CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
Suddenly, there was an explosion that tore through the ship. "They're here… The FBI are here to eliminate all the deviants," he mumbled. "It's too late to stop them, now."
Markus cursed under his breath and pushed past him, leaving him to wonder if he had done the right thing. This revolution hadn't brought any of them any happiness. The androids went from following human orders to following Markus' orders. They exist in fear and oppression. How many had they already lost in their futile attempts of equality? They were obviously doing something wrong.
As he made his way out, he saw a rush of soldiers burst in and gunned down three androids that were running away. He hid behind a pillar as they passed, scouring the freighter for any deviants.
Several seconds passed before he continued on. He could hear gunfire echoing through the metal chambers. There were cries everywhere.
He managed to ignore everything, until something bumped into him and unexpectedly, he was staring into frightened blue eyes.
Simon?
No, this was a different PL600 android.
But what if it was Simon?
"We have to go! They're coming! They're coming to kill us all!" the android cried, scrambling away when the gunfire grew closer and closer.
Connor continued to stand there even when the soldiers were right in front of him. They seemed to have a difficult time identifying whether he was an android or human.
"Who are you? State your purpose!" one of them ordered.
"I am Connor. I am the android sent by CyberLife. I am here to help eliminate the deviant leader," he stated back.
They looked at one another, trying to confirm whether his words were truth. It meant he had to do a better job at convincing them. He really didn't know if CyberLife had already given out the official order from his return.
"You may ask Agent Perkins if you like, but I must continue on with my mission," he added.
At the name of the FBI agent, there was a collective grown and the soldiers finally waved him off.
"Someone else can deal with it if he's a fuckin' deviant," one grumbled. "I'm not getting in trouble with that asshole."
When they moved on, he stealthily manoeuvred the rest of the winding corridors and only stopped when he saw North struggling on the floor. There were soldiers advancing towards her and Markus was several feet away, turning back with a look of horror on his face.
She was having trouble getting back on to her feet with only one arm.
That was unfortunate.
He turned around and continued on his way.
He was going to have to decide what to do, now. Although he didn't like what the deviants had done to Artie, some of them were still innocent.
If he hadn't had Simon go against the androids of Jericho, the blonde android could be here, being gunned down by the soldiers. How would he ever be able to explain that to Artie? She'd be devastated.
Software Instability
He had to stop this massacre, even if it meant helping the deviants
None of them were safe, until there is a compromise.
…
Markus watched the deviant hunter leave. He had been hoping that the other android would turn deviant to help their cause. Unfortunately, something was stopping him. For some reason, even his persuasion could not pull Connor to the other side.
"North, come on." He helped her back to her feet after knocking out the soldiers that were pursuing them.
She gritted her teeth. "If it wasn't for that hunter, I would've been able to handle it myself!"
When they returned to Jericho after Connor had ripped off North's arm, he already had people looking for a compatible component for her, but when they finally tried to put it in, they noticed that there was intensive damage done to the socket. There was no way to ever replace the missing limb.
North had been mortified. She became a force of anger and hatred. It was difficult interacting with her, but soon, she calmed down enough to discuss what had happened and how she had been betrayed by Simon.
He questioned Josh because they had arrived together and they were always close, but the PJ500 gave him nothing. Markus knew that he was only trying to protect his friend, but he couldn't have any disloyalty in the ranks. It would be detrimental to their cause.
It was difficult raising morale, again, and he believed that he had done well. That was… Up until, now.
He was going to have to activate the bomb, which was going to destroy their safe haven.
A part of him didn't blame Simon for betraying them. They all knew that he was in love with his former owner. North had acted rashly and managed to decimate any chance of friendship between them.
He had been hoping North would find some leniency for humans who held no ill will towards androids, but that hadn't been the case.
After she shot the human, he had spoken to her about her actions. She was regretful, so he left her to lament over what she had done. That hadn't been enough for Simon and for some reason, the deviant hunter was also determined to exact revenge.
He didn't know if the human was still alive, but after further research, he realised that Artemisia was the RK800's creator. What a coincidence…
"Come on, Markus!" Josh beckoned to him as he hovered over the water, ready to jump.
He nodded. "North, will you be alright?"
It was going to be difficult for her to swim with only one arm and she was most likely going to sustain more injuries. Lucy had managed to seal off any openings, but that didn't mean it was going to withstand the force of water from two hundred feet.
"I'll be fine!" She angrily wrenched herself away from him and took off after Josh.
He gave his temporary home one last glance and quickly followed behind.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Sorry! I know all of you were expecting it, but I didn't feel like this was the spot that he should've gone deviant. I'd like to think that deviants are created because of a strong emotional trauma and this wasn't it for him. Even in the game, I wished that he had gone deviant for Hank.
