Those Endings Tho--Markus's Story--Detroit: Become Human **Serious Spoilers**

Of the three android protagonists in Detroit: Become Human, Markus has a positive relationship with humans.  His owner, the famous painter Carl Manfred, is lovingly cared for by Markus and views him as a son rather than a simple android.  Unfortunately for Markus, the rest of the world doesn't have as much appreciation for androids--Markus's first mission forces player to confront the reality of life in the fictional android manufacturing capital of Detroit--there's a very conspicuous number of people begging on the street with signs stating that they're unemployed thanks to the introduction of android labor.  Markus walks by hostile vendors who berates him if he simply stops to look in their direction; an angry man preaches to a small crowd of people gathered around and confronts Markus if he stops to listen.  After Markus has completed his task of buying paint for Carl, he is forced to walk past an anti-android protest and gets attacked by the crowd (luckily a police officer is nearby to break it up).  He manages to make it to the bus and return back home, but this mission cleverly reveals the fact that life with androids is complicated.

Things for Markus go from being great to catastrophic in a very short timespan.  Carl's somewhat estranged son, Leo, shows up suddenly--he's strung out and clearly on drugs and is demanding that Carl give him some cash.  Carl refuses and sends Leo packing, but not before Leo can accuse Carl of only caring for Markus...an android who's not even alive.  It's a painful moment, but it seems to have resolved peacefully....that is, until Leo decides to sneak into the house when Carl and Markus are gone to a party.  Upon arriving home they discover that the lights in the studio have been turned on and they find Leo rooting around.  Carl has Markus call the police and they confront Leo--things get heated when Carl forcefully tells Leo to leave.  It's here that Markus is forced to make a choice--does he break through his programming and fight back against Leo or do as Carl wants and remain passive while Leo attacks him?  Choosing to fight back means that Markus pushes Leo and Leo trips and falls onto a piece of Carl's painting equipment--Leo strikes his head and it doesn't look good.  If you choose not to fight, Carl becomes very agitated and suffers a heart attack and dies.  Either option ends in tragedy for Markus--the cops show up and it looks bad (Markus is either standing over the fallen body of Leo or the the body of Carl).  They don't hesitate to open fire.

When next we see Markus, he's waking up in the hellish landscape of the dumping ground for androids.  He's badly damaged and barely functional, but able to run a diagnostic and figure out what's wrong.  Luckily, he's in a place that full of potential replacement parts and he's still functioning well enough that he can locate and replace the parts that have been damaged.  Even though it's creepy af in the android dump (semi-functioning androids shamble around like zombies or slump on piles of their dead brethren), Markus manages to find enough parts to reset himself to working order (he can't find an eye that matches the same color, but his differently colored eyes give him a unique look).  In a very Shawshank Redemption-esque type of re-birth scene, he scrambles up a mountain of android corpses and out of the dump into pouring rain--he finds a jagged piece of metal and removes his LED...he's going to have to figure out how to live in the human world from now on.  His next step is trying to find the location of a mysterious, secret safe zone for runaway androids--Jericho.

Players help Markus follow the hidden clues and find Jericho--a derelict container ship.  Markus navigates the darkened passages and after the floor collapses, he finds himself surrounded by a small group of androids.  They reveal the fact that life on Jericho isn't great--they're basically hiding and trying to survive.  Many of the androids who do make it to Jericho are extremely damaged and in need of repairs that the group can't provide.  Markus is frustrated by the passivity of the group and decides to take the lead--he comes up with a plan to break into a CyerLife facility to steal much needed supplies.  It's here that players get the first inklings of Markus being a leader.

Markus's story revolves around leading the android revolution and players can choose to either play Markus as a non-violent, pacifist or as a more violent revolutionary.

Markus--leader of the android revolution.

Markus's Story

On Jericho, Markus meets a group of three androids who have become a sort of de facto leadership council--Josh, an android model used as a college professor; Simon (who you don't really learn too much about); and North.  Josh is a pacifist and encourages Markus to pursue non-violent measures.  North, on the other hand, believes that the only things humans will respect is violence and reacts favorably to any agreement about fighting back.

