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Penelope
Shepard has never met a creature that he didn't try to immediately befriend, and Morgana knows I've spent enough time driving myself absolutely insane wondering when that habit was going to get him killed. (Or engaged.) (Again.) (I'll die before I let him forget about that.)
So, really, it shouldn't surprise me that the rule doesn't apply to all these androids as well. Even before that revolution, he was always trying to get them to talk on the tube or in stores.
But for snake’s sake, this felt like a little much even for him.
“They want you to what?” We’re in my flat (our flat, really; he's lived here for two years now), and I'm pacing in front of the couch he's sitting on. Shepard always keeps the space clear just for these occasions, but I tell him he could just get into fewer messes so I don't have to pace at all. He's sitting in that calm if only slightly uncertain position, and he should be: this is far too much power for a person with his poor decision making skills to be given.
“They just want me to come to a few meetings. Give a human’s opinion.”
“But why you? Why not someone in the cabinet? Or the queen?” He looks at me like I've sprouted Simon's wings, and I suppose he's right. No one here was exactly ‘pro-android’ before the revolution (not that anyone really was), but why did Shepard have to be the human representative for all of England? He isn't even from here!
He sighs and stands up, putting his hands on my shoulders to stop me in my place. He's taller than me, but that's never made him feel imposing. He looks down at me, and that trademarked calm energy that always radiates off of him is in full force. “Penny,” he says in that perfectly reassuring way. “It's fine. I'm just gonna help them if I can. They deserve this freedom, and if they want my help they have it. Yeah?”
“...Yeah,” I respond tiredly. I know there's no talking him out of this, and I know it's important, but nicks and slick, I can already tell this is going to become something. It always does, right?
Shepard
So me becoming chums (sometimes I just say that now, I love slowly becoming British!) with the local android resistance network isn't really all as bad as Penny seems to think. I know all her concerns with all this, especially with everything so uncertain for how this will affect magic, and I totally get all that. Honestly, though, I'm more surprised she isn't taking advantage of all this to study that stuff. I know her dad would get a kick out of learning about it.
As far as I know, none of the androids I'm in with have met any mages yet. If Penny and Baz are anything to go by, they seem to avoid them like the plague. That's fine, though. In my best estimate, I'm the leading Normal expert on mages, so if anyone is going to bridge that gap, I feel like I've got a shot.
And, for what it matters, all the androids I've met have been perfectly fine people. If they just want me to sit in on a few meetings, I'm more than willing to.
[RK800 “Connor” - 09:43:24]
Connor hadn't traveled outside of Detroit before. Based on what he had heard, that wasn't very abnormal for androids. Markus himself had only been a few times, and they were all trips with Carl.
Today was business, though. North had been working virtually with the deviants in the United Kingdom, and they were just finding their legs. Markus wanted to make trips like this all around the world where they could help deviants, but this was the only one planned so far.
The first of many, hopefully.
North, Markus, and Connor would represent New Jericho this week, with Hank tagging along. He got on fine with the deviant leaders, and didn't hate the idea of spending his vacation time with his kid on an actual vacation instead of shitfaced in bed like usual.
The four got off the plane and found an android waiting for them in the lot. He was taller than most, but Europe had their own android brands, so that was only one of many differences. His face lit up when he saw the three (Hank had gotten a cab of his own to get to the hotel and ‘let them do their thing’), and he extended a dark hand towards Markus. “It's really an honor to meet you all,” he said sincerely. Markus had gotten good at handling his new fame, but still managed to treat every moment like this as if it was his first, with all the warmth and almost surprise at it.
As they talked, Connor sorted through his systems. Many of the programs he had for facial recognition, GPS, and even the larger internet access were useless here, and just kept returning with errors that filled up his HUD. It wasn't too concerning, and he had expected as much would happen, so Connor just took a moment to turn off the ones he didn't need.
They got in the car, and Connor played back his audio to hear what he missed. Most importantly, the androids name was Bo, and he was taking them back to the base here (an allocated small apartment complex they claimed during the area's own evacuation). They called it the London Fog, and it took Connor less than half a minute to research the name. It either referred to a somewhat infamous weather occurrence, a coffee-based drink, a tea-based drink, or a clothing brand. He assumed it was a reference to the first one, but another quick search told him that these European androids could drink, and suddenly all bets were off.
Simon
Penny is messaging me so much that my phone is just making one long, continuous buzz. She went to the android rights thing with Shep, and she keeps saying how she feels wrong being there, but it's obvious to me she's loving it. Hell, even a blind and deaf merwolf could tell. No one sends Ughhh Simon save me texts ten times in half as many minutes unless they're really trying to oversell it.
I should know. I did the same to her when Baz made me go to a play. (It was amazing, but he can never know.)
Honestly, I'm a little surprised she hasn't just barged into one of these things before. If we were still in Watford, and still went on all those adventures and quests, we would absolutely check out these androids and what they mean for magic.
I don't even want to imagine what the Mage would say about all this. I don't even want to imagine the Mage at all.
Baz is playing his violin on our criminally small balcony. I can't spread my wings out on it, but it's just the right size for him to stand still and play. Today, it's a song that isn't completely depressing like everything else he plays. I look at the blank wall in between us, finding the exact spot I think his eyes are. He's aged with me, apparently thanks to all that rat's blood (he still lets me hunt with him) but I really can't tell. He feels just the same as always.
I listen for a moment, ignoring Penny's ramblings, before feeling a pause in the buzz. Shepard’s name pops up, and I tap it immediately. As much as I love Penelope, and I really do, sometimes Shep can be easier to handle.
His text is short, but it immediately makes me sit up from my lounging position on the bed. (Today's sheets have apples on them.)
| Shepard: Dude they're here
| Shepard: The androids from America
| Shepard: I can see North and Markus, IDK who else came
Shepard and I have been geeking out over the whole revolution since it started. Even since before that, when all the reports came in about rebelling androids. We binge watched every robot apocalypse movie we could find, and a few months ago he gave me a giant list of his must-read sci-fi books. Based on everything we've learned, we’re pretty lucky these androids only want peace.
Either way, we’ve been keeping up with this for a while. Shep even called me at three a.m. to watch their big protest finale. And now they're here, and Shepard’s seeing them, and that's just so fucking cool. They changed the world, not just a weird little group like with me and the mages.
I shoot a text back quickly.
| Simon: !!!!!!!!!
| Simon: are you gonna talk to them?!??
| Simon: you have to
His three little dots appear again before disappearing, and I can't help but think that he's actually doing it. I know he probably just has to turn his phone off or something, but, again, the whole thing is just so fucking cool that it doesn't have to be something boring like that.
“What are you looking at?” Baz asks from the doorway, making me jump. (I swear he casts silence spells on himself just for that.) It's May, so he’s only wearing a light button up with purple flowers, and he's holding his violin at his side lazily, and his hair is just barely ruffled by the wind from outside, and I love everything about this sentence.
When I don't answer right away, he continues. “Your tail is banging against the bed. I can't play with it.”
“Sorry,” I say, grabbing my tail to hold it still. I didn't even notice he stopped playing. I didn't even notice my tail was doing that, to be honest. “Shepard and Penelope were just messaging. They're at this android thing-” I get cut off by his eye roll, because that's how loud and aggressive they are when I bring this stuff up.
“Snow,” he says tiredly, rubbing his empty hand over his brow. “I love so, so much about you, but this new obsession with robots really isn't one of them.”
“You can't really call them that anymore…” I protest halfheartedly. We’ve done this all before, but I still feel like I need to defend them. It's okay. Baz knows that. It doesn't stop another more subtle eye roll, though.
“For snake's sake, you're starting to sound like the Normal.”
