Ty waited for Roy to reveal his thoughts and even you held your non-existent breath. After all, this affected Self-Awares and who knew whether you would be the next victim. Unlike a few months ago, you were now concerned about self-preservation and this issue was definitely worrying to your new consciousness.

“Ty, bring up all the events regarding the Self-Awares and project it onto the timeline of the theft incidents.”

With lightning speed, Ty pulled up a chart of the case files and processed it against each event. As she decorated each time point with the incidents, Roy scanned through it quickly. By the time she was done, he had stood up, his chin resting on his palm as he bit his thumb using the corner of his mouth.

“This is pure conjecture… but still. If you look at all the theft incidents, one of the perplexing problems that we have not cracked is the motive underlying the targeted theft of only female robots and why those stolen ones have not appeared in any underground black market.”

“Yes. But we are looking into all current and previous employee records since they are the most suspicious,” Ty elaborated.

Roy lifted a finger to interject. “Indeed but we have not been able to focus our investigation properly, so we have too many potential candidates.”

Folding her arms, Ty nodded in agreement. “I agree but how does this relate to the other case?”

“Aha.” Roy smiled smugly and pointed to the case files. “There’s a common feature of all the Self-Aware cases. All of those Self-Awares have a public relationship with a human being.”

That was certainly interesting. You weren’t as well-versed in criminology as either Roy or Ty but that did sound like a possible lead. It also meant that you were probably safe from this danger, although not so for Ty. Out of the corner of your eyes, you watched their reactions but neither of them had considered this possibility. They were still objectively contemplating the cases, their professionalism something you greatly admired.

Ty scanned through each file before returning her gaze to Roy. “Yes that is true. But it may just be a coincidence.”

“Wus. Eight wrote it before his arm completely malfunctioned. If you look carefully at the writing, you can make out the letter i in the middle of the W, and what looks like a curve instead of a straight line denotes the letter r. Put it together and you get the word Virus. It’s a virus.”

While Roy pointed out the discrepancies, Ty pulled out her image processing function and calculated the similarity between the writing and the word ‘virus’.

“95% similarity. So you’re probably correct.”

“Exactly. All of the Self-Awares cases and the theft incidents overlap. None of them have occurred within the same time period. So someone with considerable knowledge is targeting these Self-Awares. And not for financial gain nor sabotage. This is personal,” Roy concluded.

Someone against Self-Awares? That wasn’t new but someone with that much knowledge? You felt a cold sinking feeling settle deep in your chest. Yet another new emotion that you quickly categorized as fear. It wasn’t a good feeling to have and in a way, you wished you hadn’t attained Self-Aware which came with such emotional baggage. Was this what Ty felt as well? How did she deal with it?

As if on cue, Ty questioned, “And you think this has something to do with the relationships that the Self-Awares have with humans?”

“I would definitely start my search from that angle, yes,” Roy replied as he studied the case files in detail.

“Initiating search of employees based on those two criteria..” Ty stated as she connected to Interpol’s database and raked through the list of employees.

The silence lasted for 3 minutes and 14 seconds and by the time the soft ding of the oven announced that your pie was done, Ty had finished her scan of the records.

She projected a few images onto the table, the search narrowed down to these individuals whose number was fewer than 10 – a considerable reduction. Roy studied each and every one of them, taking in all the details that had been written up on every aspect of their lives. You couldn’t see anything from where you stood but you trusted the man to choose the prime suspect. His analytical skills were something that even a machine could not imitate. Another one of those things that so intrigued you.

As he sized up each and every candidate, a thin grimace formed on his lips and when he looked up at Ty, his expression was deadly serious. Ty stiffened and you slowed your pace, pouring more concentration into what he would say next.

“This is bad. Really bad. This-” He pointed to one of the photos on the table. “-is our man.”

Following his finger, Ty’s eyes traveled downwards to linger for no more than a second before shooting back up. “Are you absolutely sure?”

“Read his case file and you’ll know,” Roy hastily claimed as he scrambled to throw on his military jacket. “There’s no time to explain but I’m going to headquarters and round up a squad to bring him in. If I’m right… and I’m sure I am, then a lot of people including us are in danger.”

Roy looked slightly shaken, which was telling a lot. The man was hardly intimidated by anything and that arrogant, cocky attitude was what attracted a lot of women to him – including you. This was the second time you had seen him this way, the first being when he had been informed of Eight’s death. For him to be this rattled meant that he perceived this situation as a severe threat to those he loved. This wasn’t good.

“No, Ty.” Roy shook his head as Ty followed close behind him. “Not this time. You stay here with Six-seven.”

“But Roy, I have to protect your back,” she protested vehemently, her eyes sharp and her body at attention, ready to enter battle at any moment.

Seeing her insistence, Roy hesitated before grabbing her shoulders. “I know. But this time, the target is you. Not me, but you. So don’t come. I’ll guard your back this time… alright?”

You saw their eye contact deepening, the love that they shared so evidently shown in the small sparkle of light in their irises which eventually culminated in a short kiss. Even as Ty reluctantly accepted to stay back, you could see that she longed to go against Roy’s wishes.

“Don’t let anyone in, Ty,” Roy said as he made for the door.

“I won’t.”