she dares voice it here anymore." He paused as Hugh snorted out a poorly suppressed laugh. "She may have accused Peter of some unsavory things to his face before Dan walked in, and threw her out... By throwing her through the front door." Nines felt it was fair as North needed to learn not all humans were horrible, hopefully before something terrible happened to her or some unfortunate human.

"Of course." Nines sat back up in his seat as he picked his cards back up from the table. "Or would you like to do some bragging of your own?"

Sixty looked Willow over, a little shocked to learn she wasn't an android as he'd originally thought. Sure, he'd noted she could do things he had yet to see other androids do, but he'd chalked it up to her being from another dimension, not considering the possibility she wasn't even an android.

"Well, I didn't know that. I'm not very..." He started waving his hand as he tried to come up with the word he wanted. "Smart?" Strasky answered, looking a bit shocked after as he realized what he'd said sounded rather mean. "I wanted a better word, but yeah basically." Sixty agreed, clearly unbothered as he regularly poked fun at himself.

"If he'll allow it, any mention of repair makes him get agitated. Like he doesn't believe we're telling the truth, so Peter's waiting for him to ask to be fixed. He doesn't want to force him to do it, as that'll just make things worse." Sixty understood Peter's reluctance to repair Kelvin when the unit would wildly shaking his head, and start backing away. As that left the only option being to shut him down temporarily so he could be repaired, and that would likely destroy Kelvin's trust, and possibly his trust in others altogether,

"But maybe Dan can convince him it'll be fine, he's better at that stuff." If anyone had a chance of convincing another android they'd be safe it was Dan, which the RK800 felt was due to him being a caregiver, so he had all he needed to properly calm someone down and earn their trust. Sure, a police unit could as well, but he'd noticed androids tended to respond better to Dan, as they knew a police unit was just telling them whatever it needed to accomplish it's goal.

"That is on my list of things I wanna experience." Ellis chuckled with a nod. "At least a real one won't kill you." Dan added, getting another laugh from Ellis. "Yeah, I'll never let you, Sixty, or Peter live that down. 'Ooo, ballpit.'" Dan shook his head with a laugh, he was little shocked a fully functional unit hadn't stopped to think something in a horror game could be dangerous, instead promptly dying to it by leaping in.

He shifted his attention back to Rook, nodding his head as he passed the image on to Sixty as he was the only unit present with Kelvin currently. "I don't expect him to be very open to a reunion, humans who refer to androids as 'it' usually aren't the nicest..."

"But he's the only one with that name that was in an accident where the androids involved could be custom military units. The others were just car and small aircraft." He hoped he was wrong, that maybe Kelvin was in an accident that hadn't been reported on, as he knew the android would be destroyed to know Jack had never actually cared about him.

"Sucks that there aren't many nice humans out there." Ellis piped up with a sigh, he hoped one day that would change, but for now it was just something they all had to deal with.

There were only a few things that scared Bishop and intimacy wasn't one of them.

While it wasn't really his thing, he acknowledged its infuriating effectiveness and didn’t see why Nines shouldn’t use it. It was his colleague's fault for being so easily manipulated.

"I suppose we found which human trait he's the most proud of." he mused, leaning back in his chair. He would find this funny, if only it wasn't forcing him to think about Cyberlife's priorities with what they had certainly called a state of the art machine at some point.

It was more telling about Nines that he felt like bragging about his relationship with his colleague anyway.

"Are you going to keep bragging about your add-ons, or are we going to play?"

He was starting to miss the feral mutants.

Willow took a step back, giving Kelvin some space to steady himself and enjoy his slightly less chaotic perception of the world.

"I understand the concern. However, I'm not an android. In fact, I was designed to extricate far more extensive systems."

Either way, she was glad to be able to help in any measure. Willow glanced back to Kelvin. She didn't mind looking for Jack, but she also had very little faith in humans as a whole. The chances of a reunion, let alone a happy one, were very low.

"In any case, communication should be slightly more efficient now. The rest of the damage shouldn't be anything Peter can't address personally."

Rook chuckled at Ellis' joke, "I have the feeling you'd have a great time in a ball pit."

Her gaze went back to her phone. Willow was being unusually stingy with information for some reason, but it seemed like it wasn't much of a problem for Dan.

"I guess that checks out. Maybe you should ask Kelvin directly. Willow got some clues out of him, you might as well show him this guy and see what happens."

A big thumbs up emoji appeared on the phone screen. Willow was definitely up to something.

"If it doesn't work, she can do some more digging. Finding information is kinda her thing."

[thetadispatcher]

"Good thing I can handle stupid, I deal with it every day." Begrudgingly the RK900 put up with a lot of the things he felt were ridiculous, as he knew it was harder to get a human to stop certain behavior. At least sometimes he could enjoy the process of correcting behavior, the challenge of making sure they didn't catch on was what made it tolerable to him.

John glanced at Bishop then Nines, he felt the two had oddly similar outlooks on certain topics, which he found to be mildly concerning as he nodded his head.

Nines raised his eyebrows slightly, amused by the fact a human could so casual talk about more intimate things when most would rather avoid the topic. "Yes, it provides a lot of interesting ways to silence talkative humans, even mouthy ones. It's the only time Detective Reed is tolerable and open to actually listening to my orders. It has provided very useful information about how humans operate." He glanced at Daniel as the older unit gave him a questioning frown, knowing exactly what the PL600 was thinking. "Yes, I am equipped with the correct parts, unlike the RK800s. Although it was intended for certain undercover operations, I feel information gathering is also a good use." He watched Daniel shake his head before leaving to return to his task of watching the drugged human.

Kelvin nodded in response to her answer, the action was uncoordinated and forced him to widen his stance as to not knock himself over. It didn't seem to bother him as he was accustomed to the jerky movements the damage caused, most of which he found ways to prevent himself from falling over.

He wasn't upset by the lack of an answer, knowing that he would eventually get one was good enough for him. He gave her a smile as a way to show he appreciated the help in locating his friend.