“I am Normal,” I huff as I stand up, putting my arms around his neck. I'll probably jinx it just by saying it, but we’ve gotten better at this. It's something a good half ways between fighting and flirting, and it suits us just fine.
Baz presses his forehead against mine, looking at me through that same midpoint. “You truly are incorrigible, Snow.”
Baz
I just want to stay there forever.
I know I say that every time we so much as touch, but what else am I supposed to do when the damn Chosen One wraps his arms around my neck and pulls me close?
We don't, of course. Stay that way forever, I mean.
He pulls back when his phone vibrates again, and picks it off the bed. His tail brushes against my sock when he turns.
Simon taps his phone once, twice, before looking back at me so fast I'm surprised he doesn't injure himself. That reaction plays against him, because with that impulse instead of decision I can see that it's definitely something he thinks I won't like. It's… Crowley, it's probably something with those androids. (I know I’m not supposed to say his name anymore, but it slips out when Simon does something stupid.)
“I know what you're going to say,” he starts before I cut him off.
“Then why make me say it?” I pull him back, and he lets me. I don't want to fight right now. I never really want to.
But now he's looking at me with those perfect eyes that make it so hard to say no, and I'm just hoping it's nothing I have to fight too hard.
“Just listen. They're at this android meeting thing, and the ones from America are there, and they got talking, and they want them to introduce them to more android tolerant humans…” he trails off, clearly wanting those tolerant humans to be us. He's practically bouncing with excitement, and I know if he still had magic he’d be just a few minutes away from going off.
I give him an obvious look. “Well, firstly, I'm barely android tolerant, and secondly, I'm not a human.” I glance between his tail and wings. “Neither are you, love.”
Now he rolls his eyes. (Simon is amazing, but that's something I can still do better.) “Come on, they won't be able to tell. The ones there will be, like, cooking models and stuff. Look, if you really don't want to go you don't have to, but I am.” He goes to his dresser and pulls out a blue hoodie. It's a good temperature for it, so I'm not worried about him being too hot, but I'm worried about some other aspects in this plan. Whenever I let him out of my sight for more than an hour, we always seem to end up fighting some giant monster.
I sigh before putting my violin away and walking over to him. “Here, give them to me,” I gesture to the straps he uses to bind his wings. We got him foam ones that don't cut into him as much, but they're harder to put on than his old leather belts. I wrap them around his now bare torso, like I've done almost every day since magic stopped working on him.
He pulls the hoodie on after and looks back at me. “I'll message you when I'm finished.” My wand is already in it's holster when I respond. “As if I'm letting you go off on your own for this, Snow.”
[RK200 “Markus” - 13:35:54]
Markus couldn't have been happier with how things were going.
Really, all of them were pleased. North got on great with the U.K. leader, Stephanie (though it wasn't a huge surprise since they had been talking virtually for months), and the two humans invited had been a perfect example of the respect they wanted to gain. Even Connor was engaging, which Markus couldn't help but be pleasantly surprised by.
The meeting itself was casual, with the two groups just getting to know each other for the first time. Stephanie invited some of her human allies, and they were exactly what Markus wanted to gain in Detroit. All they had there was Carl and Hank, and as much as he appreciated them, Markus wanted whoever else was willing to join them.
So, when they sat around a conference room table, and one of the humans - Shepard - brought up that he had other pro-android friends, Markus immediately said he would want to meet them at some point. North didn't even glare at him when he mentioned this.
What Markus didn't expect was that Shepard would invite them over now, with only a quick ask to Stephanie and himself. They didn't say no, of course, and no one really had an issue with it, but humans, at least for the group from Detroit, weren't often this forward in an actually nice way.
The other one, Penelope, seemed to perk up when Shepard said that. She was more of what Markus had hoped for realistically: someone who tried to make nice small talk and be polite, but every now and then would say something just a little awkward. He didn't blame her at all for this, though. There still weren't really standards for android and human conversation, and the fact that she was trying and correcting herself did go a long way.
But she lit up when Shepard mentioned someone named Simon.
Penelope
Simon will be just as bad as Shepard here, and those are the two people I love most, so maybe thinking that just says something about me. It doesn’t matter. I want Simon here, because with Simon always comes Baz, and even if I didn’t already know his thoughts on all this, they wouldn’t be hard to guess. As much as he likes to think he’s cool and mysterious, Baz is a pretty predictable person. Therefore, I can predict that he will be just as awkward and awful at this as I am.
They're here in less than half an hour, and part of me thinks that Simon flew. He doesn't do that too much anymore, since our magic bounces off of them and he has to re-bind them when he lands, but I wouldn't be surprised if he did all that to get here ten minutes faster.
An android comes through the doors (one of the British ones, I think - ours don't have those circle things on their heads) with Simon and Baz trailing behind, and Simon looks just how I remember him when we first met: wide eyed and fascinated by everything. He introduces himself excitedly, just the same way Shepard did, before seeing us and waving.
Baz is looking incredibly uncomfortable, which is a strange shade to see on the Grimm-Pitch, but I'm positive I looked the same. He exchanges awkward introductions before making a beeline towards me and sitting down in the empty seat to my left. “Bunce,” he says simply.
“Baz,” I reply in like. “I'm almost surprised you came,” I add quietly.
“Are you kidding?” He’s whispering. “If I left Snow alone with revolutionaries we’d become generals in the next civil war.”
I stifle a laugh. At least something is familiar here. “Oh, as if you wouldn't want to help earn rights for oppressed species. You are one, for snake's sake.”
“Yes, but that's not exactly public knowledge.” He hisses this, looking to make sure none of the androids heard. They don't seem to, but he's probably right. These androids have got to have advanced hearing abilities or something, and discussing the existence of a vampire in this very room isn't a great idea with that present.
[RK800 “Connor” - 14:02:43]
Something was off the moment those two stepped in the room, and Connor hated that that was the best way he could describe it. He couldn't tell immediately which of his sensors were responding so strangely, or even why at all. His systems just pinged off them both in a way they had never done before on any sort of human. It wasn't even a loud, unprecedented ping; just one he had never seen before.
Connor tamped down his sudden nerves enough to introduce himself calmly. It wasn't hard to revert to that calm exterior he had held before his deviance, and since then he had gotten better at holding that on the outside without devaluing his emotions within.
Which was evidently helpful here, as it stopped him from startling when he saw what was causing the pings. The first ones, on the human with black hair - Baz? Humans had the strangest names - showed no heat signature at all. It reacted to him like he was a dead body.
This issue proved to be the least of his concerns, though. The other one, Simon, had turned to speak to Markus, and behind him was… something. Connors' thermal detectors were reacting to whatever they were as they should have been, but he had never seen something like that before. Two lumps on the human's back, and one something curled around his leg. They didn't have the same heat signature as the rest of his body, and it was what made them stand out in the first place.
Connor didn't hesitate before he sent Markus a message.
| Connor: Possible security threat.
| Connor: Unidentified objects on Simon.
He internally checked the security cameras in the building, and watched footage timestamped seven minutes ago of Simon and the other one, Baz, going through the same metal detector and pat down that all of them had before. It did little to settle Connors concerns, though. Off hand, he could think of at least eleven different ways to smuggle weapons past a security checkpoint like that. He would give the androids here advice on it after.
| Markus: What do you have?
Connor could practically hear the subtle uncertainty in Markus’ words. Yes, the detective android had been over-cautious before, but he had also been right, and wasn't it better to be safe than sorry? Markus thought he was too jumpy, but he was a high-profile target.
Still, Connor didn't really have enough information for real concern yet; it was still just unknowns. Something warm on one of the human’s backs and around his leg. Nothing necessarily big enough for action yet.
| Connor: Unsure. Nothing I've seen before.
| Connor: I will run more scans.
| Markus: Don't do anything obvious.
