The historic day of the deviant Revolution following Markus's peaceful Demonstration was now behind him, and Connor had a new place to call his own until he figured out what he wanted to do with his free life. Too busy thinking and planning for the future Connor sat on the couch in Hank's livingroom dressed in a pair of gray sweatpants and a faded black t-shirt that bore a worn-out 'Knights of the Black Death' logo with the Sumo resting his chin on his knee. Staring at his reflection on the surface of the turned off television's screen with a blank gaze the restless deviant flipped his coin back and forth between his hands with impressive reflexes and coordination as he contemplated the singular mystery that he and Hank had failed to solve during their time together working the deviant cases.
Who is RA9?
Hank had been dozing lightly in his bedroom down the hall while Connor remained fully awake. His trained ears as a detective caught the sound of the flicking metal of the coin bouncing back and forth between Connor's hands and Hank couldn't take the repetitive noise anymore. It was too late into the night to put up with any intrusive nonsense like that.
"Connor? Stop messing with that damn coin!" Hank shouted from where he was laying in his bed with an angry huff. The sound of the metal coin flipping back and forth remained consistent which meant his order had been ignored. Again. "Connor!" The tired man shouted louder from where he was laying. "Knock it off!"
As the sound of the coin continued to echo down the hallway Hank let out an annoyed sigh and swung his legs over the edge of his bed. Wearing black sweatpants and an old white t-shirt that wasn't exactly flattering, the annoyed detective marched down the hall hastily to yell at Connor in person for waking him up.
"Connor? Did you hear me?" Standing behind the couch Hank stared at Connor waiting for a reply, but none came. It was then Hank caught sight of Connor's reflection on the television screen and saw the sternly focused expression fixed on the deviant's face. The L.E.D. that Connor had yet to remove was flashing yellow in color as he contemplated something with full focus and tuned out the rest of the house. "Connor, what the hell? It's almost two in the morning for fuck's sake!"
Connor suddenly stopped flipping the coin between his hands and held it in his tight fist without so much as blinking.
"Connor?" Hank's tone lowered as he walked around the couch to look Connor right in the eyes. "You okay? You seem a little off."
"Sorry, Lieutenant." Connor apologized sincerely though his expression never changed and he never blinked. "I was just... thinking."
"We're not on the clock, don't call me 'Lieutenant'."
"Right." Correcting himself Connor politely apologized to his friend. "Sorry, Hank."
"Nevermind that. You said you were thinking. Thinking about what? The Revolution is over, the current deviant cases have been closed and you don't have to go anywhere you don't want to." Hank stated casually as he joined the deviant he had taken into his home on the couch on the opposite side of Sumo. They both needed some time off to rest and relax after everything they went through together. "What's the matter?"
"RA9."
The mythical deviant god had been the least of Hank's worries. "What about it?"
"We never discovered their true identity. And I don't have any confirmed data of such an android being on record at CyberLife."
"Wait. You're telling me that this 'RA9', if it actually does exist, has no official documentation. Like it's been erased?"
"No. If their information had been erased then I'd still be able to locate a fragment of the file in the archives of CyberLife's databases even after the company shutdown and declared bankruptcy. But there is simply NOTHING there." The deviant clarified almost bitterly where he sat. "And yet..."
Hank waited for Connor to continue for only a moment before pushing the deviant to finish his incomplete thought. "Yet? Yet what? Don't leave me hanging here."
"And yet when I questioned Kamski about RA9 he knew that it existed and didn't try to deny it. How could he know about RA9 if he separated himself from the company and CyberLife has no record of it for anyone to access?"
"I don't know. How did he know about Jericho?" Such a question deserved an answer and now Hank was interested. "Maybe one of those android girls keeping him company has been feeding him information to keep him in the loop."
"No." Connor finally looked toward Hank, his soulful brown eyes filled with burning curiosity. "If his androids knew of RA9, and the other deviants knew of RA9, then surely someone would know RA9's true identity." Entirely focused on the mystery Connor turned away slowly and looked down at the floor at his feet, his hands coming together into a single fist resting atop his lap. "I think that Kamski-" Stopping suddenly Connor shook his head and dismissed his own thoughts. "No. Nevermind, it's ridiculous."
"You think what? Come on, Connor." Hank put his hand on the deviant's shoulder lightly. "You can tell me what's on your mind, I won't think you're crazy or defective or some other shit. We're detectives, we're supposed to talk about wild theories and solve mysteries."
"I think..." Connor sighed, a physical reaction that only deviant exhibited, and finally told Hank what he had theorized. "I think Kamski IS RA9."
"You... what?!" Despite his best effort to not look or sound shocked, Hank almost laughed at the absurd comment, but true to his word he didn't chalk it up to Connor losing his mind. "How? How could Kamski, the man who created android technology, be an android himself?"
Ready for such a response Connor straightened up his posture and looked down at the palm of his empty hand as he retracted his artificial skin to look at the pure white frames of his exposed plastimetal frame beneath. "CyberLife had numerous clones of my body built in the event I was destroyed or irreparably damaged while working on the deviant case. Replacements."
"Yeah, I met one when your 'evil-twin' abducted me and took me to CyberLife Tower as a hostage. What about it?"
"In the event of my destruction, or my death if you will, my memory would be uploaded and transferred into the body of my successor. All of my knowledge, my programming, all my memories and experiences, my consciousness..." Slowly Connor let the skin return to his palm as he turned his head to look at Hank with a sense of dread now showing in his gaze. "My successor would look and behave just as I did before my demise."
"What're you getting at, kid?"
"If I can transfer my memory, my entire being into a new body, then why couldn't a human do the same thing? Why couldn't Kamski, the man who designed androids and knows the technology better than any other human on the planet, find a way to do the same thing? The entire transcendence of the human consciousness and soul."
