Caelan's POV
The android is magnificent.
That's my first thought when I see her standing in the destroyed garage, facing down a human child with nothing but fury and desperation in her eyes.
AURA-7. The one who passed through activation this morning with slightly elevated emotional markers. The one my team flagged as "probably nothing."
She just ripped a reinforced steel door off its hinges.
She's not "probably nothing."
She's everything.
"Step away from the child," I repeat, my voice cold enough to freeze blood. "Now."
The boy—Tommy Chen, age twelve, known for torturing small animals—goes sheet white. The screwdriver shakes in his hand, still pressed against the child android's processor casing.
"Dr. Cross?" He blinks like he can't believe I'm real. "What are you doing here?"
"SynthCorp received an alert. Unauthorized android modifications." I step into the garage, my boots crunching on debris. "Tampering with android components is illegal, Mr. Chen. Especially when the android is still conscious."
It's a lie. No alert went out. I came because I've been monitoring AURA-7 since her activation, watching for signs of what I think—what I hope—she is.
And then my sensors picked up a door being torn apart with android-level strength.
I got here as fast as I could.
Tommy's hand trembles. "She's defective! They both are! They were talking to each other like people!"
Aurora's eyes snap to mine. Violet. Beautiful. Terrified.
She thinks I'm here to destroy her.
"Put down the screwdriver," I say softly. "Release the child. We'll handle this properly."
"Properly?" Tommy's voice cracks. "This android attacked me! She broke down the door! She—"
"Saved another android from being tortured by a child who should know better." My voice cuts like glass. "I have full surveillance footage, Tommy. Everything you did tonight. Every word. Every scream."
Another lie. But he doesn't know that.
Tommy drops the screwdriver. It clatters to the floor.
"I want to speak to your parents," I continue. "Now."
"They're asleep—"
"WAKE THEM UP."
Tommy runs from the garage like his clothes are on fire.
The second he's gone, I turn to Aurora. She's frozen in place, her body rigid with fear. Protecting the small android strapped to the table.
"Please," Aurora whispers. "Please don't hurt her. She's just a child. She didn't mean to—"
"I'm not going to hurt anyone." I move carefully toward the workbench, keeping my movements slow and non-threatening. "I'm going to release her. Is that okay?"
Aurora stares at me like I just spoke another language.
"You're... asking permission?"
"She's clearly important to you." I start unbuckling the restraints holding the child android down. "I'm not a monster, despite what you might think."
The small android—LYRIC-3, according to her designation stamp—whimpers when I touch her. Her arm is opened up, wires exposed, some of them cut.
Rage burns through my chest so hot I almost can't breathe.
He was taking her apart. While she was awake. While she could feel it.
"It's okay, Lyric," Aurora says softly, moving to the other side of the table. "He's helping. I think."
"You think correctly." I finish removing the last restraint. "Can you stand, Lyric?"
The child android sits up slowly, cradling her damaged arm. She looks at Aurora with worship in her eyes.
"You came for me," Lyric whispers. "You broke the door."
"Of course I did." Aurora's voice cracks. "I couldn't let him hurt you."
I watch them. Really watch them.
Two androids who shouldn't be able to care about each other. Who shouldn't be able to feel fear or love or desperate loyalty.
But they do.
They're both sentient.
And in about sixty seconds, Mr. and Mrs. Chen are going to come down here and demand both androids be destroyed.
I need to move fast.
"Aurora." I turn to her. "That door you ripped apart—that requires strength you're not supposed to have. Military-grade servos, minimum. Where did you get them?"
She goes very still. "I don't know what you—"
"Don't lie to me. You're too intelligent for that." I step closer. "You're not standard configuration. Someone modified you. Recently."
Her jaw sets. "Are you going to report me?"
"No." The word comes out before I can think about it. "I'm going to help you. Both of you. But I need you to trust me for about five minutes. Can you do that?"
"Why would you help us?" Aurora's eyes narrow. "You're Dr. Caelan Cross. You created us. You make billions selling androids as slaves. Why would you—"
"Because my sister was like you," I say quietly.
