AN: Long chapter to make up for how short the last two were (and totally not cause I couldn't stop writing and couldnt find a stopping point to break it up…)

Enjoy!

"Talking"

Emphasis

Thinking

"Android brain talking and texting"

.:internal workings like mission updates, scanning, and android googling:.

Chap 14

"You should stay here."

"Like hell I am! Last time I stayed behind, Simon got left in a tower that was swarming with cops! Including Co- the deviant hunter!"

None of them knew she was friends with their enemy, their hunter, she wasn't sure she would ever be able to tell them without losing their trust.

"I'm fine…" Simon sighs from the side of the room.

"The point still stands."

That was Cassian's morning after leading the freed androids to Jericho. She returned to find the others successful as well, though not without complications, and Simon home, safe. She immediately started patching up his wound, beyond happy to see her lost friend, as well as completely confused.

"How did they not find you?"

"I honestly don't know." He was lying back on a large crate that they were using as a medical table, as Cassian worked her magic, mind barely on his injury, listening to his story, "I was hiding in an air conditioning unit, waiting for them to discover me, then there was a bunch of gunfire downstairs, and the roof was abandoned. Must of been bad if it drew all of them away."

"Well, you're home now."

"Yeah…" He looked unsure but relieved, as if he didn't believe his own luck

"He missed you, ya know?" They both knew who she was talking about, "Leaving you behind nearly killed him."

"Nearly killed me too."

She makes him in the shoulder with one hand, leaving a faint blue handprint, "I'm trying to be serious and have a heart to heart and you're cracking jokes…"

"Sorry, Dr. Cassian…I'll be good."

"Watch it: my hand is currently in you, do you really want to antagonize me?"

Cassian rarely reached this level of comfort with another person; Nancy was the first, Connor the accidental 2nd, and then the twins. The fact that Simon had found his way under her guard so quickly unnerved her.

"I'm serious though. You should talk to him…"

"I'll think about it." and with that, he left her to work in silence. He waited till she was done to ask, "So what's our next move?"

That led to a conversation with their esteemed leader and their current argument.

"You can't stop me, Markus."

Markus threw his hands in the air, "Fine! But you have to promise me you won't treat anyone until after, on the way home; being our medic will put a target on your back."

"Being an android already does that…"

"Promise?"

"...I promise, Markus…"

She knew he didn't believe her.

He sighs, "Thank you."

She almost feels guilty about standing her ground; he looked tired, she was sure they all were; she, herself, was running on 3 days without "sleep.". As she passed Simon, she whispered, "Talk to him." with a wink; he looked like he wanted to run from the room but Cassian heard them talking as she went to find her sisters. She sigh as she left; at least she can help them find happiness.

Getting the twins to stay behind was surprisingly easy: they didn't want her to go alone but they couldn't leave Jericho unaided and they knew Cassian would go no matter what. They knew their duty, even if she selfishly forgot, just for the day.

Cassian was so proud.

She made them promise to go to Nancy's if things went wrong. She had caught them at an inopportune time; Astrid was cutting her sister's hair, making it very short, long, silky brown hair pooling on the ground. She waved the scissors around subconsciously as they protested, they wouldn't abandon Jericho for anything, but Cassian got their promise eventually...while avoiding the sharp object. She figures they were just trying to humor her but it made her feel better anyway, so she left it alone. Cassian made her excuses to leave when North made her way over, she and Logan making it obvious, with knowing smirks and wiggling eyebrows, that they were leaving the two alone as Astrid glared at them; if North noticed, she didn't say anything.

"They're so cute..." Cassian said to Logan once they got far enough away to give Astrid and North a moment. "Keep an eye on her, ok?

"Don't worry about us."

"Just try and stop me."

They share a smile. There was nothing else to say between them; standing in companionable silence, they waited for Astrid so they could poke her about her infatuation with North.

The hours passed far to quickly.

Walking to the mall was uneventful; the humans were not ready for what was coming their way, despite Markus's warning. They all went about their shopping, unaware that they were about to witness history in the making; whether the history books would talk about the beginning of an uprising or a massacre remained to be seen, but this was the first step.

"This is suicide!" North said in a harsh whisper, "We'll all be killed. Please, Markus...it's not too late to change your mind."

"You don't understand…" Countered Josh, the two of them always at odds with each other, "we're finally gonna show them who we really are. This place will go down in history."

"One way or another…" Cassian drawled out under her breath.

