“Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things.” —Thomas Merton

Detroit: Become Human

Markus Part 1 – Humble Beginnings

Meet Markus an RK200 domestic android. When we first meet him he is in downtown Detroit to purchase paint supplies for his owner. While in town he happens to walk past a group of anti-android protesters who accost and assault him prior to the police intervening and breaking up the commotion. The police officer gains the protestors compliance by telling them they will be responsible for paying for any of the property damages that come from attacking the android. This only serves to reinforce the idea that Markus is only a thing, that he is property.

When Markus arrives home, it’s to an opulent mansion. His owner is a famous artist by the name of Carl Manfred who was disabled and lost the use of his legs after a severe accident. Because of this, his friend Elijah Kamski, the man who created the first successful android, gifted Markus to him. Markus and Carl have a deeper relationship than most people and androids and more resembles that of a father and son. When Carl notices that Markus’ clothes are dirty and tattered he asks what happened and is deeply offended by the actions of the protestors who attacked Markus.

Carl asks Markus to bring him into the studio where he can continue working on his latest painting. When he’s finished Carl laments that he is just an old man with nothing left to say anymore. He then encourages Markus to try painting. Initially Markus simply paints a lifelike representation of something he can see in the room. But Carl tells him to try again. This time he asks him to close his eyes and to attempt to paint something he’s never seen before, something from his imagination. Soon Markus draws a stunning abstract art piece of a human hand reaching out to touch an android hand. A depiction of his desire for both man and machine to find peace and friendship.

It's not long before Carl’s son Leo shows up to the studio. He’s looking for money to support his drug habit but his father will not give him anything. Leo can’t stand Markus; he hates that his father treats him better than he does his own son. He lashes out and his father screams at him to leave. Leo pushes Markus before leaving and yells at his father for never loving anyone in his whole life.

Later that evening Markus and Carl return home from a cocktail party. Carl complains about having a lousy time and that no one cares about art anymore, they only worry how much money they will make from it. He asks Markus to bring him to the study for a drink to unwind. When they enter the study Carl notices the light is on in the studio. He asks Markus if he’d left it on before they left for the party and Markus replies he didn’t. Markus calls the local police to report a potential intruder in the residence.

Carl asks Markus to check the studio and they soon find Leo rummaging through his father’s paintings. He plans to sell them to get the money his father refused to give him earlier. “What does it matter anyway? They’ll be mine soon anyway. Consider it a down payment on my inheritance,” he scoffs. Markus tells him to leave and Leo begins hitting him and taunting him. Carl pleads with Markus not to fight back and he doesn’t. As Carl screams at Leo to stop, he suddenly suffers a massive heart attack and falls out of his wheelchair. Markus dashes to his aid but it’s too late Carl is dead. It’s at this moment the police arrive. Leo points at Markus and says the android did it. With tears streaming down his face the police open fire.

Markus awakens in a mud filled pit surrounded by broken androids and scrap metal. His visual and auditory sensors are scrambled and both of his legs have been destroyed. With his system nearly critical, he begins to pull himself through the mud. He’s able to scrounge compatible leg modules that he equips and struggles to his feet. As he continues through the scrap area he is grabbed by another android who tells him to seek out Jericho where androids can be free.

Moving through the scrap yard he passes by countless hollow shells of androids that have been destroyed or left to wither. From the carnage and strewn bodies, he’s able to find replacement parts for his visual, auditory, and power components. With his system stabilized, he ascends a massive hill strewn with the bodies of hundreds of fallen androids.

Reaching the top of the hill and escaping from certain death Markus falls to his knees. Lost, angry, alone, Markus ponders where to go and what to do now that his master is dead. The name Jericho echoes through his mind and he sets out to find this place, this sanctuary for androids.

To be continued...

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