/December 7th, 2038. 5:43:36 AM/
It was a chilly morning in Detroit. Having snowed the night before, the sidewalks and streets were all covered with a layer of pure white. While it might have been correct to assume that the snow plows should have been sweeping the city streets free of snow in this time of the morning, the vast majority of them were also run by androids. With the revolution over with, many services had been shut down in order to allow them time to hire actual workers, even if they happened to also be androids looking for work.
Markus could only sigh in content, knowing that even at the expense of quick travel across roads, his people had been freed.
"Praise to RA9! We're finally fucking here. Markus, what are we doing here again?" North was acting as aloof as ever. The taxi that they had ordered was definitely running at least half an hour behind, but it wasn't like they were in much of a rush.
What she was referring to was the devastated building in front of them, worn down after years of abuse from the elements. It was an old apartment building, but no human would want or be able to sleep in there. Just by looking through the broken windows Markus could see the destroyed interior of the lobby area. The couches were ripped apart and thrown across the floor. The wires of the ceiling lights were exposed. It was a complete disaster.
"This North, is our new building. I'd hope that you'd show it a little more respect. We'll be working out of here as soon as we can get it functional." Although he hadn't considered that the infrastructure of the building would have to be replaced. It might take a lot longer than he had realized to fix it up.
"What?! But this place is terrible, why'd you agree to having this be our new base?" The other android crossed her arms over her chest.
He sighed, "Because this was the closest location that they offered to give up to the center of the city. It also happens to be the closest to where Jericho was. Come look at this!" Pulling North away from the sidewalk and towards the side of the building, Markus turned the corner to look for something specifically.
"There's nothing here Markus, just some old trash bins. What could you possibly be looking for?"
"I know it's here, I just have to—aha! It's over there!"
North could only follow behind as he walked up to one of the large dumpsters lining the side of the alleyway and started to push it away from the wall. "Here, let me help you with that, you weakling."
With their combined strength the two of them succeeded in getting the bin out of the way, leaving the wall behind it exposed.
To any human the graffiti symbol would have meant nothing. There was a complicated piece of artwork lining the wall, but the portion of it hidden by the bin held a specific symbol inside it. The design was just a simple square with lines jutting out of the four corners. But it was immediately recognizable to any android who had ever tried to find Jericho.
"This was one of the signs on the path to find Jericho." North could only stare at in in amazement. "How did you convince them to just give you this exact building Markus?"
"I didn't. They're the ones who offered up this one. They just thought that the graffiti lowered its value. I don't think they even realized the significance of the symbol."
She scoffed, "Idiots. But for once it worked in our favor huh."
He continued, "I was thinking of leaving this side of the walls alone, if only to remember from which we all came. We could even apply for a plaque if you'd like? To educate more of our people about how we lived."
North started to chuckle, and affectionately hit his arm. "You've thought way to hard about this, Markus. Let's save all that 'informing the future generation' thing until after we actually get this place up and running." They continued to throw ideas back and forth at each other. As apathetic to the whole idea as North was, she was still one of the leaders of Jericho. They needed a permanent place to stay. At the moment, the majority of the androids had been holding their protest at Capitol Hill, in order to continue to pressure city legislature to give them equal rights.
Speaking of the leaders of Jericho, It seems like Simon and Josh had just arrived. At least the car speeding down the street was obviously driven by someone who had no experience actually driving one. Although, their mode of transportation was much faster than the taxi that he and North took. The car drove up to the curb, and right on over it.
"Five dollars says Simon's driving."
"And I know that I'd lose that bet in a heartbeat." Markus walked over to where the van was haphazardly parked half on the sidewalk in the front of the building and cupped his hands in front of his mouth. "Are you alright?"
Josh's head poked out from the passenger side window. "We're good! And look, we got company!"
Both Josh and Simon hopped out of the car, with Simon sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. As they did, the back door of the car slid open to reveal one other android. Looking just about as ashamed as Simon was when he stepped out of the car was none other than Connor himself.
While it had been Markus who had invited the RK800 to come join them on this day, in all honesty after what had happened two days ago he had thought that the other android would refuse to come.
"I'm glad that you were able to make it, Connor." He hoped that he was able to express his gratitude though those simple words.
"The pleasure is all mine, Markus." Connor's soft smile told him everything he needed to know. Even just through the greeting, it was nice to hear that he had not blamed the accident that happened in Jericho.
"Sheesh this small talk is making me sick." Of course it was North who had decided their conversation was too formal to bear. "Let's go on and start renovating this place!"
