#jeff fowler said i HAVE to bring that shit back

[gyroidroves]

Oh god i have so many thoughts about the sonic movie

[sloanesmortuary]

Predecessor: Prologue

Hi!! This is my first ever fic!! I apologize in advance if there's any mistakes from grammar (I mostly learn English from the internet pls forgive) to how innacurate I could've written the characters compared to the canon (excluding OCs)

Connor/RK700!M!Reader (I think? Idk that's what I'm going for)

1711 words

"Meet RK800. The more advanced model. Stronger, faster, and more resilient."

Your eyes went wide. You knew you're just a prototype, you knew this ought to happen, but you felt as if your heart just dropped. You opened your mouth to say something. Amanda cut you just before you get the chance to. She's not allowing you to talk. "You accomplished your mission and I am pleased with your work. Because of this, now we know that your programs works well and we are ready to take the next step with RK800." Amanda glanced at your successor, "Hi, my name is Connor. I will be replacing you in the DPD," the RK800 introduced himself.

"You will be deactivated by tommorow," said Amanda.

"...deactivated..."

"No... Why can't I just stay? I can still help Detective Reynolds!" You protested to no avail, obviously. Amanda's usual stoic expression turned into a frown. "I am not here to answer your question." You've never felt this troubled in your short life. "Please, I beg you! I-I'm scared." Your LED turned to yellow, flashing back and forth to red. Connor's LED also turned to yellow, but it quickly changed to blue. "You're giving a reason why you must be replaced. Aside from the fact that Connor is more advanced than you."

"Hey, hey, [y/n] the hell? You okay?" your partner had her hand on your shoulder, she was looking at you with a worried look on her face. You were crying and you didn't realize it. "They're going to replace me, Detective Reynolds." She looks rather surprised from what you just said. You've grown to her and so had she in the past months. It's against your programming, but you don't want to lose her friendship. "What? Does that mean you'll get deactivated? Where would you go after that? Stored away at some warehouse? Can you do anything about that? Fuck- that's not right," she muttered the last bit of what she just said as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Yes. I will get deactivated and be stored away for further study, and I'm afraid that there's nothing I can do to prevent it. I'll be sent back to CyberLife tommorow." Leila walked back to her desk- that's infront of yours- and sighed, "What if... You don't go? I know someone who can do magic." Your LED immediately turned yellow. "What?"

---

"Are you sure about this? You'll lose your job!" She didn't respond to you and kept on driving on her old manual car. You were scared for her. Anything you see and hear are recorded and will be sent to CyberLife, though you're not sure whether they will use the footage to do anything later. She pulled over infront of an apartment building. She rushed you in and to the elevator and pressed on the button for the 4th floor. "You do know that removing trackers on androids is illegal, right?" She waved you off, "Do you wanna live or nah?" You blinked several times then nodded. "Well, then shut it."

Leila set you free. You're a true deviant. They said trackers stopped working on deviants, but who knows what sort of enhancements they put in yours?

You couldn't bear with the fact that you are actually feeling emotions. You've always thought of it as an error in one's system. Knowing that now you experience emotions like humans does made you go through everything you've learned.

---

Days passed after your disappearance (thanks to Detective Leila Reynolds who risked her job for you.) You lived in an abandoned house Leila found. You even got a friend there, his name's Ralph. A jolly kind, though a little menacing. Ralph was on edge when they trespassed the old outgrown building. He pointed his knife to your partner, but she didn't point her gun at him. She kept her hand ready for it, though. "Easy... I just wanted to find a place for him to stay. We don't want to hurt you and he just need a place to lay down for a while." Ralph looked at you. You and Leila noticed the overly large scar on his face. This guy has been through a lot of shit. "Can I stay? If you don't want a company we will find another place. It's okay," you said. "Ralph is sorry. He doesn't like trespassers- especially humans- they're nasty. They'll hurt Ralph," he lowered his knife and gestured to the house's front door. "You can stay. Ralph thinks getting a friend wouldn't hurt." You smiled and thanked him. "Succulent!" He exclaimed. "Ralph is excited to get to know his new friend!"

Leila means the world to you. She's the first person to be your friend. Others (like Detective Reed) pushes you around to do pointless tasks as if you're an android designed to do domestic works. You were the most advanced android a little while back until you met Connor. Those people didn't seem to understand how advanced you are by making you do those tasks and they might seem to think that you're just a stupid piece of plastic stealing their jobs, though you get where their thoughts come from but you're only doing what you're programmed to: helping the DPD. To Leila, you're more than you ever think you are. She thought of you as a perfect being. She thought letting you become deviant would ruin the perfection in your design, but she didn't want you to have to obey every single commands you receive even if they're wrong. She interacted with you from the very start as if you're human. She's the main reason you're feeling emotions now. She made you feel alive, more than just a machine designed to follow orders no matter what.

Obviously, the office started panicking after your disappearance. CyberLife contacted the DPD about the absence of the successful RK700 model. This resulted in Fowler screaming to Leila.

"Well, how am I supposed to know where it went?!”

"It's your partner, Reynolds!"

