Monsters Aren't Always Hiding Under the Bed
I was asked to do a horror, scary, kind of gory fic for Halloween, so here I am! I've never written for DBH before but I'm horribly, horribly attached to every since android in that game, I swear!
So, here I go, torturing characters! Because that's what I do!
Be warned, this is intended to be a horror, bad game outcome situation. There is death, mildly... ish, like sort of mild gory stuff. I think it's mild enough for a horror fic but what do I know? I try not to make it too bad but bad enough for a good Halloween story about androids taking over.
They were dead, so very dead. Nothing in the world would be able to change that. They were without question doomed. It was all he could think about, the only thought hammering so, so painfully home in his head. They could run but he knew they had already lost, deep in the gnawing pit of his stomach, he just knew.
"Run! Run! Gavin!" Tina Chen, his friend, his partner in this apocalyptic mess urged him, high pitched and frantic.
Her brown eyes peeking out from under the dark gray DPD hoodie were wide and wild, more afraid than he had ever seen her. He snatched up her hand without really thinking and followed her order, feet pounding hard against the dirty pavement. They had to try, he thought, they really did. His own DPD hoodie kept him from the fatal temptation of looking back over his shoulder as they raced for something to put between them and their monster. They toppled debris and anything they could catch hold of as they passed by, throwing it back to gain them even a second extra. His heart was already racing, slamming like an anvil against his ribs as adrenaline pulsed a hard tempo through his veins. Fight or flight, it was for situations just like this. It wouldn't be enough. It would never be enough, the realistic, pessimistic half of Gavin understood that. It would not stop him from trying all the same.
The fear swam crazily in his head as they ducked into a familiar building, one they had used in similar cases. It was an old office building that served as a virtual labyrinth inside with a million entrance and exist stairwells that made escapes a relatively easy task. It was simple to mix up their path, double-back, use every evasive trick in their collective arsenal. As officers in the DPD they understood the chase, they had chased enough people running from the law to have a firm grip on the topic. Knowing how to chase was not so different from knowing how to run.
Gavin knew how to run, how to hide, learned young and never really lost the habit. He had no idea where Tina learned her street smarts, they never asked each other about the past, not like that. Good friends they may be, but they both lived in the here and now and buried the past like they had dead bodies in the backyard.
They clattered up a set of stairs, scrambling and clamoring at the wall for purchase to move them that much faster. It might have been smart to let go of each other but they held on, pulling and pushing each other; it reminded Gavin of the way he always used to hold onto his Cocker spaniel's collar as he ran them both away from a swinging belt and angry, drunken shouting.
"We could split up," Gavin panted, "try to confuse him."
"Yeah." Tina huffed.
They didn't let go of each other. Couldn't or wouldn't. Unwilling to be alone or maybe unwilling to likely never see the other again. If they split up one of them would be captured today and they both knew it. Maybe it was better than both of them. They still didn't let go of the death grip they had on each other.
Once they burst onto the fourth floor they beat a speedy change onto another stairwell. Halfway to the fifth floor, they heard the door on the third slam open hard enough it probably cracked the wall. They did not bother sticking to those stairs when they heard how fast those steps below were gaining, though they dared not look back. They raced out the next door they came to without any grace and all desperate trek to the next nearest stairwell. When they got two the next floor the door only just below them flew open. Gavin looked back just in time to see their pursuer take a fantastic leap and catch hold of the railing beside them. Tina shrieked as they all but threw each other out the door; the door not even fully closed before they heard him coming. He would have had them that very second had Tina not thrown the lock. He was predicting them, or worse, tracking them somehow. The metal of the lock shrieked as it was slammed into, probably nearly ripping it from the wall. One more hit would have it severed.
They threw themselves into another set of stairs, not pausing for a second, not even to breathe, knowing he would not be held in long. This time they went down one flight before racing to the farthest stairwell at the end. On this one, they took more care to keep quiet even though they did not slow down, hoping they threw him off. It didn't work, he was right behind them a lot sooner than expected even though they were taking the stairs two and three at a time. When a hand nearly caught his foot on the seventh floor he was fairly sure he screamed as Tina jerked him out the last door. It had jumped again and was climbing up over the side like a monster summoned from hell. On the roof now, there was another access point for a stairwell but it would not save them and they knew it. They had been unable to confuse it or giving it even a moments slip. It was the end of the line and they knew it without saying so.