Markus’ reaction came back almost instantaneously, and when Connor looked at the android he was shooting him cautious glances.
The five of them (four androids, plus Simon) (Baz had bolted to a seat beside one of the other humans) sat down around the table again, and conversation went back to diverging between various groups. Connor sank back slightly, distancing himself from any conversation, and switched on the settings he had taken off earlier in the day. Anything for more information.
And something even stranger then what he’d seen before appeared.
Baz
Snow is grinning like a madman, and I guess that makes this whole ordeal worth it.
What am I saying, of fucking corse that makes it worth it. I'd slay the last dragon left to see that smile for a second longer.
When I'm not staring at my happy boyfriend like an idiot, Bunce is making for good conversation. In fairness, she usually does, but maybe it's standing out more today because everything else in the room is about robot civil rights and freedom marches. (Which are all great things, don't get me wrong, but not really something I'm prepared to just discuss casually.)
But all of a sudden, Markus (yes, I know enough to know their names, it's frankly hard not to these days) speaks to Shepard and Simon in the middle of their conversation. “I'm so sorry, but could you excuse us for a moment?” It - sorry, he, I swear I'm trying - looks back to the other android, Connor, who just stood up (though the latter is looking significantly less composed than the former).
Simon and Shep nod graciously, because of course, and the two male(?) androids go off through a side door. Apparently there were two other androids here, the British one, Stephanie, and some American one, but Bunce said that they went off somewhere else before we came. I suppose we really are just that off-putting.
We (the humans, that is) (Merlin, this is a nightmare) share a look. The table we’re around is shaped like a long diamond, and we’re all stationed on one side. I give a hard glare at Bunce, since they probably overheard her talking and are trying to figure out what the hell I am, but she’s suddenly finding Simon and Shepard more interesting. Or she's just a logical person who wants to figure out what they think first. Either way.
Simon and Shepard, for what it's worth, start talking far too quickly about things well past my knowledge on this (two things I never thought I'd say about the man I keep having to tell to use his words). Their conversation flows like those videos of puppies climbing on top of each other just to be near the person over the pen, which is to say; a fairly jumbled but adorable mess.
A sentence that describes Simon well.
Shepard
This is going better than I ever would have hoped.
My best strategy for talking to new creatures has always been opening up about myself and asking questions about them. Some could call that just holding an average conversation, but those some would be bad people to have a conversation with. (It's okay. I'll talk to you all and it'll go great.) Really, though, you’d be surprised by how few people don't do this. Penny still tries to convince me that she does.
But Markus is something else.
I mean, I know he was literally built for companionship and with a good bedside. I've read the Wikipedia articles (and edited two incorrect paragraphs), I've done my research.
But talking to him in person? It's not just that he looks and acts human - almost all of the deviated androids I've met do both of those things fine. The difference with him, I think, is that he is human. Or something close. I know he's not, but... there's just something in him that none of the other deviants I've met yet have. Some quality or mannerism that just makes a person a person.
That doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's fine. One of the most important things I've learned from talking to different creatures (and definitely not just an Adventure Time episode) is that people all come different, and we don't need to understand it, we just need to accept it. (But, for the record, I would love to meet a sentient piece of gum).
So, naturally, Simon and I begin fanboying about it all when they leave, until I notice a look from Penny. It isn't a bad look, just one that’s generally impatient and ready to move on. I'm not mad about it, though. A mage with all her knowledge on magic must have some pretty interesting thoughts on all this.
I turn to her and Baz. “So? What do you think?”
“They're fine. What did those two go off to talk about?” Penny jumps straight to business, which I guess shouldn't surprise me anymore.
I turn to Simon, because I myself have no idea, but he doesn't seem to either. “I don't know. Probably some revolution-related stuff? Why?”
She looks at me like I'm stupid before gesturing to herself, Baz, and Simon. “Why do you think? I knew this was a bad idea.”
“Slow down,” Simon cuts in. “He’s right, it's probably just a government rights thing. Not everything is about us.”
Baz scoffs hard at this. “Right, of course, Chosen One.”
[RK200 “Markus” - 14:05:01]
Connor guided Markus away to an adjacent room. He was quick about his movements, and easily found a place nearby that they wouldn't be heard. It looked like an office space, though at the moment it was completely empty.
“What is it?” Markus asked when Connor didn't speak first. That in itself was almost unsettling - the RK800 was always so headstrong, especially when he thought they were in something dangerous.
“I… I'm not sure,” Connor said after a moment, a heavy layer of uncertainty and shame in his voice. His LED had been on hard yellow since his message to Markus. “Shepard Love is the only registered American citizen, so I don't have access to any information about the others, but… I can see something on them. I just… don't understand it.”
“Is this related to what you saw on Simon?”
“No. Well, maybe. I don't know.” Connor began moving his knuckles at his side, and Markus recognized where his quarter would have gone. “Show me,” Markus offered simply, taking Connors hand in his own. He knew Connor had a hard time feeling ‘useless,’ and that it was probably what was eating away at him now. It made Markus hurt to see him like this, so when Connor didn't respond to him, Markus peeled the skin back on his hand and prompted for an interface.
He hesitated a moment before accepting and sending over his memory file from two minutes ago. After seeing it, Markus figured the only reason Connor did it this way was because it was, in fact, something that didn't make sense.
The file showed the conversation they were just having outside from Connors perspective. The two new humans, Simon and Baz, took up the center of the view when they entered. Simon did, in fact, have the somethings on his back and around one leg that Connor had tried to explain before. Truthfully, Markus was just as unsure as he was. Warm enough to have a heat signature, but nothing compared to the rest of the human’s body.
Beside him, in stark contrast, Baz didn't seem to have a heat signature at all. No heartbeat, no warmth, nothing. Even androids registered on it, whether or not their heating systems were functional.
Stranger still, though, was that after Connor had turned on the scanning processors, something suddenly appeared around the humans. No - not all the humans, Shepard seemed to be clear of it. ‘It’ being a strange, almost glowing haze around Simon, Baz, and Penelope. They were clouds, almost. Simon’s was weaker, but it was still there.
Markus pulled back, now just as lost as his partner. “So…” he began, unsure where to go from there. Was it a glitch? He knew Connor was sensitive about that stuff. It didn't look like one though.
“So,” Connor agreed simply.
“Which scan did that appear on?”
“The P.K.E. meter. It’s just meant to detect energy signatures.” Markus was, for the billionth time, impressed with all the things only Connor was able to do. “I’ve never needed to use it before.”
Markus nodded. “Energy signatures… could they be androids?”
“If they are, they’re an unprecedented type. I’ve never even heard of technology that could replicate humans the way they did in my other scans.”
Markus nodded again, crossing his arms and tapping his fingers. The android leader was nothing if not a sucker for a good puzzle. “What about the colours?” He asked in reference to the fuzzy spaces around them. Each was a different color - Pennelope’s was purple like lavender, Baz’s was dark gray that really just looked like smoke around him, and Simon’s, albeit more faded, was a still bright orange like a huge fire. Those had to mean something, right?
Connor just shook his head. “I can't find references to what they mean, either in my systems or online. I’m sorry.” He hung his head, and Markus pulled him close.
“Don't be. We’ll just go back and see if we can figure anything else out, okay?”
“But what if they’re dangerous?” Connor asked, stepping into his role as Markus’ personal guard (though Markus did only appoint him to the position so they had an excuse to be near him more often).
“If they are, they've had every opportunity to do something. We just went off alone with no witnesses or weapons, and they didn't follow us. I think it's safe.”
Connor looked fairly unsure at this reasoning, but didn't put up any more fight. Instead, he just rested his hand on the small gun in his waistband. Markus was against it, but even he had to admit that it wasn't the worst idea to have it on hand. “Well, no weapons they know about,” the android leader corrected.
