Tick Tock Part Four - The Mouse Fell Down

Running on Empty

"Nines...Hey, Nines! You good?" Miller asked as he rested a hand on his rigid shoulder. He was slumped over his desk as if sleeping. He'd never seen him like that before, and Connor never did it either. Nines hummed softly as he slowly forced his eyes open. The lids felt heavier than usual. His whole system was lagging. It took him a few moments to process Miller's words and actually raise his heavy head. He pushed himself up slowly and winced. His joints were stiff, and his spine seemed almost rigid. It was like he could feel the individual sections of the plating rubbing and clicking together. Miller's brow creased with concern as he finally looked up with unfocused eyes. His optical units were malfunctioning. Miller was going in and out of focus as they tried to adjust. "We have a case."

"Understood." Nines tried to push himself to his feet, knees protesting all the while. They were both surprised as his legs gave out and he fell to one knee, resting a hand on the edge of his desk as Miller grabbed his shoulders and guided him down safely. Miller looked positively alarmed as he propped him up and looked around for help.

"Hey, Nines! Someone find Connor! Has anyone seen him?" The bullpen was busy, so someone must have heard the shout, but Nines couldn't really focus on that. He closed his heavy eyes against the onslaught of noise that his audio processors couldn't separate. Instead of individual sounds and voices, he was just getting a deafening static roar. He could see Miller's lips moving as he looked at him, asking if he was alright again. "Connor! I don't know what happened." Miller was clearly relieved as he saw Connor hurrying towards them.

"Nines? Did you forget to charge again?" he asked as he dropped to his knees and took over. Nines blinked tiredly as he tried to think back. He was pretty sure he'd charged a couple of days ago. Or...was it three days? Either way, he still had plenty of energy in reserve. His LED span red. It was a human phrase, but he really didn't feel too good. Everything felt stiff. Movement was difficult. He leaned his head on Connor's shoulder, desperate for comfort against the onslaught of noise. Connor drew back the skin of his hand and rested it over Nines' neck as he held him up, almost sighing in relief as scanned his ailing systems. "Your thirium levels are almost fully depleted." That was good. It wasn't too serious.

Nines groaned a tired acknowledgement and remained in Connor's arms for a while. He remembered now. He'd been working a case earlier that morning when the low level warning had sounded. The little internal alarm had annoyed him so much that he'd turned it off. By the time they'd returned to the precinct, he'd completely forgotten about it, too focused on tracking down leads for their current case. The current case he should be working with Gavin. Not Miller. Gavin should be there! Gavin should-

"It's alright...Could you get a bottle of thirium from the vending machine?" Connor asked as he looked up, unwilling to leave Nines until he'd stabilised. Miller agreed instantly and hurried across to the vending machines while Connor stroked Nines' hair and rubbed circles on his large back. Nines would have been crying, only he had no available thirium to convert into optical fluid. "You need to be more careful...Thirium depletion may not be fatal, but it can lead to numerous hardware issues, and it's vital for your internal bio-components to continue functioning." Nines nodded, painfully aware. He'd never intended for this to happen. There were simply other things on his mind. Important things. Things like Gavin.

"Here." Miller returned with an uncapped bottle in hand. Connor took it with thanks and helped Nines drink down the first few sips. Even with just that small amount, he could feel a definite improvement. He could also taste the citrus flavour of the thirium drink. It was his favourite. The one Gavin always used to get him. His hand shook a little as he took the plastic bottle. "Connor, should I ask Ralph and Ben to take this one?" Miller tried to be subtle, but Nines could hear him perfectly well. His chest ached at that. His incompetence had created more work for other officers.