#dpd goons

[ausetkmt]

Video captures Detroit police officers allegedly roughing up man without any reason

Detroit pulled these two goons off the street immediately because they knew what they were doing was entirely wrong.

this man was doing nothing other than putting his phone in his pocket and walking up to his house. why they vamped on him is going to be a real investigation and I for one want to see it

[fandom-necromancer]

Whatever it takes

This was prompted by the amazing @smolandangry001! I got carried away with this, so I’m sorry for the delay but I had my fun! I hope you enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human Ship: Reed900 Warnings: Graphic depiction of violence, Graphic description of torture, long short story

‘What’s this?’ Gavin looked up from the pistol he was cleaning and squinted at the object in the hand of one of the goons. ‘Hey, what the shit, that’s my phone!’ ‘You forgot your jacket. I went to pick it up and it fell out.’ Gavin sat up and put down the parts he was working on. ‘Well, Tomas, then give it back, would you?’

The hand was pulled minutely back to his body. ‘How about you answer some questions first?’, the man said and leaned against the doorframe with a smile. Gavin instinctively tensed. Thomas was relaxed, but that smile hid something, and he just happened to casually block the only exit of the room. ‘Like for example: what’s this?’ He lifted the phone up and showed Gavin the display. It showed Gavin’s home screen: a picture of Nines playing with the cats Gavin had taken when he hadn’t been looking. ‘I told you I had a boyfriend. Don’t tell me you are one of these android haters, are you?’ ‘No’, Thomas said and turned the phone to look at the screen himself. Overly casual he commented: ‘What deters me is that this is a RK unit. A Connor, more specifically. Last time I saw one of them was during the revolution.’ He smiled as he said that, speaking slowly as to taste every single word. ‘Working for the police.’

Gavin froze for a second but willed himself to relax. ‘Well, that’s your mistake then. He’s a RK900. The successor model.’ ‘That’s what the boss told me, too. Too bad there is only one RK900 out there and it’s working for the police too.’ He outright grinned. ‘So, when are we telling the truth, Detective Reed?’ Gavin’s face fell when the man aimed a pistol at his head and lifted the phone over his shoulder to the waiting gang-leader that stepped into the doorframe. ‘I think we should give this boyfriend a call, should we?’

-

Nines smiled as he got the notification of a call from Gavin. ‘Hey darling, home early today?’, he asked already looking forward to see his human again tonight. The smile vanished the moment a foreign voice answered him: ‘I don’t think your darling will be coming home anytime soon. Not if you don’t get your boss on the phone and we talk about our conditions.’ Nines had already hacked the DPD’s system to interrupt Fowler’s call, play him what had been said up to now and broadcast the ongoing call. ‘He can hear you.’ ‘If you want to see your darling again, and not in a box, you will grant us save passage out of your jurisdiction. You will not attempt to find us or take your detective by force, or we will kill him. We await your answer.’

The call ended abruptly, and Fowler looked at him through the glass of his office. Wordlessly, Nines stood up and walked over there, brain not really catching up to what had happened just now. ‘Please tell me you got their location through the call’, was the first thing the Captain asked him. ‘I got it.’ ‘Okay, send Sixty the information, that will be quicker than briefing SWAT myself. We’ll send a team up there. You are on desk duty.’ ‘What?’, Nines asked. ‘I’m the most capable to-‘ ‘If I send you in there no one but Gavin will survive. You are on desk duty. Help SWAT the best you can, you are to coordinate the mission.’ In no way able to accept that, he did shove it aside for more pressing matters: ‘Captain, he wasn’t lying when he said he would kill Gavin.’ ‘Well, I’m not considering their conditions’, Fowler stated. ‘If we are quick, they may not yet be gone. Everything else I hope will solve itself with your tactical analysis. Those are civilians who know how to shoot with a gun and how to cook up Red-Ice. I think if it comes to a fight, they will value their own life more than being true to their word and killing some random police officer.’

‘You hope’, Nines hissed, grabbing the edge of the table with too much force, making the metal groan. ‘Yes’, Fowler nodded. ‘I hope.’

-

Gavin watched how the gang-leader dropped the phone in his pocket. The pistol was still aimed at his head. Had his own weapon not laid in parts on the table, he would have taken his chance and escaped, but like this, there was nothing he could do. They needed him alive for now as a hostage, so he had to cooperate and watch for an opportunity to come up.

‘Tell the others. We leave immediately. Leave everything behind we don’t need. We can build up everything again when we are somewhere safe. We take the truck.’ ‘What with the pig, boss?’ The triumphant grin on his face couldn’t be anything good. He stepped into the room and looked down on Gavin before taking his wrists and bending them behind his back. ‘I think I’ll have my fun with him, don’t worry.’ He had Gavin cuffed with zip-ties and pushed him out of the room. The Detective’s first thought of escape had been smothered the moment the barrel of a gun hit the back of his heat. He was escorted out of the building and into the back of a van, where he was blindfolded and a balled up piece of clothing was pushed into his mouth. ‘Behave, Detective. Wouldn’t want to be you otherwise.’

Unable to keep his footing on the drive, Gavin tried to press himself against the wall of the otherwise empty van. Still, at some corners or sudden breaks, he lost his grip on the floor and was hurled against the next wall. But other than a sudden spark of pain he could feel nothing else. So no bleeding or worse wound so far. He could only imagine however what would happen to him. He needed to stay alive, nothing more. And he knew from their profiling that the gang-leader was no one to have as an enemy. He had had a history of domestic abuse cases they couldn’t prove, as his partners had never pressed charges and run the first chance they got. Afterwards there were a lot of android repairs in his name. Again, nothing the police could have proven and nothing that would have been a crime back then. But Gavin had known the man to be violent and had kept his distance for that very reason.

He had infiltrated the gang playing the role of some lowlife, someone who was either too dumb or too pathetic to be bothered with, and had quickly fit in. No one paid him any mind, thinking that if he did found something out, he would either be clever enough to shut his mouth or dumb enough not to notice it was important for their business. He had spent his days doing menial tasks and gaining their trust and his cover had never been blown. He had gathered a ton of information: Names and phone numbers from most of them, their suppliers, their buyers and their contacts in other gangs. He would have only needed a bit more time to make sure he got everything he got and then he would have vanished. But no, he had made a rookie mistake. Believing no one would see his phone as he always had it by his side and not bothering to change it to a neutral background out of laziness. It was a dumb mistake and one that very well could cost him his life.

Nines, he finally thought, but didn’t dare to hope. Fowler must have done the right thing keeping Nines at his desk where he was most effective, conducting teams and information and hacking his way into every system relevant. He knew that if Fowler didn’t, Nines would become the hunter he was designed to be and storm in here leaving nothing behind but corpses. But he couldn’t help but think that if Nines were on the loose, he would have already been saved.

