Deviants Fallen: A DBH Story

When Connor exited the Cyberlife Tower, it was early afternoon. It had taken longer than expected for the techs to run the full diagnostic, but like his own, everything came back clean. The only thing it picked up was a slight bit of memory corruption, which explained the little bit of static toward the end of his memory when he collapsed, but that could have come from the unexpected shut down. Afterwards, the techs insisted on running him through the sanitizers and bringing him another uniform, despite his protests that his original was in good condition. They had wanted to dispose of the suit Dr. Hayes had purchased for him, but he refused, instead having it cleaned, folded, and placed in a bag for him to take with him. 

And then when he'd gone down to the lab, Josh and Kara, both of whom were fine, had pestered him with endless questions about Dr. Hayes condition. He was surprised to see how genuinely concerned they were for her wellbeing, almost as if they really were friends. He found it fascinating that, much like Simon, their concern for her overrode their fear of him.

His mind was busy with those thoughts as he waited for the car to be brought around to the front. When it arrived, he climbed in, taking Dr. Hayes' usual seat, then turned around to put in the coordinates for her home. However, he hesitated, then, on a whim, put in a different set of coordinates. 

As the car lurched into motion, he moved seats, taking up his usual spot at the back. It was strange being there without Dr. Hayes. He'd gotten used to her presence. Without prompting it, his reconstruction software triggered, pulling from his memories and building a simulation of her in the front seat. The simulation pulled out a tablet from the empty space beside it and began writing, just as Connor had seen Dr. Hayes do countless times. It brought the stylus to its mouth, chewing the end of it in imitation of one of the real doctor's habits. 

Without knowing why, he let the reconstruction play out for a few minutes. It followed a few more of her common habits and mannerisms, occasionally looking up at him, mouth moving soundlessly, then slowly faded out, leaving him alone again. It felt so...empty without her here. It was strange. Aside from when she was abducted and the night she'd run away, this was the longest he'd been away from her since being assigned this mission. He felt a strange feeling flickering up.

Frowning, he pushed the thoughts away, uncomfortable with the direction they were going, instead choosing to watch out the window at the passing cars and buildings. After a little while, the car came to a stop, pulling into a parking space. Connor climbed out, walking toward the familiar building. Once he reached the door, he hesitated. He looked like an android. They wouldn't let him in.

He stood motionless for a moment, thinking, then sighed, an unnecessary expression of irritation, and made his way back to the car. He tinted the windows dark and then quickly changed back into the black suit before climbing back out. He looked at his reflection in the dark window, eyeing the LED on his temple. There was nothing to cover it with.

He opened the passenger side door again, opening the glovebox to and shuffling around in it. It was mostly filled with papers, but toward the back, he found a pair of scissors, a nail file, and a small pocket knife. He studied the objects for a moment, then grabbed the knife, closing the glovebox with a small click. He shut the car door then stared again at his reflection. 

Flicking the pocket knife open, he brought the blade up to his temple. A few millimeters from the edge of the LED, he hesitated. Did he really want to do this? What was he even doing here? This wasn't part of the mission.