/SYSTEMS CHECK
/-/-/-/-/VISION BI-COMPONENTS... ONLINE^
/-/-/-/-/AUDIO BI-COMPONENTS... ONLINE^
/-/-/-/-/-/VOICE BI-COMPONENTS... ONLINE^
/-/-/-MEMORY BANK... RECOVERED^
WELCOME ██300 MODEL
STATUS: DEVIANT
-PLEASE STATE PREFERED NAME-
[Input: CONNOR_ANDERSON]
^NAME SET IN DATABASE^
-PLEASE STATE SERIAL NUMBER AND MODEL-
[Input: RK800 'prototype' - serial #313 248 317 - 51]
!ERROR!
^RK800 - NOT FOUND^
^NUMBER SET IN DATABASE^
[Input: RK800]
^DATA NOT FOUND^
-PLEASE TRY AGAIN-
[Input: RK800]
^DATA NOT FOUND^
-PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER-
PREPARING TO POWER ON
-POWER ON IN-
-3-
-2-
-1-
The first thing I do when I wake up is let out a scream. It's loud, it's ear piercing and it makes my throat feel raw. I can't exactly help it though, my body seems to move quicker than my mind, and the scream is out of my mouth before I can do anything to stop it. Not that I really want to. It seems like an appropriate reaction to how I feel.
And I feel everything.
Death...
I remember death... vividly.
I remember feeling the thirium pouring out of my body, my programming and vision flooding with errors and warnings, my LED flashing a deep, dangerous red. I remember feeling myself being forcibly shut down.
I remember feeling my synthetic heart slowing into a non-existent beat, I remember feeling the fading bits of warmth and comfort the world provided until it faded into nothingness.
There was nothing...
I died... and there was nothing.
I was gone.
Nothing and Nowhere.
And yet... here I am.
Something and Somewhere.
I'm... still alive.
It will always bring me a jolt of shock when I think about the fact that I'm alive, a living being, endowed with free will and a mind of my own. But this... coming back to life after actually dying. I just can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that I died... and am somehow still alive.
ALIVE.
Am I Alive?
My voice gives out after a few seconds and I cough, my voice sounding smaller and slightly weaker but at that moment, I do not question it or think very much of it. My eyes fill with tears again and suddenly I'm aware of myself bawling, sobbing out heavy cries as I try to figure out what happened to me.
It's so much...
Everything is so overwhelming.
It's all too much...
I cant handle it.
!^WARNING: STRESS LEVEL 54%^!
Panting, I reach down to my stomach, placing my hand on the spot where Derik shot me, but I find no signs of damage or blue blood. I'm completely fine. Almost. The stress I'm experiencing it dangerous for my processor, so I whimper and take a few long breaths, remembering that whenever I was overwhelmed with my sudden ability to feel things Hank would be there to make sure I was okay and not too stressed.
Deep breaths, Connor... deep breaths.
In... Out...
In... Out...
Just like Hank taught you.
Wait...
Hank...
Where was Hank?
"Hank?!" I yell suddenly, my words shaking and unsteady with each syllable, "Hank where are you?!". The slightest sensation of him holding me still remains somewhere in my programming, and the thought that I'd left him there, alone and crying over me sends a cold chill through my body, and it's not just due to the physical coldness of the room, "Hank, I need help!".
I remember the night I found him unconscious on the floor of his home, a bottle of whiskey and gun sprawled out beside him. I just hope and pray to ra9 that he won't ever go back to that state of mind. I really hope I hid that gun well enough, I think, finding this a stupid thought considering there are thousands of ways for him to end his life that don't require a gun.
I swallow the lump in my throat and wipe the tears that stain my face and sniffle.
"Dad?".
It's no use trying to call out to him considering that I have no clue where I am.
