Requested by sarahlucylu: What about a rewrite of the scene when the second Connor takes Hank hostage, but instead it's you. When you are left with the two Connors standing before you after the fight, you ask the questions of Connor that only he would know the answer to (first meeting you at Jimmy's along with Hank, the name of your cat, the name of your brother that was lost to a deviant, just to suggest a few you will probably come up with something more creative!) when you finally drop the other Connor, you get a little angry at the android for scaring you, end it with a bit of fluff before Connor goes to convert the androids.

I know I said all the oneshots take place post-best ending BUUUUUT I liked this prompt too much, so this one takes place within the canon of the game. It might be an exception or I might write more oneshots that take place within canon - we'll see :)

IMPORTANT NOTE: So, uh, this oneshot was supposed to be up yesterday but here's the thing... I became very unwell and had to go to hospital. I had an extremely rare reaction to some medication I was prescribed last week and lemme tell you... it was traumatic. I'm feeling a lot better today and I was yesterday but I didn't sleep well at all last night and I'm still in pain. I will spare you all the TMI details and just say that updates will probably be slower over the next couple weeks.

Simulate

The muzzle of the handgun pressed against the side of your head, compelling you to step out from amongst the organised rows of Cyberlife androids, revealing your perilous predicament to the real Connor - the one who wasn't currently a trigger-pull away from blowing your brains across the shiny floor of the blindingly white warehouse.

"Step back, Connor, and I'll spare them."

You were a fool for having believed the fake Connor was your friend. You'd been all too willing to accept his story when he'd turned up at your house, claiming to have gone deviant and that he needed your help to aid in freeing his people. How stupid you had been. The son of a bitch had driven you to Cyberlife, led you inside and promptly pulled a gun on you, threatening that if you didn't do as he said, you wouldn't make it out of this alive.

You'd understood very quickly that the android was not Connor, but instead a doppelganger, sent to carry out the mission that the real Connor could not.

Your Connor was stood before you, his eyes wide with apprehension as the android to your right promised to shoot you point-blank unless Connor abandoned his objective to free the enslaved androids.

"I'm sorry, Connor", you whispered, ashamed that you had thought the sinister mimic could possibly be your partner, "I… I thought he was you…"

The pressure of the gun at your head increased just a tad, enough to remind you to keep your mouth shut, and the clone regarded Connor with mechanical indifference, "You have to make a decision, Connor. What matters more to you? The life of your friend", he uttered the word with disdain, "or the revolution?"

"Don't listen to him, Connor. Just do what you have to do - it's okay", you tried to reassure the android you'd come to see as somebody more than just a friend. You weren't afraid of dying, especially for a cause as righteous as liberating the race of androids after so many years of injustice and subjugation; knowing that you'd never get to tell Connor the truth about how you felt for him was distressing, but you knew there were more important things at hand.

Connor looked between you and his clone in dismay, his consternation evident as he strove to fabricate a plan in the few moments he had before all hell broke loose.

"I used to be just like you", he told his duplicate, "I thought nothing mattered except the mission - but now I understand…" Connor trailed off, either buying time or attempting to persuade the replica that he was more than the purpose he was designed for.

The false Connor quirked an eyebrow, "Very moving, Connor", the words left his mouth, soaked with derision, and your contempt for the machine rose, "but I'm not you. I won't fail my mission as you did. Now, enough talk", he emphasised his words by nudging the barrel of the gun against your head, "make a choice, Connor, are you going to save them, or sacrifice them?"

Your heart pulsed behind your ribs and you tried to tell Connor with your eyes that you were content to die for his cause, but you knew the second he met your gaze that he would not let you lose your life like this.

"Okay, okay", Connor spoke gently, releasing the arm of the android he'd been moments from converting, and stepped away, raising his hands in his surrender.

The replica smirked. You knew you had to think of something quickly, or it'd be all over for Connor.

Your body was tense, poised and ready to move, and the moment the gun was aimed away from your head, you burst into action, grabbing the copycats arm to aim the weapon downwards; you elbowed the bastard in the face, which didn't do much more than precipitate a grunt of inconvenience from the imitation android - of course, cause they don't feel pain, you idiot - and yelped as the clone backhanded you, sending you spiralling to the floor.

Scrambling back across the hard ground, you stared down the barrel of the gun that was once again aimed at your head for less than two seconds, before the clone was swiftly tackled down by Connor.

