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I.The first time was unusual. Enough for Connor to acknowledge that something was wrong but not enough for anyone that surrounded him. They were in the middle of a meeting, nearly everyone, detective level and higher, from the precinct. It was two months after the revolution, androids were only just making their way back into the workforce. It was within Connors first week back.Fowler was saying something about the newest red ice ring that had sprung up while everyone else was distracted by androids gaining an ounce of humanity. It was important, frankly crucial to Connors job, his livelihood, and nearly every single one of his relationships was through work. And yet, he couldn’t bring himself to understand most of what Fowler said.He started out fine, but 13 minutes and 27 seconds into the meeting Connors vision went blurry and his audio processors went out for 13 seconds. And then it was back to normal. He ran diagnostics four times, and none of them claimed anything was amiss. It happened three more times before the meeting was over, none of the episodes lasting more than 14 seconds. During the third episode he felt Hank kick his leg once, but for what reason he couldn’t tell.By the time the meeting was over, Connor felt drained, and yet his diagnostics claimed his battery to be within entirely functional parameters 78%. What happened?“Looks like even the Plastic detective doesn’t want to pay attention to Fowler.” Reed said, rather loudly, passing both Connor and Hank on their way out of the meeting room.“What are you talking about, Detective Reed?” Connor asked, pausing for a moment in place.“Toaster, everyone saw you zoning out,” Reed explained, seemingly amused.“Zoning out implies that it was intentional, Detective, which I can assure you it was not.” Connor defended“Yet I bet you couldn’t tell me what Fowler said in that meeting.” Reed was smug.“I- there was a malfunction-” Connor started unable to find words, why was he so upset about this? He felt Hanks hand on his shoulder.“Kid, you zoned out, no need to pretend you didn’t.” He said cooly, trying to get Connor to move past Gavin who was only going to provoke him more.“But I didn’t zone out!” His LED was red, Connor was certain of it. It didn’t make sense. None of this made sense!“Connor, drop it. It's fine, it happens to the best of us sometimes.”“But-”“Connor. You zoned out, it's fine. Drop it. Let’s go.” Hank wasn’t listening to him. Hank didn’t believe him.Connors stress levels were climbing rapidly. He couldn’t form coherent thoughts anymore. Something was wrong, and the one person he trusted didn’t believe him. Shoving Hank's hand off his shoulder, he rushed past Gavin and the small group of officers who were watching.The cold outside did nothing to help his stress levels, hell it probably made them worse. He wasn’t surprised when saline started dripping from his eyes, he had cried a few times since deviating but that didn’t mean he liked it. RA9 did he hate the emotions that came with deviating, all they ever did was ruin his day. He stayed outside the building for a while, trying desperately to bring his stress levels down. But after half an hour of nothing budging he took the sign.He messaged Fowler saying he had a “malfunction that required him to head home” before making his way to New Jericho rather than Hank's place where he had been crashing on the couch. Seeing as Hank hadn’t believed him, it was probably for the best he just went to New Jericho instead. At least there he could get stuck in monotonous tasks to rebuild what they once had.He didn’t text Hank as to his whereabouts, and Hank didn’t reach out. They just saw each other the next day as if nothing had happened.II.It hadn’t been long before the malfunction became a daily event. It didn’t matter what he was doing, helping in New Jericho, filling out paperwork, attempting to cook meals that would send Hank to an early grave, he’d lose all input from his ocular and audio processors for maybe 15 seconds at a time at random intervals throughout the day.Connor was exhausted. He felt like his battery was being constantly kept below 20%, and yet it never was.He was doing paperwork the next time Hank noticed. Fingers typing out information at inhuman speeds as he transferred what he knew into the system. He would have interfaced with the computer, but had to admit he liked the sound of keyboard keys. It may not have been the fastest, but he enjoyed it.Suddenly however, mid sentence, Connor stopped typing as his processors went out. The clicks and clacks silenced abruptly as his LED flickered between yellow and red. But just as suddenly as it stopped, it started up again right where Connor left off with his LED maintaining a steady yellow.“Did you get enough sleep kid?” Hank asked, noticing the change in Connor’s behavior.“Androids don’t sleep, lieutenant”“Fine, stasis or whatever the fuck you call it.”“I achieved sufficient time in stasis last night and every night prior since November 11th.”“And how much are you calling sufficient?”“Approximately four hours and forty three minutes”“Yeah no, that doesn’t sound ‘sufficient’ “ Hank had used air quotes around the word sufficient. “No wonder you’re always zoning out.”