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The mission had gone horribly wrong. Not by his error- no, Nines has been way too cautious of that. But by human error.
And it wasn’t his partner’s fault. No, truly it wasn’t, as surprising as the notion is. Gavin took his job with a lot of pride, did his work flawlessly and never missed a deadline. His reports contained approximately only 3% marginal errors with grammar but was very strongly structured, not a single detail seemed to be ever out of place or missing on any of his reports. Nines couldn’t (he could, but was just being nice) have done it better himself. And where it mattered a great deal, Gavin was always reliable during more intense cases.
So no, it wasn’t Gavin that made this mission go so terribly wrong. It was a beat cop who’s gun went off on accident. Didn’t anyone know how to handle themselves anymore?
Gavin and Nines had taken up the back way, they had planned on sneaking in and taking the criminals by surprise. Or, in the emergency that the cops out front triggered the perps into action, they’d be caught on the run out. The plan had seemed solid, almost every contingency had been considered- almost. This one, however, went over everyone’s heads.
It happened quick. So quick that Gavin didn’t really have much time to process himself, because Nines’s processors were even working a bit stronger then normal to have the millisecond’s upper hand.
They had been in a factory- one that was currently still in business and was run by a very nice human with a lovely record that consisted of absolutely nothing. But it was his manager that orchestrated the entire ordeal. A small gang of miscreants that thirsted for their next high and next vendor for money. A little drug ring that obtained reckless and cruel criminals that did not care who ended at the sharp end of their blade, or rather, the barrel of their gun.
There was quite a few; all armed and dangerous, all bloodthirsty and murderous. All five of them rushed both the RK and his partner, and Nines knew that Gavin’s probability of making it out of this alive was very slim. It panicked him, made his sensors alert him and sync him with the human at his side. He had been feeling….oddities concerning the detective for many months now. Although he couldn’t exactly name what, he knew that they made him feel warm and- oddly tingly?- whenever they had the very briefest bits of contact. And the thought of Gavin no longer being alive, being by his side, saddened him a great deal. It created a weight so heavy inside his chest he had believed that his regulator would crash under the strain.
Nines had grabbed Gavin, he could beg for the detective’s forgiveness later, and roughly threw him into a few empty crates a little ways back. Two of the criminals made to swipe at Nines, evading them wasn’t the hard part- not at all. His reflexes were superior and it was too easy to step out of the way of a blade, it was the three that tried to run past him that made things tougher. They, unfortunately, aimed for Gavin and the exit.
Nines could not let them get that far; make it to his human. So he yanked them back, flipped a few on their backs and dragged them back over to his side of the fight. They considered him a high threat, which he was, and attempted to take him out first. And while it was easy to disarm them, guide their steps and lunging blows away from the detective, he was also drawing a very thin line between space.
A large machine was steadily approaching his back; one the minced, diced, and sliced any and everything that fell onto his belt. It was a miracle enough he didn’t let any of them fall victim to it, but of course, he hadn’t predicted the wide range of unpredictability these drugged criminals were massively capable of.
All five charged him, and he struggled to duck past blades and bullets, strained to keep them all from killing themselves. But all it took was for one shout to make his focus slip. A very concerned, frightened shout of his name from across the factory floor.
“Shit- Nines!” It came from Gavin. Nines had hoped he’d been alright- he knew there was a high chance he had literally thrown him too hard into the metal containers, he feared a concussion, but Gavin was aware enough and very lucid. And afraid. It hurt to hear such a pain inside the man’s voice.
His attention diverted for that sole moment, the very fleeting second- but it was enough to fuck things entirely over.
One of the criminals pushed Nines, the other swiping his feet out from under him, and he fell right onto that belt. The one that promised nothing but complications and dangers.
His right elbow got trapped inside powerful teeth, it getting crushed while the gears caught the material of his clothes and dragged him further inside of it. He cursed, snagging one of the criminals by their shirt and pulling them with him. He didn’t have much time- barely any as their feet thundered towards Gavin. The detective looked positively horrified, Nines detected that a minor panic attack was surging forth. He grabbed at the gun with his free hand from the perp and used it to shoot the remaining threats, he aimed for a kill shot being left with no other real choice.
