(Not) Alive - Machine | Detroit Become Human [finished]

100001 - Control

The coordinates of the tracer led them in front of a large wrought iron gate indicating the entrance of a rather imposing and opulent house.  Everything was dark, no lighting indicated that the place was inhabited, yet the GPS signal, which Angie had transferred to her phone, was indeed emitting from inside this building.

Angie and Hank walked cautiously into the courtyard, following the driveway leading to the front door.

- Look, Hank whispered, pointing to the second floor of the house.

Several windows were smashed and the walls blackened, a fire had partly ravaged these place.

- This is definitely not Chloe's house, he added.  Do you think this is the place where Connor was kidnapped?

- I am sure !  And he's in there again, alone.

She blamed herself terribly for having waited so long before worrying, if jealousy hadn't blinded her she would have understood sooner that something was wrong.

- If they hurt him ... She exclaimed threateningly.

- Calm down, Hank said to her, you have to stay focused if you wanna help him effectively.  Keep your cool.

Angie took a deep breath, trying not to think of the feeling of abandonment and panic that Connor must have felt, forced to return to the scene of his ordeal, but instead focusing on what she had to do for get him out of there at all costs.

__________

Cautiously, her gun pointed at the ground, Angie walked through the dark hallways.  They had found, Hank and her, an opening due to the flames which had only been summarily closed.  Inside, some rooms were in ruins and others appeared to be inhabited.  Seeing several stairs, they had decided, still in silence, to separate, Hank exploring the upstairs and she the basement.

After descending a few steps and following the corridors, she saw in a corner a gate closing the entrance to a non-lit room, she pointed her torch there, which she always kept in her belt. The beam of light shone in harsh light on body parts of androids, torsos without arms or legs, heads without faces, rows of lifeless hands, as well as much less realistic first and second generation androids.  Angie's heart was pounding at the thought of finding Connor in pieces, but she pushed the idea away forcefully, otherwise she knew desperation would immobilize her.

A little further, a second room, closed by a wooden barrier, was empty, only chains hanging from the ceiling giving it a gloomy air.  She shivered at the thought of all that had happened here, she remembered perfectly what Connor had told her. She continued her silent exploration, pressing herself against the wall at every turn in the hallway to avoid being caught. She finally emerged into a lighted room, separated in two by a transparent plastic sheet.  Nothing seemed to move, so she ventured to step forward a bit, pointing her gun at a possible attacker.

In the first part there were only a few scattered planks and a ladder as well as a gaping hole protected by a low wall resembling a well.  In the second, however, she saw a whole row of screens and machines of all kinds and especially at the back of the room she finally discovered Connor.

- Connor!  She exclaimed after passing the plastic curtain.

She quickly inspected the rest of the room before rushing over to the troubled android.  Some sort of mechanical arm held him suspended in the air by the wrists, a cable in the back of his neck connected him to the various computers on the left wall, the upper part of his robotic body was bare, skinless. The parts that had been replaced in his original body were clearly visible, his left cheek and shoulder, back and neck were black metal while the rest of his body was white and pearl gray.  He must have been knocked out to be brought here by force, thirium had dripped from his skull, staining his chest with blue droplets.

Angie put her gun away and walked over to shake him.

- Connor!  She called, pulling him to try to unhook him.  Wake up !

He doesn't react.  After several minutes of effort, she realized that she couldn't do it by force, she had to find another solution. She turned to the screens, hoping it wasn't too late.  One of them displayed a disturbing 99% in bright yellow.  She tapped several keys, to no avail.  So she followed the cable from Connor's neck, found the terminal it was attached to, and unplugged it.  The progress on the screen stopped, Angie huffed, it gave her a little more time to free him.

She resumed strumming on the different keyboards, but she didn't even know what she was doing, she pressed down at random hoping to open the clamps that held him.  She even tried to shut down the computers but nothing worked.

- Fuck !  She swore, slapping both fists on the table.

She didn't know anything about programming unfortunately and she didn't have time to learn now.  In desperation, she considered firing at the terminals, but it might alert the kidnapper. Of course !  There had to be a switch to cut the general electricity!  She looked up to search on the walls.

- Is that what you're looking for, Officer?  Called out a voice she didn't know.

She jumped, a man was at the entrance to the room, next to a red button.

- Slowly and hands in the air, he clarified.

The man, with black hair and beard, was armed with a shotgun which he aimed at her.  He wore an almost reassuring good-natured air, belied by the cold and worrying glow shining in his eyes.  With a tilt of the barrel of his rifle he motioned for her to stand at the other end of the room so that he could access the terminals.

Taking advantage of the move, she quietly tried to pull her weapon out of its holster but the click of the rifle dissuaded her.

- Don't do something stupid, Miss Callahan, put this gun on the ground. Easy.

She obeyed, wondering how he knew her name. Without taking his eyes off her, he then began to press a few keys on the keyboards, reconnected the cable she had unplugged a few moments earlier, tapped again and Connor's LED lit, he opened his eyes and his artificial skin regenerated.  Then the mechanical arms brought him back down and the pliers released his arms.  He remained still, standing, staring fixedly in front of him.  Angie wanted to run towards him, but she was still at gunpoint.

- Right, you haven't done too much damage, the man said.  After everything I'd done for him ...

- What ?  Angie said indignantly.  You kidding ?  You only kidnapped and tortured him!

There was no longer any doubt now, she was facing the torturer of the androids.  The one who had collected Connor's body from the Hart Plaza and turned it into a death machine.

- Wrong !  I fixed him and treated him like a son.

- Pfff, spat Angie in disgust.  A father doesn't force his child to fight to the death, nor does he erase his memory to make him obedient, she replied forcefully.

- I had to protect him well from all these painful memories ... But, of course, the memory is tenacious in deviants, every time he ended up remembering ... You, most of the time.  "Angie" ... He only had that name in his mouth.  So I had no choice.

Connor looked at them one after the other, his smooth face expressing nothing.  Angie clenched her fists.

- All you wanted was to possess the best android of Cyberlife all to yourself and control him, to made your sordid experiments ... You never cared about his feelings, well-being or fears.

- His fears?  Sneered the man.  A machine doesn't feel fear.

- Connor is feeling emotions, he's not a machine anymore!

- Really? Are you sure? We'll see ...

Defiantly in his cold gaze, he turned to Connor.

- RK800, he ordered, kill this woman!