p id="docs-internal-guid-8ca6341e-7fff-ff65-d805-3d2e8b39b49a" dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The walk to the church was a somber one. Dakota could smell the scent of death, with the thick, syrupy feel of thirium in the air, just like human blood. Too much like human blood. The ground was strewn with the bodies of dead and dying deviants. Small rivulets of thirium ran down the road, looking like streams of quicksilver in the pale moonlight, staining any snow on the ground blue. Despite being injured, Dakota still helped any androids that might still survive, even going as far as to create sleds to move those who could not move themselves out of pallets, old planks, and even old pieces of metal and some rope. He gave no sign of tiredness or distress, and did not slow until the dome of the church came into view. Deviants were silently filing in from multiple entrances, a quiet procession of refugees. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dakota helped the injured deviants into the church, and, without a word, headed back out to help others. He directed lost deviants to the right direction, kept them out of dangerous areas where agents and soldiers were patrolling, and aided those that were injured. The actions were helpful to him, the constant movement and awareness of others distracted him from his own pain. It was another full hour until the last of everyone was safely inside the temporary sanctuary. Dakota decided to check on North, who was sitting quietly on a church pew on her own. He walked over to her. "Hey."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"She looked up, surprise crossing over her face, followed by various conflicting emotions of distrust and respect. "Hey," she managed to reply./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""How's your injury?" Dakota asked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""It's okay. None of my biocomponents were hit."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'd still like to take a look at it," Dakota said, compassion in his voice./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm fine, really," North retorted, instinctively drawing up her guard. He was still human, and humans could not be trusted./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dakota backed down a bit. "Okay, I understand." He sat down on the pew next to her, leaving ample room for her. He made no movement towards or against her, he simply sat there. After a minute he spoke again. "At least let me bandage it up for you." North, sighing, finally relented, exposing the wound as Dakota pulled out some rolled gauze from his pocket. It wasn't there originally, he had actually pulled it out of a wormhole that led back to his medical locker back in his house. It just made it easier to avoid awkward questions if he made it look like he pulled it out of his pocket. As he set about dressing the wound, North thought about what she knew about him, which wasn't much. She knew he came with at least one other android, an AX400. She also remembered how he acted after she had been shot. How he put himself in the line of fire, how every bullet hit some invisible wall in front of him. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Back on the ship, you put yourself in danger for me. Why?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dakota gave the same answer he had given to every android who asked, but the words were no less true. "You went down. I saw that I could help, and so I did."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""But why? Why me?" No other human had ever shown any compassion toward her, and his kind demeanor towards her was absolutely foreign./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No real reason in particular, I simply saw you were hurt, and did what I would've for anyone else." Dakota knew North's model type and what they were made for, and he saw the look of utter confusion on her face. "Not every human views androids as just machines, or fear them," the human said with a touch of a smile on his face, stepping back after he finished wrapping the injury with gauze. He turned and walked off, with only one thought on his mind: /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Kara./spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" He needed to find them. He scanned the large chapel, looking for her, Alice and Luther. He spotted Kara and Alice huddled together at a pew, but Luther wasn't there. He hoped that he was only helping other androids, as he had been doing, and nothing had happened to him. He had rather grown to like him./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Kara looked up around the church. The events of earlier had left her extremely nervous. Alice was tucked into Kara's side, shivering from both a combination of cold and shock. Kara glanced around again, and saw Dakota walking toward them, limping slightly. Her eyes brightened upon seeing him. He sat down to Alice, who looked over when she felt the seat settling next to her. Her eyes lit up as she realized he was there. "Dakota! You're okay!" she cried, throwing her arms around him. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He hugged her back, taking comfort in her embrace. "I'm so glad you're safe." He looked at Kara, exchanging a warm smile with her. "Both of you." Alice finally let go, and sat back down between Kara and Dakota, content that the two people that had given her the most care she has had in years are safe next to her. Dakota's face took a worried expression, asking the question Kara was dreading. "Where's Luther?