systolicarray | ://i have no heart

[ connor squints, first at anderson, and then into the distance. he doesn't need to look at the GPS to know how far they are from cyberlife; they've had to take a longer route in order to avoid traffic congestion. ]

I don't know.

[ another pause, and then he asks, ]

Did you realize I was an android when you stopped?

Tch, no. ( He shakes his head, though not too far to where he can't keep his eyes on the road. ) You just looked like some poor asshole caught with a broke down taxi.

I think the fact you were in front of a broke down taxi through me off, I guess I didn't expect androids to be taking taxis.

What kind of transportation would you expect an android to take?

[ maybe cyberlife could've provided him with private transportation, but they'd decided not to. any other android, though... ]

I don't know, I know fuck all about androids.

( He huffs. ) If you were so important, why didn't they send a car? Or why isn't someone with you, watching you?

They expect me to be independent, to be able to move and make decisions on my own. If I can't do that much, then they obviously must have messed up somewhere.

[ although a small part of him wonders this too. they've inflated his importance, but it's really his programming that's had all the time and money dumped into it. his body, his physical construction, isn't that changed from the standard models, with some notable exceptions. ]

( Hank glances back to Connor. ) And if you failed, you'd decide to go back to CyberLife to be destroyed?

Yes. If I didn't, they would come and collect me themselves.

Alright. We got back on this topic... You got a bucket list before you go back to CyberLife?

[ they do seem to have come back around to it naturally. connor smiles, although the expression doesn't quite reach his eyes.

but he just looks confused in the face of hank's question. ]

A bucket list?

Yeah, shit you want to do before you commit suicide.

...No?

[ he still doesn't seem to understand, but it's not the question that's giving him problems. it's the sentiment behind it. ]

An android can't commit suicide, Lieutenant. It's not alive.

Well, that's what you're fucking doing going back to CyberLife, knowing they're gonna rip you apart.

It depends on what you consider life as, or if you consider it at all. Makes you wonder though, how much you can appreciate a human life if you don't even value your own.

I consider humans alive. But I'm a machine. Machines aren't alive.

[ the concept is simple enough to him, but it seems like the lieutenant is hung up on something. after studying his face for a few more moment in the occasionally light provided by the roadside lamps, he gives up trying to figure it out. ]

You do remember this is a hypothetical situation? I completed my mission successfully.

It's hypothetical now, but do you think you're always going to be successful?

I'm not programmed to fail.

[ that seems a simple concept to him too, but statistically speaking... the lieutenant has a point.

maybe it's just one he would rather not see. ]

Well, that's fucking bullshit, Connor.

( Hank makes another noise of disgust. He's getting upset again. Though... as he reflects on their conversation something comes to mind. That wistful hope that lingers in the eyes of someone who knows they're going to die.

That's what Connor's response reminds hims of. )

Hm.

If you say so, Lieutenant.

[ he doesn't seem convinced, but he's clearly not going to say anything about it. what cyberlife does with him is between him and cyberlife. he's their property, after all.

could it possible for him to hope that things might be otherwise? really, he can only take into consideration the fact that his memories and experiences will go on to make something better.

but for now, he's the best there is. ]

( The next couple of minutes Hank's content to leave well enough alone. He has no idea what the hell got into him in the first place. He shouldn't have even picked up the android in the first place. Why is he always getting into this shit? Why is he always fucking with shit that has nothing to do with him?

Hank has to calm himself down. His eyes glance over to the pack of smokes on his dashboard. No, no... fucking no. He takes a breath through flared nostrils. )

[ connor keeps to himself and makes the good decision to shut up for once. it's obvious that the lieutenant isn't in the best mood, that something about this topic is upsetting to him. perhaps because he's ascribing qualities to him that don't exist. but it's not difficult for humans to anthropomorphize androids, considering how they're designed, so it would be stupid to nitpick. it may as well be cyberlife's fault for making him so personable. ]

( The longer the silence drags on the more awkward Hank feels and the less angry. He looks to his GPS, once again, before he changes lane, neglecting to use his blinker. There are just a few cars ahead and one distant sign of headlights behind them. Their exit is coming up within a few minutes. He wonders if this will be the last time he hears about Connor. Though, he's not at all up to date about androids as a whole. He has enough to keep up with regarding humans, he can't see himself concerning with the latest android model. )

[ after the exit, it won't be much longer until the cyberlife tower. from here, you can't see it because of the city buildings, but he knows exactly what direction it's in, the mileage from here to there, the directions the GPS will have them follow. and when he returns, he'll be put through a series of diagnostics that could last for up to several days, and then he'll be put into stasis until they decide to deploy him again.

he doesn't know when they will. ]

( By the time they're off the freeway, Hank's feeling calmer and he glances over to Connor. The android probably doesn't have any feelings whatsoever, no awkward sensations, no anger, and no desire. It makes Hank wonder what motivates Connor, save for the obvious "I was programmed to do a task," bullshit. There was no need for reward, and the discipline ... didn't bring fear to Connor.

Hank pulls up in front of the main entrance and looks to Connor. )

[ connor's eyes seem naturally drawn to the tall specter of the cyberlife tower when it comes into view, glowing white metal drawn apart from the rest of the shining city. he contacts the proper channels ahead of time so that when they approach the gates, the guard detail recognizes the vehicle. after his identity is verified, the gates lower and allow them both through.

in front of the main entrace, connor turns to look at the lieutenant, wondering to himself what drove him to ferry an android across the city when he claims to hate them. but even now that the danger of the lieutenant kicking him out of the car has passed, he still doesn't ask. he doesn't know why. maybe some instinct tells him he won't get a satisfactory answer anyway. ]

Thank you for being my... knight in shining armor, Lieutenant.