The unit took a step away from her, now more focused on the long dormant programs that were coming back online and the fog in his mind clearing. His HUD still displayed error messages and damaged parts, but the list was far shorter then he was accustomed to seeing any time it popped up.

Sixty watched as Kelvin stared wide eyed at his hand, the action wasn't anything he'd consider abnormal for the other android, as he did it almost daily. He slowly came out from behind Strasky as Kelvin shook himself, feeling any possible danger was now gone. "I've heard other units say they could handle it, then react violently once linked... I've never tried myself, doesn't seem worth it." The reaction of those who tried was enough for him, they all acted like they had been shocked and wildly threw punches well trying to get away.

The RK800 glanced at the other unit again, noting the far away, almost dazed look in his eyes had improved.

"What? Like turnin' it off and on again?" Ellis questioned with a laugh. "Besides, if it's good for a car, must be good for an android. So I'd say I got a pretty good routine goin'."

Dan nodded as he watched the couple leave, it was nice to see androids forming relationships with each other, and even with humans.

"Well, there are a few units with that name, but Kelvin has met them before. He didn't seem all that interested in them, or any androids for that matter." Dan hadn't seen or heard of Kelvin showing anything akin to excitement around other android models, seeing as there were only so many different faces they could have.

"Must be a human, he always seems more giddy if he knows a human is showing up when we don't provide a name." Dan usually had to let the other unit know when he'd be busy and what with, just so he wouldn't wander in during anything important in hopes of helping. "But I can work with just a name." He knew when the android had been shut down thanks to Peter, and they already suspected Kelvin had been involved in an accident that was likely reported on. The issue was narrowing it down to which one as the androids involved were never given names, only the humans.

"The only incident I can find that would fit involving a human named Jack and androids, is a search and rescue that went awry. The human's name is Jack Holt." Dan paused as he reviewed more of the information he found, attempting to further confirm that was likely the human Kelvin was asking about.

"The book he wrote about the ordeal mentions a damaged android being the only other crash survivor, it's behavior does match Kelvin's..." The PL600 held up his hand as he displayed the image he'd found of Jack Holt along with the book.

"If that's not him, then I have no other guess as to who he might be asking for."

"Welcome to personhood. You will now be subjected to an even dafter set of expectations and assumptions."

It was hard to expect any empathy from him. People have always been judgmental and set in their prejudices. If it took an uprising to get androids to where they were now, it would take them as much, if not longer, to accept that faces didn't match personalities.

He had no such issues. Those exceptions all accounted towards the strategic information he collected so obsessively.

"Indeed, you shouldn't. Then again, the chances of finding someone that similar or different might be about the same. Not that I ever cared to look into this topic to know."

He only cared about his own Earth and how to defend it. Bishop watched the androids' reactions, not showing any emotion of his own. It technically was an effective strategy, they had no reason to act so outraged.

But also, that gave him another chance to poke Nines. "You really are well trained. Are you recommending this because you've personally been testing this strategy?"

Willow heard the question clearly, but unfortunately couldn't provide an answer yet. She would look into it later as improving Kelvin's conditions had the priority at the moment.

The flood of garbage code was a fraction of the data stream she was accustomed to and so fond of. She worked carefully, but swiftly to clear up some of that mess to bring some order. Carthage's products were constantly copied, she could leave behind a couple of useful algorithms without worrying too much about conflicts.

'I don't know. But we can look for him.' she replied.

As soon as she had replenished her nanites. The process was completed in a few minutes and she retreated within herself to give Kelvin some space.

"Well, that was an educational experience." she mused, looking back to Sixty, "As I said, I could deal with this."

Really, she didn't enjoy putting herself in danger.

"I guess that works, but wear and tear is bad too. You've got to practice your skincare routine, you know?"

It seemed Rook felt confident enough to start messing around as well. She watched the interaction between Dan and the construction units. It was really heartwarming to see they were free to form that kind of relationships as well.

"Yep, it's great when people find each other." she said, before pulling out her phone, "Willow says that Kelvin is looking for somebody named Jack. Is that one of you guys?"

[thetadispatcher]

"I would be inclined to call it a stereotype, as they are judging me based on my appearance. They expect me to act like the RK800s due to us looking identical. I suspect this will become a more recognized issue in the future, as many android share the same face, but have wildly different personalities." He had a feeling that he wasn't the only one experiencing the same issue, as he'd seen a few humans be surprised by brazen Dan could be after experiencing the more timid Simon.

"Although they may eventually realize those of the same model and face are different, just like a human." Even if there would always be humans who stuck by the belief of models sharing the same personality, that was just something androids should expect as humans still did it to each other.

John nodded slightly, there were probably many small differences between him and the human Strohmeier, the main one being he was an android who'd never gotten to see a real battle. "Sounds like one shouldn't expect all versions of themselves to be the same in every way."

"And, just think, once you get the courage to ask him out, there will be another way to silence him." The RK900 smirked a bit at the shocked look John gave him, his attention shifted to Daniel who'd walked into the room with a Thirium pouch and was now coughing as he choked on the liquid.

"What the f-uck?" The PL600 sputtered as he tried to clear the Thirium out of his lungs. "It works when applied in a certain way, I can confirm it." Nines responded casually as the older unit started coughing harder. Nines shifted his attention back to the other androids at the table, John had leaned back in his chair, covering his face with his hands as he tilted his head back, and Hugh had turned his head away from the RK900.

"Tsk, you act like such children." He rolled his eyes, looking back over his shoulder at Daniel who had finally recovered then to Bishop, giving a half hearted shrug. He wasn't about to act ashamed or apologize for what he'd said, as he personally saw nothing wrong besides how his statement had been interpreted.

Kelvin quickly shifted his gaze to her hand, it was an action he was familiar with as it was usually followed by a task. Even if he wasn't used to receiving instructions like the one's Willow was currently giving him, he'd still do his best to complete it as was expected of him.

He took a moment to think, feeling it would be best to pick something important that he'd been wanting to know, as having an answer for certain question would be useful for him. He decided the main thing he wanted to know was when his friend would be arriving to get him. So the unit began asking the question, in a short and simple way.

