A/N: I AM NOT DEAD!

Long time no update! Sorry about that. Yada yada work life, yada yada no free time. But I have this one out and another will (hopefully) be out before the end of this week. Enjoy!

"Did we really have to use sewers?" Iris scrunched her nose in disgust.

"Connects the city," North stated, voice echoing through the mucky tunnels. "Gives all of us a chance to spread out, hit all five CyberLife stores at once with minimal surveillance coverage."

Iris shrugged, peering through the dark at Markus and North ahead. "It's a good plan. But for someone with olfactory receptors, I have to complain."

"Almost there, Iris." Markus assured. He took a couple jogs ahead and searched for the manhole cover they were going to use. Little light filtered through the holes. "This is a night my people will remember."

Truly, it was a brilliant plan. Five separate stores, five separate teams to break in and free CyberLife androids at 2 AM. Little surveillance, no violence.

Markus shoved the manhole cover to the side and grabbed at the edge, hoisting himself to the street. North followed with ease.

"Stupid friends with their stupid upper arm strength…" Iris muttered. She grabbed at the same edges—the feel of cold metal bursting through her fingertips—and groaned at the amount of force used to pull herself up.

"C'mon," Markus jerked his chin to the gate closing off the alleyway to the main road. North trekked ahead and pulled at the gate, minimal squeaking heard through the night. Iris rubbed at her biceps and trailed behind the androids.

"I've waited a long time for this," North said, peering in the direction of the CyberLife store.

Iris could never understand how cathartic it must've been for her, going to the place she was once sold. Assuring new androids they would never go through the same hardship North went through. But she would gladly lend a hand.

Gentle snowfall littered the street. Small snowflakes stuck to Iris's hair, her jacket. She could hardly feel her nose. All in all, a peaceful night. Like the universe was happy Jericho was taking another great step to liberate its' kind.

"Guys! Quick!" North hissed.

Red and blue lights came into view. Shit.

The three of them ducked behind the shadow of a large dumpster, Iris's heart thrumming incessantly in her throat. She kept her ears tuned to the police engine's purr. The crunch of snow against the tires got further and further down the road.

"It's okay," North trekked from behind the dumpster. "They're gone."

"There's probably more police in the area," Markus noted as he pulled from the dumpster. "We should be careful."

Well, we did go live on national television not twelve hours ago asking for freedom of all androids. Not exactly something they'd be calm about.

"Hope Josh and Aidan are having better luck." Iris murmured.

"We're all trained for the worst possible scenario," Markus said. "They'll be fine."

Iris nodded and rubbed her hands together as they passed another street corner. The streets of Detroit looked different at night. Familiar store fronts were shadowed, window blinds shut. The street lamps didn't do much in terms of visibility. The ads shining on gigantic billboards cast most of the blue light around. And she was so unbelievably cold.

"Remind me to get you some mittens," Markus gave Iris a teasing glance.

She huffed at the jest. "You know I always run cold. The weather isn't helping."

"Over here!" North called.

CyberLife's giant sign came into view. The business—massive, compared to its neighboring buildings—had images of androids in its windows. All standing alert, ready to serve. Some street cleaner androids milled about; others docked in stations. Waiting to be bought and used. A large statue of a human and android was in the middle of the square, a horrible plaque deeming it the release of human bonds from labor.

"How pretentious," Iris noted.

North and Markus hummed in agreement.

Iris watched quietly as Markus approached an android shoveling the fallen snow off the path. The android paid Markus no attention until his hand rested upon the yellow-clad shoulder. Markus's skin synthetic peeled back to reveal his pure white plastic and the android froze. The LED on his head swirled in yellow and red rapidly.

"You are free," Markus said. His voice boomed with benevolence.

The android dropped the shovel without a second thought and headed for the street. Iris stared, mouth gaping.

Markus looked to her. "What?"

"Since when can you do that?"

"Since deviating. I can guide others to free will."

"Dude, that's like watching Jesus personally invite someone to Heaven. Awesome."

North pointed to a section of androids. "There's a few more over there."

Markus trekked to the other androids, offering a single touch to each shoulder and words of freedom. "Go to Jericho," "You're awake now," "You are free." North and Iris stood together on the path to the store, watching in amazement.

"He's never done this before?" North peered at Iris.

The human shook her head. "No. Never. But he wasn't deviant until my birthday, so…" She gave the thought a once-over. "He was created by one of CyberLife's founders. A prototype that never made it out to the market. I wonder if Kamski gave him some extra fancy bells and whistles."

