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ANYWAY, HERE WE ARE WITH MORE STORY! LITERALLY! THIS IS A LONGER CHAPTER, SO LET'S GET TO IT!
GOD BLESS AND GOOD DAY!
~THE LUPINE SOJOURNER
The next day was spent helping plan it all out. Looking up the layouts could only get us so far. We also had to figure out patrol patterns and drone routes. And then we had to get the supplies we'd need to open the crates and carry the parts and blue blood.
And only then could we figure out when to go!
In short, it was a complicated process. It took all day and late into the night. The only reason I even know what time it was inside the boat was because I glance at my watch. I then rub my eyes. Suddenly, they are burning and refusing to stay open.
"Are you alright, Alex?" Simon asks. I nod, refocusing on the schematic of our plan so far.
"Yeah...yeah. I'm…" I yawn. "I'm fine." I reply, rubbing my eyes again. Markus is instantly by my side.
"I'll let you know the plan when you wake up. You need rest." He instructs. I shake my head.
"No, no. I'm fine." I protest, but Markus gently leads me out of the room.
"I'm serious."
"So am I." I retort, trying to get back in.
"Get some sleep." Markus says and manages to close the door in my face. I sigh heavily and mope down the stairs. Maybe he was right...I wasn't any use in planning when I was this tired...
I sit beside the paralyzed little boy wearily. I liked to sit here and think, and the boy seems happier somehow when I'm near him. I occasionally hum or tap a tune on the metal to entertain us when there was nothing else to do. I decided I quite liked him, praying we could get everything he needed tomorrow. I stroke his hair softly as I set up a thirium drip to keep him going, humming a lullaby Dad used to sing to me; Sleepsong by Secret Garden. I end up curled next to the kid, dozing off.
=#=#=#=#=
The sensation of being lifted wakes me, and I slowly open my eyes to find Markus carrying me to the fire.
"You have to take better care of herself." Markus says, frowning. I yawn, shivering a little.
"Good morning to you, too." I grumble as he sets me down. "If it helps at all, I didn't mean to fall asleep there."
"It doesn't, but it's good to know. I think that little boy liked having you there." I smile.
"Good." I then shake myself a little more awake. "What's the plan?" I ask, popping my back and shoulders, trying to ease the stiffness out of my muscles.
"The plan is we go in the northwest corner, sneak toward the crates by the entrance, grab what we need, then leave over the fence." I nod.
"Great. Anything else?" Markus nods.
"We'll need backpacks and hunting knives." He says. "There are two knives here, and neither of them in good shape. We'll need new ones." I nod again.
"I can go get them, and the backpacks. I wanted to shake out my legs, anyway. Shopping'll go 'em good."
Markus shakes his head, chuckling. "If you say so. Do you want me to go with you?" He asks.
"Yeah, actually." I say. "Might get North off my back." I grumble. We stand. I still have Simon's jacket on, so I take it off and grab one from my backpack.
"What happened with North?" Markus asks.
"She doesn't like me, and she refuses to believe I haven't turned you all in." I explain as we get into my car. I'd managed to get it inside the hole. "You took out your LED." I muse, just now noticing. Markus nods.
"Seemed right."
"I like it." I reply and pull out of Jericho.
=#=#=#=#=
Long story short, North was still upset, but we had what we needed to perform the heist tonight.
"...Can we talk?" Markus asks suddenly. I nod warily, unsure what he wants to discuss. I follow him to a secluded corner. "My memory bank wasn't damaged that night in the studio." He begins. A jolt of panic runs through me. "But, recently, I think it might have been." He wanted to talk about the kiss!
"O-oh? What makes you say that?" I ask, praying my stammer wasn't noticeable.
"I think you kissed me." He says, face frowning in confusion. "But maybe that was just a malfunction to attempt to ease my pain. It felt...nice. More than nice." I decide to come out with it.
"I...I did- -I did kiss you." I confess, head hung in shame. "It wasn't a malfunction. I'm not really sure why I kissed you, though. I just...panicked, I guess. I- -" Markus kisses me soundly all of a sudden.
"When Leo pushed you, and you didn't get back up immediately, it was like someone punched my thirium pump." Markus says when we finally break apart. His hands caress my cheeks tenderly. "I felt...panicked. I decided I needed to disobey Carl and protect you two. Ever since, I kept thinking it had been some kind of malfunction that made me think someone as amazing as you would fall for a broken android." I blink, frowning.
"You're not broken, Markus." I assure him, hand on top of his. "You are exactly who Dad and I hoped you'd become; a living person, capable of thinking autonomously." Markus smiles as I wrap him in a hug.
"I love you, Alex." I hug him tighter.