"We'll be killed on the spot!"

"That's a risk I'm willing to take if it means freedom for our people."

Rather than respond, North turned to their leader, "Markus...please dont do this." She sounded desperate and Cassian couldn't blame her; this was just another stupid risk that could kill them all...and Cassian had fought to be here…

What is wrong with me?

"They'll understand...we'll make them understand. This is the only way."

Cassian very much wanted to believe Markus.

Their march started off slowly, just a few androids from in front of the indoor shops, but after they successfully blocked off the street, their numbers grew exponentially. Markus called to them, allowing androids the opportunity to join them. Cassian wondered what he said. She wondered how being woken up differed from breaking free yourself; many of the others had explained what breaking through their programming felt like, but she never had the chance, hers was already broken when she woke up. She wondered why all of this came so easily to Markus; to wake up hundreds with a wave of his hand, when she couldn't even wake up two.

The humans looked confused and scared as the androids began chanting, calling for justice, for freedom, for peace; some even were angry, as their androids left them to join or just at the mere idea of what was occurring. There were whispers everywhere and cell phones came out to record what they saw, sure that no one would believe them; None knew what to do other than watch and wait.

Cassian didn't know how to feel about her face being in those videos; if Cyberlife didn't know where she was, they did now. She wondered if Connor was watching; Hank had said he was, at least. She continued to walk, head held high, determination in her every step. Drones whirled overhead.

The first resistance was a cop in the middle of the road, alone, gun drawn but pointed down. They stopped, waiting for Markus's signal as the man yelled for them to disperse. He raised his gun. Markus doesn't even pause; he advanced on the man, the rest of them following silently after a moment. The man steps to the side, talking into his radio, no doubt reporting them to the DPD.

Their crowd reached an estimated 236 in all, when they turned the corner to come face to face with a riot squad; several cop cars pulled in off to the side, cutting off escape that direction. But they weren't ready to escape, not till they had said their piece. They all stopped again. Sure, they could intimidate one man into standing aside, but a dozen heavily armed guards? Doubtful. A news helicopter buzzed into view.

Markus stood at the front proudly, flanked by North and Josh on the left and Simon and Cassian on the right; hundreds of other androids stood shoulder to shoulder behind them.

"We came here to demonstrate peacefully…" His voice rang out in the chilly, still air, filled with purpose, "and to tell humans that we are living beings. All we want is to live free. "

His response was a demand, "This is an illegal gathering. Disperse immediately or we will open fire."

But Markus wasn't dissuaded, "We're not looking for confrontation. We've done no harm, we have no intention of doing any. But know that we are not going anywhere until we have secured our freedom."

"I repeat:" The riot commander said as if he had heard nothing, "this is an illegal gathering. If you do not disperse immediately, We. Will. Shoot."

What did I sign up for?

"Markus, they're gonna kill us…we have to attack. There's more of us, we can take them."

"If we attack, we'll start a war. We have to show them we're not violent. We should just stand our ground, even if it means dying here."

Maybe a war was what they needed… No…Cassian mentally shook herself...she would follow Markus's message of peace. She took a deep breath.

"Dying here won't solve anything. Markus, we need to go, now, before it's too late." Simon added, despite showing no sign that he was ready to run; he seemed ready to stand here beside Markus no matter what.

"This is your last chance: disperse immediately, or you will all be killed!" The Commander sounded almost...desperate.

"We have to show them we won't back down. We stay right here."

Oh fuck...

They were shooting randomly into the crowd, they didn't care who they hit. The cops, however, didn't aim for Markus, the one they were talking to; they used the continuing deaths of his people as bargaining chips to make him retreat. Cassian didn't say anything; she knew he wouldn't retreat, couldn't retreat, and knew that she would stand there beside him the whole time.

"We're not moving."

Around her bodies fell, her heart breaking again and again with every shot. She was failing; as a doctor, she was failing. Her people were dying and she did nothing. She nearly broke her promise to Markus, nearly darted to the nearest injured android, but a voice to her right told her someone had beat her to it.

"You need to put pressure on it."

As always, Hadley was too cheerful for the current situation, though concern now tinted her voice. She was crouched only a little ways from Cassian, next to a woman who was shot in the thigh, helping her stop the bleeding like Logan had shown her. Markus hadn't made her promise not to help her people. Cassian wondered why her life was so important, if she can't even save one other. Cassian saw the gun turn to the right. An easy target: Hadley's back was to them and they got the added benefit of a downed android not getting treatment.

