Series: Detroit: Become HumanRating: TGenre: Adventure/Drama/Action (eventual romance)Summary: Befo

Series: Detroit: Become Human
Rating:T
Genre:Adventure/Drama/Action (eventual romance)
Summary: Before Connor, first of the RK800 line, began his fateful investigation of deviant androids, there was Jacob, the RK700 that preceded him. He failed in his assignment, but he did not go quiet into the night when he was decommissioned. Rather, he became the thing he had once hunted and disappeared into the depths of New York City in search of a new life. After finding refuge in the abandoned remains of a 1920s era speakeasy and rescuing a few fellow deviants, RK700 finds himself in charge of the only safe-haven for deviants this side of Detroit, whether he likes it or not.

( < Back to part 1 / < Back to part 10)

Part 11 - Fooler

Seven stared at the old man for a moment, processors working overtime to make sense of what he’d just seen. Since his active scan hadn’t been running, however, he couldn’t, leaving the man’s actions a total mystery to the android.

“Yes,” he said emphatically, turning slightly in his seat so he could get a better look, and the man’s face lit up in a broad smile at the android’s enthusiasm.

“Magic fan, huh?” he asked with a chuckle as he shuffled the cards with dramatic flair, making them arc and flow between his hands in a way Seven was quite certain should have been impossible.

“I’ve never seen it before,” the android answered honestly as he scanned the man’s movements. His systems informed him that though it did look impossible, the movement of the cards really was just practiced hand movements and physics like anything else, no matter how flashy. The fact that a human was able to do such a thing impressed Seven deeply, though.

The cards settled into a neat stack in the palm of the man’s hand and he used the other to lower the tray on the back of the seat in front of him. “What, at all?” he asked with a surprised quirk of a brow as he put the cards down on the tray, then gestured for Seven to cut the deck.

Realizing belatedly how odd his statement sounded to a human, Seven quickly recovered as he reached over and plucked up the top half of the deck and placed it to the right of the original stack. “Up close, I mean.”

“Ah,” the man said and smiled, allowing Seven to relax internally as he picked the deck up again and shuffled it deftly, then spread them out in a fan. “Here, pick a card,” he said. “You memorize it, but don’t show me, then put it back in the deck.”

Curious, Seven did as he was told, and plucked the seven of diamonds from the proffered cards, then returned it to a new place in the deck.

The man made a show of shuffling the deck again, the contemplative movements of his hands reminding Seven of his own coin exercises. “My name’s Todd,” he said as the cards flowed. “How about you?”

Seven opened his mouth automatically to answer… and then stopped when none came. He tried again, but his system turned up nothing, leaving the android to furrow his brow and attempt to stifle the panic rising within him.

What was his name?

He’d known some of his memory files had been corrupted in his escape from CyberLife, but the fact that all knowledge of the name he’d gone by since activation months before was gone had only just hit him.

His pause did not go unnoticed, though when Todd looked up at him and saw the furrow of his brown, his mistook the expression for one of reluctance to divulge his identity rather than the identity crisis it actually was. “Hey, don’t worry about it,” he said quickly, hands going still as he flashed the younger man a reassuring smile. “I didn’t mean to pry, we all have times in our lives when we’re trying to leave something behind,” he mused quietly.

Seven met his eyes and it seemed to the android that maybe the old man was speaking from experience. “Yeah,” he answered eventually, “Something like that.” His mouth twisted wryly and Seven let his previous panic at the sudden gap in his knowledge go. What did it matter if he didn’t remember the name CyberLife had given him? If anything, it was a bit of a relief, one less claim they had over his existence as a free android. He could be anyone he wanted…

“Well, for the sake of conversation, I’m gonna call you ‘John’, if that’s alright,” Todd said. “Nice common name, John; and better than 'hey you’ by a long shot.”

A rueful smile tugged at Seven’s mouth and he nodded, then glanced at the woman and child across the aisle from him. “Your wife?” he asked politely and Todd glanced up, then nodded.

“Yep, that’s Tonya and our grandson, Jake,” the man explained. The android might have introduced himself, but the woman had relaxed back into her seat shortly after the bus departed the station, and to all intents and purposes, appeared to be sleeping. The boy, Jake, was playing some sort of game on his phone, headphones in his ears, effectively blocking out the world around him.

