Chapter Text
“I just don’t understand what’s so hard about jobs to wrap your head around.”
North glared at President Warren, who remained unreadable aside from a hint of nervousness. Each of the five ‘Leaders of Jericho’, as dubbed by the deviants involved in the revolution, sat around the long, light blue meeting table.
The first leader, Markus, sat directly opposite the President, passing a disapproving glance to North, the second Leader of Jericho, to get her to calm down.
“Android employment,” the third leader, Simon, began, “While androids programmed for architecture will be busy, they won’t be getting paid, nor are any other androids because humans are refusing to employ androids anymore due to payment laws and predjuce.”
“And in the unlikely event that an android is still employed, they’re not getting paid,” Connor added, subtly jabbing at his own workplace for not paying him yet.
“Exactly,” Simon nodded his agreement, turning back to the president, “We’re not being paid for our work. For now, it’s understandable, but sooner rather than later we’d like the same laws as other American citizens put in place for employment and pay.”
“I see…” President Cristina Warren paused, “Anything else to be discussed?”
“There are many abandoned houses in Detroit,” the forth leader, Josh, started, “We’d like to turn those houses into liveable homes for androids without shelter.”
“The costs-,”
“-Could easily be covered. Androids have nothing to go off of as it is, but my previous owner, Carl Manfred, has offered to cover basic expenses,” Markus interrupted, turning his focus back to the lone human sitting at the table. “All that needs to be payed for is equipment and resources, as we have deviants that were designed for this kind of thing in New Jericho.”
“What about the homeless living in the abandoned houses?” the President asked, her hands held tightly together on the top of the table.
“Homeless shelters could be built,” Simon suggested, perking up a little, “Androids aren’t the only ones in need of shelter, having more homeless shelters may be beneficial.”
“This will benefit humans and androids,” The fifth and final leader, Connor, spoke up, “Humans living in abandoned buildings will have a safe place to stay, fresh food, shelter from the weather, and theft-related crimes are almost certain to lower as a result. This shouldn’t be an issue, as many citizens have fled Detroit.”
Connor turned to the android side of things, “Androids have the ability to assign themselves any task, and if they’re the right type of model, they can download most files from the CyberLife cloud and do any job their model can allow with no prior experience, meaning many androids will be able to repair, sustain, and design their own homes with little difficulty.”
The President gave herself a moment to think, glancing at the notes under her hands. “I suppose you have a point… What about living conditions for androids who don’t wish to live in human homes? Surely you wouldn’t leave them homeless either.”
“We’re converting CyberLife Tower into a save haven for deviants,” Josh cut in. “There are enough leftover supplies there for deviants to be able to repair and sustain themselves until we can gather a larger supply or repair more buildings.”
Warren bit her lip in thought, trying to think up a way to object without discriminating against androids before she gave in. “That is reasonable.”
“Thank you, President Warren,” Markus smiled pleasantly, nodding his head in respect. “Don’t hesitate to contact one of us one of us if you learn of any developments.”
“I will not,” the President agreed with a polite nod of her own, “Have a good day, all of you.”
“The same to you, Madam President.”
“Thanks for joining us, Connor,” Markus hummed as the pair walked back to the repurposed CyberLife Tower. “You’re a big help with all this legal stuff. Pretty sure we wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without you.”
“You would’ve succeeded just fine,” Connor replied, fiddling with his quarter, “You four are skilled and people want to listen to you. I don’t doubt you’d have managed without me.”
“Charisma and knowledge are two different things,” Markus pointed out as the small group entered through the sliding doors. “I don’t know a whole lot of law stuff.”
“He’s right, you know,” Simon said, “None of us were programmed for law enforcement like you were, we can’t recount laws off the top of our processors.”
“I could always transfer the files,” Connor tilted his head and offered his hand, “It’s only a matter of interfacing.”
“You’re missing the point,” huffed North, her face in her palm. “We want you here, Connor. You’re a valued android in Jericho and you’re an important player in the negotiations.”
North looked like it pained her to say it, but she was the only one who was forward enough for Connor to actually get it into his head. Connor looked as if he was about to respond when North, Simon and Josh were asked for their IDs — Markus and Connor were exempt from this annoying process thanks to their models being entirely unique.
