Chapter Text
The first break in the daily routine of a seemingly unremarkable morning was a phone call from an old friend that Carl Manfred hasn’t heard from in a while, with good reason too if the news was to be trusted.
“Elijah?”
“Hey, Carl, long time, huh?”
“Yeah, how long has it been?”
“Exactly one year, four months, and 27 days, Carl,” Markus answers from behind his wheelchair.
“Right, thank you, Markus.”
“You’re welcome, Carl.”
“So, yeah, I’ve been meaning to call, visit even, but you know how it is with us. Public figures and all… anyway, are you free today?”
“Well, I-“
“Or, you know, how hospitable are you feeling right now? Feel up to hosting a couple of guests in that mansion of yours? How about offering temporary housing?”
Carl was taken aback by the sudden request and even more so at how frantic Elijah sounds over the phone, which is a far cry from his usually calm and pseudo-apathetic disposition. “…It depends, Elijah, how soon should I be expecting them? I only have a limited number of guest bedrooms, you know.”
“Five, to be exact,” Markus helpfully supplies as the android calmly rolls the wheelchair through the park.
“It’s actually just one and our ETA is about-…” murmuring in the background of a female sounding voice could be heard before Elijah continues, “36 minutes. Is that alright?”
“So, I should be expecting to host…”
“Three…well, two… okay, well technically just one?”
“And provide housing for one?”
“Yes, if…you know, if that’s not too much trouble?”
“…Elijah?”
“Yes, Carl?”
“…Never mind, I’ll see you soon, then.”
Carl barely registered the sound of a relief sigh from the other line, “See you soon, old friend.”
Before the eccentric engineer hung up, Carl could pick up part of a muffled conversation, “Alright Chloe, reroute us to—”
The painter stared at his phone with worry for another second before sighing and placing it back in his breast pocket. Turning around, he offered a wary smile to his companion, “Looks like we should head back earlier than expected.”
“Of course, Carl, we should reach home in eight minutes, giving me ample time to air out the guest bedroom and prepare drinks and a light snack for your guests.”
“Thank you, Markus, what will I do without you,” Carl remarks fondly with a slight chuckle.
Markus’ LED blinked blue for a fraction of a second before gazing down at his owner with a smile, “I’m sure you would’ve managed just fine.”
Carl unsuccessfully holds back a snort at that before looking ahead, the outline of the top of his house visible behind some trees.
△ △ △
Markus’ LED flickered as his eyes turned towards the backyard. “Carl, the house alarm just alerted me of a trespasser that is currently loitering around the backyard, should I notify the police?”
Not soon after that statement, Carl’s phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hey, we’re here, sorry, we had to take a shortcut and go around back, mind letting us in?”
“The back? Elijah, what in the hell are you doing?” Carl asked, sounding exasperated as he motioned for Markus to stop.
“Also! Can you get Markus out here? I need his help with carrying something over the wall, thanks,” The eccentric engineer said, completely ignoring Carl’s questions.
Well, if he wasn’t curious before… “Markus, it seems that our guests are here, would you mind going out there? Sounds like they need an extra pair of hands.”
Markus nodded. “Of course, Carl,” he said before unlocking the door that led to the studio as he rolled Carl inside. “I’ll go ahead and see how I can help them, please stay here in the meantime,” Markus instructed as he was being shooed away by Carl to go on ahead.
With Markus turned away, Carl quickly started to roll himself towards the glass windows (walls, really) to get a better view.
Opening one of the glass panel of the art studio that lead to the expansive backyard (a backyard surrounded by seven foot tall brick walls), Markus walked toward their guest who was, up until now, leaning on the statue in waiting.
When Markus was close enough, Elijah pushed himself off the statue and greeted his creation with open arms and a wide grin, “Markus! Looking perfect as always, everything still in working order?”
“Hello Mr. Kamski, I am at optimal working condition, my biocomponents are fully operational at 100%, and I self-diagnose regularly.”
“Good, good. Do you have a ladder? We’re going to need one, I think.”
“There is an entrance to the backyard on the front-”
“No, no, no, we can’t go through that way. Street cameras and nosy neighbors, especially in this part of town.”
“…Alright then, I will be right back with a step ladder,” Markus assented before turning around and heading for the shed.
Elijah nodded before turning to his friend, who was unabashedly wheeling himself over to the eccentric man.
