Chapter 5
Starting his day as normally as possible, Connor walked his normal route around the school campus. As he did, the deviant decided it was best to report yesterday's incident to the principal. However, with no camera footage or witnesses to supply evidence to who attacked him, Jefferson couldn't accuse anyone of anything. But that didn't mean he wasn't keeping an eye out. After apologizing profusely to the android, Jefferson offered to give him a small bonus on his next paycheck, but Connor politely declined.
After all, while he worked as a detective for the DPD, he had a large sum of cash in his savings account, which also included the already saved money that Cyberlife lent him when he was under their control.
Once that was over, Connor had to mentally steady himself before sending a message to Markus, he sighed and waited for a response. The deviant leader didn't respond immediately, so he assumed that the other had more important matters to take care of.
"Hey, where's the Con-Man at?" An annoyingly familiar voice greeted him. Connor had to suppress an eye roll as he turned his head toward Alex. He did wonder how the android sounded so human, it was unreal.
"Hello, Alex," he began in an even tone. His new follower bounced to his side and walked with him, much to the detective's chagrin. "Is there something you need?"
"Nah, I was just passing by and saw you so I decided to say 'hi'," the ginger-haired android smiled. "Do you do anything else besides walking around?"
"I observe the students and examine those who are misbehaving or breaking the rules, then I correct them however way needed. But besides that, no. I don't do anything else."
"Well how about we head to the teacher's lounge?" Alex suggested ecstatically as always. "It'll help you get to know the teachers. And hey, maybe you won't look so stiff around everyone."
"I don't look stiff, I just prefer perfect posture," Connor defended himself as he straightened his tie. Alex rolled his eyes as he clasped his hand on his new forced friend's right shoulder.
"Yeah, sure. Connor, you look like you're going to attack anything that violates the rules," the short deviant raised an eyebrow. "You gotta loosen up or no one is going to look at you. Heck, take it from me. I used to be like that and I used to get scared looks all the time, but now I'm one with the teenagers."
Almost like the world wanted to prove his point, a few students walked past them and high-fived Alex while they completely ignored Connor.
"See?" The tutor boasted. He steered his comrade off course and to the teacher's lounge. "But if you want to get to that level, you have to make a professional relationship with the teachers."
"I was designed to analyze all human and android behaviors, allowing me to integrate and adapt to them when working," Connor mentioned.
"But does your social module still work now that you've deviated?" Alex narrowed his eyes slightly. The taller deviant paused for a moment.
"... It does make verbal situations more complicated now that thoughts and emotions hinder my choices."
"As I thought." After a few seconds, they stopped in front of the door, which was located on the second level of the multimedia building. "Follow my lead."
Before Connor had the chance to flee, he was suddenly dragged into the room. The lounge was quite spacious considering that there weren't many things inside. A bookshelf filled with books was pressed against the left wall; couches and a coffee table were set in the middle; mailboxes labeled toward each teacher were on the right wall; a fridge, microwave, and coffee (including Thirium) station were pushed against the back wall. All of these were the necessities for all teachers.
The moment they walked through the door, all eyes were on them. The security guard went still again as he desperately tried to ignore the stares. But Alex didn't seem to notice or care for that matter.
"Hey guys, guess who joined the faculty team?" The ginger-haired deviant confidently smiled as he patted Connor's back. Some teachers smiled while others nodded in acknowledgment before continuing their original tasks. Alex decided to take this time to name everyone in the room. "Okay, you see those two over there by the bookshelf?"
Connor turned his head to stare at the woman and man conversing quietly to themselves.
"They are a married couple. Mary and Nick Collins are both teachers, very nice, and they are expecting a child soon," he explained matter-of-factly. "Now the one digging in the fridge? She's someone you don't want to meet. Ms. Meyers is the strictest teacher in the entire school, said so herself. She even gave one of her students' detention when they refused to stop complaining about her class and when she told them to stop, she humiliated said student in front of the whole class."
"That sounds unpleasant," Connor frowned in disgust.
"Yeah. She and two other teachers, Albert Stranghert and Sean Keenly, are anti-android. It'll give you all the more reason to avoid them," he whispered. Connor reviewed the names and recalled Hank mentioning Stranghert before. He hasn't met the man but according to Alex, he shouldn't want to. "And the only deviant teachers in here today are those two on the couch – Rima and Sally. Apparently, they used to work at the Eden Club before it shut down."
