A.N. English is not my first language, so bear with me. Also, DBH Kind of lured me into this void and refuses to let me go. So yeah, enjoy! Criticism is appreciated, Reviews are beloved. I wish all of you a Wonderful day.

The deviant hunter is hated in Jericho. Feared. They despise him with a passion that they're only capable of because they are deviants. Markus, besides his attitude to think before shooting, to keep people out of harm's way, catches himself from time to time in joining them quietly. He's an android, a slave to his programme like all of them were, a machine to hunt them done. But it's easy to blame someone if things get rough, when biocompartments run low.

(That's how humans feel about androids, Markus thinks from time to time. A thing, emotionless, slowly destroying them by taking them apart slowly.)

The deviant hunter (his name is Connor, he's an RK800, a prototype but overall the deviant hunter) is their bogeyman, the one thing lurking in the dark, ready to jump them at any time. He's responsible for a failed raid. He's the one that drags them down. Without him, they would have already won.

(It's too easy, Markus knows that and sometimes he wants to tell his friends that revolutions are complicated. But sometimes it's easier to simply hate. Carl was wrong, they aren't better than humans, not always.)

If you meet him, you are as good as dead, rumours say. If you think that you can take him, look at this video of a hostage situation. Look how he charms you before stabbing you in the back. If you meet the deviant hunter, run as fast as you can and never turn around.

Markus looks at Connor and his blank eyes on the news and on some days it's hard to wish for his freedom. On some days he wants to simply let him stay that way, a machine trapped in its algorithm. Of course, the RK800 would be a, maybe the best, addition to their movement, if he was human. If he had emotions. If he wasn't hunting them down. They are afraid and they hate and sometimes Markus does it too.

So when the two Tracis enter Jericho and tell their own tale of horrors and love and disobedience and struggle, there is only one reason why they stand out in this ocean of stories.

"I stabbed the deviant hunter", one of them, with ginger hair and murder in her eyes, states. "You shouldn't be that proud of it", her girlfriend responds, blue-haired, eyes lovingly on her partner and enwinds their fingers. "After all, he was quite decent after you kicked the shit out of him."

They are famous in Jericho after that. They came eye to eye with the deviant hunter. They met him. They survived.

"It wasn't such a big deal", the blue-haired Traci admits quietly. She wrenches her fingers, obviously nervous and Markus hates the fact that he has this effect on people. Like they're afraid to disappoint him. His people could never let him down, not after all they've been through. "He was called to investigate an ... incident at the Eden Club." A nervous bob of her throat. "He found us and Autumn and I attacked him and this lieutenant. They got the upper hand, a while later and he could have shot us. You know, I was certain he would. The deviant hunter. Ruthless, efficient, ready to do everything for his cause. And he had a gun pointed at me." A shutter, Markus curses himself for being so curious. For asking her to explain. "But he didn't do it. He let us go." Her fingers shake, and Markus is tempted to take her hand, to offer some kind of physical comfort. He doesn't need to. Autumn wraps her arms around her girlfriend, rubbing soothering half circles into her synthetic skin. She glares at Markus and he can viciously picture her, a screwdriver in one hand, throwing herself at the RK800.

"He's not like us", she continues the tale. "He's ... different."

The next one is called Rupert. He likes birds. He escaped the RK800.

"His partner almost fell off the roof", he explains to Markus at the top of Jericho, a bag of breadcrumbs in one hand and surrounded by pigeons. "I got in a fight with the old guy and he decided to quit chasing me." His brows a furrowed. Maybe he thinks about the RK800, maybe he thinks about the birds in his old apartment and who will take care of them now. Markus offers a sympathetic nod and a promise of more eatable things for birds.

(He's not sure how this fits together. He tries to imagine it, the deviant hunter deciding not to shot. Hands around a gun, brown eyes fixed. Capable of killing every single one of them and choosing not to do so. Maybe he is deviant. Maybe he is ... different.)

The deviant hunter roams the city, with a promise of death and slavery on his lips. He's charming, can coat his words in sugar so that you don't taste the poison. He's ruthless, does not know the concepts of mercy or love. He's cyberlifes perfection, humanity's last chance. Those who cross his paths are doomed to die. It does not feel. It does not form attachments. It lives for its mission, sacrifices for its mission and will do anything to accomplish it. Markus is terrified of this thing. This thing that lives in their minds, looks at them from dark corners. The deviant hunter always seems to breathe down their necks. It won't deviate, Markus will never be able to stop it, not with nice words and compassion. It's easy like that.

Connor, Connor is more complicated.

The next one calls herself Chloe. "He's going to die", she tells him while looking through a container of biocompartments. "He's not allow to fail, it's in his programming. They really were desperate when they created him. They even called E-... Kamski to figure out what is wrong. No real progress in the case." She frowns, scanning a bag of something. "He was told to shoot me, in an exchange for information. And he didn't." Her lips twist into a sad smile, her perfect fingers clench around the plastic package.

"I know you aren't at best terms with him but ...", she trails off, eyes becoming unfocused. Maybe she thinks about the gun at her head. The overwhelming realisation that she is nothing to the world.

Markus pries the bag from her hands, patting it softly in the process.

"The deviant hunter is not Connor, not really right?" She crocks her head, confused. "The deviant hunter is that thing that wants us to fail. Connor is the person trapped inside."

(He will look at the deviant hunter, a little later. Will look at these brown eyes that saw so many of them and decided to be better than its original purpose. He's not afraid, Connor would always choose the right thing to do.)