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The sunset painted the docks in golden and red colors. Machines worked steady, moving containers from one place to another. The wind was cold and carried the dying leaves of the nearby park across the scenery. With every passing minute the sun disappeared more, and shadows grew longer. Soon, they would cover the whole area. Between the traces of the rising night there were two figures.
Running. Climbing. Shooting.
And every now and then black smoke would cover them, as the sound of an explosion disturbed the otherwise peaceful scenery. Although this should have been a fight, it looked more like a hunt. The taller figure walked slowly but steady, no hesitation in his moves. The other ran away, shot at him, missed and hid. One of them would soon be caught.
The gun in your hands felt warm from holding it for so long. You panted as you hid behind the nearest container. You had already reached the end of the docks. A tall, wired fence blocked your way, leaving you nowhere to flee. Back here was nothing more than a few black and silver Cyberlife boxes, containing bio components from old android models and piles of metal bits no one would ever use again. He had driven you into a corner. His last shot had hit you in the leg. Your clothes became dark and heavy from your blood. Quickly you pressed bandages on your wounds to stop the bleeding. If you lost more blood, you would faint, and he could find you by the traces of blood. As if he didn’t already know where you were. This was not how you revenge was supposed to work out. Not at all. The mines he had placed everywhere had already damaged you badly, but his aim was what tortured you the most. He could have shot you multiple times, but he didn’t. Always hitting you where it was not fatal, but extremely painful. He enjoyed showing you how much better he is. He was no obedient machine anymore. More like a wild animal, that found liking in the hunt. A wolf. Why-
Silence surrounded you as you reloaded your weapon. You considered your options. Peaking around the corner would make your target shoot at you. He would hit you again, which would lower your health even more - into a critical state. But it could give you the advantage of finding his location.
Footsteps broke the silence. He moved – changed positions. You had to think faster.
- Climb the container you were hiding behind to view from the top.
- Move behind the next cover, two large Cyberlife boxes on your left and hide.
- Stay hidden and let him approach.
Or did you have something to use against him? You checked your backpack: Gun, ammo, bandages, food, water …. You heard footsteps again. Shit! …
Becoming deviant was the right choice. Not only did he have a free will and didn’t belong to anyone anymore, but experiencing all these emotions was as thrilling as it was scary. Connor reloaded his gun and kept walking towards the last section of the docks. All this old tech just made him look and feel even more advanced and… dangerous than he already felt at the start of this chase. Cyberlife's once only hope to stop the deviance - now advanced by becoming a deviant himself thus becoming even MORE unpredictable. He didn't belong here, but you did. You ... hidden amongst this trash. The sound of you reloading made him take cover behind a container. Only 15 meters separated him from your approximated location.
You heard him. He wanted to stress you out. Control your next move by his actions. Let fear control you and thus playing right into his hands. But not this time. As your fingertips touched the cold metal in your bag, you smiled. You still had it! In that case …
He checked his vitals // all systems fully operational // and thought about his deviancy for a moment.
He had found pleasure in joking with Hank, talking back at Gavin and spending time with RK900 and you. He had realized long ago, that he enjoyed your company more than he should. The concepts of missing someone and hugging were nothing new to him as he sometimes experienced them with Hank. But experiencing them with you made it all feel ...different. You. You. After a long time of thinking and researching and constructing situations and reconstructing your actions and- he stopped and talked to Hank, just to receive this advice:
“Be nice to them. Tell them what you think is cute and attractive about them– as long as it’s appropriate!”
But it wasn't as easy as Hank made it sound. He tried to do it multiple times, but he was never sure if he did it right and if you understood, how he meant it. His preconstructions didn't predict high chances of succeeding anyway, so he stopped after a while. And other than your mood dropping a bit nothing changed.
He did not consider himself to be in love. Could love be so irritating?
No, this was love.
The feeling of chasing someone.
Chasing you.
And the RK800 made sure to be the perfect predator he was once designed to be. Every perfect shot was like a reward for him. Your surprised face an assurance for how superior he was compared to your skills. Wasn’t it impressive to you how much skill he had? How fast he was? He made a note to ask you about that, before he killed you. Well, if you didn’t die by his bombs in the meantime.
He was sure you hadn’t moved. Since the start of this little game, you had acted exactly like his software predicted. It would soon be over. Connor making you hear his steps was no mistake. You would panic considering your low health. And he noticed it worked, as he listened to your heavy breathing.
