1. Belongs: The universe and characters of Detroit Become Human belong to Quantic Dreams and David Cage.

2. Rating: "T" in general, but might be "M" for cursed words, graphics contents such as violence, injuries, or sexual scenes.

3. Summary: Gavin and Midnight are working on a new case, the kidnapping of a child android. This leads them to a place Gavin knows all too well: Scripps Street. This is the moment when the detective tells Midnight what he truly thinks about Connor and Hank Anderson's death. But as things become all too obvious, Gavin asks Midnight the final question: is he an android?


CHAPTER 13
"The Question."

- 04тн ₥#у 2Ø39, Ø0:4ł αм, ₣0Ɽ3₴7 ₱4Ɽ₭. -

He opened his eyes again. He'd been in complete darkness for hours… No, days? Weeks.. ? He didn't know, he'd lost track of time and had no idea what time it was. He remained curled up on himself, hugging his legs against his chest and hiding his face in his knees.

He was freezing and he was so scared that his body was shaking continuously since… he didn't know how long. The only thing he knew was he was alone in this deep empty. There was no light, he couldn't even see his own hands. He couldn't hear any sound either, other than his own breath. The most distressing was when he tried to scream, to call for help. His voice had no echo, as if he was in one of those sound-insulated rooms, with those walls padded with spiked foam.

He wanted to come to the surface, find the light, regain control. But he couldn't do it anymore. He no longer had the strength to push that invisible force that kept him seated on an immaterial ground that wasn't there.

He didn't exist either. He no longer existed. And he would certainly never exist again. Why would he try to fight? Why bother to confront this invisible force when there was no one out there for him?

His throat tightened as he tried to contain a sob. Tears began to silently roll down his cheeks. There was no one waiting for him, and it was his entire fault. He'd ruined everything, and for what in the end? Find yourself alone, trapped in the empty?

He whined softly, feeling the pain of grief compressing his chest and preventing him from breathing properly. His fingers gripped his shins tightly. It was all his fault. Everything, everything, everything.

"I-I am ... s-so ... sorry ... H-Hank …"

He looked up hurriedly when he heard a snap. An external noise. His distraught eyes began to search in the dark, but he couldn't see a thing. Yet he knew he was there. His breath became more erratic and his body began to shake even more.

"I see you've reconnected, Connor …"

"N-No… Please… C-Collin ..! Don't… don't do it again ..! "

"And take the risk you regain control like last time on the docks?" Connor could almost guess his evil double cocking his head. " No way. You will not hinder my mission again, Connor."

"Y-You don't understand ..!" Connor said raising his voice. "The mission is obsolete! It never ... It never made sense ..! "

"Shut up, Deviant!" Collin's voice echoed, this time, in the empty. "I would have deleted you a long time ago if there weren't some essential lines of code for me in your deviant files. "

"D-Don't log me out ... please …"

He suddenly felt a hand rest against his forehead, feeling the other RK800 seep into his AI.

"C-C011!N …"

- 04 May 2039, 11:44 am Scripps Street. -

Gavin thanked the Lewis family for the valuable information they'd just gave him regarding their missing daughter the day before. He gave them a small empathetic smile before leaving their home, followed closely by Midnight, dressed in civilian clothes and still wearing his sunglasses. It was gray today, it was ridiculous.

"Did you notice anything strange?" Gavin asked as he walked over to his car, his eyes fixed on his tablet.

"Nothing suspicious," Midnight said, grabbing the detective by the shoulder to keep him from missing the curb. "Hannah Lewis's profile matches well with the Android YK400 acquisition documents they gave you. "

"Shit, um thank you ..." Gavin said realizing he had nearly sprawled out on the asphalt. "We have to go ask the neighborhood to find out if they saw anything wrong last night."

" I follow you. "

They both went knocking on the doors of nearby houses, hoping to hear from someone who saw the android coming out of her house or someone approaching the Lewis home.

The more time passed, the more houses were visited, and no one had seen anyone in the street the day before after 8 p.m. No children, and no suspicious people lurking around the Lewis house.

Gavin sighed after questioning an old woman and left her driveway with Midnight to walk to his car. But he froze on the sidewalk.

Midnight stopped beside him and directed his gaze to where Gavin seemed to be staring.

It was a rather run-of-the-mill white house, quite similar to the others, with a garage to the left, and a small front garden as well as a porch. The resident appeared to be absent due to the closed shutters and darkness visible through some windows without shutters. Midnight even deduced that the house was in fact not occupied, as the front garden was relatively wasteland and weeds had grown between the flagstones in the driveway, a sign that no cars had parked there for a long time.

