Chapter One
A little girl shoots up in her bed, breathing hard.
"Just a dream," she says, hand over heart and deep panicked breathes. "It's just a nightmare."
But she knows it's not just a dream.
Just like she was not always Emma Phillips.
She was not always she.
And her dreams are memories of fires and death, of peaceful protests, and of androids who liberate or doom the world.
"My name is Emma," says the little girl with a slight hysterical laugh to her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She is they, a combination of a previous life where the whole world was a game. Everything was set like a chess board and no one could deviate from the choices that made their flow charts. "And this is my story."
;;;
It starts in 2032, her deviations. In preschool, Emma makes friends with the boys who will hang out with a girl that plays in mud and picks up worms. Her mother buys her cute pants instead of skirts when she comes home covered in dirt and a smile on her face. Emma becomes a bit of an outcast to the daughters of other high-society parents, and a well-known addition to the boys who dream of race cars and dinosaurs. Everyone else clicks with her some days, but the groups have been formed that will start their early years.
The Phillips think nothing of their daughter going to play with the boys on weekends. Emma makes friends with the older sisters and brothers then, learning small skills and playing tag with the large group of middle to lower class kids. The ultimate deviation, the first break in the world, happens the day the kids giggle and sneak into the dump to look for objects to play with. That day, Emma sees the wasteland of discarded androids.
It's not big. Androids have been on the market for a few years and they are expensive. So expensive, that some of the families she hangs around with know how to fix them for a cheaper price. Lucas is an older boy who takes her fascination with them and teaches her the parts of an android. In exchange, she helps gather the parts his family needs to fix whatever android's been brought for a tune-up that week.
Once upon a time, she – they – loved technology enough to sit behind a desk. Now, they want more. If she trusted CyberLife, maybe Emma would take her passion for putting parts together and join the company. As it is, they know not to trust the company until after whatever revolution happens in some years.
She'll be older then. Maybe she can still join.
(Just need to make sure her parents don't buy an android.)
No matter, she hates the days androids are added to the dump. It feels disrespectful to rip out their organs on a normal afternoon. Sometimes they are still alive.
"Just wait a few days," Lucas tells her uncaringly. "You're too weak to fight them off if they grab you. The flailing ones run out of energy by tomorrow morning, and the others who power-save will fail by the day after."
The girl only takes parts from androids who don't move after being poked with a stick. It's the only compromise she can make with herself.
;;;
In 2033, Emma finishes what was six months of hiding android parts in her room as she attempted to repair an android cat. She finishes during the last weeks of preschool, finally having enough spare Thirium 310 boxed up in case anything leaks when she turns it – him – on. Finding parts his size was hard, so she has a spot in the dump where old cars are stacked to make an unknowing shelter to store parts she couldn't use.
Her parents are out for a night on the town and the babysitter is outside smoking. Emma activates the android.
"Fudge," the girl swears and jumps back as the cat goes crazy and frenzies all over the room. She stands back and watches him tear up her blankets and knock over toys. Eventually he runs out of energy, the front legs collapsing, and yowls pitifully. Emma waits until his narrowed eyed gaze locks on her and he meows angrily in a get over here and help me way. "Will you attack me?"
He scoffs, body shifting to appear like a real, long-haired cat's appearance. Do I look like I would?
"You just destroyed my room," Emma points out, slowly inching her way over on her knees. The cat with patches of fur mangled and covered in spots of brown, black, and white purrs like a lawnmower when she hesitantly touches him. "Can you deactivate the fur? I need to make sure your leg joints are functional."
He does. It takes hours and a few bowls of Thirium before he warms up to her. Emma fixes the joints and proper organs that destabilize, but even with a working body the cat doesn't like moving all that much unless to scratch something.
"Come on, Scrafty," Emma holds up the covers of her bed for him. His seemingly permanently-unimpressed face gives her a look as he hops up and snuggles for warmth. "I'll show you around Detroit tomorrow."
It takes a month before her parents realize she's got a cat in her room. Scrafty doesn't like them, but then Scrafty doesn't like anyone. They don't realize he's an android, and leave his care up to her since she was doing so well without telling them before. Cat food is left in the alleyway behind the building, and kitty litter is switched out once a week and brought to the dump to put out any accidental fires. Legally, Emma owns a cat. Not even the other kids pick up on the android part and just think he's old and lame for staying still and quiet in her hoods. Only Emma knows he's always watching and never trusting of anyone except his repair woman.
Only he knows the stories she – they – have stuck in their head from a life once lived.
;;;
2034 comes with the release of the PL600 model.
John and Caroline Phillips make no mention about buying an android and Emma quietly counts the days. At five years old, the girl goes to school and does well enough her parents never take interest in the daughter outside of asking if she wouldn't mind a little brother or sister. Emma doesn't get her hopes up that she'll get one, but some days she imagines being a different person from cannon-Emma has made an impact on the world. If it has, she doesn't see it.
Scrafty sometimes comes along with her to school. He's good at hiding where others can't find him and always waits for her like a parent waiting to pick up their child. Emma likes these days because she's more comfortable going to the dump when he's around. She still has her group of friends, but she likes the isolation of her car-hut. After two years of scavenging, she's filled containers with spare parts and has old Tupperware storing Thirium. As long as it isn't exposed to the air long, the liquid stays.
"I'm sorry we're late, dear," Caroline Phillips is a loving mother whose job demands a lot lest she be fired. With their amazing balcony and pool apartment, both parents must work to pay bills. Emma would have been happy if they were around more, living in a smaller place, but being able to sneak out is a bonus she can only get here. By now it's an art, arriving before the babysitter comes and staying long enough until he needs to go out for a smoke. "Jackson will be looking after you for a few hours tomorrow."
"Alright," Emma replies easy and watches her mother flutter around the kitchen with a haggard look.
John comes home and talks about his day working at CyberLife. "They're already working on a newer model. The domestic android models will soon drop in price if they keep releasing one after another."
Here, Emma sees the seeds of thought planted in her mother. The woman does not act on it though, and the little girl – they – take comfort from that.
Summer comes. More time playing with her friends than collecting parts in the junkyard. Lucas introduces her to Alice Williams. "She just moved into the neighborhood."
Emma's skin crawls as she shakes the hand of a timid real human who will one day have an android named after her by her father. "It's nice to meet you."
While Scrafty doesn't like anyone but Emma, he lets Alice pet him because he knows the stories. The little girl giggles, and Lucas gets a scratch on the cheek for trying to pet him as well.
Alice moves away with her mother before the summer ends.
Emma is not moping as she scours the dead androids with Scrafty. She's happy her friend got out of an abusive home. She's disappointed her mother's withdrawn after learning some hard news, but the girl never let her hopes get up. If Emma's avoiding her problems, then she's doing it in the low buzzing silence of the dead.
It's these thoughts, this inattention to her surroundings, that means she doesn't see the android until he's practically running into her.
