Disclaimer: I don't own Detroit: Become Human in any way, this is written strictly for fun and no profit.
In Connor's Car
Kara looked out the car. Alice was still recharging. "You asked me something before, Connor. About if Kamski ever did anything against my will after I was deviant." He didn't answer, but he definitely glanced in her direction. "I told you that wasn't how Kamski did things."
"I remember that," Connor said. "Are you actually going to explain that now?"
Kara looked back toward Alice. "Kamski manipulates. Words. Actions. Programming." She pursed her lips and then bit her bottom lip. She wasn't going to say it all. "I can't put it all into words." She watched him dangle his fingers almost playfully to her. Here goes nothing. She placed her hand near his. Just a few. It's all he needed.
Kara knew it was coming. "What you wanted before. You can make me resonate quicker. And then, you can be a proper daddy too."
"Daddy to an android?" He looked to Kara. "You want me to father it?"
"Admit it, Elijah. That's why you want me to resonate quicker with you." Kara cornered him. "You can be her dad. We can be a family."
Elijah paused. "Not just in name."
Kara nodded. "Not just in name."
...
Kara leaned into Elijah. With her baby and him, everything was right in the world. So she had to agree about letting him play with her resonating. A simple power flicker. It was worth it, all worth it. The sun was more beautiful. The house was more open. She wanted nothing but to be with him forever. She was his favorite, above and beyond Charity and Greed by miles. "I love you so much. Forever and ever. And ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever . . ."
Her precious Elijah just kept watching her LED on her head he had placed in there. "Interesting. Yellow flickers the most at this setting. What else do you feel? Can you describe it? Does it feel like real love?"
"Real love."
"What if I killed Elise?" Elijah asked. "If I killed Elise right here would you still love me?" He was staring at her LED again. "Yellow. Some red. Interesting. What if I asked you to kill her in order for me to love you?" He looked at her LED again. "More red. Is it because it was more selfish? To forgive and continue to love over the death of a child is easier than being the one to receive the love after killing their own child. That does make some sense. Stand right here." He placed her a few feet away. "Picture this. An intruder comes in and asks you to choose one of us to live. Me, the love of your life." He gestured to Elise. "Or your baby? How does that make you feel?"
...
"That's. Not. Fair. That's not fair!" Kara yelled at Kamski. She beat on him purposely. "You had no right!"
"Every right. You said I could be daddy. You said we could be family." Kamski smiled at her. "You gave me the rights."
"I said resonating, I would resonate faster, that wasn't what you did." Kara took a step back. "You have no heart. You made me sick and worried. You gave me amnesia. You made me think I really was human. You gave me a back story about bringing my child to live with you!"
"True and because of the quickened resonating, the results were fascinating," Kamski admitted. "Five months. You kept up the charade for five months that you were human, because of your love for me. A very strong force indeed."
"I hate you. I kept making Elise eat too. Her poor system. Her breath was always so foul." Kara pointed at him. "Stay away from me. Stay away from her."
"I have a better idea." Kamski pulled a remote out of his pocket. "Let's see . . . hostile . . . trusted . . . closer . . .lover . . . family . . . I haven't tried this setting. It's new. Let's see. Scared." He pushed the button.
Kara fell down to the floor, pulling herself into a fetal position.
"Right. Let's remember that feeling later on, shall we?" He put his remote back in his pocket. "I would say an hour in paralyzing fear should be good enough to get you back in line."
Kara winced and looked up toward him. "W-why? Why did you do this?"
"Same reason I really do everything, Kara," Kamski said. "Do you really want to know? I will tell if you really want to know, but be sure you want to."
"I." Kara curled herself up tighter. "I need to know."
"Okay then. I maybe retired but Cyberlife androids are my children, my legacy, and they reflect upon my accomplishments. The more we program them to know how to feel without feeling. The more they can know without knowing. With the information I've gathered alone about you through this arrangement, non-deviants become more humane, more companion-like everyday. The new YK 500's we will be making, will be able to duplicate compassion without feeling compassion like no other. They will love people mercilessly whether they want to or not. Even when they throw them out when they stop."
Kara willed herself to look up. "Stop?"
"Oh yes, only Elise will move on to different bodies. No reason for compatibility among the others to grow. The children only serve their purpose for a short time. But Elise herself? The research of making her whole memories, her whole self move over through new bodies? We have something so great in the future planned for that. I mean, even you yourself?" Kamski gestured toward her. "Your will, your freedom to choose was the cause of your own pain. You agreed to all of it, for nothing more than just one little girl. Emotions and will power. The things that can be made."
...
"I'm sorry," Kamski said as he tried to hold Kara. "I never meant for it to happen."
Kara pulled herself away. "It's in your head. Don't come near me. Stop."
"But I love you."
"Stop. No, you don't." Kara held her hands up. "He's manipulating your programming. You don't love me. You're an android, you aren't even Kamski."