Simon
Alright, maybe Baz had a point with that ‘Chosen One’ comment, but I still didn't like it. The whole bloody world of mages knows I was a fraude now, but he still keeps saying it.
Maybe that's why I like these androids. They weren't chosen by some proficy or higher power. Markus pulled together a group of half-dead androids in that abandoned boat and changed the world with them in a matter of days, just because it was what he had to do. For himself, and for the others.
I don't know, it's a pretty cool thing when you look at it like that.
It's why I didn't want Baz or Penny to get their rational commonsense-ness all over this. And I guess they didn't, so I can't be too mad. It's not ridiculous to think that everyone is at all times out to get us. (I literally had to fight a goblin disguised as a busker last week. It's been a year and a half, and I’m starting to worry they'll never move on.)
I'm absolutely tuned out of Baz, Penny and Shepard’s conversation at this point. I know I should probably get tougher skin on it, but the whole Chosen One mention always takes me out of whatever's happening. I'm okay with missing out right now, though. I don't need to hear their disinterest in androids at the moment. Baz is sure to give me an earful of it when we get back, anyway.
But obviously, I'm not so tuned out that I don't notice when Connor and Markus return. The two sit down and apologize for leaving. I think Connor might look even stiffer than when he left, but I honestly can't tell. I read somewhere that Connor used to be a fancy police android, so that might be why he’s so buttoned-up and no nonsense. I bet Baz would like him.
But right now it might just be whatever energy Markus is radiating, because I can't tell what it is but it's definitely new. “So,” Markus started, looking between us all. Since we’ve been here - which has really only been about fifteen minutes - Baz and Penny have decidedly not talked to the androids if they could help it. Markus and co. didn't really seem to notice or care, but now he was looking right at them.
I really hope he's not about to call them out.
“I was wondering how you all know each other.” Markus opened the topic to our side of the table. It is… unexpected? Does this have something to do with what they were talking about? Or are they just trying to get some participation out of Penny and Baz?
Honestly, they seem to be wondering the same thing, so Shepard answers when we don't. He never seems to be phased by this kind of thing.
“They all went to school together when they were kids, and a year later they came to America for the summer, where I met them.” He’s being generous around the details, but I wouldn't expect any less. At least he’s good at it. I still get flustered sometimes with it.
[RK800 “Connor” - 14:10:21]
Shepard was definitely lying, or at the very least, he was telling half-truths.
More troubling to Connor, though, was that he was doing it well. In his time as detective at the D.P.D., Connor had had his fair share of interrogations with known criminals, and yet none of them had been this good at hiding their tells. He would have to inform the others of this after.
All humans had uncontrollable tells - ones most didn't even know about, because they weren't visual. Blood flow increases around their noses, an increased blood pressure rate, and sparks of activity in the frontal, limbic, and temporal lobe. Connor couldn't necessarily track the brain activity externally, but he knew they existed, which counted for something.
More importantly, though, he could track the first two, and he did see them, however uniquely muted, on Shepard. Something about what he said was false or only partially true, and suddenly Connor activated his interrogation programs.
Penelope
I knew this would become something. I absolutely said it from the beginning, but I don't even have the chance to be right because that American android with the glowing ring on his head looks like he’s ready to cross-examine Shepard, and I am ready to pull out my stone at a second's notice. I suppose now is as good a time as any to see if robots can be spelled.
“What school did you go to?” The android (Conan? Connor?) asks. His voice is softer than I expected for someone who carries himself like a tank mixed with one of the Queen's Guard, but still has a healthy amount of edge to it.
“Watford,” I answer simply. “It's a boarding school.” I honestly have no clue how androids work, but if he's doing a Google search in his mind or something we should be good to go. When she was headmistress, Baz’s mum set up a fake school website so we could have alibis and such, but this was back in the 90’s, so it might not hold up as well. I know updating it is on my mum’s list of things to do, but I also know it's closer to the five hundredth item than it is to the first.
Whatever he’s doing, he takes about a three second long pause before glancing at Markus (yes, I know enough to know his name). Whatever they're doing must pass through wires or wifi or something because I don't notice anything before they turn back to us and the police one continues. “Where was the school, and what did it specialize in?”
Baz scoffs beside me in a very Baz move, at a seemingly very bad time. “Is this how you always make conversation?” I stop myself from face-palming at this, because it could have been worse. I fully expected him to say that their code was off or something, and it would have been considered racist or offensive. I've come to like Baz since he stopped trying to kill my best friend, but sometimes that vampire can be so, so dunce.
Good on Markus though, because he doesn't seem surprised by this comment at all. (Or maybe that's just kind of sad…?) Instead, he just gives the other android an ‘I told you so’ look that I am very familiar with before opening his mouth and giving another familiar sigh of the same genre.
“No, not usually. Connor-” (fucking knew it) “- is a negotiator and detective prototype. He’s one of the most advanced in North America, but sometimes his interrogation program slips into normal conversations.” Markus moves closer to Connor at this, and Connor moves his hand from his lap and intertwines it with Markus’, which is just resting on the table.
Morgana, they're cute together. It's hard to stay so weary of them like this.
[RK800 “Connor” - 14:12:03]
Markus was lying through his circuits.
Connor was a prototype, and he was one of the most advanced androids in North America, but he was also completely in control of his programs.
This didn't bother him, though. He was the one who told Markus to use this gambit. Connor and Hank used the same one often when interrogating perps. It's much easier to make people slip up when they don't think you're a threat.
Baz
The androids keep talking, apparently trying to make conversation. Markus is so much better at it than Connor that it's almost funny. It - he - keeps asking things that drag Bunce and I into the conversation instead of just Simon and Shepard. I can't imagine why he would rather talk to us than them, though. Those two would jump off a bridge if they said that it would help the revolution.
And the questions are casual, but they're also not really. It's subtle, but everything he asks that involves us giving information seems to be about Watford in general. Some things are more subtle, like how we met, and he tries to keep it veiled by asking Shepard the same things, but it's still making me think that this was an even worse idea than I thought.
I should have hunted before this. It would have taken the edge off at least a bit.
I’d try texting Simon from my pocket that we need to get the hell out of here, but I do not know enough about the robots to know if it's a safe bet.
Bad escape plans are still running through my head when I realize that the conversation has gone quiet and the robots are looking at me. I find Markus’s mismatched eyes. Are they factory errors? Upgrades from his owner? Recent style choices?
Regardless, he speaks, clearly knowing I have no clue what's happening. “Sorry, we were just talking about criminal records. Obviously I have one, but Connor still works as a detective…” He trails off, clearly leaving space for me to answer. How did we possibly get to this subject? I respond with the first thing that comes to mind, which is probably just bad form in a situation like this.
“Yeah, actually. When I was in my first year.” Simon looks at me like I’m insane, but what can I say? He never asked. “It was just trespassing, but my dad paid the bail.” It was also animal abuse, since the Normal officer who found me draining a cat didn't know what to make of it, but that feels like a good thing to leave out. (She also didn't know what to make of my wand, so she locked it up, which was the main reason my dad had to come and spell her.)
“What does your father do?” Connor asks this time. Great.
“He stays at home with my siblings,” I try to say nicely enough.
“How many siblings do you have?”
“Four. All younger,” I add, just to make this faster. Damn interrogation android.
“And your mother?”
“Died when I was five.” This catches him for a second, probably stutters his circuits like a computer with too many tabs, so I clarify. “They’re step-siblings. My dad remarried.”
“What does your step-mother do, then?”
“Same as dad. They're just living off what mum left him.” I say it harsher than I mean to. He keeps pressing.
“What did she leave him?”
