Chapter Forty-Nine – Searching in the Dark

"Ugh! The smell!" Yasuhara complained as the metal cover slid into place above their heads. They'd managed to get into town and down into the sewers without being seen. A lot of the armoured trucks had peeled out of the area all of a sudden. It suited Naru. Less chance of being caught. He couldn't help the small smirk on his lips as he looked at his co-worker.

"I wouldn't know. My olfactory senses have been deactivated." He bragged, accepting the light shoulder barge as Yasuhara accused him of being smug. Naru couldn't argue. It was nice to find there were advantages to being an android as well as drawbacks. As a simple unit with no free will he'd never thought about the differences, never desired to be one or the other, but since deviating he'd found humans mostly superior. They felt things strongly, they thought outside pre-programmed patterns, they'd created androids in the first place, and held power over his kind. Androids were physically superior, and could store more information, but each had things they were better at.

"Where to?" Mai asked as she looked up at him. This was his search. They were there for support and cover. Naru listened, but he couldn't hear anything besides the filthy water in the canal below them. They were on a brick walkway. They were lucky the snow above wasn't melting, otherwise the filth would have risen higher and covered the path.

"This way first." Naru decided, quietly enjoying the way he could now make his own choice about it. He subconsciously took Mai's smaller hand. She wasted no time in linking their fingers. Her warmth was reassuring, and he could feel her pulse through her fingertips. After a few moments her other hand came up to cover his, quietly asking for reassurance in the darkness. Yasuhara had a flashlight, and Naru was using his night vision, easily able to see in the darkness. He knew it was different for the humans though. Yasuhara was keeping one hand on the wall, while Mai kept as close to Naru as possible, relying on him to guide her.

Their scuffed steps echoed slightly in the darkness, and Naru could hear the difference. His own steps were measured and heavy, the same gap between each one while Mai's were more scuffled and shorter, often stumbling on the uneven brickwork. Yasuhara's were heavy, but occasionally uneven and scuffed. Any androids listening would know there were two humans and one android. Perhaps that was why he couldn't find anything. It would make sense for them to remain hidden. He ran scans quietly, but so far there was no trace of anyone. Another bend led to another decision. He kept to the left and followed the path.

"How long should we look?" Yasuhara asked quietly after a while.

"I'm not sure…" Naru replied uncertainly. It was unrealistic to scour the whole sewer system, he knew that, but he didn't exactly have it all planned out. He was just blindly hoping they'd come across something, or someone. Mai's hand squeezed his. Comfort. He squeezed hers back. Thanks. "A little longer." He decided finally, unwilling to give up. He pushed his scanners to reach further ahead.