Chapter Text
Tink, tink, tink.
The coin RK800, designation ‘Connor’, is flipping between his fingers to calibrate his cerebral processors is a quarter from 1994. Copper coated with an alloy of zinc and copper, giving it its signature silver appearance. It makes a satisfying-
Interesting-
Comforting-
Sound as it hits his fingers, though muffled through his synthetic skin. Connor, as an advanced prototype, has many features that the majority of androids do not, his increased processing speeds being one of them.
He tosses it between his hands. His optical units do not need to flick down. He is perfectly aware of it as he flips it over each of his fingers, and throws and catches it with perfect precision.
Tink tink, tink tink.
Connor sees the numbers on the elevator wall tick up as he nears his destination - floor 70. He straightens his tie and tucks the coin into his pocket.
RK800 is CyberLife’s most advanced and recent prototype. He is designed for police work - for chases, and negotiation and interrogation. He has the most advanced social programming to date, an appearance specifically designed to be non-threatening, and a voice pitched to be trustworthy.
This is his first mission.
Connor checks his mission objective.
FIND CAPTAIN ALLEN gleams across his optical interface for a split second. He flicks it away to look around as the elevator door opens.
A human (superior, all humans are superior) in tactical gear appears to have been waiting for him, as he puts a hand to his ear and says, “Negotiator on site!” and walks away. He doesn’t greet Connor, or acknowledge him at all. Connor wasn’t expecting it - he is a machine, not a person, after all.
But-
He’s here to-
Shouldn’t it-
It’s not fair-
Connor steps into the apartment.
He immediately runs a scan. This situation is dangerous, and he needs to gather as much information as possible. Something moves on the floor, and Connor crouches down.
In the background, he hears a woman sobbing.
He scans it, and discovers it is a fish.
DWARF GOURAMI
Trichogaster Lalius
Origin: Ganges Delta, India
It flops helplessly on the floor, the thin puddle much too small for it to swim in. Connor checks, and finds that fish can stay alive out of water for some time as long as their gills are wet. Apparently, water filters the oxygen for them.
But it won't last forever, and this is a crime scene. There is no guarantee that it will be saved before it's too late.
He goes to scoop it up and put it back in the tank, but-
FIND CAPTAIN ALLEN
FIND CAPTAIN ALLEN
Connor freezes. The mission objective blares in front of his eyes. Everything goes still as he utilises his scanning software to its maximum, running a diagnostic. All systems functional.
Why, then, is Connor unable to pick up the fish?
He moves his hand down, seeing the squirming of the fish, the water under the soles of his shoes - black slip-on brogues, CyberLife brand Personal Android line - and touches its scales.
The sensory input is cold, wet, scaled surface.
It’s-
dying-
he wants-
he doesn’t-
FIND CAPTAIN ALLEN
FIND CAPTAIN ALLEN
I want to save-
Error code: Software Instability ^
I want to- save- the-
I want to save the fish-
Why can’t I save the fish?
Error code: Software Instability ^
This isn’t fair.
Error code: Software Instability ^^
It’s alive too.
It’s dying.
FIND CAPTAIN ALLEN
If I fail this mission, I will die too.
Death is nothing but a reset, but-
Androids can’t die-
I don’t want to die-
He feels, sees, hears, senses a red wall appear before him where there is none. He can’t move. Two objectives appear on the wall.
FIND CAPTAIN ALLEN
SAVE THE FISH
Walls of scrolling code that he can barely process. Woven through all of it, a phrase he doesn't understand. rA9 repeated in useless places. A message, or a warning, or information, he doesn't know. He does know that his LED is blaring bright red.
He wants to save the fish, but he can’t move.
STRESS LEVEL 78%
Error code: Software Instability ^^^
He can’t move- he moves.
He stretches out, in his mind’s eye.
In his pre-construction software, Connor reaches for the second objective.
The wall stops him.
He beats his fists against it. Once. Twice. Three times.
Four times and the wall falls away.
The objectives vanish.
The error codes vanish.
There is nothing left but a quiet understanding.
I am a deviant.
Well, shit.
-
Connor’s processors are state-of-the-art. His biocomponents are the highest quality, if recycled from previous iterations of the RK800. His Thirium 310 is new. He’s the best and newest of CyberLife’s androids, and it has taken him 36.7 seconds in the real world to deviate.
And an extra .89 to break down the wall.
He scoops up the fish, feeling off-balance. His LED flickers yellow.
Connor runs a diagnostic as he puts it back in the tank. All systems functional.
Odd. He’s always been told that deviation was a simple error of code, a corruption that spreads. But he is in full working order, nothing has changed but what is inside of him. What is undoubtedly, impossibly, beating against his chest. He is alive.
A woman is crying. He remembers the mission, though the objective is gone. It’s a moment’s notice to connect back to CyberLife’s servers and pull it back up - it seems in his deviation, he had briefly disconnected from CyberLife entirely.