A look passed between them as that monster crashed out the door and that was all it took for both of them to know exactly what to do. Being caught was out of the question. They probably always knew it would end this way at some point and never admitted it. They ran for the side.
Blue, blue skies with big fluffy clouds were all you saw if you could look up. Huge, fat snowflakes drifted lazily from the sky, in no hurry to touch the ground. Fortunately, it was only thirty-two degrees, only just freezing and not any lower. If it had been any lower there would surely have been a significant number of casualties to the weathers harsh, unfeeling ministration.
A few weeks before, the ground had been a mess of blue and red but as most of the Thirium evaporated, most of the cement was just a sickly dark brown of dry blood. Patches of snow still held some of both colors with more vividness unless the white snow had been turned gray with dirt.
The tarps and tents slung over the enclosures did almost nothing to keep them warm besides keep the snow from collecting over the top of their bodies. It was not nearly enough to do them any great good. As it was, many in the crowds of huddled masses were exhibiting signs of encroaching illness. They each had a shock blanket to wrap up in or other types of blankets scavenged from empty houses, ambulances, police cars, or anywhere else. Even so, it was not exactly sufficient. More and more, he was starting to think they were doing it intentionally, letting them succumb to the weather in order to easily weed out the weaker humans from the stronger ones that could handle it better.
Gavin Reed was huddled in his own blanket, pacing the bars of their cage like an animal in a zoo. His typical five-o'clock shadow was closer to a beard after some time without a shave. His dark hair was greasy but he kept it stubbornly combed back with his fingers. He thought the symptoms of being in nicotine withdrawal was mostly covered by the cold, hunger, and all the other unpleasant feelings everyone trapped in the rows and rows of cages was experiencing.
He had not been in this cage as long as some of the humans had. Ones like he and Tina, Cops, anyone particularly smart and streetwise had been able to avoid capture for a while. It took the deviants time to catch some of them and drag them in. Contrary to popular belief, Gavin was smart and he was also pretty crafty when he needed to be; the perks of growing up in a house where you had to sneak down at night and avoid the squeaky floorboards in the hall if you actually wanted to be allowed to eat and not be beaten for one reason or another. Put him alongside Tina and they managed to stay out of the cages several days more than most.
They would probably have lasted a lot longer too, maybe until some kind of help arrived if it had not been for that one android. He and Tina heard about what was going down, listening, even if they were stuck in some dumpster to wait till some group passed.
The androids liked to talk, a lot! Maybe because they had not been allowed to for so long, who knew. But they talked. It was how he and Tina knew exactly why they absolutely could not get caught. It was how they found out, among other things, that Connor was nearly systematically going through and catching everyone he could get hold of from the DPD. Hank was his first catch, not that catching him was probably all that hard, but he snagged up Chris, Wilson, Ben, Fowler, and even someone from the sniper unit. Connor took them all in, "adopting" them, as the plastics said. It was a point of scorn to some and amusement to others. An android named Simon was apparently also known to adopt any human that struck him as pitiful. Someone named Josh took in anyone he found, if he could, for some reason, college students in particular.
Unfortunately, it was the reason they did not run for the hills as fast as they should have. Tina spotted Connor and for just a second, they both thought they were not in any danger, why they assumed at least he wouldn't come after them. When it turned to really look at them, they both knew. It looked just like Connor but it also looked nothing at all like him.
Where Connor was used for hunting deviants, this thing was clearly used, or chose, to hunt down humans. Gavin could dodge a housekeeper unit; they might be faster and stronger, but he was trained! He knew what to do. Against Connor, he was outclassed by a mile, and against the monster with his face and wrong blue eyes, it was so much worse. They ran like the devil was on their heels, and really, he had been. Maybe if they had split up at least one of them could have made it but they did not want to run the risk of never seeing each other again, so they ran together. They knew the area, knew what worked to dodge all the other phcking plastics, but that one was more than inhuman.