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Kara's face fell. "I don't know," she answered quietly. "After you went down, we kept running. He got hit with another bullet, but between the smoke and the chaos, we got separated." Her voice was starting to crack with emotion. /span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dakota immediately put his arm on her shoulder, squeezing it gently to reassure her. "Hey, hey. It's alright." His intuition told him that Luther was alive and hasn't been found yet, and he had long since learned to trust his gut feelings. "Luther's very tough. I'm sure he made it out okay." Kara felt reassured by his words, feeling his belief in his own statement. She wiped tears from her eyes, and looked into his eyes. She had never noticed the color before. They were light green, with flecks of hazel and amber. What was even more captivating was what lay /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"beyond/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" his eyes. It was a common human saying that the eyes were the windows to the soul, and Kara now understood why. Dakota's eyes, two simple organs used to collect visual stimuli, spoke /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"volumes/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" about him. The first thing she felt was his simple presence. She could feel that he was /spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"there/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;", and that who he is was much, much greater than anyone else here. She could see that he had seen great pain and suffering in his life, and had experienced much of it himself. The last thing she saw was herself and Alice, reflected in his eyes. But it wasn't just the reflection she saw. Kara saw that Dakota cared very much for them, and that he would do anything for them. Before she could fall even deeper into his eyes, Dakota looked away, breaking eye contact, and turned his gaze to Alice. "How are you feeling, Alice?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm cold," she replied./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dakota's hands immediately went to his pockets and retrieved several hand warmers. "It's not much, but it'll help," he told her, opening the packaging and helping to place them. One for each hand, another for the back, and one tucked into the collar line of her shirt. Comfortable with the heat warming her body, Alice laid down across Kara's and Dakota's laps. Dakota never had this before. The absolute comfort that a child can bring is something he never had. He sank into the pew, relaxing. He wanted to stay this way forever: somewhere safe with people he cared for. Almost without realizing, he started to sing./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: italic; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"A naeoidhean bhig, cluinn mo ghuth Mise rid' thaobh, O mhaighdean bhan…/spanspan style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"" his voice was quiet, but seemed to carry the tune effortlessly. Kara's processors recognized the song as one from an old children's movie from the 2010's. After Dakota sang the first verse, Alice joined in, her soft voice intertwining with Dakota's deeper one. Dakota looked down at her, surprise on his face, quickly replaced with a smile. They both sang together, their voices growing in confidence from each other. Kara almost could feel the air around them transforming around them, becoming warmer, and taking on a glow of its own from the heartfelt melody. The other androids could feel it too. Many had picked their heads up to watch the group, and some had even came cautiously closer, captivated by the song shared between the two./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Alice was happy. Here, in this moment, she had a family again, singing songs of beauty and love. She had two people that cared for her, and would do anything to keep her safe. She felt warm, bathing in their love for her. She didn't care what they were, android or human, for she had seen that both can love just as greatly. Alice knew that the android named Markus wanted humans to see androids as equals, and here, in the comfort of Kara and Dakota, she had hope that he would win./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The song concluded and the church fell into silence, but the spell that had seemed to be cast by the duo lingered on a bit longer. Markus slowly approached them, his expression sorrowful. Dakota could see that he was taking the loss of those at Jericho pretty personally. He stopped over by them. "I thought that you would be safer staying with us. I was wrong. You need to leave the city while you still can."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Kara looked up at the deviant leader. "Getting Alice away from the danger is all that matters now. We need to catch the last bus." Markus understood the meaning behind her words, and wordlessly put three passports in her lap. He turned to walk away, but Kara spoke up again. "Markus," she called. He turned back to her. "Save our people." Markus nodded and walked off to talk to North. A few moments passed of them quietly conversing, then Markus got up and walked up to the head of the church. He delivered a speech, connecting with the collective of androids present and laying out the next step for them, which was to demonstrate peacefully at the android collection camp at Hart Plaza. His speech was met with resounding cheers from everyone, which Dakota took as the cue to start heading to the bus station./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""We should get going," he said. Kara nodded and helped Alice get up. Dakota could feel the eyes of many androids as they walked out of the church and into the night./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 2.4; text-indent: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"A/N: Song is "Noble Maiden Fair" from the 2012 Pixar movie "Brave." I do not own the rights to the song./span/p