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[ Her arts & crafts module was unaffected by all the madness. c:

She gets the joke -- she's programmed to pick up on things like that, because it's like something a young kid would say -- and despite their current situation, Kara chuckles. He's trying, and that's what matters here. Positive reinforcement is go. ]

It's gonna be a long walk. [ She frowns at the map, calculating routes, closing out prompts to consult public transit schedules and the taxi database in the phone directory. There's connectivity here, and nothing is running unless Amanda wants it to run. Kara would rather not be in any closed spaces right now anyway. ]

Bicycles would make the trip faster. [ But there aren't any here, ugh. ] I'm ready to go whenever you are.

[ She just wants this nightmare to be over, even if the thought of the journey ahead of them fills her with dread. ]

[Connor... Has probably never made any art in his life so far honestly. Not that he has much opportunity to start now, but after this, she must encourage him.

The encouragement about the stupid joke is appreciated though, and he's pleased--underneath the stress--by the little chuckle. At least he did something right, and he glances out the window at the snow before looking back at Kara.]

The storm has died down. We may as well go now.

[He isn't looking forward to this either, but like Kara, he wants to get it over with. Doing something--anything--to improve their situation is better than the dread and anticipation of waiting around.

He moves to the door and cautiously opens it, but it's just as deserted as it had looked through the window; it's dark, but the snow and wind have both calmed quite a bit, and although the snow is still falling heavily visibility is much better. It's also cold, but not too cold.]

We should stay close together, just in case.

[ That's music to her ears. Kara gets up, leaving her pasta map behind out of spite -- it's something pretty in this ugly simulation.

Coming up beside him, she peers past him into the dark, snowy exterior. Her temperature sensors tell her a child would need several layers to be comfortable here for a half hour, but that she will be fine for much longer.

Excuse her as she takes your hand, Connor. ]

Our destination is due east. I can't promise I won't run after Alice if Amanda tries to trick me again, so I'm giving you permission to stop me from doing that.

[Connor knows, logically, that the storm has probably died down for a reason, in order to encourage them to go outside. But it's better than doing nothing.

He glances toward Kara in surprise when she grabs his hand, but he doesn't pull away. That's definitely one way to make sure they stay together, and it isn't a bad idea.]

Alright. I may run off in search of dogs, so the same applies.

[He's half-joking, but he definitely can't promise he wouldn't run off if he thought he heard Sumo barking. Or, of course, any of his friends needing help, but still.

And that said, he begins leading the way cautiously down the sidewalk, staying out the street in case another truck comes out of nowhere.]

We should expect some sort of obstacles; I can't believe we'd be allowed to just walk to Belle Isle.

[ For Kara, holding hands means safety, connection, and certainty -- she held Alice's hand through much of their journey, and they made it to freedom in the end. It calms her to have Connor's hand in hers, not because of him per se, but because it's familiar, and it's a good way to make sure they stick together. She'll know right away if he needs help, and the reverse too. She doesn't judge him for the dogs thing. It makes her smile, and anything that lowers her stress levels and gives her something to look out for is a good thing in this place. ]

And once we get there, too. [ She imagines the wall of thorns surrounding the castle in a popular version of the Sleeping Beauty story, and the dragon that opposed the prince. ] The tower... that's where we were built, right?

[ It's an unsettling thought. ]

[Connor isn't really used to having his hand held; he still doesn't have a lot of non-violent physical contact at all with people--human or android--except Hank, and that's usually much more brief. So this is all new to him, but he decides it isn't so bad, and maybe actually kind of comforting in some way.

He glances back at her just briefly at her question before refocusing on leading the way.]

Possibly. There are several factories as well; you could've been built at any of them, or at the tower.

[He knows he was designed and built at the tower for sure, but even with its massive warehouse in the basement the tower just isn't large enough to support all android construction, especially for mass-produced models.]

[ Prepare to be mommed at, Connor.

His answer is to be expected, but it also makes her curious. Kara wants to know, she thinks. Where was she "born" -- assembled? She can access information about her date of production, a necessity for repair techs so they can replace damaged components with newer ones if they exist and would be more cost effective, but she doesn't remember any of those years.

