Wednesday, October 27th, 9:39 am
6657 Cedar Lane
the first step inside of the house and you almost threw up your breakfast. The scent- oh god, the scent- it hit you violently in the back of the throat, sending you reeling. You would have tumbled to the ground and lost consciousness if Gavin hadn't held a hand out to steady you, and all three human detectives backed right out of the building again.
"I warned you." Tina said with a shrug, an equal expression of disgust on her face, "I don't know how long those people have been dead for, but it's horrible." You were currently doubled over, hands on your knees, coughing up a lung and fighting to breathe in the less putrid scents of the dying flowers on the front lawn. It hardly helped.
"Are you alright, (Y/N)?" Gavin asked, appearing at your side. You nod, trying to speak, but erupt into a coughing fit once more. Extending a finger to tell Gavin that you'll be a minute, he wipe the tears stinging at your eyes away. You had truly never smelt anything so... intense.
"Christ..." you say through a hack, finally standing upright and turning back to your friends. You shake your head, taking in one last, shaking breath before returning, more or less, to normal. "That's rank."
"Well, at least this time we're ready for it. Let's get this bullshit over with." Hank took his last deep inhale of fresh, clean air, and turned back into the house with Connor right behind him.
"I don't know how long I can do this for. Let's be quick, please." Pressing the back of your hand to your mouth and nose as you entered, you found that this time, now that you were ready for it, it was at least bearable enough to keep from gagging. From a room over, you heard Hank curse, and hurried in that direction. As you turn through a doorway and step into a living room, you stop in your tracks. Before you was a rather gruesome scene. In the room was a leather couch. It looked expensive- or at least, you imagined it did, before it was covered in blood and torn to shreds. On the floor just below the sofa were two people, set to look as if they were kneeling. Their heads were rested on the couch cushions, and on those couch cushions was a hand- an android hand, not a human one, much to your relief. The android hand was balled into a fist, the middle finger extended towards the ceiling.
"Fuck." Gavin hissed, passing the group and getting closer to the decomposing bodies. He winced and looked away as the scent intensified suddenly, then pressed the sleeve of his jacket over his mouth and examined the scene closer. "Get over here, Tin. How long've these two been dead?" Nines didn't hesitate to help, looking for the easiest place to retrieve a blood sample. He extended two fingers, dropping to one knee. Running those two fingers over a stab wound on the dead girls lower back, he brought them to his lips. You had to look away as he sampled the blood.
"Oh- Oh, fuck! You do that shit too? That's... agh, that's disgusting!" Hank scolded, and for once Gavin muttered his agreement with Lieutenant Anderson. Nines ignored the snide comment, and pulled his fingers away.
"This girl is Amelia Beauregard, 25. Records show that she was a rookie at 84th Street Police Station. She was due to marry Callum Richards, who I assume is the male." Nines stood, wiping his fingers together as if to clean off the blood that had already been cleaned by his processor. "The blood seems to be 29 days old." You took a glance around the room, and spotted a silver shining switchblade discarded on the ground nearby. You move towards it, kneeling at it's side. It was covered in dried, brown blood. Connor knelt beside you, running his fingers along the blade and sampling it in the same way Nines had moments earlier.
"A blood concoction... Both Amelia and Callum's." his LED was spinning a thoughtful yellow, and you assumed he was scanning the weapon. "No fingerprints, but there is lettering- LTG."
"LTG?" you repeat, and stand up once more, wondering what the letters represented. "Initials?" that was the obvious guess.
"Most likely. TG, like the model number of the suspected androids. L might be the first letter of whatever name the killer owns." Gavin was at your side now, staring down at the weapon.
"Or it could be a coincidence. We don't know that whoever killed these two are linked to the other murders." Hank was right, you suspected, and added on to his comment.
"Did these two own any androids?" Nines was the one to answer, LED yellow as he accessed all of the data he had on Amelia and Callum.
"Yes, Callum owned one. A WR600, modeled for gardening." That explained the abundance of flowers out in the front of the house, though they looked like they hadn't been taken care of. There was a very slim chance that the android was still in the house, let alone anywhere near the house.
