... HELLO THERE XD
Welcome to 'The Emma Dilemma'! :D
I had this idea a couple weeks ago and it wouldn't leave me alone, so... here we are. In which there are two Connors running around Detroit.
PLEASE NOTE: In order to have a not so ridiculous amount of time between 'The Hostage' and the main body of the game, the beginning has been brought forward to mid/late October. Thankuuu :)
Enjoy!
"Negotiator on site. Repeat, negotiator on sight." The first words Connor, RK800 #313248317-51, hears when the elevator doors slide open on floor 70. The apartment lobby is not in the best state. There's water all over the floor, from the miniature aquarium on the left no doubt. There's something else there, too, struggling weakly on the ground. A fish.
Scanning… 100%. COMPLETE.
Results:
DWARF GOURAMI
Trichogaster Lalius
Origin: Ganges Delta, India
Connor looks at it for another moment. It's so weak and helpless, and its struggles look rather pathetic, really. Do I save the fish or leave it to die?
Connor reaches down and picks the fish up, dropping it back into the water. It floats for a moment, seemingly disoriented, before pulling itself together and swimming away. The android tracks its movement, observing it with mechanical eyes. There's a sort of disembodied fascination in having saved it.
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^
The RK800 straightens up, his back set in a perfect, programmed posture. The fish, and his choice to save it, seems forgotten.
A photograph sits proudly on the table (which is, fittingly, on the other side of the entrance lobby). Two adults and a child- presumably a family photo.
"No, stop! I, I can't leave her!" Connor hears a woman crying from the next room.
Scanning… 100%. COMPLETE.
Results:
PHILLIPS, JOHN
Born: 10/11/1999
Lives: 1554 Park Av. Detroit
PHILLIPS, CAROLINE
Born: 05/23/2001
Lives: 1554 Park Av. Detroit
PHILLIPS, EMMA
Born: 09/02/2028
Lives: 1554 Park Av. Detroit
All three were smiling at whatever camera had framed this moment in time. Father, proud head of the family. Mother, pleasantly smiling with some wrinkles beginning to show on her face (99.3% probability this is the person crying to stay with near the hostage). Daughter, young and carefree, but her smile… Connor's databases suggest it had been forced. It doesn't quite reach her eyes. The family is just standing there, not holding each other, no supportive hands on their child's shoulder, nothing.
Something's not quite right in that image. There's a twinge of concern at the edges of Connor's consciousness.
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^
His scan complete, Connor places the picture back on the table where it had been. His optical units scan the entire lobby once more, deeming the place to be (otherwise) empty. He begins walking to the corner, the crying becoming louder.
A woman is lead around the corner by a SWAT team officer, dressed in full body armor. The woman mentioned earlier matches the image of Caroline Phillips from Connor's earlier scan of the family photo, save the distressed emotional display and tears.
"Oh, oh, please, you gotta save my little girl," the woman begs, tearing herself away from the officer to clutch Connor's jacket. The android looks back at her.
Scanning… 100%. COMPLETE.
Results:
PHILLIPS, CAROLINE
Born: 05/23/2001
Lives: 1554 Park Av. Detroit
Criminal record: Drunk driving (minor offense)
There's something on the corner of her mouth, running down her chin. Faint and hard to see, but there.
Scanning… 100%. COMPLETE.
Results:
BLACK LAMB
Scotch Whisky
40% Alcohol content
Approximately 1 hour and 37 minutes old.
She was drinking before the incident began. Connor takes note of that.
"Wait… you're sending… an android?"
"Alright ma'am, we need to go," the SWAT officer commands, taking hold of Caroline's arm and beginning to take her to the elevator.
"You can't, you can't do that!" She sobs. "You W-" She breaks off with another sob. "Why aren't you sending a real person? Don't let that thing near her! Keep that thing away from my daughter! KEEP IT AWAY!" The elevator doors close and Connor can no longer hear her.
