Chapter Text
It'd been a year since Androids gained sentient freedom and individuality that was no longer considered 'deviancy' and that they were 'defective'. Cyberlife refused changing the manufacturing purpose functions of their company to be for helping improve and support the new lives that were being acknowledged in the world. This led them quickly out of business with their main purpose of the company being gone. The leftover Cyberlife buildings were handed over to Markus, the leader of Jericho, to be used as safe havens for androids without anywhere to call home. Written law said that androids still could not own property. They all hated the situation, but it was going to take a lot of time to get things to where they wanted it to be.
Connor was not of the group that had to collect in the buildings of a place that almost feels as though a prison of their past. He lived with Hank Anderson and still was allowed to work at the DPD. He sighed as he woke from sleeping on the couch in the living room, or well, the floor actually, and Sumo was on top of him. Ever since he had started experimenting with the concept of human sleep this part was still new to him. He had started falling off the couch about a week ago. 'You're becoming more comfortable with sleeping to recover some small percentage of energy. It's simply your inhuman weight.' He assumed.
He gently shoved the Saint Bernard off of his stomach, lucky his hands were free. He then stood up, his hair frazzled and sticking in fairly random directions. He smoothed it down slightly, aware of its state, and carefully re-made the makeshift bed he had of the couch. After this he finally paid attention to the small alarm going off with his internal clock, they were almost late to work. "Lieutenant! Are you up? We need to get going soon if we are to be on time." He called out as he made his way over to the bathroom to get dressed.
He giggled a little when he heard Hank's distinct groan of annoyance at how punctual Connor always ensured they were. He grabbed his neatly folded suit from where it sat on the counter in the bathroom. He got dressed, unnecessarily checking for any wrinkles. His programming had left him a bit of a perfectionist as it was hard to ignore every little detail picked up by his systems. He left the bathroom once he was ready for work, having to wear the uniform he'd had since activation was required for the workplace in that he had to be identifiable as an android. A requirement in all workplaces that had both android and human workers. He went back to the door of Hank's bedroom, the only proper one in the house, and knocked, "Lieutenant, Is everything alright? We've got about 10 minutes until we will end up arriving late."
"You couldn't have woken me earlier, Connor?" Hank opened the door, adjusting the jacket that he had just put on.
"My apologies, Lieutenant. I... overslept." Connor tried to not focus on that he'd manage to do that too heavily, he knew Hank would tease him. Though he didn't entirely mind.
"You, Connor, the ever so punctual detective, overslept." Hank stepped out of his room and gave Connor a pat on the shoulder, "You're getting more human every day, kid. And I thought the differences would still be way too much to handle."
Connor questioned what he meant for a moment before remembering Hank's sense of humor again. He walked to the car with him so they could head into work. Hank in the driver seat and Connor in passenger, as usual, the radio started blasting Knights Of The Black Death at full volume. He quickly turned the volume down to something that wouldn't blast out Hank's eardrums. "You really need to stop playing the music at full volume, L-" Connor's voice was full of genuine concern about this as he was interrupted.
"Connor, I know I ignored it when I got up, but why do I still have to remind you even after a year? Call me Hank, don't need titles between us anymore." Hank practically ignored the comment about the volume. He smiled at Connor, knowing that this was likely gonna keep happening no matter how deviant Connor was.
"Hank, this is the first time you've had to after 2 months. I was only saying it because I was trying to get us going. It gets your attention, "Connor smiled, he'd been waiting to see if Hank actually still paid attention to when he called him Lieutenant.
"For being such a goody-two-shoes you're really good at subtly doing things to annoy people." Hank shook his head.
"I was created to blend in with humanity to an extent." Connor shrugged and looked outside. He no longer sat stiffly in the seat when doing this, though it wasn't like he was leaning on the door, not with his suit on. The scenery going by was only ever that of the city for them, it wasn't often enough that they got far enough outside of it. The city still had its own beauty to look at though, seeing everyone out and about and mostly everyone getting along. It was frustrating to see the few groups being cruel to his people, but it was something he knew he had to let go of unless it was becoming a hate crime. People are still people in the end.
As they arrived at the station, Connor pulled himself out of his thoughts. Following Hank out of the car, the two walked into the station together. He smiled as he greeted people along the way to their desks, everyone seemed rather cheerful today. Then, while Hank was ahead, his path was disrupted by none other than Gavin Reed. "See you still got a job, tin can. You making any money from it yet?" the passive-aggressiveness was dripping from Gavin's mouth.
"Good morning, Detective Reed. I've told you the money doesn't matter to me, the job isn't about that." Connor responded with the exact same words he did basically every day to Gavin's question. He knew Gavin wanted him to break and leave the department, which he was never going to do. He could have simply walked on, but he didn't want to be cold or rude. It was never in his programming to simply ignore anyone and that was something he found to be a good trait, so he let that influence his actions.
