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And let's address the elephant in the room, this chapter should've gone out yesterday or the day before. But it's here now so...forgive me? And I have deviated (heh, see what I did there. Yeah okay I get it...not funny) from one of the chapters from the game. Please don't hate me.
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Disclaimer: I do not own Detroit: Become Human or anything else you may recognise.
5th FEB 2039
PM 3:06
The automated taxi arrived at the gates of New Jericho. About one month ago, Markus had organised a wall, about two meters high, to surround New Jericho. It was intricately detailed with patterns that the residents of New Jericho carved themselves. The gates were iron and had constant watch from members of the New Jericho security team. The deviants could never be too careful.
The former deviant hunter stepped out of the taxi and glanced at his surroundings. He spotted Lieutenant Hank Anderson's car parked haphazardly on the road just outside and to the left of the gates. He was still there, Connor wasn't too late. The android took a deep breath before approaching the guards.
A quick scan told Connor that the androids were both AP700 models, and both were apart of the group that he converted in Cyberlife Tower. "Hello," Connor greeted as he walked up to them.
"Good afternoon, Connor." They greeted in unison as they allowed him into the community. Connor nodded as he walked passed, noticing that they were closing the gate behind him. That didn't happen last time he visited New Jericho.
Connor always felt out of place when he was inside New Jericho. He had hunted deviants, had led the humans to Jericho and had almost killed Markus. He wasn't innocent and in no way deserving of stepping foot inside the safe haven. If anything, they should be protecting themselves from him.
He had walked the path to the old church numerous times, despite avoiding New Jericho. Markus and the other Jericho leaders would invite him to New Jericho meetings which were often inside the church, now their office. It did nothing to stop the guilt from almost overwhelming him every time he stepped inside New Jericho, and near the old church.
- "You're one of us, now. Your place is with your people." Two eyes, one blue and one green, stared at him, as if they could see his nonexistent soul. The words were meant to assure him that he was where he belonged but all it did was remind him of how many he stopped from getting this safety. He would do anything to atone for his mistakes. Suddenly an idea spiralled in his processor.
"There are thousands of androids at the Cyberlife assembly plant. If we could wake them up, they might join us and shift the balance of power..." He trailed off when he saw the look in the deviant leader's eyes. He wasn't on board.
"You wanna infiltrate the Cyberlife Tower? Connor, that's suicide..." Connor knew, and he would miss Hank and Sumo but it would make the world right. If he could do this, then maybe the memory of him could be forgiven.
"They trust me, they'll let me in. If anyone has a chance of infiltrating Cyberlife, it's me..." He knew that he didn't need Markus' permission. He would go even if the deviant leader told him no. He had to do this, to set everything right.
"If you go there, they will kill you."
"There's a high probability...but statistically speaking, there's always a chance for unlikely events to take place." Connor barely heard the soft words uttered before Markus turned away, to focus on his next move.
"Be careful."
Gazing at the old church struck a spark inside him, that no amount of discomfort could hide. When he walked out after talking to Markus on the night of the demonstration, he truly believed that he would never come back. Connor believed that his new found life would end in Cyberlife and at the time, he was content. He would have risked his life if it meant his people would be free. But regardless of his actions that night, he hadn't atoned for all of his wrongs. Not in the least.
"Connor?" A voice distracted him from his thoughts, his LED swirling back to blue, not that he noticed the change in the first place. He turned his head to find a female android staring at him, her blue hair braided to the left. "Do you remember-"
"I remember you. You were the Traci from the Eden Club." He winced at the bluntness of his tone. She either didn't pick up on it or just ignored it. Whichever it was, Connor was grateful.
"Yeah I was. I go by Trai now, though and my fiancé is goes by Trace." At that one word, Connor's eyes slipped down to her fingers. He wasn't entirely sure what he was expecting, but not the blue band that encircled her left ring finger. Unconsciously, one of his eyebrows raised and she laughed. "She has a matching ring too. We decided that we will have the first android wedding when the time comes. Markus promised too." Connor nodded in understanding.
"I-I'm glad that you two made it to Jericho and that you two seem really happy. I'm sorry that I-" Trai held one hand up.
"You don't need to say it, Connor. You were a slave, one that Cyberlife would've taken care to make sure you wouldn't deviate. I understand that most androids are scared of you, but you were trapped even more so than any of us. Trace and I wanted to thank you and let you know that you saved our lives." She opened her arms, offering a hug. Connor could tell it was more for her than it was him. He accepted.
