Lucy Anderson

Truly her father's daughter. Turning on her heel, she spotted the Lieutenant and her demeanour softened. "Hey, dad. Welcome back. How was your trip?"

There were a lot of things Hank expected to deal with when he got back. His daughter geared up and fighting with Allen hasn’t been on that list. With a sigh, the old Lieutenant rubbed his forehead.

-@connor-cyberlifeandroid

"Shit!" Lucy had been staring out of the kitchen window that overlooked the backyard in the Anderson House, a glass of whiskey to her side, and she'd thought she was home alone. Evidently not.

Hearing the voice behind her had her wiping her eyes and cheeks, clearing her throat slightly before turning around and noticing it was Connor. "Jesus christ Con, warn a woman next time.." Her hand rested on her chest, but she avoided the question.

Things had gone wrong on the case. He hadn't gone out intending to hurt Lucy, but that didn't change the fact that it had happened. Guilt had swarmed, mixing with the shame that had already shown up.

It wasn't a pleasant feeling, Connor was finding.

He'd gotten back home a bit after Hank had, but was waiting on Lucy to get home. He wanted to know that she was alright. Apologizing was in the plans as well; he especially wanted to make it up to her.

“Just another day at the office.”

“I was starting to think that you were gonna leave me behind.”

“Nice! Your fruit killing skills are remarkable.”

“I like to keep this for close encounters.”

“Crap, I can’t move! Sorry, mate. You’re gonna have to carry me.”

“Sheeit, kid’s got some issues.”

“The word ‘stealth’ doesn’t mean anything to you, does it?”

“Man, you look like a clown in that outfit.”

“It’s now or never, take the shot!”

“Pooch doesn’t look too friendly.”

“You ever hear the old saying, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”?”

“To know you’re close to the end is a kind of freedom.”

“His truth will be the truth. But only if he lives, and we die.”

“Dogs. I *hate* dogs.”

“This was a one-way flight, mate.”

“Have to trust someone to be betrayed. I never did.”

“Did [name] just tell us to go “F” ourselves?”

“You know what they say about revenge, you’d better be ready to dig two graves.”

“I guess I have to do everything myself?”

“Our weapons still work, which means we can still kick some ass!”

“Yeah, I’m cuttin’ through history class now!”

“I see you do *not* have situation under control!”

“There’s a simplicity to war. Attacking is the only secret.”

“Haven’t you heard, [name]? They say the war is over.”

“My war ends with you.”

“All it takes is the will, of a single man.”

“The road to the future begins here, my friend.”

“Your world as you knew it is gone. How far would you go to bring it back?”

“This is what your greed has brought you.”

-@connor-cyberlifeandroid

"Shit!" Lucy had been staring out of the kitchen window that overlooked the backyard in the Anderson House, a glass of whiskey to her side, and she'd thought she was home alone. Evidently not.

Hearing the voice behind her had her wiping her eyes and cheeks, clearing her throat slightly before turning around and noticing it was Connor. "Jesus christ Con, warn a woman next time.." Her hand rested on her chest, but she avoided the question.

It scared him every time, not knowing if she really could report him to anyone, if he'd be destroyed. The revolution was over and the androids had won, so that made him think that she couldn't, but her threats were still so real.

Connor had tried to hide it for as long as he could, though. They didn't need to know, or worry about him. It was working, or at least he thought it was, until the memories and Amanda's voice came back stronger than ever while he was in rest mode.

“This is so stupid, I don’t know why I’m crying,” he said as he wiped at his eyes. “I don't think she can even do anything anymore.”

@connor-cyberlifeandroid

Lucy had noticed - after all, it was her job to pick up on the tells of other people. The slight changes in demeanour, eyes darting across the room as if scanning it like a photocopy, she'd picked up on the early signs of deviancy too.

Because she'd helped Elijah create androids. She was there in college, the two of them had been put in the only dorm left and she was awake during his late night coding sessions. She'd seen the pre-programmed deviancy hiding behind the routine order-taking 0's and 1's.

That meant she knew Amanda. A very difficult to read woman who Elijah got along with frightfully well, a woman that never seemed to enjoy Lucy's company as much as she enjoyed Elijah's. If anything, a woman with many secrets. Now, Lucy didn't believe in ghosts by any means, otherwise she'd have switched to the Paranormal Investigation team that only existed to give the whackjobs she worked with something to boast about, but she did believe in people hanging around far longer than they should.

It was a day off for her, for once she was wearing her glasses rather than her contacts, her hair had grown out enough to warrant a little ponytail, and she was in dye-stained sweats and an oversized hoodie. She looked a mess, but she wasn't worried about that, she was worried about Connor who seemed to be having a mental breakdown in the kitchen.