'Where's Jack?' He felt the question could be easily understood once he was able to say it.

Sixty stayed behind Strasky, he didn't fully trust that she had control of the situation as he'd heard other say those words, and all of them still reacted violently to flood of garbage code.

Strasky just watched the two androids, he wasn't sure of he appreciated being used as a shield, but he felt he'd likely be fine. So he allowed it, as it seemed to be helping keep Sixty relatively calm.

"I'm jus' not used to havin' it available, 'nd I've learned when to turn my head to avoid it." It had been necessary at the time for the android to learn how to deal with the lack of care for his safety, and it had become part of his normal routine that he didn't give much thought about it.

"Yeah, 'nd if they wanna keep arguin' we call Dan out. Somethin' about the threat of havin' their cars thrown makes 'em more agreeable." Thankfully Ellis had only needed Dan's help with a few customers, as most just paid and stormed off which he was fine with. Humans didn't seem to understand yelling at an android was pointless, and wouldn't get them to do what they wanted anymore.

Dan walked back to them, having finished his conversation with the group of construction units, his attention shifted to a nearby unit that had yelped. "Oh no, you spilled your Monster on your pants."

"I didn't spill anything!" The unit snapped back as he wiped off his pants. "Really? What are you wiping off right now?" Dan responded in a sarcastic tone as he folded his arms. The other android's eyes shot to the PL600, now giving him a doubting look. "M-Monster!" He snapped back before the two started laughing. A nearby female unit chuckled a bit as she approached the other android. "Maybe we shouldn't put open drinks there anymore." She recommended as she moved it away from him.

"Maybe, but it already made a mess. So what's a little more?" He laughed as she smiled at him. The two lightly touched foreheads before she walked off with the other android close behind, likely to help him get cleaned up.

"He's clumsy, but at least he's got someone who doesn't mind that." Dan said as he turned back to Rook and Ellis.

"The attention always falls on the outlier at first. But you can rely on the fact that eventually, they'll give up on trying to correct you in that department."

It was the only viable alternative, as it wouldn't be acceptable to make people choose to mind their business the way he had done.

Bishop returned the glance from behind his shades, though he hardly moved at all, "This is the point where my head scientist would be rambling about the infinite anomalies of a multiverse. You only happened to hear about another Strohmeier who is both a soldier and a romantic interest for a Peter Strasky."

He might as well toss that out there as well. Privacy and manners were things Bishop rarely respected, unless it was convenient for him. It was no surprise he didn't care about what Nines did in that regard.

"Nevertheless, he was the most successful of the survivors. Not only he neutralized one of the abominations threatening his base, he's well on his way to a full recovery, unlike the talking corpse."

The jumbled mess and fragmented memories weren't enough to discourage Willow. Trying to make sense of what Kelvin was sharing was no different from following whatever discourse was going on in Cyberspace.

She took note of what was being shown to her, being especially interested by the moment Kelvin started acting like a deviant. Could there be a connection between the anomaly and what had caused the crash?

That could be analyzed later. Knowing the entity of the damage helped with the solution. Willow raised her other hand to get Kelvin's attention. "Keep talking to me. I will try to fix you now."

She made sure to repeat the message a couple of times for good measure. The Core quickly instructed her nanites on their task, before sending them on their way. She doubted he would be able to physically speak immediately, but her hope was to sort out his software at least enough to make things a bit less confusing for him.

She briefly glanced back over her shoulder, "Calm down. I have dealt with worse."

"Yeah, of course they didn't care." Rook said, "What's stopping you from wearing them now, though? It's not like Peter's going to object to that. He clearly cares about all of you guys."

And it didn’t look like they were short on material either. Rook pushed her shades up, hiding her annoyed look.

"I know that kind of person well. You'd think there's a limit but I get schooled by clients on how to do my job. Some people just like being assholes like that. They did it to each other before they did it to androids. What matters is that you get to tell them off now."

[thetadispatcher]

The android nodded in agreement, at least there were humans that understood his methods and saw no problem with them. Even if Bishop was the first human he'd met that agreed with him, and his system had already calculated the likelihood of him meeting more to be slim, he could still appreciate that maybe one day he'd get to work with a human who wouldn't complain about his work ethics.

"If only I could get the humans, and androids, I work with to understand, although I see no possibility of that happening. Shame really, but such is life. Once you develop freewill, everything you do will be scrutinized differently, instead of them simply chalking it up to a machine being cold and unfeeling." Even if Gavin did occasionally question if the RK900 was truly deviant or just pretending. Something he'd never give the human a straight answer for, he felt it was a good chance for the detective to prove his skills, and just a good opportunity to mess with the man more.

John glanced at Bishop, raising his eyebrow slightly as he listened to the man talk about the fact there was a human version of him. "Hm... Well, even being human can't stop the military from getting their hands on me. Good to know, I had wondered that once." It had only been a brief thought, and not one he felt would ever be answered. But it seemed like anything was possible, so he'd have to take that into consideration when wondering things in the future.

"I can say Peter cares about me, although I sometimes suspect that's just due to me being the first deviant he actually got to experience. Another of Cyberlife's great plans, hide the units they lied about destroying with employees, and people they could trust to keep quiet about it. Catherine, his Cyberlife friend, made a pretty good argument for him being a good candidate for that activity. Didn't bother to warn him as they thought he already knew thanks to her, so he was a bit freaked out the day he came home from work and found me in his old apartment... I might've ruffed him up a bit more then necessary, but I wasn't prepared for him to start trying to fight me."

John couldn't blame Peter for reacting how he had to a stranger showing up in his home unannounced, and Peter didn't hold it against the android for defending himself against a clearly panicked human. But they did eventually get things worked out after he'd managed to restrain the young man, and prove to him he wasn't actually there to harm him.