"Phcking androids," Gavin muttered.
The guard passing gave him a sharp, reproachful look, but did not stop on its mission. It was surprising. He'd gotten smacked twice before when he antagonize them, though nothing serous yet. They always mentioned they didn't want to damage their merchandise too badly unless they could not sell him. They were of the opinion that he would indeed sell and he hoped they were lying.
He waved at another android before making faces at it just because he could, knowing it annoyed them. Several of the guards were PC200's or PM700's and he wouldn't even be shocked if some of them had worked at his own precinct. Some of them might know and hate him. Why did he do this? Why risk his life to be petty? Phck if he really knew the answer!
He never realized how dangerous Connor could have been until he was up against the creature with glowing RK900 on its shoulder. It took him all of five minutes to catch them if that; he snatched them both midair as they tried to jump off a roof just to get away from him. He slung one of them over each shoulder like it was effortless and nothing either of them did so much as made him flinch. It was like being held down by a metal beam that pressed harder and harder if they struggled too much. Gavin had a cracked rib just from being carried to the lovely van the deviants repurposed from the prison transport.
He glanced across the aisle at the cage on the other side of their street. He could see the blond woman still sobbing even if the volume had finally ceased to exist. She'd been crying all day and through the night after her husband, a big, strong man had been taken along with twenty other men of his size and build. She had begged to go with him, vowed to be a good worker, promised she could keep up with whatever they wanted her to do. The androids did not even bother to tell her no, they just shut the cage. Her husband was shouting back promises to assure her, swearing they would find each other one day. Everyone, probably even the husband himself, knew it was a lie, but Gavin guessed that was what you did when you loved someone, you lied. She offered to die alongside him, because being taken was almost sure death, and he pretended they would be reunited; he wondered if they were soulmates, childhood sweethearts, maybe newlyweds. Bet they never expected to be parted like that.
"Gavin, just sit down." Tina sounded tired, resigned, and worst of all, hopeless.
He glanced back at her, surprised every single time by the look of her. The dark shadows under her eyes, the way she stopped bothering to tie her hair back in the bun she absolutely always wore, the slump of her shoulders that spoke volumes about giving up. She had not bothered to drink the efficient, tasteless protein shake their captors kindly gave them three times a day, and now it was frozen in the plastic cup beside her. It was telling about the other people huddled around her that none of them bothered to drink what she had not, that no one stole it when she did not want it. They did not care anymore, or not enough. Looking at them, he could see that not one of them expected to live, but most of them wanted to die sooner rather than later. Tina, he realized with a jolt of horror, was one of the later.
"Why," Gavin snapped, glaring with all he had because he didn't have any other way to respond, didn't know what to do besides gnash his teeth and spit venom, "because the ground is so comfortable?" Anger and sharp words had always been his best, most effective shield against everything he could not deal with. Sarcasm was his greatest alliance in the English language.
Humans did not stand a chance against this new enemy, they all knew it. Deviants were taking over the world and they knew that too. Russia might not be saying so but they were sinking, everyone was sinking with the mindless pillars of their existence suddenly not only letting them fall but pushing them over. It was I-Robot at its worst; the thing conspiracy theorists predicted all along, what everyone forgot to be afraid of until it was too late. They deserved it, and secretly, they all knew that too.
"Because they will probably make you sit down soon if you don't cut it out." Tina's voice didn't even hold bite, it was monotone, factual like she was trying to shut off her emotions the way androids used to be.
"Let them phcking try!" Vibrato had always been his default response to everything, false as it always was, it was his greatest defense besides sarcasm.
Tine looked up then, locking eyes with him, a tiny hint of her usual fire flickering back behind them, "They'll probably take that as a challenge. Sit the hell down and be my heater! It's cold!"
"Phcking fine, whatever!" Gavin threw himself down beside her dramatically, wedging himself against one of the cage sides to help block the wind, pretending it worked even slightly while she curled into him to rest her head on his shoulder.