Nines felt his wires touching, twisting and cutting. He heard the sickening crunch and breaks that tore his legs right up and crept up his torso. Thirium welled up, staining the machine as it continued to eat him. Nines tries to pry himself away but had little luck; alarms blared and screamed at him.
[WARNING; THIRIUM LOSS]
[ERROR: EXTENSIVE DAMAGE;
-LEG COMPARTMENT
-LOWER EXTREMITIES FAILURE
-RIGHT ARM DETACHMENT MISSING
-MOBILITY STUNTED ]
Nines didn’t know what to do. It was one of the only moments within his small existence that he was at a loss, felt helpless and weak as his body dented and broke under all of the pressure, the churning chains, the bitting metal teeth. He really wasn’t expecting to make it out of this at all, the realization of his own end coming on so suddenly and him being so inferior as to not be able to stop it- it was fucking overwhelming.
The movement stopped; stuck digging into the chassis on his hips, rupturing the faux spine and severing his connection to his legs. He honestly wasn’t sure what was still connect to him anymore, and if he still had access to all of his functions.
Quick scurrying caught his eyes, and he tried to remain as focused as he could with his systems going into emergency reserves and his wires sparking uncomfortably inside of him. He couldn’t call this pain, that was too human a feeling. But this was extremely inconvenient. And so fucking uncomfortable, Nines wanted to squirm but he couldn’t. Afraid of making things worse and knowing no ways to make it better. The movement stopped right beside him and as he forced himself to be more aware, he couldn’t resist the heavy panting his auto-controls took on to try and stabilize him.
It was Gavin. And he looked absolutely panicked- as panicky and all over the place as Nines himself felt. His hands shook, just at the fingertips, and he curled them tight into a fist. The human’s breath came in shaky exhales as he stared at the RK and it occurred to him that the human must’ve figured out a way to shut the machine down before it had the chance to finish the android off.
“Holy fuck- okay, Nines? Shit, alright, uh,” Gavin seemed stuck. His hands froze halfway towards reaching out before he withdrew them and fisted them back at his sides. “Listen I’ll- fuck, fuck, fuck- I’ll reverse the shit or something, just don’t fuckin move.”
“Don’t.” Nines snapped, alarms shouting over the quiet air of the factory. Gavin’s voice sounded so soft and muffled under all of the glitches and cryptic text flashing across his HUD. His voice sounded strained even to his own ears. “If this releases me, I’ll shutdown in a few second due to massive thirium loss. Pl-Please, do not do that.”
Gavin swallowed, hard. Transpiration levels along with the detective’s stress levels shot up, his heart rate and blood pressure elevated drastically and Nines assumed the minor panic attack was about to turn very ugly, very quick. It made something inside his crunched stomach churn- which was so odd, considering he barely had a stomach left or any feeling.
“Goddamn- how can I fuckin help then, shithead!?”
Nines let his breathing flare through his nose, feeling and seeing the amount of thirium he had left, the seconds ticking down until he would metaphorically die. He knew he had a back up body, he knew Kamski would be of service to him because of his ties to Connor, but the notion of death still spooked him. Just a little. And he was very confused as to why. Before it hadn’t, but before he had never come close to this situation. Was he really superior if he ended up in such a mess and felt such untamable fear?
His head lowered and he laid it down, trying to preserve as much power as he could for as long as he could. Perhaps there was a way to turn this around, if only his construction software was working. Sadly, it was offline. Was this what it was like to be human? To feel so cut off from logical statistics and being forced to rely on a dying fool’s thought? How terrible.
“If you-you,” Nines paused to clear some blood from inside his modulator. It shouldn’t be there, but then again, he should be feeling all of his limbs. “-are a technician, th-that’d really help.”
Gavin swore more times then Nines could have counted in that moment, and his fingers balls up fractions of his hair. Pulling it, tugging it, as he further stressed out. The RK desperately hated that, he wished he could fix it- wished he could go to him or at the very least stand up, put on a show that he would be fine. But Nines wasn’t sure if he really was fine, if he could be fine.
[SHUTDOWN TIME REMAINING; 4 MINUTES. ]
Gavin quickly walked up to him, climbed atop the belt Nines was stuck on and sat down right on it. He’d lost it, Nines was ultimately positive that Gavin really was concussed- only his left arm, the only thing uninjured about him, could attempt to stop the detective. The android tried to catch his leg and push him away but his strength failed him, even Gavin noticed it, and the sight he saw was enough to make his wires spark. He grimaced.
