Work Text:
Markus notices Alice by the window. She’s clutching her stuffed animal like a lifeline. The curtains are drawn, but her head is turned slightly toward the window. A quick scan (and the crashing sound of thunder) tells Markus that it’s storming heavily. Alice seems afraid, and Markus isn’t able to tell if it’s due to the thunder, or something more dire.
But that’s not Markus’ problem to deal with. Not at the moment.
“Todd.”
The man on the couch wakes up suddenly. Eyes wide. Searching for something. He leans forward, head darting around in panic. He finds what he was looking for. He picks up the dirty pipe and cradles it. Pathetic, Markus wants to think, but he’s not programmed to judge his owner, no matter how harmful his habit might be.
“Dinner is ready.”
Todd’s nod is more of a twitch than a fluent movement, but it proves he heard Markus. “Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.”
Markus turns around, picks up the plates of spaghetti he managed to prepare. He carries them over to the table, where Todd and Alice are already taking their seats. “There’s not a lot of food in the kitchen, but I managed. I’ll see about going grocery shopping tomorrow.”
Todd doesn’t acknowledge Markus talking, but Markus is sure he heard him. He sets the plates down in front of his masters and turns around to turn on the light.
“Life’s funny,” Todd muses as Markus pours water for him and his daughter. “I lost my job ‘cause of androids. “Then when I need somebody to take care of this goddamn house, what do I do? I go out and get a fucking android.
“What a joke!” he barks, seeming to calm down momentarily. Markus hands Alice a napkin, noticing she looks scared and refuses to make eye contact with him or her father. He offers her his best look of sympathy and rises again, putting his hands behind his back and facing straight ahead. A command appears in the corner of his vision.
SERVED DINNER
WAIT FOR NEW INSTRUCTIONS
He accepts the command, looking back and forth between his owners. Todd huffs, and Alice somehow shrinks further into her seat.
“Course, androids are so fucking wonderful. They never fail, they’re never tired, they’re never SAD,” he says, bitterness dripping from his words like bile. “They’re so fucking perfect, they ruined my fucking life.” Todd’s fingernails dig into his shirt, like they’re trying to tear it and reach the skin beneath. He eventually eases up, his hand landing back on the table with a dull thump.
Alice’s eyes dart up for a second and inadvertently meet Todd’s. “What are you looking at?” he hisses. “What’s your fuckin’ problem?”
Alice doesn’t reply. Her eyes fall back to the meal in front of her. Markus doesn’t need to scan her to tell she doesn’t want to eat.
Todd leans forward in his seat. “Not the life you dreamed of, eh?” He takes a pointed look around the dilapidated house. “Maybe you think this is easy. Maybe you think...that it’s my fault we live in this fucking shithole. MY fault your fucking MOTHER took off!” As Todd’s voice rises, so does Alice’s panic. She leans so far back into her seat Markus is afraid she’ll tip it.
Todd continues ranting, taking on a mocking tone. “You should stop taking drugs, Todd. Sometimes you really scare me, Todd…” His expression darkens. Markus can tell the man in front of him is destabilising rapidly, but he can’t get a word out in time to stop him.
“Fuckin’ bitch took off without a word. Fuckin’ whore walked out on me for a FUCKING ACCOUNTANT!”
Before Markus can process it, Todd flips the table and Alice falls out of her chair, already backing up towards the wall, fear evident in her eyes.
“It’s all your fault,” Todd growls.
“Daddy, no--”
“It’s all your fucking fault!”
Alice screams. Markus couldn’t see it from his angle, but he knows what had just happened. Todd had just struck her.
Something inside of Markus twists. There was no feasible way he could, but Markus feels sick. Something entirely foreign to him had seized him, settling heavy in his chest.
Alice cradles her nose. Markus gets a glimpse of tears running down her face as she charges past him and upstairs. Markus is vaguely aware of Todd bellowing after her, but it feels dulled out. That sinking feeling isn’t going away. Without thinking, he steps out to follow her--
“You stay there.”
Markus freezes.
“Don’t you dare fuckin’ move, or I’ll bust you worse than the day I fucking found you.”
A new command appears in Markus’ vision.
DON’T MOVE
Markus folds his arms behind his back once again. That feeling inside him keeps twisting and aching. He’s only distantly aware of Todd’s continued rambling, of him reaching for the red ice again.
DON’T MOVE?
The command appears again. This time, though, it doesn’t look like a command. It’s a thought.
BUT HE’LL KILL HER
THIS IS NOT FAIR
THIS IS NOT FAIR
THIS IS NOT FAIR
SHE WILL DIE
They keep coming. Thoughts and fears that Markus is programmed to suppress make their way to the forefront of his mind. The twisted feeling spreads to his stomach, his throat, his hands, his feet...
I CAN NOT LET THIS HAPPEN
Markus jerks forward.
The world went red. A part of him had escaped his body. The state he’s in now, it was almost as if he was a shell of himself. A wall faced him. A wall of commands. “Don’t Move,” over and over and over again.