Years. Five years, and all she has to her name are a few weeks of memory. Maybe that's a good thing -- she doesn't know what Amanda could pull from them to try and trick her, and won't even remember to be tricked by -- but it could be to their disadvantage too. ]

My model series probably isn't important enough for headquarters. [ She glances at him as they walk. ] You are, though. It's okay to be scared by that. If you know you're afraid, you can control your fear, instead of it controlling you.

[ Or instead of Amanda using it to control him. It's the kind of thing she'd tell a child under her care, except this is far more serious than (she hopes) any child will ever have to face. ]

Edited (dont type and walk, kids) 2018-08-09 18:44 (UTC)

I'm not afraid of the tower.

[It's a quick answer, although not sharp; he isn't upset with Kara for the suggestion, and especially not for her trying to help. But it is true that he isn't afraid of the tower itself, not really; it doesn't bother him that he was made there, even if he realizes he'd now prefer not to encounter any of the people who made him, but that's not likely to be a problem in this simulation. The only things he's afraid of in regards to the tower are getting shot or, somehow, encountering Amanda.

But he does feel unsettled about their quest all the same, and he isn't totally sure why. It's something subconscious, almost like intuition, and against his better judgement Connor tries to follow the feeling this time, tracing back through emotions and code and looking for some sort of reason--

Connor freezes in place, eyes going blank; he doesn't purposefully access the file--one of the memories contained in the collection that had been transferred to him--but it activates and opens itself, and the synthetic skin on the hand holding Kara's withdraws on its own at the same time, something Connor is totally unaware of.

He's already drawn into the memory, set in a medium-sized room lit with overhead lighting, one wall holding a large plexiglass observation window with technicians behind it. The room itself is clinical, light grey and clearly made of surfaces that would be easy to clean.

None of that worries him, though; he can't really register worry, after all, calmly regarding the other android in the room. It's a military model, regarding Connor just as evenly as Connor is watching it, as one of the humans observing reads off the test information.

"RK800 313 248 317 - 38, test of thirium pump regulator at varying efficiency during strenuous activity. Begin."

A warning flashes in Connor's vision that his thirium pump regulator is malfunctioning, but he dismisses it immediately and focuses on the other android as it suddenly moves, coming at him. No surprise there, and Connor considers a few options in a moment before deciding his best bet is to use as little energy as possible; the less effort he uses, the less the unreliability of his pump regulator will matter.

So he goes low, taking out the other android's knee briefly, and feels his regulator switch to low-speed; everything gets slower and more hazy, less thirium moving to biocomponents and processors, and he quickly tries to readjust to it. That gives the other android time to turn around, swinging a heavy punch at Connor's face, which he's only just able to dodge.

Okay. Still functioning, that's fine, he can still win and succeed and accomplish his task, and that's what matters. Now close to the other android, he strikes up at its face and then slams his elbow hard into its abdomen, throwing off its own regulator for a few seconds.

That would've given him a good opening but his own regulator switches speeds again, this time shooting up well past normal, and that actually has a worse effect than it being too slow; his thirium tubing gives a pressure warning, and his thirium pump flashes an alert that it's being overtaxed. He ignores them both, closing out the messages, taking a few steps back to give himself space as the other android recovers and rises to its feet again.

Connor ducks another punch but doesn't evade the other android grabbing his collar, and in an instant he'd pulled close enough for his opponent to knee him hard in the chest. Normally it would be inconvenient, and maybe stun him for a moment, but combined with the high thirium pressure and over-activity instead his thirium pump suddenly just bursts.

The effect is immediate, warnings everywhere of critical biocomponent damage, a countdown showing less than four seconds until shutdown. That isn't long, even for an android, but it is enough time that Connor registers feeling something that is definitely not in his coding and shouldn't be possible: fear. He doesn't want to shut down like this, thirium suddenly everywhere, movement in the corner of his eye from the window where the technicians are, the other android now just staring impassively once again. This wasn't supposed to happen, and he doesn't want it to, he just wants--

And the memory ends suddenly, the floor of the room being instantly replaced by the dark street and steadily falling snow, and Connor sinks to his knees on the sidewalk. He's completely unaware of Kara--and whether or not she might've been pulled into the memory as well--just yet, disoriented from the sudden switch and not quite sure yet where he is as he runs check after check on his biocomponents in a panicked need to make sure they're working properly.]