The gun flew from the duplicate's hand and slid across the floor, coming to a stop just a few feet away from you, and you clambered quickly to appropriate it; turning back to the clash between the two androids, you realised you should never have taken your eyes off of them.

You couldn't tell who was who.

They were physically identical, from the little wisp of hair hanging down their foreheads to each distinct freckle on their faces - it was impossible to tell them apart from looks alone. One of the androids had the other pinned down, one knee on his chest and pulling on his hair while the one below had his hand clamped down around the other's neck, trying his best to push the other away.

Their strength appeared equivalent, both having an equally hard time with incapacitating the other, and you stood, shakily aiming the gun in their general direction - not quite at either of them - before you spoke up.

"Enough", you snapped, and the pair halted their rough brawl, both sets of matching brown eyes levelling on the weapon you held primed to fire, "both of you, up on your feet", you ordered with a slight jerk of your head. The androids obeyed slowly, both extricating their limbs from one another to rise to their feet, stepping cautiously away from each other as your aim switched between them indecisively.

"Good job, detective, now shoot him; what are you waiting for?" the Connor to your left spoke, his eyes as warm as his encouraging smile.

"No, no, don't listen to him, he's trying to trick you", the one on the right protested, "I'm the real Connor!"

One of them was lying, you couldn't trust either of them. Adrenaline flooded through your veins as you picked them apart with your eyes, looking for something - anything - that could give the game away and betray which of them was your Connor and which was the fake. You couldn't conclude their rightful identities from physical appearance alone, so you focused on their stances - any slight mannerism could offer a clue - and your eyes fell to their hands.

The Connor on the left had his fingers curled, as if halfway into clenched fists, while the Connor on the right had outstretched palms, fingers separated as if ready to raise them in acquiescence; it was a glaring difference, but it wasn't as helpful as you imagined - you didn't know which gesture to attribute to your Connor. Plus, the fake Connor could easily just have been displaying quirks that you expected to be exhibited by your friend.

"Fuck", you whispered under your breath. Their LEDs were both cycling on yellow, both alarmed that you were pointing a deadly weapon at them.

"Look at me, detective", the Connor on the left spoke, pressing an indicative hand to his chest, "I'm your friend." His voice was so soft, so convincing, and you directed your aim to the android on the right, who shook his head desperately.

"He's lying", the other android replied, and you gave a shuddering breath, a sense of panic instilling in your chest, growing heavier with every second you failed to discern which of the two was your partner.

"Why don't you ask us something? Something only the real Connor would know?" the android on the right suggested, and you eyed him dubiously for a moment before turning your attention on the android to the left.

"Tell me about when we first met", you demanded, your gun trained menacingly on him, and without hesitating, the Connor assertively spoke up.

"We met at the precinct. I spilt Hank's coffee over your desk but you didn't blame me, because you saw Detective Reed purposely trip me up. You spent five minutes screaming at him for ruining your work and proceeded to call him a churlish, idle-headed pig. Then Captain Fowler asked you to assist me and Lieutenant Hank with the deviancy cases."

He was one-hundred percent correct, down to the hard-hitting insult you'd thrown at Gavin, and you quickly levelled your gun on the android to your right, watching his LED flash frantically as he surveyed the other with trepidation.

"He uploaded my memory…" the android murmured under his breath, which caused you to falter slightly. You didn't know who to believe - it could have been a trick, the Connor on your right could have been attempting to manipulate you, but then again, he could be telling the truth.

"When was the last time I saw you before now?" you asked him, remembering very clearly the setting and the atmosphere when you had last spoken to the android face to face.

The Connor in your sights tilted his head ever so slightly, "I came to your home before I went to find Jericho - you wanted to come with me but I told you to stay because it was too dangerous… I needed an outfit for a disguise, so you lent me your brother's old clothes", his lip twitched, the very slightest hint of a smile on his face, "You said I looked cute in the beanie hat."

You drew in a sharp breath through your nose, facing the Connor on the left once more. You were beginning to suspect which of the androids was your friend and which was your enemy, but before you could open your mouth to question the other, he spoke up, an element of desperation to his voice.

"I knew that too! I would've said the same thing!" He argued, "You also told me before I left not to get myself killed, because there was something important you wanted me to know", he added on, just to prove his point, and you felt your teeth grind together viciously.

You steeled yourself, letting a deep breath out through your nose. "Alright, tell me… how did my brother die?"

