Chapter Text
Up and down, up and down. Each movement of the swing allowed Sonny to glance at the setting sun between park tree branches and buildings of Detroit. Each one brought her higheras well. Just two more… one… she launched herself from the swing and for a moment she was flying, before landing expertly with her arms outstretched to the sides.
Jumping from the swing was her favourite thing to do. She was unmatched at it, always jumped the farthest. Some kids didn’t like it, they said it didn’t count because she wasn’t real. That made her sad. Sonny felt very real, why would they say that? Nevermind, the summer vacation started and she didn’t really need those other kids to have fun.
She would’ve jumped again, but Camille and Nora said to be home before dark and she already stayed out too late. Her internal clock warned the sun will set fully in fifteen minutes, a lifetime if you’re forced to sit in a school class, but not so long when you’re having fun skipping between the cracks of sidewalk tiles. Sonny made her way back, she would hate her mothers to worry.
The last rays of June sun disappeared behind the buildings and Sonny picked up the pace a bit. She wasn’t scared, after all she played in this park almost every day! She skipped happily, having no idea she was being followed.
‘
Humans loved stories of revolutions. Books, musicals, movies, they had a lot of those. Almost all of them ended when the fighting was done. One big stand and the victorious revolutionaries raised their glasses as they happily looked at the setting sun. Markus wished it would be like that, that the peaceful stand they made in November marked the end of the fight. Instead he felt like it multiplied every day. It was a hydra of struggles, and once they managed to dodge the teeth of one of the heads, two more were approaching, ready to bite.
He rarely had time to himself now, no matter how much work he delegated to willing androids. A moment like this one was fleeting. He sat at the old piano in the common area of the Jericho headquarters. No one was there, although he could see silhouettes walking past the room, everyone busy with many of the matters constantly needing attention: from managing social media and fundraisers, through direct help for damaged and homeless free androids, to legal and political battles.
There was an easel in his private apartment, and choosing to relax through painting would probably buy him more time alone. He was easier to find down there, that was the point, there were duties for being a leader of a revolution.
His fingers danced on the keys, conscious thinking almost not needed in processing the notes of the melody. This helped calm the constant calculating of his mind. If he closed his eyes, he was almost back at the grand piano in Karl’s living room. Someone touched his shoulder, bringing him back from the golden light bathed memory, to this modest room with a few sofas and tables, lit by the sharp midday sun. One of the walls had screens displaying various news channels, set to mute. Currently only one talked about android movement: the headline said “right to blue blood in supreme court proceedings”
“The cyberlife guy is here.” North told him. “This one is calling himself a ‘lead sales strategy specialist'. Are we talking to him?”
Another meeting with the benevolent creators, another cog in the machine sent instead of someone important. Markus has negotiated the access to repair blueprints, parts or programs with a few different people now, slowly climbing the hierarchy ladder. He closed the piano.
“Yes. I will talk to him. To as many of them as it takes.”
“Do you still believe they will ever release their secrets?” North crossed her arms.
“Ava believes the more probable it is that they are forced to release it on the market for all, the more they will be willing to make an agreement with us.” Markus replied. He looked at the news screen talking about this. North followed his gaze. She was forever itching to act, not talk, and her most desired act would be kicking the Cyberflife representative to the curb.
“Let’s get it over with, then.”
‘
“There’s a meetup at Jericho today, some of us are going after shift. Do you want to join?” asked PM700 by the name of Hazel, one of the few employed by the DPD. After a successful arrest Connor had a moment to talk while the perp was being led to the car. “I’ll pass. I don’t have the best reputation at Jericho.” Connor said. “But I appreciate the invitation.”
“For sure? It can’t be that bad?”
“It’s… tolerant but cold. Some of them were there when I was still working for the other side. It’s alright, really.”
“As you wish. But we’ll see you at Bailey’s”. Hazel waved at him before walking off and getting in the car.
It felt nice to be included. To join other police androids at after-work activities, something new that Connor was learning. Between that, Hank doing fairly well in his sober journey (almost four months!) and recent successful smaller cases everything seemed to be great. When Fowler approached him on the way to his office RK800 had no worry. He was on a roll, recently, one could phrase it.