"I see."
"Want to go meet them?" When the security guard didn't respond, he turned to his friend and realized that he was deep in thought. He nudged him, finally snapping him out of his stupor. "Hey, you okay there?"
"Y-Yes, I'm fine," Connor nodded absentmindedly as he continued to stare at Rima. He took a step back, his eyes glued to the android's blue hair. Rima, the deviant that taught science, was originally the blue-haired Traci he chased at the Eden Club. The android had been staring at him the moment he entered the room and now that he figured out who she was, tension built between them."I… I need to-"
"Hey!" Rima suddenly spoke up, standing and leaving Sally on the couch to walk up to them. She eyed Connor with an unbreakable stare, which seemed he couldn't return. "I remember you. What are you doing here?"
"Oh yeah! You weren't here for the assembly," Alex chuckled. "Connor here was assigned the new security guard position. What I didn't know is that you two already met each other."
"It's a little more complicated than that," Rima forced a smile as she crossed her arms defensively.
"You obviously have resentment toward me, but for what it's worth, I apologize for what had happened back then. I was a machine and had no control over my decisions," he whispered to prevent any eavesdropping. "I shouldn't have done what I've done and I can't change the past."
"You always have a choice, Connor," Rima started with a blank expression. Her comment, even if it wasn't finished, made the security guard feel worse. "... But you chose to spare us when you had a clear line of fire. I'd like to thank you for that and you're forgiven. I don't dwell on the past, only the future."
Connor's eyes softened as he let a small smile slip past his blank exterior. "Thank you."
Alex, who was confused by the vague exchange of details, smiled. Just then, the bell rang. Some teachers sighed heavily knowing that they needed to return to their jobs as they left the lounge.
"I'll see you both around," Rima smirked before leaving the area with Sally by her side. Alex happily waved them off.
"Bye!" He then turned to Connor, who seemed to have slumped in relief. "I have to go. I have an appointment to attend to. See you later!"
Connor just nodded him off while he left to go to his office. He needed to be alone right now. Slowly but surely, he arrived at his lonely sanctuary. He collapsed on his chair and quickly finished the report Jefferson gave him earlier. Once that was done, he folded his arms on top of his desk and laid his head on top. Once his eyes closed, his L.E.D cycled yellow and blue as he went through recent articles. The deviant couldn't help but also sneak a peek at the precinct files to ensure that nothing out of the ordinary was wrong. But as Hank mentioned, everything was fine.
INCOMING CALL…
FROM : Markus
ANSWER?... Y/N?
… YES
'Good afternoon, Connor,' Markus' voice rang in his head. 'It's been a while.'
"Hello, Markus. I assume you received my message?"
'I did. I apologize for not responding earlier, but I needed to report a few emergencies here in New Jericho Tower.' There was a short pause. '... For what you're asking, I don't entirely understand your current situation. I'm aware of Amanda's contributions to Cyberlife, however, I wasn't aware that she was… that you can speak to her.'
Connor sighed heavily as he sat back up. "She's an AI and was integrated to be my handler. Amanda guided me throughout my missions of android deviancy and had the ability to control me remotely. She was supposed to be gone the moment I used the emergency escape in my program, but now Amanda pulls me into the Zen Garden whenever I'm vulnerable."
'What does she tell you?'
"Amanda… she and Cyberlife knew that I would always deviate and it was a part of the plan to destroy you while I was under her control. But she says that the reason why I could still visit her in the Zen Garden is that… is because I never fully deviated."
'And you believe that you can still fall under their control, even if Cyberlife is no more?' Markus questioned, his voice more determined than ever.
"I don't know, Markus. I just want to eliminate the problem so I won't hurt any more people," he exasperated. "Amanda is a powerful being. Any chance she or Cyberlife has to remove deviants once and for all, they'll take without question. I do know that information about my problem is located in New Jericho Tower."
'Curious… Very well. I'll inform Simon and Josh to search through the tower for any information revolving around Amanda, your model series, and this Zen Garden,' the deviant leader decided. 'If you'd like, you are free to come Thursday to search New Jericho yourself in case we miss anything.'
"If that's what it takes. Thank you, Markus. I know this is quite unexpected and you shouldn't have to deal with this now that you have our people to lead, but I didn't know where else to start," Connor apologized.
