#they always have red flags like “misinformation is the new hate speech” that people completely gloss over when they nod along

[gailynovelry]

Conspiracy theorists stop following my Neocities challenge.

[vaingloriosa]

Fading Light

Markus x Reader

Words: 2,379

Summary: This was supposed to be a peaceful march between humans and androids to raise awareness of the cause. You never thought you would see so much red and blue blood splattered all over the white snow that blankets the street.

Requested by: @xrin-sama

Author’s note: i...got a lil carried away on this one. this is kind of an au-ish where i do a better job at world-building than d*vid c*ge and i create a more realistic freedom protest march/demonstration. it isn’t sadistic though i do acknowledge in the story something that could possibly happen at protests that resonates a bit to today’s reality. alright-y!! get ready for a lil hurt/comfort, babeyy

You hate how the world has come to, specifically the United States.

The national news becomes a smear campaign against androids, trying to shove misinformation down the general public’s throat. You knew better, hell, a whole lot of people knew better than to believe them. Androids had grown tired of being exploited for their free labor and being mistreated by those in power that they have every right to be a bit angry.

Many humans joined their fight alongside them, including you. You are not only fighting for Markus, but for his fellow androids as well.

You are no stranger to the protest life. After seeing injustice done upon those who have done no wrong, you knew you had to step up. You completed training to become a street medic to provide medical aide during protests and demonstrations. No matter who needed the help, either human or android, you are prepared for the worst. Your role became more crucial as more protests and rallies formed all over Detroit. Police did not like the sudden up rise of human involvement with the android revolution but you always wondered if anyone has ever read a history book.

You, Markus, alongside North, Simon, and Josh, walk down the steps of the mall. You hug the backpack on your shoulders a little tighter as you look below to see the major turnout of androids and humans alike. You feel a warm hand over your white-knuckled hand that held one hell of a grip to the backpack strap.

“Are you okay?” Markus’ voice is full of concern and you wonder how he manages to be concerned for others while maintaining his cool. You take his hand into yours and give it a gentle squeeze.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be alright, you know.” And he did know that you are more than capable in handling yourself but despite the liberation, his programming made care-taking his main priority. Markus had carried all the weight of the revolution on his shoulders even though he shouldn’t. There are organizers both human and android alike that back him up on all his decisions yet he still takes on most of the responsibility.

You take his hand in yours and together you walk together to regroup with the others. Today is the day of the biggest marches that has ever been organized all year. With the response rate of attendance in the thousands, this type of uproar did not go unnoticed with your fellow friends at ZNN. You had hoped that with a mix of both humans and androids alike, the police would tread lightly.

But you could be wrong.

Drowning in the sea of signs, flags, and high energy, Markus makes his way to the front of the crowd with a megaphone in hand. He addresses the crowd, thanking them for joining in the fight, and telling them about the non-violent approach for this protest. With everyone in sound agreement, you begin your march down the main street towards city hall where you would occupy the space until someone would listen. The air is full of different chants from humans and androids alike. Some random bystanders also join up in arms in the fight and everyone welcomes the newcomers. You spot the press along the sidewalk and you can’t help but roll your eyes.

They view you as some oddity for wanting the right for androids to own their bodies and thoughts.

As soon as you round the corner, your heart sinks down into your stomach as your worst nightmare comes true. In full riot gear, the police force builds a barricade blocking the street essential to getting to city hall. Being in the front lines isn’t the most ideal place to be during a potential riot but you are a street medic after all. There’s a tinge of fear when you realize that you may be a potential target for these cops.

Markus comes to a stop, the crowd soon following suit. He takes a step forward but you reach out for him to stop.

“What are you doing” you question him, eyes bewildered at the thought of Markus getting into deep trouble.

“Just going to give them a little talk, that’s all.” His voice is soothing to your eyes and as much as you want to believe, you are still on edge. Markus places a small kiss on your temple and turns back to face the riot squad.

“Stand down! Disperse and go home!” A voice comes from the truck’s own megaphone. The police place their shields in front of them as an attempt to inflict fear. You’d be lying if you said you weren’t scared.

Markus puts his hands up in the air and the crowd soon follows suit. He brings the megaphone up to his mouth. “We are unarmed civilians only trying to express our right to freedom of speech. You wouldn’t shoot at an unarmed crowd, would you?”

None of the officers flinch at his words. Markus continues.

“You are being filmed. Any action you do is being televised as we speak. What would the public view you as? The heroes or the enemies?”

You move a bit forward with your hands still up in the air. The rest of the crowd takes initiative after you and you begin to inch a little towards Markus. Nothing seems to happen and you thought they may give up because of the media presence. However, the sounds of a heavy vehicle rumbles through the ground then you realize what is coming.

“No,” you say under your breath. Before you could warn the crowd behind you, some throws a canister of tear gas into the crowd. A plume of smoke blurs your vision and you yell to everyone to retreat. Due to the nature of androids, they aren’t phased by the effects of tear gas but they understand that humans cannot. Josh tells you that he’ll get as many humans to get away as possible and, in a rush, you tell him to seek out the other street medics for you will stay in the front lines. Some brave humans stick it out, however, and you immediately begin to give out as many water-soaked bandannas as possible to prevent inhaling the gas.

Though, this was only the beginning.

As soon as they saw the tear gas was being chucked to the side by androids, they send in the more heavier artillery. The barricade opens ever so slightly to aim their guns full of rubber bullets. With that much velocity at such a close range, the damage to anybody could possibly be catastrophic.

They fire at will.

