Work Text:
To everyone else, Subject Nine of the Nemesis Project was just a tool, a weapon, someone built to destroy and nothing more.
But to Elias, he was so much more than that.
He had always found Subject Nine to be quite fascinating. An orphan who almost died and in an effort to keep him alive, was turned into a cyborg built to obey orders. The other Architects would tell Elias nothing else about him. Not the circumstances that led to him being orphaned, not how he had almost died, or even the name he had before he became a cyborg, if he had one at all.
Subject Nine remembered nothing of his past life. He was an enigma, a mystery waiting to be unravelled, and Elias adored that.
Elias was one day busy rewriting and revising some notes for a future experiment he wanted to propose to his superiors, before he heard a knock on the door. He'd had many visitors come to his office before, but he could always tell from the more metallic clang who the person was, "Come on in, Nine!".
The door to his office opened, and the cyborg wordlessly stepped inside. Elias let out a small chuckle before he put his notebook and pens away, smiling over at him, "Not even bothering to greet me? I'm deeply disappointed, Nine".
"I'm just here for repairs on my arm, nothing more and nothing less," Subject Nine replied curtly, before sitting down across from him, wearing that emotionless face he always had on.
"Fine, fine. Whatever you say, Nine," Elias sighed with a wave of his hand, before reaching down below his desk to get out his repair tools. This was a song and dance they were both quite used to. Subject Nine would come to him to get repairs after his missions while Elias would try to start up a conversation with him to pass the time. Elias considered it a mutually beneficial deal. Nine got his arm fixed, and he got free entertainment out of Nine’s brief and logical answers.
"So, why'd you need repairs this time? I don't recall any of your recent missions involving any fighting or heavy physical force," Elias asked Nix as he opened up a panel on his arm to examine the wires, "Boss didn't tell me too much, just that you were helping retrieve crystals, right?".
"It wasn't connected to that," Nine replied back, as monotone as always, "Project Blazenfang got out again. And I had to help detain him".
"Oh, that rascal, huh?" Elias chuckled with a shake of his head, "Tsk, tsk. He was always such a rebellious little thing, wasn't he? Though maybe little isn’t the correct way to describe him, considering his physique and all".
He quickly readjusted some of the wires in Nine's arm, bending it at the elbow a couple of times just to reassure them both that it still functioned. "Works well, just as always, Subject Nine,” he said, his eyes wandering over the metallic shine of his arm. Even through the fabric of Elias’ gloves, he could feel the cold of his arm.
Cold just like the cyborg himself.
Subject Nine seemed to have noticed Elias’ staring, and his heterochromatic eyes looked back at him, “I’m fine to go now, aren’t I?”.
“Oh, but can’t you stay just a little longer? If you get your arm hurt again so soon, the damage may be fatal!” Elias replied, a playful tone to his voice. The scientist’s grip on his arm seemed to have tightened, a bit possessive as he placed his metallic hand to caress his own cheek, “We wouldn’t want that to happen now, right Nine?”.
But despite Elias’ clear intentions and his flirtations, Subject Nine’s face stayed as steely cold as ever, “I should return back to my superiors as soon as possible so they know I am fit to send on more missions. I cannot spend any unnecessary time with you, Dr Delborne”.
A response that, if Eli were like any other Architect, would’ve satisfied him and made him proud.
But it simply disappointed him.
Letting out a sigh, Elias let go of Nine’s arm, watching the cyborg retract it away from him and examine it himself. “It’s just like you to not want to waste time. But I’m ashamed, really” Elias said, resting his head on his hand, “I hope one day you can take me up on my offer though, maybe then you’d act less cold towards me”.
Subject Nine looked back at Elias, cold pink and grey eyes meeting a smug, purple gaze. “If you want companionship, don’t look for it in me, Doctor” he replied, “That’s now what I was built for”.
He got up from the chair and began to walk towards the door. And as Elias turned to watch him leave, his eyes ended up wandering not towards his metallic hand, but towards his intact human one.
Despite all the times they’ve interacted, Elias had never gotten the chance to really feel any of his actual human parts. The parts that were alive and warm with blood rushing through the veins, his fingers that moved so deftly and his face that seemed to flush just slightly in the cold. They were warm and soft unlike his cold, hard and robotic body parts.
But Elias was never given the blessing of being able to touch them.
. . . . .
The day that four of the test subjects, along with Subject Nine had escaped the laboratory into the sky was a day of havoc. Alarms and sirens blaring everywhere, superiors and scientists ordering impromptu missions left and right, and tighter security measures being put in place to prevent any future escapes.
