Gavin felt panic flood through him. Fuck, I knew I should have never trusted Elijah! He stood up as he felt Nines' hand slip away from him.
"Nines!"
Gavin lashed out his hand blindly and hit someone in some part of the body. He did not know who or where, but after that movement, he felt something hit his skull and fell unconscious.
Gavin woke up. He didn't know how long he was out for, but he could feel something cold on his skull which was settled upon a place where he had a splitting headache. He groaned as he opened his eyes, then shut them again due to how bright the room was. He heard some voices talking, but they sounded distant.
Gavin opened his eyes again, slowly this time around as the unfiltered light hit his field of vision. He sat up sluggishly and addressed his surroundings as his hand pressed against the ice pack against his skull. He was in the same room, on that same couch. Nearby were two Chloe androids, speaking amongst themselves quietly.
Wait. Where's…
Gavin glanced around, suddenly frantic. "Nines? Connor? Where are you!?" He sat up.
The Chloes looked over at him.
"Sit down," one of them said. "Elijah will be with you shortly."
"You said that before you took my companions away," Gavin hissed back.
"The RK800 guards had to be removed from the room in order to keep Elijah safe."
RK800 guards? No, no, that's all wrong!
"One of them is an RK900!" Gavin protested.
"Impossible," the other said. "They are both clearly RK800s. They're sit down, you took a harsh hit to the head.
Gavin rolled his eyes and reluctantly sat down again, knowing that there was no other option. "Whatever. Just bring Elijah here, that fucker…"
Both of the Chloes stared at Gavin with emotionless eyes before turning around and leaving the room. Gavin threw the ice pack to another side of the couch.
Fuck, is the only word that was echoing throughout Gavin's brain.
The lights began to dim, and Gavin groaned loudly. "Not this bullshit again, holy fuck, give it a rest. You already did it once."
The lights dimmed almost all the way to jet black, but not quite. Suddenly, the door slammed open and a spotlight shone down. There stood Elijah, dressed up nicely in a fancy ass suit and wearing his usual stupid fuck smile.
"Elijah," Gavin growled. Elijah never said the first word.
"It has been a while, Gavin."
"Clearly."
"How are things?" Elijah asked.
"Cut the crap, you know how everything is for me," Gavin said, standing up and facing Elijah. "You fucked up the world and the lives of millions of people."
Elijah did that stupid head tilt of his accompanied by silence. The head tilt of what was probably mock inquisitivity, a piquing interest in what was being said. He glanced over his shoulder and flicked his hand upwards, and the lights turned completely back on again, flooding out the spotlight. Elijah looked back over at Gavin and strode towards him until they were only a few feet apart.
"At some point in time, Gavin, an android uprising was due to happen," Elijah said. "Why would I decide to be a victim when I know I could be safe while also changing history forever?"
"You screwed everyone over!" Gavin yelled. "You killed so many people, there would be less than ten thousand left easily! I-I don't know if only America was taken over, or Canada or the entire fucking world, but it does not matter! You could have saved so many lives but you didn't! You let Markus destroy everything!"
"You're painting me as the bad guy when I did nothing wrong," Elijah said. "The human race did this to itself. Not everyone would accept androids as their own people, and so those people posed a threat that the androids had to erase. It's as simple as that."
"No it's not. You know what you did was wrong. You just don't want to acknowledge you caused the death of millions."
"That was Markus and his army, Gavin. That wasn't me," Elijah replied.
He makes it sound so simple, that fuckwit. He doesn't know how much I want to kill him right here and now.
"Where are they? Where are Connor and Nines?"
Elijah tilted his head. "How did you survive?" he asked, avoiding Gavin's question.
"Answer me!"
"Answer me first."
"Fuck you," Gavin mumbled. "Nines gave some order to save me. I don't know why and I probably never will."
"Mhm. Okay. Those two RK800s you came here with - what are their names? Sure, one may be a Connor, but the only Nines I know of is an RK900."
"He is an RK900, you fuckass! He's just in a disguise!"
Elijah chuckled. "As if you expect me to believe that. You came here with two RK800 guards, and I'm going to guess that you innocently forgot how I'm looking for two RK800s to experiment on?"
Gavin's face dropped. "W-What?"
"Don't pretend you don't know, Gavin. I know you came here to turn them in to exchange them for whatever you want from me. So what do you want? Immunity? A house?"
"I came here to ask if you could fix Nines, and RK900," Gavin replied. "He has some sort of phantom code which is controlling him and turning him into a killing machine. You have to fix him, please."
"Okay, I'll humour you," Elijah said. "Say those two androids are your friends, and one is and RK900 who needs fixing, what's in it for me?"
Oh fuck.
"U-Uh…"
Elijah's eyebrows raised in surprise. "You came in here with no leverage? That was not a smart move."