Time moved slowly and yet too fast for Cassian to completely follow; she didn't even notice her body move in front of her friend until Simon called to her, asking her what she was doing.

She shouldn't have felt anything; androids didn't feel pain, they weren't built to...Cassian had the unfortunate experience of finding out pain wasn't the only thing that you could feel when you get shot. She fell to her knees, blue pouring over her hands as she tried to put pressure on the wound, a scream frozen in her throat. Her diagnostic program was working against her in that moment; loud, constant, debilitating errors swamped her system, warning of a hole in her stomach and of biocomponent failure. A second later her own voice added to the blaring of her diagnostic programs, as if trying to drown them out. She couldn't function, everything was locked. Voices called her name and she could do nothing but kneel there and scream; Hadley looked at her, for once without her rosy cheer...Hadley was scared, her hands full, unable to run to Cassian.

Cassian was vaguely aware of Markus walking forward, muffled voices from a megaphone telling him to back off. She blearily looked up as he, too, was shot; her own injury forgotten momentarily as her medical instincts kicked in, one hand reaching out as he fell, almost needing to help their leader, even as her own body attempted to shut down. A body shot past her, throwing itself against the police advancing on Markus. Simon and North grabbed Markus by the arms, dragging him back away from the fight, leaving John, to fend off the police officer, as Josh helped Cassian to her feet, blood still trickling onto the snow below them. Cassian had never talked to the man but she knew John was fiercely loyal to Markus, after he had saved him from the Cyberlife warehouse; he would die for for Jericho, for Markus.

The fight ends, a body is on the ground, and a single shot rings out into the winter air.

They all run.

Most of them make it back.

The atmosphere in Jericho was tense, panicked, and frightened but oddly hopeful; they had more androids, more help, more resources than ever before and public opinion was turning in their favor, even if governmental policy was standing firm. It came at a high cost but things were moving forward.

Cassian had to leave the main hold; seeing herself get shot on screen several times an hour wore on her patience. She was fine...ish now, they had the parts to fix her and while she wasn't aware enough to do it herself, the twins did good work. But the memory of it wasn't going to fade any time soon. As soon as she was well enough to stand, she threw herself into her work. So many bodies were under her hands in the following hours, they blended together; she didn't catch their names as she moved onto the next, didn't hear their thanks. She was exhausted.

The medical wing of the ship, which was just a corner of the main hold that was walled off from the rest of it with large sheets of plastic, was finally empty of patients for the first time since they returned hours ago; that left only one last, extremely stubborn man, who refused to be treated with more than just basic first aid, till his people were seen to.

"You know...I can't do anything if you die of blood loss." Cassian's voice was drolly pleasant as she entered the ships command center. She wonders at her luck with the people she associated with...first Connor and his propensity for trouble, Simon and his sheer dumb luck, and now Markus and his stubborn martyr complex. The other leaders were scattered around, looking at Markus. The man in question didn't answer, his back to her.

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

Cassian sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Everyone has been taken care of. We've lost 13 since we got home, but everyone else is stable. Our supplies are not endless but we'll survive." She turns to Markus, "Now will you please let me do my damn job and fix that hole in your chest? I can't let the leader of the revolution die on my watch, it's bad for my reputation…"

Markus chuckles and turns, finally allowing her to get to work on saving his life. She grumbles about selfless bastards who make her job harder and pulls out a bottle of thirium for him to sip on while she works.

"Don't worry this isn't the last of it…"

She had meant it as a joke to calm his worries but the words came out of Cassian's mouth weary and grave and Markus quickly becomes serious once more...so he was back to his old self again. Cassian listened to the meeting, her hands removing hastily applied bandages.

The news wasn't good.

"President warren is saying we're a threat to national security and we need to be exterminated."

"Humans are conducting raids in all the big cities...and they're taking androids to camps to destroy them."

"It's a disaster. They're slaughtering our people!"

"It's all our fault. None of this would have happened if we'd just stayed quiet"

Cassian had been nothing but quiet her whole life, she was over it...but how many were lost because she couldn't stay quiet? Who was sent to take her place in the office at Cyberlife? Her sisters' place? Did they condemn someone else to that prison by escaping?

"The only thing we asked for is freedom...and 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."

