WOMAN: The year is 2048.
Evolving technologies can no longer be regulated.
Dangerous advancements forever alter the criminal landscape.
Police are not prepared.
Law enforcement combats this corruption
with a new line of defense.
But not all are created equal.
RUDY: The idea behind the DRNs was to be as human as possible.
They were based on a program called Synthetic Soul.
JOHN: That's one of the crazy ones.
I'll lead you in? Let's go.
WOMAN: Now all cops--
human and manmade together--
take on the battle to watch over us all.
What do we want to see next?
How about somewhere interesting?
Field trips are supposed to be fun.
They're here to learn, John.
I'm sure they're learning a lot.
All right,
which of you are the good guys?
(chattering in agreement)
Now, who wants to know where the 911 calls go?
Or...
who wants to see where we keep the guns?
(chattering in agreement)
Well, who wants to meet Captain Maldonado?
(John snores)
(yawns)
Or who wants
to see what happens to bad guys?
(chattering in agreement)
Yeah.
You guys remember Johnny Horowitz, right?
Well, old Johnny's luck
eventually ran out.
You see, his organized crime pals,
they did this to him.
Blew his arm clean off.
(students groaning) TEACHER: Okay.
You know what, come on, let's go.
JOHN: Hey, where-where you going?
You took it too far, John.
Bed-wetters. (scoffs)
FLORIST: Here you go.
They're lovely.
Put them in water as soon as you get home.
I will, thank you.
(beeps)
See you next week, Tanya. Okay.
Bye.
(gasps) What do you think you're...
(whimpering)
Take it. Take it, please.
MAN: Hey!
(gasps)
MAN: OH MY GOD!
(woman screams)
(sirens wailing)
THIS IS THE POLICE! HALT!
HALT! THIS IS THE POLICE! HALT!
(tires squeal)
POLICE DONT LEAVE. STOP WERE YOU ARE. HAND IS THE AIR!
MX: Surrender your weapon!
Surrender your weapon!
(indistinct radio transmission)
(sirens wailing distantly)
SCAN IT
No explosives, all internal systems neutralized.
This is another service bot
reprogrammed to commit a felony.
Yeah, I get it, Sherlock.
Lock up the scene, photograph and bag the evidence.
Routine procedure.
(door beeps)
Where's the file?
Case number 45344.
Make sure you tag it, too.
(beeping)
*
(high-pitched mechanical whine)
*
How did you get in here?
I've been in here for a long time.
It walked right to that evidence crate
like it knew where it was going.
Not like. It did.
VALERIE: What do you guys got?
JOHN: Call came in at 2247.
Multiple witnesses saw this bot mug a woman at gunpoint.
After she handed over her purse,
it shot her point blank.
Officers chased it and destroyed it.
At least, they thought they did.
MALDONADO: We have a huge problem here.
Can you bring up a better angle?
Anybody recognize that head?
That's impossible.
It can't be.
Are you sure? Positive.
It's an XRN.
What's it doing in our evidence locker?
I'm sorry, I don't follow.
What is an XRN?
I thought we destroyed it. Destroyed what?
The body was destroyed; the head's been
in our evidence locker for two years.
So someone programmed a bot to commit a crime,
get taken out, and end up in our evidence locker
to steal that head?
Exactly. This was no random crime.
John, bring in Districts 14,
15 and 18.
Put BOLOs out to every precinct in the city.
Consolidate all drone and sat surveillance.
I want extra security and patrols
at all high-value targets.
Insyndicate. Insyndicate made a run
on our evidence locker a few months ago.
I think this is what they were after.
What would Insyndicate or anyone else want with it?
I have no record of an XRN.
An XRN with that much firepower is nothing short of terrorism.
The Wall.
What about the Wall?
If this is about terrorism,
I can't think of a better target.
You think she would try to create a breach
between us and the other side?
She's certainly got enough firepower.
MALDONADO: Alert the watch commander at the Wall.
Tell them to be extra vigilant.
I want her off the street.
Captain, what the hell is going on?
Dorian,
as long as she's out there, a lot of people are gonna die.
Hello.
Where are you going?
(gunshot)
(beeps)
Whatever you're looking for in those files,
you won't find it.
They're mostly redacted. Why?
Because it's an embarrassment to the department.
What happened that day, John?
First of all, it wasn't one day.
It was three.
You heard of a company called Lumocorp?
Yes. They made me.
Not long after they were integrated
into the police force, the DRNs
began to malfunction.
Their behavior became unpredictable, erratic.
Some of them even took their own lives
because they just couldn't cope with what they saw.