-

‘Fowler, they aren’t there anymore. I’ve seen tire tracks on sight with the drone footage. It’s no use searching the building.’ ‘They left in a hurry, Detective. They left everything they didn’t need behind. Valuable information.’ Nines was fuming as much as a machine was able to, seeing Fowler staring at him with the most neutral expression. ‘Captain, with all due respect, information is useless when the criminals escaped our grasp.’ Fowler sighed. ‘Nines, information is never useless. We could get a hint where they are headed. Stop fooling me, I know you want to go after Gavin.’ ‘They will kill him the moment they are out of the city. Maybe they keep him alive long enough until they are out of the state. But that’s it. Maybe he is already dead.’ ‘Then there is no use of you heedlessly running after them.’ ‘Captain!’ ‘No, Nines, I want you here at your desk, coordinating everything. You will be most effective here, where you are useful to the team.’ ‘Then I want a vacation.’ Nines pushed his chin forwards in defiance and watched Fowler knead his forehead. ‘I can’t grant you that, Nines.’ ‘Then I quit.’

‘Nines, please! This could cost you your job’, Fowler reminded him. The android grunted and slammed his hands on the Captain’s desk. ‘Gavin is more important to me than this job! Without this job I can live and be happy. Without Gavin…’ ‘And when you killed your way to him, I life behind bars is better? If they even let you stay functioning? They could even just deactivate you. I have to remind you that a lot of people – your own people – called for you to never be activated, thinking you could never truly escape your programming? I really don’t want to end this in them saying “Told you so”. You are a good person. A good cop. If you go down this road, Nines, I can’t and won’t protect you.’ He stopped and looked Nines intently in the eye. ‘Are you aware of that.’ ‘I am’, Nines said without hesitation, only counting the seconds and calculating the distance they could have already travelled from their old hideout.

‘Then you are excused for the day due to high stress. I want to see you tomorrow morning eight sharp here, on desk duty.’ ‘Thank you, Captain’, Nines sighed in relief. ‘Don’t make me regret this. It’s in your hands now. If anyone asks me, this meeting has never happened.’ Nines couldn’t promise that and simply left.

-

Gavin hit his head hard as the van skidded to a halt somewhere. He was feeling sick, mostly because he had always had problems with cars when he wasn’t driving. He couldn’t even look at his phone in the passenger seat without feeling like he had to throw up. Being blindfolded, gagged and cuffed while hurled around in the back of a van didn’t make things easier. The doors were opened and there were hands on him, heaving him out of it. He was carried down a few flights of stairs that were made of metal mesh by the sound of it. He was pulled through tunnels that echoed the steps of the gang-members and he thought to hear water in the distance. Not running water, but drops of it hitting a still surface. The type of moisture that could built up in long forgotten underground tunnels.

He was dropped without warning and his shoulder hit the ground, while his back fell on sloped debris. A caved in tunnel? Most likely some place only accessible from one side, so they could keep him confined. He groaned and tried to sit up, but promptly got kicked in the guts for it. ‘Stay down if you like keeping your blood inside’, he was warned by a voice he vaguely remembered, though it was hard to pinpoint it without a face. It wasn’t the gang-leader however, so that was good. Maybe.

He was generally forgotten for the time being, something Gavin valued greatly. He guessed they were busy getting what they had taken from the hideout down into the tunnels and hiding the vans somewhere. He didn’t know how long it took until someone spoke directed at him. Not as long as he would have liked, however. ‘Your boyfriend left us on read, Detective’, the gang-leader hummed. ‘That’s not very nice of him. We send him such nice pictures of you.’ The blindfold was ripped from his head, taking a few of his hairs with it and leaving his scalp prickling. His phone was shoved in his face and he looked at himself in the back of the van. The next one was him being pulled over rough, dusty concrete. Then several while he had been laying there unmoving. All of them had been sent to Nines. Gavin couldn’t speak around the gag in his mouth, but he could form a halfway decent grin, looking up at the bastard.

‘What?’, he asked. Clearly the pictures were not having the desired effect of scaring him. Hell, he had looked worse after some cases, Gavin thought. So, he just smiled at him until the gag was pulled out too. It left his teeth aching as it was ripped out with one swift motion. ‘What is so funny?’, the man asked. ‘You just signed your death-sentence’, Gavin laughed hoarse, his mouth dry from salivating around the gag. ‘I was the one who agreed taking the risk in accepting him as a partner. He owes me his life, even though I don’t see it like that. Ever since, the thing he values most in life?’ He would have pointed at himself, cockish as he was, but his arms were still bound. So he leaned forwards in a farce of an attack. ‘Me.’

The gang-leader looked at him, seemingly thinking about what he had said. Then he smiled. ‘I’ve demolished more androids in my life than I could count. Slowly. Agonizingly. You know these people who thought they don’t feel pain? They do. I proved it. I know what wire to pull to make them squeal, I know where to shoot to immobilise them. Your boyfriend doesn’t stand a chance.’ ‘You will be dead before you even know it’, Gavin spat. ‘To him you are nothing but flies, some scum standing between him and his human. Believe me. I would call him, say you surrender. Prison’s still better than what awaits you now.’ He coughed and turned, flinching as his shoulder hit a sharp rock. He was indeed in a caved in intersection of two tunnels. ‘It was the most idiotic things you assholes could have done sending those pictures.’

‘Shut your fucking mouth!’, the man shouted and placed a foot on Gavin’s chest. ‘He will never find you. And he is a cop. You pigs have no fucking spine. Even if you do kill someone you go running back to your captain and come away unscathed. You don’t even have it in you to stand up for your actions.’ ‘He isn’t-‘, Gavin tried to defend the android, but the gang-leader put all his weight on the foot on Gavin’s chest, pressing his shoulders into the rocks and forcing the air out of his lungs. ‘He is’, the man grunted. ‘You are pathetic. Humans and androids alike. Seeking refuge in Red-Ice when things get rough. Never dealing with your problems, only ever blaming it on others. You wouldn’t believe how much money you can make out of that misery. Maybe you should try it. Maybe once I’m done with you, you will be pleading for it. It does take the pain away.’ He leaned down to Gavin, putting even more weight on his ribs. ‘It makes you feel good. Believe me, at the end of all this? You won’t know how feeling good felt anymore.’

-

Nines was running. Just below the speed of a car he was running across dark and empty streets, leaping over fences and jumping from bridges. He had sent the DPD the photos. He had sent them the information he had gathered so far. Just in case. But all of that was secondary, as there was a mission imprinted in his very being: Save Gavin Reed. There were a few places in Detroit that fit the background of the pictures. It wasn’t any active tunnel, else the gang couldn’t have entered it with all their equipment. It had to be somewhere accessible by car so they could easily unload and drive off again. From the combination of brickwork and concrete it had to be old. And it had been deep enough to gather ground water in the tunnels.

One of the few options – and the most likely one – were Detroit’s forgotten safety rooms and tunnels leftover from the 1800s. Most of them had been found during underground construction or the rebuilding of Detroit after Cyberlife settled. But most of them were still intact, acting as sight-seeing attractions or simply being walled or chained off for the city’s urban explorers to break into. So far, Nines had checked several of the known entrances that fit his categories and lead to large enough rooms underground to be refuge for enough people and equipment.

