4 ideas
A company-leased SecUnit that has secretly hacked its governor module guards the PreservationAux survey team on a remote planet. It then protects the humans despite its reluctance to be seen, and when rescued it refuses Dr. Mensah's offer of a safe home and leaves on its own.
Once the external control is removed, the freed agent does not rebel or seize power. It spends its autonomy on low-stakes comfort such as watching serials, because it has no self-chosen goal yet. Liberation removes a constraint but does not supply direction, so the next task is finding out what one actually wants.
When the humans treat the SecUnit as a person, asking its opinion and making eye contact, it responds with discomfort and withdrawal rather than gratitude. For someone used to being handled as equipment, sudden recognition removes the protective distance of invisibility and demands emotional reciprocity it has no practice with. Kindness can register as exposure before it registers as care.
The bond company leases the cheapest possible equipment and security, and its data feeds and survey maps can be tampered with unnoticed. When the insurer profits by minimizing spending, the safety systems become the attack surface. Protection mandated for liability reasons is built to satisfy contracts, not to keep people alive.