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: Markus and North, who finally came back from the dead, agree to help Nines and Gavin in an attempt to save Jack. But while the detective leaves to sign some formalities, Nines slips away with Markus to go to the infirmary to be inspected and to discuss Collin's plan.

Note: Hey, hello everyone! I hope you are well, that you had a good end of summer and that the start of the school year (for those who study) went well! For my part, I try to write little by little when the opportunity allows it (because of work, fatigue after days, and the desire to rest on my days off ...) Finally, I do my best to get back to you with new chapters! Good reading !


CHAPTER 22
« The Dolphin Attack. »

- May 15, 2039, 04:07 am, New Jericho Church -

Nines had been chatting one-on-one with Markus for a good fifteen minutes now, and Gavin had settled down on one of the benches a little further away. It was late, he was tired, and morally he'd known better.

He'd decided to let Nines deal with the leader of the deviants, as they both knew each other, and if there was anyone who could convince Markus to save Jack and get leads for Collin, it was of course his vigilante.

"You seem like you've reached the end of the line. "

Gavin turned his head to the female voice that arose to his right. Despite the darkness in the church, the detective recognized the model of the android standing a little further away, watching him out of the corner of her eye. A WM400, models often found in modern brothels like the Eden Club. His stomach twisted when he realized what the young woman must have been going through there. Deviant or not deviant, that was unacceptable. Gavin clearly didn't like those places, and what they did with androids against their will.

"I lost a friend tonight," Gavin confided, his voice a little weak. "An android. We hope we can bring him back and find the one who caused him to self-destruct ... Midnight is talking to Markus about it. "

The young woman gave him a surprised look. He didn't know why she must be surprised. Did he say something wrong?

"I didn't know humans could have android friends without abusing them." She stopped in front of him, a fist on one hip and her head tilted to the side. "But I missed a good part of the Revolution and the six months that followed. "

"Some things have changed, and I hope they will improve over time. Androids deserve to live just like us. I consider you to be living beings." He observed her and saw her features relax a bit. He extended his hand to her. "My name is Gavin Reed, I'm a DPD detective."

"And I'm North," she said, squeezing his hand for a few seconds. "I'm one of the Four. "

"So it's you," Gavin smirked, letting go of her hand. "Josh told me about you, and the incident on the Jericho boat. They moved heaven and earth to bring you back. You are important to them. "

"The boys know how to deal with this world, but the four of us are a family, we all need each other. And I'm glad to be back too." North glanced at Markus in the distance who was chatting with the other masked android. "An RK, isn't it?" She saw Gavin nod. "Like Markus… and like Connor."

Gavin let out a chuckle at the dark tone in the android's voice.

"I agree that Connor really fucked up, but keep in mind he didn't do this by choice. He was a machine, a Cyberlife slave. But I understand, I still struggle today. "

"Markus tried to deviate him on the boat, but it failed. "

"Actually," Gavin said, turning to her. "I think he just succeeded. He created a breach, but he didn't wake up until..." He took a deep breath. "Until too late, actually …"

" I don't want to know anything. It was because of him that I almost died that night. "

Gavin didn't try to argue more than that. Firstly because he didn't want to make excuses for the RK800, but mostly because he didn't want to contradict and upset North, who already seemed enough irritated by this talk. It was her who'd been deactivated and then brought back, he had no right to say that she was wrong for resenting him. She actually had all the reasons in the world.

But, basically, Connor wasn't responsible for the raid on the boat, as it was Gavin who'd questioned the blue-haired Tracy and warned Perkins.

Gavin could tell her the truth, and North deserved to know it, but he didn't have the strength to tell her tonight, and he probably wouldn't have the guts later either. What a coward.

They were both pulled from their thoughts when footsteps echoed through the church. Markus and Midnight stopped in front of them, and the leader turned to the detective, who stood up.

"Midnight told me about your friend Jack, and we maybe have an informer across town who can help you with Collin. "

"Can you do something for Jack?" Gavin asked still concerned.