Cassian had heard enough, "I'd rather die than go back to the way I was before. I may have been Alive but that wasn't living, that was barely existing." Her hands pause their work, balling into fists against Markus's skin, eyes squeezed tight against growing fear; panic settled in her chest as her thirium pump and mind raced at the mere thought of going back. She could faintly hear North agreeing across the room.

Markus places a hand on Cassian's shoulder, giving her a sad look, one that she quickly turns to continue her work to get away from; Markus was far too understanding, it scared her. He looks to the rest of the group, "Maybe my judgement was clouded by...anger. But everything I did, was for our people."

"We shouldn't forget who our enemies are." said Simon, always the voice of reason in their little council, "We can't fight amongst ourselves."

"He's right. All that matters now is what we do next…." North's voice was expectant, "Markus?"

There was a pause as Markus thinks, "Dialogue." North was not happy with his choice, closing her eyes in with a sad anger, "It's the only way. I'll go alone, try to talk to them one last time."

"Don't do this markus! They'll kill you!"

"Maybe...but North, I have to try! If I don't come back, lay low as long as you can"

North stands in front of Markus for a moment before murmuring out, "...just come back." and she walks out

Josh is next to leave, "They need to realise how much they're hurting us, find the right words and they'll listen."

"I take it that's my que to get lost?" Cassian mumbles, smoothing a patch over the completed repair, "You're lucky I just finished here. Try not to undo my work."

Markus calls out to her as she turns to follow North and Josh out, "Cassian, you really should stay here, when we make our next move; look after the wounded if this goes wrong."

"This again?" Her hands were on her hips, pulled tight into fists, as she turned back to face him, a scowl that would have put Nancy at her angeriest to shame aimed at Markus, "You may be our leader, but you will listen to me: If this goes wrong, we're all dead anyway. I honestly don't want to die, not all of us have death wishes," Markus had the grace to look sheepish, though unapologetic, "but if I have to die, I'd rather do it side by side with my people, not hiding out here waiting for them to find me. And don't you think getting shot changes my mind about that."

Simon snorts, "You're always so positive."

"It's one of my charms."

"It goes with your amazing bedside manner..."

Cassian shoots Simon a glare as Markus's soft chuckle follows her out the door into the night air. She steels herself, they had a lot to do if they were to be ready for their next move. After taking a few minutes to settle her mind, she was about to go back to the hold when Simon calls her name and catches up with her.

"That was quick...I assume there wasn't much talking happening."

"Oh shut up…"

They walked in silence through the hallways, each lost in their own thoughts, on their own plans for the next few days. About to part ways at an intersection, Simon stops her, "How are the medical supply stocks really?"

"Hm?" Cassian was in the middle of some mental calculations about that very topic, "Like I said to Josh, they're low but they'll last...for now."

"For now?"

"For now."

Little did she know, they wouldn't last the night.

She was in the hallway leading deeper into Jericho when the first shots are fired. Immediately, there was a flood of panicked people attempting to scatter in every direction, pulling her towards the hold of the ship. Being as small as she is, Cassian knew she would never be able to fight the push of people. She wove her way with the flow of bodies, hoping her sisters were that way. They, instead, found her. Pulling her into side room, 2 floors above the hold, they all huddled together as the humans grew closer, slowly but steadily.

"Cassie, what do we do?" She had never heard Astrid so panicked before, her voice a harsh whisper, "they're everywhere!"

Looking out the door, Cassian pulls back in just in time as humans in heavy tactical gear run past, seemingly having not noticed her.

"We stay together and get out."

"There are exits on the second and third floor. Find them and jump in the river!

"And I guess we're going to jump into the river..."

The 3 sisters find their way to the exit Markus mentioned, dodging into empty rooms from time to time to avoid trouble. The exit was more of a ragged hole than anything. The water lapped at the metal of the ship a good 50 ft below; Cassian never considered herself afraid of heights, she seen worse, but boy was that a long fall…there were already people in the water, swimming away from the besieged Jericho...some bodies too. People were hurt.

"Wait!"

Astrid and Logan pause at the edge of the hole, ready to jump. Neither said anything but their eyes asked a question anyway, waiting for Cassian to explain.

"There are going to be injuries. Wherever we're going isn't going to have what we need to treat them. I need to go back and grab whatever I can."

The twins exchanged a look and Astrid shrugs, "Ok. Lets go."

"No! I'll go alone. You two are my priority and I can't drag you back into that." They all knew what waiting back in the ship.