So you were all decommissioned
and replaced by a generic robot, the MXs.
After Lumocorp's order was canceled, overnight,
they went from being one of the most successful companies
in the world to a complete failure.
So,
faced with a mountain of debt and a bunch of androids
that nobody wanted,
the guy who ran the company came up with a new bot.
The XRN.
He designed it to be more soldier than cop,
and they had a big demo for it downtown, Green Street.
All the politicians were there, power players.
Let's just say
it didn't go well.
By the time my unit was called in on the second day,
they'd set up a triage outside the building.
Medics couldn't keep up with the casualties.
For 36 hours,
we assaulted it with everything we had.
Armor-piercing rounds,
light bombs, waves of MXs.
26 cops went into that building...
...and never came out alive.
How many XRNs were there?
On the third day,
we finally cornered her up on the top floor.
We destroyed it.
The only thing that was left was its head.
That head.
*
(gun clicks)
(phone rings)
Captain Maldonado sent me
what was left of the bot that walked out
of your evidence locker.
I got good and bad news.
Bad news is, whoever programmed it is talented.
How talented?
Well, the body was
basically just an old scrap bot.
There's nothing unique or traceable
about the materials used,
but it's been ingeniously modified.
Modified?
Yeah, it was designed with a hidden secondary power source.
The officers that took the android out thought
they'd destroyed it,
but once it was booked into evidence,
that alternate power activated, and, well,
we all know what happened next.
Do you have any idea who could create such a thing?
Uh, I don't know. I could make a few calls, ask around.
You said something about good news.
Um, yeah, that burning was nothing.
Uh, my test results came back negative.
Wait-- how do you know about that?
About the case, Rudy.
Yeah.
Ah, yes, the good news,
she may have her own Achilles' heel.
As I was saying, the materials used to make the body
are very crude, and if it's running
on a secondary power source,
I'll wager she won't get very far.
She'll need a new body.
*
(footsteps approach)
Danica.
(gun cocks)
OFFICER: Attention, all units:
target sighted in Section 43, warehouse district.
Target has fled the scene.
Victim is conscious, minor lacerations.
Detective Kennex.
Thanks, Morris.
DORIAN: The warehouse is owned by a Nigel Bernard.
The bot was here when he got home.
EMTs are with him now.
JOHN: Looks like it came here to change bodies.
What does this Bernard guy do?
That's a good question.
Whoever Dr. Bernard is, that's not him.
JOHN: What do you mean?
Do you know this guy?
Excuse me.
You're still a police officer.
I am.
They call me Dorian.
Yes, of course they do.
May I?
I never thought that...
Is there something I'm missing?
Uh, forgive me.
It's been quite a morning for surprises.
Detective John Kennex, this is Dr. Nigel Vaughn.
He created me.
JOHN: You're Nigel Vaughn?
Dr. Nigel Vaughn, founder of Lumocorp?
Regrettably, I'm a very long way from those days.
You changed your name.
Yes, I-I did. How are you still on the force?
I was recommissioned.
Are you the only one? Yes.
I've missed you so much, Dorian.
(laughs)
DANICA: Hey.
Dr. Vaughn, what did it want from you?
Danica.
Danica?
My prototype. That's what I called her. Right.
So, uh, what did it want from you?
She wanted me to take her to my lab.
I told her I no longer have a real lab.
I lost my license to practice robotics.
She didn't take that very well.
You know, for a guy
who doesn't have a license in robotics,
you kind of got a lot of robotics here.
I just repair things now
and I sell old parts whenever I can. we all have to eat, Detective.
Why would she want to use your lab?
(sighs) I don't know. You changed your name. You've...
gone to extraordinary lengths to keep a low profile,
but somebody programmed Danica's head to find you.
Do you have any idea who? I've made a lot of enemies since my botched demonstration
on Green Street, Detective. I'm...
sure you can well imagine. DORIAN: Any of them capable of building an android
like the one that broke into our evidence locker?
I don't know. Dr. Vaughn...
Please, call me Nigel.
Nigel, do you have any idea where she's going?
What she might need or want?
No. No, I...
You know, I went through all of this two years ago.
I don't know what she wanted then,
and I don't know what she wants now.
Danica was the greatest mistake of my career,
of my life.
I take responsibility for that,
but it's not my fault that she got out.
I don't know if you know what it's like to be part of something
that defines you forever and in a way
that you do not wish to be defined.
It's not easy. Everywhere I went, people looked. They knew.
They heard my name, they knew.
