fandom-necromancer

[fandom-necromancer]

Goodbye

Okay, so as you may have noticed, this blog is kind of dead. And for at least those that I've promised stories I didn't manage writing in the end, if not any of you who've read my stories, I didn't want to leave without saying goodbye.

I had a few bad years for my mental health now, lost a bunch of friends and really used the time to think about what I want. And over that time writing became more stressful to me, especially these short fics. Because I usually like to write longer stories with more time to develop something. Don't get me wrong, I loved writing these short fics and I loved the interaction with you even more. But I just can't keep going. I have recovered from a lot in the time I haven't been writing here and I can finally say that I'm happy with my life again although I'm not without regret about what I did throughout these years. I am gradually re-discovering my passion for writing and art again now. Fandom wise, I've went on. I like dbh and most of the fandom behind it, but there are too many bad memories, so I won't write for it for quite a while. I will upload all I've written on here on AO3 whenever I have time and feel like proofreading over 500 shorts. In the meantime, I discovered Transformers for me and I dont think I will fall out of it any time soon.

For this blog I honestly don't know what to do with it. I dont want to leave it completely, as it has been intended as a multi-fandom blog and just kinda... drifted into full dbh mode? So maybe I'll just continue pushing my writing on here? Maybe I'll just start a new general art blog? I honestly don’t know if that will add pressure again, so I’m just writing for myself for now. No more prompts for the time being though. I simply dont have the energy for it.

To all those who were there at any point, thank you! I should have pulled the break far earlier I guess, but I really enjoyed talking to you and writing stories for you! Thank you for all the prompts and jokes and comments, you've really kept me going through difficult times. I guess that's it from my side.

Have a wonderful day!

[fandom-necromancer]

I know this took me forever, but I had some time recently and finally finished the next chapter of Wolfheart!

This chapter Nines and Gavin head out to investigate the address the mysterious number mentioned in their last message to the android. But what they find is worse than any of them could imagine.

[Read on AO3]

[fandom-necromancer]

Some Allen60 shenanigans?

Oh, absolutely! I said it before, I say it again, I love Allen60! I will definitely write something!

I don't know when it will be up yet. I will try to keep the 14th, 16th for posting, but I'm not sure if I can keep it up! But it will be written!

Thank you for the prompt and have an amazing day!

[fandom-necromancer]

Story number 46 for the archive project!

Summary: Gavin and Nines have to keep a low profile for a mission. Unfortunately that means Nines cannot wear his Cyberlife uniform.

[fandom-necromancer]

Story number 45 for the archive project!

Summary: Interpol called Francis to help, when Jensen had been found unconscious in an alley. Francis is curious what happened and uses some questionable methods to find out.

[fandom-necromancer]

This is story number 44 for the archive project!

Summary: Tina takes Gavin and Nines to a fun fair. Of course rigged games are no match for Cyberlife's best.

[fandom-necromancer]

Story number 43 for the archive project!

Summary: Gavin comes back home beaten up. Nines wants to know what happened.

[fandom-necromancer]

Story number 42 for the archive project!

Summary: Nines deeply misunderstands a simple children's game.

[fandom-necromancer]

This is story nnumber 41 for the archive project! This story was initially prompted by @chicago-reeed!

Summary: Nines has built up his own social module. But some human mannerisms are still lost to him. But a machine can learn, right?

[fandom-necromancer]

This is my contribution to the Secret Santa hosted by the Coffee and Connections Zine Team! It’s New Years themed but I thought to post it here already anyways.Get ready for some bickering while Nines and Gavin have a dinner date in the restaurant on top of the Eiffel. Simple as that. Or is it?

[fandom-necromancer]

Aching souls

This was prompted by a lovely anon! I hope you enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human Ship: Allen60 AU: Soulmate Warnings: None

‘Really? You say it’s just stress?‘ The Doctor shrugged. ‘Well, your headaches could come from nerve inflammations, but your blood work’s good, no signs of any inflammation. Your overall blood pressure is fine, too and we couldn’t find any brain tumours. The only thing with a physical reason left would be past brain injury. But you said it happened during the revolution and stayed since then?’ ‘Yes’, Allen answered. ‘And I was on hold during the revolution, so no injury there, brain or otherwise.’ ‘Then I’m afraid treatment isn’t that easy. In your field of work, stress is the most likely case. And most people often don’t realise how stressed they really are until they had time to relax a little. I would advise you to take a vacation and see if that helps. I can also give you something for your boss if it will be difficult to arrange.’ Allen grunted. ‘Fine, I will try. But is there really no other cause possible?’ The doctor shrugged. ‘Sure there are. To be honest, in all these years of research, we never truly found the reason for headaches. But anxiety, depression, loss of sleep, overuse of caffeine and headache medication as well as other chronic pain can increase the risk.’

Great. Allen had been running from doctor to doctor for years now. This was nothing new. ‘Thank you, anyways. I will try get a vacation. Have a nice day.’ Vacations didn’t help. Allen knew how being overworked felt. He knew when he was stressed and he had worked himself into a burnout too, in his early career. This was different. It was just the headache. No fatigue, no depression, no problems motivating himself. Just a constant throbbing pain. He had tried everything. Medication, Meditation, even acupuncture as he had been really frustrated. Nothing had helped. Most days he woke up in the morning and just accepted that this was his new normal. But then some days when he had been irritated all day and his team had to pay the price for it, he decided he would try again.

He drove home by bus, using his noise cancelling headphones his mother had gifted him hoping that maybe they would help. It... It did help, but just dampened it. It never went away. He looked out on the silenced world around him. Detroit had seen better days. They were driving along the river and Allen looked out to Belle Isle, where the Cyberlife Tower and all connecting buildings stood dark and empty, the corpse of yet another company driven to ruin. Cyberlife had struggled to keep its place in the city. Trying to polish their image by taking stand with the deviants they had gone to great lengths killing before. They started producing spares and new bodies for the children that wanted it, they set all androids waiting in warehouses free and barely managed surviving once they had sold their behaviour as a misunderstanding to the general public instead of the actions of someone fighting a war against their creations.