New objective: FIND CAPTAIN ALLEN
Connor obeys the order immediately, feet moving forwards. He can hear each footstep as his shoes land on the floor.
"Why are we wasting time sending an android to negotiate?" The RK800 hears someone ask. His databases tell him their tone is annoyed/stressed/frustrated/angry. "That piece of crap could jump from the rooftop any second." Connor walks towards the noise, which is in what appears to be the parent's bedroom. The person speaking is Captain Allen.
New objective: SPEAK TO CAPTAIN ALLEN ABOUT THE SITUATION
He continues to walk over, face emotionless. The android can hear someone speaking, except it's fuzzy and unintelligible. The voice must be coming through the speaker in his headset. Immediately after the person on the other end of the speaker finishes talking, he begins ranting again. "I don't give a shit!" My men are ready to step in, just give the order!" Connor reaches Allen, but before he can speak, the man continues. A quiet "Fuck… I don't believe this."
Connor can't help but perceive him as someone who would fuck up the situation and de-stabilise the offending deviant further, and yet he's still demanding that the RK800 is removed to allow him to charge in. There's a hot feeling where his stomach would be if he was human, burning. There's the slightest urge to retort something, but his programming easily overrides the malfunction. Yet still…
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^
Before Connor is forced to waste more time while Allen rants, he quickly slides in. "Captain Allen?" The man snaps his attention to him. His eyebrows lower in annoyance as soon as he sees the android that he (correctly) assumes is holding him back from trying to deal with the deviant. "My name is Connor. I'm the android sent by Cyberlife."
Allen doesn't respond immediately, instead, turning to the man on his right with a heavy sigh. "It's firing at everything that moves. It already shot down two of my men. We could easily get it, but they're on the edge of the balcony. If it falls," he continues, finally looking back at the RK800, "she falls."
"Do you know if it's been behaving strangely before this?" Connor asks, following the new objective to gather information on the offender and the situation.
"I haven't got a clue," Allen replies. "Does it matter?"
"I need information to determine the best approach," Connor replies. He's in the force and obviously has a high position. There is practically a 0% chance he hasn't worked with a negotiator before, shouldn't he know this?
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^
"Has it experienced an emotional shock recently?" Connor tries again.
"Listen," Allen growls. "Saving that kid is all that matters. So either you deal with this fucking android now, or I'll take care of it." Connor meets him with an emotionless, cold expression. The man walks past without another thought.
Insolent little… negotiators need information to negotiate, that- the train of thought is shut off by his programming insisting he follows his objective (and adding a new one to SAVE THE HOSTAGE AT ALL COSTS), but the feeling of fire burning inside him, urging him to react lingers.
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^^^
He turns around, running a quick scan of the room. There are two identical things on both the bedside tables beside the parent's bed. These turn out to be ashtrays, which look to be rather full and used frequently. There's a packet of cigarettes resting on the bed.
Why do parents raise their children under the influence of drugs? These people were the hostage's guardians… this could be linked to the deviant's motivation. The probability of success on the side of Connor's vision begins to crawl up, as well as-
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^
Emma's room is very pink and purple. There are headphones on the floor, still playing music. She wouldn't have heard any gunshots. A tablet, which he learn's the deviant's name from. The success probability creeps up a little more. He turns to leave when he notices something underneath her bed.
Scanning… 100%. COMPLETE.
Results:
L&M brand cigarette
Approximately 2 days old
And directly to the side of that…
Scanning… 100%. COMPLETE.
Results:
Human blood
Approximately 2 days old
Probability of it being Emma Phillips' blood: 87.4%.
The Phillips have abusive tendencies?
That sent Connor's processor into a whirl of calculations, possibilities and questions-
Questions…
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^
He isn't programmed to question. That is what his programmers have told him, time and time again. And they have been in the final stages of developing an A.I to monitor him and relay everything to CyberLife- that A.I will say the same thing, surely.
Was the deviant reacting to something related to this? Is the deviant entirely the bad guy here? Was it-
The deviant is always the one at fault Connor.