"What happened to together? You said-" Astrid wasn't giving up.

"I know what I said!" and neither was Cassian.

"You can't protect us forever!"

"I CAN TRY!" Cassian screams; with a mighty shove, Astrid was out the hole, landing in the water scant seconds later. Both equally surprised she was actually able to overpower her much larger sister, Cassian and Logan wait, looking out the hole side by side, eyebrow raised. A few moments later they see a brunette head burst out of the water and hear a distant but angry "WHAT THE FUCK, CASSIAN?" from below. They share a chuckle.

"You guys are my priority, but I know she is yours." Cassian whispers, still looking down at her fuming sister, "Go. I'll be fine."

Logan looks at Cassian for a long second before nodding, "...be careful."

"I always am."

"You got shot less than 12 hours ago…"

"Details."

"Good luck."

"I'll need it," looking down once more, Cassian sighs,"...try to get her to a point where she won't strangle me on sight?"

"I'm not a miracle worker."

She sighs again, laughs, and hugs Logan, before taking off back into the chaos; she was out the door before Logan made the jump to join their twin in the frigid water below. She fights her way back through the crowd, taking paths less traveled, hiding from the humans, and standing to the side as larger groups of androids ran past. Finally finding herself back in the hold, she runs over to the medical "room" and begins to fill a bag with as much as she can grab. She prioritizes blue blood and thirium pumps, only the essentials, whatever was left; any missing limbs and non-vital injuries could be triaged then dealt with later. Filling the backpack to the breaking point, Cassian looks around the large, eerily empty room, gunshots, ricochets, and screams sounding off in the distance; mere minutes ago, this was the bustling headquarters of the revolution...now it was a deathtrap…

Cassian was about to move back into the the corridors when everything went sideways; blood splattered across the floor and she landed hard on her hip. She assesses the hole in her leg with a odd detachment, as if it wasn't her leg, just someone she was working on. Her eyes snap to the soldier across the room, assault rifle trained on her. He got a few more shots off at her, none hitting, before she could drag herself to cover.

"I've got one in here!"

Behind a Cyberlife crate, she tried to think her way out of this. Her leg wasn't immediately bad, in the long run it needed to be treated and mobility might be an issue, but it was the knock to the side that disoriented Cassian. Having a second to get her bearings back, she looked for a weapon. Her eyes land on a large rusted wrench that probably hadn't seen use in over a decade.

Why is it always a wrench?

"Come here, you android bitch…"

The man stalked towards her crate, not waiting for his back up, confident he could take care of one small, damaged android. Not waiting for him to reach her, Cassian throws the backpack to the right, cause him to startle and shoot at it, as she bounds over her cover, bringing the wrench around into his neck. There is a dull, squishy thud and the man collapses, gasping, unable to draw a breath. She should kill him, after all he tried to kill her...he was probably going to die anyway, she had crushed his windpipe...survivable but…her hand tightens on the wrench.

No…

Shaking the murderous thoughts from her head, she gathers her backpack, which was slowly leaking thirium. Shit! After a moment of thought, she slides the wrench in the side pouch, probably meant for a water bottle but now held a weapon, and grabs the man's gun, kicking his hand way as he tries to hold onto it. She looks into his eyes for a moment, long enough for him to know she was sparing him, and turns to leave. Passing Lucy on the ground, eyes closed as if she was sleeping against the wall, made Cassian pause but she carried on, despite the tears that threatened.

Winding down the maze like hallways that have been her home for last couple weeks, Cassian sprints, gun held in front of her, supplies swinging heavily on her back; luckily the leak had stopped, she hoped that meant only some of it was damaged and not that it had run out. She collapses against a wall, giving her leg a break as those annoying errors start popping up, warning her about possible biocomponent failure.

I have GOT to stop getting shot…

So much for never seeing "high risk situations."

With that, she's off again, struggling to make it back to the exit she had sent her sisters out of. Starting to experience something similar to blood loss, she quite literally ran into the next android group she comes across. Arms circle her waist, holding her up off of the floor. Her gaze wander from the floor she nearly had an up close and personal encounter with to a warm pair of wide brown eyes.

"Cassian?"

"Connor?"

For a split second, all the chaos around them ceased; it was just the two of them. There was no attack, no humans, no danger. Just Cassian and Connor. He wasn't in his normal dark sports jacket, a large, puffy red jacket replaced it, matching the beanie that covered his hair and LED; he looked rugged, less polished. He was here...in Jericho…

Why is he here?