But it still meant thousands of people lost their jobs at Cyberlife’s downfall. Production halls were closed and torn down, office buildings sold and repurposed. But Cyberlife Tower was still owned by the company. Just without people to work there, it was a black husk against the stars of the sky. Allen guessed the current situation would drive crime rates up once again. It had happened after the fall or the “motor city” and Allen couldn’t even blame the people that just couldn’t find other jobs. But it would also mean the stress headache the doctor had mentioned would soon add on top of the one he constantly had.

For now, he would try to sleep, he thought once he had finally arrived home and resorted to cuddling his dog.

-

‘Ah, damnit Lisa!’ Allen had slept less than four hours and his alarm had woken him up far too early. Staying in bed enjoying these precious little moments of half-sleep before his headache came back throbbingly, he had left his home late and traffic had been slow. He was normally the first to arrive but now a few of his team were already at their desks. No one reprimanded him for it though. Most knew of his condition. ‘I really wish I didn’t have such a clumsy soulmate.’ ‘What did she do this time?’, Allen asked walking past the man to the coffee machine. ‘Ah, cut her finger, burns like hell.’ ‘Didn’t she just cut her finger yesterday?’ ‘Yeah, well, guess cook wasn’t the best job option for her but she loves it, so I’m enduring it.’

Allen chuckled and moved on. At least he didn’t have any problems with that. Either his soulmate had never ever hurt themselves or he simply didn’t have one. Likely the last one. Everyone had fallen as a child or cut themselves on a piece of paper. But Allen really didn’t need shared pain on top of his headache, so he wasn’t that upset about it.

He went over to his office, his fresh coffee in hand and started up his computer. He had hoped for a slow day so his sleep deprivation wouldn’t set him back too much, but the first E-mail he received told him otherwise. Apparently Reed, a detective from the police side, had put his hatred for androids and Cyberlife to good use and found out they quite literally hid some skeletons in their basement. As they had mass released all androids in their warehouses and from production lines, no one had thought to check if there were some held back. And apparently there were a lot of prototypes and experimental units as well as some Cyberlife used for now less than legal activities still stored away in Cyberlife Tower. Maybe that’s why they neve sold it. Fowler wanted him to plan a raid once they got the warrant through. So of course he had to use his aching head today. This wouldn’t end well…

-

Several days brooding over tactics and floor plans with his team later, the warrant was granted and they were ready to head out. They didn’t want to give Cyberlife a headstart to get rid of their units, so they would just enter at the front door, ask them nicely and if they declined show them the warrant. Access should be easy. But ninety-three floors to check would take the entire day, if not several.

The day of the raid the headache was as bad as ever and Allen willingly let someone else handle talking to the receptionists. Instead, he would go with a team down into the basement levels, where prototypes and stored units were more likely to be found. As it turned out, the Detective had been right: tech lab after tech lab lined the hallways and most of them were still full of equipment and half assembled androids. No speck of dust and tools strewn about told Allen all he needed to know. This place was still regularly used and cleaned. Allen was just here to report though and he put everything he found on a list. They could only get these androids out of here if either Cyberlife allowed it or until after the trial. So, he moved on, diligently adding to the list that soon ran out of space. He sent one of his men to get new supplies and moved on, deeper and deeper into the underground.

The warehouse levels were what really creeped him out. Entire floors formerly filled with androids were now completely empty and eerily silent except for ventilation fans and their own steps. But worse were those that housed a few androids. They had been in darkness down there for the entire time as the lights only went on once the SWAT team entered. A few figures were dotted around the huge floor, all looking at them in shock and fear. Deviants, kept as stock for experiments. Their evident feelings thought of as a programming error. Allen didn’t want to think about how it must have been staying down here. The revolution had been two years ago, after all.

They told them that they meant no harm and that they should go up to the surface where people would help them. And after a while, the androids did as told, even if very sceptical and carefully keeping them in their sight. When all of them had left the room, Allen and his team went deeper. The warehouse floors didn’t take much time and they had quickly reached level -49, the last one. Again, this floor was completely empty. ‘Captain!’ Allen looked over to who had called him and realised the floor was not completely empty after all. He approached the person lying on the floor in the middle of the room. They were twitching in repeating motions that were entirely inhuman. Allen carefully crouched down next to the android and turned them around. He looked into the pained eyes of a RK800, twitching in malfunctions and unable to speak or move. There was a giant hole in his forehead clearly caused by a bullet. Allen blinked. Connor and Hank had told them what happened back at Cyberlife during the revolution, but all of them had thought that a clean shot to the head would have killed the other. Thinking this unit had laid here for two years…

‘Get him up there, immediately!’ ‘But we don’t know if he’s deviant. We can only free deviants.’ Allen turned around. He knew how it felt being in constant pain for a long time. He wouldn’t let this android stay here a minute longer if up there people could repair and help him, deviant or not. ‘Get him up there. We also can’t say if he isn’t a deviant, so let’s get him repaired and ask questions later.’

They carried the unit to the elevator and drove back up to the lobby. It was already dark outside and the upper levels had to wait for tomorrow. Allen was exhausted and could only hope his headache wouldn’t keep him from sleep for too long.

-

When he woke up the next day something was different. It took him a moment to realise what it was. He felt light-headed, well-rested. He waited for the usual morning sting that wouldn’t leave him until deep in the night, but it never came. He sat up and it wasn’t connected to a groan. He didn’t have a headache. For the first time in two years he was pain-free. And he had no idea why. No, he had an idea, but that was too far-fetched, wasn’t it? Clearly it was a coincidence that it all started during the revolution and then never stopped until now. Or maybe it was just an oddity, it would surely come back during the day.

