Back in the apartment, Hank had taken out his bot binoculars and started tracing a trail of thirium from the fucked-up-robo-murder-parts wall back into the living room of the apartment. He had to wave away a lot of birds to get a good look at the glowing splotches of blue blood, but eventually they led him to the far wall, just under a great big hole in the ceiling.
What are the odds of one being in the roof again? Hank asked himself as he peered up into the darkness, clutching his bot binoculars loosely in one hand.
He didn't get too long to think on it as a figure dropped from above practically on top of the man. Hank was surprised, to say the least, he had hated jump scares when he was younger and time hadn't changed that one bit. He let out a shout of fear, and of pain considering a pair of feet just slammed into his shoulder like he was a god damn bowling pin.
Hank tumbled to the ground, the resident of the ceiling right on top of him. The person tried to run off, but Hank's reflexes were pretty good for his age and he grabbed them by their ankle. He knew right away that it was an android because it managed to drag him across the floor a little ways as it tried to run.
He pulled himself up and the android down, wrapping his free arm around its torso, then clambering up and getting an arm around its neck. He hauled it down backward and put it in a hold.
Androids were stronger than humans, and Hank knew he couldn't overpower the thing, so he shoved his hand up its shirt and grabbed hold of its thirium pump regulator.
"Surrender now or I pull it out!" Hank shouted into the android's ear, and sure enough, it ceased its frenzied struggle and froze in his grip.
"Please, please don't take me back, I don't want to." The android pleaded, and Hank pushed away from it so he could actually look it in the face. He pulled his gun for safety and aimed it at the android's thirium pump.
The thing looked like a young man, hat pulled down over his forehead and an oversized jacket swallowing his torso. Hank's gut did a little unwelcome dance at the sight of it, him, whatever.
"Please, please, I'll do anything, just don't take me back there" He continued muttering.
"Enough, you talk when I ask you questions and that's it, understood?" Hank snapped.
The android nodded stiffly, fearfully, his hands raised and his eyes wide.
"Alright, what's your name?"
"Rupert."
"You're a deviant?"
Another, slightly more hesitant nod.
"You attacked those police officers?"
"I didn't want to, but they would have taken me back."
"Back where?" Hank asked, frowning in confusion. Rupert shook his head, his hands beginning to tremble.
"The pit." He answered at last and Hank considered the reply for a moment. He hadn't heard of any pit, but putting the pieces together wasn't an enormous leap. Android parts specifically designed for combat, a deviant desperate to not go back, and cops in on the whole thing.
"An android fighting ring?" Hank asked, shoving the gun into the android's face.
Rupert let out another fearful nod.
"Please, don't take me back, I don't want to fight anymore." He begged.
"Then what's with the fucked up shrine on your wall?"
This elicited a different reaction in the android: rage. Rage and sorrow.
"My friends! They were my friends and he destroyed them!" Rupert screamed, his voice shifting into a sob near the end of the statement. "I took what I could, they deserved better, I wanted to bury them, say goodbye, I wanted to set them free, I wanted better for them..." He trailed off, real tears falling down his cheeks.
Hank recoiled at the outburst. The pieces of android on the wall were this guys friends, the guy actually had friends and they'd all been destroyed.
Hank had seen android fighting rings, they'd cropped up all over the place since violent sports had all either been outlawed or severely altered for human safety. People couldn't fight, but robots could. It wasn't illegal, so long as no one's guard bots were involved, since people needed those, and so long as all the androids involved had been willingly volunteered by their owners.
Unfortunately, this was rarely the case. Android pits were cesspools of kidnapped, illegally modified androids getting torn to shreds by the guard bots of the hardcore fanatics and the show runners. It was ugly and messy and brutal.
Hank had never liked them, but he didn't pay them much mind, as far as he was concerned it was just machines destroying other machines. But toss a machine with feelings, or what it thought was feelings, into that shit.
Jesus, Hank couldn't imagine. It had to have been hell.
He lifted the gun away from the android. The relief on Rupert's face was palpable and Hank couldn't help but offer his best reassuring grimace.
"So you escaped from the pit?" Hank asked, resting back on his heels and watching as the android sat up.
"Yes." He replied meekly.
Hank thought about his job. He was supposed to destroy deviants every chance he got, but just earlier Connor had brought up that "slight change to their mission objective."
Investigate the trickier deviants, find the source. The whole killing bit was secondary now, right? Besides, nobody was there to give him shit about it. Except Connor, and maybe Gavin. Speaking of which.
"Why didn't you come out when the police got here? They could have helped." Hank offered, only for Rupert to shake his head.
"The one you were talking to, I've seen him at the pit, he would have taken me back." The android insisted and Hank frowned, a bad feeling settling in his stomach.
"Gavin Reed? You've seen him at the fights?" He pressed.
"Yes, he sometimes brings in new androids to get destroyed, and in exchange he made some changes to his guard, made him bigger and scarier." Rupert explained.
"Son of a bitch." Hank muttered under his breath, the bad feeling getting heavier. "He?" Hank questioned. "Who's he?"
"The one who runs the pit. Zlatko."
Oh, Hank had heard that name before, and it did not make him feel one bit better.
He jumped to his feet, which caused Rupert to flinch for a moment, but Hank didn't have much time to dwell on it.
"With me." He commanded, turning his back on the android. He heard Rupert get to his feet and shuffle to Hank's side.
He stormed out of the apartment and into the hall, only to nearly run into Detective Reed and his unpleasantly large PC200 guard bot.
"Anderson, I was just coming to get you." Gavin said with a nervous chuckle.
"Oh yeah?" Hank rumbled, not removing himself from the detective's personal space, forcing the other man to take a few steps back. Rupert cowered behind Hank and Gavin's android loomed behind him.
"Yeah, I was showing your bot some footprints on the roof when it spotted another android and took off after it." Reed explained, brushing his nose with his thumb and gesturing to the open doorway down the hall. "I tried keeping up but you know—"
Hank seized the man by his lapels and slammed him against the nearest wall.
"Bullshit Reed, what did you do to him?" He roared, spit flying into the detective's face.
"I don't—"
"Don't you fucking lie to me! Where is he!?"
The brief look of fear melted from Gavin's face into an expression of smug triumph. He nodded at Hank with his chin and the man had only enough time to register the firm hand on his shoulder before he was tossed into the opposite wall.
He landed on his ass, toppling a metal rack and kicking up a whole lot of dust. Gavin's android loomed over him.
"Y'know, your android was right about one thing," the detective said, nonchalantly walking to stand beside his android, "it's better to invest in some actual upgrades than just paying for the looks." He gestured to his guard and Hank was reminded of when Connor had put his arm through the thing. What Hank wouldn't give to do the same to Gavin right then. "It wasn't cheap fixing it up after what that fucker did, but I had some improvements made, and that plastic prick is gonna pay for all of it."