However, Elias was only focused on the silence that Subject Nine left in his wake.
No more metallic knocking on the door or slight creak of metal as Elias helped repair his arm, no more one-sided conversations, and no more longing gazes at the pieces of him that managed to stay alive.
He was gone. And Elias wasn’t sure what to do with himself after all that.
A year of silence, of longing and of remembering their small slivers of conversation had passed before Elias was eventually appointed by his superiors to search for the crystals himself. They had already been made aware of the existence of people from other dimensions who had landed in Gaia through the rifts, so all Elias had to do was find a team of these people to get the crystals by any means necessary.
“Any means necessary? Why, do you mean murder is on the table then?” Elias had asked his superior when he was first told of the job, tilting his head curiously to the side.
“Unfortunately, yes,” the older man nodded to him, "Retrieving the crystals is of the utmost importance, and if it means having to kill the current bearers or protectors, so be it”.
Elias’ brows furrowed, “Even if…?”.
“Yes, even if Subject Nine gets in the way,” his superior replied, “He is no longer under our control, but is still in possession of very powerful technology, which makes him a threat. So disregard any previous opinions you may have of him if it ever comes up, alright?”.
Even if Elias loved the laboratory and his superiors and was grateful for the opportunity to even be sent on such important missions such as this, he couldn’t help but hesitate a bit. He still remembered all the times he had repaired Subject Nine’s limbs, all the times he wished he could feel his warmth just once. He didn’t want his blood on his hands, only the gentle touch of his real skin.
Yet Elias still complied and agreed on the mission.
A couple months had passed since that initial agreement, and now Elias was in a team with an angel who believed he was better than god, a shikigami who seemed less than pleased to be with them, a convicted criminal with a thousand cats and a police officer dog-man who seemed to have some tension with said criminal and his thousands of cats.
It certainly wasn’t an ideal team to be stuck with, but so far Elias has managed well with them.
And today started out just like any other day. Elias was beginning to run low on food in his fridge, and although he said he was fine with take-out and ordering food so he wouldn’t have to waste time cooking when he could continue his work and research, the boys had somewhat pressured him to finally take care of himself and get actual food from the grocery store.
“And, that’s about everything I need…” he mumbled to himself, checking off the last item he had on his checklist. Along with food for his own fridge, he was appointed by the boys to get some stuff for the others too, which mostly included cat food for the multiple cats that lived with Liron, and also some raw tomatoes for some reason.
He put his phone back into his jacket pocket before lifting the large shopping bag containing all the stuff he bought. “Damn, does Liron really need all this cat food?” he muttered underneath his breath as he continued out of the grocery store and down the street.
It was supposed to be a simple trip from the grocery store and back, and soon Elias would be back in his lab cooking up more experiments and probably ignoring his health in favour of test results. But something, or rather someone, had caught his eye instead.
A familiar head of blue hair.
Elias stopped in his tracks, eyes wide with shock as he looked back at the stranger. He almost continued walking on, he almost believed it was just him being delusional or mistaking somebody else with blue hair for him.
But no. The stranger stood right underneath the awning of a shop, phone to his ear as he talked to somebody. If the blue hair and heterochromatic eyes didn’t immediately give away his identity, then his robotic limbs and familiar accent certainly did.
“Yeah, I’ve just about finished getting everything I needed to get. But I just thought that I could get some extra stuff for Chip,” he heard the cyborg say as he talked to whoever was on the phone with him. On closer inspection, it looked like he had some extra piercings on his ears and bottom lip. And strangely enough, he was smiling and chuckling.
This was undeniably Subject Nine. But he was so… so much more different than when they had last met.
Subject Nine soon stepped out of the shade of the awning as he walked away, still talking on the phone. Elias suddenly felt an urge to follow him, to run towards him, to grasp his arm one last time.
None of this was connected to the mission whatsoever, but a product of his own personal desire.
Elias dropped the shopping bags he was holding with him before running to catch up with Subject Nine. He reached out to grab his wrist, the one he knew to be cold and metallic. But strangely enough, the metal felt warm this time, something he had never felt before.
The cyborg let out a sharp yelp, one that surprised Elias as well, before he yanked his arm away from him and turned around to face him. The wide eyes, his panicked breathing, and the way he had backed away from him was such a stark contrast to the Subject Nine he had known.
And yet, it was awakening something in Elias.