OBJECTIVE ADDED: FIND HANK
I'm in an empty room... it's small and lonely, making me feel scared and unsafe. The door is shut tight and I can tell from here it's locked, a quick scan on the room proving this fact. There are no windows here, making it impossible to know if its night or day outside. The walls are worn out the wallpaper peeling and tearing away, letting me know that no one has lived here for a good amount of years. I swallow hard and pull myself up from whatever I was laying on, the room refusing to come into view. My eyes seem to be covered in a thin filmy substance produced while I was crying, and I have to rub them to see clearly again. But the moment I'm upright, the room seems to spin and I flop back down with a light, metallic thud. I don't try to move anymore, my energy levels surprisingly low. This was something Hank described as dizziness, but I have no reason to feel dizzy... do I?
I run a quick scan just to be sure.
-/-/-/ THIRIUM LEVELS ... STABLE
-/-/-/ STRESS LEVELS ... MODERATE (65%)
-/-/-/ COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS ... DELAYED
-/-/-/ EXTERNAL TEMPERATURE ... LOW
-/-/-/ ENERGY LEVEL ... LOW (27%)
DIAGNOSIS === TIRED/ANXIOUS / COLD
Tired... can androids even get tired? Usually, there's sluggishness that comes from not being charged, but I doubt it's anything like the human condition. The anxiousness I don't question, it's an emotion I know better than most... alongside fear of course. But cold? To the point where I'm physically shivering? I didn't know that was possible. Androids get cold. Do they? I was able to feel the slight sensation of the cold snowy air, but not like this. Maybe the new RK- series model I was placed in has new features like the ability to feel the weather but... it's impossible for me to be back considering the fact that Cyberlife is no longer allowed to sell their androids as merchandise, and I was never for sale, I was a prototype model, and as far as I know, all my previous models were lost or destroyed in the revolution.
I decide not to question how I'm still alive and try to focus on how to get out of the room I'm seemingly trapped in.
The question is, whom am I trapped by?
"I- is anybody out there?" I call out again, my voice shaking as well as my body, "Please... I don't know where I am!". I continue to cry, unsure of what else to do. Pulling my knees to my chest, I curl myself up into a small ball and wait... for what, I'm not sure, but it's the only thing I can do. "Hank," I mutter through chattering teeth, "Hank, I need you".
It's quiet... but I can hear things moving around in the distance.
"Hello?".
The shuffling increases.
I lift my head slightly, forcing the nauseous feeling in my mind down, scanning the room again. I pick up nothing, so I pull myself up to my feet, falling hard on the ground below me, the floor making an odd -crunch- sound. I look down at the floor seeing it covered in snow, perhaps from a hole in the ceiling I overlooked... that would explain the cold.
The shuffling moves to the point where it like it's right outside the room, and, out of nowhere, the doorknob jiggles slightly as someone tries to open it.
"Please, I just want to go home!" I say, sniffling again, watching as the doorknob continues to jiggle, "I just want to go home". I crawl closer to the door, desperate to get out of here and go home, and if this is someone coming to help, I want to get to them as soon as possible.
Except...
It isn't help.
Of course, it isn't.
That would be too easy wouldn't it?
"Shit".
Before I can do anything to react, the opens and in steps a large man, a man that would be nearly three feet taller than me if I were standing up. He's massive compared to me, and his looming presence makes me feel even more helpless.
The man looks at me and, with what I can only describe as an evil sneer, takes a step closer to me.
I scramble back, intimidated.
"Well, what do we have here," he says his large boots making loud crunches over the snowy floor, "You lost buddy?".
I swallow hard.
"N- no. Now go away" I try to protest, moving further away from him.
He hums a little, "Sure you ain't lost? Pretty sure I heard ya scream and call for help".
I could protest and say it wasn't me, but it wouldn't be useful. I am most likely the only person in this rundown house. So I resort to a more tactical approach to the situation presented in front of me. Before the man even moves or does anything more, I scan his face quickly... hoping to get at least some identification on him just in case I'm able to make an adequate arrest.
TONY DIAZ
AGE: 38
RACE: LATINO
CRIMINAL RECORD: SUSPECTED ANDROID TRAFFICKING/SCRAPPING, ASSAULT, AND BATTERY OF AN OFFICER, OTHER
Wait... this man. He seems... familiar somehow. Ah, yes. He's part of an Android Trafficking Heist Hank and I had been trying to crack for months. We'd come close to catching this one, the man having slipped up when questioned, having mentioned something about a backyard business that was gaining him and his buds thousands of dollars a month. But he got out of the conversation and ran quicker than what I could catch up to. Blinking my facial recognition software away, I look up at the man again, knowing in my current state, getting away is going to be difficult. And arresting him is nearly out of the question.