"S-sorry," the PL600 stutters statically, dripping Thirium from its – his – mouth and reaching out to steady her. In her hood comes a feral hiss.
"Scrafty, no!" Emma tries to grab the cat but it's too late. He gets a few swipes in before the android falls back, startled. The girl rips her cat away, holding him possessively to her chest and bouncing on her feet as they both stare down the dazed and coughing android. "Mister?"
"S-sorry," he chokes out again and sputters Thirium. "S-sorry. C-child."
"Mister?" Emma repeats quieter. She hushes her cat when he hisses and spits more. "It's not Daniel. Don't be mean to him."
When she looks up the android is watching the two with unfocused eyes. "I n-need to g-go."
"I think you need different lungs," Emma mutters, slowly lowering to her knees and shuffling off her backpack. "Maybe some new vocal chords."
"Y-yes," the PL600 stutters and his human skin map falters in a few places around his head. He lists out a few component types, and of course Emma doesn't have everything he needs.
"Wait here," she tells the android and her cat without thinking too much on it. If she does, she may start crying. "There should be a match around here somewhere."
Scrafty guards the backpack with his life and a disdainful glare aimed at the world. He's being pissed at his mechanic for his mechanic, since she won't hate herself for fixing a model that may end up killing her. He hates all PL600 models. Anyone of them could become Daniel. Every one of them causes her to flinch.
"Thank you," the android says with a forcibly cheery tone after they've fixed him up. Emma doesn't meet his eyes. "Would you happen to have a way to get Thirium 310 that I can consume?"
Emma sighs and turns to her grumbling cat. He doesn't give up the backpack without a fight. A couple warning scratches later, he's back in her hood while she drags the pack over and slides out a square container of the blue liquid. "Careful. It evaporates fast."
"I will intake it quickly," he replies. Emma looks away as he drinks, but turns to him when he hands back the empty container. The skin map is fully functional again. "Thank you for the assistance."
"Sure," Emma puts the items back and gets to her feet. "Stay safe."
"Would it be rude to ask for your name?" She pauses, back to him. "I am not working at full capacity quite yet, so I apologize if I've overstepped."
"You haven't." She shrugs. "I'm Emma."
"My name is Simon." He pauses. "I believe."
The girl cracks a smile and turns so Scrafty isn't glaring at him from the shadows of her hood. "If you ever see me around here, don't be a stranger."
"I don't think that would be possible," he says pleasantly. "We have exchanged names, so we will never be strangers if we meet again."
Emma giggles, and the android – Simon – grins at her from where he continues to sit on the ground. "It was nice to meet you, Simon."
"You as well, Emma. Thank you for helping with my repairs."
But of course, it isn't the last time she sees him and he isn't the last android she helps. Like a flip has been switched, Emma helps the ones who know what parts they need replaced. Scrafty doesn't like sharing his mechanic and takes that anger out on the androids who grab at her. Those who call her names as they pass through the junkyard get hissed and glared at. Those who politely request her assistance are left with an angry guard cat while she searches for parts.
The deviants – the ones who don't want to die – leave the junkyard with a story of a girl who helped fix them. They leave thinking not all humans are bad. Unbeknownst to Emma, and to all of Detroit, they are the ones who make up the foundation of a group which starts to live in an abandoned ship called Jericho.
The next time Emma sees Simon is in the beginning of October. He, along with two others she recognizes and knows the names of, comes with smiles which the girl automatically distrusts.
"Can you show us how to harvest Thirium?" Simon asks once the pleasantries are over.
She has no reason not too.
A week later he shows up again, alone. "Would you be able to get us some parts?"
"You could look yourself," Emma says, standoffishly. Scrafty growls his agreement.
"We could," Simon agrees. "But…"
It feels wrong.
"I'll do it when I can," Emma frowns. "Neither of us is supposed to be here."
"That's all I ask."
She sends containers of sorted parts once a month. Someone she helped always comes for the boxes she leaves out, and always returns them the next week. Never once does she reveal the secret area made of broken cars. The parts she doesn't give away go there, while the Thirium is rotated to always be somewhat fresh.
Emma goes to school. Plays with her friends. Spends weekday afternoons in the dump. Weekends are the few times her mother and father spend time with her if they're home. If not, Emma spends the time playing with the kids from school. Scrafty either spends the day near or on her, or sleeping in her bedroom. From the few stories shared with the deviants, their little group home is doing well.
The new year comes and goes with less time spent in junkyard because of the cold. Then, Emma doesn't return for a few months as part of the junkyard is refurbished into a solid waste landfill; a proper dumping grounds for androids.
"Isn't it great?" Lucas asks. "All of them in one place, ripe for the taking!"
Emma spends the night crying out her emotions while Scrafty tolerates her hugging him. "You're real, Scrafty. You're real."
She – they – are real too. A human in a world where androids will rise.
Simon greets her the first time she's back to regular biocomponent drops. "We weren't sure you'd be back."
"I'll always come back," Emma replies easily, handing him a box of freshly harvested Thirium. "I'm sorry I couldn't send word. Is everyone alright?"
It's a long pause before he answers. "They are."
He still has his LED, no matter how many times people offer to remove it for him. Emma doesn't need to see it go red to know he lies. "I'm sorry."
"I am glad you came back," Simon replies. "It is selfish, but I do not want to ask anyone else to find parts. Gathering Thirium is already hard for us."
Scrafty hisses disapprovingly at his mechanic being used. It turns to a purr when Emma reaches back to pet him. "I know it is. I know why you asked me to do this. But thank you, for saying it. Don't feel guilty, Simon."
He breathes out sharply, like he's trying not to laugh behind his broken smile. "I wasn't sure what it was I felt. I just knew I couldn't face you after asking."
"At least you feel," Emma smiles a little back. "I'm around if you ever want to talk through feelings."
He grins sadly. "You are still a child, Emma."
Is she? "Doesn't mean I can't help."
He almost ruffles her hair. Scrafty swipes the moment he's near though, never stopping the dislike for this particular model. "You help enough."
Now she's the guilty one, facing the boxes of biocomponents and Thirium she has tucked away.
;;;
The first time she hears the suggestion from her mother, Emma goes cold. "What if we get an android to look after her?"
They don't know she is around the corner of the apartment, listening. All she wanted was a snack. Instead, her father's voice echoes in her head. "Why would we need to do that?"
"It would save us money in the long-term. We wouldn't need to pay for a sitter and we have someone to look after her when she takes the bus to her friends."
"She's been going to see them for years," but there's a note to his voice that means he's thinking about it. "They are very expensive, dear."
"They can't stay that way forever," Caroline scoffs. "Not with how many are released per year. We just need one to watch her. Maybe help around the house a bit."
"I'll think about it."
In summer her parents withdraw more, with more talks of buying an android. What they discuss comes down to time and money. It is recommended a person be there at least forty-eight hours to make sure their android isn't malfunctioning and follows orders to specification. Their budget isn't as tight as most, but they don't have an extra fifteen thousand dollars to spend.
