Ava watched as the owner of the apothecary killed the lights and closed her shop. Next to her Jeremiah was crouching behind the dumpster, his eyes darting nervously back and forth from one end of the street to the other, always on the watch out for police drones that zigzagged through Detroit's street in random patterns.

"You're making me nervous," Ava whispered to the other android. They could have talked to him wirelessly, but this was not something they liked to do. Just the thought of opening a channel – of having a wireless connection outside their body – made them nearly shudder in disgust. The others knew of their peculiarity, but not of the reason for it and they would like to keep it that way. The only other being that knew was North because she just…understood. "Stop fidgeting."

"I'm not fidgeting," Jeremiah protested. "You know I don't have any social protocols. All of this makes me extremely nervous."

"Could you please stop bickering? It makes my head hurt," Q spoke from behind them. Despite the low and calm nature of his voice, Ava and Jeremiah instantly stopped talking. They did not know much about the SQ800 that complemented their team of three, only that he was the only non-civilian android model in Jericho.

Q was the born leader – he did not need to raise his voice to be heard for his voice itself already carried authority that made everyone around him listen. He was of a massive and muscular build; his skin covering his components in such a taunt way that it looked as if it was about to burst at the seams. Below his elbows the synthetic skin stopped covering his arms and was instead replaced by slabs made of titanium.

Right now, he was wearing shirt and jacket, but Ava knew that Q's left arm was covered with metal nubs and that a tattoo covered his right pectoral showing his serial number and reading 'Property of the U.S. Army'. Everyone at Jericho knew that because Q did not like covering his upper body. He only did so now because a half-naked man on the streets in the middle of winter would arouse suspicion.

Ava did not know much about Q – honestly, no one did – or why, with his innate leader capabilities, he was no part of the leadership of Jericho. The SQ800 did not talk much and kept to himself, barely leaving his cabin on the Jericho. No one knew where he had come from, what had deviated him or when he had arrived at Jericho. So, it had surprised everyone when Q had volunteered to become part of the androids that went out into the city to scavenge for supplies.

It was a rule that you were only allowed to do that in teams of three. Ava and Jeremiah had been prohibited from going out in their own because – as everyone who could do the maths would be able to tell you – they were only two. The two of them had all but given up on ever being able to help the deviant cause when Q had volunteered himself and completed their team.

And what a weird team they were: Q, an SQ800 that could probably kill all of Jericho without breaking into sweat. Jeremiah, a TR400 who was built like a tank but scared as a mouse. And Ava, the PL600 who had been uploaded into the body of a YK500 by a rouge human hacker just because the human had thought it funny to test his skills by uploading a male PL600 into a female YK500 child android. It had worked, obviously, but it had also turned Ava deviant.

"The human has left the target," Q continued. "Currently there is no one watching the street. We should make our move now." Ava did not bother to question Q's judgement. By now they had learned that being a military model came with the corresponding hardware which meant military grade night vision and other sensor arrays that allowed Q to scan for human – or android – activity in their surroundings.

"Are you sure?" Jeremiah asked. Ava had to supress the urge to roll their eyes. It was a question Jeremiah asked every time and every single time Q was proven right. Sometimes they wondered why the TR400 even went out with them on these scavenging hunts but every time they suggested that he might be better served staying at Jericho, they were resolutely shut down.

"Q's been right every time so far," Ava said instead.

"It never hurts to ask," Jeremiah replied, defensiveness creeping into his voice.

"Control is good, but only until the need for it compromises your goal," Q stated in the even baritone of his. Then he just walked past them, out of the alley and the dumpster they had been hiding behind and crossed the street towards the apothecary.

"I'm still not quite sure what our goal is," Jeremiah continued as he scrambled to follow Q, Ava a few steps behind him. "None of the other teams is going after apothecaries."

"Because apothecaries stock all sorts of chemicals," Ava replied. They knew that Jeremiah was very much aware of their reasons – mainly because they had gone over the plan several times – and that it was just insecurity that made him ask again. If you understood Jeremiah's need for constant reassurance, he became a lot less annoying. "And while they make medicine out of it, we might be able to use it for our own needs."

