Don't Get Attached

Chapter Fourteen

Connor came sprinting out of the police station and you almost didn't recognize him. With a police issued backpack slung over his shoulder; he was wearing jeans, a green sweatshirt, green parka and a black skull cap that hid his LED effortlessly. He could very easily pass for a human in their early thirties. You leaned over the passenger's seat and opened the door so that your favorite android could jump right in. He did so quickly and slammed the door behind him.

"[Y/N], I need to get to the train station." He told you.

"The train station?" You repeated. "Where are you going?"

"Jericho." He replied seriously.

"Jericho, the Deviant Haven? You mean it's real?" You tried to drive quickly through the streets without being reckless.

"Yes." Connor told you. He also explained what had happened down at the station and why he'd need you to drive him instead of Hank.

"So, Dad created a diversion for you so that you could sneak into the evidence locker where you reassembled one of the broken deviants. Then tricked that deviant into giving away the location of Jericho?" You recounted his tale.

"Yes." Connor nodded slightly. Somehow his tone became more serious when he next spoke. "[Y/N], once you drop me off at the train station you should go home."

"Are you nuts? I want to come with you." You insisted, you were making good time and the car was already only a block from the train station.

"[Y/N], I can not let you come with me, it would be against police procedure to allow a civilian to interfere with the case." He immediately disagreed.

"Didn't you say that you and Dad got kicked off the case? Wouldn't that mean that you getting involved at all counts as interference?" You pointed out.

"I suppose you're right but..." Connor paused while he tried to think of a counterpoint to your argument. By now you had arrived at the train station. You parked the car and got out. Connor stepped out after you.

"I promised Hank I wouldn't let you get hurt." He explained.

"Then you'd better keep that promise." You suggested.

"If you insisted on coming with me, you'll need a disguise." Connor reached back into the car and removed the backpack he'd left the precinct with. From inside the backpack he pulled out his Cyberlife jacket, the same one you'd been wearing that day at Kamski's. "If it's good enough to fool Kamski..." He said holding the coat out to you.

"Let's go then." You accepted the coat and put it on quickly. You'd wasted enough time already debating whether you were allowed to go or not.

Connor quietly explained what was happening as you went along. The location of Jericho had been kept a secret for so long because the map to it had been laid out in such a way that only an android could follow the trail. From a platform at the train station you followed him down an escalator to a mural. It was here that Connor explained that each mural had a code hidden in it. Similar to a Bar Code or QR Code found on most consumer products. To find the next location on the trail to Jericho you had to scan the code on the current clue. That's why only an android could follow the trail.

"What do we do now?" You and Connor had successfully followed five or six clues before stopping at a twenty-foot-wide gap between your rooftop and the next building.

"Up there." Connor pointed at a structural beam that had once held up a now missing section of the next building. "I could jump up there and swung us across. There is an 85% change of success."

"Well, that's better than zero isn't it?" You asked. Connor looked worried. You could tell he was really taking his promise to Hank seriously. "I'm sure it will be fine."

"You would have been safer in the car." He replied. "Climb up on my back and whatever you do, don't let got." You did as he instructed, placing one of your arms under his left shoulder and the other over his right. This way you would have a tight grip that wouldn't impede on this ability to use his arms.

Connor waited another minute to calculate his jump. He wanted his movements to be exact. He back up two steps before reminding you once again not to let go. Then Connor took off running. With all the grace that his mechanical parts could manage, he launched the two of you up towards the support beam. He easily caught the beam between his two hands and used the forward momentum to propel you towards the other side of the chasm. His steps faltered slightly at the landing, but otherwise it was a perfect vault.

"See you had nothing to worry about." You told him with an encouraging smile as you climbed off his back seconds later. But the celebration was short lived as you encountered your next obstacle; a ten foot drop down the side of a building.

"If you jump from this height there is a very high risk of serious injury." Connor frowned. He looked back over the large pit you'd just crossed. He knew you'd never make it over that on your own. "[Y/N, do you trust me?" He asked, inspecting the ten-foot drop before you.

"Would I have followed you this far if I didn't?" You questioned back, though even you were wondering how you'd survive a jump from that height unharmed.

"I will jump first." Connor told you. "Then you'll jump down, and I'll catch you."

"Is that safe?" You asked, looking down off the roof with trepidation.

"It's our only option if we want to continue moving forward." He told you, which wasn't exactly reassuring.

"Then you'd better get down there before I change my mind." You suggested. He nodded before jumping off the roof.

"Don't look down, [Y/N]." Was his final bit of advice. "Studies show that humans tend to become more afraid if they look down when jumping from large heights."

"Don't look down. Right." You mumbled to yourself. "Easy for him to say isn't it?" Still, you'd made it this far and were determined not to slow Connor down or let fear hold you back. Just like Connor had done over the large chasm, you backed up and took the leap at a run. You felt the momentary weightlessness as your body plummeted downwards, and you bit the inside of your cheek to stop yourself from screaming. The force of your fall knocked Connor over, but true to his word his did catch you. You felt as if the air had all been forced from your lungs, but otherwise felt fine. Connor began to panic as you laid on the ground trying to catch your breath.

"[Y/N]? Are you alright?" He asked frantically scrambling to his feet. "[Y/N]? Can you hear me? I'm going to scan you for injuries..."

You couldn't hear the rest of what he was saying because you became absorbed in your own thoughts. Everything thing you knew about Deviants was flooding to the forefront of your mind. How one seemingly harmless incident was all it took to break an android from its programing and become deviant. How deviancy was typically marked by an outward expression of emotion by the android.

"Connor," You gasped once you had enough lung capacity to speak again. "I am a Deviant."

"[Y/N]? You are not an android." He disagreed. "You are human."

"Yeah, I know." You forced yourself to sit up even though you were still struggling for breaths. Connor was knelt beside you and watching you with great concern. He mostly likely assumed you'd hit your head, but you had to tell him how you were feeling anyway.

"You're supposed to be my Dad's partner." You explained between gasps. Each breath more normal than the last. "You're supposed to work this case and then return back to Cyberlife. That fight that I had with my Dad? It was fake. I moved back out because Dad and I were afraid that I was turning you Deviant. But I'm the Deviant Connor, because all of this time, I was supposed to be keeping a distance from you but instead, I think I'm falling for you."