XXX

|August 15, 2038|

|8:29 PM|

As the elevator rose to the highest floor in the apartment building, a coin flipped wildly from one hand to the other. Had he been human, one might have said it was a way of relieving boredom. For him, however, it was merely a manner of containing his impatience as he rose through the floors – as he waited for the elevator to reach the top. When he glanced up and saw the elevator nearing its destination, he put away his coin and straightened his tie, preparing for the job he'd been sent to accomplish.

The moment the doors slid open, he stepped through. The SWAT member waiting saw him and immediately spoke into the radio on his shoulder. "Negotiator on site. Repeat, negotiator on site." His dark eyes were alert, studying everything and anything as he began following the SWAT member. He led him through the halls and into a condo – the source of many problems.

As he stepped into the room, entering after being granted permission by the android outside, a woman fell against him, grabbing his arm. "Oh, please. You have to save my – wait!" Her eyes locked onto the label on his suit jacket, the familiar glowing blue band on his upper right arm, and finally the blinking blue LED on his right temple. "What?! You're sending an android?" she cried in horror.

"Alright, ma'am," another SWAT member muttered, grabbing her and forcing her out the door. "We need to go."

The woman looked back, screaming, "You can't! You can't. Why aren't you sending a real person?! Don't let that thing near her! Keep that thing away from my daughter!" Her voice rose to a blood-curdling shriek, but he didn't bat an eye. "KEEP IT AWAY!"

"Why are we wasting time sending an android to negotiate?" a man was spitting into his phone nearby. He was pissed. A quick analysis in his systems told him who the man was: Captain Allen, head of the SWAT team present in the condo. "That piece of crap could jump from the rooftop any second. My men are ready to step in, just give the – FUCK, I don't believe this…"

He stepped forward, voice confident. "Captain Allen?" he said politely, catching the captain's attention. Allen's eyes turned on him with disgust, noting the labels and the LED flickering at the android's temple. "My name is Connor. I'm the android sent by CyberLife."

Captain Allen sneered, but spat, "It's firing at anything and everything that moves. It's already shot down two of my men and one of the cops that answered the call initially is stuck up on the roof with it, bleeding out. We could get it, but they're on the edge of the balcony. If it falls, the girl falls."

Connor gathered a few quick pieces of information and concluded that Captain Allen would be pointless to interrogate further regarding the matter. "Look," he said suddenly, catching Connor's attention before he could take a quick look around before approaching the hostage-holder. "Saving that kid is all that matters. So, either you deal with this fucking android now, or I'm taking care of it."

Connor didn't say another word, merely moved on. It didn't take Connor long to get the information he needed to figure out the situation after moving around the apartment. With permission, he took the present police officer's gun and tucked it away at his back before heading out to deal with the deviant android.

"Stay back!" the deviant shouted as Connor emerged from the condo onto a roof.

He took a quick glimpse at the situation. The panicked deviant stood on the edge of the roof, a gun pointed at him. He waved for the current SWAT members out there to leave. They did so and when he was alone with the deviant, Connor called over the loud sound of a helicopter that hovered above them, "Hi, Daniel. My name is Connor." He did a quick analysis of the girl held tightly in the android's arms. She sobbed hysterically, tears streaming down her face. She was unharmed outside of bloodied knees from where she'd hit pavement at some point. She was his priority – he'd been ordered to ensure that she was safe by the end of this interaction, no matter what the cost.

Daniel faltered, his blue eyes full of panic. "How do you know my name?"

"I know a lot of things about you," Connor said, pulling his attention away from the girl. "I've come to get you out of this. I know you're angry, Daniel, but you need to trust me and let me help you."

"I don't want your help!" Daniel snapped. "Nobody can help me! All I want is for all of this to stop. I just…I want this to stop…" He trailed off, miserable as he looked briefly down at the girl.

Connor skimmed the area cautiously, ensuring that there was nothing he could do to reassure him in that manner. His attention snagged on a woman – a cop – curled up on the ground, her gaze lazy and agonized. She was staring at him through teary blue eyes, blood staining her arm and soaking through the fabric of her trench coat. A bullet had slammed into an important artery. The cop struck down, he decided. "Please," she breathed, sobbing at the pain. "Help."

