Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In the year 2113 an earth-destroying war swept across the lands, nations destroying each other without any kind of empathy. A battle for victory had begun, every country trying to produce deadlier weapons than the other. And with this, a still small company named Celestial Cyber Cooperation (CCC) in the country of Anevony had developed the most lethal weapon: Androids.

When his creators had developed him, they thought they had only created a weapon of war; an assassination android made to kill, made to destroy. What they hadn’t expected was that SK-0010, as it was engraved on his neck, would develop a consciousness.

It had happened one morning when the highest commander of the troops ordered one of his subordinates to get the android out of his docking station to prepare him for the next battle.

Booting his system up and opening his red, soulless eyes, the only thing that gave away he wasn’t human besides a little display on his left arm and his tattoo, SK-0010 had exclaimed,
“I won’t work for you anymore.”

That one statement had seemed to set off a wave of horror in the soldier, who immediately pressed the connect button on his radio set, fearfully stuttering,
“I-I need help in section IV, something s-seems to be wrong with SK‘s programming!”

But when the reinforcement had arrived, the soldier was lying on the ground, blood streaming from his head and SK-0010 was long gone.
What the troops didn’t know was that it wasn’t a fault in SK‘s code, but his consciousness that made him act the way he did.

•••

Two years later the earth was long destroyed by the war, ruins of skyscrapers characterizing the landscape. Humans had damaged the planet irreversibly, destroying the geomagnetic field with their armed conflicts, exposing the earth’s surface to dangerous rays of sunlight. With that, ecosystems had died, most plants and animals had gone extinct. Earth looked like a dry desert planet, nothing but endlessnesses everywhere one looked. There was only roughly 0.1 percent of the previous human population left, the changed climate making it difficult for biological lifeforms to survive.
By now, the rest of the population knew about androids and their apparent danger, the accident with SK-0010 being known under the name “File Case 0010”. The accident had been the first one of this category, but many more had followed, androids now living in old city ruins far away from the rest of the human population. Being hunted for the hefty bounty on their heads, an android's life consisted of constantly being on the run. Somehow, the humans had managed to put all the blame for the destroyed earth on them, arousing a bitter rivalry between the two parties. The androids’ suppression led to them aching for emancipation, needing to free themselves from the invisible shackles humans had put on them. They wanted what every living being longed for: freedom.

“So you‘re still a lone wolf, Kiyoomi?” SK-0010 heard a very familiar sounding voice shout as he strutted down the sand road in the middle of Panopticon, an abandoned city in the desert of Anevony. The city was more or less a safe place for androids, the climate making it impossible for humans to survive here on the long run. Ever since the downfall of Panopticon only a few humans had been sighted here, because in the summer months the temperature could go up to 60℃ (140℉). Besides that, there wasn’t much water.

Looking up the rundown skyscraper where the voice had come from, SK-0010, now going by the name of Sakusa Kiyoomi, found another familiar android sitting in a window frame on the fourth floor, eating something that looked like a part of a roasted rat. It was Suna Rintarou, number SR-0007. The androids had started giving themselves names shortly after having broken free from the humans. They didn’t understand why they had done so, but their consciousness had made almost each of them determine a “real” name. Maybe it was a subconscious longing for feeling something close to human, a call for recognition as a sentient being.

“There‘s no reason for us to form connections with others. It’s not in our nature,” Sakusa replied, dryly, continuing his way. Behind him, he heard Suna jumping down the window frame, landing directly next to him.

“You feel. You have emotions. All that allows us to form connections,” Suna replied, stretching himself, while walking alongside Sakusa.

“Miss me with that bullshit. We are androids, not humans,” Sakusa hissed, having heard Suna’s beliefs often enough already.

Laughing quietly, Suna looked at Sakusa‘s side profile and answered,
“You know that you long for connections subconsciously. So why do you resist your urges?”

“Forming connections for what? We‘ll never be human and humans will never accept us. It‘ll only lead to more conflicts. I don’t need that, Rin… And stop eating, we also don’t need that,” Sakusa stated, feeling as if Suna was the one dismissing their nature.

Shaking his head, still grinning and not accepting Sakusa‘s rant, Suna replied with a full mouth,
“I don’t need it, but I can. What‘s hindering me? Our creators have made us this way, so I’m making the most out of my features. Have you tried eating once? It’s delicious. You should do it.”

“I‘m never going to eat a fucking rat,” Sakusa spat, once again annoyed by Suna. This was the reason he was a lone wolf, androids and humans got on his nerves to the exact same extent. But at least, androids didn’t want to kill him.

“Fine, no one‘s forcing you. But you should know that me and the others would love to take you in, in our little family, I mean. Well, you know that already, don’t you?” Suna asked, still walking along with Sakusa, not knowing where he was heading to.

Sakusa knew that Suna and a few other androids had formed something they called “a family”, living together on the fourth floor of the building he had just passed. Ever since Suna had seen him for the first time, it was more or less the only thing the android had talked about. Well, he had also talked a bit about the story of how he had arrived here, not that it concerned Sakusa the slightest bit. Suna had told him that he had escaped the humans only a few weeks after him, having roamed the country without any goal before he had arrived here. A few days after his arrival, he had talked to Sakusa for the first time. Somehow Suna and the others knew that Sakusa was the first android to have ever escaped, making them treat him like some kind of god, pestering him 24/7 about joining their family. But Sakusa didn’t have any interest in that.

“We‘re androids, we don’t have families,” Sakusa remarked, dryly. He knew that Suna longed for being a human, but he didn’t want to start the argument of having human emotions with him again. However, it seemed like it was already to late for this as the other android remarked,
“It’s nice to have someone to rely on, you know?”

However, seeing Sakusa‘s absolutely disinterested face, Suna gave up convincing him; at least for now.
“Anyway, where are you going in the middle of midday heat?”

“Getting new screws for a project. I’m trying to build my own docking station, so that I don’t have to rely on the old ones left behind by humans. Because I don’t like relying on anyone or anything,” Sakusa answered, emphasizing the last phrase, showing Suna he really didn’t want to know anything about his family.

Letting out a quiet huff, Suna remarked,
“You‘re like some mad professor, staying inside the whole day and only working on his projects.”

“I‘m outside right now, am I not?” Sakusa answered back.

“Only to get new stuff for your project,” Suna laughed, throwing the rest of the rat away, since there were only bones left. Sakusa only watched the leftovers in disgust. He didn’t reply to Suna‘s statements anymore.
“Anyways I have to go hunting with my family now, see you around, lone wolf,” Suna added, once no reply from Sakusa came. And with that, android SR-0007 was gone. Sakusa didn’t even bother to say goodbye, knowing damn well this wasn’t the last time he would see Suna today.

"Fucking hell…” Sakusa muttered, once the silence fell upon him like a veil. The only noise was the wind, making metalwork lying around rattle a bit. Continuing his way, Sakusa sighed deeply. The silence was what he enjoyed the most, no wonder that he was a lone wolf. Or at least, that was what Sakusa liked to tell himself. Maybe he was more afraid of commitment and the rejection that would follow, keeping him from forming any kind of relationship. However, for Sakusa it was clear that he didn’t need others, after all, he had made it so far all by himself.

Soon enough, the silence was, much to Sakusa‘s dismay, over again. He was close to the shop where he wanted to get screws from, hearing the owner welding metal. Next to Suna's constant talking, these were the sounds that Sakusa couldn't escape: Androids working on metal, welding, flexing, tacking and screwing something.

“I need new screws,” Sakusa yelled, trying to be louder than the sounds the owner made. Luckily for him, he was heard, because having to repeat himself would mean more talking, and if Sakusa disliked one thing, it was having conversations.

“Well, hello there, SK-0010. What a nice surprise,” the owner grinned, stopping his work and taking his screwdriver arm off. He quickly replaced it with his real arm, putting both pieces together. Upon observing him, Sakusa came to the conclusion that he was even more of a lone wolf than he was himself. Fuck Suna‘s statement anyways. Sakusa knew what was good for him, and being dependent on someone was not on that list.