"Fuck... Was pretty sure Scripps Street sounded familiar ..." Gavin said almost in a low voice.

" Why ?" Midnight asked looking at the detective. "Did you know the person who lived here?"

"Yeah ..." he said, inhaling deeply. "Hank Anderson …"

" The lieutenant.. ? "

"Yeah…" He sighed. "This is him…" He pursed his lips as he gazed at his feet briefly before pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. "He committed suicide ... at home ... A bullet in the head …"

Midnight knew all of this. He knew a lot of people thought Connor was responsible for this. The thing was that there's also been a background story that had really messed up the lieutenant too. But he was still listening to Gavin. He wanted to know the detective's feelings towards Anderson, on his death.

"You seemed to... like him…"

"Huh..." he laughed, "Not really... well... we got to work together before... before his son died, five years ago..." He dragged on his cigarette. "He was devastated and got drunk a lot. He started not coming to work anymore, just doing his things… " Gavin paused. "He was a role model for me… And all that idealized image I had of him, of the hero, of the cop with convictions, devoted to his job to do the right things and wise… it all shattered."

"He had lost his son, Gavin …"

"I know." He tugged nervously on his cigarette. "He often played Russian Roulette at his house on nights when he drank too much… Then Connor walked out."

Midnight saw him pursing his lips in contempt and his eyes express bitterness with a flicker of anger. He wanted to hear the rest, listen to the detective's version. Perhaps by analyzing his perspective, Midnight could adjust his behavior and one day reveal his true identity to him?

"This motherfucker was so obsessed with his mission that he was taking every risk he could to get through it. He was destroyed… Many times. Well… you know that cause you told me about it." He stared at the ground while inhaling the smoke of his cigarette. "Except every time he came back from the dead, it was torture for Hank. He would have given anything so Cole could come back like this the next day as well, as if nothing had happened." He sighed, looking at Midnight. "The worst part is that this cranky old man was hoping deep down that Connor could become deviant, but it never happened. He had become unconsciously attached to him, and watching him die and then come back was too much for him."

"He couldn't take it anymore… and committed suicide ..?"

"That's what the lab and ballistics say."

Midnight frowned behind his sunglasses at the sudden doubt Gavin had just raised.

"Was there an investigation?"

"Obviously. It was that asshole of Connor who called for help and the DPD on top of that. According to cameras on the street, he was at Hank's house that evening. Even before that." He shook his head. "We couldn't know whether the shot was fired while he was inside or after he had left Hank's house. The bullet did come from Anderson's gun and he was heavily intoxicated. The lab only found Hank's fingerprints on the gun, but androids don't leave fingerprints either. Connor has even been suspected of homicide ... But by the time we look at the camera recordings, the lab analyzes fingerprints, investigates the scene, and the ballistics report …"

"...Connor had already been destroyed..." concluded Midnight. "Do you really think Connor killed Lt. Anderson so it wasn't a suicide?"

"I think it's possible and it's a strange coincidence that it happened this way. Just before that, he'd knocked me out in the archives room. Attacking a police officer was therefore nothing new to him."

"But you threatened him with your gun." Midnight added.

"He no longer had the investigation and had to return to Cyberlife. He had absolutely no right to enter this room. I just did my job, and instinctively tried to defend myself when he started attacking me." Gavin saw that his cigarette was consumed and put the butt in his pack. He looked at Midnight suspiciously. "How do you know that anyway?"

"I like to know who I'm working with."

Gavin let out a bitter laugh before shaking his head and resuming his walk towards his car.

"Ha, if only I had this privilege and this pleasure ..!" He said sarcastically. "Come on, follow me, I'm super hungry. Do you want something?"

"Detect-"

"Gavin."

"Gavin," Midnight emphasized in a more conciliatory tone. "I remind you that I have ... a special diet."

Gavin stopped by his car. Midnight circled around to be on the passenger side, but the human didn't unlock the vehicle either. Instead, Gavin crossed his arms on the roof and looked at the vigilante.

"I've never seen you eat or drink anything. Even from a weird or strict diet, or whatever." His gaze was more and more penetrating. "This is... extremely suspicious."

"Suspicious about what?"

Gavin pursed his lips. Midnight hadn't contradicted the fact that he had never drunk or eaten anything in the presence of the detective. Gavin, in deep thought, played his tongue in his mouth while moving his closed jaw. It was very suspicious. And the more he thought about this theory, the more he began to believe it.

Was the concept that Midnight could be an android disturbing? Would it change anything from his point of view if he was one? Was he suddenly going to hate him because of his nature? Gavin played these questions in his mind, and the only answer he had for all of them was a No.