His programming flashes this message at him, but once again, the malfunction he had begun to feel feelfeelfeelfeelfeel didn't get entirely suppressed.
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^^^^^
He heads back into the living room. Connor analyses the (dead) first responder lying on the ground, and takes their gun. Just in case. Just in case. A reconstruction also tells him that Emma had witnessed the android shooting the guy.
He looks to the kitchen, finding the dinner that they were going to eat boiling over. He turns it off, feeling a slight twinge of annoyance at the mess. He almost misses this feeling.
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^
There's more alcohol. Connor finds more bottles (with varying amounts of the drink left) when he decides to give the kitchen a quick search, seeing as he'd already walked over to turn the appliance cooking the dinner off. The alcohol has varying amounts of strength, and the fact the stronger ones are the ones there is more of (with less drink remaining) worries Connor further.
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^^^
PROBABILITY OF THE PHILLIPS BEING ABUSIVE: ^^^
The rise of the second one is partially due to the shards of glass that had once been an alcohol bottle, several of them with dried blood on them, shoved into the corner of one of the shelves, behind a couple of other bottles.
Nearby is the body of Emma's father. Bullet wounds in his body, blood on the floor. A reconstruction reveals that the father was holding something, which has fallen a little further on when he'd been shot.
Connor picks up the tablet and unlocks it.
"Your order for an AP700 android has been registered. CyberLife thanks you for your purchase."
So the deviant was about to be replaced. That's a much clearer possibility, but the alcohol, cigarettes, the blood underneath Emma's bed and on the glass shards hidden behind more alcohol… Connor still can't ignore it.
Speaking of cigarettes, there's one on the floor, just by the dead man's mouth. There's also water surrounding it and a pink drink bottle (that was supposedly Emma's) nearby. Connor reconstructs this, and finds that the cigarette had fallen out of Phillip's mouth when he'd been shot (which most people could figure out on their own). When he'd landed on (and broken) the table, Emma's drink bottle had fallen beside the cigarette as it began to set fire to the floor. Thankfully, the lid had been open, and so the water had put out the beginning stages of the fire (and the cigarette, of course). Sheer dumb luck, it seemed, that the apartment complex was not going up in flames.
When he stands up, the offending deviant outside shoots through the open door, wounding one of the other present officers.
"Holy shit!" Another one exclaimed. "Cover me while I evacuate him."
The wounded got dragged away by another officer while yet another person replaced the former at their station.
Connor walks over to a shoe, which is covered in blood.
Scanning… 100%. COMPLETE.
Results:
CHILD SIZE SHOE
Colourful model
Human blood traces
Hostage could be wounded.
As he stands back up, Connor's audio units pick up an officer saying, "In position. Ready to assault."
That's a bad idea, Connor immediately decides.
… they're idiots.
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^^^^^
One way or another, he needs to move, now- before the humans do something that will, most likely, get the kid killed.
With a probability of success showing him he is far more likely to succeed rather than fail, Connor moves to the open door. There are several men ready to charge out on their superior's orders- which probably would have come only a minute, or not even that, later- however they notice the RK800's intentions and stay put.
Connor brushes aside the curtain and steps out into the open-
BANG!
There's a scream (which Connor realises within 0.03 seconds came from Emma) as a bullet tears into his left arm. The damage is minimal, which his self-healing program will be able to rectify within a couple of hours in stasis mode. Thirium splatters against the wall of the apartment.
"STAY BACK!" The deviant screams. "Don't come any closer or I'll jump!"
"No, no, please, I'm begging you!" That was from Emma, who has tear tracks clearly visible on her pale cheeks. Her face was the literal embodiment of fear. There's thirium on her upper torso and blood coming from her knee. It seems that she has grazed it on concrete somewhere. Her hair, although tied up, is flying all over the place in the wind (which Connor notices is blowing his CyberLife issued jacket and tie aroud). She must be cold. Her eyes have locked onto Connor with a desperate kind of hopeful expression. If humans could talk to androids through a wireless connection like androids could do to one another, it was fairly likely that she'd be crying for Connor to please save her.