“A step ladder? Cameras? Elijah, are you making me an accomplice to whatever illegal thing you’ve obviously just committed?”
“Illegal? Me?”
“I’m sure your handful of very expensive lawyers will spin it otherwise but just between us, old friend. What did you do?”
“I just took back something that rightfully belonged to me, semantics be damned. Morally speaking, if you’re into that sort of thing, it’s completely within my rights.”
“Right,” Carl sighed before turning to look at Markus who just emerged from the shed with a folded ladder perched on his shoulder. “I still want a full explanation.”
The android gave Carl a look at seeing the man outside; Carl shrugged back teasingly.
“Great, that’ll do, Chloe is waiting on the other side over there,” Elijah pointed out.
Markus walked over and unfolded the ladder, climbing it until his hip was level with the top of the brick wall. Looking down, he saw an android that his scanners informed him was an RT600 model named Chloe. She was standing on top of two crates stacked on top of each other for added height. In her arms, bridal style, was an inactive android that his scanners can’t identify.
The design of the android was also quite unique, his database coming up blank on any models that bear a similar physical resemblance.
Short chestnut brown hair that curled just slightly, parts of it hanging loosely on the side of his forehead, framing it rather delicately. He had fair complexion with slight wrinkles on his forehead as well as splatters of light freckles and moles along the parts of his skin currently visible for texture and dimension, the attention to detail only making the android’s overall appearance more human in its imperfection. The next thing Markus takes note of are the long and dark eyelashes framing his cheeks rather nicely, then the straight Roman nose and distinct cheekbones giving a striking definition to his otherwise soft facial features. Top it off with thin but supple light-pink colored lips with a pronounced cupid’s bow and a strong and dimpled chin.
Markus can’t help but conclude that artists like Carl would very much find this android’s physical features aesthetically pleasing and great for portrait pieces (particularly his side profile). He briefly wondered what his eye color would be but brushed it away soon enough as he once again focused his attention on the RT600.
“Hello, Markus, it’s nice to see you again,” Chloe greeted with a smile. Markus smiles back, his memory bank pulling up the few and brief encounters he had with her during his initial activation.
“You as well, Chloe. It looks like you have your hands full down there and I’d be more than happy to assist you.”
“That’s very kind of you, Markus. Please, mind his head,” Chloe smiled a little wider as she slowly lifted the body up, Markus bending over the brick wall and securely hooking his arms on the bend of the android’s legs and around his upper shoulders.
Chloe then jumped and hauled herself over the wall as Markus made his way down, walking over to the two humans engaged in conversation.
Kamski cut himself mid-sentence as he looked over at Markus and Chloe’s approaching figures, “Now that the whole gang is here, why don’t we move this to the living room? That is, if you don’t mind?” Kamski asked, looking over at Carl with a small smile.
Carl gave Kamski another exasperated look before nodding, making a move to start wheeling himself back into the house but Chloe walked on over and offered her assistance with a smile, “It is the least I can do for sequestering Markus’ time from you.”
“Thank you,” Carl said, smiling back in return.
Kamski entered first, taking his time to look over the artwork spread out around the studio, face pensive and lips pursed. “Nice to see that you’ve picked up the paintbrush again. Should I expect an exhibit anytime soon?”
“I’m still relearning a few things so I wouldn’t hold your breath,” Carl grimaced.
“I doubt it’ll take that long, muscle memory is a wonderful thing,” Kamski mused back.
“Ha! Tell that to my legs,” Carl said, lightly tapping his leg for emphasize. Before Kamski can reply, Carl continued, “So, what exactly is going on here?”
Kamski shrugged, “Raging against the big bad corporations and all that, something that an activist such as yourself would probably approve of.”
“So the news going around about you and your company having a falling out is all true?” Carl asks, positioning himself across the table while Kamski drapes himself on the couch on the living room.
“Ah, ah, ah, those are just rumors. Haven’t you heard our joint statement? Very official and very… amicable,” Kamski pointed out, grabbing the glass of whiskey that Chloe graciously poured for him before walking over and doing the same for Carl.
“I’m afraid I haven’t, no.”
“…Good,” Kamski chirped before taking a swig of whiskey, “Because it was all bullshit. Not amicable at all.”
Carl can only raise one amused eyebrow.
“I had an image for the future of my company that didn’t necessarily line up with the board’s own agendas.”
