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Three days with the android known as 4 is more than enough for Sean to learn a few things. Primarily, their annoying habit of wandering off every time the group stops and they are without orders. M.O.O.N. thinks it might be some code defaulting them to patrol in the absence of other orders.
Sean thinks it is a bad habit that he cannot even blame the poor android for; nobody chooses their programming.
This time, it is at least fairly easy to find them; they have the brightness on their eyes turned up, and the ominous red glow from atop a nearby ruin is very obvious.
With a camp set, Sean heads in that direction. If they are going to defect 4 - and they have to, Mia and he agree on that - then he needs to get started. Not that he really knows what he's doing - if he did, M.O.O.N. would no longer be bound to his orders - but he has to try. They all have to try. 4 is old, and battered, and clearly mistreated. The time it will take to get to West Nest City... If Sean and Mia do not even try to save 4, what sort of hypocrite is he?
So, up the ruin it is. A quick glance inside shows that the stairs seem mostly intact, but where is the fun in that? The walls themselves are crumbled enough that Sean can find good hand and footholds; he needs more climbing practice, and so he practices. Hand over hand, foot over foot, hauling himself over the crumbling building. At some point 4's gaze shifts, and the ominous light comes to glow over Sean instead.
He looks up, gives a little wave, and then clambers the rest of the way. Up to the lip of the roof, then hoisting himself to stand. Next to 4. No sooner is he up as he drops down again, sitting himself beside 4. He hangs his feet over the edge, dangerous if the winds catch, but what is life without a little danger?
"Oh, hi 4! Strange to see you here." Sean grins.
A long moment, and then 4 tilts their head. "You climbed directly to me."
"It's a figure of speech, not literal."
He taps his heels against the concrete beneath, waiting for a reply.
None is forthcoming, but maybe he should have expected that; M.O.O.N. had always been built to interact with people, and so, even at his least defective, he had always been decent at the back and forth. 4 seems to have no concept of it at all, but then he is a combat android. Why automated combat units are even androids, Sean has no idea. A sick joke, maybe? It just seems like a waste of money. He could ask, he supposes. If he really cares.
"It's nice up here," Sean says instead, pretending to have looked at the view. "I love being high up!"
"It provides a good vantage point to keep watch."
"Definitely a pretty view!"
Well, not really, its another ruin, but Sean can grin and try and earn a response.
Is being stared at for a few seconds before 4's attention snaps back to scanning the environment a response?
Maybe, but not quite what Sean was trying for.
He gives it a few seconds, maybe ten to enjoy the wind up here, before leaning to peer over the edge.
A metallic hand grabs at his shirt.
"Be careful." 4 grunts at him.
"I'm always careful," Sean grins at them, before turning back to his observations. "But, do you think falling from here would hurt?"
4's attention snaps to Sean, and the grip becomes a little tighter. A second later, Sean is yanked up, dragged a little way back, and then dropped firmly in the centre of the building.
"Oh?" Sean giggles. "Did that scare you? I wasn't going to do anything. This time."
Threatening red eyes bore into Sean's soul for a few seconds. 4 then turns sharply on his heels, marches back over to the lip, and jumps off.
Sean takes a moment for the image to catch up to him. As soon as it does, he screams for 4, and scrambles towards the ledge-
He peers down, ready for the worst, to have genuinely done this so, so wrong- Only to see 4, perched on a windowsill a few levels down, seemingly no worse for wear.
"4..." Sean sighs in relief. "Don't do that - you could be hurt."
"To answer. It does not hurt if you catch yourself."
"That's not-" Sean presses his hands into his forehead. "I didn't need it testing. Just- Just come inside, and we can walk down the stairs. Together. Okay."
A few second pause, and then "understood."
4 still jumps off again, to Sean's terror. He drops another levels, using the momentum to break the remaining window glass.
Sean turns his back on the edge, and runs for the old stairs; if he gets there fast, hopefully he can stop any more of that.
Hopefully... Hopefully that only broke the window. Sean has no idea what sort of coding could make an android so determined to throw themself off a building. Sure Sean climbed up, but climbing and jumping are very different.
He turns a corner, and finds 4 waiting for him by the shattered window. They are brushing bits of shattered glass from their ratty body armour, even going so far as to pick bits out. Each piece simply gets dropped beside them, the cold metal of their body unphased by glass.
4 rarely seems even a little human; they are almost more uncanny for how the armour is styled like clothes.
Still, they do not have to be human-like to be a person, and a person did just jump through a window.
"If you damaged your ankle again, Mia will be upset." Sean threatens, as though such things would make a difference.
"No damage was sustained." 4 replies in their eternal monotone. "This one is programmed to avoid damage. You required an escort somewhere?"
Looking at how riddled with holes, rust, and chips 4's body is, Sean somewhat doubts that. And he does not exactly need an escort, but if that will trick 4's programming into making them stay closer, where Sean can keep chipping away.
"Sure," Sean grins as best he can, coming close and grabbing onto 4's arm. "Please, 4, escort me back to my sister! She's very important, you see. Much more important than me."
"You are both important." 4 responds, an odd reply for a warbot, but so fast that it must be trained. "Be careful. The stairs may be unstable."
"Yes, I can see this place is ruined."
4 does not reply again, though they do tighten their grip on Sean. No matter Sean's topic, however, they remain silent the rest of the way back to camp. Were they defective, or human, Sean would call say that 4 was thinking deeply about something. Given that undefected androids are unable to think, however, Sean can only try and force a response.