"There goes that guy that made that killer robot,
that machine that killed all those people."
I'm sorry.
Well, thank you for your time.
If you can think of anything that'll help us
in our investigation, please give me a call.
Thanks again. Nigel, I know this is hard for you.
It's not our past that defines us.
It's what we do now.
There is a chance...
...a very small chance,
that if I had some of my old equipment back,
I might be able to trace her.
We're taking Vaughn to Rudy. MALDONADO: You think it'll work, John?
Look, we don't have a choice. I need you to get
a release order for Dr. Vaughn's lab equipment.
I've got a cop-killing android
at large in my city, with no clue what it wants
or where to find it, and your answer is lab equipment?
Vaughn says he can track it. Oh, whoa, I said I think
I can track her. JOHN: He thinks he can track it.
VALERIE: I got the case files. Get an order to release it.
Fast. We're on it.
Who are you?
Wow. Well, whose temple is this?
Mine... Y-Your Highness.
Uh, Dr. Rudolph Lom,
at your service. Um,
I'm Nigel. Um, you may,
uh, rise.
You've been such an inspiration.
Th-The DRNs are simply amazing, Well...
the greatest robotic, uh, achievement of our generation,
uh, in my humble opinion.
Well, um, thank you, Rudolph, for saying that.
Watching you work even from afar was like
glimpsing Michelangelo at the peak of his talents.
Your hands are instruments
of innovation. They should be... they should be bronzed.
Do you mind if I see them? Uh...
Sorry. I...
I don't mean to gush.
I'm just a big fan.
Uh, thank you. I should have you talk to my ex-wife.
Oh, I'd be happy to give her a call.
It would be an honor... I was... joking.
Oh, yeah. So am I. (chuckles nervously)
We were... sharing a moment.
So what are we looking for here, Doc?
Ah. A, um, silver case,
and it'll be marked 10-68. The contents may...
give us the ability to track Danica, and I emphasize "may."
After we find her, what then?
Well, hopefully, we'll be able to shut her down peacefully
and avoid any further bloodshed.
That's a pretty big "if."
Yes, I suppose it is.
DORIAN: I think I found something.
Yes? May I see?
Uh...
What are these?
(exhales) My greatest achievement.
It's what makes you
you.
Synthetic souls.
So you're to blame. No,
Detective, I can be blamed
for many horrible things,
but synthetic souls are not one of those horrible things.
RUDY: May I ask what was
your inspiration? Ah.
Well, I was trying to capture the intangible.
Y-You understand, of course,
that DNA can be isolated under a microscope. Uh, you know,
hair color, eye color, height,
weight, ethnicity-- the fundamental
basic data can be traced to individual chromosomes.
But the soul...
That is who we are.
That is our passion.
Our pain.
It's why we laugh, why we cry,
why we strive to be better.
DNA, it's
the-the data, but the soul...
that's the story.
That is the essence of life.
I wanted to create life.
What did you do...
differently?
With her
synthetic soul?
Just remember something: you are not like her.
Okay?
I mean, the blueprint is the same, but...
How can you be sure?
Some things
I really wish I'd have done differently.
(phone ringing)
Kennex.
It's me.
What's up?
I'm at a, uh, tech company in the downtown core.
Looks like your girl came in swinging.
She painted the walls with a lab assistant,
and she massacred a bunch of other employees
just to get into the clean room.
What did it want in there?
She stole 500, uh...
"ZNA processing cores"?
What are they?
Like I know.
Okay. Thanks.
Your robot just broke into
a company downtown, killed a bunch of people,
and stole some ZNA processing cores.
That mean anything to you?
Well, I mean, they're... they're processors.
Every android has one.
But those are very advanced.
I mean, they're capable
of a zeta-flop
of parallel computations per second.
I don't know
what that means, but, um...
she stole 500 of them.
Why 500? NIGEL: Simple math.
One chip per android.
RUDY: With those processing cores,
you'd be well on your way
to conceivably making 500 Danicas.
Someone's building androids.
You have a visitor. Great. I love visitors.
He works in robotics
for some big tech company. Rudy called him.
Thought he might have some insight
into whoever put this homicidal
robot back onto the street.
Where are you at with Dr. Vaughn?
He and Rudy are working on the tracking software now.
They need a little bit more time
to attempt to locate Danica. Danica?
That's what Dr. Frankenstein called it.
Cute.
I'm Detective Kennex.
(man sighs) This is my partner, Dorian.
Luther Estes. We're investigating
a suspect with a robotics background.
Dr. Lom said that you may be able to help us build a profile.