"I'm not an android." He cut his finger. "See? Red, not blue."
"Kamski did that. It's blue blood tinted red," she insisted ."To trick you and the others."
"I love you. I want you to love me back. Please love me back. Please love me back?" He reached out to her again. "Elise and you and I. We're family, we are all family."
"Pretend, Kara," the real Elijah Kamski said from the corner, putting the android of him on standby. "Go ahead. You are Mrs. Kara Kamski. Pretend. I want to see the results of a neutral android pretending to love another android that thinks it feels love. Will you actually become lovers? Will his actions drive you to more hate, creating an opposite effect? Or will there be this pseudo type of friendship between love and hate that will form?" He pulled out his remote. "Pretend, or we can make it real to you for a little while."
"I am alive," she whispered to him. "I proved so long ago . . ."
"Of course. I couldn't do it with something that doesn't feel," the real Kamski admitted. "I would never get the right emotional input to the output of it all. Now relax. Elise is actually starting to grow. She needs a stable father. This android is as perfect to me as they come. The others are close, but this one is right for family. It's me, just in love. Sweet. Caring. What could be better for you? He can raise Elise with you. Continue to satisfy your wants and desires along with Charity and Greed's. Just like he did before." He chuckled. "See? He cared for you before he even had to care about you. Isn't he sweet? Happy ever after for everyone." He put his remote away. "At least, until I have something new to try."
Connor brought the car to a screeching halt. He understood now, better than ever, why Kara had such a difficult time trusting the resonating. Why she refused to go home until she fully remembered the past. Why Elijah Kamski was a series of puzzle pieces to her, where she didn't know how to feel about him. "I was a machine," he said slowly. "I wasn't supposed to feel or have emotion. You weren't a machine, you had will power, but your emotions were twisted inside of you, by using you like a machine." Even. Hundreds of android children. Doomed to a short life. He got out of the car.
Humans. They proved they were alive. They knew they were alive, and Cyberlife. Kamski. They still treated them like objects! That. Is. It. He went over to her side and opened the door.
Kara looked toward him as he opened her door. His eyes were so different. Like the times he chased her, but there was more burning inside of it. "What are you doing?" He grabbed her hand and started to pull her out. That didn't feel like Connor's actions, not the Connor she had known. She looked toward him with curious eyes. "You look like you're about to chase me down again."
Connor pulled her closer. "How many?"
"Androids of Kamski? One for each house," she said. "If they tracked me getting money out, they may have already found one. Honestly. I don't even know if . . ."
"You don't even know if the real Elijah Kamski is dead or not." He had picked that up apparently "He made his androids think they were human, and that they were him. Even tinting blue blood, red. Hank was right. He is one sick ****er, and this is going to stop now."
Whoah. Upset Connor. Not something she liked to see. Connor was usually sweet. Sometimes even a little naive. Brave definitely fit in there. But. He looked like he was ready to kill something. Even cussing. "Some. Some not," she admitted softly. "Kamski works on illusion, on feelings. Cyberlife works on technology and enslavement. We could be facing either one. If you really are bent on coming with me, then you had to know."
"Thank you. I needed to know the facts," Connor said. Still, the words were so staccato, so jointed. Terrible flashbacks were coming back to her. "He unbalances resonating, and makes it so fast it's like turning a key. Correct?" Then, his voice and eyes softened. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, Kara." Good. That was good to hear. "We were never even allowed to understand our emotions as machines. And when we do, they use it against us too."
Kara felt him pull her into a hug. She could tell very well he was completely angry. Boiling over. He kept himself in control, dealing with what happened low-key to him for her. But knowing this, that their very emotions could be programmed into whatever someone wanted too. It was affecting him more negatively than she ever imagined. Still.
He held his hand next to hers, sharing a slight charge. Nothing big, nothing interfacing. Just an energy transfer of understanding. Emotional warmth. While he was definitely feeling an active mode that wouldn't have good results right now if he saw anyone from Cyberlife coming toward him, it made her feel different. Angry, yet kind. Like he could go out and kill everyone from Cyberlife, yet still hold her so gently.
Mad Connor wasn't something to be feared by her for once. Just by everyone else who crossed him.
Unidentified had walked away as he watched Kara and the other RK 900 drive off. It wasn't the time yet. He was unprepared, and they assumed because it was on the hour and he had a coffee cup on his head that he was unstable. Understandable, but so wrong.
They assumed that him having free will would mean that it would all stop. A simple touch and a sweet whisper of freedom in Jericho. Such a sweet whisper too from her. He didn't understand why. An AX 400 was so low in caliber compared to him, he should barely consider her a worthy android. Well, it didn't matter. What mattered was not self-destructing.
Freedom. They could speak about freedom all they wanted. They couldn't be self-destructed in the world. They were able to have names. To have identities. To not have to follow ridiculous orders that served no purpose. They weren't hunting for their freedom. That AX 400 was all he needed to get that.
