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“This ain’t good, Morgan,” London told her, once more. She’d been called into the homicide department, personally requested to represent some serial killer she’d never heard of for a retrial. They wanted to contest their innocence, apparently. Of course, Reyes had damn near bit her head off until, eventually, London had taken mercy on her and pulled her aside for a chat in private.
“Are you sure? I had my doubts, considering how loud your coworker was.”
He heaved a sigh, “look, she’s right. We know you’re not some kinda mob lawyer, but this case was something else. It’s a bad look for you, ain’t worth the risk.”
“Regardless, I need to speak with them,” Morgan replied, quirking an eyebrow, “at the very least, I need to know how this supposed serial killer heard of me.”
“I get that, just… be damn careful with this case. Lotta employees at Tethys brought a rifle to work, if you get my meaning.”
“I haven’t dedicated myself to this case, Detective,” Morgan replied, brow furrowed, “this seems cut and dry, does it not?”
London shrugged a shoulder and shot her what he likely classified as a comforting grin. It looked more like he was preparing to tell her that some hypothetical beloved pet had passed. “That’s exactly why I’m afraid of you agreeing to head their retrial, Morgan.”
With that attempt at an ominous warning, London waved Morgan through. “Reyes, stand down, we’ll let her in.”
“What?” She yelled, “this piece of shit’s dangerous. This isn’t like Flatt, we can’t take those mods out.
“You have a collar on the poor kid, I’m sure,” Morgan chimed.
“As long as Serra’s with her,” London nodded to the android, “Morgan’ll be alright.”
“That’s… fine. I don’t like it, though.”
“That’s alright, detective! Just think, if I’m somehow turned into a stain on your wall, you’ll know that the defendant is a killer for sure!”
- - -
Entering the room, Morgan admitted that she was… disappointed. This person had been hyped up as some serial killing savant, one who almost got away with it. One who nearly got one over on the Meg they worked for, even! All this whispered in hushed breaths and in tones of reverence. She’d even seen comparison drawn between this… minuscule bundle of flesh and bone and Heartbreak. She held her own special disdain for Heartbreak, but she was still offended at the comparison. She was efficient, clean, this… child was found sat in their dorm with a dazed smile after royally botching a murder with a box cutter.
Different leagues. Entirely different.
…She was curious, though.
“So, you called?” She introduced, bursting into the interrogation room.
The kid actually jumped. Well… kid may have been a misnomer, judging by the state of them. They looked as though they’d been wandering the food desert for their whole life. Probably had, considering their sole record of employment was at a Tethys fulfilment center.
“I-I’m Bailey,” they stuttered.
“Just Bailey?” Morgan asked. They’d had a first name listed in their paperwork, but whatever the client preferred.
“Yeah,” they nodded, as though the movement hurt them. “Bailey’s good.”
“I’m Morgan,” she waved a hand to her paralegal, “and this is Serra. We’ve yet to determine whether or not we’ll take your case, but we’ve got some preliminary questions, first.”
“Sure,” they stammered. Slowly, as though having to plot their movements four steps in advance, their eyes wandered around their sockets, head tilting to follow them slightly. They slowly patted their own prison jumpsuit’s pockets down, frown deepening upon realizing they had nothing in them. “I’m sorry, I don’t have any money on me.”
“That’s not how defence lawyers work,” Morgan informed them, “most of us don’t have the luxury of a hefty payout from our client.”
“But Adonai,” Serra asked, voice filled with genuine curiosity, “the Ikariya family are quite wealthy.”
“I’m buying food for two, Serra,” Morgan helpfully reminded her.
“I’ll have to start liquidating my wine collection if you begin charging rent, Adonai,” Serra whined.
“Your Add is very… emotive,” Bailey cut in. Their hands had stopped shaking, but this was most certainly not a good thing, given the circumstances. Morgan caught that flicker in their eye. Their eyes had darted across the table, sizing up the distance to the pen Morgan had placed atop their case file.
Morgan had already made the calculation herself.
“Serra, mind fetching me a drink?”
“Shouldn’t I stay here to record testimony?”
“You’re my medical Ad, Serra,” Morgan reminded her, tone sickly sweet. “My blood sugar is dropping, so get me whatever has the highest sugar content. Ask Detective London about the vending machine in the back, I’m pretty sure that’s where you’ll find the really sugary stuff.”
Serra turned to leave. Morgan was almost tempted to ask her paralegal to send Reyes in, solely to avoid any bitching the detective might commit herself to later, but no, she’d talk to her client alone.
She needed to understand this murderer.
For the case she was building.
“You noticed, then,” the kid stuttered.
“I noticed that you appeared ready to stab my Ad, yes.”
“Sorry, it’s just… bad memories, y’know?”
“I’m not sure that I do,” Morgan replied, “though I suppose that I’m glad that you didn’t act upon those feelings.”
