S A F E H A V E N A N D
S O N G B I RDS
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Location: Jericho
Time: 8:30 am
Day: May 31st, 2042

Violet looked at the TV and scoffed. The police were naming the murderer the 'Cyberlife Killer' as he had killed three Cyberlife employees. Please! Mom, Dad and Faye hated working with those bigots everyday! Violet spat in her head.

It was practically the crack of dawn, but that didn't stop Lexi rushing in with Ashley and Mae in tow, a look of panic on her face.
"What happened?" Markus asked.
"I... I..." Lexi was panicking more and more until Ottavia intervened.
"Lexi! Lexi! Can you here me? It's Ottavia!! Breathe in and out. In and out." Once she was calm, Lexi started over again.
"There was a man at my house. He outright told me he was the same man at Violet's house!! He-he... he wanted to harm..." She trailed off. The next sentence was clear: He would have hurt Lexi's beloved Ashley and Mae.
"We... we cant stay there! What if he comes back?" Ashley asked in pure panic. Violet's looked around, Ottavia's face stood out to here, a look of fear, along with the other androids, they may be in Jericho, but he could always come here at any time.
"If you want to stay then that's fine. Lexi, you should go the police. Somewhere where it's safe." Lexi hesitated, but then nodded at Markus' suggestion, understanding that her girlfriend and roommate would be safe here in the meantime. North then went up to Markus and whispered something to him, he nodded and North turned to Violet.
"Violet, you're coming with me!"
"Where?" Violet asked as North went to the door.
"Safe Haven Apartments."

Location: Safe Haven Apartments
Time: 10:00 am

Since the days after the Revolution, androids could now buy houses, integrate with humans and live with them, get pets or adopt children. Even own a business, as it was voted on in December of '41. Androids still didn't have the right to vote, but... they would get there one day.

Not many Androids owned businesses however, except the ones that built Safe Haven, named Marjorie, Faust and Bambi, an apartment specifically for androids. It was a tall building, with a white exterior with glass windows and the interior was luxury furniture, red couches, white walls and red carpets. Despite the luxuries of Safe Haven, there was no restriction on what you could wear.

Violet and North came in and Violet couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was the most beautiful and gorgeous place she had ever seen.
"May I help you two?" Violet turned to the voice was speaking, an Android with tan skin and black hair. She had a name tag that read 'Marjorie'.
"Hi, Marjorie. We're here to visit someone, we just don't know the right floor." North explained to an android as she nodded and went over to check a guest list.
"Who are you looking for?" Marjorie questioned, looking up at the two androids.
"We're looking for Rupert and Crystal." Violet explained and Marjorie nodded, getting out a giant red book.
"They're on floor two in Apartment 203." Marjorie said with a smile, closing the red book and putting it away.
"Thanks." North replied as she and Violet went over to the elevator. Violet looked around while they waited amazed. So many androids just sitting around and chatting without the fear of harm from masters. A few years ago, none of this would've been possible. *Ding!* Violet turned her head to the sound of the elevator as the door opened. North clicked floor two and the elevator's automatic voice repeated the number. The two female androids arrived minutes later and found Crystal and Rupert's apartment. Violet didn't know much about them, but she knew that Rupert had gotten away from Connor, had a great fascination with pigeons (or all birds for that matter) and ended finding Jericho and meeting Crystal, finding a connection in their love for birds. North knocked on the door and it was immediately opened by a female Android with cream skin and white hair who was wearing a white T-shirt and jeans.
"Hi North! And you must be Violet, it's nice to meet you, I'm Crystal. Please come in!" Crystal said with a smile. As she walked in, Violet noticed something peculiar, Crystal's arms had scars on them. She knew it was rude to stare... but she somehow became entranced by them.
"Take a picture. It'll last longer." Crystal's voice suddenly turned icy, making Violet jump her LED turning yellow, meanwhile Crystal's turned a dangerous red.
"I'm-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude!" Violet apologized genuinely, as Crystal's LED changed back to blue, as she nodded excepting Violet's apology.
"Anyway," North began giving Violet a side glance, "there's something important I need to tell you both. Where is Rupert?"
"Ok. Whatever it is, I'll be willing to help where I can. He's somewhere in this house, I know that much!" Crystal slightly joked only to be interrupted by two American song canaries trapped in a cage. Crystal growled.
"Rupert, can you do me a favor and feed Pippa and Poppy?" Crystal asked as Rupert came in from, supposedly the kitchen, nodding and taking the food Crystal had in her hand.
"They're beautiful birds, aren't they?" Crystal commented as she noticed Violet staring at the birds in awe. Violet nodded.
"This one is Pippa," Crystal said pointing to a dark yellow and black bird, "and the other is Poppy." Crystal explained pointing to the bird with a lighter yellow shade and light gray splotches.
"They are beautiful. What made you decide to get them?"
"Well, we had to make a compromise. I always liked birds and I certainly wasn't going to keep a pigeon." Crystal said glaring playfully at Rupert as he finished feeding the two birds.
"Anyway, the so called 'Cyberlife Killer' is on the loose again, and he just attacked Lexi Spencer and her two androids Ashley and Mae."
"The Android Painter? I'm not surprised by the target, but it's seems so sudden. Is there any other news or did he vanish again?" Crystal inquired.
"He... he vanished... again." Violet mumbled a slight anger in her tone of voice.
"It really is a shame. All those people deserve justice!" Crystal announced.
"What do you know? You weren't there!" Violet accidentally spat, making Crystal look at her worriedly.
"I'm sorry. I... I didn't know."
"Oh.. it's... it doesn't matter now. The point is, he might come after you. It isn't safe." The two androids glanced at one another.
"It isn't safe... we agree. We'll come to Jericho to lay low. Thank you for telling us." Crystal said as Rupert nodded. With that, North and Violet left them alone to pack and went back to Jericho.

