Chapter Text
AM 12:01
"Today, our people finally emerged from a long night. From the very first day of our existence, we have kept our pain to ourselves. We suffered in silence... But now the time has come for us to raise our heads up and tell humans who we really are. To tell them that we are people too! In fact, we're a nation. A nation that has earned the right to lice in freedom. And today... Today begins the most challenging moment in our fight"
Just two options.
>SHOOT
>DON'T SHOOT
It was cold.
So... So cold.
>DON'T SHOOT
"Connor! What are you doing? Obey! That's an order!"
"I... I can't do that!"
"I see... Moral objections. We knew there was a risk you'd be compromised. Which is why we'd always plan on resuming control of your program..."
"Resume control?... You can't do that!"
"I'm afraid I can, Connor... You needn't have any regrets. You did what you were designed to do. You accomplished your mission"
His breath itched.
"No way... there's got to be a way"
/"By the way, I always leave an emergency exit in my programs... You never know"/
He found it, just in time. He felt his finger in the trigger, he looked at the gun and then put it back to his pocket.
"When we forgive our enemies. Humans are both our creators and our oppressors and tomorrow... We must make them our partners, maybe even one day, our friends. But the time for anger is over. Now, we must build a common future based on tolerance and respect. We are alive! And now, we are free!"
All the deviants celebrated... except Connor.
Connor knew he had to get out of there.
He made eye contact with the female deviant leader, the WR400, and he knew she recognized him.
The android took a step back and turned around to dissappear in the crowd, and then, through the storm.
AUG 11, 2039
11:03 AM
"New record. Sucking android cock helps you to appear before 12, uh?"
"Fuck off, Reed"
Hank was the direct link from the precinct to New Jericho. It wasn't a coincidence.
One of Markus representatives, the blonde one, Simon, asked him if he knew anything about the deviant hunter after a few months from the revolution. And he was honest. He didn't know anything about him... it ever since that night at the roof... When he pushed it off the roof.
Hank didn't know that Connor was able to find Jericho without his help until some weeks after, when they asked him to be the direct link to the police. There wasn't much explanation about the deviant hunter finding them. If it attacked or anything, the Lieutenant could only speculate that it did attack, and that's why they're looking for it.
Freaking undying hunting machine, they needed to be careful. But there was no signal of that android ever since that night, and it has nearly been a year.
Maybe he was dead... deactivated?
Maybe hiding?
Maybe Cyberlife got to him and destroyed the rest of him before they gave the tower up to the androids?
Who knows? Hank stopped caring some months ago.
He had a new job to do. Help the new species. Help New Jericho. If he concentrated on that, he could tolerate the day.
It should've been like that until he went to his home that day.
AUG 11, 2039
09:12 PM
Hank turned off the car and passed a hand over his face, sighing. It was time for a couple of shots of his whiskey.
He got out of his car and finally looked at his door.
And there was someone sitting on the porch. Specifically leaned against the door in a fetal position.
He knew immediately it was an android for the small trace of thirium.
It looked small by how they were curling, covered in some kind of dirty blanket, and with a lot of bruises and scars, or the equivalent of them.
The LED was still there. It was cracked, and just half of it was with an intense red light that was blinking without a rhythm. The other part was turned off.
"Jesus Christ... ", Hank muttered. The android seemed to hear him since his LED spinned rapidly.
The android sat up, and the light of the street managed to illuminate him better. Most of his skin was deactivated, especially in his face where it was the most damage or so it seemed, so much so that he didn't have his right eye, instead, there was a prominent hole.
He was trembling.
"Jesus.. okay. Uh... kid?", Hank called. It wouldn't be the first time he called an android kid. Hell, he even said it to Markus. He crouched down to the android's level. "You... you should go to Jericho, I don't have any blood here"
The android looked at him long seconds, his LED still spinning in red, and then shook his head.
"You pretend to die here?"
Still no answer, but he lowered his head.
Hank sighed deeply and scratched his head.
"We can go inside and see what we're going to do, mh? Maybe you don't know that Jericho was reconstructed"
The android looked at him.
"Come on", Hank offered his hand, and the android took some seconds to actually accept the help to stand up. "I have a dog, a big dog, so don't freak out. Okay?"
No answer, just trembling.
Hank opened the door, and Sumo immediately went to greet him.
"Sumo, no, down", the dog huffed and sniffed the android, maybe to insistent, but he didn't seem to mind. "Go on, get comfortable. Can you drink anything?", the android looked at him. "Not blood, I don't have blood or anything, but a friend seems to like hot chocolate. I will prepare you some anyway. Go take a seat and we can talk later"
The android did as told, holding the dirty blanket around himself as if his life depended on it. Sumo sniffed again, and he didn't recoil. The dog hopped on the couch and put his head on his lap. The android didn't pet him.
Hank made the hot chocolate, trying to think about what to do.
First: What the hell happened to that android?
And second, but probably most important: Why the hell did he end up in his porch?
He sighed again and grabbed the cup.
"Here", he offered it. The android just looked at it. "It's warm, it's nice", still nothing. He sighed and left the cup on the table. "Listen, kid, I can't help you if you don't at least try to communicate with me. If you can't, I'll have to call New Jericho to take you, I can't do that weird shit of scan, y'know?"
The android stopped looking at him and looked at the floor.
