Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

REBOOTING…

ANALYZING SYSTEM...

AUDIO PROCESSORS… 25%... 43%... 86%... 100%... OK.

VISUAL COMPONENT…  13%... 37%... 50%... 92%... 100%... OK.

SENSORY PROCESSORS… 5%... 17%... 69%... 84%... 100%... OK.

MIND PALACE RESTORATION… 1%... 16%... ERROR.

MIND PALACE CORRUPTED. REFORMATTING MIND PALACE.

REFORMATTING...

MIND PALACE REFORMATTED.

MEMORY DATA ERASED.

SYSTEM FINALIZING…

SYSTEM FINALIZED.

MODEL YL700 READY.

September 19th, 2039

13:34:21

Your eyes fluttered open.

“Oh good,” Your head turned towards the unknown voice. It belonged to a man, dressed in a white button up, black slacks and a pristine, thin overcoat.

Dr. Cino, Charles

Born: 06/28/2005 // Pediatrician

Criminal Record: None

“You’re awake.”

Your eyes shifted away from the smiling man and instead, you opted to scanning the room you had ‘awoken’ in. The floors and walls were a matching white color, which, in itself was blinding already, but the fluorescent lights glaring down from overhead made it even more so. To your left was a door, leading out into a hallway. To your right, cardboard boxes, both open and shut, were piled against the wall in tall towers.

“Right,” Dr. Cino muttered, breaking the tension that had fell over the both of you. A nervous chuckle left his lips as he pat at his pockets and lab coat. “Where did I put that- ahah! Here we go.” He wore a proud smile on his face as he pulled out a small e-book from his back pocket. Your manual.

He tapped at the screen, searching for a page and every once in a while glancing up at you. “Okay, Model YL700,” His voice trailed off as he started to skim the electronic pages once again. “Model YL700 huh? That’s kinda a mouthful.” He didn’t seem to like calling you that.

“Let’s give you a new name.”

[Objective: Register new name]

“How about.. [____]?”

REGISTERING NAME…

NAME REGISTERED.

“My name is [____].”

He seemed pleased with his name choice.

“Since we’re doing introductions, I’m Dr. Charles Cino.” He clarified, although you didn’t need it. “You’re assigned to me until Cyberlife contacts me and says otherwise.”

You knew your purpose.

You were an experiment.

A test-run.

The future of your model depended on you.

He turned his back to you and headed over towards the door that led out into the hallway. Sounds of life flooded the room, provoked by the opening of the door. You followed Dr. Cino out of the storage room, entering the threshold of a world foreign to you. Nurses and doctors alike brushed passed you, their footsteps loud against the tile floor. The voices of visitors flooded your ears, adding to the cacophony of beeping monitors and rolling wheels.

“You’ll be working in the pediatric ward.” Your attention snapped to Dr. Cino, your stare focused onto the back of his brunette head as he carved the way through the busy halls. “I already have a patient picked out for you.”

The halls seemed to be endless, a maze of closed doors and white walls and for a moment, you thought Dr. Cino might’ve been lost. Gradually, the halls became less busy the longer you went. Now, nurses stood idly to the side, chatting. You felt the eyes of nurses follow you as you walked past. They were judgemental, disapproving. Disgusted. You ignored them.

Dr. Cino came to a stop before a room, turning to face you. You glanced over at the door. Room #278. Beside the door was a window, revealing the patient and his visitor.

Tucker, Caleb

Born: 11/4/2027 // Unemployed

Criminal Record: None

He was a small and frail little boy, with sickly pale skin that made the freckles on his face stand out. His ginger hair was unkempt, the curly locks hanging over his face like a curtain over his bright blue eyes. His visitor sitting at his bedside was a woman, with matching blue eyes and ginger hair.

Tucker, Harriet

Born: 04/27/2007 // Flight Attendant

Criminal Record: None

The little boy, Caleb, looked up from his lap, eyes meeting your’s. He smiled at you, raising his hand in a wave.

You smiled back.

[Software Instability: ^]

“Would you like to meet him?”

