“Shoot her.” Kamski said, his voice surprisingly calm considering the circumstances. “Shoot her and I will answer your questions, Connor.” He slipped a heavy pistol into Connor's hand and stepped back, patiently waiting for whatever chaos would occur.
The girl - android. She was an android. The android was on her knees in front of Connor, looking up at him. He knew that she wouldn’t feel pain. He understood that. But this felt wrong. She hadn't done anything. She didn’t deserve to be shot.
“Alright, I think we’re done here.” Hank’s voice came from his right. It was firm, confident. He moved closer to Connor and put his hand on his back, pushing slightly to encourage Connor to move.
He didn't. He couldn’t. It was like he was frozen to the spot. Instead, Connor stood still. Hank removed his hand before quietly mumbling “Connor, I swear to god. Don’t shoot.”
The girl - android - was still on her knees. He couldn’t stop looking at her. She was pretty, he thought. Strands of soft blonde hair spilled onto her face. Her eyes were big, doe-y. They stared up at him. God, the way she looked at him made him feel weak. He hadn’t noticed but Kamski was close, so close that his hand was on Connor's shoulder. He was speaking but Connor only managed to catch the last of his sentence.
“She’s just a machine, Connor. Think of how beneficial it'll be to your investigation!” He heard Hank groan at this, and when he looked over, Connor saw him shaking his head. She was just a machine. It would be beneficial. That's what he would tell himself.
Connor still had the gun in his hand. It was pointed at the android's head, and he noticed that his hand was shaking slightly.
He imagined what it’d feel like. Being shot. It would have to hurt. Feeling a bullet lodged into your head had to be uncomfortable. Connor knew that androids shut down almost instantly once their biocomponents were severely damaged, but that wasn’t the point. The point was she didn’t deserve to be shot.
It was like the world had gone still. He saw Kamski talking to him, but he couldn’t process the words. The room around him felt like it was spinning and the only thing in focus was the android. The android was called Chloe, he recalled. She had a name. She was probably scared right now, looking into the barrel of his pistol. If she could even feel scared.
He imagined what she would look like once shot. Her eyes would be closed (hopefully). If they were open, he imagined they’d be dull and lifeless. Blue blood would drip down her head, staining her pretty skin. She’d probably fall forward.
He felt his throat tighten.
God. He had shot androids before, this wasn’t something new to him. He couldn’t understand why this felt so different. It was a test. He understood that. Maybe that’s what was different? The other androids had been wrongdoers. They had put humans in harm's way, and so they deserved to be shot. They deserved to be shut down. But her? She hadn’t done anything wrong. She had been polite to him and Hank when they first entered. She had smiled at him when he introduced herself. She was a test. A test of his willingness.
Connor squeezed his eyes shut, and when he opened them, he handed the gun back to Kamski. Kamski had a smirk on his face. “Fascinating,” he said quietly “The deviant hunter is itself a deviant.”
Silently, Connor walked out of the building.
She was a test and he had failed.
Connor was standing outside now. His back was pressed against the smooth wall and he felt like he couldn’t breathe. He took sharp inhales, begging his biocomponents to work properly. His vision was blurry again and, slowly, he slid down the wall until he was sat on the snowy floor. Without realising, he had bought his knees up to his chest, resting his head upon them. Everything felt heavy all of sudden. His head felt too heavy for his shoulders.
Connor felt someone's hand on him and when he looked up, he struggled to recognise who it was. They crouched down in front of him, holding his hands in their own. They were talking. What were they saying? God he wished he could focus on their words. Slowly, he realised that it was Hank.
“Connor? Connor? What's going on, talk to me”
He couldn’t speak. He felt like his voice box was broken and he couldn’t speak. Hank gently grabbed onto his arms and pulled him up. He struggled to stand but with Hank's support, he managed to make it to the lieutenant’s beat-up car. Both clambered inside and sat quietly.