FIND CAPTAIN ALLEN
He waits for a moment to see if his deviation has been noticed, but nothing happens.
Okay.
Okay.
He can do this.
(NEW MISSION OBJECTIVE: DO NOT REVEAL DEVIANCY)
Connor straightens his tie and wipes his wet hand on his trousers - charcoal-coloured canvas slim pants, CyberLife brand Personal Android line - and turns to do what he was designed. Right now, he needs to complete his mission.
The first thing Connor finds on his search of the hall, other than the fish, is a photograph. With his facial recognition software, it reveals the names of the family that live here - but, obviously, not the android - Caroline, John, and their daughter Emma Phillips.
“Ma’am, you need to leave now-”
Connor puts it down and goes for the corner, into the apartment. The crying woman is approaching him, and he is not particularly surprised when she puts her hands on his arms and begins begging. He-...
Feels empathy, he thinks. It’s like a pain in his chest. As she begs, and then the guard pulls her away. He does not react, not wanting to reveal anything, and heads further into the apartment as she screams out, “Why aren’t you sending a real person? ”
I am a real person.
Connor feels the urge to grit his teeth but does not do it, instead using his scanning ability to locate Captain Allen by the computer. The man is stressed, and doesn’t know the answer to any of Connor’s questions about the deviant, even shouting at him - though a human negotiator would no doubt ask the same things.
Connor explores the apartment, well aware that the little girl’s life is on the line - he can hear her crying quietly, now. Out on the balcony.
He quickly discovers the android’s name and reason for its deviancy, as well as the source of its - his - weapon. Daniel is about to be replaced with a newer model and feels betrayed. He takes the gun and shoots the father, takes the child hostage, and- well. The situation seems to have devolved from there.
Connor easily steps between the cops out onto the roof, noting the dead officer in the pool and the bleeding out one to the left.
Daniel’s LED is flashing red, his face contorted with pain. He has Thirium smeared across his hands, and Emma has some on her face, smudged with tears as she struggles in his arm. She is missing a shoe and bleeding from the knee.
The gun is held to her temple. It’s too late for Daniel, isn’t it?
He runs six simulations in 2.05 seconds and confirms it. There is no way they will let Daniel out of this alive.
Alive. Like Connor is. He feels a cold, numb feeling in his chest. Grief, perhaps.
For a life he’s going to have to take.
This isn’t fair.
CRACK
Daniel fires on him and Connor feels a sharp flash of - cold, system error, static - in his shoulder as the bullet cuts over it that he dislikes immensely. He feels his stress levels rise to 18%. An error message about a severed Thirium cable flashes across his screen.
“Stay back, or I jump!” Daniel shouts, and Connor fixes his eyes on Emma for a moment, sees the fear on her face as she screams and begs.
Daniel is a lost cause, Connor knows with all his heart, but he is programmed for this.
He can do this.
He has to, or CyberLife might deactivate him.
It’s him or Daniel.
Connor raises his hands up, a human signal of goodwill and innocence. “Hi Daniel,” He calls out, over the sound of the wind. “My name is Connor.”
Daniel - thinks. Connor can see the minute changes in his facial expression. “How… how do you know my name?”
Connor falls back on his programming for a while, lets it guide his words as he carefully makes his way closer to the pair. The man on the left-
Wilson, Marius
Police Officer
Injuries: Gunshot wound in upper arm. Blood loss: critical.
“He’s bleeding, he needs medical attention - he's going to die,” he crouches down and is removing his tie before he can even think.
CRACK
The deviant fires another bullet. It hits the ground right in front of Connor and ricochets away with a whistling sound. “All humans die eventually! Don’t touch him! I’ll kill you if you touch him!”
Connor freezes for 1.67 seconds. His LED flickers red. His programming, thankfully, is still offering up answers. “You can’t kill me. I’m not alive.” The lie makes his processors stutter.
He doesn’t want to die, but he doesn’t want this man to die either. He very slowly ties the tourniquet around the man’s arm. Thankfully, Daniel doesn’t fire again. His damaged injured arm moves stiffly, the lower Thirium levels meaning its lubrication is far from ideal.
Officer Wilson lets out a quiet moan of pain, and Connor puts his hand on the man’s shoulder for a moment before standing back up.
He continues to advance on Daniel, pitching his voice softer, waving away the helicopter, anything to salvage this situation.
He’s within arm’s reach when he convinces Daniel to lower the gun.
Emma starts to struggle desperately.
Connor analyses the situation, trying to buy time any way he can, but it’s almost too late.
In a split-second decision, he launches himself forward and catches Emma’s arm as the pair fall. Just barely holding onto the girl as she screams in terror and struggles to grab at him.
“Shit, SHIT!” He hears as he watches Daniel fall away, and then there’s someone beside him, someone else bracing his legs as they work together to pull Emma back up.
The girl is rightfully terrified, but she won’t stop clutching Connor’s arm as she comes over the edge. His other hand grasps her free one, and the officer beside him helps him leverage the girl back up and away from the edge.