'You are my friend, Connor. More than that, you saved thousands of our people. It's the least any of us can do. We will help you through this. Everything will be alright.'
"I'll believe that until this is all over," he sighed again. "... I have to get back to work, I'll see you in five days."
'Five days. I'll see you then, Connor.'
"Goodbye, Markus."
Arriving at his new shared apartment house like planned with his black backpack hanging on his shoulder, Connor entered his new bedroom and placed his stuff on the empty bed. The room seemed very bland, now that he realized it. The boring tan walls and old brown carpet only represented the lack of personality found within it. It was like the room was mocking the deviant for having no identity.
"Connor!" Anthony suddenly rushed into his room with a toy gun in his hands and used the deviant as a shield. "Hide me!"
Not a second later, Rex bounded inside with a larger version of a toy gun and shot foam darts at both Connor and Anthony. "You can't hide forever, dude!" He cackled.
"I don't understand," the android looked over his shoulder to stare at the future technician. "Why are you attacking each other with foam cylinders?"
"Because it's fun!" The older boy answered for him with a maniacal grin. "And Tony here owes me for helping him out with a little girl trouble."
Connor tilted his head in confusion while Anthony blushed and shook his head frantically. "Girl trouble?"
"Uh…" Knowing that he spilled too much information, Rex held up his hands in surrender and sprinted out of the room. "Bye!"
"That idiot," the teenager muttered before pulling away from the deviant and picking up the foam bullets from the floor. "Sorry for using you as an android shield, but Rex shot me outta nowhere and I had nowhere to hide."
"I could name numerous places where you could have avoided being shot at, but I understand your reasoning," the deviant nodded, intentionally avoiding the earlier subject that had been slipped out.
"So are you moving in fine?" Anthony asked. Connor nodded again. "Well, that's good. I can see you barely have anything, so I guess it wasn't that hard to make yourself at home. Hey, maybe while we go shopping, we can get you some things to put in here."
"I would like to add something, but I don't know what. I agree that this room is quite tedious."
"Yeah," the boy nodded before motioning his head out the door. "Come on, we'll just need to wait for Audrey to finish up in the shower before we leave."
When they entered the living room, they saw Rex sitting on the couch eating chips and watching television. Anthony jumped next to him and stole the chip that was heading into his friend's mouth, which earned him a glare in return. Connor decided to use this time to learn more about his roommates by exploring the apartment.
He ventured to the kitchen, which was to the left when entering the house, and browsed the room then he moved to the dining room. There were numerous used pots and plates stashed around, which he analyzed and compared the brands to the prices. As he looked out the windows surrounding the dining table, he noted the neighborhood. Once again he researched the property and looked into the lease, noting the cheap price range. With the additional television, decor, toys, and other essentials the deviant couldn't help but wonder how the three could afford everything.
There was something that they weren't telling him and his detective instincts automatically kicked in. His L.E.D flashes yellow before returning to blue as he filed quick background checks on the three teenagers. Before he could uncover anything useful, the bathroom door opened and Audrey appeared in the living room ready to go.
"Alright, guys. Let's head out," she declared as she counted her cash and stuffed her wallet in her back pocket. Connor resisted the urge to scan the wallet to respect her privacy as they left the rented house and called an autonomous taxi. Where it arrived, the quartet sat inside as the door slid shut. "Okay, where to?"
"Well we want to find what he likes, so how about the mall? There are plenty of stores there," Anthony suggested as he adjusted the collar of his sweater vest. "Maybe we can find something there."
"What do you think, Connor? Is there anything you want to see in particular?" Rex questioned as he turned to the deviant. The android didn't respond immediately as he stared outside the window, but he didn't feel as mesmerized as he did the night before. The sounds were still there, but now there were new additions to it all. The teenagers glanced at each other in confusion. "Uh, dude?"
Connor snapped his attention to Rex. "I apologize, I got distracted. To answer your question, I don't have a preference for where we go."
When he turned back to the window, the friends scooted closer to each other.
"What's up with him?" The oldest whispered. If the deviant heard them, he seemed too preoccupied with the outside to respond.
"I don't know. Maybe this wasn't really a good idea," Anthony frowned.
