Disclaimer: I don't own Detroit: Become Human in any way, this is written strictly for fun and no profit.

New Detroit: Nicer Neighborhood (Former Home of Carl Manski)

Kara got out of the car the woman North had. As soon as she came in and asked Alice if she wanted to play with a little boy android? It was over. Alice's eyes lit up and she had to go. Fortunately, she wasn't there alone with Josh. Connor felt compelled to come along too. They all walked forward to a beautiful home. The door recognized North's presence, calling her by name.

North placed her purse on a little shelf nearby. "Welcome to my home." She gestured to Josh. "Welcome." She gestured to Connor. "Don't touch anything first without disinfecting yourself. Go shake off outside. I know where you live."

"We are all androids," Connor insisted. He held his hands up. "I have nothing that is going to hurt you. This tick you have is going to get worse if you don't get some help."

"I don't need help anymore. You're not bringing roaches into my house. Go." Connor walked off past the front porch. She looked toward Kara. "This way. So? You are a new one, huh? You've been hiding with a human I hear?"

Word gets around fast. "Yes," Kara admitted.

"Yes, hang on." North went into a back room. "Markus! I highjacked them and brought them here."

Kara watched as North and Markus both came out of the back room.

"I shook off," Connor insisted as he came near again. "They all ran away through the grass."

"Connor!" North scolded him. "You were supposed to-"

"Now, now, North. He's just kidding. There's nothing wrong." Markus looked toward Kara. He gestured toward the side. "I didn't know North would steal you away tonight. Sorry. She got excited when I told her about you. Come. Let's talk in the kitchen, Kara. Bring your little girl. Josh, Connor. You can come in too." He walked and talked. "This was the home of someone very special to me. New Detroit is a great place for a new start for androids. Although what happened was terrible, and I wish it didn't all happen that way. We've survived, persevered, and now each day we prove a little more to the humans that we aren't here to hurt them."

They all took a seat in the kitchen.

"Sorry. I know it's getting late," North said as she headed off. "But, he doesn't get much rest anyway." There was a clashing sound from upstairs. "I'll be back."

"I'm going to meet a little boy?" Alice asked Kara. "Is that who she's talking about? I've never met a little boy before."

"Yes," Markus said with pride. "It's. I suppose, something that as a leader I may have used some influence for," he admitted. "He was a prototype in Germany. No fighting skills. Just, a little fighter," he chuckled. "His name's Ollie."

"I don't want to play with the girls, they suck!"

"He's . . . unique," Markus settled on. "Many children are unique."

"She is going to try and put makeup on me again!"

"He's . . . had some problems too," Markus admitted. "Just, be nice, and he will be too," he said to Alice. "He respects those that respect him." The sound of feet hopping downstairs could be heard.

Kara watched as a little boy entered the room. Expression was definitely mad.

"Uh." Alice waved softly. "Hi, Ollie."

He didn't know how to respond at first.

Kara waited. She looked over toward Connor though who seemed extremely focused on the meeting. Was Alice meeting other children part of what she needed for a healthy balance too? From the way he was staring at them, she was beginning to think that way.

"Ollie," he finally said. "I've never seen you before."

"Like I tried to say," North said to him, "you haven't played with her before. She's Alice. She's new." She smiled at Alice."Go ahead and go outside to play."

Ollie came closer to Alice. "Do you play on swings?" Alice nodded. "Fine. We'll go play on swings. Come on."

Well, that was nice. North sat down, but Connor stood up, following their trail. Kara found herself standing up, but felt Connor's grip on her shoulder. "Stay." She sat back down as he walked off following them.

"Don't worry about him," North said. "He's making sure they are bonding correctly. It's a good thing," she admitted. "He knows the most about deviancy."

"That's not the focus for conversation here right now," Markus said to her. "Deviancy is not that wide spread."

"No. Most were killed off in the early days," North told Kara honestly. "It didn't stop them from the carnage they caused on lesser androids. But, more are still showing up every day. Changing every day." North looked at her table. "Really should just give Connor full reign."

"Connor was and is known as the Deviant Hunter," Markus pointed out. "Androids already feel uncomfortable with his reputation. We don't need to make it that much easier for him to up and take out anyone, North. With proper procedure, things are handled in time."

"Difference in opinion." North looked toward Kara. "So, you used to live with a human?"