"Is it worth a look around?" you suggest, and everyone seems fine and dandy with an excuse to leave the grisly scene, as well as getting further away from the source of that putrid smell. "Fan out, I'll take the upstairs with Gavin and Nines." As Connor and Hank turn to leave, so do you and your partners, making a beeline for the stairs which were next to the front door. With every step, the stairs beneath you creaked, and the wretched smell grew more and more faint. Gavin took an immediate left into a bathroom, and Nines broke off into a bedroom, leaving one more door at the end of the hallway for you to check. You grabbed the handle, and braced yourself for the worse, scenarios of a blood-lusted deviant lunging out at you playing through your head. You reached for your gun just to be safe, and shoved the door open. Of course, nothing happened, and you were just fine. Your heart had began hammering in your chest, but you forced it to calm and flicked on the light. You were in another bedroom, the master bedroom. To the right of the room was a door leading to a bathroom, and to the left was a door most likely leading to a closet.
"Bathroom's clear!" Gavin's voice echoes through the house, Nine's following soon after.
"This room is clear too." that just left your room. Now, you realized how teeny tiny the chances of finding your android was. Your hand drifted from your gun and you checked quickly under the bed and in the bathroom. Nothing. That just left the closet, but you'd lost hope. Making your way to the closet door, you grabbed the handle, let out a huff, and ripped it open. Almost immediately your heart seemed to stop in your chest and you let out a blood-curdling scream, stumbling backwards and to the ground at the sight of a figure. You were scrambling, reaching for your gun, recognizing the honey-blonde hair and dark green clothing of a WR600 android you currently suspected and considering the worst. Footsteps thundered towards you, and Gavin was the first to show, gun drawn. He stumbled to a halt at your side, reaching to grab one of your arms and attempt to drag you backwards and out of harms way- until, he catches sight of what had scared you, and stops entirely. You had finally gotten your gun drawn, and were moving to train it on the dangerous deviant when Gavin started... laughing. Confusion spread across your face, and Nines burst into the room, his LED a vibrant red. Gavin continued to laugh, reholstering his gun and extending a hand for you to take. You didn't take it, not yet.
"What is happening?!" Nines demanded, and had his gun at the ready as well.
"The worlds jumpiest detective over here got spooked by a docile little android!" Gavin was still smiling, and at last you took his hand. He pulled you to your feet, pointing to the robot in the closet. He stood, immobile, with his hands folded in front of it. You let out a sigh of relief, and then punched Gavin in the arm with enough force to snap him out of his laughing fit and draw a surprised shout. "What was that for??"
"That was for being an asshole!" you said simply, placing a hand on your chest to feel your stuttering heart. It was already slowing with your partners in the room. "Scared the shit out of me... Jesus..." now, looking more carefully, something was off with the android. He wouldn't be harmful, he wasn't deviant, but you had missed something when you had passed him a quick glance moments earlier. "He's all beat up." you breathe, and step forwards to place a hand on his shoulder. He has no LED. Mechanically, his head turns to you, and you stumble backwards with a gasp. His eyes, which had been closed, were now open- and behind his eyelids were two voids. "His eyes..!" you force out, your voice no more than a breath.
"Hello. I am a WR600 android. I am here for all of your gardening and plant-based needs. How can I be of service?" The androids voice was distorted, a buzz, almost indecipherable.
"It's missing a hand, too. Look." Gavin was right- where you had previously thought his hands were folded, was just one hand, balled into a fist. The other arm ended in a mess of blue-tinted wires.
"W-WR600, step out of the closet." you stutter, forcing your voice to grow stronger with every word as you overcame your shock. The WR600 didn't hesitate to obey. Even his movements were troubled, stuttering. He would move one leg forward, and it would flick back toward it's previous position. It took almost a whole minute for the robot to command it's body to move in the way he needed.
"Hello. I am a WR600 android. I am here for all of your gardening and plant-based needs. How can I be o-of service?" He spoke again in that broken voice. Blue blood was trailing from his empty eye sockets.
