Welcome to the six months in the making, still probably a bit too soon to put this up, main alternative route to me Detroit Become Human fanfic!

Okay, basic explanation. In Detroit: Become Human, there are multiple endings, multiple paths to take. The mains ones being the various good/bad paths for the three main characters with different main endings and sub endings. Passive vs Violent, Deviant vs Machine, Canada vs Recycle Centre. This is my version.

Chapter 25 of Guess What? I'm Not a Robot is where this basically starts from, and this will continue down the other route for GWINR; the Recycling Centre route. Kara and Alice will not be appearing, although other canon characters will appear towards the end.

Also, chapter lengths will not be that consistent, some will be significantly longer than usual.

4pm Monday 8th November 2038

The police officer's eyes widened as he took in Paul's old uniform, sat innocently on the back of the couch. Megan followed his gaze and panicked. She had to think of an excuse, a reason, a distraction, anything!

The officer whirled around, dropping the coffee cup on the floor and drawing his gun on Paul. Paul's eyes widened, but he put his hands in the air.

Megan found her voice. "What are you-?"

"Stay back now ma'am," the officer intoned firmly. "I don't want to have to arrest you too."

Words died in Megan's throat as she looked at Paul. Arrested? No, this wasn't...

The officer was already moving Paul out of the apartment. The android looked over his shoulder and gave Megan a reassuring smile before he was shoved out.

Megan didn't, couldn't, move. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be- Why was it so hard to breathe?!

"Leave them alone! Where are you taking them?!"

Mrs Beckwith's voice rang out and startled Megan into action. She ran for the door and flung it open in time to see Paul in the stairwell and Mrs Beckwith's new android also being led away.

"Ma'am, please remain calm," and officer was trying to hold her back, but she wasn't having any of it.

"We need her!" she declared. "I know you're a young whippersnapper, but when you get old like me it's hard to do simple things anymore. Why do you think we have an android?!"

The officer looked between her, the panicked Megan, and his superior already leading Paul downstairs.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but I cannot make any exceptions. Return to your home."

"Return to my home my ass! Megan, are you going to stand for this?" Mrs Beckwith turned her attention to Megan, who for the world wished this was a nightmare. It had to be. It couldn't be anything else.

"You see what you've done?!" Mrs Beckwith roared at the officer, who had handed the Beckwith's android over to a partner. "The poor girl is having a panic attack over all of this. We need them!"

Panic attack. Yes. That was what was happening. She couldn't breathe, could barely think. Tear dripping down her face. Heart beating so fast it felt like a swarm in her chest. No, this wasn't, it couldn't. This couldn't be real!

Megan didn't hear what the officer said, completely lost track of everything as her legs gave out beneath her. She needed, she needed... Needed what? To calm down? Yes, but she needed to breathe first. She couldn't breathe. She was breathing, there wasn't enough air!

"Easy now," a female voice, deepened with age, broke through. "Megan, can you hear me?"

Megan nodded quickly.

"Good. Now, follow my count. Breathe in for four. Hold for seven. Breathe out for eight. Okay? Let's try."

It was hard. It was hard holding her breath that long. She needed to breathe!

She was breathing, she was breathing. Heart calming down.

"Are you with me Megan?" Mrs Beckwith was still there.

"Y-yes," Megan got out shakily.

"I've sent Poppy to fetch some water. You'll be just fine my dear."

Megan wanted to believe her.

"They took Paul."

"Yes, they did," Mrs Beckwith sighed. "I'm so sorry dear. It seemed like you'd really grown fond of him."

Fond? Maybe, it didn't seem to quite cover it though.

"Besides," Mrs Beckwith kept trying to be the voice of optimism. "They're probably just taking them to a warehouse and deactivating them for a bit. He'll be back when all of this blows over. You'll see."

Megan nearly choked on fresh tears. No, he wouldn't be back. If they find out he's deviant...

The sound of wheels on laminate heralded the arrival of Mrs Beckwith the elder, glass of water perched on of the arms. It was wordlessly given to Megan, who sipped at it.

