“What is her problem.....”~Solar murmured while she ran.

Solar spends hours running through the city tailing Moonbyul’s exhaust trail. It became morning by the time she even got close to Moonbyul. As she explored around Solar got a good feel for the city. She made her way all the way to the Dobong district which was a great shift from the Seowon district. The city was simply urban, just like she’d imagined - tall buildings in an exact grid pattern. Towering skyscrapers were smudged by the smog-filled sky, dim sunlight, no birds. Cars raced between red traffic lights, stubbornly flickering in the grey. Dobong was a vast, intricate, labyrinth of noisy, streets and alleys. A person could hear the incessant honking of the vehicles even before the sun rose. Impatient businessmen who had to get to the office, mothers who had to leave their children at their schools, facing the puzzling challenge of navigating through the crowd of parents and children; even some of the teachers who had stopped at the local bakery to get a bagel or two before their morning classes. After every person had reached their respective destination, the traffic congestions cleared significantly as if humungous snakes had eaten their fills and were retracting back into their dark and eerie caves. Solar finally made her way to “Sell-Fish Estates” where she sees Moonbyul’s police cruiser parked. She starts scanning for DNA patterns as she follows footsteps from the police car. Solar walked around for a bit before reaching room 36. She knocked on the door as she heard much shuffling on the other side. The door opened to reveal a disheveled Moonbyul, in tank top and jeans.

“Oh hey......”~Moonbyul said surprised at Solar being there.

“Greetings Detective, I followed the cruiser here......... and well, I came to apologize”~Solar

“Ok listen, you don’t have to, I was out of line”~Moonbyul

“Great”~Solar retorted making Moonbyul smile.

“Um come in I guess”~Moonbyul said gesturing for Solar to come in. It was a quaint little apartment, very simple. A walk in living room connected to a kitchen with a long hallway leading to the bedroom. What caught Solar’s eye was the container next to Byul’s TV which was labeled ‘Bridge World Dynamics’. The container had a synthetic right arm in it, and the screen on it said ‘calibrating’. Solar quickly did a 180 degree turn and looked back at Moonbyul, who for lack of a better word, was one arm less. Her tank top revealed a right residual limb, which looked cleanly cut off.

“Oh yeah, you’ve never seen me like this”~Moonbyul said as she shifted her right arm’s stump.

“It’s quite interesting, You technically are twenty three percent synthetic”~Solar said giggling

“Yeah Yeah.....”~Moonbyul mumbled as she went to sit down on her couch

“Um, detective? May I ask how you lost your arm? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want...........”~Solar asked nervously 

“Well if you’re going to be my partner, you might as well know”~Moonbyul said while she began to reminisce.

~10 Months Ago~

She still remembered Seulgi like it yesterday, Seulgi’s blonde hair was poker-straight and pulled back into a low pony-tail. She wore little make-up and was often stern, rarely joining in the jokes of the other officers. To be taken seriously she didn’t have to be their equal, she had to be better. Thats what Moonbyul loved about her. The girls were just responding to a basic emergency officer request. As they reached the destination where the call was made, they realized the street they were on was completely empty. Seulgi looked back at the car’s monitor before the emergency call disappeared. Then cracks and loud bangs were heard as many bullets riddled the side of their car. It was an ambush and they were caught in the thick of it. Bullets flew abound as Moonbyul dived out of the car to take cover while Seulgi did the same. They returned fire while trying to call for back up.

“Detective Byul calling in reinforcements to my location, we are under fire”~Moonbyul yelled into her radio. 

“How the did they fake an emergency call?!”~Seulgi shouted as she reloaded her gun.

“I dunno but be careful”~Moonbyul said as she continued to shoot at the gangsters in the building windows

“You too Byulie”~Seulgi said smiling back. They held off the ambush for 10 minutes before more officers showed up. Moonbyul’s eyes went wide in excitement before going back to a worried look. A metal clang could be heard as a ovular metal sphere rolled next to her.

“Cr*p.....”~Moonbyul said right before Seulgi tackled her to the ground simultaneous to the grenade exploding. The small grenade ignited in a fiery ball of yellow flame, billowing outwards, blowing Moonbyul and Seulgi away while knocking their patrol car on its side. Byul’s blinked in confusion as her vision was hazy, her head ringing from the explosion. She tried rubbing her temple but realized she had no use of her right arm. Moonbyul’s right arm had been cleanly blown off leaving a bloody mess. She looks around to see Seulgi laying a few feet from her, twitching in time to her blood flow. She crawls slowly toward Seulgi as she herself is in agonizing pain, bleeding profusely as a result. Byul makes it to her but Seulgi isn’t in better shape. Both of Seulgi’s legs were blown off she was bleeding worse than Byul.