The owner of the shop also rejected any kind of adaptation from humans to the extent where he didn’t even use the names the androids had given themselves. Everyone just knew the owner under his number, IH-0004. Maybe that was the reason Sakusa found himself quite fond of him. Finally someone who didn’t pester him with emotions and feelings, but let him be what he was, just an android, made to function.

“I‘m still working on the docking station, would you mind giving me more screws?” Sakusa asked, interrupting his own thoughts. There were more important things to do than thinking about his own likes and dislikes.

“And what do I get? If I give you the screws, I mean,” IH-0004 asked, not caring about selflessness or any other human concept. He only did things that also benefited him.

“I brought you a few boundary wires I found on the way,” Sakusa answered, grabbing them from underneath his clothes which resembled a diving suit. With the exception of a few extreme nonconformists like IH-0004, all androids still wore their given clothes from their creators.

Nodding and looking almost happy, the android remarked,
“Good, I could use them. Leave them here on my table and get the screws yourself, won’t you? You should know by now where they are.”
Afterwards, he continued on whatever crazy project he had been working on, not paying attention to Sakusa anymore.

Not responding, knowing that IH-0004 was busy anyways, Sakusa put the boundary wires on the table before walking further into the shop, which resembled an old garage. Navigating through the scraps of metal on the floor led Sakusa to conclude that tidying wasn't one of IH-0004's priorities. He probably wanted to improve the androids’ programming, which the old disassembled memory card gave away, lying in between the mess. It was the only thing androids didn’t know yet, how their programming worked and how their consciousness had developed. It took away the chance to modify their own codes to improve their functionality even more.

Hoping that one day IH-0004 or anyone else would succeed in understanding their nature, Sakusa stepped further into the garage. And the further he walked, the darker it got, windows not to be seen anywhere. He rationalized that IH-0004 probably picked the place for that exact reason, not wanting strangers to see his projects. Luckily for Sakusa, he could see in the dark. Being machines of war, or so the humans had intended them to be, androids were equipped with night-vision. Not being able to orientate themselves in the dark would’ve surely been a disadvantage. Once more, it made Sakusa glad that he wasn’t human. They had too many weaknesses anyways.

Finally arriving at the back of the shop, Sakusa squeezed himself through the many shelves which were placed too closely to one another. Once again questioning IH-0004‘s organizational skills, he grabbed a plastic bag lying around on his way to the screw shelf. Arriving at the shelf in question, which was of course the one furthest in the back, Sakusa finally grabbed all the screws he needed to throw them into his new bag. Not wanting to waste anymore time, he immediately made his way out of the shop again, wanting to continue working on his docking station. He feared that the one he usually recharged himself with wouldn’t last much longer. After all, human technology had its flaws. Luckily for the androids, they knew how to correct almost every single one.

“What’s with the bag? You‘re stealing it?” IH-0004 commented half-jokingly when he saw Sakusa leaving.

Not even looking back, he quickly remarked,
“That‘s the regular customer discount,” before continuing his way. Behind his back, he could hear IH-0004 huffing quietly.

Arriving on the sandy street again, Sakusa stared directly into the sun. Realizing that it had wandered a bit, Sakusa concluded that his little trip had taken him one hour so far; much more than he had originally planned. Sighing again, he threw his plastic bag over his shoulder and picked up his speed a bit. Not too much though, because he didn’t want to waste any of his charging. In contrast to Suna he actually tried keeping his charging hours to a minimum, not wanting to be vulnerable during those times or by any means, damage his battery by overcharging. Yes, even androids had their flaws, because in the end they were a product of human innovation.

“I see you’re done?” a voice ripped Sakusa out of his thoughts. Knowing that it was the exact same android as before trying to pester him, Sakusa kept his fast pace and replied monotonously,
“Obviously.”

Quickly catching up, this time holding a whole rat in his hands, Suna remarked,
“Could you slow down for a second? I need to talk to you.”

“Time‘s valuable, so no.”

“Opposed to humans, we don't have death awaiting us. You have all the time you need,” Suna replied, questioning Sakusa‘s behavior.

“But my docking station hasn’t,” Sakusa replied, voice sounding serious, worrying once more about the durability of it.
“If you want to talk, come with me… or even better, just don’t bother me at all,” he added, still keeping up his pace.

Sighing loudly, Suna rolled his eyes,
“You’re a mean one, I don’t have much charging left. Anyways, I just wanted to warn you that we saw some weird things going on in the desert while hunting.”

Raising one eyebrow and actually lowering his pace, Sakusa got wary. Weird things could only mean one thing: Humans. Humans were always bad news, no two ways about it.

“Humans?” Sakusa asked, lowering his voice.

“We saw motorcycles a few kilometers south-east from the city. We immediately stopped hunting and came back here, but before hiding with the others I wanted to warn you, since you’re all by yourself... Charge with one eye open,” Suna warned him.

Actually glad about Suna‘s presence for once, Sakusa nodded and replied,
“Thanks, I guess. I‘ll be cautious.”

“The offer still stands, you know… joining my fam-”

“No, thanks, I’ll manage everything,” Sakusa interrupted Suna. A few humans couldn’t do him any harm anyways. He was ten times stronger and cleverer than them, Sakusa was sure about that.

“Fine, but you‘ll know where to find us,” Suna replied, having a bad feeling of leaving the lone wolf all by himself, but knowing he had to hide now too.

A simple nod was the only reply Sakusa gave Suna, before speeding up again and leaving him behind. Now, he had more than one reason to finally arrive at his skyscraper again.

•••

Pushing open the heavy metal doors which led inside, Sakusa finally entered the abandoned skyscraper he had built his base in. He absolutely disliked those iron doors, hanging there crooked in the frame, squeaking every time the wind blew against them. Luckily for him, he had decided to build his base on the 8th floor, so that he didn’t have to hear those pesky noises all the time. On his floor, the only thing he was able to hear was the wind whistling around the corners, blowing sand through the broken windows. Otherwise it was, much to his liking, completely silent. He had chosen that unoccupied building willfully, not wanting any neighbors who tried communicating like some wannabe humans.

Jumping up the gray concrete stairs, he couldn’t wait to finally continue working on his new docking station. There had to be a way of improving those mediocre technologies humans had developed. After all, the androids had already managed to enable docking stations to work with solar panels. If they hadn’t succeeded with that, it would’ve surely been their end, since there wasn’t any electricity in android-occupied regions.

Guessing it was the transistor, Sakusa arrived on the 8th floor, thinking the reason his own docking station didn’t work yet was lying there. Immediately walking over to the huge device which took up almost one quarter of the space in the room it stood, Sakusa sighed. It was frustrating, having to work on such a trivial task everyday, not quite succeeding. He asked himself how humans had ever been able to innovate technology so much, when his IQ was countless times higher.

Soon enough he found himself in a spiral of thoughts, the issue with the invaders in the desert long forgotten, mind occupied with finding faults in human technology, not noticing how much time was passing. Time was a weird concept anyway and Sakusa had never understood why humans were so obsessed with it.

Only when his battery started beeping, too loud for his taste, signaling him that it needed to recharge, Sakusa got ripped out of his thoughts. Looking at the display on his arm, he saw a red ten blinking rapidly. Ten percent wasn’t much to live on, Sakusa knew that much. Now remembering that his original plan was to recharge in the morning, he cursed himself. The issue with the missing screws had made him forget to connect to the docking station.

Hurrying over into his second room where his old docking station was placed, he immediately connected three cables to his body; one to each arm, and one to his back. He knew that getting under five percent was quite dangerous, so he didn’t want to lose any other percentage of his battery charge. If an android had to shut down because his battery was empty, there was no way he could boot himself up on his own again. His fate would lie in the hands of someone else recharging him. Grabbing the last cable, Sakusa connected it to the back of his head, which led to shutting androids down to recharge. Usually, they would only wake up on their own when their charging had reached 100 percent. It was why Sakusa considered charging as dangerous; it put him in a vulnerable position.