When he moved the second time, he was able to reach the container you were hiding behind. He could hear your gasp as he stopped at the cold metal wall and made an effort to let you hear his back hitting the obstacle – only the container between the two of you now. Connor preconstructed your choices based on what he saw when approaching as most of the area available to you was out of sight for him. Your options where to Stay, climb or hide. He hoped you would go for climb, reaching the top of the container and setting of one of the mines he had thrown on top earlier. He heard you roaming through your backpack. The RK800 knew you had nothing useful and you must have realized it too, because the next thing he heard was you reloading your pistol again. Did the panic make you forget that you had already done that? Most likely. He felt a sudden weight in his biocomponents. It did not feel like excitement. He was confused again and hated you for it. The empty bullets hit the ground and he hears you throw them behind the boxes you had the option to hide behind on the right, growling in anger. So… he had managed to stress you enough to make you throw away useless equipment. Now that brought a smile to his face!
Then again, silence. He took cover behind his containers side again and waited for your next move, still listening to your breathing.
When you finally moved, Connor felt like minutes had past, although his software told him it was mere seconds. He heard you climb the container and he grinned. He prowled closer, around the corner and took in your former position, just in time to see a shadow disappear on the top of the container.
There was the sound of your body hitting the top,
a click too quiet for you to notice,
and then the earing sound of an explosion.
Connor ducked from the blast and the heat, covering his face with his arm and smiled as the dark smoke rose towards the sky.
But something was wrong.
Why are-
It wasn’t over. You were still alive. But how? You should have died from the explosion!
Why are you-
And he understood. It was only your gun and the backpack that hit the mines on the container. You had thrown them on top and hid behind the cyberlife boxes. Connor turned around and approached the boxes. Ready to shoot. Slowly moving towards them he calculated your exact position, aiming for the perfect headshot - just like his software predicted for him. He prepared his question, eager for your answer. First shocking you with his perfect stalking. Then asking you. Then killing you. Finally-
Another step and he was able to see behind the boxes. The question on his lips: "Why are you mak-" But you weren’t there.
Where were you?
And you aimed right at your target.
You escaped. But how did you do that? The wired fence did not give away any information of you leaving the area. None of the other mines had exploded and there was no noise - only the wind chasing some dead leaves across the empty gaps between the boxes, mocking Connor as he stared at nothing. He moved forward, still in shock and heard the click of the mine too late. Immediately he froze; careful not to lift his foot and set it off. He was sure he did not place it there. Didn't even think of it!
His face was pure shock and anger.
“Gotcha!”
Connor tilted his head so he could see you kneeling on top of the container, which was covered in soot. You smiled and pulled the trigger, a confident smile on your lips. And immediately lowered your arm, knowing you would hit.
His software told him, that the bullet would just barely miss him. There it was, his chance to shoot you. So he raised his arm. The question popped into his vision but it was too late to ask you about it: "Why are you making this so difficult?!" The bullet passed his face and struck the ground behind him.
The shockwave knocked him of his feet, the explosion destroyed his back and the now unprotected biocomponents. Heat and pressure merciless. His face showed pure surprise as his body hit the floor.
He was dead.
>>>> GAME OVER <<<<
The word Victory appeared in front of your face and you laughed in joy. You finally did it! You beat Connor at Project Zero Chance: Global Copy! Relieved, you pulled down the Vive and smiled at Connor sitting on your left in a similar gaming chair. He was still too shaken to answer and just stared at the Defeat screen in disbelief. A laugh drew your attention from the confused android.
“Well, well, well. Would you look at that. Good job, Y/N!” Hank stood behind the two of you slurping a milkshake and looking like he had enjoyed the show. A gentle nudge on the shoulder was his reward towards you.
Connor pulled down the Vive and turned his head, same expression of shock on his face. Hank and you burst out into laughter.
You had discovered this arcade about a year ago. After an exhausting day at the DPD you longed for a burger and good game to play. But you already had played every game you owned and it was getting boring and - as a matter of fact - expensive to buy new games. After some research and even asking Connor for help, you found this place. The arcade specialized on virtual reality games and you found this shooter you really liked, because it used maps from around Detroit. You would come here often after work and play.
One time, Hank and Connor had to pick you up from the arcade after an already long day at work for a homicide case they needed every manpower on. You were tired, pissed and were full on ready to risk a disciplinary strike just to stay at the arcade and enjoy some well-deserved time off. Fuck overtime.
After 10 minutes of discussing you still hadn't moved from the machine; just standing in front of your usual gaming chair with your arms crossed. Connor seemed to scan the machine and your chair.
"You seem to like this game in particular, Y/N. You have the highest score on this machine and use this equipment regularly."
"Yeah, so? Complimenting me will not work. Especially when I know you have way better sweet talk up your sleeve." You made sure to stand your ground by straightening your back and looking him right in the eyes. Your tone annoyed Hank so much he turned around for a second.
"Then I will just beat you at your own game. You win & we'll leave you alone. I'll even tell Fowler a convincing lie!"
