"Here try on these-"

With an ease she would never be able to replicate, the blonde android caught the clothes she tossed at him. Confused, but still accepting. Lettie watched, her smile hidden behind her hands. Rifling through her closet, Bea threw things out in a way that seemed to make very little sense, except for to her.

"Why would I need new clothing?"

"You can't go around in your uniform, you've been reported missing." She said, holding up a flannel shirt for examination.

He looked over at her, plaid shirt and jeans in hand, looking more out of place than she'd seen him yet. "I still don't understand. My model is well known, taking off my uniform will only create more problems than it will solve."

Falling back onto her behind, Bea looked up at him with exasperation. When she'd committed to helping him, she might not have considered how much work it would actually be. And he hadn't even left her apartment yet. It figured, that was just how things in her life worked. "Do you want to keep wearing that?"

He paused, looking down again at the bundle in his hands, but doesn't say anything against it again. Reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder, Lettie smiled at him. She knew better what he was going through, so Bea sat back and shuffled through her spare clothes again.

"We're going to make sure you're safe, that's all. You can trust us." After a moment of silence, she turned back around to see Lettie's hand, synthetic skin peeled back, still resting on his shoulder. She knew androids could communicate, see memories, send thoughts, with a touch. It looked like something she shouldn't watch, like she was intruding.

Before she could turn away, embarrassed, Lettie's eyes flew over to her, "He needs a name, Bea."

Now it was him who was embarrassed, turning his gaze away from them as they both stared at him.

"Did they not give you a name?" Even if a human completely disregarded the humanoid nature of an android, it was rare for them to not give a name. She could count the instances she'd seen on one hand, including this one. To reduce him down so far, Bea suddenly wasn't so surprised that he'd been abused.

Eyes still locked on the far wall, he shifted, clearly uncomfortable. "They called me android. Or by my model number."

"Assholes."

Lettie didn't say anything to that effect, but she did look just as upset. She'd been taken in by Bea before she'd woken up, so she was shielded from a lot of human cruelty. Some of Bea's clients still treated her like little more than an object, but she had never been outright abused.

Bea stood, her hands on her hips. That wasn't something she was going to stand by, wasn't something she could accept. This android had been through too much for her to leave him anywhere but completely safe, secure, happy. At least, to the best of her ability.

"That's something he's gotta do himself, Lettie." The two androids looked up to the human. "I'm not his owner, I can't give him a name. No one can give you a name but yourself."

The idea of it seemed to surprise him. That no one could order him around anymore, that he was under no ones thumb anymore. "I... I wouldn't know where to start." His voice wavered, slightly, and Bea smiled encouragingly at him.

"Just go through popular names. One will stick out to you, one that fits. Let us know, cause I refuse to call you Android." He didn't respond, his eyes moving between the two of them before moving away, his LED flickering yellow.

For a long while, things were silent. The quiet only disturbed by Bea separating more clothes for their guest, all three of them too consumed by their own thoughts.

She couldn't speak for the other two, but Bea was focused on what to do. Androids acting out wasn't something that was very common, at least in the news. But it seemed like it was starting to happen more and more, and she couldn't decide if it was a good thing or not.

On one hand, it was almost the birth of a new species. People made of metal and plastic rather than blood and bones, able to think for themselves and feel as strongly as anyone. On the other, humans were always resistant to change. How cruel would it be to have androids who were able to feel the distress of their oppression? How long would they sit idly by?

Bea didn't know what would happen in the future, but she wanted to be on the right side. She wanted to support Lettie, and the others who had woken up. They needed somewhere safe.

Her hands stilled in the bundle of fabric. She had more to give than this. Clothes and a safe place were one thing, but androids couldn't buy parts for themselves. They couldn't get blue blood or repairs on their own, not from just anyone. Her head tipped back and she groaned out loud. It was pretty clear what she had to do and she would do it, even if she knew it would be very unpleasant.

And Lettie was going to hate it.

Adjusting her hat further over her ears, Bea made sure no police drones were hovering around her. Though, the problem at The Pit wasn't so much things getting in as things getting out, so didn't didn't expect much resistance. She patted her coat pocket, making sure her phone was still secure inside as was Letties part of the deal.

She was right, her android had absolutely hated the idea.

There was no way that Bea would be able to help androids on their own, not with the price of parts and the fact that they wouldn't be able to pay. Only if she got creative. It wasn't as if going to what amounted to an android graveyard was something she wanted to do, but it was the only thing that made sense. Long term, who knew what she would be able to do.

"Only take from the ones that aren't salvageable," Lettie had said, her voice unusually stern, "only the ones completely shut down."

Not that she needed to be told that kind of thing. She was doing this to help them, not to trade lives.

Which was how she ended up there, slipping through a wire fence and pulling a bandanna over her nose and mouth.

Thirium on it's own wasn't a strong smell, but that place reeked of it. Of burnt plastic and oil and blue blood splattered over the ground. Bea tried not to think about how it had to be fresh to have not evaporated yet.

She took what she could and what wasn't needed. Optical units, functional biocomponents, even a spare arm that made her think of the android in her shop, still deciding on a name for himself. The whole process took only about a half an hour, but by that point she felt like she was pushing her luck. Tucking an audio processor into the last pocket in her bag, she turned to slide back through the fence that she came from, only to be stopped by a hand on her wrist.

Panic was the first emotion to hit, and she spun, throwing her arm in an attempt to throw whoever grabbed her off. The grip was surprisingly strong, more firm than a human could be, and when she locked eyes on the android that grabbed her, she gasped.

A KL900 unit, she recognized immediately. Specialized in social care, a psychologist model, but the back of her skull frame seemed like it'd been ripped off of her. Bea could see the wires and cables that made up an android hanging out and down her back, and made her mildly sick to her stomach.

"You're the one." She says, her voice carrying that mechanical tone that androids got when they were damaged. "The one who will lead us to safety." The words made no sense, but still caused a shiver to run down her spine.

Bea pulled again, fear pushing against her throat as she spoke. "Let me go!"

"There is a place we can be safe, that's what you want. That is what you can do."

The hand let go of her, but something about her words made Bea pause. It wasn't anything she'd heard from an android before, but something about them strike a chord. "What are you saying? Someplace androids can be safe?"

Her lips pulled back into an imitation of a smile, her hands folding in front of her. Somehow, Bea felt like she had played right into her hands. "We can be safe in Jericho. We go to Jericho."

The words didn't make a whole lot of sense, but the KL900 was functioning, if not damaged. Bea couldn't just leave her in the landfill where she would slowly decay. If anything, she seemed to have an idea of somewhere of where they could be others like her.

And that was how she entered her apartment above the shop that night, with a bag full of parts and an injured android in tow. Lettie, as Bea had predicted, was even less pleased about that turn of events. Not that she would say anything in front of the new face, and not as if she would try to turn her away.

"Lettie," she introduced herself, her lips in a thin line but her hand still outstretched in greeting.

"I am Lucy." Their new refugee nodded her head and took her hand, black eyes flickering between the two androids already occupying the apartment.

"I've decided on a name as well," the blonde said suddenly, catching Bea's attention and looking more comfortable than Bea had seen him yet. Some kind of ease in his form, she guessed he was growing into being alive. Or, at least, it was becoming easier.

Bea smiled wide at him, oddly proud. With all her efforts to guide him, she was just glad that it was working so far. "Well, go ahead. What do we call you?"

He stood a little taller, posture straight with pride instead of programming.

"I'd like to be called Simon."