Chapter 2

"I have found you some clothes in a secondhand shop. The coat you found at the junkyard is in the dryer right now if you want that too." You had brought the android Markus with you home in the dark and did your best to fix him up. He told you how he collected many parts at the junkyard and replaced them himself. That didn't mean that he didn't need a fix here and there. He had a few loose parts that needed a screw and a replacement for the damage on his synthetic skin. It took him awhile to trust you at let you repair on him. It was a sign of some kind of trauma which an android should be able to have.

"Thanks. I'll take it with me when I leave." He answered politely but you could still feel how cold he was towards you. He didn't trust you entirely. He touched the side of his body that was still exposed for you to repair on. You had stopped to get yourself a cup of tea to stay awake the second night in a row with Markus in your basement.

"So Markus... Can I ask you a personal question?" You asked as you took the soldering iron and placed it on the cut to close it up.

"I guess." He said and sighed. Did androids sigh too?

"What happened to you? Some of these injuries look like bullet holes." You said and looked up at the android. He looked deep in thoughts but you wouldn't know completely as his LED was removed.

"I don't want to talk about it. It was an accident." He finally said looking down in the ground. You nodded and finished your work. Markus pulled down the shirt you gave him and got off the working table. He sat back on the chair that James used to hang on when he was over and saw you working. Markus leg jumped up and down in a worried manner. He looked so alive that you wouldn't fathom you just repair on him like a simple machine.

"How are you.... Feeling, Markus?" You asked him without thinking. It was something you would ask a human in the same situation.

"I don't know, actually. I think I feel... scared. And... lost? I don't know." He said shaking his head and rested it in his hands. He did look last and confused about it. Maybe this whole thing about feelings was as new to him as it was to you. You knew what you would want people to do, if it was you feeling that way so you stepped over to him and crouched down in front of him and touched his hand. He reacted immediately and looked like he wanted to run away, but you kept a hold on his hand.

"If there is anything I can do to help you, please tell me, okay? I'm not going to hurt you or deliver you to the police or CyperLife. If there is a place you want to go, I can take you there. You are also welcome to stay here until you figure it out." You looked him directly in the eyes and his expression softened a little and he relaxed under your touch. For a split-second you actually thought he was smiling at you.

"Thank you, y/n. But I don't know where an android without an owner would go." He said and shrugged hopelessly.

"I don't know either. I must admit, I have never met someone quite like you." You said with a little giggle and stroke your thumb over his hand. It was strange how well made these androids actually were. You could barely tell the different from Markus hand and a humans. Markus looked deep in thought again, but this time he was willing to enlightening you.

"There was this android at the junkyard. It told me about something or someone called Jericho. Have you heard about it before?" He asked with a frown. You thought for a second before answering him honestly.

"No, it doesn't sound familiar to me. Didn't it give you any more information?"

"It... shut down before it could say it." Markus said sadly.

"I'm sorry that you had to witness that. It was a horrible place." You said and got up. It was really late and you had to get up to work the day after so you had to leave him alone with his thoughts.

"If you want to, I can take you into the city tomorrow before work? Then you can ask around or see if you can find anything useful. If not, you know where I live. I have a little extra cash you can have so you can get back here by train." You found your wallet and handed him the money. He looked almost in shock as he felt on the bills in his hand.

"Thank you y/n. I don't know what to say."

"Just remember to come visit me sometimes. I want to know what you are doing with your newfound freedom." You said and gave his shoulder a light squeeze before heading upstairs to sleep.

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You earned a hug from Markus as you dropped him off in the city before you headed to work that day. You didn't see Markus in a long time after that, so you hopped he found the place he was searching for to feel free. It was strange how he was acting all human and could be so upset. But the more you thought about you the more it made sense. You were building the androids more and more advance. It was only a matter of time before they could take control over themselves and find their own purpose. It could be really scary and end badly but if the androids were all like Markus, you couldn't see how it would be a bad thing.

A few weeks after you encounter with Markus you were woken up by a furious knocking on your door. At first you were really scared but you sneaked over to your window and looked through the curtains. A female android stood outside and looked around her like someone was after her. Her LED was bright red and lightened her face up to reveal a scared look on her face. You took the chance and lucked up the door and as soon you had opened the door she jumped inside.

"I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I don't want to scare you but I need a place to stay. I can't be at that place anymore. I just can't!" She cried and threw herself at the floor. You looked around outside to see if anyone would have seen her enter you house, but you didn't see anyone in the dark. You locked the door again and help the android woman up and over to the couch. As you finally got a closer look at her you could see that she was one of the many reasons you where disgusted by CyperLife. She was a WR400 model. Used as a simple sexdoll. No wonder she would run away as soon she felt anything that could reassemble human feelings. You knew they usually didn't have much clothes on but this girl was wearing a long male coat she must have stolen from one of her costumers.

"It's okay. You are safe here." You reassured her. She was actually crying. How can an android be crying? You were all out of paper towels but you found a roll of toilet paper and handed it to her.

"I'm sorry, but this is all I have." You smiled shyly at her. She coughed out a small laughter between the sobbing.

"It's more than enough that you opened up your door for me, y/n." She said and you lifted an eyebrow at the girl.

"You know my name?" You asked her, trying not to sound too freaked out. But why would a sex android know your name?

"I have heard rumors about you; that you help someone like us." She dried her eyes in the toilet paper and even sniffled.

"Like you?"

