Chapter Text
PB400 watched the blonde girl in front of him, the child looking up at the android on display curiosuly before her mother walked over, "c'mon zoe, let's go." she cooed as she took her daughter's hand, the android watching the two walk away.
glancing around, PB400 watched the employee androids give pitches to customers, knowing that he wasn't available for sale as someone had brought him in for repair awhile ago, now all he had to do was wait to be picked up and brought back home, which he remembered nothing of; the mechanics had to do a complete reset of him to fix his damage, so any memory before today was completely erased.
"here it is!"
PB400 looked up as he heard the shopkeeper speak, seeing the shopkeeper---Don Blaine, 45, no criminal record---with another man---Quinten Beck, 38, aggravated assault, drug dealing and possession---walk towards him, "it was a bit difficult to get it back in working order, it was pretty messed up after all. what exactly happened to it again?"
beck cleared his throat, stammering a bit, "uh, a car hit it. stupid accident."
"oh, well, it's good as new now. we had to reset its memory to fix it all the way, hope you don't mind." the shopkeeper mentioned and beck shrugged, "that's fine." he mumbled and the shopkeeper nodded, "does it have a name?"
"yeah, my daughter gave it one."
the shopkeeper turned to the android, "PB400. register your name." he ordered and the led on the side of the android's head circled, ready to obey its instructions, as beck took the shopkeeper's place, "peter."
PB400 smiled as it processed the information, "my name is peter."
•◇•
RB200, or rue, walked through the park, moving out of the way as a young girl ran past her and hugged another female android---AX400, housekeeping and human care---rue watching them walk away before continuing to make her way through the park and to the outdoor mall across the street, an objective reminder popping up in her view; retrieve order #847 from bellini paints.
androids of various models worked around her as she passed through the shopping center; some tidying up, some guarding the area, some serving as waiters at restuarants. of course, there were humans around too and while some were just walking around and find their own business, others weren't as calm.
an angry preacher's announcements met rue's ears as she walked by, stopping for a moment in curiosity, "god will not let this happen! no, he will not allow his creatiom to be led astray by these.....these artificial demons!" the preacher shouted, an angry scowl on his face as he looked to rue, looking her up and down in distaste, "i see through you, demon. you are the one by whom the evil will come! you are the one who will destroy detroit!"
rue just blinked at the man, staring at him for a moment before continuing on her task, walking towards bellini paints so that she could retrieve the order her owner had put in, it not taking long for her to get to the small shop and she opened the shop's door, going inside the warmly lit area, seeing a male android---EM400, customer service---standing behind the counter, the walls lined with different painting supplies.
the android walked forward, placing her hand on the scanner in the counter, her artificial skin removing itself from her hand so that her model's identification could be read, "identification verified." the EM400 spoke before bending down and retrieving a small box that contained the order she had come to retrieve, "your total is $63.99 for order #847, please confirm payment."
rue's led blinked from blue to yellow as she confirmed the payment, EM400's led doing the same as the transaction was made and confirmed; "payment confirmed."
"transaction complete."
rue nodded her head as she took the box, exiting the shop and walking back out into the outdoor mall, making her way to the bus stop so that she could go back home, the sounds of a group of angry anti-android protestors getting louder as she had no choice but to pass them as they were right beside the bus stop; "what do we want?!" "worker's rights!" "when do we want it?!" "now!"
honestly, their protest made sense and their anger was justified; thousands upon thousands of people have lost their jobs to androids, why hire a human when an artificial creation could do the same thing and possibly even better?
"hey tin can, where the fuck are you going?"
rue stopped as a male protestor walked infront of her, the android remaining silent and just trying to walk around so that she could reach the bus stop, but the man just moved along with her and without her realizing, another protestor walked up behind her and shoved her, causing the android to fall to the ground, "look at this motherfucker! you steal our jobs but you can't even stand up?!" a woman spat and rue pushed herself up, only to get kicked back down and she pushed herself up agaon, running a diagnostic to make sure no damages were done before standing up, grabbing the paint order and planning to continue, but the man from before grabbed her collar, "we're gonna fuck you up, bitch."
"alright, that's enough. leave it alone." a police offer spoke as he approached the two, rue not breaking her shared stare with the protestor as he kept a firm hold on her collar, "let me teach this bitch a lesson." the protestor spat, "if you damage it, i'll have to fine you."
with that said, the protestor let go of rue's collar and she gave the man one last glance before walking away, heading to the bus stop.
