Love Rivals

This Wasn't What Went Down...

Third
Nines had eventually moved on to search other rooms for evidence of any kind. Finally, he enters the kitchen and bumps into the smaller male, "Oi! Phckin' watch where you're going meatsack!" The Android scowls, shoving the detective away from himself.

Nines bumps against the wall, sneering ruthlessly at the android for his; rather it's action. "Don't touch me. You'll get my clothes dirty." He snaps back, shoving the other backward and into the wall. Glares are exchanged and a silent war bubbled between them as they continued searching the house. Nines still couldn't quite find anything that would lead them closer to understanding the crime while also avoiding his android partner. He could solve this case without him, he's done it before and he'll certainly do it again. He spots a trail of thirium, still fresh enough for his human eyes to detect, and hears heavy breathing from inside what looks to be the storage closet. He draws his gun, clicking the safety off as he nears it.

Meanwhile, Gavin had gone upstairs to explore, having located several pieces of evidence that would help them form the motive before they interrogated the man responsible. He paused to look into the bathroom, shifting the curtain and dropping it with no hesitation. Sitting in the bathtub, covered in flies, was the bloated body of a young woman.

(2024 Note to self, there was more than one victim.)

*Trigger warning: Gore*
She had short chestnut hair, which was stuck to her face after at least a few months of decomposition which made the male confused. Why was she here of all places? Couldn't they smell the rotting flesh? Then he noticed how pale her skin was, the dull green of her eyes had a small layer of white over it. The worst part of her death was the injuries he needed to scan. Starting from her face, finding the cause of death to be blood loss, he saw her bottom lip had been cut and bruised. Her left eye was swollen and several bruises were covering her cheeks as well as cuts and burns. His eyes went lower to her bare collarbone, seeing the large gash from one side of her neck to the other. This was what killed her, slicing into the major arteries. She was murdered. As much as Gavin didn't want to look at her corpse any longer he pressed on, mostly to note all of the bruises and long gashes in her body. One caught him off guard the most, it wasn't a normal cut. This one was spelling the word, 'help,' in shaky writing. He placed the report, LED flashing yellow briefly before looking away from her.

She had been one of the missing women in the reports he'd seen on the TV at New Jericho, which had become his home since he'd been awakened. He shook the memory of her rotting body from his head and continued searching the rooms, finding more hints of what had been happening here. Just as his foot hit the top step to return downstairs he here's a curse and a call for help.

Nines on the other hand had opened the closet to reveal a terrified android, LED nearly the darkest shade of crimson he'd ever seen before. He lowers the gun, showing a hint of sympathy to the thing. "Are you hurt?" He puts the gun away only to be charged by the damn thing. "Gah! Fuck! Get off me!" He grabbed the male android's right arm and twisted it to roll over and hold him there. "I need backup in here!"

He's kicked off and slammed repeatedly into the checkered flooring. He grits his teeth wraps an arm around his attacker's neck and slams him face-first into the tile. He holds him there, a small line of blood falling from his busted bottom lip. He shakes his head in disbelief and disgust.

"You should have played nice asshole." He spat, lifting the android slightly to shove him back onto the floor. This wasn't where their fight ended, however. The Android squirms beneath him, then manages to roll over enough to punch him square in the jaw. Stunned the detective recoils away and holds the injured side.

Disoriented he is grabbed and shoved onto the nearest table, grunting loudly at the searing pain through his muscles and the attacker climbs over him and wraps his printless hands around his neck. He chokes, which would be normal for someone who would never be choked on a normal basis. His hands fly to his attacker's wrists, short fingernails digging into the artificial skin of the android above his body.

This was not how he was going out. Gavin raced into the room and was followed behind by several other officers. The sight startled them but became worse the moment Nines slammed the butt of his gun against the Android's head and knocked him temporarily unconscious. He gasps for air, sitting up weakly as his legs loosely dangle off the wooden table.

His head pounds from both the lack of air and the stiffness in his body. "You fucker, I told you... To stay put!" He snaps his gaze to the others, who take the android away. "And where the fuck were all of you?!" He snarls, scaring off most of them and leaving him alone with his partner. The taller male rubs his neck, feeling the damaged skin forming the bruise. Connor would freak out the moment he sees it when he visits him later, though that was pushed from his mind as he stormed out of the room. Though before he gets out of the house fully, his forearm is grabbed carefully. He glances down at the hand, holding firmly onto his arm as he's turned around to meet his partner's eyes. "What?" He snaps, eyes glaring into the shorter brunette's.

"Are you alright? You kicked his ass pretty good, that was... Pretty smart thinking." His partner confesses, refusing to meet his eye. It's not that he was embarrassed or nervous, or shy even. Rather he simply didn't want to look at a human when complimenting someone's actions. Humans didn't deserve their praise.

Nines snatches his arm back and scoffs, his cold icy blue eyes rolling before he walks away. "I'm fine. No thanks to you." With that, he gets in his Cadillac and drives back to the station alone. Gavin walked towards the side of the road before shaking his head, a droplet of rain fell onto his head. This would be a long, cold walk. As he started to walk away, he couldn't shake the feeling that he missed something so obvious from the house. Maybe that's why he felt watched in a way, he felt like that since the moment he found that girl's body. More rain had begun to fall and slowly his brown locks began to stick to his artificial skin. His LED blinked yellow as he scanned the evidence he had found, curious if his partner had found anything himself besides that android. There had been another man arrested in the home before their arrival.

The station comes into view, but Gavin notices his partner leaning against the wall in the damned rain. A puff of smoke falls from his lips as he takes another drag off of a cigarette he held neatly between his index finger and middle. They lock eyes, staring right at each other as he grew closer.

He went to walk inside, though an arm was moved in front of him. "I wanted to... thank you I suppose. For the compliment." Nines' tone was softer than the expected harsh tone as he moved his arm out of the Android's way. Gavin scoffs, though slightly less annoyed with the man as he enters the precinct doors.

Nines crossed his arms and finished the disgusting thing, dropping it to the ground and stepping on it. He lets out the last cloud of it before walking inside, the last thing he needed was to be asked questions by his coworkers. As he entered, no one looked his way or said a thing to him. It seemed from his outburst earlier they were scared to even step past him.

With another eye roll from the sarcastic and stoic male, he chooses the break room as his next destination. He enters to spot his partner talking with the Tina android he walked into that house with. She raised her head, seeing Nines, and waved a greeting to him. She smiles, showing that same inviting look she always had adorned on her features. He shakes his head and begins making himself a cup of coffee. The scalding hot liquid began to fill the cup he'd grabbed, though the cold rainwater began to gnaw at his body. He slips the wet Trenchcoat off of his shoulders and holds it in one arm. He adjusts his turtleneck before turning to face the two Androids, taking a sip unfazed by the hot, sugarless coffee.