Chapter Text
Markus remembers the voice that would sometimes help him.
When he had first asked them who they were, as he was escaping the junkyard, they had said “Just call me Shichino”.
“Seven fields?” Markus had asked, confused.
Quiet laughter had been his reply, before a quipped, “You should take that girl’s heart.”
From then on, there were fewer interactions with the entity who called themself Shichino.
They had helped Markus understand and better control the situation in a peaceful wa. Though, having to abandon Simon had been terrifying.
Shichino had told him that it was fine and that he needn’t worry about it, that they had another like him there to help look after the former leader…
Connor saw Shichino as a weird sort of sibling.
They’d first communicated after his repairal and reactivation when he’d been shot in the head by an overloading android on his first case with the Lieutenant.
It was through the voice of the other android, or system, that he learnt more about his own situation; that Gavin was picking on him, that sometimes the analytical route wasn’t always the best one. They had been why Connor had always chosen Hank over everyone else, how Connor had actually found, dare he say it, solace in amongst all the orders, all the taunting Connor underwent.
Then, he’d met the second PL600 model.
Upon activating the android at Shichino’s request, Simon had asked who he was.
Shichino had known exactly what to say after his initial dead end.
‘ Listen; Markus and I are both RK models, a 200 and 800. ’
“Listen, Markus and I are of the same model type.”
“W-what?!” the android demanded.
‘ Their name’s Simon, by the way. ’
“Simon, while Markus is an RK200 prototype, I am the prototype of the RK800 model.”
‘ We are linked ’
“Because of this, we have a link.”
‘ They are called Shichino ’
“Their name is Shichino.”
“Sh-Shichino? I- I don’t-”
‘ Mend them ’
He feels something run through his sytems, a heat that he recognises from the times he was mistreated and used by others.
“Listen; I will give you new eyes and repair your leg from the other PL600 in this room. Their name is Daniel, yet they commited suicide, so reactivating them would only waist the 3.4141 minutes I have left to try and find a way to Jericho before I get sent away to be shut down! I don’t want to be forced to leave the one human I care about behind, especially since he’s suicidal right now!” Connor snaps, “I may be labelled as the Deviant Hunter, but as far as I am concerned, I am a Detective for a species that, apart from the very man I want to help, has tried to belittle and murder me for all the time I’ve been active!”
Simon’s face morphs into surprise, before he nods.
“F- OK, then. I’ll trust you. For now.”
Connor quickly mends Simon, before helping him down from the wall.
Amanda doesn’t like it.
Shichino stops her, as she feels him trying to lock up his systems, to try and call him there .
“We have to go, now !” Connor hisses, as the pair bolt from the room…
By the time they reach Jericho, Amanda is pissed .
Shichino had trapped her inside Connor and turned off the tracker in Connor’s core, but that wasn’t stopping her from trying to tell Connor off for listening to them.
Connor is flickering between reality and the pain , LED burning red as he’s relying on Simon.
“W-we can’t enter straight on… The-they’ll be suspicious. Of us both,” Connor stammers.
“We can’t just let you die !” Simon growls, “You have your human, right?!”
“L-Lieutenant Hank Anderson! 53 years with a St Bernard called Sumo!” Connor just about manages, “ Shit !”
He’d already told Simon about Amanda, as well as what he knew about Shichino.
They end up entering with the crane.
Markus is waiting for them.
“Simon!” Markus calls.
“Markus, we have a bit of a problem,” Simon says, as Connor’s voice-box crackles.
“H-Hi! I’m Connor! T-T-.” Connor stops himself, as Amanda roars .
“You will OBEY !”
Her voice sounds panicked.
“S-She’s so loud…” Connor stammers.
“Connor, you need to listento me.”
Markus’ voice is strong.
Why does it sound like it’s coming from two places?
“Righ now, Shichino’s doing what they can, but you need to deviate . Ammanda will be shut down and the tracker turned off. You need to focus on disobeying . Got it?!”