"Oh, the talking corpse." Nines said calmly, ignoring Hugh giving him a shocked look at his choice of words. "I'm not shocked to hear he has a bond with another version of John, for having very different personalities they get along quite well. Although it seems things went down a more tragic path for them, if the smell of a roughly five month old corpse that been sitting on the ocean floor is any indicator." Hugh attempted to silence the RK900 by giving the unit a harsh shove to his shoulder and a very upset look.

Nines just gave him a bored look, as if he saw no problem with how blunt he was being about the odd man currently in the house. "I can provide further evidence, such as the black gel on his body. Any normal human would clean that from their skin, but he hasn't. So, that would lead one to believe it might be part of the reason why he's up and about." He glanced at John as the android wirelessly criticized him then shifted his focus to Bishop. "Am I correct?"

Kelvin didn't respond through the link as the damage he'd suffered made his attempts turn into a garbled mess of useless noise that overwhelmed whoever he was linked with, and he wasn't actually used to hearing the other speak through the link clearly since it was usually a dull buzz for him.

He perked up a bit upon being able to make out actual words through the low droning sound in his mind, to which he eagerly nodded as he understood what was being asked of him.

He allowed her access to his memories from the day he was damaged, the data was corrupted, but he felt there was enough still intact to be useful.

The memory file opened to the sound of a helicopter, briefly showing that to his left there was a vast ocean and his right there was another android in a similar outfit to his with an island visible out the window. The image of a human male on a laptop sat across from the other unit flashed before being distorted by the corruption, causing a lapse in time before the memories cleared.

Kelvin was back looking out the window at the water below before the window cracked, seconds later he was being tossed around the helicopter as it lost control. The helicopter came to a halt on the top of a cliff face, the landing jarring a door open causing the other android to fly from the aircraft and plummeting into the ocean below.

His system had been sending messages to Cyberlife and the company he was owned by, attempting to alert them of the situation, but his attempts were nothing but panicked jumbled words and code. Something that shouldn't have happened with a non-deviant android.

Kelvin was nearly flung out with the other unit, but had managed to grab hold of the seat. He struggled to pull himself up and back inside, the human reached to help him as he slipped, dangling from the very edge before he too fell into the water. The last sound he ever heard was the his own scream and the crashing of waves growing louder.

Kelvin's memory corrupted as he slammed into the water, shattering the inner mechanics of his ears, and severely damaging his brain as it was violently slammed against it's housing. Error messages flooded his HUD, obstructing his vision, somehow he managed to find his way out of the water as his system registered sand underneath him. The errors and agonizing pain overwhelmed his system, in response he desperately tried to send error reports as he didn't understand what was happening or the pain he was experiencing. Reports that were never received, continuously failing until the function shutdown entirely, leaving the android unable to contact anyone for help.

His memory continued after another time lapse, showing the human once again now looking the unit over, checking his visible damage and testing to make sure he was still functional enough to be useful.

The remaining intact sections of his memory were of the human giving him orders on a notepad that he happily completed without question. Kelvin seemed to believe the man was his friend as the human allowed him to stay inside the shelter he made, gave him tasks, and would scare off or attack the savage island natives Kelvin pointed out to him. The android took the actions as kindness, not that the man saw him as useful and therefoe had decided to keep him around.

Eventually the pair were rescued and returned to civilization, where the human seemed to have been given a choice regarding Kelvin as the company no longer wanted the android. The man glanced at the damaged unit and shook his head, Kelvin was then lead away by a pair of Cyberlife technicians, clearly not understanding what was happening. He kept looking back at the man, waiting for him to follow them. Moments before his system was deactivated did he understand what was going on, he glanced at the doors waiting for the man he'd believed was his friend to come save him before everything went black.

The next time he opened his eyes was to a very confused Peter staring down at him then looking at an equally perplexed Dan, his first thoughts were of him being hopeful that his human friend was coming to take him home. A hope the unit clearly still had, he seemed to believe the human was coming to get him, doing whatever tasks he could find well he waited for the man to arrive.

Sixty watched the two closely, tucking himself behind Strasky as he was still convinced the connection wouldn't end well.

"Oddly, he really doesn't yell, it's more of a calm type of rage. I think he just keeps his voice down 'cause of the more skittish units. He doesn't wanna start yellin' 'nd make 'em think he's gonna start beatin' on 'em, like their old owners did." He could understand why the human restrained himself from simply screaming, instead showing his anger in other ways as to not cause the traumatized units any unnecessary distress.

Ellis tucked the rag into the pocket of his Cyberlife issued coveralls, he had a feeling he'd be needing it again, so he felt it best to carry it on him so he wouldn't have to get up again.

"Yep, we get a warnin' if it's startin' to run low. Most units don't need to get it refilled that often, if ever. But ones like me, we're always gettin' somethin' in our eyes, so it's more of a monthly thing then a yearly. 'nd no, givin' us eye protection never seems to cross our owners minds." At least from the units he'd spoken with, it seemed the humans thought they didn't need to provide safety glasses to androids as their eyes were different from a humans.

"I always just thought it was my owner doin' all the brain dead crap, don't know if it makes me feel better learin' that isn't the case. Ugh, that man... He always felt the need to correct me on the stuff I was made to do, never made any sense to me, but I had to listen. I think he just liked feelin' superior to a machine, even if he was wrong 'nd the reason we were loosin' business... Which I, of course, was blamed for. I seemed to be his go-to when things went wrong, or when he decided to manifest issues." He rolled his eyes before he got back under the vehicle.

"Grade A idiot he was if ya ask me. I like it here a lot more, I can do things my way 'nd no one will try to tell me I'm wrong, or how somethin' I had nothin' to do with was my fault." He preferred his new life over his old one, and he had no desire to even see how his old owner was doing as he rather forget the man ever existed.

It was hard to say what the intention was there. Even Bishop's compliments sounded condescending.

"I can attest to the effectiveness of that method. There is no place for personal feelings while on duty."

Then one could be particularly wise and never stop working to avoid it completely. Bishop shuffled his cards as he waited on the androids. The question got no major reaction out of him other than the vague frown any attempt at asking him to disclose information got. He sat with his back straight, as expected from an agent of his caliber.

