Its ya girl (well sorta) back here with more Cassian! Sorry to keep you waiting for checks calendar 4 days? Hope you didn't miss me too much
Sigh...im resigned to putting this in every chapter now…
"Talking"
Emphasis
Thinking
"Android brain talking and now texting"
.:internal workings like mission updates, scanning, and android googling:.
Chap 3
They had changed the design a lot.
As promised, a week on the dot after Cassian's dismantling was narrowly averted by Nancy, the RX700s arrived; 2 of them, registered as Astrid and Logan, identical in every way and couldn't be more different from Cassian. Where she was short, they were tall, where she was thin, they were broad; their faces were sharp and severe while hers was soft and welcoming. She was happy that there wouldn't soon be mass produced androids with her face running around in the world but their existence reminded her everyday that she wasn't good enough; she was alive but these 2 were upgraded. They even changed their color palette; trading green eyes and red hair for brown, pale skin for an dusky olive. The report given to nancy stating that the brighter and lighter colors stood out too much and made the android a target for combatant shooters.
They made things difficult for Cassian, just by existing. She no longer had the room to herself, once all the humans went home for the night and the late nighters and overtimers finally shuffled off...she now shared it with two unknowns and who knows who they could report to...She contemplated trying to get them reassigned or decommissioned, but quickly dismissed the idea; she was a lot of things, but a hypocrite was not one of them. She couldn't kill these two simply because they made her life slightly more frustrating.
And boy, was she frustrated. They got in the way, worked in her space, and took her cases. Finally Nancy messed with their programming on the sly, making them see Cassian as their leader, of sorts, just so when she told them to let her work in peace, they would. That lowered the one sided tension between Cassian and the two of them considerably and, in time, them wandering around the office doing busy work became...normal; Nancy even took to calling them her sisters...which cassian didn't know how to feel, so she mostly tried to ignore it.
Cassian and Nancy had found that they could talk, in a way, through texts and once they figured that out, the two of them talked all the time. So when the other woman pushed the "sibling" thing too hard, cassian shot back a "keep calling them that and I'm calling you mom." Nancy seemed taken aback and thoughtful at that, but she ultimately dropped it. However, Cassian couldn't stop the others in the offices from making the connection and talking about their "little robo family." She could only grin and bare it, much to her chagrin and Nancy's amusement.
"Cassian. Take care of that one will you?"
She is woken from her daydreaming of the past few months by Nancy calling to her across the room, her friend working on a human man's leg. The please is always implied with Nancy and Cassian. "Can't show too much respect for androids or someone might get suspicious." Nancy had texted once. They both knew that and Cassian's "Of course, Nancy" was as genuine as it sounded.
.:Mission Update: evaluate and fix damaged RK800:.
.:Downloading: damage report...gunshot to right shoulder. No diagnostic scan:.
Leave me all the hard work, huh?
She finds the android in question sitting on her table, right arm dangling, useless, at his side. He was tall, even while sitting, with brown hair and pale skin. He was wearing a smart sports jacket, which designated him as RK800, over a crisp white shirt, askew tie, and dark jeans, all undoubtedly stained blue and ruined. His LED was flickering yellow.
.:Facial Scan Complete: RK-series RK800 prototype. Name registered as-:.
"Hello. My name is Connor."
She hadn't even realize he had opened his eyes. They were a dark brown; so warm and...Alive. Meeting them, she froze for a full 4 seconds, lips slightly parted; she had to nearly physically shake herself back to work and hide her non-android behavior by scanning his injury...
.:Scanning: gunshot to the shoulder. Non vital. No biocomponents damaged:.
"Hello, Connor," her normal pleasant smile stretches across her face," My name is Cassian. It would appear you have been shot. Non vital, should be a quick fix. Please, remove your jacket and shirt and lay back on the table." Her hand sweeps towards the table he is already sitting on. "May I ask what happened?"
He loosened his tie and took off his jacket as Cassian gathered all she needed to fix him. She finds Nancy looking over her shoulder from across the room with an appraising look, clearly liking what she saw. Her friend then catches her eye and winks. Internally rolling her eyes at Nancy's antics and turning back towards her patient, Cassian is stopped short by the sight for Connor shrugging his shirt off. She had to agree with Nancy, it was a nice sight…
Stop it! You're his doctor! Be professional.
She hurries to his side, to begin her work, hoping no one saw her rather unprofessional (and definitely un-android) behavior and thinking a quick thank you! to her creators for the fact that blushing is not one of her standard features...
Ignoring the "you lucky bitch." text from Nancy, Cassian grabs a tool from her work tray.
"Live fire testing of my model. A small glitch in my predictive program led to this...small set back." He glances at his shoulder as if it was it's fault entirely that he got shot.
Oh no...he's cute…
"Don't worry, I'll get you up and running and back on track in no time. Please, retract the skin around the damage." Placing a hand lightly on the area as skin turned to shiny white, Cassian prepared to remove the damaged plate. Curious about her fellow prototype, she couldn't help but ask, "what is your primary function?"
"My main purpose is the tracking and catching of deviants."
Oh shit.
