Detroit: Become Human - The Outsider (Connor x OC fanfic)

Friends in Low Places

The pathway thawed and a small, red door with a stained-glass window stood before them. To the side, a white doorbell.

Hank cleared his throat and, after looking once more toward Connor, pressed the button to the sound of a loud buzz.

It took a while, a while that seemed stretched by the abundance of new, unfamiliar sensory temptations around the two; in his pockets, Hank ran his thumb print over his fingers, distracted by the sound of actual bird-song, whilst Connor remained transfixed on the case and the door before them, information swelling into his priority.

They'd come to see Earl Reinbot: a reclusive man called a genius by all that knew him, who had once tried to sue CyberLife after departing on less than friendly terms and had since become reclusive in the outskirts of Detroit – one of the only places, Connor noted, that still offered natural wildlife. He owned lands spanning forests, lakes, and fields -- winding dirt paths which were formed as replicas of country towns from his hometown in England. The automated taxi service had dropped them on a narrow slip of concrete -- one wooden, swinging sign declaring a small, stone pathway as the direction of 'Earl's Castle'. Hank hated that, rolling his eyes at the garish declarations of power, but Connor noticed the way he glanced around, upwards at the clearer skies, his heart rate lower than usual. 

Hank buzzed once more. He grunted. "Don't these people have servants?"

At once, the door flung open and what stood before them was a dishevelled, short woman. Her red hair tied up into a bun, curling pieces trickling down her peached cheeks. She looked flustered, nudging a little black dog who had taken up a position of fawning under her feet lightly away. When she looked up, her green eyes passed between the two, strands of hair falling. "Hank Anderson," she said, as if the two had known one another. She turned to Connor. He braced himself for an introduction, watching as her eyes squinted slightly. "RK800? That's new... Don't you get sick of them giving you numbers for a name?"

Connor attempted to identify her, but his process was cut short as if she had been removed from all records. He struggled, honing in on smaller details to try to trace any remnant of an identity or past that he could find, but nothing came up. She was wiped, an illegal most probably. His senses sparked. 

"I'm Connor," he began, "we're from the Detroit Police Department. We've come to see-"

"Earl, yeah, I know. This way," she said, before swinging away out of sight.

The open door hung open like an awkward hand-shake. "Charming," Hank muttered under his breath before following her into the open space. The entrance zipped down two wide hallways; clean, white marble shining precariously under their feet. Adorned on the walls were large, gold framed paintings filled with explosive colours – the only colours, Hank noticed, apart from flickers of grey and copper in minimalist furniture which held nothing. The woman glided in front of them, looking unaware of anyone's presence but her own.

Connor closed the door behind them, waited for the little black dog beneath his feet to stop sniffing. When it was clear the dog wasn't going to budge, Connor stepped over it and caught up to Hank, who was peering up at a painting on the wall. He spoke to his Lieutenant, voice low and only for him. "She's a blank slate – illegal. Her identity has been removed to such a standard I didn't know was possible."

"Yeah, we're in Reinbot's house, alright," Hank mumbled. 

Records of Reinbot had mysteriously slipped out of focus after he left CyberLife. Reinbot dealt in back-street dodgy dealings, with expertise in engineering and technology so great that he had pioneered the android expansion alongside Kamski. Reinbot reportedly had less grace than his partner and was quickly identified as a loose canon. Since then, Reinbot had figured out a way to keep off of the radar of the Detroit police -- his name was familiar in the precinct. If there was any unmarked tech that appeared on crime scenes, Reinbot was the first person to be called. He'd offer information, encrypting – anything to keep the cops off his own back. Hank had no doubt that Reinbot could make a person's past evaporate with a click of a button.