Chapter Text
Well this was going just super already. He’d told Fowler he didn’t want a partner… the last two partners hadn’t lasted more than a week with him. Fowler had literally laughed and said, “The next one won’t slow you down, in fact, I guarantee he’ll outrun you.” Niles was so going to throw that line in his superior’s face. That very quote. He was already having the conversation in his head while he sprinted, feet pounding the pavement, as the new partner disappeared around the street corner.
They’d been investigating a murder scene when a potential perp took off from the neighboring backyard. Niles was closer and had taken him down first, but a wild slash of the suspect’s knife backed him off, giving the man a head start over the fence. Niles gave chase as soon as his feet hit the ground, but three hundred pounds of pissed-off plastic with a permanently yellow LED passed him in a blur. “Gavin, slow down!” he yelled. Getting separated by too much was dangerous.
When he finally caught up to the duo, the android was holding the suspect off the ground against a brick wall by a single hand fisted into the front of his shirt. “Gavin, stand down!” Niles shouted, panting to catch his breath.
He’d just gotten the robot. Hadn’t even had it a full month, and he’d already broken the damn thing.
“Goddamnit, Gavin, stop! GV200, release him!” he shouted the direct order at the android who finally turned, surprised, like it was hearing him for the first time.
The suspect slid down the brick wall with a graceless thud, attempting to scramble away from the angry robot still holding him firmly by the collar of his shirt. The man’s blooming black eye was deserved for having attempted to stab Niles, but the android had delivered it after ignoring clear orders to stand down.
Blind fury softened into something like relief as the GV looked Niles up and down. “I.. sorry, Detective Stern… I must not have heard you,” it stated with no remorse. It held the suspect — a big guy who was pulling, kicking and grabbing to try and free himself — in place effortlessly while the responding patrol cops caught up to the scene.
Once they were back in the car, Niles demanded, “What the hell was that? You completely ignored my orders to stop. And..” he pointed to the GV’s chest, “can you please… seriously?”
Gavin looked down and gave a goofy laugh before yanking the suspect’s blade from his synthetic sternum. “I’m not sure,” it stated, placing the knife into an evidence bag Niles was holding open. “Perhaps an error in my auditory receptors or command structure. I’ll run a thorough diagnostic tonight.”
“That’s it? Just like a malfunction or something?”
“Of course,” the android said with a completely neutral expression. “It’s not like my programming allows me to want to punch someone in the face, or anything.”
Niles’ eyes narrowed. It was things like that, precisely like that . This was Niles’ first time working with an android. The GV200 wouldn’t have fit into the very last of his expectations, not that he’d any specific ones. It was reckless and stubborn and no one believed Niles when he said the robot had an attitude.
He knew he couldn’t be imagining things though. Especially when the android said shit like that, where Niles had no idea if it was being serious or laughing its plastic ass off behind that convincingly human face.
In fairness, the robot had done its job, technically. The suspect was caught, Niles and the other responding humans hadn’t been injured and they hadn’t had to draw their guns on the suspect. The android had identified the man as Carl Jameson, and confirmed that his fingerprints matched those found at the scene of the murder.
Still, the machine was supposed to follow orders, especially ones that dealt with use of force. There had to have been an error in its response to that situation. Nines forced his frustration down a notch and focused on hoping this man in custody would at least be a solid lead.
Glancing over to see his mechanical partner dabbing blue blood from its uniform shirt, responsibility outweighed his lingering anger and he asked, “I don’t really know how this, uh, you… work, sorry. Do you need a repair tech or anything?”
“Nope, no need for a repair,” the GV replied with a reassuring smile before shrugging dismissively. “Should heal on its own. Worst case scenario, I have another scar.”
“Interesting,” Niles muttered to himself. He’d been wondering about the scars on the android, but he was still too annoyed to make small talk about it now. Besides, it would probably just be a similar answer to when he’d asked about the android’s LED. Unlike every other one he’d seen, this android’s had been permanently yellow from the day it arrived at the DPD. ‘Just a glitch,’ the GV had said when Niles had asked about it.
Returning to the precinct, the GV assisted with booking the suspect and filing the incident report while Niles went straight to Fowler’s office. “This android thing, it isn’t going to work,” he stated as soon as he entered.
Jeffrey Fowler looked like he was ‘over it’ before he even started most days, but an amused eyebrow raised with Niles’ intrusion. “The ‘android thing’ seems to be working just fine for your brother,” he teased. “What happened?”
“It punched a suspect after disobeying a direct command to stand down and release the man.”
The information gave Fowler pause, tapping his finger against a pen. “Did it state a reason or anything?”
“Possibly a malfunction, but I’m not convinced. Sir as I’ve said before, I don’t think this android is wired right.”
His superior frowned. “Fine, Stern. I’ll contact CyberLife and put in a maintenance request on your behalf. Maybe they missed a bug or something. In the interim, it’s still your partner. Just keep doing your job.”
“But-“
“No ‘but’s’ Detective. I don’t want to hear another word about it.”
Niles collected himself and nodded. He was on thin ice with Fowler and knew when not to push things. “Yes sir,” he replied, exiting the office.