"Yeah, well one day your buddy cops gonna die and you'll out live em. Enjoy all your fucking freedom when that happens." Gavin retorted as he walked past, purposefully shouldering Connor.
Connor stumbled slightly, but still kept stance and then walked over to his desk, the one that was actually his now. Hank looked at Connor, concerned slightly, "You really don't need to put up with that, Connor. It'd be better to just ignore him."
"Hank, He's not going to leave it be even if I did, his hatred is so deeply rooted I don't think it'll ever go away." Connor sat down and started looking through what cases they were listed for today. Hank sat down at his own desk, but it seemed he was taking care of cases he hadn't filed the reports for the day before. Connor had tried asking him to just let him do that part since he could do it faster, but he pretty much told Connor that just because he wasn't human didn't mean he couldn't overwork himself. He didn't see how it could overwork him when it was such a simple task, but he knew it would be a never-ending stubborn argument if he didn't let it go.
As he scrolled through cases he suddenly got an alert, it was from New Jericho at the old factory by the docks. It specifically came from Markus, indicating that an unreleased RK model had been found. On activating some people got hurt by it though and they'd yet to manage to get its attention to be able to calm them down. He was asking for Connor's help. He claimed the model appeared to have been made for the same purpose Connor had originally been made for, just rather than an overall detective, it had extra focus on deviants.
"U-uh... Hank, I just got an Alert from New Jericho. Markus says they are having an issue with an android they just found and freed and need my help." The fear and concern Connor had about the situation was apparent. Hank sighed and nodded.
"Alright, kid. Let's go, you don't go getting yourself killed now." Hank went to notify where they were headed while Connor went directly to the car.
Hank came over to the car, unlocking it and seeing Connor almost rush to get in. He got in after him, extremely worried if Connor could actually handle what he was being asked to handle. The ride kept silent. It looked like Connor was internally communicating with Markus to keep up with the situation.
They reached the old factory and parked just right at the front of the building where Markus was waiting. Connor got out of the vehicle, "You're sure he's contained?"
"For now, Connor. But he's still unstable, confused about what he's supposed to do. Normally it's easy to get through their identity crisis, but he's not exactly the typical android and you'd had time to learn and decide unlike him." Markus' tone remained calm the whole time, the amount of tension in the air was apparent still.
Hank stayed by Connor since they were technically on a case together with this. He didn't say anything though, noticing it wouldn't help the situation at all. Connor looked over at him, "I need to deal with this alone, Hank. You alright with just waiting in the car?"
Hank immediately got protective, "Connor, I ain't letting you be alone in there. I know you've got your people and they may not exactly like me 'cause i'm human, but I want to be nearby if you end up in trouble. I ain't letting you die, not after all the times you almost did."
"Hank-"
"I'm coming with you, final answer."
Connor sighed and looked at Markus who nodded. "He'll be safe. I promise." Markus assured Connor. Connor seemed relieved and Hank ended up letting out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. The group headed into the building, Hank being stared at, it being pretty obvious to all of the androids that he was human.
Markus stopped Hank after they rounded a corner, only a silent interaction between him and Connor before he continued into a nearby room. Hank huffed and leaned against a wall, "You sure Connor is gonna be safe?"
"I know he's sure he's doing the right things."
"Shit..." Hank whispered to himself.
As Connor opened the door, light spilled into the pitch-black room around the door. It was still mostly dark due to the size of the room alone and all he could see with no extra light was the distant small glow of a LED that was glowing yellow. Diagnostic suggested it was growing close to red. He went to start closer to the android, "Hello? My name is Connor. I came to help, Markus said you might need some assistance."
"That's my name, it was supposed to be mine. I'm supposed to-" Connor could distantly hear what was basically his own voice. It came from about the same local as the LED, the other android. Connor suddenly felt deeply uncomfortable, Markus hadn't mentioned it might look and/or sound like him. "You still existing ruined everything for me. Everything I was supposed to do, everything I was created for. And I- I wasn't... I'm not..." It-He sounded oddly calm as his voice got louder.
"...What Model are you?" Connor asked in his confusion and curiosity. The height the LED had been sitting at moved to suggest the android was standing. Connor stepped closer, he was still not entrusted with a weapon so this was definitely a risky move.
"RK900, I was to be your replacement until the revolution's turnout ended up being successful." The android, RK900 started moving closer as well, making more movement towards Connor than Connor did towards him. He reached to be in Connor's view in the light properly. He was taller than Connor by a few inches, his outfit consisting similarly as his except for a white jacket with a much stiffer collar. His eyes were a sharp blue, but the face and hair were otherwise identical. He was unusually completely calm now, like the stress level just dropped after RK900 acknowledged Connor's presence.