"They call us deviants. It's because we go against our programming. But I had to! Everything I did felt so wrong. And this guy he was..." She didn't say more before throwing herself in your arms and you barely had time to open your arms to her. She sobbed against your shoulder as you lightly padded her on the back. Deviants? Go against programming? You should have known that it what was happening. You didn't have a chance to look at Markus programming as you didn't link him to any devices when you were fixing him, but the "bug" would have been visible to you immediately if so.

"So when you came here, you were looking for a safe place? Jericho, right?" You asked her and she nodded and loosened her grip on you. Oh boy, that wasn't good. You haven't seen Markus since and even he didn't know where this Jericho was and what it even was.

"Okay I have to be honest with you. I have only helped one deviant before and he didn't even know where to go. I just fixed him up and drove him into town. I don't know what happened to him afterwards but I hope he found what he was looking for." You said silently but it didn't look like the android was any scared of what you just say.

"How did you fix him up?" She asked.

"I just gave him some clothes and check his system and repaired what was damaged on him. I can check you as well if you like?" She just nodded in response and walked with you to the basement. She sat on the working table as you checked the minor damage she had on her body. She reacted to your touch in a negative way in the start. You could feel how she flinched her body from your fingers. She was use to abuse and the pain in her face was as real as any humans would be. She must feel more comfortable as it went on because she let you take a hold around her stomach as you looked on the scratches on her back where some of the synthetic skin was ripped off. As the last thing, you reached up and took out her LED like you saw Markus did it. She went over to the mirror placed in the corner and looked at herself without the LED for the first time.

"We can cut your hair if you like? And you can get some of my old clothes if it fits you." You said but she shook her head.

"No I want to keep the hair and I can't take you clothes. But if I can ask you a favour; do you want to drive me to the same place you drove the other android?" She asked with a smile. It was nice to see her smile. You could see why so many men would be attracted to her.

"Sure thing. If you feel ok we can drive there now. But you can stay here over night if you like?"

"I don't want to bother you any further. We can go now." And you did. You opened the door for her and she gave you a thankful smile before you sat in the other side and let your car drive you to your destination. As you were near the park where you left Markus you turned to her.

"If you should meet a guy named Markus there, tell me I really want to hear from him, Okay? Just any sign of life. I want to hear from you too. I really want to know if you get there safely." She leaned in and gave you a tight hug.

"I will make sure to tell him if I meet him."

"Thanks. Oh... I never really got your name." You said a little embarrassed. You had to admit that you never really had interacted with any androids like those who came to you like this before. They were just there like every other human.

"I... Never really got a name." She admitted.

"Well. Then you can pick whatever you like yourself. You have all the time in the world to figure it out." You said calmly.

"Right now I think my favourite name is y/n." She laughed before getting out of the car. You pointed in the direction you had seen Markus leave the last time you were there and she waved and disappeared into the night.

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After the encounter with the female android they just seemed to keep coming. More androids came running to your house and every one of them had some kind of damaged done to them. You couldn't believe how many cruel people that existed in this world and how they all let their anger out on an android like they weren't anyone.

The activity around you house from android that needed help started to ruin your sleep schedule and you didn't see James as much as you used to. Most of the time he wrote you, you simply didn't see the texts before it was very late at night. When he questioned your nightly activities you told him that you got a lot of extra work because of how good he promoted you out to his friends. But the truth was that you had to reject people that came to you, because you had some refugee android in the basement.

"If I had known your services would ruin our night hanging out I would never have done it." He said sighing as you poured another cup of coffee to stay alive at work.

"I'm sorry but it's good money." You tried to explain.

"Are you thinking of buying an android for all those money? Maybe it can help you." He asked jokingly.

"God no. I would never do that." You said and you realized how much it sounded like the thought disgusted you. James looked a little shocked but he tried to play it off.

"Nah I don't think I want an android. They are starting to act up and kill people. Maybe I should just get a dog and learn it to fetch things for me. Like a cold one." He laughed. You didn't know what made you the most awake. The fact that he just compared an android to a dog or the next about the android killing people.

"What? Killing people?" Your head snapped to look at him.

"Haven't you seen the news lately? You need to get up from that basement sometimes." He asked as he gestured for you to follow him. You both went into the cafeteria where a big screen was hanging on the wall far in the back. It was always on and showed the latest news and weather reports. It was silent but the news was clear. Blue light was blinking on the screen as a reporter tried to get a comment from a police officer. A picture of the suspected android was shown on the left side of the screen while the officer talked.

"What happened?" You asked. James stood behind you rested his chin on your shoulder.

"I guess some android went berserk and killed his owner. The other day the special force rescued a girl from her android babysitter that tried to throw them both out from a roof of a huge apartment building."

"What? When did this start?" you asked him but at the same time you grabbed your phone to find any news articles on the cases. Apparently there was a lot. Not all of them ended violently but a lot of android have been reported missing the last few weeks and you could recognize some of the android that you had been helping and the stories about the families they ran away from. But luckily for you it didn't seem like any of the android you had helped was any of those where it ended in murder. You really wanted to help them, but you couldn't help a murder.

"It has been going on for some times. Haven't you been outside your basement at all? We seriously need to have a movie night. And I mean tonight! You need to calm down a little." James said and gave your shoulder a squeeze.

"I don't think.." You started but he interrupted you.

"We are doing this because you need this. And those bags under your eyes makes me think that you are in serious need of seeing my face all the time." He said with a smug smile on his lips.

"And here I thought I needed sleep." You said rolling your eye at him but agreed that he could come over. But what if a deviant came running while he was there?