[ The sensation of synthetic skin receding beneath her fingers sends a jolt of fear through Kara, but not nearly as much of one as the look in his eyes -- or the absence of a look. Now more than ever, she's afraid to let go, so she doesn't. She holds on and squeezes his hand, not taking the chance to interface with him when she's convinced it's Amanda's doing.

Instead, she tries to snap him out of it. She tugs on his arm, shakes him, calls his name as loud as her vocal processor will go. Her voice echoes off the buildings and down the street in the cold, dark night, but Connor doesn't react, and Kara has to remind herself out loud not to panic.

She puts her free hand over his exposed on, effectively cradling it between both of hers as her thirium pump regulator beats faster than she'd like in response to the stress. It's fine. He'll be fine, right? The goal is to keep him trapped jere, not destroy him, so Amanda will let him go eventually, right? Right. Even Todd had to stop being violent long enough to lull Kara and Alice into a false sense of security, only to attack them again. Not the most cheerful way to deal, but it works, sort of. She's calming down.

Then out of the shadows, a small, shambling horde -- Zlatko's experiments.

Kara has enough time to gasp before Connor falls to his knees. Her hand still in his means she goes down with him, but she doesn't fall or anything like that. Her reflexes are fast enough to prevent harm, amped up by the fear of what she just saw. ]

Connor, get up. We have to run. [ There's no mistaking the urgency in her voice. ] We can't stay here. Get up. Come on!

[ She saw the androids beat Zlatko to death, and even though she can't feel pain, she doesn't want her and Connor to suffer the same fate as that monster. ]

[His checks are normal; his biocomponents are functioning properly, returning no errors, but that doesn't seem right. His thirium pump regulator is going too fast--entirely within normal limits to react to stress or a threat, but somehow that knowledge isn't helping at all--and his stress levels are too high and he isn't sure where he is; how can any of that be normal?

But then, finally, he starts to register outside input, specifically in the form of Kara's voice. All at once he's aware of what's going on, the rest of his memories clicking back into place, aware of the snow soaking into his clothes and Kara's hand in his and some sort of strange, eerie noise approaching them.

He forces his joints to unlock and stands up, pulling Kara up with him and locating the source of the noise; more androids, in... Really awful condition, and part of him wants to help, but if Kara thinks they should run--]

I-I'm okay, let's...

[Go, but go where? In the direction they were walking? That seems like the best idea, but he's processing much more slowly than usual and making a decision is difficult as he tries to close out extraneous tasks and focus on the here and now, not everything he'd just seen.]

[ He's not okay, but he's back, and that's good enough for her. Right now, the important thing is that they have to run.

The experiments aren't fast, but they gained ground while Connor was out of it. Luckily, she remembers where they were going, plus a few alternate routes to get to Belle Isle. She tugs on his arm again and starts at a walk, to make sure he has his balance; when she notes he does, she speeds up, again and again until they're at a run. ]

She's leading us somewhere. [ She sure as hell isn't helping them get there faster. ] But we can lose them. They're slow. They're--

[ Not scary, in and of themselves. Their real world counterparts were compassionate. But these are not. Kara knows in the deepest part of herself that these are meant to tear them apart.

She hopes the real ones are okay. ]

[Connor's made to switch gears very quickly and could've switched to running immediately, even with everything going on in his head at the moment, but it does allow him to just follow Kara's lead.

He's slow to respond when she addresses him, but does manage it.]

We could fight.

[Instead of letting themselves be herded somewhere. And by 'we' he mostly means 'him'; there are a lot of androids after them, but they're damaged and weakened and surely won't be a match for him.

Unless they are. Unless something goes wrong and one of his biocomponents just shuts down in one strike and--

He shakes himself out of those thoughts, jaw clenched and LED still spinning red, deciding to let Kara make the call and to trust her judgement, since his own is obviously compromised at the moment.]

[ Despite the shock thar sends through her, Kara doesn't stop. Running for her life with someone else in tow is familiar to her, something she has experience in. This is the only time it'll be a positive, and she hopes it never is again. ]

No. [ It's sad, scared, and angry all at once, just one word reflecting the mix of emotions and how hard they are to process. ] It's not their fault--

[ These aren't the same androids, though; they're not the ones she met and freed. They're simulations-- but even still, she doesn't want to hurt them. That's probably what Amanda is banking on, but Kara just can't. Not right now. Not wjen they aren't actively hurting her or Connor. ]

We'd be wasting time. [ She keeps moving, shifting some of her processing power to computing alternatives. This isn't what she was built for, but she can apply problem-solving skills to arrive at something for them to do. ] This way, toward the park. We can use the equipment to trip them.

