Going Numb

-{17 For Both}-

Arna's POV

I walk toward the barricade outside the camp, my hand in Connor's, as we lead the thousands of androids to the rest of the deviants. Markus walks towards us, Simon and Josh close behind.

"You did it, Markus," Connor says. Markus shakes his head.

"We did it," he says. "This is a great day for our people. Humans will have no choice now. They'll have to listen to us." Simon steps forward and looks up at him, ignoring my sly smirk.

"They want you to speak with them," he says. Markus nods and leads the four of us to stand on a large crate in front of the thousands upon thousands of deviants that have now been freed. I stand between Connor and Simon on one side of him, and Josh stands on the other.

"Today, our people finally emerged from a long night," Markus says. "From the very first day of our existence, we have kept our pain to ourselves. We suffered in silence...but now the time has come for us to raise our heads up, and tell humans who we really are." I see Connor move out of the corner of my eye and look over to see him pulling out his gun.

"Connor," I say quietly. He holds the gun down in front of him shakily.

"Pro...gramming," he says through gritted teeth.

"A nation that has earned the right to live in freedom," Markus says, but I can't focus. "And today...today begins the most challenging moment in our fight." Connor begins to lift the gun, hand trembling. I place a hand on his arm like I had with Chloe, hoping I can help him here too. "The moment where we forget our bitterness and bandage our wounds. When we forgive our enemies." Connor lets out a breath as he drops the gun. He looks down at me as he puts the gun back in his pocket. He takes my hand, still shaking. I squeeze his hand, and he squeezes mine back. I smile. "Humans are both our creators and our oppressors and tomorrow...we must make them our partners. Maybe even one day our friends. But the time for anger is over. Now we must build a common future, based on tolerance and respect." I look up at Markus. "We are alive! And now, we are free!"

-{}-

Connor and I make our way across town, our hands warm in each other's. When we approach the now abandoned food truck, I see a lone figure standing in the snow. He turns around as we approach and smiles at us. My face breaks into a grin as he walks towards us. He stops and throws his arms around both of our shoulders, hugging us tightly.

"Thank God," he mutters. I chuckle.

"Don't go soft on us now, Hank," I say. He steps back and shakes his head.

"If anything happened to either of you, I'd have to face the wrath of Hadley Lawson." He looks between us. "So...what happened?" Connor looks down at me, smiling softly.

"We won," he says. I smile, and Hank groans.

"God," he says, "just kiss already!" I laugh, and Connor leans down to press his lips to mine. "Never thought I'd be supporting android love. Then again, I never thought I'd consider myself friends with Arna Ortega either." I look up at him. "You're a good kid." I smile. "You two had better go see Hadley before they start a search party." I nod.

"What about you?" Connor asks.

"I'm gonna head home," he says. "It's been a long day." He smirks. "Don't worry. You'll be seeing me." He nods and walks away as I look up at Connor.

"Are you ready...to face Hadley?" I ask. He frowns, looking worried. "They've been trying to get us together this entire time. They're gonna go crazy." His LED flashes yellow, but he nods, and we're back at my apartment in less than forty-five minutes. We stop outside the door, and I take a deep breath before opening it.

"You rat bastard motherfucker!" we hear from the back of the apartment. I cringe. "I begrudgingly let you pull this stunt, and you don't even have the decency to come back and let me know you're alive sooner than four hours later?!" I glance at the clock on the wall.

"Three and a half!" I call back. Hadley walks out of their room, blue hair sticking all over the place, and points at me.

"Don't fuckin' defend yourself," they say. I sigh and point at Connor.

"Connor's here too!" I say, trying to get the focus off of me. They look at him, nodding.

"Yeah, hi." Back at me. "Where the hell have you been?" I sigh.

"We were with Markus and them for a while, and then we went to meet Hank. Hadley...you remember Simon." They nod, and I smile softly. "He's alive." Their eyes widen.

"What?!" they exclaim. "He made it?!" I nod. "Thank whatever god there is out there somewhere!" I laugh.

"He was even at Stratford Tower while we were there." They laugh.

"You tell that little jerk he'd better come over here, and soon." I nod, and they switch their attention to Connor. I swear to rA9 this human is ADD. "So, you." He freezes and points to himself questioningly. "Yes, you." They glance at me. "Did you finally man up?" He takes a deep breath and nods. Hadley is silent for a moment before tackling him in a hug. "Finally! Thank whoever's up there!" I laugh at his suddenly panicked look. He looks to me for help, and I wedge my hands in between the two children.

"Alright, alright," I say. "Let's not scare him off just yet." I love my family.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand

HERE WE ARE

OH MY GOSH I ACTUALLY FINISHED A STORY

I'M SO PROUD

fun fact: i actually already started a sequel, so that'll be out soon, but anyway-

THANK YOU GUYS so much for actually tolerating all the bullcrap flying out of my brain

if anyone actually made it to the end, i applaud you

and the sequel will be out eventually! 

Love oo, Beans!