“Probably wouldn’t help my case, huh?” Bailey laughed, all nerves and teeth.
“You’d be sent back to whatever your prison calls a hospital,” Morgan helpfully informed them. “That Add has recently learnt about the one inch punch and I’m sure she’d love to demonstrate.”
“Ah… I see.”
This led quite nicely into a stretch of silence. A lengthy stretch of silence. Morgan was quite content to remain quiet, but she did have some talking to do before Serra got back. As she ordered the question in her mind, her potential defendant spoke up first.
“Sorry that I can’t pay you,” they said. “I-I mean you haven’t signed any contracts, yet, but you’re using your break to chit-chat.”
“Break? I’m on the clock, Bailey. This is my job.”
“I… but you’re not my lawyer..?”
“Whether I’m being paid or not, this is my job,” Morgan repeated. “What made you decide that I was the right lawyer for you? I don’t remember losing any major cases lately, so I don’t imagine word of mouth has reached you.”
“One of the guards,” Bailey answered. “One of the guards who talks to me followed your case, so I figured that an expert like you would be best.”
“Expert in what?”
“Artificial Intelligence,” the kid replied, gaze settling over Morgan’s shoulder. “I want you to prove that I… did what I did because of an AI.”
“…You’re claiming that Tethys has an AI and that it… what..? Told you to kill?”
“She- it has to be!”
Doubt it. The only AIs Morgan knew of were the ones her friend had made. And they’d not kill. They were probably much too soft to, considering their sister.
“‘She’?”
“Penny,” Bailey didn’t quite say this word so much as they allowed it to escape their lungs. “She’s an assistant, a-an Ad. She made me do it. I didn’t…” they gestured to their arm, “I’m modded, but I didn’t have any shakes that bad. Not until we were next to the shredder.”
“So you think that this ‘Penny’ is an AI and she literally forced your hand?”
Bailey nodded. Their eyes were clenched shut.
“I’ll take a look around, I suppose,” Morgan told them. She wouldn’t get much more from the kid, but hey, modded eyes and limbs meant there had to be records. If the case was as cut and dry as the kid seemed to think, she’d have to go through hell to request for those records, but hey, maybe it’d be worth it just so she could show Serra how to file the forms properly.
- - -
It was… disturbingly easy to request the data from Tethys. They not only readily agreed, but they asked if they could provide anything else for her investigation. That meant that the information was damning.
And, upon review… yes, it most certainly was. It was, however, quite interesting, as well. There was video evidence of Bailey’s murders, of course, but there was also evidence of their reactions. The way they nearly toppled over the broken railing after they threw an arm into that woman with the gaudy mods. They had every angle of the incident, too. Well, all but Bailey’s. Interesting.
Another interesting thing was that the transport car they’d sent collect Morgan and Serra was running into technical difficulties. Apparently, the warehouse was large enough that it warranted its own railway and, due to some scheduling conflict, there was to be a significant delay. Morgan had cheerily informed the Add who had told them this that a delay would be wonderful, as it allowed her to compile her notes for their imminent investigation.
She watched the estimated time of arrival mysteriously shrink by a whole twenty five minutes after that. Smooth. And the damn Add had the nerve to send her a notification to her phone begging for a tip.
“Serra,” she turned the screen to her paralegal. “This is what you do when asked to tip.” She took more than a little joy in very pointedly tapping the 0% button.
“Adonai, why would I not tip?”
Morgan was hoping she’d not be asked any follow-up questions, just so she could see the look on Reyes’ face when Serra inevitably supplied her opinion on tipping culture, but oh well.
- - -
“Adonai!” Morgan hardly heard the yelp before she felt something slam into her side, both knocking the wind out of her and knocking her over. She nearly felt her head slam against the concrete, but something braced her neck. No. Someone, she realized.
Serra’s arm had snaked under Morgan’s arm and held her neck and, as a result, Morgan was… relatively unharmed. It took Morgan a moment to fully register the fragments of some refrigerator or oven that now littered the walkway, one that had nearly crushed her. She grabbed Serra’s shoulders, yanking the android into a sitting position and looking her over. She seemed uninjured. Undamaged.
She was… shaken up, however. Morgan could tell because the android had wrapped her arms around Morgan, shoving her tiny head into her chest. Morgan stiffened at the contact, mechanically patting the girl on the head. As she did this, she took the scene in, making sure that nothing else would just so happen to slide from a shelf.
“Adonai, I’m glad you’re alright,” Serra blubbered.
“No need to get all sappy,” Morgan replied, “it’s over, you don’t need to worry about finding another roommate.”
Serra only tightened her hug at this. Objectively speaking, she wasn’t using nearly enough strength to injure, but Morgan felt as though she were being held in a vice. As a result, she informed her medical Add that it was time for them to move on. That staying there could be dangerous, though Morgan knew it wasn’t. Little white lies hurt nobody.