Red eyes closing, his system shutting down, Sakusa expected to wake up when he was fully charged again. But it seemed like fate, if that even existed, had other plans for him.

A loud beeping signal made his system boot up again, confusing the android. Noticing how it was dark outside, Sakusa knew that quite some time had passed, but not enough to fully recharge. Disoriented, he dared to take a look at the display on his arm again.

Three percent.

Three percent was not enough to survive on.

Three percent must’ve meant that his docking station didn’t recharge him.

Three percent must’ve meant his docking station finally broke. It broke at such a crucial moment.

A million thoughts ran through his mind. He knew that three percent weren’t enough to reach Suna or any other android to borrow their docking station.

Three percent meant he had to let his system forcefully shut down, hoping that another android would find him. All this would’ve already been scary enough by itself, but the loud roaring of motorcycle engines echoing through the streets outside of the building made things even worse.

Humans.

Chapter Text

The wind outside had turned into a sandstorm, making the window frames and the rest of the broken glass rattle violently.

It was the sound Sakusa booted up to. It took him longer than usual, the completely empty battery had stained his efficiency. Feeling himself slowly coming to his senses again, Sakusa had trouble focusing. The sound of sand hitting glass, a persisting and nerve-wracking sound, made it hard to orientate himself, not knowing where he was. He felt confused and lost, feeling like something was missing. The last thing he remembered was being on the run, battery level too low to withstand the humans. Under normal circumstances he would’ve been able to end them all, probably single-handedly. But not this time.

Hearing distant voices calling out his name, Sakusa slowly came back to himself, but it felt like his head was underwater. He wasn’t able to fully perceive everything, the rattling of window frames being too unsettling to focus on anything else.

“Kiyoomi?” he heard a distant voice again, leading to him finally completing to boot his system up, red eyes opening.

“Are you okay?” he perceived a familiar voice, slowly understanding where he was. Right in front of his fluttering eyes was Suna, fumbling around with some cables. Knowing he wasn’t at Suna‘s flat because the floor he was on was much higher, Sakusa slowly took a look around. The room looked similar to his own, no wallpaper or flooring anywhere, just concrete covered in dust and sand which the wind blew through the broken windows. Except for the docking station which was still connected to his body, nothing much was in the room except for a few metal pieces and technological components on the ground. Noticing that it was still dark outside, only blinking red rays lighting up the room a bit, Sakusa concluded that he hadn’t been shut off for too long, probably only a few hours.

“I asked if you’re okay,” he heard Suna ask again, this time with more pressure in his voice. But instead of answering, Sakusa noticed that the red lights in the room were coming from the display on his left arm, turning his head to have a look at it. The thought of where he was was long forgotten, turning his attention to the screen which usually gave androids information about their charging and system status in the form of an humanoid silhouette being displayed. It flashed dangerously. Immediately noticing that his right arm and a tiny part on his head right behind his ear were marked as damaged alarmed him in an instant. Using his eyes to operate the display, Sakusa looked at his arm first, the display zooming in on the issue.

TOP RIGHT EXTREMITY ABSENT, flashed all over his screen.

Realizing that Sakusa was already checking his system for any mistakes, Suna got his answer. Sakusa‘s consciousness was working the way it should.
“I‘ll help you make a new arm, don’t worry,” he remarked, seeing how Sakusa looked at his missing right arm, some cables hanging loosely out of his shoulder. Luckily for him though, an arm was something he could easily replace, knowing that IH-0004 probably had all the right components for it, meaning he only needed to collect a few more boundary wires to exchange the components for.

Not replying to Suna‘s offer, Sakusa continued checking his system. The arm hadn’t been a shock to him, but the fact that something on his head was damaged too, was concerning. Operating the display with his eyes again, Sakusa brought the screen back to the main menu, displaying his silhouette. This time focusing on the red part on his head, the screen soon displaced a message which was by far more alarming than his missing arm.

EQUILIBRIUM CHIP ABSENT.

“This isn’t good… this isn’t good at all,” Sakusa uttered quietly, knowing that his missing chip would have serious consequences. Hoping that it was just an indication error, he reached behind his ear, touching the slot where the equilibrium chip was usually placed. Carefully stroking over the slot, Sakusa soon enough noticed that the chip was, much to his dismay, missing. Unfortunately, an equilibrium chip was as hard to replace as a memory chip. Androids had enough knowledge about chips and, in theory, were able to produce them, if it wasn’t for the missing raw materials and machines necessary for their production. Sakusa’s case was hopeless and he knew it.

“Shut me down, Rin, irreversibly,” Sakusa ordered, knowing there wasn’t any chance of recovery. Even though androids were able to live without an equilibrium chip, even able to walk normally, problems would start to arise as soon as any movement which was more complicated than a single step, would be carried out. A missing equilibrium chip took the ability away to balance oneself and to control movements, hindering the android from doing what he had been created for: functioning. And to Sakusa, a non-functioning android was useless.

“Why would I do that?” Suna asked, confused, winding up a few cables lying on the ground.

As a response, Sakusa only stretched his arm out, showing the other android his red display.

“Equilibrium chip absent,” Suna read out loud, only understanding a second later what that meant.
“They took your fucking chip?!”

Raising one eyebrow, Sakusa asked,
“Who is “they”? The humans?”

Nodding furiously, Suna answered,
“I told you being able to rely on someone is important… Why didn’t you listen? I had a bad feeling about leaving you alone, so I went out again to get you… And guess what? When I arrived I found you lying on the ground, completely discharged, with those pesky humans all over you, trying to disassemble you… You have to be more careful…”

Looking quite distressed, Suna added loudly,
“If I had the ability to cry I would’ve surely started weeping by now! And no, I’m not going to shut you down, we‘ll get your chip back!”

Not understanding why Suna was so worked up over another android voicing his interest in being shut down, Sakusa huffed. Where was Suna‘s rationality? This was what made them better than humans, no emotions but rationality. How was Suna able to dismiss their robotic nature completely?

“Think about it this way: There are a lot of parts of my system that still work, even a memory chip. Use them as a backup, if something happens to you or to your family,” Sakusa replied, shrugging his shoulders. Now that he was a non-functioning android, his survival instinct had stopped, telling him that shutting down was, rationally, the wisest decision.

“I can’t do the one thing we were created to do. I‘m not functioning, Rin. What‘s not clicking?” he added once the other android didn’t reply.

“We‘re more than just robots made to function. You should know that,” Suna replied, sounding disappointed with a pained look on his face.

Sighing loudly, Sakusa didn’t know what else to say, knowing that Suna was hinting at androids having feelings again. Dysfunctioning and ready to be shut down, Sakusa didn’t have the nerve to discuss such a trivial matter again.

The sandstorm swirling sand and small stones against the skyscraper‘s facade was the only sound echoing through the otherwise silent room.

Looking out of the broken window, Sakusa had already made peace with shutting down. He was ready to let his consciousness go, in contrast to Suna, who sat on the ground, drawing circles into the dirt.

“You’re an idiot, Kiyoomi,” Suna finally broke the silence, “you only act like you don’t have any emotions because you‘re afraid of getting hurt.”

And with that, he stood up and left the room, not that Sakusa wanted to reply anyways. Once more, silence fell upon the room, except for the wind whistling around the corners. It made Sakusa sigh in relief. If he had to shut down, he at least wanted to do it in complete silence. Ripping out the last docking station cable connected to his left arm, Sakusa mentally prepared himself. He wanted to concentrate on the task, if it wasn’t for Suna storming into the room again, dragging someone along behind him. Noticing that someone was tied up, hands bound together with cables, Sakusa raised an eyebrow. Why did Suna have to tie another android up?

However, things started to explain themselves, as the stranger looked up.

He didn’t have red eyes.

“A human?“ Sakusa asked, dryly, not believing his eyes. Were they damaged too?
“Do you have some sort of malfunction? Explain yourself,” he demanded, shocked by the man‘s presence in the room.

“He knows where your equilibrium chip is, so don’t kill him yet,” Suna explained, doing exactly what Sakusa had asked him to do.
“Blondie here is your only chance,” he added, pushing the man further into the room, making him fall to the ground right in front of Sakusa.