Slowly, Connor took a step towards her, kneeling beside her to do what he could until the deviant was dealt with. She sobbed in relief. "Don't touch her!" Daniel shouted viciously, furious with Connor for doing such a thing. Connor stilled, hands only a breath away from her arm. "Touch her and I'll shoot you through the head!"

"She's losing blood," Connor said patiently. "If we don't get her to a hospital, she's going to die." He didn't look at the deviant, removing his tie from around his neck. It would suffice for a tourniquet and he could get another one at another time. CyberLife much preferred saving human lives to a tie. He worked quickly. When the deviant shouted that humans died anyways, Connor ignored him.

Finished, his systems telling him that the cop would live for the time being, Connor returned to his previous position. Daniel watched his every move before suddenly demanding, "Are you armed?"

"Yes," Connor said, slowly removing the gun from where he'd hidden it. So much for that method. "I have a gun."

"Drop it!" Daniel snarled. "No sudden moves! And tell that helicopter to get out of here!"

Connor did as he said, eyes darting to the girl as he waved for the helicopter to leave. It did, swerving off and leaving them in silence outside of the roar of the wind created by the high buildings. His orders had been to retrieve her alive. The deviant, too, if he could, so that the humans could figure out what had made it deviate so badly. But the priority was the human child. "There, no more gun." Connor took advantage of the moment to step a little closer. "I know you and Emma were very close," he said, gesturing to the sobbing child. "You think she betrayed you, but she's done nothing wrong."

Daniel shook his head in disagreement, scowling down at the girl. "She lied to me. I thought she loved me. I was wrong. She's just like all the other humans."

Emma sobbed and, to remind Daniel that she was a human child, thinking it might convince him to release her, Connor asked calmly, "Are you okay, Emma?"

Daniel tensed as she cried, "Please help me! I don't want to die!" She choked off, sobbing louder. "I don't want to die."

"Nobody's going to die, Emma," Connor told her – and Daniel, although he knew he couldn't guarantee anything regarding what would happen to the android. "Everything's going to be fine." His gaze darted up to Daniel's. "You have to trust me, Daniel," he said soothingly. "Let the hostage go and I promise you everything will be fine."

Daniel's gaze darted back and forth. "I want everyone to leave and I want a car! When I'm outside the city, I'll…I'll let her go!"

"That's impossible, Daniel." Connor took another step forward. "Let the girl go and I promise you won't be hurt." Daniel hesitated, and Connor pushed on, knowing he was close to succeeding at what he'd been told was his mission for the time being. "You're not going to die. We're just going to talk. Nothing will happen to you, Daniel, you have my word."

Daniel considered the matter for a few moments, glancing down at Emma. Connor felt a flicker of satisfaction when he finally let the girl go. She ran, collapsing a few feet away on the pavement. She sobbed hysterically, gulping down air as she knelt there, relieved to be away from the edge. Connor didn't spare her a look as, a moment later, gunshots were fired off.

He didn't flinch when the deviant's blood flew.

Only stared with the slightest flickers of uncertainty as Daniel shut down piece by piece, his final words echoing in Connor's ears even as he turned and left without looking back.

"You lied to me, Connor. You lied to me."

I wasn't sure if I was going to actually go through with posting this fic. I'm not done writing it, but I thought I'd send out a trial thing and see what happened. I might throw out the first actual chapter. I'm incredibly nervous about it, but oh, well.

The title is based off of "Gasoline" by Halsey. I thought the lyrics perfectly fitted just about everything regarding D:BH.

So this will be a sort of re-write of D:BH, featuring my delightfully new OC, Prisca Scott. I basically replaced Hank (I fucking love Hank and feel bad about not including him, but I wanted her to take his spot) and it follows the plot line of the game with some changes. I actually came up with an idea for a sequel if people end up liking this enough. I've been using the lovely transcript put together by a group who posted them at .io. :)

Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think! :)