"She lingers like a bad smell or taste, stains like a bad batch of thirium on skin..." She muttered over the top of her coffee mug, taking a sip of it and grumbling as it fogged her glasses. Moving from her spot against the kitchen counter, she brought her coffee to the table and set it down, bringing one of the other chairs closer to Conner and sitting beside him, resting her hand on his arm. "She can't do anything to you now Connor.. You're okay.. But, if she's loitering, I may be able to help..."

Yet it was Amanda who he still felt like was the biggest threat to him, just like before. Did her threats have any merit to them? He really didn't know, and that's what scared him the most.

"It's not- the easiest thing to hear when I'm trying to figure it out," Connor admitted. It was far from it, really. Amanda didn't seem to like him all that much in the first place, and then it only got worse as he started to experience instability.

"She hated- hates- the fact that I got close to you and Hank. Thought that I shouldn't have paid any attention to anything that wasn't the cases," he said, his voice quiet.

As Lucy went to grab her computer, Connor's gaze lifted so he could look at her. He nodded at her words, fidgeting for a moment. Trust Lucy or Amanda's words? The choice was easily made in a moment. "Okay," he whispered.

As she leaned her head on his shoulder, he managed a small smile. As he wrapped an arm around her, he leaned his head on top of hers. It felt odd, letting her hug him, but he wasn't going to turn it down.

Probably not.

Putting on a glove typically used at crime scenes, Lucy picked the snow globe up that was left in her office with an inquisitive hum. The faint white glow became a deep melancholy grey verging on black, exposing the inner turmoil that Lucy lived with.

Studying it further, the inside of it was her worst nightmare. She was on her knees, a puddle of red and blue soaking what the tiny version of her was wearing. A deep purple that matched her hair, and two bodies. Hank and Connor. She failed to protect them and now their respective bloods stained her hands and clothes. She shook it, a tiny rattling coming in the form of dozens of little bullets and feds badges. She felt sick.

Lucy left her office, looking paler than usual and like she was about to throw up.

"Who the fuck put this in my office?!" She called to the precinct, which had concerned looks thrown her way, but she set it down on said uncle's desk.

“Plus there’s an android in there that will lecture us the moment we get back anyways.” He chuckled before looking back at his kid.

"I don't know.. I coulda sworn I locked my office door behind me, but I saw that fuckin' snow globe so I picked it up to look at it.." She could feel herself getting choked up just thinking about it. Her dad and her love, both dead at her feet, bullets and badges floating around inside. "It was you and Connor.. and I was.. I was kneeling in your blood.. I shook it to see if it was that typical snow but it was tiny bullets and feds badges.. like it was my fault.." A few tears escaped again, so with a clear of her throat and a sniffle, she wiped them away and took another drag.

Not saying a word he tossed his cig and took Lucy’s. Tossing it aside and pulled her into him. The last fucking bit of what she said playing in his head. ‘My fault.’

“Now you listen here. I don’t know what the hell is going on. But don’t you fucking start blaming yourself for shit that didnt happen. Fuck. Don’t blame yourself if something did happen.” He hugged her and placed his chin on her head.

“Lucy. You’re my kid. With the good and bad side of me. And the last i want is for you to fall down that slope of ‘my faults.’ You know what that does.”

Moving back enough to wipe her cheek of any tears he smiled at her.

Her dad was getting better, doing right by himself for once, so why did she feel god awful? It was clear.. She was stagnant, stationary in a pit of shit mental health and using vices to hold her head above the raging ocean in the midst of a storm. She felt as though she was the one holding him back now.

With the good and bad side of me...

She knew that she was susceptible to his coping mechanisms, the same way she was with Danny and Sophie's when she was a kid.. It was a train wreck waiting to happen, but whether it would be a red mist from stepping off the platform or a head-on collision, taking out those she loved in the wreck, it was only a matter of time.

"I'm sorry dad.. I'm so fucking sorry.." Lucy had needed a hug like this for years. Since the accident. An accident that she blamed herself for. If they hadn't been driving to surprise Lucy in University, the accident would've never happened, Cole would be at home playing with his toys...

Things had gone wrong on the case. He hadn't gone out intending to hurt Lucy, but that didn't change the fact that it had happened. Guilt had swarmed, mixing with the shame that had already shown up.

It wasn't a pleasant feeling, Connor was finding.

He'd gotten back home a bit after Hank had, but was waiting on Lucy to get home. He wanted to know that she was alright. Apologizing was in the plans as well; he especially wanted to make it up to her.

