[Markus confesses, Simon deflects, and it's good in its own way. Feels familiar and forgotten, lost somewhere between straightforward speeches and endless discussions about a future that stretches out only as far as the edges of their fingertips.

He hears the soft sound of metal striking hardwood flooring beneath them as Simon unmistakably drops the flattened slug, his own hands still busy wrapping wires with a thin strip of electrical tape as a temporary patch. It'll last the next few hours at least. They can peel Markus's efforts away and resolder it once they reach Jericho— the new Jericho— in a couple of hours.]

Splitting up was part of the plan. We couldn't risk them narrowing down their focus, so North and the rest of her team are working to cause a distraction. Prove to the humans that it isn't worth trying to stick it out.

[In terms of appealing targets, they were it: two androids on foot, one of them recognizable to anyone that's kept an eye on Detroit's downfall, the other key evidence in a case that the United States Government was now frantically committed to solving.] She'll be back soon.

[Simon's shoulder panel clicks softly under his fingers, coaxed into resealing itself in spite of its surrounding chassis damage. Stubborn pressure. Markus's trademark.]

Josh is with Jericho. He— couldn't run this one.