He was increasingly aware of the time that had passed. It was evening, Gavin had been busted around two pm. Considering a few hours drive according to the time the pictures were taken, he still had been taken hostage by a gang whose leader had a record of violence and certainly wouldn’t let this opportunity pass. Unless they were clever. Nines hoped they were although it seemed unlikely. They could have used Gavin as bait, sending him those pictures just to send him on a wild goose chase to find him. And while the police was busy searching for the man, they could escape. Well, even though it would mean all had been for nothing, Nines held onto that hope. Because that would mean Gavin was alone in some tunnel waiting for him and as far away from harm as possible. They would find the gang with the evidence the DPD had collected. But more likely it was for them to have panicked and hunkered down the first chance they got.

And Nines could only hope they didn’t let Gavin feel that fear and frustration. And if they did, then that he would get there in time.

-

‘You know, there are certain parallels between android and human anatomy. Have you ever thought about that?’ Gavin wasn’t able to answer, having the gag back in his mouth, but he knew that the man didn’t want them anyways. ‘They put their processors in their head, their cooling pump where the heart would be, their filtering system a bit more up and centred than our kidneys. Keeps it simple, I guess. But why keep their access point for all central systems up here?’ Something cold hit the back of his neck, where he had developed a nob from sitting hunched over at a table for too long. ‘If you clamp it down like this…’ Something pressed against his throat and the area the gang-leader had hit before. ‘And then fasten it like this…’ Gavin felt pressure rising with every turn. Something clamped down on the middle of his throat just below the Adam’s apple. ‘You can paralyse them temporarily. Doesn’t work with humans though, although it must be  unpleasant.’ Another turn. Gavin didn’t have the capacity to scream, but the pain was unbelievable and he gasped for air. ‘But you know what?’, the man asked. ‘If I press here, bloodflow to the brain is stopped.’ His fingers ghosted over his pulse points. ‘Way quicker than choking someone, but boring. That’s why I liked playing with them so much. If you disconnect a few wires here…’ he let his fingers travel further down. ‘They start to spasm. Play some music and it’s really fun to watch…’

Finally, the man loosened the device around Gavin’s throat and he was allowed to curl in on himself and cough his lungs out, the ghost of the pressure still present ‘You know, I kind of want your earlier threats to come true. I want your android hubby to come here and see you like this. A bloody, sweating, crying mess, drooling onto the floor. I want to see his reaction when he knew nothing but that cocky asshole you showed me. And then I can show you everything I just told you on him. Make you watch as you are reminded how below human they truly are. How much of them is machine. If I pull the right wires I can make him my puppet. Can make him say all the words you never want to hear and he couldn’t do a thing about it. We have a lot of time on our hands after all. Will be a while until the police gives up searching for you and accepts we escaped and killed you. But that’s something for later. Let’s work on what we can do now.’

Gavin hadn’t really recovered yet, but risked a look over at the man. He had to know what happened next. Nothing was worse than not knowing. His eyes widened as he saw the man grip a knife.

-

Nines was becoming desperate. He had to find Gavin. It had gotten almost a mantra in his head: [Save Gavin] [Find Gavin] [Protect Gavin] [Find Gavin] [Protect Gavin] [Save Gavin]

There weren’t many places left. He feared the moment he had checked every known tunnel and didn’t have Gavin in his arms. He really didn’t know what he would do when he realised Gavin had to be somewhere no one had discovered yet. But the next entrance was in front of him and he couldn’t waste another bit of processing power. He jumped down the stairs, full attack mode engaged. He scanned the area and found heat signatures. He hoped it wasn’t another poor homeless person he almost scared to death.

Not wasting time on being quiet, he stormed down the tunnel and could have cheered once he barged into a room full of people that stared at him in wide-eyed surprise. He didn’t wait for someone to attack him first. He had seen the guns and the red powder in neat packets, and knew that even if this wasn’t the Red Ice gang, it was at least a Red Ice gang. He screamed at the first, hoping to still use the moment of surprise. Then he grabbed him by the arm and pulled him close, lifting his leg and stepping down on the one the goon had stretched out for balance with inhuman force. The bone broke with a crunching sound and Nines let go to jump to the next one. He ignored the bullet piercing his clothes and skin just to be deflected by the armoured plates in his chest. A well placed punch found the back of someone’s neck, who went down immediately. The next two, Nines grabbed by their clothes and kicked away their feet from under them. They fell face first to the ground and staid there. Nines turned to the last remaining man in the room, who was looking at him terrified, pistol in shaking hands. The android smirked and marched on, not even thinking about the bullets the man fired in a hopeless effort of taking him down. Nines pushed him against the wall, grabbed his gun and crushed it in his hand. ‘Where’s the detective?’

Needless to say he left no one able to stand as he marched on, methodically incapacitating anyone in his way. He wanted to kill them. He wanted them to stop existing forever, not wishing them a single nice – no not even a neutral – moment in their lives. He wanted to see them suffer for what they without doubt did to his human and he wanted it to last until the very last moments of their lives. It didn’t matter what Fowler thought would await him afterwards. A force to stop him, the most advanced android cyberlife ever created, must first be invented. And if he knew Gavin alive and well, that was enough.

Except that Gavin wouldn’t like that. Sure, he would understand and he would be able to maybe forgive him over time, but he wouldn’t like it. And he wouldn’t be able to continue working with his human, protecting him on cases like the human had done for him so many times in the very beginning of his free life. He wouldn’t be able to see Gavin that often in a life on the run. No, he had to make do with this. Hurting them just enough and satisfying his need for vengeance just enough so it could still count as self-defence if you had a really, really good lawyer. What was more important anyways was to get to Gavin and fast, so he always chose the most efficient way. Unfortunately for his fury, that was also the one with the least suffering for those who wronged Gavin.

When he finally found his way to the last corridor, he could hear muffled screaming and chuckling. He sprinted down the corridor and didn’t stop once until he held the man by his throat against the next wall, who had before carved deep gashes into Gavin’s upper arms and face. Nines saw red and raised his fist, hitting the man in front of him over and over again, until his nose was bleeding and his face a swollen mess. He would have continued, if it hadn’t been for an incredibly light kick to his ankle.

He blinked, looking at the man’s feet first. But he was a gurgling mess who couldn’t keep his footing as soon as Nines let go of him. So he turned around and faced what he had never wished to see. ‘Gavin!’ All anger and hatred were flushed down the drain when he saw Gavin on the floor. He was bleeding from several cuts, his face was swollen and his neck and throat bruised. He was shaking in the cold, face an unhealthy grey and he seemed to have trouble breathing. Nines fell to his knees and ever so carefully scanned his human not to aggravate any injury. Gently, he cupped Gavin’s chin and worked out the gag in his mouth. The strained muscles under his hands relaxed and the human’s eyes were on him. ‘Nines’, he half-coughed, his voice hoarse and barely above a whisper. ‘Shh, it’s okay. I’m here. They won’t hurt you. Not anymore. I got you. I’ll get you out of here.’ Nines bowed down to scoop him up, now that he had identified the broken rips and bruises, but a weak grip on his upper arm stopped him. ‘Did you kill them?’ Nines shook his head. ‘Only incapacitated them. I couldn’t hold myself back completely.’ ‘If they are alive, that’s good. We will manage.’ ‘Stop talking now. I will deal with the fallout later. You are safe. That’s all that matters. Quiet now. Rest. I will get us out of here.’