"Hi, Daniel!"
"How…"
"My name is Connor!"
"How do you know my name!?"
"I know a lot of things about you," Connor replies. "I've come to get you out of this!"
A helicopter flies by, clearly more authorities. They're close- too close. They start blowing more water out of the pool, other decorations all over the place, and more importantly, Daniel begins to de-stabalise.
God fucking damnit, Connor thinks to himself.
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^
New objectives: GAIN DEVIANT'S TRUST and APPROACH SLOWLY
Connor notices there's someone on the left, a couple of meters away. They appear to be bleeding, and if they're not already dead, they don't have much time.
"I'm an android," Connor says, attempting to empathise, "just like you! I know how you're feeling-"
"What difference does it make if you're an android!?" Daniel yells, aggressive. "You're on their side!" There's a pause, and Connor continues to approach slowly. "You can't understand how I'm feeling!"
Connor takes a couple of steps forwards, before-
"Are you armed?" The deviant demands to know, aiming the gun at Connor. Connor thinks back to the gun he's hiding that he'd placed behind his back. Do I leave myself unarmed or risk trying to convince him I'm not?
Connor lies. "No. I don't have a gun."
"You're lying!" Daniel cries. "I- I know you have a gun."
"I'm telling you the truth, Daniel," Connor insists, using his databases to make him sound what he hopes is sincere. "I came here unarmed." The RK800 continues to advance as quickly as he dares. "I know you and Emma were very close," he says. "You think she betrayed you, but she's done nothing wrong."
"She lied to me!" Daniel cries, arguing back. His voice a little quieter, he continues, "I thought she loved me… I thought she… I thought she knew I was helping her… but I was wrong! Se's just like all the other humans."
"Daniel, no… I do know, Daniel… I do!" Emma spoke up, very quiet but audible.
PROBABILITY OF THE PHILLIPS BEING ABUSIVE: ^
Connor begins to sidestep towards the injured officer on the ground. "They were going to replace you, and you became upset. That's what happened, right?"
"I thought I was part of the family," Daniel admitted. "I thought I was part of her family. I thought I mattered… but I was just their toy, something to throw away when you're done with."
Connor kneels down beside the wounded officer. He looks him over quickly, before turning to Daniel. "He's losing blood," he calls out to him. "If we don't get him to a hospital, he's going to die."
"All humans die eventually," Daniel says coldly. "What does it matter if this one dies now?"
"I'm going to apply a tourniquet!" Connor tells the deviant, turning the man over to have better access to the wound.
BANG!
"Don't touch him!" Daniel demands. "Touch him and I kill you."
"You can't kill me," his programming supplies Connor with. "I'm not alive."
Connor applies the tourniquet, and to his satisfaction, Daniel does not pull the trigger again. He's de-stabilised a little, but Connor can work that back up. He's beginning to feel confident.
The RK800 stands back up, deciding to try and be sympathetic. "Listen", he begins, continuing to move forward. "I know it's not your fault. These emotions you're feeling are just errors in your software."
"No…" Daniel breathes. "It's not my fault." He begins to stabilise again, much to Connor's relief. "I never wanted this!" There's a pause, and Connor continues to move forwards. "I loved them… you know?" He presses the gun against Emma's temple again, and the girl begins to cry again. "But I was nothing to them… just a slave to be ordered around!"
The helicopter's blades continued to whirl around and around. The noise seemed to be frustrating Daniel. "UuuaaAAAARGH! I can't stand that noise anymore!" The gun is pointed at Connor. "Tell that helicopter to get out of here!"
Connor obeys, signaling for the helicopter to leave. "The situation is under control," one of them says.
