XXX

|November 9. 2038|

|4:13 PM|

"After what happened today, the country is on the verge of a civil war." Amanda's voice filled his ears, but he barely heard her. He was too busy thinking over his choices at Kamski's residence, of the mystery that Prisca had presented regarding their connection. Kamski knew Prisca well, perhaps Cecilia Scott even better. Her mother, the information he'd attained told him. And Kamski had informed him that Cecilia Scott had worked with him, but…why did Prisca hate him so much?

"The machines are revolting against their masters. Humans have no choice but to destroy them."

That brought Connor out of his thoughts and he met Amanda's gaze evenly. Since he'd found the image of her in Kamski's home, he burned to ask how they knew one another, but he didn't dare. Especially after that answer. Something told him that he would not last long at this rate. Perhaps he'd even be replaced by a fresh Connor model before long.

He hoped not.

Connor didn't like the idea of how upset Prisca would be.

Carefully, Connor picked his words as he studied her. "I thought Kamski knew something, but I was wrong."

It was a downright lie. Kamski knew plenty. It was Connor who didn't.

"Maybe he did, but you chose not to ask," Amanda said coldly.

"I chose not to play his twisted little game!" Connor snapped before he could help himself. Amanda narrowed her eyes at him, suspicious. Connor reigned in his anger, forcing himself to say in a calm voice. "That android had nothing to do with my mission. It would have made relations with Detective Scott difficult." He decided upon his path, accusing, "You didn't tell me everything you know about deviants, did you?" It was a good accusation, he thought. It referred to his investigation, informed her that he couldn't make good decisions without all the information.

"I expect you to find answers, Connor, not ask questions," she said sharply. Connor worried, as she stared him down, that he'd suddenly be questioned. If she'd ask if he was a deviant, just as Kamski had accused him of being. Instead, she said icily, "You're the only one who can prevent civil war." Her eyes were piercing. "Find the deviants, or there will be chaos. This is your last chance, Connor."

Connor nodded curtly, making a decision.

He would not let Prisca cry over him, and if that meant doing as he was ordered…

So be it.


Connor looked odd when he made reports to CyberLife, Prisca thought to herself. He was standing to her right, his eyes fluttering, the LED blinking yellow and red. They were waiting on Fowler to show up, as he'd sent her a message saying he needed to speak with them both. Prisca bit her lip nervously at the thought. He'd sounded annoyed. That never meant anything good.

"You done?" Prisca teased faintly when Connor suddenly focused his gaze on her. He held hers evenly, much to her surprise, and she could see the life dancing in his eyes. How could anyone think he was merely a machine? She wanted to shout at anyone who thought as much – at Gavin, who'd sneered about machines as they'd walked in.

"Yes. I'm sorry," Connor said politely, and she furrowed her brow a little. His LED was still yellow, something she'd noticed. It had become yellow more and more in the past few days. Definitely more yellow than blue since he'd shown up at the park, informing her that they'd be attending a crime scene together. Suddenly, he asked, "Can I ask you a personal question, Prisca?"

"Shoot," she said, leaning back. They had time to kill. Fowler wouldn't be in for some time.

She should have known better.

"Why do you dislike Elijah Kamski so much?" Connor was watching her every reaction, using the skills CyberLife had gifted him to deduce what he could about her response, and she didn't like it one bit. "He spoke as if you were good friends – as if you were of the same family."

"We used to be." Prisca trailed a finger along her leg, wishing she could punch Kamski. "Like you heard, my mother helped him create androids as we know them. Helped create you, I suppose. She probably even had a hand in your design specifically, she was always really into crime-related things. My father didn't like it very much, but he supported her – especially when the money started rolling in. Kamski and Mom…they were close for a good few years." She swallowed hard, hating how she'd once looked forward to tagging along on the trips to Kamski's expensive labs.

"And then, about four or five years ago, Kamski invited my parents to a party to celebrate the launch of a prototype. He wasn't at CyberLife anymore, but he still enjoyed seeing the progress and oftentimes did things like that. It was in the middle of February. It's cold here, snowy…icy…the car skidded, flipped. I found out the next evening why they never came home. I suppose it's not really Kamski's fault," she admitted, frowning, "but...if he'd not invited them to that party, they'd be alive. Both Mom and Dad. It's…I hate going to his place even more than I hate him. The RT600 has her face on it. It's painful to look at."