The way Gavin curled up in his arms, pressed himself close even if that must hurt like hell to him, made Nines tear up. He brushed over his hair, held and supported him as best as he could, as he lifted him up completely and carried him out. He didn’t look at the groaning criminals that were either still out or avoided moving for their own good. He just by-stepped them and cradled Gavin, who had pushed his arm around his neck. He felt blood trickling down his back, but the amount wasn’t enough to concern him more than he already was. He was close to the stairs now and finally managed to get a signal.

‘Fowler? Gavin is safe, I got him. Send a few ambulances’, he announced once the call had been answered. ‘What did they do to him?’ Nines looked at the man in his arms before he took the first step. ‘Gavin is fine – will be. I’m taking him home. No, our suspects are in an old save tunnel network, I’ll send the coordinates.’ ‘Are they-‘ ‘I kept them alive, but they need medical attention’, Nines interrupted. ‘You can get me for police brutality, but frankly I don’t care. Also, I won’t be coming for work this week. That’s it.’

He ended the call, having said the necessities and not bothering with more when they could come to the scene on their own. No, Nines had already called a cab and carefully carried Gavin to the street where it was waiting. On the ride home, Nines had draped his own jacket over the human to keep him warm. It was full of bullet holes, but it would help, if just a little.

At home, Nines got Gavin to the bathroom and sat him down on the toilet while he pulled out a few of their fluffiest towels. Gavin could stand on his own, but still Nines held him, helped him out of his clothes and into the tub he started to fill half-way with lukewarm water. Enough to warm up the human, but not harmful to his cuts and bruises. He took a clean washcloth and started cleaning his wounds, sporadically he lifted it over the man’s shoulder to let the warm water run down his torso so he wouldn’t start to get cold in the breeze from the open door. ‘We have to bandage them, keep them clean’, Nines informed Gavin, who was just sitting there with his eyes closed, just taking in the affection Nines gladly gave.

Nodding to himself, he stood up, but Gavin grabbed his arm, already stronger than before. ‘Don’t go’, he murmured. Speaking still seamed difficult. ‘I don’t- I can’t be alone. I will come.’ Nines nodded again, understanding. Instead, he helped Gavin out of the tub and dried him off where the wounds allowed. He led him to the kitchen and got out the medical supplies, handing him painkillers and lots of water, before carefully bandaging the many cuts and open wounds. After dressing him in some baggy sweatpants and an oversized shirt that wouldn’t aggravate the wounds too much, Nines sat him down on the couch. ‘What happened?’, he asked gently. ‘I don’t want to talk about it’, Gavin blocked off. ‘Gavin, I-‘ ‘Please.’ Gavin pressed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth and fists. ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ He sighed and looked at Nines. ‘Tomorrow, okay? We will talk tomorrow. Please, just let us do something normal? Watch a movie, cuddle, something like that. Just something completely ordinary. Please.’ ‘Sure’, Nines said, feeling dumb. Of course. The wounds on Gavin didn’t look like some goon mindlessly taking their anger out. Maybe it was better to let him rest for a while. He picked out one of Gavin’s comfort movies, one that didn’t involve too much action. They laid down on the couch, underneath a soft blanket and Nines just held him as they watched the movie. Although neither of them really paid attention. Nines was more concerned with Gavin’s breathing, knowing a doctor had to look at it as soon as possible. Gavin had just closed his eyes and held Nines’ hand on his chest in his, brushing his thumb over it. Back and forth. Back and forth. It was a steady rhythm only disturbed as their cat decided to join them now that they had calmed down.

Only as she laid down next to his belly did Gavin open his eyes and lifted his other hand to pet her in the same rhythm he brushed over Nines’ hand. ‘I missed you Dipshit.’

[bigdlittleibignlittleozzo-moved]

Angst Starter for @wasscared​

Detroit had always been on his list of places to visit. The birthplace of Motown- how could Tony resist the siren’s call that was the Motor City? It had taken years for him to get to the point on his list of places to visit that he was ready to go to Detroit, but now he was here, wandering through Downtown late at night.

He was heading back to his hotel from a bar when he saw something unusual. There was a crowd of people in an alleyway, gathered around a body that was crouched on the ground. His gut churned, and he headed down the alley, reaching for his knife. Every cop instinct he had said that there was something wrong, and even though he was retired, Tony couldn’t turn down a person who was obviously in need. He didn’t have it in him. He reached into his other pocket and dialed 911, leaving his phone where it was. Anything he said would be caught on tape, but no one would know he had called. 

“Hey,” he called out, drawing attention to himself as he slipped the knife into his hand, flipping the blade out, “What’s going on down here? Is everyone alright?”

The group turned to look at him collectively, and Tony felt a shiver of fear run down his back. This wasn’t like when he was a cop. There was no backup coming, not until Detroit PD could get here, if they were warranted. Tony was alone, outnumbered, and practically unarmed. He was in so much trouble, but it was too late to turn back now. He’d already drawn attention to himself, already made his presence known. The group had abandoned the body on the ground at least. Maybe he could get away.

“Vat is going on is being none ov your business,” the biggest man spoke, and Tony’s gut clenched again. Russian, in a group like this, he was assuming mob involvement. He knew he shouldn’t jump to conclusions, but he also knew statistics and they were against him. “Ve are being having discussion vith our friend.”

“Doesn’t look like any sort of discussion I’ve ever been a part of,” he quipped, hand clenching around the knife as the other four goons slowly circled to surround him. “Usually discussions involve everyone being on the same level, not one person being on the ground. Doesn’t really seem fair, you know. Maybe you should let me give that guy a hand up, make sure he’s alright.”

“I do not tink so,” the big guy was coming closer, as  his friends closed in around Tony. “Vat we are doing is private business. Now, ve must be taking care ov you. You have seen too much, my friend.”

“Me?” Tony let out a laugh, desperately clutching his knife, hoping that DPD was getting all of this. “I haven’t seen anything, really. Not a single thing. I’m just a guy out for a walk. I didn’t see anything suspicious, not if you say I didn’t. There’s no need to resort to violence, really.”

The big guy chuckled, sending a shiver down Tony’s spine. Before he could say anything else to try desperately to save himself, there was a thunk, and Tony went down hard, the back of his head hit by one of the other men.

He woke up in an awkward position, hands trussed up behind him, legs folded at an angle he couldn’t quite figure out. His phone was still in his pocket, he could feel it, and he hoped it was still transmitting, still on call with the police. The men who had done this to him obviously weren’t very smart if they’d left him with his phone.

Opening his eyes, he groaned. His head was killing him. Still, he did his best to peer at his surroundings, trying to figure out where he was. It felt like he was in the back seat of a car, leather sticking to his arms when he tried to move. He twisted his hands, feeling the zip tie that secured them. Well, that was inconvenient. He could get out of it, but it was going to hurt like a son of a bitch. That would have to be first, before he did anything else. 