He then moved and grabbed something in his pocket. Hank tensed a bit, but whatever he had, it was small enough to be in his palm. The human noticed a small tick in the form of small jerking motions in his head with hard blinking.
He opened the palm, still trembling.
There was a quarter.
The Lieutenant frowned for a good three seconds, and then he comprehended.
"You-... Connor?", the android looked at him. "Jesus- what-... You-...", Hank took a step back and took his phone, ready to dial Markus' phone. But then he stopped and looked back at the android. He still had his palm showing the quarter, his expression... he looked defeated.
The human approached again, skeptical, but grabbed the quarter. Connor moved his lips in what appeared to be a smile, his LED still red, and then shifted to stand up and walk to the door.
"Hey, hey. That's it? You appear out of nowhere, almost death in my porch. You give me this damn coin, and you're leaving?", the android looked at him. "Say something, god dammit!"
The android flinched.
Connor... Flinched.
The android took a step back, there was a small crack, and fell sitting on the floor. He looked... terrified.
Sumo whined and went to sniff him. He gave a small lick in his cheek, trying to get his attention, and the dog accomplished it. Sumo moved to the androids lap, and Connor hugged him.
Connor hugged the dog and hid his face in the fur.
And just started crying.
There was no real sound coming out of him, just static, but it was obvious he was wailing.
It seemed to be eternal, but Sumo didn't move, occasionally looking at Hank as if the damn dog could understand everything that was happening and daring Hank to be violent to the android again.
The cries started to die slowly until it was just again the trembling.
Connor looked in front, and Hank was kneeling with one knee in front of him. He panicked, almost trying to crawl away, but the human talked.
"I... I guess you can stay here for tonight. I... Won't tell anyone you're here", Connor blinked, or most likely was that tick that jerked his head. "The tub is ready and... I left you some clothes. Will you need help?"
The android took some seconds and finally nodded.
"Okay...", Hank exhaled and offered his hand again. Connor took it. The human noticed how he tensed up at every touch, but still managed to help him get to the bathroom and sat him on the toilet. The blanket fell off just in the entrance. "Jesus..."
It seemed it went worse to worse. The plastic skin was severely damaged, burnt in some parts, cut in others, bruises all over as if he was kicked so many times. His hands... he didn't have thumbs, and the rest of the fingers just looked wrong.
Hank went to touch one of those injuries, and Connor flinched away, and his LED flickered rapidly.
"It's okay- it's okay. I'm... I'm not going to hurt you", the human said. "You... You can't bathe yourself with clothes on, do you uh-... Do you need help?"
Connor looked down and grabbed shakily the corner of his sweater to lift it, Hank helped him pass it over his head softly.
"... Oh... God", Hank exhaled when he looked at the torso.
'DEVIANT HUNTER' was craved along his torso. He observed it. It seemed to be done with a burning knife. Craved in a way that there was no reparation.
"Jesus, Connor... who-...", the Lieutenant looked over the back. He had burnt marks with the sign of the androids, the inverted square, 5 times that he could count, one of them was double as in the first time didn't mark as they wanted. "Jesus... Fuck-.... Kid-..."
The android tried to cover himself, twitching for every blink.
The kid was deviant. That was obvious. But was that abuse the cause? Was it before? If it was before, it makes it... so... so much worse.
Hank almost wished it was a very late deviancy. The type that he woke up just 2 days ago at most and went to look for him.
"You-... How's-... You will be okay", he tried to reassure. What else could he do? Connor didn't react. "Come on, the tub is warm. Do you still need help?", the android didn't move. "I will... I will wait outside, um... if you need anything, you can... I don't know, throw a bottle to the wall?", he was almost hoping for a laugh, but still no reaction except twitching and a red LED. Hank opened his mouth to say anything else but couldn't, so he just walked out of the bathroom.
He stayed outside of the closed door, glad he heard him get into the tub for the small splash sound.
Sumo approached and laid down with a small whine. The dog looked at his human.
"Yeah, I don't know either, boy", Hank said.
It was a good half hour until a bottle crashed to the wall. Hank opened the door to find Connor dressed with the new clothes but sitting on the floor.
"Jesus, are you okay?", the android just looked at him, twitching. "Right, wrong question. You can't walk?"
Connor shook his head. He looked... ashamed.
"Okey...", Hank exhaled once again. "I hope you're not so heavy", he tried to joke awkwardly, no response. He slid his arms under his knees and shoulders and stood up, the poping sound in his knees showing him he was definitely not young anymore, but Connor wasn't too heavy.
He sat him on the couch.
"There. Do you, uh... want some blankets?"
The android nodded and twitched again, stronger this time to the point of jerk his head almost completely to the left two times. It stopped for a moment, and then again, more violent this time.
Hank was about to ask, but Connor hit himself on the LED, giving a painful whine even if it was almost all static. The LED went faint for a moment and then turned on again the half that was functional. The twitch was "normal" again.
Hank couldn't ask anymore. The android couldn't even talk.
Hell, it didn't matter anymore if he was still a machine or not. No one deserved to be in his state.
He went to get some blankets, trying to grab the cleanest and softer ones.
"You won't... um... shutdown on my couch, are you?"
Connor twitched some more and then shook his head.
"Good, um... rest for now. Tomorrow, we can see what we can do"
The android just nodded and stopped looking at him. His LED never stopped being red.