[ She tugs on Connor's hand as the left turn comes up. ]

[Connor isn't used to being the one being chased, and he really doesn't like it. Everything in him wants to take some sort of action on the offense, even while he's terrified to do so, because it's better than this feeling of anxiety while trying to escape their pursuers.

But he's already decided to let Kara make the decision, so he gives a mental blip of confirmation that isn't really words but hopefully gets the point across well enough. He makes the turn easily enough as they run toward the park, preparing his own processors to navigate any potential acrobatics they might need, noting on the side that the snow is picking up again. Great. Just what they need.]

[ The snow will be slippery, and Kara and Connor will have a better time staying on their feet in it.

She keeps going on a path toward the swing set, engaging her child safety module for all the dangers the swing set poses. In less than a second, she has a plan, and to keep it between the two of them, she takes her cue from Connor and tells him wirelessly: they're jumping over the seats and between the chains. They'll have to break their handhold for a moment to do it, but it'll be over quick.

The swing comes up, and Kara lets go, jumping through with not the most graceful form but landing safely, able to keep going, reaching for Connor's hand again as she listens for the experiments to get tripped up by the ~~barely swinging swings thanks to this cool but pointless move~~ equipment. ]

[Connor, for all his dangerous efficiency, has been known to be overly dramatic on occasion, and so this plan sounds completely reasonable to him. He accepts it without hesitation, letting go of her hand and leaping elegantly through the swing, landing with barely a hitch before he's back to running.

He grabs Kara's hand again as well, continuing forward, and begins to realize where they actually are; this shouldn't be here, exactly, and it throws him off mentally even more than he already is, but it's a simulation. He can handle the idea of this particular park being somewhere it shouldn't be, although there is the issue of that they're about to run out of--

There's supposed to be more ground, and there's definitely supposed to be a railing. There is not supposed to just be a sudden dropoff, obscured by the snow in the air and snow on the ground and ice that makes any attempt at a sudden stop completely impossible, despite Connor's full processing power going to it; he twists and tries to grab the sharp edge of the sudden drop as they fall, but it's too slippery to manage anything but touching it as they plunge the rest of the way into the river below.]

[ Two thoughts occur to Kara as they fall: 1) This is probably what Amanda wanted, 2) Hey, the experiments won't follow them here. She does not, however, bother saying either of those to Connor. The water is frigid, setting off alerts in Kara's vision. She closes out all but the timer, diverting the majority of her focus to one single task: swimming out of this liquid death trap.

She'll make it, she thinks, if she just goes for it, but she keeps looking over at Connor to make sure he's okay, giving the icy water the chance to start damaging her critical biocomponents. She can make it, she tells herself. Her limbs might be feeling heavy and twitchy, but she can make it, and she'll start to self-repair as soon as she's out of the water.

Closing out another warning -- yes she knows her toe joints aren't working now thanks very much she is well aware -- she spares enough power to reach out wirelessly. ]

Connor?

[Connor is similarly focused on the one task of getting to the surface so they can find the bank and climb out, ignoring the warning that flash in his vision; he has more time than Kara, considering his newer biocomponents and the expectation that he'll end up in dangerous situations, but that's counterbalanced by how the cold affects him mentally. It's distracting and terrifying in a way it has no reason to be other than the connection to the night of the revolution, and he knows it's unreasonable but it doesn't make any difference as his stress levels just continue to climb. The cold, irrationally, feels like it's beckoning him to just stop; if he just doesn't fight so hard anymore then he won't have to deal with the stress, or whatever the next part of the game is, or what else he might remember--

But then Kara's voice cuts through and he refocuses again, realizing she's still here too and he can't just leave her to do this alone; what if she can't get out of the river and freezes? He has longer and he's a stronger swimmer, so he can't just abandon her. Not yet, at least.]

How long do you have?