Connor looked at the android inquisitively, "But you are not able to become sick? How would—"
"Come on Connor, it's an expression! Not everything is so literal." She simply rolled her eyes and stalked off towards the front doors. Markus couldn't help but catch up with her to ask a question.
"Did something happen between you and Connor? It seems like you tolerate his presence a lot more than you did the last time he came on one of our missions."
North simply ignored his question, and almost slammed the door in his face as a response. Realistically, walking into a door wouldn't hurt an android like him. He could only sigh at her unsubtle way to avoid his prodding, instead of being direct with her feelings. Markus continued on inside and held the door open for Simon, Josh, and Connor to follow after him.
"Alright, we all know what we're going here. The androids who volunteered to assist us today will arrive a little later, but for now we can get started on cleaning this place up a little bit. Josh, the supplies are in the van?"
He nodded, "All packed away since yesterday."
"Great, then let's get started!"
All in all, it only took around four hours to get the dilapidated lobby looking somewhat presentable. With all of the furniture moved out of the way, the walls cleaned, and new lights installed it looked like a completely different place. It might have helped that the ones fixing it up were unable to become fatigued, but Markus only saw that as a blessing to his people. The only reason that they had decided to take a break at around nine o'clock was to prepare for the other Jericho team to arrive.
Unsurprisingly though, it seemed like Connor was doing quite a bit more harm than good.
"Connor, maybe you should take a break too," Simon eventually said. Connor had been stubborn in attempting to help the others in manually moving around the furniture. But while he was able to do the task efficiently enough, his distractions had lead to him dropping quite a number of things. Namely, he somehow tossed a ceiling lamp down a flight of stairs. "I don't even know why we had that light upstairs…"
"I apologize, but I am entirely capable of assisting you in the reconstruction of this building!"
"That's isn't what Simon said. I agree that you should come take a break with us Connor." Even the normally reserved Josh was starting to become concerned about the other android's well-being.
North, who was currently covered in paint, walked over to where Connor stood with the pieces of the lamp in his arms and roughly clapped him on the back. It was only after she removed her hand that she saw the painted handprint on the back of his pristine white shirt. "Whoops. Hey, you're fine, but you need to get the hell away from anything fragile. We can't really afford to replace every single lamp in here you know?"
The RK800 sighed, "I know. I do realize that my own worries are preventing me from performing as efficiently as I should."
At that he had to intervene. "No Connor, don't think that you have to be efficient to be able to help us. All of us are grateful for your help today. Right guys?" A chorus of affirmations was heard throughout the room. North's was particularly enthusiastic, resulting in both Simon and Josh getting covered in paint splatters.
"I just knew that giving her the paint was a bad idea—"
"HEY! Giving me the paint was a great idea!"
"Guys please, cut it out, we need to paint the walls, not each other."
"Please, why don't you stop being a worrywart! Plus, we have like twenty of these paint cans!" It was then that North decided to go all out in her assault. Grabbing one of the unused paint pans, she filled it with paint and chucked it at Markus. He had been resolute in not participating in the resulting artistic battle, but it seems like it was inevitable.
"Oh, it is on."
As so started the hour long paint filled siege warfare.
It was refreshing to use his preconstruction programs after such a long time of unuse. Markus was dodging paint left and right, running from North's demonic cackling, Josh's rampant knowledge of where the paints were stored, and Connor's quiet determination to get in his blind spots.
By the end of it all, every single one of them was coated in paint. While the colors of the room were supposed to be a calming yellow, somehow Josh had managed to grab a can of bright red paint, and Simon had attempted to mix it together with the extra blue paints. It resulted in a miss match of colors staining the entirely of the androids present. Luckily, the paint covers prevented anything from getting permanently stained.
For Markus and the rest of Jericho, it led to them seeing a side to Connor that none of them had the opportunity to see in the past. One that was carefree, and seemingly having a good time. After North first laid her painted hand onto him, he appeared as though a darkness had been swept away from his eyes. Or at least, Makrus thought that it had. North does often say that he is remarkably good at anticipating those sorts of things.
What all of them had forgotten though, was that they were not the only ones who had planned on renovating the building today. What the second team from Jericho arrived to see was five androids covered head to toe in paint all laughing at each other's ruined clothing. Then they could only watch as their fearless leader cowardly ran away from North's paint fueled wrath.
It might have taken quite a while, but eventually everything settled down to a much quieter form of joy, one of relaxation in completing a long held project. With the additional supplies from the second group, the internal structure of the building had been completely reworked.
