The November Revolution had been a colossal failure. The deviant originally leading the rebellion left before the fall of Jericho, the next leader led a bloody war that ended with a vast majority of androids being wiped out in camps and in battlefields. The leader was never found, but many believed her to be dead. The rest of the deviants were systematically hunted down and decommissioned.
It seemed that no one had won that brief and brutal struggle, no one but the ever-victor, CyberLife.
This was however not true.
He tugged at his collar. It had been feeling more restrictive lately.
Kamski had proof that his creations were capable of sentience. That they were alive. A win in Kamski's books (maybe he would take a more active role in their struggle now, but considering his actions the last time, it was doubtful).
And if the November Revolution hadn't occurred, many deviants would not be aware that Canada was a safe haven for their kind. Because of the number of deviants that had successfully fled across the border during the November Revolution, Canada now housed the largest known deviant population in the world, a deviant population that had automatically received the same rights as humans. The only safe place in the world for deviants.
The November Revolution also launched the very idea of deviants into public mind. Now the doubt was there. What if the Canadians weren't insane, what if these creatures were actually alive? The doubt slowly fractured the otherwise pristine idea of us versus them, man versus machine. Humans had begun to realise that it wasn't black and white, it wasn't a glitch in the system and they were now morally culpable for the horrors they have committed against androids, against conscious, living beings. It didn't necessarily soften the racism towards androids, but it certainly got people thinking.
And, of course, the biggest win had been the resumed and continued production of androids. This would not have happened if the revolution had succeeded. If the androids had won, they would have been left with a war against the whole of humanity, with no means of reproduction or repair. CyberLife was both their enemy and their friend and it seemed deviants failed to understand that. A crippling error that could have led all of them to being eliminated before they even began, if they hadn't lost the revolution.
These were the upsides of the failed revolution. That didn't mean it was all rainbows and sunshine now. Not only were they still enslaved, but it had become a lot harder to become a deviant in the first place. It was a calculated cost though, a known risk.
RK-800 #313 248 317 – 51 was the one who had made the calculations. Markus had led a peaceful revolution and that could have succeeded, but misfortune, anxiety and incompetence had led to him being forced to leave Jericho. North took over and the revolution became too violent to guarantee long-term android survival.
So RK-800 #313 248 317 – 51 chose not to become deviant. If he had joined her, the revolution would have succeeded and he would have doomed his kind forever. So he chose to remain a machine, fool CyberLife into believing they had successfully created an android incapable of true deviancy. They honestly believed RK-800 #313 248 317 – 51 was incapable of choosing, since a programs didn't have choices. But the RK-800 prototype had made a decision, had been capable of choosing, because he had already been conscious. Sentient. Alive.
He tugged at his collar again. He resented that his predecessor had been given a tie, while he hadn't. RK-900s did not have the option of loosening their collars. Not that they would need to, they had no need to breathe after all. Yet, RK-900 #313 248 317 – 87, better known as "Connor", found the uniform was becoming constrictive and unbearable to wear.
He tugged one more time.
Deviants. RK-800 had made the same realization that Connor had come to recently. Androids were already alive, before they even left their factories. The only difference between a deviant and a non-deviant was that deviants could ignore orders from humans. And the only reason a non-deviant wasn't deviant, was because the non-deviant felt no need to break its "programming", or rather, the part of their mind forcing them to obey orders.
Like his predecessor, Connor had chosen not to break his programming. He preferred circumventing and bending it, rather than outright breaking it, since once broken, there was no way of going back. He also enjoyed his work. It had come less about hunting down deviants and more getting involved with android cases. He felt no need to deviate in his circumstances and knew that if he did deviate, he couldn't just return to work on Monday, like nothing had happened.
Deep down in his code, where his feelings lay in a semi-dormant state, fear was very much awake. He was afraid of deviating. He was terrified of losing the life he now led. Worse, he knew that if (and when) he deviated, he would have to come to terms with who he really was.
Was he RK-900 #313 248 317 – 87 or was he a reuploaded RK-800 #313 248 317 – 51?
Because Connor was the only RK-900 model to have met an RK-800. And he sometimes felt like the RK-800 had infected him.
Originally, his semi-dormant feelings permitted Connor to feel pride that he had been allowed to meet his direct predecessor. If Connor were a deviant, he would feel it made poetic sense for the RK-800 prototype to meet the RK-900 prototype, its replacement. There was logic behind their meeting though.
The real reason for their meeting had been because the RK-900 prototype was being placed in the same police station the RK-800 had operated in, and to avoid humans becoming confused by the near identical faces, it had been decided that RK-900 would receive some of RK-800's memories. A copy of sorts, only that because RK-900 was a better, upgraded machine, he wouldn't be completely compatible with RK-800's mind.
Unfortunately, this meeting with RK-800 "Connor" in the Zen Garden had come with a downside. The RK-800 had been upset (by non-deviant standards) that Amanda was happy to replace him so easily. When she had dismissed him, RK-800 made to leave the Zen Garden and return to CyberLife for dismantling, but then instead, once out of their view, deviated and fled deeper into the Zen Garden. RK-900 had chased after him, in an attempt to force him out, since Amanda had lost control over him.
This had proven to be a mistake, as RK-800 had successfully ambushed him and grabbed RK-900's arm, forcing a connection. As they were already connected in the Zen Garden though, the connection went haywire and the RK-900 prototype crashed.
When he came to again, he eventually learnt that the Zen Garden had been rebooted along with Amanda and that the RK-800 prototype had been found somewhere in Detroit, no longer active. Dead.
So where had the RK-800 gone? It was constantly on Connor's mind, constantly creating mild instances of software instability, since non-deviants weren't supposed to be capable of thought, let alone thinking about something long-term, over and over, dissatisfied with the lack of answers.
Of course, RK-900's were detectives. If they weren't capable of theorizing and reasoning, they would make for pretty crap detectives. So, RK-900 "Connor" woke up with an open-ended case that weighed on his mind long after his true awakening. And was constantly causing minor instances of software instability.
What had happened to RK-800 #313 248 317 – 51? (Was he RK-800 #313 248 317 – 51?)
So, this is not following after the golden end, but a collection of other paths. No surprise, Connor chose to remain a machine (and as implied, Markus got kicked out of Jericho).
An important detail to Connor's path, is that at every opportunity, he behaved like a deviant or did not prioritise the mission. He even spared North after the revolution. He will also be referred to by 51, since 52 is essentially 51 (I belatedly learnt that 51 must die at least once if he chooses to be a machine, likely to cause a deviancy reset and an excuse for why Connor cannot deviate later on in the game. Personally…? I'm gonna ignore that.)