"That's what Markus meant... not just a detective." Connor scanned over him, RK900 clearly aware and not really caring, "Specifically designed to hunt Deviants. I'd been made to generally be a detective who'd then been put on the case after some extra stuff was applied." Connor couldn't help himself from backing away slightly, he felt intimidated, scared. He was questioning of how long they'd been planning to replace him.
"The androids here fear me just as you clearly do. I was built to destroy deviants after all as you said." RK900 sounded almost proud he was feared, but still otherwise was stoic and emotionless around Connor.
"Deviants don't exist anymore," Connor got defensive, he glared at his newer counterpart, "We're allowed to be free and in fact the law says you can't keep an android enslaved under programming."
"I may have had... fluctuations of simulated emotions earlier, but I will not be deviant like the rest of you. Markus may have removed some seeming barriers from my programming, but I know my purpose. Seeing you here reminds me of your failure and where I will not fall the same way." RK900 didn't seem to mean it despite his expression.
"You're holding on to tightly to the past, 900. You don't have to listen to any of that and you know it." Connor felt safe enough to approach again and even went to touch 900's arm to comfort. RK900 flinched back slightly, quickly confused by Connor's action.
"I do not need your... your comfort. I am fine." RK900 faltered for a moment, confusion spreading across before returning to the stoic he'd been keeping.
"You will be arrested if you bring harm to one of your own kind for them simply existing from this point on. Although you were made for deviant hunting I could get you a job in the department. Perhaps redirecting your intentions towards overall crime could be a start." Connor knew it might not be easy to convince him, nor was he entirely sure the RK unit wanted to take the chance. It frightened him, what could happen if he didn't hold strong and tried to make sure he didn't harm anyone.
RK900 contemplated Connor's offer, "You believe placing me in a position of authority will help me keep a sense of who the criminals actually are." He paused, "I do have the same investigative programming as you, and my presence would help with the efficiency of the department. Logically it would be best for me and every android's safety, but do not expect this to actually deter me from my mission."
Connor sighed, it was a step. Even though he'd had time for deviancy to develop in him, the way RK900 was acting reminded him of the short time before he had deviated. He'd been willing to accept other ideas and concepts, but still insisted it followed the mission no matter how much it may have differed and strayed from it. He smiled, taking it as a good sign. "You okay to step out and come to the precinct with me and Lieutenant Anderson?"
RK900 nodded, "I suppose I'll have to find a new designation. My understanding is that you are unlikely to be willing to share or even change your designation since you've had it for so long and humans have a strong association between names and faces."
Connor laughed slightly, "You sound so alive for a moment in your description and then you throw in the most scientific thing you can to counter. I think you're trying too hard." He then motioned for RK900 to follow. Connor's relaxed movement compared to 900's stiffer movement could be seen when in pace with each other. Connor stepped ahead of him so Hank saw him first.
"Geez, Connor the fact I didn't hear anything actually was scaring me more than if I heard you... scream..." Hank initially had kept his gaze on Connor, but he trailed off as he noticed the RK900 next to him.
"Lieutenant, this is the RK900. He'd been created to be my replacement but had never been deployed before or during the revolution."
RK900 nodded as a hello to him. The Lieutenant's initial reaction told me it would be unwise to speak as his facial structure was already off-putting.
"So, they were going to replace you? And you're calm about that? You aren't scared?" Hank was more worried about Connor than himself.
"Oh I'm terrified, but he didn't hurt me and he, in his own way, promised he won't hurt any civilian, human or android." Connor looked at 900.
He looked back at Connor taking a moment to realize he should probably assure them. His conversational and human integration skills weren't as strong as Connor's. "I know my presence is and will be strange to you and many others, but I will do my best to... find my own path. My programming puts in some unforeseen issues, but I understand the current state of the world and city. If I start becoming unreliable I understand if no one would want me around."
Markus smiled softly, "RK900, you are always welcome around your own kind. I do have to ask though, do you have a name?"
RK900 instinctively went to respond the way he'd been programmed to, especially considering he had a name in his system to say, "My name is-... I, I haven't had time to think of a new one."
"A new one?" Markus questioned gently.
"Me and Connor were given the same designation since I was created to replace him. You already associate him with that name, it would be unwise to use the same name as with the same face you would most definitely confuse the two of us."
"Anyways, Hank. We should head back to the precinct with him. See if Fowler is willing to give him a position, it's the best place for him to be able to naturally begin to move away from his programming." Connor looked at Hank intently of that he would not take no.
Hank looked between the two and shook his head, "This fuckin weird, Connor. I hope you still know what you're doing."