“When we treat people merely as they are, they will remain as they are. When we treat them as if they were what they should be, they will become what they should be.” — Thomas S. Monson

Detroit: Become Human

Connor Part 1 - The Unwelcome

A SWAT team officer announces the negotiator has arrived as the elevator doors to the penthouse suite open. A distraught woman runs over to the well-dressed young negotiator and begins to plead with him to save her little girl. But the hope in her eyes begins to fade as she comes to the realization he’s not a man, he’s an android. “Wait. You can’t do that, why aren’t you sending in a real person?” She cries out. The SWAT commander also isn’t impressed that an android is being used as a negotiator. Connor is a state of the art prototype, the first of his kind. An RK800 android designed specifically to assist law enforcement investigators.

Connor learns that an android named Daniel has gone “deviant” and killed its owner. When the police arrived Daniel also killed one of the officers before grabbing the man’s daughter to use as a hostage. Now, completely surrounded and desperate, Daniel is standing on the edge of the balcony and threatening to go over the edge with the girl if his demands aren’t met. Connor attempts to talk Daniel down but the deviant is completely irrational and will not listen to reason. With no other options left, Connor shoots Daniel in the head and saves the little girl.

A sign hangs on the outside of the pub door that reads No Androids Allowed but Connor ignores it and enters anyway. He’s looking for Hank Anderson, a police detective that he’s been assigned to assist on a homicide investigation. Another android has turned deviant and murdered its owner. But Hank isn’t interested in the case or working with an android. Connor is able to talk him out of the bar but he realizes developing any sort of rapport with the detective is going to be practically impossible. Hank hates androids.

When they arrive at the scene of the homicide they are told the deviant killed its owner and fled. As Connor begins to investigate he begins to piece together what had happened. It wasn’t just a simple case of the android malfunctioning and killing its owner. In fact it appears the android was first attacked by the owner and was defending itself. A bat at the scene indicates the android was being beaten with it prior to grabbing a knife and stabbing the owner. But that doesn’t account for why the owner was stabbed 28 times. In the bathroom the symbols RA9 are drawn over and over again.

Upon further investigation, Connor realizes that the deviant android had been wounded and was bleeding Thirium, or blue blood. It’s a fluid power source that powers the android bio-components and is essential for them to survive. Connor is able to follow the trail of Thirium which is invisible to the human eye and discovers the android hiding in the attic. The android begs Connor not to turn him in but instead Connor calls down to Hank.

At the police station Hanks is getting nowhere while interviewing the deviant. Connor suggests he be allowed to interrogate it. It’s not long until Connor is able to extract a confession. The android explains how the owner used to beat him and one day he just came to the realization that it was wrong. He became scared and he didn’t want to die. At first he attacked out of fear but he said it felt good to stab his owner so he did it again and again. He then tells Connor that there will be a day the androids will rise up and become the masters. Before being led away to be decommissioned the android steals an officer’s gun and shoots itself in the head.

The police Captain tells Hank he’ll be partnering with Connor from here on out and they will be in charge of investigating all cases involving deviants. Hank is incensed and asks why me, you know I hate these things. But the Captain doesn’t give him any choice in the matter. Connor attempts to build a relationship with Hank but it isn’t working. At one point Hank slams Connor against the wall but is interrupted by another officer who tells them the missing AX400 that attacked a man the previous night has been spotted.

Hank and Connor are canvassing the last known area where a missing AX400 was seen. Connor deduces the android didn’t come here intentionally. He believes it had taken the first bus it could find out of panic and that it stayed on the bus until the end of the line. He thinks it must still be in the area. Looking around he sees an old abandoned house across the street and goes to investigate. The android and a little girl flee from the house and Connor chases them to the freeway where they risk their lives to escape by running across it. Connor was about to chase after them but Hank stops him and tells him it’s too dangerous.

Hank and Connor have been called to do a check on an abandoned apartment. A concerned neighbor believes an android is hiding out inside. When they knock on the door they hear a commotion inside and a loud crash. Hank kicks open the door and they proceed inside. The place is a complete disaster and is filled with pigeons. In the bathroom Connor finds obsessive drawing on the walls. RA9 is written over two thousand times and he notes it’s the same symbol the previous deviant had written at that crime scene.

Connor is able to piece together enough clues in the apartment to realize the android isn’t gone and is in fact hiding in the rafters. As he moves to apprehend the android, it jumps down knocking Connor to the ground and flees. Connor gives chase, following the deviant across the rooftops of Detroit, now used as fields to grow food crops.

Connor is catching up but Hank is pushed over the edge of a rooftop in a confrontation with the android. Hank desperately clings to the ledge and Connor decides to let the android get away in order to save his partner. Afterwards Hank looks at him differently, like if he were more than just a machine. He tries to thank Connor but he can’t bring himself to say the words.

To be continued...

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