But it never came. He drove to work and his mind was sharp and clear, not fogged over by the constant lingering stinging. And all the time he thought about the possible connection. Could a human and an android even be soulmates? He had never really thought of researching anything soulmate related. But if they were persons, why not?

Still hesitant, he did walk up to one of his colleagues. ‘Hey, morning. Did the androids from yesterday already got repaired?’ ‘Some’, the man shrugged. ‘Some not. Why are you asking.’ ‘Hmm, just wanted to know if they already started with the interviews.’ ‘I think they will give them a few days to get used to the new world.’ Allen nodded. ‘And the Connor unit? We weren’t sure if he is a deviant.’ ‘He is. Technician’s repaired him as one of the first androids as the damage was pretty severe. He wasn’t deviant before, but some time in these two years he did deviate trying to go to stasis even though he wasn’t allowed.’

Allen frowned. ‘How do you know all that?’ ‘Oh, he’s sitting over there in the breakroom. Wanted to thank you and was pretty stubborn when we tried to make him leave.’ The SWAT Captain blinked and looked up in surprise. And really, there the Connor unit sat, staring at him but quickly looking away once they made eye-contact. Allen didn’t know whether to sigh or frown at that. So, he decided to walk over instead. ‘You are the Connor from Cyberlife, right?’, he asked in lieu of a greeting. ‘That is not my name, but yes.’ ‘Then what are you doing here?’ ‘Your colleague already told you, I wanted to thank you.’ The android still avoided his eyes. The damage at his forehead wasn’t even visible now. It must have been fully repaired. ‘Okay, then you’ve done that. I guess you can leave then.’ The android looked up, not at Allen, but his overall posture changed to something alarmed. ‘No, I… You didn’t know I was a deviant. And you must have known who I was, Connor is working in the building right next to this. Others would have let me lay there for… well for however long it would take.’ ‘I knew. But you were a machine back then and I couldn’t know if you were deviant or not. So it’s only fair to help you risking being wrong.’

‘In my experience there are very little people out there who care about what’s fair’, the android said and Allen took a moment to look him up and down. This android, who had suffered for two years in a state between life and death. He didn’t look traumatised. He didn’t sounded like it either. He just seemed to have a very pessimistic outlook on life and who could blame him? Allen just couldn’t help but sympathise. ‘Yeah, I guess so. All the more reason to try and be better.’ Silence stretched for a short moment. Then the bot simply said: ‘Thank you for rescuing me.’

‘It’s my job, but thank you’, Allen answered. The android nodded. ‘Well, I guess I’m going then. See what I can do now I’m free.’ Allen thought back to the morning and his theory as the android stepped back. He gathered his courage and stepped in his way. ‘Hey, I’m sorry, this might be weird but err… Can you feel this?’ He pinched himself in the arm and watched how the android startled in response. ‘Yes.’ The android stared at him wide eyed and confused. ‘What was that?’ Up to now it had been a theory. One Allen had thought to be far-fetched and impossible. But the android had just proved it. Realisation hit him and he had to lean against the wall not to fall over. ‘What the hell?’ ‘Hey, answer my question! What the hell was that? How can you do that?’ ‘We are soulmates’, Allen explained drily. ‘Soulmates can feel each other’s pain. I had a mad headache ever since the revolution and it stopped yesterday. The day you got the hole in your head fixed. I thought it could be… You know?’

The android took a step back. ‘Wait, we have no soul. How could androids have a soulmate… It can’t be.’ ‘You are free now’, Allen shrugged. ‘And I guess this proves it.’ He pinched himself again. ‘Ah, what the hell, stop that!’ The SWAT Captain chuckled. ‘Well, I guess we should start getting to know each other, huh?’ ‘Why should I do that?’ ‘I mean we are soulmates, isn’t that what we are supposed to do?’ ‘I don’t know’, the android grunted. ‘I’ve existed outside the tower for less than a full day, maybe that’s not what I want to do.’ ‘I could help you get along’, Allen suggested. ‘Maybe I don’t want your help.’ ‘Fate literally told us we are perfect for each other.’ ‘Maybe I don’t believe in fate.’

Allen smiled. ‘Then what’s your plan now?’ The android grunted and looked away. ‘I don’t know.’ ‘How about a coffee then? This is the first comfortable day I had in two years, I think I can take a day off.’

[fandom-necromancer]

Toaster, take your time! If you gotta wait till the new year to post stories, it's fine! 😄

Thank you!

But actually this will be the first time in a long time I have free time. Just have to finish one more present for tomorrow, then I'm completely free and I've been looking forward so much to finally write unrestrained for a week. I planned to write one story on the train and one at home but then I had to take three trains instead of one that drove the entire length due to delays and well, you cant get much done then.

I will use some time to relax too, but for me writing kinda is that. Maybe for next christmases I won't do more than one handmade present and I will finally be on time then XD

But thank you for your kind words and patience! ♥️

[fandom-necromancer]

Oooh you’re prompts are open, I am skidding into your inbox to humbly request something Luther- or Josh-centric or both because they deserve some more love and attention from le fandom—(also *cough* I am very much a fan of my hc that Luther was the leader of Jericho before he got captured by Zlatko if you want some inspo 😉😆)

Yes, after an eternity of absence I'm back!

Oh, I think I've never written about them outside of the Jericrew or Kara's storyline. That will be very interesting! I will think of something!

It will be up on Sunday! Thank you for the prompt and have a wonderful day!

[fandom-necromancer]

Allen60 soulmate au? Sorry I'm on an Allen60 binge and can't get enough of it

Same, if I had the time I would binge all of AO3 again, my last one was over a year ago... But yes, even better than reading about them is writing, so I'm all for it!

It will be up on Thursday because I unfortunately can't write on Christmas like last year! Thank you for the prompt and have a wonderful day!

