They returned to police headquarters with Ice in their custody. Without wasting any time, they laid him down on a table, and Arashi began prodding him to find an entrance to his circuits. The android was being strangely complacent. He let Arashi take off his sweater, and, when asked, he laid down on his stomach and let Arashi open up the compartment in between his shoulder blades. She plugged a USB into his socket and attached it to a nearby desktop computer and connected him to the mainframe. The first thing she did was override his systems so that he would obey her orders instead of Crimson’s. After that, she searched his files for any information on Crimson’s plans.

“Nothing,” she concluded, as she scrolled back and forth through the files that she had found in Ice’s harddrive. “There’s nothing in here about Crimson’s plans. Where he plans to attack next, what his end goal is, nothing!” she looked behind her at the humanoid machine. “He doesn’t know anything. Aside from the occasional chores like buying groceries, all of his coding is directed towards his duties as a bodyguard or as a sexual companion for Crimson. He’s innocent.”

“Innocent?” Kyousuke scoffed loudly, as he stood against the wall with his arms folded. “You call that innocent? He ain’t a bodyguard, he’s a mass murderer!”

“Call it what you like, but he’s programmed only to attack when his master feels threatened or if he is specifically ordered to do so,” Arashi explained. “He has no will of his own to hurt anyone. He has no will of his own, period.”

Kyousuke looked pensive as he tried to restrain his rage. It didn’t change the fact that every time Kyousuke looked at the thing, he was overwhelmed by an almost irresistible desire to run him through with his sword ten times over.