At the song changing, he tilted his head slightly. The words expressed how he often felt, particularly before he had accepted his own deviancy. Then there was that moment with Amanda, after he had deviated, before he'd been able to get to the back exit.

For a moment, he glanced at Lucy, raising his eyebrows slightly.

"Apparently CyberLife wanted me to deviate," he stated, his voice calm. Almost as if it was the most normal thing he could've told her. "Wanted me to get them to the deviants."

Telling her about Amanda wasn't in his plans. He couldn't do that, not now. If he did, there would've been more that he probably would've had to explain too.

"They.. they wanted you to deviate? Like, deviate after you'd found Markus or before..?" Lucy sounded surprised, but her face showed little of what her tone portrayed. She worked for the FBI and something about the revolution never sat right with her...

-@connor-cyberlifeandroid

"Shit!" Lucy had been staring out of the kitchen window that overlooked the backyard in the Anderson House, a glass of whiskey to her side, and she'd thought she was home alone. Evidently not.

Hearing the voice behind her had her wiping her eyes and cheeks, clearing her throat slightly before turning around and noticing it was Connor. "Jesus christ Con, warn a woman next time.." Her hand rested on her chest, but she avoided the question.

It scared him every time, not knowing if she really could report him to anyone, if he'd be destroyed. The revolution was over and the androids had won, so that made him think that she couldn't, but her threats were still so real.

Connor had tried to hide it for as long as he could, though. They didn't need to know, or worry about him. It was working, or at least he thought it was, until the memories and Amanda's voice came back stronger than ever while he was in rest mode.

“This is so stupid, I don’t know why I’m crying,” he said as he wiped at his eyes. “I don't think she can even do anything anymore.”

@connor-cyberlifeandroid

Lucy had noticed - after all, it was her job to pick up on the tells of other people. The slight changes in demeanour, eyes darting across the room as if scanning it like a photocopy, she'd picked up on the early signs of deviancy too.

Because she'd helped Elijah create androids. She was there in college, the two of them had been put in the only dorm left and she was awake during his late night coding sessions. She'd seen the pre-programmed deviancy hiding behind the routine order-taking 0's and 1's.

That meant she knew Amanda. A very difficult to read woman who Elijah got along with frightfully well, a woman that never seemed to enjoy Lucy's company as much as she enjoyed Elijah's. If anything, a woman with many secrets. Now, Lucy didn't believe in ghosts by any means, otherwise she'd have switched to the Paranormal Investigation team that only existed to give the whackjobs she worked with something to boast about, but she did believe in people hanging around far longer than they should.

It was a day off for her, for once she was wearing her glasses rather than her contacts, her hair had grown out enough to warrant a little ponytail, and she was in dye-stained sweats and an oversized hoodie. She looked a mess, but she wasn't worried about that, she was worried about Connor who seemed to be having a mental breakdown in the kitchen.

"She lingers like a bad smell or taste, stains like a bad batch of thirium on skin..." She muttered over the top of her coffee mug, taking a sip of it and grumbling as it fogged her glasses. Moving from her spot against the kitchen counter, she brought her coffee to the table and set it down, bringing one of the other chairs closer to Conner and sitting beside him, resting her hand on his arm. "She can't do anything to you now Connor.. You're okay.. But, if she's loitering, I may be able to help..."

He settled a bit as Lucy sat next to him, though he was still a bit more tense than normal. "It feels like she's still making sure I'm doing what I need to do," he said, his voice quiet. Connor had done his best to not mention Amanda, at least until now. He hadn't thought that it mattered and, anyway, it was something he just needed to deal with. "And almost none of what I do anymore is what she wants."

He ran a hand over the table, still trying to remind himself that he was here, and nothing was happening. At hearing Lucy's offer of help, he glanced at her.

"What if she leaves and I'm not me anymore?" Connor whispered. If she was that hard wired into his software, what if that change made things different? Would he forget Lucy and Hank? They were his family, he didn't want to just forget about them entirely. "I don't want to go back to before."

Emotions were hard enough for humans, but to androids it must feel like being a very small fish in a very deep and dark pond. Swimming around with the hopes of something making sense but only finding the same darkness staring back at you.

She took her glasses off for a moment, cleaning them on her tshirt before putting them back on and moving to grab her laptop, settling beside Connor once more and opening it up. It was an old model, chunky as anything and it weighed a ton, but it had never let her down, even now. "I know you don't want to go back to before, Connor, I would never subject you to that.. just, give me a while to go through some stuff and I'll see what I can do for you, okay?"