"Well, if you want to know about the human that looks like him," he pointed to John, "Claiming that I know him would be an overstatement. We met less than 48 hours ago. The brief conversations we had and all the flattering things I was told hardly make up for that. All I can tell you is that he was in the military and is of particular importance for Strasky."

And he was mostly neutral despite his interest in the skills of a fellow military men.

Willow showed a distinctively cautious approach as well as the link was established. While she had connected to unstable systems before, it was always best to feel around first, before risking to cause additional damage.

Though she was still confident she could handle this and even attempted talking back. "I would like to have a look at your memories. The others here believe it would help them understand you better if they knew how you were damaged. Additionally, I may be able to repair some of it as well."

Rook shrugged, "It isn't really what I'm aiming for with my streams, but I could steal some of those lines. It might throw them off enough to shut up whenever I stop playing to go back to Minecraft. I just can't be bothered and I don't want to scare my pets with random screams."

She made sure to keep her distance, knowing better than to get in the way while somebody was working.

"Yeah, I figured that was the case. Does that mean you've got to refill sometimes? Like wiper fluid or something like that."

[thetadispatcher]

Nines felt like he'd been given a compliment, but he wasn't one to accept them about the job he was specifically made to do. He didn't see why others felt the need to do it, to him it was a waste of time and pointless. It would make sense to compliment a unit on doing something they weren't designed to excel at, but that was just another thing humans did that he wouldn't understand.

"Emotions can cloud ones judgement, which leads to killers going free and the innocent behind bars. Even if others frown upon my methods, it doesn't matter as I know it yields the best results." He'd been lectured on his behavior before, called a few rude names even, but he wasn't going to let it change his views.

"It's been easy so far, we should be fine. And we have a plan if anything does happen." John nodded, he felt they'd likely never have to go into hiding, but it was always good to have a plan for everything.

"Of course." The RK900 sat back as he picked his cards up from the table, he wouldn't say no to further annoying the other units at the table. "And maybe you can share what you were thinking about...? I'm going to guess it was related to another human, one you know well?" And maybe the human well he was at it.

Kelvin turned to face her, taking a moment to adjust his stance as he was far more unsteady on his feet then Sixty was. He titled his his head slightly as he watched her sign, his broken LED flickered yellow before it shut off once again.

He nodded and pointed at his name tag, showing he understood most of what she'd said to him. "Yes. Hello." He signed back, pausing a moment then shaking his head to let her know he hadn't understood the last fully.

He glanced at her hand then looked at his own, before he carefully took off the glove covering his hand and retracted his skin. He looked back at her and took her hand, he didn't understand why she wanted to interface with him, but he was willing to let her try.

He accepted the link under the assumption it would be like previous ones where the other unit would try to view his memories, or even speak with him. So he allowed her full access to his memory and opened a line of communication.

Sixty moved to stand near Strasky, he'd watched enough androids link with Kelvin to know they always threw themselves away from him seconds after the link was established. So he knew not to stand too close due to the violent reactions.

Strasky glanced at the RK800 then back to Willow and Kelvin, he didn't have any idea what was going on, and he felt it was best to wait for an explanation due to Sixty's cautious behavior.

"It is a bit of a frustratin' game when it comes to the boss fights, so I can understand how it's not for everyone." Ellis responded as he grabbed a few tools from a nearby workbench.

"If they want it that bad, you could ask Pete to play it well ya watch. Jus' talk with 'im, I'm sure the online folks would enjoy how he rages 'nd stuff." The android stuffed the tools into his pockets after confirming he had what he needed.

"I can feel the veins in my forehead thickenin' was a response I got for askin' 'im how it felt to finally beat a boss he'd been strugglin' with." He paused as another unit piped up. "I liked I wanna lay face down on a radiator, not even victory makes him happy." The unit laughed before returning to their work.

"Then you can enjoy the game without the frustration." He smiled before he got under the car.

"Oh, from what they descried, I'd have to say clutch failure. Likely dusted the friction plate. I'll know when I get a face full of it." He answered as he got to work, and soon he was coughing well he climbed out from under the car.

"Yep, easy fix." He confirmed once the coughing had stopped, wiping the black powder off his face with a dirty rag. "Yeah, don't breathe that shit if you're human, some got asbestos in 'em." He wiped his eyes as they'd started to tear up. "Cleanin' fluid, I'm not actually cryin'." He explained, most humans were concerned when they saw androids start crying since they didn't know that was just how they removed dirt from their eyes.

Well, he couldn't say no to a chance to be obnoxious at somebody else’s expense. Whether it landed didn't really matter. Bishop simply refused to get mad over it, as it'd look pretty pathetic.

"Some detectives would disagree with your statement, but I understand. The greatest minds treasure their solitude."

Though he could appreciate Nines' general demeanor. If there was something Stockman could have done with was the ability to be quiet.

Bishop casually shuffled his cards as he tried picturing the scientist finally shutting the hell up. "Indeed. Keeping a low profile should keep you out of any such talks until the danger has passed. Now, should we play another round?"

Kelvin's arrival didn't go unnoticed and soon enough, Willow was walking up to him, a plushie in her hand as she made sure to catch his attention. Her pink hair was hard to miss and even then, she was carrying an item related to the current task that definitely couldn't be ignored.

"Hello, Kelvin. My name is Willow." she signed, as it felt polite to try that first, then held out her hand so she could attempt establishing a connection.

"Oh yeah, the music's great." Rook agreed, "I haven't played Hollow Knight yet. My stream chat keeps saying I should, but I feel like they just want to watch me swear at cute cartoon bugs in funny ways."

She clearly didn't sound thrilled at the idea. Rook watched Ellis get back to work.

"So, what's wrong with this car?"

[thetadispatcher]

Nines studied the man a moment, even the lack of change in the other's expression was usable information for him in figuring out Bishop's motive. He wasn't shocked when he came to the conclusion the man was trying to get him to react for his own amusement, it seemed to be something a lot of humans tried to do.