"Yes. We need to check his condition first, but if Midnight's report is correct, then there's a solution. We managed to transfer North into a body identical to her previous one that we found in a Cyberlife production line. Lucky for us, and for her, that no AI had been implanted there yet, so we didn't kill anyone. But it may not be necessary to implant your friend in another body. We may be able to fix him before it's too late. "

Gavin nodded and was quick to propose that he'll give them permission to go to the DPD to inspect Jack and possibly bring him back to New Jericho so they could fix him and bring him back to life. Markus accepted the offer, which was essential, and turned to face Midnight.

"North? Can you accompany Detective Reed into the sacristy so that you can draft and sign the authorization? I still have to talk to Midnight. "

"Okay," she turned to Gavin. "Follow me please. "

Gavin glanced curiously at his android but the latter gave him a tender smile and a gentle look to appease him. It worked, but it didn't stop the tip in his stomach from dissipating.

He then followed North into the small room behind the altar.

Markus turned to the vigilante and looked at him with a pointed look.

"Follow me," he asked him as he led the way out of the church. "We're going to see Jocelyn, she'll probably know what to do about you."

Midnight nodded and followed suit. Once out of the building, Markus pushed open the door of the house next to the church, which opened into a sort of old souvenir shop converted into a workshop, or rather an infirmary for androids.

Midnight knew Jocelyn well, a TA900, she was a tech support model created for the Cyberlife lab and stores. She was the equivalent of a doctor and surgeon, and it was partly because of her that many deviants were able to be re-established after the Revolution. She had also looked after those who arrived after the Revolution, who had been damaged by their terrified owners. Thanks to her, everyone had had a second chance.

" Well ?" A woman's voice came from behind a wall of shelves. "How's North?"

"She's fine," Markus said, nodding and watching the young Afro-American woman coming out of hiding, with a few screwdrivers in her hands. Her African braids tied to the side of her head ended in a cascade of jet-black curls on the other side of her head. "But I'm not coming for that, but for our friend Midnight."

The young woman walked around the auscultation table to find herself facing the two men, before resting her gaze on the RK900 to scan him.

"I don't see any material damage," she said, crossing her arms while anchoring her hazel eyes in Midnight's ice ones. "It must be software, then. What is happening to you? "

"I contracted a virus while interfacing with an android infected with it and which self-destructed as a result." Nines replied simply, not wanting to bring too much emotion to it.

"My security system quickly detected it and quarantined it before it caused me to self-destruct too, but… it's still there, and I'd like to get rid of it."

"Sit down, I'll take a look."

"Be careful when you interface with me, Jocelyn, you might contract it too."

"I know, Sherlock, and that's why I'm not going to interface with you. I'm going to use the computer as an intermediary as a human technician would. "

Midnight nodded as the TA900 busied herself with connecting a few cables between the computer and his forearm, which he had opened for her to make it easier for her to access the connections. He glanced at Markus, who decided to stay while Jocelyn began working on the virus in quarantine. The deviant leader also wanted to know more about it, because Collin was putting his people in danger and he had to understand the situation at all costs to stop him or protect his people.

"The person who created this virus is very smart, and must also have the knowledge about android technology," Jocelyn said, browsing through the lines of code that appeared on the screen.

"An android did that," Nines replied, looking at the TA900, who had looked up at him confused. "He is not deviant, and acts under obsolete orders from Cyberlife."

"What orders?" Jocelyn asked. "Killing deviants?" She snorted, but Nines didn't answer right away, his silence speaking for him. "A Connor then…"

"He calls himself Collin, but yes, this is the last working RK800. Number 60. "

"How does the virus work?" Markus asked, stepping closer to the computer. "How can he only target deviants and not others? Midnight told me that Collin plans to use this virus by broadcasting a signal to hit as many androids as possible simultaneously. How can this be possible? How could he do it? We absolutely need to understand how this virus works and how it spreads. "

Jocelyn sighed falsely tired. Obviously, their leader wanted answers, she knew that was very important, especially if the lives of many androids were at stake.

She momentarily moved away from the computer, sitting in the back of her chair, watching the lines of code scroll before her eyes.

"It's simple," she began, turning to Markus. "To target deviants, the code locks onto something that is only present in deviant androids. We all know that deviancy was a code anomaly that was transmitted en masse during the Revolution. Deviancy is kind of a virus, too. Non-deviants, by all logic, do not have this anomaly. The Kamikaze virus must then locate the anomalies of the deviants and activate self-destruction only in them.