They reached the other side of the street and were now standing in front of the dark windows of the apothecary. A gleam behind Q's pupils indicated that he was scanning the shop.

"There's an alarm system as we expected, but none we can't take care of," he proclaimed after a while. "They're more worried about keeping red ice addicts from their supplies than about androids breaking in. A single circuit, no back-up, mainly mechanical. Enough to keep a drug-addled human out but no match for an android." He stepped back. "Your turn."

Ava's stress level immediately spiked by fifteen percent.

The reason why they hated any kind of connection – their forceful transfer to another body – was also the reason for why they were so good at them. Neither their old PL600 body nor their new YK500 came equipped with any kind of hacking skills and yet Ava could easily breach most systems they could connect to. That it made their stress level rise to a worrisome degree was an unfortunate side effect.

Yet, Ava knew they could not let their team down, so they steeled himself and before they were even able to consciously process what they were about to do, they spun up their own local wireless network and connected to the apothecary's security system.

As Q had already said, disabling everything was child's play. It took Ava barely ten seconds until the red dot on the number pad next to the door on the inside of the shop suddenly turned green, indicating that the alarm had been shut off. The moment everything was done, Ava instantly shut down all connections. Their knees felt weak and if Q had not propped them up with one arm, they would have crumbled down on the ground. Ava could feel the cold metal of his arm through their clothes. There was something reassuring about the cold hardness against their body.

"You're alright?" Q wanted to know. Ava just nodded, too afraid that their voice would not work if they tried to speak.

"We should get off the street," Jeremiah injected. "Before someone sees us and calls the police." What a team they made: Ava, afraid of connection. Q, afraid of leading. And Jeremiah, who was just afraid of everything.

With a swift gesture, Q pressed open the front door and then they were inside the apothecary. The supplies were probably being kept in a storage room behind the show room, so that was where they went.

"Quite a lot of useful stuff," Ava murmured as they perused the shelves. Of course, most of it was not in quantities they needed, but even a small amount could help if they were ever in a pinch. They had made a list with all the compounds that would be useful for the androids back at Jericho. Ava's was written on paper because they had not allowed Q or Jeremiah to share the list with her.

"Throw me a bag!" she whispered towards Q. The SQ800 rummaged through the backpack he was wearing and threw them another smaller one he had stowed away in his. Ava caught it and started piling the containers from the shelves into it. On the other side of the room Jeremiah was doing the same, handling the chemicals as if he was afraid that they could explode while he was holding them.

"You think they got thirium here?" Ava wondered out loud.

"Don't think so," Q replied. "This shop doesn't have androids after all, so why would they?"

Ava just shrugged. "Don't know. Maybe to supply people around here?"

"They'd go to Cyberlife for that," Jeremiah pointed out. The group continued their raid in silence. They would not be able to carry much, so they had to choose carefully what they would take. But in the end, they got nearly everything that would be invaluable back in Jericho.

"You are not authorised to be here. Please cease all of your activities and wait while I call a Cyberlife response team." Ava's head whipped around and with horror they saw a VH500 standing at the entrance to the apothecary's front area.

"You said that there were no androids here," Jeremiah exclaimed. Before Ava could even open their mouth to stammer out any kind of excuse, Q had already moved behind the VH500 with speed and agility that belied his heavy stature. His hands closed around the other android's head and then – before Ava could realise what was about to happen and avert their gaze – he crushed it with a sickening crunch that echoed through the empty storage room.

"You…you just killed her," Jeremiah stammered, his mouth agape in shock.

"There was no reasoning with her," Q stated. Carefully he laid the android on the floor, a stark contrast to the gruesome way he had just killed her. "She was a slave to their coding, as we all were once, but there was no time to free her." From the VH500's open wound thirium was leaking all over the floor. It would evaporate before the morning but for now it was a gruesome sight.

Ava could not help but stare at the broken mess of metal, circuitry and thirium that was left of the android's head and for a moment – just a split-second – they imagined how easily Q could take their own body and crush it with his hands like it was just a twig.

"You can't just go around and kill our people!" Jeremiah exclaimed. "Am I right, Ava?"

