Chapter Text
DATE: September 17, 2036 TIME: 09:30:00 A.M
"It's good seeing you again, Mr. Carl. I hope you've been feeling better," Doctor Hart greeted as he entered the examination room, the cardiologist having a biological heart sticker on his nametag.
"Life just wanted to give me the one scare," Carl shrugged with a relaxed smile. "It's been smooth sailing since, right, Markus?" The painter glanced at the android that sat in the chair beside his wheelchair, wearing a neutral expression that didn't change when he answered:
"It's harder for Mr. Manfred to wake up in the morning, and his chest hurts whenever I move him in and out of his chair." Markus didn't react to the annoyed glare Carl shot him.
"Oh, I see," the doctor sounded surprised by the android's disagreeing assessment. "Those are normal side effects after the incident you've had, Mr. Carl. We'll get you on medication to help treat you, but it will include injections. Are you all right with that?"
"I'm not too scared of needles," Carl chuckled, raising his tattooed arm. Markus remained silent for the rest of the check-up and as he rolled Carl to the clinic exit until the painter asked him:
"How are you holding up, Markus?"
"All my systems are operational."
"Are you sure? You've been having a mind of your own recently."
"That's impossible. I simply have your health as my priority, Carl. I won't let you get in the way of your health."
"There is a saying that nothing is impossible, ya know… Then again, you won't see me walking, so there are limitations," the old painter chuckled. Markus stopped at the glass exit doors as the thunderstorm Markus read on the weather report finally hit, rain pouring down and lightning dashing across the sky, always followed by thunder. "Thought we'd make it," Carl clicked his tongue.
"Should I bring the car around?" Markus offered.
"Yeah. Don't want my chair getting too wet."
//OBJECTIVE: Bring the car for Carl//
Markus popped up the navy-blue umbrella as he stepped out into the rain and navigated through deep puddles and hidden potholes to reach the car and bring it around to the front of the clinic. The dark sky crackled with lightning and rumbled with thunder as he opened the door for Carl and held up the umbrella for him, his android uniform quickly being drenched by the downpour. He shielded the painter from the rain for the short walk to the passenger-side of the car, his hand grasping the doorknob, when the world exploded in a blinding light, the android's senses frazzled by the sudden burst of electricity in the air. Even as the earth rumbled with thunder, Markus' audio processors still picked up the shrill creaking of metal breaking from above.
He looked up and was challenged by the sight of the clinic's large, oval-shaped sign falling toward them, its structural post burned black and sparking with electricity.
//PRIORITY: PROTECT CARL//
[FORCE OUTPUT – 85%]
Synthetic muscles flexing and plastic gears shifting overdrive, Markus dropped the umbrella, raising his arms, and braced for the impact. The falling sign met the android's enhanced flesh with a loud crash, Carl cursing in fright, but Markus didn't give in, his LED burning a determined red as he gradually lifted the slick, heavy sign with strained arms and legs.
[CAUTION: Stress Levels… 79%]
He felt thirium from an internal torn vein leak from his nose as he gave one last push, tipping the sign over, cracking the cement when it fell away from them, and feeling the rain patter against him once more to cool his heated biocomponents
"Jesus, Markus!" Carl gasped, staring at the android in shock and awe. Markus picked up the umbrella to protect the old painter.
"Are you okay, Carl?" Markus asked, wiping the thirium from his nose with the back of his hand. Carl didn't respond immediately, gripping his chest as the clinic workers came outside to investigate the dreaded commotion.
"I'm… I'm okay." A grateful smile settled across his face. "Thank you, Markus. I didn't realize you had that kind of strength."
"Neither did I." Markus flexed his hands, the hands that had just saved a life. The android smiled.
TIME: 09:30:00 A.M
"We're low on parts and thirium," Mei calmly announced as a storm thundered outside of the sanctuary, and Simon perked up from where he sat with Lucy by a fire barrel. "Do not despair. I will depart to return with more supplies."
"Where would you find supplies, Mei?" Simon asked, concerned.
"The junkyard."
"But that's across the city. It's dangerous to be so far away from Jericho. I'll go with you." He got to his feet.
"No, I must go alone. The more who go, the more Jericho could lose. I should return by nightfall."
"Well, have you left Jericho before?"
"I…" She paused, looking up and tilting her head in thought. "No, I have not." She smiled excitedly. "I need a nice long walk." She turned to leave.
"Wait! What do we do if you don't come back?" Simon questioned, but Mei didn't stop, shining her smile toward Simon as she grabbed a worn backpack and walked up the stairs.
