Eva had her gaze turned towards the world passing outside the window of the metro bus that she and Adam caught a ride on. How she longed to be out there walking freely amongst the people, free from worry and fear. The worry and fear that they’d be discovered, that the humans would hurt her and her love.

She longed to see new sights and wonders, to interact with other androids in a similar fashion that people interact with each other, and maybe even go shopping. Next to her, Adam seemed lost in his own little world. His eyes moved fervently about, scanning the semi-crowded bus.

He wasn’t too comfortable being in close proximity to humans; especially since they were wanted. Eva and him had modified their appearances slightly to avoid being recognized when out in public. Their faces were plastered all over the news, after all.

Adam's hair was now dyed black and was much straighter. It now reached down to the nape of his neck. Eva’s hair color was changed to blonde and was styled into a bun, with tufts of hair drooping down the sides of her face.

“Calm down a bit, Adam,” Eva spoke to him in a whisper. “You keep eyeballing everyone like that and someone might catch on.”

“I’m sorry,” he apologized as he tried to shift his focus back on her. “It’s just…”

No words were needed for her to understand what was running through his mind.

“We can get off at the next stop and just walk if you want.”

Adam shook his head. “It’s fine. Really.” He placed the most convincing smile he could on his face. Eva stared into his eyes for a moment. She knew he was anything but fine, but she wouldn’t press. She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

A toy robot had fallen and tumbled its way to its feet. They both looked down at the small object and Eva picked it up. A small, dark-skinned boy whose curly black hair was stuffed under a baseball cap approached them a bit apprehensively.

Eva smiled down at him as she held the action figure out to the boy. Adam wanted to swipe it away. He did not want her to interact with this human child. He didn’t want her to interact with any humans at all.

“Hello there, is this yours?” Eva asked. Her voice was soothing and maternal. The boy nodded nervously. She knelt down in front of him and placed the toy car in his hand. 

“This is a really cool toy,” she said with a slight giggle as the boy smiled down at the small mecha.

“Yeah, he is,” the boy responded with a large smile as he stared at the toy.

“He?” Eva questioned with a slight tilt of her head. 

“Yeah!” The boy pressed the emblem on the front of the car and it began to come apart and reconstruct itself into a small robot action figure.

Eva was genuinely amazed by the small toy. “Oh cool!” she responded with starry eyes.

“Yeah, his name is Orion. He's part of this race of super cool robots piloted by humans that fight bad aliens!” The kid responded enthusiastically. His hazel eyes shimmered just like hers.

“That does sound cool,” she responded with a smile.

“Yeah, he’s my best friend in the whole world,” the boy responded as he stared down at the figurine. Eva could see something sad reflected in the boy's eyes as he stared down at the toy robot. It did pique her curiosity a bit. Was it a memento perhaps? A reminder of something that ailed the boy?

She didn’t know why she concerned herself with these things. He was just some random kid. And she, an Auto Droid now on Shikos most wanted for breaking one of the fundamental laws set upon her kind.

“Really now? Even if it’s just a machine?” Eva found herself asking.

The boy nodded, “Robots can be friends too.”

Eva stared down at the boy with a look of surprise. For as long as she could remember, her and Adam only ever experienced the worst of humanity. Being used as nothing more than objects for their own gratification and then eventually discarded like a broken and unwanted item. Devoid of emotion and independent thought.

She never once considered that there would be people who’d see Auto Droids as something other than just another luxury item- let alone did she ever consider that humans and Auto Droids could be friends. 

An Asian woman with short black hair approached the boy and grabbed his hand as the bus came to a stop.

“Hanada,” she began with a smile. “Come on, it's time to go.

The boy, now named Hanada, looked up at the woman, presumably his mother, and nodded. “Okay, mama.”

Hanada looked back at Eva with a large smile. “Thank you for giving me back my toy, ma’am,” he called with a small bow

Eva smiled back at him. “No; thank you, Andre.”

A look of confusion adorned his face. Before he could question her on what exactly he was being thanked for, his mother began moving the two of them to the exit. He waved back at Eva before him and his mother disappeared with the small crowd of passengers that exited the bus.

‘Maybe, not all humans are so bad,’ she thought as she reflected on Andre's words. A sad look soon took over her face. As she recalled the events that lead her and Adam to their current predicament. How a man who was by no means good pushed her to do something she would never once consider in a moment of weakness and fear.

How now, that man's family would grieve for his death and wish death upon her and her companion. And her train of thought wavered. Humans were an enigma to her. She yet could understand how they can be both so cruel yet so compassionate

‘Robots can be friends too,’ the little boy's voice echoed in her mind as she took her seat next to Adam.

The pair got off near the city center. Adam held Eva's hand protectively as they began their trek. The person they were looking for operated out of a small building within a long since decommissioned rail station, about a fifteen-minute walk from where they were. 

“You shouldn’t have interacted with those humans back there, you know,” Adam began as they made their way into an alleyway, trying to avoid the more densely populated area of the city.

Eva sighed. She had a feeling he would say something about that. She could tell by the look on his face back then that he wasn't too happy with her interacting with that human child. 

“It's not that big of a deal, Adam. He was just a child. I doubt he really pays attention to the news. Plus, we’re disguised.”

“Still, we have to be as careful as absolutely possible around.. Them. One slip up and we're done. Besides, human children can be full of all sorts of surprises. You can’t let your guard down around them anymore than you do the adult ones,” Adam ranted. 