“We’ve been over this, I do not Zone Out as you call it, lieutenant. My audio and ocular processors have been cutting out without me doing so.”“Uh-huh.” Hank’s tone was that of sarcasm, as Connor has picked up on. “And why haven’t you gone to the repair center?”“Because despite my malfunction, my diagnostic checks are fine. It’s likely a temporary symptom of deviating.”“Well, you call it whatever the hell you just said, and the rest of the world calls it zoning out. Nothing to get defensive over.”“I’m not defensive, I’m stating facts.” Connors jaw was tight, at least he had a word for what he was feeling. Angry, Irritated, Frustrated, were all accurate in this moment.“You sound pretty defensive to me.”Rather than continue the argument, Connor turned in his chair to ignore Hank. Never would he have guessed that his own deviancy would be driving such an unwelcome force between them. Prior to deviating, regardless of if Connor was wrong or right, he would have never just ignored Hank like he was. Hell, when they first had the argument he wouldn’t have left the building, and if he did he would have gone right back to Hank's house instead of New Jericho.But Connor was a deviant, with all these complicated emotions, ignoring Hank entirely over Hank not listening to him.III.They were on a case, at the scene, when things started escalating. In the vain of sticking together while waiting for backup, Connor, Hank, and Gavin wandered through the scene; guns drawn towards the floor.It had been some murder, no androids involved but they were slightly short staffed today so homicide investigation skills were the only prerequisite to being assigned this case. It should have been a quick in and out, but Connor had been to one to realize their perpetrator was still there. That's what the three of them were doing, hoping to find any trace of whoever they were locking up this time.Connor scanned the area around them, nothing. They hadn’t had anything in a while, yet the group unanimously decided on continuing in this direction.“See anything we don’t, Plastic?” Gavin asked, not all that pleased over working directly with Hank and Connor.“Nothing..” Connor said, blinking back into regular non-blacklight vision.“And you’re still sure the dude is still around here?” Gavin asked.“Seeing as he didn’t go the way we came in? Yes I’m still sure.”“Can it children, if he's still here, he can probably hear you.” Hank glared between the two detectives.Following that, their stalk through the building was enveloped in silence. That was until Connor finally got something. He set his left hand on Hank's shoulder briefly, seeing as he was in front of the two detectives, and positively scared the shit out of him in the process.“The fuck Connor?” He whisper yelled“The stairs, there's blood on the wall above the railing.” Connor said, matching Hanks volume“Shit-”Turning their collective attention towards the stairs they missed the movement now directly behind them.“Drop your weapons or I’ll shoot.”Connor was the first to turn around, scanning the individual immediately and starting a preconstruction.
Cain Mason
02/19/1998
No criminal recordIf none of them dropped their weapons, there was only a 23% chance Cain would follow through with his threat, even then there was only a 12% chance he’d actually hit any of them. Connor didn’t drop his weapon, instead raising it to be level with Cains. There was an 87% chance he’d be able to shoot the wall behind Cain, resulting in him dropping his gun for an easy arrest.Attempting to push his preconstruction though, something felt wrong. Within seconds the 87% started rapidly decreasing as every synthetic muscle in Connors right arm began to tense up.“What are you doing? Take the shot plastic.” Gavin hissed“I can't,” was all Connor could say. The heavy, cold metal of the gun in his hand visibly shaking beyond a safe amount to still shoot with the precision of a machine.“Then I will.” Gavin said, being that he had the exact same idea as Connor he shot the wall behind Cain, scaring him into dropping the gun before Gavin ran over to get the guy in cuffs before he had the opportunity to reach his gun again. Hank went with Gavin, but Connor stayed in place trying to run yet another inconclusive diagnostic scan.In the car after, Connors LED cycled a consistent red as he tried to process what happened.“Why didn’t you take the shot Connor?” Hank asked, Connor couldn’t tell if he was mad or not.“The likelihood of a shot that didn’t harm the perpetrator reduced quicker than I could take the shot.”“You could have killed all three of us if Gavin hadn’t pulled the trigger before the other guy.”“There was only ever a 12% chance of him hitting any of us.”“Which could have been zero if you would have pulled the trigger.”“Hank-”“I don’t know what's going on with you lately, but you need to get over it before it costs a life.”Connor simply leaned against the window, red LED reflecting back into the car, and let the saline drip down his face silently. It wasn’t his fault, but like every other unexplained malfunction, Hank wouldn’t believe him no matter what he said.IV.