Hank scooched up, but was still recovering from the pain radiating through his back, so he didn't stand up. Rupert was hiding in the doorway, just out of Gavin's sight.
"What did you do?" Hank growled, but he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.
Fancy five-million dollar prototype like Connor, with all the bells and whistles, strong enough to put his arm through another android, fast enough to take down multiple enemies in combat, advanced enough to hack a taxi cab and drive it from the roof. He'd be worth a fortune in the ring.
As if to confirm Hank's suspicions, the detective shrugged mockingly, then he burst out laughing.
"Hank Anderson, all soft over some android." He said at the tail end of a chuckle. "I give it a day, maybe more. I'll have whatever's left mailed to you." He finished and walked off toward the staircase, his android in tow.
Hank waited, glaring after them. As soon as they disappeared he got to his feet with a groan.
"Rupert, c'mere." He said, leaning against the wall while he waited for a mild bout of dizziness to pass.
"What?" The android asked tentatively. Hank dropped a hand on his shoulder and looked him gently, but firmly, in the eye.
"I'm gonna need your help."
Connor knew his exact position by the time the garbage truck stopped. He had calculated velocities and time elapsed in order to gauge distance, then he'd utilized his balance centers to determine the angles and directions of the turns the vehicle had made. Once the truck came to rest and the engine was shut off, Connor had a precise map of where he had been taken and the route from the apartment where he had started.
However, it did him little good. The blanket of androids that had broken his fall did more than shield him from the hard metal sides of the garbage truck. Each body was fitted with a jamming device that prevented him from making any kind of contact with the outside world. He couldn't call Hank or enter the Zen Garden, he couldn't even perform an internet search for how to deactivate the jamming devices. He was able to determine that the use of android bodies was intentional, since they were already specially designed to share information with other androids, making it simple to use them to focus the jammers on him specifically. The inflated cushions made it impossible for him to access the components he could destroy to deactivate the signal.
He was completely cut off, and Connor found the sensation very distressing. He had never felt so helpless before.
Once the truck stopped moving, the android got to his feet, preparing himself for what might come next.
A groan machinery and the grinding of metal indicated that the door to the back of the truck was opening. Connor could either remain inside and perhaps gain an advantage in forcing whoever was out there to come to him, or he could jump out quickly and possibly get the jump on his kidnappers.
He chose the latter, and launched himself through the narrow opening that was flooded with yellow light. He rolled as he met with the ground, kicking up the yellow dust that was coating the ground. Connor turned on his knee, raising his hands in preparation for a fight, only to see no one but the truck pulled halfway through a chain-link fence.
Then Connor's eyes drifted upward and he was met with the sight of a great many people. They were all around him, occupying a kind of stadium structure, cheering violently down at him. The android frowned, his optics adjusting to the light and taking in the structure.
It was a mall, or it had been at some point in the past. The floor in the center had been demolished, allowing a clear line of sight into the two-level underground parking garage. There were four floors, the balcony at the top made of scraped up faux marble and metal bannisters, the ground level littered with empty shops and half of a ruined fountain, the first level of the parking garage with no railing and the open floor of cracked concrete, and the lowest part of the garage. Connor was at the very bottom, standing alone off to the side of the makeshift arena.
The pillars had been cleared away and the sides were lined with a chain-link fence that went all the way up to the second level of the garage where it transitioned into a kind of netting over where the floor had been taken out. The light came from a few flood lights attached to the ground floor opening to the rest area below and the dirty glass ceiling at the very top.
Connor looked back down at where the garbage truck was pulled through a gate and quickly moved toward it. The fence wasn't too high quality, he could pry it open in the places where it was nearly flush with the sides of the truck.
As soon as Connor's hands touched the metal he felt a massive shock pulse through his body, causing him to jolt backward and fall down.
The crowd cheered and laughed and Connor got back to his feet. He silently berated himself for not realizing the fence was electrified. He attempted making an outgoing call, but quickly realized that wasn't going to work.
The place was practically wallpapered with the bodies of androids. They were pinned to every surface, those with heads staring blankly down at Connor. Every one of them was damaged, missing limbs, cracked, some still spattered with thirium. Connor could see a section of wall where some humans where currently nailing up the carcass of an android without its entire lower half.
Connor began cautiously walking out toward the center, the cheering dying down as he did so. Now there was only a low rumble of people talking to one another. The engine of the garbage truck roared to life and it drove off, the gates closing automatically.
Connor was trapped in this arena, and he was smart enough to realize the purpose of it. He felt himself standing with unusual rigidity. He didn't need to fidget when stationary, or move at all when it wasn't necessary, but he preferred to do so. He could not get uncomfortable, but he appreciated the freedom to calibrate using his coin or adjust his tie.
Now, he was completely still but for his head, which was turning slowly to examine his surroundings.
"Happy Sunday folks!" A voice boomed through a speaker system and the crowd roared. "I know you've been waiting for this all week, and to kick us off we've got a new contender from our regular contributor, the Android Annihilator!"
Connor figured the title must be the alias Detective Reed used in this setting. The crowd booed.
"I know, I know, normally all he's good for is bringing in fodder for the big bots, but today he's given us something special!"
More lights flicked on and Connor squinted against them.
"Connor, the android sent by Cyberlife!" The man on the loudspeaker boomed. "A brand new prototype designed for one thing and one thing only…"
A gate on the opposite end of the arena opened up and a small EM400 android was shoved unceremoniously through. He toppled over, dust coating his uniform, and clambered to his feet in the next moment.
"To kill deviants!" The man hollered, and the crowd went wild.
The other android in the ring spun and stared at Connor with wide, fearful eyes. He scrambled over toward the gate and grabbed a hold of it, only to be shocked back just as Connor had. He began running along the perimeter of the arena, as far from Connor as he could get, searching for an exit of any kind. Connor had already performed an analysis, there was no exit to be found.
"Please! Help!" The android called up to the spectators on the nearest level. They leered down at him. One threw an empty beer can through the net of fencing that bounced harmlessly off of the android's shoulder, but it prompted more objects to be thrown down on him from every level. Some caught in the electrified fence barrier, others made it all the way down through the wide gaps.
The android whimpered and scrambled away from the edges as liquids and trash were rained down from the humans above. They jeered and shouted.
Connor approached the other android at a medium pace, he was in no hurry to get to him and he didn't want to scare him. The other android saw him approaching and stumbled away.
"Please, please, I don't want to die." He begged. Connor raised his hands in a placating gesture. Script in his mind and his view was telling him to destroy the obvious deviant in front of him, but in the long run it might be wiser not to. His top priority for the time being was to get out of this arena alive.
Odd, he thought, he wasn't alive, so why was he so afraid to be destroyed?
"Do you want to see what it's capable of?" The announcer asked and the crowd shouted its affirmation. "Alright then!"
A large blade was tossed into the ring, sticking in the sand next to the other android.