“Wh-Who are you?” he shouted at him, his brows furrowed slightly as he looked at him, “What the hell was that for!?”.
Elias felt a pang of disappointment in his heart. I mean, why should he? The mind control he was under messed with his memories of his past, surely it would’ve also messed with his memories again once he was out of the mind control.
“You don’t… remember me?” he mumbled, eyes wide with surprise, before the usual shit-eating grin he used to wear during their conversations showed on his face, “After all the times you’ve been sent to me for repairs, and you don’t even remember who I am? Honestly, I’m ashamed, Nine”.
The cyborg looked confused for a moment, before a sudden realisation seemed to flash in his eyes. He backed away from Elias, a look of fear on his face, “You- no- you’re one of them…”.
Elias didn’t know what he expected a reunion between him and Subject Nine would’ve been like after all this time. But what he did know was that he didn’t expect the strong emotions and warmth that Nine radiated.
Surprise, shock, fear, these were things that he had never shown in the laboratory.
Yet Elias loved it nonetheless.
A voice suddenly piped up from the phone that Nine had dropped on the ground, a masculine one with a slight roughness in his voice, “Nix? Nix?? Is everything alright there??”.
Nix.
It took a while for the dots to connect in Elias’ head what he meant, his eyes darting over to the branding on his human wrist. “Nix, huh? Is that what they’ve come to call you now?” he asked, a smug smile on his face, “It’s quite a unique take on the branding, I’ll admit”.
Subject Nine- no, Nix simply continued to look at him with shock and fear on his face. His eyes quickly darted back towards the phone on the ground, before he quickly went to grab it before backing away. “Stay away from me and my friends!! We just want to live, goddamnit!!” he shouted at him, before running down the street, disappearing into the distance.
But Elias didn’t chase him. He simply stood there and watched as he ran away.
Because something new had brewed in his chest, something that had transformed from his earlier fondness for the cyborg. If he wasn’t already interested in him before he escaped, he certainly was now. Seeing his real, raw and unfiltered emotions had re-awakened Elias’ desire.
A desire to be able to see and feel the parts of him that remained human.
. . .
It didn't take long for Elias to quickly make it his new mission to find out where Nix lived. Well, was it really new if it was your mission in the first place but you're doing it for ulterior motives?
Admittedly, it was quite easy to find out his coordinates. Elias was already pretty tech-savvy so knew how to use it to his advantage, plus it wouldn't be difficult to pinpoint the location of the only cyborg in the city, especially if he still used Architect technology.
Eventually, he managed to find him. A warehouse turned hideout hidden in the depths of the city, only accessible through the numerous dark alleyways. Elias couldn't believe he hadn't found Nix before, his location was right underneath his nose.
Well, in his defense, he was busy dealing with the chaos that was his team. No wonder the actual goal was forgotten amongst all the chaos..
It was dark now, a couple minutes past midnight. The city skyline blocked out any stars that could've been seen, and the only lights on in the city were windows and neon signs.
“Hmm, he's even implemented a security system here. How charming~” he smirked to himself as he caught eye of what looked like a camera hanging above the door. He recognised the model, it was the exact same ones that they used back in the laboratory. There must've been some of their technology on the spaceship when Nix had escaped with the others.
Unfortunately for Nix though, Elias knew exactly how to disarm their technology.
He placed a small metal disc on the door, something that the Architects back at the lab had manufactured for him that was built to disrupt and intercept their technology. He pressed the button, and soon the light in the camera that signified it was currently on died.
“Bingo,” he chuckled. He reached out his hand towards the doorhandle, which gave way with a simple push. The place was dark, and overrun with a bunch of TV screens, wires and the like. He took out his phone and turned on the phone flashlight before venturing deeper into the house. If Nix was like any other sane person, he'd probably be asleep by now, so all Elias had to do was find his bedroom.
Suddenly, he heard the pitter patter of what sounded like small metallic feet against the ground. Elias paused, considering whether to back away or hide before the actual culprit came into view.
A little robot dog appeared from out of a room, its little robot tail wagging behind it as it made its way out of the slightly ajar exit. It was pure white, with some black and cyan highlights. There was no doubt that Nix must've built it himself. And honestly, it was quite adorable.
Finally, the dog took notice of Elias standing in the hallway staring at it, and a shocked expression appeared on its screen before it began to bark at him. “Ah- shit- wait-” Elias muttered to himself, quickly getting out one of the spare discs he had before throwing it straight at the dog.