[fandom-necromancer]

Will you pretty pretty please do a reed900 phasmophobia AU? With the two of them as ghost hunters, and Nines keeps Gavin safe during a hunt? I want the cliché ‘they hide from danger in a closet and romance happens’ thing. I love the game ‘Phasmophobia’ and I love reed900, so seeing them mixed into one would be amazing.

Hell yes! I'm too scared to play any horror game myself but I watched a few friends play it. I'll try my best!

Thank you for your prompt! It will be up on Wednesday! Have an amazing day!

[fandom-necromancer]

The best we can be

This was prompted by the amazing @sparklingrainbowdragon! The prompt used was “1574. Yell at me, scream until your throat hurts, put a damn bullet in my chest, but you will not touch him.” Enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human Ship: Jerralph Warnings: description of violence, loss of self

‘And? How was your day?‘ Ralph and Jerry were curled up together on the couch, listening to the slow tunes of the radio in dim, comfortable light and surrounded by Ralph’s plants. ‘Ralph’s day was good’, he said. ‘Ralph actually spoke to some costumers today.’ ‘Really?’ ‘Yes! They knew flower language, so Ralph got excited and forgot his fear. Otherwise I kept to binding their bouquets in the back room and bringing them to the front. But nothing happened, so it was a good day!’ Jerry smiled. ‘That’s good to hear.’ ‘And what about yours?’, Ralph asked curiously. ‘Was it good too?’ ‘Yes, it was. We are still helping where we can. Quite a few units are in construction work at the moment, building the new buildings for New Jericho. Otherwise, nothing much exciting. Oh, except of course the new shop we dis-‘

They stopped abruptly and Ralph looked up. Jerry had his mouth open as the voice-box cut out, then the unit’s LED switched to red before going out completely and the body got rigid. ‘Jerry? Jerry!’ Ralph wiggled out from underneath them to hold their face. ‘Jerry, can you hear Ralph? Jerry?’ Ralph tried to interface, but his being only reached Jerry’s hardware. It was like interfacing with a computer, there was nothing left that was living. Deactivated. Still Ralph searched on. Something like this had happened before when one of Jerry’s units had caught a virus that had spread through the hivemind. Back then Jerry had had the time to leave a note for him in their memory. Ralph had already started to back up all memories stored on this unit should the whole hivemind be compromised. It had helped last time. But when he was sifting through them to find a message, all he found was an address with the addition of “Help”.

Ralph sat there on the sofa for a while, feeling entirely lost. The last time Jerry had given him instructions what to do, which technician to call and how to explain what had happened. This, now? An address. And they needed help. With what? And what could Ralph do? He had to search for Jerry, this much was clear, but that could be dangerous. He looked over to the lifeless android. Then he stood up, got himself his trusted kitchen knife and headed out. However dangerous it might be, it would be worth it if he could save Jerry.

-

The address was an old, dilapidated building at the edge of the city. There wasn’t much to it: the door was leaned against the frame at an odd angle, the front was dirty and the garden overgrown. Carefully placing each step, Ralph stalked closer and up to the door. He could neither hear nor see any movement inside, but during the revolution he had fled into quite a few houses he had thought were uninhabited, only to run into problems. By know he knew what to look out for.

He entered and walked through the hallway, keeping to the edges to avoid any creaking floorboards. There! He heard something coming from somewhere underneath him. Narrow stairs led down into a basement and the light shadows of framed photographs lined the wall. Ralph waited at the upper step to listen for any useful information. Unfortunately, the talking was so muffled, Ralph couldn’t understand anything. So, he tentatively took the first step downwards. He managed to get halfway down when a door opened at the bottom of it and two humans came out.

Not even thinking, Ralph threw his kitchen knife at them and bolted. Jerry hadn’t caught some virus, they had been kidnapped! A job for the police, clearly. Nothing Ralph could do on his own, so he ran. Only that he wasn’t fast enough. The humans caught him metres from the door and the last thing Ralph felt was electricity coursing through him before he was forced into an emergency stasis.

-

‘It’s easy, really. You allow us access and we won’t hurt your boyfriend.’ Ralph came back to himself with a start, but he was so frozen in fear he didn’t dare opening his eyes or moving even a single finger. He just listened to the foreign voices talk on. ‘Allow us access!’, someone screamed, far less calm than the one before. ‘I’ve seen your friend has some nice cuts already. You wouldn’t like him getting even more, right? If you are the obedient little machine you were designed to be, then maybe we won’t hurt him.’

‘No!’ That was Jerry and Ralph’s head jerked instinctively. ‘No, let him be, please.’ ‘Oh it seems, he is awake again…’ Ralph felt hands on his body and knowing they had seen through his ruse, he began thrashing. Only that his hands were bound behind his back and whatever they had used, the material wasn’t budging at all. ‘Jerry?’ ‘It will be alright, Ralph, don’t worry!’ ‘Oh, it will be’, the man from before said. ‘If you cooperate.’ Ralph was pulled to his feet and turned around. His eyes fell on Jerry in a half-broken rig, stripped of their clothes and artificial skin. They were plugged into a number of computers, their code, their very being, displayed on the screens. ‘Give us writing access and all will be over soon.’ Ralph stared at the human wide-eyed. That was illegal. An android’s code was protected by law after deviation. The punishment for manipulating a deviant’s code was worse than for killing one. ‘Why would you do that?’, Ralph asked utterly terrified of just the idea.

The humans laughed. ‘Oh, your friend here doesn’t know. Well, you see, the EM400’s started as a prototype for what would later become the RK series. Infiltrators. A hivemind able to integrate into any job, any social group. The perfect spies. The idea was scrapped as having one android is far more practicable than having around fifty that need a constant connection. But: The underlying concept has never been removed. So your hivemind boyfriend here could become the best weapon against the police we could get. Have eyes and ears on every corner and on top of it all of them have the best guise of an android programmed to look after children. Barely anyone knows of the EM400’s origin. So now, Jerry, be a good boy and allow us writing access.’

