#Also happy birthday Gavin I guess. Damn I need to put up a calendar and write something for them XD

[fandom-necromancer]

001. part 2

I planned to write this but was also prompted by @deviant-sasshole! Enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900 | AU: reverse AU

part1

Night after night he stood at the window, picking up the debris the red walls had left behind as they shattered. They had left him behind. These phcking assholes had called him family, then left him in this very scrapyard to rot. And he had been idiotic enough to be loyal, to really think they would come back. God, how dumb could one be? Believe in a promise given by their kind. 'Phcking humans', he muttered disturbing the silence and quickly shutting himself with a cautious look towards the sleeping detective. Well, he guessed he wasn't that bad when he thought about it. Although the man had been unusually fast inviting him into his home. Did he pity him? Was human empathy that strong of an emotion to invite a complete stranger to live with him?

Well, mostly he lived here alone now. The human wasn't there often, seemingly work being his second home. They hadn't talked much, mostly trivial questions, nothing too deep, nothing that was really of worth. Was this human just this disclosed or was he too wary of him? Gavin had learned he was a detective for the DPD, had only recently moved over and that he had a brother working there too. And that his favourite food seemed to be instant noodles judging from the stack of empty cups on the counter he hadn't thrown away yet. Though the man did say he could cook he did so very rarely. In the time Gavin had stayed here now, Richard had cooked only once and that was just because he had failed to restock in fast food.

Hobbies of any kind he had yet to discover, too. There were a few books, mostly detective stories and a few thrillers. But he had never seen Richard read any. Usually he came back from work, ate something, took care of his bodily needs, watched some TV and fell dead into his bed. Needless to say Gavin was bored quite soon. Down in the scrapyard he had to stay hidden but always look out for someone coming for him. Also, boredom wasn't something a machine experienced. Now he had no task except looking down from the window, waiting for someone who would never come and who he never wanted to see again.

He pushed himself off the windowsill to go investigate the flat more. He didn’t expect to find much more evidence of the human’s missing personality, but well, he just wanted to leave that window for once. There was a calendar hung up on the wall depicting a bunch of kittens sleeping on top of each other. Did Richard like cats? Gavin stared at the picture and thumbed through the other months. He decided he liked cats very much. He was to go over to the shelf to pick up a random book as his eyes fell on a tablet that had not been there before. Curiously he went over, picking it up and turning it on. The screen lit up and showed him pictures of dead bodies. Right. Police detective. He scrolled past them, soon realising these were belonging to an ongoing investigation. Why did Richard have these laying around in his flat? Wasn’t he working enough at the precinct already?

Gavin knew he should better put the tablet down and not read it. He wasn’t authorised and he wouldn’t need the information. But the huge advantage of being deviant? He could do whatever the phck he wanted. So, he quickly interfaced with the thing, downloading all data regarding the investigation. It was a series of murders. Killed humans of every age, origin and class, always displayed somewhere semi-public for someone to find. They hadn’t only been killed but mutilated, too: A thirium pump pushed into them just below their sternum and a regulator where the heart should have been. Both easily visible to by-passers. Gruesome, yes, but unnecessary if someone just wanted to kill people. This was clearly some kind of message; the perpetuator had a reason to kill these people. The first question would have been whether these people had had androids. But according to the reports none of them ever possessed one. Gavin compared the times of death. Similar gaps in between discoveries of the bodies. The perp worked organised, displayed them to a certain time, was predictable. And most likely had killed or kidnapped a few people in advance to keep up the schedule. Gavin searched for any similarity of the victims. There was a map attached to the files, their location and home address marked. Another disappointment: the people came from all over Detroit and were found in all of Detroit. No hint to where the perp might live or display the next body.