•◇•
beck's car came to a stop as the man parked in front of an old house, peter looking up at it and putting the address into his memory for when beck had him do errands so that he'd know where to come back to before he followed his owner's movements and stepped out of the car, following the bearded man inside.
"you've been gone for two weeks so the place is a mess." beck huffed as the two walked in, peter crossing his arms behind his back and looking up at the man, awaiting instruction, "you do the housework; washing, cooking, and caring for......" beck trailed off, looking around, "fuck, where's the brat gone now? morgan?!" he called and peter looked up at the sound of gentle footsteps, seeing a little girl, no older than ten, holding a stuffed raccoon walk down the stairs, "that's morgan, you look after her; school shit, baths, all that. got it?"
"yes, quinten."
"get started down here, then you do upstairs."
as beck walked away and morgan ran back upstairs, peter looked around the house, his objectives appearing in his vision; take trash out, clean dishes, vacuum, laundry.
peter looked to his right, seeing the kitchen table littered with last night's dinner plates and he walked over to it, collecting the mess and bringing it to the kitchen, hearing beck speak on the phone as he placed the dishes in the sink, beginning to clean whatever was filling the sink as the dishwasher seemed to have gotten broken while he gone, ordering the missing component so that he would be able to repair if for beck.
peter got the feeling that someone was watching him, seeing beck watching tv in his peripheral vision, turning around slightly and seeing morgan standing right outside the kitchen, the android giving her a warm smile and the little girl rushed away, but peter paid no mind and went back to work.
•••
peter made his way upstairs, heading to the first room which happened to be beck's room and he began cleaning; organizing musical records, making the bed, collecting garbage into a small bag, tidying up in general.
a prescription bottle caught peter's eye and he grabbed it---paroxetine; antidepressant, may cause behavioral disorders---before opening the nightstand drawer, seeing a loaded handgun inside and he placed the bottle down, closing it up before making his way out of the completed room and heading to morgan's bedroom, knocking before slowly opening the door, seeing morgan scramble from her place on the floor and hide in her blanket fort in the corner of her room.
"i only require two minutes to tidy up, is that alright, morgan?" he cooed and the little girl gave the tiniest nod before the android began to clean, picking up books off the floor and organizing them on her bookshelf, taking note of the large variety of reading material she owned before moving on, making her bed and opening the window for ventilation, looking over to morgan as she played with her stuffed raccoon; the child seemed so sad, peter noticed beck's toxic behavior and figured that was a huge reason, but granted he didn't know anything before his reset, so perhaps he was missing something.
the android bent down in front of morgan, "i'm sure we were friends before i got reset, maybe we can be friends again." he smiled and she looked up at him, the fainting signs of a smile on her face before she turned back to her toy, "your father said that you chose my name, peter, how'd you come with it?" he tried, hoping to start a conversation but the girl remained quiet, "i would like to know more about you, morgan, it would really help me to know about your interests."
still, she remained silent, "......i hope i don't scare you."
at his words, morgan got up and ran to her bedroom door, going to leave and she stopped, looking at peter before quickly handing him a small key and rushing out of the room, peter looking down at the key in his hand before looking to the small locked box on her dresser, the android standing up and walking over, unlocking it and liftimg the top, revealing a stack of drawings and a small family photo; morgan wasn't in the family photo, though, but beck was and he was with a dark haired woman and a little girl with a head of curly red hair, all of them smiling happily.
beneath the photos were some crayon drawings and peter picked up the small stack; beck with an angry face next to a crying morgan, peter coming in between beck and morgan, peter laying on the floor, bleeding and broken, with a crying morgan looking over him.
•◇•
"alarm deactivated; welcome home, rue." the house's ai system spoke as it opened the front doors for rue, the android walking through the front doors, placing the box of paint on a nearby table before taking her cyberlife assigned jacket off, hanging it on the coat rack, her next objective appearing in her vision; wake up and care for ali.
rue followed her programming's instructions, walking up the stairs and making her way to her owner's bedroom, seeing that the man was still asleep in his bed and rue walked over to the closed curtains, opening them to allow the light in and at the sudden brightness, ali awoke; "good morning, ali."
"mornin', rue."
"its ten am, the weather is partly cloudly at fifty four degrees, eighty percent humidity with a strong possibility of evening showers."
