PROLOGUE
11th November 2038 (One day before the Battle of Detroit)
“The android is getting away! Chase it!” The police officer shouted as he made his way along two other officers through the long reception. They watched as the android they were chasing got on the elevator and disappeared behind the closing doors.
“SHIT! FUCKING SHIT!” The officer exclaimed. “The stairs! He must be heading for the rooftop!” Trampling over the endless stairs, the men started feeling exhausted and tired. “Just one more floor, come on damn it!”
And as the officer pushed the rooftop door open, he fell unto his knees, his palms in front of him as he touched the icy cold layer of snow.
It had been snowing the whole afternoon, and the city of Detroit was now all covered in the white blanket of winter.
“Where the hell did, he go?” The officer questioned his other two colleagues, but to his own surprise, he didn’t get any answer. He turned to look around, but he couldn’t see them. “Rodriguez? Marshall?” He called out their names. But nothing.
He got up brushing off the snow from his knees, as he checked for his gun, but as soon as he regained posture, his eyes stopped, dead frozen as he noticed someone crouched just in front of him, at the very edge of the building getting ready to fire a sniper.
“Liam…?” He called out.
The man turned around and to the officer’s dismay it was Liam.
“What are you doing?”
Liam’s face stiffened as he held on to the gun.
“My job, lieutenant.” He answered coldly.
“Don’t you dare shoot.”
Liam turned to look at the officer, his expression puzzled.
“Weren’t you just chasing the android, Daniels?” Liam questioned the officer, using his name.
“I was, and I intended to stop him before he could escape, but not by killing him.”
Liam stood up, letting the gun go.
“Then why did you check for your weapon right as you came stumbling through the door, lieutenant?”
Lieutenant Daniels grimaced feeling a strange feeling of uneasiness overwhelming his body.
“Identify yourself.” He said with a firm voice.
“Liam, model SK-300, serial number 0219382200, latest security model developed by Cyberlife Detroit.”
“Run a diagnostic.” Daniels ordered.
“Ran. No errors were found.”
“Then get back from the ledge, now.” Daniels ordered him again, putting his hand on his weapon.
“I have a mission to fulfill lieutenant. I cannot.”
“Liam get the hell away from the ledge! Now!”
Liam’s face stiffened again as he seemed to try to contradict his friend’s orders. But as soon as he lowered his gaze, he looked back up, and with a swift move, he grabbed the large sniper and threw it against Daniels.
The man was caught by surprise but managed to slightly dodge the incoming flying weapon. He bumped into one of the air conditioning units installed on the rooftop and watched as the weapon flew right by him, hitting the wall next to him.
He didn’t have time to react, as he saw Liam now running toward him. The android he once considered his partner, and lately his friend has gone mad; or so Daniels thought.
Liam lunged at him, punching Daniels in the stomach. The man coughed and spit on the ground but recovered quickly grabbing hold of a brick he had found next to him, striking back.
He punched Liam in the face, scratching the android’s synthetic layer of skin down from its face.
He hit Liam again, this time in the leg, forcing the android to drop down on the floor for a split second, but being more than a human, he recovered and returned the hit, pushing Daniels away with incredible force.
“LIAM! ENOUGH!” Daniels shouted feeling overwhelmed by emotion and fear as he watched Liam going insane right before his eyes. “What are you doing?!”
“Fulfilling my mission.” Liam said as he started running toward the lieutenant again. But just as he got close enough to hit the man again, the officer pulled his gun, unloading two bullets.
The android fell to its knees, blue blood dripping all over the floor around him. Daniels managed to shoot him in its chest and in the neck. He was bleeding hard, losing fluid rapidly.
“Why….?” Daniels shivered as he held on to his gun, his hands shaking.
But he didn’t get an answer. Liam just stood there starring blankly at his ex-partner. And as soon as he saw Daniels putting his gun away, he pulled out his own, unloading a single bullet, right into the lieutenant’s heart.
The man fell to his knees, and right after onto his back, slowly drifting away, a pool of blood shortly after engulfing his body where he laid.
1:33 A.M.
Liam’s LED flashed blue and red, intermittently switching between the two colors. He had violated his primary rule. He couldn’t, he was NOT allowed to kill humans under any circumstances. And although he knew that, and he tried to follow that rule, he found himself pulling the trigger. For a purpose his central processing unit couldn’t figure out.
“Lieutenant…” Liam spoke under a low husky tone. He couldn’t move, and he couldn’t grasp the gravity of the situation, not yet.
**
1:52 A.M.
Snow had almost covered lieutenant Daniels’ body. The android, just lay there, on his knees, still frozen. His beautiful blonde wavy hair played through the wind as he finally managed to blink. Once. His body jolted, like snapping out of a dream. He slowly turned his head looking around, but as soon as he laid eyes on the body before him, he froze again.
“Lieutenant…?” He spoke. “Lieutenant Daniels?” His voice using a much firmer tone. “Daniels!” Liam finally shouted, as he ignored his weakened state, his biocomponents on the brink of shutting down.
He got up on his feet, almost losing his gravity as he did. Holding on to himself, with his right hand against the wall, he stumbled like a walking corpse, making his way toward the lifeless body that lay before him.
He fell on the ground, his legs giving in due to the large amount of lost blue blood.
He grabbed Daniels by the arm, checking for a pulse, but he found none. And at that moment, he swallowed dry, like finally waking up from a nightmare.
Everything flashed before his eyes, like a movie on replay. How could he allow something like this happen? What part of him, made him do this? He was a deviant, he was supposed to have free will, how could he do something like this?
Question after question flooded his conscious but it was all too late.
“Lieutenant….” Liam said his voice cracking up as he felt his eyes getting all weary and watery. “Lieutenant…. I am…. I am so, so sorry….”
He pulled Daniels close to him, resting the officer’s head in his lap as he started crying.
“I am so deeply sorry…. I am sorry…. I am sorry…” He kept repeating those words, not knowing what else to say.
And as he held on to his lifeless friend, the last critical warnings were displayed before his eyes, before everything turned to nothingness, and he finally….shut down.
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