✔️Becoming Human, Like You (Reed900)

2^ Just For Tonight

Gavin steps up to the door of Toby DeFranco. Nines stands behind him. Gavin knocks on his door, waiting patiently for someone to answer it.
     The door flies open, and a man steps out, quickly raising a gun to Gavin's head. Before he can do anything, Nines pushes Gavin behind him, protecting Gavin with his body.
     "We're with the DPD!" Nines yells. "We're not here to hurt you!"
     The man lowers his gun when Nines shows him his ID. "S-Sorry..." he mumbles. "I've been... weary, since my daughter went missing. I'm Toby." Toby holds his hand out to Nines.
     "I'm Detective Nines of the DPD. I'm an Android. An RK900." He shakes Toby's hand and moves out of the way, so Toby can see Gavin. "This is my partner, Detective Reed."
     "Call me Gavin," Gavin says, shaking Toby's hand. "We're here with questions about your lost daughter."
Toby nods. "Come inside," he invites, opening the door wider.
Nines follows Gavin inside, looking around curiously. "What happened that night, the night she went missing?" Nines asks, picking up a framed photo of Toby and his daughter.
"Well," Toby begins. "Taylor was in her room when I left. She sent me a text saying that someone had pulled into the driveway. She asked me if I knew who it was. She sent me a picture, and I didn't recognize the car. I told her to take the gun and lock herself upstairs in case anything... happened."
"And, when you came home?" Nines continues questioning, multitasking as he observes the windows for any signs of a forced break-in.
"I- She- The car wasn't in the driveway when I got home. Then again, she wasn't home, either. Taylor was just... gone."
"Do you still have the picture she sent, by chance?" Gavin asks.
"Oh, yeah, here," Toby says, pulling his phone out. He shows Gavin a picture of the car.
"Nines, c'mere," Gavin beckons.
Nines approaches them, looking over Gavin's shoulder.
"Can you scan that license plate? Find anything?"
"Yes. Give me one second, Detective," Nines replies, reading the license plate. He runs the numbers and letters through the registered database, searching for matches. But... there are no matches. He hums in confusion as he reruns the numbers again, and again. Still, there are no matches.
"Did you find something?"
"It's fake," Nines says. "I'm trying to match it with a registered plate, but there are none. That's a fake plate. Untraceable. However," Nines continues, taking the phone. "The car is most certainly real. I'm sure I can look through the camera feed and see if this car has gone down any main roads. Maybe, I can even see where it went." Nines studies the picture, noting the features of the car.
The license plate reads: DSB 445. The car has a large scratch going down the side, which is most likely a result of someone keying the car. It's dark blue. There aren't very many notable features from the picture, due to the angle, but what Nines can see is enough.
"You said Taylor texted you this? So, she has a phone?" Nines asks. He knows that she has a phone, but it can't hurt to confirm.
     "Yes. She didn't take it with her." Toby pulls it out of his pocket. "Here. I don't know her password, so I don't know what you can do with it."
     Nines takes the phone from him. "Don't worry, Sir. I'm an Android," Nines says, as if that would explain everything. But, Nines easily hacks into it, unlocking it and combing through it. Nines usually wouldn't feel good about looking through someone's private device, but he has to. If there's anything useful on this phone, he has to find it.
     And, he does find something.
     "Does Taylor go to school?" Nines asks Toby, searching through some sketchy texts.
     "Yeah, of course, she does."
     "Does she have any friends? Specifically, any older friends? Friends that can drive?" Nines continues.
     Gavin shoots him a look. These are awfully specific questions. What is he doing?
     Toby goes speechless. "Why do you ask...?"
     "Because, it looks like she's been kidnapped by a school friend," Nines speculates. He transfers the phone screen to his hand and holds it out so Gavin and Toby can see it. "Look. Here are the texts."
     Taylor had texted someone that Nines thought was a friend from her school. His name is David. Or, at least, that's what she calls him. The more he combs, the more he sees that David had manipulated her, convinced her that he loved her, when he most likely didn't. It looks like David had insisted on coming to pick her up, tonight. But, she declined, and he threatened to kill her before the car arrived.
     Gavin looks at Nines in awe, deeply surprised that he was able to find out this much in so little time.
     Nines flips through her camera roll. There's a picture of Taylor's face. Nines swipes to the next picture, and it's a picture of David. Nines hums thoughtfully.
     "Detective?"
     "Yes?"
     "I think David might have kidnapped her, and I think he might he posing a threat to Taylor's life. I think we should go to his school to get some answers and see if we can't get our hands on their files. If we can find out more about David, we can find him and stop him before he does anything."
     Gavin nods. "Sure, tin can." He turns to Toby. "Well, we're done here. Get some rest, Toby." Gavin turns and leaves the house.
Nines nods at Toby, then follows Gavin.
"So, this kid is gonna kill Taylor? Or, at least he says he will?" Gavin asks Nines, starting he car.
"Yes. I think that they attended school together, but they were in different grades. I think that David kidnapped Taylor. He said he was going to kill her, so we have every right to believe that he will."
"But, there were no signs of a forced break-in."
"Taylor knows David. She must've allowed him inside, and that's when he struck."
"Damn..." Gavin breathes, genuinely impressed by Nines. "You're, like, a really good detective," he praises.
Nines looks at him with surprise. "Really? You mean that?"
"Yeah, you're better than me."
"You have instinct. Experience. I have plenty of useful tools at my disposal, but you have years behind you." Nines shakes his head, smiling. "I'll never be half as good as you."
"Oh, shut up, you piece of plastic. Just take the praise, ok? It's not often that I tell people they're doing a good job," Gavin remarks, smirking at him. Gavin's heart feels light as Nines giggles at him. It's like the thing is really alive.
And, a part of Gavin finally agrees that, yes, Nines is alive. He's living. A part of Gavin bursts full of happiness and acceptance of Nines. A part of Gavin likes Nines.
But, the other part tells him that Nines is still an Android. Androids can't love. A part of Gavin is always telling him that he can't have Nines, and he never will. He'll just end up hurting Nines.
Gavin can't keep the smile on his face, and he soon replaces it with a dejected frown. He chooses to focus on driving, no longer wanting to talk to Nines.
Nines takes notice of Gavin's change in mood and decides to not mention it. "It's getting late, Detective. We could put this off."
"Every second we waste is another second that Taylor could be dead. We have to do this, now. I can sleep, later," Gavin snaps, stressing over the case.
Nines nods, choosing to say nothing else.