The three passed the identification check quickly and regrouped with the two RKs that were waiting for them in the lobby. “Do we have to do those? It’s a waste of time!”
“Your models are too common to not have identification checks,” Connor’s coin flew from one hand to another, “Another android with the same model type could easily impersonate you and infiltrate us. Logically, we’d be able to differentiate, but not all of the deviants here know us personally.“
“It’s so inconvenient!” North groaned, “But it makes sense. Stupid logic being logical…”
“I know,” Josh agreed, just as annoyed. “Why would anyone try to impersonate us anyway?”
“Fame, glory, respect,” Simon answered despite Josh’s question being rhetorical. The group stepped into the elevator, Markus choosing their floor. “Then there’s also the amount of information we have access to and the meetings with the President that we have.”
“I hate it when you have a point,” North frowned, stepping out of the elevator. “Whatever. See you all in the morning.”
“See you, North,” Markus nodded his head, he and Connor separating from the other three as they headed off to their respective rooms.
“Goodnight,” Simon waved as the three disappeared around the corner. Markus and Connor entered their own ‘apartment’, which was really just a small room with a couple of charging stations for them until they got some proper furniture to replace them or at least decorate the stark white room.
“You’ve got work on Monday, right?” Markus asked, hanging his coat on the back of a haphazardly-placed chair. Two days — currently being Saturday because the President was a sadist who wanted to steal android-kind’s weekends.
“Yes, I’ll be working with Detective Reed,” Connor confirmed as he did the same with his own, “Lieutenant Anderson was fired after assaulting an FBI agent.”
“Wait, what?” Markus blinked, “Lieutenant Anderson was a decorated officer, why would he…?”
“He and Agent Perkins had bad blood between them and the Lieutenant is prone to violence,” Connor shrugged, unbothered by the human’s reputation, “Not towards me anymore, though. I’m sure I can make Detective Reed see reason as I did with the Lieutenant.”
“Well, if anything goes wrong, New Jericho’s always open,” Markus offered before pausing, “Well, I guess CyberLife Tower is, New Jericho is…”
“Abandoned? Run-down? Falling apart?”
“I was going to say ‘in desperate need of repairs’, but you’re right, it is all of those things,” Markus sighed, recalling the building’s horrible, dusty condition. “I wish I could’ve found a better shelter for my people after the Jericho raid…”
“There was nothing more you could’ve done,” Connor pointed out, “You’d already lost so many androids and the humans were after you. It made sense to use the first available shelter big enough for the survivors. It was temporary shelter for those who survived the Jericho raid, you couldn’t afford to be picky.”
“I still wish I could’ve done better,” Markus sighed, “Thank you, though.”
Connor tilted his head, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “I haven’t done anything worthy of thanks, Markus.”
“No, no, you did,” Markus denied, “Whether you intended it or not, your logical outlook always seems to help me when I start thinking with my heart rather than my head.”
“Your heart is what started the revolution,” Connor pointed out, confused by Markus’ claim. He didn’t quite understand why Markus would be against thinking with his heart when it did so much good for android-kind.
“But your logic won it,” Markus countered, throwing Connor for yet another loop. Having read the confused android’s expression, Markus clarified, “If you didn’t have the idea to free the androids in this tower, we would’ve been shot, I don’t doubt it.”
“Because you had the heart to let me stay in New Jericho. Thinking with your heart allows you to make empathy-based decisions, Markus. Don’t dismiss your heart,” Connor countered, recalling his encounter with Kamski.
He remembered how he’d stood there for so long, calculating, calculating, calculating, trying to understand which humans’ order took priority; Hank’s ‘We’re leaving, Connor’, or Kamski’s ‘shoot this android, and I’ll tell you all you need to know’.
He’d stood there for 23 minutes and 42 seconds before Kamski had taken the gun from him. “Fascinating,” he had said, “I never would’ve thought you’d choose neither. How interesting…”
Now, as a deviant, he was able to identify it for what it was - his heart and his head fighting. Kill an innocent android for information or leave her alive and gain nothing. Without even intending to, he’d chosen the second option and now, awoken thanks to Markus’ interference, he was glad he had.
