ANGELEYES, dbh connor

THIRTY-NINE

But she's okay, right? She has to be.

STANDING ON THE BACK edge of a shipping container wasn't what you thought you'd be doing earlier this morning, but here you are. At the center front is Markus. He faces the uneasy crowd of Androids bravely, his shoulders squared, and you try and mimic his confident stance.

A part of you still can't believe everything that's happened. You know you missed most of the action, but you're honestly grateful for that fact. Whilst you're a great detective, you can't exactly see yourself successfully dodging bullets and winding through safe spots. You're the sort of person that is much more likely to accidentally get in the way of the real professionals.

"Today, our people finally emerged from a long night," Markus says, suddenly, in that serious Robo-Jesus tone of his.

You stiffen a little and study his back. Josh and Simon are on either side of you, whilst North is closer to Markus, standing near his shadow. You take a quick glance over at Simon to gauge his expression ━ he seems just as pleased as you do.

"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."

A quiet cheer echoes through the crowd ahead of you.

But you don't focus on that. Suddenly, something strange happens ━ the feeling of someone peering inside your head occurs. It's like something sharp and wriggly has curled its way under your internal sensors, and like a sewing needle, it weaves between your wiring. You feel your brain begin to glitch and your LED goes hot as it turns a processing yellow color.

What on Earth is happening?

One moment, you're standing behind Markus in the cold. And the next, after you blink to clear your fading vision, you're inside your mind. Amanda's garden.

You grimace and let out a quiet huff as you take in your surroundings. It's dark, here, like there's a permanent dreary grey filter to everything. A blizzard rushes in so thick that you can't see more than three steps ahead of you, and there's a constant barrage of ice-cold snow assaulting your senses.

Usually, the snow should melt against your abnormally warm skin. But it doesn't, not here, so you're left wiping frost off the front of your suit.

"What the fuck?" you curse, quietly, the perfect embodiment of what Hank would do in a situation like this. But before you can dwell on that thought, a handful of snow slaps against your face and leaves you to stumble a foot backward.

Using a shaking hand, you wipe the slush off your face and look around in a fit of panic. 

You take a cautious look over your shoulder as you cross your arms in front of your chest. It's strange how the cold is affecting you so much worse here than ever before ━ you're nearly certain Androids aren't meant to feel the cold, but you do, and here, it's nearly unbearable.

As you face the front again, you're startled half-to-death as Amanda's silhouette slowly emerges from the blizzard.

You gape at her silently, inhaling a mouthful of snowflakes. "Amanda..?"

Slowly, like one of those villains in Connor's favorite superhero movies, Amanda turns her body to face you. You can't quite make out what expression she's wearing, with the grey haze being too thick, so you take wobbly steps toward her.

"Amanda! What's..." Your voice sounds breathless even to your own ears, another strange phenomenon. "What the hell's happening here?! Why am I... so cold?"