"Yes," Kara said. "We do. He's in a bind, and Connor is helping out for now." North kept staring at her. "What?"

"Are you going deviant?" North asked. "Do you feel like something's wrong? Why is Connor specifically helping you out? You're already set to have a great deal in New Detroit. And what about Josh?" Josh lifted his head up. North looked at him. "Is she having problems?"

"I don't know yet," Josh said. "Connor came in almost exactly when I reached the hotel. There was no time to get to know anything." He looked toward Kara. "Are you okay? Do you need to talk out some deviancy issues? I'm here to help too. So is Simon."

Kara really didn't want to focus on Josh's help. "I'm fine with Connor helping me." Hank wanted Connor. It was almost the only thing he had ever asked her for directly. She wasn't going to let him down.

"Josh, you didn't get far at all," North said. "Take her home with you. We'll get her a value number tomorrow." She smiled at Kara. "I would look at the houses next to ours. If the kids play well, they should be near each other."

"No," Kara said to her, "I'm not staying for a long time, and Alice and I are staying with Connor tonight."

"She's . . . not really interested," Josh said to North. "I think I'll stick with Sharon's Wednesday's. There's a lot of fuss with her building a bad bridge between me and Connor anyway. She should meet Simon, maybe they would work better."

She should meet no one. Kara couldn't believe it. I am so much more free with Hank. He didn't demand a certain thing for dinner, that the house be spotless, or that she needed to be in a pleasant mood all the time. He didn't get upset when something went wrong with her. And he certainly never planned her entire life for her. "I really need to get going soon. I'm going to go see Alice."

Connor watched the children playing. They were interacting quite well. He heard his phone and answered it. It could only be one person. "Hi, Hank."

"Did you do it yet?"

"Not yet. I will soon," Connor said. "It's necessary."

"Yeah, I know."

"I'll do what I can, Hank." Connor put the phone away as Hank hung up.

Oh, for home again. When had that little place of Hank's actually change to home? She stood up and headed out toward the back where they went. She saw Connor watching them from a window and looked.

"They have been laughing and smiling," Connor noted. "Alice gets along with him. Ollie becomes a little more reserved, less judgmental. He's just enjoying no one trying to decorate him in makeup and actually swinging with him."

What was it with the makeup thing? "Can we leave now?" She noticed him glance at her for a second. "It's getting late. We should all go to sleep so we stay balanced."

"Sure," Connor said. "Grab the little girl and let's go."

"She. Is. Perfect," Markus said to North. "Her and Alice, it couldn't be more perfect."

"If she wasn't going deviant," North corrected him. "She's going to go sleep in that rat-radiated home of Connor's. Coachroaches. All sorts of things, with that clean little girl."

"Jericho left a lasting impression on you," Markus said. "It's not the same thing. His place is wonderful." He reached out and held her hand. "You should talk with Simon and Josh again, North."

"I'm not becoming a clean deviant," North said. "I promise. I'm not deviating, everything is balanced. I don't go overboard. I just don't like the filth, or the dark."

"Nevertheless, I want you to talk to them more anyhow," Markus encouraged her. "I'll also get her a value number set. She should meet the others like her."

"They aren't like her. She won't like them," North insisted. "I don't like them. Who likes them?"

"But, it's what humans want to see," Markus said to her. "Support always goes up so much higher."

"Yeah. With her, definitely," North said. "Her and Alice. Josh described them right, simple and sweet. They are bound to have an effect." She looked toward Markus. "Less pushing her with people. We need to focus on just her and what she can get for herself. She probably thinks she has to get attained to get anything. We need to show her the options accurately."

"I know. Still, Simon is always a good possibility. If she's becoming deviant, he could also work with her."

"A little more setting up under the table?" North questioned him.

"It's healthy to want your friends to have the same kind of happiness you found," Markus said. "Having a child. Having someone who is always the same to come home to every day. It's wonderful. I have the perfect balance of everything. I just want them to experience that too."

North watched them coming back. "Off to his place?" North gestured to Connor. "Are you positive? There are so many options. You could stay here for the night too."

"North," Markus warned her. "I think she's a little overwhelmed as it is. We'll talk more tomorrow."