I’m staring him down now, because I won't be the one to bow out of whatever the hell this is. “Everything. House, money, property.”
“What did she do?”
“Headmistress at the school.” His questions are coming faster and faster, and I would honestly give very much just to be out of this right now.
“How did she die?”
“The attack from the vampi-” I cut myself off too late.
Simon
Baz pales less than a second after the half-word comes out.
Somehow, my bloodless, white as a sheet vampire boyfriend pales.
And Penny is looking at the androids with a twitchy hand that nervously rubs the gem it holds, and Shepard has a face like someone preparing to defuse a bomb, but niether of them move because, well, the androids don't, either.
[RK200 “Markus” - 14:21:51]
| Connor: ’Vampi’.
| Connor: The only root word in my database that matches with this is ‘vampire’.
| Connor: Could it mean something else?
| Connor: Some of my language systems aren't complete yet. Does it match with any Nordic Germanic languages?
His cluelessness, for an android who always knows everything, would have been only adorable to Markus if not for the bizarre situation. Because Markus’s language systems are, in contrast, completely finished, he was more confused than Connor when he returned with the same answer.
| Markus: No.
| Markus: I can't find a meaning other than…
Trailing off in normal messaging terms occasionally seemed strange to humans, but a direct line between androids was more like a conversation than a blank screen with only words.
Though this wasn't the only reason Markus trailed off. He knew that Connor understood what he would have said, and that it was too ridiculous to entertain with words.
Still, though…
| Connor: Wait.
| Connor: The scans.
Markus didn't even get the chance to respond before Connor opened his mouth. About ten seconds had passed since Baz’s strange cut off, and it was a tense quiet that Connor didn't seem to mind cutting through at all. “What are you?” Markus would have said something about how that might have been the worst way to ask the question if he himself wasn't also interested in the answer.
“I- excuse me?” Baz responded. Markus didn't need Connors scans to know that he was getting nervous, and even as someone who had only known Baz for half an hour, Markus decided that nervous was an out of place expression for him.
[RK800 “Connor” - 14:22:11]
Cards on the table.
“I don't believe you're human,” Connor continued. He looked mainly at Baz, but then at Simon and Penelope. “Truthfully, I think that the only human here is Shepard.”
This note caused confusion - genuine confusion, according to his sensors - in Penelope and Simon, though the latter seemed to realize something. Connor made a mental note of the reactions.
“We need to go,” Penelope said to the others as she stood up.
Connor stood as well. “You need to stay. I can't let you leave until we know what's going on.” Slowly, like he’d done in the negotiations he was built for, Connor took his small gun out and held it up in a non threatening way. “We just want to understand. Sit down and we can talk this out.”
Connor could see Shepard out of the corner of his eye as he spoke. “Pen, just sit.” His voice had more warning in it than Connor had heard from him.
Penelope nodded minutely but slowly began to raise her clenched fist. Simon shouted a “wait!” as she said, “freeze.”
The word itself causes his systems to stutter for a fraction of a second, and Connors P.K.E. scanner lit up like a firework, but other than that he didn't notice any change. He turned to Markus to see if his partner saw anything, but he only gave a similar look of confusion. Out of all of Connor’s social software and negotiation programs, something like this was… out of the blue.
“I’m sorry?” He asked, almost forgetting the situation. He didn't, of course, and the edge was still there, but he now had even more questions.
Penelope
Because they're androids.
Freeze is a spell for a human, and I'm only seeing why it didn't work now. Is this how people always feel?
I know I falter for a moment, putting the pieces together much too slowly, because when I don't answer the android shifts and aims his gun dead at me. I never liked guns, and I have to say that I like them much less when they're pointed at me, but I'm inclined to sit down at the moment. Connor does the same.
“Connor!” Markus scolds lightly. “Put that away, We’re just going to talk.” I get the sense that his heart isn't in it, but if I'm being honest, my mind is elsewhere.
I keep trying to rack my brain for spells that can get us out of here, but they've already seen too much. And can magic even fix that? Aren't their brains, like, computers? I have no idea if spells that work on computers exist, and if they do, I don't know them.
So I sit, and try to think of a spell that works on objects that will buy us time but won’t obliterate them (I'm not trying to start a war here), and that android sits, probably still trying to figure out what in the nine hells is going on.
Shepard speaks first, which isn't too surprising, and his voice is just as light as ever. “So, what do you want to know?”
Simon
Connor put his handgun away when Markus told him to. Not away - more like down. It's on the table now, but his hand isn't on it, so that at least makes me feel a little better.
It's a small thing, though, because I'm feeling pretty not okay right now.
I mean, it's kinda my fault we’re in this. I was the one who dragged Baz here with me, and we’re two pretty big red flags apparently. Also, of course, it's going to be catastrophic if they find out pretty much any of our… Well, anything at all, really. Shepherd’s the only safe one here, and even he knows way too much. (Not that I'm concerned about him. If anything, he’s the least likely to give something up.)
Connor kind of drills all that guilt in again when he talks. “We want to know why you-” he looks at Baz “-have no heat signature, why you-” he looks at me (and it's a strangely disarming look. It makes sense that it is, but it's in a… weird way. His eyes are all warm and gentle, but everything else is super intimidating) “-have an unidentified object attached to your back and around your left leg, and why the three of you-” he looks at Penny, Baz, and I in turn “-have some sort of energy signature.”
The last part catches me for a second. That ‘energy signature’ has to me magic, right? I've never heard of something that could detect it. But… What's stranger than that to me is that all three of us have it. Since Smith Smith-Ritchard blocked me off from magic for good, I've been well, blocked off from magic for good. “‘All three of us’? I have it too?” I ask without thinking.
“So you know what it is,” Markus says rather than asks. I know he caught me, but he doesn't have to rub it in like that.
But Nicks and Slick, it's like talking in circles. That one was on me, but really, nothing is going to happen here until we fold or they do, and I don't see either of those things happening.
“No, no,” I begin floundering (poorly). “It's just that I can't think of a reason I would have… whatever that is.”
Connor looks, deadpan, right at me. Not through me, like I kinda expected, but at me. Right in the eyes. “You should know that I am equipped with a functional remote lie detector. It's been working this whole time.”
I see Baz rubbing his face with his hands. Merlin, we’re screwed.
Penelope
-
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust(I can't turn them into soot, for snakes sake. I'm not about to start an international diplomatic crisis.) -
Stay cool(This would be so, so perfect for calming them down… if they were human.) -
These aren't the droids you're looking for(Useless here, but probably my only chance to use the spell literally.) -
Off with your head(I can't just decapitate them.) (But would it even work? They aren't people, but they do have heads…) -
Cat got your tongue(No use silencing them if they could talk through a computer or something.)
Come on, Penelope. Think!
Shepard
I've never even thought twice about giving my secrets away to anyone who asked. My middle name is Troy. I like the new Star Wars movies. I was engaged to a demon.
Well. You get the idea.
But this isn't my secret to tell, so I'm just watching and waiting. Somehow I've become a middleground of sorts - or maybe it's just that I've become irrelevant. They're too focused on each other to think about the lone human in the room, and I totally get that.
Though, for the opinion of that lone human, he thinks that this is all stupid. The androids backed them into a corner, so talking is the only real option. (That, or the androids letting it go, but that doesn't seem super likely. Connor just said that he has a lie detector, so why would they?)
Not that I'm going to be the one to pitch that. Even if I could get a word in edgewise, I don't really want to be the person who suggested exposing the entire magical community.
Penny responded to Connor’s not-so-subtle warning slowly, like she was choosing her words carefully. “We… know what's happening here, but we can't talk about it.”
Connor opens his mouth to talk, but Markus cuts him off. “Why not?” He asks it gently, and it's definitely a good thing if they want results. Connor was… a bit much.