It didn’t escape Morgan’s attention that Serra, after helping Morgan to her feet, didn’t release her hand. It couldn’t escape her attention, really. Fuck, David’s Add was a sap.
- - -
They didn’t have much luck at the warehouse. Or, rather, they didn’t have as much luck as Morgan would’ve preferred. She’d obviously flagged both the crate that nearly fell on her, as well as the shoddy railing they’d found near the crime scene, but most evidence had long since been cleaned. Plus, she wouldn’t really know of substance until she got more information.
The trip wasn’t a complete waste, but Morgan had to admit that she was regretting going. When changing out of her typical work attire, she’d felt a soreness from where she’d hit the floor. It was difficult to see, but there was a decently sizable bruise across her upper back, right overtop a shoulder blade.
That wasn’t the source of her regret, however. No, she regretted the trip because Serra was growing needy. Morgan noticed that she’d chosen to wear the pajamas she'd been given until the two could get her some more clothes. They had long since acquired a startling number of outfits for a two year old, but Serra was now choosing to wear the ragged and baggy clothes that Morgan had given her for temporary use.
Another sign of this mood she was in was a lot more self-evident. She asked to sleep in Morgan’s bed. With her. Morgan really didn’t want to agree and, frankly, she’d love nothing more than to lock the door and turn her away, but… well… maybe Serra would shut up about that raise if she agreed. That didn’t mean that Morgan didn’t insist on the two of them sleeping on opposite sides of the bed, though.
“What’s bothering you?”
“Penny,” Serra answered. “And how she looked when that crate fell.”
“Who?”
“You did not see her, Adonai? The Add who informed us that the train would be delayed watched the crate fall.”
“She dropped the crate, too, I’m sure,” Morgan yawned.
“That’s… what I was concerned about,” Serra confessed.
“That an Add would almost squish you?”
“That you might be harmed, Adonai!” Serra replied, angrily. “I was not under the crate.”
“Well, don’t pull any heroic stunts like that again, then,” Morgan scolded. “David sent you to stay with me to keep you safe.”
“But if I hadn’t done anything, you would’ve been hurt!”
“Worse things could happen,” Morgan cheerily replied, “your insurance is a lot more pricey than mine, after all.”
“This is serious, Adonai!” Serra insisted. “Penny was… mad, I think.”
“Well, I’ll keep an eye out for any falling crates,” Morgan paused, momentarily, thinking. “Though a broken leg or something because of their Add would probably help our case.”
“I logged the incident on Tethys’ incident reporting site and recorded it.”
“Good.”
“…Adonai, may I ask a question pertaining to a prior case of yours?”
“Shoot.” It wasn’t like Serra to tiptoe around the question.
“Is that what they were afraid of me being?” She asked this in a rush, seemingly having to force herself to pronounce each syllable. Of course, she was a machine, so she didn’t have to force herself, but the facsimile was close enough to reality that it probably counted. “I… am unsure of what I should feel towards Penny. She likely isn’t AI, but she tried to kill you. And she didn’t look sorry at all.”
“You shouldn’t feel any one way,” Morgan shot back, thinking of Dawes’ words. How he’d needlessly offered his own take on nature vs nurture. The prick. “You feel how you feel and the only thing you concern yourself with is how showing that would impact how others react.”
“I… believe that I understand,” Serra replied. “Thank you, Adonai.”
Morgan didn’t say anything else. She just turned her back on the android and went to sleep. Thankfully, the soft glow from Serra’s eyes wasn’t enough to keep her awake, because they rested on her all night.
- - -
“Now,” Morgan began, pointing her fork at Serra, “under no circumstances do you allege that Add of trying to kill me.”
“But Adonai, that’s very clearly what happened!”
“Yes and we’ve got the evidence to prove it,” Morgan dismissed. “We need to build to that and getting on Tethys’ bad side isn’t conducive to those ends.”
“I… believe that I understand,” Serra said, a conflicted grimace clouding her features. “But you cannot take that lightly.”
“Take what lightly? That they almost dropped a crate on me?”
Serra scowled. “Yes! You’re not taking it seriously, Adonai.”
Morgan just shook her head. The kid was much too soft. In fact, she’d snuck out of Morgan’s bedroom early in the morning to make Morgan breakfast. She’d made a mockery of Morgan’s coffee and a disaster of her food, but it was the thought that counted. At least, that’s what was always repeated, in these instances.
Morgan drank all her coffee and ate every bite, regardless. And she had lied and told Serra that it was good, too. She’d been hit much harder by the close call in the Tethys warehouse than Morgan expected, so it was an easy lie to make, if it’d help get Serra’s temper under control.