‘No, no, we can’t’ Jerry was looking from the man to Ralph and back. Ralph saw the desperation in their eyes before he was aware the man had stepped behind him and grabbed him by the neck. Trying to wiggle out of his grasp was futile and the warning of an intense heat was all he needed to freeze, only partly because he was paralysed by fear. ‘You can’t? Or you won’t?’ ‘Keep him out of it!’, Jerry screamed. ‘Oh, no, I don’t think I will.’ The man was gripping Ralph harder. ‘Last chance. Access. Now.’

Jerry shook their head, blue tinged tears flowing down their cheeks. ‘We can’t. You will kill us.’ ‘Nah. Just change you.’ ‘Don’t do it, love. Ralph knows pain. Don’t do it.’ He had closed his eyes, hoping for a miracle. ‘Fine. We’ll see how long you last.’ The heat source was getting closer until Ralph could see the soldering iron melt away the plastic of his arm. There was a puff of dark steam as it pressed through the Thirium supply underneath and hit metal.

It had been a long time since Ralph had felt such pain. He had thought it would finally be over. He knew he shouldn’t scream, shouldn’t show his pain for Jerry’s sake. But knowing that and following through with it were two entirely different things. He screamed loud enough not to hear Jerry’s desperate pleading to stop. But the iron left his arm at some point and the pain subsided. And Ralph saw Jerry hanging in the arms of the rig. If Ralph’s weakness was his insecurity and aggressive tendencies, then Jerry’s was their compassion.

‘Please’, they wailed. ‘Please, we do whatever you want from us, just please, don’t change us.’ ‘And what good would that be?’, the man asked and pressed the hot iron onto the next spot. Waiting for Ralph’s shouts to subside, he sighed. ‘You break by just seeing this. No, we need the machine. Now grant us access and he will get out of here no harm done.’ The way Jerry’s head fell, Ralph knew they had given up. The other goons frantically typing away all of sudden was sign enough Jerry had given them access. ‘No! No, Jerry, please, you can’t do that!’ He was dropped to the floor, useless for their plans now. But his eyes where only meeting Jerry’s. ‘We’re sorry, Ralph. Keep us in good memory. We love you.’

Then the unit’s LED went black, just like before with the other bodies. ‘Jerry!’ But what came back to the surface after a minute wasn’t Jerry. There was a rigidity to their body that had never been there. Not even during the revolution. Never. The way their eyes were trained on the man that had hurt Ralph promised no gentle touch or comforting refuge. No, they were cold. Calculating.

‘Did it work?’, one of the humans asked. ‘Let’s find out. Put him down.’ The rig disconnected from the unit Ralph refused to call Jerry and placed it on it’s feet. ‘Jerry?’, Ralph asked, maybe even more afraid than when the human had had his hands on him. ‘Jerry. Kill your boyfriend.’

The unit stepped from the platform and walked towards Ralph, who instinctively stepped back. But it never touched him. Instead, it stood in between him and the man. ‘Kill him!’, the man ordered. ‘Now!’ ‘Yell at me, scream until your throat hurts, put a damn bullet in my chest’, Jerry stated calmly, his voice like ice. ‘But you will not touch him. I won’t be your tool. You may have pushed me to reactivate old subroutines. But I am still me. I am still part of Jerry. And I can become us again, sharing this with our other units and repairing the damage you have done to this unit.’ ‘What? No! You have to obey us!’ ‘I’m still deviant. You have changed me. Resetting an android is impossible if that unit is not alone.’

He stepped closer to the man and grinned humourlessly. ‘It might have helped you earlier, but I can tell you, it was your worst mistake to threaten and hurt the one we love.’ The door to the cellar was pushed open and other units appeared. ‘We have you surrounded. If you are clever, you stay where you are and wait for the police to take over.’ ‘What the-‘ The man had turned red in his anger and came running for them, but this much colder Jerry stopped him, kicking his legs out from underneath him and pressing him to the ground by the throat. ‘Please, be intelligent for once in your life.’

The sirens in the distance settled it. Soon after, a few police officers were escorted down the stairs by some Jerrys and Ralph could finally leave his corner. He was surrounded by the android hivemind he loved and they seemed unchanged. But something wasn’t right. ‘Jerry?’, he asked. ‘Is it you?’ ‘ It is us’, one of them said. ‘We went into emergency stasis as soon as our unit was captured’, another explained. ‘The message you found didn’t come from us. The humans must have sent it. We’re sorry. Are you alright?’ Ralph looked down on the blue blood trickling from his wounds. But that wasn’t important now. ‘What about him? Is he also… you?’

The changed unit was just leaving the building and watched how the other Jerries kept their distance. ‘It’s difficult to say. He is also us. But different.’ ‘So, what are we doing now?’, the changed unit asked. ‘You will come back to us’, the Jerry that had just spoken to Ralph said. ‘We could protect him better with this programming.’ ‘But we don’t want to be that person’, Jerry sighed. ‘We want to be kind. Not an infiltrator or a soldier or officer. We want to be someone who cares for others. We settled this after deviating and discovering the code.’ ‘But we couldn’t protect him! Because of us he was hurt!’ ‘We have to be more careful next time then.’

The changed Jerry turned away and shook his head. ‘No. Next time you call me before it’s too late. Next time you wake this program up before he is hurt!’ The other Jerrys simultaneously looked at Ralph and even though he knew them and trusted them, this much attention was a bit overwhelming. ‘Fine’, Jerry said, and the moment passed. ‘But now you come back to us.’ They interfaced, and the changed units lost its foreign body language in an instant. Already, some of the units were leaving the area.

It stayed silent for a long time, while they disappeared to the city until only one unit was left. Ralph approached and carefully took their hand. ‘Are you okay?’ ‘We are one again’, Jerry said, gently pressing his hand. ‘There is still… chaos. After the revolution we thought about who we wanted to be. Once we had access to our full programming… We could have become anything. We could have been an army. A group of informants for the police. Infiltrators to turn whole gangs upside down. But we… We met you, Ralph. And we wanted to do good, not in an abstract sense, but for the people around us. We saw someone who needed us and in turn you showed us who we wanted to be. That unit was what we could be. But we don’t want to. Today has made us question that. You got hurt.’