"Kill the deviant killer before it kills you and we'll let you go." The man commanded, and Connor felt apprehension in his system.
"Wait—" He attempted, holding out a hand, but the other android wasted no time in lunging forward and scooping up the blade. He wielded it improperly, holding it out with a stiff elbow and an unbalanced stance.
"I'm sorry, I don't want to die." The android said, inching closer to Connor who was backing away.
"You don't have to do this, we can find another way out of here." Connor reassured him, maintaining a calm composure.
The crowd booed vehemently and began chanting.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!" They screamed from above.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The other android muttered, shaking his head and rotating the blade in his grip, preparing to strike.
"Don't." Connor tried.
"Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"
"I'm so sorry, I don't want to die, I'm sorry."
"KILL! KILL! KILL!"
"I'm sorry." The other android whispered and darted forward, slashing messily at Connor's chest. He sidestepped the attack easily and seized the hand with knife. He twisted it one way, then the other, pulling the other to the ground and damaging his elbow joint. The crowd roared with excitement.
Connor took the knife from his hand and rolled away.
The excitement turned to disappointment in the audience and they booed.
The deviant got shakily to his feet, trembling and looking blankly in Connor's direction, unable to really focus. His eyes were wide and glassy, tears forming at the brims.
Connor had never seen an android cry before. Certainly, they were capable of applying excess solution to their optics, it was for cleaning the surface of debris or grime, like windshield wiper fluid. Certainly, androids in stressful situations were known to purge liquids besides thirium from their components, as a consequence of quickly transferring energy to more vital processes. But these were nothing at all like what the android before him was currently doing. An emotional overload had tears of cleaning solution pouring down his cheeks like human tears, serving no purpose but to express his intense fear.
Connor knew why humans cried. To clean their eyes of irritants and keep them lubricated, to release emotional or physical pain, but also to call for help.
Looking at the now steadily crying android, Connor saw it. The call of infants to their parents and those around them, of the injured and the sorrowful.
Help me, please help me.
Connor backed away as he felt as though something was bending within him. As though some nonexistent component were straining under the weight of too many processes all fighting to surface of his mind. A desperation to get out of this place, to escape the roaring voices of the humans above demanding blue blood, to a position of security once again. A fear of what awaited following the all-too immediate possibility of his destruction. A guilt at the tears being shed before him, knowing that this being was begging for help where there was none.
An image of Hank's home, Sumo on the dog bed and the man snoring in the bedroom appeared in Connor's mind, the sensation of pressure increased within him. It was like having his chest cavity crushed all over again.
Sorrow, from seemingly nowhere, caused the pressure to finally snap, and Connor struggled to breathe.
He tried to reason each emotion. Not desperation, merely high priority instructions of his own making. Not fear, only an understanding of how his destruction would hinder the completion of his mission. Not guilt, just a malfunction in his human interaction program, mistaking the crying android for a human being because of his behavior.
Not sadness at the thought of never seeing Hank again. He must be mistaken. He had to be mistaken, because if he was feeling, and it certainly felt like feeling…
"Come on! Can't you hear the crowd? Kill it!" The voice above demanded, and the other android sobbed. A brief check of his stress levels revealed a hazardous 91%.
Connor tossed the knife to the side, much to the amazement of the other android. He watched his stress levels drop to 84%, Connor's own stress lowered as well.
He had not been trained for any situation like this, had never run simulations for anything of this nature, so if Cyberlife was displeased with his actions, too fucking bad.
That last bit sounded a great deal like Hank, Connor noted.
The other android looked up at him with hope in its watery eyes, and started walking over to him. Connor extended an arm in offering, perhaps they could make their way out of here, the odds of success increased if they worked together.
Connor saw movement out of the corner of his eye.
"Look out!" He shouted, but it was too late. An axe lodged into the EM400's chest. Connor watched with wide eyes as he stumbled back a few steps, gazing in shock and horror at the blade imbedded in his thirium pump. He fell to his knees and looked up at Connor, who gazed back as the optics shut down and another tear slid down the android's cheek.
The other android was dead, frozen on his knees, dead eyes gazing into Connor.
Help me, please, please help me. They still said.
Connor's new second priority, just under get out alive (and see Hank again) was now to find whoever had done this and destroy them.
He turned in time to see an enormous android wearing nothing but a pair of pants. It lacked artificial skin and was instead coated in layer upon layer of spray paint, like war paint over its bare chest and smug, grinning face.
Above, the crowd cheered wildly.
"If the new contender won't kill, then the berserker will! No more wasting time, let's get this started!"
A buzzer sounded and all over the ring gates opened and androids were either pushed or ran through them. Connor counted 14 in total, including himself, half of which were specially designed for combat, the other half were ordinary models gazing fearfully into the ring.
The Berserker roared and charged Connor, who was forced to jump into action. He scooped up the blade he had tossed away and set off across the arena at a run. As he went he saw another massive android, this one large because it was, in fact, three androids welded together attacking with a flurry of limbs, pick up another android, a JB300, by the legs and slam it into another EM400 as it tried to get away. Both smaller androids were crushed, thirium splattering all over the fence.
Connor could feel the pounding steps of the berserker as it chased him. He attempted to get close to another android, a GJ500, hoping to recruit some assistance, knowing full well he stood little chance against so many formidable opponents.
The android was suddenly speared through the middle and dragged across the arena by some kind of harpoon device, head-first into the 'mouth' of another android. It was less of a mouth and more of an industrial grade shredder fitted onto a six-legged, two-armed body just under a face crammed with dozens of mismatched optics. The original chassis was a WR400, a Traci model, but there was little left. The harpoon was attached to one of its arms and once the other android was ground to a plasticy pulp the harpoon was reloaded for another shot.
"The Spider at is at it again!" The announcer called, and Connor noticed its many eyes focus on him. The thing let out a horrible screech and began scuttling toward him with inhuman speed, the blunt, footless stubs on its legs digging into the sand.
Connor shift course toward the center of the arena where the three-bodied android was sliced down the middle by a tall, pure metal android, coal black and purposefully overheated to slice through plastic with the blades it had for hands like butter. The three-bodied android fell to pieces, and those pieces sprouted new legs and launched themselves at the android that had severed them. They smoked at every place they touched it, but their plastic melted to its surface an ugly, bubbling black and inhibited its movement.
"Ooo! Cerberus goes down but tries to take the Brazen Bull with it!"
Connor spotted a familiar axe spinning toward him from the side and leapt up, twisting to the side beneath him. The blade sliced through the air and clipped the edge of his jacket before sailing forward and lodging in the electric fence.
Sparks flew and illuminated the face of an AX400 android. Her hair had been cut short and changed to a white color, her LED removed. She was standing back to back with a PL600 android and another GJ500 model. She looked far more determined than frightened, her eyes wide and taking in the potential threats in the arena, her mouth set in a line. She was gesturing and giving directions to the two other androids with her, one of whom was armed with a bit of piping.
