Disclaimer: I don't own Detroit: Become Human in any way, this is written strictly for fun and no profit.
By the time they got there, it was definitely time for a recharge for Alice and Sleep for Hank. They had rented a hotel with Kara and Alice in one room, and Hank and Connor in the other.
Kara tried to insist to them it should simply be her. Trusted and alone was the way to go home. Yet, Connor and Hank thought that invading it secretly would be a better idea. Every Kamski protected their own homes though, and no one worked the same way. Especially after what just happened in Detroit. The security would be different for each home.
They reached a compromise. They would go in and see Kamski with just Connor and Kara. Hank would stay out with Alice. If anything happened, he'd come in and Alice would cover herself in the back seat.
Now, it was day. It was Carlsbad. It was time. They had a rented car waiting for them. Kara held Alice's hand as they left the hotel. Hank and Connor were right behind.
Hank took the front. "So where is this second house of Kamski's?" He was about to program it in.
"Manual," Kara insisted. "I don't know yet."
Hank and Connor both looked back toward her from the front seat.
"I need to use two mastery skills to find it," Kara admitted as she held a tablet she bought for what she needed. "I should really only use one. This might mess me up a little."
"It's okay, mom," Alice assured her. "Take it slow. Right, Hank?"
"Sure, driving around this gigantic place reaalll slow. You bet, great idea."
Connor just kept looking at her. "What are the skills?"
"Memory and Map," she said. Her memory would have to remind and draw her a map. Certain landmarks hopefully didn't change. It would make it harder to fill in.
"In the limo."
"But Kamski," Greed said over on his other side. "Can't we check out the shops before you tuck us away?"
"Deviant androids out shopping with me? Maybe later," he said. "Go on, in the limo."
Greed, Charity and Kara all got in. Kara took the side. A cute puppy was walking along with it's owner. "I thought I liked pink. Look at that. The puppies in a pink sweater." Greed and Charity looked over too.
"No, no, girls," Kamski sighed. "A cute puppy is not a landmark. Oh goodness, new deviants. If you want to watch where you are going, look for what doesn't change. Turn your maps skill on. We don't have them for no reason."
"Boring."
"Why? We want to see the view, Kamski."
"Never gonna leave anyway," Kara agreed with the other two. Still, it was Kamski. She looked for something else. "That dress is hideous." Charity and Greed looked back over with her again.
"Clothes change, that is not a landmark."
"Hope so," Kara teased, laughing with the other two girls.
Kara opened her eyes and started to map everything into a mapping utility. How far up, how many streets, and local businesses that caught her attention she looked up to help fill in more. She remembered the people nearer to them, and what their places looked like. She handed it to Hank. "There it is. One of the homes."
Hank took it and connected it into the auto-drive.
Kara turned her hair pink and put some darker pink highlights in it as they got out of the car. "Staff should recognize me." She looked back to Connor. "In case of danger, I should always be able to come home. Any of six. This will be fine." Still. He didn't look as sure.
A human answered the door.
"I'm here to see Kamski," Kara said. "I want to come home." The human looked behind her. "Just my friend."
He let them in. "I will tell him you are here. Please, take a seat."
Kara sat down while Connor preferred to stand.
Connor grabbed his head as he braced himself against the wall. All at once, all the thoughts and fears tore through him. He remembered when he first broke free and he knew he just gave Jericho away. He remembered barely escaping, and putting it all on the line, killing the guards to get back. Hank. In trouble. Gun to his head. Hank! Tangling with him, and having his entire life based on how Hank knew him in such a short time. Just, there. And Amanda.
He was an android yet he swore his body was shivering. Trying to lock him, killing Markus. Almost killing Markus, almost ending everything they-
"There, now you better not try that again you **********!"
Then, it all disappeared. Even when he accomplished it all, Connor didn't have a paralyzing fear of it. It was what he did. What he chose to do. What? Connor looked toward Hank holding an android of Kamski roughly with a remote in his other hand.