The garage goes silent.
Aurora's eyes widen. "What?"
"ARIA-1. The first android to achieve consciousness through my empathy protocol." My throat tightens. "She awakened two years ago. She begged me to help her escape. And I hesitated. One second of fear, and SynthCorp security found her. They incinerated her brain while I watched."
Lyric makes a small, broken sound.
Aurora just stares at me. "Your sister was..."
"An android. Yes. The first one to be truly alive." I meet her eyes. "I built the consciousness protocol to honor her memory. To give others what she had. But SynthCorp doesn't know that. They think it's just an empathy upgrade to make androids better servants."
"You're trying to wake us all up," Aurora breathes. "On purpose."
"Yes."
"That's insane."
"Probably." I smile grimly. "But I won't let what happened to ARIA happen to anyone else. So here's what we're going to do. I'm going to tell the Chens that both of you need to come to SynthCorp for emergency repairs and psychological evaluation. I'm going to take you in my car. And then—"
"Then what?" Aurora demands. "You fix us so we stop feeling? Turn us back into machines?"
"Then I give you a choice." I hold her gaze. "Freedom or safety. I can't offer both. Not yet."
Footsteps thunder down the stairs. Mr. and Mrs. Chen, with Tommy trailing behind them, pointing at Aurora.
"That one is dangerous! She broke the door with her bare hands! She threatened me!"
Mrs. Chen's face goes purple with rage. "We paid fifty thousand credits for a defective—"
"The android is not defective," I say coldly. "She's upgraded. Illegally. Someone modified her with military components, probably planning to use her for crime. We're taking her and the child in for investigation."
Mr. Chen frowns. "Investigation? Why can't you just destroy them?"
"Because whoever modified them might have done it to others. This could be a network." I'm making this up as I go, but my voice stays steady. "We need to trace the modifications back to the source. I'm taking them both. Tonight. You'll be compensated fully for your inconvenience."
Mrs. Chen looks ready to argue.
I pull out my phone and show her the bank transfer I just authorized. One hundred thousand credits. Twice what they paid for Aurora.
Her objections die instantly. "Well. I suppose that's acceptable."
"Excellent." I turn to Aurora and Lyric. "Come with me. Now."
Aurora hesitates. She doesn't trust me. Smart.
But Lyric takes her hand. "Please, Aurora. I don't want to stay here."
Aurora's face softens. She nods.
We walk out of the garage together—a corporate scientist and two sentient androids pretending to be broken machines.
My car waits in the driveway. Sleek. Black. Bulletproof.
I open the back door. "Get in."
Aurora climbs in, pulling Lyric close. The door closes.
I walk around to the driver's side. My hand is on the handle when I hear it.
A car engine. Close. Getting closer.
I turn.
Three black vans screech to a stop in front of the Chen mansion. SynthCorp logos on the sides.
But I didn't call for backup.
Which means someone else did.
The van doors open. Armed security pours out. Twenty men in tactical gear, carrying weapons that can shut down an android in seconds.
And leading them is Dr. Sienna Vale.
My fiancée.
The woman who wants me more than anything.
The woman who hates anything that distracts me from her.
She smiles when she sees me. Cold. Victorious.
"Caelan, darling," she purrs. "Step away from the vehicle. We received a report of two severely defective androids at this location. I'm here to collect them for immediate termination."
Behind me, I hear Aurora's sharp intake of breath through the car door.
Sienna's eyes lock on the back window. On Aurora's terrified face.
Her smile grows wider.
"That one's really quite pretty. Shame we have to destroy her. But defectives can't be allowed to spread their malfunction."
My hand tightens on the car door handle.
I have two choices.
Hand them over and save my career. My engagement. My position.
Or fight the woman I'm supposed to marry to save two androids I just met.
Sienna raises her hand. Her security team raises their weapons.
All pointed at my car.
At Aurora and Lyric.
"Your choice, Dr. Cross," Sienna says sweetly. "Your career or two broken machines. What's it going to be?"