"Or maybe he's our RA9," North gleamed to Iris.

Iris blinked. "RA-what?"

"Our people's savior." North took a step back, staring through the CyberLife's glass door. "The one who can bring us to freedom and liberation."

Iris's response died on her tongue. That's a lot to ask for in a person. Instead she offered, "So he really is Jesus?"

"Glad to see you're back to cracking jokes, Manfred." North's tone betrayed her. The words—sarcastic in nature—were spoken in a dull monotony that made Iris raise an eyebrow. She took a generous step to stand beside North, Markus trailing behind the two.

"That's what we are to them…" North stared at the lines of androids on pedestals, clean-pressed white outfits and blue LEDs bright in the dim store. "Just merchandise in a store window. Soon they'll know who we really are. Let's get them out."

Markus nodded. "We stick to the plan. Neutralize the alarm systems and secure the area. There's ten minutes until all our teams attack."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Markus stepped between the two women and placed a hand upon the door. If he still had his LED, Iris could imagine it flashing in yellow as he uploaded the store's security data.

"You see the alarm system?" North asked.

Markus stood silently, eyes flickering the storefront. "Found it."

"How do we disable it?" Iris asked.

"I identified the security system, we should be able to deactivate it if we find its wiring," Markus pulled from the store. "Follow me."

The three trekked further into the streets of Capitol Park, following Markus before a beam of light filtered through the dark.

"Surveillance drone," Markus said, frowning. "We need to get rid of it."

"It won't be easy to reach," North added. She wasn't wrong; it was flying at least ten feet in the air.

"Stay here, I'll take care of it."

Markus pulled away from the group and stared silently at the drone. He didn't move once, keeping his eyes focused on the singular drone in the sky.

"Is… is he going to do anything?" Iris whispered to North.

"Do you always talk this much?" North hummed back. "Just… give him a minute. I've seen him do this before."

Iris let out a low okayyy, unconvinced. But still, she kept to herself and set her gaze on Markus, who still hadn't moved. Only his eyes flickered through the area.

Staring. Analyzing. Perfectly still.

Until he scaled a wall and kicked against it, effectively punching the drone to the ground and smashing it against the icy pavement. Iris blinked.

The drone—now sizzling and crackled—slowly blinked out of power at Markus's feet. Iris asked, "Since when can you do that?"

"Since I became 007," Markus gave a smirk. Iris was thankful at the teasing tone. These missions were important and she could never tell how to act. Dead serious? No humor? Thankfully not; playful comments put her at ease.

North looked down to the broken drone. "I hope it didn't have any time to call the cops."
Iris shrugged, and Markus offered a, "We'll see soon enough."

The trio went further to the street of Capitol Park, which seemed to be in a great state of construction. Signs, construction androids, sections fenced off and locked, power tools, bolt cutters, and a general mess littered about. Iris smiled to herself. Could be handy.

"There," Markus pointed to a section completely cut off from the street, large sections of orange "Construction," fencing leading only to one area to enter. The pavement had been dug up for about six or seven feet, a giant metal pipe exposed. Iris could see some wiring about its edges. There were two construction androids working on the equipment dutifully.

The trio were momentarily blinded by the flash of lights from a car passing by.

"Uh, you two… go, do your thing," Iris waved to the construction area. "I'll see if I can redirect traffic."

"Good luck," Markus nodded, then promptly hopped into the site.

Iris watched the car's taillights turn on another street and hummed silently to herself. They weren't expecting much in terms of traffic at night, but there's always someone milling about in Detroit. Maybe she could find something to block the road, try to get any prying eyes away from the CyberLife store.

She checked through the construction equipment and extra signs—but not one saying "Road Work Ahead," or even a, "Detour," like she had hoped.

What Iris DID find was an ugly neon yellow construction jacket, the top bright and painful to look at. She shrugged it on happily—it would sell whatever story she'd try to sell well.

Iris grabbed the two signs reading, "Construction Site," and placed them at the front end of the one-way street. Better than nothing.

The construction androids originally in the pit with Markus and North left, movements robotic as they trekked off to the dark.

"Going okay?" Iris called.

Markus replied, "Almost done!"

Iris's head craned as she checked the streets; no more incoming cars in view. With the area void of any extra humans, she trekked back over to Markus and North just as the two were hopping out of the construction area.

"The security feed is on a loop," Markus explained. "Now we just need something to ram the store."

Iris deadpanned. "Oh. That's all. Easy peasy."

"Come on," North jerked her head back to the street of Capitol Park. "There's got to be something here we can use."

