So, this is an idea I had for an alternative path for Detroit: Become Human. The general idea was to put a greater focus on Connor and Kara, as I was a little bummed out that the scenes in On the Run weren't further expanded on. Unfortunately, I got a massive case of writer's block towards the end, but I'd written this to a point where you could still call it an ending, so I decided to post what I had and see what people think of it. If I suddenly get hit by inspiration, maybe I'll come back to this, but I will post a summery of the bits I knew about the 'true ending' at the end, just in case people are interested.

Some things to remember going in, so don't say you weren't warned:

This was written as an alternate path through the game, so if you haven't finished Detroit yet, you're going to get spoilers.
This was originally written as a writing exercise, more just to keep me writing during a lull more than anything else. As such, it's a bit different to my other works, particularly in its' tense, perspective and writing style.
SPOILER: Alice is Human here, and the story is changed slightly to account for that. I have no idea why the developers decided to make her an android, because aside form one, maybe two paths, it really has little to no bearing on the game's story. It doesn't really have any bearing on this one either, but it was something that annoyed me from the game and I decided to change it here.

Alright, that's all from me. Updates will be on Fridays until it's finished. Total word count is around 18,500, so be prepared for some fairly short chapters. I hope you enjoy.

ONE
ON THE RUN

NOV 6TH, 2038
AM 10:25

It starts with an impossible chance. Odds: astronomical. A series of events near impossible to replicate, even in simulation.

A quiet moment in the heart of Detroit. The sound of rusted metal against metal; scissors scraping against an ancient oil drum, he would find out later. It caught his notice, a dim sound from across the street as Lieutenant Anderson and Detective Collins draw breath in the middle of their briefing.

"What are you going to do with that?"

"I have no idea."

He's been left alone, the lieutenant not thinking much of his new 'partner'. Or androids in general. It gives him time to idly look back; across the street and through the rain. Just an exercise to pass the time, so his systems tell him. Find the source of the sound, just because he can. He hears the lieutenant step up behind him as he looks at nothing at particular, eyes travelling across rusted chain link fence and through a tattered tarp…to meet with eyes of blue.

Eyes of blue that widen. Brown eyes frown.

"So? Anything to s…Hey! Connor!"

The eyes of blue disappear, but his feet are already walking him across the street. Around the lieutenant's car, through the rain, even as its' owner curses under his breath and his fellows look on, bemused.

"It took the first bus that came along, and stayed to the end of the line." He calls over his shoulder, eyes not leaving the hole in the tarp and fence where he'd seen eyes of blue. "Its' decision wasn't planned, it was driven by fear. It didn't have a plan, and it had nowhere to go," his hand grips rusted metal, tearing open the gate, "and maybe it didn't go far."

Blue meets brown, fear etched into a pale face, brown hair long and loose, slick from the rain that drenches her and the rotten jacket she wears open over newer clothes, glowing faintly blue under the cloudy sky.

SYNC IN PROGRESS

SYNC DONE

COLLECTING DATA

PROCESSING DATA

MODEL AX400 – HOUSEKEEPER

Manufacture Date: 03/07/37

Property of: Todd Williams

The case file follows; aggression: android attacked owner, kidnapping: android fled the scene with owner's child, Alice Williams.

DEVIANT FOUND

She stares up at him, crouched across the courtyard, holding the fence open, recently cut. She drops it before he can move, a startled cry coming from the other side as she leaps for the top bar and starts to climb.

Paths are calculated, none of them optimum. A single ruined house sits between her and the road. He leaves her to her climb, walking briskly along the sidewalk.

The gate bursts open as he reaches the corner, the AX400 running full pelt across the street, pulling a small girl on behind her. A cab pulls in front of him before he can chase, a roll to one side losing him time but keeping him intact.

"Stop! Police!" She doesn't break stride. Alice looks back at him as he gives chase, young eyes wide and afraid. "Apprehend her! She's the deviant!"