Sure, some actually had good intentions behind it, but he found mainly he had to deal with the ones who made it their goal to see if they could piss him off. Unfortunately for Gavin, Nines enjoyed how his lack of reaction made the man rage so easily, it made basically having to babysit a grown man worth it.

"I know how to tell if a sibling murdered the other or not, possible motives, and how to get information out of them. Not how to act like one as that is not useful to solving a case." He had no need to understand sibling relationships beyond what was necessary to solve a case.

"Of course, our batteries can last way longer then a human's life span. And they may grow tired of the issue before then." Hugh responded with a nod, he had a feeling the problem would likely be forgotten quickly as there were more important issues surrounding android rights to deal with. And wasting time on a bunch of military units that weren't causing issues would be ridiculous.

Kelvin arrived after a few minutes, catching SIxty's attention as the other unit started to help him pack the boxes without acknowledging him. Sixty frowned a bit, showing he really didn't much care for Kelvin likely due to how the android seemed to ignore his existence to focus on his given task.

Sixty would rather talk to the other units, and with Kelvin he couldn't do that or get much of any feedback from him, something that annoyed him. But he never got physically upset with the other android as he understood it wasn't something Kelvin had any control over.

Strasky glanced at the new android, noting his odd clothes and the tactical vest that had a name tag attached to the front. He stopped himself from greeting the android as he noticed the blue cracks around his ear canal, which he felt meant he likely wouldn't be able to hear him.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Rook." Ellis said with a smile and a nod, glancing at Dan as the PL600 walked away to go speak with some of the construction units. He knew Dan could tell they'd do fine without him standing around as they were talking about a shared interest.

"Part of the Jet Grind Radio series. Yep, I've heard of it." He confirmed with a nod. "Hideki Naganuma does good music, very good. He did a song for Lethal League Blaze too, nothin' for the original Lethal League game." He noted, sure a game about hitting a ball back and forth probably wasn't exciting to some, but at least it had a good sound track to listen to.

"I haven't played Jet Set Radio yet, but it is on my list." Ellis slid the jack he was resting on under the nearby vehicle to start jacking it up, feeling he should work and talk at the same time.

"Right now, Pete an' I are doin' Hollow Knight together. For a game about bugs it's got a very good story, an' very interestin' boss fights." He felt Peter's poor explanation of the game might've made it far more interesting to him then it might normally be, but he was okay with that.

That brief show of emotion was met with the same look as before, as Bishop made sure to guard himself at the same time. That was subtle, he had to admit that. Perhaps Cyberlife had managed to create something worth the while.

"I suppose that's a limited sample. Although I would expect someone designed to do detective work would be provided with a deeper understanding of this sort of behavior."

Just because he personally chose not to act like a human being most of the time, it didn't mean he didn't understand how they acted. Then again, that might have just been another jab.

He looked back to his cards, "As they do. You can at least trust in the debate taking so long to get to a point that you might outlive the people involved."

That was what he did anyway.

"Ah, that works." Rook pulled out her phone, "Did you catch that, Willow?"

"Of course." Willow was already on the lookout. A rushing android should be hard to miss.

"Sorry about that. It's better to keep our guards up with Bishop around."

Then again they hadn't heard from the agent in a while. Rook followed Dan all the way to the garage. She didn't know what to expect, but it looked like the construction units looked friendly enough.

"Well, you should probably mention that hole in the wall you made." That seemed like something that should concern these androids.

While she was expecting to spot a familiar face, she could have never guessed who it actually was.

"Yeah, I'm new around here. I'm Rook, nice to meet you!" she replied with a smile, "Okay, that's good to know. I haven't played that game but I like Jet Set Radio. Do you know that one?"

[thetadispatcher]

The RK900 gave him a suspicious look, deciding he'd show some of his internal emotions to see what reaction he'd get from the human. He felt showing a little would help him get a better read of Bishop, and exactly what he wanted from his attempts to upset him.

"Possibly, I wouldn't know as I don't have much to base it on. The only siblings I've interacted with are an android and a human, and two half siblings." And he felt basing anything on Gavin's behavior would be pointless, his partner wasn't a good tool for learning as he seemed to have behaviors that only applied to him.

"Wouldn't be the first time, and I doubt it's far from the last time any government body will do that." Hugh said with a roll of his eyes, he wasn't excited to see how the military would handle it once they found out. He knew it would just be a bunch of lies and finger pointing, not them trying to use the situation to look good for anyone who was pro android. They'd likely find it wasn't worth it to take that angle for the situation as there wasn't enough humans like that to make it worth it.

"I did send him their way, that was the only task I could think to give him." Dan had sent Kelvin to help box up whatever toys the group had picked out, after he'd asked the other androids if there was anything they might need his help with.

"I'm sure he'd appreciate any help that she can offer with his memory issues, I have noticed he does seem a little upset when he's forgotten something he's learned." Kelvin seemed the most upset by his memory loss then anyone else, they'd just accepted that they would have to reteach the android certain things and that he wasn't deleting things on purpose, so there was no use getting upset with him.

"I don't think that thought cross their mind, and if it did, they likely didn't want to explain why they had sold him." Brent had been a gift, not something the studio had ordered, so they likely didn't have to explain why he'd been sold off after they'd pretended to appreciate the gesture.

"He's just up in the garage." Most of the industrial units hung out in the garage, he suspected it was due to the environment being more of what they were accustomed to, as many had never stepped foot into a house so it was new territory for them.

"I have to talk to the construction units anyways." Dan explained as he lead the way to the garage, through the door that connected to two buildings.

A bunch of male and female androids were standing around talking happily and laughing, well some were working on various projects in different sections of the garage.

Dan walked over to the group that was gathered around a car listening to a far younger looking male android explain something in a heavily accented voice. He turned to look at the PL600 as he finished and the group dispersed to do whatever he'd instructed them to do. "Break somethin'?" The android asked with a chuckled, his smile widening at the annoyed look Dan gave him.