Connor absorbed all of this information in silence, and then said almost thoughtfully, "I've never felt that kind of pain. I don't feel emotions like that. Perhaps it's for the best."

"Nah. It hurts, but…if you don't feel pain, you don't love, either." She suddenly turned her gaze on him, eager to turn the conversation away from her. "Can I ask you a personal question, Connor?" He nodded, distracted. "Why didn't you shoot Chloe?"

He froze, clearly not happy with the way the conversation was going. Sucks to be you, she thought. It was his turn. "I just…saw the girl's eyes and I couldn't, that's all," he said roughly, turning his face away. Connor adjusted his tie, as if it was a small comfort.

Still the only android she'd ever seen fidget in such a way.

Just to see how he'd respond, Prisca touched his arm and said gently, "You're always saying that you would do anything to accomplish your mission, Connor, and that was our chance to learn something. Why'd you let it go?"

She'd intended to see if she could get a good response out of him. What Prisca hadn't planned on was an explosion of all the anger and frustration, the confusion he'd felt. "I know what I should have done!" he barked, glaring furiously at her in a way not many could. He looked much like he was interrogating someone who wasn't responding like he wanted. "I told you I couldn't and I'm sorry, okay?"

Had he been human, he would have been huffing and puffing. She merely smiled warmly at him. Prisca leaned back in her chair and squeezed the arm she'd grabbed before dropping her hand. He looked confused about the brief touch. "Don't be sorry, Connor. Maybe we lost out on information, but…maybe we didn't. Kamski's a prick, and you did the right thing."

Connor had showed more empathy than some of the cops on the force.

She wouldn't forget that.

It was then that Captain Fowler decided to step into his office. He wore a grim expression on his tired face as he nodded curtly in greeting to both. Connor composed himself hastily and Prisca waited patiently as he dropped heavily into his computer chair, rubbing his hands down his face. "What's up, Captain?" she finally asked, relaxed.

He dropped his hands to his lap. "There's no good way to say this, so I'll just say it. Prisca, you're off the case – you and the android. The FBI is taking over."

Prisca lost any semblance of calmness as she shot to her feet, nearly scaring Connor in the process as she snarled, "What? That prick!" She should have known that Perkins would move that quickly. She glared at the captain, knowing that it wasn't his fault yet unable to help herself. Captain, please, we just need some more time- "

She supported the deviants and their desire for freedom, but she couldn't let them just hurt humans because of their own situation. She wanted to understand deviancy, and that would be impossible if she was taken off the case.

And then there was Connor. What would happen to him?

"Prisca," Fowler said tiredly, lifting his head to look at her. "This isn't just another investigation anymore…it's a fucking civil war. It's out of our hands. We're talking about national security here." She glared angrily at him, frustrated. "There's nothing I can do, Prisca! You're back on homicide and the android returns to CyberLife. I'm sorry. It's over."

Something in her dropped.

Connor would go back to CyberLife.

She liked him, liked having him around far more than she liked the other company she'd had in the past. And no matter how much he denied it, he was deviating. Prisca raced through her thoughts, determined. She wouldn't let him go back. Which meant they needed to do something that would keep them under the radar but push them forward. Taking a deep breath as if calming herself, she said evenly, "Fine."

"Thank you," Fowler said, letting out a sigh of his own, relieved she wasn't going to make this more difficult.

"Connor and I are going to do a final input of information for the evidence," she told him, speaking calmly and seriously.

"Where the hell did you get it from?"

"Kamski himself."

Connor tensed beside her, confused. They'd not found anything.

"Prisca," Fowler warned. "I don't even know where to begin with the number of rules you broke speaking with that man…"

"Does it even matter now?" She kept her face neutral. He'd know she was up to something if she did anything. "I mean, I'm off the case. But I should probably make sure Perkins gets his greasy little hands on it. It'll take me five minutes to set it up on a tablet display. Connor's got it in that head of his. Please. Five minutes."

"Five minutes," Fowler sighed, shaking his head. "And no more. That's when the FBI is gonna show up to take the evidence and our files on the case. If I catch you working on this case after that, I'm suspending you. You hear me?"

"Aye aye, sir," she said, giving him a mock salute. She spun on her heel, determined. "Come on, Connor, we've got work to finish up."

Connor hesitated, watching her leave, and then nodded his head to Fowler. "It's been a pleasure working with your department," he murmured, almost sad that he'd be leaving. He didn't want to return to CyberLife, he found. He'd much prefer staying with the DPD.