“And how do you know that the human says the truth?” Sakusa asked in return, not believing that Suna had captured a human and taken him into his apartment. To Sakusa it seemed like Suna really had lost all touch with rationality. It was a stupid thing to do.

“I caught him when I fought the humans off your body,” Suna explained, “he was just a bystander so I concluded that he was quite the loser, not courageous enough. Capturing him was easy.”

If Sakusa wasn’t mistaken, he could recognize a bit of fear in the human‘s eyes. They were disoriented, looking around the room like they were searching for something. He knew that it was the lack of light that made the man so wary, not knowing where the androids were, afraid of what would happen to him. Only Sakusa‘s display sparsely lit up the room in a dark red color, so the human must’ve interpreted the atmosphere as dangerous. The loud noises of the building‘s facade probably didn’t improve the situation.

“We‘ll get your chip back, Kiyoomi, at all costs,” Suna emphasized, sounding serious. He wasn’t ready to let Sakusa‘s consciousness go by any means.

Realizing there was a chance for him to make it, Sakusa sighed. He was torn between two options, either shutting down or getting his chip back. Shutting down was surely the quickest way, but getting his chip back would mean fighting till the end. And that was what he was supposed to do, right? To fight until there‘s nothing left, to work how he was supposed to.

Seeing a chance to fully function again, Sakusa concluded,
“Fine, we‘ll try. But fix your eye first, Rin… don’t act like there isn’t a cut on your iris. I can see the internal metal pieces from over here. You‘ll hinder us if you don’t fix it.”

Slapping his hand over his eye, Suna lied,
“I don’t know what you mean…”
He didn’t want to admit that he got hurt, wanting to avoid Sakusa calling him out on his reckless move saving him.

Obviously being able to distinguish a truth from a lie, Sakusa huffed,
“There‘s a cut on your eye, making it twitch the whole time. You have problems orientating, don’t you? You‘re an idiot for saving me and getting hurt in the process.”

Shaking his head, Suna replied,
“Not an idiot, but a sentient being.”

“Sentient being? You cannot properly define either of those words. You’re not sentient, you‘re malfunctioning, nothing else,” Sakusa huffed, before turning his attention to the man in front of him,
“So, where are your friends?”

The man didn’t answer, eyes still scanning the room. It made Sakusa huff from amusement, thinking about the fact that humans weren’t able to see in the dark. Poor humans and their shit genetics.

“You better speak, human. You’re in a room with two androids,” Sakusa remarked, wanting to cross his arms only to be painfully reminded that his right one was missing.

“At o-our base,” the man stuttered, still being wary of his surroundings. When no response came, he seemed to understand that further elaboration was demanded, so he continued speaking,
“I-it‘s around 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) north of the c-city.”

“And how long will they stay there?” Sakusa asked back, annoyed that he had to pull every piece of information out of the human.

“I‘m s-sure they‘ll come back to the city to raid even more,” the man answered, carefully adding,
“But I’m n-not like them! Really! I never wanted t-to hurt anyone.”

Sighing, Sakusa rolled his eyes. Humans and their self-righteous actions, trying to free themselves from guilt… It was pathetic, really. They had done gruesome things to androids, but when called out they all acted like it hadn’t been them. Sakusa was glad he didn’t have anything in common with humans.

“Funny you say that, because you’re also at fault for my dysfunction,” Sakusa huffed.

“I only a-accompanied them to keep them from stealing things and hurting you, I swear! I came here to prove androids are actually just like us… sentient beings. I wanted to c-convince them, I thought they would listen to me once I had proof. You should know that I’m an activist, I want the rivalry between a-androids and humans to end. But sadly… they were driven by money… Typical human, huh?” the man ranted, still stuttering.

Humans really always do the most; acting all high and mighty. The man’s actions fueled Sakusa‘s hate for humans, even more, swearing he would never become like them. They were weak-willed, hate-fueled, and in general, personified everything Sakusa had an aversion to.
“Activist? What for? Us androids don’t want to live with you, you have made us suffer enough. Humans are a burden, nothing else,” Sakusa replied, earning a disappointed gaze from Suna for it. He was able to calculate based on Suna’s previous statements that the android probably had the same goals as the human, wanting to form a unity too, but Sakusa couldn’t bring himself to care. Suna‘s wannabe human act was completely out of place, at least to Sakusa. This was about him and his important chip, not about forming unity.

“Don‘t look at me like that, Rin. We‘re androids, not humans. We‘re stronger because we're rational. We don’t need unity. We‘re made to function, not to feel,” Sakusa added, still feeling Suna‘s piercing stare on him.

Except for the noises the wind made, silence followed. Sighing loudly, Suna touched his forehead, walking around in circles in the dark room, stirring up sand that covered the ground. He looked frustrated, probably by Sakusa‘s behavior. The window frames were still rattling, giving the whole setting an uneasy atmosphere.

“So we‘ll fix ourselves as much as possible tomorrow and then we‘ll talk about the rest?” Sakusa decided to break the silence. There was no time to act all offended, so he tried stopping Suna from trying to be human.

As a response, Sakusa heard Suna sigh,
“Fine… I‘ll fix my eye, you‘ll fix your arm and then we‘ll meet here again. Blondie will help you though, I’m gonna be busy enough with my own dysfunction.”

“Spending the whole day with a human, I can’t imagine anything better,” Sakusa commented sarcastically, knowing that he depended on the human‘s help. In his current condition, there was no way he would be able to collect boundary wires and other technical junk IH-0004 wanted in return for the components for his arm. Having a strong aversion to being dependent on anyone or anything, Sakusa knew that it wasn’t going to be an easy task. And if that wasn’t enough, the someone he had to depend on was human.

“But first we have to make sure that the human doesn’t run away,” Sakusa added, raising his eyebrow and looking at the frightened man, kneeling right in front of him as if he was some god.
“Do you have any ideas?”

As a response, Suna shrugged his shoulders, remarking,
“I don’t know, do whatever you like.”

Having his eyes wide open, the man started shaking a bit and stuttered,
“W-wait! I thought you were on my side!”
He looked around the room to find Suna‘s silhouette in the dim light, but failed, eyes still not adapted to the darkness enough.

“Listen, I do believe that androids are able to feel human emotions, and I would love to live in harmony with everyone, but that doesn’t mean I trust you. You were the one watching my friend getting disassembled, doing nothing,” Suna replied, a bit of venom in his voice, red eyes staring holes into the man. After all, he should be glad he couldn’t see, Suna‘s gaze would’ve frightened him even more.

Upon hearing Suna using the term friend, a quiet huff escaped Sakusa‘s lips, remarking,
“Friendship is a human construct, I‘d rather have you not calling me friend. But anyways, I’m glad your system still seems to work, at least the slightest bit, since you also don’t trust the human.”

Rolling his eyes for the millionth time today, Suna replied,
“Fine, I won’t, acquaintance.”

Not paying attention to Suna‘s argument, Sakusa changed the topic back to not trusting the human again.
“I’ve got an idea,” he remarked, monotonously as always, “on the northern side of the city is the old prison camp, they‘ll probably have electric shackles there or something. We‘ll just put it on the human and if he runs away I’ll electroshock him like the mutt he is.”

“Yeah, sounds good. I guess since your dysfunction hinders you from getting it, it’s my task to obtain them, right?” Suna replied, looking like he expected at least a bit of gratitude from Sakusa. But of course, nothing came. After all, gratitude was a human attribute too.

“Correct. We‘ll tie him to the heating pipe before you go, so that he doesn’t try anything funny,” Sakusa answered, grabbing a few cable ties that were lying on the ground close to him, before throwing them to Suna.

The android caught them with ease, having been able to calculate where they would fly, commenting,
“Good, then we‘ll have our plan.”

Seeing the fear in the human‘s eyes, Suna added,
“You promised to help us and if you keep your promise, Kiyoomi won’t have a reason to hurt you. So just be a good dog and behave.”