It all weighed heavy on his mind that night. Maybe it was him… the android was new, but the problem wasn’t. Everyone had a hard time working with him; his first partner had filed something about a ‘hostile work environment’. The second one went on about him ‘needing better communication skills.’ He’d rolled his eyes in the meetings with HR, but both of those people were thriving now with different partners, and Fowler had grumbled some threats that weren’t hollow.
Niles had a tendency to be determined and driven, biting off as much as he could and worrying about whether he could chew it later.
Stress is the price of success though, and the pace was taking its toll. Niles wouldn’t admit it, but he was struggling to maintain his cases and the files on his own. So, he’d promised Fowler he’d ‘behave’, and give the new partner a chance. It had been a rough three-ish weeks so far.
The superior’s jab about his brother hadn’t gone unnoticed. Everyone loved Connor . He was the approachable, patient, easy to talk to of the twins. Niles couldn’t dispute that his brother was a good guy, and a good cop. Didn’t change that he could also be a complete shit sometimes, too.
When Connor got an android, an HK800 named Hank, they were a power team right from the beginning. They’d been closing cases left and right.
This of course had absolutely nothing to do with the reason Niles was pushing himself so hard to outshine them just get a raise.
Niles had nothing against androids. He’d even say he was curious about the machines. Hank was definitely an asset to Connor’s investigations, and seemed easy to interact with. The times Niles had tried to talk to Hank though, Connor was really weird about it...like he was afraid Niles was going to hurt the robot or something.
All of this stuff swirled in his mind. Maybe he needed to just give the GV a real chance, get to know it. Could you ‘get to know’ an android, really? Or would it just be like when you were a kid and made Siri say dumb replies on your iPhone. He wasn’t sure. He could swear from the get-go that this Gavin just hated humans in general, like it had a chip on its shoulder, crazy as that sounded.
He knew they were smart though, the most advanced technology ever created. Even cars and Roombas, laughably simplistic in comparison, could learn to predict and navigate their environment based on experiences within it. He had to admit, it made sense that the machine was designed to ‘learn’ from its handler.
Starting tomorrow, he was going to at least try to make this work.
As per the new usual, the android was seated at the desk facing his when Niles arrived. “Good morning,” he greeted the GV with an admittedly forced smile.
Gavin glanced at Niles and then looked around them both, confused. “...Me?”
“Of course, you . You act like I’ve never said hello to you before.”
“You haven’t.”
“Of course I have.”
The android’s yellow LED sputtered for a moment. “Nope. Just replayed every morning since I’ve been here. Not once.”
“I…” Niles paused, trying like an idiot as though he could remember the details of every encounter as well. “Way to call me out,” he muttered, accepting the defeat as he sat down to his desk. “So how’s our suspect from last night doing?”
“Detective Smith attempted to question Mr. Jameson earlier this morning. Couldn’t get anything out of him.”
“Nothing at all?”
“No, sir, he refused to speak.”
“Hmm, ok. I’d like to give it another shot. Have them put him back in the room and I’ll meet you there shortly.” He needed coffee, and to take a piss before he’d be in the interrogation room for who-knows how long.
A short time later, Niles took his seat opposite of the suspect at the small metal interrogation table. The GV was presumably watching from the other side of the two-way glass. “Good morning, Mr Jameson,” Niles greeted. The man’s left eye was dark and swollen, quite a shiner of a black eye. They’d x-rayed though, at least nothing was broken. “As I’m sure you’re already well aware, you’re a suspect in the murder of Antonio Barnes.” Jameson crossed his arms and tried to look as unimpressed as possible, not uttering a word.
Niles continued. “We have your fingerprints at the crime scene. The evidence is not in your favor. You realize you’re being accused of murder, correct?” No reply. “Attempted murder of an officer may get thrown in the hat too, aggravated assault at a minimum.” Still, nothing. “Can you tell us your relationship with Mr. Barnes?” Crickets. Niles was getting frustrated with the waste of time.
The main entrance door opened just then, the GV sliding into the room casually. Carl Jameson stiffened in his seat, eyes locking into the android as soon as it entered.
Nonchalantly, Gavin strolled further into the room. Jameson leaned rigidly away from it as the android relaxed back against the side wall… fear practically dripped off of the human. The android sniffled needlessly, and sighed. “You know,” it stated flatly, “I can hit just as hard with my left fist as my right?”
Swallowing audibly, Jameson finally turned to Niles. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know, just get that thing out of here! Please!” he sputtered.
Niles asked with a bit of amusement, “You afraid of androids, Mr. Jameson?”
“Just that one,” came the whispered reply.
Ten minutes later, they had a full picture of Jameson’s involvement. He confessed to having bought drugs from Barnes before, and claimed he didn’t even know Barnes was dead. He’d only been there to buy more drugs and admitted that “It was just my luck y’all show up just then. My luck has always been shit.”
Unfortunately, with no motive, proof of whereabouts at the time of the murder and nothing but some fingerprints that showed he’d been in the house before, there was no reason to hold Jameson for further questioning.
