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Chapter 2: An Offer

"Kamski? What are you doing here? How? Wh-" Connor can barely think due to the sudden pounding echoing throughout his processor. He stumbles, but manages to catch and right himself before he can completely fall over.

Elijah Kamski looks the exact same as when Connor had last seen him eight months ago during the visit to his house with Hank, the time where he shot the ST200 through its head in the pursuit of the location of Jericho. His face is identical, and his hair is styled just the same as well, the bun behind his head, but instead of the robe, he's wearing a classy grey dress shirt and black slacks. It's impossible, Kamski shouldn't be here, couldn't be here, yet he was, and a part of Connor idly wonders why now? Why eight months into his hiding? What's happening? The amount of questions causes Connor's processor, already suffering enough as it is, to whir loud enough for Connor to hear, Kamski as well evidently, because he makes a small 'calm down' gesture with his hand and interrupts whatever question was about to escape Connor's mouth first.

"Well I must say I expected a warmer welcome" he drawls, and Connor recognises the use of sarcasm. "However, I unfortunately can understand your confusion."

"What are you- what? How are you here?" Connor demands, his vocal processor sounding heavily strained, even to his own audio receptors.

"I'll explain everything soon" Kamski says slowly, like he's talking to a child. "Look, I'm here because I want to talk to you. Can we meet up somewhere close by? Somewhere-" he looks Connor up and down with a small expression of distaste, "-probably as inconspicuous as possible?"

Connor is aware that he doesn't look great, but looking socially presentable hadn't been on the forefront of his processor for a long time. His hair, which was usually without a strand out of place, was messy, and his clothes had mostly been lifted from second-hand shops, and were now speckled with a variety of different sized holes. It didn't make much difference to him, he didn't need to look "good" when he spent almost all of his dwindling time locked away in his apartment. Still, the blatant disgust Kamski levels him with is enough to have a certain degree of shame wash over him.

"Why should I trust you?" Connor says slowly, measured, and he steps away slightly in the hope that Kamski won't be able to get any closer to him; not that it would do much should Kamski suddenly decide to attack him or something. The Garden didn't really exist after all, normal rules didn't apply here. "You could be here to turn me in, have me deactivated and shut down, why would I believe you at all?" He unsteadily backs away even more due to his growing doubts and shakes his head in a vain attempt to dislodge the program and return to the real world.

Kamski looks almost disappointed with Connor's reaction, almost as if he expected anything different, and the thought almost makes Connor laugh out loud, but he doesn't. Instead he levels Kamski with a small, untrusting glare, and shifts his position to one where he could shoot the billionaire if he so much as moved suspiciously. He doesn't have a gun per say, but once again, the Zen Garden wasn't real, and Connor had learned much about how it worked since he deviated. He could imagine a gun and it would appear, or an umbrella, or a boat, or a snowstorm that reflected his inner turmoil – it would be easy, a mere thought, and that fact comforted Connor in the face of someone that could potentially cause his end.

"Maybe because I haven't actually done anything yet?" Kamski articulates, sounding bored, but Connor can catch the very subtle desperation in his voice, and it gives him pause. Elijah Kamski, the billionaire, desperate for him to just listen? That didn't sound right. There's a moment of silence where Kamski realises that Connor is waiting for him to continue, and then he carries on. "Listen, I'll tell you everything you want to know, but not here, like I said, we need to meet up somewhere."