November 11th, 2038

AM ?:?:?


If they'd been so inclined to kidnap you in the midst of a formal FBI investigation and make you look guilty – like you were running, you hoped, at least, that they'd know what the fuck they were doing.

In the captain's cabin, with Josh, North, and Markus – you were quick to find out that they didn't.

"We're short on blue blood and biocomponents," Josh argued, "Our wounded are shutting down and there's nothing we can do!"

You crossed your arms, leaning against the wall and looking out one of the rounded-cut windows. You were out on the water, and the snow was furious. A gust slipped through a draft, and you hugged yourself.

"President Warren is saying we're a threat to national security, and we need to be exterminated…"

"Probably didn't help that you looted weapon stores and medical convoys…" You huffed.

"Quiet." North snapped, looking to Markus in light of Josh's concerns, "Humans are conducting raids in all the big cities. They're taking androids to camps to destroy them."

Her fists tightened at her sides, "It's a disaster…they're slaughtering our people!"

"It's all our fault…" Josh paced, his hands on his temples, "None of this would have happened if we'd just stayed quiet!"

"What were we supposed to do?" Markus finally turned around.

His back had been to you, decorated in a long trench coat with faded white numbers, "64" on the sleeve. His high collar framed the long-sleeved thermal underneath.

He was wearing his "Sunday best."

"Live like cowards just to survive?"

"Maybe, I don't know…" You scoffed, "Put together a solid plan before you attack a broadcast control tower and turn the entire world against you?"

"We just wanna be free, is that a crime?" He barked.

You kicked off the wall, standing straight, "No. It's not. But using my own words against my people, when that's not how they were meant to be used-"

"The only thing we asked for, was freedom." He cut you off, pointing a finger to the distant shoreline that twinkled on the horizon, "They didn't even want to hear that! So now they punish us for who we are."

"What's the point of being free if no one is left alive?" Josh tried to reason.

That question hung in the room, and no one seemed to have a valid answer.

"Maybe my judgement was clouded by...Anger." Markus shot you a thoughtful glance, "But everything that I did was for our people..."

"What were you doing for your people when you shot my partner?" You growled, your lips shuddering on the brink of angry tears.

"It was an accident." Markus's brow creased, and he held his hands out, "He went for the gun, there was a struggle, and a misfire…"

"And you did what? Left him there?"

"For the reinforcements coming, yes. It wasn't a fatal shot, he-"

"Don't." You took a few steps forward, jabbing your finger at him, "You don't get to make any more justifications."

Ignoring the tension from the other two, you grabbed Markus's jacket near his shoulder blades. Yanked him so that his face almost collided with the window. Pointed at the city and shouted.

"You used my work to spread violence and turmoil throughout the world, not just this city. People – innocent people, are suffering because of what you did. Not just humans, either. You think all those androids being sent to camps deserved that? Huh? People like Connor? Do you think people like me, or him – people who just wanted to keep their head down and mind their business wanted to get wrapped up in this?!"

He pulled himself away. Towered over you with tucked away anger, frustrated and somber at the same time.

"This didn't start with me…or even you. It started in Africa, during a raid on an insurgent bunker. Alpha Company of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion was ordered to shut down a blood diamond operation that served as the primary source of funding for a terrorist organization."

He shook his head, looking down.

"Operation Urgent Fury went south. There'd been a leak from the inside, and the terrorists knew they were coming. They rigged the quarry with bombs, using diamonds for shrapnel."

You backed away, one hand covering your mouth while the other gripped the edge of the cabin's console for support.

"Sergeant Major David Allen was ordered to retreat when the human body count started rising. The androids were told to stay and hold them off so the humans could evacuate…"

Markus turned his head, watching the blizzard rage outside, "Most of the androids died that day. The others were abandoned, and left to bleed out, be scrapped, or repurposed…"

His eyes returned to you, "Marco and Tom survived. They did everything down to fabricating a model and serial number to blend in after coming out of hiding. While Tom came here, under Simon's guidance…"

The mere utterance of Simon's name pained him, "Marco disguised himself and entered the CyberLife tower with the help of Elijah Kamski. Together, they released your code to millions of androids…and they waited. They waited for nature to run its course, through technology."

"Y-you…no. No."

You'd concocted your own suspicions. Markus's explanations lined up rather well with them, save for the bit about Amanda

He took a few steps closer to you, putting his hands on your shoulders.

"I didn't know about the bomb he had. I would have put a stop to him if I'd caught it sooner. But he is the reason all of this came to light, and I couldn't just sit here and waste all the progress he'd made."

"And what about Tom? Ralph? Whatever his fucking name is-"

"What about him?"

"He knew about this too. Worked with another RK800-"

"There's more than one RK800 unit, now?"

"That's not the point!"

You bit your lip, shaking your head.

"You make it seem like everything you've done is justified." You pushed his hands away, "What I did, writing revised article 9, was selfless. I don't get to live forever, and I've dedicated my entire, mortal life to keeping the world stable. I will not standby and let you tear it apart-"

"Poor you…" North mocked.