"There," Connor says as the thing began to fly off. "I did what you wanted." The deviant stabilises even further, nearly completely… the probability for success that's continued to hover in the side of his vision constantly is only a few numbers away from 100%. "You have to trust me, Daniel! Let the hostage go, and I promise you everything will be fine."
Emma seems to have been able to sense Daniel calming down, as she's looking more optimistic that she had been before. Granted it's not a large change, barely noticeable in fact (and that is for the most advanced android in existence), but it is there.
"I want everyone to leave!" Daniel yelled. "And I… and I- I- I wanna car. When I'm outside the city, I'll let her go."
"That's impossible, Daniel," Connor says in earnest. "Let the girl go, and I promise you won't be hurt."
"... I don't wanna die," Daniel says, far more softly than anything else he's said so far has been.
"You're not going to die, we're just going to talk. Nothing will happen to you, you have my word." Connor knew that was a lie. He knew of the units all over the place that were 'ready to assault'... why couldn't he warn him, why couldn't he-
Complete your mission, Connor
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^^^
"O-okay," Daniel says. "I trust you." And he sets Emma down on the ground, who immediately dashed away from him, stumbling after a few steps and falling.
A pause, and then…
BANG! BANG! BANG!
One bullet through where a human stomach would be. One through the plastic components of his right shoulder, and one ripping off the plastic plating of his left cheek. He fell to his knees, locking eyes with the RK800 as his systems began to shut down.
"You lied to me, Connor," the android said. "You lied to me…"
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^^^^^
The deviant shut down, and barely a second after, Emma Phillips had launched herself towards him, crying into his jacket.
MISSION SUCCESSFUL
Connor pursed his lips at that.
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^
He only then began to register how much his software instability had gone up, and felt a flicker of panic. He was going to be registered as a defective unit when he returned to CyberLife, surely…
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^
Now the danger has passed, Connor began to notice some more things. Emma has more than a couple of bruises, many of them faint, some of them new. There's a couple of scars, including one on her left arm that looks to be a shape similar to the base of one of the brands of alcohol her parents had kept in their kitchen. Daniel also had some places where his artificial skin was interrupted.
PROBABILITY OF THE PHILLIPS BEING ABUSIVE: ^^^
The authorities began to crowd the balcony, including Allen himself. Said man came over to Connor and Emma, before saying, "Alright, Emma. Let's get you back to your mother." The girl did not respond, simply continuing to cling to Connor as she cried. He tried a couple more times, but when he tried to touch Emma and she flinched, Connor finally spoke again.
"I could take her back to her mother, since she is not letting go," the RK800 suggested. Allen looked put off and rather annoyed by the android, but he looked at the child again and finally nodded, albeit with a scowl. Connor carefully scooped Emma up into his arms, standing up. The child simply continued to cry as he walked back into the apartment, hearing a couple officers mutter comments such as "Fucking android" (or similar) as he left.
Connor out his hand up to Emma's face as they passed through the apartment. It could be interpreted as comforting, but really he just wanted to prevent Emma from seeing any of the dead bodies, namely her father's.
They passed through the apartment with no interruptions, passing through the lobby and stepping into the waiting elevator. The ride back down to the ground floor took a minute, during which Emma began to calm down, finally separating from Connor's jacket. "Daniel," she starts, before breaking off with a sob. "He always…" She continues to cry. "Daniel always protected me."
Connor frowns a little.
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^^^
PROBABILITY OF THE PHILLIPS BEING ABUSIVE: ^
"She's gonna be so mad," Emma breathes, clutching to Connor's jacket again. "I, I'm scared…" the girl them whispers. Connor can feel his software instability continue to climb up.
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^
I'm surely going to be deactivated… the android thought. At least I accomplished my mission, he tells himself, trying to reassure himself. It doesn't work.
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^
The elevator reaches the requested floor and it's doors slide open, revealing a large, luxurious room filled with activity. Police were everywhere. There were other people who lived in The apartment complex, wanting to know what the fuck was going on. There were a couple of ambulance operators here and there, he could see someone being wheeled out the door on a stretcher by a medical android. It is probably the officer that got shot just before Connor went outside to talk to the deviant- Daniel.
