GLITCH [CONNOR]

Holy Night

The church was gigantic. there were huge stained glass windows letting in light along with a few lights hanging from the ceiling. The walls of the abandoned church had been covered in graffiti and there was a huge hole in the roof allowing for snow to come in. Most of the androids sat in the church benches, healing their wounds, both physical and mental. A lot of them had perished in the attack, brothers, sisters, lovers and those left were completely broken down. Markus sat on a box on top of an elevated plateau, contemplating what he should do. Next to the plateau, in the shadows of a statue stood the two people who were not part of the group. Faye and Connor, the outsiders.

The detective and plastic cop kept to themselves, all the comments and side'eyes told them to stay away. Instead, they tried to heal their own wounds by reconciling the other. Connor had his shoulder leaning against the wall and Faye sat in front of him on a barrel. They were holding hands, making soothing motions on the other's hand. Markus was walking around the church, talking to all kinds of deviants, North, Josh and many more. Finally, he walked up to the two that kept themselves in the shadows. "It's my fault." Connor was so filled with guilt that he couldn't even manage to look up at Markus as he approached, "they managed to locate Jericho."

"Connor, I'm as much to blame as you." Faye stood up from the barrel and placed a hand on his forearm.

"I was stupid," Connor damned himself, he prided himself on being smart, intelligent, but he had acted irrationally, like a human, "I should've guessed they would track me."

"The tracker's gone now, I've removed it. It won't happen again." Faye assured. It had been rather difficult getting it out but with a little bit of guidance from Connor and a sharp knife, the GPS tracker had managed to be removed.

"I'm sorry, Markus," Connor turned away from Faye and walked up towards the leader of Jericho.

"We're sorry." Faye walked to beside Connor, she felt just as much guilt over what had happened. They should have been able to think one step ahead and not rush towards Jericho as soon as they found its whereabouts. Connor placed his hand on Faye's back.

"We understand if you decide not to trust us," Connor said and rubbed Faye's back, they understood that this could be the end of them. That Markus could decide to kill them right there and then for what they had caused Jericho and they could do nothing about it.

"You're one of us, now," Markus assured and Faye thanked whatever Gods that had heard her prayer. Markus directed his next comment towards Connor, "your place is with your people." He then looked towards Faye, "and you're welcome to stay too." She nodded in thanks and just as Markus was about to leave, Faye spoke up.

"Are you sure everyone thinks that way? We've been getting a lot of comments and dirty looks." Faye was concerned. Markus looked around at his wound comrades, he saw the side-eyes Faye was talking about.

"They'll come around. Just like I have done." Markus answered, he was their leader and if he accepted it then his followers would have to accept it too. 

"There are thousands of androids at the CyberLife assembly plant." Connor's statement took Faye by surprise, she had no idea where Connor was going with this, "if we could wake them up, they might join us and shift the balance of power."

"You wanna infiltrate CyberLife Tower?" Markus asked as he couldn't believe what the deviant was telling him. "Connor, that's suicide."

"Yeah," Faye was pissed, she shook away Connor's arm, "and how do you suppose getting to the androids? Simply walk in and ask nicely?" It was official, Connor was mad.

"They trust me," Connor urged, "they'll let me in."

"Okay, so my joke plan was your real plan? Okay, you're mad!" Faye shouted lowly.

"If anyone has a chance of infiltrating CyberLife, it's me." Connor ignored Faye and continued explaining the plan to Markus.

"If you go there, they will kill you." Markus neither wasn't on board with the plan.

"There's a high probability," Connor said as he looked towards the dismayed Faye, "but statistically speaking, there's always a chance for unlikely events to take place."

"We finally found Jericho and now you want to go on a suicide mission?" Faye was petrified, she couldn't dare to think about what she would do if she lost Connor.

"I have to do this," Connor sighed, he felt responsible for the attack on Jericho and he needed to do this as a way to repay for what he had done, "Jericho won't be a safe place until we've shifted the balance of power." Faye could see the determination in Connor's brown orbs, he wasn't going to change his mind, so Faye had too.

"Fine, but I'm coming with you." Now it was Connor's turn to be petrified.

"No," he shook his head in panic, if he were to be responsible for both the demise of Jericho and the death of his love, it would be too much for him to bear, "they don't trust you."

"I'm human and I'm a cop, I think they trust me enough." Faye crossed her arms over her chest. Markus smiled for himself, the two lovers were too stubborn for their own good. But some stubbornness was just what this demonstration needed. He placed a hand on each of their shoulders, making the two turn towards their leader.

"Be careful," Markus said making both Faye and Connor calm down. That was the approval, that both Connor and Faye were going to infiltrate the CyberLife Tower.

Markus let go of their shoulders and headed for the plateau. Up on the elevated platform, he took a deep breath, he needed to talk to the whole of Jericho, and this was the moment, "humans have decided to exterminate us," a wave of terror would have gone through the crowd if it wasn't for every single android being a witness to it, "our people are packed in camps right now, being destroyed." Faye looked down at her feet, even though she wasn't one of the humans forcing androids into camps she felt tremendous guilt for the pain her people were causing the androids. Connor took his lover's hand and squeezed in a comforting way, "time has come to make a choice, one that very well may determine the future of our people." Even though the speech had started in a calm tone, Markus quickly found himself wrapped up in emotions. He wanted to fight back, take revenge on the humans for what had done, but he knew better. That not every single human was out to get them, Faye was proof of that, "I know, I know you're all angry. And I know you wanna fight back. But I assure you violence is not the answer here. We are going to tell them peacefully that we want justice." Faye mentally sighed in relief, a lot of humans were bad people, her past told her so, but there were a handful that were good, Hank, for example, "if there's any humanity left in them, they will listen. And if not, others will take our place and continue this fight. Are you ready to follow me?" A loud cheer came from the crowd, they started chanting his name.

"Markus! Markus! Markus!" Every android cheered, Faye and Connor kept quiet but the smile on their faces was support enough.