"Extend your hand." Gavin stepped forwards, now directly at your side, the android about four feet ahead of you. He extended his broken hand, and Gavin shook his head. "Other hand." The WR600 was quick to correct his moves, extending the hand that was balled into a fist. You tilted your head, and took a step forwards, taking the hand in your own. It was still held into a fist, but along the back of the hand was writing in a font you knew immediately as Cyberlife Sans.
"An android wrote this. 'He will kill you all'. Who's 'he'?" carefully, you flipped over the androids hand, gently nudging his fingers open so that it opened. In his palm was an LED. "Nines?" you ask, and the android is towering over your side, scanning the LED in an instant.
"It belongs to the WR600." Nines says, though he sounds just as confused as both you and Gavin must look.
"So it is deviant?" Gavin asks, but you shake your head.
"No, there's no way. He wouldn't have stayed in the closet knowing he was losing blue blood if he was deviant." that was all you could say in answer. Behind you you hear more footsteps, and Hank and Connor come stumbling into the room.
"What the fuck happened?" Hank demands, hurrying towards you. Connor stays a step behind him, as if he had been told to.
"Nothing, I just overreacted. We found the WR600, but he isn't a deviant." You take a step away, revealing the android in all of its damaged glory. A look of horrified shock takes over Hank's face, and Connor's LED goes red.
"My god- what the hell did that?" Hank approached the robot, jumping and stumbling backwards as the WR600 spoke yet again.
"Hello. I am a WR600 android. I am h-here for all of your gardening and plant-based needs. How can I be o-of s-service?" The androids hand was still extended, LED still sitting in his palm.
"Do you know what happened to Amelia Beauregard and Callum Richards?" you kept your voice soft, subconsciously acting as if you would frighten this poor, damaged android despite him not being a deviant.
"A-A-Amelia and Callum are away right now, and I have been assigned to maintain the garden and keep the home safe, but I can take any mail and will notify them of your visit." his voice sent a shiver down your spine. He was responding as if you were a neighbor stopping by for a chat.
"Where are Amelia and Callum?" he was also acting as if the two were simply out of the house, and not dead in the living room.
"Amelia and C-C-Callum a-are away for their honeymoon. I have been assigned to maintain the garden and keep the home safe, but I can take any mail and will notify them of your visit." Honeymoon? You turn to Gavin, quirking a brow.
"Maybe they're supposed to be honeymooning today. Tin Can did say they were gonna get hitched." Gavin shrugged back at you. "I dunno why he's saying he's taking care of the garden and the mail. It hasn't been touched in weeks."
"WR600, run a system diagnosis." the androids empty eye sockets blinked rapidly, and then went still once more.
"Optical components- I-I-Inoperative. Left hand- Inoperative. Right audio processor- Inoperative. Thirium pump- damaged, but functional." You nod, satisfied with the confirmation that he wont' be shutting down any time soon. Questions run through your brain, but you turn to Gavin, offering up the time to ask the android some questions.
"Did anyone other than Amelia and Callum come into the house 29 days ago?" Gavin crossed his arms, weight shifting to one side. He chewed absent-mindedly on the skin of his lip, awaiting an answer. The WR600 was silent for a moment, before repeating his monotone catchphrase.
"Hello. I am a WR600 android. I am h-here for all of your gardening and plant-based needs. How can I be o-of s-service?" Gavin repeated the question, and got the same answer in return.
"Did anyone come into the house 29 days ago who were not Amelia and Callum?"
"Hello. I am a WR600 android. I am h-here for all of your gardening and plant-based needs. How can I be o-of s-service?"
"Come on, Plastic! Answer the question!" Gavin was growing rapidly frustrated, as he always was.
"Hello. I am a WR600 android. I am h-here for all of your gardening and plant-based needs. How can I be o-of s-service?"
"Oh my fucking god." Gavin let out a huff, turning around and stalking away. That deemed to be unsuccessful. In an attempt to reword his question, making it more general, you asked,
"Do you have any recognition of what happened 29 days ago?" Now, the android finally answered with something different.