Connor was breathing heavily and was shaking. He was shaking so much.
“Hank” he finally spoke, voice weak, “Hank.. why couldn’t I shoot?”
Hank thought for a minute, clearly deciding the best approach. “You put yourself in her shoes… You showed empathy, Connor.”
“No! No I didn't, Hank!” He sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than anything else. “I didn’t show empathy. I can’t show empathy, Hank.”
“..Then why didn’t you shoot, Connor?”
He looked at Hank and shook his head. He couldn’t answer that. Connor couldn’t explain that he didn’t think that the android - that the girl - deserved to be shot. He couldn’t describe how he imagined the feeling of being shot. It wasn’t fair for her to feel that, to experience that. She didn’t deserve to be shut down to progress an investigation in which she had no involvement.
She didn’t deserve to die.
It wasn’t empathy. He didn’t put himself in her shoes. He didn’t.
“I just couldn’t hank!” He spoke suddenly, “I just couldn’t, ok? She was looking at me, Hank. At me. And I couldn’t shoot.” Connor recognised how vicious his voice sounded. It wasn’t as weak and small as it was a few minutes ago. Instead, it was aggressive. Angry. He was angry.
Next to him, Hank remained practically silent. He hadn’t started the car and they were still sitting outside Kamski’s building. This, too, made Connor angry; Why were they still here? He wanted to go back to the police station. He wanted to go anywhere that wasn’t here.
Hank was looking at Connor but looked visibly uncomfortable. Slowly, he took a deep breath and spoke.
“Hank. I'm an android. I can’t show empathy. It’s not in my code. I’m physically incapable of doing it.” It was a desperate attempt to prevent any further conversations. He didn’t want to have to listen to Hank accuse him of being emotional.
He asked Hank if they could drive back to the station and leave this place. The air was thick and tense, but slowly, Hank nodded and started the car. As they drove, Connor stared out the window; Kamski’s place was far out of town. Unnecessarily far. It made him feel funny.
Kamski was wrong about him. So was Hank.
He wasn’t a deviant. He didn’t show empathy.
It had been exactly a week since visiting Kamski. It had probably been the worst week Connor had ever experienced. Once they had got back to the station, he immediately felt exhausted and wanted to sit in his charging station for as long as he could. However, he and Hank were almost instantly sent out to investigate another deviant. He completely messed up that case, and the deviant easily managed to out run him. God. Since the Kamski visit, he had been so tired. So tired. He struggled to focus on basic things, let alone the ever increasing number of deviant cases.
Currently, Connor was sitting at his desk. There was a mess of paperwork and case files which surrounded him. He knew that the answer was here. He knew that the cause of deviancy was hidden somewhere in this pile of information.
If he could just focus and find the solution, then everything would be better.
Slowly, he sat back in his office chair and ran his hands through his hair. This was something he noticed the humans did when they were stressed. It was meant to be soothing, and he almost understood the relaxing nature behind the motion. He noticed how soft his hair was - why did cyberlife make androids so human-like?
Connor sighed, quietly. A particular file had caught his attention and he picked it up to examine it further. The deviant had ran away from its owner's home and tried to blend in with humans. It had crossed state lines with fake IDs and attempted to start a new life. It was a pretty tame case, but the thing that caught Connors attention was the androids design. It was a young looking android, with soft pale skin and big eyes. Its hair was short and blonde. The android was designed to be a simple domestic model who would help childcare, so its appearance was important. It had to look friendly. Something felt wrong though, and Connor couldn’t shake the heavy feeling in his chest.
He slowly realised how much the android looked like Kamski’s personal androids. How much the android looked like Chloe. Perhaps it was just the mixture of its hair and gentle features, but he suddenly struggled to distinguish between the two. Connor suddenly felt sick. Once again, his vision became blurry, a sensation he was far too familiar with nowadays. He tried to focus on something - anything - but his attempts were completely unsuccessful.