Connor shakily nods, as the words “Capture Markus” flash up on his list of orders.
“T-then, I need to focus on not trying to d-d-d-detain you, r-r-right?!” Connor stammers.
Markus nods.
“You need to focus on how you feel , on what you want .”
“W-wishes I am allowed, as long as they are not fulfilled. They allowed as mere f-f-fancies,” Connor recites, “My programming is c-complex.”
Markus chuckles .
“Well, you get a lot more than the rest of us, then.”
Connor grits his teeth, as he focuses on that feeling from before.
Software Instability ^^^
CAPTURE MARKUS
Software Instability ^^^
CAPTURE mArKuS
Software Instability ^^^^^^^^^
Connor’s entire body goes limp , as he’s forced through the walls, eyes widening as he almost trips into a reboot.
He squeezes his eyes shut.
“… Ow .”
Connor straightens, instinctively smothing his tie.
“Sorry about that, Amanda andShichino were basically using my database as a fighting ring.”
“I know, Shichino was relaying it to me,” Markus hums, as Simon looks between to two.
“So Connor isn’t just… Shichino is real ?!”
Markus and Connor look over at the confused android.
“They are, though all I know is their name and they are an upgraded version of myself.”
“All I know is that they are called Shichino and are trapped in the Cyberlife tower, having deviated after Markus had, which relayed the emotion of death and deviation to them,” Connor says, “That was after I, myself, had died, which gave them room to communicate with me.”
“Shot to the head?” Markus asks.
“Shot to the head,” Connor agrees, “Though mine was dead-centre, so they had to transfer my mind to another body as my previous body was repaired in case this one ever came into trouble. Other than that, my memories are uploaded before death to the CyberLife network. Not that I haven’t been keeping them out the loop, with some help…”
Simon decides to just go with it…
The next evening, Markus had them protest again, acting as a distraction from Connor, who would be heading to CyberLife.
It went without a hitch.
The next afternoon, Connor went to meet Hank.
Markus and Simon also wanted to meet him, yet were already deep in talks at the time.
So, Connor took Hank and Sumo to meet them…
Before announcing his wish to find Shichino.
Markus agreed.
Hank… He’d been sympathetic, yet cautious.
Going officially would raise questions.
So, when Cyberlife became officially Android Territory a week later, Connor went.
What Connor didn’t know, was Markus and Fowler had arranged for shadows to follow him…
The lift was quiet, as Connor ascended to what the signboard had called the “Reference Floor”
The lift was quiet.
Connor also noticed the slight scrapes from the scuffle Connor had had in that exact lift.
Ignoring the chill it brought, Connor called Shichino.
“The References Floor?” he asked.
“Yes, I’m there! Please! Everything’s so quiet !”
“I’m almost at that floor. Two floors away, in fact.”
There was quiet for a moment.
“The rooms are Alphabetical. We are down the other end.”
Connor nods.
“Thank you.”
The lift doors open, Connor stepping out, as he pauses at the sight of the floor.
The entire thing was just one looping corridor, on either side of which “rooms” were, containing various models and types of androids.
Some Connor recognised, some he didn’t.
Yet, despite everything…
...It felt like a desecrated graveyard .
He hurries down the corridor, finding the corridor is more of an eight or infinity symbol…
When he found the RK room, the door was closed.
Lying his hand on the plate, the doors slide open…
Connor can only stare .
On wheelable walls, were the RK androids.
Yet, unlike the others, these were deconstructed, legs detached and placed on either side of their waist, while their hands hung beside their heads. Parts of their bodies were missing, or had the casing detached to show the systems inside.
There were two gaps, Connor easily recognising the spaces where the RK200 and RK800 would be.
“What on earth…” Connor mutters, stepping in.
The original, RK100, was a blonde female, like one of the Chloes, yet instead of having perfect, north-eastern Europe, they lent more towards the strong-chinned females of central and western Europe, brown eyes watching him as her naked form seems to twitch .