"Accessing memory from- September 28th." His eyes did that odd fluttery thing again, but it was so much more disturbing without eyes underneath. "Memory file corrupted. Please contact a Cyberlife employee for more detail."
"Corrupted?" Hank says, taking Gavin's place.
"WR600, run a software diagnosis." Connor spoke up from his place beside Hank, and the androids eyes fluttered for the third time. Of course- a software diagnosis was something you hadn't considered.
"System scan- functional. Task library- functional. Memory drive- functional." the WR600 continued to list some other skills, all of which were in good condition.
"It seems as if his memory was... erased, rather than damaged. Like another android corrupted it." Connor glanced the WR600 up and down, he LED yellow as he went about with his own scan. "Other than the damage that it's already listen, nothing else is wrong."
"A second android must have corrupted it's memory drive." Nines solidified Connor's theory, and tilted his head. "I can probe it's memory and see if I can gather anything that might be lingering in the depths of it's software."
"Go ahead." you nod, and Nines moves to do his thing. The skin on his right hand began to fade, climbing upwards and into the sleeve of his jacket, leaving a clean white behind. Nines' LED spun yellow, and his hand connected with the wrist of the WR600. Seconds passes, and Nines was immobile, eyes fluttering shut. His LED remained yellow. And then, suddenly, like the crack of a whip, his LED went red and he let out a sound that was entirely unlike him. The air around you seemed to drop in temperature, and tension exploded around you. Nines let out a choked cry, packed to the brim with terror. He tore his arm away from the WR600, knocking it backwards and to the ground as he himself went tumbling downwards, falling like a rock.
"Nines!" you shout, racing to his side as he kicks and scrambles his way backwards until his back connects with the wall. His eyes, which had been so calm and collected, were wild with fear you had never though possible to see within their depths. His hand was still white, shaking, and he was breathing heavily. "Nines, what the hell happened?"
"What the fuck, Tin Can?!" Gavin was scrambling to his side now too, unease draining the colour from his face.
"I-I-It... the android, it..." Nines couldn't speak, and suddenly he was leaping to his feet, pulling out his gun and firing a single clean bullet into the androids head. It had been standing back up, but now it was sent backwards and to the ground again. You had let out a startled cry, taking a few frantic steps backwards.
"Jesus fucking christ!" Hank cursed, staring, horrified, at the WR600.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Gavin whipped to face Nines again, grabbing onto the collar of his Cyberlife jacket harshly. "What the fuck do you think you're doing shooting that android?!" Your gaze was still glued to the WR600 as it went limp, blue blood pooling onto the floor around it. Nines was staring at it too, despite how fiercely Gavin was trying to get the android to look down at him. "I can't believe you shot it, you plastic asshole!" Nines let the gun clatter to the floor, his LED still a frightening red. "You can't just-"
"Let go of him, Gavin!" you interject, grabbing Gavin's hands and untangling them from Nines' jacket. "He's terrified! Something happened!" sympathy swelled in your heart and you shoved Gavin away, taking his place and staring up at Nines, who was much taller than you. "Nines? Nines, can you hear me?" Though Nines still didn't look at you, he tried his best to speak.
"Y-Yes. I-I-I can hear you."
"What happened? What did you see?"
"I didn't..." Nines finally tore his gaze away, looking down at you. He still looked petrified. "I didn't see anything. I felt... that WR600 did something to me. Something horrible."
"What did he do?" you press, and Nines shakes his head. At last, his LED dims back into yellow, and then to blue.
"I'm not sure." he says, and blinks slowly, straightening out his jacket and calming himself for good. "I am sorry for my outburst. It was unprofessional, and I should not have damaged evidence."
"You're damn right you shouldn't have damaged evidence." Gavin frowned, "You sure you're okay? I don't want to be the one getting shot next."
"Yes. I-I'm fine now." A part of you really didn't believe that.
(A/N): Oooooooh okay I'm very excited. Stuff is happening, and the plot is thickening with each and every word! Also, two chapters in a day? Woah! This is how I'm apologizing for missing these past few days!