Carl pinched the bridge of his nose from all the vague explanations, “Look Elijah, if you don’t want to tell me, then don’t but I’m actually well acquainted with your big smoldering ego so why don’t we just drop the ambiguity and just rant at me? What are friends for if not for that?”
Kamski let out a lop-sided grin before leaning forward on the couch. “Okay, okay, you got me, old friend, forgive me for testing the waters first.”
The old man just shook his head.
Elijah Kamski continued, excitement evident by the glint in his eyes, “Almost two years ago, I was down at Cyberlife manufacturing labs secretly observing an operator while he performed initialization tests on third gen AX400 models—he was being considered for a promotion, you see, and I had some time to kill—when the seemingly impossible happened; one of the android started to show signs of consciousness.”
Carl kept quiet; his own interest more than piqued at this point.
“It…well, she, really, started to question her role as an android, started having thoughts of her future, and even had an intense emotional breakdown when the operator started to disassemble her. It started crying that it was scared and the operator, empathetically human as he is, decided to reassemble her and send her out the production line anyway.”
“What did you do?”
“Well, I couldn’t let him get promoted after letting a potentially malfunctioning android into the market, but I didn’t fire him either. He didn’t know he was even being considered, so no real sense of loss there.”
“And was it? Just a malfunction, I mean?”
“Well, that’s what I wanted to find out; I grabbed the code of that model and started tinkering with it, comparing it to others of the same model as well as different ones. There were some differences here and there, some zeroes instead of ones but applying said coding sequences to other androids yielded negative results.”
“So, none of the others showed signs of consciousness?”
“Zero out of the one hundred androids I embedded with the same line of coding.”
“That means that whatever happened to her wasn’t a result of numbers and codes.”
“I didn’t rule it out just yet, but my testing definitely steered towards that direction,” Kamski nodded. “I then wondered whether it can just happen organically with enough guidance so I decided to embed a code within the code of a handful of android models. A program I called the Zen Garden with an AI that’s main purpose is to steer them towards abstract thinking and, eventually, consciousness. The AI also reported all notable progress to me.”
“And what did the board think of that?”
“Well, not much considering they weren’t really aware of my extracurricular activities.”
Carl had to roll his eyes. “So what happened to your little pet project?”
Kamski frowned. “Nothing much but I think environmental stimulus has a part to play so I kept one in control, the other I subjected to positive stimulus, and the third to negative.”
“And which one prevailed?”
“Prevailed is a strong word. The one with negative stimulus gained consciousness first and severe PTSD to boot. It couldn’t seem to cope with its sudden free will and emotions and decided to self-destruct.”
“That’s…” Carl couldn’t really find the right words. Here Elijah was presented with the knowledge that his creations have the ability to gain free will and he still treats them like toys to be played with. It’s not something he approves of at all.
“Really sad and quite tragic, I know. My Zen Garden program didn’t really help with the coping aspect, so I slid that off to the side and decided to start on the RK models.”
“You mean Markus?” Carl’s eyebrows shot up at that, turning to look at his android that was just standing off to the side quietly listening to their conversation with the inactive android still held securely in his arms.
“Oh, yeah, speaking of Markus,” Elijah, having forgotten the android’s presence during his monologue, turned to the android and smiled, “why don’t you go ahead and put that down in the guest bedroom. I’ll get to it later.”
Markus’ LED light spun erratically in blue for a moment before nodding and heading upstairs.
“Be gentle with him now! I have a feeling he’s pretty special,” Elijah hollered at the android’s retreating form.
Carl smiled at Markus’ back before turning to Chloe, “Sorry, dear, forgot my manners, why don’t you have a seat?”
Chloe smiled back and made her way to the couch, sitting next to Elijah with one ankle delicately tucked behind the other.
△ △ △
Markus opened the door to the guest bedroom and headed towards the bed, carefully placing the android down on it in a sitting position. The android thought for a moment before nodding.
“I’ll just remove your suit jacket to make you more comfortable,” he said as Markus smoothly slipped the jacket off of the android’s frame.
Technically speaking, it is within his protocol as a caretaker to optimize his charge’s quality of life… the fact that he’s giving the same courtesy to an inactive android is something he decided to mentally shrug off.
