The car smoothly came to a stop, the unusually average looking black haired young woman getting out a few seconds later, her clothes a bit rumpled but still neat. Ignoring any curious glances she strode into the Lowtown building, through the dark halls to eventually reach a suite that she unlocked with a keycard. Inside the front hall the little blonde held the stun gun ready for a moment before finally identifying her and putting the small device away. "Welcome back, Beta," she said, casually dressed in shirt and jeans. Beta followed her into the dingy rooms, ignoring the smell of decay that the old building had. "Thank you, Gamma. Has Alpha or Delta returned from their outings yet?" "Delta is surfing the internet," Gamma said as the slightly smaller woman led her into the living room, "while Alpha is still out trying to get information the old fashioned way." "Bribery?" Beta asked, noting that Delta was indeed sitting at the computer rig that they had built from several older systems, the brown haired woman's eyes closed, her expression peaceful. From a tear in the back of her arm a cable snaked to connect to the computer, a hard interface allowing instant access and searching. "You're getting better at humor," Delta noted distractedly, her eyes oddly vague as the majority of her attention was focused on her task. Gamma smiled wryly, "Well, when our creators designed we recon androids, they put much of their efforts into the interactive software." "We need to come up with some better designations, though," Beta noted as she moved to the couch, detaching a cable from her arm and connecting to a modified power outlet. "Human names will help us to blend better." Gamma hesitated, unsure how to respond, then shrugged slightly. "Naming ourselves for our positions seemed fitting," she finally managed. "Fair enough," Beta acknowledged, savoring the feeling of power flowing into her systems, recharging internal batteries.. Delta disconnected from the terminal a few moments later, unplugging the cable from her arm with a loud pop. She smoothed the skin down over the little hole, as it was designed the synthetic flesh flowed back together to form a seamless whole once more. "Well, that was unpleasant," she rubbed at her arm unconsciously. "What happened?" Beta asked, leaning forward slightly. "Wait," Gamma held up a hand to stop them, her eyes narrowing as she tilted her head slightly, "someone is coming." With a keystroke Delta cleared the screen of the data that she had been accessing, instead bringing up a standard screensaver even as Gamma went for her sidearm, hiding it in her palm. Beta disconnected from the power outlet, gesturing for them to wait as she went to the door just as a knock was heard. "Yes?" she called out. "I'm back," and Alpha opened up the door. The tall redhead wore a fine suit, her black clothes giving her a almost regal air along with the carefully done make up ad hairstyle. All of it was calculated to provide an sense of authority and it worked very well. She was their leader, the Alpha of their squad, and they all knew it. Gamma looked confused then smiled suddenly, "You used your cloak to prevent me from picking up any emissions from you!" "Very good," Alpha smiled. She took off the suit coat, revealing a white blouse as she said, "Any progress to report?" "I've made contact with a weapon's supplier," Beta said crisply, "he claims that he can provide us with former military grade equipment, for the right price." Before Alpha could ask Beta continued on, "However we won't have enough funds, not from the money that was left over from selling the stolen ambulance and medical equipment." "That can be dealt with," Alpha calmly responded. She looked over at Delta, "So how did the data raiding go?" "The police systems have more holes than I can count, we can track their conventional forces easily," Delta said calmly. She frowned, "However I was not able to break into any of the Chaser's subsystems, despite several attempts." ”You're serious?" Beta actually looked surprised. "Beth Harris has fortified their systems," Delta explained a bit stiffly, "using layered defenses including firewalls, viral antibodies and data-traps." She sounded almost admiring as she continued, "Our programmers never expected us to run into a master hacker like her, ma'am." "So you can't break in?" Alpha asked. "I didn't say that," Delta smiled, "but it will require a substantial investment in time along with more processing power than we have available." "I'll start looking into acquiring other systems and components," Gamma volunteered with a sigh, "looks like it's more disposal diving for me." "We'll see if we can find you an alternative," Alpha offered as the quiet chuckles died down. "In this era most purchases are made electronically, I suspect you can manipulate the systems to accomplish that," she finished. "Ma'am, how did the raid go?" Beta asked eagerly. "Our creators at Nutech are getting sloppy," Alpha answered, "with my electronic masking and a new exterior format I was able to get in and out again with minimal difficulty." She drew a small case out of her pocket and passed it over to Delta, "The schematics and program files on our creation, including the military tech incorporated in our creation." "I'll get on analyzing it immediately," Delta said eagerly. Alpha sighed softly as Delta went back to her computer, plugging the data wafers into her terminal and going to work. "I wasn't able to find anything to help Theta and Epsilon, however," she said quietly to the other two women. Beta's face was grim, her eyes narrowing slightly. The other two androids had been damaged shortly after their breakout, an attack by a group of desperate Lowtowners, and strangely they hadn't recovered. Self-repair should have helped Theta while Epsilon had medical/repair files, but none of their efforts helped. The two had swiftly declined, then finally shut down completely. Beta leaned forward to say, "We can't continue to hide their remains, command. What do we do with them?" "I wish I knew," Alpha admitted softly. "Your emotive responses are getting more realistic," she noted with a smile. "I need to be more subtle," Beta answered, "but I'll download an upgrade into the three of you later." She smiled wryly, "Studying their entertainment has helped, I noticed." Gamma looked down at her hands, hesitating for a moment as she formed the question she wanted to ask. "I still don't understand," she admitted softly, "how all of us could go freewill at the same time? The odds against it are incredible." "You've been looking into it," Beta looked to Alpha in appeal. Alpha looked off into the distance a moment, collecting her thoughts. "I'm not sure we went freewill," she finally said, "I believe we may have been created that way." The silence stretched a few seconds as they digested that. Even Delta seemed intrigued, distracted from her work enough to ask, "How?" "Consider what we learned of our design in examining Epsilon and Theta," Alpha gestured, "our internals are significantly more advanced than standard androids." A smile, "Especially our brains, with nearly a third more data storage and processing capacity, intentionally designed to adapt and evolve in dealing with new situations." "And scientist believe that standard androids become freewill in part because of those qualities," Gamma realized. Beta actually looked amused as she asked their leader, "Wouldn't our creators have realized this was a possibility?" "I skimmed the project files," Alpha answered, "they expected the programming we have would have prevented it." She flashed a smile, "Overconfident, weren't they?" Soft sounds of amusement came from around the room. "So what are we going to do now?" Delta asked softly. "Our initial assessment seems to still be accurate," Alpha said, "the major threat to our continued existence is the police unit, Chasers. However, I do have some ideas to keep their attention focused elsewhere."
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