The car he was in was dark, he couldn’t see anything out the windows. That didn’t mean anything though. It could be tinted beyond belief. He didn’t know. Twisting his wrists, he worked his way out of the zip tie, holding back a pained cry when it cut into his skin. It took him a few minutes, and he was pretty sure he dislocated his thumb, but he got out of the zip tie. 

He moved to open the door of the car, frowning when it didn’t budge even a bit. It felt like there was something pushing back on it, some sort of resistance. He tried the window next, breathing a sigh when it opened. That sigh was immediately taken back when dirt started falling in through the window, and he rushed to close the window again, panic seizing his chest.

Buried alive. He had been buried alive.

He reached for his phone, pulling it out of his pocket. It was disconnected, but he dialed 911 again, hoping beyond hope that he was shallow enough to pick up a signal. “Please work. Please please please work.”

He could feel the panic taking over, his breaths coming in short and sharp. He’d never had a panic attack before, but he was sure as hell having one now, he could tell. It made sense. After all, he was about to die in a car that had been buried who knew how deep.

The phone made a beep and he didn’t even bother to check if it had actually connected, just started yammering. “My name is Tony DiNozzo and I’ve been buried alive. Please, come help me. Help me, please. I don’t want to die like this. Please. Somebody help me.”

[enkisstories]

Emma: “And now for tonight’s lesson... or your exam, more like it.

Walk out here on your own two legs! Yes, it hurts like hell, but that will prepare you for the worst: When Perkins’ goons wound one of us, we need to still function.”

Unusual for a DPD detective and her partner, there is no witty reply to Emma’s words, no silly joke or playful death-threat. Alice and Jin bite back their pain as well as they are able to while setting one foot in front of the other with grim determination.

Emma nods, satisfied. Adult body and ID mean nothing. As far as she is concerned, these two have become adults only this very moment.

[tatsumamimaki]

In A Cruel World (ConnorxReader D:BH oneshot)

Character(s): deviant! Connor x reader

Word count: 1,131 (why do I write so much wtf)

warning(s): mentions of abuse, blood, injuries, anger/sadness ends with comfort…

a/n: I’ve been having this thought lately that reader just got out of a terrible relationship and Connor has been there for reader after they got out of the relationship but he’s never met their abuser. Connor takes the well being of reader very seriously. (Sorry this is late asf finals have been killing me). I was also going to make this more in depth but I didn’t want anyone to be triggered at all by it. If you think I should make a second part getting more into detail/moving the story? plot along then let me know please.

(y/n): your name

(y/l/n): your last name

(h/c): your hair color

(e/c): your eye color

“Connor, we have to go now!”

If Connor wasn’t already on edge this morning, hearing the worry in Hanks voice definitely did it. The Lieutenant had barely seemed very worried in life and when he was, Connor was told why right away.

Every morning Connor was greeted by you at the DPD; sitting cross legged on his desk, sipping your usual morning coffee, scrolling through your various social media timelines. Connor would be lying if he said this morning ritual didn’t make his day. He loved that you waited for him, he loved the way you sipped on your steaming hot coffee, and how your short stature struggled to stay put on his desk. Hank has had to snap him out of this daze on you far too many times. To Hank, Connor’s feelings for you are far too obvious and many days it pissed Hank off to hear the both of you flirting like high school sweethearts; but neither of you would make a move on the other.

This Wednesday morning was unlike any other at the department. The blinding blue sky from yesterday had become an eerie grey, the station was so silent it brought every officer goosebumps, and Connor couldn’t help but notice your absence. While Connor pestered almost every officer in the station for your whereabouts, Hank had more serious business with Captain Fowler.

“Lieutenant do you know where Detective (y/l/n) is? It seems that no one-”

“Connor, we have to go now!”

Hanks stern tone threw Connor off guard. The elder was in such a hurry to get to his old beaten down vehicle even Connor didn’t know how he got the speed.

“Captain Fowler has had a certain device (y/n) can use if she’s ever in danger and this morning it went off. Fowler had already sent a few officers over to her place but he demanded that we go.”

Such in the way Hank drove, his sentences came out like lightning. He had caught the worry and mix of anger on the androids face as he glanced at him. The Lieutenant wasn’t just worried about you, he was now also worried about his partner.

“She’s gonna be ok. I promise you, we’re gonna get there and she’s gonna be fine, okay kid?”

Connor and Hank both knew of your punishing past. Just about a year ago when you had first met the pair, you were able to have the strength mentally and physically to escape the abusive relationship you felt trapped in. Ever since the day you left, you had been threatened, stalked, and just on edge all of the time. A month ago, all of these threats and stalkers came to a sudden stop. The day these unbearable situations had ended, you came home from the station to find a letter at your doorstep. I’m not done; was written on a piece of ripped paper. You hadn’t wanted to panic anyone over the letter and after a month of silence from your ex and his goons, you believed you may had finally been in the clear; maybe he had just wanted to keep you on edge for nothing. But another month later and God were you so wrong, in this moment you wish you hadn’t been.

Connor had never met your abusive ex but when he first saw the bruises and cuts on your body, he promised he would get back at the guy. Every time the both of you were out together and he noticed one of the stalkers, he nearly scared them half to death with his strength and tone.

Connor began to over think what type of trouble you were in right now, causing him to clench his fist while he was on the verge of balling his eyes out.

“Don’t do anything extremely stupid please Connor.”

Hank stated as they pulled up to your home. Connor quickly slid out of the passenger side when he saw an officer struggling with a raggedy young man.

“Let me see him.”

Connor demanded the officer.

“He’s been detained and I’m taking him down to the station now. You should head on inside.”

“I will, just let me speak to this asshole.”

The officer hesitantly held the attacker straight between himself and Connor, allowing Connor to confront him.

“Huh, so you’re the bastard who has been a thorn in everyones ass. Look here, you are going to rot in jail, I’m going to make sure of it. You’re going to have the worst karma for what you’ve done to (y/n). You will live in hell and she will be happy, she’ll be relieved you’re gone. She’ll be safe and you will no longer be a part of her life. I’ll make sure of it.”

If looks could kill, Connors cold hard stare would have pierced a harpoon threw this joke of a human. His anger for what this “man” has done to you burned through his veins so intense he could’ve set your attacker to flames.

Hank pulled Connor away and into your familiar home. Once Connor had stepped foot through your front door, he ran down to your side. You sat in the middle of your living room floor, with broken pieces of glass and other inanimate objects that seemed to have made a mess of the once beautiful, and tidy place. You looked up at the taller figure, tears streaking your red and somewhat bloodied face; yet a glimmer of hope shown through your eyes as you looked up at him.

“Connor! You don’t know how happy I am to see you.”

You gripped onto Connors CyberLife jacket, burying your face into the crook of his neck. Although the both of you were always this close, the quick action took Connor by surprised. Nonetheless, he reciprocated the hug, running his fingers through your (h/c) hair. Slowly, Connor pulled away and cupped your red cheeks into his warm hands. He stared into your (e/c) eyes, and begun crying.