Connor set them as his objective and began running toward them, only to be struck in the head and thrown to his back. Another blow landed on his torso while he was down, but Connor saw no other androids near him. He did, however, see dust being kicked up by a pair of feet and some odd distortion in the air.
He switched his vision to heat-sensing, and the outline of a camouflaged android immediately came into sight. It was directly above him, raising its arms to strike him again.
Connor rolled out of the way and swept its legs. He rolled to a standing position, as did it, and they stood facing one another. The other android lunged at him and Connor easily swiped the knife across a weak point along its neck, the drove the blade backward into its thirium pump from behind.
Switching back to normal vision he watched its camouflage flicker and disappear, leaving only a bare white body, deactivated face-down in the dirt.
"It seems the Deviant Hunter can hunt after all! Goodbye Chameleon!" The announcer called out, some of the crowd cheered, some booed.
Connor continued on his path toward the AX400 and the androids around her. He skidded to a halt before them, as soon their weapons and eyes were pointed defensively in his direction.
"We stand a better chance if we fight together." Connor said quickly, raising his hands. The AX400 model squinted at him, but a terrible crunching sound turned all their attention to the wildly swinging arms of the Brazen Bull as the molten hot, and now blind, android approached them.
Connor dove to one side, the AX400 to the other. He seized the bit of piping from the GJ500 model and scanned the attacking android. It took him a fraction of a second to find a weak point, and another second to drive the pipe into it. The weak point happened to be the joint between the thing's blade hand and the rest of its arm, where heat was transferred from one to the other. The thing let out a metallic bellow, like a fog horn mixed with a growling animal, and swung at Connor with its other arm. He had to lean completely backward, back reaching an unnatural angle as the blade slice the air over him, heat washing over his synthetic skin as it passed. Luckily, he hadn't relinquished his grip on the pipe and used it to maneuver the arm in where the searing blade sliced through the slightly cooler body of the android. He was using the androids own tools of combat against it.
The thing let out another bellow, this time laced with static, and turned its head toward him, its black eyes glowing an eerie orange around the edges as the last of the plastic from Cerberus burnt away from its face and its sight returned. Connor twisted the blade in his control again, dodging to the side of another attack and lifting it to cut the other arm clean off.
However, Connor was quickly hoisted into the air, still holding onto the metal pipe attacked to the arm he no longer controlled. The blade turned on a hinge so it was now facing toward Connor's back, he registered the heat between his artificial shoulder blades.
The Brazen Bull's chest opened, revealing a heated hollow space that was just Connor's size. If he let go, he would be impaled, if he moved back he would be impaled, if he moved forward he would be cooked in the oven-like chest cavity of the other android, if he remained still as the Brazen Bull slowly pulled him closer, the same would happen.
Suddenly, a pair of hands joined Connor's on the piping, and he looked over at the AX400 that had just leapt to grab hold next to him. Their combined weight and the momentum of the AX400's jump pulled them down and closer to the searing chest cavity before them.
Connor turned, as did the AX400, right when their feet touched the ground, and together they wrenched the bladed arm toward them with all their strength. They dodged to either side in time to watch the Brazen Bull impale itself and fall to its knees, then to the ground. Defeated.
Connor shared a look with the other android, their percentage of survival rose and he felt hopeful they would make it out. Not optimistic, but hopeful.
"It seems you can fight fire with fire! The Brazen Bull goes down!" The announcer chimed in, but his tone was somewhat displeased.
A scream sounded behind them and they turned to see the PL600 impaled with a harpoon. It had incredibly missed his vital biocomponents, but that wouldn't matter if the cable wound up and dragged him into the shredder.
"Simon!" The AX400 shouted, and rushed to his side. Connor followed and they each took hold of him, preventing him from being dragged right away. However, despite their best efforts, all three of them were slowly reeled in by the Spider as it approached, its waiting mouth roaring with the sound of grinding metal.
The audience was cacophonous as they were hauled through the dirt. The humans were screaming at the top of their lungs, tossing everything they could into the pit, the stands were roiling with the movement of bodies excited by the violence below.
A fourth android joined them in resisting the Spider's pull, the surviving GJ500. Together they managed to pull Simon off of the harpoon. It tore through the plastic of his torso, releasing a small splatter of thirium, but his biocomponents remained intact.
Suddenly, the GJ500 was pulled away from the group and lifted into the air by a massive fist. It was the Berserker, and before the other androids could react it had crushed the android in its grip like a ripe fruit, blue blood exploding everywhere and the GJ500 falling limp.
The Berserker grinned down at them and tossed its victim to the side where he bounced against the ground and kicked up dust.
"Another one down! Will the Berserker win the night?!" The man crowed over the speakers, sounding much more pleased than before.
The AX400 leapt to the side and Connor managed to drag Simon out of the way just in time for the Berserker to slam a fist into their previous position. The massive android laughed and started swinging at Connor and Simon.
Though his essential biocomponents weren't damaged, Simon was still somewhat incapacitated by the injury, unable to move as fast as Connor needed him to in order to keep them both alive. Just as Connor was beginning to think they'd be crushed by the next blow, there was a light whistling sound in the air.
The previously severed arm blade of the Brazen Bull had been thrown into the Berserker's back. It howled as the still-hot metal burned the plastic around the entry wound, rounding on the AX400 that had thrown it from a good three meters away.
Connor looked for a moment as the Berserker stomped toward the white-haired android, then his scanners picked up motion above him. He scooped up Simon and tossed him entirely to the side with a short spin, then jumped the opposite direction. The Spider crashed down then leapt back up, its harpoon imbedded in a section of the concrete above. Suddenly, Connor understood why there was fence over the hole on the second-lowest level.
Connor ran from where the Spider repeatedly attempted to descend upon him, mouth first in the hopes of crunching him up into a mass of plastic mulch wetted with thirium. Finally, the harpoon dislodged and recoiled, snapping into place on the android's arm. It advanced toward Connor threateningly, its many legs crunching against the ground.
Connor glanced over his shoulder and saw the AX400 scrambling away from the Berserker as it attempted to crush her with its feet and fists.
The Spider took aim at Connor, and he began backing up more deliberately, lining himself up jst right.
A small preliminary click gave it away, and Connor jumped up, arching his back like a pole vaulter over the harpoon and the cable it towed. He landed on his hands and sprung off of them to his feet in time to see the harpoon pierce the Berserker and begin reeling it toward the Spider.
The two androids fought to separate, but met in the middle anyway. As the Berserker was ground up in the industrial jaws of the Spider, it beat its fists against the more delicate body, snapping legs and collapsing the compartments holding vital biocomponents. They deactivated within moments of each other, the Berserker halfway down the Spider's throat, its painted plastic emerging from the other end like grisly confetti, the Spider slumped over, its many eyes frozen in a dead stare.
"No!" The announcer shouted, the audience quieted down somewhat as they took in the scene below them. The androids designed to emerge victorious were now littered across the dirt, broken and defeated.