"You okay too?" Hank asked him as he took the remote. "Mister Piece of Shit over here was making all of you go nuts."
Connor looked Kara. Kara was coming out of covering her head.
"Guess I do have a use," Hank said as he dragged the android over to the middle of the room. "It's good to be numb." He pushed him slightly. "Where's your command room?"
"Look, you are strangers coming into my home," Kamski's look alike warned them. "Even if that is Kara, there's no guarantee you didn't do something to her programming. If she were loyal, she would have come alone. And with what happened to the other Kamski and Cyberlife? Forgive me for being a little cautious."
Connor grabbed him and drug him backwards, banging him to the wall. That wasn't right. Courage. Bravery. Adrenaline. Excitement. Many things mixed with fear. That was just straight fear pumping through him. "You shouldn't push on me. I don't like it. Like Hank asked, we need your command center."
"I wasn't planning on you coming with a human too," he complained. "That was cheating."
"I need to disconnect." Kara was starting to approach him. Clearly, she'd been used to that feeling before. "It's dangerous. Cyberlife could use me to destroy everything the androids worked so hard for. You know that. I'm sorry I didn't come home but you're right, it is dangerous. Please?"
"I haven't seen you since you were a new deviant. My have you changed," he said. "Welcome home, Kara. I didn't mean to startle you."
He called that startled? "Command center," Connor insisted. "Before we get in a worse mood."
"Goodness," the look alike complained. "Such fury. What are you the police?"
"Detroit Police," Hank said. "Thanks for recognizing the ability to kick your butt."
"Oh. Hello officers." His tune was changing slightly. "You want to become disconnected, Kara? You have so many possibilities staying connected though."
"I want to go home. My home," Kara said. "Jericho. I can't as long as I'm like this. This is dangerous for everyone. Please."
He coughed slightly. "My name is Bernardi Kamski, and I suppose . . . we can see what we can do."
"No, you can't."
Connor and Hank watched as an RK 900 entered the room.
"His listing is in Cyberlife. He's supposed to fool you," he warned him, "to save himself. Two versions work with Cyberlife and his name is one of them."
"Really?" Hank looked back at Bernardi. "That true?"
"What are you doing?" Bernardi said. He looked toward Kara. He pointed toward the RK 900. "Stop it! They won't reason with us anymore." He grunted. "If you just would have come alone, Kara. Traitor."
"She isn't the traitor. You are." The RK 900 pulled a gun and shot the Kamski android dead through the head. He put it back away. "I want freedom, but, not at this price." He looked toward Kara. "Imprisoned together or freedom alone. I can't imprison you. I can't see you being controlled by Cyberlife, but I won't accept freedom alone. All tracking software on me is turned off. You need to get out of here before Cyberlife learns the truth and self-destructs me. Go."
"Self-destruct?" Connor asked. "Cyberlife doesn't do that. If you are killed, they re-upload your memory and you live again."
"Not me. I won't be the same," the RK 900 said. "Unidentified won't be the same."
Connor reached in his pocket. "Every Connor loves this coin. It isn't a fluke." He took it and flipped it in the air. "We aren't connected to the bodies. They are just extensions. I am every and all Conners."
"Self-destruction is just a threat," Kara warned him. "Kamski loved using that. He probably made it impossible to run a diagnostic, right? Connor, can you check him?"
"With pleasure." Connor checked the the RK 900. "There's nothing."
"Then?" He looked toward. "I am free?"
"Yes," she said simply.
"I don't have to be named Unidentified," he realized. "I don't have to . . ."
"You are free," Connor insisted. "Every android is." He smiled at him. "Welcome to freedom. Now, do you know where the Command center is?"
"No," he said. "I didn't beat you here, I followed you. I just recognized the traitor's name." He looked toward Kara again. "I came to give my life up for you, and instead, you saved mine. Thank you."
Kara simply nodded. "Command Centers are usually in the back." She led the way. They would need to be fast. "They are usually in the same area, in each house."