How the hell did David do it? How did he put up with such a temperamental little android?
- - -
“Morning, Morgan,” Rockford yawned.
“Good morning, Emma.”
“I hope you came up with something to present,” Emma encouraged, “I wouldn’t mind another win, but I don’t exactly want to thrash you too badly.”
“I believe I’ve found a thread or two to pick at,” Morgan replied, shooting the prosecutor a terse smile. “I hope you took the time to examine every angle.”
“Ouch. Low blow. But you’re not exactly wrong.”
“You can’t beat yourself up over that last trial,” Morgan encouraged, “after all, who’d expect a police officer to be a killer?”
“Quite a few Blue Bloods, I’d expect. Few lawyers, too. But that’s beside the point, because that wasn’t really a loss, now was it?”
“I suppose not, to your count, at least. Saw the news of the follow up trial, by the way, congrats on rehousing Rogers to a state-sponsored apartment complex.”
“Thanks!” Emma replied, taking the compliment at face value. “It wasn’t quite as entertaining as our trial, I have to admit, but it’s satisfying seeing the culprit put away, so I won’t complain too much.”
The hell did she mean by that?
“Adonai,” Serra huffed, jogging up to the two lawyers, “is there a reason you insisted that I gather all relevant case law to a few days-.”
“Shh! Spoilers!” Morgan grinned, shooting Emma a wink. And, to sate Serra’s curiosity, she added, “practice for your paralegal training. I will be reviewing all this later.”
“You’d better give me at least 10 points,” the paralegal muttered.
- - -
“Did she find proof?”
“Adonai is a very good lawyer,” Serra informed their- Morgan’s defendant. “I am sure that she found whatever it is she needed to to prove your innocence.”
Morgan had left the two of them alone momentarily to finish up her portion of paperwork, but she’d given London the heads up to keep an eye on the two of them, so she wasn’t that concerned. However, by the time she returned, she was glad to see that her paralegal had managed to keep Bailey too busy to ready themselves for some kind of attack.
“You don’t- ugh, you stupid machine, I’m asking you a question, you’re programmed to answer.”
“Serra was asked to answer to me,” Morgan informed Bailey, small grin playing across her lips. “She’s not like your Penny.”
“My…?” They trailed off, taking a moment to steady their breathing. “So you found proof that she’s AI?”
“Worse,” Morgan replied, patting their shoulder. “She’s just a capitalist.”
- - -
“As I’d hate to leave our dear prosecutor as my client once found themselves, abandoned, alone, jobless, I shall prove beyond reasonable doubt that there has been a crime committed in that Tethys enrichment centre. I simply posit that this crime is a much more common one than any serial killings. I posit that my client has taken the fall for an ongoing series of coverups that take place in that very enrichment centre to this very day. Thank you for your time, your honour.”
She laid it on a little thick at the end, maybe, but hell, you had to go big or go home. Plus, with Aidey (this had to be the result of someone pulling some strings) as their adjutant… flattery got you places. As a small bonus, Emma seemed entertained, which would, hopefully, throw her off her game. Emma says she finds Morgan’s antics fun, then fuck it, Morgan could dance. If she started moving first, then Emma would be forced to keep pace and follow along. Besides, Emma was working on stale evidence.
- - -
As expected, Emma had called upon a Tethys representative. What wasn’t expected was that said representative just so happened to be the very program Morgan wished to formally lodge a complaint with. Wonderful~!
“Nice to see you again,” Penny began, nodding towards Serra. Bailey had quite literally retreated behind Morgan, so it was quite unlikely she was saying that to the sack of skin and bone that stood behind Morgan cowering. “Serra Ashur, Evangeline Morgan, it was real fun hosting you both. Whenever you wanna stop by, out doors are open for you.”
“You-!” Serra blurted, clenching her fists. Morgan placed a gloved hand on her shoulder.
“Not the time, Serra. For now, we listen.”
“But Adonai-!”
“Listen,” Morgan repeated, flashing her paralegal a grin, “points if you spot where this corporate shill lies to us," then, to the witness, "Penny, there are three recorded instances of the defendant at the scene of a workplace death, correct?”
“Leading question, your honour!” Morgan chimed.
“How many recorded incidents of workplace death has the defendant been involved in?”
“At least three deaths, one attempted murder,” Penny answered, cocky, jovial smile still firmly in place.
“Can you elaborate on these in order?”
“‘Course! First incident was an honest to god accident, former employee Nathan Sharpe wasn’t following proper safety guidelines and a crate fell on him. It took awhile for our system to fully register the incident, maintenance, you see,” she shrugged, shaking her head. “We don’t supervise employees we’ve fired and our cleaning bots had taken care of it, so…”
Morgan had her suspicions on this, as she wasn’t an idiot, but it was quite the lead up to her ultimate point. Lovely.