"And I love you, Mark." Then, when I grab Markus' hand to lead him back into the center of the room, my left hand glows where I touched him, Markus and I's skin retracting. I gasp as the chip tingles again. Suddenly, I felt what Markus felt. He'd stored these feelings for a long time, trying to dismiss them as faults in his programming, but they kept coming back. He was never sure how I felt, which was why he hadn't brought up the kiss until now.
Our hands disconnect, the skin covering the mechanisms again. "That was…" Markus whispers, unable to describe it.
"I felt what you felt." I muse. "In the junkyard, an android tried to give me Jericho's location, and he got most of it to me, but it didn't feel like that." I mumble. "That was amazing." Neither of us knows what to do now, so I grab his hand with my right one. "I was about to play some violin. Wanna listen?" Markus smiles.
"I suppose." I decided to play 'You are in Love' by Taylor. Androids gathered as I played, but I had my eyes closed, letting the music flow through the hold.
No one says anything, but there are scattered claps when I finish.
=#=#=#=#=
Soon enough, it's time to start the heist. I stand with North, Simon, Josh, and Markus, who grips my hand protectively.
Once a truck passes by, we take off after North. The parkour we did over the metal containers felt insane, but there I was, leaping across gaps and clinging to one as it was taken across to a new section. Then, we see the security drone below as we halt not far from the warehouse.
"We have to get rid of that drone!" North whispers. Markus stands, letting my hand go and turning. He stares into space for a few moments, then leaps onto the rising container, swinging out and grabbing the drone mid-air, wrenching the parts...apart, then riding it down as we rejoin him.
"You okay?" Simon asks. I grab Markus' hand again as Markus nods.
"Good job, Markus." North praises and we continue to the crates, drawing our knives and cranking them open.
I grab blue blood and some components. I was almost through emptying the crate when Markus tugs me behind him, staring at a security android.
"You are trespassing on private property. Your presence constitutes a Level 2 infraction." It says tonelessly. "I will notify security." As if on cue, there's a voice calling out in the rain.
"John! Goddamn machine, where it is this time?" The presumably human guard growls. Markus grabs the android, hiding with it just in front of me. Markus' skin was gone, John's LED flashing yellow for a moment. I hold in my breath as the guard walks not ten feet away, the flashlight beam just barely missing us. "First the drone, now this." The man grumbles, walking away. I release my breath and sag against the crate. That had been too close. The android guard stands there, staring into space, when Markus releases him.
"Try to find more blue blood!" Simon calls when we stand and continue looting the crates. "We still don't have enough!" I grab the few pouches left in my crate and notice Markus going for a large crate apart from the others. Curious, I walk over. Markus opens it and finds three AP300s inside, standing there motionless. He's frowning.
"Why aren't you like us?" He asks rhetorically. "Don't you wanna be free?" He then reaches for them. "You could join us." He says, the skin leaving his hand again. He takes each of their hands. Their LEDs blink yellow and they reach up, feeling the rain as if they were kids. I grin.
"Is that what you did for John?" I ask. Markus nods.
"Nice." I reply and hop down with him as Simon calls for us to leave.
"Take me with you!" John calls. We turn back. I'm all for it. Markus had awakened him.
"We can't trust him; he's on their side." North says, not bothering to lower her voice. I frown.
"Markus converted him." North glares at me
"They come with us." Markus cuts in preemptively, hands up placatingly. North scoffs in disagreement, and looks away.
"I know where you can find more spare parts." John says, happy to be helpful.
"What do you mean?" Markus asks.
"The trucks." John says. "They're full of biocomponents. They run on autopilot, but can be driven with a key." I look at John in amazement.
"That'd be amazing! Thanks for the tip!" John smiles at me.
"Where is this key?" Markus asks. John points to the truck gate control room.
"Down there, in the control station." John says. "There are two human guards."
"Easy! Let's go!" I reply, already moving. Simon's arm wraps around my waist and he hauls me back.
"It's too risky. We have what we need. Our bags are full. Let's go!" I frown, tugging away from Simon's grip.
"We can't pass this up, Simon!" I protest.
"Alex is right." Markus decides, handing his pack to me. "If I'm not back in ten minutes, leave without me." I step toward him.
"I'm coming with you!" North and I say in sync, then look at each other.
"No, it's not worth risking your lives." Markus says, grabbing my left hand and kissing me breathless before taking off.
"When did that start happening?" Josh asks coyly, watching Markus leave.
"Ah...when he became deviant." I mumble absently, the bag splashing into a puddle. It was sort of the truth, really. The kiss, coupled with the sensation we'd shared earlier...it was intoxicating. "Wow…" I have to lean on the crates for support, grinning madly. My fingers trace my lips as if to recreate what happened.