She needed to go find Paul. She needed to... Why was she so tired?

"Alright," Mrs Beckwith sounded like she was smiling fondly as Megan yawned. "Panic attacks take a lot out of you. You need to sleep."

"No," Megan tried to stand up, and quickly found herself leaning against the wall. "I need..."

"Sleep," the elder Mrs Beckwith added. "There's nothing you can do except that."

Megan wanted to argue, but everything was just...

The younger Mrs Beckwith gently took her elbow and steered her back to her apartment. "Go to bed," she insisted. "The world will still be here when you wake up."

Her bed suddenly appeared before her, and Megan collapsed on it.

2.56PM Tuesday 9th November 2038

She woke up an unknown amount of time later, and looked around blearily. They'd just gotten back from a protest. Why was she in bed?

Yawning, she got up and wrapped her blanket over her shoulders before leaving her room.

"Paul?" she called into the apartment. She didn't immediately see him, maybe he was in the bathroom?

"Paul you in there?" she knocked on the bathroom door and got no response. "C'mon, this is getting old," she pushed open the door, to reveal that he wasn't there.

Frowning Megan checked her phone, worry pooling in her gut. Normally she would try and shake it off, but today had a feeling that she was right to be worried.

She had a missed call from her brother, and a bunch of messages from the AA, but not messages from Paul. She went to text him, turning as she did so, and her eyes landed on his old uniform.

It all came flooding back. The police arriving, spotting the uniform, taking Paul.

Taking Paul

Panic gripped her and she stopped trying to text Paul, instead calling Alex. They picked up quickly.

"Where the hell have you been?" they asked. "We haven't heard from since the Stratford Tower protest!"

"Sleeping apparently," snark felt good. "What day is it?"

"It's the ninth, and it feels like the whole world's gone to shit in half an hour."

Megan quickly checked the time. Nearly three o'clock. She'd been out nearly 24 hours. Paul could be anywhere by now!

"They took Paul," fresh tears threatened.

"...Shit," Alex cursed. "Shit shit shit shit!"

"I know!" Megan looked out of the window. Not a lot of people were about even though it was still light, and there were several armed guards patrolling. "What do we do?" Megan almost begged. "I've got to, I don't know!"

"What do you want to do?"

"I want to help him, but I don't know..."

"Easy. Androids are being rounded up all over the city. Shouldn't be too hard to find where they took them."

"Can we do that?"

"We can try. Everyone's already at my place. We'll do what we can. You do what you can, okay?"

"Okay," Megan had sat now, trying to hold herself together.

"You need to stay strong," Alex tried to reassure. "Stay strong for him."

Megan nodded wordlessly, forgetting that Alex couldn't see her.

"You got that?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Keep your phone on and with you. Call if you get anything."

Alex hung up and Megan pulled her arm down, staring at her phone. What could she do? She wasn't skilled at much. She had some gymnastic skills and a fondness for puzzles, but that was it. Nothing that could help him. She couldn't hack to look at traffic camera, running after a police vehicle was beyond her. She was no one, and could do nothing.

Her phone beeped, and she looked at the message.

AAA Battery: Oh, there's a dusk til dawn curfew as well, in case you missed it

Even better.

With nothing better to do, Megan collapsed into her computer chair. In a moment of desperation, she looked up traffic cameras on Google, but found that most were just still images updated every few minutes. There were live feeds, but they couldn't be rewound.

Megan shoved back her chair away from the desk and stood up, keeping her blanket around her shoulders. She then grabbed her keys from by the door and left the apartment, going across the hall to knock on the Beckwith's apartment door.

The elder Mrs Beckwith opened surprisingly, wheeling back a little when she saw who was there.

"Megan! How are you feeling?"

"Not good," Megan swallowed. "Those vans that they put Paul and your android in, do you know where they went?"

"No, dear, I'm sorry," Mrs Beckwith suddenly coughed, and horrible spluttering sound. "I'm sorry, we're not doing so well without Anita."

