Who Are You Really? - RK1K

Media

Connor hated that Markus had to go back to New Jericho, and the fact that he couldn't follow the leader because he had a job - stupid money being a thing, stupid thirium being a necessity for androids, stupid humans deciding they needed to exchange numbers for basic things - even more.

He walked, Hank having already left so Connor could stick around to talk with Markus a little more before he had to depart for New Jericho. The walk was incredibly boring - the paperwork he had was done, and the android assault case was on pause as other investigators tracked down the android's family.

Like always, the precinct was clean and organised - thanks to Captain Fowler's adamancy to keep the area tidy - he just... hadn't expected a small crowd to be hovering around the entrance of the DPD. He paused momentarily, taking a second too long to calculate the best route through before someone saw him.

"There he is!" A reporter called, pointing at the RK800 boldly. Connor blinked, feeling his joints suddenly feel much too in place. Too tight to be comfortable - he nearly detached his arms to fix the feeling right then and there.

People rushed over - Connor simply tried to walk through them until someone addressed him.

"Is it true that your name is Connor, sir?" A reporter asked. Connor's social relations program forced him to turn back to the person, giving a pleasant smile that was as fake as it was uncomfortable on his lips.

"Yes, that is my designation," Connor nodded respectfully, inwardly calculating the best route out. "I'd love to talk to you, but I really must get to work."

"Mr. Connor, can you tell us about this alleged affair with Markus?" A different reporter insisted, shoving a microphone into Connor's face.

Connor felt a jolt of anger at the idea that his relationship with Markus was just... an affair. That it was nothing more than a fling. They were friends, weren't they? Connor saw it that way. "It is not an affair, and I'd appreciate it if you were not to refer to the relationship between Markus and I like that. Now, I would like to get to work, if you wouldn't mind-,"

He later learned Gavin had relieved him of his duties for the day so the android could suffer at the hands of the media.

Connor had managed to convince the small horde of people to move somewhere else so the humans in the group could sit. He was admittedly overwhelmed by the amount of people - humans and androids alike - that surrounded him, suffocating him in life that he didn't want anything to do with.

He answered questions either honestly or vaguely, cautious about what he shared with the public. Honestly, most of what he was asked he would've assumed was public knowledge due to his first mission's broadcast, excluding the questions including Markus.

"Yes, I work at the DPD."

"No, I would not cheat on my partner."

"That depends entirely on context."

"...Yes, I was once the deviant hunter."

"I am not manipulating Markus to get on his good side and then betray him!"

"No, I have no intentions to ruin what we- he's built."

Barely an hour after he had been interrogated by that group, three separate notifications from Android News popped up in his field of vision.

"Markus' Secret Lover - Exposed?"

"Deviant Hunter and Deviant Leader."

"Love. Can Androids Feel It? Here's Proof!"

...He had an idea he was the reason they had been posted. Connor didn't bother looking into the articles - it was pointless to do when he possessed the most accurate memory of any other android built by CyberLife.

Connor just hoped those in New Jericho didn't bring it up with Markus.

Speaking of New Jericho, thanks to Gavin's interference, Connor had enough time to go there and say 'hello'. Some androids, however, definitely wouldn't welcome him - one particular ex-Traci came to mind.

He could hope North would try to see his side of the story. Hopefully she would, but Connor wasn't oblivious to her favouring of 'naturally deviant' androids, over ones that Markus had converted.

Connor that was unfair in itself - just because an android didn't experience the necessary emotions to deviate doesn't mean they're any less valuable (or useful, his program added subconsciously) or they haven't experienced abuse at the hands of humans that North had.

That Connor had experienced. But he tried not to think about that.

Those weren't his bodies, but he saw what the humans did in first person, how they had touched (not him not him not him) the Traci's so intimately, their hands were so dirty and they were always so objectifying.

That was the most scared of humans he had ever been, but then he remembered that one human who rented a Traci just to have someone to talk to. Connor made a mental note to find them and offer his friendship now that the Eden Club could no longer use unwilling androids to run their business.

Hank approved of this, more humans at Eden Club to do what androids had that gave him just a little more faith in humanity. With so many intimacy or sex androids deviating, humans were back to having limited choices unless the android reciprocated even after deviancy.

Still. Undeviated androids still suffered through abuse as the laws were slowly being pushed though. It made Connor's stomach churn in disgust, to know there were still androids, still people that had to suffer by the hands of some terrible humans.

Androids that deviated without Markus' or his own input had to have experienced an emotional shock, which was just a fancy way of saying that they snapped due to their 'owner's abuse. Unfair.

So. Fucking. Unfair.