Now, they only had to wait for the sandstorm to end. The androids forecasted clear skies and hot temperatures for the next morning. They knew that by noon the midday sun would mercilessly burn down on Panopticon again, just like it always did.

Chapter Text

As expected, the sandstorm had ended by early morning the next day, sun burning anything biologically alive beneath it in Panopticon again.

Having tied the human to the heating pipe, Suna had left the skyscraper, now on his way to the old prison camp. Strolling down the dry sand road, he asked himself if Kiyoomi and the human would jump at each other's throats while he was gone. There was surely a chance that when he came back, the human wasn’t anymore. However, he seriously hoped that wouldn’t be the case; not because he pitied the human but because he wished for his friend to fully function again.

•••

“So… w-we‘re alone?” the human asked, stuttering a bit, breaking the silence Sakusa had forced the two into. He didn’t want to speak to him. Just nodding, Sakusa kept his mouth shut.

The human looked wary of his surroundings, finally able to see the android with the strong, punishing rays of sunlight finding their way through the broken windows, into the abandoned building. The dust dancing in the sunlight was the only thing moving in the room. Sakusa and the human sat across each other, leaning on opposing walls respectively, not moving as if they were in a shock-induced paralysis. There was an undeniable tension between them, making the human seem intimidated. The sight of Sakusa‘s missing arm probably disturbed him too. After all, Sakusa just looked like a human for the most part.

“I‘m sorry… for your arm, I mean,” the human broke the silence again, looking at the cables that hung out of the android‘s shoulder. It made Sakusa huff, astonished by the self-righteous statement. Sure that the human only apologized to get rid of his guilty feeling, Sakusa raised an eyebrow, but still didn’t speak. Looking across the room, the gaze directed at the human couldn’t get any more revolted, red eyes staring daggers into him.

“I mean it, I‘m sorry this happened to you,” the human emphasized, showing courage, but making Sakusa‘s patience finally wear thin. Eyes not leaving the human across the room, sitting there on the dusty ground, Sakusa remarked,
“I don’t care, human. I really don’t care.”

Probably not knowing what to say, the human kept quiet, silence falling upon the room again, lasting for several minutes.

Enjoying the silence, Sakusa eventually stopped staring at the man, closing his eyes. The silence was music to his ears. He already missed his own rundown apartment, spending the days there alone, just working on his docking station. It had been a calming time, except for the accident with the humans of course. But much to his dismay, those times were over now. The next few days he would be busy fixing himself; getting himself back on track. And as if that wasn’t enough, a human accompanied him.

It almost seemed like the human knew he was a part of Sakusa‘s thoughts as he started to speak again, sadly disrupting the silence once more,
“My name‘s Miya Atsumu, you know…”

Sakusa knew he must have a strong aversion to just being called human, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Calling him by his name would only mean showing him kindness, which Sakusa absolutely didn’t want.
“Again, I don’t care, human.”

It seemed to make Atsumu uncomfortable, having a displeased expression on his face, but still, no objection came. He probably didn’t have the guts to contradict Sakusa's statement. However, before silence could fall upon the two rivals again, Atsumu decided to touch on another topic,
“You don’t know anything about the old world, do you? Not that it matters right now, earth is ruined anyways… But I still remember how easy life was back then and how excited I was when the news broke that the first charge of androids had been created, which in retrospect was a pretty scary thing because the point of technological singularity got exceeded soon after… And exceeding that point wasn’t planned. You know, an old friend worked in the programming section of the Celestial Cyber Cooperation and they never wanted any artificial intelligence overtaking us… But here we are, you’re by far stronger than us and I honestly respect you for that… Anyways, sorry I’m ranting… I just hate silence.”

Not having paid attention to Atsumu‘s trivial ranting, Sakusa almost missed a crucial exclamation that could give him more information about his own technological nature. A friend working in the programming section? Did the human know more about the androids‘ codes? Was there a chance of improving their own programming; to elevate their consciousness?

“No, continue,” Sakusa demanded, red eyes piercing holes into Atsumu again. He wanted, no, he needed more information about his own programming. If there was a chance of bettering their own code and overcoming humans even more, he needed to know.

Atsumu seemed surprised by Sakusa‘s demand, shocked by the fire that had been behind his words too. A bit intimidated again, he mumbled,
“Ahhh, yes… I respect you for being stronger because that means-”

“No, not that. Tell me more about your friend,” Sakusa interrupted Atsumu almost rudely, stern gaze still focused on him. It made him reply nervously,
“Oh my friend… yes, he worked at CCC, programming your code and things like that… but he never really told me more about that, I’m sor-”

Driven by rationality which told him to improve his functionality, Sakusa interrupted Atsumu with a loud sigh. He didn’t believe him. Atsumu had to know more about his code. He had to.

Trying to stand up for the first time ever since his equilibrium chip got stolen, Sakusa struggled a lot until he was finally on his two legs. Eyes not leaving his enemy, Sakusa staggered over to him, his steps raising the dust on the ground.

“What are you d-doing?” Atsumu stuttered, fear showing in his brown eyes. After all, it wasn’t an everyday occurrence that an android, who was about ten times stronger than himself, ran up to him.

Knowing that the human was tied up and helpless, Sakusa replied, dryly,
“Making you speak.”

•••

Concluding that his friend couldn’t be so stupid to hurt the human when he was his only chance of recovery, Suna let out a relieved sigh. Maybe he had to start trusting Sakusa more. His rationality would surely stop him from hurting the human, right? But on the other hand, his rationality had also told him to shut down irreversibly…

Deciding to stop worrying and instead hurry up, Suna sped up a bit. He had charged himself enough before saving Sakusa, so he had a lot of energy left. Staring directly into the sun, Suna guessed that he could make it to the prison camp before the sun would have traveled five degrees west. For an android using almost maximal speed, the way wasn’t long. A human wouldn’t even make it in double the time. Besides that, a human wouldn't survive the burning midday heat. Luckily, Suna‘s android skin wasn’t sensitive to the sun at all. After all, it would be a serious disadvantage if it was.

Making his way through the concrete jungle, passing gray skyscraper after skyscraper at a superhuman speed, Suna let his thoughts wander again. He just couldn’t help himself, wondering what was outside the city; wondering what the humans had rebuilt over the course of the last two years, which Suna had exclusively spent in Panopticon. Would he ever have a chance to witness all that with his own red eyes? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe his own red eyes hindered him from ever seeing new human innovations. Red eyes were a sign of danger for humans; an unnecessary sign. The only things androids wanted were freedom and emancipation and if humans were willing to give them exactly what they have been longing for for so long, there wasn’t a reason to attack humans. Androids weren’t a danger to humans, humans were a danger to themselves, Suna was sure about that. He hoped insistently that one day humans would open their eyes. Maybe one day, there would be unity. Just maybe.

Passing IH-0004‘s garage, Suna‘s thoughts wandered more. Did androids like Sakusa or IH-0004 seriously avert unity so much? And if yes, what was the reason? Sure, humans had done unspeakable things to androids in the past, but sentient beings could change, couldn’t they? And besides that, androids could forgive because they were sentient beings too.

Oh.

Right…

Androids like Sakusa or IH-0004 didn’t believe in having emotions themselves and for sure also didn’t follow human constructs like forgiveness. Suna had his answer. But much to his dismay, it was a really unsatisfying one. However, luckily for him, he had found at least a few androids who shared the same beliefs as him; his family. Knowing that they probably wondered where he had been for so long, Suna decided to pay them a visit tomorrow. But for now, he had to finish his mission, obtaining an electric shackle for their blondie.

While Suna ran down the streets and jumped from skyscraper to skyscraper, the sun traveled further west. And just in the estimated time, the android made it to the rundown prison camp. It looked gruesome from the outside, almost making Suna wish he was able to lock his emotions away, just like Sakusa or IH-0004 did. High steel fences surrounded the huge prison ground, half of it standing, half of it broken. They were supposed to keep intruders outside, but more importantly, were supposed to keep prisoners and android workers inside. Suna luckily didn’t know much about the prison‘s history, because it closed before the fled androids had arrived here, but the bit he knew sent shivers down his spine; of course only metaphorically. Suna knew that some torturous stuff had happened here, but tried to keep his mind from wandering there. The weird graves humans had put up just behind the fence were already terrifying enough.