It landed straight on its forehead, and luckily worked, as the dog seemed to spasm out. The screen on its face depicted multiple error messages before the dog finally collapsed, falling onto its side like a toy.
Elias waited a while to confirm it was actually dead, before letting out a sigh of relief. “I'm sorry, little guy. You're cute and all, but I don’t wanna wake up your owner,” he said. He began to walk towards it and picked it up in his hands to inspect it. It was honestly a really good model and build, he could tell Nix worked hard to make it.
“It's alright, though. The effects will wear off in a couple hours. I doubt you'll even remember I was here in the first place,” he chuckled, patting it on the head. Of course, it was only made of metal, so the petting didn't feel as satisfactory as petting one of his hamsters.
His eyes were soon drawn towards the slightly ajar door the dog had appeared out of, he hadn't noticed before that a cyan light was spilling out between the cracks. He slowly opened the door and peeked his head inside, “Hello? Room service~?”.
It seemed to be a workshop of some kind, blueprints and notes pinned to corkboards on the walls. Nix sat at a desk surrounded by computer screens and more papers, his head in his arms as he leaned against the tabletop. Elias slowly walked into the room, the robot dog still in his arms as he approached the cyborg. He was fast asleep, eyes closed over as he dreamed away peacefully.
Now that Eli thought about it, he had never seen Subject Nine unconscious before, never asleep or knocked out. He had his own quarters in the laboratory, but was never allowed in when he was asleep. And he was far too good of a fighter to fall unconscious in battle.
But there was something about how peaceful he looked that stirred something in him.
“Hm, how funny. The Nine I know would’ve never fallen asleep in such a compromising way,” Elias softly murmured, “But you aren’t Subject Nine anymore, aren’t you?”.
As expected, Nix didn’t hear him or reply, simply stayed hunched over the papers and blueprints on his desk. Letting out a soft sigh, Elias gently put the robot dog down on the desk before going over to get Nix out of his chair. Surprisingly, it wasn’t too difficult to lift him into his arms in a bridal carry. Even if Nix was taller and had cybernetics, they were built to be light and easy to carry. Besides, Elias’ superiors had him carry heavier stuff in the past.
“Oh, if only you could see yourself now, Nine. Being carried like a princess by me of all people!” Elias chuckled, “Oh, I’m sure the scientists back home would get a laugh out of seeing us, don’t you think so?”.
This time, Nix seemed to stir in his sleep, not enough to wake him up fully though. He subconsciously leaned his head against Elias’ neck, his cheek grazing Elias’ neck and collarbone. Eli paused for a moment, a bit taken aback by the sudden action.
His cheek was warm, and soft, and he could feel the soft inhale and exhale of air against his neck.
Ignoring the way his heart beat in his chest or the way his own face heated up, Elias brought him out of the room and to his bedroom, which admittedly took a while considering he didn’t know the layout of the place. When he finally found where his bedroom was (which actually wasn’t that far from his workshop to be honest, maybe Elias needed to get glasses), he gently laid Nix down onto the bed.
“You have a nice place, I’ll be honest,” Elias said, mostly to himself though as he looked around the room. More corkboards hung on the wall with blueprints, photos and notes pinned to them, a shelf held what looked like spare robotic arms and legs, and a guitar leaned against the wall. He walked up to the corkboards, inspecting all the photos, “Clearly you were busy in the time we haven’t seen each other. I’m glad for you, Nine”.
He recognised a couple of the figures in the photos. Of course, Nix and his robot dog were in most of the photos, but he’s seen the alien from Project Wave enough times to recognise him. He had never seen the subjects involved in Project Genie or Demon, but it didn’t take long to realise who they were. The presence of five other unfamiliar men did surprise him, but he quickly deduced that these must’ve been the holders of the crystals he was after.
And then there was Project Blazenfang.
He and Nix seemed quite close in the pictures that contained the both of them. Side-hugging, sitting together, laughing side by side. It wasn’t a surprise to Elias, the two came from the same place after all. But something… something was beginning to stir in his stomach at the sight of the photos.
He took down one of the photos on the wall and stared at it for a bit longer than the other ones. The pair seemed to be in a Japanese restaurant of some kind, and Nix was playfully feeding Project Blazenfang some meat, the both of them grinning ear to ear.
His grip on the photo tightened a little, the corner crinkling a bit. He was just about to tear it in half when he heard a noise from behind him.