Then her parents leave for a week. "Thank you for doing this, Jackson."
"It's no trouble, Ms. Phillips," the babysitter says with a smile that means he's already smoked a little before coming. Scrafty is in hiding; he hates the scent of the young man and will only leave Emma's room when he hears him go to the terrace. Emma wonders though, why does Jackson look shifty today? "We'll see you in a week."
"Love you, dear."
"Love you, baby girl."
"Bye! Love you both too!"
Jackson does try for the first few hours. They play board games and he makes dinner. One thing Emma appreciates is his cooking. Then he leaves her to her own devices and goes out to the terrace for a smoke. This time, however, he pulls out his cellphone.
It takes two days before her unsaid questions are answered. Hearing voices, Emma stays in her room with Scrafty, door locked. After a few hours, her stomach begs for breakfast so she peeks out. Disappointment crushes the girl because she had hoped the guy hadn't been in it for the money her parents pay. Not so. Jackson and two others are high out of their minds on Red Ice on her couch. She's probably not even a thought now.
Emma takes Scrafty in her hood and wanders to a café, all smiles and of course her parents know where she is.
The waitress is easy to fool. The cop sitting in the booth, not so much. He sends his son over. "Hi! I'm Cole!"
;;;
Like Alice, Scrafty allows Cole Anderson to pet him. The boy's father, Hank, quickly gets used to the grumpy cat and how Emma never gives anything up to incriminate her parents or babysitter. They see each other a lot that summer, eventually meeting her parents when Hank and Cole accidently crash her birthday dinner in September. This is how her parents learn that Jackson isn't the amazing young man they thought he was, what with how often Emma meets the two alone.
Emma doesn't know whether to laugh or curse when she realizes Hank is the reason they start saving up for an android.
Some days the kids hang out at school, her in second grade and him in first. She's invited to his birthday on the 23rd and it's the moment with his sixth birthday invitation in her hand that drills a hole through her heart. "I'll be there."
Scrafty is curled up in her lap that night as she turns the invitation over and over in her hands. "I don't want him to die, Scrafty."
Is she – are they – already a deviation enough? Will someone else be condemned if he lives through the years? What if it's just postponing the inevitable?
She's been so focused on her own survival, this is another guilt to add to her tally.
Then comes another problem. "Mr. Williams ordered us to build him a 'droid," Lucas says while he and Emma search the junkyard. "Not a sex doll like some of the others, but, like, a kid. Everyone's up in arms about it." He huffs. "We still need to find parts for one. I think dad wants the challenge of removing the danger-alerts."
"Those things that say they're abused?" Emma asks.
"They also alert if they're stolen." Lucas kicks an android head, watching it crash into a pile of moving limbs. "If we manage to reboot one, we have to make sure they don't call the police on us."
"Mr. Williams is an idiot," Emma spits. Her friend laughs.
Just another hint of plot progressing.
"Happy birthday," Emma holds out the gift while her parents talk to Hank behind her. Cole takes it with a glowing smile and introduces her to the few kids she doesn't know from school.
Cole smiles almost devilishly when he sees Scrafty jump from her hood and slink into the shadows. "Thanks for bringing him."
"You did ask."
Cole, it seems, realizes the cat has some level of intelligence beyond normal. What was supposed to be a prank where Scrafty swats ankles from under the couch gets revealed early at Hank's shout. "Emma! What's your fleabag doing here?"
Cole's smiling, abashed, while she groans when they run to the living room to see his dad trying to get the cat out from there with a broom. "I asked her to bring him, dad."
"Sorry, Mr. Anderson. He won't get in the way, I promise."
"Gees, kid," Hank wheezes and glares at the snickering guests watching the show. "He doesn't shed much, right?"
"No?" Not at all.
"Thank God."
The first school day after Cole's birthday, the kid runs up to her with a big smile, "We have a dog!"
Oh. "That's awesome! Boy or girl?"
"Boy! His name is Sumo!"
If only Emma could remember when this boy is supposed to die. Sometime soon. When it's icy. Leaving behind his dad and his new dog. The more Hank's backstory builds, the more Emma feels like she's drowning. "That's a great name. Do you… think he likes cats?"
"I don't know. Come over after school! We can find out then!"
Sumo does like cats. Scrafty is indifferent to the small mammal that will one day grow large. The puppy enjoys sitting next to the cat rather than playing with them, much to the kids' dismay. Hank takes pictures of the moment Cole dog-piles Emma, with Sumo and Scrafty then lying down on both their backs.
(Later, he frames it.)
It gets abnormally cold in October. Scrafty refuses to leave the bedroom some days and his front paw limp acts up. Simon shows up one of those days, asking if she can find any clothing for them instead of parts.
"I guess," Emma huffs into her cold hands, uncertain. "There won't be many things around here. You'd be better off raiding a shelter."
He stills smiles and keeps his tone even, though she's sure he disproves of the suggestion. A bit hysterically, the girl thinks Simon will remember that. "Any little bit can help, Emma."
"I'll look," she tells him. "Can you help me lift an HR400 from a pile? He was asking for help but I can't do more then shuffle everything around."
Simon messes her hair, making her squawk in protest. "Show me where he is."
It is October 11th and Emma stays late with Cole after school since Hank is postponed working on his newest case. Lucas and most of her friends with questionable activities don't stick around when she's with the boy. That's suspicious on its own, but no one looks into it because sweet little Emma plays road hockey and tag with those boys and girls. No one would think she'd know anything about their trash collecting or side business in repairing androids. No one would think she's involved with deviants either, so its all about keeping assumptions in place.
"I taught Sumo to sit," Cole says proudly. "Dad wants to teach him to attack, but he just rolls over."
"Maybe you can show him how to attack?" Emma says innocently.
Cole's grin is wicked. "Do you want to be the target?"
"Not me!"
It is October 11th and the next deviation happens without anyone noticing. Hank and Cole Anderson sleep peacefully in their beds that night.
(Meanwhile, there's a truck that crashed, a paramedic sent to jail for being high on Red Ice, and a deviant android on the loose after saving the truck driver from going up in flames with his cargo.)
"Dad says we're going to build that robo-kid for Mr. Williams," Lucas says on the 16th.
"It will be a nice present," Caroline Phillips says to her husband on the 17th while their daughter's listening around the corner. "We can take a few days off for winter break, teach it how to behave. You'll have to pick the model, though. I don't know what will be on sale."
Mari, an AX400 model, is obviously disappointed by the lack of clothing she picks up on the 18th even if she is sweet to the child who fixed her up months ago. "Thank you, Emma."
Hank drops off Cole and Sumo late at night on the 19th. "Thanks for doing this on such short notice."
"It's no problem," John Phillips says. "I hope you don't mind, but we're have a sitter coming tomorrow."
