I AM (Connor X OC) - DBH

Chapter 53 - Markus

The room was large, and each wall was covered with various paintings. He not only had that, but several easles with multiple paintings that he was working on. Big buckets of paint were all around the room, and he had shelves with smaller tubes of paint. Not to mention the sink, which on one side had various different paintbrushes. Stacked up next to the sink on the floor were dozens of sketchbooks, each with papers sticking out of them, and pencils or pens jabbed into them.

Despite the other chaos, Markus had a desk in the right corner, made out of wood. As strangely neat as it was, it did have random splatters of paint on it.

"Hi, Charlotte," Markus said. He set down his paint pallete and walked away from his painting towards me. He gave me a hug.

"I'm sorry, Connor. Could we do this in private?" Markus asked.

"Oh. Of course. I'll wait outside, Charlotte," Connor answered, leaving out the door.

"I'm so happy to see that you're okay. When Connor told me about what happened...we thought...the worst. Thank God we have the brilliance of Doctor Lance," Markus said sighing.

"I'm glad too," I responded. Markus laughed.

"So," he said moving towards his desk. "I have a few...orders of business...for you."

He opened up a drawer, and it was of course, disorganized. He had a small notepad inside, and he flipped it open. "Androids have a perfect memory, but deviants have imperfect attention spans," Markus said, smirking as he checked the list. "Oh, right."

He opened a different drawer, and took out a set of folded clothes. "I realized that you are still in uniform, so I had some clothes tailored you a couple weeks ago. Don't feel obligated to change or anything," Markus explained setting them on the desk. "And sometimes deviants have found it a bit difficult to get necessary items. Here..."

Markus handed me an envelope. Inside was a driver license with my face on it. It said "Charlotte Lance."

"I'm sorry, but they do require last names. Nick Lance offered to take you in, and he offered his last name too...so...I just went ahead, but I can have it changed," Markus said calmly.

"No...it's fine," I said. The second in the envelope was a bank card. Next was a birth certificate.

"Android birth certificates. They give a power on date, model, and the age you are supposed to present as. You're 24, Charlotte," Markus explained smiling.

I'm...24. Exciting.

The final item was a passport. "Thank you, Markus."

"No issue. But don't go yet," Markus said. "There's more, obviously. Do you understand what's going on with Jericho? Has Connor explained it to you?"

"No...he said you should."

"I guess he's right. After the revolution was successful, we needed a place to go. It was actually Connor who realized that an abandoned Cyberlife storage center would be perfect," Markus explained. He sat on the edge of the desk. "Then we realized that the largest one in Detroit was directly next to the solid waste landfill. This is Jericho now. After a few days of exploration, we discovered an elaborate underground tunnel system that Cyberlife was using for...various activities. That is what became The Basement. After a week of work nonstop from everyone, we got to this point. In the meantime, Doctor Lance found a way to fabricate parts at the factory right here on the grounds. Right now, we have a few goals...the first...is to actually gain the rights we fought for. There are a lot more legal issues than we expected, but we're getting there. That brings me to our next order of business."