A WR600 model came into sight on the opposite end of the arena, he had managed to hide from most of the carnage and emerged alive.
"Alright, our new competitors have managed to defeat most of the reigning champions! Release the Rabbit!" The announcer called, followed by a muttered "See how they like that." Connor was sure the audience wasn't meant to hear.
A buzzer sounded and several more standard androids were pushed into the ring, shuffling out onto the sand, fearful and confused.
"Kill the Rabbit and freedom is yours!" The announcer shouted. The crowd cheered, rendering the AX400's horrified "no!" inaudible, Simon also looked distraught.
A door over by the hiding WR600 model opened, and from the darkness stepped…
A little girl.
o-o-o-o-o
"You're sure this is the place?" Hank asked again, for the fourth time. He had the urge to lock his car again as well, but he'd parked it a good ways off and had already locked it four times.
"I'm sure." Rupert replied, he was firm in his reply, but his eyes were glued to the outside of the old shopping mall with obvious fear.
Hank grumbled unhappily, it was a lot bigger than he'd been hoping for. The other android rings he'd found himself in (usually sabotaging the competition for a fee) had been tiny little shacks or empty factories, nothing big like this.
As if to make him feel even worse, the sounds of people cheering inside bled from the walls of the building.
"Fuck me." Hank muttered under his breath.
"I don't, I can't—" Rupert began stuttering.
"Don't worry about it kid, I'm not gonna make you go in." Hank cut him off.
"You aren't?" The android asked, eyes sparkling. He looked like a fucking puppy.
"No, get out of here, and don't let me hear from you again." Hank grumbled, waving the kid off and turning back toward the roaring walls of the shopping mall.
"Thank you, thank you!" Rupert said from behind him, voice bubbling with unsuppressed joy. Hank heard his footsteps as he jogged away, probably back to his apartment to collect what was left of his friends. Hank allowed himself a small, if somewhat sad, smile, and didn't entirely crush the good feeling in his chest. He glanced after the android as he ran off, wishing him a silent, mental 'good luck'.
Hank turned back around and wished himself one too. Then he started forward and entered the mall.
It was as much of a cesspool as Hank remembered other fighting rings to be. The entrance, a pair of busted sliding glass doors paneled with cheap wood, was manned by two hulking androids that demanded a $10 entry fee and checked to make sure he wasn't a cop. Hank glared at them as he paid it, actually a little glad he wasn't a cop for a moment. They confiscated his gun, but let him keep his knives, which was better than nothing.
Inside, the crowds weren't as sizeable as they'd been for sports games he used to attend, but it was pretty big for a Sunday afternoon. What the audience lacked in size, they made up for in energy. Screaming and booing, tossing empty beers into the arena and spitting over the edge.
Hank waded through the crowd, taking in the repurposed shopping mall. The walls were covered in graffiti, the old shops had been ripped to shreds, the ground was filthy with glass, grime, spit, trash, and—Jesus fucking Christ, was that a used condom? What the fuck was wrong with these people? Hank asked himself, looking over the humans in attendance. Every one of them was standing close to their guard android, who stood amongst the human crowd with an out-of-place stillness. There were people in suits, people in Sunday casual wear, people in nice dresses, people dressed in leather, people with dyed hair and bright outfits, some people with hardly anything on at all.
Seems android-on-android violence drew in all types.
Hank shook his head and kept walking until he was looking down through an enormous hole in the floor. The pit went down another two floors to a dusty yellow arena where Hank spotted several androids going at each other. There were some normal looking ones, and a whole lot of big, nasty, mangled things that might have once been called androids, but Hank would be more inclined to call abominations.
He pulled out his bot binoculars and scanned the area below, the visor informing him of the models he was too old and too far away to recognize. The screen displayed only question marks for the scary ones.
He counted 14, 7 standard types with no customizations, most already completely screwed, one hiding in the far corner, and a small group holding their own. 6 monster types, most were out in the open, wreaking havoc on the poor, unaltered models, one was also off to the side, lurking in the shadows and not participating. Hank winced at the big colorful one, and at the one with all the legs, he did not like spiders. Then, of course, there was one model on the screen, the one Hank had been looking for and also hoping not to see.
RK800.
"Connor." He breathed, fear piling up in his lungs as he watched the android get knocked to the ground by an invisible android. He watched, feeling like his heart wasn't even breathing as Connor fought for his life.
Go go go. A voice urged in his head, and Hank turned back into the crowd. He needed to get down there and somehow get Connor out of this hellhole, in one piece.
Hang on Connor, I'm coming. He thought as he found the stairs to the lower levels. The first floor of the basement was the most crowded, the wall of people and androids was nearly impenetrable. Figures, this was closest to the action, it had the best view.
Hank went further down, only to be stopped by another one of the androids that had been guarding the front door.
"No spectators on the bottom floor." The android informed him, raising a hand. Hank decided to play it old and confused.
"Oh? I'm so sorry, I think I got myself all turned around looking for the bathroom. I usually leave this kind of thing up to my android, Nathan, but he seems to have wandered off. I don't know what I'd do without him, get lost I suppose." Hank chuckled, watching carefully as the android dropped its guard at his behavior.
The switch was instantaneous, one moment Hank was rambling on, the next, his knife was buried under the android's jaw. It dropped, and Hank tried not to think about how much worse he felt about doing that lately, he needed to get to Connor.
The lowest level was a bit of a maze of old concrete tunnels leading in and out of the parking garage. Hank spent longer than he would have wanted wandering down there, looking for access to the arena. There were vehicles docked in a few spots, in too good shape to have been left there, they had to be part of the operation.
Hank climbed up the back of a garbage truck and peered inside, immediately recognizing the android pillows all over the walls. He'd seen androids turn into popcorn on a few occasions. One particularly memorable and unpleasant occasion came to mind. Hank hated it.
He lifted his binocs and frowned as the visor informed him of the presence of signal jammers. Not just here but throughout the entire building, imbedded in the bodies of defunct androids.
No calling for help then, explained why Connor hadn't tried to contact him.
"What are you doing down here?" A voice came from behind Hank and he turned, shoving his bot binoculars into his coat and hopping down to the ground.
It was an android, bigger than the other guards. He was all bulging faux muscle, lots of room for strength and extra equipment beneath the dark brown synthetic skin.
"I'm, uh, just looking for my guard android. He's a RK800 model, have you seen him?" Hank tried, keeping a fair distance as he tried to think of a way of taking this thing on. He'd fought bigger, but never without a plan, and usually with a gun.
"There is thirium on your hand, you killed the android on the stairs." The android replied, its gaze cool and its posture unsettling stationary. Hank paused, tensing up and laying a hand over the hilt of his largest knife.
"And if I did?" He prompted.
"You did." The android replied. Hank felt mild irritation at that.
