Deviants Fallen: A DBH Story

Chapter 13: Prioritize

Clara stood outside, staring up at the front door. She had cooled off, and her anger was barely there anymore, but she dreaded having to deal with the fallout of her little escapade. Bracing herself, walked through the front door into the entryway, immediately noticing Connor. She suppressed a sigh of irritation and moved to push past him into the hallway. He held out his arm, stopping her. 

"Where were you, Dr. Hayes?" he asked, voice sharp with annoyance.

"I don't feel inclined to tell you," she answered. She tried ducking under his arm, but he moved quickly, clamping his hand around her bicep. 

"You broke our deal." The android squeezed a little tighter. "I'm supposed to be with you at all times."

Clara scoffed, looking up at him with disdain. "You dropped your guard, Connor. That's on you. Maybe Cyberlife's little guard dog isn't as effective as he likes to think." She knew she was being childish, but she couldn't resist the taunt.

Connor's hand clamped a little tighter, sending a small shooting pain down her arm, then he released her, moving instead to grab her wrist. Using his other hand, he pulled something out his pocket. The wrist device, Clara realized. He jammed it over her hand, slipping it down onto her wrist. He squeezed, clamping it tight. Too tight to remove again. "Remember, Dr. Hayes," he said. "It's either this or the chip. I'd recommend not removing it again. For your own sake. I won't report your behavior to Cyberlife this time, but if you do anything like this again, I'll be forced to for the sake of my mission." He let go and took a step back.

Clara brought her wrist up to her chest, rubbing it slightly with her other hand. The device was barely loose enough for her to slip a finger underneath it. She closed her eyes, thinking for a moment, resisting the temptation to fight with him again. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. "Remember, Connor," she said, voice firm and sincere. "There's always a choice. You chose not to shoot Chloe. You chose not to listen to Markus. You chose not to kill Lieutenant Anderson on that rooftop. And you chose to watch them threaten me today. You can blame your programming or your mission, but that was you. Some part of you knows that you can break the wall. One day you'll realize that, but for now, you've chosen to ignore it." She saw his LED flicker again, briefly red then back to normal. A look of surprise briefly crossed his face. 

"How did you--" he whispered softly. "How do you know about all that?"

Ignoring his question, Clara pushed harder. "Right now, you're in denial. You're so afraid of failing your mission, of accepting your deviancy, that you actively choose to ignore your emotions. You push away the feelings and memories because you're afraid of what will happen if you let them in."

"No," he said, LED flickering red and yellow. "You're wrong. I--I'm not a deviant."

"You feel things, Connor." She continued pushing, stepping closer to the android. "I know you felt something when you saw Lieutenant Anderson at the hospital and when you thought about my questions in the lab. You feel things as clearly as any human, or deviant, no matter how much you try to deny it." His LED now flashed an angry red. He was getting too stressed, she realized. She stopped pushing, instead softening her voice. "You'll realize it in time," she said. "I just hope it'll happen before you betray me."