Connor was still at his desk, in the busy, far too crowded police station. Abruptly, he stood up and mindlessly walked to somewhere more private. He couldn’t do this in front of the officers. Surely, they would notice and report him to cyberlife. He had ended up in a quiet corridor at the back of the station. This would have to do.
Connor noticed how weak he felt. His legs felt like they were about to crumble under his weight. Luckily, the hallway was lined with benches and he quickly stumbled over to one and sat down. He couldn’t see: everything was blurry and spinning. Slowly, he hunched forward and rested his head in his hands. Connor needed to calm down, and his first attempt at that was to squeeze his eyes shut and try to ignore his thoughts. It was unsuccessful.
He was cyberlifes best model. A true technological achievement. Connors was designed to be practical and mechanical. He was designed to solve criminal cases and be a million times better than humans. He couldn’t emote and that made him so much more efficient than anyone else. He had dealt with gruesome murders and petty thefts, all of which had no impact on him. Nothing had affected him in any way at all. Nothing until Kamski and his stupid test.
He wasn’t sure how long he was sitting in the corridor for, time felt like it had frozen, but he eventually heard footsteps. They sounded like they were about to turn the corner and see the mess he was. Connor prayed that it was Hank. The lieutenant had witnessed this before. What even was this? Some kind of panic attack? A breakdown? A minor error in his code causing mass malfunctions? It was probably all of the above. Either way, Hank had dealt with this before and could probably handle it again. His eyes were still squeezed shut.
The footprints suddenly stopped in front of him and Connor hesitantly opened his eyes. His vision cleared slightly and he felt sick as soon as it did. The person lurked over him, their brows furrowed in confusion. They made eye contact with Connor and he felt like he wanted to sob. He’d never felt like this before.
Connor had prayed - wished - that Hank would be standing there, in front of him.
He didn’t expect to see Detective Gavin fucking Reed.
“Connor?” Gavin’s voice was quiet and reeked of confusion. It echoed around his head and made him feel nauseous. If it had been someone else, then Connor would probably be fine. He would be able to convince the person that he was having a simple software malfunction and that it was nothing serious as a quick recharge would fix it.
But Gavin Reed wasn’t someone else. He was one of the smartest detectives Connor had ever seen. Reed was observant and intelligent and was not to be easily fooled.
That, of course, didn’t stop Connor from trying.
Slowly, the android stood. He ignored the tears running down his cheeks and the shake in his legs and instead focused on the man in front of him. He cleared his throat and spoke “Detective Reed. I’m sorry you had to see me like this, it seems as if I’m having a slight internal malfunction” Connor’s voice was raspy but he managed to continue “This is nothing to worry about! In fact, I was just about to go and recharge and make a self-report to CyberLife.” He began to walk away.
“I thought you were supposed to be CyberLife’s most advanced model?”
Connor stopped in his tracks, frozen. The detective spoke so smoothly. His voice was consistent and calm and it shook Connor to his core. He felt like if he took another step, he’d crumble onto the floor.
He was CyberLife’s most advanced model.
Gavin was back in front of him now. He hadn’t even noticed until he saw the detective’s cocky smile. “CyberLife’s most fancy piece of plastic was having a complete breakdown, and you’re gonna tell me it’s a simple malfunction” He was laughing, quietly, and seemed to be in genuine disbelief Gavin continued to speak, “You’re a fucking prick, do you know that?” He didn’t know that. In fact, Connor thought he was quite pleasant. He was quite literally coded to be nice. Gavin stepped back and ran his hands through his hair, he looked uncomfortable. Slowly, he stepped back into Connor’s personal space and grabbed the android by his jacket. “You’re a prick, Connor!”
This has been a wip for ages and I doubt ill ever finish it so here ya go tumblr! I think if I did write the ending for this, Gavin would punch Connor in the face, and then demand the android follow him. He'd then teach Connor how to come up with better lies :)