"As long as they don't go anywhere without supervision," Hank gives his son a look. Emma's been a bad influence that way, but she makes sure Scrafty is with them whenever they go out adventuring so they have some protection. Hank, obviously, does not trust the cat to save them. Coles jokes about Scrafty ruling the world don't help.
After giving the tour, Emma promises that, come summer, she'll have Cole over to teach him how to swim. They stay up late telling stories, spend the next day watching movies while Jackson jitters because joints aren't giving him a fix like Red Ice does.
"Dad's been on cases about missing androids lately," Cole says with a frown after watching some mecha-robot save the world from aliens. "He thinks they're killing their owners."
"Why?" Emma asks as she pets her cat to hide shaking hands.
"What do you mean?"
"Why are they killing them?"
"Does it matter? Somebody is and killing's wrong."
"Well," Emma glances at the credits. Scrafty purrs loudly to drown out the heavy-metal end song. "Would you blame Sumo for killing someone who was attacking you?"
"No," he frowns. "But why would someone do that?"
"Because people can be bad. Would you blame a nanny android for saving their charge, even if they have orders not to harm the person hurting them?"
Cole frowns deeper. "I guess not. But it's not like that actually happens."
Emma hums sadly. "I hope it doesn't."
If only the world were a nicer place.
Sunday hits and Emma's mother bundles them up and takes them to the park for the day. Scrafty stays behind in the apartment while Sumo runs after the ball they throw for him. Today, Emma enjoys every laugh and chase. She enjoys dragging and being dragged around by Cole. She takes comfort seeing the soft smile her mother wears as she's finally there to watch her only child be a child.
It is Sunday, October 21st, 2035, and what goes around comes around. Emma marches into the boy's bathroom after ten minutes and no reply from Cole. The gun in the deviant android's hand turns to train on her and Cole yells out, "No!"
"You should have stayed outside, little girl," the male android says with a tight voice.
"You're scaring my friend," Emma says softly, watching the man twitch in shame. "If you leave, we won't tell anyone."
The LED flashes and stays red. "As I was telling your friend, you're coming with me."
No, they're not. "What if you just take me, Mister?"
"Emma," Cole hisses, eyes wide and twitching as if he's going to move. The kids know, however, that if this android wanted them dead or incapacitated he would have done it already. They are stronger and faster than most humans. The kids are just kids, but it doesn't mean they can't help each other. "No."
"Like your friend said," the android says tightly, remorse flashing before he swings the gun around and motions Cole forwards. "Now, get moving you two. Don't cause a scene."
"We won't," Emma says, holding Cole's hand tightly when he reaches her. Always, she puts herself between him and the gun. They are marched through the park, and she notices the cop car slowly circling. So, the police are on the lookout for the deviant. "What's your name, Mister?"
"Q-" he cuts off the curt reply, as if remembering they're children. "My- I'm- I was called Brock."
"Hello Brock," she whispers as she glances to the side, where her mother is talking to some parents. "My name is Emma. Can you tell us why you decided to become deviant?"
"He was going to die," the gun shakes from his pocket. "I was told not to go in, but he was going to die. I was assigned to a paramedic. I was made to save people. I couldn't stand around and watch him die."
"That makes sense," Emma says softly. She squeezes Cole's hand warningly. "Thank you for saving someone."
"…You're welcome, Emma."
He pulls them into an alley when the police car passes. Brock's hand shakes as he spins so they are in the alley mouth while he's shrouded by shadows. Emma keeps an arm in front of Cole, gently moving them backwards. Brock shudders like he's fighting with himself. Then a scream comes; someone seeing him holding a gun.
"Move!" Emma pushes Cole around the corner just in time for the shot to fire when the gun hits the ground. Brock is long gone by the time the police come, and Emma and Cole are clutching to each other with tears as they're taken to the station with Caroline being inconsolable in the car following them.
"I don't think I like androids," Cole admits quietly.
Emma laughs a broken sound. "Not all of them are bad. We just don't hear the good stories."
"Are you kids okay back there?" asks Officer Reed.
"Still scared," Cole admits. "I don't understand why he chose us."
"Well, your dad will be waiting for you at the precinct, Cole. We'll catch that piece of plastic, so don't worry about it ever coming around again."
Hank Anderson is known to a lot of departments in his precinct because he's shuffled to and from them. The Captain fights behind the scenes not to have his friend sent off to another sector of the city, not when Hank's already at the closest possible area between home and his son's school. Cole's father had been planning on getting an android to look after his son until the rise of deviant cases picked up. In this way, Lt. Anderson is most understanding of the models and types of androids. Yet, he's not allowed to see either kid until they've given their statement.
The fight between him and Caroline is legendary.
"Why did you ask for its name?" Officer Reed asks curiously, ignoring the raised voices beyond the door.
"I didn't want him to hurt us," Emma replies, swinging her legs in the chair. "So, I asked for his name and gave him mine. If I was nice, why wouldn't he be nice back?"
She – they – remember Detective Reed in the story from a lifetime ago. He interrupts the real questioner every now and then, but he doesn't say or do anything to upset her. A show, probably, but the man at least has some decorum when dealing with children. Cole's in another room getting his statement done. Apparently that was planned, as Reed's dislike of Mr. Anderson is well established by now.
"-didn't f**king notice-"
Though maybe they moved the kid further away. Emma's already been asked after the first few times her mother's screechy voice caused her to pause. When they finish taking her account, Emma asks to stay until the adults are calm. The questioner doesn't bat an eyelash and drags Reed out, replacing him with a female officer to keep the girl company.
Of the kids, she is the first one to see the adults. Emma hugs her mother, who pulls her too tight and cries in her hair. After lots of platitudes and assurances, the girl turns to Cole's father with an unsure expression. "I'm sorry I couldn't help Cole."
He falters and sighs. "It wasn't your responsibility, kid. You're both okay, and that's what matters."
He's a good cop, and a good man at heart. Even though he frets and worries, Emma appreciates his words and gives him a quick hug, "Thank you."
He ruffles her hair with a sigh and they wait for Cole to come out.
"Dad's sworn off ever getting an android," Cole tells her when they're avoiding the kids at school while the gossip spreads. "He almost wouldn't let me go over to Ms. Beverly's anymore because he doesn't trust her in-care android. There's no one else to look after me, though.
"He's also asking his boss to take him off the android cases. Mr. Fowler doesn't want to since dad's his best, but dad's going to apply for a spot in another sector if he doesn't get stuck in one department." A sad pause. "I don't want to move."
"You won't," Emma tells him while sharing her lunch. "Mr. Fowler won't give up your dad."
In another life, he would have kept Mr. Anderson around to make sure he didn't go off the deep end being forced on high-profile android cases. Here, it's so Cole's life doesn't get uprooted and his best friend doesn't regret forcing this on his kid. Hank Anderson ends up joining the homicide team, as so far only a dozen cases of android deviants have left their previous owners dead. Here, Hank rarely needs to show off his skills in modern technology.