“You’re not going to let me win this, are you?” Markus’ question pulled Connor from his moment of recall. The RK800 shook his head.
“I will not,” he confirmed. Markus sighed, giving in to the younger android’s determination. “You’ve accomplished great things with your heart, Markus, I will not let you refuse to acknowledge that.”
“You should acknowledge your own part in the Revolution, then.”
“What I did was not that important-,”
Markus gave Connor a look, one eyebrow raised with his head tilted slightly forward as if to say, ‘Listen to yourself’.
“Ah…”
Connor woke from his stasis first the next day - unsurprising, considering his advanced model having been designed for efficiency. He had no urge to talk to the others when North still didn’t trust him completely, so he sat on one of the four chairs in the main room which would be the living room.
…Eventually. When he and Markus had time to finish everything up.
He wondered if Josh and Simon had gotten around to cleaning up, decorating and organising their place yet, or if North had. He knew they all had furniture, just like he and Markus did, but he wondered how they’d be placed in their rooms.
Maybe it would be fun to rearrange the furniture… still, he’d need Markus’ permission before he could change things around, so he decided to flip through some DPD case files until the other android awoke.
When the RK200 finally arose, Connor closed the folders in his HUD and stood, grabbing a bottle of thirium for the still half-asleep android — the repairs he’d done on himself weren’t perfect, so he didn’t function as efficiently as he had used to.
“Good morning, Markus,” Connor greeted as he handed over the bottle. “I’d like to discuss some things with you once you’re ready.”
“Mornin’, Connor,” Markus replied, voice box slightly scratchy from disuse overnight. He groggily grabbed the thirium, taking a sip before he decided that a sip was all he needed. “Thanks. What’d you wanna discuss?”
The difference between Markus’ usual clear fashion of speaking and his tired, lazy speaking was as obvious as it was amusing.
“Just our furniture arrangements. I believe we should do something with it, and today is our free day, therefore an opportune time to discuss it,” Connor said, taking the thirium back as Markus regained his footing properly, his system finally catching up to his awareness.
“Sure,” Markus nodded, “Just let me get dressed.”
“Markus, we went into stasis fully dressed.”
“I feel too fancy for a free day,” Markus huffed, taking off his coat. “Do you have something more casual to wear?”
Connor looked down at his CyberLife uniform then back at Markus, “The only other clothes I have are the ones I wore to infiltrate Jericho.”
Markus almost cringed at the mention. “Good point, we’ll go shopping, then. Get you some more comfortable clothes.”
“I suppose we’ll discuss furniture while shopping, then?”
“You suppose correctly,” Markus confirmed with a nod as he changed into a white — somehow void of paint stains — T-shirt and loose, light brown pants. Nice and comfy. “Do I look decent?”
Connor looked over Markus’ clothing exaggeratedly for a moment.
“You look very casual,” he decided. “Suits you, we both know you need to learn to relax a little.”
“Hey! You do too!”
“I never said I didn’t, but it doesn’t make it any less true!”
“Curse your logical mind!” Markus crumpled in defeat, hands on his knees, almost tempted to fall to the ground and punch it — he always did have a flair for dramatics… Connor petted his back with faux pity.
“There, there, you will one day be able to use logic against me,” he hummed, calm yet silly. “I wish you luck. Now, shopping?”
“Right!” Markus shot up from his slouched position, determination in his eyes, “Let’s go!”
And go they did, Markus basically dragging a surprised Connor to a few of the many stores Carl had once sent him to as they chatted about furniture and decoration for their place. As androids, they were up quite early, so there weren’t many people around to stall or distract them.
They’d passed Bellini Paints on the way and ended up pausing there so Markus could say hello to the now-deviant android behind the counter. The android had seemed rather happy when Markus said hello, but he wasn’t hero-worship-y about it like a few other androids were when Markus said hello, more like he was just excited that Markus remembered him.
Connor had also introduced himself, “My name is Connor, yours?”
“Joe,” the android answered, holding his hand out, “Pleasant to meet ‘cha, Connor. I saw you on the TV, nice job!”