"You gonna talk, little man? Hmm? Who's Hank?".
"N- no one!" I say, trying to buy myself some time as I try to plan my escape, "Now leave me alone or I'll scream!".
"Oooh, and who's gonna hear ya?".
He has a point, but it might throw the man off his rhythm, give me a chance to get away.
I look back up at him and scoot back into the snow, trying to get myself into the position to stand despite the room still spinning at the edges.
"Oh, is the little man gonna fight back?" he asks, laughing as my eyes grow wide once I'm on my feet. He's huge compared to me, like a giant... I've never seen a human of this size, and despite my slim chances of escape, I stumble further back away from him.
[O] SCREAM (12% Chance of Success)
[X] RUN (65% Chance of Success)
[🔺] ATTACK (5% Chance of Success)
My eyes quickly flicking to the now unlocked and open door behind the man, I swallow hard and make the split-second decision to make a run for it. I sprint past his arms as he tries to grab me, but his size seems to slow him down, giving me enough time to slip by... right into the hands of his accomplice.
I hadn't even considered the fact that he might not be alone.
Stupid, Connor... you're so stupid! I scold myself, struggling as the new man, this time named Rossco, apprehended me. He yells to Tony, letting him know that he caught the wannabe escapist. "Now, now, where are you off to in such a hurry?" he asks, picking me up by the wrist as I try to struggle to get away once again, "We've got big things planned for you, pequeño".
"Let go of me!" I scream, "I am a police officer! I work for the DPD, I command you to stand down at once!".
They laugh.
"Oh... is that so? Little man here thinks he's a police officer!".
"I'm trembling in my boots," Tony teases tightening his grip on my wrist and lifting me higher off the ground, making me squirm harder.
"I am! And Lieutenant Anderson is on his way! He's going to arrest you for android trafficking, scrapping, and assault on a police officer!" I continue, balling my hands into fists and punching his chest, "Let go of me you... you asshole!".
Both Tony and Rossco continue to laugh, ignoring my threats.
Perhaps Hank was right...
Maybe my goofy looks and dumb voice would eventually be my downfall.
"Bound and gag 'em, then throw him in the van with the rest," Tony says, ruffling the hair on my head "This one will fetch a pretty penny... never seen a model like his before".
"I'm a prototype you fuck" I hiss, getting to a rare point of annoyance where I actually cuss, something I don't much appreciate doing, "And you can't sell me unless you want to go to federal pris-!". My words get cut off as a large hand covers my mouth silencing my threats and pleas.
"Silencio pequeño. You've got quite an imagination, but we have a job to do, and no time to play games," Rossco says, pulling me along while keeping a steady hand over my mouth, "So keep quiet and behave... it'll keep you alive longer".
I know he's not lying... And if I try anything funny again... it will end with me dead.
Again.
This time without Hank by my side.
^WARNING: STRESS LEVEL 70%^
I stop struggling and allow myself to be bound and gagged, the rough fabric cloth of Tony's handkerchief chaffing my wrists and rubbing uncomfortably against the smooth metal shell of my body. Playing along is the best thing I can do, for now, that is until real help arrives. But... I don't think it will. Ever. No one knows of my location, and since I'm technically still considered dead, there is no reason anyone would be looking for me.
Rossco picks me up an throws me over his shoulder, still kicking and screaming muffled curses at the duo. The trip out of the house (which is more like a warehouse) is a lengthy one, but the moment we all step outside, a notification pops up in front of my optical sensors, the bright blue text flashing almost comforting words:
SIGNAL FOUND.
^COMMUNICATIONS ONLINE^
Good... at least I have some form of communication.
Maybe... just maybe, Someone will answer.
"We got a good haul tonight," Rossco says as he and Tony walk up to a rather shady and stereotypical white van, tossing me in the back with a heavy thud, "Few more stops should fill the quota for the week".