Too soon, it all came flooding back, in a rush of sound she was reminded that last she saw Connor, he was working with the humans. He was hunting them. She pushes away her friend, only to be saved from the floor once more by North.

"Connor, what the fuck are you doing here?"

"Wait," Josh said, matching her confusion, "you two know each other?"

"I…" Connor seemed lost as to what to say as he looked between Cassian and the others.

North took charge before he could answer, "It's ok, He's with us."

She must have lost a lot of blood...nothing was making sense.

"When the fuck did that happen?" her voice was slurring slightly as her program shut down non essential systems slowly, one by one, having lost too much blood.

"Just a few minutes ago. Now move! We gotta go!" North nudged her down the hallway.

The nudge, combined with the weight of her backpack and the gun, and her wounded leg, sent her stumbling into a wall. Everyone was a few steps past her before they realised she wouldn't be able to keep up.

"Shit!" North swore under her breath, the need to run clear in her eyes, but staying despite it.

Connor glanced down at her leg with an unreadable look, "Again, Cassian?"

It sounded so much like old times in her office, she had to hold back her embarrassed chuckle. At least she got an answer to one of her questions, "I guess you saw it on tv, huh?"

Instead of answering her, he loops her arm over his neck, handing her troublesome backpack to Josh, slinging the gun over his own shoulder.

"Where's Markus?"

"Setting off the bomb." Simon called back over his shoulder to her.

"Bomb?"

No one told her anything these days.

"Are you going to be ok?"

Connor's quiet voice was raspy in her ear. Looking to her right, his face was too close for her to think clearly...but even the idea of pushing away again gave her vertigo...maybe it was just her slowly leaking leg that was making it hard to think...

"This isn't the first I've been shot, I'll be fine."

"I'm starting to think you should listen to Markus."

"Not you too, Simon..."

This conversation was almost too normal in this tense situation for her panicked mind to follow, despite being a part of it.

The group made their way down the hallway, slowly. Too slowly for Cassian's nerves. Every second they wasted getting her out was another second closer to humans finding them, one second closer to being caught in an exploding, sinking ship. After the third time Connor stumbled under her weight when she tripped, she had had enough.

"Leave me."

Connor's reply was a whisper in her ear, she wasn't sure she had heard him. Unwilling to waste more time asking him, she turned to the others.

"Look: I don't want to stay but if you don't leave me and run, there's a really good chance we'll all be caught."

"Don't be an idiot, Cassian, we are not leaving you." North sounded frantic, "Come on-"

"No, you need listen to m-" Cassian's reply to her was interrupted by Connor scooping her up bridal style in his arms, her arms gracelessly flailing before circling his neck to hold herself up, the others looking on surprised, "What the fuck, Connor?"

"I'm not leaving you."

His eyes were so intense, burning into her own, as if willing her to understand.

"Ok." Her mouth worked without her permission, breathing it out so quietly so only Connor could hear.

He almost sagged with relief, before shifting her in his arms and striding past the others. Cassian saw them exchange confused glances before following.

They continued for another few hallways before they crossed paths with Markus, who had Hadley in tow, who was shot in the arm and scared but was, all in all, okay.

"Markus!"

"Bombs gonna explode any second. We gotta get out of here!"

"Again with the bomb...what bomb?" Cassian didn't know she had said it outloud, face in Connor's neck, till she heard his light chuckle. She smiled wearily.

"Cassian! Are you ok? Whos this?"

"Yes, Hadley, I'm ok and I'll tell you later."

They didn't make it far till another one of them was shot.

"NORTH!" Cassian struggled in Connor's grasp, "Connor put me down we have to go get her!"

"It's too late markus! There's nothing we can do for her, we've gotta run!"

She nearly hated Simon in that moment; North had refused to leave her, Cassian would rather die than leave her behind. Luckily, she wasn't the only one who felt that way. Markus ran forward, picking up a piece metal from the floor, using it as a shield as he made his way to North. A call of "Fire at will!" could be heard down the hall and there were bullets flying; Markus pushed forward behind his shield as the others ducked behind the framework of the ship, hiding as well as they could from the shots. The gunfire stopped as Markus engaged the humans in hand to hand, disarming and shooting them, before helping North back down the hall towards the others.

Connor peeked down the hall and swore; there were more coming. He turned to Hadley, "Hold her."

