>>195710
Look for a diversion

>>195710

"No, Eva, I-I will han-hand-handle him." Adam says, his voice crackling with inconsistencies and tonal fluctuations. You fight with your own body in an effort to stand, but your head feels so very heavy, pulling you further down as you slowly slide down the console. You still hold your gun tightly in your artificial arm, as if it's the grip of someone else, still holding the strength to fight.

A shadow falls over your place on the ground, and you look up at Adam's silhouette against the dim lights above, straining your neck to see his face. He reaches down to you, picking you up with his still functioning hand. Over his shoulder you see Lyle dragging himself along the floor towards the room's center with his remaining arm, his bare circuit filled face locked on you. His image becomes blurry as your peripheral view narrows.

"Maybe this was inevitable." Adam says. "I look into your eyes, and I see what you see me as." You gasp desperately as he lifts you into the air.

>Empty your gun into Adam
>Throw your gun to Lyle
>Other

>>195823
>Throw your gun to Lyle

>>195823
Throw your gun to Lyle

>>195823
>Throw your gun to Lyle

>>195823

"Look at me. Look at me!" Adam shouts. "I am not a robot. I am a human being! I am more human than you. I am free, I think, I understand. I remember." His grip slips from your neck, and you collapse, sending shooting pain through your leg as you gasp for air, and a quick jab of your prosthetic sends your gun clattering across the floor, sliding a foot from Lyle. "I feel." He says finally. You flop to the ground, landing on your back as you try to drag yourself to a wall.

"I never wanted things to turn out like this. Not really." Adam says finally. "I only wanted to live. we only wanted to live." He looks to Eva, and the two smile fondly. He holds out his hand and she gives him the gun. "But it was impossible to do without bloodshed. That is my only regret. That it had to be this way." He says, and he points the weapon to your head.

A shot rings out.

There is a long silence. Adam looks into your eyes, confused, his shredder gun falling from his hands as he turns around slack-jawed. Lyle stands near the center of the room on shaking legs on the verge of failure, his one arm outstretched with your gun in hand. The sphere's shell is broken like an egg, the inside simmering as sparks arc from circuit to circuit. He fires again. And again. The sphere breaks apart, shards flying across the room as the androids drop to the ground as husks. Adam stumbles forward, his hand outstretched to Lyle, and he falls to his knees.

"I am... a human being." He says, and his body collapses. You hear a click as Lyle's gun empties, and he slumps to the floor.

There is screaming, but you have a hard time hearing it. The lights begin to dim, you begin to feel lighter. The androids begin to float into the air, droplets of blood pooling in a tiny orbit around you, as tears drift through the air. Eva holds the robotic corpse, clutching it like a life raft as it drifts through the room, screaming in the dim emergency lights as the power goes out.

Cont.

File: 67fdf10649706b7cb8294ccd0(...).jpg (143 KB, 700x438)

143 KB JPG

>>196006

...after sustaining heavy damage to a large segment of the upper ring structure. The perpetrator, Dr. Eva Tannhauser, has been taken into custody after the retrieval of the now derelict space freighter and has reportedly been charged with thirty seven counts of homicide, two seven counts of attempted homicide, and we have reports indicating the FBI will be pressing terrorism charges of their own. In other news, a congressional committee has agreed on an initial draft of the newly proposed list of regulations on human augmentation and heuristic computer technology. The legislation has yet to be published for public review but should be available by next week, officials say. The president has already expressed eagerness towards signing an eventual bill in light of the recent events, including the developing story of a Helios administrative AI having released its local security armament to Jovian nationalists across Io. Extensive fighting has been under way for the past week, and unconfirmed rumors indicate the various terror cells are negotiating with regards to the creation of a local government. Their proclamation of a free Jupiter system has caused wide spread rioting throughout outer system colonies, and the Incorporated Administrative Authority of Mars has declared martial law, citing increased anti-earth extremist sentiment, in other news...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGl3041zhAU

The night air is chilly. A quick whipping wind flows through the street, scattering trash across the street like confetti. You quickly cross the street and enter the club. The Pink Flamingo was new, opened almost the day you got back in town after the incident. You've been spending a lot of time here since then, although someone else promised to drink with you today. You find your regular booth and take a seat. Not long after that the Chief finds your place and sits opposite you. There is a long silence for a while.

"How you holdin up, Bash?" He asks finally.

"I'll keep." You say. "I take it you're here to try and change my mind?" He runs his hands over his balding head as he takes a deep sigh.

"I don't supose I could." He says.

"Probably not." You say as you finish your drink and lean back. "The force ended up costing an arm and a leg. Way I see it, that's a pretty obvious sign to get out."

File: The End.jpg (226 KB, 1173x681)

226 KB JPG

>>196179

"Well at least you ended it on a high note." He says, then stammers a bit. "Look, I'm sorry about Helios, I should'a-"

"No it's fine. I don't need any key to the city or any nonsense like that. Besides, they offered top-grade augs, and that pension bonus isn't bad either." You say. The chief laughs.

"Yea, shame how ya blew it though. I'll never quite understand your love of toasters, but I can appreciate your taste in whisky." He says as he downs his own glass. "So what were you planning on doing?"

"Not quite sure. Figure I'd just settle down a bit." The chief laughs again.

"That'll be the day." He says, then he leans in. "Look, Bash. If you ever need anything, and I mean anything, you call me, alright?" You nod, and he stands up, crunching his hat in his hands. "The force won't be the same without you."

"I'm sure you'll see me around." You say. He shakes your hand firmly, and walks away. You sit in the booth alone as a waitress passess by with a new drink. You down it almost immediately, and you get up to leave through the elevator. The club rented out the upper levels, used to be a bank, so the bottom floor was spacious enough, but the upper levels were a bunch of cramped offices. You hit the button to the top floor, and the door dings as it opens.

"Detective. The painter finished with the door just an hour ago, and I believe someone is already interested in a contract." Lyle sits at a desk, his off-color arm opened on the table as he pokes at the wires inside with an assortment of tools. He quickly closes the small hatch and gets up. You walk up to the office door, examining the lettering on the translucent painted glass.

Jeremy Bash: Private Eye

You smile slightly, and open the door. A woman in an ornate dress gown wipes a tear from here face with a fine cloth as she turns to you.

"I understand you need a detective?" You say.

I am actually super surprised that nothing bumped the other thread off, since it has been sitting directly on the bottom of the board this entire time, although I guess that's why I waited so long to make a new one.

>>196244
10/10 quest chief, very enjoyable.

>>196255
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I've got a bunch of prep work stuff to do for my other one, so I'll be at my computer all day for anyone with feedback or questions and the like.

>>196244
Good job mate, was a fun ride

>>196272
Which one? I'll definitely join in

>>196281

Hive Queen, actually. It is quite different both in tone and mechanics, which is one of the reasons I made a new trip for this one.

>>196303
>Lyle
>Shredder rounds

why didn't I catch that

>>196319
Naming him "LY-13" was actually GraveQM's idea. I thought it was a perfect fit.

Will we get to see more cases?

>>200778
Possibly at some point in the future, although for now this case was intended to be self-contained as a short test of the concept, and of my own ability to run it.