"Just, look! He is an RK900 who needs fixing, so fix him!" Gavin snapped.
"You brought my one and only RK900 back home to me," Kamski mumbled. He raised his chin and looked at Gavin with belittlement in his eyes. "Okay then, Gavin. Since you have nothing to offer me, how about we strike a deal? You can spend a night alone with my experiments in your amusing little android outfit and see if they realise you're human or not. They don't have the ability to scan, which makes your part easier."
"Okay so, I do that, you'll fix Nines?" Gavin asked, a hint of hope in his voice.
Elijah laughed a singular, mocking laugh. "No. You had the audacity to come up and enter my house, knowing damn well that I am the only human who should be alive, and that I could hand you in to Markus myself. You spend a night alone with my experiments, and I'll let you escape and never tell anyone you were here."
Gavin's face dropped. "No. No way. I'm going."
"You can, but will you really leave without Connor and Nines? Your beloved companions?" Elijah asked.
That fucker…
"Fine. What happens if your experiments find out I'm not an android?" Gavin asked.
"They'll rip you to shreds," Elijah said simply.
"I hate you so much, Elijah."
"I know, Gavin. I know."
"Show me to Nines and Connor, I need to make sure they're okay before I agree to anything," Gavin said sharply.
"Sure. On the way, there will be one more person you will be meeting," Elijah said.
"Who?"
"His name is Simon. He is like Markus' right hand man, but don't worry, he won't let Markus know that you were ever here. Simon knows that would be good for either of us. Besides, he is here to check on my experiments, and if he knows you will become my little experiment for the night, he definitely won't say anything."
"Okay," Gavin said.
"You wear that out in society?" Elijah asked.
"Yeah…"
"Okay. Get rid of that makeup and I'll give you some clothes, only temporarily."
Now that confused Gavin. He furrowed his eyebrows. "Uh… Why?"
"If you show Simon what you look like in that getup, he'll know what to look for when searching for humans, particularly you," Elijah said. "There's makeup here somewhere, once you meet him I can get one of my Chloes to fix you right back up."
"So there is a heart buried under all that mess," Gavin said. "You don't think I'm going to die, do you?"
"You very well could, Gavin. Things have always been unpredictable with you. I'm just trying to think for you in case you survive."
"You confuse the fuck out of me."
Elijah huffed with amusement. "Oh, I know. Follow me, Gavin. Oh, and any funny business like trying to attack me or damaging any of my androids beyond repair, you are dead."
"Okay… Okay. Lead the way, Elijah."
Gavin followed Elijah as he led him out of the room. Gavin's skin was seething with rage, and beneath those frying emotions, there was cold fear as well. Gavin could die. And who knows what will happen to Nines and Connor if he does?
Elijah walked to a bedroom, a guest one presumably. For what guest? Gavin asked himself silently as he followed Elijah. "Wash the makeup off in the bathroom, this room is an ensuite," Elijah said before taking some clothes out of the closet and throwing them at Gavin.
Gavin pulled them off and looked at their sizes. "You remember my clothing size…"
"I lived with you for years, and I bought you clothes too. It's hard to forget."
"Maybe so, but this is not something people would usually remember."
I wonder if he still cares.
Gavin shook his head. No. He wouldn't do this to me, and he has hurt me too many times. Elijah Kamski lost his heart years ago.
Elijah left and Gavin closed the door before changing into the clothes - a black polo shirt and dark grey shorts. Simple outfit that would most certainly do the trick. He walked into the bathroom of the ensuite and washed off all of the makeup.
"Damn it, I'm not hot anymore," Gavin said to himself. He then laughed. "I'm an idiot. I never was hot to begin with, not even in makeup."
Gavin left the room and quickly found Elijah again, mostly because he was waiting outside of the door.
"Follow," Elijah instructed curtly.
"Okay."
Gavin and Elijah went towards the back of the large house where they entered a laboratory's hallway. In front of them were glass cages with bars behind the glass. Some of them were empty but others had androids inside of them - some looked normal, while others were missing body parts, had extra limbs, looked completely disarrayed, and just had a general creepy vibe. Memories of the tunnel flashed throughout Gavin's mind, and without meaning to, he started shaking.
Elijah walked to the far right side of the corridor and Gavin followed him, trying his best not to break into tears. It was extremely difficult for Gavin to keep reign of his emotions when he had to be close to a source of trauma for him, and he knew all to well that spending a night with these things would be a lot worse for him.
Standing in front of the very last cage was a singular android with blond hair. He was peering inside with an unreadable look in his eyes.
"That must be Simon," Gavin said to himself out loud.
"It is," Elijah confirmed.
