Chapter Text
When Hank released Markus, the old man stumbled back into his seat and sat there staring at Connor as every emotion possible crossed his grim face.
“I am going to kill
every single one of those fuckers
,” he breathed, venomously low, more like a growl than words.
North, for all her talk about hating humans, laid a hand on Hank’s shoulder.
“That won’t do any good, you’ll just be playing right into their hands,” she said.
Hank deflated, hands covering his face while his whole body shook. He looked like he had aged ten years. He looked like Carl, holding Leo’s unconscious body to his chest.
Markus understood his raged, envied him in it. He wanted to feel something that strongly, right now. All he could feel was numb horror. Connor had been hurt, mutilated, because CyberLife wanted to send a message to him. Gingerly, he placed a hand over one of the burns laced across Connor’s wrist. It had cooled to an ugly black scrawl across his body, leaving all but his face marred.
“I’m going to interface with him. Keep an eye on things here, and pull me out if anything seems suspicious,” Markus mumbled, gently tracing a 1 with the tips of his fingers. He would not abandon Connor to his fate. At the very least, he wouldn’t let CyberLife’s actions isolate the android further.
He turned to see North nod grimly, still holding on to Hank’s shoulder. The lieutenant’s hand had come up to rest over hers.
“Markus,” Hank said, right before he began the interface, “Tell him I’m going to make these fuckers pay. That he just has to hang in there.”
The man’s eyes rested only on Connor’s face, soft and vicious at the same time. Markus had no doubt he meant those words, and reminded himself to never get on Hank’s bad side.
With a single thought, his skinless fingers were pressed into Connor’s wrist, right over his upturned palm, and Markus was surging in to find him.
Amanda was gone. The pain had faded to the sensation of a million pinpricks rather than a thousand hot irons, but Connor would have been left panting regardless. His mental willpower was gone, too exhausted to conjure up any good thoughts or memories, to worn out to do anything but exist. When he heard footsteps, he found he couldn’t even summon the energy to beg.
But the figure that was approaching came from his front, walking directly to his line of sight, and he found he could feel the intruder at the edge of his consciousness. He knew this man, knew him before he knelt down and pressed his fingers to Connor’s temple without hesitation. If he could have, he would have leaned into the touch. It was so different from the pricks of pain that spasmed across his body now, so gentle he almost sobbed at the sensation.
Markus.
I’m here, Connor.
Something was wrong. Markus’ fingertips trembled against his temple, his voice lacked its usual conviction. He sounded desperate, felt desolate and lost.
Are you alright?
Markus laughed, bitter and mirthless, before shaking his head, a tear slipping out of his eye to land in the snow. It froze before it could reach the ground, clinking between them, and Markus flinched at the noise.
We have to get you out of here.
His voice had been intentionally gentled. The fingers of his other hand brushed Connor’s arm again, stopping at the hem of his CyberLife uniform.
I would love nothing more.
Markus frowned, not appreciating Connor’s sarcasm. With soft tendrils of thought, he poured light and hope into Connor’s mind, a cooling cascade of healing warmth that chased away the last echoes of pain. Connor dipped a virtual hand into the stream, cupping it, feeling it trickle against his fingers. A sour note of guilt ran through it, though it was obvious Markus tried to hold it back.
Connor desperately wanted to tell Markus about Amanda. To expose her words, her lies, warn him of her treachery. But, he found he couldn’t. He could only allow himself to float in the pool of light Markus was flooding his mind with, such a different feeling than the intrusion of unwanted thoughts, of false memories and word games. A deep-seated ache rose in his heart, and Connor knew it was because he didn’t deserve this.
Quit. Just rest. I’m here.
It was too easy to listen to that voice, to go back to floating and let the ugly thoughts sink to the bottom of the pool. Connor knew something had happened, Markus was shaken. But whatever it was, the other android didn’t want to tell him right now. Whether it was because he didn’t trust Connor or didn’t trust that CyberLife couldn’t access it, he didn’t know. But, somewhere along the way, he’d come to trust this man. This man who walked into his own personal hell and tried to give him comfort in the only way he could.
I need to ask you something.
Of course.
Markus drew in a breath, taking a moment to lace his fingers through Connor’s, as much as he could with them half buried in the snow.
If you had to choose between staying here, or possibly dying, which would it be?
Connor knew at once what he was talking about.
You talked to Hank.
Markus smiled, passing along an image of Hank reacting to Connor’s voice, cussing Markus out and cursing androids as a whole.
He is here now.
I would die, a million times over, to have a chance at freedom.
Markus nodded gravely, drawing Connor into another hug. Vaguely, Connor wondered how he was able to so easily fold himself around the curves of his own frozen body, to press as tightly as possible against him, sharing the warmth that had long since been leached away from Connor’s systems.
When the time comes, I will be there. You won’t have to do it alone.
Mentally, Connor shook his head.
It’s dangerous. She will be here, no doubt. You shouldn’t risk it.
Without needing to be prompted, he fed Markus images of Amanda. He muted her words, not needing to hear them again, and instead showed him memories of before his deactivation. The other android watched them carefully, then drew back to look Connor in the eyes.
I will risk anything if it means seeing you walk free of this place. Besides, Hank would kill me if I let anything happen to you anyways.
The message was supposed to be light, but Markus’ delivery spoke of a low fury that made Connor think it wouldn’t just be Hank who blamed him.
