After Shiller got home, he moved his table football set, which was already complicated to assemble and had been blasted into pieces, to the side of the garden in the backyard. After putting together the stand and the base, he placed the remaining parts and tools inside to create a makeshift workbench.
The metal parts were still usable, and the tools showed no significant wear, but there was a shortage of fishing line and rope, so Shiller sent Martin a message asking him to bring enough supplies within half an hour.
There were urgent matters to attend to this evening, so Shiller went to the tool shed in the garden to put on his boots, and then he took the plastic raincoat hanging on the porch and put it on.
The weather cooperated nicely with a light drizzle. Shiller opened the back gate and saw the wet asphalt road reflecting the light from the street lamps under the rain.
At the end of the street, the beam of a flashlight flickered on and off. Shiller stood by the road for a while, then heard shouting from that direction.
"Hey, sir? What's wrong?! Is there a problem?"
A figure splashed through the rain toward him, none other than Clay, who had just knocked on the door to take a census of residents.
"Nothing much, just that my car broke down and the repairman can't make it because of the weather. I'm waiting for a friend to bring me some parts."
"What's wrong with the car?" Clay dimmed his flashlight slightly and asked, "Do you know how to fix cars?"
"I don't, but my friend does. He should be here shortly."
As he spoke, headlights appeared at the end of the rain curtain. An old, somewhat dilapidated vintage car pulled up at the curb. Martin got out, carrying a large bag that he struggled to hold while propping open an umbrella, and waved to Shiller.
"Is that your friend?"
"Yes." Shiller walked over and asked, "Didn't you bring a jack?"
Martin looked momentarily bewildered, but catching Shiller's gaze, he said, "Oh, my gosh, I completely forgot."
"Do you think the two of us could lift the car?"
"I'm afraid not, sir. Why don't I go back and get it?" Martin said.
"Forget it, it's too late. Looks like I'll have to take the subway to work tomorrow." Shiller said, preparing to head back with Martin.
Clay stopped them and said, "I think I can help. Do you live in that house?"
Clay pointed to Shiller's house. Shiller nodded, and Clay said, "I've finished my work for today. I think I can be of assistance."
Shiller could clearly feel that this Clay, in his behavior, was different from the previous one. He guessed that after the previous Clay's data was sent back, the software engineer in charge realized that police in Gotham were different from those in other cities, so he adjusted his behavioral logic.
In America, most police are law enforcement officers who only maintain the government's interests, without any intention to share joys with the populace, nor would they offer help to citizens during their duty hours.
However, under Gordon's leadership, Gotham's police genuinely integrated into the lives of the residents, instilling the concept of "When in trouble, seek the police" into the minds of the populace.
This caused the previous Clay, who operated under the logic of an Agent, to stick out like a sore thumb in Gotham, looking abnormal. This Clay seemed much more normal.
"It seems I must express my thanks." Shiller said, "Taking the subway is likely to make me late. Let's go."
They went back inside through the gate of the backyard, but Clay noticed that neither the yard nor the house had any lights on; the building was pitch dark, and the yard was terrifyingly black.
Shiller turned towards the house and walked on, while Clay continued forward, stepping into a pit in the center of the yard and falling in.
As he struggled to climb out, he was struck on the back of the head and passed out immediately.
Shiller went down into the pit to haul him out. Martin had not yet grasped what was happening; he was unaware of what followed the event earlier that day, nor did he know about Clay's frenzied breakdown and subsequent shooting by Gordon, so he couldn't understand why Shiller had suddenly turned hostile.
Shiller fished Clay out of the pit, stripped off his upper clothes, and made a cut along the spine with a knife, indeed revealing a section of the vertebrae abnormally different from those of an ordinary person,
Based on the forensic report from one of Gordon's men on another Clone, the appearance was nearly flawless and the internal similarity was eerily close, but the most important part—the lumbar vertebra joint—had a different shape due to either substandard material or a design defect, visible in the mechanical structure just beneath when the joint block was flipped over.
Shiller quickly removed that piece of bone, flipped it to see that it indeed had a metal plate on the back and a small light that was lit.
Shiller did not see this as a design flaw but rather as a typical tactic used by Amanda. This device was either a bomb or it contained a lethal toxin, designed to ensure the Clone could be decommissioned at any moment if they posed a threat.
Amanda was part of the extremist unilateral disarmament camp, detesting all uncontrolled forces, believing that everything operating outside the rules must be eradicated, that all things perfect, powerful, and outside society should not exist—all must have weaknesses.
So if this project were Amanda's, there would be no such thing as a perfect Clone. Amanda would surely find a way to create a weakness so that they could be destroyed immediately should they ever go out of control.