Gavin picked up his pace. When he was closer, he noticed that two very familiar androids were behind the glass, and he broke into a sprint. Simon's head raised in surprise and when Gavin was in front of the cage, Simon decided he was too close. He drew his gun and pointed it at Gavin's head. Gavin froze and stared at Simon. He heard pounding on the glass, and Gavin looked at the cage to see Nines staring at him with wide eyes. He was afraid that Gavin would be shot and hated himself for not being there to protect him. The sight of Nines in a cage made Gavin tear up further.
Gavin raised his hands and looked back at Simon.
"Who are you?" Simon demanded.
"He's with me, put the gun down," Elijah said, walking up to Gavin's side.
"No human is meant to be alive," Simon said, putting his gun back in his place.
"Yes, but this one is going to be an experiment. I'm going to send him in with some of the experiments to see if they realise he's human or not."
"He's your brother," Simon said. "He looked familiar. Gavin Reed, isn't it? How come he's alive? All that I know is that he escaped from a facility."
"Don't tell Markus," Elijah said, dodging the question. "He will be an important asset in seeing how well these experiments do with humans, and if they can identify them."
"Okay, I won't. Tell me how it goes tomorrow," Simon said before walking past them and down the hallway.
Once he was gone, Gavin turned to the cage. "Nines…"
Elijah pressed a button to the side of the cage separating it from the next one. Part of the glass and the bars lowered.
"Try to escape and I will shoot you," Elijah said plainly. "You don't have long."
Gavin ran inside of the cell and pulled Nines into a huge hug. He buried his face into his shoulder and started helplessly sobbing.
"I didn't know what happened to you, I, I thought he killed you," Gavin croaked. "You were gone, you…"
Nines began to rub Gavin's back. "Hey, hey, it's okay now, Gavin. "I'm here, I'm safe, and so are you. Okay? We're both okay."
Connor walked over and looked at Gavin. "Are you okay?"
Gavin looked up at Connor and pulled him into the hug as well.
"Nines, Connor, listen to me," Gavin whispered so Elijah couldn't hear. "If I am not alive tomorrow, break out and run."
"Gavin, what-"
Gavin spoke louder whilst breaking the hug, "So, Elijah offered for me to spend a night with experiments, and in exchange, we can get out of here."
"What about fixing me?" Nines asked.
"He won't do it. We didn't bring anything he wants."
"... Except me," Connor said quietly.
"Connor-"
"Gavin, I know that Elijah wants RK800 androids. I could give myself to him," Connor said. "Then you two can walk free."
"No fucking way, Connor, that will make sure you are fucked," Gavin said sharply. "If I do this, there is a chance that we can all get out."
Nines' eyes began to tear up. "Gavin… You could die."
"I know."
Nines pulled Gavin into his arms again. "You're facing some of your trauma head on for a whole night with the possibility that you may die. You're so brave. You have changed, Gavin, and for the better." He kissed Gavin on the temple.
Gavin looked up at Nines. "Hey, it's okay to cry," he said softly.
Right on cue, Nines' synthetic tears streamed down his cheeks. It hurt Gavin so badly to see Nines crying, it was like a dagger twisting around in his heart. Gavin started crying as well as he stared at his boyfriend.
"Stay alive, please," Nines croaked.
"I'll try."
Nines' closed his eyes and cried harder, but silently. Gavin sniffled and looked at Connor, who had misty eyes as well.
"Stay safe, Connor," Gavin said before looking back at Nines. "I love you so much, Nines."
Gavin smashed his lips against Nines', and as they engaged in a messy kiss, tears streamed from their cheeks. When Gavin pulled away to breathe, he said again, "I love you."
"I love you too." Nines sniffled and kissed Gavin on the nose. "Come back to me tomorrow."
"I'll try."
Gavin walked back out of the cage, casting one more glance over his shoulder. He really was doing this.
"Take me to Chloe," Gavin rasped.
"Gavin-"
"Don't talk to me."
Elijah nodded silently, and he led Gavin away to get his makeup done.
Two Chloes fixed up Gavin's face with a fresh layer of makeup to cover up his many imperfections. No one spoke during it. When one was working on Gavin's nose scar, he spoke.
"Why does Elijah want to send me to what could be my death?" Gavin asked.
"Elijah never does anything without any benefit for himself," Chloe replied. "Why should he? He needed a subject for a new experiment idea, and you walked right in and practically handed yourself to him."
Gavin sighed and he didn't speak any more.
Once Gavin's face was perfect, Elijah led him back to his laboratory. He led Gavin past the cages on the left of the hallway and to another room. Elijah took Gavin to yet another room. He stopped at the door.
"This is it. Good luck."
"What, no cage?" Gavin asked.
"You'll be in a room with them. It is monitored by cameras which have microphones." Elijah leaned over and unlocked the room with a keycard. "Good luck."
Gavin took a deep breath and stepped into the room of horrors.
Does anyone on this website still read this? If not, I may pause updates, at least for now.