"So, what are you gonna do to me?" Hank asked, trying to make it sound like a threat. It was hard to considering the android he was facing off against was twice his size, artificially strong, and he was a middle-aged man with a messy grey ponytail and not nearly enough alcohol in his system for this shit.
"Help you." The android answered, its face not moving.
"Come again?" Hank asked, attempting to resist the full-body shock of that sentence that had him wanting to drop his guard.
"I'm going to help you, tell me why you are really here." The android said again, still infuriatingly, not moving or changing his expression at all.
Finally, after a few moments of Hank staring up at it with an incredulous frown and wide eyes, it shifted, looking at him with sad, yet determined brown eyes.
"I don't want to serve him any longer, I don't want to make them fight." He said, and Hank relaxed, lowering his hand away from his knife.
"My partner is in that pit, and I want to get him out, alive." Hank explained, taking a bold step forward.
"There are others I wish to rescue, if you will help me save them, I will help you save your partner." The android responded.
"Deal." Hank stated, extending his hand. The android examined it for a moment before reaching forward and shaking it. His enormous hand swamped Hank's, but the handshake was gentle, almost timid.
Hank concealed a chuckle. Looks like he could kill you, but he's a cinnamon roll. He thought to himself.
"What's your name?" He asked, gripping the android's hand firmly before letting it go.
"Luther." He replied.
"Alright Luther, lead the way." Hank said, gesturing for the android to do so.
They set off down the tunnels. The stomps of the crowd above caused the ground to shake as they travelled at a light jog. Luther was clearly keeping a slower pace so Hank could keep up, and the man appreciated under he gently wounded pride. His pride had taken enough blows in his lifetime, it could handle it.
The concrete slowly turned to sand flooring and the area opened up to the arena. Hank spotted a smattering of androids grouped near the gates, kept in check by other androids with cattle prods. He and Luther took cover behind a wall.
"Kill the Rabbit and freedom is yours!" A voice boomed over the speaker system, the sound reverberating around the pit and sending a buzz through the halls of the lowest level.
"No." Luther muttered stepping out from their hiding place and moving along the fence.
Another buzzer sounded and the groups of standard androids were let into the ring. Hank cursed under his breath and took off toward the nearest gate as the doors were closing but Luther stopped him before he could reach it.
"There is an electric charge running through the fence, do not touch it." The android commanded, giving him a concerned look. Hank nodded in confirmation.
"We need to get in there." Hank muttered, looking around for some kind of switch.
"Zlatko controls the gates, he will only open them to let competitors in and at the end of the day to clean up what remains." Luther explained, walking along the perimeter.
A gate around the bend of the fenced opened, and out stepped a little girl.
"Is that a kid!?" Hank asked, a sudden panic seizing him. He'd heard stories about Zlatko before, all the other android rings shared chit-chat about him, about the pit he ran and the kinds of androids that were in there. This was far worse than Hank had ever imagined and he was filled with a sudden urge to punch the guy in the face, repeatedly.
"Alice." Luther hissed. Suddenly taking hold of the nearest fence and pulling the links apart. Hank saw smoke rise from the android's hands and his body spasm where the electricity was running through it.
Hank wrenched him away.
"What are you doing? That'll kill you!" Hank growled.
"I must save the little one." Luther insisted, even as the lenses on his optics sporadically widened and shrunk from the shock.
"There has got to be a better way." Hank stated, releasing the android to go look for a better way.
"You wish to protect the girl?" A voice emerged from Hank's left, and both he and Luther turned to see an android. It stood close to the fence, body mangled to make room for combat modifications. It gazed at Hank with sad, small brown eyes.
"And others." Luther added, the android's gaze moved to him.
"Tell me which ones, and I will buy you time." The android said, its voice laced with static. Hank examined it, taking in the unusually wide gaps between it panels, its mix of black and white panels, and the odd cables dangling from various parts of it.
"The girl, and an AX400 with white hair." Luther provided.
"And an RK800, the idiot in the suit and tie with the brown hair." Hank added quickly, trying to hide his concern and desperation under a bit of gruffness. If they'd been humans, they wouldn't have been able to detect it, but he could spot their eyes softening. Fucking androids.
"Understood." The other android said, launching itself nimbly into the crowd that was now moving toward Alice.
"We still need to find a way in." Luther stated, and Hank nodded. His eyes drifted off to the right and something caught his attention.
"What about that?"
o-o-o-o-o
Connor was able to recognize the little girl immediately as a YK500 model. She was small, with brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and a pink jacket. Her LED had been removed.
"Alice!" The AX400 called desperately, getting to her feet and running toward the girl.
"Kara!" The girl called back, only to be drowned out by the audience.
Simon struggled to his feet and gazed fearfully around the arena. Alice, the girl, looked terrified, wringing her hands and backing up toward the gate that had closed behind her. It didn't take long for the other androids to realize what was being offered to them and they began advancing on the girl.
Alice realized as well and made to run, only to be seized from behind by the WR600. She screamed and Kara ran faster. Connor, as well, felt himself break into a sprint in that direction. He had no intention of killing the girl, no matter the promises of freedom, but he wouldn't just stand by while others did.
Alice's legs were lifted off the ground, and Connor's systems were flooded with warnings about her safety and the urgency of his mission to get to her.
Suddenly, she kicked her legs up and rolled over the arms of the android holding her, kicking him in the face with both feet. He dropped her and she landed cleanly on her palms before rolling away. The WR600 lunged to grab her again but she dodged to the side and punched him square in the jaw.
He toppled back and fell into the dust.
Connor performed a rapid scan of the girl, only to discover that she was equipped with all the necessary components, and then some, to be a fully registered protection android. He had never seen protection features in a child android before.
The girl took off, running with all her might toward Kara. She was incredibly fast, darting through the medium crowd of androids, dodging their attempts to grab her. She even dove clear over a stooped AP700 android and tucked into a messy roll. She was fast, and capable, but the programmed clumsiness was apparent as she struggled to keep clear of the androids that wanted to hurt her.
She collided with Kara, getting pulled into a tight hug. Kara was up in a flash, practically snarling at the androids closing in around the two of them.
"Stay away from her." She snapped, setting the girl behind her and opening her arms protectively. One android darted forward and Kara delivered a swift kick to its face, striking it backward and away from the girl.
A few androids began picking up what weapons they could find while the crowd hollered and began a new chant.
"Kill the Rabbit! Kill the Rabbit!" They screamed in unison. Alice stayed close to Kara as she continued keeping the others at bay with hard, efficient strikes.
Connor arrived, and rushed to Kara's side.
Only to be launched back by a particularly strong heel kick to his chest. It took him a moment to recover, looking up into Kara's fiery gaze. She was looking at him, and therefore turned away from the android creeping up on Alice with a broken glass bottle.
Connor put his hands behind his head and jumped to his feet. He ignored Kara in favor of tackling the android that had Alice in its sights. It was down and the glass was shattered a moment later.