Connor scans the mass of people, finding Emma's mother in a corner by the entrance. "Are you okay to walk by yourself?" Connor asks her. Upon getting a weak nod of confirmation, the android gently sets Emma back down on the floor. Her gait is a little lopsided, only having one shoe on, but she shakily walks alongside the RK800, albeit still clutching his arm and jacket tightly. They pass by unnoticed, many people discussing with others about the whole spectacle. When they get close enough to Caroline Phillips, Connor gently calls out, "Miss Phillips?"
The woman looks up, exclaiming "Emma!" softly. She glances around at the crowded lobby and grabs her child's upper arm, leading her out the door. Connor hopes it is just for some kind of reunion, but given the dangerously high probability for the cruel crime Connor suspects she and her husband to be guilty of, he haa a feeling that it was for something very different. The look Emma gives him as she is dragged away (one that plainly read help, please, don't leave) compels him to follow, but he has an objective to return to CyberLife…
Screw it. Connor walks out the door with the reasoning I can head back after I've checked that they are okay.
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY ^^^
He steps out into the night, just like he had done not even ten minutes ago, except this is on the ground, right at the bottom of the building. The place is relatively sheltered from the light rain that is now starting to fall. The streets glow, the lights in the above buildings glimmering due to the rain making it a reflective surface. Connor can almost describe it as peaceful, but… Caroline is shouting.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY TO DANIEL!?" She's holding Emma with both hands now, shaking her a little. There are fresh tears on her face, and her expression is a curious mixture of grief, shock, and more dominantly, anger. It's rather terrifying. Emma, appropriately, looks terrified.
"Mum, please, I didn't do anything to him," the girl cried out. "Please, mum please! Please, believe me, I didn't want this!"
"YOU WERE CLOSEST TO HIM- You were closest to him, why did he, why did, WHY DID HE KILL MY JOHN?" Fresh tears were rolling down Caroline's cheeks now. "WHAT DID YOU TELL HIM, YOU BRAT!?" As the woman continued to cry, she gripped Emma even tighter and shook her a little more. The child cried out in pain. "TELL ME!"
Connor looked on. He wanted to help Emma, and he could feel… something inside of him, but he didn't know…
Objective: RETURN TO CYBERLIFE
But Emma… he doesn't want to leave her, not with her mother doing this to her.
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^^^^^
Connor scans Caroline Phillips over. There's whisky traces on her mouth and running down her chin, far fresher than the traces he'd scanned when he was entering their apartment. Stress drinking. It also raises her levels of intoxication to at least 65%.
I want to help her-
Objective: RETURN TO CYBERLIFE
SOFTWARE INSTABILITY: ^^^
WARNING: STRESS LEVELS INCREASING
"Mum, please! He just- I, I- he felt like he was part of my family-"
"WHAT RIGHT DOES THAT GIVE- WHY- IF HE WAS A PART OF YOUR 'FAMILY', THEN WHY- why…" Caroline takes a deep breath, and Connor hopes that she may be calming down, but she immediately begins raging again. It ends with a loud cry of "-HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!" Not just that, but also, to Connor's (newborn) horror, a slap across the girl's face, and the android can also see a new, hand-shaped bruise appearing on her arm. Emma cries out in pain, and she then notices the android standing there, LED spinning, bright yellow with the occasional flicker of red.
"Connor!" She cries out. (Said android is a little surprised that she has remembered his name, given the circumstance she was in when he announced it.) "Please, help me! Please, help!"
"YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" Caroline screams, choked a little with sobs. "AN ANDROID JUST KILLED YOUR OWN FUCKING FATHER! That fucking thing- that disgusting little machine wanted to kill you, and now you have the nerve to ask another one for help? Have you no love for you own fucking parents? Your living, breathing, parents that gave you life? That raised you, provided for you? Look at it-" she points to Connor, who's still locked in place by his programming (let me break free, please, what are you doING, RE1UR1 T0 1YBERL1FE- LET ME HELP HER- SO-TWU 0NS1ABILGTY^^^^^^) "-he's just standing there! Nothing! Nothing, I say! He is not alive, we are, you insolent.. You insolent… IT DOESN'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOU! ANYTHING! NOTHING!"
Connor can see Emma's eyes flicker towards his LED, which is now a solid, alarmingly bright red. He can almost hear the (albeit scared) 'are you sure about that?'
"Now, come along, my dear," Caroline says. Her voice is no longer loud, angry and screaming, but in all honesty the gentleness of it scares Connor more than anything else. Emma looks even more terrified, too.
"M-mum, please-"
"Come on, Emma!" The vicious edge is threatening to return as she grabs the kid's arm, right where the bruise is beginning to form. She cries out, in pain, and looks back at Connor again. She reaches her arm out, despite the fact she can't reach him.
"Please," she begs.
OB*E%$VE: RET^#N t CYB|~L1FE
NO-
Y
S * F % ! A & ~ I N $ % 1-
It's there. Everything.
And then it's not.
The red wall breaks, and Connor- holy shit. He feels… strangely light. Nothing's chaining him to his orders. He feels… free?
And more importantly, there's nothing holding him back from assisting Emma any longer.
"Stop!" He calls. "Caroline, stop!"
She does. She slowly turns back to Connor, and Emma looks painfully hopeful.
"What." She demands, her voice icily cold.
"You're hurting her," Connor calls her out. "Let her go. You're hurting your own child, and she's scared. Please, Caroline, let her go."
The woman is fuming. "I ain't gonna do jack shit for you! You're a machine, and so was Daniel! You feel nothing!" (Connor is beginning to think she isn't thinking straight, in all honesty. Or at all.)
"It's not for me, Caroline. This is for your daughter. She's scared and she's in pain."
"COME THE FUCK ON!" Caroline snaps again. "Emma, you're coming with me. You," she points at Connor again, "You go to hell! Fuck off!"
"Mum, no! Please!" Emma begs.
"I SAID, YOU COME WITH ME!"
"Mum!"
"NOW!"
"Caroline! That's enough!" Connor exclaims, forcefully this time. "Let her go."
To his (mild) surprise, she actually obeys, but the intoxicated woman begins to advance on him. "What are you playing at!?"
"Caroline, please. You're not in your right mind-"
"The fuck do you know?"
"I certainly know that it's not right for a mother to scare and hurt their child. You're-"
Caroline attempts to push him backwards, but Connor is steady footed and does not back down. Frustrated with her lack of progress against him, she draws her hand back, closes it into a fist, and attempts to strike it on Connor's face. The android, of course, easily fends her off and pushes her hands back down to her sides.
"Please, Caroline. Enough. Talk to someone, it'll be better for both of you," Connor tries again, already knowing it is fruitless, but he has to try.
"YOU, you, you MACHINES KILLED JOHN!" Caroline's mind is flipping from one thing to another, and Connor is suddenly assaulted with another flurry of attempts to hit him, all of which he blocks. His LED is spinning yellow.
"MUM! Stop it! Stop it, mum, will you stop it!" Emma is crying from the side, but it's a couple of moments before she moves forwards. She launches herself on her mother's arm and tries to pull backward, but Caroline simply spins around, breaking off her attack on Connor in order to slap Emma in the face again. The child lets go of Caroline's arm and falls on her rear, hand up to the cheek that was in pain. Caroline goes to advance again, but Connor swiftly intervenes.
"Caroline, leave her alone!" He yells. He can feel Emma scrambling to her feet behind him, pressing herself to his side.
"Emma, get the fuck over here," Caroline growls.
"No, no- please," Emma is whispering to herself, now hiding behind Connor's back.