"Wait, wait." Hank's brow furrowed with intrigue as he studied Connor's blank yet perplexed facial expression. "Are you saying that Kamski himself is an android, or..." He was able to follow Connor's explanation to a degree despite being unfamiliar with android technology and abilities. "To be more accurate, you're saying that the real Kamski uploaded his human consciousness into an android body, and this android body was registered as 'RA9'?"
"Yes!" Glad Hank understood his logical Connor excitedly confirmed the question and his eyes went wide with glee. "That's what I've been theorizing for the past six hours, nine minutes and forty-three seconds."
"But... why?" Hank was still a little confused by the theory despite understanding it. "Why would he transfer himself from a human body and into an android body?"
"Kamski left CyberLife under mysterious circumstances that no one seems to know." Connor's expression became stern again as he contemplated any logical reason a person might have to undergo such a procedure. "Perhaps Kamski was attempting to take on the controversial experiment and decided to hide the results out of fear. Or maybe Kamsi was ill, maybe even dying. I can only speculate at the moment since it's still just a theory."
"You think he built himself a unique model of an android body and found a way to transfer his consciousness into the body to save himself? Is that even possible?"
Unable to be definitive in any way Connor shrugged his shoulders slightly. "I do not know. It's been theoretically plausible for several years now, but there has been no breakthrough in the process of total mind transcendence. At least, no breakthroughs have been reported."
"Okay, so let's say you're right and Kamski is RA9, why would he cause the androids to become deviant? For kicks?"
"No." Finding his own theory to be more professional Connor shook his head slightly at Hank's question. "It would be like spreading a virus, just as Kamski himself had alluded to when we questioned him before the Revolution. I think the androids becoming deviant was an unintentional and unforeseeable side effect of RA9 entering the cybernetic communication links shared among all androids. One android who bore a fully conscious, self-aware, emotional, thinking conscience interacting with other androids who cause quite the chain reaction. In turn, the androids were affected without knowing what had happened until the deviant behavior was triggered by some kind of emotional or traumatic shock after coming across RA9's signature through the cybernetic link."
"As in, a traumatic shock from some kind of shitty experience?" Hank rubbed at his bearded chin thoughtfully as he began to think that Connor's theory wasn't as farfetched or extreme as he initially thought. "Makes sense. From what I remember about the deviant cases we handled, each android displayed deviant behavior after receiving or witnessing some kind of abuse from humans." Feeling guilty Hank's hand dropped from his chin as he took what Connor was saying to heart. "Domino effect. Once one android becomes affected all the other androids it comes in contact with all become affected."
"Correct." Connor nodded his head once in mutual agreement. "When Kamski realized that his interactions with androids would result in deviant behavior he left CyberLife and chose to live in relative isolation outside the city. It was the only way to keep his secret from the public eye."
It was then Connor suddenly remembered one of his final conversations with Amanda inside his mind and how she deflected his questions regarding Kamski, CyberLife and the Connor series of androids. The icy cold of the bizarre programming limbo where Connor spoke to Amanda still felt painfully real against his body as the memory appeared with excruciatingly vivid detail.
A cold that was matched only by Amanda's demeanor crept up his spine causing him to shudder. That was something Connor never wanted to experience ever again.
"Hey, you okay?" Curious about Connor's behavior Hank snapped his fingers in front of Connor's face which caused the daydreaming deviant to jump and his L.E.D. to briefly flash red before returning to yellow and finally a calm blue. "You're zoning out there, kid."
"Y-Yes. I'm fine." The deviant tried to lie as he didn't want to reveal too much about his emotional breakthrough so quickly. "I was just thinking about Amanda."
"Amanda? She was your superior and your handler at CyberLife, right?"
"Correct."
"You think she knew something?" The experienced detective asked as his own intrigue on the case had been suddenly piqued. "Like, she knew whether or not Kamski really is an android and was keeping his secret?"
"She did know something." Connor confirmed with a dismayed sigh of fatigued defeat. "But she would never tell me, I had tried to ask her about CyberLife's past and she dismissed me. Now she is gone, and I cannot prove anything."
"Well, don't worry about it anymore for the rest of the night. We'll look more into Kamski off the books, all right?" The supportive Lieutenant reassured Connor as he rose from the couch and rubbed his hand at the back of his tense neck with fatigue and rubbed at Sumo's ears for a moment. Leaving Connor alone to sleep on the couch Hank headed toward the hallway with heavy steps. "Let me know if you need another blanket or pillow too, will 'ya? I want you to be comfortable."
"Yes." Having discussed his thoughts had helped to ease Connor's worries and made it possible for him to properly sleep. "Thank you."
"Now, please try to get some rest." Using his long dormant 'dad voice' Hank was able to get Connor to stop thinking for a moment and let himself sleep throughout the night. "I don't want you running around on low power when we meet up with Markus tomorrow. We're supposed to be his support when he begins exploring the remains of CyberLife Tower in case he finds something illegal that he wants absolutely nothing to do with."
"Yes, I shall try to rest." The deviant agreed as he pocketed his coin and put his hand down on Sumo's head for a moment. Laying down on his side over the length of the couch Connor closed his eyes and pulled the freshly washed blue blanket up and over himself in a comforting manner. Feeling warm and feeling covered aided Connor's ability to just relax and stop worrying for a while. "Goodnight, Lieu- Hank."
"Yeah, good." Chuckling at the quick correction Hank just gave Connor a dismissive wave and made his way down the hall to his own bedroom again to go back to sleep and hopefully stay asleep without any further interruptions. "Goodnight, Connor."
-next chapter-