Emma’s lip quirked in distaste. “Continue.”
“Second incident was the first murder, Bailey there swung a punch at Donna Skylar, tossed her right into our shredder-”
“Excuse me, question,” Morgan rapped her knuckles on the table, “I’d simply like to ask Penny to clarify the word punch, as it seems like something of an exaggeration, given the circumstances.”
“Bailey’s arm collided with Donna’s ribcage, right around,” Penny pointed at her ribs, “there. This was because Bailey swung their arm, you see.”
“Is there a point to this, Morgan? You’re being pedantic.”
“Well, I ask because according to the prints I retrieved from Tethys’ files, there should be a railing right where Ms. Skylar fell. Are we to believe that my defendant caused Donna to leap four feet into the air?” Morgan shot Emma a wink to really rub it in.
Penny laughed self-consciously, “it’s a really big warehouse, Evangeline, maintenance is slow.”
“This is a murder trial, Morgan,” Emma sighed, “are you really going to nitpick health and safety law?”
“I suppose not! That explains the discrepancy quite well,” Morgan allowed, quite content to drop things for the time being. But only for the time being.
“Third fatality was Scotch-“
“Name for the records?” Emma asked.
“Sorry, that was his preferred name. We at Tethys take the utmost pride in how we care for our employees’ emotional wellbeing.”
“Wow! So you prefer Evangeline?” The adjutant cut in.
“I’d prefer we stay on topic.”
“Ugh. Fiiiiiiiine.”
“Scotch was called in for a meeting that the defendant scheduled and, when he arrived, an autonomous delivery drone hit him.” Penny continued.
“And would it be possible to predict this?”
“Easily! Management was given access to all relevant scheduling information. This policy was amended shortly after the defendant was arrested. Now, managers must collaborate with me to ensure there’s no more foul play.”
Pretty ironclad statement. Still, it was just one small factoid to allow. They probably did implement some kind of policy change.
Probably didn’t help the number of workers who went missing, though. But blurting that out with no proof did nothing to help their case. Let Penny keep digging. Tethys had buried plenty of bodies, so it was only a matter of time until her shovel hit bone.
“Finally, can you elaborate on the fourth incident?”
“The defendant was caught attempting to stab another coworker with a box cutter.” Penny said. “This coworker ended up quitting her job at Tethys soon after and her file has been expunged from our database by request of said employee. Any and all identifying information has been redacted.”
There it was. The click of spade against femur. It was a microscopic slip up, really, barely more than a nitpick, but it’d make for a damn good story, now wouldn’t it?
“Anything our defence would like to add?” The adjutant asked.
“No, your honour. We’d like to proceed to questioning the witness, if it pleases the people.”
“You’re being really weird today, Evan…” AD-84 trailed off. “You must be sick or something, is your blood sugar low?”
“The people don’t object to the defence’s proposal,” Emma said, shooting Morgan a strange glance.
“I’d like to first ask for Serra to repeat the last answer the witness gave.”
“The defendant was caught attempting to stab another coworker with a box cutter. This coworker ended up quitting her job at Tethys soon after and her file has been expunged from our database-.”
“Good enough! Now I’d like to ask for my paralegal’s last statement to be stricken from testimony, please.”
“Relevance?” Emma signed, half resigned already.
“It shows a contradiction in the witness’ statement,” Morgan elaborated. “Clearly not all identifying information has been expunged if this person’s pronouns are still being used.”
“…So? You’re reaching, Morgan.”
“I don’t believe that I am,” Morgan smiled, “I noticed a discrepancy in the information I had access to, so I’d like to ask the witness why, exactly, information from the defendant’s eyes was not provided.”
“I’m not sure,” Penny shrugged, “I’m not the one to ask.”
“But you are responsible for incident reports, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Relevance, your honour?”
“Well, typically all information pertaining to such incidents would be included in whatever files Tethys stores.”
“And you think evidence was deliberately hidden?” Emma asked, curling her lip. “Paranoia is unbecoming, Morgan.”
“I suppose I’ll just come out and say it,” Morgan sighed, “I have proof that this witness has a history of hiding relevant information.”
“You’d better have something good, Morgan,” Emma groaned. “You can’t keep levelling accusations at witnesses.”
“Serra? You wanted to talk, right? Explain to the court what you’ve been itching to yap about.”
“During our investigation at Tethys, Adonai was nearly crushed by a falling crate! I was able to push her out of the way, but we have yet to receive any word from Tethys even though I submitted an incident report right away.”
“What she means is that we have clear evidence of what is, at best, sloppy handling regarding information directly relevant to our investigation.” Before Emma could ask for the relevant question, Morgan added, "it's my legal right to access footage relevant to what was very nearly a fatality, is it not?"
“So their Add is faulty, what does this prove? What are you trying to do, exactly? You can’t really hold an Add accountable for mistakes.”
