ANGELEYES, dbh connor

THIRTY-FIVE

Sorrel's eyes go wide. "Th-that's what the two of you were doing, then? Straight-forward, aren't cha? You look innocent though, hah. Y'know, nobody saw you go up, but we were all wondering why you were with Markus when the Agents invaded... There aren't many of us left, but we all have perfectly good eyes and ears."

She goes silent for a moment, her cheeks flushing pink.

"Sammy's right, it looks like North has some competition. Huh, everyone does have the hots for Mr. Revolution Leader.

Sammy? You frown confusedly. Wait. Have the hots? What does that mean?

"Ahem."

You jump and Sorrel gasps, her whole face paling. "Oh, uh, gotta go, bye Y/N!"

You look over your shoulder to see Markus standing with his arms crossed over his chest, almost awkwardly. The lobes of his ears seem a little bluer than normal, like they're blushed. You blink at him and flash him a small, polite smile.

"Oh, hello Markus," you say simply.

He nods and sits next to you on the pews. "Y/N. I see you've met Sorrel?"

"Yes, she's very nice!" A moment passes and Markus laughs quietly, staring at you like you've grown a second head and spouted some ancient Latin.

He shakes his head, still smiling faintly, "Nice, huh?" His smile quickly fades as he stares ahead of him. You can see the weight on his shoulders and in how he carries himself, tension tying him down. It's no wonder, he's the leader of a revolution and his people...

So many of his people have just died.

Your neutral mood quickly turns somber.

"I'm sorry, Markus," you say, and he turns his head to face you. You stare into his eyes with all of the earnestness you can muster up. "I'm sorry things happened the way they did. I wish I could go back in time and stop myself... I'm so, so sorry."

Your guilt stings. It burns at the back of your throat and sends sharp tingles to your eyes.

Markus' tense expression softens, but you can't quite put a finger on which part of his expression changes. It must be his eyes. They've gone gentle.

"You didn't know," Markus says calmly, "you were a machine under their control. There was no way you could've stopped yourself. I'm just glad you Deviated when you did, and not after you'd already put a bullet through my skull."

There's humor in his voice, but the morbid sort, and it leaves you feeling vaguely uncomfortable at the idea of his death.

"No, Markus, It's not okay." After a moment, you straighten your posture with newly-found determination, "I'll make it up to you. I'll do something big... The Government has declared they're going to start confiscating Androids, right?"

Markus nods slightly. His sincere eyes lock with yours and you see an intensity in them that you don't recognize.

"There are so many poor Androids at the Eden club... If I'm quick, I can free them. If you just wait here, at the Church, I can bring them to you. We'll have freed them and they'll make up for the numbers we lost."

You feel horrible calling the fallen Androids "numbers", but there's no other way you know how to talk about them.

Markus pauses in thought before replying, "...How?"

"There are plenty of ways," you say, mind racing, "I could pretend to be a big-paying customer, which is a little risky because the manager may recognize me from when I did a case at the club. Or I could simply play the role of a detective. Or I could sneak in through the back."

Markus seems unconvinced.

"I know the layout," you nod with determination. "It's been stored in my knowledge database."

Please say yes. Please say yes. Please say yes! You need to make it up to Markus and your fellow Androids, and you need to help the Androids stuck as human's toys. They'll be thrown out soon, but you could save them.

"If you're going to do this," begins Markus, "then I'm coming with you. But first, get yourself cleaned up." He gestures to your wound. "We don't have any blue blood supplies, but cauterizing should help."

He stands up and slowly walks away from you before you can object. He shouldn't come with you, it's too risky. But it seems like he's as stubborn as they come.

Frowning, you glance down at Connor's white button-up. You push the collar done to get a better view at your injury, which falls just below your collarbone. It seems like your Cyberlife-assigned bra is stained by blood, too.

What a pity.

As you stare at your shirt, something twinges in your gut. You feel... sad? Is this what this is? But why? Because it makes you think of Connor and Hank? That makes no sense. You should be happy, then. They make you happy, right? 

Emotions are so confusing... You wish Connor was here with you to help you figure them out.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: woohoo new character, our obligatory best friend archetype! she's mean and i love her :D

also, i just wanna thank you guys for all of your comments and votes! thank you so much :) i love reading through the comments especially, even if i don't always respond to them!

thanks for reading guys!! <33

I'm on a roll so (hopefully) expect another early update in the next few days! :)