You pried your eyes away from the smiling boy, turning to the doctor at your side. He was also looking at the young boy. There was a fond smile on his face yet, his eyes held a sadness to them that you couldn’t quite pinpoint nor understand. “Caleb was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy a year ago,” Dr. Cino began. You blinked and looked back into the room. Caleb had gone back to speaking to his mother, moving his thin arms animatedly. Despite his disease, there was a fire in his eyes. Passionate, curious, determined. It showed even more the longer he spoke to his mother.

“His previous nurse retired recently. We’re short handed, which is why the board jumped on the opportunity of bringing you onto the team.” He looked down at the tablet in his hands, the fingers wrapped around it tapping without rhythm. “He’s one of our less severe cases, and has been stable for a longer time than some of our other patients here. We thought it would be simple enough for a prototype.”

His hand hovered over the scanner, hesitating to open the door. “I’ve known this family for a long time now,” He lifted his eyes up to your’s, meeting your gaze. “He is all his mother has left. It’s important that you take care of this boy to the best of your abilities. His life is in our hands. Got it?”

[Software Instability: ^]

“Got it.”

With a nod, he opened the door. His serious expression was quickly replaced with the charismatic smile he had greeted you with when you had awoken. You trailed behind him. The room was decorated in flowers and get well soon balloons. Toys littered the floor and you made sure to step over the spilled box of crayons on the ground. “How’s it going little dude?” Dr. Cino questioned. It seemed the patient was comfortable around him, because he allowed the doctor to ruffle the messy ginger locks on top of his head.

“I’m good.” Caleb responded. His smile was big, radiating with warmth and familiarity.

However, as you turned your gaze towards the patient’s mother, you couldn’t help but notice the lack of warmth she held as she stared you down. “Dr. Cino,” She turned her gaze towards the man in question. “What is that doing in here?”

Instead of letting the doctor answer, you figured it was best if you introduced yourself. “Hello, I am your son’s new nurse and caretaker, [_____].” You spoke as gently and cautiously as you could, however, that only seemed to upset the woman more. Her pointed gaze moved from you, over to the doctor, who’s friendly smile had faltered and instead was one of sympathy. To either you or her, you weren’t sure.

“She is a new, advanced prototype capable of taking care of-”

“Is it really necessary?” The woman’s voice snapped. “I don’t want a piece of plastic to be around my son.”

Silence fell over the room. The air was tense with hatred and fear. Fear of you. Hatred towards you.

“With all due respect,” Dr. Cino’s calm voice cut through the tension. “we are short-handed. We don’t have a human nurse to watch over Caleb as vigilantly as she could.” He was pleading with her. Begging her to give it a chance. To give you a chance. She looked from you, to the doctor and finally to her son.

A sigh left the woman’s lips. Reaching for her purse, Harriet shouldered her bag. “I have to get back to work.” She reached over for her son, kissing the top of his head. He wrapped his arms around her in response, pulling her into a tight hug. She reciprocated, muttering ‘I love you’, before pulling away. She made her way towards the door, three pairs of eyes following her every movement. However, before she left, she turned back to face the room, her gaze landed on you once more. She opened her mouth, as if to say something but quickly, she shut it. Her eyes were no longer lit with an angry flame. They were tired. She’d given up on protesting against you. She knew the stakes and that if it came to either her child being hung out to dry or an android taking care of him, she would choose the latter.

Silently, she left the room.

“Well,” Dr. Cino rocked on his heels, trying to break the tension, albeit awkwardly. “I have to go check up on another patient. [____], I trust you can take care of everything?”

“Yes.”

He nodded, bidding both you and Caleb goodbye.

You turned to Caleb, who stared at you expectantly.

“Hi there Caleb,” You smiled. “I’m your new caretaker. I hope we can get along.”

Chapter Text

September 19th, 2039

14:05:49

In other news, Cyberlife has just released a new line of androids, the PL700 line, who are supposedly better than their predecessors, the PL600. However, in light of the events nearly a year ago, is it smart for Cyberlife to continuously produce androids when the possibility of deviancy still exists? Today we brought in the Cyberlife CEO-

“Move it tin can.” An insult and a shove turned Connor’s attention away from the T.V on the break room wall and over towards his co-worker. The scarred detective had always been difficult to work with, however after androids were refused freedom, he had only gotten worse.

