missiondeterminant | [Open Post]

[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.]

[ They connect, and Kara shows him the ordeal in the mansion, from Zlatko's first rejection of her plea for help on the doorstep, to his poetically just death against the backdrop of his burning house and his experiments leaving in peace. There's the horrible fear of the impending reset, of watching Zlatko drag Alice off; there's the unsettling decor and the rush to hide from Luther, and the warm and sharp relief of having survived and gained an ally. The last part isn't strictly necessary, but she wants Connor to know they can be okay if they work together.

As soon as it's complete, Kara jerks her hand back and grabs his elbow to keep steady, breathing deep just because it's rhythmic and soothing.

When she's calmer, she leads the way to the door, which opens into the mansion's spacious kitchen. Zlatko is standing by the stove, stirring the steaming contents of a pot with a wooden spoon in one blue-stained hand. ]

You brought me another present. How thoughtful. [ he says.

The door slams shut behind Kara and Connor, and a pristine polar bear growls at them from under the dining table.

Kara's hold on Connor's hand goes vicelike. ] Go. Go. Front door!

[Connor isn't sure what he was expecting when the connection happens, but the actual events are somehow still much more horrific. Zlatko himself is so over the top and almost cartoonish in his villainy, the mansion itself something out of a 2edgy4u haunted house idea, and Connor feels a brief sense of vindictive satisfaction at Zlatko's death once he's aware of his own thoughts and not just Kara's memories. Serves the bastard right.

The sentiment she shares about being able to get out of this is reassuring, as she intended, and Connor tries to impart a brief flash of confidence to her before they close the connection. They're going to make it out of this too.

He lets her lead the way to the door, even if everything in him wants to go first to protect her, and the sight they enter into is... What is he doing? Connor's scanners pick up a mix of components in the pot, but the main base is thirium, and the thought is nauseating despite that Connor desn't have a stomach and shouldn't be able to feel nauseous at all.

Deviancy is full of fun surprises.

The polar bear is also a surprise, one that Connor is actually not at all sure how to deal with; if this were real life he'd have a few options to fall back on, but he doesn't believe any of them other than running or fighting will work here. And Kara is calling the shots, which means when she says to run he does so.

He doesn't know where the front door is but it's easy enough to take a guess, making sure Kara is in step with him as they run, the sound of the polar bear following close behind. As usual, Connor is running too quickly to stop and just slams right into the door, bouncing off unfazed and immediately trying the handle with his free hand only to find it locked. Of course it is.

So he pulls Kara behind him, against the door, stepping around to block her from the approaching bear and, behind it, Zlatko himself. If it comes to a fight then he's ready, banishing -38's memory's attempts to creep back into his mind, ready to begin preconstructing when suddenly Zlatko speaks again.]

Stay.

[He tells the bear, which sits obediently just out of arm's reach from Connor, and Zlatko rests a hand on it's side as he lazily addresses Connor and Kara.]

It really isn't necessary to be so difficult, you know.

[ Of course the door is locked. She should've expected that. More importantly, she shouldn't be so scared, but her thirium pump regulator is pounding in her chest, and she feels panic rise in her throat. This was supposed to be over, a memory she could push away and be done with. Instead Amanda is using it to keep them trapped forever.

Kara doesn't fight against Connor when he pushes her back and shields her from the polar bear. If she could hide behind him until this is over, she would. The thing is, it won't be over until they find the way out. ]

It's not like it'll hurt. [ Zlatko says. ] Might be unpleasant, but not painful.

[ As if that makes it better. ]

I bet could make you fly. [ Zlatko says to Connor. ] Come into the basement with me.

[Well that's... Not even slightly what he expected to come out of Zlatko's mouth, and Connor's eyebrows furrow in confusion. He knows from Kara's memories that the basement is an absolute no, but part of him suddenly wonders if the only way out is to accept and follow him; what if the exit is there, or what if it will only appear if they recreate the memory?

But he's also absolutely not interested in either himself or Kara getting hooked up to that machine he saw in her memory, or ending up like the experimented on androids. So he opens his mental connection with Kara, blinking rapidly as he asks her--]

What do you think we should do?

[ Zlatko is a weird guy even without the mad scientist vibe. Look at his interior design, ffs.

Before she answers, Kara has to set aside what she wants to do, which of course is tear down the door and run whole tossing a torch at the house. That won't help them. Breathing deep soothes her enough to be able to think clearly. ]

Follow him. He won't try to hurt us unless we fight.

[ And maybe there's a shotgun on the way there. ...probably not, but at least they're not going into this blind, and at least Alice isn't here this time.

Even so, she's gonna stay behind Connor. Just in case. Zlatko really creeps her out, okay. ]

[Connor really doesn't like this even though Kara's response confirms his own thoughts anyway, and he returns his attention to Zlatko who's waiting seemingly patiently for an answer. With a brief review of some of Kara's shared memories, Connor decides to go for a particular approach and allows his expression to shift from grim determination to a more nervous, tentatively hopeful one.]

You aren't going to hurt us?