Her arms found their place around his neck as he hands fumbled around until they came to rest on her back, his arms circling her waist. Her head fell against his shoulder and he allowed his to do the same. They were practically strangers yet they hugged like old friends. She pulled him tight against her and he did the same. In that one moment, no one could tell who was comforting who. It lasted half a minute before they untangled themselves from the other and stepped back. "I should go and find Trace." She breathed and with the words escaping Connor, he simply nodded as she left.
His LED flickered yellow, as he struggled to process what had just happened. She didn't hate him. A smile stretched across his face, lighting up his eyes. She thought that he saved her. It gave him hope that maybe not all deviants harboured anger towards the former deviant hunter. Connor turned his attention back to the church in front of him. Before he met Trai, he was close to turning around and leaving. But now...now he held his head high as he pushed open the doors.
The church hadn't changed much. There were walls surrounding the front where Markus had stood and informed the surviving androids about his peaceful demonstration. Aside from that, the rest church remained mostly the same. It had been refurbished, making all of the pews look brand new. Just before the walls, a small stage had been fashioned which allows the deviants to have meetings inside the centre of New Jericho. The walls behind that formed an average office which Markus and Josh often frequented. It was normally the only place Connor stayed while he was in New Jericho.
Gazing around the church, there were very few androids inside. A few he recognised from the night of the demonstration, when they first entered the old church. Others he recognised them as their models but not as individual deviants. It was strange, seeing familiar faces that were not the androids he knew. One of the androids in the church were a PL600 model, one who's face looked similar to both Daniel and Simon. Two very different deviants which shared the same face; the face that this android had as well.
As the only RK800 model, Connor never needed to get used to seeing his face with a different personality. Aside from the RK800-60 Connor faced in the Cyberlife Tower. That was a jarring experience, seeing his own face without any emotion. It was one he would never like to repeat.
While his LED circled yellow, signalling that he was lost in his thoughts, Connor made his way to the New Jericho leaders' office. As he raised his hand to open the door into the office, a shout made him want to reconsider.
"We don't need humans to help us! We can look after our own! Thank you very much!" Connor detected a harsh amount of sarcasm at the end of that sentence. But he also knew who had spoken: North. Connor swallowed his nerves and pushed the door open.
Immediately, Connor spotted Hank, the lieutenant who was trapped against the wall and North. Markus had his hand on her shoulder, trying to encourage her to step away from Hank. Simon and Josh were sitting on the table over the other side of the room, careful not to antagonise North any more. Connor's LED flashed as he tried to plan what he could say to defuse the situation. As it turned out, he didn't need to.
"North, Lieutenant Anderson is only trying to help. We may have basic rights but we've still got a long way to go. He," Markus' head tilted towards Hank. "Can help us achieve our goals. He will help keep us safe. It's okay." Slowly, North stepped away from Hank and moved to join Simon and Josh. Keeping a safe distance between the deviants and the human.
"I see everything is going well." All five heads whipped in his direction, clearly showing the surprise on the faces.
"Connor? Though you were at a crime scene?" Hank mumbled as he pushed himself off of the wall.
"I finished there. I believed that I could be more useful here and I had something I wished to talk with Simon and Markus about." Simon nodded slowly as Markus walked towards the newcomer.
"Of course, Connor. What's troubling you?"
"I-uh," his LED spiralled yellow, with red appearing every so often. "I-its nothing..." He was going to deny and pretend that nothing was wrong, but one look at Markus' eyes and he knew he couldn't. "Nothing that the three of us could not answer."
With a silent wave, North stormed out of the church and Josh led Hank back to the main hall of the church. Simon left his perch on the table and made his way over to the RK androids. "What's up?" Apart from Markus, Simon accepted him almost immediately after Connor turned deviant. One time, Connor had questioned Simon as to why and the blonde haired deviant had calmly replied that Connor had saved his life.
-"I was shaking inside the cabinet, the gun clutched to my chest. I prayed to anyone that could hear me that I wouldn't have to use it. It got worse when I hear the SWAT and numerous police officers outside. But then your voice cut across every other sound. You said-"
"'If any of the deviants had been left behind, it would be long gone by now. There is no deviant here.' I remember. I had seen your thirium but I could not hurt you."
"You didn't know who I was though."
"It did not matter. I convinced myself and Cyberlife that if there was a deviant on the roof, it would not help in the investigation. The android who was employed in the Stratford Tower had helped in that respect."
"You still saved my life. Because of you, I was able to return to Jericho to help Markus. Thank you, Connor."
