Chapter 2

Connor woke up in a small, breeze block room that looked strangely similar to the interrogation room back in the Detroit City Police Department. He was sat in a metal chair, or more accurately he was tied to a metal chair in front of a bare metal table. His system took longer than normal to boot up, whatever that human had done to him it had it given the closest thing to a headache he was ever likely to experience. Eventually he felt like he was operating at full capacity instead of half, and began to scan the room for any details of where he might be. The room really was a bare concrete shell. There was nothing, only the table, two chairs and a single strip light above him. He had thought it looked like that familiar room from his past but there was a difference; no one way glass. This was more like a prison cell then an interrogation room.

He was just beginning his assessment of the metal wires holding his wrists and ankles in place when the only other feature of the room, the door, opened and a woman entered. Automatically Connor scanned her features but his data banks came back with no information on her identity. Frowning, he watched as she walked into the room closing the door with a clang behind her. The fact that there was no record of her was highly disconcerting. There were very few people that weren't on the national records, and all of those were considered bad news. She was effectively a ghost, an anomaly and it put Connor at a huge disadvantage.

With a grating noise she pulled the other chair over to sit directly opposite him, clasping her hands together on the table and regarding the captive android with a curious expression. Seeing as he would glean no intel from the online records, Connor resorted to the 'old fashioned' method and decided to assess her appearance for any clues as to her position and personality.

Standing up, he calculated her to be 5'7" and around 168lbs. Her face was soft and round but there was a hardness to her features. Connor predicted she had once been a friendly person but now she presented a closed off front, her hazel eyes wary as she looked back at him. Her clothes were tired looking and covered in grime. A khaki green jacket covering an off white linen shirt. They were practical clothes meant for outdoor living and Connor doubted she had changed them in a long time judging by their condition. Although her mousy brown hair tied back in a neat plait suggested her dishevelled appearance wasn't a natural choice, more of a side effect. Evidently the group were sleeping rough, an interesting point worth noting.

Apart from the two minimal points he had managed to take away from her appearance, Connor still had no idea who this woman was, or her standing in the group. All he was sure about was that she had been the one to disable and capture him. Neither of them had spoken yet, she continued to look at him, her eyes staying fixed on his face. Her stillness an unnerving trait considering she was human. Or at least he was assuming she was. Connor scanned her quickly again, the sudden doubt making him nervous. Yes, there was a heat signature, she was undeniably human. Finally, after what felt like an age, but what Connor knew was exactly 5 minutes, she let out a sigh and leant back in her chair away from him.

"Why did he send you?" She asked. Her voice was familiar to him from their earlier encounter, but this time there was less hostility in it, more of an open inquisitiveness. The question however didn't seem appropriate. Usually in an interrogation the interrogator would start by establishing the subject's identity and individual purpose. She had begun with a loaded question. Connor's brow furrowed as he tried to formulate the best response. The woman's mouth twitched at the corner as she watched him struggle.

"I'm afraid I'm not sure what you mean." Connor began in a confused tone. Feigning ignorance seemed like the best approach. "I was lost and simply looking for-"

"I know who you are Connor." She interrupted, stopping him mid lie. His mouth snapped shut, his eyebrows lowering as the shock of hearing his name sank in. The odds were tipping further and further in her favour and it didn't sit well with him at all. He recognised the mounting discomfort in his circuits as frustration. If he had still had his LED on it would have been blinking a frantic yellow right now.

Connor relaxed his expression; glaring at the human would do nothing to change his position. He needed to figure out the optimal course of action to gain information. Diplomacy with the humans was his mission after all.

"So why did Markus send you here?" The woman probed again. Connor arranged his features into a neutral mask and tilted his head slightly.

"I'm curious, you know so much about me and where I've come from, and yet I know nothing about you. Seems hardly fair." The woman's mouth twitched again and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"That's not how interrogations tend to work. I ask the questions and you either choose to answer them or not, there's no exchange of information." She leant forward again to rest her forearms on the table. Connor could see the interesting mix of green and brown in her irises from this distance. They bored into his own brown pair, a bright intelligence hidden behind thick, heavily guarded walls. Whoever she was, there was more to her than first appearances. "I thought you of all people would know that." She finished, her mouth curving up into a wry smile.

"And what happens if I choose not to reply?" He asked, resisting the sudden illogical urge to lean away from that intense stare. The woman gave a small shrug.

"I'm not sure really, although I can tell you a lot of people aren't very happy with you being here. I could leave that decision up to them." She turned her head, pretending to appear unconcerned with his reaction but he saw her unnerving eyes flash the android an interested look.

"Violence won't scare me." Connor stated, matter-of-factly. And it was the truth. Yes, the thought of dying was not an attractive prospect, especially as now he was deviant there was no chance of coming back. Since disconnecting from the Cyberlife servers his ability to transfer his consciousness had unfortunately also been terminated. Meaning if he was deactivated now that would be it. Still, the very fact he was here talking to this woman meant he was valuable in some way. It was unlikely she would allow him to be destroyed when she needed something from him. It was one of the key things about interrogation, it was all just a game of chess. And he was designed to be the best at it.