"Yeah, yeah. Go on," Fowler said gruffly, and Connor thought he was a little disappointed as he rushed after Prisca.

He caught up with her just as she was pressing her hand over the digital screen that would let them into the evidence room. "Prisca," he began as soon as he was beside her, furrowing his brow. "We don't have- "

"No," Prisca said furiously, allowing her rage at being taken off the case to show now that she was out of her captain's office. "I know we don't, but we're going to find something. Five minutes. I have five minutes. We have five minutes to find something." She turned her head to him as she stepped through the door. Connor moved with her, the doors sliding shut behind them. Connor searched her gaze closely as she said, "I'm not going to let you return to CyberLife, Connor. Whether you think you're alive or not, I think you are. You showed more empathy than a lot of humans would have. And I like you enough that it's not an option."

Connor furrowed his brow again, the LED blinking yellow. And then he nodded curtly. "Okay," he said, agreeing quickly. He'd help her get what she needed, if only to help her before he was sent back. He was, after all, a CyberLife android. He'd go back no matter what they did here, be deactivated since he'd failed his mission. He might as well try his best to make sure she got what she wanted before he did go back.

And maybe – just maybe – if he somehow succeeded at finding and killing the android he and Prisca had thought to be rA9, CyberLife would let him continue working with her.

She turned her attention on the evidence before them, raking her brain for possibilities. "Alright, let's get to work," she said roughly. "The amount of work done to Capitol Park in the time it took police to get there in a large enough group to chase off the deviants…that wasn't the work of one or two. There's a whole group of androids working with the one we saw in that video, Connor." She strode over to the evidence case, eyeing the two androids hung on display as evidence. Daniel and the one that had been interrogated and ended up killing itself, which had been identified as Rupert. She knew them both. One had shot her, the other had nearly followed it up.

"Oh, God," Prisca whispered, taking in all the evidence. There wasn't as much as she would have liked. "I don't know if either of those androids would have known a single thing about a hiding spot, they didn't really come into contact with the others…we can't even try reactivating that one, its too broken!" She waved at the deviant that had nearly shot them both, Rupert.

Connor stepped forward, plucking up the diary that they'd found. He skimmed through it quickly, far faster than Prisca could have. His LED spun yellow as he dug through the information, trying to figure everything out. "I shouldn't have let so many get away. We would have had more information."

"Can you probe either of their memory?" Prisca asked, rushing across the room to grab gloves that were provided for free for any cop that came down to take a look at something held there. She snapped them on expertly, glancing at the rest of the evidence. She immediately took hold of the LED that they'd found in Rupert's bird-filled place.

"Perhaps. I'll try, but it's highly unlikely we'll find anything," Connor said grimly. He shrugged off his suit jacket, rolling up the sleeves of his white button up. Prisca gave him an odd look. He shouldn't have needed to waste time doing that, but there was an anxious look on his face that kept her from saying anything. He was worried. About what, she wasn't sure.

The next two minutes were rushed, and Prisca quickly found herself snapping at Connor when he took too long. "Connor, come on we only have- "

"One minute and twenty-seven seconds left," Connor interrupted, his eyes sharp as he sent her a narrow-eyed look. "I'm aware, Prisca."

She rolled her eyes and took hold of the statue they'd found in Ortiz's place.

Both fell silent when Prisca's movement had something shifting inside. Connor and Prisca stared at the statuette, scarcely moving as if worried that doing so would ruin everything. "Oh," Prisca suddenly gasped. "Oh, my God! 'The truth is inside!'" She turned to look at Connor, grinning widely with sparkling eyes. "I get it! We had the answer from the beginning."

"Hand it to me," Connor demanded, and she passed it over. In one swift movement, he'd crushed the clay statuette. It crumbled to pieces in his grip and Prisca grinned at the sight of the rock that had been contained within, the paper wrapped around it stained with dried clay. She crowded in, pressing into him so she could look. Connor tensed, but didn't push her away.

Quickly, he unwrapped the paper and straightened it. It was encrypted, although not like Rupert's diary. This was a word game – a riddle. Connor's systems went over it repeatedly, solving it within seconds. A frustrated sound left Prisca's mouth, but Connor shook his head. "Ferndale Station," he informed her. "It has something to do with this symbol on the bottom. We have less than thirty seconds."