"There is something interfering with my deviancy...with m̵̨̰͓͓͔͇̭͓̦̯͔̟̦̰͇͔̭͚̼̻̖̳͈͎͎͙̩͎̟̥̩̍͛́̊̍̏̄̈̂͊̈́̽̋̊̕͝͝y̴̧̛͇̣̳͕̖̠̱̙̰̓̆̑͛͛̎̂̐̾̑̆̈́̆̽̽̄̇̃̿͐̾́̀̌͘͝ ̸̛̟͒͋̋̓̎̀̿̾͝ę̵̧̢̩̫̟̰̹͈̤̗̪͇̽̊͑̔̐m̸̢̛̘͎̱͎̘̪̉̽̐͛o̵͔̤̩̮̟͇͉̝͉͚̗͉͔̘͛̿̂ţ̴̯̩͚̼̤̺͎̞̯͇̯͍̼̘̘̬̤̻͚͇̗̻͆͐̂̐̑̇͋̋̈́̓͒̎́̅̀̍̇̈́̐̏͑̇̾̀͛̓̂̑̃̾̕͜͜͝i̴̡̧̢̺̝͍͇͚̜͍͉̬͕̯̥͓̼̜͉̥̗̣̰͇͍̞̻͗̿̄͊̑̈́ơ̶̢̟̫͖͍̬̦͎̬̠͖̂͌̇͗̈́͒̌̋͌̕ͅn̴̫͓̺͍̖̝̬̤̯̬̞̫̐̾̄̾̇̏͛̌͛̽̿͂͌͘͠s̸͕̻̲̩̈́̈́̾̍͌͑̂̔̽̓̉̉̓̏͝." Markus and Simon glanced at each other before turning back.
"What do you mean?" Markus questioned. Connor? His head tilted slightly to the side, barely noticeable. Did someone say his name?
"This morning, I felt incredibly angry for something that I was not angry about. I did not feel
i̷̱͖̠̓̊̾̊̔̋̈́̏̋͒̀̈̈͐̆̍̈́̾́͊͋̆̏̆́̅̔̾͂̅͘͝ń̸̡̧̨̞̪̺̩̪̙̻̖̥͓̠̹̯̳͎̞̥͈̼̆̍̆̓͒̇̒͐̾̉̈́̊̉̓͘ ̴͇̗̣̥̇́͑̓̂̆̚c̴̛̥̉́̇̐̅̄͆̓́̈͐͗̏̌̄͆͌̏͊͛̇̚̚ơ̶͇͙̜̮̯̩̝̼̞̼̝̥̮̼̭̝̜͎̐̈́͗͌̈́̍̒̇̾̇̃͒̓̆̈́̓̈́̇̔ͅn̵̛̛͍̲̈̀̃̊͑̾̍̆̑́̀̒͒̊̾̈̿̋͝t̶̢̢̛̯̞̤͇̪̖̰̘̘͙̘̥͔̝̣̘̭̦̗̥͔͎̞̻̯̯̥̏̎̓́̅́̀͗̀̇͆̅̑̽ŗ̵͍̝̤̦͚̮̼̼̺̺̦̼̰̺̤͙̖̤̯̝̪̰̞̤̩̃͌̈́̃̓͌͋̔̾͜͜o̴̥̹̖̩̱͒̇̈́̑͗̇̂͠ͅl̶̢̨̡̧̢͔̖̹͖̣̪̼͚̟̩͓͉̝͎̺̗̭̫͖̈́̍̅͂̌̕͜͠ͅ of my emotions. It was not the first time either." Connor?! His LED strobed red as Markus and Simon both placed a hand on Connor's shoulders.
!WARNING!
Critical Stress Levels
Stress Levels... ^91%
"It's going to be okay, Connor. We'll fix you." Simon stated as his other hand rubbed circles on the former deviant hunter's back. Markus allowed his skin to retract to sync with Connor. Connor allowed the connection with his friend, slamming his eyes shut. Why couldn't he tell his friends what was wrong?!
!WARNING!
CRITICAL STRESS LEVELS
Stress Levels... ^95%
Social Integration... Unavailable
Please try again later...
Why were his stress levels increasing? And why couldn't he bring them down? What was happening? His thoughts were being invaded and he struggled against himself to not pull his arm away. Its just Markus! He yelled at himself. It's fine. "Everything will be okay, Connor. Everything is as it is meant to be."
!WARNING!
CRITICAL STRESS LEVELS
Stress Levels... ^98%
Sending Report to Cyberlife...
Report failed...
Please Contact Cyberlife for Assistance
CONNOR!