The woman gave a small snort of what appeared to be amusement, then she resumed her reclined position in the chair. "I didn't think it would. Worth a shot though right?"

Connor felt himself frown again, she was asking him if she had tried the right tactic. This human's reactions were proving highly unpredictable. It only added to the infuriating enigma that was her identity. He quickly ran through some of the possible scenarios for their conversation and decided on the honest approach.

"I'm not here to hurt any of you." He said. Making his expression as nonthreatening and open as possible. The woman didn't say anything. "I'm here to talk." He continued, assessing her body language. Slowly she folded her arms, closing herself off to him further.

"So Markus wants to talk us into backing down? I shouldn't have expected anything different." Her eyes flashed with a sudden anger that surprised Connor. Up until then she had been calm and ordered, it seemed he had finally hit a nerve. "I just didn't expect him to send his bloodhound to do the negotiating." Her voice had dropped several degrees.

"I'm not sure I understand your analogy." Connor said. The woman's face relaxed, dispelling her abrupt anger almost as quickly as it had appeared. She examined him with the same neutral expression that made her so difficult to read.

"You're the famous Connor are you not? Sent in to accomplish the impossible, able to find anyone no matter how well they hide." She lifted one of her arms to gesture around the room in general. "Case in point. You found us. So I think bloodhound describes you pretty accurately, unless you don't like being compared to a dog?"

He blinked at the woman, unable to argue with her inventive reasoning. He had the funny feeling that every time he got close to finding something out about her she was diverting the conversation away from it. This mission could prove more challenging than he had previously predicted. He sat silently, waiting for her to make the next move. She folded her arms again and waited as well. The silence grew heavy between them.

After about five minutes of this the door to the room burst open with a dramatic clang and an agitated looking man stormed in. This human was similarly dishevelled, his shoulder length hair matted and unkept, his bulky arms tensed as he came to a halt by her chair. He glared with hated filled eyes at Connor before turning his attention to the woman sat unperturbed opposite him. Connor noted how she had barely flinched at the man's abrupt entrance. Her muscles had merely tensed slightly, her gaze not breaking away from the android she was questioning. It arose further interest in Connor, the way in which this unusual human behaved. It was unlike anything he had seen before.

"This is getting us nowhere Becca." The man growled at her, and Connor felt his mouth lift up at the corners. So her name was Becca was it? Finally he had the tiniest slither of information about this enigmatic female and it sent a wave of giddy triumph through his system. Becca, for her part, seemed less pleased with her fellow human's slip. She turned her head achingly slow towards him, narrowing her eyes to two sharp points of disapproval.

"You said you'd give me twenty minutes Henry. And so far I've only counted ten." She said his name in a mocking way and Connor felt his involuntary smile grow. She was getting him back for his mistake by revealing his name. Although Henry seemed ignorant to the whole affair as he let out an annoyed huff and shrugged at her.

"So what? The thing is obviously lying to you. What good would ten more minutes do?" Connor saw Becca's jaw tense at her companion's words.

"Not that you would have the slightest clue, but ten minutes could do a lot." Her head snapped back round to look at Connor, the supressed anger evident in her intense stare. The android sat motionless, an odd smile plastered on his face, his eyes moving methodically between Henry and her. "Not that it matters now you've barged into the middle of my interrogation like an aggravated silverback."

Connor felt a spike of amusement at the sight of Henry's face after receiving another of her imaginative animal comparisons. He supressed the urge to show it however, swiftly rearranging his features back into a blank mask. Becca was too quick for him and he watched with continued fascination as her anger melted away to reveal that curious look she had been giving him since starting this bizarre encounter.

"How dare you." Henry seethed, oblivious to the odd moment that had passed between the android and human next to him. "I am in charge here and I say that talking to it is pointless. They're not interested in peace, it's all just an elaborate plan to wipe us all out."

Connor turned his full attention to the man. If that was what they really thought it would be near impossible to reason with them. It was apparent from the news and factual evidence that the majority of androids wanted peace. A chance to simply live side by side with the humans. But this man was clearly determined to see what he wanted, and he was the group's leader. Connor took in the new information with a bitter resignation. He'd only been here an hour and it was already turning into a lost cause.

"And what if it's not." Becca snapped, "What if it's a chance for us to get back what we've lost, to come to an agreement that doesn't result in more bloodshed?"

Henry snorted derisively. "I thought you of all people would see where trusting them gets you. You're a valued member Becca, but a lot of people are pissed off with you right now for bringing it here." The two humans glared lethally at each other for a few seconds. Connor watched with growing interest. What had happened to them to make them so angry? He attempted to search his databanks for any information on this area; police reports, news articles on attacks or disasters, but he found about as much as when he had scanned her face. Nothing.

"Let them be pissed. He's the right hand man of Markus you idiot. That's got to be worth something?" Henry's eyes widened slightly, his rage dampened by her statement. He flashed a look at Connor, and the android was taken aback with the ferocity of the hate burning in them.

"Why didn't you sat anything?" He asked, his voice lowering in volume. Becca rolled her eyes and gave him a condescending look.