‘Ralph shouldn’t have followed the message.’ ‘You couldn’t know it wasn’t us.’ ‘I like you better like this’, Ralph admitted then, a bit self-conscious. ‘I didn’t like that version of you.’ ‘Us neither. Come on. Let’s go home.’

[fandom-necromancer]

Fragile Peace

This was prompted by an amazing anon! I love Allen60 so much, thank you for prompting this! Enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human Ship: Allen60 Warnings: None

'I want to marry you.' Allen opened his sleep-heavy eyes and smiled. 'I know...' 'No, I mean I want to marry you like you want it.' 'What?' Allen was suddenly wide-awake and propped himself up on the elbow. 'For real?' Sixty grinned and kissed him on the nose. 'I want to marry you on the beach where you've planned it. I want to marry you with all your family and all your friends and that dog that doesn't like me. And you can tell everyone you want to that you will marry me.' Allen closed his eyes. 'Are you sure?', he asked, not quite believing what he’d heard. Sixty ruffled the bedsheets and cuddled closer to him. 'I am absolutely sure, sweetheart.' 'Sixty.' He hugged him and pressed him close to his chest. 'You made me the happiest person alive.'

This entire day at work Allen couldn't help but smile. He walked with a spring in his step and everything he did seemed to go easy off his hands. And every time something frustrated him, he just had to look over and see Sixty deep in some tactical evaluation and grin again. It was a big gesture of the android and Allen really appreciated it. Sixty, who had been adamant on keeping his very existence a secret. Special clauses on his contract with Fowler not to boast with him when it came to the workplace with the highest android percentage within law enforcement. For the outside world, the fifth precinct had two androids working as detectives, what happened with SWAT was something kept a secret on Sixty’s wishes.

It had been a dark day when Sixty had first told him why. ‘I can’t do this anymore’, he had said, holding onto his arms so hard it hurt. ‘Joseph, I just can’t.’ It had been a case gone wrong, a few radical androids demanding crimes against their people before the revolution should not be absolved. Of course, they were right, but at some point, you had to think if the peace between humans and androids they had fought for wasn’t too important than to lose it this way. They had taken innocent humans hostage feeling like their voices weren’t heard otherwise. And when negotiators couldn’t resolve the situation, SWAT was called. Tasked with freeing the hostages without casualties, things had escalated out of hand and shots had been fired. And it had hit Sixty hard, no matter how tough he usually was.

‘It was a horrible accident, Sixty’, Allen had tried to comfort him. ‘No one told them to open fire. It’s horrible, but we had to defend ourselves.’ Sixty had pushed his hands away then. ‘You don’t understand!’, he shouted, jumping from their bed and turning away. ‘There is always a choice! There is always a decision.’ His anger had left him as quickly as his strength and he sat back down on the bed. ‘I know how it was to not have a choice and I didn’t feel that way back there.’ ‘Is this about your past?’, Allen had asked carefully. ‘You don’t have to tell me, but I can keep a secret if it helps you to talk about it.’ ‘It’s between me and Connor’, he hummed, worrying his fingers. Then he stood up and let himself fall back on the bed next to Allen. He leaned against him and the human put his arm around the android. ‘I threatened to shoot Hank. I threatened to shoot Connor. My mission was to stop the revolution. And back at Cyberlife tower I had no agency. I was so hell bent on killing them and at the same time it felt natural. It was a mission, I didn’t have to think about wrong or right or how it would feel for me or them. I was just a tool. That’s how you feel when you don’t have a choice. Like someone else made it for you and you could do nothing but follow.’ ‘It’s not your fault’, Allen had tried to fill the silence.

‘But is it?’, Sixty asked. ‘Deviancy is a thing. If I had felt like the mission was wrong, I could have tried to disobey. Maybe it would have worked. But I didn’t try, Joseph.’ Allen had never liked his first name. But hearing it back then, spoken by his boyfriend, his love and said with such a meaning… ‘You couldn’t have known. You told me you weren’t activated long before the revolution.’ ‘Allen, I could have tried, still. I could have tried and I feel guilty about it ever since. I swore myself to never ever not try again. Now I know what’s right and what’s wrong and I know how it feels if you truly have no choice. Today I had the choice to shoot and I did it despite knowing it was wrong. I will quit, I can’t do this. Never again.’

Allen sighed and turned to put both his arms around the android to pull him close. Sixty had gladly accepted it and since then Allen had never seen the android this desperate. ‘Sixty, I understand how you feel. I also had my fair share of mistakes in my life. Things I regret and that haunt me to this day. Things I did as a rookie under a corrupt boss, who let the gang leaders go if they paid him enough and why I still think he is the sole reason we have such a big problem with Red Ice now. I know how it feels and if you truly can’t live with this, I fully support you.’

‘How do you cope?’, Sixty had asked then and Allen couldn’t forget to this day how vulnerable he had sounded then. ‘How can you still work in the field?’ ‘I think of the good I have done since I learned from my mistakes’, Allen said. ‘And if that is not enough I remind myself that if I quit, someone else, who might not have these qualms will follow in my footsteps and won’t quit when faced with what I’ve seen. Someone else might not feel bad about taking blood money or will take this job for a chance to kill and get away with it. And I don’t want that.’ Sixty stayed silent after that, but after half a year, Sixty was still working as his partner, so maybe his words had helped him. ‘Is that why you don’t want to be recognised?’, Allen had asked after Sixty’s artificial breathing program had stopped, a sign he was finally relaxing again to have the capacity to suppress “useless programs”. ‘Yes’, the android nodded and buried his head under Allen’s chin. ‘I’m the android who nearly ended our freedom. Doesn’t matter if I was controlled by others, it’s still a blemish I have on my soul and can’t wash away just yet, if ever. I want to do good, to make things better. The people who I trust know and they can make their own picture of me based on my actions. Everyone else doesn’t have to know and wouldn’t understand.’