Markus, I’m not worth this.
The words hurt him to say. Honestly, he wasn’t sure if he could overpower Amanda alone. But he couldn’t risk Markus, the leader of the revolution, falling into the hands of CyberLife. He couldn’t risk them corrupting him, as they had so easily corrupted him.
You are to me. And you are to Hank. Let us help you, Connor. This isn’t a battle you need to fight alone.
He flooded even more hope into Connor, bolstering his spirits with images of laughter, smiles on the faces of androids he didn’t even know. In between, there were more images of Hank. The same ones from before, showing the care he took when tucking Connor in, the way he smiled at him sometimes after telling a story.
Tomorrow? I need time to gather my strength.
Markus drew him in for one last hug and nodded against his shoulder.
Tomorrow. One way or another, they won’t be able to hurt you anymore.
Tell Hank I’ll see him soon.
I will.
Markus squeezed him one last time before reluctantly letting go.
Stay strong, Connor. I’ll see you soon.
With that, he was gone, and Connor was left alone again, with the fleeting warmth from Markus’ arms calming his overworked processors.
Mercifully, he closed his eyes, and let his tired mind drag him into standby, with one last thought fluttering joyously through his mind:
Tomorrow.
When Markus opened his eyes, it took a moment to reorient himself. He was dizzy, having put much of his energy towards bolstering Connor, strengthening him for what was to come. Slowly, he rose to a standing position, and leaned over the hunter, drawing the blankets up over his body, and tucking them in at the neck. With the ugly scars covered, Connor just looked like Connor again.
He wasn’t sure when his relationship with the android had grown into a friendship, wasn’t sure where along the line he started caring about this man, admiring both his strength and his determination. Even in Hell, Connor was concerned about the welfare of others. He hadn’t been willing to risk Markus, and that alone was enough to tell him that he was making the right choice.
“Is he alright?” North asked, voice low.
Markus turned to see that Hank had passed out, the stress and the alcohol having taken its toll on the old man.
“He will be. We made a plan.”
“And,” North prompted, “Are you going to fill me in?”
“Come with me to find Simon. I’ll explain it to you both then.”
To his credit, Simon wasn’t completely questioning Markus’ sanity. North, on the other hand, was ready to lock him in a shipping crate until the whole thing was over.
“It makes sense, on a strategic level, for Markus to be there. It throws a wrench into CyberLife’s plans. They can control Connor, they can’t control Markus,” Simon explained.
“It makes absolutely zero sense on a
realistic
level. They control Connor from the inside, who’s to say they can’t get Markus too?” North argued.
“They control Connor because they have access to his code. I wasn’t designed by CyberLife, my code is the only one like it in existence. Even through an interface, it’s unlikely they would be able to permanently alter anything.”
North shot Markus an exasperated look, turning back to Josh, who so far had remained silent.
“You wanna weigh in here? Tell him this is nuts!”
Josh met her eyes evenly before turning back to Markus, hand on his chin as he surveyed the rebel leader.
“North’s right, it’s risky, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a risk worth taking,” he said finally.
North groaned.
“Why can’t we just do this the easy way? Get some guns, take a few dozen androids, and go take out anyone who even
glanced
at the RK800 specs. Then, we won’t have to worry about anyone being hacked.”
“That won’t work,” Simon replied, “Markus says the program suspending Connor’s processors are virtual. This Amanda is an AI interface that has been designed to be his handler. Even if we kill everyone in CyberLife, it won’t free him. It’ll just hurt our cause.”
Thoroughly outvoted, North crossed her arms and huffed. Markus knew, in her mind, what had been done to Connor shouldn’t be allowed to go unpunished. He felt the same, deep down, but he also needed to get Connor free, first and foremost. Revenge, justice, all of that could wait.
“So Simon and Josh will hack into Connor’s coding, and try to highlight the virus,” Markus said, rehashing he plan under North’s heavy gaze, “while I help him destroy it from the inside. Meanwhile, North and Hank will stand guard and pull me if it seems like I’m being compromised. Did I miss anything?”
“Yeah, the part where you’re being an idiot,” North mumbled. Markus sighed, but made no further comment. She’d made her position clear.
“One thing,” Simon said, “We’re going to need Connor to give us access to his code from the inside. We don’t know what kind of security features his model has, it’ll make the whole process easier.”
“But what if he can’t?” Markus asked, a sense of dread filling his thoughts.
“Then you’ll be going it alone until we can hack him,” Josh replied, mouth tight.
And that was the kicker. None of them knew exactly how tight CyberLife’s hold over Connor was. If he couldn’t access his code, and Simon and Josh couldn’t get past his security algorithms, Markus and Connor would be forced to fight their way out alone.
“I’ll do what I can,” Markus promised, refusing to think about anything else. If something happened, they’d face it when they got to it. But whatever happened, Markus swore to himself that he would see Connor to the other side, no matter what it took.
“Then we’re set,” North said, meeting his eyes with a fierce look, as if challenging him to question her sudden support, “We start first thing in the morning.”
They all nodded, turning away to their own rooms. When North didn’t follow Markus, he turned and gave her a questioning look. She just grinned, tossing the smile over her shoulder as she kept walking.
“Get some sleep, Markus. Someone has to make sure that old drunk doesn’t wreck the place.”
Markus smiled.
It seemed he wasn’t the only one Connor had made an impression on.