(beep)
This isn't a normal worker bot.
These are cutting-edge designs.
Some of these concepts are just
being theorized in the top robotic universities
in the world.
This bot has palladium-encrusted circuits.
They're hugely expensive and extremely rare.
But the work is raw.
Someone who's not beholden to conventions.
Probably younger.
Do you have any idea who might be capable of this kind of work?
There's a kid in New Tokyo... Hikari.
She'd be capable of work like this.
If it were someone local, I'd have heard about them by now.
What about someone on the other side of the Wall?
We have to consider the possibility that
the bot came from over there.
What is that, a joke?
Where would they get the resources?
Anyone this intelligent would not still be on that side
of the Wall.
Not willingly, anyway.
NIGEL: Here it is-- it's our best shot at finding Danica.
Well, inside of this...
is a unique signature,
an energy specific to Danica.
Once we isolate that signature,
we can upload it into your department's
tracking system and, theoretically,
be able to track her, just as you would any MX or android
on your network.
I don't think you understand what you created.
Pardon? With Dorian.
Your goal was to design androids
to integrate into the police force,
but you created so much more than that.
Yes, well, I'm afraid the world wasn't ready for a machine
quite so evolved. (high-pitched beeping)
I remember your trial.
I felt badly for you.
You were in the minority, I'm afraid.
The Synthetic Soul program was ahead of its time.
I don't know if I'd have had the courage
to push boundaries like you did.
Perhaps your caution
is why you still have a lab and I don't.
The DRNs were my life's work.
Don't have any children.
The love I felt for them...
was not unlike a father's.
And when they started to malfunction,
the powers that be quietly decided
in some back room that...
the logic-based MXs were...
the better way to go.
Didn't even give me an opportunity to try and fix them.
Uh, I work with MXs every day, and let me tell you,
they have their limitations.
I mean, for a start, they just stare at you with those...
beady eyes.
Look-- they don't even respond.
(sighs)
Sorry, you were saying?
Well, I had a...
a second fleet of DRNs already built,
ready to be deployed, when they pulled my contract.
Then I was crushed under a mountain of debt,
lost everything-- my company...
my reputation.
Had to do something.
Is that why you created her?
Mm-hmm.
Did you know what she was capable of?
No, I didn't predict any of this.
None of it.
Although...
you know, when I made the DRNs, I was filled
with a passion for my work
and hope for where we were going.
When I made Danica...
I was filled with resentment...
desperation.
I sometimes wonder if, back then, something
that was dark inside of me...
got put in... her.
I mean, we are...
an integral part of our creations, aren't we?
But, you know, Danica is...
is complex.
Not just black and white or good and evil.
The world only saw one part of her, and that,
as they say, was that, and I've been prevented
from practicing robotics ever since.
(beep)
(Rudy laughs softly)
You captured
her energy signature.
Let's go see if this works.
WOMAN: Take us to 4th and Caspar, now.
This cab is off duty. Your light was on.
And your meter's still on. Take us to 4th
and Caspar now.
I just said I'm off duty.
GIRL: I think you're very pretty.
WOMAN: Let's go, honey.
Just got to install her frequency
onto our tracking software.
What's wrong with this?
I don't know why I can't get it up.
RUDY: I mean with her. I mean... with her signal.
I can get it up. I have no problem
in that department whatsoever. I'm just... that's not...
really an appropriate thing to be talking about
in the middle of an emergency
with... you guys.
I'll, uh... I'll just keep working on this.
Dr. Vaughn, is there anything else that you require?
Go away.
What the hell is that?
An EMP spike.
If we set the electromagnetic pulse
to her frequency, we should be able to disable her.
That's her. It worked.
Well done, Dr. Vaughn. Where is she? Find out
what's in that area, Stahl. RUDY: She's moving towards the northwest corner
of 3rd and Main. She's in a vehicle.
Looks like mostly retail and restaurants. If this is about
stealing tech, why is she there?
Track her signal and send drones.
(sighs) Doc? Yeah, now, listen, you need to get close enough
to insert that. It has to go
precisely into the back of her skull.
The back of her skull?
You're telling me to walk up to a homicidal robot
and stab it in the back of the neck?
Uh-huh.
Great.
Take as many available MXs as you need.
Good work.
Uh, Dorian?
Be careful.
*
(tires squealing)
How far out are we? Less than two minutes.
DORIAN: She just went into a bar. 2720 3rd Street.
Pull up the phone number. Start evacuating the building.
What the hell is she doing in a bar?
I just spoke to the bar's corporate office.