“I alerted some fuckers outside the fucking second that damned bitch was shot, you’re just- just gonna have to wait. Hear me?” Hands tickled the RK’s neck and he was even more bewildered at the prospect of why they were there. Until Gavin lifted his head and plopped it right onto his lap.
“You sh-shouldn-n’t be on h-he-ere, Gavin.” Was all he could manage to say, wincing at the dizzying heat circling the fractured rods and carving into his chassis.
“Shut the fuck up, fuckin- God. I hate you, I hate you so fuckin much right now.” Nines watched as Gavin’s face scrunched, twisted horribly and he looked so sad. So hurt. Nines disliked it more then his decommissioned nervous system. “You absolute bastard.”
Despite the venomous sneer, the human’s hands passed through the RK’s hair. Soft, tender, and so cautious. Nines tensed, before the creaking of his joints made him stop and he slumped against it. It felt…..nice. Strangely comforting.
“There’s no fuckin way ‘m gonna let you stay stuck on here- not by your damn self. Ain’t moving.” Nines ached with the shaken and frail tone Gavin used, it just sounded so off. So wrong to him. He couldn’t stand it.
“Ga-Gavin- “
“Don’t ‘Gavin’ me! You tried to be fuckin’ Texas ranger on me and- shit, Nines! You’re so fucking stupid!” A warm hand laid across his cheek, a thumb swiping and rubbing in small ministrations against the skin there. The earlier fear seemed to get replaced, a certain fluttering feeling taking it’s place. Nines didn’t know what to call it but he wished for Gavin to not stop.
“So-rr-ry.”
“Whatever. You go an' you make me fuckin’ give a shit- me. An asshole.- Care about you. Then, do some stupid shit like this!” Nines tried to not feeling too happy about the admission. That Gavin cared, it made some system that still ran tremble and shake. A pleasant feeling overtaking his frazzled software. “I’m so kicking’ your ass when this is over.”
Officers began to file in, all of them flabbergasted by the sight of them two. Nines understood, but he wished they wouldn’t gape at him so openly. He felt exposed, childish he’s very aware, but the vulnerability was something he wasn’t quite used to. He turned his head away, staring anywhere else then the whispering that floated through the space between them all. He was only soothed and calmed by the fingers carefully threading through his hair; taking their time to gently coax a tangle out, styling the curly locks to the left, swiping it right. Blunt nails scrapping against his scalp with a mother’s touch- if he has to guess.
Gavin yelled at them when he noticed Nines’s discomfort. And he tried not to let the action impede his spiraling thoughts too much.
[SHUTDOWN TIME REMAINING; 2 MINUTES. ]
“How’re you doin’?” Gavin’s voice cut in, distracting him from the bubble of trepidation that nearly set him into a panic. Nines was secretly grateful for the company. “Are you sure I can’t do nothin’? Not a thing?”
How polite. It wasn’t just every day Gavin offered to do anything, much less, for him. Nines let the smallest twitch of his lips pass his composure, paint his face in what he hoped was a tiny grin. Nines steadied his voice as best as he could, tried to work through the many errors plaguing his sensors.
“What you a-are doing now, is-is, quite en-nough.” Gavin made a face- Nines wanted to think it was very similar to Connor’s ‘puppy-dog’ pout. It was very endearing and it made the android feel a bit lighter.
His partner was a very good distraction from the metallic and artificial ligaments that had snapped and rendered him as utterly useless. With each impasse of his hands, soft as can be and touching Nines like he was delicate- he hummed and sighed. Content, if only for a moment. He wasn’t at all prepared for the feeling of light pressure on his forehead.
Gavin’s face was absolutely beet red, resting over his own and gracing his patchy, porcelain skin with loving swipes. Nines was elated, because as far as he knew the detective scorned touching and any form of friendly pats. But he was breaking that code, just for him.
“You’ll be okay,” The human muttered. Almost a whisper, but too gruff and gravely to be entirely so. Nines liked the sound, a sense of protection and security framing his battered body. He actually felt like he would be just fine, if this continued. “We’ll fix you up. I promise.”