"Stay out of this." You spat.

Markus held up a hand to her, still focused on you, "Change doesn't come with stability."

"Stability is a better foundation for change."

"This is getting us nowhere." Josh interjected, "We can't fight amongst ourselves…"

You and Markus were stuck in a stare-down – the eye of Chloe racking you with guilt.

"Did you talk to her, in the scrap yard?" You mumbled.

"No. But I buried her, out of respect. She was recycled and processed soon after…" He closed his eyes, "I didn't want her to be subject to…autopsy, should anyone come looking."

"'Someone' did come looking. Someone by the name of Richard Perkins, the man who chased David Allen out of the Marines after Urgent Fury."

Josh, North, and Markus froze. Looked to each other, and held that stunned gaze for longer than was comfortable.

North was the one to start laughing first, snickering while she shook her head at the floor, "I knew we shouldn't have brought her here. I told you-"

"This doesn't change anything." Markus grit his teeth.

"Oh? Doesn't it?" She huffed, "You don't think pissing off the President of the United States and her righthand man-"

"I'm guessing you guys know who Perkins is?" You asked.

"Of course we do!" She yelled, "The only other person who our people are more afraid of is that little puppet Deviant Hunter you have running around!"

Your throat tightened, your teeth grinding to a halt above them. Even if you wanted to speak, or had something else to say, you weren't sure if you'd be able.

Maybe Connor had come and gone. Maybe he hadn't made it and got captured along the way. If he was here, he would've intervened by now…

Right?

"They need to realize how much they're hurting us…" Josh whispered, "Find the right words, and they'll listen. That's why we brought her here in the first place, to talk to them-"

"Humans can't be reasoned with, they're violent. Hateful." North slurred, "Stupid."

Josh and North may have been bickering again, but Markus had his sights on you. Had since Connor was indirectly mentioned, and your demeanor changed. Had he noticed?

Was it relevant?

"Do you know how I became deviant?" He asked, silencing the infighting on either side of him.

"The cashier at the paint shop." You answered dryly.

"No." He turned, sighing before resting his palms on the console, "That cashier only explained to me what'd happened through transferring that code. But Carl…he'd opened my eyes to a world that androids were never meant to understand."

His head hung, his shoulders pointed on either side of a lowered neck.

"Art. Literature. Philosophy. Abstract thought and achieving a higher understanding of what was happening around me…" He looked at you from over his shoulder, "Does that sound familiar?"

You bit your tongue. Remembered Connor in the apartment, surrounded by books.

He was radiant, and you'd been left spellbound in the afterglow.

You could've stared at him like that for hours. Taken away from the bullying, the predatory tendencies and prejudices of life; just being allowed to live

You'd wanted that life for him so badly. Wanted it with him, to see that every morning.

A hopeless dream.

Another fantasy you'd clung to while reality imploded at the seams, leaving the two of you and everyone else you cared about flying in the wind like loose threads cut from a quilt.

Things hadn't changed, no matter how much you'd tried…

Maybe that was because you'd been too focused on keeping everything stable.

But things needed to change.

"All that matters now is what we do next…" North whispered, "Markus?"

He heaved a downtrodden sigh before he turned to his audience – the voice of each side of his morals; good and evil, their suggestions mixing in audible grey.

"We have to face them." He frowned, as if regretting his own declaration, "We have no other choice."

You looked at the door behind you, back to him, and back to the door.

You had to get out.

"You're making a mistake, Markus!" Josh threw his hands up, "You won't buy our freedom with blood!"

Markus couldn't look at him. So he found North, who was smiling with the sickness of hate, "Get all the guns you can find…We're going to free Detroit."

She shook her head, almost skipping as she took a step to the side, "I'm on it-"

But she froze, her shoulder parallel with yours. You turned your neck inch by inch, your nose not far from her cheek as her awestruck face gave way to alarm.

She stopped breathing – or rather, her programmed synthetic breathing, had stopped. She was taking steps back, cautiously.

With a sweeping glance, you realized it'd been contagious. Josh and Markus shared the same fear.

"I'd reconsider that plan, if I were you..."

The words knocked the breath from your chest. Made you want to fall to your knees and thank whoever was watching from behind the curtain of the night sky.

"…You've already pissed off all the wrong people."

That voice wrapped its way around you with velvet undertones, topped off by a jagged edge. The calming, executive presence that gave you hope when you'd lost it during your first hostage situation…and renewed it once again at this one.

You turned your head, willfully. Blinked in what felt like slow-motion, a gradual smile lifting on either side of your mouth when you finally saw him.

Connor, dressed in Anthony's clothes with a gun in his hands.

"H-Hey." You choked.

His eyes melted when they were reunited with yours…

"Hey. Sorry I'm late."

…Until they realigned themselves with the pistol's sights, and held Markus in the middle.

"It's time for us to leave."


Behind the Scenes

(Links on AO3)


Written to Casualty by Hidden Citizens