"sounds like a wonderful day to spend in bed." ali mumbled, propped up against his pillows and rue walked over to his bedside, "i picked up the paint that you ordered, it's downstairs waiting to be used." she informed and ali nodded, "that's the difference between you and me, rue. you don't forget a damn thing." he mumbled and rue smiled at him, nodding as she grabbed the shot of medecine she had to give him every morning; aside from ali's aging, having been a firefighter for over a decade took a toll on his body, needing certain medications to get through his day and a wheelchair to get around.
it was difficult to care for himself, but rue was here so he didn't have to be alone.
"show me your arm, please, ali."
"no."
"ali." rue mumbled as she sat down next to him on the bed, the man begrudgingly holding out his arm for her so that the android could administer the medicine, "humans are such fragile things, breaking down so quickly and needing so much to keep 'em going. it's frustrating if you ask me." he spoke as she gave him the shot, looking at her clothes and noticing the dirty and beaten up look to them, "rue, what happened to your clothes?" he whilst raising a hand to her shoulder, worry written on his face and the android gave him a calm smile, "oh, its nothing, ali. i ran into some protestors while getting the paint order."
ali scoffed at this, "what a load of idiots, thinking they can stop progress by messing with a few androids.....they didn't harm you, did they?"
"no, no, just some light shoving, nothing damaging."
ali smiled, glad to hear that his android was alright, rue standing up and going over to ali's closet, gathering clothes for him before she helped the man up to get changed, changing from his pajamas to every day clothes before she helped him to his feet, slowly helping him walk to his wheelchair; while the man could still walk, it was a difficult task and he couldn't do it for long, a wheelchair was a definite necessity.
"anything special today?" ali asked as rue wheeled him out of the room, "yes, there's the opening for your art piece at the museum modern of art, the director left four messages to confirm your attendance." she informed and ali hummed, "we'll see if i'm up for it later." he mumbled and rue nodded, attaching the wheelchair to a mobile machine so that ali could get down the stairs, rue walking down them herself, ".....anything from anna?"
"no, ali, i could call her if you'd like?"
"nah, don't bother."
rue nodded, taking the handles of ali's wheelchair as she pushed him into the main area, "breakfast is in the kitchen, i'll go get it for you now." she smiled as she parked him at the dining table, the man nodding and smiling at her as she went into the next room to retrieve the tray of breakfast, coming back and placing it infront of him, pouring him a cup of coffee as he turned the television on, the voice of president warren filling the room as the news started playing.
"why don't you find something to do while i finish my breakfast?"
"will do, ali." rue nodded before walking away from the table, looking around the large room and her eyes landed on the chess set, taking a seat in front of the small table and organizing the pieces, ali glancing over at smiling at her before wheeling himself over, "speed chess?" he offered and she nodded, "sounds fun." the android smiled before the two began to play, smacking the clock each time one of them made a move, a selection appearing in rue's vision; win. lose. draw.
as they continued playing, rue decided to win as she hesitated before making her final move, ali smiling as he shook his head, "it ain't easy for an old guy like me to compete with a machine."
"well, i know that you don't like losing but you also don't like when i let you win, so i didn't have many choices."
"a draw is a choice."
"not a fun one, though."
ali laughed, "can't argue with that." he mumbled and rue smiled, the smile on her owner's face falling a little, "ya know, one day i won't be around to care for you anymore." he mumbled and rue furrowed her brow, "ali, my job is to--" she started but he cut her off, "you know what i mean, rue. this world doesn't like people who are different, don't let anyone tell you who to be; that's your choice to make, nobody else's."
rue stayed silent, ali giving her a small smile before nodding his way towards his art studio, "lets head to the studio, we got shit to do there." he smiled and rue nodded, standing and wheeling ali past the large double doors at the end of the room, attaching his wheelchair to a mechanical crane so that he could continue one of his bigger paintings, rue walking away and tidying up around the studio as he worked.
once the brushes and old jars of paint water were taken care of, rue walked back to where ali was working, watching the man paint for awhile before he lowered himself back to the ground, "what's your verdict, rue?"
"there is.....something about it, something i can't quite define......i guess i like it."
ali chuckled, "honestly, i have nothing left to say; m'just an old man clinging to his brushes."
"you're less than seventy years old, ali."
"i feel like i'm ninety."
rue smiled as ali turned to her, "let's see what you got, rue." he mumbled and rue furrowed her brows, "there's a canvas right there, give it a go." he continued as he handed her the paint covered pallet, and she widened her eyes a little, "but, what would i--"
"anything you want."
rue hesitantly took the pallet and grabbed a brush, looking at the small statue behind the easel and she began painting, making sure to replicate the object and its surroundings in her painting, backing away once she was done, "while i admire how beautiful it is, painting isn't about copying reality its about interpreting your views of reality and shaping it the way you feel."
