Deviant Behavior (Connor x Reader)

Beyond Good and Evil

He gave you a wink.  He winked.  Something that confused him just as much as you.  And still, it made your heart skip a beat in its rhythmic pulse...an adaptation of its own.

An adaptation to an unpredictable event.  A modification to align yourself with unknown variables.  An irony.  A paradox.

You threw the blanket off.  Connor caught it as he watched you rush across the room.

"This is it-" You frantically skimmed a cluster of words and reviewed your evidence board, "This is the answer.  This is-"

"I'm sorry," Connor took to your side, looking over your shoulder, "I don't follow."

"Look, right here.  At this passage." You passed him the book, taking a marker's cap off with your teeth, "Pay-sefan--ree-tha-"

"...What?"

You yanked it out of your mouth, scribbling on a sticky note, "Page seven.  Read that-"

"'How could anything originate out of its opposite?'" Connor read aloud, "'For example, truth out of error? Or a generous deed out of selfishness?'"

"'Such genesis is possible,'" You continued, still writing, "'Things of the highest value must have a different origin, an origin of their own.  In the concealed God, in the 'Thing-in-Itself.'  There, must be their source, and nowhere else...'"

You unraveled a piece of string, pinning the note with the page's citation next to "rA9."

Connor looked at you, and back to the board, "Do you believe rA9 is their...God?  A concept of God?"

"Yes," You turned to him, "The way that deviant spoke of them like they'd bring deliverance...the shrine, in the bathroom..."

"Rupert, the deviant Lieutenant Anderson and I chased yesterday afternoon...He also wrote rA9 on the wall.  2,741 times, to be exact."

You prepared another note, slapping the pad on the table, "Go to page fifteen."

"Do you have this entire book memorized?"

"Most of it."

He licked his thumb, flipping through the pages.

"'And granted that your imperative, 'living according to nature,' means the same as 'living according to life'—how could you do differently? Why should you make a principle out of what you are, and must be?'"

You repeated the motion of putting the pieces together, linking the other end of the string to the words, "I AM ALIVE."

"The deviant claimed he was alive." You tried to ignore Connor's yellow, spinning LED, "He was not 'living,' within the confines of nature.  He was 'living,' according to life.  What it means to truly live.  And that his path, was not to be followed by living under the abuse of Ortiz..."

You stepped back from the board, the marker tapping at your side.

"That one," Connor squinted at a note, leaning forward, "Carl Manfred's android, the RK200."

"Yeah?  What about it?"

"Your notes claim it's 'a prototype model of an unknown series.  Appearance not on file.  Suggests prototype information is confidential, withheld by CyberLife...'"

The gears in his head appeared to turn.  His lack of questioning led you to believe he was starting to "get it."

His blue light flashed, and he hiked a brow, "Fascinating."

"What is it?"

"#684 842 971 reports back as a gift given to Carl Manfred.  It is indeed a prototype, much like myself."  He smiled at you, "This is good police work."