[ his lips twitch into a small smile, and then he turns and opens the door to step out onto the pavement. a guard follows him in through the main doors.

he only turns back once he can hear the lieutenant's car pulling away. ]

Yeah, anytime. Connor. ( It seemed appropriate to respond with that when someone said thanks for being their hero. He huffs quickly through his nostrils and watches the guard escort Connor to the door.

The first few days Hank was bothered by what he had done. He regrets thinking he was anyone's hero. Let alone an android. He can't imagine what has happened to Connor. It was enough that he was distracted at work and restless at home. Had he just delivered Connor to his death? Fuck it, why should he care? For all Connor said, he was nothing more than a coffee machine. But that's not true... Coffee machines don't pass that fucking Turing Test.

Hank was surprised to see Connor at the station, and it made whatever task he was doing at the time obsolete. What was more important was confronting Connor. He stalked the android through the station and demanded to speak to him. He was only satisfied once he was able to confirm that Connor recalled their drive. It made him feel better, and he could go back to his work - although still distracted and useless. They ran across each other a few more times. Each time Hank grew more and more concerned with Connor's wellbeing.

It began to make him crazy. To the point that he loitered around the station when Connor was there and followed him through the city, well, for as much as he could get away with. It didn't matter to him if Connor caught on, he just couldn't have any of the humans notice he was tailing the android. )

[ in a way, it worked in hank's favor that he wasn't at the station enough for anyone else to catch on; and in fact even connor didn't understand the lieutenant well enough to comprehend what he was doing when they happened to find each other at the same crime scenes and their eyes would meet across a room. he wasn't working here officially. by the end of the month, he had visited four times total, with seven brief visits to other DPD stations.

but he caught himself thinking of lieutenant anderson regardless. he would tell himself that it was only because they kept happening to cross paths, but the truth of it was he was curious to ask that question he hadn't when he had left him at the cyberlife tower. why had he helped an android?

the crimes he investigated were for the most part banal, and he wondered if cyberlife had some ultimate goal, or if they were only waiting until there was another high profile situation involving a deviant. it was one of the few things he hadn't communicated to the lieutenant, cyberlife's particular focus on his ability to hunt down his own kind. but it wasn't the kind of information that was yet public knowledge, and it wouldn't be made pubic knowledge any time soon.

and then, on september 22nd, the SWAT team personally petitions cyberlife for his help on another hostage case. it doesn't involve a deviant android, or any android at all. but in order to show their good will, cyberlife releases him to the SWAT team to use him as they wish.

the situation is as follows: two men with deadly weapons have holed up in a warehouse on the docks with several hostages. this is the result of a red ice deal gone wrong, but all he needs to know, they tell him, is that he has to enter the warehouse, find the men, and attempt to talk them down. in reality, he's only there to buy the team time to infiltrate the building. the first man who went in was shot, and the captain doesn't want to lose another.

it works surprisingly well, at first. the men are taken off guard by the appearance of an android and don't shoot him on sight. but when they realize what's happened, they both try to run.

the first man is taken down with a shot between the shoulder blades, but the second slips into the dark of the warehouse, where connor follows him. they weave through a gnarled forest of rusting machinery before bursting out into the moonlight, running from the first warehouse to the next. but the warehouse his ultimate goal, connor can see that clearly. there's a ship in the dock, an old rusting freighter, the arm of the cargo loader still resting on the deck.

connor loses the man inside the darkness of the second warehouse, and climbs after him when he spots him scaling the steps. he hoists himself up out onto the roof of the building and uses the arm as a bridge from the warehouse to the freighter, the rusted metal groaning under his weight as it rubs against the equally as rusted corrugated metal roofing.

connor makes it as far as the arm before the roofing, which the arm was leaning on, snaps with a rending, metallic squeal. the arm falls and connor loses balance, hitting something on the way down before plummeting into the water below. his system records several injuries, and then shuts down.

only his internal clock has recorded the time in between then and now. his system enters emergency recovery mode and reboots. he awakens floating face down in the water, his shoulder bumping serenely against something flat and hard to his left. his body struggles to move, and he discovers why when his error log flashes to life with a long list of complaints. it takes a great deal of effort for him to reach out with his good arm and grab onto whatever it is he's bumping into.

it's the edge of a small inlet. when he pulls his head above water, he finds himself in a residential area. as he discovers, the water isn't even that deep, and he can drag himself along with one foot to the bottom of the inlet, the water holding most of his weight. he makes it to the docks at the end of the inlet before dragging himself onto dry ground.

there's a wood slat fence directly in front of him, but to the right is a chain link fence with an open gate. his right arm has been torn off from above the elbow, and his left leg has been badly mangled, crushed by something, but he can move it just enough to crawl on his hands and knees, dripping water and thirium, until he finally collapses in the cul-de-sac at the end of the street.

it probably won't be long until he shuts down again for good, but as he watches the sun begin to rise from his low vantage point, he somehow still feels a sense of accomplishment. he couldn't say what for. ]

Edited 2020-11-15 02:49 (UTC)

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