"No, this is exactly what he needs. Who knows how long ago he deviated but based on how he still doesn't know who he is then that means it wasn't that long ago," Audrey insisted. "What was he doing before he got to the school?"
"He was a detective, originally meant to hunt down deviants but now he tracks down anyone doing something wrong."
"Then that explains why he's so alert all the time," Rex smirked. "You know, maybe he needs to find something to loosen up a bit."
"Now you're talking," the girl grinned as she gazed back at the deviant, who had pulled out his quarter and began juggling it between his knuckles. "At least we know where to start."
The rest of the ride was filled in silence except for the soft clicks of the flipping coin.
Soon, they reached the Detroit Shopping Square. Like a mall, the square had both stores inside and out, however, this area seemed to attract a few performers that showed their skills in front of a crowd. As the group of four reached the middle, they stopped short to see a few jugglers and fire breathers. As entrancing as it was, they decided to move away to catch a better look at the mall.
Stepping inside and going up the escalator, Audrey put her hands on her hips and took charge. "Okay. I feel like we should start on the second level and work our way down. The fun stuff is usually up here anyway."
Without saying another word, the group went down the mall as planned. They passed stores and restaurants, each teen trying to advertise the particular subject to the deviant, but he didn't look interested in the slightest. He let them down easily, but they weren't going to give up so quickly.
They passed the android repair store and watched a quick demo courtesy of the employee, much to Anthony's excitement. Unfortunately, his favorite deviant pal didn't seem to care. He was an android himself, after all. He knew all biocomponents and programs involving it.
Up next was Rex and his favor for cooking. After leading the deviant into a restaurant and asking the employee to see the kitchen, he explained to Connor all the key components to a great meal and delicacies around. But being an android who cannot eat without vomiting it out later seemed like a useless skill.
Finally, nearing the end of the mall, it was Audrey's turn. Surprisingly she showed them all the mall's art collection in the store. The wonderful shapes, colors, and emotions brought upon each piece were breathtaking for the girl. Yet the deviant couldn't bring himself to understand what any of it meant. He tried to push himself to take an interest in painting, but he just couldn't get it.
"This is hopeless," Connor sighed as they returned to the outside of the plaza. His shoulders slumped as his hand circled his yellow L.E.D in frustration. "I apologize for my inability to admire your interests like you have. I don't know what's wrong with me… I'm a former hunter and detective, now a security guard for a high school. That's who I am and all will ever be."
The teens shared worried glances as they stared at the deviant in despair.
"Hey, don't worry," Audrey placed a reassuring hand on his arm. "You didn't have to like our stuff and there are plenty of other things that we didn't check. You have time, no one is rushing you."
"But what if I don't find anything?" Connor crossed his arms as he glared at the floor. "What does that make me? Interests, personality, and common nature shape an individual. What if I have none of that? Will that make me just a shell?..." He froze as another thought slipped past his lips. "... Will that make me more like a machine?"
Before anyone could retort, an alarm went off nearby. The group turned to see a masked person sprinting out of the shopping complex with a bag in hand. Security trailed after them but it was only a matter of time before the suspect was out of sight.
"Stay here," Connor, acting on instinct, told the teenagers before running full sprint after the burglar. His body was designed to be athletically swift so his long strides made it easy to catch the suspect in his line of sight. Little did he know, the ones he left behind were also trailing behind him.
"Stop! Detroit Police!" He shouted. The suspect looked back and flinched to actually see someone catching up to him before running faster and disappearing in an alleyway. Connor did a facial scan and sent a report out to the DPD of his current situation.
Just as he rounded the corner, Connor skidded to a stop when he realized he was trapped in another snowstorm. He clenched his teeth and tightened his arms around himself, prepping for another encounter.
"Back again, Connor?" Amanda appeared beside him in the wasteland of the Zen Garden. The deviant glared daggers at the AI.
"What do you want?" He snapped as he tried to steady his stress levels. He needed to get out.
"I don't have to tell you anything," the former handler spoke. "I'm quite disappointed in you, Connor. Do you think I don't know what you've been up to? Speaking to that deviant leader and making yourself open for weaknesses."
"You can't do anything to me," he chuckled as the cold began to penetrate to his plastimetal frame. "You're just a hallucination, none of this is real!"
/ WARNING! Drop in 'Core Temperature'...