"Okay," Megan accepted the answer, but felt tears building in her eyes. "Okay,"

"Oh dearie," Mrs Beckwith took Megan's hands in one of her own. "As my Dani said, they're probably just putting them into a warehouse somewhere until this all blows over. No way they would waste millions of dollars on destruction! They'll just look for the ones with bugs and rest will be fine."

A sob managed to get it's way out of Megan's throat.

"P-Paul, Paul is de-deviant."

"...Oh."

Megan pulled her hand out of Mrs Beckwith's grip and took a step away, trying to hold it together. Crying like a child wasn't going to help him!

"I'm so sorry Megan," Mrs Beckwith wheeled towards her. "If there's anything we can to help-"

"What can you do?" Megan choked. "What could you possibly do that could bring him back?" hot tears began to spill down her face. "He's gone! The police or Cyberlife or whatever fucking took him and there's nothing we can do!"

"Well, not with that attitude you can't," Mrs Beckwith responded firmly. "You've given up before you've begun girl!"

"I can't do anything! I'm just, I, I'm just a useless pile of shit! I can't fight, I can't hack, I can't do anything that'll help him! I'll just break down and fuck it up."

"Now now, that's no way to psych yourself up," Mrs Beckwith admonished. "You're good at something. You must be. What are you good at?"

"I-I don't-"

"Tell me what you're good at."

"Um, puzzles, I guess. I like codes and ciphers, even though I'm not good at them. Solving things I guess."

"There you go," there was a smile in Mrs Beckwith's voice. "This is a puzzle. A terrible puzzle that you don't have all the pieces to, but a puzzle none the less. You can solve it. And you don't have to do it alone."

Megan opened her mouth, but what sounded instead was her phone beeping.

Wiping her eyes clear she checked it, to see that it was a message from Alex.

AAA Battery: Everyone get to mine. Nervousness Incarnate, I think I have an idea.

Mrs Beckwith smiled. "See, not alone. More heads make puzzles easier."

Megan sniffed, still staring at her phone. "Got it, I think, thank you!"

"Not a problem!" Mrs Beckwith responded as Megan went back to her apartment. The elder wheeled back into her apartment, and the two closed their doors at roughly the same time.

Megan hurriedly rang Alex as she got dressed, putting them on speaker phone.

"What's your idea?" she asked, throwing off her pyjama top.

"Turns out, Ivy, Nathan and Lucas have some pretty serious IT chops between them. Once they get their stuff here they're going to crack open their laptops and try to hack the traffic cam websites to show feeds from yesterday. Meanwhile Julia is going to sweet talk her uncle into using the police computers."

"Would that even work? The police must be going crazy now," Megan was putting up a pair of loose pants, getting the feeling that she might need to run.

"We won't know until we try. Between the four of them, we might just get something."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. What's your address by the way? So we can pinpoint what we're looking for."

Megan rattled it off. "It was a police van, I think."

"Thanks, that narrows it down. You coming to mine? Public transport is still running."

"I'm on my way," she remembered how she got there last time.

"Good, and don't take any risks. You can't help Paul if you're arrested."

"Aye aye captain."

Alex hung up and Megan did a quick whip around to make sure she had everything. Favourite purple long sleeve, on. New boots, on. Winter coat, on the rack. Laptop backpack, currently being filled.

In went spare clothes, toiletries, a first aid kit from the bathroom, non perishable snacks from the cupboard, bottle of water in the outside holder, and her laptop.

Phone-as charged as it was going to get. Keys-in pocket. Wallet, in other pocket. Bus pass, in wallet. Student Id, ditto.

Megan put on her coat, shouldered her backpack and left the apartment.

Other Options Flowchart:

(Paul) Fight back (see below. If done poorly could end with Paul Dead Ending

(Megan) Fight back (if done right would end up with Megan and Paul fleeing, may end up at Alex's and other route snaps in. Done poorly Megan Arrested and possibly Paul Dead ending)

(Megan) Respond to Mrs Beckwith

(Megan) Don't mention that Paul is deviant

(Megan) Say you're good at gymnastics. Say you're not good at anything