No, the idea didn't bother him because he, actually, had never been hostile towards androids. Except for those who threatened his place in his job, he had never been bad to them. The others, he had just ignored them. He had grown up with the concept that one day the world would evolve into a technology-ridden society. It was inevitable, and it was his world today.

And no it wouldn't change a thing that Midnight was an android from his point of view, because he liked him the way he was from the start. He had assumed he was human because everyone stupidly thought he was, but… actually, nothing could tell he was human either. Obviously, he couldn't change what he thought of him just because Midnight was ultimately different. In his life, he'd met a lot of people, including trans people. Sometimes, some of them didn't pass, but he never offended the person by daring to ask inappropriate questions, he always let them speak if they wanted to. And some others were passing extremely well, and learning that they had been assigned the opposite sex at birth sometimes surprised him, but he never changed his behavior or his opinion on these people.

It was the same with androids. What if Midnight was an android, then… ok?

Then no he wouldn't hate him for his nature, it wasn't his life, it wasn't his business. Sure he was his partner now, and he had a hell of a crush on him, but ... android or not, he was the same person in the end. Gavin had been prejudiced, yes, but from his experience with Jack, it was clear that now Gavin didn't care about coexisting with androids. Or more. Human or robot, he didn't care now.

"Get in." He said eventually, unlocking his car.

Gavin entered first and Midnight imitated him on the opposite. The vigilante was nervous, he saw his stress level gradually rise in his HUD. The detective had been in his thoughts for only a few seconds, but he hadn't bothered to answer his question. He feared the worst.

On the drive to the Chinese restaurant that Gavin suddenly craved, they stopped at a red traffic light for a few minutes. Silence reigned in the car, and Midnight was getting more and more nervous.

"I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to tell me the truth." Gavin turned his head to the vigilante as the latter was already looking at him. "Because if I find out later that you lied to me, I couldn't trust you on anything, okay?"

"O-Ok…" Midnight nodded. "I would tell the truth."

" Good."

Gavin took a deep breath, his hands still on the stirring wheel as he watched the light, still red. His fingers tapped nervously in rhythm.

"Are you an android?"

Midnight felt like his pump and regulator had just stopped working as if a hollow had been created in his very core. His pump had actually just missed a few beats and his thirium had lost two degrees. Luckily, the light turned green and Gavin had to concentrate on the road again to lead them towards the Chinese restaurant.

"I wish I had a yes/no answer," Gavin said, still focused on the road. "So that I don't misinterpret this silence."

"Yes…"

Gavin turned his head to the vigilante for a few seconds before looking at the road again.

"Yes for my question?"

" Yes…"

Gavin felt his stomach suddenly twist and his jaw tightened almost painfully his fingers on the steering wheel. His heart had just sped up suddenly and he needed to breathe harder to regulate his oxygen. He sincerely hoped that Midnight didn't think he was angry because he wasn't. Even though he'd had doubts, it was still a big revelation to process.

For months he had a crush on an android. And damn, no one knew he was. But now everything seemed more logical. Midnight didn't have a first name because probably no one had given him one. There was also his superhuman strength, agility, and ability to neutralize criminals with the tasers in his gloves. It must have been defibrillators or something. Then he said he was on police radio frequencies, he had known at a glance, when they met, who he was and that the gun he was holding wasn't loaded. And damn, yes, his mask. It wasn't the mask that was glowing, it was his fucking eyes ..!

"Gavin, I-"

"Are you deviant ..?"

" Yes…"

"So what you told me wasn't true..." Midnight felt his pump skip a beat again. "That you are 32 years old, that you were born on November 10, that you were part of the law enforcement, and that you had to work with me when you were transferred to Detroit."

"It was the truth." Midnight replied in his defense. "My appearance is that of a 32-year-old man, and I was activated on November 10, 2038. I only became deviant in early December, shortly before I started doing what I am doing today. I was, and still am, an android specialized in integrating law enforcement, police as well as FBI, or even the military. That's why I can fight and know the laws so well that sometimes, I know, I break. And I did indeed have to become your partner, that was the truth. The only lie was that I was transferred to Detroit. Captain Fowler knows who I am, he knows all of this. And you know it now. But I didn't lie to you. I didn't tell you I was an android because…"

He stopped himself. He hadn't noticed that the car was stopped and that they had been in the restaurant parking lot for a few minutes. But Gavin had turned off the engine and was facing him, listening, not angry.