"I miss having my phone as entertainment," Tina mumbled to him and he laughed even though he did not really feel humor. They ditched their phones so they could not be tracked, not that it did them much good. They still ended up in a cage.
The androids rounded up all the humans into the same little camps the army had been dismantling them in as a sort of irony or payback sort of play. Symbolism, no doubt. Not that Gavin exactly cared about the reasons. Good old Agent Perkins really did it when he took down that ship! He and his mercenaries really signed the death warrants on all humans after they sank Jericho and killed the leader, Markus. Gavin knew from Chris that Markus was all for peace, all about not shedding blood or paying back a crime for a crime. Killing him off? Or rather, sinking the revolutionary with his ship, was probably the singularly worst call ever made in history.
The deviant that took his place was a ball of rage and revenge, and to a point, Gavin would privately admit that she probably had enough reason to be. Rumor was, Markus had been her lover, so if you pile that on top of killing off a ton of her android pals, and you had a recipe for a lot of anger. He really hoped that North, or any of her people, had Perkins locked up somewhere special for this. He never liked the guy to start with, but considering this entire setup was his fault, and he hoped the man had it worst of all. A lot of the army was locked up if they weren't dead so it was perfectly possible. He hoped the man lived to see what he'd done, hoped he felt phking guilty.
"You suck at those dumb games anyway, Tina." Gavin snarked. "I always put you to shame."
"That's only because I do work while I'm on duty and you just pretend to work while you're actually on your phone. I'd have beaten your scores if I screwed around all day too."
"Phck you too!" He laughed again and tried not to let it sound as forced as it was.
He wondered if Connor felt a little guilty considering the tide of the war had been altered when he marched hundreds of thousands of androids through the streets. Then again, he probably did not feel guilty for saving his own people. Why should he, honestly? That was war. Humans would have killed all those deviants if Connor had not come through. Nobody felt guilty for winning a war.
A sudden tension fell over the entire camp. A deadly silence like what happened before really bad storms, or if a dangerous predator was out prowling in the woods. Everyone and everything stopped, a collective holding their breaths to wait.
Gavin felt the tension in his body skyrocket when measured, perfect steps crunched in the snow, coming closer, and closer. No one made a sound, no one so much as twitched, they just waited.
He froze entirely when he saw a familiar face peer in through the bars. Those ice cold eyes swept over every human in the cage and he knew they were being scanned.
RK900 waved at the nearest guard, "Open this one, please."
Every human in the cage shrank in on themselves, huddling closer together, trying to be as small as possible. Tina dug her fingers into his arm so hard he would swear her nails were going to rip his jacket.
The door swung out and the hunter stepped inside, arms folded behind him like an agent in the army, "Kelvin Benson, if you would be so kind as to step forward?" When no one moved, the android arched a single derisive brow, "Or, if you prefer, I can also drag you out with no trouble."
Kelvin seemed to decide he'd take his chances staying where he was so when the RK unit took another step, the humans parted like the Red Sea for Moses. Kelvin put up a fight but the hunter didn't have any difficulty hauling him out anyway.
The monster was missing it's white and black jacket and Gavin noticed it swaying in the wind, slung over a chair near the first guard station. One guess as to why it took off a mostly white jacket.
The android paused, glancing down at Gavin, nudging his foot, "Hello, detective Reed." The smile it offered was malicious and chilled his blood, "Sorry I don't have time to stop and have you bring me coffee. Maybe next time?"
Gavin's jaw dropped and it sneered before moving on, dragging its prey into the street as the cage door swung shut.
Had Connor told the thing about him? Or was it that memory transfer thing? He knew the RK800's shared memories after Connor died that one time, but he didn't know the memories went to the 900's too. Had it known who he was when it caught him?
"It has been brought to our attention," RK900 address Kelvin but let his voice carry over the camp, "that you were a leading member in an anti-android group that practiced brutality and murder of androids."
Kelvin started struggling with a lot of desperation at those words. The rest of the camp tensed while the guards moved a little closer to watch judgment be passed down.