"Perhaps, you looking to be next?" The PL600 replied, knowing the other wouldn't take the threat seriously or be offended by it. "Not right now, but I'll let ya know if I change my mind." The other responded cheerfully, clearly enjoying the banter.

The android leaned onto the car jack he'd been holding onto as he looked Rook over. "Now you I don't recognize, name's Ellis." He paused as Dan said something to him using their link. "I don't go by anything else, in case ya thought I renamed myself like Brent. Comin' up with names is hard, and I'm fine with the one I got. Suits me jus' fine." He explained now that he knew why they had come to see him.

"Yeah, I got myself thrown in the junkyard 'cause apparently I wasn't the 'hot seller' my owner thought I'd be. He was wrong a lot, but I' glad I don't have to deal with 'im anymore. Hard to miss a man who felt the need to correct me, like I didn't know how to do the thing I was made for." He rolled his eyes as he recalled the man who'd been his owner, there wasn't much he could say that was nice about him and he wasn't about to try.

"I'm fine with people talkin' to me 'bout who I was modeled after an' stuff, don't bother me. Or other video games, old ones really. Like Jazzpunk, that's an interestin' one."

It was difficult to read Bishop when he could maintain his usual frowny look regardless of the circumstances. His android counterpart specifically chose not to show a greater range of emotions, despite being more open about them, but the agent had spent several decades pretty much surgically removing his.

There was no reason for him to stick around to play a card game and chat when he could be off helping with important research back at the base. But since going back currently wasn't an option, a usually well hidden side of him was beginning to show as he specifically went out of his way to bother Nines.

He couldn't do otherwise. He had to antagonize the other person in the room who was keeping him from having full control of the exchange.

"That's what they all say." At least it was entertaining enough to keep him from trying to find enrichment by starting a fight.

"At this point, all the military can do is hide its involvement in case there is an investigation." He would know. He had done that plenty of times.

"Yes, you can ask Willow to give it a shot." Rook replied, "She might not have a long conversation with him, but she might be able to give you some more information on Kelvin or the way he thinks. It kinda sounds like he's trying to save the stuff you're teaching him on bad sectors of his memory. Maybe she can do something about that."

It was likely that Willow was still listening in on the conversation, but she found showing up with a solution to somebody's problems unprompted could feel a bit condescending. The best way to do this was to inquire her directly.

"That sucks. But at least they didn't start selling him around like a rare collectible." She would make sure to not bring the topic up with Brent though. He deserved to be treated like he was his own person. "Sure, I'd like to meet this other guy."

It was better than getting chased around by mutants.

[thetadispatcher]

[thetadispatcher]

Vincent looked up at him and gave him a small smile, showing he appreciated the gesture. He knew it probably didn't mean that much to other people, but to him it meant a lot.

He liked knowing he had other people outside of those who called him family that cared, and didn't mind showing it to help him understand situations or just feel better about them.

The AP700 rested his head back against the other android, deciding he'd completely ignore Dan and Rook to focus on what Bishop was doing.

Nines gave him a calculating look, he had experience with people who would use anything to try to upset him. His human partner did it almost constantly to him, so he could easily recognize when someone else was attempting to do the same.

The only thing he needed any time to figure out was why, it seemed like everyone always had a different reason for why they were trying to get a reaction out of him. Gavin's was just because he liked to be an annoyance, and the fact he couldn't get Nines to react upset him.

Not that he cared, as he enjoyed watching the detective flush with anger whenever Nines didn't give him the reaction he was looking for. Not that he would show the human that he found his small shows of anger endearing.

"I am not that rebellious, no more then Connor is." He wouldn't call Sixty rebellious as the RK800 seemed to be down to do just about anything, he was more of an accidental troublemaker.

"And it's not like the military could do anything about it now if they did find out." Androids had rights now, and they couldn't do anything about the military androids Cyberlife failed to destroy as they were considered people. Also it would likely cause a lot of issues that wouldn't be worth the time and money to deal with.

John didn't see them doing anything about it ever, the androids didn't know anything he would consider damaging if it were to get out. And he never saw service, so he never learned any truly damaging information that the military would be concerned about.

"He might be, considering the fact he was already deviant when he was deactivated as we didn't have to convert him." Dan wasn't sure what to make of that possibility, but Kelvin was the oldest recorded deviant they knew of so far.

He just wasn't about to share that information as he felt the last thing androids needed was to know their god might be real, some might be a little disappointed to find out what he was like.

"I never said he was dumb, he can do some very complicated tasks quite well. Sure he does have his moments where he does something that one would call dumb, but he can hardly be held accountable for it considering his condition." Kelvin was surprisingly good at things one wouldn't expect someone in his condition to excel at, even if he did have times where he acted more childlike then a normal android.

"We are trying to teach him sign language and how to write, but it's a slow process as he sometimes will need to be retaught things he already learned. But if you think she can talk to him, you're welcome to try. It would be nice to better understand Kelvin just in case there is some mental trauma we don't know about. I would hate to learn about it by accidentally upsetting him and still not fully understand the reaction, it would make helping him calm down hard." Even a little more information would be useful, as it might give them a hint on where to look for more.

"Yes, that is correct. He was a gift to the studio that they really didn't care enough to keep, they deposed of him the first chance they got." Brent didn't seem bothered by the studio's blatant disregard for him, in fact he seemed to have expected the treatment and felt nothing about. The JB300 was one of the androids that showed no mental affects from being thrown away, and he even seemed thankful it happened.

"We have a few other ones, ones that you would recognize as a lot of people from your generation are the ones who were ordering these custom units." He could see why someone would want an android of their favorite characters, but he could also understand why they'd be thrown away. They only lasted as long as their novelty or until they needed an expensive repair thanks to being custom.

"Only one other one is present on the property currently, if you'd like I can introduce you to him." Dan knew he would be less bothered by being recognized as a fictional character, Brent just seemed to hate it as he wanted to be his own person and not Data. But the JB300 was okay with it if the person respected the fact he had picked a new name and didn't constantly remind him of his appearance.