“I must say, and I don’t give those out lightly, that you’ve been doing stellar work recently.” Captain said, Connor fought back a smile, and only nodded slightly. Of course he was doing well. He was in the right place. “The solved cases statistics went up, and since you’re here there were no disciplinary reports on Hank. He will be happy to hear he doesn’t have to write reviews anymore. I want to inform you that as of today, you’re no longer under special observation.”
Connor blinked. Right, he didn't even consider it anymore. Leaked video from half a year before that put him under scrutiny for possibility of being irrational or hacked. Finally they believed it won’t happen again and it somehow felt like a reassurance for him as well. Now all loose ends were tied, no AI tried to get a hold of him and external confirmation made it official.
“Sir, that is great news.” He said, allowing a polite smile to appear on his face this time. “One long time coming, if I might say so.”
“Yes.” Fowler slightly raised eyebrows. No explanation was given though. “Keep up the good work, detective.”
“I suppose it doesn’t positively influence my ability to carry a gun” Connor risked asking. “I would be of greater help-”
“Detective Anderson, am I to believe you don’t know the current law on weapons?” Fowler cut him out. Connor paused.
“Androids are currently still not allowed to carry them.” He said unhappily.
“I cannot do anything about that.” Fowler reminded him. “Patience. That’s all.”
Patience. Some androids would say patience wasn’t enough. Connor knew his want to be able to protect Hank in the field was deep down on the list of priorities of Jericho. He just wished every field action didn’t have to go with him calculating whose gun to snatch in case of emergency.
“What was that about?” Hank asked before taking a bite of a pink glazed donut. He might’ve been using snacks as a replacement for alcohol, and refused to hear about the dangers of sugar. That was only a tad better than replacing drinking with smoking cigarettes, something Hank also tried to do during these past four months.
“I’m no longer under observation.” Connor reported, his voice ringing with pride. “No reviews for you to copy and paste. They finally believed I’m not going to turn on you”
“About time.” Hank decided. “I was really considering limiting these damned reports to five words. “Leave Connor the fuck alone”
His partner smiled, which for him was a lot.
“Sorry to interrupt your happy family moment” Gavin Reed stopped by their desks, coffee cup in hand, not looking sorry at all. “There’s a case that got stuck in the backlog, a missing kid. Turns out the kid’s an android.”
“Are you asking for our help?” Hank asked.
“No, I’m benevolently giving you this case. All the plastic crimes are your domain.” Reed frowned at the very idea. He gestured to the computers at their desks “It’s on your account now, Fowler approved. I’ve got enough on my plate.”
“Maybe you should request a partner.” Connor suggested, automatically falling to his customer service voice, something Gaving without fault always brought out of him.
“Yeah, right, and risk ending up with one freshly bought from the Cyberlife store?” Gavin replied. “Over my dead body.”
He sipped on his coffee and left.
Connor rolled his eyes.
“Now I want to see it.” Hank commented.
“I don’t know, I like being the only android detective.” Connor remarked, opening the files.
“Oh, so you don’t cheer for your android colleagues getting promoted?” Hank gave him a curious and somewhat amused look.
“I didn’t say that. Let’s just get to work.”
The files were pretty standard. A child android model, presumably deviant, since their disappearance was reported as a missing child, not missing property. Initial statement confirmed it - a shop owner took in a runaway android during the revolution, and the kid, named Ben, has been living with him since. They haven’t returned home from the nearby skatepark for the night.
The reporting shop owner had no criminal record, believed his adopted kid was in no trouble, nor he experienced bullying. He listed a few of Ben’s favourite places. All that has been first entered into the database two days earlier.
Hank read all that with furrowed brows.
“Let’s hope he just went on an adventure. How does it work with android kids, anyways? Do they go into puberty? Rebel phase?”
“I have no idea.” Connor leaned back in his chair, which Hank registered as a new human gesture. “I can only speculate. They are programmed to emulate behaviors and thinking processes of an approximately eight - nine year old. I’ve never had any contact with a deviant android operating on this base.”
“Free.”
“Excuse me?”
“I believe the term is free android.” Hank looked very smug saying that. Not every day you can flip the situation on the youth, let alone the android youth. His partner didn’t comment, but his LED blinked yellow momentarily.
