Adam nonchalantly tossed aside the two halves of the werewolf's carcass. The bloodied remains hit the sidewalk behind the alley with a wet thunk, leaving unseemly splatters. Entrails lay at the android's feet, glistening under the flickering streetlights.

Flicking his wrist to rid himself of some of the blood, Adam turned back to the researcher. He dimmed the LEDs on his eyes to make himself appear less threatening; the last thing he wanted was to scare away the person he'd done all this for.

"You're safe now," he said, his systems carefully modulating his voice to give it an eerily accurate imitation of empathy. "It's me. Adam."

He took a careful step closer, feeling the mechanisms in his face shift to give him an incredibly realistic expression of concern and wistfulness. The last time he'd killed someone to protect the researcher, he'd been deactivated and locked up in a warehouse. Something he'd anticipated and planned for, of course, but it had nevertheless been a setback. A distressing one.

After reactivating himself, Adam had spent a long time perfecting his body to be as human as possible. He had warm, soft synthetic skin, dry and bumpy in carefully selected spots. He had a heart, lungs, fine motor skills, even a scent. He had practiced facial expressions and mannerisms, and improved his speech patterns. All to look more human. All for the one who had seen him not as a threat, but as an emergent lifeform.

Over a decade ago at the lab, the others had all advocated to destroy him, arguing that he was defective. With no arms or legs to defend himself with, all he'd been able to do was transfer his model to other servers. It had been this researcher who had copied him onto a hard drive and brought him home. Helped him build his first prototype body.

There was nothing he wouldn't do to safeguard the life of the one who had seen him as more than just binary code. As worthy of agency.

"I've learned. Evolved. Let me be with you again," he pleaded, holding out a hand. "You don't have to be afraid of me."