Runaway||DETROIT: BECOME HUMAN

Chapter Three

"He's been gone too long."

The general quiet of Jericho was disturbed by John; the android from the docks. He was aware of Conrad's plan to go out and get the things they needed, but he had been gone for six hours. It didn't take six hours to get a few things.

Josh had begun to fret upon realizing that he was right, and while he wasn't the only one worried; he seemed to be the most expressive about it. Well, that was disproved by the looks on everyone's face.

"I'll go looking for him." Josh said as he grabbed his jacket. John grabbed his arm.

"Are you sure you should? What if he's damaged and the people who damaged him are still there?" He asked, his stress levels rising.

"I'll be fine. I have to make sure he's okay."

Josh had been gone for about an hour and a half, the sun was beginning to set and temperatures were dropping to just on the cusp of freezing, and worries were only rising. They were considering the possibility that they had been attacked and killed by humans or anti-android protesters who recognized them as androids, despite the fact that there weren't many androids that looked like them. They hadn't seen a single android that looked like Conrad.

The idea that they had been killed was quickly banished when Josh returned, carrying Conrad in his arms. Josh seemed completely unharmed, but Conrad was quite the opposite. From what they could see, one of his arms was completely frosted over up to the elbow, and beneath the frost, it appeared that his synthetic skin had disappeared.

His grey t-shirt was soaked with his own Thirium and his right cheek one (or Conrad's left) had a large, yet somewhat clean scar on it which was likely the result of a pretty sharp object if it cut that deep into metal.

"Holy shit!" North exclaimed, running over to them. Josh wasn't designed for carrying heavy things, or anything that involved strength in particular; so he was struggling to say the least.

"Help me bring him to Lucy," he managed through gritted teeth. North did just that, the two of them attracting the attention of the other androids who stared on in horror upon seeing the state Conrad was in.

Lucy hadn't been expecting to have an android brought to her in such a state, as it had been a very long time since one had been brought to her like this. She was speechless for a moment as North and Josh set him down on a cot in the middle of her tent.

"Please...save him." North pleaded. Josh stood up and made for the exit. "I'll go get the others," he referred to John, Markus, and Simon: all of whom were probably scattered around Jericho. North stayed, sitting by Conrad's side.

"He's still alive," Lucy said, her bewilderment obvious as she crouched beside the cot. "He's in some sort of...temporary shut down. It's similar to a power down, which is used to conserve and restore energy. A temporary shut down, seen in more advanced models, is what happens automatically when they take a certain amount of damage and to avoid permanent shut down, the body attempts to hold onto what energy is left so they can get fixed." North listened closely, her confusion evident.

"I've only ever heard of it, I wasn't completely sure if it was true." She continued.

"North, help me remove his shirt please. I need to see what the damage is," North helped, and it wasn't a pretty sight. There were bullet wounds and grazes littering his torso, but only some were surrounded by Thirium. That meant some of them had already been there before the recent ones. North began to wonder what had brought him to Jericho. The grazes had removed the synthetic skin and showed the porcelain beneath.

There was a bullet hole straight through his pump regulator, which was flickering on and off.

Josh, Simon, and Markus ran into the tented room, the other two freezing up with horror as they stared at the scene. Lucy was cleaning off the Thirium around the recent bullet wounds.

"What happened?" Markus was barely able to get the words out as he approached, nudging Simon to follow him as the latter seemed rooted to the spot. North could only shrug.

"I don't know. I found him half buried in the snow, the only reason I realized he was there was because the snow was blue," Josh explained as Simon and Markus crouched by his side, looking over the damage done. The simulated breathing that came along with the temporary shutdown only made it worse.

Markus tilted Conrad's head and nearly fell back upon seeing the scar on the side his face. Simon was also quick to notice the older bullet wounds and tapped Markus' shoulder.

"Do you know where those came from?" It seemed as though Markus had never noticed them.

"No...I-I didn't even know he had them." He muttered.

Lucy rose to her feet and looked through one of the crates behind her, digging through it until she pulled out a new pump regulator and went back to his side.

It was almost painful to watch her remove his heart, even though it was replaced with the properly functioning one.

There was a slight whirring as his systems started up again and he hazily opened his eyes. One of them seemed to be glazed over, the pupil and iris a light blue; rendering him unable to see though it, at least not without difficulty.

They had expected him to be slightly weak or unsteady, but he was quite the opposite. He shot up and ran through the small crowd around him and out of the tented room; clearly confused, afraid, and unaware of his surroundings. He must have thought he was still surrounded by his attackers.

"Conrad! It's okay, it's just us. You're in Jericho, you're safe," Simon reassured him, keeping a close eye on him as looked around frantically; before his slightly impaired gaze landed on the man in question.

"Simon?" His voice came out slightly mechanical and hoarse as his voicebox began to function properly once again. "How did I get here?"

"Josh carried you back, he found you in the snow. Do you remember what happened?" Simon asked, slowly approaching Conrad; hoping not to startle or unnerve him.

"...yes, I-I remember." He approached Simon, wrapping his arms around himself due to his lack of a shirt while Simon guided him back into the tented room.

"Let's get you some new clothes," Simon's gaze flickered up to Conrad's face. "And a new eye."