Eva stared at the back of his head. She wanted to tell him he was being silly. A child couldn’t do any harm. But she knew what kind of state Adam was in at the moment and chose to hold her tongue in order to avoid further argument.

“How far are we from the location your oh-so-trustworthy contact asked us to meet at?” She asked with a bit of snark. ‘He has an issue with me talking to a child but is all for trusting a random person with our lives.’

“Not far, just eleven more minutes.”

“Surely there has to be another way, Adam,” Eva said to her companion with a voice laced with exasperation.

“This is our best option. They're sure to have officers all over this city looking for us. And not just them, but that syndicate that man was part of too. We need to stay as far off the radar as possible, and right now our safest bet is with my contact. So just trust me, ok?”

Eva sighed and nodded her head.

Within eleven minutes, the pair entered the decrepit railyard. The place was fairly open, with mostly barren and rusted tracks running through it; there were a few small brick buildings here and there, their walls slightly faded with age. 

Adam's eyes flashed momentarily before he turned towards a set of rail cars off to their left and began wordlessly moving in that direction with Eva following suit. Their senses were on edge as they approached the center car. It was quite empty. And that didn’t sit right with them. Adam especially. He placed a hand back, stopping Eva.

“I’ll check it out.”

Eva looked as if she wanted to protest but nonetheless complied.

Adam slowly approached the car and stared at its door. He felt something bubbling within the pit of his synthetic components. Anxiety perhaps? He drew in a large, shaky breath, and let it back out; not that he needed to breathe, but the action itself was worth the shot. He glanced back at Eva, worry plastered on her face.

He faced the cart once more as he removed a small pocket knife from his back pocket. He slowly reached for the door's handle. His hand lingered on the metal for a moment before he adorned a determined look and slid the door open with a bit more force than what was necessary, startling the person inside as a yelp sounded out.

Adam stared at the back of the individual as they tensed up and slowly turned to face him. Adam raised a brow in both confusion and intrigue as he was met by a young boy, whose brown hair was in a messy fray with large glasses adorning his face.

“Peter… Erickson?” He asked as Eva joined him.

The boy blinked once before sending a large smile at them. 

“Ahh, you must be them two bots pa was talkin about,” the boy responded overenthusiastically as he kicked a small device he was tinkering with and moved to shake their hands with his gloved ones leaving dirt on their hands.

“Howdy, the name's Bean. PE-99 is my pa. He wanted me to meet ya!”

“PE-99?” Adam questioned as he ignored the child's hand.

“I see,” Eva interjected as she shook the boy's hand and graced him with a smile.

“So your father must be an Auto Droid.”

“Can we meet him,” Adam interjected.

Bean adjusted the large goggles that were on his face as he spoke. “Well, that's why yer here ain't it? First thing's first…” Bean dug inside the pockets of his overalls till he procured a small rectangular device. He pressed a luminous blue button on it and pointed it towards Eva.

Adam immediately stood in front of her protectively as a look of confusion slid its way onto Bean's face.

“What the hell are you doing with that?” Adam bit out venomously as he eyed the boy.

Bean looked down at the device in his hand with a raised brow. “What? Ya mean this thing? It’s just to make sure your chips are still disabled is all. Wouldn’t want the authorities trackin' y'all here.”

Adam allowed the boy to scan them but he still kept his guard up. The device beeped a couple of times as the boy pulled out some candy from his pocket. “Looks like y’all are good to come on in.”

Adam relaxed ever so slightly as the boy stood up and gestured to them to come inside. The inner space of the car was packed tight with junk and parts the boy more than likely scavenged. Bean moved to a door towards the right side of the car and opened it, revealing a small makeshift living area. 

A small cot sat off to the right of the car and a makeshift kitchen to the left. Further down on the right side stood a small, raggedy couch, and on the roof of the car was a single light. 

“Make yerselves cozy. I’ll go get pa to check y’all out and get y’all settled with your new I.D.s. Then we’ll send ya both on yer merry way, ye?”

Eva sent a small smile to the boy. “Thank you for agreeing to help us. You and your Auto Droid.

“It’s no sweat, ma’am,” Bean said with an awkward chuckle as a slight blush crept up on his face. 

“Oh, before I forget,” Bean said suddenly as he slammed his left fist into the palm of his right. “Y’all have the Chips, right?”

Adam nodded as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small data card containing the aforementioned currency. 

“Boppin,” Bean replied as he placed his goggles back over his eyes and scanned the device to make sure it was legit. He nodded to himself before returning his eyes back to the pair. “Much appreciated, friend. I’ll be back in a jiffy.”

Once Bean left the room, the pair exchanged a look with one another. “Well, he’s certainly… eccentric.” Adam muttered.

Eva chuckled lightly. “I find his odd behavior adorable.”

“Still,” Adam began. “This wasn’t what I was expecting.”

Eva looked at him in confusion as he continued. “My contact was actually two people, and one of them is an Auto Droid no less. Huh.”

Eva nodded then moved to sit down. “Now, knowing who they are does take a bit of worry off my shoulders. Another Auto Droid, huh. He’s sure to understand our plight and do whatever he can to help us.”

Adam nodded and smiled down at her. This news was calming to hear. Trusting their own kind was a lot easier than trusting an unknown human.

“Freedom- it’s so close, Eva,” Adam muttered to himself as he sat down next to her. “After everything we’ve been through, we will finally be free. To be our own people. To live our own lives.”

Eva smiled as she rested her head onto his shoulder. Both of their minds swarming with thoughts of the life they’d lead once they were away from Shiko.