Chapter 35: Creed
I understood Greyson in more ways than he probably knew. I understood staying up late and worrying whether I would be able to protect and provide for Kelsea and if I was making the right decisions for her. I was set on raising her, that was all that mattered for a long time until I met Greyson. I was happy we were both willing to risk what we thought was best for us for something that could be better.
I sat in the office with the files, going over them, Greyson was looking for more to implicate the Drovers with but in all honesty, our best shot was probably getting Huxley to turn on them. I doubted many people would be willing to make them enemies though, mainly because if they ended up in the same prison, they’d end up dead. We’d seen that with Alessio, he’d been destroyed, the only reason he got a second chance was that he was an android.
I glanced over at Greyson, every once in a while, watching his chest rise and fall. I was reminded of my first few months with Kelsea, I had trouble getting her to sleep peacefully through the night and I was worried the neighbours would complain, they never did though, I guess it is normal for a baby to wake up and cry, they didn’t know how else to communicate.
At around 8:00 am the next morning, I left the office and walked to the break room to make Greyson a coffee before waking him. His phone had yet to ring with news of the warrant. I was hoping and praying we had enough, because we were running out of options.
I walked back to the office and when I opened the door, Greyson was sitting up with the phone to his ear. He was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and talking to whoever had called him.
“Can you fax it over?” he commented quickly standing up.
He then rambled off a fax number.
“Right, we’ll do it as soon as the rest of the team is up and here,” he commented before hanging up.
He looked up and over at me, “We have a warrant,” he informed me.
“Let’s hope we find what we need,” I state trying to remain calm. “So, we bring everyone home.”
“Of course, and so we can build our home,” he whispers giving me a small smile and touching my cheek. “Come on, let’s go,” he adds pulling his coat on and we exit the office.
We make our way to the office Lev is sleeping in with Deckard watching over him to inform them of the good news. Greyson made some phone calls after and all of the agents that had shown up yesterday were back in the office. Deckard had gone back to Lev’s apartment so he was out of the way, as much as he could really just wait around and worry, he wasn’t built to negotiate with people and search a house.
The eight of us were gearing up, we knew what we were walking into and we had to be prepared for them to fight us or resist us at the very least. Greyson asked me multiple times if I was sure I wanted to risk being discovered. As much as we would be out of the woods after this, it didn’t mean the media would let us live peacefully and continue our lives as before. I knew if people found out we would be ridiculed.
“Maybe I should just tell them now,” I commented.
“They know about Chloe already, right?” I added.
They had to know why Toby and she were in protective custody, and Chloe had no problem outing herself to protect Toby. With Lev’s father’s history, they understood why she was there, robots like her are designed to care for the children they are carrying, as they are normally kept on after to help raise the child or have to protect the child while they are growing in their womb, so it wasn’t odd that she cared for Toby necessarily.
Greyson looked nervous.
“It would be better if I told them, right?” I continued. “Instead of them finding out and feeling betrayed or whatever?”
“Be careful,” he whispered in my ear leaning closer.
I only nodded. There was always a risk they would retaliate and want to take all of this straight to the higher-ups and scrap me.
Greyson followed me over to the others and I could tell Lev knew something was coming. Greyson stood behind me, probably trying to intimidate them into listening to me at the least. Lev stood off to my side. I was glad I had some support.
“Before we go and raid some criminal’s house, I thought it was necessary to inform you of something so you don’t find out in some other way later and feel betrayed,” I started nervously.
I took a deep breath before continuing.
“I am an android, a deviant. I have been hiding among humans for several years. I thought if we went into this and you found out because I got injured you might feel betrayed or like we were hiding it from you, so I thought it would be best to tell you now. I have a life, emotions and a family, just like the rest of you and I hope this one thing about me doesn’t make you see me as any different than the rest of your colleagues and we can still do our job and bring these monsters in without any issues,” I inform them.
The other five people on Greyson’s team stared at me. Alice, the one who had helped put Chloe and Toby into witness protection smiled sadly. I could see the sympathy in her eyes. The other guy who had helped set up Alessio’s new body looked saddened. But the other three looked unsure, scared or angry.
Greyson stepped forward.
“If you have any issues with an android coming in with us, I suggest you stay behind. Creed has been a police officer for almost a decade, almost as long as some of you have served, our lives hold the same value, you both have families and this is both your job, regardless of the colour of your blood,” he warns.
“What do you mean he has a family? He’s a robot,” one of the other men, Heath, I think his name was exclaimed.
I thought about telling them about Kelsea but I didn’t want to bring her into this. So, I kept my mouth shut.
“There are people who care about him, like there are people who care about you and want to see you come home,” Lev reasons.
“Who? The government? They just don’t want to spend more money to replace him,” Heath counters.
“You’re benched, Heath,” Greyson states with a growl. “I’m not having anyone come home injured because their life was seen as less valuable.”
Heath glares at me disapprovingly, as if this is somehow my fault before crossing his arms and walking off.
“Anyone else?” Greyson questioned.
Everyone else remained silent.
“Good, go get ready,” he stated.
The rest of them went off to prepare, put on bulletproof vests and gear and get weapons. Lev followed them, soon I was left alone with Greyson again.
“You okay?” he asks.
“I don’t know if okay is the right word,” I replied quietly. “It’s scary how mad people get over things that don’t affect them. Me being an android doesn’t do anything to them, it affects me and you and Kelsea.”
“They’re probably worried you’ll choose to go after the criminals or shoot them rather than attempt to do this peacefully, but I know you have empathy so I don’t have to worry about any of that. You’re as human as the rest of us in terms of emotions. I wish we had the time to make them see that, but we don’t. That’s why I benched Heath,” he reasons.
“I just don’t want to make any more enemies for us,” I whisper.
“I doubt Heath would try to hurt you, I just don’t think if it was between you or one of the others, he’d choose to save you,” Greyson replies.
“We should go get ready, the sooner we arrest them, the better,” I answer avoiding the topic any further.