Chapter 7: Trust

Connor spent all night making sure the CyberLife won't be able to resume control over him ever again.

His first instinct was to contact Valerie and ask her to help him disappear from the CyberLife's system and to check for any more backdoors in his program, but then he remembered how, after running some diagnostics, she told him that everything was fine. Was that a lie? Or did she know exactly what was my purpose? Suddenly he felt like he was in Zen Garden all over again. Cold. Lost. Betrayed. That's how the others found him, sitting by the metal container with the arms wrapped around his knees, shaking.

Now Connor was standing on the roof, waiting for the sunrise, hoping that with the sunlight there would come some sort of enlightenment about what he should do now.

He looked at the pendant in his hand. North would probably yell at him and throw it out, just in case it would turn out to be some sort of a tracking device.

"You can't trust her, Connor. She's from CyberLife!"

"She must have known about this."

"She betrayed you."

"She could have warn you."

"You are home now."

"Just forget about her."

If only that would be so simple.

They were right. Maybe. Connor wasn't sure anymore. A part of him regretted telling them about her at all.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps.

"Is that hers?"

"Yes," he replied, looking at the blonde-haired android standing next to him.

"Did she tell you why she gave it to you?" Simon asked, curiously glancing at the necklace in Connor's hand.

"No," he shook his head, "but it seemed to be really important to her."

They stood in silence, watching the rising sun.

"What would you do?"

"I don't know. Can you tell me something more about her?"

Connor reached out his hand and allowed Simon to connect to his memories.

He wasn't ready for the chaotic wave of images that flooded him. The hug. Her tired face in the break room. The first time they met. Her smirk while she was unbuttoning his shirt. The precise movements of her hands during the repairs. Her cold fingers on his chest. The playful lights in her eyes. Her furrowed eyebrows while she was searching for possible glitches in his software. The worried voice as she was checking his wounds. Her determination when she gave him his necklace. The blush on her face. Her laugh. The softness of her lips on his cheek-

The connection was broken.

Simon gave him an inquiring look.

"You really care about this woman, don't you?"

Connor was unable to speak, still recovering from the intensity of the flashbacks, so he just nodded.

"Whatever you decide… keep in mind that there is a probability that she had no idea about this whole mess. Statistically speaking, of course," Simon smiled and patted Connor's shoulder. "And she seems to care a lot about you too."

"I'm sure some of the androids will be happy to come back to the precinct, Lieutenant. I'll talk with Markus and maybe we can arrange-" he stopped mid-sentence when he spotted Valerie coming out of the archive room.

"Hey Val! Look who's back!" Hank waved his hand to get her attention and smacked Connor on the back.

She noticed them and her face lit up.

All he wanted right now was to take her in his arms and never let her go, but he just couldn't tune his doubts out. Instead, he just turned his head away slightly when she approached them, still unsure how to handle this conversation.

Valerie slowed down, surprised.

"Connor?"

When he didn't respond, she tilted her head to try to meet his eyes. "What-"

There it was, a glimpse of Zen Garden again. "What was planned from the very beginning… You did what you were designed to do."

When he finally looked at her, he could no longer hide how hurt and betrayed he felt.

Valerie took a step back and turned pale. She closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath. She looked back at him and the pain in her eyes made him feel like someone ripped his thirium pump regulator again.

"It's good to see you again in one piece, Connor," she said quietly and gave Anderson a sad smile. "See you later."

Hank looked at both of them in confusion. As soon as Valerie walked away, he grabbed Connor's arm.

"What the hell was that about?" Anderson asked.

Connor shook his head and shrugged. "After all that's happened, I'm not sure if I can trust Valerie," he said, desperately trying to erase the painful look in her eyes from his memory banks.

"Are you out of your goddamn mind?!" Hank scoffed, staring at him angrily.

"The CyberLife tried to resume control of me after the protest. They-… they said they've planned it all along-"

"Jesus fucking Christ, Connor, this is insane! She was worried sick about your stupid plastic ass! I've seen her threatening some guy over the phone just to get any sort of confirmation that you are alive after that fucking raid-"

"This doesn't prove anything!" Connor burst out, shaking off Hank's hand from his arm.

Anderson threw his hands in the air and groaned, fed up. He pointed at his partner, his face tense and serious.

"Listen, Val is like a daughter to me. There is no way she would consciously agree to any of this shit, ever," Hank sighed heavily. "Just… go talk to her."

Connor found her near the Ambassador Bridge.

Obviously.

Valerie was leaning against a barrier, looking at the river. He joined her and mirrored her pose, making up his mind. She glanced at him but said nothing.

"Did you know?" Connor asked, finally turning toward her to study her reaction.

She burrowed her eyebrows and looked at him, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"May I have your phone, please."

She reached to her coat's pocket and gave him the phone.

Connor placed his hand on the screen, quickly uploaded a file and gave it back to her.

He watched her closely as she opened a video, the recorded memory of his last conversation with Amanda. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth. When the video ended, she played it once again. Her hands started shaking, so she tightened her grip on the phone.

"Motherfuckers… They've never said anything about this-, this-" she muttered through the gritted teeth, "I had no idea. If only… fuck, there must have been some traces of this shit in your code and I've missed it…" and then it hit her. She gasped and looked at him in horror. "You think- Connor, I swear I didn't know anything about this. I-I should have… Damn it, I didn't know!" Valerie shook her head and covered her face with her palms.

Connor couldn't take it anymore. He took a step forward and embraced her.

"I believe you."

She wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm so, so sorry..." Valerie whispered into his jacket, still shaking slightly. She pulled back a little just to be able to look in his eyes. "I was so scared… Are you alright?"

Connor pressed his forehead to hers and closed his eyes, smiling.

"I've never been better."