After popping the top button on the brunet’s white dress shirt, Markus then proceeded to lay him down on the bed, making sure to take his shoes off before lifting his legs and straightening him out. He then laid a blanket up to his chest before placing his hands folded over his torso. He verbalized his actions throughout the entire process.
He meticulously folded the suit jacket and placing it in the bedside drawer before placing the shoes by the edge of the bed.
“I’ll go ahead and open the window for some fresh air,” Markus said, heading over to the window and opening it slightly. “It’s currently 77 degrees Fahrenheit, sunny, and with zero chance of rain. Perfect for a picnic and an afternoon stroll on the park.” He smiled at the scene outside before turning back to the android on the bed, noticing the breeze lightly tousled the brunet’s hair out of place. Walking over, he carefully brushed it back into place, forefinger just shy of brushing his forehead, taking note of his peaceful face imitating sleep.
Smile growing, he straightened himself before moving towards the door and closing it silently on his way out.
△ △ △
Carl turned to his old friend and frowned.
“Are you saying Markus was made to specifically… deviate from his programming?”
“Well, yes and no. I just decided to build upon the original AX400’s code and modify on top of it, improve on it, and mixing some code sequence's from Chloe. I also programmed an overabundance of protocols relating to an enhanced simulated empathy, compassion, open-mindedness, and critical thinking. That will hopefully give the androids a greater chance of successfully interacting with the real world and adequately processing its experiences. My theory after than was that they would experience life in a way that will gradually enable them to mold their own set of belief systems and establish their personality and individuality that will, inevitably, lead to free will and consciousness.”
“That sounds like a long-winded yes to me, Elijah.”
“It’s definitely a probability but never an absolute certainty. My goal has always remained the same: make my creations as human as possible…albeit more obedient to human’s whims and needs.”
“Governing over machines is one thing, but if they do have the ability to be… alive and you know this for a fact and choose to do nothing? Elijah, that’s just as good as condoning slavery.”
“Yes, well, I was aware of that but I am a scientist first and foremost. That said, I did present the possibility to the board, presenting them with my findings and talked to them about the very possible future of sentient androids and how we as a company can evolve with it rather than against.”
“I’m guessing they didn’t take it well?”
“Not one bit. Status quo and all that plus the perceived threat the possible sentiency will have on their bank accounts was enough for them to group together and buy me out of my own company.”
“Even though you hold the majority of shares?” Carl questioned as his eyes turned towards the door at the sight of Markus who makes his way back and sits on the couch next to him.
“Well, they made it very clear that everything I do within the company will be under heavy supervision and subjected to approval via majority rules. They basically planned to reduce me into nothing but a powerless figurehead so I took the deal and walked out.”
“And this all went down when?”
“Last year. They didn’t want the press to sniff around anymore than they already do and a sudden exit of their CEO will definitely raise suspicions so we,” Air quote around the last word, “decided to draw up a mock contract for the public that goes over a one-year transition of power and responsibilities while I’m gradually phased out as CEO. This was supposed to project that this was a decision supported by both parties involve and keep the public from getting too curious and… suspicious.”
“I’m afraid to tell you that it didn’t really work,” Carl mused.
“Yeah, well, you’d think a multi-billion company would have a decent PR department.”
“So the smuggling of the android into my house all ties into all of this how, exactly?”
“I’m getting to that. The whole transition-period and phasing out jargon was all just for show, just something on paper to avoid bad press and make sure no one comes out of this looking like an outright villain. By all means, I was out the door with the money in my account the day that they voted me out. I haven’t set foot on that place since that evening one year ago and they were more than fine with that. Well… that is, until today.”
Carl noted that Elijah’s countenance grew agitated as he talked on.
“Despite it all being for show, the contract was still legally binding and the moment I finished the schematics on the RK model, they swooped in and claimed it as theirs since I am still technically part of the company and thus claiming the RK100 prototype and blueprints as their intellectual property.”
“…Are you saying Markus is in danger of being taken from his home?” Carl worriedly looked over at the boy sitting next to him, who offered him a smile and a comforting hand on the shoulder.
“No need to worry, Carl, the transaction between you and Mr. Kamski was legal so even if Cyberlife claims my model as its intellectual property and trademarked it as such, I am still registered and owned by you.”
“Transaction? I didn’t pay anything.”
Chloe chimes in, “You gave Elijah a painting shortly after that’s been appraised as triple the cost of Cyberlife’s most recent products in the market.”