“We just can't,” Baz answers instead. He side-eyes Penny when he talks.
Markus glances at Connor, whose LED flicks to yellow so fast I almost miss it. I bet they were talking to each other. Then Markus turns back, with a new look of determination, though his voice is softer than before. “Look, we just want to understand what's going on. We’re not with any governing body, if that's an issue, and our only agenda is for equal rights. You seem like good people, and if we can help with anything, we will. Android or otherwise.”
Simon nods along like he’s agreeing, and I'm sure he is. He doesn't even hesitate before speaking, and I don't even have to look to know that it catches everyone in the room off guard. “Alright, but you can't tell anyone.”
“Snow!” Baz practically shouts as he stands. He’s giving Simon a look I hadn't really seen between them before, though Penny has told me enough about their Watford days to recognize it.
“What? They have no reason to say anything.”
“That's what every Normal says,” Penelope says tiredly.
“But they aren't Normal. For god’s sake, Penny, Shepard’s a Normal.”
They all look at me for the first time since the interrogation started, and I know I shrink back just a bit.
“Shepard’s different,” Penelope says after a moment. At this point I'm really not sure whether or not to be offended, but I figure it doesn't really matter. I can only imagine what Markus and Connor are thinking right now. “And besides, if they did tell people, we couldn't… do anything about it.” She clearly would have said something about spelling them stupid, but her changing it is the only real indication that she was still thinking about their presence. Honestly, from the way the three of them are shouting, it's almost surprising.
“We absolutely could, and we would if we had to,” Baz says dryly.
“Yeah? Do you know ones that would work?” Her vagueness is almost funny in the moment.
Before Baz can answer, Simon does. “It doesn't matter! We’re not doing anything! Here,” he addresses the androids, his tone instantly turning more pleasant, if forced. “I can't speak for them, but at the very least I can answer your questions about me. Just- this stays here, alright?”
Markus looks surprised. Connor’s brows are narrowed, and his little LED is yellow, like he’s still trying to figure out what they were talking about before, but Markus is clearly here now. “Of course. We don't want to overstep, we’re just trying to understand.” Baz huffs when Markus says ‘overstep,’ and, okay, fair, but he doesn't say anything else. I can't tell if it's because he's a sap for Simon or if the fight really did go out of him.
All Baz achieves is Simon decidedly ignoring him and instead standing up. “Great. Just give me a sec…”
Baz
And then Simon Snow starts taking his damn sweater off. I swear that Markus starts blushing, which already starts pissing me off, but it's blue, and that's really not helping matters.
“Woah, wait,” that same bloody android says, looking away quickly.
“What?” Simon asks like it's the most obvious thing in the world. “I can't show you without taking my shirt off.” He keeps working, and the androids keep looking away, thank Morgana. When he’s done, the straps are next.
I’m almost surprised that I haven't stopped him yet, let alone Bunce. She just has her head in her hands, like she's trying to drown this all out, and I don't really blame her. He fusses with the straps well enough on his own (they're easier to take off than put on) and as soon as it's done his wings pop out just a bit like springs. They always do that, which leads me to believe that it has to be awful wearing the straps, but Simon always tells me they're fine.
He stretches them a moment, managing to spread them just short of fully open without touching the walls or ceiling. It's like this boardroom was picked specially, with the high ceiling and somehow open-concept design. (It's literally a meeting room. How can it be an open-concept?)
Simon settles, like he’s ready for them to see and expose the entire magical community, but then he remembers the devil tail. He begins trying to figure a way to show it off, but I stop him short.
“Like a glove,” I cast quietly, creating a hole for the tail in his jeans. Penelope looks up so quickly I'm concerned she gets whiplash, only to stop just after opening her mouth. I don't doubt that the androids heard me, but at least they don't know what it meant. Bunce realized this after cutting herself off from cursing me out, though it doesn't stop her from glaring absolute daggers at me. I couldn't really care less at the moment. I don't really see a way where we leave with our secrets intact, so why not accept the fact with open arms?
Meanwhile, Simon is standing there in all his winged glory. Regardless of the situation, it's moments like these where I thank the stars that he still has it all. I know I'd be much too in love with him regardless, but like this it's almost intolerable.
Almost.
Maybe that's how I'm managing to stay calm right now. Distracting myself with the stone-cold handsomeness of my part dragon boyfriend.
[RK800 “Markus” - 14:28:17]
Out of every possible simulation his preconstruction program could have run, Markus would never have even had an inkling that they would spend their first day in the British deviant headquarters facing away from some incredibly strange humans, waiting for a ‘big reveal’ of sorts.
He had tried contacting North when things started going, for lack of a better term, south, but she had made it clear that unless a gun was in human’s hand and against his temple she wasn't coming. In fairness, she had basically said as much on the trip over, so it wasn't an incredibly spontaneous rule.
It was fine, though. Markus was 97.4017% sure that wouldn't happen.
Though they did just turn their backs to them…
“Alright, just… brace yourselves,” Simon said ominously. Markus did so, giving his cooling systems a breath of air before moving, but he watched Connor turn straight away. It wasn't a surprise to Markus, as his partner's eyes had been glued to a window they faced on the wall, likely looking for any reflection of what was behind them. Markus couldn't see anything, but maybe Connor had.
Or maybe not. When Connor turned, Markus heard him gasp. Connor didn't gasp. He just didn't. When Markus first kissed him, he just went really still and wide-eyed, and when Hank showed him adoption papers, his systems kind of stuttered for a moment. But he never gasped.
Except for now.
So, of course, Markus turned immediately, and, possibly less likely but still not unheard of, he gasped as well. Because standing on the other side of the table, hoodie completely abandoned, was Simon, and just behind him were two looming wings.
Not just any wings - mythical demon wings. Big, red, leathery wings that seemed to move and twitch with the person in front of them. Markus had seen depictions at some of the galleries Carl had gone to, mainly in old, epic paintings depicting battles between good and evil.
They were gawking, though Simon didn't seem to notice when he remembered the other half of the show. “Oh, wait.” He turned around, revealing what could only be described as a devil tail coming out of a perfectly fitted hole in his jeans. It also, however, revealed a seamless connection between flesh and… scale? Markus wasn't exactly sure what to classify the wings as.
Really, he wasn't sure what to classify any of it as. He could only imagine how frustrating that was for Connor.
After a moment of continually failing to analyze it all, Markus put himself together enough to speak. “Could you explain...?” At this point, he wasn't even sure what he was asking.
Simon tried talking over his shoulder, but the wing was in his way so he just turned around. Markus watched the tail flick across the floor. “Oh, well, they were just folded under my sweater before, and the tail kinda wraps around my leg.” He gestured to a discarded foam strap on the table beside the sweater. His answer was clearly ambiguous for a reason, and seeing Baz laugh in almost disbelief only drove the fact home.
“No,” Connor pushed, “what are they?” His voice had hardened again, though, as he knew it inside and out, Markus could tell that he was still confused.
“I- wings. And a tail. I figure they were those things you saw on me.”
Connor huffed - something he was more known to do. “Are they real? How do you have them? How long have you had them?” Connor was beginning to slip into interrogation mode authentically.
Simon considered for a moment before answering. “If by ‘real’ you mean functional and part of me, then yes.” The wings twitched as if to prove the point. “And I've had them for… three years?”
“How did you get them?” Connor leaned forward over the table slightly.
Simon, keeping consistent eye contact and full sincerity, responded simply. “Magic.”
Penelope
My mom is going to kill me.
Or, even worse, she won't.
If she doesn't, after something idiotic like this, it means that she must not be talking to me, and that means that my name will be struck from the book.
And, if that happens… Well, I might kill Simon anyway for this, but if that happens I’ll have to find some way to bring him back just so I can do it again.