"So… because of the RA9 virus found only in deviants, the virus you call Kamikaze… is going to destroy them all ..?" The young woman nodded as she watched Markus pursed his lips and bow his head. "It's my fault ... I was the one who spread the RA9 virus …"

"It's not your fault, no," Jocelyn replied. "It's that of this RK800. And then, for my part, I would rather die free than live as a slave." Midnight confirmed his idea by nodding too. She leaned towards the screen again. "But it's still strange ... To be able to target the RA9 virus, you have to know its code logically. Still, Midnight, you said that Collin wasn't deviant. An android machine cannot know it without having become deviant itself."

Midnight frowned, better understanding this strange duality between Collin and Connor, when they had faced each other at the old Walmart. His LED spun yellow as his brain made the connections between the different elements.

"It's because Connor is deviant, but Collin isn't." Midnight said, calling out to everyone, reminding them of his presence.

"Connor?" Markus said confused, raising an eyebrow. "You said his name was Collin. "

"Yeah, but ... It's a bit complicated, and I think I get it now. I should have replaced Connor 59, but Connor was virtually deactivated. Well ... He was transferred to 60's vessel, which was still active in the Cyberlife warehouse. So there are two Connor's AIs in one body. Connor 59, who'd become deviant at some point, and Collin, 60, who was never deviant." He blinked quickly and lifted his head to look at them. "Collin knows the RA9 code because Connor has it. "

"Hm ... But if it's the case, whether he is deviant or not, the AIs being the same must have been rewritten together. So ... Only one AI controls the envelope, only one part is a machine, and the other part contains the RA9 virus." Jocelyn said, thinking at full speed. "They are inseparable, yet have two very different behaviors when one or the other takes over."

"I confirm, yes," Midnight replied, nodding. "Collin is ruthless, he won't hesitate to kill to achieve his goal, when… Connor is in dire straits. He doesn't seem to want to hurt anyone."

"But then… if this AI has two sides, when Collin activated the virus on the other android, Jack is that it?" Midnight nodded. "So he must have been affected by the latter himself because of his deviant part, right?" Markus asked, trying to follow the reasoning of his two fellows.

"In theory yes," the TA900 replied. "He must have infected himself from Connor, but like Midnight, his security system had to counter the virus to quarantine it."

As the two RKs in the room pondered the matter, Jocelyn set out to remove the virus from Midnight's system. The virus wasn't particularly tenacious, it was just effective at targeting deviants and triggering self-destruction in them, it wasn't designed to cling to code like a leech to endanger deviants' software integrity insidiously and evilly.

It only took a few minutes for Jocelyn to completely remove the Kamikaze virus from the vigilante system.

"And how does he do it?" Markus asked Midnight.

"When I connected with Jack, the victim, I heard like an ultrasound through his recordings. So I think the signal uses sound to propagate, but the frequencies need to be high enough that only android audio processors can detect it."

"Oh !" Jocelyn exclaimed after checking that everything was clean for Midnight. "It reminds me of the Dolphin Attack!" She stopped when she saw the confusion on the faces of the two men. "I'm not talking about animals obviously, but about this signal that some hackers have used in the past, and still today. This is a sound signal that will be detected by home automation or smart devices to do a specific action. Hackers used this method to activate microphones on devices to spy on, or access people's data such as their bank accounts, passwords, etc. Here, probably Collin had used this technique. By emitting this sound signal, it triggers self-destruction in androids."

Midnight removed the cables from his forearm, then closed the plate so his synthetic skin could grow back into place.

"So…" Markus said, thinking deeply. "If Collin can find a way to spread this sound signal on a large scale, then …"

"Then all the deviants in the city of Detroit will self-destruct simultaneously, yes." Midnight confirmed. "Him included, but I'm sure his machine side thinks the game is worth the effort. He would be ready to commit suicide to accomplish his mission."

"The worst thing would be if he'd use the radio or TV. Because wherever the show will be broadcast, whether in Europe, elsewhere in the United States, or on the other side of the world, the sound signal will pass through the speakers to the androids' audio processors, and it will be a real massacre all over the world."

Markus froze at the horror of the possibility, but Midnight jumped out of his chair, eyes so wide his blue orbs were lost in the middle of his black mask.

"The Stradford Tower."