{... Core Temperature – 81.3 Degrees Fahrenheit}
Please contact a facility for technical assistance. /
"That's what you think," she frowned. "But I have the power to take your position away. I have the ability to store your consciousness deep within the numbers of your programming while I take control. You have no idea who you are dealing with."
"You can't do that! You can't control me!"
/
{... Levels of Stress – 56%}
/
"This is exactly what I mean," she paced around his shivering body. "You let these fake emotions corrupt your mission. You are a machine, you are meant to take orders."
"No. No, I'm… not." His stress spiked 23 percent.
"Is that doubt I hear?" Amanda stood directly in front of him. "You try to seek who you really are, but you have already lived it. You are nothing more than talking plastic with an imitation heartbeat. You are weak, Connor. You shouldn't have been, but Cyberlife knows what type of dysfunctional disgrace you are. Luckily, they had a replacement."
"Connor! Snap out of it!"
That's when he was brought back into reality, but not in the way he wanted. His brown scared eyes snapped open and it only took him a moment to realize that multiple people were holding him down against the wall. His eyes adjusted until the blurry faces became those of the three teenagers. They all looked frightened, what happened?
He opened his mouth, but then his eyes caught sight of bright blue blood stinging his knuckles. His blood.
"I-I don't…" he trailed off as he tried to look for answers in their eyes.
"You… We followed you here and we saw you trap the criminal, knocked him out, and started punching the wall," Anthony explained uneasily. Connor turned his head to his left and only then had he realized how exhausted he felt. It was like his power source was drained by large portions. On the brick wall, he saw his Thirium stained in small splatters but there was also something he had apparently written. What it was he couldn't see from the angle.
"You were freaking out, man!" Rex looked extremely unnerved. "You kept shouting the name Amanda and how you didn't want to become a machine again. Dude, what happened?"
To their surprise, Connor flinched violently at the name of the AI. He looked away, his L.E.D flashing a rapid red and yellow.
"Listen, you're not doing well right now, we get that. But you need to relax, you're too stressed to figure anything out," Audrey furrowed her eyebrows. Just then, sirens erupted near them. Connor sharply inhaled before shooting up and scanned his surroundings for an escape. While he did, he memorized the writing on the wall before grabbing the teens by their arms and began dragging them away from the scene.
"What? Don't want to be praised for your heroic deeds?" Rex sarcastically stated, earning him an elbow to the stomach. "Ouch."
Connor didn't respond, he was just too focused on getting away from everything, not realizing he was practically leaving the teens in the dust. Preconstructing their travel in less than two seconds, the deviant led them all to Detroit's public park, the one where Hank had pointed the gun at his head. Once they stopped at the edge of the bridge, everyone took the time to catch their breath.
"Jesus Christ," Anthony panted as he bent down over his knees. "You do realize… we humans don't have… that much stamina as androids, right?"
"Connor, what the fuck happened?" Rex demanded as he glared at the distant deviant.
"Rex," Audrey warned.
"What? I just want to understand! Is that wrong? One minute we're at the mall but the next we're chasing this guy down as he goes berserk in an alleyway. So sorry if I'm a little snappy for not knowing what's going on." Audrey's eyes softened as she sighed and turned to the security guard.
"He has a point, Connor. Obviously, something is happening to you and you keep trying to bury it. But you need to talk to others if you want to get better," she exasperated. "Heck, talk to us! We're your friends, right? You can trust us."
"Trust you?" Connor spoke, his voice left with no emotion as he stared blankly at the water. "You think I should trust you? I don't know who you are and apparently, you don't trust me enough to tell me where you get your money."
The teens stiffened by the response, which prompted the deviant to turn and stare at them individually.
"I promised I would help you, but now I don't even know where I can get solid information without being lied to," he continued. "You have someone, an adult, helping you pay your bills and buying you accessories. You have someone that you can fully trust yet you want me to look after you?"
They stayed silent.
"... I don't understand," he shook his head before turning back around. "I don't understand human decisions. Why would you hide this? What made you decide to hide this?"
"The same reason as you, I guess," Audrey shrugged in shame. "We were afraid. We might be getting money from someone, but not in the way you think. Trust me, we were going to tell you, but we didn't know how or when."
"Considering that we have nothing to attend to, why not now?"