[SHUTDOWN TIME REMAINING; 6 SECONDS. ]
He wanted to stay in the moment, if only he could. His thirium rates were severely lacking and his reserves could only do so much with him still conscious. It’d be better, and perhaps it’d be easier on the technicians if he was knocked out rather then awake. Maybe it’d be easier on him if he let himself shut off.
He wasn’t scared, however. Coaxing hands working firm and careful around his cheek and a pleasant, blissful warmth seeping into his chest.
Maybe he had been wrong about the tingly feeling inside his wires. Maybe Gavin felt something similar.
Maybe they could figure it out together.
______________________________________
As he powers back on, images and code blare through his mind. It’s refreshing to see every system and functionality restored, he is very pleased at the fact that he can move freely as before. All nerves have been reconnected and he is esthetic to note that his repairs hadn’t take insanely long, considering his body had just been replaced. Memories all in tact and fully operational whenever he needed to call for something inside his database.
The first thing he did, once he passed all of the functionality tests and program restorations, was see Gavin.
Nines just felt driven- compelled to have those hands running across his skin again. To feel that warmth, that tingle, the shudder- he yearned for it as bad as he had through the entire months he’s felt it. It only got magnified after the incident, and he found himself making it an objective. He wasn’t sure why, but it was, and he needed to achieve it.
It might have been considered a bit late to human standards, but Nines felt as if he couldn’t wait.
The sadness pooling in beautiful green eyes was too much of a rude feeling for him to continue to harbor. He needed to see Gavin; to see him smile, to see him turn red again, to hold him, protect him as the detective had done for him. He was almost sick with it, with all the need. It’s never happened before but Nines let it drive him.
His knuckles rasp across the door. There isn’t an answer and Nines grows worried, he knocks again.
No answer.
Feeling concerned and without anything to draw a conclusion from, Nines hacks his way past the digital lock and waltz right into the place.
A tabby cat greets him, a gingered tom meowing at him in welcome, another Maine coon glaring at him from their perch atop the very person he’s looking for. He bids them all an introduction, having looked up the proper proceedings for pets, and crosses the threshold.
Gavin is asleep, the cat hissing and making for a swipe at him. Nines frowns- had he messed up? Or, was this cat just unfriendly to strangers? Her claws kneaded into the fabric of the human’s shirt, and try as he might to talk the cat out of the devious ploy, they continued until Gavin grumbled and booted her off of him. He seemed upset, and Nines once more, found reason to fix that as well. Only now- he could.
The detective jolted when he noticed the android, heart beating fast- Nines monitors it just to be safe, and he stills. Nines waits for him to say something, anything really, but the silence carries on.
Deciding to take the first step, Nines opens his mouth to speak but before he can get any words out, lips press hot and hungry onto his own.
Fireworks flash behind Nines’s eyes, components heating up and forcing his newly constructed fans to whirl to cool them. Gavin’s hands fly to touch the RK- grabbing at his shoulders, pressing him close by his neck. The alarmed ’hmfp’ the android makes is swallowed down. Nines processes it, tries to boot the sudden freeze right out of his systems, and leans into those hands. Surges back and gives the same bouts of passion back to reddened lips.
Nines tries to mimic his detective. Lifts his hands and lays them at his waist, mouths moving to and fro- needy, whining and desperate.
Gavin pulls away, most likely to breathe, but Nines is selfish. He swallows and bites at the human’s lips, too caught up to stop himself from engaging in more, feeling more. He’s pushing the detective back down onto the couch, ignoring the mews from the cats and getting yanked on top of an organic body.
The human pulls away again, presses panting, open mouthed smooches to the sides of Nines’s lips. The RK attemts to compose himself, to be patient.
“Well I’ll be damned,” Gavin rasps. He’s breathless and flushed and so very red. Delicious, a truly wondrous sight. Nines drinks it up, thirsting for it. For more touch, more feeling- and for those lips again. Deviancy was so very weird, so strange. What silly things to want so badly. “Welcome back, Nines.”
“It is good to be back.” He hums, mouth drifting from the human’s lips to his jaw, biting the skin. Licking and analyzing the very private biological information of the human he so direly needs to feel close to. “I apologize if this is too forward. I-…do not know what came over me.”
And Gavin chuckles, guiding Nines’s face by his chin back up to be leveled with his own. Staring, pupils blown, smiling, and gaze impossibly fond. “I don’t mind."