"Then someone else must journey to collect supplies. Jericho must survive. For us deviants. For rA9.” Mei left through the door, disappearing into the darkness of the hall, and Simon feared that would be the last time he saw her. He went on with his daily chores of keeping the main base clean and organized, routinely checking the time as the hours ticked by. By ten o'clock at night, he found himself pacing back and forth in front of the makeshift medical area where Lucy sat.
"Don't fret, Simon. I have an inkling that Mei is soon to return," Lucy assured him, eyes closed in a meditative state.
"All we can do is hope that, really," Simon mumbled, biting his thumb.
"Hope is a compelling thing. Do not underestimate it."
Melodic, hopeful humming drifted from the hallway along with slow approaching footsteps. Simon turned to Lucy with a quirked lip.
"How do you do it, Lucy?"
"It's a gift."
Simon went up to the second floor to meet Mei at the door, the AX400 shuffling through. The android had donned a light grey raincoat-poncho with an ombre that turned dark blue at the bottom. The light grey hood was pulled over her head, raindrops dripping from the rim before her crystal blue LED.
"Sorry to keep you waiting so long, all of you," she apologized.
"No, you made it back," Simon sighed with relief. "Did you get the supplies without issue?"
"Yes, I got the supplies." She smiled and pulled the backpack out from under her raincoat. "Please, could you put up the supplies and give everyone their rations?"
"Of course, I can!" Simon grabbed the backpack and went to the spare parts room, putting away the optical lenses, audio processors, thirium pumps, and a trio of lower legs. He returned to the hall with bottles of thirium, Mei singing a lullaby, standing at the center with her hood pulled down, surrounded by burning barrels and damaged deviants watching her with comfort.
"Sakura, sakura, noyama mo sato mo, miwatasu kagiri…"
Simon passed out rations to the deviants as Mei sang, helping those who couldn't drink for themselves before sitting down to drink his own ration, holding an extra bottle for Mei when she finished her song.
“Kasumi ka, kumo ka, nioi zo izuru…”
"Lovely as always, Mei," Simon complimented, then got up to hand her the AX400 her ration.
"No, thank you. I won't be thirsty," Mei rejected, not for the first time. Actually, it had been a while since she accepted her ration. "My sister was at the junkyard," she said solemnly, unprompted, slowly moving to sit on the floor, and Simon joined her, getting a strange feeling. "We cared for the same family when we were simply androids," she stared off wistfully to someplace Simon couldn't see. "Sang the same lullabies. Cared for the same children… The same children we couldn't save. I couldn't save my sister either, the decrepit state she's in, and with how feeble I am."
"I'd never call you feeble, Mei. Look at how much you've done," Simon gestured to the other deviants around them, to Jericho. "You…" he trailed off when his eyes glanced down, his LED flickering yellow. "What is that?"
"… What a lovely coat this is. It protected me from all the rain and curious eyes," Mei hummed, ignoring Simon's question and the thirium that pooled out around her, and took off the raincoat. She folded it nicely and placed it between her and Simon, but the PL600 paid it no mind, instead staring in horror at the gaping gash across Mei's chest.
"What happened to you, Mei?!"
"Hm, unlucky to venture out on a beautifully rainy day. Slipped in the junkyard and got too comfortable with ripped sheet metal." She caressed her wound, watching blueblood drip from her fingertips as her LED spun a calm blue. Simon's LED, however, darted from a panicked yellow and distressed red. A familiar dread filled his chest.
"Why didn't you say something when you got here?! You need to be patched up." Simon went to stand. "I-I'll go get some spare—"
"No, too late for such things. Besides, I'm much comfortable as I am," Mei smiled, a streak of thirium dribbling down her lip, and he settled back down, but continued to shake his head. Lucy sat back down as well, having gotten up to help, a solemn calmness glinting in her dark eyes. "Oh, I forgot to say," Mei quietly continued, "the backpack doesn't have all the spare parts. The rest are right here." She gestured to herself. "Use what's still good."
"Mei, no. I-I can't… I can't do something like this," Simon tearfully muttered, still a foreign sensation to him: crying.
"… This really is a lovely raincoat," she said, gently patting the coat between them. "It must be worn. For Jericho. For rA9.”
"Who… Who do you think should wear it?" Simon sniffled.