"ali, i-i don't think i can do that, it's not in my program."
"give it a shot anyway, i've got plenty of canvases to use."
rue stammered before changing the used canvas for a blank one, putting on the easel and grabbing the palette and brush, ali noticing that the android was having trouble figuring out what to do, "try this, shut your eyes and imagine something that doesn't exist, something you've never seen, let your hand do the work in bringing your creation and feelings to life." he spoke and rue nodded before shutting her eyes, raising her hand after dipping the brush in paint and beginning to stroke the brush along the canvas, her led blinking yellow as she did so.
ali watched as rue painted, in awe as he watched an artificial thing create something brand new, feeling a sense of pride as she backed away from her completed product; it was herself, but with torn clothes and covered in blue blood, background dark and cold.
"holy shit, rue."
rue turned to ali, going to speak but the door opened, "hey dad." anna, his daughter, spoke as she walked in, rue turning at the young adult's voice, "anna, i didn't hear you come in." ali mumbled as he looked to his daughter, a small smile on his face, "oh, i was, uh, in the neighborhood and i just thought i'd stop by. it's been awhile, after all." she spoke, fidgeting a little and without a scan, rue could tell that the girl was going through drug withdrawal, "you alright? you look off."
"ye-yeah, totally fine........uh, i-i actually need some cash, dad."
"again? what happened to what i just gave you?"
anna shrugged, leaning against a nearby table, "oh, ya know.....shit's real expensive nowadays." she mumbled and ali kept calm, but rue could tell he was upset, "you're on it again, aren't you?"
"what? no, no, no, i swear that--"
"don't lie to me, anna."
"what difference does it make? i just need some cash, that's all!" she snapped and ali clenched his jaw, "sorry, but i can't do it this time." he replied and her face fell, "wh-why?" she asked, obviously desperate, "you know exactly why." ali spoke and anna looked to rue, eyes filled with hate, "yeah, it's 'cause you'd rather take care of your plastic toy than your own fuckin' kid, huh? what's it got that i don't?" she spat as she walked towards rue, the android remaining silent despite the hostility, "is it the obedience? is it the daughter you never had? it's just a fucking machine!"
"anna, that's enough!" ali shouted as anna pushed rue, the android's led flashing red as she stumbled, anna glaring at her father, "you don't care about anyone except your fuckin' paintings......you never loved anyone, you never loved me." she spat before walking out the door, ali putting his head in his hands.
•◇•
JK800, or jack walked towards dean's bar as he twirled a trainer butterfly knife in his hands, the bright lights illuminating the outside windows and door indicated that the establishment was open, like the android knew it would be; according to some other officers at the police station, a bar was the most likely place for his assigned partner to be. since the four other bars showed no sign of the man, jack hoped that this would be the last location he had to search.
with one last flip, jack closed the false weapon and put in his back pocket, adjusting his tie before walking up to the door, seeing a couple signs that told customers that no dogs or androids were allowed inside and despite the warnings, he went inside; if he had listened to every "no androids" sign, then he would fail his mission and that was not something he planned on ever doing.
an objective appeared in jack's vision, "find detective barker." it instructed and the android walked further into the room, doing a scan and observing a couple faces before he landed on a young, dark-haired man sitting at the bar, glass of whiskey in hand and with a quick facial scan, jack's system gave him a brief information list on his partner; detective clark barker. born september fourth, 2013. no criminal record.
"detective barker?" jack spoke as he approached the young adult, barely getting a glance from him, "my name is jack, i'm the android sent by cyberlife; i had looked for you at the station, but everyone told me you were out having a drink. luckily, i found you at the fifth bar."
"......what d'you want?"
"you were assigned a case earlier this evening; a homicide involving a deviant. in accordance with procedure, cyberlife has supplied a specialized model to assist with investigators."
the young detective looked up at jack, an annoyed look on his face, "well, i don't need any assistance, especially not from some twink made outta plastic." he replied, "now, if you don't mind, i was in the middle of something." clark added before going back to his drink and jack's led blinked as he figured out what to do, unsure what approach to take as he hasn't known this man for very long so he hasn't gotten a chance to adapt with his personality, but after a bit of debate, he settled on trying to calmly reason with the officer.