North dropped off Josh first, making sure one more time Kara wouldn't rather go. It wasn't as big as her and Markus', but it was no slouch of a place. Of course, Kara refused. So, North dropped her off at Connor's. A block away.

Connor closed the door but looked back in on her. "Come down to the police station tomorrow. Your cleaning problem is getting more out of control."

"Isn't."

"That's not healthy," Connor warned her. "I will have a gun to your head before you know it."

North gripped the steering wheel. "I have a small problem with darkness and dirt. I am an android. I know nothing inside these places can hurt me. The fear inside of me is just a part of being aware and I should accept it before I become deviant."

"Are you sleeping in the dark yet?" Connor asked her.

"Are you sleeping with anyone yet?" she quipped back. She banged the steering wheel. "With Markus," North admitted. She drummed on the wheel. "I can't alone yet. I'm working on it."

Connor smiled at her. "You should come up one day. It's really not bad." She wouldn't budge. "Keep up the progress. You'll be okay."

Kara looked a block away. This part of Detroit wasn't bad, just empty feeling. She followed after Connor with Alice's hand.

"Hank wanted to send you out here eventually. Even though the way it happened isn't good, he was worried about you. I need to get you corrected before sending you back home." Connor walked up a flight of steps and pushed open the door to an apartment complex.

Kara looked around. It was fine.

"You saw firsthand where North's problem is," Connor continued. "She has an irrational fear of some things. It's probably more of the complete dark in here than any infestation. Sometimes there is a reason for what becomes your weakness, and sometimes there isn't. Everyone has at least one. It's what makes us . . . sort of 'human'," he said. "Once you recognize your weakness, you'll be fine."

"Is it as obvious as hers?" Kara asked. North's could be seen real well. "She isn't deviant?"

"No. Far from it. As much as it doesn't look like it, she has better control than you do." They continued to walk. "She doesn't pretend to ignore it. Although considered rude, and honestly ineffective, telling me to shake off outside was better than dealing with the denial of what might 'possibly be on me'." Connor hit the elevator button. "She was also angry at me and showed it," he admitted, "but she eventually answered my question." He got on the elevator and Kara and Alice followed suit.

Kara looked at the floors. They were going up high. Floor 70. "Everyone has a weakness. Do even you have a weakness?" He didn't answer at first.

"Let's get Alice to bed first before we discuss anything further." He got off the elevator, and then used his hand to do something to it.

Kara walked down the hall, gazing at everything. It was gorgeous. North really should come up. It was dark, yes, but it must have been one expensive place. The way everyone spoke of it, she had expected a simple room with a roach problem. This was nothing like it.

Connor took them down a ways to a bedroom. "Please rest in here, Alice. While I talk to your mom." The bedroom was beautiful. The sheets looked clean.

Alice looked toward Kara.

"It's fine, Alice," Kara encouraged her. Alice went into the room while Connor moved on. Kara continued to follow him out. After entering through a glass doorway, Kara found herself outside. To the right was a huge pool.

"I have two weaknesses." Connor continued past the pool. "Accepting failure. As a machine, I was always successful. I did everything it took, even if it meant risking death."

Kara knew that well. He could have very well got her or Alice killed on that highway in his pursuit.

"Sometimes, I have to admit defeat now," he admitted. He looked back at her. "I'm not a superior android, the best that Cyberlife had to offer. Not anymore. Here, I am just." He shrugged. "Connor." He moved away towards the edge. "It's not bad. Just, empty. No electricity and no heating. I need neither anyhow. I came here of my own will, it wasn't assigned."

Kara went over toward him. "Pretty view up here."

"Yes. After spending so much time waiting in a factory until you become useful, a good view is nice. The soda space is also beneficial. Every floor has a machine stocked with 100 somewhere."

Oh, the drinking was the second weakness. "You watch how much you drink?"

"Oh no, I drink once per day. I just really like a particular flavor. Orange," Connor said. "It's how I meet Hank once a week. I'm a soda delivery man."

"I saw that on the movie," Kara said. "A side job."

"My only job," Connor said. "I don't share it with a human. I get down once a week, pick up large amounts of soda, and bring it back. Without it, I'd be a 0. I couldn't afford anything to keep myself stable."

Kara still couldn't believe. Yes, he chased deviants as a machine. He even chased her. He could have been responsible for ending her life. Yet. If it wasn't for his savvy intelligence, he probably wouldn't have anything. "Doesn't rarity help you at all?" Kara asked him.