[His own timers are going but they're in the realm of several minutes before anything important begins to shut off, giving him plenty of time to get to the surface and find a bank even if he has to swim across the entire river. But he isn't sure what they're working with for Kara.]

Twent-six seconds.

[ Because she's both an older model and a housemaid model, not at all expected to be in this kind of danger, ever.

Some water goes down her throat, and Kara coughs to keep it away from her most vital biocomponents. Her limbs are starting to lock up on her the way a human's would as hypothermia settles in. But she's fighting, pushing herself to keep seimming. She can't let Amanda win, can't let CyberLife take her away from her family.

And she has to help Connor be rid of the last hold CyberLife has on him.

This is not where she dies. ]

[That is... Not a lot of time. Connor engages his sensors immediately, the scanning hampered by the water but still enough to show him what he's working with; they're not far from the surface, but the nearest shore they could actually climb out of is still a hundred feet down the bank to their right.

He runs calculations, lets go of Kara briefly in order to shift his grip so as to better pull her along with him, and starts actually actively swimming toward the shoreline.]

We'll make it.

[He assures her with as much confidence as he can manage to put into his mental voice, all his processing power now focused on the one single goal instead of everything else going on. None of it is important right now; he needs to get Kara out of the river.

Swimming isn't a skill he has to use often--he did in order to escape Jericho, but that's the only time he's ever used it in the field rather than practice--but it's one he is, fortunately, very adept at. It's naturally programmed in, and his sense of timing and coordination and the general strength and dexterity of his model make it something he can do efficiently, even when pulling another android along with him.

And so they do reach the bank in time, but they're cutting it close as Connor lifts Kara out of the water and onto the probably not much warmer sidewalk, itself covered in snow and ice. Connor hauls himself out of the river a moment later, a brief scan of the area confirming they're alone--for now--and so he turns his attention back to Kara.]

Kara? What's your status?

[Please let whatever damage her biocomponents might've taken be reversible with time to warm back up.]

[ With Connor all but carrying her, Kara calms down a little. He's faster and stronger than she'll ever be, and never has she been more relieved to know that. Despite the danger, she feels safe -- this must be how Alice felt when they were on the run.

It's not any warmer on the shore, but she's out of the water, and that helps. Kara shivers, her body working to create warmth through friction. It feels strange and uncomfortable, but she doesn't fight it. Instead she goes through the list of alerts one by one as their respective countdowns stop and switch over to self-repair percentages. ]

No-- no critical damage. [ There's relief in her voice. ] I just need time. Minutes. And less cold.

[Okay. Okay, that's probably the best answer he could've hoped for, and his stress level--which seems distant at the moment, somehow, despite the glaring red number--lowers a fraction. He has a very simple current objective now, and he can focus on just that.

Connor glances around again, looking this time for any structures instead of anything moving, and locates what looks like it might be a small fishing store for people who dare to fish in the river. It's dark and surely empty, unless of course there's some horrific parody of an android in there like there had been in the police station and those mangled beings that they'd just had to run from, so it's the best choice.]

Can you walk?

[He can carry her if not, he just feels like he should ask. He doesn't think he'd like to be hauled around if he had the option not to be, after all.]

[ It's such a simple thing, yet as she tries to sit up and finds she can't yet, Kara feels a pang of despair. She doesn't want to be so helpless, but what can she do but wait? ]

Not on my own. [ She can move her limbs, but getting on her feet... that'll take time she's not sure they have. ] Help me stand?

[ The android sent to kill her a few weeks ago is now her lifeline. It'd be poetic if this weren't a nightmare. ]

[Connor nods, moving to carefully pull her arm over his shoulders and then put his arm around her waist, lifting her up to her feet and ready to hold her whole weight if she finds she can't stand even with help.]

Do you see the shop over there?

[He tries to focus her attention toward their goal, both to help them in getting there and to hopefully reassure her a little. There she can hopefully rest and warm up for the time she needs while they figure out what to do next.]

[ Being upright helps. Seeing her self-repair completion go slowly up also helps. Kara focuses on putting one foot in front of the other, which she can only do because she's leaning rather heavily ok Connor. But it's progress, and she's glad for it. ]

Yes. Shelter.

[ And she's sure he knows how to start a fire.

A few seconds of heavy walking later, she says, ] Thank you.

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