#connorank

[multibodied]

Saw a video in recommendations and decided I must edit it

[starryeyedstray]

just a short fic heavily inspired by this post about hank causing connor to deviate (but not in the way you expect) by @goodoldfashionedengineer

The RK800 was built to withstand the pressures of high-stakes situations. From hostage negotiations to interrogations to gun fights. It was stress tested against any danger one could expect to encounter in police work (and hunting deviants). What it was not tested against was uncooperative and unprofessional alcoholics.

Apprehending them? Yes. Partnering with them for a full investigation? No.

But Connor was equipped with social programming meant to adapt to human unpredictability, and it needed access to crime scenes so it would adapt. If adapting meant going to five separate bars to find said human and buying him a drink to move him along, then so be it. It was the middle of the night. It was not outside expectation for a human to be out drinking at this time. Even if they were on call.

But Hank Anderson was an officer of the law and here he was breaking the law by driving under the influence. Connor was perfectly capable of driving, but the lieutenant insisted that he wasn't going to let plastic drive his car. A thoroughly irrational decision. But Connor wasn't a cop so it wasn't going to stop him from taking it to the crime scene it needed access to.

The investigation and capturing of the deviant went smoothly. Though the lieutenant calling Connor's evidence-based conclusion about what transpired at the crime scene a "theory" that was "not totally ridiculous" was… uncalled for. The ensuing interrogation went perfectly though the only credit Connor could afford to give to his "partner" was in permissing him to interrogate the deviant. Lieutenant Anderson had yet to proven his worth as anything more than an access pass to crime scenes.

And now, it was past noon the next day. The lieutenant was still nowhere to be seen at his supposed place of work. Connor wouldn't put it past the man to spend more time at bars than at the precinct. It was unsurprised to see the anti-android sentiments on Anderson's desk. Leave it to someone as ineffective and unpunctual as this particular human to not understand the benefits of employing an efficient machine. When Lieutenant Anderson finally arrived, Connor was also unsurprised when Captain Fowler assigned them as official partners for all deviant investigations (Cyberlife had debriefed it about this already). What did surprise Connor was how a lieutenant could speak to their police captain like that with virtually no repercussions. Humans were certainly emotional beings and that seemed to stunt their logical reasoning. But Connor said it would adapt, so it would adapt. Though it realized playing nice was getting nowhere when the lieutenant refused to do his job and investigate the deviant cases. Since being professional and understanding wasn't working, Connor decided that being aggressive might be a better approach...

Connor will admit that it may have made a slight miscalculation. Its solution for being a bit more forceful with its words only irritated the lieutenant more and caused him to threaten Connor before storming off to get lunch. Getting upset, Connor could grant him that. But going to lunch now? Literally less than 30 minutes have passed since the lieutenant had arrived at work, and he was taking a lunch break? Now?

The frankly displeased RK800 was now standing in front of a food truck with an expired health inspection score watching Lieutenant Anderson order a meal with an obscene amount of calories while placing illegal gambling bets with a man with a criminal record.

This was too much.

Connor was not going to waste time that could be spent investigating here. The android pivoted on its heel and began walking down the street. But Connor's operating system stopped it, helpfully reminding Connor in big red wall of text that its current mission was to RECONCILE WITH LT. ANDERSON.

Cyberlife wanted to it to reconcile? With this man? This shell of a lieutenant that can't be bothered to do his job unless an android was constantly prodding him in the right direction?

No.

Absolutely not.

Cyberlife told Connor what to do, but it was also a company ran by humans. If humans made the decision to keep "Lieutenant" Anderson employed despite his very obvious and obtrusive personal issues, then humans could certainly wrongly assume what the best approach to investigating deviants was. No, Connor knew it didn't need a human's help to accomplish its mission. If Cyberlife wanted results, it was going to get results doing things the efficient and sensible way. And that certainly didn't involve reconciling with Lieutenant Anderson.