“Hold on baby”~Byul said trying to prop herself up

“D*mn, this..... doesn’t look..... good Byulie”~Seulgi said through a mouth of blood. 

“Don’t say that........ we got...... (uuuuuugh) this”~Moonbyul said while the sting of adrenaline started to wear off 

The more bullets that fly by make the girls curl up as much as they can. They hear a shuffling as a figure sprints towards them.

“Hello Detective I am J.O.Y. 3-7, beginning extraction”~The Female synth said as she began pulling Moonbyul away.

“Wait WAIT, Take her too!”~Moonbyul screamed, pointing at Seulgi.

“I can hold only one victim m’am, Her blood pressure’s dropping, celiac artery’s blown apart. There’s nothing to do.”~The Synth stated while Moonbyul struggled to hold onto Seulgi.

“STOP!!! NO! Take her then!!!!”~Moonbyul screamed as she was pulled away

“I’m afraid I cannot do that, you have a higher statistical chance of surviving”~The Synth said while blocking a few bullets with it’s hand

“Please!!!!! No....Save Her!!!!!.... Seulgi!!!!!!”~Moonbyul yelled as she began losing consciousness. The last thing she remembered hearing before she out was Seulgi saying “Its.... OK”. The next thing Byul remembers is waking up in the hospital a month later. Her memory was fuzzy but she couldn’t forget going to Seulgi’s funeral. Struggling to hold back the grief, tears flow steadily, silently down Moonbyul’s immobile face. She was feeling bruised inside, a numbness, an emptiness, walking up to the mahogany coffin, saying goodbye although she is gone already. She was unwilling to acknowledge the finality of death, never to look upon Seulgi’s face again or feel her embrace, see the warmth in her eyes, be surrounded by her love. Words from the minister, speeches at the service bring a fresh onslaught of tears with well spoken words. A tribute to Seulgi’s life and loves. Everyone was in black, even Moonbyul, it was a part of her memory that she wish could of been forgotten.

“You loved her....”~Solar finally spoke up bringing Byul back to reality.

“Yeah...... “~Moonbyul said while taking a sip of a cup of coffee.

“Im sorry detective, That series of synth is based on first order predicate calculus. They have no intuition, or as you might say, no soul. For them, experience, memory is just recorded data. My series is designed to draw conclusions, make inferences. That synth made it’s choice based on logic, not free will”~Solar said patting Moonbyul on the back

“What it should of done, was listen to me”~Moonbyul 

“You were willing to die to let her live? Even if she had a lower chance of surviving”~Solar said as a single tear streamed down Moonbyul’s face.

“If I could replay that day a hundred times, every time I would risk everything to try and save her”~Moonbyul muttered as Solar went in for a hug. 

“It’s ok....”~Solar whispered making Byul quiver

It was a warm hug, not what Byul expected at all. The once cold mechanical idea she had in her head about Solar washed away as it was replaced. Replaced by a feeling of safety and care. Moonbyul hugged with her only arm back and rubbed her face against Solar’s shoulder. Byul finally after all this time didn’t feel alone. She finally felt that with this synth, she had someone. She finally had someone again that she didn’t want to lose. As Solar pulled away, Byul looked at her mumbling a “Thank you”. 

She got up from the couch and walked over the container that had her synthetic arm. Byul placed her arm’s stump onto the glass as the mechanical arm reattached itself to her. It made a hiss as it gripped onto her making Moonbyul grunt at the slight pain. The arm began growing a layer of skin to conceal itself. Growing from the upper arm down, mimicking Byul’s skin tone completely. It finally finished and Solar looked in awe as Byul stretched her right arm. Byul articulated each of the hand’s fingers but was met with resistance on her index finger as it squeaked like an old door opening.

“This god damn piece of junk....”~Byul uttered while trying to flex her hand

“Detective I have a fix for that”~Solar said as she bolted to Byul’s kitchen. She returned quickly with a bottle of olive oil in hand. Solar gently peeled the skin away from Byul’s finger. She gently applied a few drops of olive oil to the affected mechanical joint. As she finished the skin grew back over the peel she made.

“Olive oil is a good lubricant for hard joints, Now try it”~Solar said excitedly. Moonbyul articulated her fingers like last time but now, all of them worked perfectly. It put a smile on her face as did Solar’s.

“Hm you know your not like those other synths”~Moonbyul said as Solar nodded 

“Should I take that as a compliment detective?”~Solar said with eyes wide

“Take it however you want, lets get back to work, partner”~Moonbyul said flexing her right arm.