Setting the plate aside slowly, using that time to take a second to steady herself (he can't possibly know about you. Calm. Down.) "Is that right? I was under the impression Commander Miller was in charge of deviant hunting for Cyberlife…"
"I believe I am to replace him...in a way; I am meant to work in conjunction with law enforcement in the city. I can reconstruct and analyze crime scenes in real time. I will soon be sent out to curb the rise in deviancy in Cyberlife androids."
She listens to him rattle off his mission, silently facing an internal dilemma. Her hand was in his chest. She could stop him. Stop him from ever making it out onto the streets; to hunt people just like her down. Self preservation, that's what it was. She could stop it before it even starts. All she would have to do is damage his core...no one would know.
"Cassian?"
She turned and all she could see was his face; built to hunt deviants but innocent of his programming. She realised for the 2nd time, she had come close to murder; murder that would never have been investigated but murder nonetheless. She felt dirty and wrong.
"Are you alright?" Connor seemed genuinely concerned
Shit! She had been so careful for so long...and now its all going to come crashing down because she froze in front of exactly the wrong person. She had to say something and quick.
"I'm sorry, Connor. I had a minor heat spike which interfered with my data storage, nothing to worry about." Hoping her first not-lie (now just a lie) would be enough this time, she turns to her work, pushing to the back of her mind her possible attempted murder, "I am a prototype as well. Small glitches are inevitable. They have been addressed in the new models," Cassian waves a slightly dripping, blue hand (her other still in Connor's chest) at Logan, who at that moment was bringing Nancy some plasma for her patient, "so they will not be in the final design."
"If the new model's are available, why are you still in here?" His tone was so curious and innocent, his question almost didn't hurt. Cassian felt a need to defend herself, which she promptly mentally stomped out till it was just a light urge. Her gaze finds Nancy, where she is berating her patient for something, scaring the poor man.
"She has stated she didn't wish to have to set up a new android with her prefered settings and that she prefered that I stay in her office." While not a lie, Cassian hopes he buys it anyway, her hands busy replacing the damaged plate with a shiny new one, watching as the skin creeps over it once again. "All done! You may get dressed now."
Connor nods, though he still looked slightly confused. He dressed quickly, though it was obvious that his clothes were ruined by now. He stood at attention and awaited orders. Connor then surprised her; he took out a coin, a shiny quarter, and began to flick it back and forth almost absent mindedly.
Huh…
It was quite interesting that he could have such a human tick but...after a few minutes...it begun to drive Cassian up the walls. The ping ping ping his flicking created ringed in her ears and she had to make it stop. She grabs Connor's arm, nearly making him drop the coin. His look of light shock probably matched hers. She recovered quicker.
"Please, you'll disturb the other patients."
Considering the only other patient in the room was being treated by Nancy across the room and seemed quite preoccupied by the lecture he was receiving, it was rather thin excuse but Connor nods and apologies anyway, putting away his coin with a final flip. His LED flickers yellow quickly and her cocks his head at Cassian.
"I must go. My testing will begin again soon." With a final nod, he turns and begins to leave.
"What is it for?"
Hand just about to push the swinging hospital doors open, Connor looks back at Cassian.
"The coin...what is it for?
Digging into his pocket, he flips the coin back and forth a few times. He's trying to annoy me isn't he… "It is a calibration coin, it is supposed to help my reflexes."
"It didn't work very well…"
"What do you mean?"
"You got shot."
"So I did."
This was the longest conversation she had ever had with another android (most aren't very chatty) and it was with a man who was built to capture and kill her...but she found she didn't want it to end.
"I really must go."
"Of course," damn… "good luck in your testing. Hope your...calibrations work out." fuck, don't push your luck!
Connor's eyes narrow and for a moment she thinks she's fucked but then he nod again and pushes through the door.
Cassian watches the doors swing till they settle, wondering if he figured it out, whether she should prepare to run, and if she would ever see him again.
"So...that android was pretty cute ;)"
"Shut up, Nancy."
Cassian would see him again, exactly a week later (a twisted leg joint caused by a long fall during his testing; gruesome looking but painless for an android) then once more 3 days after that (how the fuck did he manage to lose a fucking hand? What kind of testing are they putting him through? She seethed behind a blank face) then one last time nearly a month later (apparently, humans look at androids funny when they don't have both ears…)
When he stopped coming in, she should have felt relief (there was less of a chance he would figure her out and he finally stopped fucking injuring himself.) but all she felt was...disappointment. She had come to rely on him for, for lack of a better term, human interaction. Cassian loved Nancy, she was her best friend, but it was nice to talk with someone else for a change; Astrid and Logan, though she was beginning to get used to their presence, weren't exactly known for their conversation skills, her android patients weren't either, her human patients screamed too much (or were knockout), and the other humans in the office didn't feel inclined to talk to an android about anything but work (or to annoy her about her "robo family" ugh…)
Connor was...different; dangerous but different, and she began to miss him.
THEY FINALLY MEET! I hope to get to the actual game in a chapter or 2, but they were always going to meet before the game timeline. And I love his coin tricks as much as the next person but it could get a little annoying and i do have to set up things for later (i have a plan for this story? Shocking, i know!)
Drop me a review if you like it or if you see anywhere i could improve!