"So what? I gotta keep it around like a poodle so I'll know wherever it went?"

"Don't give me that attitude! Now just go fuckin find that thing. Start wherever you last saw it. If you don't find anything I'll send a search party. This is so stupid, how could they lost track of their own damn fancy property. Don't forget to close the door on your way out."

Shivers went down Leila's spine. "They won't find him," she said to herself determined. "I'll make this search pointless. Ha. Cool. I'm a criminal now," she chuckled on her way back to her desk. She passed by Gavin on the way, he shot her a glare and stopped her. She knew he's suspicious of her. He talked about how she's always nice to you and to him, that's a solid motive for her to hide you when you're going to be replaced. She just shrugged it off and left Gavin be.

---

Your place was eventually replaced by the RK800. He's partnered with Lt. Anderson. He was paired with him to see if his skills could be compared to someone more advanced than Leila. The upgrades on RK800 weren't perfect because they couldn't bring you in in time to do a further study. "Another one of those damn things and this one is partnered with ME? Why can't it just be Reynolds again? She's more of an android person!" Fowler sighed, "This one is more advanced and it should be partnered with someone with more experience. Which happens to be you, Hank." Hank looked at Connor and squinted. "At least it look different. Still doesn't change the fact that I can't stand these things, Jeff!" They kept on shouting to each other for a good minute until the Lieutenant's defeat.

Their first case together went down smoothly. Hank is glad about that. "It ain't useless. That's good. It couldn't stop licking stuff from the ground though. I probably need to bring a puke bag around whenever I gotta be around it," Hank said in his head, making a mental note. Now, they're investigating an AX400 who attacked its owner and ran away. It's also said that the RK700, you might be around the place where the AX400 was last seen.

"Mother, father, uncle, and little girl!" Ralph jumped around excitedly. You could see that Alice and Kara are extremely uncomfortable, but Kara's even more uncomfortable. You knew she also saw the police coming. Good thing that she managed to talk to Ralph that they need to hide.

Connor went inside the house. You hid with Kara and Alice under the stairs. You held on to an old, yet sturdy baseball bat you found upstairs, ready to defend them. Connor questioned Ralph and he won't budge. He continued to search the house from the living room to the kitchen but he didn't go upstairs. He knew the three of you were hiding there. He approached your hiding spot and- CLANK! You hit him in the face as Ralph held him back while Kara and Alice ran. Your successor fell on his knees from the hit. Thirium ran down from his nose and mouth, that's how strong your hit was. "Connor, what the hell are you doing there?!" You kneeled down to face him and he looked up to meet your eyes. "Don't say a word about us or I'll take out your pump regulator," you threatened him. Your hand was on the spot just below his chest, ready to take out his regulator. "I don't care if you take it out. I'm not alive." You stared at him as if he's some sort of an anomaly. Having emotions really does change you. "I'm not alive." That creeps the living hell out of you. "They're here!" He shouted. "Ralph, let's go!" The both of you sprinted to the back door as you hear people barging into the house. Shots were fired. You caught some bullets but it didn't hit any major biocomponents, though you could die from the lack of thirium. You heard Connor shout, "we need the RK700 alive!" before you feel a weight over you. An officer tackled and handcuffed you before you could do anything due to the ever decreasing thirium flowing in your systems.

[touristguidebuzz]

Why Uber May Have Outgrown Its Founding CEO

Sometimes what got you today here won't get you there tomorrow. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick speaks onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt in September 2014 in San Francisco. Steve Jennings / Flickr

Skift Take: The rough-and-tumble approach of Travis Kalanick was indulged in the company's early days. But customers, drivers, employees, and investors have different expectations from a multi-billion-dollar global company.

— Sean O'Neill

“This is the first time I’ve been willing to admit that I need leadership help and I intend to get it,” wrote Travis Kalanick, the chief executive of Uber, in an email to his staff the other day.

In that same email, which he sent out after Bloomberg published a video showing him berating an Uber driver, the 40-year-old CEO also said that the incident reminded him that he “must fundamentally change as a leader and grow up.”

To which the only proper response is: What took you so long, bro?

Not to put too fine a point on it, but Kalanick is a first-class jerk. And the company he founded — and, to give him his due, built into a ride-hauling juggernaut — pretty much takes its cues from the boss.

Remember when Kalanick gave an interview to GQ magazine and said the company might as well be called “Boob-er” because he was now so desirable to women? Or how about the way the Uber staff used to mess with its chief competitor Lyft by calling for Lyft rides and then canceling them? Or the time an Uber executive used its technology to track a Buzzfeed reporter’s ride without permission?

Peter Thiel has called Uber “the most ethically challenged company in Silicon Valley,” and while he’s hardly an unbiased observer (he’s an investor in Lyft), I’ve heard plenty of other people in Silicon Valley say the same thing.

For the most part, Uber’s stumbles haven’t slowed it down. Indeed, my Bloomberg colleague Brad Stone, the author of “The Upstarts,” about Uber and Airbnb, told me that Kalanick’s rough-and-tumble ethos was probably necessary as the company fought regulators and the taxi monopolies in one city after another. And its first-mover advantage remains powerful: Uber has nearly achieved the status of Xerox — its name signifies not just a company but an activity.