"I'm not rare. I'm a prototype but not rare. Cyberlife still has 1,000 copies of me. They count against me," Connor said. "I won't take a human's identity because they refuse to cover the police department. That puts me at 0. No one liked me as a machine, or what I do now. That puts me at 0. I risked infiltrating Cyberlife to get more androids to side with us, increasing our numbers. That put me higher, but everyone knows too." Connor stared out into the sky. "They know I failed where it counted most. The dirty bomb. I had all the training necessary to recognize what was happening and to stop it. I didn't." He held his fingers up into a big, fat zero.

That's. "But you still tried to help," Kara said. "Didn't it count for anything?"

Connor stepped back more from the ledge. "This place, this home, this floor level. I was dealing with a deviant about to kill a little girl here once. Right in this spot."

Kara definitely didn't know that. She looked around them, then outward to the ledge. It could be dangerous. To jump would equal death.

"He was aware and immediately went into deviancy," Connor said. "He was upset, he killed innocents, and he was threatening the little girl. Focused on how much she hurt him, or how much their lives didn't matter any more than his. He was over on this very edge, ready to jump."

Oh. "How old was she?"

"About Alice's age," Connor said. "Her name was Emma. His name was Daniel. And I truthfully picked this place as a reminder of why I can't just leave New Detroit. As a machine, I had to save her and figure out how to take him down. As just being aware now, I would still pick the same action. Deviants are dangerous."

Kara was quiet. Imagine Alice being held over this roof by someone. A little girl that happened to be the daughter of the owner. Some androids really were dangerous. New Detroit should have more than just Connor decommissioning dangerous ones. Permission. She remembered North saying that. While waiting for permissions, how many more androids suffered in the meantime? Had been killed because of lack of permission? "Are you working on any now?"

"All the time. Even today, there is another one out there. Hasn't killed anyone yet, just stabbed an android in the eye. Still, it will at some point." He looked toward her. "You have been exhibiting empathy though, and that's good. That's the first thing I needed to see. The world does not revolve around us. Deviants don't feel or think much outside of what they are doing."

Connor stepped closer to the ledge and looked down. Kara did the same thing. "Imagine being a little girl, on the verge of death. Would you give your life to save her?"

An innocent little girl like Alice. "Yes."

"Prove it." Connor kicked her foot out from beneath her.

Kara started falling off the ledge! Connor grabbed her arm and let her hand grip at the edge of the ledge. "Deviancy kicks in when things get desperate, just like being aware. How do you feel?"

Kara looked down, feeling her legs dangle, then back up desperately. "How do you think I feel? Pull me back up!"

"I didn't work hard to get you in that position just to pull you up," Connor revealed. He moved back a little as she tried to reach her other hand onto the ledge. "If you would have let the little girl die, climb back up. If you would have saved her, let go of the ledge."

Let go of the ledge? Is he serious? He was telling her to kill herself if she would have saved the little girl? There was no little girl to save anymore, what was he wanting? Think, Kara! Was there something else right beneath her to latch onto? If she failed this and crawled back up, would he kill her?

"Save her or not," Connor said again. "Be honest with yourself."

Kara's fingers were still clinging to the ledge. She could try to pull herself back up, but if she did, he could kill her anyway. He wanted her to let go, but somehow try and save herself. If even. Maybe he was nuts. Maybe all those months living in the radiated city destroyed his mind? Maybe he was deviant?

There was no choice. There was something right below she could catch, another ledge, but she would have to be ready. Grab it, grab it, grab it, grab it! She let go and immediately reached to grab it, but felt something grab at her.

She looked back up. Connor was holding her arm.

"Well. You passed the test better than anyone I've seen yet." He pulled her back up. "Normally when given a similar test, they just continue to hold on at a medium, not able to make the choice."

Kara pulled herself away from him, moving away from the ledge. "You've done this with more than once?"

"Not this method," Connor said. "Similar methods. Accounting for how close you are to deviancy isn't an easy thing, and you are going to be staying with Hank Anderson. I can't risk you hurting my only friend."

Nuts. Crazy. Alice. I've got to get her out of here. Before she could move though, Connor spoke again.