"Because you would have taken control of this in your heavy handed way and not given me a chance to talk to him. We could get serious intel on Jericho and all you want to do is rip his head off. Not exactly the smartest move is it." Henry's head snapped round to stare at her again. Clenching and unclenching his hands as he decided what to do next.

"Fine." He finally hissed though a very tense jaw. "I'll give you twenty more minutes. But then I get a go." He finished his sentence by jabbing an aggressive finger towards his chest. Becca regarded him for a moment before nodding calmly and turning away from him. Signalling this conversation was now over.

Connor watched the hostile man exit the small room with one last venomous glance in his direction, and couldn't help feeling a modicum of relief at being left with Becca instead of that volatile human. She let out a sigh and recomposed herself. Connor tilted his head an inch as he regarded her.

"Is Becca short for Rebecca?" Instantly her calm shell cracked, her body stiffening, her expression becoming a granite hard mask.

"None of your business." She retorted bitingly. Connor smiled, this time a fake one, constructed to put people at ease with him. Amusingly it seemed to have the opposite effect on her as she tensed further.

"Now we both know each other's names Rebecca, I think it's best we start again." She regarded him with wary eyes as he continued. "I can assure you Markus does want peace between us, and is willing to negotiate with you through me."

Becca didn't move. Becoming so still Connor was tempted to scan her again, she really did act like no other human he had seen before. Her mouth was pressed in a thin line and he could tell she was thinking about what to say next. Eventually her face relaxed and she spoke in a calm, level tone again.

"You don't know much about the Chosen, do you?" He frowned and she responded with a wry smile. "I thought not. There's only one thing to know about them, they shoot first and ask-"

Before she could finish her sentence an ear splitting boom echoed through the room as half of the wall descended on them sending Connor flying across the floor, still attached to the chair. Rubble and dust obscured his vision as he craned his neck to get a better look at the now decimated room, trying to assess what had just happened. Scanning quickly, he searched for his interrogator and found her on her hands and knees behind a particularly large chunk of wall. Apart from being slightly disorientated his system wasn't reporting any damage from the explosion, although he was still frustratingly tied in place, now on his side.

"Shit." Becca coughed through a mouthful of dust. Struggling to her feet, her ears ringing painfully from the assault. She squinted through the snowstorm of debris to see the android staring back at her with indifferent brown eyes. The sight was almost amusing, his serious expression and rigid posture still in place even after being been thrown sideways across the concrete floor. Assessing the new opening in the interrogation room Becca saw that the damaged had been caused by a large explosion. Several holes had been blown through the building, resulting in a jagged tunnel leading to the outside.

Even though she had a pretty good idea of who was responsible it didn't take long for her suspicions to be confirmed, as a dozen androids piled in through their make shift entrance. It was easy to tell they were androids as one of the trademarks of the Chosen was their decision to not wear their synthetic skins. In their words they chose to show their true forms, instead of imitating the beings that had enslaved them.

Grim panic gripped Becca as she watched them advance on the small room she was in. They were carrying guns and were already opening fire on some of her group that were trying to defend themselves. Her eyes snapped back to the android, lying immobile on the floor. She stared at him in frustration as the chaos increased around them, shouting and gunfire making it difficult to think straight. She had been so close to making a breakthrough with him, a couple more minutes and who knew what she might have discovered about Jericho and its leader. A line appeared between her eyebrows as she frowned at the android, it almost looked like he was staring back at her with the same thought.

The loud retort of an automatic rifle snapped her back to reality and she heard a familiar voice shout from just outside opening in the wall. "There's too many of them Becca, we're going to split up and find a new base." Henry's desperate call triggered something inside her and without hesitating she navigated the suddenly very cramped room to open the door. She had to give it a hefty pull as a heavy piece of rubble was wedged against it. Using her left hand it opened with a reluctant squeal and she peered out cautiously it the dusty corridor. There was no one here yet but she could already hear the distant shouts of more people, humans or androids she wasn't sure, joining the fight.

They would run and find a new place to call home. This happened every few weeks. The Chosen would find where they were hiding and force them to move on, this was just how life was now. She was just preparing to leave when something forced her to look back. The android known as Connor was still watching her with those unnerving eyes of his. She couldn't leave him here, not because she feared for his safety these were his people after all, but because he was too valuable to let go.

Connor sensed her indecision as she stood in the open doorway, dithering as the impending fight closed in on them. What was she thinking? He wondered and an alarmingly strong urge to know suddenly gripped him. Before she could make up her mind however an android without its skin but still wearing dark clothes, leapt through the opening in the wall brandishing a gun. She stopped as she took in the scene before her, her eyes flashing between Becca stood by the door and Connor on his side tied to the chair. Her obvious surprise could have been considered comical except for the weapon she was now swinging between them too. She doesn't know I'm an android, thought Connor as he did the only thing he could think of and stayed still.

Taking advantage of the android's indecision Becca reached into her jacket and produced a small black box. With a grim expression she pointed it at the other android and pushed a button. There was a muted beep that Connor recognised. Not again, he thought bitterly just as his system was shut down, plunging him into more blackness.