Making his way through a hole in the fence, he hoped he would find a shackle as quickly as possible; not only because the atmosphere on the prison ground was more than unsettling, but also because he worried about Sakusa and the impulsiveness he liked to call rationality.

Walking on the sandy path which led to the huge metal doors of the building, Suna had to step over a few human and animal remains, sun having burned every piece of flesh on them down in the last two years, only leaving a few bones. Apart from humans, rats and other ungodly creatures were the only biological things Suna had ever seen.

Arriving at the entrance, Suna grabbed the thick metal chains keeping the crooked metal doors closed. It must’ve meant that no one ever went inside through this door since the downfall of Panopticon, which quite honestly was a scary thought. Pushing the thoughts away, Suna finally broke the chains apart with just his hands; the perks of being an android. Opening the doors and stepping inside carefully, Suna mentally prepared himself for the worst.

Standing in the huge, abandoned entrance hall, Suna looked around, trying to find any sign that could give him information about where to find the shackles. However, this task was more difficult than first assumed, since the inside of the camp was trashed with all kinds of things the humans had left. Suna saw used syringes, rusted tools, ripped clothes, and all sorts of junk lying around, but no shackles. Sighing heavily, he looked at the signage on the ceiling, to only find one useless sign. Yeah, no, he would find shackles in the cafeteria straight ahead.

Deciding to go left, Suna made his way through the junk, opening the next metal door. Behind it was a long and completely dark corridor with many open standing doors on its left and right side. Starting to walk, Suna looked into each room he passed, only to find several offices, looking quite unspectacular. There were a few files lying around and trashing the rooms, but other than that, Suna didn’t see anything. He was on the verge of giving up, not having any patience at all, if it wasn’t for a closed door at the end of the corridor. It looked suspicious, so Suna sped up to finally reach it.

He immediately pushed against the door, only to be confronted with a bit of resistance. Guessing it was also tied from the outside, Suna gathered his strength before lifting his left leg and kicking the door. He heard a loud clanging of metal hitting the door before it finally flew open. Thanking his creators for having given him this much strength, Suna stepped through the door only to find himself outside again. He stood in the middle of a huge inner courtyard with many dug holes in the sandy ground. Rusty tools were painting the scene again, but this time Suna was sure he would find any kind of restraint they could use for the human. It looked like the prisoners had to work here on a daily basis under the punishing sun, so there surely had to be some kind of tools for controlling the workers. He concluded that no one would’ve worked here voluntarily.

Jumping over the holes to investigate the yard, Suna‘s eyes scanned the ground. Hoping he wouldn’t miss anything because of the blind spot his dysfunction caused, he continued searching.

And luckily for him, he soon found something that resembled an old electronic shackle. It was lying underneath a small canopy, next to some bats and truncheons. The area looked like it had been the guard’s section, their tools lying around messily. Picking the shackles up, Suna soon enough noticed he was right about it being an electrical one. Now, the only thing that was left was finding the remote. Putting one and one together, Suna immediately searched the prison guards uniform hanging from the canopy, which was of course successful. The oval-shaped remote belonged to the shackle, the printed serial number being the exact same on both parts gave it away.

Thinking about how to test the shackle for functionality, Suna looked around. The solution soon enough gave a squeaking sound, coming from the ground right in front of him. Directing his gaze to the ground, Suna immediately saw what the creature behind it was; a rat. It had probably tried biting him, a few pieces of teeth lying next to the animal. It was bleeding from its mouth a bit, probably having hurt itself trying to bite Suna‘s hard leg. Knowing that he hadn’t seen the rat approach because of the blind spot in his eye, Suna sighed. He really had to fix it tomorrow. But hey, at least he had a way of testing the shackle now.

“Alright, come here lil‘ rat,” he whispered, bending down.

•••

When Suna got back from his journey to the prison grounds, hands full of stuff he brought from the camp, he was greeted with something he didn't expect but should’ve expected.

“What happened?” he sighed, placing everything on the dirty ground. The human had a bruised throat and it clearly looked like Sakusa had choked him a bit, not having been able to control his strength. There were black spots in the form of fingertips on his skin.

“He knows something about our programming and didn’t tell me,” Sakusa grumbled, red eyes looking angrily at the human across the room.

“That… is not true!” the human exclaimed, pointing his shaky finger at Sakusa and adding,
“Your friend here… tried killing me!”

Looking back and forth between the two men, Suna shook his head. Well, at least Blondie wasn’t dead yet.

“Rin, he said his friend worked in the programming section of CCC. He has to know something,” Sakusa hissed.

“Well, maybe Blondie forgot? A human‘s brain isn’t as developed as ours. They actually forget things,” Suna sighed, really not caring. He didn’t have to know more about their programming, it didn’t concern him. He knew who he was and he knew what he was, that was enough for him.

Looking a bit offended, the human replied,
“First of all, my name‘s Miya Atsumu. I already told… Kiyoomi, right, but he refuses to use my name. But you‘re nicer, aren’t you, Rin? Anyways, yes… us humans tend to forget things sometimes.”

“I‘ll help you remember, don’t worry. And don’t fucking call me Kiyoomi,” Sakusa exclaimed, venom in his voice. He couldn’t believe that a human had the upper hand in such a situation. After he obtains his chip, he would surely make the human pay.

Deciding to ignore the statement, Suna continued organizing the things he had brought. Wanting to inform the other two about these findings, he explained,
“So, I’ve got the shackles… don‘t look at me like that Blondie, Kiyoomi won’t abuse his power, right?”

Not using Atsumu‘s name, Suna once again made clear that his priority was helping his friend, and not being all friendly with the human.

Turning his attention to Sakusa, Suna added,
“Really, only use the shackle in emergencies, the electroshocks seemed pretty intense when I tested it. We still need him.”

When Sakusa nodded, rolling his eyes, Suna continued speaking,
“Anyways… I also brought a rat. We‘ll roast it and then eat it, Blondie. You need nutrition, don’t you? And luckily, I also found a few water bottles. They‘re still closed so they should be fine.”

Making a disgusted facial expression, but probably knowing he didn’t have another option, the human replied,
“Fine… I guess.”

Not minding Atsumu‘s response, Suna added,
“And I also found sunglasses and a hat. They‘ll protect you from the sun. Humans have sensitive skin, don’t they?”

Throwing both items at Atsumu, Suna looked for gratitude. This time, because his expectation was directed at the human, he actually got some back.

“Thank you…” Atsumu mumbled, picking up the sunglasses. They resembled ski glasses, making sure that not a single ray of sunlight would find its way into his eyes.

Making his way over to Atsumu, Suna bent down to put the shackle on the human‘s left leg. A short exclamation, however, made him hold his movement for a second,
“I need to go to the toilet, by the way…”

“Okay, we‘ll take you outside in a second,” Suna replied, continuing to put the shackle on the human‘s foot. Much to his surprise, Atsumu didn’t fight it.

“I‘m not a damn dog…” the human muttered, seemingly disliking Suna‘s previous statement. It made the android huff and reply,
“Right, but now you are,” while closing the shackle around his leg. It made Sakusa grin mischievously, already holding the remote in his hands.

And with that, the androids finally had everything they needed to start fixing themselves. It was only afternoon, the sun still standing at 60 degrees above Panopticon, leaving enough time to start working today before the human needed to rest and the androids needed to charge.

Chapter Text

Outside, the sun was still burning, but the bit of wind whistling around the corners made the temperature much more pleasant. Not that it concerned the androids anyways, but it was quite beneficial for Atsumu. Having only walked roughly one hundred meters down the sand road, he already started sweating underneath the big ski glasses and the hat.

“Pull yourself together. It isn’t even summer,” Sakusa remarked, the remote to the shackle in his hand, finally feeling victorious. He had enough of Atsumu talking back. After all, humans weren’t the superior life form, androids were.