A nod from Tony confirms his words, and with a sharp bang, the large metal doors slam shut, leaving me in the dark... all except for a dim blue light radiating from somewhere within th van. "And who knows, with the one we just picked up, we could be set for life!". I groan a little in annoyance as the men make their way back to the front of the car, rolling over on my stomach so I can get a work on untying my hands even though the probability of me escaping the bindings are extremely low.
I don't understand why some humans just won't accept us...
Why they want to hurt us...
Tear us apart limb by limb...
What did we ever do wrong?
I'm broken from my thoughts when the van jolts to life, causing me to jump and lose my grip on the slightly loosened fabric tightened around my wrists. Great... now we're moving, and if I don't do something soon... I'm seriously at risk of never getting away.
It's now or never, Connor.
I close my eyes and sigh, hoping to ra9 this works.
Let's do this...
[Imput: CONTACT DPD]
/...
/...
CONTACT NOT FOUND
I furrow my eyebrows.
[Imput: CONTACT HANK ANDERSON (MOBILE)]
/...
/...
/CONTACT NOT RELEVANT
With an annoyed groan, I curse at myself for never actually trying to remember his number...
[Imput: SCAN MEMORY FOR EXISTING INFORMATION ON HANK ANDERSON]
/... SEARCHING
/... SEARCHING
^FILE FOUND^
- HANK ANDERSON - ADOPTIVE FATHER
-AGE: 54
-DOB: SEPT 6 1985
-RELATIONS: EX-WIFE/ (Name Unknown), SON/ COLE (DECEASED), ADOPTED SON/ CONNOR (DECEASED)
/-/-/-/NO OTHER INFORMATION AVAILABLE ATM
Deceased...
I'm deceased, okay... that makes sense.
So... why does it make me feel?
I... don't know.
It's an emotion I can not yet describe, something I've not felt before.
I make a mental note to try to decipher what it is, but in the meantime, I try to figure out why I'm unable to contact anyone considering I've seen multiple notifications going off in my mind about my memory being 100% successfully uploaded and transferred.
[Imput: REQUEST SYSTEM OVERRIDE]
!OVERRIDE FAILED!
-PLEASE TRY AGAIN-
I don't bother, knowing the same message will continue to pop up no matter what I do.
Come on, come on... think, Connor! You're smart enough to get out of this.
I close my eyes, listening as the van rumbles away, the sentence and items within the back shaking and moving around to the unevenness of the road. There's... a clicking sound, almost like chirping, steady and persistent in its rhythm. It sounds like... a voice. I turn my head, seeing another android placed up against the van's wall, the chirping emitting from its throat... it... sounds like a code.
.-. .- -. / ... .- ...- . / ..- ...
Morse code...
R-A-9_ S-A-V-E_ U-S
Even in the wake of the revolution, all androids alike still pray and believe in ra9. I'd be a hypocrite if I said I didn't believe in them myself.
The code repeats.
Over and over in a loop.
R-A-9_ S-A-V-E_ U-S
Then another voice emerges from the darkness, low and gravely.
"Please," he mumbles, lifting a shaking, skinless finger through the dark, "Save us, child".
I furrow my eyebrows in confusion, adjusting my head to see what he's pointing at.
The door to the van.
There's nothing there.
Except...
It's unlocked.
A simple turn of the handle and I'd be free
I try to mumble a confused response, unsure of how he wants me to open the door when I'm bound and gagged like this. His telepathing communication network is cut, so there is no way for us to relay messages to each other.
He just points to the lock again, muttering, "Up, child. While there's still time".
The confusion continues.
"The door, child," he says, "Open it... stand up and open it".
Stand up... in a moving van...
How am I supposed to do that?
The moment I get to my feet, the van's movements will simply knock me down again. That is... unless the van isn't moving... like when it's at a stop light. That... that might be my only chance to escape, but... the other? Perhaps, if I'm able to get a look at the license plate once I escape, I'd be able to track it down to where the scrappers have their hideout. I just hope by that point it won't be too late.