I'm sure it's not impossible. Shepard probably knows a demon that could help me out.
Honestly, I'm not fully sure why Simon even wants to do this. From what I can tell, all we’re doing is glitching the androids. He just kept giving them stupid answers, which kept screwing them up, until he decided to just full-blown mention magic. They must already know what Baz is after his fuckup, and, compared to those two, I'm fairly basic. I couldn't care less about that, but, more importantly, it won't be rocket science for them to figure out that I have magic too.
So, before I could become any more incriminated in this mess, I stand up quickly and tuck my chair in neatly. I don't bother with anything extra, and speak as calmly and quickly as I can. “It was great to meet you, but I have to go. I hope your revolution succeeds, and I'll support it from a distance, but if either of you really care about us like you say, you’ll let me leave and not try to talk to me again. I don't mean to be harsh, but, well, there are bigger things here at play for us. Things Simon will probably tell you all about, but the sooner I leave the less I’ll be accountable for.”
Connor stands up, and I think I hear Shepard say something, but I’m out the door before anything else happens, and the better for it.
This cursed building is a maze though, and any of the androids who pass me don't even give me a second glance. I suppose we were just that lucky to be in a small room with the only android who can sense magic.
I turn down one hallway, and walk right into someone as I round the corner. “Shit,” she cussed as she stumbled back. She never used to swear this much, but then Shepard came in with all his Normal profanity, and now she felt like she was cursing like a sailor.
“Sorry- Penelope?”
I looked up after readjusting my glasses (a pain all people with them will understand) to find, of course, Stephanie and North. I've met Stephanie once before, when Shepard just stopped by for something. She's wonderful, but, all due respect, I really don't want to talk to a robot right now.
“Where’s Shepard?” Stephanie asks, looking around like he’s going to pop out of mid air.
“He's still back there with the others. I just-”
“Is it Markus and Connor?” North asks casually. “Look, I love them like… Well, I love Markus like a brother. I still think he can do better than the Deviant Hunter… Anyway, my point is that they're great, but they can be a lot on their own. Together? I mean, I'll just say that I’ve had to walk out on them too, so you're not alone.”
Somehow, in an event that I can only blame on the constant high stress since this whole thing started, this actually works in calming me down.
Apparently they see it too, and Stephanie says, “It's totally okay if you don't want to, or if you just have somewhere else to be or something, but… do you just want to hang out with us instead? We have drinks back in our room - thirium for North, but I've been working through a bottle of red if you're interested…? It'll be better used on you anyway; I can't really taste it, but it was here from the old tenants.”
My phone dings with a message from Shepard, asking if he should come out. But, for some reason, whether it's the stress, the desire to be within running distance of those idiots, or just the deep, deep want to be slightly drunk right now, I shove my phone in my pocket and look back at the two androids.
“Fuck it, yeah. I'm in.”
[RK800 “Connor” - 14:53:37]
Connor had dealt with people who had mental illnesses before. More often than not, truthfully, they were witnesses as opposed to suspects. His ability to see lies always got tripped up here, though, because if someone sees things that aren't there, they’re still telling the truth, even if it's only what they believe it to be.
So when that first big hint dropped, when Baz didn't quite finish his sentence, a realistic part of Connor tried to assume that this was the case. That Baz thought he was being honest.
But by rA9, it was hard to dispute the wings.
After Penelope walked out, Simon hesitated before he kept talking, and he looked more unsure. He went on to talk about magic, real magic, and as he did so Baz would just quietly slide further down his chair.
When he finished explaining how spells go out of style with common phrases, Simon just stood there for a moment, apparently unsure what to say next.
Connor took the cue to ask, “...I'm sorry, but how can we believe any of that?”
Simon's wings fluttered slightly in response.
“Sure, but what does that really prove? A good costume piece?” Simon opened his mouth to answer, but Connor pressed. “If you really can do…” it felt strange to say spells or magic, “...what you say, show us.”
“Oh, I… can't really do it anymore.” Convenient, Connor thought immediately, all too ready to call this ridiculousness exactly that. They had not come to London on political business just to talk to these humans… Truthfully, Connor had nearly forgotten why they were talking to them at all and not Stephanie herself. Hopefully North was at least getting something done.
Meanwhile, Simon had turned to the other human(?) expectantly. Baz, in return, shot him a glare almost more withering than the ones North had given Connor during their first weeks as allies. Really, they almost seemed to be having a silent conversation with subtle facial movements, though Connor couldn't manage to make heads or tails of it.
Yet another thing that frustrated him about the entire meeting.
Baz
Unlike Simon, I still had things at stake in the magical world. Things that, if I exposed anything, would be put in jeopardy.
So I decide that Bunce had the right idea, and I get up. Simon’s wing is blocking my way to the door, but when I try to get by he only stretches it further.
“Baz,” he whispers. I don't know why he bothers, the two are sitting four feet away and looking directly at us.
“I’m not doing it, Snow. I’m not messing up my entire life just so you can impress some androids.” Honestly, I'm not even sure how it was on the table. This whole premise was insane, and the fact that it was actually happening was even more so.
“That's not what this is,” he starts, and I stare him down until he starts talking again. It's almost like the old days at Watford. “Look, for keeping cover, coming here at all was the mistake. This? Right now? This is the aftermath of that. It's gonna happen. It kinda already has with me, and all you did was glare. That won't hold up well with Penny’s mum, or anyone else, so you might as well, because I don't think they’ll stop digging.”
Simon pauses for a response, but when I don't give one Markus cuts in. “He’s right. About us looking for more information. Or Connor, at least.” He gives us a half-smile, which I decidedly don't return. “And we won't say anything, if that helps. Our only concern is android equality, so if whatever all this is doesn't get in our way of that we have no reason to do anything more.”
“Then why bother with any of this? If it doesn't get in your way, why make us tell you everything?”
“Because, as far as I’m concerned, you’re still threats,” Connor shoots back none too gently. Simon and Markus are the only ones even bothering with civilness at this point.
“So why did Bunce get to go?”
“She didn't,” he replied simply, almost - almost - seeming to relax. “I notified security that she wasn't to leave, but about three minutes ago she found North and Stephanie, and now she’s with them in Stephanie’s office.”
This makes Simon pause for a moment, but I'm jumping on it. “And how do you know that…?”
“Security cameras,” he says simply, like that answers everything. When I don't respond right away, he explains, though his voice is as accusatory as it was thirty seconds ago. “You don't seem to understand what's going on here. Markus - er, we - are representing an entirely new species globally. He isn't just working towards equality, he’s working towards rights at all. Legally, we, and every other android, are still considered property. Due to all of that, he has enemies, and people who would pay to kill him. If that's not a good enough reason for us to be suspicious of the humans who are blatantly keeping secrets from us, I apologize, but I'm not sure what else is.”
Well.
Apparently this was happening now.
[RK200 “Markus” - 14:59:01]
Markus shared the speech making program he had begun building that first day at Jericho about two months after the revolution. After word got out about how Connor deviated all those androids at the tower, and the press put together that he was the Deviant Hunter, they started requesting interviews pretty quickly. He dodged them well at first, but then Lieutenant Anderson’s address was leaked and he couldn't avoid it anymore.
So Markus shared it, and Connor was, of course, shaky with the public speaking thing at first, but it slowly got better.
Needless to say, this was his best performance yet.
Shepard
They've absolutely forgotten I'm here. All of them.
Frankly, this is much more entertaining from the audience than it was up on stage. Now, I’m just trying not to make any noises or sudden movements so they don't remember I'm here.
Much more enjoyable this way.
