Finally, chapter 2 is ready. Sorry this took so long, I originally wasn't going to write more but I couldn't stop thinking about it, so here we are!

Enjoy

Wayne State University

6:13

October 14, 2038

The next morning was… eventful, to say the least. Amelia had told Josh to rest in the corner, his LED blank for once while he remained in standby. Amelia's night was anything but restful. After two hours of tossing and turning she resigned herself to a sleepless night, choosing instead to begin packing a bag for Josh. Eventually, it turned into one for her as well.

What was she doing? She tried to ask herself while moving throughout the dorm. Why had she told Josh she would help him, she couldn't exactly just up and leave, right? Amelia shook her head at herself in the process of gathering extra clothes, of course she should go, this was a life at stake.

But my family- no, she couldn't think about them right now. It was all she could do to trust that they would at least try to accept her actions, she didn't need to worry about their reactions just yet. She buried the thoughts, using the bag she was packing to visualize the action

She paused in the bathroom, gazing at her toothbrush like it held the answers to all of her questions. And if she did help Josh, what was going to be in store for her? Would she be arrested for assisting a deviant? Where would they go? How would putting the rest of her life on hold work, would she even have a life to come back to?

She glanced through the open door at Josh, the thirium on his clothes mostly evaporated and the red on his arms cleaned off. He looked so peaceful in standby, Amelia noted. Was it the deviancy affecting the way he held himself or were his features always this soft, this kind?

She shifted her eyes back down to the brush in her hand. Where was this going, she asked herself. Then her traitor mind brought her back to earlier that morning, to the darkness of the alley and the shaking of her hand.

She put the toothbrush in the backpack.

University District

11:48

October 14, 2038

Walking through the dark streets of Detroit wasn't Amelia's favorite pastime, but at least she had Josh with her. He had somewhat recovered from his shock of becoming deviant- and his shock that he could feel shock- and she could tell he was glancing down at her as they walked down the street, bright neon signs reflecting off the wet sidewalk.

She kept her own eyes resolutely forward, trying not to think about where they were going to stay that night or how many police were nearby and instead focusing on the Computer Architecture class she had missed. She had a feeling she was going to have to fake an accident to excuse her sudden leave of absence, though maybe she could get her parents to help with that.

Amelia's steps faltered at the thought of them and she turned her face away from the questioning gaze Josh shot at her, the worry brewing in her head now demanding to be acknowledged. What was she going to tell her parents?

Sure, they treated their android like family, obstinately avoided the many android protests starting to crop up, even encouraged Amelia's dream to someday see androids walking free and aware. But she had no idea how they would react to Amelia essentially dropping out of college to help a deviant find a rebel android base.

She thought her mother might support it, Claire Carston had always been able to find pride in her daughter's actions, but her father-

"Amelia watch out!" Josh's sharp voice broke through Amelia's musing, his swift hands catching the back of her jacket before she could walk into the path of an oncoming car. A horn blared and Amelia's eyes blew wide as she was pulled back into Josh, the other pedestrians on the street shooting them annoyed looks before moving on.

After another beat of both of them processing what had happened, Josh spun Amelia around to face him, the hands that had just pulled her from death now gripping her shoulders tightly.

Distantly she registered the slight pain from his grip.

"Are you okay? What were you thinking?" Josh questioned her harshly, worry and adrenaline glinting in his eyes like a fever while they looked over her trembling form. Amelia worked to answer him, to move her lips, to reassure him, something, but she stayed frozen under the glare of his ministrations.

Then the wind picked up, blowing her short hair over her eyes and tickling her nose. She couldn't stand when it did that. Amelia finally broke free of her stupor to brush Josh's fluttering hands off of her and sweep away the dark locks in irritation. "I- I'm fine." she finally gets out, rolling her eyes when Josh raises his eyebrows. She begins walking again, tilting her head pointedly to the people still passing by until Josh gets the message and rushes to her side.

"Are you sure? Amelia what just-" "I'm fine, Josh." she interrupted, shivering a little at the thought of what could've happened. Josh caught the movement but pointedly said nothing, electing to put his arm around her shoulders instead.