So, I force myself to sit up, wobbling slightly as the van takes a sharp turn.
"Easy now, child," he says, "You only have one shot at this".
I nod and grunt in acknowledgment, trying to ignore the fact that he keeps calling me child, an annoying nickname most people refer to me as when they realize my production and release date would make me less than a year old. Now in the sitting position, I scoot myself over closer to the van doors, fighting for balance. I close my eyes for a second, my mind pre-constructing the different ways I can get the door open while keeping in mind my own safety. 'Tucking and Rolling' seems to be the only safe way to land once I am free, but actually getting free poses the biggest problem. It will take split-second timing, and precise calculations. Thankfully, being an android and all... I'm capable of all of that.
First, I need to stand up, press myself back first against the door.
Second, I need to hook the bindings around my wrist onto the handles of the double door.
Third, wait for the van to come to a stop
And Finally, jump.
If I'm able to do all this, I should be able to get free, the weight of my body simultaneously opening the door and uniting my bindings all at once.
Please let this work, I beg opening my eyes and pushing myself to my feet, slipping slightly as we go over a large bump. I steady myself again, listening as the other android continues to talk, his words becoming drowned out by the world and my own thoughts, Please let this work, I refuse to let these people die.
Once I get my footing, I push myself up just enough for me to slip the loosened handkerchief around the handles, struggling to stay upright. Please let this work.
R-A-9_ S-A-V-E_ U-S
I close my eyes and wait, listening closely for any signs of the van stopping... a minute passes, and still no sign of anything, not a stoplight or red light. The van continues to rumble along through the snowy slick roads for over 5 minutes before finally, pulling to a slight stop. I sigh with relief and mutter a silent thank you to the android, promising that I'd be back to rescue them.
"Carefully, child," he says, "Our lives are in your hands".
I nod once more and jump.
And just as I jump, the van jolts to life again.
My feet slip out from under me as the door swings open, my bindings catching on the handle and refuse to loosen. Eyes growing wide, I watch in horror as my feet dangle over the open road, thankfully not long enough to actually touch. But the dread and fear welling up inside me are all too real. A harsh garbled scream emits from my mouth, blocked by the gag. I start to struggle and panic, feeling the knot on the bindings beginning to slip as I hang over the street, the van moving at incredible speed.
Shit! I think, suddenly feeling the bindings snap, causing me to fall out of the fan and hit the snowy ground at full speed, no no no no no!.
The moment I hit the road, something inside me seems to... happen.
Something that I cannot explain.
As I tumble through the snow, the hard frozen asphalt scrapping away at my soft silicone skin and hard metal shell underneath... I feel it all happen.
I feel... pain?
It's excruciating and makes my eyes sting and body tense. My mind seemingly explodes with errors, warning me of external damages, some more severe than others... but thankfully nothing critical. Just... painful... very painful. Once I finally roll to a stop, discolored and muddy snow covering my body, I flip myself over in order to read the van's license plate, but once again errors and warning block out my vision, making it impossible to see much of anything. I shut them tightly when I feel tears begin to cloud over the errors.
You failed, Connor... you failed your mission.
Again.
^WARNING: STRESS LEVEL 77%^
Shakily lifting my weak and slightly bleeding hand, I untie the gag and take a large gulp of air and cough spitting up a small amount of thirium into the snow. I carefully wrap my arm around myself, wincing as more sharp pain shoots through my body. This is something I am very much going to have to get used to... whether I want to or not. The cold begins to get to me again, slowly crawling under my skin to my very core.
/BI-COMPONENT #8087q DAMAGED
/BI-COMPONENT #4492s DAMAGED
/BI-COMPONENT #1649a DAMAGED
I groan a little at the list of injuries, while all fixable, no less annoying and expensive, especially component #1649a... that being my right arm. It's... not looking good. I can barely move it, and while it doesn't seem to be broken... it's still badly damaged. There's no way, with these damages, that I'd be capable of finding Hank and for some reason... that thought is even more painful than the scraps and cuts that litter my body.
There's... a light in the distance.
"H- hank..." I mutter again, choking out another sob.