“Hm? Nine?” he asked, turning around to look at him. The cyborg was letting out small groans of discomfort, having turned over on his side. “Ah, right. I forgot. It must be uncomfortable for you to wear those to bed, right?” Elias said, dropping the photo down onto the ground before going over to him, “It’s okay, I’ll help you remove them”.
It was something that Elias was used to, having to help him remove his limbs, but those were only for repairs. As he detached them from their sockets and gently leaned them against the wall, he couldn’t help but feel like this was much more intimate than any of their past encounters.
“There, all done. Is that more comfy for you?” he asked Nix, crouching down next to the bed to be at eye level with him. Nix’s face definitely looked more content right now, lips slightly parted as he softly breathed.
He looked so peaceful and warm, nothing like the cyborg he knew before.
Silently, and almost hesitantly, he pulled off one of his gloves with his teeth before reaching a hand towards Nix’s face. And for the first time, he felt him. He caressed his cheek, warm and soft underneath his fingers. His thumb ran along his bottom lip where his lip ring was, his lips were slightly chapped, but that didn’t matter to Elias at all.
“You… feel nice” Elias softly smiled down at him, thumb continuing to gently caress his face, “Oh, how long have I missed out on this feeling? To be able to touch you like this?”.
Nix seemed to enjoy the feeling too, as he leaned into Elias’ touch, a small smile and flush on his face. And oh, how Eli adored the expression on his face. The epitome of contentment, of peace, of warmth. Nothing at all like the face he used to wear back in the laboratory.
“Maybe it was for the best for you to have left. If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to see this adorable expression on you,” Elias softly chuckled. He held Nix’s face in his hand for a little while longer, before he let out a small sigh, “But I have a mission now, Nine. And I can’t just abandon it now”.
He was about to pull away and stand up before he suddenly felt a warm hand on his wrist, his breath hitching for a moment as he looked back at Nix. Of course, he was still asleep. But his brows were furrowed and his lips were in a tight line. “Don’t go… please…..” he murmured out unconsciously, “Ryry, stay…..”.
Elias paused, staring back at Nix. His feelings of warmth and adoration were beginning to battle with the jealousy brewing in his stomach. Had Project Blazenfang felt the warmth and softness that Elias had craved for so long before he did? How many times has Nix allowed him to caress his face, to hold his human hand, to kiss him and feel the contrast of the cold lip ring with his warm lips?
Why couldn’t he have seen Nix’s warm and lovely smile first?
Letting out a sigh, Elias pulled off his other glove before turning back towards Nix, his hand softly ruffling his blue hair. “Don’t worry, I won’t be going anywhere, Nix” he whispered, “You’re far too adorable right now for me to leave just yet”.
He moved Nix’s bangs out of his face before planting a soft kiss on his forehead, and he couldn’t deny just how cute he found it when Nix smiled in his sleep, turning his head slightly as if asking for another. And Elias sat there for the night, admiring just how pretty he was and just how soft and warm his face was.
. . .
Nix woke up the next morning to the light streaming through his curtains and to the sound of robotic barking near his bed. He stirred in his sleep for a moment, before he actually opened his eyes and decided to sit up, “Huh? Chip…?”.
The small robotic dog was trying his best to jump onto the bed, his small height stopping him. Nix let out a small chuckle, before picking him up himself. “Sorry if I was out for too long, buddy. I must’ve been super tired when I fell asleep,” he told him, beginning to pet him. Chip gratefully took all the affection and love from him, leaning into his hand.
Now that Nix thought about it though, he didn’t remember falling asleep in his bedroom or taking off his prosthetics. All he remembered was working really late on some new improvements to his tech before falling asleep. He stared down at Chip in thought for a while, before he shrugged off any of his worries. He probably just didn’t remember hauling his ass back to bed because he was so sleepy. He had been staying up quite late the past few nights after all, and it wouldn’t have been the first time he had memory issues.
Putting Chip back on the bed, Nix reached out to get his leg, which he had left leaning against the wall but had fallen down during the night. He had a couple things planned for today anyways. Rosco needed help with one of his projects, and he had a date with Ryzar after that, so he should probably be getting himself ready soon.
But something felt… off about that morning. Was it the fact he remembered dreaming about soft touches and caresses on his face, or the fact that his cheek and forehead felt oddly warmer than the rest of his body? He wasn’t quite sure of it yet.
Finally finished re-attaching his leg, he looked up, but suddenly remembered something else and whipped his head back around to look at Chip.
“Chip? Do you know where my arm went?”.