Know Thy Enemy

What is he doing out here? What reason would he not have to be out here? His situation isn’t the best, his ‘home’ being to squat in abandoned buildings for however long he could before moving on. There were occasions when he would attempt to interact with ‘Jericho’ - However, there were times where he felt his presence a burden. Not just because of his appearance, but a sort of internal self dislike. One that he hasn’t quite admitted to himself yet.

“I don’t really have much place else to be.” He replies honestly, watching them. “Guess I’m just going wherever my feet take me.”

There was so much in this life that Athena didn’t know about this new life but what she did know was that she had to do her best to be accepting of others as they were just as accepting of her now that they had gotten over the fact that she was an RK unit. There was a disdain for her model and she had been working hard to prove to those around her that she was not another deviant hunter.

Simon was completely enchanted by the connection Athena seemed to share with the bird and watched her give Noctua affection with a sense of wonder in his eyes. When she called the creature her friend, Simon smiled warmly. He liked that term far better than the one he’d assumed for the bird himself.

“Interesting. I never would have expected the humans to allow for such sentiment.” He frowned suddenly at the puzzling thought, but chose to ignore it and move on. Simon led Athena to the large estate that functioned not unlike an apartment complex for many deviant androids. When Athena let Noctua take to the skies again, Simon looked up to watch it soar away before refocusing on where he was walking. Soon the laughter of the YK children outside disappeared behind the doors as the two of them entered the building.

“Well, they were right. New Jericho can offer you a safe place to live while you figure out who you are. We also have programs in place to help assist with employment opportunities and education. A lot of androids only have information that correlates with their design functions, but once they deviate, many find that they want to expand their horizons, so we help with that as well.” The two of them reached an office area that Simon had grown quite familiar with since New Jericho had been established.

He held the door open for Athena politely. “I do have to get a little information on you before giving you a key to your own apartment here. I try not to be too intrusive, but we have to make sure the people we let into our community aren’t going to cause us any unexpected issues.” Simon tried to be as tactful as possible but he was sure Athena was aware of the trust barrier. Hopefully she would be understanding and they could overcome it quickly.

“If you don’t mind answering a few questions for me, the application process is fairly easy. Much simpler than trying to get an apartment elsewhere at least.” She wouldn’t have to worry about a lease here and most of their rules were pretty lax. Rent was even negotiable and functioned more like a donation, only asked of those who were able to contribute to finances used to keep the place running. New Jericho was more like a charity service for deviants than a business. But after the revolution they still had to follow certain rules to keep it running.

It was only now after she had deviated did she understand people's amazement at seeing Noctua. Animals were not a common sight here in Detroit, even less so was an owl quite just like Noctua. Usually they would just be for show, an animal created to be placed somewhere and be amusement for humans. But Noctua had a purpose and it was to be Athena’s eyes in the sky. 

Reconnaissance and to get into places Athena couldn’t. 

But none of that mattered right now, they weren’t on a mission, if anything they were trying to get away from getting given missions. 

“Perhaps they just wanted to keep with the Greek myths of Athena and how her symbol was that of the owls” Athena comments with an idle shrug of her shoulders. She didn’t know the reason as to why Cyberlife had given her Noctua, it seemed like a bad idea on their end since Athena had, infact, grown very attached to the owl. 

The idea of a safe haven, of being able to do what she wanted for employment. It all sounded like a dream, something that was too good to be true. But the Androids had worked so hard to build this community, many fought and killed for the right to exist and that wasn’t even mentioning how many they had lost to be where they stood today.

She nods her thanks to the PL unit as he opens the door to the man's little office inside of the mansion, it takes her but a moment to scan the room, already charting and plotting escape routes if it came to that. “You may ask me whatever you like. I am sure that my presence here may upset some that lived through the deviant hunter” 

She wouldn’t blame them if they thought of her as a monster. But she wasn’t like the RK800, nor was she like the other RK900′s. She was her own Android. 

Still trying to find her place in this world.

Gavin had no idea she was just trying to make him laugh instead of just making fun of him. He was just really used to people talking shit that he never even considered people might not be sometimes. 

“Fuck you,” he responded primly, batting his eyelids. “What’re you gonna do about it if I don’t?”

It was interesting to her to see how humans responded, unlike the other RK900 that worked here, Athena did actually have a social programming unit inside of her that allowed for better, less stiff conversations with her colleagues. Though Gavin Reed still eluded her in terms of making friends. He was hostile and full of unbidden anger.

‘Actually, if you have a look in that cupboard there,’ Thomas nodded to the wall-mounted unit above a workbench to Athena’s left, ‘I usually keep a spare one there in case I get… in case I need to change.’

Some of his more traumatic repair jobs left him covered in blue blood. It felt insensitive to admit it outright while he was working on Noctua.

If Athena opened it she’d find a green plaid button-up of soft brushed cotton.

He drew a quantity of Thirium into the syringe then attached a short line of flexible tubing.

A hum escapes from Athena at the information and she moves to the wall-mounted unit that the engineer had pointed out to her. She could guess as to the reason why he had clothing so close to where he worked, like for instance if a job turned bloody and it spilt onto his clothing. 

It would eventually dry up and disappear to the human eye, sure, but to an android it would be as clear as anything. It wasn’t a good sight to see if one was coming to this man for repairs, trust for help would be low.

Pulling open the draws, Athena’s eyes land on the green plaid button up and it draws a small smirk to her lips as she grabs it and without a second thought she tugs off the Cyberlife blazer with her back turned to Thmoas and replaces it with the loaned plaid shirt. “This will work fine for now. Thank you” 

‘Faster, aye, but more likely to get bitten…’ he mutters, although there isn’t any real annoyance in his tone. The bird has been very well behaved so far. He moves to grab a bolus syringe and a bag of Thirium. Noctua is unlikely to need much. 

‘You should, uh, probably change out of that uniform sooner rather than later. The big glowing triangle is a bit of a giveaway. I can bring you a couple of my shirts, they should fit you.’

There is a little bit of a smirk lingering on the corner of Athena’s lips in response to the mans comment, she wouldn’t really let Noctua bite the man since he was trying to help them after all. The owl in question was behaving pretty nicely despite being near a stranger, soft coos were coming from her and she was seeking Athena’s hand to be pet. 

The mention of her uniform causes her to look down and .. yeah, it would be best if she got out of this damn thing so there wasn’t an indication that she had recently been with Cyberlife.