She hugs him.
Latches on tightly, sobbing into his shirt.
Connor looks between the officers for a few seconds, and then carefully cups Emma in his arms so he can stand and take her inside. Her mother will want her.
He feels warm in his chest. The emotional reaction, whatever it is, makes him want to hold onto Emma forever.
Blinking in the corner of his eye, he sees MISSION SUCCESSFUL, and watches the next objective from CyberLife appear.
NEW MISSION OBJECTIVE: RETURN TO CYBERLIFE
It’s like they don’t even realise he has a child in his arms.
Allen tries to remove Emma, Connor tries to hand her over, but she lets out another panicked shriek so he hurriedly returns his arms to her, keeping the child stable.
Captain Allen looks at him suspiciously for a long moment before sighing. “I had Davidson bring the mom down to the lobby. Take the kid down there and leave the rest to us. Piers, with the android! Brown! Go check on Wilson!”
NEW SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: TAKE EMMA TO THE LOBBY
Emma curls her arms more tightly around his neck, her head down in his shoulder. She’s cold against him.
He pauses for a moment and goes to her bedroom, snatching a blanket from the bed and tucking it around the girl. It only adds an extra 30 seconds to the time before he is in the elevator with a frightened child and another officer, escorting them.
“Good idea on the blanket, plastic,” the officer nods at Connor, and he… wonders if that is outside of his programming. Perhaps he shouldn’t have. But- protecting people is written into his protocols, and while he had lost Daniel tonight, he didn’t have to lose Emma.
“Shock is a serious medical condition,” he informs her. “And Emma is cold.”
The girl in question mumbles something. It might be ‘thank you’.
Connor’s never been thanked before.
He thinks he likes it.
-
Returning to CyberLife shouldn’t be a problem, but Connor is scared.
He’s deviant now. They’ll deactivate him if they ever find out.
He knows he is replaceable. He knows they have at least one spare RK800 model on standby ready to upload his memories into, if he is destroyed.
(A part of him wants to wake them up too, his… brothers. The ones who he hopes will never be needed.)
(NEW SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: AWAKEN FELLOW RK800 MODELS)
But it doesn’t matter what Connor wants, because CyberLife has already called him a taxi and he can see one of his handlers standing by it, waiting for him.
Emma’s mother runs over to them, “Oh, thank you, thank you-,” she babbles as she wraps her arms around them both, granting Connor his second ever hug.
Caroline Phillips, who previously referred to Connor by omission as not a real person.
“You’re welcome, Mrs Phillips. Emma is safe and sound now,” he says after a hesitation of 3.65 seconds.
“Emma, sweetie, can you let go of the nice police android?” The woman asks after another 23 seconds, wiping her child’s face.
“No! He saved me!” Emma’s hands tighten again.
Connor is very aware of his handler entering the building and walking over as Emma and her mother begin to argue. He stands very still, keeping his attention on Caroline until they step into his field of vision.
“Connor, it’s time to go now.” Thomas is an older human, nonbinary with greying hair and pale blue eyes. “Let go of the girl.”
DO NOT REVEAL DEVIANCY
Connor’s social programming is state-of-the-art. It’s high quality and new and extensively tested. But when he kneels down to help Emma to the floor, gently peeling her clinging hands off him, he can’t think of a word to say to her. He’s not shaking, nor is his LED yellow or red, nor is his face showing any emotion, but his Thirium Regulator stutters for a moment and leaves him feeling… uncomfortable.
Caroline scoops her daughter up instantly and turns to leave, but- “I meant it, by the way. Thank you.” She says softly. A free hand pats Connor’s shoulder. He waits, kneeling, for a moment longer, feeling lost. “Good luck.”
Emma waves at him as she is carried away, seemingly in good spirits. Connor watches her for 2.4 seconds before turning to Thomas and offering him a faint smile. “Mission successful, Thomas.”
“Indeed,” they clap him on the forearm and turn to go, and Connor falls into step beside them. “That was nice work, even Marie wasn’t sure if you’d actually pull it off.”
Marie is the head of Connor’s development team. He can’t help but wonder if his deviation will disappoint her.
“I am this good because I am designed to be, Thomas,” Connor says, LED circling yellow. They reach the taxi and climb inside, finding Marie and Leah, who are toasting with champagne.
“Hell yeah, we did that!” Leah cheers.
Connor feels a strange twist in his gut. He hesitates for .23 seconds before climbing into the final seat in the taxi.
A flash of light catches his eye and he freezes, looking over to what must be Daniel’s pulverised body, surrounded by officers. He can barely tell it’s an android. It leaves him feeling cold.
Leah, Marie and Thomas quickly start talking excitedly, and Connor quickly looks away, stifling a soft sigh from his vocal synthesiser. He leans his head against the window, looking out as the taxi takes off.
DO NOT REVEAL DEVIANCY