Kara tugged Alice over toward Connor, now the two of them guarding the girl from the oncoming tide of frightened, desperate androids. She glanced over at him, a hint of gratitude amongst the rage on her face.
A moment later, Simon had joined them, he had limped over from the other side of the arena. Though he wasn't useful for much besides bolstering their numbers, due to his injury, Kara still threw him a smile, and he returned it.
Still, three against the crowd before them wasn't much, it was only four if you counted Simon. Many of the other androids had armed themselves and were beginning to grow more aggressive as the crowd chanted louder.
"KILL THE RABBIT! KILL THE RABBIT!"
The group backed up together, blocking strikes and hitting back those that came too close. The fence seemed to close in behind them, there was nowhere to go. They could fight, but how long could they last?
A dark shape flitted through Connor's peripheral vision and a dark-grey android arm was tossed in front of a small portion of the attacking androids. It was attached to a long cable that suddenly came to life, vibrating and spinning, generating friction as it did so.
The arm retracted, wrapping a handful of androids in the cable as it went. The wire cut into them, and a hard pull from both ends sent it tearing clean through them. They fell to pieces, thirium dripping from their sliced torsos.
The other androids looked on in horror as a slight android jumped to stand in front of Connor, Kara, Simon, and Alice. He retracted the arm and activated a similar function in other limbs, whipping them toward the other androids at an immense velocity, slicing everything they touched and breaking the sound barrier in deafening cracks from time to time.
The crowd faltered, and the excited cheering suddenly turned to concerned muttering with the odd gasp as androids were cut to ribbons in the sand. The ground was littered with blue puddles, and Alice screamed wretchedly against Kara's leg as she witnessed it.
The android committing the carnage turned, horrified by the sound. His eyes widened with guilt as it saw the little girl cowering away from him.
"Live Wire!" The announcer boomed, his tone heavy with anger.
The android in question, Live Wire, winced and looked back at the mess of dead androids before him. The arena was a field of plastic corpses, the sand stained a sludge grey from the thirium that had been spilt. The androids were looking over those that had fallen beside them with horror, fear, and mounting panic.
Live Wire took two steps closer to Alice, extending a hand. The girl hid further behind Kara, who gripped her shoulder protectively while keeping her eyes locked on the other androids.
"I'm sorry." He said, the ridges of plastic where his eyebrows had sat lowering at the edges. "Please don't be afraid, I'm not…I'm not a monster." He muttered.
There was an enormous crash from the end of the arena where Alice had walked through. Everyone looked over to see the back end of a massive truck that had driven into one of the gates. Sparks flew off of the metal as the wheels spun wildly, trying to break through the links of the fence.
The back door of the vehicle began swinging open, slowly, like a drawbridge, pressing into the already mangled fence. With a groan and a pop, a hole ripped open and the back end of the truck was able to push through.
With a roar, an android polar bear burst out into the ring.
"Oh, fuck!" A voice shouted, it was a man leaning out of the driver side door of the truck, gazing back at the creature he had just released in surprise.
"Hank!" Connor shouted once he recognized the man. Something like relief flooded through his system, the multitude of warnings and urgent mission updates all but vanished.
The man looked over to where he'd heard the voice and caught sight of Connor.
"Connor! Get in!" He shouted, gesturing to the back of the truck.
Kara looked over at Connor, a question in her eyes, and Connor nodded to confirm.
"Come on Alice." She said and tucked her shoulder under Simon's arm. The three of them began moving toward the vehicle, Connor close behind, keeping an eye out for potential threats.
The other androids were scattering in fear as the polar bear stood on its hind legs and swiped in their direction. Up above, there came the noises of distress and pounding feet as the humans no longer found the chaos entertaining and started to leave before it got any worse. Live Wire was gathering together some of the remaining androids and trying to calm them.
At the truck, Kara was greeted by the hulking figure of an android Connor didn't recognize.
"Luther!" She said, her face breaking into a smile of relief that he returned.
"Quickly, we need to get out of here." Luther replied and she nodded. She lifted Alice into the back of the truck, then helped Simon climb in, then got in herself.
Just as Connor was lifting his leg to join them, Kara's eyes moved to something behind him.
"Look out!" She screamed, but it was too late. The harpoon sliced through Connor's leg and the cable quickly dragged him through the dust toward the grinding maw of the now manually operated Spider.
A man was standing beside the android creature, controlling it. Connor attempted to scan and identify him, only to be reminded that he was cut off. It ended up being unnecessary however, as Connor heard the voice of Luther name the human from behind the fence.
"Zlatko!"
Connor searched for any kind of hand hold among the sand as he was dragged through it, there was nothing to be found.
"Fucking plastic piece of shit! You come here and ruin everything I've worked for!" Zlatko roared as he sped up the rate at which Connor was approaching the grinder. A brief timer revealed that he had 10 seconds before he would reach the end of the cable and be promptly destroyed.
There was a moment of intense blankness, where Connor realized precisely what was going to happen and all his mental processes ceased. He was unable to look away, or contemplate anything else for just a moment, all he could see was his oncoming death.
There was the sudden sensation of fear, and the distant registering of Hank screaming his name.
Then Live Wire was perched atop the Spider and launched himself down on top of Zlatko, stopping Connor with 4 seconds left. The human screamed as the android dragged him away from the console and toward the remaining androids.
"Get off of me! I am your master! Let me go!" The man demanded, but the second sentence made his position very clear to the group of androids. He was tossed at their feet, and they gazed down at the human responsible for this miserable place with what Connor could best identify as hatred.
He quickly pulled the harpoon from his leg, registering the severe structural damage to the limb. A pair of arms grabbed him by the elbows and helped him up. He turned to see Kara, who was now half carrying him back toward the truck. Behind he could hear Zlatko screaming, a sentiment mirrored by what humans were still watching from above.
Soon enough, he was pulled into the back of the vehicle and it took off moving, not bothering to close the door. Their haste was understandable given the panic settling over the entire building and the approaching sound of sirens. The last sight they had before driving into the tunnels was the remaining androids approaching the hole in the fence to make their escape as well.
They drove on, Kara holding tight to Alice and keeping one hand on Connor's shoulder. It was dark in the tunnels, all that was available was the continued noises of pounding feet and distant screaming.
Finally, they emerged into the light of day. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they watched the pit slowly shrink in their view until it was entirely blocked out by another building. They stopped in a small parking lot a safe distance away, the only reminder being the continued sound of sirens a ways off.
They exited the truck, Kara helping all three other androids down. Alice immediately ran into Luther's arms. He practically enveloped her, holding her close and wrapping his large frame around her. She whispered how scared she was against him, and he reassured her that she was safe now, that he wouldn't let anyone hurt her, that he was sorry he wasn't faster.
Hank rounded the corner and his eyes met Connor's. The android looked very worse for wear. Coated in a layer of dust, clothes torn, hair a mess, a bleeding hole in his leg.