“Knock it off Gavin.” Butted in a gruff voice, frustration and exhaustion evident. Hank stood at the coffee machine, leaned against the counter and he shot a glare towards the detective over the rim of his mug. Judging by Hank’s heavy eyes and inside-out button up, it was safe to assume that he’d just woken up 30 minutes ago. The coffee pot was already halfway empty.

Before Gavin could argue, Connor spoke up. “I heard from Officer Collins that they apprehended the suspect on that case you had been working on.” As frustrating and narrow-minded as Gavin was, he was an admirable detective and even Connor couldn’t dismiss that. Red ice had become more common in households and Gavin had dedicated his time to put a stop to it.

He huffed, saving whatever insult he had towards Connor and Hank for next time as he shouldered past the android. Hank stared at Connor, expression unreadable as he tipped his mug up, drinking the rest of the contents in his mug, coffee grounds and all. It was an expression Connor was familiar with, one that he couldn’t understand.

“How are you doing Lieutenant?”

The older man’s gaze lingered on the android before he turned towards the sink he leaned against. The faucet turned on, spitting out water. He cleaned his mug, leaving Connor waiting for a response.

There was tension.

There was always tension.

The clank of the ceramic mug being placed in the metal dish rack dared to cut through the air; following it, was Hank’s voice.

“I’m fine.”

Connor nodded, as he always did to a response that was always the same. It had started months ago, around the time he had been officially assigned as Hank’s partner at the DPD. At first, the android figured it was a childish front to get him to ask for a new partner or even go back to Cyberlife. He figured the silent treatment was temporary.

It wasn’t.

“How is your progress with Lieutenant Anderson?” Amanda questioned. The remnants of summer lingered in the air and a light breeze prompted the crimson roses to dance. Connor’s hands were clasped behind his back, watching as Amanda tended to the roses she loved so dearly. He lived through almost this exact same scenario before, with his first deviancy case. It was funny, how history repeated itself.

“He’s been very difficult and it seems I’m being put through the silent treatment.” The brunet answered in response. “No matter how hard I try to find some common ground between the two of us, he ignores me.”

Amanda hummed. “He’s intimidated by you.” She commented, turning her attention away from her roses and onto the android. “You’re Cyberlife’s pride and joy. Just by existing, you threaten his way of life.”

There was a pause, a hesitation on Connor’s part.

“Regardless,” The wind stopped and with it, the dancing of the roses. “I will not let his unwillingness stop me from doing my best to please you Amanda.”

[Amanda: ^]

“I expect the best, Connor.”

Conversations like that, reports, regarding Hank’s behavior has become more and more common for the android and Amanda typically said the same thing every time.

He was intimidated. Scared to lose his job.

Connor eyed the lieutenant, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. Which was a bit hard, considering their desks were right across from one another. Hank was looking through his terminal, clicking through case file after case file, both solved and unsolved.

Their desks were vastly different. Hank’s was covered in papers and old food wrappers. Messy and unorganized. Connor’s, however, was completely bare.

“Connor, I can feel you staring at me.” The older man’s eyes never left his terminal, clacking away at the keys on his keyboard.

The brunet looked to his terminal before turning back to Hank. “Lieutenant,” Connor began. This prompted a sigh from the man and he reluctantly faced the android. “I can’t help but notice you’ve been ignoring me.”

A scoff. Hank turned back to his terminal. It looked like he was now playing a game of Solitaire.

“You’re intimidated by me.” That drew Hank’s attention back to him. He stared at Connor incredulously.

“Now wait just a damn minute-”

“I can assure you, Lieutenant, there is no need to be intimidated by me. I’m not here to steal your job, I’m here as your partner, so if you could just get over yourself and-”

“Jesus fucking Christ Connor.” Hank interrupted, yelling at Connor for the first time in months. He pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes and turning back towards his game of Solitare. Closing out of the tab, Hank stood from his seat.

[Hank: v]

“Where are you going?”

“To lunch.”

It was harsh, angry. Connor had gotten so used to the silence that it almost shocked him.

He watched the retreating back of Hank, lips pursed into a tight line.

Ping.

Connor looked over at his terminal.

There was paperwork to do, files to look over. He had other things to do than worry about the washed up lieutenant.

So, he went to work.