[His voice is quiet and matches his expression, remembering the fake reassuring persona that Zlatko had put on when Kara and Alice first met him; if he can convince Zlatko they're just scared deviants who might be willing to trust him, then they'll have a better chance of figuring out their options or taking Zlatko by surprise if necessary.]

Of course not. Come on, follow me.

[ Zlatko leads the way to the basement, and Kara understands (after a second or two of panic) Connor's approach. If he's going to play her part, then Kara will be Alice, holding onto Connor as if being separated is the worst possible thing that could happen, which it kind of is.

Somehow, this basement is creepier than the real thing, with blue blood splatter here and there on the walls, and more cells... more stablelike enclosures, with more (if quiet) sounds coming from them. Staticky keening, intermittent whirring, sometimes pieces of songs. The pit by the machine room is wider and less covered. A slow drip echoes from it, and Kara wonders if it's water, or if it's... thirium 310. Android blood.

Zlatko pulls back the curtain to the machine that nearly reset her; Kara's reaction is unrehearsed but very apt for their plan. ]

Connor, don't. [ Even the tears in her eyes are spontaneous, natural. ] What if the computer glitches and hurts you?

[Connor doesn't mind Kara's clinging to him because it's comforting to him as well, especially as they descend into the basement and every danger sense he has--both his own and those programmed into him for detective work--goes off with warnings that he and Kara are in danger. He closes them out--he knows, thanks--and tries to keep his focus on Zlatko and staying aware of Kara's location, but it takes a lot of effort to resist the urge to sample the thirium and investigate the cells and the noises coming from them.

The room with the machine is even more horrifying than in Kara's memories, and Connor stares at the machine with a growing sense of dread as he preconstructs possibilities. If he refused now, he and Kara would have time to turn and run, but where would they go if it turns out there really is no exit for them yet? And that would leave Zlatko able to chase them, so that possibility results in a low chance of success.

They could fight now, but it surely wouldn't take Zlatko by surprise and there's little in the room that would make for an effective weapon, so it'd just be hand to hand. Connor's pretty sure he could take out Zlatko easily enough if this were a real-life situation, even with Zlatko's size advantage, but he's less confident it'd be so easy in this place.

He could also allow himself to be hooked into the machine, and coordinate with Kara to surprise Zlatko; he'd have his legs free and as long as Zlatko stayed close enough to him--which he presumed he would, considering he had with Kara in order to taunt her--then Connor had a very high chance of being able to pull off breaking Zlatko's neck and eliminating that threat entirely. Then he and Kara would have more time and less danger as they figured out where the actual exit was.

But although that plan had the highest chance of success, it involved willingly walking into the machine and then hoping the situation played out similarly to how it had for Kara. That's terrifying, and so much could go wrong; Kara's words, whether she's acting or not, just raise another of many possible issues.]

It's okay. He just wants to help us, right?

[He offers the fake reassurance while turning completely toward Kara, using the conversation as an excuse to hide his face while communicating silently again.]

I think I could kill him, but if I can't you'd have to fight until I can get out of the machine. Can you do that?

[As he asks he retracts the skin on a few fingers so he can secretly interface, if Kara allows. If so, he'll give her a few flashes of his idea, the calculated probabilities of success, and the backup plan of Kara finding a way to make Zlatko fall in the well.]

[ AX400s don't come with the modules or data to precinstruct scenarios like that. All she sees are the safety hazards, and the danger signs in Zlatko's body language. All of them are useless, as both she and Connor are well aware of how badly this could go.

Their little act gives them good cover. Kara nods -- as if she trusts Zlatko but not tandom chance -- and then leans into him as she touches her skinless fingers to his. The silent transmission drowns out everything else for its brief duration. When it ends, she stays with her head against his chest just long enough to make it look like she's just terrified of losing him. Then she pulls back, trying (faking the effort) to school her face into a more hopeful, determined expression, and nods. ]

Just stand right over there. [ Zlatko tells Connor. ] This won't take long. Then we'll be ready to get to work.

Edited 2018-08-20 19:08 (UTC)

[Connor takes a deep breath he doesn't need as he realizes Kara understands and agrees, and hesitantly rests his chin on the top of her head for a moment as she lays her head against his chest. They can both use the comfort.

But they still have an act and then a plan to pull off, and he nods firmly at her when she pulls away before turning back toward Zlatko.]

Okay.

[He doesn't have to eliminate all the fear from his expression, which helps in letting him focus on adding some determination and that same tentative hope again. He steps forward, cautiously but purposefully, and then another step and then up onto the platform of the machine. He turns back to face Zlatko and Kara, making eye contact with the latter for a moment before turning his gaze back toward Zlatko.]

Do I have to do anything?

[He asks, stalling for a little time as he gauges the situation again up close and verifies he should indeed be able to reach Zlatko if he stays as close as he had in Kara's real experiences. The machine itself looks... Not damaged or run down, exactly, but definitely not professionally maintained and also seems to be an older model, which gives Connor a little more genuine confidence that he might be able to actually break out of it if absolutely necessary, and adds that to the list of backup plans.]

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