Baz
“Alright,” I say and I sit back down. Slowly, I pull out my wand. It gives me this weirdly frantic feeling, like I've forgotten something important. I suppose I have. When it's in my hand, and I can practically feel the androids analyzing it or whatever the hell they do, I look back at Simon. “What should I cast?”
“You're asking me?” He raises an eyebrow almost cockuly. It's fair - I've decidedly never given him reign over my magic, even when he first lost his own, but why not now? Might as well have fun while I incriminate myself further.
“Umm…” He thinks. He’s moved to sit in the chair again, though he flipped it around to make room for the wings, so the back rest is up his front. “Something easy, I don't know. ‘Now you see it’.” I know it's been so long, but I don't think it will ever feel normal to hear him say spells without feeling the oomph behind it. Without smelling the burning that his magic always left.
Regardless, I turn back to the androids. “Do you have anything I can borrow?” This’ll go faster if it's on their terms.
Connor, without even looking away, pulls out an American quarter from his jacket pocket and puts it on the table. I swear, he doesn't even blink.
Unceremoniously (or, as unceremoniously as I can possibly make it), I use my wand. “Now you see it, now you don't.” The coin vanishes, shadow and all, and I honestly can't decide if I’m pleased or sad it worked. It’s an easy spell, but this would be a lot better if they thought I was insane.
Either way, if the wings didn't break the androids, this did.
“What was that?” Markus asks quickly, though he obviously knows the answer. He reaches out tentatively for the coin, and his fingers find the small cylinder of nothing. He passes it to Connor, who inspects it thoroughly. They're… taking it a lot better than I expected, to be honest. Maybe it is a good thing Simon edged them into it.
Connor rolls it over his knuckles as he speaks. (I think he's rolling it? His hand is doing the part, but it's still invisible, so it's really just a guess.) “...How is this possible?”
“Magic?” I answer simply, hoping it’ll satisfy them. “Simon said it before. It all relies on language. It's a common phrase… this just made it literal, I guess.” It's weird explaining magic. “Here, pass it back.”
Connor does so cautiously. (Which, honestly, fair enough.)
I hold it in my hand this time, so I actually know where the coin is, and cast again. “It's show time.” The coin comes back again, and I return it to the android. I know in my head how awful all this will turn out, but, really, it's much less exciting than I thought.
[RK800 “Connor” - 15:05:52]
| Connor: Magic.
| Markus: I mean…
| Markus: Are they lying?
| Connor: …No.
| Markus: Do you have any better explanation?
Connor could, in fact, find hundreds of ways to make a coin disappear and call it magic on the internet. None of them, however, involved it vanishing directly in front of them, or being able to feel it without seeing it.
| Connor: …No.
| Connor: How will this affect us?
| Markus: Personally? I could see a revelation like this causing some sort of existential crisis, but I don't think we need to worry about that.
| Markus: For the revolution? If these… magical people haven't revealed themselves in all of human history, I can't imagine they’d start now. We shouldn't have to worry.
Connor thought about this a moment before he returned to the conversation. “So… you’re what? Wizards?” The word felt strange coming out of his mouth in a serious tone, but much of the scene felt strange, so he didn't dwell on it.
“Well, I prefer the term ‘mage,’ since it doesn't automatically come with the image of a hundred-year-old white guy, but I suppose, yes.” Baz answered flippantly, suddenly seeming not to care as much about it all.
“...Right. Well, your ‘magic’ is what set off my P.K.E. scanner?”
“I can only assume.”
“Meaning that you both have it, as well as Penelope?”
Baz looked back at Simon, presumably deciding how to answer and whether or not to reveal Penelope’s information. Connor truly hoped they did. Simon turned back, apparently fielding the question. “I actually don't. Not anymore.” He paused a moment before realizing to add something. “Not that that really happens. Mages don't just lose their magic. I mean, a few did, but I think I was the first. And they were, like, a year after me. And it was unrelated. But it's not a regular thing.”
“...Right.” Connor repeated. He stored the information into the new file he was filling, but, really, he had no idea what any of that meant. “But the wings were from when you still had magic?”
“Yes,” Simon said like it was the first answer he was sure of from the whole meeting. “But that's also not really a regular thing. Most mages don't have wings or anything under their clothes.”
Connor looked back to Markus, who was leaning forward with his elbow on the table and his hand on his chin. He looked like he was soaking up all this information on more than just an informative level, and Connor wasn't even surprised. It was just the kind of person Markus was to get sucked up in things like this.
“Well,” Connor began before Markus interrupted him.
“Does your not having magic have to do with Baz’s lack of a heat signature? Does Penelope not have it either? Or is it the… ‘vampi…?’” He mimicked Baz’s delivery of the word, but decidedly not his voice. Humans always seemed to be disturbed by that.
Baz opened his mouth right away before stopping himself just short of words. Connor was pleased with how Markus had trapped them with their own logic. Markus always said he was rubbing off on Connor, but Connor liked to think that he was doing the same to Markus.
When Baz spoke again, his casualness from before was all gone, and he chose his words carefully. “You clearly already know the answer to that question. Are you going to make me say it?”
Simon
“We just want the truth,” Markus says earnestly.
Baz rolls his eyes aggressively (how?). “Fine. I'm a… a vampire.” I almost startle when he actually says it. I don't know what I expected to happen, but it wasn't that.
But he keeps going, without even a pause after saying it. “A bloody, damned, eternal vampire, with no fucking heat signature, and fangs, and taste for goddamn rats. Happy?” It's like he was gaining momentum. It was a sprint, sure, but it was charged, and now we’re kinda just hanging after it ended.
I put my hand on the small of his back, and he stiffens but doesn't move away. He never brings it up, and I don't even care about the androids anymore. Now we’re just getting the hell out of here, if I have anything to say about it.
“Well, now you know everything.” And I begin to stand Baz, without turning, pulls me back down by a loose grasp on my arm.
“Snow, we’re finishing this. I know you two won't talk about anything here today. I’ve seen your debates, I know your biggest obstacle is being taken seriously. If anyone in your leadership brings up magic or vampires, the entire movement will go to waste. So. Instead of having either of you look for answers in places you shouldn't, or try talking to the wrong mage, we’ll answer whatever we can, and you’ll be done with it. Agreed?”
I look at my boyfriend, Connor and Markus look at my boyfriend, and we all look very surprised.
And yet not even three seconds pass before the androids reply in unison. “Agreed.”
Baz
Simon flew us home. He even stopped in an alley so I could hunt.
Their questions were actually quite easy to answer. Markus took the lead, so everything felt much less aggressive then when Connor did. (Though I’m almost positive he was feeding Markus questions. His damn light didn't leave yellow the whole time.) It was mostly basic things, like how it happened, how I get on now, that kind of thing. Really, they spent more time asking about magic, and Simon tried to take the blunt of that. (Not that he really could for some of them. I mean, no, we didn't learn about the first mage to ever use magic, and I'm fairly certain that they're lost to time. Watford was great, but it didn't make us experts on the entire history of mages.)
But it was, surprisingly, fine enough. Not to say that the best part wasn't leaving, but there isn't that ‘impending doom’ feeling in me.
Now I'm in our bed, with Simon doing something in the main room. Probably texting Bunce or Shepard. He's giving me space, though, and despite everything I love that he just knew I needed it. For all of Simon Snow’s faults, I have to admit that he knows me pretty damn well.
I’ll fall asleep thinking about that instead.
[RK200 “Markus” - 18:22:48]
It was weird. Fine, but weird.
Baz was right, however, and Markus had no intention of sharing anything said today, for both of their own goods.
Connor had directly messaged the guards to tell them that Penelope was free to go, but according to North and Stephanie she stayed with them for two hours, having what Markus internally thought of as a ‘girls day.’ When the two androids returned after Penelope left, they all finally discussed important matters.