*cue Connor deviating to get away from dealing with Hank*

[pls-explodingstars-pls]

I’m not a Hank+Connor expert but I know there are there are a few other tags the DBH community uses for them

#platoniconk

#connorank

I’m not sure how well know these are but I figured I should share these as well

#platoniconk is just that, a platonic interpretation of hank and connor's relationship. It's neutral, not romantic or familial, much like what we see in game.

#connorank is another term that can be used to describe one of the in game relationships we see. Unlike the platonic tag, connorank is used for negative feelings the two can have. This can be as enemies or just being a bit hostile to each other.

It’s really cool we have all these different tags for the many interpretations of these guys! I hope all these tags become more popular in the fandom.

[incomprehensible-phasmid]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Just a short angsty, introspective fic about Hank going to the rooftop (to kick Connor's ass)! That I was meaning to write for like 2 years, but it's here now! 😅

[multibodied]

So I'm doing hostile play-through, and you know, I think this scene hits different when it has a context of Hank shooting Connor the night before.

Hank says about how Connor saved human lives here, including Hank's own to which Connor just gives him a dead stare and then leaves without saying a word. Hank took Connor's life the night before, and yet here he is, alive today thanks to him.

I like to think it's a face of involuntary guilt and regret or at least self-reflection.

Within this context this short interaction just gets so gut wrenching it makes me feel physically sick. And I think it makes this scene so much better than it is in any other context.

[multibodied]

It'd be so funny if Sumo was more aggressive, and in Russian Roulette Hank'd have woken up to the scene of Connor getting absolutely mauled.

I don't think he'd intervene either, more like poured himself another drink ignoring screams for help, and when they cease just go “Good dog <3”

[multibodied]

Referencing this

[multibodied]

Hank's spiritual beliefs is something that is rarely talked about but it's one of the aspects of his character that is really interesting to me. His suicidal ideations coexist with his doubts and concerns about the possibility of the afterlife or the lack thereof. Especially it is interesting to me what happens to them in the version of the events Connor keeps dying in front of him and coming back as if nothing happened. It challenges his idea of life and death when he stops to consider androids as living beings because the implications of having both androids being alive and the possibility of bringing them back from the dead as if death means nothing aren't exactly favourable for his views of the existence of afterlife, which from CyberLife Tower scene where he dies, we learn is something that he believes in. His faith in many ways keeps him going because part of him believes that when he all of it will finally be over, he'll get to see his son again and so he speeds up the process as much as he can. Even in time of playing Russian roulette the first time we learn he plays it, I think he does it with an afterlife in mind. He says he just doesn't have a guts to do it, but I think he also sees it as a loophole: it's not a suicide if he's just playing a game of chance. He doesn't directly kills himself in case he gets shot -- there's a plausible deniability that it was caused by luck, God's permission if you will, not him.

In the event of him coming to the rooftop to confront Connor, he knows that there's a huge risk of him not making it out alive but it doesn't stop him because even in case of his failure, he gets to die fighting for something he thinks is right and hence increases chances of his afterlife being something other than eternal damnation that many christian religions promise to those who commit suicide through more direct means. In this sense, him coming to the rooftop is him playing his game of chance again but this time with actual stakes and something to fight for. Whether he'll stop this Connor or dies trying he'll get what he wants.

Which, leads me to the scene of him actually committing suicide. I think in this ending he no longer believes in any afterlife for himself or anyone else, or God, or humanity as a whole or a better future. He comes to conclusion that androids are in fact people, but he doesn't like people (as a whole rather than individuals--to those he may feel sympathy) and thinks of them as an overall lost cause. There's no hope for them, or him. Before Connor drives a nail into the coffin of his spiritual beliefs about the scarcity of death he could at least grasp for his hope of afterlife. Connor coming back from the dead as if it means nothing combined with mind boggling cruelty of the world around him he observed over the course of last years culminating within the last week of his close contact with the deviants has taken this faith away from him. And this is precisely why he finally kills himself. I believe, in the moment he does it, he believed there'd be--as Connor said--nothing, and he prefers this nothingness to living another day in a pointlessly cruel place he sees neither hope or God nor meaning.

I don't think this time he was playing russian roulette. I think this time his gun was loaded.