A bullet misses your head and you thank the Lord for the close call. The bullets begin to attack some humans and some fall to their knees out of pain. Blood begins to fall onto the white snow and you can’t believe the audacity of the riot squad to go through with this order. Blue blood soon begins to follow and you watch androids get tormented by these bullets. You instruct the medics to get everyone to safety away from the action. You crouch down to get to people without getting hit, helping them up and walking them to safety. You hand them off to the volunteers, turning back into the action.

The air is still misty from the previous attack and you navigate your way towards the front. You notice North and Simon, then you finally find Markus riddled in blue blood. As you try to get to him, another bullet shoots out, striking him on the shoulder. Markus tries to remain strong but the bullet takes a big chunk of his shoulder out and his insides become vulnerable and exposed. A police officer tries to throw another canister of tear gas but North stops it before it can hit the ground and throws it back to the riot squad. This provides a good distraction to help Markus to his feet.

“Come on,” you insist, propping his arm over your shoulder and getting him back up on his knees. Markus is in much worse condition than you thought. Since he remained at the front and the police immediately identified him as the leader, he got the brute end of the stick. Markus took most of the heat if this meant protecting everyone. Blue blood spurts out from his chest where he took some hits near his thirium pump, his face was battered and bruised, and, worst of all, his shoulder. Markus’ arm had been badly damaged with cracks exposing his intricate insides and you desperately want to cry because seeing your love be torn down like this made your heart ache.

“You don’t have to,” Markus hoarse voice breaks the silence between you two. You immediately shake your head as you continue forward away from the riot.

“No, don’t say that.” You swallow thickly to continue the sob at the edge of your throat. Chaos surrounds you two as you try to yell at everyone to make way for you and Markus. You wonder why there was a sudden wave of noise until you look over your shoulder and spot a cop acting alone.

A rogue cop with a hand gun in his hand.

“Hand over Jericho’s leader,” he screams at you and you know you can’t let this pig win.

“He is bleeding and needs medical treatment,” you try to explain to the officer as you continue to walk with him. Markus whispers to you, asking you what you are doing provoking the officer but you just ignore him. You know what you’re doing. You and Markus continue to take small steps until you hear the sound of the gun being cocked and ready to fire.

When you think he won’t fire, the officer fires at your shoulder.

At first, you can’t believe he went through with his intention. You almost collapse at the pain but Markus pulls you back up with the hand over your shoulder. You hear a scrimmage behind you and you turn to see Simon tackling the officer for you. You want to tell him to stop, afraid he might get caught and arrested for his fate is undetermined. Markus sends out a message via the built-in telecommunication between other androids to address Simon. Don’t kill the man, just put him to sleep and disarm him.

Warm blood trickles down your arm and you feel yourself become lightheaded at the mere fact. Being a street medic didn’t particularly cure yourself of your fear of blood; only slightly. Markus can tell you aren’t doing so well and stops abruptly to examine you.

“You’re bleeding heavily,” Markus states but you close your eyes at the sound of his voice.

“And you are, too.”

“Why keep dragging me? I am just dead weight at this point. Some of my systems are failing as we speak.”

You maneuver over towards a darken alley away from the chaos. You check over your shoulder twice to make sure that no one is following you two and place Markus up against the brick wall behind the garbage bin.

“Because this world isn’t worth saving, but you are.” You place your free hand on Markus cheek and with his own uninjured arm, he covers yours with his. You take your backpack and reach for the blue blood you have with you. You instruct him to take some to replenish what he has lost while you get to work at creating a temporary solution to fix the cracks on his shoulder. You blink away any pain from your injured shoulder but Markus immediately notices.

With a gentle hand, he checks the damage on your shoulder. Luckily for you, the bullet went clean through your skin, missing any major arteries and only grazing across your shoulder. It is still messy but you couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.

“You’ll live, though I highly suggest you get to a hospital soon.”

You nod your head as you work on his shoulder. “Does your programming happen to know how to take care of this type of wound?”

Markus breathes in shallowly as you place a few spare components along his shoulder.

“I could try, but I won’t be as good as you.” Markus laughs softly as you bump your forehead on his nose and give him a playful look. Even in the worst of times, he still manages to bring out the bright side.

“Look at us, fixing each other’s wounds. Other couples could never,” you snort then close your eyes when the alcohol solution stings. Markus apologizes but you know he’s only doing what he needs to do.

Markus takes the bloody hand towel and tosses it to the side, grabbing a much cleaner one and putting pressure on the wound. “How did we get so lucky?”

You pause for a moment to reflect on the question. You were certain it had been a hypothetical one but you did want to know the answer. Markus trains his eyes on you when you stop what you’re doing.

“Maybe there are still good things left on this Earth.” A small smile forms on your lips and Markus mirrors your own action. He leans over and you catch his lips, falling into a soft kiss. Markus places his hand on your neck to bring you closer with a gentle caress. You feel tears fall down your cheek but you don’t let go. Markus can feel how damp your cheeks are getting so he stops to search for answers.

“What’s wrong?” You take a hold of his hand and bring them closer to kiss his hand.

“I thought I was going to lose you back there.”

Markus moves his hand so now that it’s on top of yours. He gives it a soft squeeze and looks into your eyes.

“I had to do what I had to do to keep everyone safe. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking of you to remain strong, to keep going. And you, my love, you took a bullet, a courageous act beyond words. You truly are the epitome of strength.” You bury your head into the crook of Markus’ neck and let out a sigh.

You two did good today.

Tagging: @kwaiky, @rebelfinn, @black-widow-fangirl, @spectacular-spiderboy, @chrisevansthedoritobastard