Partners - Reed900 series

Paper I

Gavin has been staring at the evidence for what must be over an hour now. It is all there, neatly displayed in the evidence room. Every little thing tagged and put into the system before it was hung up on that wall. He knows everything that's up here, because he had been staring at the files at his terminal earlier today. He hoped that coming down to the evidence room gave him some fresh insight, some new ideas. He was missing something. Some tiny fucking thing that would tie everything together.

It isn't there.

He groans, tipping his head back and running his hands through his hair. "Fuck. I need a cigarette."

"Smoking is bad for your health, detective."

Gavin curses loudly, grips his shirt at his chest and turns around to the source of the voice. "Damn it, tin can! The only thing bad for my health is you! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

His partner tilts his head slightly and looks at him inquisitively. "Your heart rate is elevated and your stress levels have shot up. However, there is no direct risk to your health. I advise taking a few deep breaths to help you calm down."

Gavin moves his lips soundlessly, for the moment unable to voice his frustration with his android partner. Sneaking up on him with his fucking stealth mode, scanning him when he knows how Gavin hates that, bugging him about his smoking and doing it all while looking perfectly calm and collected. Mr. Plastic Fantastic.
He glares at the android, who stares back with a hint of smugness. He did it on purpose, at least the part of sneaking up on him.
"Fuck off, Nines," he eventually spits out. "What are you doing here anyway?"

The android ignores the harsh words, like he usually does when there's no real venom behind them. He calmly looks at Gavin, hands clasped behind his back. He's wearing his usual ensemble of charcoal grey slacks and a black turtleneck; the brown leather straps of his shoulder holster stick out against his dark clothes, giving him a classic detective look. It looks good on him.

Gavin favours wearing his handgun on his hip, where people can see it, along with his badge. Nines prefers a more concealed carry, the gun hidden under his white jacket in most cases. Some people still get nervous about androids carrying a weapon, no matter whether they are police officers or not, so the concealed carry makes sense. The android gets enough shit as it is already.

"The evidence is inconclusive," Nines says in that matter-of-fact voice of his. "The crime scene will be released tonight, I thought you might like to take one last look at the scene."

"Fuck, why not?" Gavin presses a few buttons on the terminal to lock the evidence in front of him away again and starts for the door. "Maybe I'll get some fresh ideas there."

The RK900 drives them to the scene, an abandoned factory building. The last owner was a printing company, it's main business printing newspapers. No wonder it went belly up: who the hell reads newspapers anymore?

It's a twenty minute drive from the precinct, twenty five because they make a stop at a drive through for coffee and a pretzel. Detective Reed can't think on an empty stomach.

"How's your new apartment?" Gavin asks, swallowing a bite of the pretzel.

"It's adequate," Nines answers, keeping his eyes on the road. Not that he really needs it: Gavin suspects the android can drive with his eyes closed and still not hit anything or anyone.

"Anything with four walls and a roof is adequate," he scoffs, shaking his head a little. "That depressing android storage room at the precinct was adequate. I should hope having your own place is a little more than that!"

Nines doesn't comment on that, his face blank as always. "Connor gave me a Monstera. He told me a plant is a typical housewarming gift among humans."