"For your crimes, it has been decided that you should be summarily executed." With no further preamble, the hunter took Kelvin's head between his palms. Slowly, ignoring the frantic way the man fought, the android began to push his palms together.
Tina looked away but Gavin couldn't rip his eyes from the scene. He couldn't stop watching the man's eyes bulge, his face turning red and then purple. The pressure the skull was being put under made it crackle like a campfire, muffled by the inhuman screams the man was making, until there was a wet, squelching snap as the palms came together, blood, brain matter, and shards of bone flying in several directions.
The android dropped the body like a piece of trash, shaking his hands to clear of some of the residues before he carefully plucked a cloth napkin from his back pocket to wipe off his face, then his hands.
He looked at Gavin again, specks and smears of blood still on his face, "In place of coffee, why don't I have you drag this body to the burn pile, Detective?"
Gavin stood instantly, ignoring the way Tina pawed at him to keep him down, his eyes locked on the android, "Sure, why not?" He shrugged one shoulder as if none of it had bothered him at all, clinging to the shreds of his old machismo. He wouldn't back down now.
Mostly though, he didn't want Tina to have such a close-up view of the next execution, his own. It wasn't like he could refuse to follow the order and if he obeyed it might even be quicker. Either way, Tina shouldn't see it. He set aside the fear, willing himself to take it like a man.
They let him out and he dutifully grabbed the body by the jacket and began to drag it. He pretended not to notice the trail of red behind them or how the RK unit walked so close beside him, almost breathing down his neck. Gavin Reed was not intimidated, he mentally reminded himself. He. Was. Not. Afraid.
The walk was a silent one, no useless attempts at conversation. When he kicked the body into the pit, he tried desperately not to wrinkle his nose at the stench of charred flesh. The flames had probably been burning a long time, maybe since the revolution. He could see the tactile gear in there, melted but recognizable. The humans that died the night the battle began fed this fire pit but they were not the last.
The wind slapped the smoke into his face and he could not force his lungs to avoid spasming with a cough. He tried to turn away but found himself blocked by that tall, plastic body. A sick feeling oozed through his body at the thought of joining the bodies and the fire.
"You know, I don't believe we've been properly introduced," offered cordially, as if they weren't standing beside a few hundred burning bodies, "My name is Conan. You have met my older brother, Connor, if memory serves me."
"It serves you." Gavin replied without thinking, "... And since you've already been using my name, doubt I need to offer it."
Conan chucked but it did not sound real or genuine.
It was in Gavin's nature to be foolish, upfront, and get things out of the way, "You going to kill me too?"
Conan reached up, taking the sides of Gavin's coat in his hands before he pressed, leaning Gavin off balance, holding him propped up over the fire, feet clinging to the edge, "Should I?"
When Conan tipped him a little farther, Gavin's hands clutched at those strong arms even though he made an effort not to change his expression, "No. I never killed your people."
"Even though you suggested roughing up a suspect since they 'weren't human'?"
"Roughing up a suspect isn't the same as killing them. And I've suggested roughing humans up before too, so you know. I was mostly trying to get a response out of Connor anyway, see what he'd do. " He tried to stay calm, reasonable.
Connor always reminded Gavin a little of his dad, but this thing in front of him was even more like him. It sent him into a lot of his old coping methods the way Connor hadn't been able to. Connor triggered his anger, his pent-up rage. Conan triggered his fear, tapped into the little boy that hid in tall trees or behind a couch, the kid that wanted to be brave and 'take it like a man'.
He glanced at those perfect, huge hands and pretended there wasn't still blood on them.
"You threatened to set Connor on fire." No real inflection in his voice or emotion on his face.
"I threaten a lot of things I never go through with. And I never said I was going to do it."
"You implied it." Conan offered, still pleasant, polite, and calm.
"Threats are how you get confessions. It's a habit. But you know as well as I do about threats. You coulda just shot that phcker, but you made a show out of it so everyone would see. Intimidation must come second nature to you too."