The building was almost unrecognizable. The main lobby had been transformed into a lively reception area, fully carpeted and decorated with sprouting plantlife. The non-functioning electrical system had been completely replaced and how the entire complex had a source of power. The walls were painted (in the same color that was covering Markus' left elbow) in a bright cream to match with the donated furniture items. And to top it all off, he had spent the majority of his break time painting a moral that reached from the back of the room all the way to the front doors. It was not dissimilar to one that could be found in a classical artistic museum, it perfectly replicated the painting style of the Greek Renaissance in a way only someone who had religiously studied the style could have done. It depicted android figures on pedestals as well as humans, working together in harmony to reach equality.
"Your work truly amazes me, Markus. It shows that androids can indeed produce feats of creativity and provoke intellectual minds alike." Connor stood next to him, gazing upon the mural.
"Yes, I happen to be quite proud of this piece. If only it had come to me before Josh decided to use all of our red paints."
The other android just nodded his head, "If only…"
Markus couldn't help but notice that Connor's attention didn't seem to be entirely captivated by only his painting but rather something else. "Your eyes say that your mind is elsewhere. Tell me, what is it that you have been thinking about all this time?" His LED began to spin yellow at his comment, and Markus was quick to reassure the younger model. "There is nothing wrong, and you do not have to tell me anything. I was simply curious, is all."
At that, Connor's eyes fell to the floor. "No there is something that I-or I mean-I should inform you about."
"Please, you know that I am here for whatever you have to say Connor." He reached for the other android's shoulder, and came back with a wet hand. "It looks like North's treachery hasn't ended yet. I'll see to it that the lot of us get a maintenance check sooner or later in case any of this paint got underneath our skin."
Connor's eyes widened, as if he had a sudden revelation, but then his lips twitched downwards. "Actually about getting a maintenance check—" He cut himself off.
"What about them? We offer them at Jericho to any android in need, but they're a still plenty of spare parts to go around. I know that although our model type is rare there are multiple series that are compatible with both of our models Connor." Markus himself had required quite a few checks on his replaced parts. It was much more unusual for Connor to have never gone to get one yet.
"Yes but do you offer them to any android who needs one? I'm not asking for myself here, well he'd be similar in structure but not exactly—he's different."
"Connor I don't understand your thought process here, of course you would be able to obtain a check, and the same goes for any other android. Who wouldn't—" He thought for a second. What other androids were similar to Connor in make and model?
It was at that moment that it hit him. "You're talking about the RK900."
"And if I was?" He did not deny the assumption.
Markus couldn't believe his own ears. "How long have you known where he was? And you decided not to tell us." Connor shook his head as if he didn't truly believe Markus' words.
"He was terrified Markus, afraid that you'd kill him just like Cyberlife would have if you got a hold of him! He wasn't going to look to Jericho as a refuge, he looked at it like a prison." Connor had slowly backed away from Markus' side, so that he could properly glare at him.
"But Jericho is a refuge, for any android who seeks us out! We won't turn him away simply because of his actions towards us before he became a deviant!"
"I know that you wouldn't turn him away Markus, but do you know if the others think the same as you?"
Connor's eyes traveled across the room towards where North and Josh were playfully arguing over the colors that dotted their clothing. It was unusual to see them both arguing over something as trivial as paint, instead of the usual topics concerning android rights and equalities.
And yet, Markus couldn't help but to agree with Connor's unsaid assumption that they would not take kindly to the RK900's presence at Jericho. Especially so soon after his violent encounter at the Cyberlife Tower. Yes, it would take quite a while before someone as stubborn as both of them were to accept the past for what it was. It wasn't an issue for himself, but Simon had always said that he was too forgiving of others. Even so, it seemed like there was an android that needed his help.
If it wasn't Jericho's business, then there was no need to involve the others in his decision. They had already failed an android that needed their help. Markus wasn't about to make the same mistake twice.
He sighed, "You said he needed a maintenance check right?"
A/N: And we're back with the Jericho team! This was a nice exercise in how I chose to write Markus' character, and how he feels independent of his responsibilities to Jericho as a whole. Plus, they did bad on North, Josh, and Simon in the game proper. I can't help but want to slip in some more of my post-revolution headcanons into this fic as well.
Just as sort of note on the location of the new Jericho building, it's a headcanon of mine that there were multiple paths to Jericho! It would makes sense for the symbols to be scattered all over the city (cause how would the androids have gotten to Jericho after Markus broke the main path when he arrived in game). It definitely could have been one of the buildings that Markus used to find the ship, but I wanted to leave it open to interpretation you know?