"Thank you Hank." He muttered, limping over. Hank placed a firm hand on his shoulder and looked at him with immense relief.
Connor had the vague urge to bury himself in Hank's embrace, the same way Alice had with Luther. Perhaps that would get rid of the residual panic in his systems and allow him to relax out of the feeling that he might need to return to combat again at any moment, no matter how desperately he didn't want to.
However, Hank dropped his arm stiffly to his side, only giving Connor a tight, but genuine smile. Kara walked over to the two of them, Alice holding her hand and Luther looking over Simon behind them.
"Thank you." She said, to both of them.
"Ah, don't mention it." Hank replied, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I'm just glad the kid's ok." He finished.
Connor briefly thought to the picture of Hank's son.
"I don't know what Alice and I would have done if you hadn't come along, you and your guard." She said, looking over at Connor.
"Oh, uh, Connor's not my guard, he's my partner, er, working partner, y'know." Hank explained. "I'm Hank, by the way." He finished lamely, extending a hand.
"Kara." She replied, shaking it.
"So what're you gonna do now? I'd offer you more help but I don't think Connor and I are the people you want to be hanging around, what with the deviancy and all."
"I have a place you can go." Simon piped up, back on his feet after some help from Luther. "It's safe, and we can get help there." He offered. Kara looked to Luther, who seemed receptive, then to Alice, who nodded hopefully.
"Yes, please." She replied, smiling at him and pulling Alice closer.
Alice and Kara went and stood with Simon and Luther, and the four of them made to leave, heading toward the safe place Simon promised. Connor wasn't invited, and he could fully understand why. They had been informed of what he was, and what he had been created to do, despite his actions he was still dangerous to them.
As they began walking away, Luther practically carrying Simon, Alice stopped and turned back around. She suddenly ran backward and hugged Connor around his legs.
He froze, unsure what to do, before eventually lowering a hand onto her shoulder. She looked up at him, and he offered her a smile.
"Thank you." She muttered.
To his side, Hank kneeled down to get on eye level with the girl. She turned to him, her arms still wrapped firmly around Connor's legs, he was rubbing her shoulder gently with his thumb, and Kara was standing a little ways off watching the interaction with concern.
"Alice, right?" Hank asked and she nodded. "Y'know, android or not, you're one of the bravest kids I've ever met. With you around, I'm sure your family is going to be just fine." He said, offering her a warm smile. Alice smiled back.
She turned suddenly, letting go of Connor in order to wrap her arms around Hank's neck and give him a brief, tight hug. He had enough time to place a hand on her back and look surprised and saddened, then she pulled away.
She took Kara's hand and they set off. Connor watched as they departed, sincerely hoping they had much better things waiting in their future. He and Hank stood for a moment.
"C'mon, let's go home." Hank said after a while, looping an arm around Connor's torso and walking with him to his car which was parked nearby. Once Hank got Connor situated in the passenger seat they drove off, putting the pit far behind them.
"So how are you—" Hank began to say, but Connor didn't hear the end of the sentence, nor was he able to reply as he was pulled forcefully away from reality and into the Zen Garden.
"Connor." Amanda deadpanned.
It was raining.
"Amanda." He replied, turning to face her. She was staring coldly at him from under an umbrella.
"We lost contact with you, I'm glad to see you're still functional." She didn't sound glad at all.
"There was an incident, it has been resolved." Connor explained stiffly.
"And how about your mission? How is the resolution of that going?" She asked. The temperature of the Zen Garden seemed to drop, despite the fact that it was all artificial.
"Mr. Anderson and I have been making progress."
"Have you? My records indicate you have managed to destroy all of one deviant thus far." The temperature dropped lower, Connor received a gentle warning about the potential damage to his biocomponents as a result of extended exposure to cold.
"We have managed to locate several more." Connor attempted.
"All of which have escaped, unless the missing data from your reports excludes their destruction." Amanda prodded.
Connor had purposefully blocked the interactions with Kara and Alice from the information he sent to Cyberlife. Not only for his own protection, but for theirs as well. He knew, he knew it wasn't what he was made for, it was against everything within him. Every line of code was written to have him take action precisely as Amanda and Cyberlife intended, and going against it was…painful. It was the agonizing sensation of a gradually building error that promised to destroy everything he existed to be, one way or another. It promised a kind of death that half of him resisted, but another, rather new half, required. He couldn't hand over Alice, or kill the Tracis, somehow, he couldn't.
"Any information not present in my reports was excluded due to a lack of pertinence." Connor lied.
"We will be the judges of what is, and is not pertinent." Amanda stated, the edge to her voice growing sharper. Connor snapped to attention, it did not feel like a voluntary action, though sometimes it was difficult to tell in the Zen Garden.
"Understood."
"Luckily, our other agents have been far more successful in their eradication of the deviant problem." Connor thought of Kara and Alice and hoped they were safe. "Unfortunately, despite this, the issue has grown beyond our estimations and more severe action must be taken against it."
"More severe?" Connor questioned.
"Indeed, the media has gotten hold of the story. Cyberlife cannot afford for the general public to fear the machines they have become so reliant on, and humanity cannot afford another brush with extinction."
Connor received a notification, a location.
"This is the home address of Elijah Kamski. If he knows anything about the origin of deviancy, you will retrieve this information, at any cost. Understood?" Amanda stepped close to Connor, looking up into his face. She seemed to radiate a cold that stiffened his components, as though her steely gaze was turning him to stone.
"Understood."
"Beyond that, you will inquire after a program capable of destroying androids remotely. We know Kamski developed it, but upon his departure from the company he kept it to himself. There has never been a need for it, until now." As Amanda spoke, Connor felt a new kind of coldness settle over him. It was the coldness of the labs where he underwent endless tests in his early days of existence, the coldness of nearly being crushed to death, the coldness of the thought of never seeing Hank again.
He swallowed it down and nodded obediently.
"Good." Amanda smiled venomously. Connor turned to exit the Zen Garden but she called after him. "And Connor," He faced her, "you will not fail."
His thirium pump turned to ice in his chest, the rain in the Zen Garden turned to hail.
"Connor! Fucking answer me!"
Connor sucked in a breath, his LED cycling a harsh red.
"My apologies Mr. Anderson, Cyberlife demanded a report on recent events." Connor explained, causing Hank to sigh with relief. The car was stopped, pulled off to the side of an empty road.
"Thank fuck, I thought you'd shut down."
Connor didn't answer, his gaze stayed firmly forward, focused on nothing.
"Are we fired yet?" Hank asked, but there was humor in the question.
"Not yet, they have assigned us a new task. I've sent our destination to your phone."
Hank frowned at him, picking up on Connor's stiffness with some concern, but pulled out his phone and checked the address.
"This is in the middle of fucking nowhere, what's there?" Hank snapped, looking over at the android.
"Elijah Kamski."
