The last thing that Connor heard was a gunshot.
Well...
He was dead.
Surely?
That's what he thought as his hearing started to die.
His eyes fluttered open.
Fawkes fell from the bed, clutching his arm in pain. Connor tried to focus his vision on the figure at the door.
"N-Niner?" Connor asked, his voice weak. Another figure quickly pushed past Niner and headed towards him. A small smile graced the android's lips, "G-Gavin."
"Connor! Fuck, fuck, fuck, you're gonna be okay!" Gavin quickly hovered over Connor, his hands moving to the android's cheeks in comfort.
Niner made his way over to Fawkes and put his foot on him to stop his movements and pin him to the floor, "Get the fuck off me, plastic!"
"I suggest you stay quiet." Niner said, aiming his gun at the man's head.
Gavin's hand trailed down Connor and noticed that his regulator was missing, "Your regulator?! Where is it?!" his eyes started to scan around the room.
Connor's hand weakly rose before pointing underneath the desk at the side of the room.
*TIME REMAINING BEFORE SHUTDOWN - 00:00:34*
Gavin wasted no time in jumping from the bed and heading over towards the desk, he kneeled down to reach under and grab the Thirium covered regulator.
"Don't fuckin' give it that! It deserves to be taught a fucking lesson!" Fawkes exclaimed.
"Shut. Up." Niner ordered, "Be a good little obedient human and do us all a favour. Don't say another word."
Gavin quickly hovered over Connor once again on the bed, his hand shaky as he reinserted the regulator.
Connor's LED shone a bright red as he felt his systems coming back to life.
The pain coming from the gunshot wound, bite marks in his neck and the pain coming from his now restored regulator were almost unbearable.
He hadn't even noticed until now the Thirium that was dripping from his LED. Fawkes must have broken the artificial skin there after pressing hard with the gun.
"Gavin..." his voice was still weak as his components started to reboot.
"It's okay, babe. I'm here." Gavin ran a hand through Connor's hair, his other hand gripped onto the android's, squeezing in reassurance.
"It hurts-"
Gavin shushed him, "I know, I know." he pressed a kiss to Connor's forehead before moving down to kiss his tears away.
Connor noticed that Gavin was being so gentle with him. He had never been this careful around him at all. His hands were moving slow, as if he was afraid that he would break him.
"M-My Thirium levels are dangerously low, Gavin..."
Gavin nodded, noticing the Thirium flowing from his regulator, arm and temple.
Gavin was furious. Anger flooded through him.
Fawkes had gone way too far this time.
"Detective Reed..." Niner said with warning as Gavin stood from the bed. Niner could sense his anger and knew that his intent was to kill Fawkes. Gavin pulled out his gun and aimed at Fawkes' head, "Gavin. Don't."
"You wouldn't fucking dare..." Fawkes taunted him, his face still pressed against the floor.
Gavin's finger tightened on the trigger, "Don't test me, Fawkes."
"Gavin..." Connor said, his arm weakly reached over to grab his arm, "Don't. Please."
"He coulda killed you again, Con!"
"Please." he tried his best to pull Gavin back towards him.
Gavin looked back at Connor. He hated seeing Connor like this. He was hurting mentally and physically. He pocketed his gun with frustration before sitting back on the bed and gently pulling Connor into a hug.
He could feel Connor's artificial, but sincere, tears wet his shoulder. Gavin could feel the android shiver in his arms. He quickly pulled back and removed his own jacket to wrap it around Connor's shoulders, "It's okay." Gavin carefully pulled Connor back into a hug, "I got you."
Connor could sense how protective Gavin was being. His own arms wrapped loosely around the man's neck.
Niner just watched the whole interaction.
A part of him wished that Lara was like that...
A part of him wished that Lara liked him the way he liked her. He had been developing feelings for the woman over the past few months. But her clear dislike towards androids hurt him more than anything. Sure, she had said that she didn't dislike him specifically. Just other androids in general. She said that he was tolerable.
The way Lara handled herself and how she cared for the ones who were close to her was just appealing to Niner. He also liked her stubborn personality.
Niner had started to crave affection recently.
He was brought out of his thoughts as Connor started talking.
"C-Call Kamski..." Connor muttered.
"Fuck. No." Gavin said, "I am not callin' that asshole."
"Please, Gavin..." his hands clutched the back of Gavin's shirt, "He can fix me. He'll give me a new regulator and make sure everything is in working order. Jericho aren't capable of fixing a model like me."
Gavin hated Kamski.
But he loved Connor.