Hadley took charge of keeping Cassian upright, even if she couldn't properly carry her, and Connor ran down the hall past Markus and North, with the gun Cassian had stolen. She watched in awe as he made short work of the men, realising she had never seen Connor actually fighting, she only saw the results. She had to admit: it was impressive.

"Who is he?" Hadley breathed out next to her.

"A friend."

Connor stood over the bodies of the invaders, pistol in hand, Cassian's gun gone. Cassian nearly hobbled to him before she saw more police coming down the hall.

"Connor! Let's go!" She called before she was back in his arms and they were running. As the others ran straight out the jagged hole that was their way out, Connor paused.

"I'm going to toss you, it's not safe to jump together. Try to get your feet underneath you before you hit."

"And you'll be right behind me." Cassian left no room for argument.

And Connor didn't even try, "Don't worry," he smiles, "I'm not letting you leave me behind again."

"You'd better n-" and she was falling. She had just gotten her feet under her when she hit, the choppy water swallowing her up. Her injured leg proved useless when it came to swimming and she had to fight her way to the surface. A second later Connor lands in the water next to her; his arms circled her once more, helping her stay afloat.

"You ass!"

"Sorry, they were entering the room and you were still talking." His cocky grin made her want to kill him...or kiss him, she wasn't quite sure which, so she did neither. The bomb that apparently was on the ship went off and Cassian, with Connor's continued help, quickly swam under the dock, not needing to breathe, to avoid detection by the human. They met up with Markus and the others and, together, they all made their way across town.

Cassian walked slowly at the back of the retreating group, arm once again over Connor's neck; her leg was still weak but well enough to walk on slowly, with help. Their destination was an old abandoned church; it was large enough for all of them and in a fairly deserted part of the city. Part of its roof was caved in, letting the snow and wind in, so it was unlikely that there would be any human squatters in it.

Her sisters make their way over to meet her as their group entered the large, crowded building; more and more android refugees were pouring in from all over the city. One look at her leg and Logan sighs.

"Again, Cassian?"

This time, addled from blood loss and relief and surrounded by her friends, Cassian laughed and sank to the floor in Connor's arms.

AN: And 18 pages and 6,703 words later, shits hit the fan for real but all your faves have survived (except Lucy rip but that was expected) And our boy is back! We missed you, Connor (and by we i mean Cassian =P) We'll get an extra about these events (and the next chapter) from his perspective soon.

This one had a lot going on as well as a lot of game dialogue, hope it was easy to follow but interesting.

I'll be honest...I fully intended to kill Simon from the beginning, like before I even started writing, cause I think the "I felt him die...like i was dying. i was...scared" scene is a very poignant moment for connor….but as soon as I made Simon be in a past relationship with Jack, i immediately decided he was going to end up with Markus...I then had a moment a few days later while planning where I went "...shit! I can't kill him now." Just an example of the story taking me where i didn't expect to. good thing that I like Simon, he and Cassian have become good friends, and i think he and Markus are adorable together.

Reviews!

Silver007: Peaceful all the way, it's what I've seen (in the two playthroughs I've seen) and I like how it went, so it's the canon path for me (tho I hope to find a good playthrough of the violent path soon, just to see it.) It's a good point that I don't quite make that clear in for the break in; I'll have a fix for that edited in by the time you read this (psst it'll be in last chapter, in the last paragraph.) As for your observation: It's literally the only way this story made sense to me, honestly. I am mostly ignoring the "if Connor does too much deviant stuff, he gets deactivated" rule thats in game, but I couldn't justify Connor going with her or Cassian staying with him. It doesn't help that Cassie is...well, not anti social but she doesn't know how to be social. She's just been mostly alone for too long (literally her entire life till recently); so, for her, finding herself alone and subconsciously avoiding people is far too easy. She's more comfortable with some people and can talk with them better than others, but it's a work in progress. She's trying and is getting better, but Rome wasn't built in a day. Hope my story continues to intrigue you! and sorry this review reply was pretty long winded…

Kayo-San: Heyo! Glad to hear from you again! Just got a bunch of your reviews at once, and honestly, after what I put her through in this chapter, you were probably right to be worried... XD But yeah, her main inner conflict is that she has a lot of self preservation instinct (which extends to Astrid and Logan) and is very pessimistic and, while she is 100% for the revolution, she has to push through that to be a part of it. Thank you for your continued support! Hope to hear from you again as the story continues!