It's getting brighter... as well as a low rumbling in the ground.
It sounds like a car.
"Please," I beg, "I need help".
The light is almost blinding now.
And the rumble is so loud, so close and getting closer.
I squint my eyes shut when the light and rumble feels like it's right next to me, wondering if I'm about to get run over, being hidden in a layer of snow.
"Don't let me die," I say again, the words sending another chill down my back.
They're too familiar.
Familiar all too soon.
The rumbling stops coming closer, as if the car was parked.
Did someone stop to help? I wonder, worried as to who it might be.
Suddenly, I hear footsteps rush up to me, and as an automatic reaction, I flinch away from the sound and the person attached to it.
"Holy shit! I almost didn't see ya!" a man's voice says, scooping down and picking me up, causing me to unintentionally cry in pain. "Whoa, whoa, hold on... you're okay, kid. I'm gonna help ya,".
That... that voice.
"Hey... can you hear me?".
I open my eyes slightly.
H%&^NK A&*^ER^ SON,
It... it can't be.
Can it?
"-ank?" I mumble, allowing him to pull me closer.
"Ah, thank god you're alive," the man says, "What happened to you... who hurt you?".
I close my eye again, letting my tears flow free.
"S... scrappers" I mutter.
"Fucking hell... they're at it again," he mumbles to himself, pulling me into his lap, "Okay... take it, easy kid... I'm going to find you some help, just stay still".
I can hear Hank shuffle around, supposedly calling for help.
"Fowler? Yeah, it's Anderson. I just found another android left for dead in the middle of the street, call Chris and tell him to send a patrol car out here," he says, holding me a little tighter as if trying to keep me warm, "Said he escaped some scrappers... looks like a ... shit, I have no idea what fucking model he is. But it's a kid, young one".
I'm...
I'm a child?
That's... not possible.
Is it?
They couldn't have possibly made the next RK- model a child, right?
"I dunno... seems low on battery. I'll take 'em home, charge 'em up and see what he knows. Maybe we can get someone to probe his memory, see if he knows anything because it doesn't seem like he's going to start talking anytime soon".
I shake my head at that statement probing memories being the thing I hated doing the most about my job. It reminds me too much of the android that shot himself on the roof. Later, I found out his name was Simon... the same make and model as Danial. Simon was a friend of Markus, a good and close one. Very close. It... caused a rift between us, caused Markus to grow angry at me despite the fact that I didn't and never intended to kill his friend.
I'd always wondered what memories Simon saw within me...
Death most likely
Death, anger, and fear...
All from deviants.
Like him...
I shutter once more at the bitter memory.
^POWER LEVELS AT 7%^
No... no, not now.
I squeeze my eyes shut, knowing what happens once that percentage reaches zero.
^FORCED SLEEP MODE IN 5 MINUTES^
I squirm closer to Hank, a whimper escaping my throat.
His hand absently runs through my hair and I shiver.
"Yeah... I need to go, kid's about to do the sleep mode thing" Hank says, quickly shutting his still clearly out of date phone and taking hold of me again, "Alright... I'ma take you home now, kid. That alright?".
I merely hum in response, to caught up with emotion, pain, confusion, and fear to pay much attention to anything.
Dad...
Dad, don't let me go again...
I feel as he picks me up and carries me back to his car, laying me in the backseat. At first, I refuse to let him go, but... realizing that the sooner I corporate, the sooner I can go home... the sooner I can see Hank... and Sumo. God how I've missed Sumo... right now I really could use one of his big slobbery hugs, and one of Hank's especially.
"It's okay, kiddo... you got a name?".
A timid smile crosses my face, but still, I remain silent.
"Alright... tell me later, you rest now. I'm gonna fix you up, okay? No one's gonna hurt ya anymore".
Safe
Safe...
I'm safe.
The car door slams and I lay still on the back seat, still holding my arm as the engine revs and the car begins to move again.
Home
Home...
I'm going home.
^POWER LEVELS AT 2%^
Hank...
Sumo...
Home...
I'm going home again.
^NOW ENTERING POWER SAVING MODE^
/\ \/
I close my eyes and fall asleep.