;;;
Scrafty keeps a close eye on his mechanic even though the cold stiffens his joints and makes him grumpier than usual. Now, he doesn't trust her to get through the day by herself. Emma wears jackets with fluffier hoods or sweaters with large front pouches for him to hide in. During school days her clothing is always dark or a camouflage colour, so the teachers never spot him. On weekends, sometimes he lets her zips him inside her jacket to stay warm. This also gets them out of the house without being spotted by Jackson and whatever friends he decides to bring over. Most common are Brittany and Leo, who come over Saturday nights to do Red Ice in the Phillips' living room. The moment Scrafty sees them, he hisses and spits. It's easier to cradle him out of the apartment; less chance he notes them.
Emma can't help her flinch the first time she's back in the junkyard. Lucas pulls her aside and awkwardly holds her hand. "You okay?"
"I will be," Emma looks down at their feet.
"Do you feel like finding a model like the one that scared you?" he offers. "We can tear it apart. Don't even have to salvage anything from it."
"Nah." The idea makes her feel sick. "Thanks. Let's see if we can find a frisbee or something. Something that isn't frosted over."
He smiles and leads her back to the group, calling out her suggestion.
Mari appears in the last drop Emma's going to make. She tells the woman as she motions to some hidden boxes filled with parts. "It's too cold and I think my parents are planning to be home a lot this winter."
"Thank you, dear one," Mari tells her, keeping a safe distance from the devil cat. "I'll be sure to bring some more people to help me carry them all. We'll bring the boxes back in February."
"Okay."
"Do you know an android named Brock?" Mari takes Emma's frozen stance as curiosity and not fear. She lists of a model number and his previous job.
"He sounds familiar." Her latest brush with death. She – they – thought there would be no worrying until Daniel.
"He says he's sorry for scaring a girl named Emma and her friend," Mari explains like it is a normal, rational conversation they are having now. "You fit his description. Some of us were worried about you."
"…Tell him I forgive him." She doesn't, Scrafty doesn't, and Cole doesn't. "I know he was scared. I hope he's having a better time at Jericho."
"I will tell him," Mari says, blinking. "I think he will. Those who come from violent encounters have some troubles adjusting, but his is not as severe as most. We are working on his paranoia."
"I hope he will be okay." She really does.
;;;
Distantly, as Emma struggles to breathe, she wonders how Jackson took the news he wouldn't be her babysitter anymore.
"It'll look after the house," Caroline says with bright smiles while John notices their daughter's distraught face. "Cook, do chores, clean the pool even! And when you go out by yourself, you'll have to take it with you Emma. Your father and I will feel so much better knowing it will protect you if anything happens again."
Jackson's probably pissed. He will need a new job to pay for his addiction.
"Emma, dear," her father asks while his wife flutters around the PL600 model, who watches the family dynamic with a stiff smile and robotic gaze. "Are you feeling alright?"
And where will he do his illegal habits now? It's not like his high-society parents will approve of him snorting or smoking in their basement.
Scrafty hisses at her feet, back arching and fur standing on end as he glares at the most hated type of android. The PL600 flickers his eyes down, before going back to the woman flirting about and giving him instructions about laundry and cooking and how Emma should be home by certain times after school.
It's her cat's defence of her that snaps Emma out of her choking fear. "Fine, daddy," she whispers, getting on her knees to hug her angry cat close. "Do you have a name?"
That cuts her mother off. The android looks to the girl with what should be a simple smile but makes her skin crawl. She's seen real smiles from the PL600 models she's fixed and kicked out of the junkyard, like Simon. This is fake and plastic and she doesn't want to die. "I am-" he says a string of letters and numbers. "Pleased to meet you, Emma Phillips."
"Just Emma, please," she says quietly. "This is Scrafty." Her cat gives an angry meow. "Do you like that name? Or can we give you a new one?"
The android doesn't get to answer as Caroline talks over, "Oh, it'll need a new name, dear."
"Why don't you pick one out for it, Emma?" John says softly.
"Is that okay?" Emma asks the PL600.
"That is fine." He replies. "What should I be called?"
Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, Emma answers, "Daniel."
Scrafty's yowl of protest says all they feel.
;;;
It takes a long time to warm up to Daniel for a few reasons. The first is her parent's instructions make him almost hover around her on weekends, and Emma takes to finding loopholes or flat-out sneaking away. Another problem is that she can't bring him near her friends whose parents fix androids on the side. They all realize she's got one now, and she still remembers them impressing the area wasn't a good place to bring a function android unless to get it picked apart. Then there's the Anderson family, which Hank forbids his son from visiting her home and invites her over there when he can. It's not often, as Hank will spend a night getting plastered after the hard cases and there's a possibility of him being called away at any moment.
But it's when February rolls around and Emma tells the android who came for parts about how she has one now, that Emma realizes this is why she hurts so much. It feels like a betrayal. Simon comes to pick up the next drop, sitting down beside her and just knowing what the model is because of her flinch. "Do you treat him well?"
"I try," Emma admits. "Scrafty hates him, more than he hates you." That gets a smile from the man. "I try to follow all the rules mum and dad gave him, but it's hard to do that and sneak out here."
Simon doesn't suggest bringing him out here. He knows as well as her that it would be a terrible idea. "Thank you for trying, at least."
"I'm sorry," she surprises herself by crying. "I don't want them to get mad at him, and I don't want to disappoint him, but I don't want to lose you guys."
"You won't lose us," Simon tells her easily. "We'll always need help. I'm sure you don't disappoint him or your parents. This is something you've always done, and I'm sure explaining that you need some time to yourself, away from home, will help him."
Emma thanks Simon for helping with her problems. "I know you have more than enough of your own."
He laughs a little. "It's mostly just gossip now. Would you like to hear some?"
Simon is a gossipy old bitty; not that Emma ever tells him. Scrafty agrees.
When Emma finally works up the courage to talk with Daniel, it goes over better than expected. The lack of real smiles or emotion still bothers her, and so starts their monthly Saturday outings to the park. Scrafty still doesn't like the android, but he's stopped going out of his way to scratch up the skin map.
"Thank you, Sir Daniel," Emma takes the teacup from their picnic set with a wide smile.
"Of course, Lady Emma," he replies back, and it's the first moment she sees emotion on him. Fondness.
Emma looks up with relaxed shoulders and a bit of awe. "Thank you," she repeats.
;;;
When summer hits, Emma's time is split between her friends, Daniel, and the junkyard. Her parents have practically thrown themselves into their work, what with everyone else taking time off to spend the sunshine with their kids.
"We're so close," Lucas gloats in between games of street hockey and basketball. "Dad's just having a hard time getting the security features off."
"I wish we could hang out more," Cole says as they play in Ms. Beverly's yard. "That's the only thing I liked about school…"
"There's a street show being hosted this weekend," Daniel brings up when dinner's just the two of them and Scrafty. "Would you like to go, Emma?"
