Timeskip
Your POV
•-•-•-•-•

I made it to Jericho right on schedule, wearing clothes to hide my identity. I have a black trench coat that I had lying around for some reason, dark gray tank top under that, a black beanie, a white face mask, black jeans and combat boots.

Not to mention that I shoved in some contacts and am wearing sunglasses so I can both see and not be identified by scanning my eyes.

I'm not taking any chances.

"This is suicide. We'll all be killed! Please, Markus. It's not too late to change your mind," North pleads, looking fairly scared as we stand in the mall.

"You don't understand. We're finally gonna show them who we really are. This place will go down in history!" Josh exclaims to her.

"We'll be killed on the spot!" she retorts.

"That's a risk I'm prepared to take if it means freedom for our people."

"Markus...please don't do this."

"They'll understand. We'll make them understand. This is the only way," Markus reassures her.

"There're androids out here who could join us," I point out. "The more of us there are, the stronger our message will be."

Markus nods and goes to convert all of the working androids he can see, and I assist him. Nobody really pays us any mind, as if we aren't even here.

"Come," I tell one of the androids I converted. "Be free with us."

He drops his mop and follows me back to the group, Markus joining us seconds later with even more recruits.

A hand gets set on my shoulder and I turn around, only to be face-to-face with one of my best friends. His LED is no longer there, having a jacket over his uniform disguise from the Stratford mission.

"Simon!" I breathe in relief, hugging him.

He chuckles and hugs me back, "Hey, YN."

We pull apart, "When did you get back?"

"A few hours ago," he responds, motioning to the rest of our friends. "We thought that we'd surprise you here about my return."

I grin, playfully whacking his arm and laughing a bit as I look at them all, "Well damn, that's one hell of a surprise!"

They also laugh a little, smiling at me.

"I'm glad you're okay, Simon," I tell him sincerely. Adding, "Now let's do this, shall we?"

We then head out into the street, us positioned at the front of the pack. Markus leads us with North, Josh, Simon and I right behind him.

Markus travels about, converting more androids, this time the ones passing by with their "masters" or the ones standing around.

As we start walking, he leads us, now using his eyes to convert the androids to make things easier. I'm also pretty sure he's the only one who can do that. At least that I know of.

The humans around all make comments about the situation, watching us in shock and amazement.

"What are you doing? I'm talking to you!"

"Wait, wait! Where are you going? Jesus, the fucking android's playing up again..."

"Greg? Greg? Come back here immediately! Greg! Greg!"

"I've never seen anything like it..."

"What the hell are you doin' here?"

"Hey! Come back here! Fuckin' thing won't listen to me!"

"Shit! Those things are going crazy."

"What's going on?"

"I... I've never seen anything like it..."

Some of them even make remarks that causes me to smile, registering that they're starting to accept what's going on.

"We're on your side!"

"Equal rights for androids!"

"We're with you all the way!"

If only everyone could be like them.

My grin falters as a policeman shows up, trying to ruin everything as he stands in the middle of the road, right in our path.

"Hey! Disperse! Disperse immediately! That's an order! Jesus fuckin' Christ... Dispatch, this is patrol 457... I gotta lot of androids down here... I dunno... Hundreds? Thousands? They're marching... Yeah, they're marching down the street... Fuck if I know!"

We slow to a stop in front of the officer.

"We came here to demonstrate peacefully and tell humans that we are living beings. All we want is to live free," Markus informs him.

"This is an illegal gathering. Disperse immediately or we will open fire."

How is this illegal?!

Because we're androids?

Well, because they're androids?

That's bullshit if I've ever heard it in my life.

I keep my mouth zipped shut, knowing that I can fuck everything up if I bite back. People could take it the wrong way, like they always do.

"We're not looking for confrontation. We've done no harm, we have no intention of doing any. But know that we are not going anywhere until we have secured our freedom."

"I repeat: this is an illegal gathering. If you do not disperse immediately, we will shoot!"

This right here is why humanity sucks.

"Markus, they're gonna kill us. We have to attack! There's more of us, we can take them!" North proclaims.

"If we attack, we'll start a war. We have to show them we're not violent. We should just stand our ground, even if it means dying here," Josh argues.

"And dying here won't solve anything," Simon retorts. "Markus, we need to go, now, before it's too late."

"We need to keep things peaceful, otherwise they won't listen," I remark. "One wrong move and it's game over."

"This is your last chance! Disperse immediately or you will all be killed!"

"We have to show them we won't back down. We stay right here," Markus decides.

"Disperse! This is your last chance!"

"We have to make a statement. We have to stay put, no matter what," Josh states intransigently.

"Please, Markus. We can't let them slaughter us without fighting back!" North tries.

Markus raises his arms, all of us immediately doing the same thing. Showing them that we are unarmed, their guns still trained on us.

"Don't shoot! We're leaving..."

"Affirmative. On my orders!"

"Shit!" I exclaim under my breath.

"Run!" Markus yells.

We all twist around and sprint back to Jericho, the police officers opening fire on us.

I'm lucky to have gotten out of there unscathed. Especially considering one of the bullets just narrowly missed me.

So much for marching to be free.

•-•-•-•-•

B A C K F I R E D
{ Chapter Twenty-Three }

•-•-•-•-•

-CastrarWolf