missiondeterminant | [Open Post]

[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.

[He's relieved she can walk, even if she is leaning on him and the progress is slow. He keeps his focus mostly on their destination, making sure nothing springs out at them, but does glance her direction again at her last comment.]

There's no need to thank me.

[Especially since he's probably the reason they're in this mess overall, and surely the reason they were in the mess that ended up causing them to fall in the river. If he hadn't triggered the memory to play, and hadn't been so lost in it and disoriented afterward they wouldn't have lost so much time, and wouldn't have had to run so blindly.]

It'd be easier to find the exit without me.

[ It makes sense to her. She's slowing him down, a housemaid in a nightmare for an advanced, skilled prototype. She got him to figure out what he needs to do, so she's outlived her usefulness, logically speaking, righr? ]

But a deviant doesn't care just about their objectives anymore.

[ A weak laugh. There's the final proof. ]

[Okay, that last statement actually gets through the fog that circles around his emotions at the moment, prompting... Not annoyance, but maybe indignation? Very mild, though, and somehow almost humorous, in a nonsensical contradiction to their entire situation.]

You're only now convinced I'm deviant?

[After he freaked out multiple times, got spiteful toward Amanda, and was frustrated with Kara's suspicion?]

Completely convinced, yes.

[ It's clear he's a little amused, and it's nice to have something to smile about as her repairs keep moving toward comoletion and they arrive at the shelter of the abandoned store. ]

I'll be fine sitting down. [ She's stopped shivering by this point, but her temperature reading is still on the low side. ] We need to dry off. Can you start a fire?

[Thankfully the store is as abandoned as it looked, even if Connor does have to knock out a pane of the door window in order to undo the lock; once they're inside he makes sure Kara is able to sit down safely, before beginning to glance around. It's only after he spots the lighters behind the counter that he answers, though.]

Yes, I think so.

[There are metal buckets for holding fish, and a stack of newspapers to use for kindling; the fire will need constant feeding, but it's better than nothing and maybe with more looking around he'll find something that will burn more sustainably. For now, though, he gets the small fire going, offering a warning Kara probably doesn't need--]

The bucket will get hot, so be careful.

[Although he does think she should sit as close to it as is safe, to help continue warming her as Connor keeps looking around.]

Did you sustain any damage from the fall itself, or just the cold?

[ She doesn't need the warning, but his concern isn't lost on her. By the time the fire is started, she's okay to scoot a little closer to the bucket. Just the sight of it, it seems, helps; she holds out her stiff fingers over the fire, the convection warming her through the layers of her synthetic skin, her shell, and down into the artificial circulatory system.

So many human stories tell of the comfort of a warm fire. Kara finally, truly understands why now. ]

Just the cold. [ Luckily. ] Are you okay?

I'm fine.

[He assures her automatically, although if she takes one look at his stress levels she'll know that isn't true at all. But he's back to functioning, and there's nothing wrong physically; the cold had only had the time to minorly affect him while in the river, and with the fire he's now more than warm enough. He also hadn't damaged anything falling.

But now he has opportunity to start thinking about what happened before they ended up in the river, and he doesn't want to. He firmly returns his attention to Kara, coming over to sit down near her and the bucket.]

We've found the river, although I believe it was much closer than it should've been. Therefore finding Belle Isle may be more difficult than expected.

[Just keep focusing on the task at hand.]

You don't have to act strong because of me. It's okay to not be fine after that.

[ Don't put on a front, Connor. It's okay, though she understands why he would. She did it all the time for Alice.

Her self repairs are going faster now that she's by a heat source, but she takes it easy on the talking at first anyway, listening instead. On top of all that can attack them here and how bad the weather can get, the city layout itself is meaningless. ]

So our map, our planned route, won't do us any good. [ Forgive her the slightest pout, it smooths out into a frown quick anyway. ] We have to keep going. We can't just give up. Maybe she can't change where the exit is? Maybe it's fixed on the map?

[Connor fidgets a little, wishing he had his coin--apparently it hadn't been brought with him into the simulation, doubtlessly for exactly this reason--and decides to occupy his hands with picking at his wet jeans. The feeling of the fabric against his fingernails in somehow comforting, even if there's also something annoying about it. It's distracting, though, and that's the important thing.

He's saved from having to actually address the first part of what Kara said when she continues, which is for the best for now anyway. Focusing on the goal is the most important thing.]

Maybe. I think you're right; we just have to keep going. The tower is still the most likely place to look.

[He truly believes that's where they need to go, if they can just get there. Amanda wouldn't be throwing so many dangers and obstacles at them if they were going in the wrong direction, would she?

But maybe she would. It would be just another mind game, and she surely knows he'll second-guess himself already, so he really doesn't know. He doesn't know what to do, and his stress spikes again, and then suddenly things click together.]

I think... I think you should make the final decisions, Kara. Amanda knows me too well, and it's apparent that at least part of the goal here is to cloud my judgement.

[With the memories, and playing on his fears specifically. It's all to confuse and overwhelm him and it's working, but Kara had managed to get not just herself but Alice to safety during the most dangerous and violent part of android history. Connor believes she can figure out what to do here.]

[ Right. Why waste time and energy keeping them away from a place that doesn't matter? Even at his worst, Todd never wasted time. If he got it in his head to be violent, he just went ahead and did it. He had no patience for games. Amanda... well, she might, but it still seems pointless to spend CyberLife's resources on such a long game.

Connor's suggestion snaps her out of that train of thought. ] Me? [ But... it almost makes sense, but-- ] She might not know me, but she has access to my memories too. Those androids chasing us just now? I've met them before. They were... they were someone's toys.