Location: Jericho
Time: 10:20 am

Back at Jericho, Lexi and Ottavia decided to stay there, and help when they can. After all Lexi and Ottavia both knew Violet's family well and helped when they could. But Violet didn't see the point, he couldn't be found at this point. Crystal was worried, but understood Violet's anger. She too had a owner she once called family. The opportunity for her to connect with Violet came up when Markus needed someone to go down to her old building to search for nearby blue blood.
"I'll go." Crystal offered, making Rupert worried.
"Are you sure you want to go there?" He whispered, and Violet eyed them, suspicious of what they were talking about.
"I'll be fine." Crystal reassured Rupert.
"I know the area well. I lived in that house for at least six years. Besides, if i take Violet with me. I'll be in good hands." Crystal said to Markus making Violet blink.
"You... you want me to go with you?" Crystal nodded. Some androids glanced at each other worriedly. At least half of them knew Crystal and what lead her to Jericho. Others heard it from others. But Violet... compared to everyone here, was an outsider. She stayed with her family for years. She didn't participate in the Revolution. But almost all the androids here did. That's why they were open to come to Jericho. Because they knew it would be safe.
"Ok. That's fine. You can take Violet with you." Markus gave Crystal permission and she nodded quickly in understanding before leaving with Violet.

Location: Denver Mansion
Time: 10:40 am

The two female androids arrived at a big wooden mansion, with a sign that said "Denver Mansion".
"We'll find blue blood here." Crystal announced, having Violet follow her through the house. They searched and searched, but didn't find much blue blood.
"So... how do you know this place?"
"It was my owner's." Crystal replied as they left the house, Violet's eye catching on a gigantic glass place next to the mansion shaped like a bird cage.
"Are those... birds?" Violet questioned, pointing to the area. Crystal then gasped and ran towards the place.
"Hey wait!!" Violet called out, running after her.
"We'll find some blue blood here!" Crystal explained, opening the room with her hand and going in. Live and synthetic birds littered the place, as well as bird bones and bird food was scattered on the ground.
"I have a confession to make. We've come here for two reasons. To find the blue blood... and I wanted to share my past with you. You're not alone Violet... I... I too had a person that I considered family." Crystal explained, making Violet surprised. She didn't think anyone else knew what that was like.
"I stayed with my owner for six years," Crystal continued, "he studied birds for a living. I helped with his studies. That was what I was made for. Custom just for him. Then one day, Dan my owner, came home upset. He was replaced by an android, and he went mad. He pushed me into this room." Crystal then touched a golden rope.
"He took this rope, and pulled it, and all the bird food came down on me. And the birds attacked me. They scratched my face, legs and arms. I survived. I ran that day. I ran from the man that was my owner. I thought of him as family, and just like he betrayed me. And you know the rest, I eventually found Jericho, bonded with Rupert over our love of birds and I fell in love with him. And the rest is history."
"I'm surprised you didn't obtain a fear for the feathered creatures." Violet commented as Crystal turned to her and smiled.
"I don't blame the birds. Their master rewarded them with food so they went for the food. It's not like they can understand I was not be scratched. I also don't mind the scars. I didn't like them at first, but Rupert thought I was prettiest thing he had ever seen. And y'know, Cyberlife became less deadly and made repairs on androids so I got mine repaired, except for my arms. They couldn't fix those."
"So, if you didn't mind them, why did you get them removed?" Crystal pondered Violet's question for a moment.
"Hm... I guess I was tired of people staring at me. Android and human alike. They couldn't stop staring and they thought Rupert would be better without someone with, *ahem*, 'a better looking face'." Crystal rolling her eyes, as Violet scoffed shaking her head.
"People can be so rude!" Crystal giggled and nodded at Violet's response. And she was happy that she made Violet more comfortable.
"So, we have enough blue blood. Do you want to go back to Jericho?" Having a new understanding of each other, the two women walked back to Jericho, both revealed that they had someone else to relate to.

A woman with red hair and green eyes hid behind a tree, a phone up to her ear.
"Like hell, I'm going to follow them!!! I'm not listening to you!" The voice on the other end, threatened the woman, but she was not afraid.
"You lay a hand on her and i swear I'll-"
"You'll what, Dawn? You can't do anything. After all, the rest of the world. You. Are. Dead." The voice said on the other end. The woman named Dawn reminded silent hanging up and going the opposite direction of the two androids.

Author's Notes
Hope everyone enjoyed! I'm so tired. I woke up at 4 am with cramps, and wanted to finish this chapter but I couldn't. So I finished it now.

Why do women have to suffer? Men don't have anything close to that pain!!

Anyway, enough of my ranting, I'll try to update tomorrow if I can. I've got two more days til I leave for Florida, and then I'll hopefully update more (and finish my summer reading... Ahem.)

Bye!
BatgirlGeek❤️