So of course, how could he refuse?
With a sigh, Gavin pulled back slightly to retrieve his phone from his pocket, "For you, babe. I'm calling him for you. But just remember that I really fucking hate him." he stood up from the bed, his hand lightly grasping Connor's, "You gonna be okay? Hard to get a damn signal in this place..." (A/N: 2038/2039 AND THERE'S STILL SHITTY SIGNAL? OMG...)
"Y-Yeah. Just. Hurry. I don't know how long I can keep my systems running with limited Thirium."
Gavin nodded, leaning down to kiss his lips gently, "I love you, Con. I won't be long." he turned to leave, "You don't let that fuckin' asshole go anywhere." Gavin ordered Niner.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Niner assured as Gavin exited the room.
"You are all fuckin' idiots." Fawkes said with a groan, "Let me go before I kill both of you!"
"I'd like to see you try. You are no match for my reaction time. It could potentially be award winning if you ask me."
"N-Niner..." Connor began as he began to sit up and lean against the headboard of the bed. His hands pulled Gavin's jacket tighter around him, "I-I found... I found Red Ice." he motioned towards a corner of the room.
Niner smiled at him, "Don't worry about that right now, Connor. Worry about yourself first."
Connor nodded as he smiled back, weakly.
"I would suggest that you go into sleep-mode in order to preserve your power." Niner said.
"I-I'll be fine..."
"My scans say that you have a higher chance of surviving if you were to go into sleep-mode until we reach Mr. Kamski's home."
"Y-You're coming too?"
Niner nodded, "If that is okay. I would like to meet Kamski."
-x-
After the worst conversation Gavin had ever had on a phone... He returned to Connor and Niner. He noticed that Connor was motionless and he had his eyes closed, "C-Connor?"
"He is okay, Detective Reed." Niner assured, "I have simply told him to go into sleep-mode in order to preserve his power."
Gavin let out a sigh of relief, "Yeah. Okay. That sounds reasonable." he walked towards the bed, "I rang my brother up. He was... shocked that I was calling. But I quickly explained Connor's situation and he sent me his address. You comin'?" he asked Niner as Gavin gently lifted Connor up into his arms, "Ah, fuck... Fuckin' heavy bastard."
Niner chuckled, "You seem to be having an issue there, Detective Reed."
"Nope. No, no, no, I got this." he groaned, "Now, you comin' or what?"
"I would like to." Niner nodded before looking back down at Fawkes, "We're gonna have to take this asshole back down to the station first though."
Gavin shook his head, "No. We need to go to Elijah's first. I've rang Hank and he will be here soon to pick his ass up."
"Good thinking." Niner then nodded towards the corner of the room, "And, Detective Reed? Connor has found Red Ice."
"Really?!" Gavin asked in shock, "So it's fuckin' true? These assholes have really been makin' illegal drugs. You think this would be enough evidence to shut 'em down for good?"
"Possibly." Niner stated, "It could just be Red Ice left by a customer."
"No. We are getting this place shut down once and for all. Androids deserve better."
Oh, if Hank could see him now! The old man would probably pass out from the shock if he had heard Gavin say that androids deserve better!
Niner nodded in confirmation, "They do."
-x-
"Oh, Jesus, he gonna be okay?" Hank asked, shoving Fawkes into the back of his car before slamming the door shut.
"He'll be okay as long as we get to Elijah's." His arms were getting tired from carrying Connor.
Hank eyed him up. Gavin did care for Connor.
But there was still something about him that Hank didn't trust...
Hank's eyes then flicked towards the RK900 who seated in the driver's seat of Gavin's car. He had talked to him earlier that day.
He fucking hated him. Almost got him and Connor killed back at the CyberLife tower so he had every reason to hate him.
"Just... Call me if you need anything, okay?" Hank said, finally putting his trust in Gavin.
"Yeah, Lieutenant. You tell Fowler that I wanna talk to Fawkes before he lets him go again."
"He's goin' straight to fuckin' jail this time." Hank said, "We can't let him go again. Not after what he's put Connor through."
"Glad we're on the same page about somethin', Hank." Gavin replied before heading towards his car, "I will let you know how it goes." he assured before climbing into the back seat with Connor resting in his lap. He made sure that his jacket was wrapped around Connor comfortably.
"Ready?" Niner asked, looking at Gavin through the rear-view mirror.
"Ready to see my fucking brother..." he said, leaning down to kiss Connor's forehead.
He was still raging with anger. Fawkes had touched Connor.
His Connor.
And he wasn't going to let that asshole get away this time.