Markus encourages the group to head to a nearby CyberLife facility to steal much needed supplies and it's here that players are able to begin making choices about what kind of leader Markus will be.  During the attempted heist an android worker stumbles across the group as they are pilfering blue blood from supply crates.  A human worker appears shortly thereafter looking for the android--players can choose whether Markus grabs the android and keeps him quiet or kills the android.  If you choose to save the android, he will ask to join the group and return to Jericho (*this choice also has consequences later on).  The android also informs the group that it would be possible for them to steal an entire truckload of supplies--all they need to do is break into the guarded gate and steal a key for one of the automated trucks.  Josh and Simon think they should leave, but North pushes Markus to seize the opportunity.  Choosing to steal the truck means that Markus has to sneak into the guard post and figure out a way to distract the guards while he steals the key.  Players can choose to cause a blackout in the guard post by sabotaging an electrical panel or to grab a gun and threaten the guards.  Non-violent Markus causes the blackout which distracts the guards and grabs the key while they're distracted.  He has to sneak out before they realize that he's hiding in the building (it's easy).  Markus returns to the group in success and gets to head back to Jericho with enough supplies to really help the androids.

The success of the CyerLife heist thrusts Markus into a leadership position.  He finds himself frustrated that the androids are living a pathetic life of hiding in the dark and decides that they should take their fight to the public.  One of the best missions in the game involves playing through an elaborate plan hatched by Markus to break into the office of a local television network.  The androids want to broadcast a message to humans asking for equal rights and better treatment.  It's during this mission that players are given multiple options to either stay peaceful or use force (Markus can choose to disable the guards outside the broadcast room--or hesitate and have North shoot them; he also has to make a quick choice about shooting a human who manages to flee out of the broadcast room).  The type of message that Markus chooses to broadcast also influences how the public feels about the androids--if he chooses to stay calm and deliver a less forceful message, public opinion will rise and humans seem more sympathetic to the androids.  The downside of staying peaceful during this mission is the fact that the human who escapes the broadcast room quickly alerts the police--a SWAT team arrives just as the androids are preparing to make their dramatic exit and Simon is wounded.  The team is faced with another difficult decision--Simon can't make the jump, but if they leave him there's the possibility that his memory could be hacked and the location of Jericho could be revealed.  North proposes that Markus should kill Simon to prevent that scenario from occurring (a non-violent Markus says no).

Markus has now become the face of the android resistance and he proposes another dramatic action--he plans a coordinated liberation of androids from CyberLife stores around Detroit.  It's during this mission that players get to decide the nature of the android uprising--after Markus and North have liberated the androids from the store, North tells Markus that they're following his lead and that his actions will influence how they act--players can choose to have Markus destroy property around the store (including toppling a large statue of a human creating an android) in a very riot-y kind of way or they can choose to make a statement while keeping things peaceful--tagging stores with pro-android messages or creating a large electronic symbol of the android resistance.  The positive vibes are short-lived as the police arrive on the scene...they immediately open fire and many of the newly liberated androids are killed.  Markus has fallen behind the group and turns the corner onto a scene of carnage--dead androids litter the street--North might be among them...but luckily she is alive.  She tearfully spurs Markus to take revenge for the deaths of the androids.  He makes his way through a large group of androids to find two human policemen who have been disarmed.  One of the androids hands him a gun and tells him that they want justice...players can choose whether or not to shoot the cops.  Non-violent Markus chooses to walk away while sharing the famous "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" quote.

By this point the androids have started getting a lot of attention, but Markus still feels that the humans aren't really listening.  He convinces Josh and North that they should participate in a march through downtown Detroit.  This mission involves using Markus's ability to convert androids (freeing them from their programming) to grow the numbers on the march.  Once players have converted a large number of androids, they can choose to have the group chant different slogans (things like "freedom" or "equal rights").  After the ruckus from the CyberLife break-in, the police decide to send in the heavily armored riot squad to disperse the march.  They threaten the group and tell them to leave or that they will open fire--there's a very dramatic scene where Markus can have the entire group hold their hands in the air.  The riot police open fire on the group and many androids are killed--players can choose whether to stand firm, fight back, or run away.  It's during the violence that Markus is shot and wounded, but this is where a previous decision pays off--the android from the docks that Markus allowed to join the group will intervene and sacrifice himself, keeping Markus from being killed.  Markus narrowly manages to survive the march and make it back to Jericho.