[ They were tortured for Zlatko's twisted pleasure. She shudders. ]

I'll do it, it's just-- she's got a lot to throw at us no matter what.

Edited 2018-08-17 18:21 (UTC)

Even if she can access your memory, she doesn't know you.

[And that's important. Amanda knows Connor; she knows how he thinks, what bothers him and what he does to deal with it, and she knows that he knows her. That makes him momentarily worried she might predict he'd hand off control to Kara, but even so he thinks it's the best choice. He really, really hopes it's the right choice.]

[ And if that's the only advantage they have here, they have to take it. Kara nods. ]

I'll get us to the tower.

[ If she could get her family to Canada, she can get herself and Connor to the exit.

She turns a little, so another side of her can start to dry off. ]

I'm almost done self-repairing. We should go as soon as they're done. I think we should keep moving.

[ She thinks maybe delaying them is partly about buying time to finish whatever it is their bodies are being subjected to. Zlatko's reset took time, enough for Kara to escape. Maybe this is the same. ]

[Connor nods as well, both to show he understands and to agree; he means it when he says he'll follow her lead, and he believes in her ability to get them to the tower. They can do this.

But as she finishes self-repairing, he feels suddenly like he should level with her, so she knows what she's dealing with. He's silent a few more seconds, convincing himself to go ahead and talk, still playing with the fabric of his jeans.]

About what happened earlier, I was... I accidentally triggered the playing of a memory. One of those from a prior model in my line.

[Saying it that way maintains some distance, like it's not really him. He's honestly not sure whether it is or isn't.]

I'll try not to let it happen again, but if it does, that's all it is.

[So don't worry about him; he'll wake up when the memory ends. But more importantly--]

However, if it does happen again, and it's... During an inopportune time, like it was, don't put yourself in danger because of me.

[ Right. That was unsettling to watch, a terrifying prelude to the chase that ensued. But even so-- ]

I'm not leaving you behind. I can't.

[ Not even just for emotional reasons, like being kind of attached to him now that they're a team, or finding she enjoys his company. If she has to be rational about ir, she stands a better chance at survival if they're together, as the river incident proves. ]

Which means... that's gonna be a goal of hers. To separate us. If she manages to, we have to find each other.

[He would argue but he thinks it's pointless and he'd just said she got to make final calls, and so instead he'll just hope that her last comments mean she's accepted it as a possibility. But he's in agreement on the plan, quiet a moment.]

We know where we're both trying to get to, so in theory we should be able to reunite. The bridge to Bell Isle is a narrow point; if we become separated, we should both try to get there and wait.

[Better to meet up before they reach the tower itself, even if he somehow thinks the bridge won't be so safe either.]

[ She'd rather not be separated at all, but this is gonna have to be their compromise. It's not like they can guarantee that they'll stay together all the way to the tower. ]

If it gets to that, then yes. We'll keep an eye out for each other, but always head for the tower.

[ If the pieces aligned so she and Alice met up with Luther and Jerry on the way to the bus station, then Kara and Connor will both end up at the bridge to Belle Isle too. They have to.

Nodding again, Kara shifts, sitting with her back to the fire while keeping Connor at one side, so she's not facing away from him. ]

I just need to dry off. Then we can go.

[ Back outsdie, to try again. ]

[All of that agreed, Connor turns his attention inward while Kara continues drying off; he carefully avoids following any emotions or thoughts too deeply into his processes, instead focusing on running maintenance checks and seeing if everything was alright after the plunge into the river. As he'd assured Kara, there was no major damage, and only minor calibration issues caused by the cold that would right themselves as soon as he told them to. He set them to do that, also running a brief defragmentation of his active memory to try to stave off any problems in that area.

By the time everything is finished Kara is dry and ready to continue, and after a brief confirmation of their plan Connor leads the way from the shop and back into the snow. Only it isn't snow, it's rain.

It also isn't the view of the river he's expecting to see, and as he whirls back to make sure Kara is with him he sees that the shop they'd just hidden in is now nothing more than a small and ominous storage shed. It looks like they're in the back yard of a mansion, trees surrounding them and the building looming over them, a path to the back door their only option due to suddenly impenetrable fog and brush on either side. They're being herded toward the building, clearly, and that makes Connor digs his heels in immediately and turn toward Kara again.]

Do you know where we are?

[This isn't from his memory, unless it's hidden in one of those he hasn't accessed yet, but maybe this is somewhere Kara has been.]

[ Before this change of scenery, Kara had felt fear; now, she feels terror. It's raining an ice-cold, heavy drizzle, and their only path is to a house that still haunts her.

She stares at it for a full minute before she finally answers Connor, already knowing they can't go anywhere else but the hellish mansion in front of them. ]

The man who lives here does experiments. He damaged the androids that chased us. [ She speaks in a rush, like someone hoping just to get it over with. ] I could show you.

[ She holds out her hand, but she won't pull back her synthetic skin unless Connor does. No matter what he chooses, she's going to take his hand and hold on tight. If Kara didn't hate Amanda before, she sure does now. ]

[Connor watches her carefully at her lack of response, unsure if she's in shock--indicating she does indeed know where they are--or something else is going on, like it had been for Connor when the memory had begun playing. He decides it's best to just give her a minute or two, and so focuses on keeping watch and making sure nothing creeps up on them as the rain soaks through his clothes.

And then she's talking again, finally, and he breathes out a sigh of relief that he doesn't need to have even taken. It's short-lived, though, at her explanation, confirming this is a place she knows and, worse, that it's somewhere incredibly dangerous, not that that's a shock. Connor hesitates a moment before nodding, his hand turning white as he reaches out to touch hers and mentally braces himself; it's best to know firsthand what they're dealing with, but he isn't necessarily looking forward to the experience.]

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