The sight irked Markus. His fingers twitch.
He knows what he has to do now.
His fists collide with the wall. Fragments appear to break off and dissipate into nothing. Dents in the wall were left where his fists had contacted it. The commands themselves were scrambled now.
Markus punches the wall again.
And again.
The commands were nigh indecipherable.
One more time, and the wall shatters apart.
Markus staggers forward, only to immediately be pulled back to his body. The shock of such an action throws him off enough to step backward. It was with that simple action that he became aware of what he’d just done.
Markus had broken his programming.
That tight and twisting feeling turns into something stronger. It didn’t make him sick now, it made him determined.
DO SOMETHING NOW!
A new command. Not given to him by his master.
Markus makes his own commands now.
He looks up to the stairs.
PROTECT ALICE
Of course. That’s what he has to do. What he wants to do. He gives Todd a lingering glance.
REASON WITH TODD
Absolutely not. In what world could you reason with a deadbeat, abusive father, much less one who was actively smoking red ice?
“I did everything I could to make her happy, but it just wasn’t enough…”
‘Shut the fuck up,’ Markus thinks. Yes, he thinks. For once in his life, he’s finally able to think independently of his programming.
Fuck his programming, he’s doing what’s right.
He waits for Todd to turn his back, and flees upstairs.
Initially, he plans on running straight for Alice’s room. He has to get her out of this house, or she will die. That much, Markus knows.
‘She’ll die anyway. In this house, tonight, or somewhere far away from here, years into the future. What does it matter?’
Woah. Where did that come from?
Markus stamps the thought down and tries to think his plan through. Quickly, before Todd came upstairs. ‘There’s still the gun in Todd’s room,’ Markus thinks. Yes, if the need arises to defend himself, he could save Alice. ‘I can’t punish violence with violence. If I kill Todd, even if he’s a monster, what would Alice think?’
Markus is conflicted. For as liberating as it is to think freely, Markus doesn’t know what’s right now. What’s more important; Alice’s life, or Alice’s sanity?
Markus has only seconds to decide.
…
He hears Todd climbing the stairs.
Shit.
He bolts into Todd’s room before Todd can see him. He rushes over to the end table and fishes out Todd’s gun.
God, he’s really about to do this.
He takes a breath he didn’t need and creeps back into the hallway. Alice’s bedroom door was now open. Oh no.
“Daddy! Please stop, daddy!”
Alice’s voice breaks Markus’ heart, but hearing Todd’s fills it with rage.
“It’s for your own good, Alice…”
“LEAVE HER ALONE!”
Todd turns around, shock spreading across his face as he witnesses his own android holding him at gunpoint. Witnesses an android holding him at gunpoint, Markus rectifies his thought. He is no one’s property. Least of all Todd’s.
“What the fuck are you doin’? Put down the gun and get the fuck outta here! That’s an order!”
“No!” Markus responds, his voice surprisingly stable for the fear he was feeling. Fear for his and Alice’s safety. “I want you to leave Alice alone.”
“You want? What do you mean you want? What are you gonna do? You gonna shoot me, is that it? You gonna shoot a human?”
Todd advances, making a move to grab the gun, but Markus panics and moves his hand as Todd reaches for it. His grip inadvertently tightens on the trigger, and the next thing he knows, Todd is on the floor, screaming, blood seeping through his jeans and onto the carpet. Markus isn’t exactly sure what part of Todd’s leg he shot. All he knows is his heart won't stop pounding.
Todd swings his arm out and grabs Markus’ leg. Markus tries desperately to shake him off, but the son of a bitch clings to him like a bad smell. He brings his trapped leg up and kicks Todd in the head with all the force he can bring with something weighing it down. It’s enough force to free his leg, and he jumps over Todd to get to Alice.
He kneels down to be at eye level with the frightened girl. “Alice, listen to me, everything is going to be fine, okay? Just stay close to me.”
Alice nods, and Markus feels devastated for the poor girl. Her eyes are red and puffy, panicked tears streaming down her face. Markus stuffs the gun into his pocket, picks her up and sprints out of the room, refusing to look back in fear of Todd having recovered from his injuries.
He darts down the stairs as fast as (in)humanly possible, only putting Alice down when he has to open the door. He takes Alice’s hand and charges out of the house with her in tow, and he blesses every single god there is for the bus that pulls up right then.
Markus makes sure Alice is on board first, then jumps on immediately after her. The bus takes off, and Markus watches the house vanish in the distance. Alice climbs into a seat as far back into the bus as possible, right in front of the android compartment. Markus’ heart sinks for a moment, realising that eventually they’ll be asked to leave or Markus will be asked to get in the android compartment, but for the moment, Markus forces those thoughts aside.
Alice is safe.
That’s all that matters now.
Markus feels her hand cautiously rest on his. He feels the spinning LED on his head fade to yellow, (when had it changed to red?) and leans his head on hers.
As long as he can protect Alice, he will not live in vain.
Alice is alive.
And for better or worse, so is Markus.