Her lips curled into a small smile, and she leaned into the warmth of his body. "Thanks." she murmured.

Josh sighed in acknowledgment before pulling his hat farther over the glowing LED on his forehead. Amelia noticed the movement and sent a furtive glance of her own at the few people around them. Had one of them noticed the glow emanating from Josh's hat? Was there police already on their way?

Amelia racked her brain, trying to remember when her professor had said the Connor prototype they had been studying would be released for police use. No, she thought, shaking her head to herself. They'd know if it was after them.

They continued walking down the street, passing by stores and restaurants closing up for the night, the late hour sending less and less people out into the tense bodies slowly began to relax, the cold air around them numbing Amelia's rush of adrenaline.

After turning a few more corners and straying further from the colorful neon signs Josh broke the silence between them.

"What are you doing Amelia." he asked her softly, his dark eyes trained on their feet. Amelia looked over at him in confusion, "What do you mean?" she questioned. "Well-" Josh started, sighing as though looking for the right question to ask, "Why are you here?" he finally continued, shifting his eyes upward to look at her.

At the quizzical tilt of her head he huffed in frustration, "You didn't have to help me." he muttered, taking his arm from around Amelia's shoulders to shove his hands in his pockets. Her mouth popped open in understanding, "I know didn't, but I-" "But you did." Josh interrupted her, scowling to himself.

He seemed to check if there was anyone nearby before pulling Amelia to a stumbling stop and continuing, "You helped me, I'm a deviant now, I'm alive, but do you think the other humans care?" he whispered. Amelia could see, through her shock, that Josh's LED was flickering red and yellow underneath his hat.

"If they find me and you're here, can you imagine what kind of trouble you'd be in?" he gestured wildly around them and Amelia took a step back from the android. "I've taught you enough times to see how smart you are, but when your safety is on the line you seem to throw it all away!"

He was struggling to keep his voice low, and Amelia could practically see his stress level rising. She distantly wondered how long he had been thinking about all of this.

"Josh, what-" she tried to interject but he interrupted again, a new fevered light in his artificial eyes, "And speaking of teaching you, you are going to go back right? It's bad enough you're putting yourself at risk to help me but that doesn't you can put your life on hold." he finished, the new hopeful look on his face contrasting with the intensity of the conversation.

Amelia bit her lip nervously, suddenly at a loss for words even though Josh was finally giving her the opportunity to speak. The hope on his face fell more the longer she stayed silent, and she took a step back toward him before speaking. "Well-" she began to say, and then brought her hands up to console Josh as realization crossed his features.

"But- Amelia-" he stammered in shock and she quickly tried to explain, "Listen, Josh, I know what I'm doing," she insisted, placing a pleading hand on his shoulder, "You may have been stewing over this all day." she chuckled humorlessly, "If you don't mind me saying, I think helping out a few lives in danger is a bit more important than making class, wouldn't you?" she smiled sadly at his blank face, relief washing over her when his LED finally returned to blue.

He lifted his eyes to hers, a silent question reflecting in the absolute life she saw in them. Amelia simply nodded, holding out her arm for him to take so they could continue moving. She didn't want to stay in the open, she hadn't forgotten about the school.

Josh had probably already been reported missing.

She wondered how long it would take for them to notice she was gone as well.

She shook the thought off; they had just resolved Josh's panic attack and she couldn't afford to be plagued by anxiety right now. Josh finally allowed Amelia to lead him onwards, linking his arm with hers and resuming their walk down the dark street.

Ferndale District

3:16 a.m.

October 15, 2018

Amelia sighed at the warmth of the convenience store, walking around all day helped keep the cold at bay but after dark it seemed unbearable. Josh was wandering down the snack aisle, searching for Amelia's favorite library snack while she went to the bathroom.

She grabbed a coffee on her way back to him, spending all day with an android had really put the necessities of humans in perspective to her. He looked up as she approached, smiling at her tired eyes with endearment. It had taken him a while to convince Amelia to make a pit stop, she finally relented when he started making fun of her rumbling stomach.

Amelia took the snacks from him, rolling her eyes as best she could at his 'I told you so' look. She was glad he was doing better and had more or less accepted that she was going with him, even more so that they had fallen into their old routine of joking with one another.

