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“Nines, behind you!” Nines whipped around to face the threat, his crisis sensors telling his finger to press the trigger before he even had time to think. The bang from his weapon echoed throughout the warehouse, and the kid - he was 17 years old, Nines’ facial recognition software told him - and his switchblade dropped.
“Nines!” Gavin skidded over, his hand on his weapon. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” Nines breathed, his thirium pump thudding peculiarly. He couldn’t stop staring at the kid - the dead kid, the kid he’d killed.
“Are you sure?” Gavin’s voice was tinged with worry. “You look like shit.”
“Charming as ever, Detective Reed,” Nines replied.
“Samartass,” Gavin said, rolling his eyes, but a smile tugged at the edges of his lips. “Seriously, tin can. All good?”
“All good,” Nines promised his partner, ignoring the odd way his sensors glitched when he caught another glimpse of the 17 year-old lying on the warehouse floor. “We should radio in for backup.”
Gavin nodded and called it in, giving the dispatcher their location. Almost as soon as he clicked the radio off, another shot rang out in the warehouse.
Nines stumbled, his optical sensors blinking red. He could hear Gavin shouting, but it was as if it was through a tunnel; muffled, distant. He realised, sluggishly, that blue blood was leaking from a large, gaping hole in his chest cavity. It was a bullet hole. Nines had been shot.
“Nines!” Gavin screamed, as if to confirm his suspicions. “Nines!”
Nines stumbled forward, ignoring the red warning message from his optical sensors. Gavin. He had to find Gavin. The gunman was still in the warehouse.
Gunmen, Nines’ combat sensors picked up. He could hear more gunshots, and a few voices that he recognised - Chris, Tina, Hank and Connor. Their backup had arrived. Nines sagged with relief. He wasn’t sure how many hostiles there were, but he did know that he wouldn’t be able to protect Gavin like this. Making sure that Gavin got out alive was all that mattered.
On the other side of the warehouse, Hank and Connor were under fire from three different assailants with machine guns, being backed by Chris and Tina. Gavin knew he should be there, too, but one knowing look from Hank and a motion from Chris alleviated his guilt just enough to leave them and take off after Nines. He was blinded by the sight of his partner with a bullet hole in his chest, somehow still walking towards them, no doubt following the sound of Gavin’s voice like some kind of puppy. Fuckin’ androids. So goddamn loyal they forget to protect themselves.
Gavin raced to his partner’s side, steadying him with a hand on his back and rushing them out of the perps’ line of fire. Nines reached out blindly, seeking Gavin’s hand, his touch, just so he knew that Gavin was alive and okay and unhurt.
“S’okay, tin can,” Gavin murmured, allowing Nines to tangle their fingers together, even as he stripped off his jacket and pressed it to the bullet wound in Nines’ chest. “I’m right here. Not goin’ anywhere, Nines, not without you.”
Nines didn’t know he could gasp, thought it was a purely human reaction to shock, but he found his jaw going through the motion when Gavin started to put pressure against his wound. His hands scrabbled helplessly against Gavin’s, and he heard Gavin swallowing hard.
“You’re fine, you’re okay,” Gavin promised him, and Nines struggled to believe him. He didn’t feel fine. He didn’t feel okay. Even aside from the physical damage, he felt absolutely unhinged, ripped open and bleeding in more ways than one. He’d killed before, of course he had, but he’d never killed a kid before. A 17 year-old with their entire life ahead of them, and Nines had snatched it away in the blink of an eye without even thinking twice. He was a murderer. Just like he was programmed to be.
Nines heard, distantly, the gunshots stop, and he knew the others must have apprehended their attackers. Or, well. Nines didn’t think he had the heart to contemplate the other possibility.
“C’mon,” Gavin mumbled, and then he was urging Nines up with a hand on his back, guiding him out of the warehouse and into the light.
The sun hurt Nines’ optical sensors, turning the blood-red of the warning message to a fire-truck-red that made him cry out in pain. He clutched Gavin’s arm, stumbling along next to him as Gavin guided them to his truck.
The ride to CyberLife was short, the waiting time even shorter, and then Nines was on a table and the edges of his vision were going black, Gavin standing over him with a tight smile on his lips.
It’s going to be okay, Gavin was saying. Nines did his best to believe him.
~ ~ ~
When Nines woke, it was to the sound of hospital monitors beeping and the low hum of machinery. “Gavin?” he croaked out, searching for his partner in the darkness of the CyberLife recovery room.
“Right here,” Gavin said from somewhere in front of him. Nines heard him moving around, and then light was flooding the room and Nines was blinking, slowly becoming aware of his surroundings, and he opened his arms for his partner without conscious thought.
Gavin raced to Nines’ side, stepping easily into the android’s embrace. “Nines, I, fuck,” Gavin whispered against his synthetic hair. “Don’t ever do that again.”
Nines grinned. “I’ll do my best.”
They were quiet for a few minutes, holding on to each other and drinking in the calm atmosphere of the recovery room. Nines could hear other people milling around outside, and he concluded that the others must be waiting for Gavin to come out so they could see him, as well. He couldn’t control the way his lips quirked upwards at the realisation that Gavin had first priority and, for the foreseeable future, always would.
“You okay?” Gavin’s voice was impossibly soft, and he brushed a bit of Nines’ light brown hair off of his forehead. The touch of his fingers made Nines shiver, and his synthskin peeled back where Gavin touched, making the older man smile.
“Yes,” Nines replied carefully, but now that he was awake, the memory of the 17 year-old he’d shot was making its way back into his mind, clear and horrible as ever.
Gavin raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest. “You sure about that?”
Nines sighed. He could never hide from Gavin. “I was just thinking about that kid.”
Gavin made a small sound of recognition and let his arms fall to his sides. “Oh, Nines. You know you didn’t have a choice.”
“Yeah, I know,” Nines replied. “I just - he was a kid, Gavin. He was just a kid.”
“Yeah,” Gavin murmured. “It’s always hard when it’s a kid.”
“Will it stop?” Nines asked. “The, the guilt. Will it go away?”
“With time,” Gavin promised. “It won’t go away overnight, though. It’ll take a little bit, but I’ll be there. You'll need somebody by your side the first few nights. You’re bound to have nightmares. Wait, can androids even get nightmares?”
“I guess we’re about to find out,” Nines mumbled, some bitter sadness making its way into his voice.
“Hey.” Gavin reached out and placed his hand over Nines’. “You won’t be alone.”
Nines smiled. “I know, Gavin. With you, I never am.”