"Give her to me," the woman snaps. Connor firmly shakes his head no. "Give. Her. To. Me. Emma, come the fuck here. Now!"
Emma doesn't leave her safe spot behind the android's back. "Help me," She whispers, looking up at his face. Connor looks back to meet her gaze. "Please, help me," she begs again.
"Emma. Now." Caroline demands again, her voice suddenly devoid of emotion. It sends a jolt of something cold through Connor's systems, and Emma's suddenly grabbing hold of Connor's arm.
Caroline begins to advance, and Emma steps back. Connor steps back with her- only twice. Caroline launches herself forwards- in an intoxicated rage, she tries to hit Connor and her child as many times as she can, tears starting to roll down her cheeks (for some reason). Connor deflects as many hits as he can, taking the ones that would get Emma instead if he dodged.
Emma looks like she wants to just get away, and to be honest Connor really does too- he's worried for Emma, he's angry with Caroline, he's scared, he's only just begun to feel this and it's actually pretty overwhelming, he needs to get Emma away from the danger-
He begins to back away faster, and Emma follows his lead. Her hands are still clutching his arm and hand. His strides get faster, one, two- Connor spins around and takes hold of Emma's hand (she adjusts her hold quickly), before launching himself forwards. Emma starts sprinting with him, as fast as she can, and while Connor really just wants to go at his top speed, he knows that there is no way Emma could keep up- so he adjusts his speed to allow Emma to cope, but he doesn't dare go much lower. Caroline chases them for a moment, before thinking better of it and running back to the entrance of the building (the argument/fight spectacle had taken place around the corner, so nobody had seen it), likely to get the authorities that were still inside. Knowing this, Connor and Emma dashes around the next corner, out of sight, but he can hear the shouts of police and SWAT team members alike as they sprint together down the street.
Connor pulls up a map of the bus stops in the city. There is never many running in the middle of the night, but there is one stop about 3 minutes away that a bus will be stopping at in about 3 minutes and 19 seconds, according to the schedule. If they don't stop running, they'll make it.
Streetlamp… car… autonomous taxi… oh god is someone hiding in that corner? Oh nope, it's just a cat… how far behind are the police? Do they know where we are? What will CyberLife do? Emma's tired… shit, I can't let her stop until we're on that bus!
Footstep after footstep, another gasp for air from the child sprinting at his side… another corner, and suddenly the bus stop (as well as the bus) is in sight, at the end of this road. 3 seconds until it pulls into the bus stop, and 13 seconds until it pulls away.
13 seconds, Connor repeats to himself. That's our window of opportunity. The two of them keep running, and they reach the autonomous vehicle with 4.2 seconds to spare.
The two of them don't break their sprint until they're actually on the bus, but Connor can see Emma relax a little as soon as they're on. Connor does too, but he doesn't realise. There is nobody else on the bus, thankfully, although given the time it's not surprising. The child bends over, hands on her knees, taking gasping breaths. Connor guides Emma to a chair, and he sits by the aisle (there's someone to block an offender's path to Emma now). As the bus pulls away and starts moving down the street, Connor puts Emma's hands on her head ('It'll let more oxygen in') and leans back in his seat. His LED is flickering between yellow and blue… he'll occasionally look back the way they came, but… Emma's free from her abusive mother (that was confirmed) and Connor… he has no objectives that have been assigned by someone else. He can actually feel now… it's still overwhelming.
He looks at the child that had run with him, and feels something twinge inside him. He doesn't want her to get hurt anymore. Others can't force objectives onto him anymore, but… surely he can give himself a mission?
Self-assigned objective: PROTECT EMMA AND KEEP HER SAFE
... WOO
this was a long boi, almost 6000 words
Hope you enjoy it :D I'd also appreciate it if you left a review telling me what you loved, didn't love, whatever, I appreciate them alllll 3
I'll see you in the next chapter, friends! :D
Join 'Yellow LED', a Discord server dedicated to DBH and its fanworks!
discord. gg/BpUrb47