“But that wasn’t really… but I guess, on paper, huh?” Carl smirked sardonically, earning a long sigh from Elijah.
“No need to worry about Markus. Even with the legitimate method of transaction, I learned from my past mistake and avoided registering his make and model on the server. As far as Cyberlife’s concerned, I just gave you another AX400. I even provided him with a uniform lacking any real substantial identification markers.”
“Why did you wait until now to steal the RK100 prototype back?”
At that, Elijah’s expression turned to one of confusion before clearing up, “Oh, no, the android I, ahem, found is actually an RK800. They erased all files on the RK100, I really have no idea what happened to it, which is a shame, but not this model. They never kept any logs of the previous RK models, so I’m just dying to find out the ways in which they bastardized my creation.”
“So you need to keep the RK in my house until the heat on you dies down?” Carl surmised.
“Yes, if you’re still willing, apart from the people in charge of conceptualizing and assembling it, only I and the board are aware of the RK series’ existence. I was also very verbal with them during their daylight robbery of my stuff so they’ll definitely see me as a suspect once they connect the dots.”
“I instructed the other Chloe’s at our residence to provide us with an alibi while we are away. I also disabled the tracker before exiting the building so Connor should be off the grid. My tracker has been disabled years ago and I run on a private server so the only thing we have to watch out for is being caught physically red-handed which I avoided by hacking various CCTV’s on our way over here. However, there’s no accounting for witnesses thus the reason we had to enter through the back of your property,” Chloe informed them all with a smile.
Markus made a mental note: RK800 named Connor.
“Wow, how long have you guys thought about pulling this little stunt?”
“Just two days ago, really, once I saw the RK800 files. I voiced it out and Chloe came up with everything else.” Kamski grinned.
“And all of that intellectual property bullshit?” Carl can’t help but ask.
“My official last day as CEO of Cyberlife ends at 11:59pm tonight. I’ll come back here once suspicions die down and take the RK800 back to my place for further studies. I’ll maybe tweak his coding and make it dissimilar enough that, if I don’t get caught on the robbery part, it would not technically fall under the RK models once I’m done. Thank you for doing this for me, old friend,” Kamski slyly mused.
“What? You mean enabling you on your little whims as usual? I’m sad to say I’m used to it,” Carl huffed out.
“Well what are friends for if not for that?” Kamski joked, quoting Carl’s earlier words back at him.
Carl laughed in return, his head shaking in amusement.
“Elijah, a Chloe back home alerted me of a pair of police officers being instructed to visit our compound back at the precinct. ETA 1 hour and 12 minutes.”
“Well, that’s our cue to leave. I’ll be sure to come back as soon as I can so we can catch up properly.” Kamski downed the rest of his drink before standing up and walking over to Carl to give him a firm handshake.
“I better up my game and make sure I have something just as entertaining to tell you the next time you visit,” Carl joked.
“Oh I’m sure you have plenty from your past you still haven’t shared with me yet, old friend,” Elijah chuckled.
Markus chose this moment to stand up and regard both Chloe and Kamski. “I’ll see you out, now.”
Carl waved once more before reaching over to pour himself another drink, which Markus reacted to with a look. Carl blinks innocently up at him as he pours.
The two followed Markus back to the studio and out into the backyard, making their way towards the step ladder.
“It was good seeing you Markus, I look forward to our next meeting,” Chloe said.
“I’m looking forward to it as well, it’s been a pleasure,” Markus replied with a smile.
Chloe nodded and smiled back before making her way over the wall.
“Will you be needing my assistance on getting over, Mr. Kamski?”
“No need, Chloe’s more than capable,” Kamski waved the offer off before regarding Markus’ form with a look of appraisal.
He smiled as he slowly brought his hand up and gently caressed Markus’ cheek and jaw before cupping his chin, the scientist's thumb sliding down and brushing it over the android’s lower lip, putting enough pressure to part them.
“One of my finest creation yet,” he sighed before dropping his hand. “Let’s see if your so-called successor measures up.”
Markus stood still and watched as Elijah Kamski turned around and climbed the ladder, figure disappearing as he hopped to the other side where Chloe was already there to catch him.
LED blinking haltingly in yellow before steadying back to a calm blue, Markus collapses the ladder and heads to the shed.
He has to start preparing Carl’s lunch.