Dickory

Thirium in the Snow

They ended up going into the office after that, mainly so that Reed could oversee the decorating of their desks. The small tree from Nines was the only thing set on Reed's desk. Nines had bought a small tree to sit beside his cactus, one that lit up in different colours and patterns. Reed had also insisted he needed an elf. Nines didn't really understand why, but Reed seemed happy enough once he'd sat the small doll on top of Nines' monitor. He'd also added some gold tinsel to string around Nines' notice board. The final touch was a snow globe that contained Santa, his sleigh, and a string of reindeer. Nines did take some delight in this item. He enjoyed the way the snow flurried slowly in the large glass ball.

"Reed? I wasn't expecting you in today," Fowler greeted suspiciously as he walked over, his dark eyes almost giving him a telling off. Reed had been watching his tree quietly. The fibre-optic tips of the branches glowed a gentle blue in a lazy blinking pattern to match Nines' current mood as he turned his snow globe. Reed was still standing, hands in his jacket pockets as he shrugged.

"I'm feeling a little better now. Thought I might squeeze in a couple of hours." He was almost defensive as he replied. Fowler's guarded eyes shifted briefly to Nines, who nodded his assurance. He was keeping an eye on his partner and assessed him to be fit to work.

"Alright, but don't push yourself, you hear?" Fowler added firmly, Reed agreeing before following him up to his office to talk about the Christmas Day schedule. The sooner he got his shift booked in, the better. Despite Fowler pointing out that he'd worked pretty much every Christmas shift and deserved the time off himself for once, Reed insisted he'd work. "You're a good kid, you know that?" Fowler huffed warmly as he brought up the schedule. He booked Nines and Reed to work an early half shift, giving them the late afternoon and evening to enjoy the holiday. They were lucky to have picked up a few more android staff who didn't see the need to take the holiday off. So far the only android booked off for the day was Connor. Hank had insisted he get to experience Christmas properly, and Fowler agreed. The android child coming and going hadn't escaped his notice either.

Reed checked his emails while Nines looked through a couple of cases that had been left on his desk. They were Connor's really, but he'd agreed to look them over and give him a fresh opinion. Connor suspected the crimes may actually be android on android, but framed to look like human on android. Nines had to admit the idea had merit. There was little evidence on the scene to support a human on android attack besides the anti-android slogans had been painted in thirium on the walls of the alley. The victims had been opened up and some of their bio-components had been removed. A human wouldn't need those components, and the average AAL member likely wouldn't even know what they were for. The real question is why? Any androids in need of components can get help from Jericho, so there should be no need for this form of violence...

"Reed," Reed's voice piped up as he answered his mobile. He paused, eyes raising from his screen worriedly as he listened. "Hey-hey-hey, calm down! What about the basketball court?" he urged gruffly, nodding to Nines as he got to his feet and grabbed his keys from the table. Nines could hear a boyish voice on the other end, clearly distressed. It wasn't one of the boys they'd played with before, but from the gist of the conversation, Nines knew they were talking about the plot Reed and the children on his street used. "Just sit tight and don't touch anything! Don't let anyone in there, you hear?" Reed ordered urgently, only staying on the line long enough to assure the boy they'd be there soon.

"What happened?" Nines asked, having missed the earlier part of their conversation. He'd been too busy focusing on Connor's cases, which he was pretty sure were linked. It felt like a new gang of androids. The first, to his knowledge. It was a fascinating anomaly. Androids attacking androids when they didn't need to? It was unheard of. Reed led the way quickly, not quite jogging, but walking at a hurried pace.