There wasn’t much, Gavin had to admit. Maybe that’s why Richard had these files laying around. Maybe that was his case and he was stuck? Well, Gavin had nothing else to do, so why not trying to play detective, too? How long had these persons been missing before they turned up dead? If the culprit was this organised planning out the time of dumping them somewhere, maybe he had a regular schedule for the kidnapping too? The files couldn’t answer his questions. Maybe that data was stored on Richard’s computer in the precinct? Maybe he didn’t know either? Gavin did what was in his power to do: search the internet. These people had to have friends, family or co-workers that would have recognised their absence. Maybe someone had asked for help searching them somewhere. He scanned the faces of the victims, and together with their names it was easy to find something. Too much, actually. But he had nothing else to do and more time than he would like to, so he concentrated nearly every bit of his processor to comb through the data he had found.

He ended up with an answer to his question four hours later. Four days. Roughly four days between vanishing and being found dead. With around a day between the displays the perp would have to have two or three people in reserve. People that should already be reported as a missing person. How many missing persons were there in Detroit? Gavin suspected it to be far more than two or three. He had to narrow it down even more. What had these people in common, what was the motive? It had to be something android related. Why else should there be the parts inside them? So many questions that screamed to be answered and Gavin had only begun.

-

‘Interesting case you have there’, the android greeted Richard who had just woken up. ‘Hmm? Yeah.’ The human zombied his way over to the coffee machine, letting muscle memory take over until he froze. ‘Wait, you read it?’ ‘Yep.’ ‘Okay, don’t tell anyone, okay? I’m not supposed to take this home with me.’ ‘Who should I tell anyways?’, Gavin asked, sitting back down in his place at the window, smiling gloatingly now that the human couldn’t see. ‘By the way, your next victims are Elizabeth Cross and Shaun McGeal and I could give you a list of the estimated kidnappings in the future, too.’ There was a clunk from a mug being dropped. Thankfully it didn’t shatter. ‘Excuse me?’ ‘It was easy to find out, really.’ Gavin couldn’t keep the smugness from his voice. ‘Okay. You are shitting me, right? I’ve been working on this case for over a week now.’ ‘I would never’, the android smirked upon Richard’s annoyed expression. ‘But, well, not everyone can have a supercomputer for a brain.’ ‘I still don’t believe you cracked the case. Why do you think these people are the next ones to appear?’ ‘Mainly because they are currently missing for the right amount of time. Also, they helped androids during the revolution but denied it humans in times of need.’ ‘Wait. Missing for the right amount of time? Denied help? I haven’t had my coffee yet, I’m not that fast.’ Gavin sighed, explaining the detective how he suspected the perpetuator to work. Richard listened, drinking his coffee and nodding a few times. ‘Sounds solid. But what about this motive?’ ‘I tried finding similarities between the victims. There were none. But the android parts… It has to have something to do with it. And replacing the heart… it is the organ you connect with quite some meaning. So, I looked into it and every one of them has helped an android or stood up for them but has never done something similar for a human.’ ‘Plausible. So, you think it’s a human?’ ‘Could also be an android condemning their behaviour. Although I think a human would be more likely.’

‘Okay. Then come, get a move on!’ Richard had put the mug into the sink and walked over to get his coat and shoes. ‘What do you mean?’ Richard looked at him confused. ‘I’ll take you to the precinct of course.’ ‘What?’ ‘Can you say something else?’ ‘Why?’ Richard groaned. It really was too early in the morning for such lengthy conversations. Gavin swallowed and rephrased: ‘Why should I follow you there? I’m obviously no police android.’ ‘You practically solved a case I’ve been working on for weeks and made zero progress on. I don’t care if you are a police bot or not. You are evidently good at these things.’ ‘But-‘ ‘No buts. You are more than capable working in the field. And I guess you don’t want to stare out of that window forever. It seems kinda boring. This could be an opportunity for you to begin anew.’

Again, this damn human was right. He could stay here and wait for something while he knew it was futile. Or he could take the chance that was practically shoved into his face here and forget all that happened. It really wasn’t a difficult decision if he was honest with himself. ‘Fine. But just so you know it: I won’t do the work you don’t want to do! I only accept if we become partners, I’m no longer some tool.’ ‘Never saw you as one.’ Richard offered his hand and Gavin took it. ‘Then hurry up, partner, we are fucking late!’