"detective barker, i think that you should stop drinking and come with me; it would make things much easier for both of us."
clark just scoffed, continuing to drink his whiskey and seeing as his approach didn't work, jack tried to be a little more forceful, "i apoligize for being pushy, officer, but my instructions are to accompany you on this investigation." the android tried and clark laughed to himself, "you know where you can stick your instructions?" he asked and jack furrowed his brow, unsure what he was referring to, "......no, where?"
clark looked up at him with yet another annoyed glance, shaking his head and muttering something to himself that jack didn't hear, but as the android watched the man sip his drink, he got an idea; "how about i buy you a drink for the road?" he asked and without waiting for an answer, he looked to the scruffy man behind the bar, "excuse me, bartender? the same again, please." he ordered as he placed money on the counter and the bartender grabbed the bottle of whiskey, "the wonders of technology, right dean?" barker mumbled as the man refilled his drink, raising the glass in a cheers motion before drinking the contents.
placing the small glass down, clark turned to jack as he cleared his throat, "did you say homicide?" he asked and jack nodded, feeling accomplished with himself for convincing the officer to finally join him.
•◇•
peter looked towards beck, the man asleep on the couch, "quinten?" the android called softly and he startled awake, looking around a little panicked as he noticed something missing from the table before he bent down and picked up the red ice pipe from the floor, "dinner is ready." peter added and beck nodded, "yeah, yeah, m'coming."
with that said, peter walked back into the kitchen and picking up the two plates of pasta, going back to the dinner table and placing a plate down in front of beck and morgan, "there wasn't much in the kitchen, i did what i could." he apoligized as he flicked on the light, grabbing the water pitching and filling the two's glasses, "it's funny, i lost my job to androids and i had to fucking buy one to take care of this shitty place; life's a fucking joke." beck spat, "they never fail, never get tired, never get sad......androids are so fucking perfect."
morgan looked up at beck briefly before looking back down, but the man noticed, "the fuck are you looking at? is this not the life you dreamed of?" he spat and she remained silent, "you think is easy, like its my fucking fault that we live in this fucking dump, that its my fault your bitch of a mother took off!" he snapped and morgan looked ready to get up from her seat, scared of what was to come, "you should stop taking drugs, beck. sometimes you really scare me, beck; fucking took off without a word with her shitty accountant of a boyfriend!" he screamed as he shoved the table, it turning on its side and morgan jumped up, terrified.
"its all your fault!"
"daddy, no--"
"it's all your fucking fault!"
morgan cried out as beck slapped her, tears pouring down her face as she ran upstairs, peter watching with a red led as beck screamed at her as she went to hide, but he didn't follow and instead went to the living room with an angry cry.
peter stepped forward, going to comfort morgan but beck saw the android move and he didn't like it, "don't fucking move or i'll break you so bad that you'll be just a couple of fucking wires and screws when i'm done." he spat and peter stayed still, an objective appearing in his view; do not move.
despite his orders, something was telling peter to move and as his objective flashed in his eyes, the sudden need to protect morgan washed over him, the objective fading in and out as he debated his own programming, whatever wall that was inside him beginning to crumble down as he took it apart with his own doubts and the objective vanished, his led spinning red as he looked down at his hands, a new objective appearing in his vision, one that he created himself; protect morgan.
without even looking at beck, peter immediately went to the stairs, trying to keep his footsteps soft so that the man didn't notice and he went straight to morgan's room, seeing the poor girl crying and curled up in her fort, the android going over to her, "he's coming! he's gonna hurt us!" she cried and peter locked the door, morgan rushing to his side and clinging to his arm as she hid behind him, beck pounding his fists on the door and screaming at them, "i need to find something." he mumbled before turning around, seeing the window and he rushed to it, opening it as quick as he could, "peter, we'll fall!"
"it's the only way, we'll be alright. c'mon."
peter turned to morgan, picking her up and helping her iut the window, the girl making it outside just as the door burst open and peter scrambled to get out, beck grabbing peter's leg but the android kicked him away, climbing out the window and pulling morgan onto his back, "hold on, okay?" he cooed before sliding down the rain water pipe, the two landing safely om the ground and he put morgan down, grabbing her hand and running to the bus as it pulled up, climbing on as quick as they could.
peter let out a sigh of relief as the bus drove away from the house, taking morgan to one of the seats and sitting down with her, putting his arm around the child's shoulders and holding her close, hoping that he made the right choice as she leaned into his side.