I Didn't Want This Either | Gavin Reed x Reader

Thursday, November 12th, 5:43 am

#$%!&$#&@#

The tears had stopped. Nines felt numb now, leaned against the railing of the bridge, staring down at his hands. The glitch was crawling, further and further, a little bit at a time down his arms. It had reached down to his wrists now, flickering, transparent, like he was turning into a hologram. The sky overhead, once so bright, so blue, so beautiful, was also growing grey, and the flowers seemed to have lost just a bit of their colour. The world around Nines was falling apart, only to soon be put back together again by another AI, this demon, the false Kamski. Nines had so many questions but didn't see the worth in asking any of them. He felt utterly helpless, sensing you so close yet so far. He knew you were injured, dying, maybe, and he also knew that the shell of him was carrying your unconscious body wherever the deviants wanted him to go. He felt machine again, like he did the second he was woken up just after the revolution. The coldness, the feeling of seeing the things around him but not really seeing them, the sense of tethers binding him to a programming that told him to destroy. It was painful being back there again. 

"I thought you had a little more fight in you. It's disappointing, if I'm being completely honest." Kamski's voice sounded so real, so alive- but then again, so did Amanda's before she was murdered or erased or whatever the term is for an artificial intelligence, "I was warned you may be difficult to subdue." Kamski stepped up to Nines' side, leaning against the bridge railing just as he was. His cold, malevolent gaze studied the way the water flowed around the pebbles of the stream just below. It almost looked to be moving quicker, more chaotic. "Not that I'm exactly complaining about that. The less work for me, the better." 

"What... what's going to happen to the garden?" it was one of the sillier questions on Nines' mind, but the only one he could find the words to voice. Everything else... frightened him, which sounded ridiculous to his own ears. He wasn't supposed to be frightened, he was supposed to be the terminator, yet here he was, useless, crying, afraid. This garden had given him sanctuary, and he held it dear to his heart. Kamski showed very little interest in the topic, and even less pity. He shrugged his shoulders, craning his neck to glance around at the marvel that Nines had created for himself. 

"I can't do anything about it until you've been erased, since it's linked to you. It should decay alongside you, breaking down as you do the same. Once you have been erased I'll resume control." he tapped his fingers on the sleek red wood, something Nines had noticed Gavin doing in the past. It made sense that Elijah would do it too, but it still made Nines shiver seeing this virus version of the former CEO doing something so shockingly familiar. 

"You can't control it now?" Nines finally forced his head to turn, watching Kamski continue to trail his eyes along the greenery, the fading flora, the racing river. He chuckles, and shakes his head. 

"Right now I'm essentially an... invasive species, if you will." his blue eyes finally stopped, resting at last and boring right into those of Nines. "I can't control anything here until the former host of the software has been completely replaced. Since I disposed of your former backup AI, I'll be taking it's place." Nines nods his head and his gaze falls once more. He was painfully reminded of the absence of Amanda in his mind palace. It felt empty without her. Unsafe. "But," Kamski hums, "When the time comes, I'll enjoy myself. I recommend that until then, you try to do the same." 

-----

"We're ten minutes away," Jerry chimed from the seat beside Gavin, who only let out a sigh in response. 

"You don't have to update me every five fuckin' minutes, I know where we are." Gavin was too irritated for the seemingly endless optimism radiating from the android at his side. That stupid grin never faltered despite the dire situation, and every single time Gavin was deepening towards a breakdown, eyes going glassy, breathing growing harsh, Jerry was there with those bright eyes and those stupid motivational phrases.