She had secretly been worried that he would have lost all of the Joshness after deviating, but his teasing gaze reassured her otherwise.

The cashier at the front was half asleep as well as he scanned their items, not seeming to notice the way Josh stood to hide his forehead, not caring that the man couldn't stop fidgeting with his hat as he took Amelia's cash.

They didn't dare try to use the school's account.

Amelia shivered when they stepped back outside, the cold air pushing her hair into her eyes. She always gets it cut shorter and shorter but it never seems to be short enough, she thinks in irritation and forces her tired feet forward. They're going to have to find someplace to stay soon, Amelia isn't sure how much longer she can keep stumbling forward.

She doesn't want to tap into her parent's emergency card, but Josh has been threatening to try using the college's money if only it'll get them into a hotel for the night and Amelia can't risk the purchase being traced to Josh's location.

Josh is the one pushing her forward now, guiding her down block after block of dark streets as she uses numb hands to drink the warm coffee. If any good is going to come out of walking this damn late, she thinks grumpily, at least there's no one around to see them.

"Amelia." she hears Josh whisper beside her. She hums a quite response and he continues, "I know we've been through this, and I'm not going to argue anymore… much." she can hear the smile in his soft voice and gives a tired chuckle, "But… What about your family?"

Oh.

That wakes her up, Amelia's exhausted mind finally starts moving again. She doesn't respond to him right away, gazing at the wet ground below. "I mean-" he breaks off, understanding in his voice, "You talk about how proud they are of you getting into college, how they wanted you to be the one to help the androids, and your brother-" "Stop." she interrupts him with a whisper.

She can feel him shift beside her to look down at her form. "What are they going to do?" he continues, and she can hear the subtle fear in his voice. Amelia's heart aches for her friend; she sighs and forces herself to answer him, "I don't know." she tells him quietly, "Whatever they say, I'll deal with it. I promise." she looks up at him, at the worry in his eyes and the yellow flicker on his forehead.

They're still walking forward, trusting the dark streets and late hour to ensure their privacy, so when Josh opens his mouth to counter Amelia and instead lurches to the side she assumes the college somehow accessed his code and sabotaged it, but how would-

Josh grunts in surprise, eyes blowing wide before blinking rapidly, as though he had something stuck in his eye. Amelia's frantic thoughts are resolved when instead of a machine Josh she sees the shadow of a figure dart from behind him and down the street.

"Hey! Watch where you're going asshole!" she shouts after the figure, already disappearing around a corner. Fuming, she turns back to Josh to find him kneeling n the ground, unfocused eyes fixed on something in the distance.

Amelia gasps and darts to his side, kneeling on the cold ground next to him and giving him a small shake, "Josh? Josh are you okay?" she questions him frantically. His eyes slide up to meet hers and she sighs in relief when he nods mutely. He stands slowly, bending down to help her up with his gaze still focused on something over her shoulder.

Amelia's fatigue has left her once again; she glances back behind her in confusion before turning back to Josh, eyebrows creased. "Josh?" she asks, trying to get his attention, "What are you-"

"Jericho." he interrupts her, making eye contact at last. She blinks in surprise. Is she sure CyberLife had nothing to do with this… episode, of sorts? "What? Josh, I don't understa-" "We have to go to Jericho." he interjects again, the intensity in his eyes pushing her a step back.

"To… where?" she tries to question again. Josh grabs her hand in response, dragging her the direction they had been walking from. "Wait, wait, Josh!" she yells in surprise at his grip, digging her heels into the ground in an effort to slow him down. He finally gets the message and turns back to her, eyes still alight with excitement. "What is a Jericho?" she asks him, exasperated.

"It's a place for deviants to go, a place where we can go to be free."

Ooooo the plot is thickening and we're approaching familiar territory. Review with a comment or question, or just a few words of what you thought, it really helps the motivation!

Also, I went back and rewrote some stuff from the first chapter, seeing as how I'm making this longer than a one-shot I feel it should've reflected that more than what I originally had there. Also just fixed some stuff that annoyed me.

Untile next time!