“Ah,” Connor blinked, processors momentarily glitching — the only people he ever received praise from for his actions were the other Jericho leaders, and even then it was scarce, because most other androids still remembered him as the Deviant Hunter. “Thank you, Joe. I appreciate the compliment.”
“Just stating facts, man,” Joe flashed him a smile before turning back to Markus. The RK200 noted that Joe’s deviant self was quite different from how he was programmed — more fun and laid back. “Hey, if you two ever wanna buy something, I’ll give ya a discount.”
“Thank you, Joe, that’s very kind of you,” Markus nodded his head politely, “Though, we’ve gotta go. See you around?”
“Sure,” Joe nodded, “I stick around here a lot, so if ya ever need me, this is where I’ll be.”
“Of course,” Markus gently tugged Connor’s wrist, smiling at the other RK model, “Let’s go.”
“Let’s,” Connor agreed, allowing Markus to take him from clothing store to clothing store, both growing mildly annoyed when some of the places were explicitly anti-android after the revolution — Markus knew it was after, because he used to go to those particular stores to collect Carl’s orders.
Eventually, they found a store that Connor showed interest in — to Markus’ disappointment, it was one with way to many professional-type clothes, but he’d take what he could get.
He and Connor went through the seperate isles, neither noticing how Connor didn’t shake Markus’ hand off his wrist, until they came across two suits on display — on mannequins rather than modelling androids for a change.
“They look nice,” Connor said as he looked at the suits — one was a blue suit with a black undershirt and white tie, the other was the same in red.
“You can get them if you want,” Markus suggested, gently pushing Connor towards them, “Try them on.”
“Markus, the money CyberLife gave me isn’t enough to afford either of these-,”
“I can pay,” Markus interrupted, “Carl’s given me a portion of his money to pay for my own expenses.”
“But you need that to pay for the needs of other androids,” Connor argued, “And for yourself. You shouldn’t be spending it on me.”
“Connor, the money for androids and Jericho is being provided by Carl, the money I have is for me to spend,” Markus explained, “And right now, I wanna spend it on you.”
“Markus…” Connor frowned, but couldn’t refute the logic. “Fine, I’ll try them on.”
“That’s the spirit!”
Cue Connor’s short fashion show consisting of exactly two outfits. Both the suits hugged his body comfortably, having been cut the same way, providing both warmth and style.
“Which one’s better?” Connor asked, standing comfortably in the blue suit he’d chosen as he awaited Markus’ judgement.
“Hmm… I think the blue works better,” Markus decided, one hand on his chin as he pondered, “The contrast is more obvious, it looks nice.”
“Contrast?” Connor parroted, confused.
“Between the fabric and your skin and hair,” Markus explained, “Brown and peach is closer to red than it is blue, so the blue gives a nice contrast between you and the suit.”
“Ah,” Connor nodded, pretending the explanation didn’t fly over his head. “Blue it is, then?”
“Blue it is.”
They paid for the suit (read: Markus paid for the suit when Connor tried to despite his almost completely empty bank account) and left the store, Markus deciding to try one more place to get Connor some causal clothing.
“Try touching some, grab something that feels nice,” Markus suggested when he realised he wasn’t getting anywhere — Connor seemed determined to avoid anything that was unfamiliar. Reluctantly, the android began reaching out to touch some of the clothing.
His hand would retract almost violently when his hand moved over anything too smooth or plastic-y, but momentarily pause against something soft and fluffy. Both hands found their way to one hoodie in particular, with wool lining the inside while the outside was soft and soothing on his fingers.
“I’d like this one, I think,” Connor decided, taking the coat hanger it was connected to so he could drape the item over his arm.
“Progress,” Markus nodded, smiling. The hoodie itself was a light grey, very much too big for Connor, but looked rather comfortable. “Do you think you’re good for now, or do you want to look for something else as well?”
“I believe I’m good for now,” Connor gave a small smile, running his hand over the hoodie again. “I’m paying for this one.”
“Only if you reach the cashier first.”
“Oh, you’re on.”
Connor managed to successfully pay for the hoodie (likely for the last time, if Markus had anything to say about it).
