Connor x Reader - Altering algorithms (DBH)

Chapter 4: Actual emotions or wholly an emulation?

My heart felt as if it had been pierced upon hearing those words. Of course, he still thought that. It was not that I had expected anything different, yet it still hurt me to think back at how I was going to reveal the android as well. The doubt regarding that choice still gnawed at my body.

"I was programmed to hunt deviants like you. I just accomplished my mission." Connors matter-of-fact answer caused me to cringe. It was exactly what I had thought when sitting in the car on my way here. His programming forced him to do whatever he was commanded. Wasn't that unfair? Wasn't it injustice that he had to obey every algorithm that shaped his system? Just like it was unfair that I had been dragged into this life as well?

"I don't wanna die..." The deviant plead. His behavior was the perfect example that androids were individuals of their own as well. He feared death, just like humans. Again I pondered: What made our kind draw such a sharp line between the machines and us?

"Then talk to me." Connor stared at the deviant, never averting his eyes.

"I... I can't..." the criminal eventually whispered.

I noticed detective Reed shaking his head with a grin lacing his lips out of the corner of my eye, making me clench my fist. I seriously did not like that guy. Focusing my gaze on Connor once more, I prayed inside of my mind. I still had faith in him. His methods had managed to positively surprise me until now. I recoiled, hearing the sound of Connor slapping the case file onto the table. I continued to silently watch the scene.

"28 stabs wounds, you didn't want to leave him a chance, huh?"

The detective android stood up, now walking around the criminal. Meanwhile, the deviant was heavily shaking.

"Did you feel anger? Hate? He was bleeding, begging you for mercy, but you stabbed him, again and again and again!..." As Connor said those words, he pressed his index finger against the criminal's shoulder, again and again. I was bewildered at how intimidating Connor could sound.

"Please...please leave me alone..." The dark skinned android still faced the desk, pleading. Nonetheless, Connor kept pushing.

"I know you killed him. Why don't you say it?" He moved his head next to the deviant's and waited for a response.

"Please, please stop..." It was as if the criminal was playing a tape on repeat.

Once more, Connor's hands forcefully landed on the table's surface as he raised his voice another time. "Just say 'I killed him'! Is it that hard to say?!"

The deviant closed his eyes, surely fearing what would happen next. "Stop it, stop!.."

"JUST SAY YOU KILLED HIM! JUST SAY IT!"

By now the android with hazel brown eyes that usually appeared to be frozen was screaming.

I gulped watching the scene from afar. Somehow, my own sentiments of guilt had only increased, seeing how broken the deviant actually was. Unlike I had expected, the criminal now started talking, his voice still shaky.

"He tortured me every day... I did whatever he told me, but there was always something wrong... Then one day... He took a bat and started hitting me... For the first time, I felt scared... Scared he might destroy me, scared I might die...so I...grabbed the knife and I stabbed him in the stomach... I felt better...so I stabbed him again and again!..until he collapsed... There was blood everywhere."

We all carefully listened to his story and when I glanced at detective Reed, his nonplussed face was like a treat to me. That was what he got for underestimating Connor.

Proud of my partner, I turned back to keep observing his actions. A smile lingered on my lips, as he spoke his next words.

"Why did you write 'I AM ALIVE' on the wall?" Connor, who now sat on his chair again, firmly looked at the deviant.

"He used to tell me I was nothing... That I was just a piece of plastic... I had to write it... To tell him he was wrong..."

Biting my lip, I let the android's words repeat inside my ears. Many people perceived the machines as trash, hence they did not mind using them as servants. It did hurt to know that. Androids had never done anything wrong.

"The sculpture in the bathroom, you made it, right? What does it represent?" Connor asked another question.

The criminal parted his lips and quietly answered. "It's an offering... An offering so I'll be saved..."

Did androids believe in god? I tilted my head, questioning the possibility. As if Connor could read my mind, he voiced my thoughts out loud,

"The sculpture was an offering... An offering to whom?"

Inquisitively, I leaned forward until my forehead was pressed against the glass in front of me.

"To rA9... Only rA9 can save us."

Was that a new kind of god? Rapidly, the scribbles on the wall in the shower shot up inside my mind.

"RA9... It was written on the bathroom wall. What does it mean?" Connor slightly tilted his head. The deviant now appeared to be in some kind of trance, as if he was brainwashed.

"The day shall come when we will no longer be slaves... No more threats, no more humiliation... We will...be...the masters." I blinked a few times, confused.

Once more, Connor repeated his question, "RA9, who is rA9?" Yet there was no answer.

Sighing, I leaned back a little, still curious about that rA9 person.

"Why did you hide in the attic instead of running away?"

Posing another inquiry, the detective android kept his neutral expression. At the same time, the deviant looked up, searching for Connor's eyes, fear in his own. "I didn't know what to do... For the first time, there was no one there to tell me... I was scared... So I hid."

A short silence grew between the two androids. "When did you start feeling emotion?"

Suddenly seeming more self-confident, the deviant replied, "Before, he used to beat me and I never said anything... But one day I realized it wasn't fair! I felt...anger... Hatred... And then I knew what I had to do."

He was right, the beatings and behavior towards machines was unfair. However, was that a legitimate reason to kill someone? Technically, he really only defensed himself. My head started aching thinking about the details of this case. What was I supposed to adhere to? The developed belief in justice or my genuine emotions?

Confused, I stepped even further back from the window, as Connor's words echoed through the small room, "I'm done."