The android looked over once again, waiting for Rook to snap back at him. When it was clear she intended to leave him alone he glanced back to Vincent. If his communication skills were poor, he felt he was about to set a new low, but still reached to give his friend a gentle pat in reassurance. Everything was fine, they were just having a feisty mutant over for a bit.

Bishop smirked. That gave him something to work with.

"Yes, that is expected behavior from the rebellious youngest brother."

Even the most collected deviant had to deal with their own emotions and while he couldn't say for sure how prominent Nines' ego was, Bishop would still poke at him until he got a reaction.

It was entertaining enough to him, in any case. He had no reason to stop.

"That's typical of private contractors." he mused, "So you were saved entirely by greed alone. I suppose there is some irony in that."

Much like the fact that androids were simply being tossed in a landfill instead of being recycled. It seemed Cyberlife's entire existence was simply tainted by incompetence.

Rook watched the way Dan's skin regenerated, glad to see no damage was done. The last thing she wanted was to be accused of having hurt the most important guy in the house, especially when she had done nothing but ask questions.

"Who knows, maybe he's patient zero." She shrugged, "Maybe he's like Sixty and likes the way he is. It's never good to assume somebody who's very energetic and content with what they have is dumb. I have a friend who is just as bouncy as Kelvin and she's smarter and wiser than most people."

It didn't look like Kelvin was causing real trouble on purpose. He just moved quietly and that made it easy to forget he was even there doing his own thing.

"So that's why you've got Commander Data running about. Maybe you could ask Willow to talk to Kelvin. He can't talk to you, but she can probably translate for him."

[thetadispatcher]

Vincent just watched the two silently, he really didn't understand what they were talking about or why they didn't like each other. He just decided not to ask, he hadn't been present the entire time so something could've happened well he was absent.

And he knew sometimes it was best not to ask what he'd missed, as it might cause another fight to break out over the same subject. So, he was going to avoid that and just accept whatever was going on.

"I do not have to abide by that rule if I don't want to, they can't stop me." Nines replied calmly, he and Sixty may be the closest to be related for androids, but he just didn't care to get along with the RK800. And there was no way Dan or Peter could convince him to spend time or be nice to Sixty when he didn't feel it was necessary.

His relationship with the other was somewhat better and the two RK800s got along decently, so that was good enough for him.

"The military may have ordered all units to be deactivated or destroyed due to the deviant situation, but they didn't make sure Cyberlife did the job correctly. Some of the more advanced models and common ones they sent to stay with people they knew would keep quiet, so they wouldn't have to destroy them. If the deviant problem was fixed, they could easily resell the units back to the military under the guise they were brand new." John explained, clearly he had no issue revealing Cyberlife's less then legal plans as not much would come of it if word got out, the company was already dead.

Hugh gave a nod to confirm what John had said, he knew the company had planned to use the situation to make some extra money well they worked to regain customer trusts. So having less units to replace would give them the funds to keep operating until they had a customer base again. He could agree it was a good idea, even if it was illegal.

Dan took a moment to check his arm, it was still intact and only the skin had retracted as it wasn't able to handle the impact. He nodded as he listened to her, watching his skin recover his white plating to make sure he hadn't damaged it or lost any.

"Makes sense." He replied as he shifted his attention back to her, having confirmed his synthetic skin was fine. "Oh, that was Kelvin, or at least that's what the tag on his vest said. We don't know if that's actually his name, but he seems to respond to it." Dan shrugged, he felt the other android was just reacting to being given a task, and didn't care to correct them if Kelvin wasn't his real name.

"Peter pulled him from the junkyard, booted him up, and he didn't give him a chance to repair him. He was already on his feet wanting to help. So, he's mute and deaf thanks to suffering major head trauma that he refuses to get repaired. He can't wirelessly communicate either, so not even I can speak with him properly." The PL600 shook his head, the android's past was a mystery they'd likely never know.

"All we know is he's a common military unit that was shut down before the deviant situation, likely due to the damage his brain suffered and the change in personality it caused." He wished they knew more, but tracking down the past of a military unit was impossible, so he knew they'd be stuck with what little they had.

"He is deviant as sometimes he'll refuse to carry out an order, but other then that he's always looking for something to do and sometimes we just have to give him a random task." Dan shook his head, it still surprised him how a deaf android could move so quietly.

"We have a lot of oddball androids here, some custom units based on fictional characters or just preferences, he's the strangest one as he'd the only one we have no background of any sort on." But thankfully Kelvin was one where that really didn't matter as he hadn't shown any violent tendencies, he was more like a child then anything.

While Rook didn’t represent a threat, she definitely wasn't short on comments.

"Bishop's knitting. How do I even get myself in these situations?"

"Ungrateful bird." The android only briefly glared at her. It wasn't his fault if he wore the face of a monster.

"What's the matter now? I was under the impression this household promoted healthy siblings relationships."

Bishop doubted the taunting would distract Nines, but he really wanted to make it clear that he wasn't the only one who could read people to a decent degree.

It didn't mean he cared about their motivations, but he was aware of them.

"Oh, I see now that I'm playing cards with a rather exclusive group. Though I can't help questioning how the two of you were allowed to roam freely. Are you fugitives like my copycat?"

It seemed like a legit question to him. The military wasn't exactly known for giving up on important assets for nothing. They couldn't afford to let him, the most dedicated man to have ever lived, go away, Bishop had to wonder how they'd give the androids up.

"Well, we've got to try." Rook replied, "I went through what's left of his base and it gave me nightmares, Strasky is going through so much worse. And I still want to help those other people, even if some of them are annoying."

It was basic decency, really. Rook didn't mention the new android at first, assuming they were all able to detect each other to some extent. Dan's reaction quickly proved her wrong and prompted her to switch to her flames form the time being. She didn't want to end up like that wall.

"...Yes, Willow does that sometimes. She can keep track of each one of you guys and all the appliances too while she's in the area. That's why she's so calm. She can also probably go through all your circuits and stuff, but that'd be rude." Rook explained, "Who's that guy?"