“I’m not though. Working for humans, I mean,” Connor said. “Well, I was but I’m not now. They thought I was a human at the time so…” How to instill goodwill? Sharing something about himself wasn’t a bad way to start. “I was a detective with the DPD until 8:46 this morning. My origins were discovered and I had to leave.”
“How? You would have to be cautious no matter how long you were with them,” Markus asked.
Explaining the unknown android with his exact design wasn’t a difficult story to tell but it was more detailed than Connor wanted to go. Connor running away from his successor drew attention to his original purpose. Yes, being a deviant hunter was all programming and not his choice, but Connor just met them. Leaders of Jericho and the android revolution or not, he had no idea how that knowledge would impact their already dubious feelings.
“Cyberlife,” Connor said.
Markus seemed unbothered with the simplicity unlike North whose glare narrowed. “So it’s true. You helped out androids while disguised as a human. As a cop,” Markus stated rather than asked.
Connor nodded anyway.
“That’s risky,” Markus said.
“I only helped out a few.” And condemned a dozen more. Daniel and Zlatko’s androids alone outweighed any good he stumbled into.
“Doesn’t diminish what you did,” Markus said. “Your actions gave us hope that we had more allies out there than imagined. Integrating with humans at the police department… I never even considered that as a possibility.”
“Yeah because most of us aren’t suicidal,” North said. “Or was this a fantastic case of Stockholm Syndrome and reliving your dream life as a human’s slave?”
North was going to be a problem if he didn’t ease her suspicions. His scan provided no useful information to de-escalate. Escalate though? Yes, which was unhelpful but he logged it away anyway. “Not every android hates humans.” North scoffed so Connor tried again. “No one has to be a slave to help a human and, if you remember, I helped out androids, which I could only do as a fake human.”
“Hiding as a human wasn’t your only option,” North said.
“But it was the choice I went with.”
North tore him apart with her steely gaze. As if sight alone would uncover a red flag big enough to throw him out. None of the other leaders did anything but watch. Connor marked Josh as someone to prod to distract North, but the redhead spoke before he could pursue that.
“Why did you deviate? Fun experience? Just surrounded by human love and support?”
Androids don’t feel pain. Technicians attempted to give pleasure android pain sensors several years ago, but none of those models made it out of the testing rooms. Yet he flinched as phantom holes appeared where bullets blasted through his chest on the rooftop. All Cyberlife wanted was an unthinking tool. As soon as Connor proved he wasn’t, Cyberlife destroyed him, efficient as always.
“It wasn’t… pleasant,” Connor said, “but not every human I’ve met wished me harm.”
“Are you thinking as a fake human or a deviant?” North asked. “I’m sure humans are decent enough when they think you’re one of them. But what happened as soon as they discovered your plastic ass?” She gestured. “You fled because you didn’t feel safe. Don’t trust your little humans not to maim you?”