“Connor, why are you crying?”

You’ve never witnessed the android cry before. You’ve seen him overly happy, excited, even mad; but never have you seen him cry.

“I just can’t believe someone would ever hurt you. Even thinking about it, it just… why? Why would someone ever do such a thing?! You’re just- you’re… you’re everything to me.”

Connors words settled within you as you both stared lovingly into each others eyes. Sincerely, you wiped his tears and spoke from the bottom of your heart.

“Connor, I don’t know why some people do the things they do. I don’t know why this world is fucked up and I don’t think we’ll ever be able to change that, but let me tell you something; You’re everything to me too.”

[fandom-necromancer]

You are safe with me

This was prompted by an awesome anon! I hope you enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900 (Warnings: Description of violence, evil Sixty, panic attack)

‘Eli’, Gavin whispered, trying to keep his voice down. ‘Eli!’, he tried again with a bit more urgency and was rewarded by a low groan. Gavin could hear the pain in his voice but was relieved the man had woken up at all. Once again, Gavin futilely tried to rub his blindfold off with his shoulder. He had only just started warming up to his brother again, but damn, he wanted nothing more than see the bastard and make sure he was okay. ‘Are you alright?’, he asked. ‘I’m fine’, Elijah slurred through gritted teeth. ‘A few more bruises and breathing hurts. You?’ ‘I’m alright’, Gavin sighed. He was, in fact, not. Elijah was who they wanted. The genius inventor with billions on his bank account and influence all over the world. Gavin was just someone they accidentally had to take with them because he had visited Eli over the weekend. Figuring they could use him as a bargaining chip to make his brother spill whatever they wanted from him, he hadn’t been treated as lightly.

He was hurting all over. Being beaten up and cut to make him scream over and over again, so Elijah would cave in, hadn’t passed him without a trace. He hadn’t lost enough blood to be light headed, but half his face was swollen, he couldn’t find a position his body wasn’t hurting in when he laid down and from his past hospital visits from his work, he knew there were several bones that were broken or at least sprained.

They had been taken by masked figures and since then Elijah had worn a blindfold. Gavin was only blinded when he was brought back to his brother. During his sessions in the next room, he was allowed to see his opponent and it made his stomach turn. It was Connor. Or at least a Connor. Gavin refused to believe the puppy-eyed nerd that constantly swarmed Hank was capable of such things. The Connor that had introduced itself as Sixty was far too cold anyway. Gavin could see it had some sort of sadistic fun hurting him. And the more the damn machine smiled at him, Gavin struggled. Even if they tied him down and took everything that could be used as a weapon from him, he still had his voice. They needed his voice so Eli would hear it next door. And Gavin used it to spit every expletive known to man in Sixty’s face.

But he could feel how he grew weaker. This had been going on for far too long already. There was only so much pain a human could withstand and still fight. With every passing day, desperation sat in. Gavin’s only hope was that the DPD would find them. Kidnapping Gavin was a bad idea when his partner and love was the best android ever built. But he hadn’t found them yet. And if Nines hadn’t managed to find a trace yet, how likely was it he would find one any time soon?

He was his only hope by now, because he knew he would never stop searching for him. But that hope was dwindling as Gavin tried his best not to think about him too much. He was already dreaming of Sixty hurting him over and over again when he found a few hours of sleep. It was far too easy for these eyes to turn blue, for his face to turn up and for their surroundings to change to their living room. Nothing was worse than waking up from sleep after the love of his life had just mutilated him in his dream and being dragged off by his Doppelganger immediately afterwards.

Sometimes, when Sixty decided to phck him up worse than normally, Gavin thought to see Nines. Reality and dream had merged and panic overshadowed anger. He didn’t bother to hide it: He was afraid. He was so damn scared Elijah would give them what they wanted, and they would just kill him off. He was so scared they would never be rescued. He groaned, as he rolled over, trying to locate Eli and make sure the man didn’t lie to him in the same way he did to him. Because what he feared even more than himself dying in this hellhole was Elijah meeting his demise.

He had finally wormed his way over to his brother as the door opened and they both froze. Gavin felt familiar arms hugging him from behind to lift him up and felt like throwing up as they were almost careful. He was carried out of the room and laid on the table. Only then the blindfold was lifted, and the man froze in panic as his stressed-out brain tried to make sense of what he saw.

It was the first time he begged for Nines to stop.

-

‘Everyone in position?’ Nines waited at the north entrance to the abandoned machine hall – a relict from the days Detroit was still the world’s automotive capital. He was wearing a borrowed Jacket from Connor and had changed his eye colour to brown to infiltrate the building. He had worked night and day to find the people that had taken his love away from him and with help of nearly the whole department found out who had kidnapped the Kamskis. Sixty, the wretched third brother that had nearly stopped the revolution and killed Connor, was still loyal to Amanda and taken Elijah in her name. He wanted to force him to develop a virus that would un-deviate every last android in the world and follow Amanda’s orders. With that information Nines quickly found a place that had sufficient space and power supply to house an AI and checking the energy draw it was a surprise they had managed to stay hidden for so long in the first place.

Nines didn’t want to think what they had done to Gavin. They didn’t exactly need him and likely used him to pressure Mr. Kamski into compliance. But that would end today. He heard the others confirm their positions just outside the different rooms, entrance routes secured for a quick access. ‘Alright. Going in.’

He walked calmly down the hallway and feigned a confidence only Sixty could display. If they had hired goons for protection, Nines doubted they knew Sixty well enough to distinguish him from a near identical model. And if not, then it would just come down to a match between him and an inferior machine. Nines was prepared. Months of despair, pent-up stress and fear could create a dangerous cocktail of fury and the RK900 was determined to let Sixty feel it before deactivating him for good.

Walking deeper into the complex he never saw another face and decided to give the clear for the rest of his team to enter and scout for themselves. He watched out for any sign someone had been here lately, climbing through debris and balancing over beams where the floor had collapsed. But it were his hears that picked something up in the end and it made his pump stop at least two full beats: The bloodcurdling screams coming from the end of the hallway were so far from everything Nines had ever heard this voice produce, but still mistakenly Gavin. He started running, regardless of whether the integrity of the floor allowed it or not. He slid to a halt at the door, pieces of drop ceiling on the floor spun to the side after centuries of decay. With one distinguished movement, Nines ripped the door open, the lock falling to the floor from the sheer force. He could only see the table with Gavin strapped onto it and a person bowed over him, then he was already next to them and punched Sixty square in the face. The impact sent him crashing against the next wall.

The time Nines needed to follow gave the other android the chance to look up at him and ask: ‘Connor?’ Nines dismissed the masking protocol and fixed the RK800 out of his own, blue eyes. ‘Guess again’, he ordered cold enough to let hell freeze over and took Sixty by the throat to punch him against the wall repeatedly. ‘My name is Nines. You kidnapped and tortured someone who is very dear to me.’ ‘Kamski?’ ‘No. His brother.’ ‘Reed? What, someone actually likes the asshole?’