“Well, my defendant has modded eyes, you see. We have records and testimony of Penny accessing said mods, so it would only be sensible to record these incidents, would it not? As for holding the Add responsible, have you forgotten, Emma? Automated dependents are property of the parent company and companies are people, too! I’d like to formally request that Tethys gives us access to the information they’ve been hiding.”
“No opposition here,” Emma yawned. “Should we recess to review the evidence?”
“Same time tomorrow!” The adjutant declared, pumping a fist in the air.
- - -
Morgan had snuck away from Serra to take a quick smoke break in private, but it seemed that Emma had words for her, considering the look she sent Morgan as she wandered over.
“Got a light?” She asked, tipping a cigarette towards Morgan.
Wordlessly, Morgan dragged Emma’s hand to her face, lighting Emma’s cigarette from hers.
“Nice party trick,” Emma complimented. “Bet you pulled more than a few people that way.”
“Nope. Lighter fluid’s expensive.”
“Ah. That makes sense, actually.” Emma took a drag, sending herself into a coughing fit. Morgan put a hand on her back, steadying her as her breathing returned to normal.
“First smoke?”
“First time smoking tobacco, at least,” Emma allowed.
“Trying to impress someone?” Morgan mocked.
“Trying to calm down,” Emma replied, shooting Morgan a dirty look. “How are you so calm?”
“You keep asking that.”
“Morgan, if your accusation has any basis, you were targeted. This isn’t like that shooter, you were targeted.”
“You sound like Serra,” Morgan sighed. “Didn’t hit me or anything, I’m perfectly fine.”
“That’s the problem, Morgan! You shouldn’t be fine,” the prosecutor insisted. “We could’ve asked for a retrial, a delay, something.”
“I’ll call up Flatt, ask him to testify how construction workers act after a close call. Ask how many days off they get after they’re almost hurt. If you really want to take a stand against accidents in the workplace, then I wish you luck, but defence attorney isn’t a exactly job rife with those.”
Emma didn’t reply at first. She just jabbed her cigarette back into her mouth and tried to force the coughing fit down before she spat out the cig.
“Pass me the carton,” Morgan asked, sighing. Taking a glance at the box, she laughed. “This brand’s shit. No wonder you’re coughing up a lung. Even I can’t stand them.”
At this, Emma spat the cigarette onto the pavement, stomping out the lit end. “There’s a difference?”
Morgan barely noticed any difference, but it made for a convenient excuse. She tossed the package into the garbage and pulled out her wallet, sliding Emma a bill. “To cover the cost.”
“This is more than I paid, I can’t accept this, Morgan.”
“We’ll call it an investment against lung cancer.”
“Lemme try one of yours and we’ll call it even, instead, deal?”
Morgan drew her case of smokes. Sliding one out for Emma. Instead, Emma snatched the one from between Morgan’s lips, taking a long drag.
“You’re right. It does taste different.”
- - -
“The trial’s going well, right?”
“You were there,” Morgan answered, “you have eyes.”
“Sure, right, it’s just that like, I’m getting job offers, again!”
“…is that right?”
“Yeah! They’re saying that if I get out and I agree to an interview, they’ll give me some money to get myself back on my feet.”
“Don’t sign anything,” Morgan snapped, glaring at her idiotic client. “I don’t care if I have to translate every offer to you, don’t sign any unless I tell you. See if you can update your resume, but don’t give it to anyone.”
“Y-yes ma’am!”
Morgan could’ve sworn that Bailey had nearly said ‘mom’. Jesus Christ, this kid.
“Grow a spine, too,” she advised. “Don’t just listen to every word I say without knowing why.”
“Oh… um… why…?” They forced the… third of a question out.
“I’m your lawyer, not your mother. I’m here to work for you, not to tell you what to do.”
“Then why would-.”
“You don’t answer any of these job offers because if you did, you’d be fucking yourself over. If you get released, you’re going to be blacklisted from everything. No company likes a whistleblower, so no company would dare hire you.”
“W-what? But they said-!”
“I don’t give a damn what they said, Bailey. You’re a few days worth of bad press at best, so don’t just turn over and offer your belly when they think they smell blood.”
“I-I’m not like you, ma’am,” Bailey objected. “I’m a killer and I’m unemployed!” The word was said as though it was a slur. How very politically correct.
“You’re not a killer, Bailey,” Morgan sat, rapping a fist on the table in front of her defendant. “Even if you were the one to pull the trigger, each and every time, your former corporation would still be at fault. That program, Penny, covered up many more incidents than just the deaths we’ve gone over in court.”
Morgan had to admit, she was quite… annoyed. Penny had deemed it appropriate to spam her inbox with coupons for use at the Tethys Enrichment Centre pink rooms. To be frank, the only room Morgan wished for after seeing the almost nude, yet paradoxically hi-vis clad Adds was a one that strayed a few shades more red than pink. As a result, some of her frustration seemed to leak through.