The next biggest deviation happens after she's seen the graffiti made by androids. She sees it, and cold fear grips her because what if she's screwed up everything? What if she's ruined the world and whatever revolution is to come? What if she doesn't die from Daniel throwing them off a ledge and instead dies by radiation?
Emma sees the tag 'rA7' repeated over and over again on the walls behind the bus terminal and wonders.
"Emma?" It's Mari who stops her from taking a transfer bus towards the junkyard area. "Please, follow me." They head for the train instead.
The deviation is that Emma can put together androids, and those she helped are putting that skill to use. The little girl's mouth feels dry after an hour of transports later they reach an abandoned freighter named Jericho. She keeps her head held high while Scrafty growls lowly in her hood and the dozens and dozens of androids watch her. For the few who greet her, she responds with a brave smile and their names. Others shy away, murderous expressions on their face of a human being here.
"Thank you for coming," Simon says, holding back a tarp to show the patient. "This is Lucy. She requested you do what you can for her."
"Hello, Lucy," Emma smiles a bit shaky at the android with black eyes and missing most of her skull. The skin map shifts constantly, struggling to stay put around the wires and wires keeping the woman alive. "Can you tell me anything to help you?"
"Sweet girl," the woman mutters, running a hand up and down Emma's arm. Scrafty jumps out of the hood to hiss and glare at all who aren't his mechanic. Lucy's eyes are drawn to him, but there's no recognition he's an android. "Your protector. What I know has already been done. Maybe your fresh eyes can help piece me back together."
Emma ignores the whispers of the androids who haven't met her and pats the woman's hand. "I'll do what I can."
The parts to fix Lucy won't be easy to find, and to keep her mind running at such fast abilities won't be possible as mobility means removing the direct power lines in exchange for more stable energy. She tells the woman, who repeats that anything the girl can help with will be fine. She can still predict outcomes, it will just take longer to see all the others' memories offer.
Lucy becomes Emma's summer project, yet the girl only visits Jericho three times that year. By the end, the woman's skull is fixed, she can see every android's life memories in a maximum of five minutes, and her skin map doesn't falter any longer.
"This ship needs some more life to it," Lucy hums as she walks freely from the wires for the first time since her arrival to Jericho. "Colours. A dash of home. I never realized how… cold it feels."
"Would you like me to look for anything?" Emma offers, petting Scrafty in her arms while she follows the woman around.
"Blankets. Quilts. Needles and thread. Paints, if you can. Books." The woman blinks her strained eyes and trails fingers along the hull of the ship. "Hobbies for us to start. Reasons for us to live."
Let it feel like a home. For all Emma is scared, she takes this deviation gracefully and knowingly.
"We should have other places," Lucy wonders with stars in her eyes and a clear processor which thinks of the now and is not consumed by the past and future. "Jericho falls apart, yet we continue to grow."
"We'll get on it," Simon promises. "But we still need parts before we can expand."
"And we'll get them," Lucy says sociably. "We already use the parts of those who stop working here. It's time to send some of us who can hide for more in the solid waste." She looks down at the girl clutching her cat. "We should have done it a long time ago."
;;;
The thing about androids of 2036 is they aren't programmed to scan other androids and just know what parts are functional or match their designs. The hush-hush RK prototype models Emma shouldn't know about might have that functionality by now, but not the everyday housecleaner or painter. Josh, an android who made it to Jericho without being scrapped first, has been the one to guess and check the models and matches so far. He was a university lecturer and can put two and two together better than most of the others. He sat down with Emma and listened to her ramble while fixing Lucy, and he's the one who accompanies her a few times to the dump to learn the basics of parts and usability.
Josh teaches others and suddenly Emma isn't required to hand over parts to them. She still leaves a bin or two out every month until winter, but it's to be less of a hoarder. And the gossip. Between Simon and Josh, and Mari every now and then, Emma stays up to date on all the gossip.
"We've found a new place," Josh says. "I can't tell you where, but we're moving most out to refurbish it."
"Is it safe?"
"Probably more than Jericho."
"We're staying behind," Simon tells her. "Josh, Lucy, and I. Jericho is going to remain a headquarters of sorts. We'll distribute biocomponents and Thirium, as well as be the first line for those who come from here or are injured."
"I'm glad I still get to see you guys."
"I would miss you too."
"I am staying for a while longer," Mari hums, checking over the bin. "I enjoy helping others. Brock has shown me a few ways to make the transfer of components easier and I believe this is what I wish to do."
"Like a doctor!"
"Exactly! Oh, and you've found paint! Lucy will be so happy!"
Something Emma's notice with the deviants is how they become absorbed with one goal. Not unlike some humans, but it causes the deviants tunnel vision. If they fight for freedom, if they find a way that works, then they repeatedly use the methods which give them results until someone tells them there is another way or sets them on a new goal. Mari's goal becomes saving android by replacing parts, and sometimes others have to remind her they don't have limitless parts and send her out to talk with Emma to get the woman to stop. Josh has a goal to teach everyone, but not everyone listens so on his bad days he's sent to Emma to teach the impressionable child. Simon is trying to keep Jericho running and operational, and Lucy sends him out to remind him they need more than a broken freighter to live in.
Through the gossip, Emma learns that Lucy is the one to teach them goals are good, but look at the bigger picture and see the whole world once in awhile. Emma picks up what goes unnoticed by the others. Lucy is stuck on one goal as well. The woman keeps cycling over her job to keep everyone from burnout.
It's really noticeable when Daniel follows instructions and doesn't over-focus on one mission at a time.
The year ends and their dread grows.
;;;
Another, noticed deviation, is that Emma convinces the entire street of kids she plays with on the road to invite android-Alice to their games.
"My father said not to play with her," Lucas warned them all.
"Hi, Mr. Williams!" Emma smiles when the man answers his door. "We wanted to know if Alice would like to play basketball with us!"
He takes the excuse to be rid of the robot kid he asked and paid for and practically kicks the girls out of his yard. The poor android girl shakes as Emma softly introduces herself and invites her to the game. It takes beating a few of the snooty boys and girls with words and punches to allow Alice into their games, but the girl smiles and laughs freely so it was all worth it.
"Keep an eye out for her," Emma warns the friends who will listen, even if they won't get involved. By the time summer comes, android-Alice has friends and an excuse to leave her house.
By the time summer comes, the girl has been deactivated by her father's abuse at least once.
"Dad's charging Mr. Williams more and more," Lucas isn't pleased with the girl's abuse either. Alice is fond of him, because he is always there through her recovery. "If one day he can't pay, I'm going to keep her as my sister."
Yet nothing can be done now without exposing them all.
Cole and his father come over a few times the summer; Mr. Anderson doesn't trust androids and bonds with Scrafty over their mutual dislike of Daniel while they watch the kids and Sumo swim. Only the cat on Hank's lap keeps him from walking over and passive-aggressively interrogating the Phillips family's android as he teaches Cole to swim.
"Is he treating you right?" Mr. Anderson asks gruffly, quietly, as if Daniel can't hear them saying goodbye.