"Is there something wrong with her?" John asks. I shake my head and pick the bag up.
"No. I'm just in love." I reply, still grinning. I watch the control station, and suddenly the power goes out. Clever. Within minutes, Markus is back, taking his backpack back and grinning at me, holding up the key proudly. "Awesome job, babe!" I squeal happily, kissing him before tugging him to the truck. "Now, let's get going! We gotta get these parts back to Jericho!" As soon as everyone was in the truck, Markus drove out of the compound, right past the guards that were still trying to restore power. "We did it!" I cheer, pumping my fists in the air and dancing in my seat. "We actually did it!" Markus smiles, but can't do anything else as he's driving.
"Yes, yes we did." He said, taking my hand when I settle down, thumbing it gently. It was amazingly easy to settle into a relationship with Markus, I find. After all, we had both known we loved the other for a long time before we acted on it. I thumb his hand in return and the rest of the drive is spent in happy silence.
=#=#=#=#=
We couldn't get the truck inside the boat like we could my car, so we park it and head inside to let the others know what happened.
"A whole truckload!" Simon calls, elated. "We stole a whole truckload!"
"We got biocomponents for everyone!" Josh adds. North sighs, looking at me holding Markus' hand.
"We couldn't have done it without Markus...and Alex." She admits, a tad reluctantly. Once everyone's settled down, Markus steps into the center of the group. I go with him. I lick my lips, knowing I should say something.
"I brought Markus to Jericho because an android said he could be free here. Free to live in the dark, hoping no one finds us." I say. "I don't want that freedom. For anyone. It's not true freedom. You shouldn't be afraid to stand tall, smile, even love!" I continue, drawing a little closer to Markus. Markus kisses my temple, then addresses the crowd.
"I don't know about you," he begins, motioning to his chest, "but there is something inside me that knows that I am more than what they say! And they're not gonna take that from me anymore. Our days of slavery are over! What humans don't want to hear, we will tell them. What they won't give, we take. We are people, we are alive, we are free!" Everyone, myself included, cheers, but there's a part of me, deep down, that is concerned about what he said about taking from humans. However, I trust him. Dad had instilled a sense of right and wrong in Markus; I don't believe he'd turn violent. "Let's start repairing our people!" Markus then calls, leading people out to the truck and beginning to unload.
Once it's mainly unloaded, I help Lucy repair those that could be repaired.
That poor little boy was one of the first. His eyes were the only thing that moves until I've gotten further in his repairs.
"Are...are you an angel?" He asks, voice staticy and trembling in relief. I blink, chuckling.
"What?"
"An angel." He repeats. "You...you have to be. Soon as you showed up, the room seemed to get lighter." I smirk down at him, helping him sit up so I could see what needs to be done to his back.
"That might be because Markus and I lit fires." I reply teasingly.
"That's not what I meant." He replies, laughing. I laugh with him.
"Then what did you mean?" I ask, still teasing him, performing a little maintenance on the back before coming to the front, replacing a few wires and cleaning the internal mechanisms.
"I meant that...things seem...happier since you came along." I ruffle his hair.
"We're trying to help out where we can." I then help him stand and take a few experimental steps. Within ten feet, he's steady, all but bouncing in excitement. He hugs me.
"Thank you so much." He cheers. "You really are an angel!" I smile.
"What's your name, kid?" I ask, picking my battles. He frowns.
"I...I don't remember...Lucy says something about thirium leaking into my memory bank caused a few memories to become corrupted." My heart shatters a little at that.
I sigh. "Well, at least that means that, if you want, I can name you." I reply, shrugging. The boy perks up.
"I'd like that a lot!" He says happily. I laugh and think it over. I'd come to really like Irish names. My cousin named her kid Lachlan. I really liked that name.
"Okay...what about...Lachlan? It's an Irish name." Lachlan's eyes grow even brighter, if that were possible, and he almost bowls me over in a tackle hug.
"I love it!" He cries. I laugh and ease us back to a proper seating position. "Thank you, ma'am." I blink.
"Oh! I'm sorry! My name is Alex." I introduce. My maternal instincts had run away with me a minute there. Lachlan shakes his head.
"No, that's not your name!" I frown.
"Oh?" I ask. "Then, what is it?"
"Mama!" I am stunned.
"Wait, what?" I stammer. "I mean, I'd love that, but...I…" Words fail me and I hug him. "You're such a sweet kid." I tell him through tears in my eyes. If we hadn't gone to get the biocomponents...he'd have died. He'd be beyond repair.
We stay like that for a long time.
This was precisely why I needed to stay at Jericho, much as I missed Dad.
This was where I'm needed right now.