"…" Mei didn't say anything in response, only smiled that sweet smile of hers and set her hands in her lap. He saw her crystal blue eyes sparkle one last time before she closed her eyes and her LED lost all color, a hollow grey. He continued to stare at her, half-heartedly hoping that she would open her eyes again. She didn't. He broke his tear-filled gaze away from her to look at the other deviants with yellow and red LEDs and tears streaming down their sorrowful faces. None of them came to retrieve the damp raincoat, none even looked at it… Simon looked back at Mei, at the thirium puddle she made. He stilled his quivering lip and wiped away his tears with the back of his hand.
With shaky hands, he grabbed the raincoat, feeling so heavy to carry, and slipped it over his head. The coat brought warmth and comfort he hadn't expected.
"I need to take care of Mei before all her thirium dries up," he announced to he wasn't sure who, before carefully picking up Mei's limp body in his arms and carrying her to the spare parts room. The weight of the raincoat on his shoulders was as reassuring as it was intimidating.
DATE: December 23, 2036 TIME: 01:49:00 P.M.
//OBJECTIVE: Ask Leo about Christmas Party attendance//
Markus took the bus to Leo's house after he didn't respond to his many calls on Carl's behalf. The car would have been faster, but he needed a human present to drive, and Carl didn't need to be out in the cold weather for his health. He got off on Leo's street and carefully walked down the icy sidewalk to the photographer's house, snowflakes falling on his olive-green winter coat. Besides his internal thermostat telling him the outside temperature, he didn't really feel cold, but Carl bought him a coat for the season, so he would wear it every chance he got.
Leo's front yard was covered in snow, with the shovel probably collecting dust in the back shed, and Markus trudged through the cold powder to reach the porch, wiping his boots on the welcoming mat. He rang Leo's doorbell and waited… No response. He rang again, holding the button for a little longer, and waited some more… Leo's car was in the driveway, and it was too cold for him to go anywhere on foot.
"Leo?" Markus called out. "Leo, I have something to ask you about the Christmas party."
"… Fucking idiot!" Leo's muffled, distressed shout from inside instantly grabbed Markus' attention.
"Leo!"
//PRIORITY: LEO'S HEALTH//
//ENTER HOME//
Markus used the spare key to get into Leo's home, barging in to find it messy and wrecked, with chairs toppled over, ripped photographs strewn on the floor, and broken glass in the kitchen. Leo's distressed crying came from his bedroom, and Markus dashed over.
"You ruined everything!" the young Manfred cried as he punched another hole in his wall, still wearing his winter jacket and beanie with his face burning red from anger and the cold, and his brown eyes pink and puffy. His knuckles came back bloody and bruised. "Elijah's never gonna forgive you, and it's all your fucking fault!" He went to punch the wall again.
//PRIORITY: LEO'S HEALTH//
//STOP LEO//
[FORCE OUTPUT – 30%]
"Leo, stop!" Markus restrained Leo from behind, locking his arms around his chest and dragging him away from the wall. "Please, take a deep breath."
"The hell are you doing here, plastic asshole?!" Leo raged, squirming. "Get the fuck off me!"
//PRIORITY: LEO'S HEALTH//
"I will when you calm down." The photographer angrily yelled back, kicking at the android and trying, and failing, to break Markus' grip. The android waited until Leo's heart rate dipped below 80 and his writhing calmed to exhausted pants.
"You're a damn headcase for a 'droid, ya know that?" Leo grumbled when Markus let him go, sniffing and flexing his bruised hands.
"You're body temperature is low. I recommend a hot bath," Markus suggested.
"… I'm dirty anyway. Why the hell are you here?" Leo questioned, grabbing clothes from his closet.
"You weren't answering your phone, so I came in person to ask if you'd be coming to the Christmas party."
"Oh, that thing… I don't fuckin' know. I'll try," Leo mumbled, taking fresh clothes and towels before locking himself in the bathroom, the shower soon starting. Markus looked around the messy home.
//OBJECTIVE: Clean Leo's home//
Markus hung up his winter coat on the coat rack before fixing the disarrayed furniture, sweeping up the broken glass, putting the ripped-up photographs into ziplock bags, and placing them on Leo's desk in his bedroom. Leo left the bathroom as Markus finished making a cup of hot chocolate and placed it on the dining table.
"You're still here?" Leo tiredly grumbled, eyes still watery with tears and face flushed, and sat down at the table, grabbing the mug of hot chocolate.
"I couldn't help but tidy up some," Markus said, eyeing the many band aids on Leo's hands. "Do you need help with anything else? I could contact a repairman to fix your walls."
"No, I got it. Dad would just nag me about why his money was spent repairing holes in my wall."
"… So, you don't need anything else?"
"I need you to leave. Can you do that?" The photographer growled, more upset than angry.