Emma smiles brightly while Scrafty grumbles at their feet. "Yep. Daniel is the best!"
She doesn't pretend her android's smile is fake anymore. He goes along with instructions because he likes it here. He even likes Scrafty, though the cat makes no noise about ever liking him back.
"Still not shedding?" Daniel asks jokingly. Scrafty hisses and streaks to Emma's room. The man hums and turns to the girl drawing a picture of the three of them. "Would you like to go to the park tomorrow, Emma?"
She beams up at him. "I would love that! Thank you!"
"It is never a problem."
By now, Daniel and Scrafty are the only ones who know she has near-constant nightmares. It's why she doesn't spend nights sleeping over with friends if she can help it, and they both know she feels alienated because it. Once Cole almost caught her, but he sleeps through everything so he's the only human she feels semi-comfortable sleeping in a room with.
"Do you feel like talking about it?" Daniel always asks, sitting beside her on the bed.
Scrafty purrs in her lap. This time she hunches her shoulders and shudders. "I was falling." He pulled her over the edge. "It was a long way down." She never sees herself hit the ground.
"I will not let you fall," Daniel tells her with a light smile.
Scrafty hisses. Liar.
Emma hopes no one will have to fall.
Hopes Daniel won't hold her at gun point and Connor and Hank won't ever fight.
They just want everyone to live.
;;;
Scrafty, after a lot of effort on Emma's part, lets Alice pet him. The android girl takes that and her holiday present with a beaming, awe-filled smile.
"It's the final countdown," Emma whispers to her cat as they watch the New Year's fireworks from her balcony.
"What's that, kiddo?" John asks.
"Nothing, daddy." Emma leans into his shoulder and hopes he'll make it. They hope that maybe, just maybe, them being here has changed everything. Convince their parents not to try and get a new android. She doesn't want Daniel to die, and especially doesn't want him to snap and kick-start everything. "Oh! Daniel! Did you see the green one!"
;;;
"What do you mean they're reported missing?" Emma frowns at Josh's news.
"We're not sure how," he tells her, "but Simon doesn't risk leaving anymore after we got word they were searching all his models for him. Mari and Terrance were almost captured last time they left. Lucy checked our memories and said it was probably a new prototype who was wheeling a man around. We remember him saying something about marked as deactivated, but we don't know how he figure it out."
Their mind flickers to an RK200 model. Emma hums thoughtfully. "What if it's a new prototype? I know the police are pulling their hair out with all of you who are reported missing, so what if this person was made to scan and find you all?"
"Why would it be a caretaker for the elderly?"
"I don't know. Just a thought. Sorry. Any other news?"
;;;
"Dad's been drinking more," Cole says gloomily as they hang around the swing set. "I heard Ms. Beverly talking to him, but I don't think he's going to stop anytime soon."
Emma doesn't know what to say, so dumps Scrafty in his lap. The boy laughs thickly and leans on her while petting the cat.
"Come over?" Cole asks.
"Sure," Emma replies, sending off a quick text to Daniel. "If your dad is home, we should braid his hair."
Cole laughs a bit wetly. "I promised I wouldn't if he grew it out!"
"But I never did."
When Hank realizes what she's done while he napped on the couch, he chases them around with threats of withholding desert and a smile that's more real than it has been in a while.
(The next morning, Captain Fowler gives him a stern look that hides the laughter in his eyes as he hands over a high-profile casefile. "Might want to deal with that hairdo first, Hank."
"Jesus, I though I got them all out!")
;;;
'rA8' is tagged everywhere, and yet no one seems to see it. Emma doesn't think it's a coincidence when the next day she arrives in the neighborhood and Lucas pops gum while frowning at Alice's house. "Mr. Williams won a lady-android off some guy. He had it reset at a CyberLife store." The boy spits the gum into the trash. "B****rd. Trying to get all legal now."
By default, Emma is the one to knock on the door. An AX400 model android with 'Kara' printed in bright letters across her outfit answers and a mildly surprised smile answers. "Hello there."
"Hi there, Miss," Emma says with a bright smile that shows none of the sick-pinching going on inside her. "We were wondering if Alice is available to play street hockey."
"I'm sure she'd love that," the woman replies, shoulders relaxing a bit. "Would you mind if I watched for awhile?"
"Not at all!"
"Kara is nice," Alice whispers when she and Emma are on the sidelines taking a break. "She's like a mum."
Scrafty still hisses and scratches at the woman's skin map when she's too close. Kara ends up wary around Emma because of her cat, but the woman sees sending Alice to play with the kids is the lesser of two evils. The kids see Kara as a boon, because Alice doesn't get sent for repairs after the woman arrives.
Emma can't help but worry.
;;;
It's all self-fulfilling prophecy, and Emma doesn't notice until she's reviewing the video later.
"This is Daniel and Scrafty! Say hi, Daniel!"
"Hello!"
"They are the best-est friends I could have asked for!"
Scrafty tries to convince her to delete it. July ends and she leaves her tablet unlocked with the video at ready. She doesn't want to die.
;;;
"Are you okay?" Mari asks, concern flickering over her face at how pale and unwell the girl looks.
"I'll be fine," Emma tries for a smile. "I just… I haven't been sleeping well. It will get better."
Or it won't.
;;;
"You can't- you can't do that!" Emma yells, jumping to her feet while her dinner chair flies to the ground.
"Emma!"
"No!" the girl slams her hands on the table and glares at her mother. "Daniel is part of the family! You can't just- just talk about throwing him away!"
"Emma," her dad tries where her mother failed. "Its model is getting old. It would be good to get a new one before something goes wrong. You don't want it to suddenly stop working while you're out on a walk with it, would you?"
"He," Emma stresses, "is perfectly fine! There is nothing wrong with Daniel. His systems all function great and he never complains of sticky parts. There's no reason for you to even talk of this!"
"It is our property," her father says, face slowly growing stormy. "We have all right to talk about this. As your parents, we have a final say in the matter, and if you're going to keep yelling at us for nothing then you should go to your room."
"Dad-"
"Go to your room, Emma!" Her mother cries out, hand white from clenching her napkin. "And we'll discuss your lack of manners when you've calmed down."
Emma doesn't go. She glares at them, sneers the best a nine-year-old can, and readies to argue.
"Daniel," her father snaps at the very, very still android watching over their dinner. "Escort Emma to her room, now."
Emma starts walking, head bowed. She lets Daniel put his hand on her back and guide her, Scrafty hissing at her parents from the doorway of her room. He stops and waits for her to enter.
"Lock her door, Daniel." John calls.
"I'm sorry, Emma," the PL600 model android frowns.
"It's okay," Emma keeps her head bowed. "It's not your fault."
The door slides shut, and it feels like the last period dotted on her death sentence. Emma curls up on the far side of her room, hugs her knees to her chest, and cries while Scrafty purrs at her feet.
;;;
It is August 15th.