It was a dead end that didn’t help Niles’ irritation about the path that’d been taken to arrive there. “Hey, come here,” he ushered Gavin into one of the conference rooms for some privacy. “Is that how they did things wherever you were assigned previously or something?”
The GV looked confused, and a little affronted. “I don’t understand the question, I have no memories of previous assignments.”
“You can’t do what you just did in there. It’s not legal to threaten a suspect with bodily harm, no less ethical.”
The android raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t threaten him, I stated a fact: I’m equally strong with both arms. I can also suck my own dick, but I didn’t think he’d want to know that.”
“You...Wait, what ?!” Niles stared, speechless while the android looked like it was trying to decide whether Niles actually wanted an explanation or not. It opened its mouth to speak and Niles cut it off. “Nope! ..no, I don’t want to know. Just, don’t do that.”
“Don’t suck my—”
Stopping it sharply again, “Jesus, not, no... the threatening and punching people. Don’t do that, ok? Register that as an order.”
The GV’s shoulders dropped slightly, but it confirmed, “Yes sir, order logged.”
Niles wanted to be mad. He was mad. This was twice in a row the android had overstepped acceptable protocols. Niles couldn’t recall Connor ever having had these problems with Hank, not that he’d voiced anyway. But Niles had promised himself he’d cap his anger. He drew a deep sigh and successfully curbing his own attitude, said “Ok, good. Let’s get some work done.”
The day passed slowly but without another incident thankfully. Niles headed to the bathroom before leaving for the day and happened to run into his brother there. “Hey Connor, you busy tonight?”
“Nope, what’s up?”
“Wondered if you had time to catch dinner?”
“Are you going to complain about your android the whole time?” Nothing could be hidden from Connor.
“Pff, of course not.” Niles withdrew, feigning offense. “...Maybe for like a half-hour, tops.”
Connor laughed, shaking his head. “Sure, yeah. Sal’s at 7?”
“Sounds good.” He nodded a goodbye as he washed his hands. In keeping with his attempt to be more civil with his partner, he made sure to find the GV and tell it goodbye as well. The robot seemed as confused as it had been by the morning greeting.
Generic Italian music set just a bit too loud was the norm at Sal’s. Their pizza was good though, and they had some great local beer. Once their drinks were placed in front of them, Connor sat back in the bench seat and wasted no time. “Ok. Tell me what’s going on.”
Toying idly with the label on his beer, Niles asked, “Have you ever had problems with Hank stretching the law or ignoring orders?”
You had to know Connor very well to catch his little signs… The smallest of things that let you know what he was thinking. Most would’ve missed the slight clench of his jaw or the way he paused his breath, but Niles knew his twin better than anyone on earth. It was predictable at this point — Connor got weird discussing anything relating to Hank.
“Ignoring orders?” Connor asked, tilting his head, questioning himself more than Niles, “Like what?”
“We were chasing a suspect yesterday, and it acted like it didn’t hear me. Punched the guy even after I instructed it to release. And then today, it practically threatened to punch him again if he didn’t talk during questioning.”
“Hmm,” Connor hummed in thought. “No, I’ve not encountered any of that with Hank.” He frowned off to one side while he was thinking more about it. “Your android though, he’s a different model from Hank. They both perform the same basic forensic functions and such, but their programmed interactions might be very different.”
Niles raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Programmed to break the law?”
“Well no, not specifically, but if I’m not mistaken the GV’s were designed for high risk undercover work. Programming that allows them to stretch the law might make sense.”
It did make sense, actually. Niles wasn’t as technically savvy, or as researched about androids as Connor, so it hadn’t really crossed his mind. “Is there anything I can do? Undercover shit doesn’t fly in our zone, you know that. This thing is going to get the department sued.”
“Well first off, I’d stop referring to him as a thing ,” Connor emphasized the designation with a tip of his beer, “He’s not a desk lamp. Treat him like he’s an intelligent being, capable of learning. And then guide him. Teach him.”
Niles rolled his eyes. “I‘m trying, actually. I'm making an effort to be less hostile toward it. I was just under the impression they came with every law book and protocol uploaded in their heads. I shouldn’t have to teach it -”
Connor pointed the beer at him and interrupted, “Stop calling him an it!”
“I shouldn’t have to teach HIM like some rookie cop.”
“I have zero doubt he can cite case law better than you can,” Connor teased, “But handling physical threats and the intricacies of questioning a suspect may be harder for him,” he shrugged. “The choices they make can vary a lot by model. Hank even mentioned he thinks Kamski himself might’ve had a greater hand in the GV… Modeled him after his dead brother or something. Who knows. They can all learn though, and there’s more to them than meets the eye. I’m not telling you to treat him like a human, but if you treated him like more than a coffee maker, you might be surprised.”
Niles sighed, nodding quietly in thought for a moment, the label halfway peeled from his beer. “You’re right. He” — Niles had had to remind himself to say — “pointed out that I said ‘good morning’ for the literal first time ever this morning.”
“I’ve heard you give your house plants more respect.”
Niles threw a sarcastic sneer back at Connor, but he couldn’t argue with the truth. “Fine. I get it,” he submitted.
The conversation went on about other things, while Niles mulled over more of what he could do differently with the GV in the back of his mind.