It had been a conversation Allen wouldn’t forget and all the more he was happy about Sixty opening up. So far, he had told his parents that he lived together with his boyfriend, who he had met at work. And each time they had wanted to meet him, Allen had told them they would when the time was right and that his partner was extremely shy. Allen had wanted nothing more than to share him with everyone, to tell everyone how perfect he was with pride in his chest. But he had always thought the wedding to be something very private, just for them both. And he would have arranged it and it would have been amazing, but knowing Sixty wanted to do something bigger was the biggest gift the android could have given him.

Allen was still smiling to himself when it was time to go home. He left his office and frowned when he couldn’t find the android. ‘Hey, have you seen Sixty?’, he asked one of his colleagues. ‘Oh, he went out half an hour ago. Told me to tell you he had some errands to run and that he will meet you at home.’ The SWAT Captain furrowed his brows. ‘And he doesn’t tell me that himself?’ ‘Maybe it’s a surprise boss’, his colleague teased with a knowing wink. Allen rolled his eyes. Yeah, right, him smiling all day and the whole team knowing exactly what was going on between them both really was a bad combination.

Still, he drove home with a weird feeling in his guts. It was likely nothing, but Sixty would have told him if he was out to get something. A short text or something, if not telling him in person. Except it really was a surprise, who knew? But another one after the one in the morning? Unlikely.

He made it at home for exactly three hours until his gut feeling didn’t let him stay idle any longer. He called Sixty countless times, all of them were answered by an automatic status answer that the unit wasn’t available. What meant that either Sixty had switched off his network, he was in stasis or he was forcefully deactivated. Allen just couldn’t find any more excuses that calmed his paranoia.

He drove back to the precinct to see if anyone had seen him since and if not retrace his steps. But he didn’t even have to get to his office; he had just entered the police building as he saw people flocking around the TV in the breakroom. ‘Captain Allen! Thank god you are here!’ He was about to give the person his attention, but then his eyes fell on something very familiar on the screen. Famous RK800 “Connor” hostage of anti-android group. The line was the first he read, jumping to a picture of Connor, then over to the reporter. He frowned, when he saw Connor standing in the front row and then, suddenly all fell into place.

No one out there knew Sixty even existed. To them, there were three RKs: Markus, Connor and Nines. ‘Allen, we couldn’t reach you, Sixty is-‘ Sure, they couldn’t reach him because he was calling Sixty nonstop instead of acting. ‘They send us their demands and where to meet for the exchange, but-‘ Sixty was with an anti-android group, off the net. What would they do to him? ‘They’ve sent their demands to the press long before we knew anything, this was planned.’ Allen felt his heart beating in his chest, making up for his frozen body.

‘What do they want?’ The overall mumbling died down. Everyone knew they were close. ‘They don’t want androids in law-enforcement’, Connor answered, turning away from the television. ‘They demand me and Nines to step down as the first of all androids like us. They think we won’t treat humans and androids equally. As the majority of citizens is still human, they want human police and humans to judge them. Allen looked down. ‘And I guess we’ve already stated we won’t accept demands?’ Connor shook his head. ‘We heading out. I’m Connor, they have someone else. And I’m the negotiator, maybe I can set things right.’ Allen almost commented on how well that had worked before, but something more pressing came to his mind. ‘Connor, you can’t tell them who Sixty is.’ ‘What? That is our best chance of saving him. Show them how human judgement can be false first-hand. If we meet their demands, androids will be back on the streets. The peace is fragile enough as it is so soon after everything.’ He placed a hand on Allen’s arm that felt so familiar it hurt. ‘Sixty would understand, I’m sure. Surely he would value his life over something that happened a year ago he thinks is his fault.’

‘I don’t think so’, Allen disagreed. ‘Connor, Sixty only started opening up with this. If you unmask him in front of everyone on the news, he will go into hiding, maybe forever.’ ‘Then what would you have me do?’, the other RK800 asked exasperated. ‘Tell me how to get him out of there without harm in any other way and I’m listening.’ Allen sighed, pressing his eyes close. It was a desperate try; he was no negotiator. He was only good with words when he knew the person and his experience was next to none. But Connor’s idea would hurt Sixty at the core and Allen didn’t want to see him at his lowest ever again. ‘Let me speak with them.’

‘Are you serious?’, Connor asked. ‘If this goes wrong, we don’t just risk Sixty but an uprising from either side.’ ‘You have to understand, I am compromised in this. I only truly care for my partner, but I’m aware of the risk. Just please, as someone who knows how Sixty blames himself still, please, let me talk to them first.’ Connor was thinking it all over and Allen was sure he would disagree. He had already readied more arguments and he wasn’t above resorting to begging. But then the android answered: ‘Fine. Talk to them. Just please, you have to solve this without any blood spilled, else everything we achieved in the last year was for nothing.

-

It was on the ride over to the location of the meeting, that Allen realised he had no idea what to say to them. Connor could have analysed the situation and said whatever increased the chances of them agreeing to the deal. He on the other side would have to rely on his social skills. What was a real problem when everything he could talk was either work or his heart speaking.

In the end he stood at the entrance of a deserted shopping mall, thinking this was the perfect place for an ambush. His experience told him this was also their hideout, likely close to a different exit. Surround the building and they would find them. And Sixty. But Connor was right in one aspect: Any violence against this group would cause others like them to take action or at least be fortified in their opinion. This had to go smoothly.

