The Start of Something Better

by Mnemosign26

Summary:

After his first night in Jericho, Markus knew he couldn’t stay.

Androids were designed by humans to mimic them. And Markus had certainly found comfort in living alongside Carl. So when faced with the prospect of living in the dark with all those other deviants, not feeling safe to go outside, or looking after the closest thing he had to a father - a man who needed him? It was an easy decision.

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Or: Markus goes back to Carl after From the Dead, but decides to lead Jericho as well.

After his first night in Jericho, Markus knew he couldn’t stay. 

He’d seen how they all lived in fear, and he wanted to make it better for them. Stealing the truck full of parts from the CyberLife warehouse had been the beginning of something. But it wasn’t enough. And he couldn’t quite identify why. 

Maybe it was that the other deviants didn’t respect humans. Most of them seemed to think that androids would be better off living separately from their creators forever. Whether that was because they didn’t want to live as slaves anymore, or because humans seemed to have no redeeming qualities, he couldn’t say. 

He knew differently, though. Androids were designed by humans to mimic them. And Markus had certainly found comfort in living alongside Carl. So when faced with the prospect of living in the dark with all those other deviants, not feeling safe to go outside, or looking after the closest thing he had to a father - a man who needed him? It was an easy decision. 

He went home. 

The security system still recognised him. “Welcome home, Markus,” the automated voice followed him through to the kitchen, where he made Carl’s breakfast the same as every other day. Everything was familiar here. The light shining through the big windows. The smell of old wood and paint. The chirping of the android birds in the entryway. Not like Jericho, dark and unfriendly. That didn’t matter right now, Markus realised, and pushed the memory out of his HUD. He finished the eggs, prepared the tray on the counter, and set off upstairs. 

Carl was still asleep, so Markus did the same thing he’d done every morning for years. He opened the curtains.

“Good morning, Carl,” he said, in his programmed newsreader tone. “It’s 10am. It is currently, 50 degrees, 75% humidity, and the weather is expected to be snowy for the rest of the -”

“Markus, what are you doing here?” Carl interrupted, his voice a low warning. 

“Doing my job,” Markus replied calmly. “As I was saying, the rest of the day is expected to snow -”

“I saw you die,” Carl pointed a hesitant finger at the android. “The police shot you. You hurt my son , Markus -”

“And I couldn’t live with that!” Markus’s voice shook, and he knew if he still had his LED, it would be pulsing red. “I couldn’t leave you alone knowing that I was responsible for what happened to him. I had to… I had to come back.”

The silence was enough to make the android wonder if the audio processor he got was damaged like his last one. 

Eventually Carl sighed. “You were shot. Are you alright?”

Markus froze for a split-second. He hadn’t predicted that Carl would be worried about his safety, though he supposed he should’ve, after Carl tried to send him away to avoid the police. 

“I’m fine. Several of my parts were critically damaged and I woke up in an android junkyard.” He stated the facts. No feelings. Not yet. He didn’t know how Carl would react when he realised just how differently Markus’s program functioned now. “I found two replacement legs, an audio processor, a Thirium pump regulator, and an optical unit.”

“So you have different coloured eyes now,” Carl remarked.

“Yes.”

They looked at each other for a moment. 

Just as Markus was about to cross the room and retrieve Carl’s medicine, the man said, “It’s good to see you, son.”

Markus smiled, just a little. “It’s good to see you, too, Dad.”

Carl said ‘hurt,’ not killed. The data point rose into Markus’s view. He sat beside the human on the bed, administering the medicine silently while he processed. “Carl, is Leo alive?”

Carl grimaced. “Yeah. He got put in an ambulance and taken to hospital right after you…”

“Is he stable?”

“Unconscious, but yes.”

“I’m… glad to hear that.”

Markus set down the medicine on the bedside table and carried Carl to the bathroom. Both were quiet until they exited and Carl was in his chair, arriving at the bottom of the staircase. 

“I couldn’t have lost you both in the one night, Markus,” Carl said finally. “I’m glad I didn’t have to lose either of you. More than I already did, anyway. I think the Leo I knew disappeared a long time ago.”

All Markus could think was whether Carl had lost the caretaker android he knew - to deviancy, if not to the bullet in his head. But to say it aloud would be to speak it into existence, so he kept it to himself for now. 

He’d thought that to be back looking after Carl would be everything he needed, everything that Jericho couldn’t provide. But he knew differently now. It just made him more aware that every android in the world deserved to be treated the way that Carl treated him. And it was his responsibility to make that happen. 

Somehow, he was going to keep looking after Carl, and fix the world at the same time. And as Carl turned the television on to a Channel 16 News broadcast, he had an idea of how he would do it. He had a plan now. 

“Carl, I’m… going out for a while.” Markus said. “I’ll be back to prepare your dinner.”

“You okay?” Carl said, looking at his android as though he could see straight through him into his mind palace, where the lines weren’t straight anymore and nothing quite made sense yet.

Markus nodded. “I just met some other androids last night that need my help.”

Carl’s eyes softened with understanding. “See you tonight. Don’t get yourself shot again.”

‘I won’t,” Markus smiled, not knowing whether that was true or not. He tore his eyes away from Carl to look at the Channel 16 logo on the TV.  Then he turned and strode out.

Markus went back to Jericho.

Notes:

I wrote this while suffering from a sinus infection and an ear infection at the same time and my brain is fried lol. Thanks for reading and I am debating continuing this idea of Markus doing the Jericho stuff in secret while also caring for Carl - let me know if you'd be interested in reading that and I might keep it going!