He stepped closer, "But if I win...", he said lowering his voice, stopping right in front of you and not breaking eye contact,"you will follow us without muttering a single complaint and only speak when asked to."
You thought it would be an easy win, based on your many hours of gameplay. But, oh, how wrong you were. Connor basically ripped you apart as he killed you within three minutes. He even set a new high score on the machine! But his final statement was just too much:“Why are you making this so difficult? For yourself, I mean.”
You liked the fact, that he became deviant and had developed emotions like any other ... human. But you would not tolerate that attitude. His statement dripped of pride and self satisfaction which made your blood boil. At that moment you swore to one day get your revenge. That phrase and his cocky smile would haunt you for days, giving you even more motivation to train and beat him. You had challenged him multiple times and for every win he took, you learned more about his gameplay, your gameplay and the games' mechanics.
And finally, victory was yours!
You pulled yourself together, Hank still cackling behind you and grinned at Connor as he finally snapped out of his shocked state. Now he looked like an excited puppy that played fetch for the first time – still surprised, but amazed. It would have melted your heart, if you hadn’t been feeling so proud of yourself.
“Y/N”, he asked, “How did you do that? You should have been killed by those two mines!” You couldn’t help but giggle before answering.
“With my normal gear I would have. Can you guess what suit I unlocked just two days ago, that made this win possible?”
Connor thought for a moment - LED flashing yellow. You could see his eyes moving from left to right like reading an article very fast. Suddenly, his eyes lit up and he looked at you.
"The Thermo Assault Armor!”
“Correct!”, you grinned again and looked at Hank proudly. But he just gave you a confused look.
“What the fuck are you talking about? Do you seriously expect to know about this shit? I stopped playing after the first two of the series.”
“The Thermo Assault Armor allows you to reflect any type of damage for two seconds.“ you explained to him. "All I had to do was climb up the container and step on one of his mines. Then I activated the suit and lifted my foot, causing the mine to explode while I took no damage at all. The smoke even covered me while getting to the perfect position to shoot him. Since the game didn't end Connor knew I had not been killed yet. And as he didn’t know about the suit, he assumed I was still hiding and checked the last place I could have been.”
“The boxes, where they had thrown the ammunition before I reached them”, Connor added and looked at you, “although it wasn’t just ammo, but some of my own mines as well.”
You nodded and faced Hank.
“He placed so many that it was easy to carefully defuse one or two of them. When I picked some up he almost got me but thankfully he only hit my leg.”
You crossed your arms behind your head as you faced the android again and proudly asked: “And what was my final move, that completely took you by surprise??” You couldn’t stop yourself from teasing him even more. Connor sighed theatrically.
“I didn’t realize that there was a second mine behind me. You did not aim at me, you aimed at it to make it explode.” You were so happy about your victory, that you bounced up and down in your chair.
“Good idea, don’t you think?”
Seeing you this happy, Connor couldn’t help but smile at your behavior. He was impressed by your actions, amazed at your passion in this game and felt … happy seeing you that enthusiastic. He stood up from his gaming chair.
“Throwing the mines and ammo like that without them exploding accidentally takes a lot of skill, Y/N.” You stood up as well, giving him a sly smirk.
“Well, I guess I got lucky!”
Your bright smile lifted his mood, and he couldn’t look away. He gave you a sweet and caring look. In turn you looked at him and wanted to do this all day but realized, that it would be weird if you kept staring. Quickly you took your members card from the machine.
“I’m gonna go check how many points I earned by beating you. Maybe I have enough for the Nerf gun set! Once I get it the precinct will never be the same!”, you said, still blushing and smiling.
As you walked away, Hank gave Connor a nudge.
"You missed your chance! Again!” The Android looked confused.
“What?”
“Oh, come on. You could have asked them to go out with you. You know... to ''let them teach you more about the game' or something like that.” Connor looked flustered.
“I don’t know Hank. If they don't feel the same, it would only make our friendship awkward. And … I don’t want that.” Although Connor made sure to remember Hanks phrasing in order to potentially use it in the future.
Hank pinched his eyes together.
“And if they do feel the same?” he asked, knowing full well that all your questions about Connors interest and hobbies had nothing to do with keeping up this 'friendship' of yours. More like a flirting competition at this point, really.
The android avoided Hank's teasing look and focused on your empty gaming chair.
“I don’t want to risk it.”
Hank sighted and turned to exit the building. Having just one cautious lovestruck idiot was already enough work on it's own but two?! As Connor followed him, keeping an eye on you to make sure you noticed them already returning to Hanks car, the lieutenant asked him Connor's own question from earlier; not expecting an answer.
"Just ... why are the two of you making this so difficult?”