A grin spread across her face as she snatched the paper from his hand and shoved it into her pocket. "Come on," she hissed, sprinting for the door. Connor grabbed his suit jacket and went after her, sliding it on before swiping clay from his hands. "I know where to go!" Connor did as well, no doubt, but she wasn't going to let him drive her car again – not if she could avoid it.

They ducked out of the evidence area just as someone was preparing to step into it. Prisca squawked when she ran into him, stumbling a little. Connor caught her elbow. The doors slid shut behind them. "Fuck!" she sputtered, so high on adrenaline from the discovery of the path to the deviants that she was shaking.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She'd run right into Perkins, on his way in to take their evidence. Prisca nearly swore a second time, tensing. Connor was stiff beside her, hand stilling on her arm. Perkins narrowed his eyes, gaze darting between them. Connor shifted behind her, although she wasn't entirely sure what he was doing. "You're off the case – or didn't you hear?"

Connor leaned back a little as she said casually, "I'm fully aware, you fucking prick." Perkins didn't even mind the insult, smirking proudly at her. As if he was happy that she knew he'd taken what she was working on from her. She wanted to laugh in his face. They had information he'd take hours to find. "We were putting some new information in. We found something out. You win, okay? I'm taking Connor back to CyberLife headquarters now. So…have fun. Go wild with the evidence. Come on, Connor, let's go." She shouldered past him and Connor adjusted his tie as he followed her.

They'd just reached the doors when she heard Perkins yell, "Hey! Can someone get this thing fixed? It glitched."

Prisca looked at Connor the second they were outside, both making a beeline for her truck. "What the hell did you do?"

Connor looked so proud of himself she nearly laughed. "I altered the coding. The door cannot be opened until Captain Fowler has opened it."

Prisca did laugh then, throwing her head back as she swung up into the truck. Connor climbed in beside her. "You did very well, Connor," she praised, catching sight of that LED blinking yellow. "Now, if we want to get in without causing alarm, we're going to need to get those clothes of yours switched. I've got some of my dad's old things at my place. We'll get you changed quickly and then head out to Ferndale. We'll have to move fast."

"Yes, Prisca," he agreed. He looked out the window as she put the car into reverse and then hit the gas, pulling swiftly out of the parking lot. He was quiet for a few minutes, as if organizing his thoughts and the information in his head. And then, just as Prisca was flicking the blinker to turn onto the highway, he asked, "Prisca…can I ask you a personal question?"

"When do you not?" she joked, turning the wheel.

"You said…that you wouldn't let me return to CyberLife, and you seem determined at this point to assist the deviants, if my understanding of your current actions is correct," he said slowly, puzzled. She could see that LED flicking bright yellow, even red in the reflection of the window when she glanced at him. "Why?"

"Give me your hand," she said evenly, holding out one hand towards him without answering his question. He looked ready to protest until she said gently, "Trust me. Give me your hand."

He did. Prisca smiled when he hesitantly slid a hand into hers. His skin was cool, heated just a little less than a human hand would be. Without looking at him, eyes on the road, she said, "What do you see when you look at our hands?"

"Our hands," he said automatically, and she snorted, snickering.

"You're going to have to go into more detail then that, Connor," she chuckled. "Tell me. Are there any differences that you can see?"

"No, not unless I remove my skin," he said slowly.

"Don't do that, it freaks me out." Prisca squeezed his hand and then released it. He withdrew his hand, flexing his knuckles in thought. "But that's why. There's no difference, Connor. You're as alive as I am. Maybe you have biocomponents and I have a heart and lungs…but we're both alive. You, just as much as me. And you're my friend and partner. Why the hell would I let you go back to CyberLife? You'd be dismantled and torn apart, turned into something that I don't think you are.

"As for deviants…they're alive, too," Prisca said, returning her hand to her steering wheel. "As soon as Perkins figures out what we know, they'll launch an attack that will eliminate a group of people who are just begging for us to recognize them. I want to help them because they deserve the freedom that I have."

Connor nodded slowly, looking down at his hands. The warmth of Prisca's skin lingered as he curled them into fists.

Despite his determination to complete his mission – to ensure that Prisca wasn't harmed because he'd failed…

He found that he returned the sentiments she felt towards him.


I love the hand thing for some reason. I thought of it as I was writing and it just fits somehow for me.

Thanks to anyone who read, followed, or favorited!