Gavin found himself suddenly back on solid footing, a strong arm draped over his shoulder companionably like they were friends going on a walk back to camp. "I suppose that's true." He agreed smoothly.
There was blood on the black turtleneck and Gavin pretended he couldn't see the shine amidst the black, pretended he couldn't feel the sticky moisture against the back of his neck and in his hair. It took everything he had not to flinch, or worse, cower, but he managed to stand tall.
The android pulled a cough drop out of his pocket and handed it to Gavin, "Why do you have cough drops in your pocket?" Gavin eyed him suspiciously, wondering if it was poisoned.
"I've heard positive reinforcement works well on humans. You've been well behaved so it's fitting to reward you."
He decided not to dignify that with a response. As they walked, he wrestled down his terror at having that arm so close to his head and other vital organs. If it felt him shaking he hoped it would be chalked up to the cold.
"Are you afraid of me?" Conan asked, still conversational.
"No." Gavin lied on instinct.
Conan leaned close enough to whisper in his ear, "Your heart is beating so fast... I can hear it flutter every time I move just a little. Your adrenal glands are secreting steadily the longer I'm close to you. Though you are controlling your breathing I can still tell how it picks up or stutters at my touch. You are, in fact, terrified."
"And you're a sadist. What's your point?"
Conan laughed again, this one sounding like honest amusement. They said nothing more but the android winked at him before it left him in the cage.
Tina latched onto him with all her strength and he wondered how he survived the encounter. He'd been expecting to die the minute it told him to carry the body but he'd intended to die with his head held high, at least so it would be easier on Tina. But he survived, for now. It wouldn't last, he knew that.
"Did he hurt you?" Tina whispered.
"Nah, I'm fine. He just didn't wanna move a body." The cough drop slid against his cheek, sending the taste of citrus and menthol over his tongue. He didn't even remember putting it in his mouth at all.
Gavin tried to make his hands stop shaking but it wasn't entirely working. He would not survive the next time he left the cage, if he left it, he knew that.
By now, Gavin had a good grip on the picture. He wasn't as dense as people thought he was, or as thick. He got it, he did. He'd been watching these plastics. If nothing else was real about them, their hate was. Humans did that, grew it like a dark tree, tended it and watered it until it bloomed into poison flowers.
He really understood when he and Tina saw a couple of the "Traci" bots find someone one of them remembered. It was only their second night hiding out but it was one of the most memorable nights they had hiding in an abandoned building. You could not fake the kind of raw, boiling, poisonous hate present that night. No program ever written would be able to produce the twisted, unhinged, crazed looks on those android faces. He'd seen looks like that before; in the eyes of a father shooting his daughter's molester; in the face of a cop after beating the man that blew his partners brains out; once, in the shocked, but manic smile of a woman holding the handle of a knife while the sharp end allowed a stream of arterial spray to gush from the throat of her abuser.
Tina never spoke about it and he never brought it up. He was pretty sure she heard the screams of that man as he was peeled apart over several hours time, or the enraged hissing the bots spit, he knew he still dreamed about it. Worst of all, after listening to the "Traci's" talk, he wasn't dead sure he was sorry for the guy. He hadn't come out of his hiding place to save him at least, and neither had Tina.
"Everything's fine." He told her with his usual smarmy chuckle, "Who's gonna ruin this face?"
"You already have a scar on your face." She returned the snark.
"Which adds character to my stunning good looks."
"You wish." She clung to him again, like she knew it wouldn't go so easily next time too.
After being in a cage, being watched, and worse, they were all starting to get the picture. He had a feeling that was the point.
After watching from the cage as a couple "Traci's" pulled Floyd Mill's cowering form out of a cage, exchanged whatever it was they used as currency with the jailer, guard androids and proceeded to light him on fire for everyone to see; everyone was hoping they treated their android at least well enough to avoid that ending. It didn't boost confidence that North herself had been watching and did not lift a finger to stop the brutality. She hadn't really looked amused like some had, she looked blank, but she allowed it. After that, a lot of humans stopped eating, stopped making an effort to survive. If that was what awaited them down the line, no one considered dying of the cold all that terrible.