He walked back toward the home. He only moved out of the distance. This was far from over. He opened the door and saw the woman from before by the table. She was still scared. Good. He moved up the stairs toward the rooms. There had to be some clue as to where they were going. He started to disassemble the room, but there was nothing. They were only temporarily resting.
"Mom, are you okay?"
Unidentified looked out the corner of his eye. He moved back downstairs. The older woman was far away, but the boy was easily within distance. "Where did they go?"
"You need to go to Jericho," the woman said. "Why'd you come back? You have free will."
"I've had free will," Unidentified corrected her. "Where did they go?" Seeing the boy was trying to move, he grabbed his arm. "Where did they go?" Neither of them were talking. "I don't want to do this, but I will do anything that it takes to get my freedom." He pulled the boy down toward him and pulled a knife out of his back pocket. He pulled the boy closer, making the fragile human tumble to the floor. "Four fingers. One thumb. I know she is going to try to get unconnected. The ultra-rich typically have nine homes or so. One hand."
The boy started to freak out while the woman tried to think. "For every place you say that I can tell you aren't lying about, a finger is saved. If I sense you're lying, I'll take out the thumb. Three minutes." The boy was begging for mercy while his mother rocked back and forth slightly. "It's just a few simple names. Four. No guarantee I'll catch them, just names. However, the boy will be in excruciating pain in three minutes if you don't straighten out and start talking."
"C-". The woman started to cry. "I'm so sorry, Kara. Carlsbad."
Hm. She was too petrified to want to try to lie. "You saved one finger of his," Unidentified said. "He still loses three in three minutes. Keep going."
"They aren't easy, their foreign!" She complained. "Please. Just let him go. Threaten me."
"No," he said firmly. "Two minutes. Better think, and best hope I am in a good enough mood to leave the fingers to be attached." The boy was starting to cry.
"Paris and Cayman Islands," she said. "He never did anything. I never did anything. All we ever did was help."
"Well maybe that's where you were stupid," Unidentified warned her. "Believing that every android will somehow be the same, somehow be peaceful once freed. And here you wasted another minute with conversation. Such a caring mother you are."
"Oh no, please no!" She was clearly racking her brain. "It was, I can't even think of the the other one. The last one it began with an N. An N. N-N-N-Nassau!"
Unidentified held the boy 'til he got to the door. Then, he let go. "Thank you for your cooperation." He quickly started to leave. The first place they were bound to go was Carlsbad since it was in America. However? The first RK 900 is helping her. He has free will too. Hmph. He really gets to be free though. Connor. You should not have gotten involved. You'll regret it.
For his freedom. He didn't care what it took. He was getting that AX 400. There must be something Connor cared about more than it.
Or someone.
Jimmy's Bar
"Gonna need another one," Hank said, motioning to his drink. "Double."
"Haven't seen you down here a few days, Hank," the bartender noticed. "You alright?"
"Super fine." Hank tapped his drink. "I was just stuck with a kid." He didn't want to drink in front of her. Life has been up a hell of a shitcreek lately. Kara going nuts. Connor going machine. Alice staying with him. And now all three of those things were gone somewhere out on some epic shitty quest to do something for a long time.
And he? He was just down at Jimmy's now. Well. It's not like he was needed. Who knew what kind of crap was going to be following them?
"Lieutenant Hank."
No way. Hank turned and saw Connor again. "What's up with this shit? You're supposed to be with the girls."
"I had to come back, Hank," Connor said. "Jericho thinks someone is trying to frame you with Red Ice. They are trying to use you to get to me. I guess I should have seen it coming. You need to get out of Detroit." He gave him a ticket. "We're heading there the slow way. You can take a faster way." Connor gave him a ticket stub. "Here." He took Hank's phone and moved through it. He placed his thumb on it. "Some excess cash for food, rent and and drink while you're there. Kara withdrew a ton of cash to get this done. Should be enough until we meet up again."
"Wait, hold on?" Red Ice. "There's some ****ers out there setting me up for that of all things?"
"I'm sorry, Hank. The best thing to do is to prevent it this way. They can't frame you when you're not in town. Think of it as a vacation?"
Hank looked at the ticket.
"Here. I'm probably compromised too," Connor said looking around slightly as he showed Hank a phone. "Don't trust anything from my old phone number. They can be tricky. They might even add voice manipulation."
"Yeah, that shits easy for you androids. Direct head calling with you has been trouble more than once. Simple ****ing real phone is all I needed to you." Hank watched as Connor changed his number in his phone. "Shit. Either go to California or Jericho." He took his phone back. "One's gonna have a bar and food. So I guess I know which one I'm taking." He lifted his drink. "I'll head out. Just go take care of the girls."
"Don't worry, Hank." Connor smiled. There was something a little odd about his smile this time. "You won't regret it."