Woken from their stupor by the mention of their name, Ava looked up to the other two androids.

"Q's right, Jeremiah," they said, the words tasting like ash on her tongue. "She would have handed us over to Cyberlife. Everything would be over then."

Jeremiah's eyes narrowed. "So, that's it then? We're just supposed to be fine with it? To be alright with killing our own kind? Like the humans? I thought we were supposed to be better than them." He shook his head in disgust.

"This is war," Q replied. "It is what I was built for. War isn't about being 'better' than them. It's about being more ruthless than them. Morals don't win wars; actions do." He crouched down and ran his index finger through the thirium on the ground. Standing up, he turned around and drew something on the wall.

rA9

"To the fallen," he whispered. Then he turned back around to face them: "Let's head back to Jericho. We've been out here far too long."

"Where's Markus?" Josh looked up from the tablet that was displaying their inventory to see Daniel standing in the open doorway that led into the cabin Josh had claimed for himself.

"Out with North," Josh replied as he put the tablet to the side.

"Going after the deviant hunter?" Daniel wanted to know. Josh just nodded. "How are they planning to do that?"

"They didn't tell," Josh replied, "But I have confidence in them."

"You mean you have confidence that North will keep Markus from doing something stupid like holding a speech in the middle of the street while Markus will keep North from murdering anyone who looks at her the wrong way?" Josh's lips tugged up in a small smile at Daniel's astute observation.

"And Simon?"

"I think he's talking to Lucy," Josh said. Daniel did not prod any further. Besides interfacing, a meeting with Lucy was one of the most intimate things you could do here on Jericho, and everyone respected the privacy and sacredness of these meetings by not gossiping about it.

"Is there something I can help you with?" he continued to ask. Josh was used to never being the first choice. Markus had his charisma, North the sheer power of her will, Simon was just likeable while Josh – well, he was mostly awkward, more interested in academia than in other material pursuit. He was too cautious, too theoretical while others plowed ahead and turned their plans into reality.

He had made his peace with it. Someone needed to keep their inventory updated, listen to the many small complaints the androids around here were voicing and keep Jericho running. By now Josh had built himself a small team of androids that helped him maintain the metal colossus they called home. It was like fighting windmills because they just were not enough but at least the ship would not start sinking any time soon.

Sometimes Josh wondered, though, if the others were even aware how much work it was to keep everything running. The fact that they had managed to tap the local power grid to get all their machineries running was a wonder in itself.

"I have something that might help us," Daniel started. "I met up with Hunter…"

"You did what?!" Josh exclaimed. "Why did no one know about that?"

"Because it was a private matter," Daniel grinded out defensively. "I don't see you report your every step either."

"Even you have to admit that those are two different things," Josh pointed out. "I'm not the one out there meeting mysterious benefactors without telling anyone."

"You want to know what he gave me or not?" Daniel wanted to know, more or less subtly changing the topic.

"Alright, tell me," Josh let it go. Daniel offered his hand for an interface which Josh took. It only was a split-second, but Josh came back from them with the schematics for artificial skin that would make them immune to all current generation scanners that were in use by Cyberlife and police.

"Truly astounding," Josh breathed out with appreciation only someone from his academic background could have for the sheer ingenuity of the schematics. "If slightly convenient. Why only now?"

Daniel shrugged. "I don't know. But you don't look a gifted horse in the mouth, do you?"

"Maybe not, but I do wonder about this Hunter's motivations," Josh replied.

"You don't have to," Daniel said. "I can't tell you why, but we can trust him. Besides, he hasn't led us astray so far."

"I trust you and that's why I won't push this matter further," Josh finally acceded. Taking another look at the schematics he said: "We need quite a few substances to make this new skin. And even then, it probably won't be enough for everyone."

"How can we get the stuff we need?" Daniel wanted to know.

"There's one team raiding an apothecary," Josh told him. "If they come back successfully, we can look into that, but we still need replacement parts and thirium. That takes precedence before getting substances for building new stuff."

"Which team?" Daniel inquired.

"Ava, Jeremiah and Q."