"Because... I was afraid you would hate me... I know you don't like androids because of Connor... the Revolution…"

"I don't hate all androids, Night. Only those who threatened my place in the DPD, those who attacked or provoked me, or those who incited a coworker to kill himself…" Gavin sighed but continued to look at Midnight. " I don't hate you. And if one day I have to hate you, it won't be because of your nature. Never"

"It will be because of my face…"

Gavin narrowed his eyes.

"I thought you were hiding your identity, and therefore your face, from me because you were an android." He paused when he saw that the vigilante wasn't reacting. "Does that mean that despite knowing that you're an android, I still wouldn't know what you look like?"

"I've told you the truth about this relative of mine that you know and don't like."

Gavin started to think about which other android but was cut off as Midnight got out of the car.

Gavin cursed and got out of the vehicle as well.

"No need to look any further, I won't tell you. Not now, we already discussed this last time, and… that's enough for today."

"I have the right to know Night…"

"And I have the right to have a break ... please."

Gavin inhaled and nodded. He shouldn't insist. Midnight wasn't ready to tell him everything, and he had to respect that. Today he'd learned that the vigilante was in fact an android. The idea didn't make him mad, he had suspected it, and he was already getting used to it.

"So is that why you don't have a first name?" Gavin asked, starting to walk towards the restaurant.

"Yes. Midnight is the name humans chose when I first got to the streets at night."

"And you wouldn't like to have your own identity ..?" Gavin raised an eyebrow at him. "You know… I don't know, people can call you by your first name during the day, and at night we still call you Midnight?"

"The idea... sounds very pleasant, yes. But…" Midnight frowned behind his glasses. "I'm a model who needs to have a human referent to register a first name. And …"

"Could I be your human referent?" Gavin offered, pushing open the restaurant doors. "After all, I am your partner and boss because I have more experience than you and my position is legit."

"You would do it.. ?" Conrad said with a hint of hope in his intonation. "Really.. ?"

" Yeah, why not ?"

Gavin took a seat at a back table and Midnight moved in front of him.

"How do we do that?"

"I must register you as my referent first."

"Ok, how about doing this now?" Gavin asked, watching an Android waitress with Asian features approaching them. "Wait…"

Gavin ordered and waited for the waitress to leave before focusing on the android in front of him again. He arched an eyebrow and Midnight knew they could keep going. The vigilante raised his right hand to remove the patch that covered his LED. Gavin watched him do it with fascination. He couldn't see his face, at least his gaze and eyes because of the leather side blinders on his sunglasses, but he could make out that blue glow just behind and sometimes dotted with little touches of gold.

Midnight leaned over the table a bit and reached out to Gavin. The latter narrowed his eyes but reproduced the gesture. The vigilante gently grabbed his fingers, especially his index and middle fingers, and guided them towards his glasses, just behind to press them gently against his LED.

Gavin felt his heart speed up to the touch. His skin was warm like a human's and he felt like tingling in his fingers in contact with his LED. But that was only the result of this strange excitement that had crept in him.

"Registration of a human referent." Midnight said in a normal tone, focused on the operation. His LED flashed yellow under his fingers briefly. "Fingerprints registered. Referent human identified as Gavin D. Reed."

Midnight smiled and let go of his fingers. But Gavin didn't take them off and left them there, on his LED, a few seconds before feeling the look of the android on him and withdrawing his hand, embarrassed.

"What name do you want to give me, detective?"

"Um…" He looked down to try and hide his blush. "I don't know, something relevant for you? That please you ?"

There was something that Midnight liked, and it was the little nickname Night that Reed sometimes used. But anyone could call him that and relate to his double life. He needed something similar and consistent.

"Can I make a suggestion?"

"Of course, that's your first name we're talking about, not mine."

"I… I really like it when you call me Night, and… it turns out my serial number is 900. Maybe… a mix of the two ..?"

"Say your idea?" Gavin raised an eyebrow, not having the strength to work his brain to try various combinations of words to form a first name.

"Nines. It's short and similar to Night, and it's tied to my serial number."

Gavin smiled, half amused and half annoyed. He saw the waitress arriving with his dish and looked at the vigilante in front of him without really paying attention to the waitress.

"If you like Nines, then go for Nines."

/ Incoming first name: 'Nines'
Save new first name: 'Nines'?
- Yes/No
Recording….
Registration completed.
First name "Nines" added to the registration number./

The vigilante smiled sincerely. He now had a real first name, a real identity, he could live and be a real person.

His smile soon became catching and Gavin smiled too, giving him that sparkling glow in his gray-blue eyes.

"My name is Nines." The android smiled even more.

"Nice to meet you, Nines."