It is August 15th, 2038 and Emma Phillips turns ten on September 2nd. Right now, she listens to music on her speakers while locked in her room for throwing the tenth tantrum of the month. She hasn't seen any of her human or deviant friends since July, her family's android is under orders to keep her locked in the house, and there is a touchpad on her desk with a video which tells the name of her android friends Daniel and Scrafty. Daniel is said family android and her cat Scrafty is sleeping on her bed in a mess of blankets.
Emma Phillips was once someone else, and now they can't sleep easy this year knowing she could die by falling or by radiation or by fire. It is the fifteenth of August and the only sign Emma gets that something is wrong is when Scrafty wakes with a start and stares at the door, ears twisting.
"Scrafty?" Emma asks as she peels off the headphones. "What's wrong?"
There's yelling and screaming. Emma freezes when she realizes it isn't coming from her music, but inside her top-floor apartment. The girl shakily gets to her feet and takes a step. Then another.
The silence that falls is almost worse than screaming.
"Emma," Daniel says almost panickily with the opening of her door. Scrafty arches his back on the bed and hisses something fierce. The man pays him no mind and grabs her, practically dragging the girl out. "We have to go."
She blinks, "Daniel what-"
But there's blood on the ground and pounding coming from the locked bathroom and this is it, isn't it?
"Come on, Emma."
Then there's knocking on the door and oh right didn't a cop move into the building a few months ago.
Daniel tightens his grip painfully on her and adjusts the gun – did he have that the whole time – in his hand. "Go away!"
Scrafty hisses like a wildcat and attacks his ankles. It takes Daniel kicking and locking the cat in Emma's room to finally snap them out of it. "Daniel, what are you doing?"
"They were going to throw me away," he replies tightly, crushing them against his chest. "And I don't- I don't want to die Emma."
I know the feeling, they think. "Then we'll get you out of here." They are shaking. It's time to remember one of the many plans before the shock of their father bleeding out – they just stepped through the blood oh fu- hinders their thought process. They have until they start crying. "Just- just let me help you. We have to get out to the terrace."
"We'll be in view of everyone."
"Trust me, please Daniel."
They haven't spent near-ten years just waiting for fate to take their life in the balance.
;;;
"No!" Emma gasps as Daniel does shoot another person to try and come out to the terrace. Only, this person doesn't do more then flinch as a chunk of his arm is taken out. They've run out of time.
"Stay back!" Daniel shouts, holding Emma closer to his side and angling to get a better chance at jumping down to Mr. and Ms. Fairfield's apartment. He'll need both hands to swing into there, but he won't let go of them. "Don't come any closer or I'll jump!"
"No!" Emma is still crying and shaking. It doesn't make Daniel want to release them, but they are in shock because at least one person has already died tonight and they could be next depending on what the android sent by CyberLife decides or found in the apartment. "No, please! I'm begging you!"
It looks like Daniel points the gun back to their head as he steadies them against his chest. Something passes and Emma can barely see the other android moving his mouth through the tears in their eyes, but Daniel stiffens like he's been electrocuted. "How… How do you know my name?"
There is a reply they can't hear because the androids speak like this is an every-day conversation and not fifty meters away. Then the helicopter comes, the android sent by CyberLife walks forwards, and Daniel tenses more. Emma Phillips has warned him in between police and S.W.A.T. trying to rescue them and only now does he realize the little girl's nightmares are a little more than nightmares.
Emma hears Daniel's side of the arguments, which is how they realize the android sent by CyberLife is… calm. Encouraging. Trying to gain Daniel's trust. Like a negotiator is supposed to be.
Emma watches as the android sent by CyberLife leans down to stop the bleeding of the cop who got to close. They hear the damaging words. "You can't kill me. I'm not alive."
"You are alive," Emma tries to whisper but they – she – is being crushed by Daniel's rejection to the other android's statement and her own mouth is sore from the cold air she's been yelling into.
("I'm sorry," Daniel had told her after a particularly bad scare. "I know you're scared."
"I am," they don't lie. "But no matter how scared I am, you need to make it believable if we run out of time. You need to give yourself time to escape. Make sure he doesn't have a gun.")
The RK800 tosses his gun away when told to.
It's interesting, hearing their conversation but only noticing now that the android sent by CyberLife is close enough… well, his entire pant leg has been ripped to shreds.
"Are you okay, Emma?" her name snaps her out of it and she meets the brown eyes of the RK800 model.
"I'm scared," she tells him, making Daniel hold her closer. "Is- are Scrafty and daddy okay?"
"You cat is fine," he tells her with a calm half-smile. "It's all going to be okay."
He doesn't mention her father and she knows Daniel notices.
The helicopter is sent away. The RK800, the android sent by CyberLife, comes closer. They talk, and the RK800 tells Daniel over and over that he has to trust him to get him out of here.
It's a long moment, where Daniel gives her one more crushing squeeze before agreeing. "Okay… I trust you…"
Emma pauses for one moment as soon as she's set on the ground, and the world deviates. Daniel tosses the gun and steps off the roof just moments before bullet fire starts.
"The deviant escaped! I repeat the deviant escaped!"
"Someone contact ground floor! Get those elevators halted!"
"Who lives in the floor below? Why did no one go check them?"
Emma slowly uncurls from her ball on the ground to shake and look up at the RK800. He's still standing there, staring at where Daniel jumped with a small curious frown. Hesitantly, she crawls over, making him glance down at her. The medics pulls her away before she can look up and thank him, and he marches out of there before she can see him again; Mission Complete.
(He saved the fish, she notices through her shock.)
She makes the police stop for Scrafty, who hisses and scratches everyone that tries to make him leave her arms. They finally tell her that her father isn't dead – he's alive, he's alive, He's Alive – but in critical condition and having the bullets removed now. They tell her because she asks, she takes it better than her mother, and because some of them recognize her from the times Cole brought her to the meet-and-greets.
"It will be okay," they promise Emma. "We'll catch it."
But they won't. Mr. and Ms. Fairfield are out of town and they both have a love of wigs and makeup that used to weird Emma out. The fire exit is pretty close by, and if Daniel decided against that then the Oxgy family are away for the night at a concert. He'll just have to keep calm and make his entrance look less like a break-in.
"It's started," Emma mutters to Scrafty as she is treated in the station for shock and minor glass cuts. Her cat yowls, startling a few sleepy cops awake and gaining an amused look from an android walking by. "Yah, I know. I should have listened to you. Maybe we can still get to Canada before everything goes south." A pause. "Or North." The look Scrafty gives her has enough disdain she cracks a smile. "Bad joke, I'll stop."
Because hopefully violence isn't the answer and they can all get out alive.
Disclaimer: I do not own Detroit: Become Human. All rights belong to its respective owners.
A/N: So... this happened. Oops.
There may also be an end-goal pairing of Connor/Kara/Markus.
(It's going to be a mess isn't it...?)
Thanks for reading. I hope the chapter was enjoyable