Heart of Ice

Someone Else

When did his thirium pump malfunction? He didn't know.

Conan's lips were soaked with blue blood, his eyes were still and fixated in outer space. It wasn't pain... it was an overflowing sensation of connection, connection with his accomplishments and losses. It all bent together into a new form of reality. There was darkness, there was light.

He strived to return to his normal self, to tunnel through his mission and accomplish it. He wanted to stop this error that turned his system upside down. One of his biocomponents flared with fire and his internal ventilation activated in attempt to cool it down. RK900 started blinking repeatedly to restart his program and repair the damage done to it. Nothing happened. Conan closed his eyes.

A lighted pathway shone through the darkness, he struggled to walk past it. An unfamiliar, continuous beep darted through his ears. He caught the sight of a hole in the ground, an escape route. He laid the fingers of one hand inside, and the hole almost sucked them in before he moved them out with his equipped strength that seemed almost nonexistent next to the strength of his error.

Another biocomponent was weakening. This was his only chance to escape... but if he entered this hole, he would never be able to go back. He would never be himself again. All that CyberLife has worked on for so long would just turn out to be a failure. If he died, he would never be remembered. No one would care about his existence, since his memory would just be transferred onto a rip-off of his past self that would imitate what he was.

But he was nothing.

Conan had never realized it before. He never actually tried to change anything. All he did could've easily been done by another android, a little tougher human even. He was always a machine that did what he was told to do. He never had an idea that was unheard of. He never tried to do the impossible. His death wouldn't even entirely be CyberLife's success, because he proved to be weak. His death would just be a joke of how naive an android can be. But now, Conan could redeem himself and take a second chance.

His LED flashed all three possible colors: red, yellow and blue. Enough! No one will tell him what to do! He is stronger than each of his creators alone!

He gritted his teeth and clawed at the hole like an angry badger. He dug for his life. His system started to boil, RK900 groaned and huffed, his eyes seemed to change color - from the blank, cold, icy stare to shifting, distressed glances. Once the hole was wide enough to crawl in, he felt his mind opening for the first time. The mission was now unimportant. All he wanted was to get out of here and let the android escape. There will be no turning back.

Conan's eyes opened. He saw the male android fighting with one of the cops.

The android that killed his friend.

RK900 forced himself between them and pushed them both away before growling into the deviant's ear,
"run."

He had no choice.

"Conan! What the hell!?" Gavin. What was he doing here? It didn't matter. He took Gavin's sleeve and pulled him out and behind the building.

"Why did you let that thing go?!" Gavin demanded.
"I had to." Conan sighed.
"What do you mean, 'you had to'?! It just shot an android! It almost fucking shot you!"
"I'll tell you when we get out of here."
"Where are you taking me?"
"Where do you want to go?"
"Shit. I don't know. You can just drive me back home." Conan nodded and dragged him to the nearest bus.

She wouldn't have let me take a car.

Gavin sat down while the android stood straight, holding onto one of the bars.
"You wanna explain that shit?"
"I told you that I will tell you everything once we reach our destination."
"How do I know you won't run away by then?"
"I think you'd be more likely to do that, detective." The detective squinted his eyes but didn't say anything.

Another silent ride.

Conan took that time to think about everything that just happened. Why did he let that android go? He was still trying to sort it out. If he'd kill him, he wouldn't have been any better than them. Perhaps that android could do something else with his life... or perhaps he'd try to destroy, no, kill more androids.

Klara? He didn't want to think about her.

And Cirenne? The RK900 had no idea what she was doing there. Maybe she managed to deliver some part of the virus to him before Qpid took her out. Maybe he should visit her? Cirenne most likely knew all of the answers.

There was so much questions, Gavin wasn't the only one that had them.

Once they were at the detective's house, the android decided to ask the first one, before the man did.
"Why did you come?"
"Oh, y'know, they kinda sent me." The lie was so obvious it was cringeworthy.
"Of course." Conan's voice was leaking sarcasm.
"Ugh, remember that stalker you told me about?" He asked, uncomfortably.
"She told you I'm in danger and you should help me. Then she proceeded a long monologue about how we should fuck. You took the hook since you realized Connor was straight and I never took interest in women."

"How did you- wait it didn't- it wasn't like that!"
"Then how was it?"
"Why the hell would I take interest in a piece of trash like Connor!?" Gavin's face was crimson at this point.
"You tell me. I've been curious to why you have been so focused on Connor, especially your incredible interest in his hind si..." The detective smashed a fist into Conan's face but the android just started laughing. It was a warm, gentle, laugh. He even snorted a few times.

What a pleasant new function I've discovered. Will it activate every time Reed does something strikingly immature?

"Are you seriously laughing the same day your android buddy died?" This time Gavin got hit in the face and, unlike Conan, got a pretty big bruise on the cheek.
"Let me try to enjoy myself for once." Conan rolled his eyes.
"That err... sounded really fucking wrong."
"It sounds how you want it to sound, Reed. Would you like another hit? An unromantic one?" He huffed with a straight face.

"I'll pass." The detective mumbled, running his thumb against his sore cheek.

Case over, Klara over, being a machine over... now, what am I supposed to do with this one?