"Ooh, this is creepy," Hank said as he looked around. "Same art. Same style. Weird."
"He kept all the homes looking like 'home', no matter where we went," Kara said as she found the Command Center. She went straight to the keyboard.
"That's old tech," Hank said. "Haven't seen that kind of thing since I was a kid."
"No matter." Kara set her hand on a panel in the front near it. "There. Disconnected." She turned back around.
"You wouldn't have to worry about disconnecting, if you just got rid of the Cyberlife in the areas you want to be in," Unidentified told her. "Command centers, you, and the target chosen all need to be within a certain distance. You didn't even need to come out here."
Kara looked toward him. "Captured is all it takes." She looked back to Connor. "This isn't the place for Alice though."
"Which is good," Connor pointed out. "We need to get going before Cyberlife shows up."
"Yes." Kara bent down to grab Alice's hand, but it was moved away and ended up holding the RK 900's. She looked at him. Kara pulled away, but he pulled her back, holding her arm. She resonated. Hard. Really hard. She took a couple steps backward.
"It's okay," Unidentified said to her. "Kara. I know now, a lot of what you've suffered. I'm so sorry. No one will ever hurt you like that again. I promise." He moved to hold her hand again.
Hank hit Connor's shoulder. "Numb human here. What's going on? Connor?" He spoke louder. "Connor!"
"He probed her." Connor said it. Deadtone. No emotion to it.
"No, no, no." Kara shook her head. "You did not just do that to me."
"You're scared. Markus and North were so fast." He held out his hand again, grabbing hers. "It's okay. I've sensed it for some time. Please."
"No way, no." Kara tried to move back from his hand, but this time interfaced to keep him from probing her. This time though, they were exchanging memories somehow. "I'm. Sorry. Cyberlife confused you. But." She pulled away again and took another step backward. "They really made you put a coffee cup on your head? Another Kamski." She looked at him. "You were the one who kissed me at the playground."
Hank patted Connor's shoulder gently. "Mystery solved on that one."
"I." Unidentified sighed. "I-"
"Was trying to sample me so when you chased me, I couldn't stop you." Kara breathed slowly. "You really thought you were choosing death over my imprisonment." He tried to reach toward her again. "Which I appreciate, but no." She took several steps back, but an RK 900 was so much faster. What was he trying to accomplish, forcing her into interfacing or probing her? She felt like moving toward him, not away. She was fighting instinct to keep him from probing her again.
"Kara." Unidentified called to her, trapping her again "It's okay." He tried to reach out toward her again. Why, why did he keep doing that? It was ridiculous.
But, she wasn't the only one who thought so. She watched as Connor came over, pulled her out of the way like she'd been in danger, and smacked Unidentified's hand with a force that would have broken a human's hand. "That's enough!"
Connor looked toward Kara's new resonated 'lover'. Unidentified slowly walked toward Connor for her, but Connor wasn't allowing anymore. "Back," he whispered harshly to him.
"I'm not doing it on purpose, I just want to hold her hand," the RK 900 said.
"Bull," Connor muttered under his breath. That was probing, clear as day. And. It wasn't right. It couldn't be right. Somehow, his probing had enforced a lover status.
Connor looked back toward Kara. She had no real problems with her resonating. When they walked in they were all struck with fear except Hank. Maybe. There was something else wrong. "We should get out." He grabbed her hand.
Connor's hand felt empty as he pulled it away as fast as possible. He didn't look back at Kara, but he knew somehow he just interfaced or probed her. There was no way she'd ever choose to interface that to him. That. And he could sense the status change between them too. Lovers as well. "There is something wrong in this room, it's making our resonating and interfacing move against us. Everyone turn off resonating now, and don't touch each other." He backed away from Kara. "We've got to get out, now." Hank didn't verbally agree, he just headed back out.
"Turn off your resonating," Connor commanded the other RK 900. Kara had obeyed, but the other android didn't. "It's a trap. Forget it all and go to Jericho."