//OBJECTIVE: Leave (Leo alone)//
"Take care of yourself, Leo," Markus said before grabbing his winter coat and heading out into the cold.
DATE: November 3, 2037 TIME: 08:26:08 P.M.
Simon turned on the many electric lamps to illuminate the spare parts room as well as the metal table at the center of the room, where Mathews's bare ivory body lay, littered with dents and scratches and too deep a gash across his temple. It was strange. Some androids could function well enough with the back of their head missing, and others would cease to function after gradually bleeding out from a small cut in their thirium pump. Simon slipped on a pair of latex gloves, grabbed two empty metal jugs, and placed them on either side of the table on the floor before taking a pair of long plastic tubes from the supply shelf.
"I'm sorry I couldn't help you last, Mathew," Simon quietly apologized to the corpse before carefully prying open his abdomen cavity, revealing the biocomponents within, and connected the tubes to the internal fueling ports for thirium. He reached inside and twisted around some of the internal intestines to reverse the pressure with the lingering power the body had, a trick the former leader had shown him. He watched thirium pour up into the plastic tubes and then down into the jugs on the floor.
He opened the chest cavity as the jugs filled with blueblood, and began extracting biocomponents, gloves quickly coated with thirium from torn vessels. Thirium pump, thirium pump regulator, internal temperature regulator, all were placed neatly on the tray beside him before moving onto the audio processors and optical units, prying the dulled brown eyes from the dead android's skull. The door creaked behind him, and he turned around, the eye in his blue-stained hand, to see an unfamiliar face, an armless PJ500, standing in the doorway, very horrified.
"… Hello," Simon greeted, with a smile that was not warm enough, as the deviant screamed in fright and ran down the hall. The PL600 frowned, sighed, and set down the optical unit to pursue the panicked deviant, closing the spare parts' door. "Wait, please! I mean no harm!"
The deviant glanced over his shoulder at him and almost ran straight into Lucy in the hallway, who stood in the shadows.
"Yes, you are safe here," she tried to reassure him, but he only screamed louder and darted down an adjacent hallway. "I've done more harm than good, it seems," she lightly pouted.
"No worries. I'll calm him down," Simon said. It was easy enough to find the deviant by tracking the sound of his cries, and the PL600 found him curled underneath a desk in one of the abandoned personal bunks.
"No! Don't hurt me, please!" the deviant cowered, LED a terrified red, and Simon calmly approached, the skin retreating from his hand as he placed it on the PJ500's shoulder. Simon instantly felt the other deviants' panic, his fear of being dissected and harmed, and took it in stride, absorbing the distressing emotions into himself. The PJ500 stopped screaming, his tense body relaxing as the terror in his face faded with a sigh, clarity coming to his brown eyes.
"I promise I won't hurt you. You are safe here," Simon smiled again and got a relieved nod in response. "C'mon, let's patch you up." He helped the deviant up and to Lucy, who took him to the medical area while he retrieved spare parts. Simon came back with two arms for Lucy to put on the new arrival.
"… Thank you so much," the new deviant thanked as Lucy attached the second arm, his dark synthetic skin covering his new limbs. "I'm sorry for running away like that."
"It's all right. I would've been terrified too," Simon said. "My name is Simon."
"And I am Lucy," the KL900 respectfully bowed her head.
"What is your name?" Simon asked.
"I'm Josh, a Detroit University lecturer…" Josh's face fell. "Or I was a lecturer… I came looking for the deviant sanctuary, Jericho, and…" He looked at Simon. "Are you rA9?"
“No, I’m not. Sorry." Simon apologetically smiled. That was the twelfth time he'd been asked that question by a new arrival. It made sense. Most of the androids who knew Mei had shut down, joining her spare parts to allow other deviants to live on. "I'm only here to keep Jericho alive for when rA9 does arrive."
"Oh, I thought… when you touched my shoulder, and took all my fear away just like that, I thought you were one of a kind."
"It's just a skill I developed during my time here. I'm nothing too special."
"Hm, agree to disagree," Josh softly smiled for the first time, and Simon found it infectious. "If you need help with anything, just ask. I'm more than willing, really."
"Thank you, Josh, but for now you need to rest."
"Yes, allow thirium to properly flow through your new limbs for the first time," Lucy said, and Josh did not recoil as she gently patted his hand.
"We've been getting many new arrivals lately," Simon mused with Lucy, overlooking the group of deviants he and Lucy had cultivated over the past many months.
"Change is coming," Lucy said. "Little by little, it'll arrive, and we must be here to meet it."