The human let out a low hum and peered through the ever-falling snow. Markus, North, and Iris set through Capitol Park, splitting alone to search the surrounding area. From what Iris could see, nothing of good use was available.

"Markus, come look!"

North was on the other side of Capitol Park, jovially waving an arm to the fenced area by the beginning of the street. "The fence is locked." Markus began to trek and Iris did, too, but another pair of headlights beamed into the street.

"I got this, guys," she waved off the others. "There are some bolt cutters if you need 'em!"

The car stopped at the construction sign she left earlier, idling as she approached. The person inside lowered the window.

"Hey, road's closed!"

The man—late 40's, if Iris had to guess—with greasy hair and a constant five o'clock shadow leaned out his car's open window. "Some of us have to get to work! When are you guys going to realize you're not the only people on the planet?"

"We're sorry, sir." Iris mustered her best frown. "Downtown Detroit was supposed to let a notification before 6 last night about the extra construction for CyberLife. If you take another right, you should merge back to the road."

"Yeah, sure."

"Thanks for the cooperation, sir."

Iris's eyes caught Markus and North by a gate, and a few androids still milling about. The driver leaned closer to Iris, muttering, "They still letting the damn androids work?"

She shrugged. "Not my jurisdiction."

"Between you and me," the driver sat back into the chair and took a swig from a coffee cup, "they should burn all the plastic fucks. There's a couple places further in Michigan already starting to. Can't wait until America is back to a human-only sanctuary. Shouldn't have let the damn computers have legs."

Iris pressed her lips tight. "Just remember, take a right and you'll be on your way. Have a good night."

"You too, sweetheart."

She waited in place until the rev of the engine was far enough away that it hardly made a purr.

It seemed, so did North and Markus.

A giant construction vehicle peeled from the gate's area, twice the size of Iris's height and nearly the length of a train car. "Holy shit, guys! Nice job!"

Markus grinned from the driver's seat. "Stay there! We're gonna head to the store."

The human gave a thumbs up and kept by the Construction Site sign, and only had to cover her ears once when the truck gained speed and burst its way into the CyberLife store.

Iris grinned as Markus and North exited the store, dozens of androids and flashing LEDs in tow.

"Went well, I see," she cheekily greeted. She peeled the construction jacket off her shoulders and set it atop the Construction Site sign by her side.

"We're free." Markus beamed, proud. "And we're going to show them." He peered to the growing crowd, booming, "Wewill show them all!"

The crowd cheered in agreement. Dozens of "We're with you, Markus!" "We are free!" and "We are alive!" filled the air.

Iris raised a brow. "What'd'you mean?"

Markus's hand flew to hers, tugging her to the base of a building. "We tag every building, every bench, we leave Capitol City as our message."

He held out a holographic marker, an item Iris never had the chance to use before, and pressed the trigger. The message began to take shape on the wall.

WE HAVE A DREAM.

Onto the next portion of wall, a triangular symbol Iris had never seen before.

He tossed her the marker, jerking his chin at a bench. She took the hint and set the marker to display EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ANDROIDS.

There were a few familiar android models in the crowd Iris noticed, and her heart lurched at a blonde one with blue eyes. A PL600—the literal carbon copy of Simon. The android set his marker to the statue in the middle of Capitol Park and displayed another symbol; one with a fist proudly lifted.

Markus left Iris with the marker and he went to an android docking station. With one hand placed upon it, the station blinked brilliant bright colors and shut off. The only thing displayed in the entire section were the words Android Nation.

"Markus!" North called.

He jogged to North as she jutted her neck to the tall, older building that Iris had to visited maybe once as a child. The pair shared a look and ran at it, huffing as they climbed up the stature.

Iris watched in wonder. In less than a minute the two made it to the top and worked in tandem to set the largest symbol of the night onto the cracking bricks.

"Holy shit," she gaped.

A familiar voice came from next to her. "I know." She jerked to look at the android that was so very like Simon. "Wonderful, isn't it?"

She smiled. "Just wait until you see Jericho."

Her friends climbed down the building with ease, and she set another tag onto the walls. Iris couldn't lock any of the android parking stations down, but she kept her holo-marker to work, tagging any space she could with pro-android slogans.

"We ask that you recognize our vision, our hopes, and our rights."

Iris could hear the speech from earlier that morning broadcasting itself from every CyberLife screen in the park. That included the giant one atop the CyberLife building. Markus's voice—and occasionally her own—would fill the ear of any person within a ten-block radius.