And its first-mover advantage remains powerful: Uber has nearly achieved the status of Xerox — its name signifies not just a company but an activity.

Besides, companies are rarely punished by consumers for the sins of their executives. That Henry Ford was a bigot who owned an anti-Semitic newspaper didn’t much matter to buyers of Ford cars. Some years ago, the Allentown Morning Call revealed that Jeff Bezos’s Amazon didn’t install air conditioners in its warehouses; instead, it kept ambulances parked outside to revive workers who collapsed due to heat. Amazon’s revenue kept rising. So long as Uber’s technology worked — and it did, beautifully — nobody was going to dwell on either Kalanick’s or the company’s immaturity.

But this time it feels different. It feels a little like the final scene in Ian McEwan’s comic novel, Solar, in which all the bad things the protagonist has done throughout the course of the book come back to bite him all at once.

It began when Kalanick joined an economic council formed to give business advice to President Donald Trump. He quickly resigned after employees and customer howled in protest. When taxi drivers at JFK Airport in New York went on an hour-long strike to protest Trump’s ban on travel from seven mostly-Muslim countries, Uber tweeted that it was dropping surge pricing at the airport, infuriating both the taxi drivers and the protesters.

When taxi drivers at JFK Airport in New York went on an hour-long strike to protest Trump’s ban on travel from seven mostly-Muslim countries, Uber tweeted that it was dropping surge pricing at the airport, infuriating both the taxi drivers and the protesters.

The hashtag #deleteuber began trending; it has since become a catch-all for Uber critics:

And even that spate of impressively bad news was overshadowed after a former Uber engineer, Susan J. Fowler, wrote an utterly convincing account of her experience facing sexual harassment, and then indifference and outright hostility when she tried to get the company to do something about it. Then came the coup de grace: the video showing Kalanick arguing with a driver who complained that his business had been hurt by Uber’s price reductions. “Some people don’t like to take responsibility for their own shit,” Kalanick says. Ugh.

Do these recent black eyes have the potential to harm Uber in a way that previous problems have not? I think the answer is yes, for three reasons.

Even though Uber is the biggest brand, ride-hauling has become commoditized. A rider who opts for Lyft over Uber will find little difference in the service. And while Lyft remains a distant second, it’s in plenty of cities; indeed, many drivers contract with both services. So people disgusted with Uber can easily switch. “I’ve heard ‘I’m calling a Lyft’ more times in the past week than in the past six months,” says Lise Buyer, a partner with the Class V Group, a technology advisory firm. For its part, Lyft is trying to take advantage of the moment by raising a new round of capital.

The election of Trump has made this an unusually heated political moment, with Americans taking sides as never before. For instance: the decision by Nordstrom Inc. to eliminate Ivanka Trump’s merchandise from its stores became instantly controversial, with some customers applauding and others threatening a boycott. (Never mind that Nordstrom says it made the move for the most uncontroversial of reasons: the stuff wasn’t selling.) Fairly or not, Uber is now viewed as having taken several “pro-Trump” actions. In addition, sexual misconduct has become a galvanizing issue that can also cause people to shun a company. (Just ask Baylor University.) If the #deleteuber campaign gains traction, it has the potential to cost Uber the urban, upscale — and heavily Democratic — riders the service depends on.

The big surprise in Fowler’s blog post was not the sexual harassment allegations — did one really expect anything different from a “baller” culture, as Kalanick describes life inside Uber? No, it was all the other ways that Uber’s culture is dysfunctional. She makes Uber sound like Game of Thrones — a comparison she makes explicitly. Executives are openly undermining their supervisors in the hope of replacing them. That sort of thing. The result, writes Fowler, is that “nobody knew what our organizational priorities would be from one day to the next and very little got done.”

Would you want to work in a place like that? A company that combines that cutthroat culture with rampant sexual harassment is going to start having problems attracting talented people.

“Information about the work environment that is seeping (or gushing) into the real world now will undoubtedly have some impact” on job candidates, Buyer told me. “There are plenty of other well-funded, super-interesting places to work. And hey, if your interest is automotive, Lyft is just a few blocks away.”

It’s pretty obvious what needs to happen. Kalanick doesn’t just need “leadership help”; he needs to bring in an actual leader, someone who knows how to run the sizeable company that Uber has become. He can talk all he wants about needing to grow up, but he’s run out of time, and out of chances.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Joe Nocera is a Bloomberg View columnist. He has written business columns for Esquire, GQ and the New York Times, and is the former editorial director of Fortune. He is the co-author of “Indentured: The Inside Story of the Rebellion Against the NCAA.”

The full title is: “The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb and the New Killer Companies of Silicon Valley Are Changing the World.” (Little, Brown)

To contact the author of this story: Joe Nocera at jnocera3@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonathan Landman at jlandman4@bloomberg.net.

For more columns, visit Bloomberg View.

©2017 Bloomberg L.P.

This article was written by Joe Nocera from Bloomberg and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.