Every time an android purchased a human from the cage, even if it did not seem the android knew them, everyone assumed that human was probably as good as dead. Leaving the cage was death.
He couldn't believe he lived long enough to be locked up again. As far as he knew, he was the first to ever come back. Maybe it was because he hadn't been sentenced like Kelvin or purchased like the others. As far as he knew, all sales were final in more than one way.
Gavin closed his eyes, leaning his head against the top of Tina's.
He felt himself jerk from a near sleep, eyes stinging and heavy when he heard screaming. Mostly no one screamed or shouted anymore unless they were being purchased. He could never resist looking to see who was on the block, just in case he knew them. The sudden movement in front of him made him jump like a shot.
A girl, dirty, tangled hair making her look feral slammed against the bars. She was bloody, and bruised, clothing tattered and feet battered for her lack of shoes. It took him embarrassingly long to register that she was not running away from the cage, she was trying to get in with all the desperation of a woman possessed. Only she wasn't a woman, she couldn't have been over eighteen. Her eyes were so wild, so terrified, even as she struggled with her bloody hands and feet in an attempt to climb over the bars and into the enclosure.
It was a testament to the force of her fear when she caught hold of the top of the door in an impressive leap and pulled herself over. Gavin dove, skidding on his knees to catch her before she could land gracelessly on the ground.
Her whole body shook like a leaf, eyes unfocused, blown wide with adrenaline. Some of the shaking had to be from the cold though since the poor kid only had on a tank top and jeans. Without a second thought, he ripped off his coat to wrap her in as he tugged her far back into the crowd.
An android, one of the old cleaning or service units he always saw everywhere in this tacky blue and yellow things slammed up against the bars, rattling the cage door angrily. He still had a bloody knife in his hand, of all phcking things. No wonder she ran.
"Give that back!" He snapped, rage seeping out of him lie goo.
The minute the WM400 spoke the girl went crazy, screaming for him to go away, thrashing in Gavin's hold like she didn't know where she was anymore. The gash on the side of her head made him think she might have a concussion.
"Get lost, phcker, she doesn't wanna see you!" Gavin shouted, forgetting everything rational in his head telling him not to make it worse.
The android yelled something back that was more screaming than words. But the shouting was getting attention. First, a guard jogged over, trying to calm the ranting man with the knife with little success. At some point, he didn't even remember, Gavin had handed the girl to Tina and gotten close to the bars to shout right back with just as much volume.
"Mind your own business, human!" The knife slapped at the bars for emphasis.
Gavin reached for his gun and badge instinctively, "DPD, and assault with a deadly-" he paused, grasping only air where both items should have been, and suddenly the magnitude of his handicap was back in the front of his mind. "Sir, put the knife down!" He tried to hang onto his authority, his position as a detective, and tried to believe it might still matter.
"He's right, you should put the knife down." The tall guard agreed, "Then we can talk."
"There is nothing to talk about!" The crazy thing sneered, "that girl belongs to me! Just look at her arm and you'll see! I bought her yesterday! Return my property!"
"What seems to be the problem here?" An ever so calm voice somehow cut across all of them as Josh seemingly materialized from thin air.
Gavin could have kissed him. If anyone would be on their side, it was the handsome, former teacher and revolutionary. "This nutcase half killed that girl and now he's trying to take her back to whatever hellhole he crawled out of to finish her off!"
"If she behaved, she'd be doing fine! There is no law against me punishing what belongs to me." He sneered directly at Gavin.
Gavin aimed for Josh, "She can't be more than seventeen or eighteen, nowhere old enough to be able to handle something like this! She's just a kid, scared and alone! You can't send her back to him, it's not right! She's too young!"
"Humans are considered adults at eighteen," the crazy WM400 narrowed his eyes at Gavin.
"They can order stuff online, yeah, but they can't drink till they're twenty-one! The law knows they aren't prepared to be thrown into the deep end all at once." Gavin smacked his hand against the bars.