Connor felt like shit, though at this point he was pretty sure that was just how being deviant felt. After his inability to shoot, things really became strained between himself and Hank. Slowly but surely he was spending more and more time in New Jericho when he wasn’t at work. He still went to work, sure, and worked with Hank as he must, but it was clear Fowler had heard about what happened and was only assigning them low profile cases.Cases that couldn’t possibly involve any officers leaving the scene in a body bag.It had been another one of those in which they had just returned from. Connor had done his little “zone out” trick a few times, but nothing that could really impact anything he did. Just as lucky he hadn’t had any more issues with his synthetic muscles tensing up against his will. So returning from the case, nothing seemed wrong with heading to the evidence locker to add the bits of evidence he had in his possession.He let Hank know where he was going before he went to the evidence locker, and didn’t run into anyone like he had a few previous times. He went down the stairs and typed in his own password, now that he had one, before adding what he had to the wall.Alone in the locker, Connor leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. Androids didn’t need to breathe, but it helped focus his thoughts. Letting his LED reflect on the glass within the room, he watched as the yellow which had become a new normal for him slowly cycled blue.It hadn’t been long that he was down there, but Connor figured it would start to be noticed if he didn’t return to his desk soon. So up the stairs he started.He didn’t make it to the top before he had another episode, but this one was different. He couldn’t feel any part of his body. He didn’t even make it half way before his vision went from blurry to entirely blacked out.
System malfunction… Reboot?
Yes?
No?
YES
System Reboot…. 23%
System Reboot…. 34%
System Reboot…. 56%
System Reboot…. 74%
System Reboot…. 99%
Reboot Complete
Diagnostic Scan Complete
All Systems Fully Functional
Thirium Levels at 98%
Connor opened his eyes to the bright fluorescents of the evidence locker. He was on the floor and the bottom of the stairs.He sat up and looked around, it was empty other than himself. He could taste thirium in his mouth and was quick to determine he had been biting the inside of his cheek. Checking his internal clock, he had blacked out for almost five whole minutes.Yet nobody came looking for him.Looking up the stairs towards the door, Connor sighed and carefully got up, leaning heavily on the railing as he made his way up the stairs towards the rest of the station where nobody had realized Connor had been in the locker for too long, and if they did notice, nobody cared enough to check on him.V.Connor was becoming a hazard at work, between being unable to focus, being unable to control his own limbs and passing out now he couldn’t stand the idea of putting more people in danger because of his malfunction. That's why he ended up taking time off work, but that's certainly not what he told anyone. Instead he just claimed New Jericho needed more of his help than usual, and was cleared for it.It wasn’t completely a lie, he was going to go help the people of New Jericho after all, he just wouldn’t be costing the lives of his coworkers in the process. That's what Connor told himself at least. But that was enough.Connor had never been one for breaks, instead electing to always be productive in some way or another, but the time he spent in Hank's house after Hank had left, but before he needed to be in New Jericho seemed to be helping with his frequency. By the middle of the week, Connor was recording record lows since the first time everything had started. On top of that, he actually felt ok at points in the day.But all good things come to an end.It was friday, it was warm outside, and Connor was helping with the garden where he could. He may not have been made to help in the garden, or most domestic tasks, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try his best where he could.He had mostly kept to himself in New Jericho, understanding that most other androids felt unease around the former deviant hunter. He didn’t exactly have friends because of this fact, but helping in New Jericho still gave him a purpose, and that was all he wanted.Grabbing the last of the trash from around where New Jericho had designated the public garden, Connor stuffed it in the trash bag and started down the path through the garden towards the dumpsters. Cleaning up abandoned areas tended to need many dumpsters, or so Connor had discovered.Looking around as he walked, a glimmer of red caught his eye. It was a rose, among a bush that some other android was planting. Connor stopped in his tracks, staring for a moment as body began to tense up. The last thing Connor thought before blacking out was “Why did it have to be here?”
System malfunction… Reboot?
Yes?
No?