His shouts go ignored, either because they don't know him or can't see what he's talking about. She ducks past a pawn shop, into an alley. Alice is pushed over the top of a fence as he rounds the corner, the deviant not far behind as he runs the last thirty-two metres as fast as his systems allow.

She drops down on the other side; a muddy slope leading down steeply to the highway below.

The ground is slick. He sees her slip as she lands, a hand grabbing the fence on instinct as he crashes into the other wide.

Wire rattles. Hands collide and fingers intertwine. Skin bleeds away from both his hand and hers, eyes of blue and brown widen as one as memories involuntarily merge.

Her name is Kara. Alice named her. Todd is abusive. He went too far. They had to go.

His name is Connor. He's the Android sent by CyberLife. His mission is to hunt down deviants. He's sorry he has to take her in.

She can't go. She can't leave Alice.

He can't let her go.

She has to go. She has to find-

"Kara!"

"Connor!"

The distraction is enough. The bond breaks as the child pulls her back, the angle of the slope and the sodden mud enough to give more weight to the movement. Their memories snap apart as he watches them slip down the embankment, wire mesh bending in his grip as Anderson staggers up behind him, breathing heavily.

"Oh fuck, that's insane!"

They've moved to the roadside, Kara hopping over the concrete divider and helping Alice follow suit, warnings of AUTOMATED CAR TRACK and VERY HIGH SPEEDS ignored.

NO PEDESTRIAN CROSSING! ! DANGER DANGER !

He swears his systems freeze as they try to cross.

Together by the hand, they make it across the first lane. Alice runs ahead, confident, only to be pulled back with a scream, a taxi missing her by inches. Second lane almost clear, the girl freezes in headlights' lamps, only to be dragged forward by the deviant. Another cab almost cuts them down, before she pushes the child ahead to the safety of the middle divide, the deviant clipped but still managing to follow soon after.

They're desperate. They're going to die. He climbs the fence. A hand pulls him back.

"Hey! Where you goin'?"

"I can't let them get away." His mission. Always his mission.

"They won't!" Anderson gives him a grim look. "They'll never make it to the other side."

But they're running, and he can see that they're going to try. Maybe Anderson saw Alice, maybe he didn't. Maybe he didn't think it worth the risk.

"I can't take that chance." He pulls himself up again. Anderson pulls him back.

"Hey! You'll get yourself killed! Do not go after 'em, Con- CONNOR! Goddammit!"

He's out of Anderson's grip, over the top of the fence, a kick off the wire giving him precious moments over his targets as he slides the rest of the way down the slope and leaps over the barricade.

A narrow miss on the first lane. A rain-slicked car roof squeaks under him as he slides across it on the second. A dumpster truck nearly takes his head as slides under its' wheels at the third, and then he's across as Kara and Alice make their second break for safety.

Systems freeze as he sees a car clip the deviant; Alice sent sprawling into the second lane. She screams, a car bearing down, pulled back to the slim safety between the lanes by Kara before she's pushed the rest of the way to the other side of the road.

It gives him time. He catches her before she can try to follow. Hands grip, bodies struggle. Vehicles speed by, unable to stop for the two androids struggling in the middle of the road.

Hands clamp together, skin bleeds away and memories bleed together.

She's terrified. He can't let her go. She has to keep Alice safe. He can't let her go. She has to go. She has to escape. She has to find Zlatko. She has to be free, for Alice's sake.

A mansion. An address. It catches him off guard, long enough for her to push him away. The haze of her terror leaves him, in time for him to be knocked back by a passing truck, another taxi pushing him back to the centre before it can tear his body in two.

He scans the embankment beyond. They're gone. Both of them.

"Shit…"

Lieutenant Anderson isn't pleased. There's yelling and swearing and worry in his face. It all stops when they get to back to the car and he delivers his report.

"I feel it was worth the risk, Lieutenant. I have a lead."

He tells Anderson about the address, and the mansion there, and the name that came with it:
Zlatko Andronikov.