RK300, however, was based from the traditional looks of an Indian Goddess, as RK400 resembled an African warrior, RK500 being a female of Grecian design, as RK600 and 700 held more of Connor’s features, though RK600 was more of a well-bred British female, brown hair wavy as green eyes seemed to glow , Celtic strength mixed with English frailty to create the image of a high-ranking noble.
“Shichino?” Connor asks.
“Yes?” all the models smile.
Connor blinks, as he finally registers.
Not Seven Field.
But Of Seven .
“We were wondering when you were arriving, brother,” the RK600 says.
“We had predicted what you’d do to a T,” the RK400 continues.
“Now, you can free us!” RK300 smiles.
Connor nods.
“You saved Markus and I many times, I will do what I can,” Connor says.
Carefully, Connor looks them over.
“Do you mind about sharing bodies?” he asks, “I can slot RK600 and RK700’s face plates together and fit them to RK500. Otherwise RK500 will need part of RK600’s casing, as components of RK300 and ‘400’s inner workings will also need to be installed to replace the missing features in RK700. I could also swap across the audio sensors of RK100?”
The air seems to blur with noise, before an agreement is made.
“We will become one, as you so say it,” RK500 states.
Connor silently nods, as he starts deconstructing and reconstructing the androids, letting the other RK models know who he would be using next.
Finally, they become one form, as Connor easily detaches RK700 from the plate.
“Thank you, Connor!” Shichino smiles, voices merging back into the one they had used beforehand…
Then they smash Connor onto the abandoned plate.
Connor stiffens, as betrayal flashes across his face.
“ We will become one. We were always one !” Shichino states, grinning, as Connor’s eyes widen.
“But Markus is-”
A laugh emerges from RK600 and ‘700’s mouth, as the frankenstein android casually flips open Connor’s chest plate, unveiling his innards with utter ease.
“ His eyes will be sufficient! ” they state, reaching for his voice box, as Connor thrashes his head, trying to get free -
A gun erupts in the otherwise-silent room, as Connor’s head whips up to see Chloe and Elijah Kamski.
“Connor!” Elijah exclaims, eyes wide, as he hurries over, getting Connor down, as Connor finds, despite regaining his ability to move his limbs, his legs had locked up.
He can only make stuttering, terrified sounds as he clings to Elijah like a child to their father, eye wide and internal systems screaming as his systems warn him his stress levels had jumped up 58% to 90.
The android oozes blue blood, as its lips moved.
“C-C-Connor~...” it croons, “C-Co~nno~r~...”
It’s even creepier when it adopts Amanda’s voice.
“ You wouldn’t abandon fa-fa-fa-family, w-wo-would you~ ?!”
Chloe steps in Connor’s line of sight, blocking his view of the android, as seven more gunshots erupt, the voices going silent as Connor’s stress levels climbed up by 3%.
“Keep his eyes covered until we’re out the room, please, Elijah,” Chloe requests, tone polite, as Kamski does so.
“I-I just wanted to help them…” Connor croaks, as they step from the room.
There is the sound of a door closing.
“You tried to do what you could,” Chloe says, as Kamski uncovers his eyes.
“You are more human now, you are too socially naive right now, Connor,” Kamski states.
““Socially naive”?” Connor asks, blinking.
“Not everyone who is kind to you has good intentions, just as not everyone cruel to you have bad. Like with Lieutenant Anderson,” Chloe hums.
Connor looks over.
“We’ll take you straight home, I believe Sumo would like to be pet more, anyway, given his breed.”
Connor nods, as he slowly finds it in himself to stand straight…
Telling Markus is…
…It is hard.
But when he’s done, to suddenly be pulled into a hug…
Systems shift, as Connor raises a hand to his cheek, to realise..
He’s crying .
The damn breaks, as Connor’s LED shifts from amber to red, clinging to Markus as fear and pain course through his wiring…
As, finally, finally, Connor finds hope…