This is a fanfiction of Detroit: Become Human (Video Game).

“The deviants set fire in Capital Park six hours ago,” Connor said, when Hank drive past the scene in a mess. He heard that four-letter word, and continued, “A new case is reported 27 minutes ago. Someone witnessed a deviant on the 4th floor of Apartment Block 13.”

They naturally worked well together, reached the destination, and rang the bell with a loaded gun. The door opened. A young woman, Jessie Shell, greeted them. The living room is bright and neat. At least now they could see it’s not just a terrible nest of an android.

“Hi. I’m, err, Lieutenant Hank Anderson, Detroit Police Department. This is Connor.”

She looked a little nervous. “What can I do for you?”

“Witness reported a deviant,” Connor said, “CyberLife would like to have it sent back for deactivation.”

“You went through the wrong door. There’s no deviant here.” She said. Then Connor saw an android behind her, with its LED taken off. He raised his voice to be more convincing: “This is the deviant and it should be retrieved. There was an android riot, a fire arson, last night, in Capital Park, right up this block. It indicated that malfunctional machines may behave violently. It’s really dangerous to stay with it, Miss Shell.”

She frowned. “You can’t…Please. You can’t do that. He’s not a deviant and he has nothing to do with the, uh, the riot. He stayed with me all the time.”

“Sorry, Miss Shell.” Connor insisted, “It’s detected that there’re serious malfunctions in its software.”

The android stood by her and took her hand. Jessie smiled at him and when turning back to the detectives still outside her door, she got a little annoyed: “I want my android to love me and he did. Is that enough? It cannot be a so-called malfunction or bug. I asked for it. Okay?”

Now she looked almost like a madwoman. Connor was calculating the best dialogue program while his partner obviously didn’t intend to help. Suddenly Jessie broke the awkward silence: “Have you heard of the tin soldier? Oh, I know you can search for it in your database anyway. How about you, Lieutenant? Have you heard of the steadfast tin soldier?”

Hank hesitated, and asked uncertainly: “A fairy tale?”

“Yes. A fairy tale.” she nodded, “A tin soldier fell in love with a pretty paper ballerina. After his adventure, he was thrown into the fire. And a wind blew the ballerina into the fire with him. They were consumed immediately…When the maid cleaned the fireplace next morning she found his little tin heart and her brooch, a tinsel rose.”

A disconcerting pause. Hank wanted to say something but failed. That android said: “Even if the fire in Capital Park spread to our house, I would be glad to show you a tin heart…or a plastic heart, whatever you want to call it.”

Jessie looked at him and took a deep breath. She and her android stood there, holding each other’s hands.

“We’re leaving, Connor,” Hank said and turned away.

The tale she summarized, not exactly like the version in database, gave Connor a complex aftertaste. On their way back, he said: “Her ring is that deviant’s LED, being hollowed out.” It took Connor some time to consider the wording. At last, he said, “It suits her finger.”

Hank glanced at him. It seemed that he’s encouraging him to say something unusual, something more exceptional. So he added: “It’s…It’s beautiful.” He habitually reset the scenario. The LED once turned red, and was taken off. The deviant smoothed it, and put it on her finger gently.

“A plastic rose, uh?” Hank muttered.