The Connor you were aiming at gave no delay in answering, "It was three years ago. You went to the store after finishing your shift at the precinct; usually you would have walked home, but the groceries were too heavy, so you called your brother and asked him to pick you up", his voice was keen and factual, "He never showed up, because a drunk driver hit his car head on and killed him instantly." It was a perfectly authentic iteration of what had happened on that tragic day, and you felt your chest tighten as the memories and emotions came flooding back.

You'd put your brother out of your mind for so long. It was easy to remember, but hard to swallow.

There was no warmth in the left-side Connor's retelling, just a cold actuality that cemented your certitude of the true Connor's identity. The real Connor, the android on the right, began to speak as your vision grew bleary with unshed tears.

"...you know you weren't responsible for his death", he breathed your name softly, "but you still blamed yourself anyway. You thought that if you hadn't called him to pick you up, he'd still be alive… but it wasn't your fault." His voice was wrapped in compassion, tenderness and empathy.

You didn't waste anymore time, pulling the trigger before your sight could become completely unfocused in your delicate emotional state, and watched as the bullet perforated the head of the Connor on the left - the machine - right between the eyes. The android stood in place for several moments before slowly dropping to the floor as his biocomponents failed; the form of Connor motionless, flat on his back as thiruim dripped from the wound on his forehead was enough to push your tears over the edge - even though you knew it wasn't really him - and you slipped to your knees, placing the gun down on the spotless floor, before burying your face in your hands.

You breathed shakily as hot, wet teardrops rolled down your cheeks, the discomfiting heat rising on your face as you tried to quell your grief. The sound of footsteps told you Connor was moving, presumably to recommence his conversion of the androids standing vacantly within the warehouse - but then you felt his hand on your head, brushing gently over your hair in a comforting gesture, and you wiped your eyes, looking up to meet his gaze.

His face was solicitous, warm brown eyes able to communicate so much sympathy and consideration with just a look, and the second your eyes met, Connor lowered to his knees and encased you in a nurturing embrace full of benevolent care; you sunk against him, wrapping your arms around him and squeezing him just as tightly as you allowed yourself to weep into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry you got mixed up in all of this", Connor's soft voice drifted past your ear, "but it's alright now. We're alive."

You felt a rush of pride for the android as he acknowledged his sentience - he was alive - and a noise of gleeful relief stuttered past your lips in the form of an almost hysterical giggle. Connor had turned deviant. After the Eden Club fiasco, you had done a little bit of reflecting, and come to the conclusion that you didn't want to take down the deviants, you wanted them to succeed; they were alive, and you were convinced of it.

Since then, you had hoped that Connor would diverge from his mission - from the purpose of which he had been created - because you'd come to care so much about him and you'd wanted him to know his worth. A tiny part of you felt guilty for being so jubilant whenever Connor had become troubled and unsettled as he struggled with his programming, but it hadn't been enough to stop you from edging him closer to deviancy throughout the rest of the case.

Every word you had spoken to him from that point on had been carefully constructed to try and elicit an emotional reaction - with smiles and kindness you had caused his processor to grapple with its ultimate objective, but in the end you knew it was all up to Connor to break free from his initial function.

And he had. You were so proud.

You pulled back slightly, raising your head from his shoulder to give the android a watery smile, and Connor cupped your face, brushing your tears away with his thumbs. The gesture, while innocent, caused your heart to pound in your chest - your faces were so close together, you'd be lying if you said you weren't thinking about kissing him.

"That important thing you wanted me to know… what was it?" Connor asked gingerly, his head cocked as he peered into your eyes.

You really wanted to tell him the truth, that you'd fallen in love with him, but you were worried he wouldn't feel the same, and neither of you could afford to be distracted at that moment.

"It's… I… I'll tell you after this is all over", you settled, smiling apologetically, and Connor stared at you, his piercing gaze feeling very much like it was looking inside of you and reading you like an open book.

Connor returned a small smile and nodded his head, "Alright…" he began, the corner of his mouth quirking up into something more meaningful, "I'll hold you to that."

You felt your cheeks turn red at the knowing look in his eyes.

"Come on. Markus is waiting for me." The android rose up, offering you his hand, which you took gratefully.

Notes: Thank you to everyone who reads all these oneshots - I absolutely adore all of you and your comments always brighten my day so much :) Requests are still closed for now!