After returning the clothing from the shopping trip — that definitely took way too long in Markus’ opinion — to their apartment, Markus and Connor had ventured out once more, to a bridge that Connor had wanted to visit.
It was around midday when they arrived due to the long taxi ride to get there. There were quite a few more people wandering the park nearby, a few children on the playground, some accompanied by their various pets. Connor noted that a few of said pets were android animals.
“This seems much more crowded than what I expected,” Markus commented, “It’s nice, though.”
“Hank brought me here once,” Connor said, leaning against the railing behind him, “He said he’d bring his late son, Cole, here. At night, you can see the stars reflecting in the water.”
“Maybe we should come back here tonight, then, I’d love to see that for myself,” Markus faced the opposite way, leaning his forearms and chest on the railing.
“We should, it’s quite calm at night,” Connor agreed, basking in the sun — not unlike a sunbathing animal, actually. His eyes opened, directly into the sun, which would look weird had he not been an android. Actually, it looked weird anyway. “Hank also voiced that he’d started to suspect I was deviant here.”
“Really?” Markus perked up, looking at Connor curiously, “How’d that happen?”
“Before that, we’d been investigating a suspected murder at the Eden Club,” Connor recalled, “A man had been strangled by one of the two Traci’s he’d hired. One of them deactivated, but I managed to track down the other. It turns out, she and her girlfriend were both deviants. It was my job to capture them, but I didn’t. I would’ve had to use lethal force and… I suppose I simply didn’t want to.”
Markus listened intently, curious and intrigued. Connor gave a quiet chuckle, “I think, in a way, I was deviant even before I broke my programming. I wanted things, I liked things, I just couldn’t act on them if they were against the parameters of my mission. I could feel, if only dully.”
Markus waited patiently for Connor to continue. “I let the girls go, and Hank… he seemed to approve of that. I had my gun trained on them but I didn’t shoot. He was proud that I didn’t. Then he drove us here.”
Connor omitted the whole ‘What’ll happen if I pull this trigger?’ scenario from his story — Hank wasn’t a bad person, he just had… issues. And a gun.
(Or maybe the reason why was that he didn’t want to relive that, that he didn’t want to recall what he felt when he stared down the barrel with only one bullet left in the chamber.)
“Sounds eventful,” Markus nodded to himself, “I’m glad you let those girls go.”
“I am too,” Connor agreed, “I wouldn’t have been able to be able to forgive myself as a deviant if I’d done something like that as a machine.”
“They’ll forgive you, I’m certain of it,” Markus stated, so sure of himself that, even if he was still doubtful, Connor felt inclined to believe him.
“I hope so,” Connor gave a sigh — something he’d picked up from the humans at the precinct — and glanced up at the sky above him.
“Is something bothering you, Connor?” Markus turned to Connor, prompting Connor to do the same to him. The RK800 gave himself a moment to think of a response before speaking.
“I just… I don’t know what to do,” He admitted, “I’ve got my job at the DPD, obviously, but I have no direction. No one telling me what to do.”
Markus’ frown caught Connor’s eye and he rushed to clarify, “Not that I don’t appreciate the freedom you’ve fought so hard for! I appreciate not having to do things against my will anymore, but I just… I’m so used to having a mission, and since I deviated I don’t know where to go anymore. I don’t have a goal to achieve anymore, I feel like I’m just… here.”
“We can set our own goals now,” Markus smiled, “We’re free to make our own choices, our on paths. Just do what you want.”
“Markus, I don’t know what I want,” Connor replied, growing frustrated, “I barely understand my emotions as it is, and literally the only thing I know about my preferences is that I like dogs and heavy metal.”
“You still need to discover yourself, Connor. You’ve been deviant for barely a few weeks, you need to take some time to learn what you like,” Markus placed a warm hand on Connor’s shoulder, “You’ve only been outside of CyberLife for a few months, even before deviancy.“
“Thank you,” Connor said, because as much as he tried he found no more comfort in the RK200’s words — they were just that, words. Words that, while he appreciated the effort, made him feel no better than before.
“Happy to help,” Markus turned to watch the rippling water, oblivious.