YES
System Reboot…. 10%
System Reboot…. 29%
System Reboot…. 45%
System Reboot…. 69%
System Reboot…. 99%
Reboot Complete
Diagnostic Scan Complete
All Systems Fully Functional
Thirium Levels at 96.254%
When Connor woke up this time, it wasn’t as harsh as the fluorescents from the first time he blacked out. But his mouth felt just as sore. He was inside? That was unusual seeing he very much so blacked out in the garden.Looking around, the room was dim, and once again he was all alone.That was until he heard a door open, and watched as a few people entered the room. They included Markus, some blonde android he wasn’t sure the name of (but he looked like Daniel from his first ever mission), and one of the androids he had seen around working as a nurse throughout New Jericho.“Connor!” Markus exclaimed within moments of seeing Connors eyes open “Oh my RA9 you gave us a fright!” He was concerned? Connor couldn’t really tell. But Markus rushed over to him; quickly followed by the others.“Are you ok? You went unconscious and were shaking so badly. Josh was barely able to get you in here without being hurt.” The blonde spoke up, just as much of that concern Markus had in his voice on his own.“I’m fine, just another malfunction.” Connor tried to brush off as all of the humans in his life had been doing.“Another?” This time it was the nurse who spoke up. “This wasn’t the first time you’ve… I suppose it was seized? That's what it sounded like, a human seizure.”“I’ve blacked out a few times before, and some other stuff has happened. But it's just a malfunction in my system. I’m a prototype, it's practically expected that I don't work right.”Markus gave him a look. Who knew eyes of such different colors could simultaneously burn into one's soul so well.“As another prototype in the same line as you, I can assure you that it is not normal.” Markus said sternly. “And if you really think it is, you are staying here in New Jericho until we figure out what's wrong with you.”Connor smiled a little. For the first time since everything had started, someone else was acknowledging that something was wrong. And that was something as necessary as the thirium pumping through his artificial veins.+ IThe only communication Connor had made with the humans in his life was to Fowler, explaining that he wouldn’t be returning to work for a while. Despite being the best detective to grace DPD with his presence since ever, with the help of Markus, Simon (the blonde one), Lucy (the nurse), and so many other people in New Jericho, Connor had been episode free for almost a week and a half without working.His episodes, as he usually called them, were what Lucy called Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES). Unheard of in androids, but deviants were shown to be more human than androids at times. Everything from before Connor had woken up seemed to be a trigger, especially when it related to Amanda; the roses, updating progress on cases, the whole nine yards.Everything new just served Connor more ways to cope with his PTSD from his time as a deviant hunter and the realization that Amanda had just been there to use him. When he was at Jericho, his LED had stopped being anything but blue. He was happy here.And yet, he missed the relationships from the station, even if they were all on thin ice now. More importantly, he missed Sumo.That's what convinced Connor to show back up at Hank's house after over a week of no contact.Knocking on the door, he could hear Sumo bounding towards the front door as Hank seemed to follow after him. As the door opened, blue eyes met artificial brown ones.“You aren't dead.” Was the first thing out of Hank's mouth.“No, Instead I’m quite alive.”“So what are you here for anyways, I mean you dropped off the planet for over a week just to show up at my door again.”“Can I come in?” Hank opened the door enough for Connor to slip inside before it was closed to prevent Sumo’s escape. “I’ve been in New Jericho.”“Figured.”“And they’ve been helping me.”“With what? Emotions 101?”“You know how I started ‘Zoning Out’ as you and detective Reed liked to call it?”“Yeah? What about it?”“I was right, it wasn’t just zoning out. Apparently being a former deviant hunter and having your only connection to cyberlife forcefully ripped away from you causes the same issues in androids as it might in humans. I apparently have PTSD.”“And that relates to the Zoning how?”“Those were all the equivalent of Seizures in humans.”“Shit kid..”“That's why I’m here to get my stuff, I’m leaving DPD and going to live in New Jericho, where I don’t have dozens of seizures in a day.”Hank didn’t know what to say.“Thank you for letting me stay here as long as you did lieutenant. I just need to be with people who actually believe me when I tell them something is wrong.”“Kid I-”“I gave you so many chances Lieutenant, yet you never believed me. It's too late now. You’re out of chances.”“Connor-”“What?” Connor had started going to grab his things.“I fucked up, I know, but Sumo’s going to miss you. Why don’t you come for dinner tomorrow, then you have the chance to see him?”“I’ll think about it, and let you know.” Connor said, setting his bag over his shoulder. “I have your number anyways.”“Alright.. Be safe, kid. Good luck.”“Thanks, I will.” With one final head scratch for Sumo, Connor was out the door, ready to start his life being anything but what he was molded to be.