I open my eyes and something feels a bit off. As I sit up and look around the room though, nothing seems out of place. I stand and walk around a bit, checking everything and coming to the same conclusion as before, nothing is wrong. Well, that is, until Avery bursts through the door. "Selene! They, they've got Cai! You need to get outside and away from the building!" She screams grabbing my hand and practically dragging me to the stairs. "W-what's going on?!" I shout while trying to not trip over my own feet. "I'll explain later we just need to..." She stops, nearly causing me to run into her. "Oh god." She gasps, seeing something that I can't outside of the clear doors. "Avery, what's out there?" I ask, trying to be calm. "Selene, alright, just, you need to come with me, this is bad." She says, beginning to run again, whipping past the doors and toward the back ones, as if to not be noticed. She rams into the back door with her shoulder, shattering the flimsy lock that only cost like two dollars. I am forced to follow her until I see something that gives me a reason to resist. I dig my heels into the ground, stopping Avery. "What are you doing?!" She nearly screams. I point to a few scraps of what looks to be synthetic skin on the ground. Avery just stops, staring with me. I take the chance to break away from her grasp and bolt around to the front of the building. I run with every bit of speed my systems can produce, hoping that I can get around in time to do something, what I don't know, but something. I come around to the front, a terrible sight in front of me. In fact, I don't know how I didn't hear the screams of the protesters before I got here. A group of anti-robot protesters have rallied in front of the building, screaming, waving signs, and ripping apart the only other android in the apartment complex, Cai. He stands, tied to a street lamp, half of the metal on his face exposed. His clothes are ripped and he has multiple gunshot wounds. One of his eyes is missing and the other is leaking our substitute substance for blood. I feel someone's hand on my shoulder, and nearly punch them in the face before I realize that it's Avery.

"I'm so sorry Selene. I tried to stop them, but.....there were just too many." She says in a sad mournful voice. I clench my fists as a foreign feeling arises in me. My neck begins to feel hot, various parts of me begin to twitch and flashes of red skirt across my vision.

"Justice." The only thought that circulates through my mind. I don't even know I'm moving until people are stepping to the side to let me up to Cai.  I climb up beside him, looking out over the angry mass around me. "Alright, now tell me, what the hell is your reasoning for this?!" I shout, my voice demanding respect, something I don't ever ask for. For a few seconds, the crowd is silent, then voices begin sounding out.

"He's a robot!"

"He was created by someone who thought they could play God!"

"We have to strike before they do!"

The lone voices soon turn into a muddled mess, something that right now, I won't stand for. "SHUT UP!" I scream, making everyone fall silent. "Give me one real life situation where robots have ever caused safety concerns! Give me a single example of trouble we've caused! Scientific advancements aren't playing God, they're furthering the knowledge of the human race! Do you know how many different, strictly programmed models were made before the model in which Cai and I were created?! Over twenty! This program has been going for a century and there have been virtually no issues! Your "argument" has no ground!"

The crowd is silent, only the sounds of breathing can be heard, then one man screams.

"She's one of them!"

The crowd rushes the post, but somehow, raising a hand into the air stops them. "One of them huh?" I begin, "One of...them. What even is "them" anyway? Yes, I know now "them" means machines like me, but think, you humans have used "them" as a derogatory term all throughout history. Anyone with a different skin color, once labeled "them", now anyone who uses that label is closed minded, how are you any different. You know the similarities between every single person on this planet? We all have emotions, personalities, faces that differ from one another, and a beating heart. I can even feel mine now." I pause, placing a hand over the left side of my chest where my core was placed and given a beat just like a human heart. "My heart might be metal, but it's still there. My personality, emotions, and face may all be things created or given to me to decide, but I still have them. They're mine and mine alone, just as you decide your fate, I decide mine. And as for "playing God", what gives you the right to decide if androids, robots, whatever you call them, should exist or not? You cannot play God just as I can't, nor can the scientists and engineers who made me."

With that, I stop talking, hoping I can control my still existent rage. Nobody talks and for a second, I believe that I've convinced them, then I hear a loud
"BANG!"
And something smacks into the pole beside of me. I look down and see a bullet lying there, people go ballistic, they scream and run at the area where Cai and I are. Some are screaming threats, others are just yelling to be yelling. I lightly kick away people's hands, trying to protect myself and Cai, but when a hand is batted away it seems that three take its place. I feel something hard hit my leg. I look down and see that a protester has gotten ahold of a metal pipe and is using it as a weapon. He raises it to swing again, but I kick it out of his hand. The small victory is short lived though because a hand swipes out before I can get my leg back down, knocking me off balance. I fall, my head smacking against the side of the light platform before I hit the ground. My vision begins to blur from the impact as people almost ignore me on the ground and go back to attacking Cai. I try to lift myself up to do something, but all I feel is a sudden jolt of pain. After that, everything simply goes black.