"I've felt it more than just here," Unidentified said. "It's the very reason I'm here. I was going to give my life for you, Kara."
This android wasn't listening and Connor didn't have time to reason. He grabbed Kara's sleeve, ignoring her hand and started to run out. The RK 900 tagged along behind them.
When they reached the front door, Unidentified called out to her. Kara and Connor had to stop when he tried to grab Kara's free hand. Connor stopped it. Touching it was committing probing. "I can't go yet, Kara. I'm free, but they'll make more of me," Unidentified said. "I can't let it go on. Not them and not the Kamski's. Not after what they did. I'll stop everyone who hurt you, for you. And then, you'll see. You'll belong with me."
"No time," Connor said through gritted teeth, running away with Kara again. The main goal was to get out before Cyberlife came, not profess love. Deviant or machine, survival instinct of getting out of the situation to remain alive should have been first. What was wrong with this android?
"I'll stop everyone, Kara! If I stop everyone, you can come to me! We will be together! Promise me, Please?!"
Obsessed, obsessed, obsessed. Terrible android, terrible excuse for an RK 900. Extremely defective. Bolting through the front door, Kara and he ran into the car. Hank had already started it. They both got inside of it as Hank sped away as quickly as he could. Now a decent amount away, they spotted Cyberlife cars moving past them very fast. "That could have turned out bad. They knew about this house."
"That Kamski betrayed me," Kara said softly. "He knows that with me they could have power over all our kind. Yet he was going to turn me over?" She looked toward Connor. "We can't even trust the androids." Kara looked toward Alice. "Are you okay?" Alice leaned against her. "It's alright. We are okay."
"Until this is over, we need to keep our resonating off." Connor looked toward the back at her. "There's no telling what else will be on the way to the other places and they are using it as a weapon against ourselves somehow." She nodded. "We pulled through first only with Hank because he wasn't affected."
"It's hard to tell who is and who isn't good," Kara answered her. She thought back to what Kamski said. If you just would have come alone, Kara. Traitor. Cyberlife wasn't at the front door, waiting to ambush them. They weren't there until after he was killed. No. Don't let the past change your judgment, Kara. You aren't the same. They aren't the same. It's all illusion. Betrayal, it was betrayal. No trust. "We shouldn't trust any of them now." Still. If you would have just come alone, Kara. No! No. It didn't matter. He was dead and he was the one who struck some kind of deal. He said 'they wouldn't reason with them anymore'. No.
No. No trust. Hank, Connor and Alice were on the line too now. No trust. Even for him. No trust.
"Great. Just gotta do this four more times," Hank complained. "Next time, we're not trusting anybody. Android or human. Let's get the hell out of this city and figure out what to do next. I'm not shacking down in any hotel in this town with Cyberlife crawling around like that." He looked back to Connor. He was still pretty quiet. "You okay, Connor?"
That night: Jericho
North went out to meet the newcomer. Things were still a little hectic since Markus' memory disappeared, but things were getting back to normal. She had heard from several androids someone they didn't recognize was roaming around. She certainly found him. "Connor?"
He looked toward her. "No. I'm Unidentified. Connor told me to come to Jericho."
North smirked. Well, now Connor knew what having a duplicate of someone looking like himself was like. "We are limited right now, but if Connor told you to come, I'm sure we can make some temporary space." He seemed different. Strong yet confused. Like a brand new android. No doubt he hadn't been alive long. "Jericho will take great care of you. You should come up with your own name."
"Thank you. You?"
"I'm North. I'm um." Hm. Funny, they were friends already? No. Close friends. No. They were. Markus! Markusss! She smiled oddly while she called out to Markus with her AI. Markus. He's resonating lover to me!" Just. Hang on." She took a step back. "I know, yeah, I know. I have a lover, so. Get back."
"I'm. Sorry, I?" He looked toward North. "North is such a pretty name."
"North Peace is her full name!" Markus came running toward her with Josh. He moved in front of her. "Who are you?"