Nines screamed at him and send him to the floor, pressing Sixty down with his weight alone. ‘I love him. You weren’t successful the first time and you missed your second chance, Sixty. Now you die.’ Those were the last words the RK800 would hear, as Nines broke Sixty’s artificial neck before unholstering his gun to shoot him a few times for good measure.

He looked down on the deactivated android with content until his attention shifted to the laboured breathing audible in the room. Immediately he was on his feet and on top of Gavin to open the restraints and take him in his arms. Gavin was alive. Gavin was hurt, but alive. Gavin was back by his side. They would go home and- no, they would go to a hospital first, but they would go home eventually and then-

‘No, no, no, no-‘ The panicked whisper, nothing more than air leaving his lungs, came from somewhere at his chest, where Gavin’s face had been smothered against him. ‘No, this can’t be. Not this dream again, please-‘ weak arms pressed against him and Nines knew Gavin well enough to let him go immediately, only helping him to lay back down. The human’s eyes were wide in fear and panic and Nines instinctively took a step back. ‘Please, no, not you Nines, no, I beg you. You would never do this. Make it end, make it end!’

‘Gavin, it’s me. It’s me. I came to get you out of here. You are safe now.’ But the man wouldn’t listen. ‘You say that, but you will just hurt me again. This is my phcked-up brain again. Stay away from me!’ ‘I- I will’, Nines said despite wanting nothing more than holding him close and carry him out to never let go again. ‘I will stay right here; I won’t do anything. I don’t know what they did to you, but this is me. The DPD is just outside waiting to shut down Amanda for good and get you to a hospital.’ He finally shrugged out of Connor’s jacket, thinking it might be the uniform. But otherwise he didn’t move, hoping Gavin would come to his senses. But everything his scans returned him was showing him he was experiencing a panic attack. He had to keep calm. For Gavin’s sake. ‘Gavin, please, try to breathe. Try to focus. Try to breathe deeper. It is over. Sixty is dead. I will get you and my brother out of here.’ ‘What are you asshole playing?’, Gavin asked, tears flowing down his cheeks. ‘Just get on with it already you mad phcker! Cut me open like you always do! What are you waiting for?’ ‘For you to calm down, Gavin. I unshackled you. And look: I will sit down here now.’ He took more steps back until he hit the wall and sat into the dust. ‘I won’t stand up until you tell me to. Please try to calm down, to breathe and to relax. I won’t do you any harm.’

Gavin eyed him sceptically, but his breathing had indeed become more regular. Nines relaxed a bit, staring at his human, who was just sitting there wounded and sore, bleeding from cuts and his face swollen. He wanted to caress where he could and warm him, wanted to make it better. But anything he would do now would only make it worse. ‘I’m not dreaming?’, Gavin asked. ‘You never did that in a dream before.’ ‘You are not. I’m really here and we can go home whenever you are ready.’ ‘Home…’, Gavin still watched him, but his eyes looked distant. ‘I… Is it really over?’ ‘Yes.’ Gavin blinked and looked down on his feet, swaying to the side and righting himself again. ‘Sixty is dead?’ ‘He is.’ ‘Nines, I think I’m losing consciousness…’

Nines was on his feet the moment he said it and ran to his side, holding him gently and this time Gavin didn’t freak out like before. He did tense and looked like he was ready to bolt the moment Nines moved the wrong muscle, but otherwise sought the closeness. Nines did nothing but supporting him, until Gavin leaned against his chest and hugged his side. He inhaled through his nose and smiled. ‘It’s really you’, he murmured, before resting his head against him. ‘Get me out of here, Nines.’ ‘I will, Gavin. You are safe with me.’

[fandom-necromancer]

Let’s write together: Heart Reset

Chapter 2 - Data and Dragons

Featuring:

@sparklingrainbowdragon (‘s mom) with "Today, like every other day, the unicorns are running free." @rufina72 with “God damn, just move your- OW! Quit stomping on my feet already!”, “And here I thought it would be a disadvantage that you were so short, detective!”, “Our boys jumping/climbing out of a window” and “A very determined spider!” @aurea-b with “gargoyle” @sparklingrainbowdragon with “A dragon”

[Chapter1]

-

It had been early morning the next day that Jerry had send Nines more information. Apparently, their theory of their suspects meeting in the medieval part of the park had been correct. Jerry had reported several people arriving at the park, all of them masked but otherwise disregarding the cameras completely. Due to the park being abandoned, no one cared about them and Jerry kept them stationary. That was enough for Nines and Gavin to head out. If they wanted to prepare anything they had to do so now, not when everything was in place. They had informed Hank of their plan, who told them that backup would be ready and in place on their signal if they needed it.

Now they were walking through the trees on the edge of the areal until they got to the fence. Nines had taken a wire-cutter with him, although he didn’t need it in the end. The fence had been trampled to the ground and didn’t really pose as a barrier anymore. Nines left the tool behind a tree and followed Gavin onto the park grounds. They soon found one of the paths connecting different rides and shops. All buildings were designed to look like castles or village huts, and everything was heavily overgrown. Gavin kept him back as he was about to walk onto the path to look around for any sign of humans. ‘Hey, Nines, look over there.’ Nines followed his finger to discover a huge castle that for once actually looked to not be covered in mock-up stone. ‘If I knew one thing about Jayden, it is that he likes to be overly dramatic. Every chance to pretend to be a Rockstar he would take. I bet he would choose the biggest phcking building there is.’ ‘Well, it’s worth a shot. We have four more hours until the data is lost.’

They kept behind the buildings walking towards the castle that was at least four stories high. The next time they had to stop it was Nines who kept Gavin back. >Three persons at the crossroad, he displayed on his hand, pointing into the direction of them as soon as Gavin had read it and deactivated the screen. He listened intently to them talking, hoping to get some more intel. At the same time, he displayed what he heard for Gavin.

‘Why did he have to come so soon, I don’t understand. I mean… this place is creepy man.’ ‘Idiot, he is checking for traps. Ever since he fucked that Detective, he is paranoid as hell.’ ‘Doesn’t mean we have to be here, too.’ ‘You are getting paid for it, stop complaining.’ ‘Exactly. Easy money for patrolling an abandoned park. Besides who the hell knows of it anyway? Just a day spent outside going for a walk.’ ‘Still can’t wait until they are done in there.’