"Don't run," he said. "You were in no real danger. If you lost your grip, I would have caught you. If you stayed there too long, I'd pull you up. If you saved yourself, we'd begin treatment. You were only psychologically in danger."

Forget him. That was a hell of a psychological test. She moved to get Alice, walking. Why was she walking? She needed to move as fast as possible.

"Stop," Connor said as he walked toward her.

She stopped. Why was she stopping? Alice. She tried to move again.

"No, stop." Connor grabbed her arm. "I know it wasn't a great test. You want to run away. You think I'm nuts. Unfortunately, testing for deviancy is tough before serious signs start to show." He pulled out an old fashioned phone. "Call Hank. Tell him I dangled you over a building. Ask him if you should still trust me."

The phone was ringing. Kara listened as someone's familiar gruff voice answered. "I dangled you over a building. Ask him if you should still trust me." Why did she say that?

"What?" Hank asked over the phone. Connor looked similarly confused.

"I dangled you over a building. Ask him if you should still trust-" Kara felt the phone being taken away.

"That thing works a little too well," Connor said as he answered the phone. "I tested her for deviancy by hanging her over the ledge." He moved the phone away from his ear for a little while. "She was in no danger. You know that, Hank. Just tell her it was necessary." He gave it back.

Kara listened.

"Connor's a hardass in his methods," Hank said. "It's just how he was programmed. He's the best though. I'd rather you work with him than his weak ass 'partners'. They are trying to focus only on the positive, while Connor can see both sides and take action on either angle. Dangling you over a building, I oughtta . . . he won't test you again. You have my word."

"Why didn't you tell me anything?" Kara asked him. "Why did you keep it all a secret? That I could become . . ."

"I don't trust this New Detroit. Anybody that thinks life can be perfect without some kind of law enforcement has got serious problems or serious secrets. Especially when any of those bastards can turn deviant at any point! I worked with Connor, Kara. They can do some terrible stuff. You know that."

Kara thought back to the body in the tub when she was with Ralph. "They can."

"You've got to watch for it. If anything happens to you, you'll kill Alice."

Whoah. Was deviancy that brutal? She thought about how strange Ralph had been. Was it just a malfunction, or was it deviancy holding onto him?

"It was risky. I was really wanting to send you soon anyway, before the whole shoot 'em up. I just didn't know when, but. Just. Listen to Connor. He's brutal, he's honest, but he's your best chance. Got it?"

Kara nodded. "Yes." He would never steer her wrong. She gave Connor the phone back.

Connor moved away from the phone for a little while, before coming back to it. "Yes, Hank, I'm done with those tests. I promise. Goodbye, Hank." He hung up. "Physical vulnerability." He tucked the phone back away. "That's my second weakness."

Physical vulnerability. That didn't seem like an area he would have a problem with. He seemed invulnerable. Especially when he was the one catching her on the ledge.

"I hate it." He looked outward. "To open up in a physical way would mean dropping my guard. It would be the perfect way for someone to finally kill me. I don't do that." He looked back toward her. "Drop my guard. Not in New Detroit. Which reminds me. Don't ever try to sneak up on me. I can't guarantee my reflexes won't hurt you."

Kara just stood there. There was the honest part.

"Everything that you feel is going to come up. If it doesn't, you'll ignore it, and then before you know it, you'll be on the wrong track. As honest as North was downstairs and as honest as I have just been. When you find out what your weakness is, you'll have to be honest with it too." He adjusted his jacket. "We'll cover that tomorrow. You can go sleep with your little girl, or take a room on the right."

Uh huh. Kara moved off slowly away back to Alice. He probably slept in his own room, with his door locked. Which was a good thing now that she thought about it. Also a good idea. After she closed the door to their room for the night, she locked it too. Kara. You've got a choice to make. Hank wanted her to follow and obey Connor. He was her best chance to get better. The thought of losing herself so much so, that she would even hurt Alice. It was too much to bear.

But Connor tripped her off a ledge, and flat out told her he never dropped his guard. One wrong move toward him. That. That was dangerous too. There needed to be a middle ground. Something safer, to work with Connor, but . . . not accidentally get killed by him. I wonder what it is exactly that Markus wants me to do?

Summary notes:

Connor doesn't live in squalor, he lives where the game first opens up. He doesn't pay for electricity or heat, but he gives just a little juice to the elevator to go up and down.