Artificial Willpower

Right

Art by _sleepy.moth_ on instagram! This one litterally blew me away. Thank you Moth, for all your cheerleading and movie worthy artwork!!

Four officials had cornered the two fugitives, and all four came out alive, the most severe injury being a gunshot wound in the foot to an officer named Emily Davis.

Kathrine looked through the information she currently had of the situation, sighing. It didn't make sense to her. Why didn't the fugitives just kill them? According to all the accounts, they both had taken guns. And those limbs were enough to easily crack a skull. Wouldn't it have been easier for the two?

After the death of Doctor Benjamin Weller, Kathrine had assumed that Daniel Jones would simply kill those in his way, but even the bullet wound seemed to be very intentionally non-fatal. It was undeniable that Daniel had avoided killing, and maybe even any bodily harm possible. Why though? What was missing from all this?

There was no footage of Benjamin's death, but he had clearly been thrown into a wall. It was assumed that Daniel had done it out of cold blood. After all, Benjamin was the only doctor the subject had actually spoken to, other than Pitch himself.

This encounter wasn't cold-blooded though, from what she could see. Maybe she was looking too deeply into this or focusing on the wrong thing here, but she couldn't help but feel unease in her chest. She wasn't quite sure where the problem was, but it felt bigger than just this encounter.

Officer Davis said she had a brief dialogue with Daniel Jones before they got away. She hadn't been wearing a body cam, but the officer who had been holding onto Illinois Arch was wearing one. Kathrine had never spoken to Davis since she worked for another facility hours away, and she only had the witness reports.

The footage of the conversation was okay, but the audio wasn't great. Kathrine decided to watch through the footage one last time before calling Officer Davis to try to get some more of the story.

The action was primarily out of frame, but the part that Kathrine was really interested in was in perfect view.

Daniel Jones' chest heaving as he cocked the gun, staring down Officer Davis. Officer Davis stopping in her tracks, and staring back.

Kathrine couldn't help but notice Daniel never actually pointed the gun. During the whole conversation, until he shot Davis in the foot, the gun stay pointed at the ground.

She sighed and turned off the computer before picking up her phone and calling Davis, who was still in the hospital, as far as Kathrine understood.

After a few rings, the officer picked up, "Hello?"

"Hello, Officer Davis right?"

"Yes ma'am"

"This is Kathrine Adams, head of security at the facility responsible for Daniel Jones"

"Oh. I take it you have some questions?"

"Yes, I do. None of the recording bodycams could pick up yours and Jones' conversation, do you mind trying to re-account it to me?"

Kathrine listened as the officer explained it all. Explained what Daniel Jones had said about being treated as less than human. How he deserved to rot in jail, but he didn't deserve to be treated the way the lab treated him.

It made Kathrine feel a little nauseous. It had been a thought process Kathrine had for a while. In stripping people of their humanity, even murderers, was this place any better? Did people like Daniel really not deserve any human decency? Was there even a right answer here? Does deciding who's right and who's wrong, and deciding who gets to be treated as a human and who gets to be treated as far less ever lead to any good?