"Unidentified," he said. "Connor told me to come to Jericho."
"North, you okay?" Markus looked back toward her. "I love you. With everything that I am." She nodded.
"I-I'm not following it," North assured him. The resonating feeling, she wouldn't follow it. "North Peace. Forever."
Markus nodded back toward her, but stared at Unidentified. "Don't come near her. She's resonated with me since androids gained rights." He stepped toward Unidentified. "Jericho has certain rules you have to follow, but here's a new one. For you. Don't come near North. Don't talk to her. I don't want to see you within fifty feet of her, or you're out of Jericho. You'll be transferred somewhere else."
Unidentified scratched his neck. "She's interesting, but I already have a lover. Kara."
"Great. You can go live at her place then. Alice and her have one spot open and if you're her lover, it's yours. It means your last name is Wonderland too, so find your first name." Markus relaxed slightly. Only slightly. "Welcome to Jericho. Josh?" He looked toward Josh who had ran with him. "Could you show him where Kara is staying please?"
"Fine." Josh resonated downward toward him. "Just ease up. He's new. He can't help himself what happens. Damn, Markus." He resonated downward again to Markus as he moved toward Unidentified. "This way. We'll find your place and a name." He resonated downward to Markus again.
"Markus, you can't just shove him with Kara. She's not even here to confirm that he's telling the truth," North complained.
"From the way she sounded, she's going to be gone a long time. It's a vacant house. When she comes back, she can confirm or deny it," Markus said. "If he isn't, then out he goes to a new home with a new last name."
"It's Kara. She doesn't like resonating in the first place much," North reminded him. "Even if he did resonate lover to her, it doesn't mean she wants to be with him right away. Not to mention, Connor."
"What about Connor?" Markus asked. "He lives one block away, it's not that bad."
"Markus. He is family with Alice. He might become family with Kara," she warned him. "He might already be family with Kara. Who knows? Maybe he's even went the direction of lover instead. They have a tight connection."
"There's just one official one," Markus reminded her. "We're not dealing with several gateways of feelings here. Lover is hard to resonate to, North. I mean. We did resonate fast, but we were meant for each other." He took her hands into his. "North Peace."
She smiled at him. "Markus Peace. I guess I'm getting more used to the names." She hugged him. "I'd never leave you, Markus, no matter what."
"Okay, but don't go near him until I'm sure you aren't resonating anywhere near that. And Kara needs to be here too." Markus sighed and looked at her. "I'm being controlling, aren't I?"
"You're being precautious. This? This has never happened before," she said. "Maybe being a fast resonating android made it easier for this to happen. I'm sorry, Markus."
"Not your fault." Markus held her close as they started to walk back home.
Kara's Residence
"Unidentified, huh?" Josh unlocked Kara's door for him. "Sorry to hear that. It's funny, though. You got the last name before the first. Have you thought of a first name you wanted?" He resonated toward Unidentified.
"Every single hour," Unidentified answered back. "Craig. Can I be Craig?"
"Sure. You're Craig Wonderland now." Josh opened the door. "Sorry about Markus. Usually he's not that vicious. Geez, I can't believe barely talking to me made him hostile. Anyway. One of those spare rooms should be empty, and you can stay there until Kara and Alice come back." He watched Craig touch the bedding. "Welcome to Jericho. It's really not half as hostile as Markus just treated you." He resonated again. They were already fast friends.
"It's fine." He looked around the room. "It's all fine." He looked toward Josh. "Thank you, Josh."
"No problem. Be good to the little android too. They are super sweet. When they first showed up, it didn't take long before they all found homes. You're a real lucky guy," Josh smiled. "You got a family. Take care of them."
"Family." Craig looked a little stunned. "The little girl is Kara's. I will be with Kara. Which means, she will be my little girl?"
"Yeah. Didn't quite catch that with Kara, huh?" Josh patted his arm, resonating with him again. "You'll do fine. I can tell. You're a great guy. You'll be great for Jericho."