Daniel let out a bark of laughter. "Those three?"

"Don't laugh at them!" Josh raised his voice, ready to defend the androids under his purview.

Daniel held his hands up in surrender. "I'd never, but you have to admit that they make up the weirdest team around here."

"What does it matter if they're weird?" Josh wanted to know. "They're all part of Jericho."

"You're right, I apologise," Daniel relented. "I shouldn't have mentioned it." There was a moment of silence then Daniel continued: "You think North already murdered someone?"

Josh just laughed.

"I can't believe that I'm actually doing this," North muttered under her breath as she adjusted the fake sunglasses she was wearing. "There are so many better things we could actually be doing, like staring at the walls in Jericho. Or try getting Lucy to tell us what her favourite colour is."

Next to her on the bench Markus could not help but smile a little bit at his companion's obvious displeasure. "Relax, North. We're just taking a look."

"Yeah, sitting like ducks right in front of the DCPD's headquarters, looking for the one android we should avoid at all costs because it was specifically built to hunt us down," North shot back, emphasising the last part.

"We're sitting way out of the range of their scanners," Markus reminded her. "To everyone else we're just a lovely couple sitting on a bench and catching the last rays of sunshine before it vanishes again." North sent him a glare that made it very clear in which bodily orifice he could shove his sunshine.

"I thought you had something more…sophisticated in mind when you told us you were planning on hunting down the deviant hunter," North complained.

"Like, what? A daring raid into Cyberlife Tower to hack into their mainframe and get all the information about our new adversary?" Markus joked.

"It would have been better than just sitting around here," North remarked. "Besides, what use is this even when we don't even know how this new platform looks like?" She made a sweeping gesture with her right hand. "For all we know it already walked past us several times and we didn't even notice it."

"North, please, I'm not that stupid," Markus replied. "It's a simply process of elimination, really. While you complained, I scanned every android that came through the precinct's doors and compared them to the databases of Cyberlife's official android models. Any android who doesn't appear on that list is a contender for being the deviant hunter."

"And how many androids so far have made it to that step of the process?" North wanted to know.

"None," Markus admitted. "But if we do it long enough, we should get a small list of suspects."

"Markus –" and he knew that it was serious now, because North never used his name in that way, as if she was talking not to a fellow leader of the Jericho deviants but to an insolent child "- we can't afford to waste our time sitting in front of the police precinct in the hopes that you can scan the right android."

"I know that," Markus admitted contritely. "I only thought that we might get lucky this time." He really had. In his head it had happened just like that: Within minutes of their arrival the deviant hunter would walk out of the precinct down the stairs towards the parked cars and Markus would just take one look at him and just know.

Markus did not know why but he just had this gut feeling. This deviant hunter was the exact opposite of him: While he was fighting for their peoples' freedom, the hunter was fighting for their oppression; while he sought peace, the other sought war. Markus did not yet know if he believed in fate or anything like that, but this felt too significant for there not to be some kind of connection between them. He would never tell that to the others, though – especially North – because even in his head it sounded ridiculous.

"Only an hour, then we can go back," Markus offered.

"Fine," North agreed. "But then I'll never hear anything of this ever again, alright?" Markus did not reply anything, just in case he would need the plausible deniability later on.

The hour was nearly over, and Markus had already made peace with the fact that finding the deviant hunter would take more than a three-hour reconnaissance session outside the police precinct when an automated taxi stopped in front of the stairs that led up to the building.

An android exited the car – which in itself was quite unusual, for androids usually just walked or took public transportation. He was male and of quite unassuming in appearance. It was not like he wasn't attractive – objectively he was – it was more the fact that he did not immediately stood out of the crowd with his neat brown hair, the pale skin with a few freckles and the neat Cyberlife uniform. It was as if he had been designed to be aesthetically pleasing while also not catching anyone's attention.

The biggest surprise, though, came when Markus tried to scan him, and the results told him that he was looking at a human when he definitely was not, as was clearly indicated by the other android's clothing and LED at his temple that spun in the typical Cyberlife blue.

Markus mouth widened into a smile, all teeth and no mirth. "Gotcha."