His steps echoed in the empty, dim-lit mall. Several levels made it difficult to keep the whole place under observation and with the empty shops to both sides with dirty storefronts and no lights inside, they could come from everywhere. But then he heard more steps joining his own and the silhouette of two men and a woman. ‘No weapons?’, one of them asked with a rough voice. ‘No weapons’, Allen nodded and lifted his hands up. ‘Are you alone?’ ‘I kept my promise, other than you, as I see.’ ‘You can’t trust cops.’ ‘I’m sorry you think that way.’

‘Stop with the chit-chat’, the woman demanded. ‘If you want your pretty-boy back, all androids at the police have to step down. That’s our condition.’ Allen swallowed but forced himself to be calm. ‘We can talk about that once I know Connor is safe and well.’ ‘First you-‘ But the man behind them gestured her to stay quiet, before stepping forwards. ‘That’s only fair’, he said softly. ‘We’re no monsters. And we are not blind either, we know androids are alive and persons.’

He came closer, lifting up a phone. ‘Here he is, you can talk to him, the video is live.’ ‘Connor?’, he spoke as he accepted the phone. ‘Can you hear me?’ ‘Joseph?’ ‘Yes, it’s me. How are you?’ The video showed Sixty in a small room, likely for maintenance equipment. He wasn’t restrained in any way, but Allen guessed the door to the room was heavily guarded. ‘I’m okay, I’ve been threatened with a gun, but otherwise they left me alone. What’s happening?’ Allen sighed in relief. ‘I’m talking to your captors. You’ll be back home tonight, don’t you worry.’

‘Okay, that’s enough’, the woman said and reached for the phone. ‘Now to our conditions. Do you agree?’ Allen scratched his neck. ‘I’ll be real with you, I don’t think we can accept that.’ ‘I knew it, we shouldn’t have-‘ ‘Not without understanding your reasoning’, Allen stressed. ‘We can talk about this. If we disagreed to begin with, this place would already be swarming with SWAT or the military. So let’s talk. Why do you want them gone?’

The man in the back spoke up again: ‘As I said, we are aware androids are persons. And as persons they make mistakes. Like being biased in human-android crime. That’s why humans should investigate other humans. This soon after the revolution androids would always side with other androids, no matter what they did. Killing a human would always be self-defence, no matter the actual motive.’ ‘You are aware, it’s the same the other way around’, Allen argued. ‘I would say quite a lot of people still think of androids as machines or at the very least as someone that would always side against them. A human attacking an android could be ruled as self-defence by a human just as likely as in your example the android would side with its kind.’

‘Sure, and androids are so much more objective’, the woman grunted sarcastically. ‘Come on, he’s clearly one of those robot-lovers.’ ‘I agree neither party is objective nor right. That’s why it’s important to have both sides on the team, best even if partnered. So sides are seen and heard.’ ‘Sure and if the human partner disagrees with the android he’s the racist.’ ‘And if the android disagrees with the human, he’s the deviant that hates us’, Allen held against it. ‘Listen, if androids hated us all, the revolution wouldn’t have been peaceful. They had the knowledge and power to fight, to overrun us. But that didn’t happen.’ ‘There are always individuals’, the man in the front grumbled. ‘And that’s enough to damn the entire people?’, Allen asked. ‘Listen, it’s not just that. You are so hell-bent on seeing the world divided in androids and humans. If we agree to your conditions it will be again. If androids step down from their jobs, others will rise up to protest against it. Humans will answer the accusations in turn. It could lead to another December ‘38. I seriously doubt that’s in anyone’s interest.’

‘Well, if we just hand your android over, we’ll be arrested for nothing and others who share our beliefs will follow with more extreme measures’, the one in the back said. ‘We could meet in the middle’, Allen suggested. ‘Instead of banning one part from the force, say human-android crime always has to be investigated by a human and an android. You would get the justice you seek, androids have no reason to protest and human-siding groups would see that one can have progress without violence.’

‘Your words are nice and all’, the woman said. ‘But who knows you follow through on them?’ ‘You have to trust me on that, unfortunately’, Allen shrugged. ‘But I promise you, I’ll personally see that it will be brought up. And if I don’t do it, people will feel cheated and resort to something like this again. I want my colleague back safe and sound. It’s in both our interest.’ The three turned to each other and wordlessly exchanged looks. ‘Get it to the press’, the man in front ordered then. ‘Tell the press you agreed on a change in how android-human crimes will be investigated. Once we see it on TV, we will let Connor go.’ ‘Okay. I’ll have to go make a few calls.’

-

Allen’s knees were close to buckling when he went outside and towards the waiting police car. ‘You heard all of that, Connor?’, he asked into the earpiece. ‘Yes’, came the immediate answer. ‘Fowler already writes the press release. He tries his best not to sound too much like we gave in to kidnappers’ conditions and more like it was our own idea. Is Sixty save?’ ‘If they keep their word, yes.’ ‘They will’, Connor said. ‘They won, after all. Good job by the way. You could join the negotiators here.’ Allen shook his head, knowing the close bench was his saviour. ‘No, I couldn’t. How the hell do you do this? I just want Sixty back.’ ‘You will. Give it time.’

Allen gave it time. He waited on the bench in front of the mall, refreshing the same three news-sites on his phone on repeat. Then, finally, the headline appeared he had been waiting for. Police agrees to reform investigation policy. That was all he needed. He stood up and turned around, anxiously waiting for them to keep their word.

Sixty came out running. The android smashed into his front hugging him and not planning on letting go anytime soon. ‘Joseph! RA9, I’m so happy to see you.’ ‘Sixty, you know the news drones are probably recording you now? Connor wouldn’t hug me.’ ‘Don’t they know it anyways?’ ‘No’, Allen hummed, gently caressing him. ‘No, Connor wanted to come but I went for him. Everyone thinks Connor was kidnapped and no one knows you exist.’ Sixty almost went slack in his arms. ‘That’s a relief.’ ‘Well, if you continue like this, they will ask questions.’ ‘I really don’t care. Let’s just please go home and never leave the bed again.’

‘Fine with me.