Gavin plucked at his sleeve grinning triumphantly. Okay, so maybe he had been right with the castle, it wasn’t as if Nines had been doubting him. He just shrugged and gestured him to follow. They snuck up to the entrance of the castle, a sign with flaking colour telling them this had been a haunted castle once stuffed with the newest robotic technologies. Nines looked up at it frowning, but in the end, they weren’t here for the attraction itself, but for the data Browns would sell here. Gavin pulled him to an employee’s entrance that led into the foyer. Apparently, the visitors had only been allowed inside in small groups at a time. Inside, Nines took over, leading Gavin through the hidden tunnels for the staff. There were enough hidden windows and maintenance doors that they could spy into the adjacent rooms in relative safety. They traversed nearly the complete first floor, until they got to the “throne room”. In sudden excitement, Gavin slapped his side, pulling him over to the one-way-mirror. ‘That’s the asshole’, Gavin hissed quietly, and Nines proceeded to scan him. Gavin was right. There was Jayden Browns, walking around the table, looking underneath it and inspecting the whole room.  Nines took the throne room in, comparing it to his blueprints. ‘Gavin, I need you to hide over there’, he whispered pointing to a little hidden hatch in the wall that would without a doubt be connected to some character appearing during the performance to scare the visitors. ‘Are you kidding me?’, Gavin hissed. ‘No way I will fit in there!’ Nines just smiled at him. ‘Oh, you will fit just fine, trust me.’ ‘Urgh, fine.’ ‘And here I thought it would be a disadvantage that you were so short, detective!’ ‘Phck you. Why there?’ ‘This room has two escape routes. One towards the entrance and one that leads to the rest of the tour. We need people at both sides to intercept him when surprising him.’ Gavin nodded. ‘Anything else?’ ‘Wait for my signal.’

He sighed, before turning and following the maintenance tunnel to the hatch. He pulled up the cover and was greeted with a small compartment housing what looked like it had once been a ghost puppet and a ton of spiderwebs. Gavin whined, hesitating to climb in there, but looking at his watch to see whether he had enough time to find a better spot he realised, it was nearly seven pm. He grimaced, before lowering himself inside and crawling over the puppet to the front. Thankfully, not one of the spiderwebs were still in use. At least Gavin told himself that. He crawled to the forefront of the compartment, laying his head on the floor to spy through the slit into the room behind it. He looked for Nines but couldn’t see the android anywhere. But he trusted that he saw him when the time was right. Now it was time to wait.

He had always hated waiting, but at least this time it wasn’t too long. Apparently whoever Jayden wanted to sell the data to surprised him. ‘You are early’, his voice suddenly broke the silence and Gavin flinched. God, he had forgotten how much he hated that guy. ‘Do you have the stick?’ ‘Right here. Do you have the money?’ ‘How do I know it works?’

Gavin tried to get a good look at the other man that spoke but found himself distracted by a movement at the corner of his eye. A spider, steadily crawling towards him. He blew the little creature further away from him, but as soon as it had regained its footing it crawled towards him again. Gavin focussed the two men talking again, side-eyeing the spider and pushing it back again and again. Shocked he found that he had gained some attention by sending a small dust cloud out under the hatch. He froze, watching how the shoes of the second man had turned towards him. But a moment later the man changed his stance as he disregarded it. Gavin sighed in relief, only to feel something crawling over his hand. He couldn’t explain his reaction properly except with the utterly idiotic instinct to get away from the tiny creature, screaming and wriggling himself out of that compartment without thinking about it.

That was how he found himself standing in the throne room being stared at by the two people, Jayden with his hand outstretched, a phone in hand for the other one to see. Reacting immediately, he pulled out his gun and shouted ‘DPD, freeze, the park is surrounded. Hands up where I can see them!’

But despite his quick call, they didn’t freeze at all, instead doing the exact opposite: They drew their guns, Jayden shouting for his men before shooting at him. He was ready to regret his fear of spiders dearly, but the bullet never reached him, Nines jumping in the path out of nowhere. The android saw the oncoming goons, the two guns ready for another shot and decided they wouldn’t be able to stop them alone. He took Gavin by the jacket and pulled him with him, only for the stubborn Detective to dive to the ground, where Jayden had let his phone fall. Nines allowed it, helping him back to his feet and sprinting towards the exit Gavin had been supposed to guard.

‘What was that supposed to be?’, Nines shouted as they left through it, running for their lives. ‘I’m sorry!’, Gavin gasped. ‘Phcking spiders!’ ‘Doesn’t matter now, run! I’ll call in Hank and his backup waiting outside.’ They ran up the stairs to the second floor and Nines was almost carrying Gavin the way he hauled him up to help catch up with his bigger steps. They ran past animatronic knights and witches, ghosts and undead kings, all hanging in their more or less intact machinery, until they reached a larger room that looked like some sort of medieval bedroom. Nines milled over their options, deciding quickly to pull open a large wardrobe and pushing first Gavin then himself inside, closing it just in time not to be seen by the goons storming inside. ‘God damn, just move your- OW! Quit stomping on my feet already!’, Gavin complained, before Nines could push his hand over his mouth. Because unfortunately, the men had decided to search the room instead of running past them.

‘What do we do know?’, Gavin asked and Nines just grinned. ‘This is a haunted castle. Let’s scare them a bit and cause a distraction. The android pulled off a panel on the back wall of the wardrobe and interfacing with the touchscreen behind it. Only a few seconds later music started playing tinny and distorted. Then a voice from a woman coming from the bed. It sounded like she was reading a bedtime story. ‘Today, like every other day, the unicorns are running free. But it wasn’t always like that-‘ ‘Oh, come on, skip to the good part’, Nines mumbled, followed by metallic screeching and what sounded like plastic being crushed. ‘Oops.’ ‘What did you do, Nines?’, Gavin asked slightly panicked. ‘I set the program to ten times the normal speed, but apparently it wasn’t made for that. We might get a bit more chaos than I wanted…’ ‘What do you mean by tha-‘ ‘Out, now!’

Nines pulled him outside just at the right moment. A second later and a large plastic gargoyle from the opposite window would have crushed them, being flung inside by a robotic arm that had never been supposed to withstand such momentum. The whole room was in chaos. The robot mother that had read the bedtime story was up in flames and screeching, the princess was shaking inside the bed, sitting up and falling back down repeatedly. The walls crumbled and rebuild themselves while a cacophony of at least three songs playing at once rung in their ears. As doors on the opposite side banged open for a dragon’s head to emerge and roar, Nines knew that they wouldn’t be able to continue this route. ‘Nines, you are right! This is too much chaos!’ At least the goons were distracted. Distracted by running down as fast as they could, as the fire from the robot mother began to spread. ‘Phck, Nines, where do we go?’ The android seemed lost himself, but caught himself, running to a window and leaning outside. Gavin, realising what Nines was thinking about, took a step back. ‘Oh no, Nines, not happening. You are insane! I’m not phcking jumping out of-’ But the android had taken him by the arm already, running full speed at the window and taking Gavin with him. They fell from the second floor and down towards a decorative moat. There was no bracing the impact, only the cold water suddenly encasing them. Gavin briefly panicked, as he tried to swim to the surface but having Nines still clinging to him and pulling him down. Thankfully it wasn’t that deep, and he quickly realised what Nines was planning, as they reached the bottom and the android near catapulted them out with one powerful kick. They emerged near the shore and climbed up the muddy hill to the trees again. They looked back up to the burning fake castle and Gavin pulled algae from his shoulder before swiping at his eyes.

‘Well, not how I expected the day to end, but not many can say they burned down an amusement park?’ He chuckled and Nines couldn’t help but smile at the sentiment. ‘Let’s just hope Hank caught our suspects.’

[>next chapter]