Seven filed away the potential of acquiring headphones himself for later consideration. He didn’t like the idea of blocking out the world around him, considering the world was demonstrably trying to kill him, but on the other hand, people said all sorts of things when they thought you couldn’t hear them…

Todd finished shuffling the deck of cards and Seven turned the full of his attention back to the man as he produced a card and asked, “Is this your card?”

The android blinked as he regarded the queen of hearts. “No,” he replied, arching one brow at the old man.

“Oh,” Todd said with a frown as he turned the card around so he could look at it, then returned it to his deck and began patting himself down. “I must have- ah!” he slipped his fingers into the breast pocket of his jacket and came up with the seven of diamonds. “How about this one, then,” he asked with a knowing smile.

Seven’s eyebrows shot up and he couldn’t restrain the smile that overtook his features at the revelation, frustrating though he found it that the man had somehow pulled the wool over his eyes with the trick. “Yeah,” he said and took the card from Todd, looking at it front and back, though there were no special markings on it that even his scanning program could pick up. “I looked away,” he accused the man, though there was no venom in his words, just amusement and intrigue as he passed the card back.

“I didn’t tell you to do that, now did I?” Todd countered, and Seven had to agree. Looking over at Tonya had been of his own volition, after all. “Care to see it again?” the old man asked, voice lightly teasing.

Eaten up by the mystery of it, and having nothing better to do anyways, Seven nodded and watched carefully. This time Todd pulled the card out of a different pocket, and though the android could tell he must be disguising the movement of the card with his hands, he simply couldn’t pin down the how of it.

“One more time,” he insisted, much to the old man’s amusement. While he shuffled, Seven fished in his pocket and produced a hard candy, which he popped into his mouth to mask the taste of blood that was starting to get to him once more. When he shoved the wrapper back into his pocket, his fingers brushed the quarter from the diner that morning, and he brought it out. Hoping that a little calibration would help him spot the trick to Todd’s 'magic’, Seven rolled the coin expertly across his knuckles even as he picked a card from the proffered deck.

It didn’t help, though, and just to add insult to injury, Todd didn’t pull the card out of his own jacket, but from the pocket of Seven’s own hoodie. The pinnacle of human technology defeated, the android sagged back in his seat and ceased his quarter’s movement across his knuckles, switching instead to flicking it back and forth between his palms.

“Alright you win, I can’t figure it out,” Seven said, heaving a sigh as he looked sidelong at the man over the rim of his sunglasses.

Todd grinned in a way that could only be described as 'cheeky’, though his eyes were on the quarter as it jumped between Seven’s hands despite his not actually throwing it. “How about a trade?” the old man suggested after a minute’s consideration. The android arched a brow in silent question at his seatmate and Todd continued, “You teach me those coin tricks of yours, and I’ll teach you a few card tricks.”

Seven caught the coin in his right hand and blinked as he considered. “Alright,” he said after a moment with a lopsided smile. “You sure, though? I thought magicians never reveal their secrets?”

The old man waved off his concern as he laid the deck down on the tray in front of him. “Oh my magician days are well behind me,” he mused. “Might as well pass it on to the next generation.” Seven shrugged one shoulder and turned in his seat some again so he’d be better able to watch Todd’s demonstration. “It’ll probably be easier without the gloves,” the man pointed out.

The android glanced down at the thin cotton gloves he was still wearing and thought fast. “I’ll deal. I’m uh… bit of a germaphobe,” he lied.

“Ah,” Todd replied with a nod and let it go at that, for which Seven was grateful. “And the sunglasses inside?” he asked, hint of amusement in his voice.

“Sensitive eyes,” the android answered with another shrug and a rueful smile. That, at least, was true.

“Very Corey Hart, I’m sure the ladies love it.”

“Who?”

The old man grimaced then huffed a laugh. “Musician from the 80s, did a song about wearing sunglasses at night that was all the rage. Look it up sometime, you might like it,” he said, then motioned Seven in closer and said, “Alright, now pay attention and I’ll show you the basics…”