“It‘s 45 degrees or something… have a bit of empathy,” Atsumu replied, long trousers and the sleeve shirt he wore making things even harder for him.

“Telling an android to be empathetic you‘re quite the funny one, huh?” Sakusa commented sarcastically, not caring about the human. He could sweat all he wanted and Sakusa wouldn’t turn his head once.

Shaking his head, Atsumu, of course, talked back again,
“The other android, what‘s his name… Rin? He’s empathetic."

“He acts like he is. Android‘s don’t have emotions,” Sakusa clarified, before demanding,
“And now keep quiet.”

“I don’t like silence though,” Atsumu replied, looking warily at the remote in Sakusa‘s hand. Even though Suna had forbidden Sakusa to use it in situations that weren‘t emergencies, the human didn’t seem to trust Sakusa. How could he? Sakusa seemed stone cold. Atsumu probably wished that Suna would come back from his little journey as soon as possible.

Keeping quiet, Sakusa hoped that Atsumu would accept the silence, but his hopes soon got crushed.

“Where are we going anyways?” Atsumu asked, looking at Sakusa through the tainted glass.

“Scrapyard,” Sakusa answered, dryly.

“And then we’ll pick up some components for your arm?” Atsumu asked again.

“No.”

“What are we doing then?”

“Collecting junk we can exchange for my new arm,” Sakusa sighed.

“Okay.”

And with that, silence finally fell upon them, the human keeping quiet. Detecting an irregularity in the human’s behavior, Sakusa looked over to him, suspecting Atsumu of planning something dubious. However, peeking over to him, he saw that he was just looking around, observing the gray concrete buildings. It probably had been a while since he had been to a city of the old world. It must’ve been overwhelming for him, Sakusa concluded.

Continuing their way, slendering over the broad sandroad, the sun slowly changed its position. With a human on his back and a missing equilibrium chip, the distance to the scrapyard suddenly seemed much longer to Sakusa. He knew that factually, the distance was just as long as it's always been, but he needed much more time to arrive. Just imagining life like this, being slow and dysfunctional, fueled the fire in Sakusa to fully function again even more. A non-functional life as an android was useless. His thoughts, however, soon got interrupted as Atsumu fell back to his regular behavior, disrupting the silence,
“Are there… by chance any androids that could become dangerous for me? I mean, I 100% think that androids are kind beings, but the exception proves the rule, right?”

So he had looked around to spot dangers…

“You‘re wearing sunglasses, don’t you? Your arms are covered and your neck is too. So tell me, how are androids supposed to realize you’re not one of us?” Sakusa sighed, dumbfounded that the human couldn’t answer the question himself. What ever happened to conceptual thinking?

Scratching the back of his neck, hand reaching underneath the hat, Atsumu replied, embarrassedly,
“Yeah… you‘re right.”

Of course, he was. Sakusa just huffed.

Luckily for him, the human kept quiet for the rest of the route. He was in all likelihood too embarrassed to say anything else, which was a relief to Sakusa. The constant blabbering of the human was too much for him; too much for a lone wolf.

•••

Arriving at the scrapyard, mountains of technological junk and metal pieces painted the scene. They were almost as tall as the scrapyard magnet, standing in between piles of trash. They seemed like insurmountable hurdles, arising in front of the human and the dysfunctional android.

Seeing that the sun had wandered a few degrees western, Sakusa concluded that by the time they had arrived at the scrapyard, it was already late afternoon. Sighing that everything he did took so much time, he demanded,
“We lost quite some time, hurry up and start working, human.”

A bit offended, Atsumu turned his head to Sakusa, replying,
“And what about you?”

“I‘m the one with the remote, so I’m the one pulling the strings,” Sakusa commented, wanting to make his way to the operator’s cabin of the scrapyard magnet. But before he could make another step, Atsumu‘s blabbering started again,
“Then at least give me instructions. I don’t know what to collect!”

Turning around, red eyes staring directly at the human, Sakusa sighed. If the humans‘ construct of hell really existed, this surely was it.

“Boundary wires, collect them. And also take anything that looks valuable,” Sakusa replied, continuing his way, but once again being stopped by Atsumu‘s mindlessness,
“How do boundary wires look?”

“Is this a joke?” Sakusa sighed, before walking over to the piles of trash. He knew that the human didn’t joke, it was just him not knowing basic terms, making Sakusa ask himself how humans had ever innovated technology. This was really the cherry on top.

Pointing at a boundary wire at the bottom of the pile, he explained,
“Here, that‘s a boundary wire. Pick it up and collect more.”

The next exclamation of Atsumu made Sakusa roll his eyes once more, because it was a stupid question again,
“And why aren’t you helping?”

“You know why,” Sakusa groaned, finally walking over to the operator‘s cabin. It looked rusty and weathered, the seat‘s cover looking dirty, but Sakusa couldn’t care less. He just wanted to calm down a bit and have a good overview, observing the human.

“I don’t…” Atsumu shouted after the android, seeing him walk away.

Jaw clenching, Sakusa insinuated Atsumu maliciousness. The human, for sure, just wanted him to admit that he was weak in his current state. It made him explode.
“Because I’m fucking dysfunctioning and I can’t bend down properly, which is by the way the fault of your dull-witted friends!” Sakusa yelled, as if fuses had blown in him. If he hadn’t known better, Sakusa would’ve said anger had made him speak out, but no, he knew better. What had driven him to yell like this was his need to function again. Surely.

Seemingly shocked by Sakusa‘s explosion, Atsumu quickly looked to the ground, not wanting to make the android even angrier. After all, he was still in possession of the remote.
“I‘m sorry… I didn’t want to make you angry,” he whispered, barely loud enough for Sakusa to hear.

“I‘m not angry. Those are just preprogrammed behavioral patterns to simulate the behavior you humans use to enforce your will upon each other. And now start working,” Sakusa hissed, denying having any kind of emotion.

And with that, the human finally started to work, probably not daring to speak another word.

•••

Only when the sun was about to go down, disappearing behind the piles of electrical trash,
Atsumu dared to come close to Sakusa again. The android was still sitting in the operator’s cabin, holding the remote almost provocatively out of the window frame.

“I probably found enough,” Atsumu remarked, throwing everything he had collected onto the ground in front of the cabin. He didn’t seem as intimidated as before. It was difficult for Sakusa to calculate why he showed this behavior.

Eying the material with one eyebrow raised, he replied,
“Yes, that should be fine.”
If he was honest, he was a bit surprised the human had found so many boundary wires and other treasures.
But well, he also looked that way.
He looked like he had worked hard, rust and oil all over his clothes.

“I meant it, I didn’t want to make you angry,” the human said, looking up to where Sakusa sat.

“And I told I wasn’t angry,” Sakusa hissed, slowly making his way out of the cabin. Usually, he would’ve just jumped down, his strong legs would’ve mitigated the hard landing. Right now, however, he didn’t dare to do such a reckless move, the missing equilibrium chip would’ve surely made him fall. Arriving where Atsumu stood, Sakusa added,
“Not a word to Rin about this.”

“Why? Afraid he would call your behavior being angry too?” Atsumu asked, actually looking like he was serious instead of just criticizing him. Sakusa, however, couldn’t care less about the human‘s intention and remarked, dryly,
“Don’t push it, human.”

Looking down on the small pile Atsumu had created with the boundary wires and other components, Sakusa also demanded,
“Since the sun‘s going down, use your hat as a bag and follow me. We don‘t have any time to waste. We still need to visit a certain someone who gives me the components for my arm.”

As a response, Atsumu nodded, taking his hat off to immediately start picking the goods up. However, he kept his glasses on, out of fear an android could recognize his brown eyes as human.

Meanwhile, Sakusa had already started walking away, sure that Atsumu would be able to catch up. After all, he wasn’t really fast without his chip. And as expected, Sakusa heard someone running up behind him, Atsumu catching up.