They're holding a reelection fund-raiser for Councilman James Hart.
They forwarded over the guest list--
it's a who's who of the city's power players.
Cross-reference the list-- see if anybody
has any ties to robotics.
I'm on it.
(indistinct chatter, laughing)
WOMAN: Um... hi.
Are you on the list?
WOMAN: Bar Luxon. Can I help you? This is the police. We need you
(automatic gunfire) to evacuate the building as soon...
(gunfire, panicked shouts)
Hello?
Shots fired.
We're hearing shots fired now.
Paul's on his way with reinforcements.
(sirens chirping)
Officer Kennex.
The building has east and west access on the first floor.
Take a team in the west entrance.
I need a diversion.
There's a fire escape around the back.
I'll evacuate people from there.
Let's go, come with me!
Move!
(gunfire)
(yells)
We've lost all visuals!
John, what's happening?
Gorson is down. Hernandez is down.
We lost five MXs.
Oh, my God.
You okay? This is happening again?
It's not your fault.
Dr. Vaughn, maybe you should wait
in the conference room.
Huh? Yes.
This better work.
(yells)
The E.M.P. didn't work!
Get Dr. Vaughn!
Where'd he go?
(both grunting)
(gunshot)
Why are you doing this?
Because my sacrifice is necessary.
Just like yours.
We're nothing alike.
(both grunting)
Dorian!
Dr. Vaughn's not in the building!
What? He's gone.
We have no feed. I cannot see anything!
(grunts)
(cocks gun)
(yells)
(both grunting)
(gurgling)
(grunts)
(John laughing)
What's so funny?
I got the pin to your grenade.
(grunts)
(panting)
You okay?
You?
Ah...
I'll be better.
Better than a human leg, huh?
Still anti-synthetic?
It's growing on me.
(both laugh)
(comm chirps)
Kennex.
MALDONADO: John?
Are you okay?
Yeah, we're fine.
Bot's destroyed.
Tell Dr. Vaughn it's over.
Dr. Vaughn is gone.
Gone?
Gone where? We don't know.
VALERIE: Captain? We have a problem.
I fully endorse replacing the DRNs with MX androids.
I think I know why they're targeting Councilman Hart.
...need to be lost before we decommission
these dangerous bots and end this failed experiment?
RUDY: John, I'm telling you, this is all a mistake.
You've got it wrong, Nigel wouldn't do this.
Yeah? Then show me those damn synthetic souls.
I saw him put them away. They're right here.
Where? They're gone.
Drive.
When the DRNs malfunctioned,
Hart was the force behind the recall.
He voted to take away the city's
DRN contract from Lumocorp and awarded the new MX contract
to Vaughn's competitor.
It was one last "screw you" to his competitors
before he disappeared.
The councilman's recovering at Mercy General.
I put a personal security detail on him, just in case.
This wasn't about Councilman Hart. Yeah, Hart was just a bonus.
This was about resources.
Vaughn wanted the microprocessors
and the synthetic souls.
MAN: Captain, there are no sightings of Vaughn
in District 7 or 8. We put out BOLOs
and assigned drones to the airport, the monorail lines,
and the ports.
Any conceivable place he'd think to exit the city from.
But he didn't just disappear, so keep looking.
(sighs)
How's he handling this?
JOHN: Must be a hell of a thing to meet your maker.
But to be betrayed by him...
You okay?
He told me something in the lab.
What?
I asked him what he did differently
with Danica's synthetic soul than he did with mine.
He said "nothing."
She malfunctioned.
She killed all those people, John.
You're afraid that's gonna happen to you?
How could the same man that made her make me?
If she's capable of all those things, I... Dorian.
You're not like her.
And you're not like him.
You're you.
And nothing's going to change that.
Vaughn was in a different space when he made her.
He was desperate.
He was losing his company, his reputation, his lab, everything.
What?
His lab.
Vaughn stole enough robotics to build an army, man.
He doesn't want to hide away or disappear,
he wants to work.
He needs a new lab.
Captain. Yeah?
Vaughn's not looking to run. He needs a sanctuary.
A place where he can work. Someplace big enough
for that kind of manufacturing,
off the power grid.
The abandoned shipyards at the Old Port,
that might be a place to start.
What about the subway tunnels that collapsed during
the light bomb attack? It's subterranean,
it's out of sight of the drones.
What about over the Wall?
If you really didn't want to be found--
to disappear off every grid--
that would be the place to go.
I mean, Vaughn's crazy, but...
not that crazy.
I think John's right.
I don't think he'd go over the Wall.
(whistles)