After the violent end of the march, it's apparent that the humans have little interest in parlaying with the androids.  Back on Jericho, Josh, North, and Markus meet to discuss the fallout from the march.  News broadcasts reveal that androids are being rounded up in camps and then are being destroyed.  Things are getting dire...and they're about to get even worse--(*this is slightly dependent on the choices you make in other stories) the police (and Connor) have discovered the location of Jericho.  Josh, Markus, and North argue about the best way to address the camps--should they try to fight and liberate them or should they march to the camps and demand that the androids are freed?  It's at this point that Connor makes himself known and players choose to turn Connor deviant or keep him a machine (this could potentially change the ending as Connor is vital to converting thousands of androids at the CyberLife headquarters).  Either way, the police show up and the androids are forced to flee from Jericho.  Markus makes a mad dash through the ship (where players can choose to rescue various groups of androids being confronted by the police) and decides to blow it up--destroying their base, but potentially giving the androids time to escape.

The finale of Markus's story takes place with the surviving androids either marching or fighting to liberate the detention camps.  The non-violent option sees the androids marching closer to the camp, but being cut down by fire from the army troops that surround it.  They're being decimated and things don't look hopeful--a small group that includes Josh, North, Markus, and about 20 others makes it to the point directly in front of the camp.  They create a barricade and plan to hold out--even if it means that they'll all be killed.  Fortunately there's a large amount of press attention (and, if you've chosen for Markus to remain non-violent, public opinion will be with the androids) and the humans finally seem like they're concerned about looking bad for slaughtering the androids.  Perkins (the asshole FBI agent who makes appearances in Connor's story) asks to parlay with Markus--it feels like a trap, but players can choose whether or leave the barricade and speak with him.  He offers Markus a deal--they'll let Markus go (and be free) if Markus agrees to withdraw and stop the march (*I've never taken the deal because I don't believe that clown for one second).  If Markus says no, he heads back to the barricade and prepares the androids to withstand a final push by the army troops who are now back in position and readying themselves to charge.  Shortly after that the troops do charge--there's a frantic QTE sequence where Markus tries to protect the remaining androids.  The androids are totally outnumbered (and trying to be non-violent) and the few survivors--which include Josh, North, and Markus--find themselves surrounded.  It looks like the end for them, but players can choose for Markus to take a final action--he can sacrifice himself, he can kiss North (*if Markus has entered into a romantic relationship with North), or simply surrender.  I've only chosen to kiss North and that action has the effect of the president calling off the army--it also happens to coincide with Connor's arrival with the thousands of androids he has converted from CyberLife (*If you've chosen that option).

Non-violent Markus's story has a happy ending--the camps are liberated and public opinion seems to back the androids.  There are some variations if you choose to launch a violent revolution--there are many more QTE sequences where you get to fight with the police or soldiers (and, they're pretty fun).  Simon gets to live during the broadcast heist mission, but he and all the other leaders (Josh and North too) are killed during the final assault on the camps.  Choosing the violent option means that the androids have no public support--this is something that can have an impact on Kara's story--but the endings aren't terribly different.

I personally preferred the non-violent option for Markus and felt like the story ends in a much more positive place (if there's a second game that ties-in).  It's a bit of a brutal option because choosing not to fight back while the androids are being slaughtered is difficult. Part of Markus's story that I found a bit baffling was his relationship with North.  Somehow I wound up in a romantic partnership with her during both my non-violent and violent playthroughs.  She seems to disapprove of Markus's non-violent options but his actions as a leader somehow keep her friendship level high enough that she'll engage in a relationship.  Part of me wishes that her behavior was more nuanced depending on player choices.