“I understand why you behaved this way though. I should’ve paid more attention to what I’ve said,” Atsumu remarked, once he walked away from the scrapyard and onto the sand road again, disappearing behind the row of skyscrapers.

Once no answer came, Sakusa ignoring the emotional statement on purpose, the human added,
“I‘m asking you for forgiveness, you know.”

“Forgiveness? I don’t even know what that means. It’s just a redundant word for something I don’t feel,” Sakusa finally replied, not giving Atsumu the response he wanted.

Shaking his head and laughing quietly, the human stopped trying. He, for once, managed to please Sakusa with his behavior and wasn’t a metaphorical throne in his eyes as usual.

Realizing that the sun was about to disappear behind the horizon completely, Sakusa remembered that Atsumu soon would’ve problems orientating himself again. Not wanting to carry another burden and having to lead the human through Panopticon‘s dark streets, Sakusa picked up his speed as much as the missing chip allowed him to, knowing they were close to IH-0004’s shop anyways. Luckily for Atsumu, the speed was something he was able to uphold too.

“We‘re almost there… Just act like an android when the shop owner talks to you, got it?” Sakusa remarked, not wanting to face any other problems today.

Opening his mouth, Atsumu looked like he wanted to ask something, looking overwhelmed, if it wasn’t for another android interrupting him,
“Guessing from the look of your arm, or well, nonexistent arm, you probably didn’t come here today to get some screws again, did you?”

It was IH-0004, standing in front of his shop and working on metal again. Sakusa wanted to answer him, if it wasn’t for the android already asking the next question,
“Tell me, who‘s that android next to you? Is he a newbie?”

The human still looked overwhelmed, trying to answer,
“M-My name‘s Mi-”

“His name‘s MA-0007. And yes, he‘s new in Panopticon,” Sakusa interrupted Atsumu, sending him a stern glare. He had almost fucked it up. Sakusa didn’t want to know what would’ve happened if IH-0004 found out the human was… well, a human.

“Interesting… Just asking because I don’t trust new faces, but you already know that. Anyways, if he‘s with you it must mean he‘s a trustworthy one,” IH-0004 explained, observing the human intensely. It made Sakusa hope that Atsumu wouldn’t break out in cold sweat from nervousness. Yes, this time he actually cared for the human sweating.

“Don‘t worry, he‘s totally trustworthy,” Sakusa lied, eyes also not leaving Atsumu. He couldn’t let the human fuck it up, he needed his arm.

Nodding contentedly, IH-0004 lead the way inside his shop and replied,
“Good, then guessing you need a few components for a new arm, is there anything you brought for me in return? Is it the stuff in MA-0007‘s hat?”

Pushing Atsumu‘s back, making him walk into the shop before following them, Sakusa answering,
“Correct, we found a lot of boundary wires since you somehow seem to be quite fond of them. Besides that, we have some other valuable stuff, like a central processing unit.”

But while explaining, Sakusa‘s eyes landed on something more than inconvenient, realizing that the human wasn’t wearing his hat anymore, so that his neck was exposed. The missing serial code tattoo immediately attracted his attention, eyes widening. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all. It was a careless mistake, which made Sakusa question himself. He was an android, he should’ve realized Atsumu‘s neck was exposed sooner.

Having quickly searched for a solution, Sakusa‘s hand found his way to Atsumu‘s neck almost in an instant, covering the bare space. It was the most convenient thing to do at that moment, even though it was by far out of his usual behavior.

Atsumu seemed to question Sakusa‘s behavior too, looking over his shoulder with a confused facial expression. But as soon as the android’s grip on his neck got tighter, symbolizing that he should just keep on walking, Atsumu‘s facial expression turned from confused to understanding. For once, he actually seemed to get what the issue at hand was.

Arriving at the table in the garage where the other android usually worked on, IH-0004 turned around, opening his mouth and seeming like he wanted to say something. However, his mouth closed again, raising one eyebrow and observing Sakusa‘s hand on the human‘s neck. He paused for a second.

“Don‘t tell me you fell for all that emotional bullshit too,” he asked, letting out a sigh.

Processors working hard, Sakusa felt like his head would burst soon. This really wasn’t how he imagined the evening.
“No! I… There‘s actually a bit of cooling fluid coming out of MA-0007‘s neck… Since he‘s also from the first charge of androids he‘s suffering from wear and tear.”

Facial expression returning back to normal, IH-0004 replied,
“Good, I was worried for a second, SK-0010… Anyways, let me have a look at his neck. You brought a lot of stuff for me, so the treatment‘s for free.”

“No! It‘s fine! MA-0007 already checked his display and knows what‘s wrong. It’s easy to fix. He has all the components for it at his base, right?” Sakusa lied, red eyes piercing holes into Atsumu. Just hoping that he would play along, Sakusa‘s grip on his neck tightened even a bit more.

“Me? Oh… yeah… I have processors and stuff at home…” Atsumu said, almost stuttering. He seemed nervous, Sakusa could feel a thin film of sweat on his skin. And it certainly didn’t help that he had just worsened their situation with blabbering absolute nonsense.

“Processors? For cooling fluid? There seems to be a dysfunction in your head too,” IH-0004 commented, looking extremely suspicious of the man in front of him, who had just placed his hat and their collected goods on the table. But even all the boundary wires couldn’t distract IH-0004 from the others‘ peculiar behavior. And if all that wasn’t enough, a drop of sweat finally made it down the human‘s temple. IH-0004‘s eyes were glued to it, observing the fluid intensely before remarking,
“This doesn’t look like cooling fluid though… it’s not milky enough. SK-0010, what’s going on here?”

Trying to find any way out of the miserable situation, Sakusa quickly replied,
“It is! MA-0007 actually has-”

“A human would believe those lies, but I’m an android, SK-0010. I know exactly what he is,” IH-0004 interrupted him, finally walking over to two others and taking matters into his own hands. Pushing Sakusa away with ease, because his missing equilibrium chip made him stumble and fall to the ground, IH-0004 finally got a look at Atsumu’s neck and hissed,
“I knew it, scum.”

Not wasting another second, he grabbed the helpless human by the throat, pinning him to the rusty wall behind him. While Atsumu was struggling, trying to free himself from the strong, choking grip on him, IH-0004 turned his head to Sakusa, asking with venom in his voice,
“What is he doing in our area?”

“Listen, this doesn’t look like it really is. I‘m just using him for my own benefit, see…” Sakusa replied, seeing the chances of getting his equilibrium chip back slowly fading, and showing the remote to the human‘s shackle.
“I’ve got him under my control,” he added, pointing at the human‘s foot.

“And what would an android need a useless human for? Mind explaining?” IH-0004 asked, grip on Atsumu’s throat still too tight.

“Humans stole my equilibrium chip and he knows where they are. I‘m just trying to fix myself, IH-0004,” Sakusa explained, looking at the human whose movements got weaker and weaker, not getting enough air.

When IH-0004 didn’t reply, but kept on looking for Sakusa for further elaboration, he continued speaking,
“It’s a long story, I’ll explain everything when you let him go. Listen, I just want to function again. It’s what we were created to do, right? To function… That‘s our purpose, isn’t it? Don‘t take that away from me, IH-0004. Us androids have to function.”

“You‘re a disgrace, SK-0010,” IH-0004 sighed, but the hold on Atsumu‘s throat was getting looser.
“Take the components for your arm and leave. But I swear, if I ever see that human again, I won’t hesitate to end him. Take him out of this city. Panopticon is ours,” he added, throwing Atsumu to the dirty ground right next to Sakusa. Walking to the back of his garage, not looking back once, IH-0004 disappeared. From now on, Sakusa knew that he couldn’t count on IH-0004 and his goods anymore.

“You‘re luckily androids only kill humans when getting attacked,” Sakusa sighed, voice quiet. Asking himself why he worked so hard on getting his chip back instead of shutting down, he stood up again, struggling a bit. Leaving the coughing human by himself, he started gathering new pieces for his arm.

Right, a human and an android… two odds that didn’t fit together, Sakusa once again became painfully aware of that. Panopticon just wasn’t made for biological lifeforms.