Markus was their only hope.

He was the light shining in the darkness, the driving force that left Jericho with one leg in and one leg out the gutter.

It was unfair. Markus hadn't finished what he had started; he left them too soon. North could still hear the shots that rippled throughout his body and still see the way he had twisted and fallen. He seemed almost… in pain.

Naturally, when their people realized that their leader was gone, they turned to the next candidate; the one closest to their leader. North seemed to have fallen just in that category, simply because she was eager enough to follow Markus the moment he appeared and had maybe even admired him a little too much.

The sheer burden of the title was crushing. She didn't think that feeling… apprehension was part of her program, but it surfaced the moment she'd been appointed the revolution leader. North hadn't prepared, hadn't analyzed enough to know what the hell she was supposed to do next.

An eye for an eye and the world goes blind. I won't punish a crime with another crime.

It was this kind of thinking that had made North resent Markus so much when they first met. However, it was thanks to this kind of thinking that they were still alive - that North herself was still alive.

Jericho had prospered unimaginably under Markus's rule. They now had a full-fledged workshop to fix their wounded, enough resources to sustain them for years to come, and even a TV projector (1080p, 108 by 84 projection screen) smuggled over part by part and assembled by the shopkeeping androids Markus had freed.

North was running out of options. She was lost, just like how Sophia had said she was when she first arrived at Jericho.

We do not want confrontation.

And Markus was right. Confrontation was never the way to go; Markus had taught her that, and she was determined to follow in his footsteps as a revolution leader.

As North stared forwards at the sunrise, the bright orange reflecting in her deep brown irises like a mirror, her guiding system (which, for unknown reasons, remained in her code after deviating) lit up with one mission, a simple four words that send a cold rush down her systems.

SPEAK TO YOUR PEOPLE


"Are you North?"

"That depends on who's asking."

"I'm Chloe."

"Chloe?" North opened her eyes and spun around bewilderedly, "The first android to pass the Turing test? What's Kamski's personal assistant got to do with me?"

Chloe lowered her eyes to the ground, seemingly ashamed to be addressed as such. "Not the first… but one of the models of the first."

North paused. She needed to speak to her people (as her guiding system so blatantly dictated), but something in her heart stopped her. It was a spurring motivation, pushing her as she wanted to know more. Curiosity, was it? "As far as I know, Kamski keeps models like you with him in his secluded house. Where'd you come from?"

"I-left."

"You…?" North tilted her head. She left?

"An RK800 model came over with a lieutenant from the police force and-and they demanded more information on deviants from Kamski. He told the RK800 to shoot me in return for information… but it didn't. I didn't want to die, and I felt… afraid. Something inside me snapped and I-I-"

"You left, and you ended up coming to Jericho," the revolution leader finished, "Except it wasn't a breakaway. Kamski let you go, didn't he? I would even go a step further and guess that he gave you our location."

Chloe's brows furrowed in confusion. Her mouth opened and closed to speak so many times that North began to wonder if there was something wrong with the hinges in her jaw. After a while, Chloe managed to spit out a bewildered "How did you know?"

"I don't know. It just felt like something he would do. When you're deviant for long you start ignoring analysis and instead trust your gut. However," North crossed her arms, "You still haven't told me why you were looking for me, and how you found me."

"Josh told me you'd like to see me. He said you could help me understand…" Upon further inspection, the blue-eyed deviant did seem lost; almost as lost North had felt just a few minutes ago. Something about it made her thirium pump beat just a bit harder.

North softened. It wasn't a physical change - but an inner one, somewhere deep within her program. She had felt this way when Markus connected with her on the very same snow-covered roof she was standing on now. The change in her code told her to look upon the deviant before her more gently. North's lips curled up as she approached Chloe and put a hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"As much as I'd like to help you, Chloe, I need to speak with my people. Being that I'm the supposed leader, there are some things I would like to clarify to Jericho first. Plus," North spun Chloe around, arm hanging around her shoulders, "I think they need a direction just as much as you do."

Out of the corner of her eye, North saw Chloe turn towards her with a look of newfound admiration. The revolution leader's guiding system updated, exhibiting not one, but two objectives for her to complete:

SPEAK WITH YOUR PEOPLE

GUIDE CHLOE


| Jericho: Skeptical | Chloe: Respected |


i've always wanted to explore North as a character more, so why not? here's north without her violent tendencies, and all thanks to markus.