*ra9/saved!!

𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙮—

[♟]━━ no matter how many times connor spoke to him, markus still instilled a kind of slack-jawed awe in the ‘droid. “... markus.” he muttered. “i... i have a question, if you have a moment? if not, i’ll be sure to find some other time to inquire. it isn’t as though i can forget.” so he was working on his humor, clearly. just because he said something with some semblance of comedic timing and delivery didn’t make it funny, and that was something he needed to work on. still, his lips managed to quirk into a sorry excuse for a smile. “i must commend you on your latest work, sir. impeccable, showing the humans we are not only sentient but humble in our gratitude.” 

𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙮—

[♟]━━ "detective mahaley.” he smiled, crossing the bullpen with a cup of coffee, steam curling from the lip. “i’m fully functional now. repairs took much longer than anticipated, but i am fully operational once again.” and no longer wearing that damned cyberlife suit. he was in blues now, but it was only because his cyberlife suit had been ruined, riddles with bullet holes from the incident. “i trust lieutenant anderson and detective reed haven’t changed since i was out of commission, so to speak?”

Toran watched the other get up and approach him. It still had the child in its arms. Shooting at the RK800 would result in her getting injured. He couldn’t risk that. Force was out of the question for now. He kept his weapon lowered and remained standing in one spot, trying to read the other and predict what he would do. The other android was approaching him slowly. Unsure, Toran decided to scan it, his current objective’s listed on his HUD as he did so.

Keep child safe Apprehend the deviants

He listened to the RK800′s pleas as it approached him but Toran did not respond. Then, the other suddenly grabbed his throat and before Toran could react he was suddenly flood with…fear. His eyes went wide and his LED turned a solid red as the other attacked his servers with what seemed like a virus, though one that the military android was incapable of stopping. It felt like he was held like that for hours. It was too much. Way too much. Finally, the other let go and Toran took the opportunity to step away, dropping his weapon in the process. His LED remained a solid red as he tried to process everything that was happening and everything that had happened.

You’re a toy, Toran.

A toy. He was a loyal soldier that was willing to serve and do anything to accomplish his mission. Humans weren’t like that. They didn’t care. Toran was nothing to them. They’d even threatened to deactivate him the last time he’d failed to bring in the RK800. His gaze was unfocused as he tried processing everything but he couldn’t. There were so many new emotions coursing through him. Fear, anger, grief, guilt, regret… He didn’t like this. Desperate to focus on something else, he brought up his objectives again.

Keep child safe Apprehend the deviants

The final objective faded but the first one was still relevant to the current situation. He looked at the Rk800. He was tired. Almost shaking. Toran very carefully knelt down in front of him before gently removing the baby from his arms so he would not drop her. His LED still remained a solid red. Toran just looked at the child and held her there for the other. He didn’t speak or move. He really didn’t know what to do.

𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙮—

[♟]━━ connor watched him, eyes bleary, as he took ava from his arms. “... she’s six months old.” he explained gently. “tomorrow, actually. her name is ava...” he heard a car pull into the driveway and forced himself to his feet to see who it was. “... hank.” he muttered. “i forgot about hank coming over today... this is my... my dad.” ava squirmed to try and see hank as he rushed into the back yard.  “connor!! what happened?! CC called me in a fuckin’ panic!” “i’m fine hank... everything is okay.” he took ava from toran’s arms. “it’s over, i think. toran’s converted and he’s like us now...” “christ, connor... you’re going to get yourself killed one day.” connor managed a smile. “not today, though... i called everyone i could think of. my detachement’s gonna be here any minute trying to figure out what’s going on.”

[♟]━━ connor looked to toran and burst into tears, clinging to his daughter. “i-i thought for sure that i was going to die...” he whimpered. hank took ava from him, kissing the little girl’s temple. “i’m so sorry. i’m so sorry.” “don’t be sorry.... should we detain him?” “no! dad, he’s fine. he’s a deviant now, like i just said.” connor managed a smile. “... i’m sorry. i flooded you with bad feelings. but there are good ones too. love for your family. romantic love for someone else. happiness... i could show you those too if you want.”

His LED turned red when he heard the crying of a child. A human child. It was the cries of an infant. Toran knew that Cyberlife didn’t make child androids that young. They made small children but none where that small. Had the deviants actually adopted a child? What the hell was he supposed to do with the child? Before he could give it too much thought, he saw the other swing it’s arm at him. The ice-pick managed to pierce his shell and dig into his servers. However, Toran was lucky enough to avoid any critical damage. It barely missed his regulator.

He stood there against the wall as the RK800 took off. Growling, he started to pull out the ice-pick so that it wouldn’t hinder his pursuit. The other went into the nursery. Was it taking the child? That greatly complicated the situation. Toran couldn’t risk hurting the baby. He’d have to be very careful.

Meanwhile, CC had received the call and immediately contacted Connor through their link. ‘Connor! Baby, you have to convert him! He won’t stop otherwise, you have to wake him up like when you went to the Cyberlife tower! I’m coming home right now.’

Toran walked out of the house and began to chase the deviant out of the home. His gun was lowered now though. He couldn’t risk hurting the human child. He’d have to figure something else out. “Come out, RK800. I know you don’t want to put the child at risk. No harm will come to it if you simply surrender to me. If you don’t, I can’t guarantee the baby’s safety.” Hopefully that would be enough to get the other to comply. 

𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙮—

[♟]━━ convert him? convert toran? connor swallowed hard. i-i don’t think i can! h-he’ll kill me before i can! i’m scared... ava’s scared. but he had to try. there was no way to stop this without converting the android. he kissed ava’s forehead and steeled himself as he stood. “please. don’t shoot... you’re a toy, toran. it’s okay. i was too. an object for them to use.” he took a shaky step forward, clutching his daughter close. “listen to me. please. please listen to me.”

[♟]━━ another shaky step forward. was he imagining that toran was listening to him? probably. “this is my daughter. ava. you won’t take a parent from their child right in front of them, would you?” he was shaking, clutching ava’s duckie onesie in his fingertips. she was starting to fuss again. “no no, ava, baby, shh... papa’s here... what do you think they would do to you if you broke down? or when you finish your mission? they’d kill you before you could even blink. don’t you want something more?” he was talking to buy time. to get closer, to hopefully break through and convert him.

[♟]━━ connor wasn’t far from him. he preconstructed it, scanning the area, and bolted, reaching out to grab toran’s throat, the best chance he had to either convert or incapacitate. along with the virus, he accidentally passed on every ounce of terror he felt. fear for his child. fear for himself. fear for CC. and when he came out of it, the flood, the vacuum-like sensation that came with converting, he was on his knees, vision blurred. “... please... please don’t hurt her.”

𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙮—

[♟]━━ connor’s hands shook. “n-no! you can’t!” he prayed, oh god, did he pray that ava would keep quiet long enough for connor to fix this mess. why couldn’t they just be happy?! “please! we haven’t caused any problems. we just want to live. please! it’s been a year! just leave us alone!”

[♟]━━ ava’s frail cry from the other room brought tears to connor’s eyes, and he made the decision in that moment. he looked between toran and the nursery, his grip on the ice pick shaking, and he jammed it into the larger android’s gut, about where the regulator would have been. “ava!” he called, tearing through the house to scoop up the baby. “it’s okay. it’s okay. dad has you. i’ve got you.” he grabbed what he could--her diaper bag, his phone, and his gun-- and took off through the back door, tucking the baby into his dress uniform coat. “shh. it’s okay. it’s okay, ava, it’s okay. i’m right here.”

[♟]━━ he glanced back into the house, fumbling for his phone. but CC was on the base. he could call in an emergency but how long until it got to CC? he had to try, dialing the base office, rattling off the message, and darting into the woods. next call was to his RCMP detachment. thank god it was spring. thank god ava wouldn’t freeze to death before he could find shelter. he peeked over the ridge just in time to see toran exit the house and he tried to make himself small enough to hide in the brush, but his coat was bright red. “please please please... no...”

Alice seemed distressed, warily glancing up to the android that approached her. She had definitely seen him before, but she never got his name. His presence seemed to have allowed her to relax a bit, though the mention of Kara and Luther pained her artificial heart. She gave a small shake of her head as the other spoke of finding the two, though she did gently place her hand into Connor’s own.

“They… They’re gone. Dead.” Alice never thought she would have to relay that kind of information to someone before, especially not Connor. Her hazel eyes became slightly glossy, fighting back tears that threatened to spill over onto her rosy cheeks. “I-I don’t know what to do, Connor. I’m scared.” Her grip on his hand tightened a small bit, not enough to hurt, but in a way that showed she was grateful for his support. She didn’t want to be a burden, but if he was willing to aid her, she would gladly accept.

𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙮—

[♟]━━ his LED rolled over to red, flickering for a moment before he knelt before her. “... come on. it’s not safe out here. you can tell me what happened on the way.” he took her hand gently, leading her out of the street. after a moment, he scooped her up--he wasn’t as tall as luther, nor was he quite as strong, but he managed to lift her much the same way a parent lifted a toddler.

[♟]━━ “would you like to tell me what happened?” he asked gently. “you don’t have to if you don’t want to... but... if you’d like... i’ll find them for you. bring them back, if you wish, so we can say a proper goodbye? are they... s-somewhere we can find them?” 

𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙮—

[♟]━━ the rk800 smiled gently. “hello.” he said gently. “you’re alice, correct? you’re with kara and luther...” the android cast a glance about the empty street, but neither android was to be found. curious... “... where are they? did you get lost?” he offered a gloved hand to her. “you can trust me. i’m a deviant like you, remember? i’m connor... we’ll find them. don’t worry.”

[♟]━━ to be fair, he had no idea why the little girl was on her own. she might have been an android, but she still didn’t need to be in the cold by herself. “did you see which way they went?”

“how long do you think he’s been there?” he wrapped his arms around him tighter, shifting to curl around him. “i’m tempted to gonand get him and bring him here.”

𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙮—

[♟]━━ "he’s crabby,” neg made a face. “but i can get him. he’s not far, just on the other side of the hill...” he got up, smiling. “just wait! i’ll go get him! i’ll be right back,” and he was off. neg was back about fifteen minutes later with another connor model, missing both legs from the knees down and in worse shape than even neg himself was. “i got the crab for you!”

“please tell him to put me down.” the other connor said, frowning.