Markus was right; this would be a night his people would remember.

As Iris set another tag to a bench—WE ANDROID NATION—a new sound fizzled in her ears. Police sirens.

"They're coming!"

In a second, all the androids from CyberLife dropped the holo-markers and set into the streets. Iris knew the plan; they'd fall back to the sewer opening and head to Jericho from there. But she worried; there were so many. Too many to not get noticed in the night. Especially with the extra noise and graffiti left on nearly every surface in Capitol Park.

"Manfred, let's go!" North grabbed at her shoulder in passing and the two ran ahead. She tried to find Markus in the crowd but could hardly see anyone's face in the sudden turmoil.

"Wait! Where is he?"

"He's coming, let's go!"

The police sirens wailed in her ears. The sound was dizzying as it rang through her, and Iris was lucky enough that North was dragging her along in the dark. Another whir burst through the night; dozens of police surveillance drones flew above the streets. Tracking their every move.

Shit.

"Where do we go?" The new WR400 android—the same model as North—ran in tandem with them. Her voice was nearly identical to North.

"Left here!" North said. "Come on."

Iris would've sighed in relief when the old gate came into view. Something she remembered and could easily identify. Almost safe.

Almost.

The police car shot into view and parked in the middle of the street. They blocked the only entrance to the sewers. Jericho was caught.

Shit.

"Get on the ground, now!" The two policemen threw themselves in front of the androids, weapons drawn without a second thought. "Get down! Hands above your head!"

"We haven't done anything wrong!" Someone in the crowd shouted.

Iris didn't know what to do. Her heart thumped in her chest. Fuck fuck shit goddamn—

"HANDS IN THE AIR! SURRENDER NOW!"

Iris thrusted both hands high. Placed them behind her head. The guns wavered in the air. She didn't know what to do. They didn't know what to do. The noise was too much. The red and blue lights swished on atop the car; it was the last thing Iris looked at before closing her eyes.

"Leave us alone! We are free—"

Thwick!

"No!"

Thwick! Thwick!

Cries erupted in the crowd. Iris peered an eye open to see blue blood splattered across her shirt. The body of North's counterpart fell to the ground in a heap.

She wasn't the only one. More newcomers were bleeding onto the street, people who haven't even had a chance to understand what true freedom meant.

Pop! Pop!

Chaos erupted. Dozens of the new androids ran at the cops, some lucky enough to shove them down and get ahold of the guns. Iris was not one of them.

She was furious. And frozen in place.

"Iris! North!"

Markus's voice carried easily now, with the chants from the crowd dying down. North dropped to her knees beside the identical android. Tears were streaming down her face.

"Are you okay?"

Iris could hear Markus, feel his hand in hers, but she couldn't look at him. Her eyes were on the face of the dead friend in the street. Her blood was in Iris's hair.

Iris's hands were shaking again. The adrenaline could only do so much to keep her still. "They just… they killed them…"

They died. She could have died.

"Who?" Markus's brows furrowed in concern. He squeezed her hand tightly. "Who?"

"They slaughtered them like animals," North's tone was bitter.

Iris pulled her hand from Markus, instead opting to place it on North's shoulder as she knelt to the ground. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

Iris listened to the gentle tracks of Markus's footsteps crunching the snow. She couldn't bring herself to look at the group. She knew they were huddled around the policemen; the two in blue were on their knees, hands on the back of their head just as they demanded from the androids earlier.

"They killed our people Markus," one android said.

"We want justice, Markus."

"They have to pay!"

From her spot on the ground, North muttered, "We need justice."

"North," Iris muttered weakly. Killing was not justice. It was revenge.

North shook Iris's hand free and stood from the ground, trailing behind the group. Iris peered through the gaps in arms. A newcomer held out a gun to Markus. To her surprise, he took it in hand.

"No…" She hoisted herself up, biting her bottom lip between her teeth. Markus was many things, but he was not a killer.

He wouldn't.

The barrel of the gun was set to the officer on the left. The man whimpered.

He wouldn't.

Would he?

"You don't have to do this," the officer sniffled. "Don't do this. Please."

Markus stared intently. The human closed his eyes, letting his whimpers of fear escape his lips. Freefallen snow ghosted his hair.

"An eye for an eye and the world goes blind."

Iris heaved a sigh of relief as Markus shoved the gun at the android who handed it to him. "We won't punish a crime with another crime."

He stalked off from the crowd, listening to the sounds of the officers crying into the open air.

"Coward," North spat bitterly.

Iris held her tongue.