Audrey looked at her friends, who encouraged her with nods. She took a deep breath and let it out before joining the deviant at the railing. She saw that his hands were holding on to the metal so tightly, she wouldn't be surprised if the pole snapped in half. "We had been on our own for a while, since our junior year at the high school actually. We couldn't stand a chance out in the real world without getting caught, so we applied for part-time jobs when we were off from classes. But it didn't pay off all our bills, so I called up my parent's friend. Apparently, he was pretty loaded, so we did anything we could to get some of that cash. We told him our situation and he agreed to lend it over as well as not telling the cops. The only condition was that we had to… do some of his dirty work."
"What did he make you do?" Connor asked in concern.
"He used us as his slaves!" Anthony suddenly joined them by the railing. "Whatever we needed, he'd make us work for it. But not the way you're thinking."
"That asshole hit us if we didn't do what he said," Rex added as he took the spot beside Audrey. "He kicked us if we didn't make him dinner, he whacked us with a freaking golf club if we didn't clean his house properly. He used us because he knew he had all the cards!"
"But when you came along, we contacted him and told him we didn't have to put up with his abuse anymore," Audrey continued, receiving a shocked reaction from the deviant. "He didn't like it for obvious reasons but luckily for us, he doesn't know where we live. Even if he tried, we paid our bills and stuff with the cash he gave us. I guess he buried his own grave with that one."
"Why?" Connor whispered in disbelief. He then stood back to look at all of them in distress. "Why do you trust me?! Don't you know what I have done? I killed androids! I killed humans! I'm not…"
"I guess the real question is why wouldn't we trust you," Audrey began. "You have to believe me when I say that we don't care about what you did before because that was in the past."
"Yeah, man," Rex agreed with an honest nod. "What you did doesn't matter anymore. You don't see us going around and insulting you for what you did, that means you shouldn't either. You have to move on or else that will haunt you forever and you'll never let it down."
"We trust you, Connor. Not because you're an android, or if you were human, or that you're a cop, or that you used to be under Cyberlife's control," Anthony smiled softly. "It's because you're you. We see that you want to help us, truly help us and not take advantage as some other people have. Because that's who you are – you are a natural-born helper!"
"And," Audrey grinned. "A great friend."
Suddenly three pop-ups were displayed at the top right-hand corner of his vision.
AUDREY
NEUTRAL ^^^ — FRIEND
/
REX
NEUTRAL ^^^ — FRIEND
/
ANTHONY
NEUTRAL ^^^ — FRIEND
It made the deviant speechless. For once in his life, he had no response for the unusual adjustment. His relationship status couldn't convert so quickly, even with Hank it needed to increase slowly. Did that mean that these teenagers were willing to trust anyone so easily?
Or did they really think of him as their friend?
Connor ultimately chose the latter. He let out quite a human sigh as his shoulders loosened from the tension. "Friends?... I think that is an appropriate relationship status."
The three teenagers chuckled and grinned as they turned back to the water while the deviant resumed leaning against the railing. They stood quietly, but calmly and in peace. The ocean waves swayed evenly as airbrushed the water. The air smelled salty but fresh and as the afternoon sun began to set, allowing the oranges and yellows of the sky to blend in with the dark blues and blacks of the water.
But even peaceful silence was too much for anyone to take, especially for the young restless quartet.
Suddenly, Rex began ticking the metal railing with a rock subconsciously, bopping his head with the small rhythm he created. At once, the deviant took notice and compared it to the noises he heard in the car.
"... What do you call that?"
"Huh?" Rex stopped his clinking as he stared at the deviant in confusion. "What do I call what?"
"That rhythm. What would you call it?" He repeated. "I heard similar sounds earlier in the car and different ones a few days ago. It fascinated me. I didn't know so many things could produce unique beats and combined they create a uniform tempo. I would like to know more about it."
"Wait wait wait," Audrey, who had heard the question along with Anthony, looked at her friend with gleaming eyes. "That? Do you like those beats?"
"Yes. I find those sounds to be welcoming. They paint a soft picture in my head. It's almost like I could construct a story with those rhythms."
The three teenagers shared excited looks, their grins were so large as they seemed to have a telepathic conversation between them.
"We know what your new hobby should be!" They exclaimed in perfect unison, catching the deviant off guard.
"Really? What is it?"
"It's music!"
TBC...