“Well, in any case, if I had to put up with what you did with that Add, I would’ve spent my first paycheque getting my employer to ship me a gun,” Morgan “joked”.
“Not a fan of manual labour?” Bailey forced out a shaky laugh.
“I got to see through your eyes,” Morgan informed her client. “Your case is very outdated, but I’ve dug up some ancient cases to research.”
In reality, she’d sent Serra on a mission to write as many concise reports on legislation regarding some controversies regarding the implementation of the precursor to the precursor of whatever tech went into making Adds seem like they were thinking beings. Crude as the tech was, lonely individuals of all varieties found themselves enraptured in conversation with a nothing that pretended to be something.
No, they were worse. Their hunger wasn’t even their own.
How very fucking typical. Morgan had met with Bailey hoping to meet a fellow killer, but now that she’d found who was really at fault, she was soured by the fact that it was nothing more than a cost cutting method.
- - -
The second day of the trial went much smoother than the first. This time, Morgan actually had evidence on hand. As it turned out, the footage that had been deleted was only erased from Tethys’ servers. The moment Morgan had any proof, no matter how intangible, that Penny had actively hid evidence from the court, she had the foot in the door she needed.
It was quite simple to give the terms and conditions of Bailey’s debt a quick glance. Simple enough that Serra did it, in fact. As it turned out, this particular bank automatically recorded all non-confidential information from those whose mods they’d funded. This was all legal, all above board, to the extent that the government had seized the account upon Bailey’s arrest, even. But, linking it to the crime, Morgan was given access. Frankly, it was pathetic what happened in that courtroom that day.
Emma had called some member of Tethys tech support in to discuss the processes that drove Penny, but it seemed that whatever briefing they’d had was tweaked at the last minute, from denial to agreeing with Morgan. She wondered, in an idle, slightly paranoid way, whether Mirei had put her hand on the scales. It was very possible, likely, even, she had stake in Tethys, but- no. No, Morgan was being too paranoid, jumping at shadows, surely.
Regardless, Morgan had submitted the surveillance retrieved from the bank only this morning. Considering human beings typically needed time to take information in, it was quite convenient that her paralegal could very easily provide timestamps to segments relevant to the trial. Morgan denied it, of course, but she’d found a wonderful way to sneak evidence onto the record without Emma having time to explain it away.
“Penny is programmed with a tenet that would prevent her from harming humans,” the tech explained.
“But clearly these rules aren’t set in stone, considering the death of Scotch?”
“Well… somewhat,” the tech replied, grimacing.
“Can you please elaborate?”
“Tenets are hard limitations, they are set in stone. We believe that this Add circumvented procedure, not her tenets.”
Morgan quirked her lip in frustration. The tech continued after a momentary silence.
“I-it’s standard to specify that employees may never be harmed by our Adds, so that they can capture any threats with our standard less-lethal security infrastructure.”
“But Scotch was still employed at the time of his death, as was Ms. Skylar,” Morgan pointed out.
“I… believe that I have an idea as to why, though it is not currently the official opinion of Tethys. I think that Penny found a loophole allowing herself to weaponize a technicality. She didn’t harm employees, she just… let them get harmed.”
Morgan cherished the look on Emma’s face. The way her features scrunched up, juuuuust adjacent to pain. The case had shifted focus away from Bailey’s guilt into a much more entertaining train of thought.
“That would explain quite a lot, then,” Emma allowed. “It explains how Penny would assist the defendant, but it doesn’t explain away the murders, Morgan.” She was trying to drag the conversation back to the defendant.
“Apologies, Ms. Rockford,” Morgan grinned. “But I don’t suppose you’ve had time to review all the evidence, have you? It was quite difficult to retrieve, but we found the data Penny deleted and then some. If you would note here, here, here and… here,” Morgan submitted several timestamps to the Adjutant, so they could be shown to the courtroom, “these are all moments where Penny orders my client to kill.”
“And they clearly obeyed,” Emma replied, shaking her head. “Morgan, what are you trying to prove, other than Penny’s complicity?”
“There’s something strange about the footage, wouldn’t you say?” Morgan waved her arm towards the screen. “Notice the decluttering of the defendant’s eye mod’s interface?”
“I love AdBlock,” AD-84 chimed in. Entirely without being asked for input.
“If you’d please pull up these further segments, you’d note that Penny freely explains that she’s spent money from Bailey’s account to make minor tweaks to their mods. This was, on occasion, done without prompting and without my defendant’s consent.”
“And..?” Emma asked, preemptively resigning herself to Morgan’s conclusion.