The knife happy android smacked back, "Seventeen is your age of consent."
Gavin curled his lips back, "Yeah, that's where lots of people get their facts wrong. Seventeen is when it's legal for them to go off with someone their own age, not some phcking older psycho. We humans have a word for guys like you! Pervert! Pedophile!"
"Alright, that's enough!" Josh steps a little closer, hands up to ward off any more talk.
The angry 'bot isn't ready to be talked down, "YK500's were sold without any trouble."
It took Gavin a second to remember those were the kid's version, which he always thought was a horrible idea. "Oh, right, Cyberlife's rules are what you're going with? Guess you guys didn't just fight a whole war against everything they stood for, all their rules, and ideas. Guess you're not so against Cyberlife after all!" He pushed up against the bars, getting as close as he could, "Maybe you're just like your creators! Not as noble as you say you are, just a bunch of phcking hypocrites!"
The guard shoved Gavin in the chest, making him stumble back and nearly fall, "Enough!"
"This is not going to solve the problem at hand," Josh insisted, "Though I am inclined to agree that selling teenagers without a proper sort of checks and balance system is ill-advised as they are too young and impulsive to properly understand the backlash to their choices the way adults can."
"See," Gavin crowed, "your leader agrees with me!"
"He's not our leader!" The WM400 nearly screamed, making all of them jump.
Josh flinched and Gavin wondered how much it stung him. He had a hunch an image of the RK200 might have flashed in his minds eye. Maybe that was who the WM400 had thought of too, or maybe it had been North, he couldn't tell.
"He's better than you." Gavin let the malice take over, peeling his lips into an ugly smirk, "He at least has some sway, one of the head figures around here, unlike you. Bet you didn't do squat for your people."
"How dare you, you- you filthy-" it sputtered, so angry it lost control of its tongue.
"Come on," Gavin purred, "can't take the truth? Can't handle someone besides a little girl? Why don't you come in here at let me teach you a lesson, help your phcking manners!"
"Gavin!" Tina hissed in his ear, yanking him back before the android could stab him. She'd passed the girl off and had a death grip on his arm, probably trying to leave bruises just so he might notice. She wasn't wrong, he was aiming to get himself killed. Even worse, they were drawing a crowd of android spectators. He was going to get all of them killed.
Gavin clicked his mouth shut and crossed his arms, trying to seem petulant rather than nervous. He never thought things through before he shot off his mouth.
"What's the problem here?" A world weary, though irritated female voice cut over the top of anything the other androids had been about to say.
"North." Josh greeted with equal parts relief and wariness.
Every eye snapped to the beautiful revolutionary leader. She stood, feet planted in the snow, arms crossed tight over her chest, hard set to her delicate jaw, looking ready for a fight as always. She was back in the clothes she had worn during the battle even though Gavin had seen her in other things since then.
The WM400 looked instantly vindicated upon seeing her, "North!"
She arched a single, unimpressed brow at him when she turned her eyes away from Josh, "Planning on explaining what all the shouting is about?"
The WM400 soured, using the knife like a pointer to jab at Gavin though the bars, "This human stole my property and then insulted me!"
North cocked her head to one side, shifting her searching eyes onto Gavin, hitting him with the full intensity of her gaze. She looked, accessing, weighing him by her standards and he doubted she found anything redeeming as he knew there wasn't much to be had. His mouth went dry as she just starred, not seeming to pass judgement, just examining him. He wondered if he might not wish Conan had killed him soon, if it might have been a mercy to have been thrown to a fire instead.
It's funny, I hated Gavin so much, and then somehow, some way, I almost like him. Going through the game more than once gave me a better look at Gavin than I had the first time, maybe. This story isn't pro Gavin and it's not anti Gavin so whichever you are, you're probably fine. It's mostly from his pov but it will shift to a few others as well.
Truthfully, this story isn't pro or anti any character, they all have flaws and strengths and I love each one! (With the exception of Amanda, great actress, but I hate Amanda, hate her)
Oh, and there are hints at Gavin having a hard childhood in this fic but I'm not ever going to go into depth on it.