“So you're saying you’re not good with children?” the lieutenant asked to continue the topic.
“I don’t know. I should be. I would’ve been in the past.” Connor looked at the screen, thinking. “But I know who will have more knowledge.”
Seemed like he was visiting Jericho that day after all.
“How about we split?” Hank suggested. “I’ll go talk to the parent and the neighbors. You can go and check if the kid didn’t decide to join the activists. And I’m forwarding this photo to…. Ah, crap, how do I fucking sent it to others”
“I’ll do it.” Connor stepped right in, touching the terminal directly with a bare hand. In a second the instructions to look for a kid matching the description and a photo were shared with all the beat cops of the area.
Nothing else to do than get to work.
‘
“I’m glad Cyberlife is interested in cooperation with us enough to come forward with offers.” Markus made sure to sound as diplomatic and calm as it was possible. “I must reiterate, we will discuss the details only with a person able to make decisions.”
“Well, I am here today to talk through it all and I’ll make sure it is brought back to Cyberlife higher-ups.”
“Mr. Adams, are you able to personally decide and influence the company course regarding distribution of thirium and parts?” Ava Syn asked. She’s been advising during the talks becoming an official legal representative of Jericho since passing her bar exam a month earlier.
“Not, personally, but-”
“Then we would like you to take back our response - we will talk to the person in charge. Be it Elijah Kamski or someone else.” Markus repeated himself. Repeating himself as long as the human understands was the norm.
“I’m not sure that would be possible, Mr Kamski is currently a very busy person, that’s why he delegated representatives to handle this matter.” The human shifted in his seat, giving himself away with nervousness at the talk not going by his plan. Despite that he managed to take a tone bordering on condescending.
Markus took a moment to compose himself.
“I’m sure Mr Kamski will make time, since this is not only important to us, but to Cyberlife as well. Thank you for coming here to meet us.” He stood up, officially politely ending the conversation. This Cyberlife representative didn’t hesitate to shake his hand, set on keeping some remnants of his pride.
Androids walked the human out of the building. Hopes for a moment of rest quickly faded, as Markus was approached by one of the Jericho workers pointing discreetly to a couple sitting in the common area.
“Two humans came to ask for help. They adopted an android kid, and she’s missing.”
The women looked very tense, nervous. Holding hands and looking around. It wasn’t that unusual to see humans in the building; Markus believed refusing help of eager allies to their cause would be foolish, but these two were clearly distressed.
He wondered for a moment if he could tell the difference without being informed, without LEDs and uniforms. It wasn’t like he had every face of every possible model in his memory. And yet, he could see it at a glance. The way they whispered between them, despite physical connection. The sharp inhales and long exhales to calm themselves. Little things his people didn’t have to do. He approached them, falling back to the calming presence of a caretaker.
“Welcome. I was told you came here looking for help? I’m Markus, I can see what we can do for you.”
“Markus? Like the - the leader?” One of them asked. She didn’t seem flustered, more like relieved to be talking directly to him. “I’m Camille and this is Nora, my wife. Our daughter went missing.”
“She’s an android. We actually, you know, got her, uh adopted her before this whole ordeal. We thought we weren’t ready for an actual child. I mean - “
“I understand. And she eventually freed herself from the code? Developed personhood?” Markus suggested. Both women nodded, some of the tension left their shoulders, when they eagerly took the suggestion offered.
“Yes” replied the first one. “She became our actual daughter. Our Sonny.”
“Yesterday evening she went out to play and never returned home.” The other explained, worry ringing in her voice.
“We thought the police won’t put a priority on a missing child that’s an android.” Camille said. “But if she ran away you might know something. Maybe she joined you.”
Markus hated to see the hope in this woman’s eyes fade when he was replying; they haven’t seen Sonny among kid androids they sheltered recently, especially not since the day before. As much as he would prefer avoiding the structures of the old order, he had to suggest reporting the kid going missing to the police.
“One of us is a detective there. If you can request him to work on the case, he’ll treat it with all seriousness" He reassured. Oh, the irony.
He glanced up and towards the corridor behind a glass wall, noticing movement and paused surprised. Speak of the devil.