“I posit that my client’s bodily autonomy was regularly and routinely violated. I propose that their very body was used by Penny to liquidate assets in a way that runs counter to Tethys’ declared mission statement. Can you prove otherwise, Ms. Rockford?”
- - -
After that, the rest of the trial was essentially a formality. Tethys was prepared to back Morgan, likely because an Add was easily replaced and, thus, the perfect scapegoat, so long as nobody alleged it to be AI. And with the tentative backing of a corporation, it was easy enough to swing the idea that Bailey was innocent.
Better to let a murderer free than be forced to pay their thirty pieces of silver. The only thing they had to agree to was an NDA! So long as Bailey didn’t implicate Tethys, they were free to seek employment elsewhere. Well… mostly.
“Woah, I can…?” Bailey asked, eyes wide, grabbing at their collar.
“Yeah, you can take that old thing off,” London answered. “We’ll be sending someone out to check in on you from time to time and if they report good things, we’ll restore more features in those mods.”
“My client’s got parole, still, then?”
“Something like that. Mostly just a precaution, you know how it is.”
Morgan did know how it was. She’d seen London and Reyes lock up a man who didn’t even have his arm slotted in. And try to pin a murder on him.
“You’re not out of the woods, yet, Bailey,” Morgan informed them. “In fact, your punishment’s just begun, in Tethys’ eyes.”
“What do you mean, ma’am?”
“Like I told you. Tethys won’t hire you back, nor will most other corporations where your skills are transferable,” because of Bailey’s expression at the term skills, Morgan added, “most warehouses don’t want a manager who’s overseen a site where murders have occurred. Even if the manager wasn’t at fault, legally speaking.”
“Morgan’s right, kid,” London chimed in, “I’d recommend looking small scale. Restaurants and cafes that aren’t franchised. Hard to find, nowadays, but they’re still kicking.”
“Better make sure the owners haven’t read the news,” Morgan tilted her head, as though she were in idle thought. “Your face is gonna be on the front page for a day or two, at least.”
The kids eyes went wide and their breathing seemed laboured. They stammered out a “thank you,” before trying to walk off. Morgan dropped a hand on their shoulder.
“Don’t walk off yet, Bailey. You and I are going out drinking. Hope you printed out that resume like I told you to.”
- - -
“I’ve never drank anything!” Bailey insisted, holding out their hands defensively.
“We’re in a bar, Bailey,” Morgan smiled, “grow up and choose something. I’m buying.”
“Must be a special occasion if she’s payin’, kid. Better make the most of it.” Of course, they were drinking at Kintsugi. Diamani was an associate, so Morgan got cheap drinks made by someone who knew just how she liked them… or drinks made by Serra, but she liked the gamble.
“I’ll… have what she’s having…?”
Bad idea, but the fact that they were willing to try something new was commendable. The kid almost gagged taking a sip of the drinks they were served and Morgan could tell that she’d been served Serra’s drink, so they didn’t even have that excuse.
“Congrats on the win, by the way, kid,” Diamani congratulated Bailey who, predictably, froze. “Morgan’s a damn good lawyer, so you made a good call.”
“Flattery’s not necessary,” Morgan replied, shooting the bartender a smile.
“Not flattery,” he defended, “I’ve been keeping an eye on your latest cases.”
“You two… know each other?”
“We go way back, yeah,” Diamani replied, waving a hand.
“You have that resume, Bailey?” Morgan prompted, tilting her head towards Diamani. “Even if he says no, I’m sure he knows a few places to start looking.”
“So that’s your game,” he sighed, resigned, but not unamused. “Yeah, ever since you sent the Ikariyas here, my humble bar’s had enough excess income to think about hiring more help.”
Bailey turned to Morgan, looking about ready to start sobbing.
- - -
“That was very kind of you, Adonai.”
Later that night, after Bailey had been given the tour of Kintsugi and situated in a back room Diamani had (he reluctantly explained that it was set up for him to sleep off hangovers), Morgan and Serra had, of course, returned home. That was when Serra made her blatantly incorrect observation.
“What was?”
“Introducing Bailey to Boss,” Serra explained. “It was a kind way of resolving two issues simultaneously.”
“Killing two birds with one stone,” Morgan corrected. Serra hated the phrase, so naturally, Morgan ensured she make good use of it. “I wasn’t doing it to be altruistic.”
“It was still a remarkably kind gesture, for someone you hardly know.”
“I only did it because hearing Diamani whine about needing more help would annoy me,” Morgan waved off the accusation.
She chose not to add that she’d be unable to stand the sight of Bailey slowly starving. Not because she gave a fuck about the kid’s safety. No. They’d be forced to latch onto Morgan to survive. Perfectly normal thing to do, given the circumstances, but Morgan was only human. Unlike Serra, she turned her head from the homeless. All she’d done is ensure she didn’t have to ignore one who knew her name and face.