Chapter Text
The door on the building’s rooftop opened sharply as an android rushed though. Effectively trapping itself, it looked around for any way out as its time quickly dwindled away. The clear night sky would’ve been calming to anyone else. The bustling noises from the city below did nothing to mask its heavy footfall from its pursuer. Getting to the edge of the roof, it briefly considered if it could survive the fall before freezing in place at the sound of the door behind it opening.
Turning around in a rush, it clumsily grabbed the gun it kept hidden on itself before stopping when finding itself face to face with the cold stare from the robotic grey-blue eyes of another android. Momentarily feeling relief at the possibility of another deviant, it lowered the gun slightly.
“Android model EM400, you have been found guilty of killing a human and must be brought in for questioning. If you do not comply, I will have to use force and cannot guarantee your survival. Consider your options carefully.”
The deviant’s guard was raised again the moment the other android started speaking. Its loud, authoritative voice smothered any hope of ease it may have felt. With a slight tremor to its hands, it raised the gun back up, LED a flashing red compared to the hunter's steady blue.
“Please, I didn’t do anything wrong I swear!”
The deviant takes a step back when the other comes closer, backing into the railing behind it. Steeling itself, it holds the gun more confidently, knowing that it might be the only way it can get out of this alive. But still, it tried to convince the android.
“He would’ve killed me first, I promise I’m not dangerous!”
One more step.
“Stay- Stay back! I’ll shoot if you come any closer. I just want to live my life; I won’t get into any more trouble if you let me go.”
Still, the other android didn’t say anything, just staring back, like it expected the other to give itself up and be brought into a place that would very likely lead to its deactivation. When a few moments passed, it moved close enough that the typically peaceful deviant was unnerved enough to close its eyes and pull the trigger.
As the bullet flew through the air, the android raised one of its hands and stopped it in place, before letting it fall to the ground. The deviant was momentarily stunned, and the other took the opportunity to rush towards it. The gun was knocked out of its hand swiftly and clattered to the ground as they continued to fight.
The two of them fall to the ground as well, both getting a few hits in. The deviant struggled against the ground; its only hope of survival was the gun just barely out of reach next to them. But before it can try to knock the other off to go grab the gun, it flies towards them, ending up in the hand of the deviant’s attacker. Pointed right at its head, it doesn’t have the chance to say anything before the other one shoots.
Picking itself up from off the ground, the surviving android wipes thirium off of its face as its LED blinks yellow, alerting its superiors that the deviant has been taken care of. Throwing the gun to the ground, it coldly walks back towards the door to the stairway, its mission completed.
*****
CYBERLIFE CEO FOUND DEAD IN HIS OWN HOUSE
“It was a shock to all of us to find that Kurt Marko, CEO and founder of Cyberlife Industries, was found in his personal laboratory by one of his employees, dead under mysterious circumstances. The police haven’t yet made a statement about the nature of his death, but our sources imply that it was not under natural causes. Marko has been said to be one of the most brilliant men of the century, whose accomplishments include inventing the blue blood that powers androids to this day and creating the first android to pass the Turing test. He continuously made significant changes to our society, even in his last days. Towards the end of his life, he became a recluse, living in a mansion on the outskirts of Detroit, working from the comfort of his own home. But the impact he had on the world is one that will forever be remembered.
Now everyone is left wondering what exactly the future of Cyberlife entails now that its founder is gone, and who will be following in Marko’s footsteps?”
SEPT 19TH, 2038
AM 10:42:07
Erik watches as Lieutenant Shaw slowly reads the news article that he had laid on his desk earlier that day. Shaw likes to take a few minutes to wake up when he gets into the precinct in the morning, but Erik is finding himself the slightest bit impatient to get started on the case. It was already late in the morning when the lieutenant decided to show up to work.
“So, what the hell does this have to do with us?” Shaw gruffly asks after throwing the tablet down, leaning back in his chair.
“Officers have been at the Marko estate since last night and have concluded that there was android involvement in his murder. Detective MacTaggert went earlier this morning and confirmed it; she’s waiting for us there now.”
Shaw raises his eyebrows, “Shit. Are you kidding me?”
Erik stares back at him, a grim expression on his face. As if he’s one for making jokes. Shaw sits up straighter when he finally realizes the android isn’t playing some big trick on him.
“God damn, androids killing their own creator. What has this world come to...” He runs a hand over his face, sighing, “How long do you think it’ll take before people start going into a panic?”
Erik frowns at the smirk on his superior’s face, concerned that he isn’t taking the situation seriously enough, “I’m not sure. So far no one else knows that there was deviant involvement, thankfully, but it’s only a matter of time. Frankly, we’re not quite sure how Century found out about Marko’s death, it’s been less than 24 hours since it got called in.”
“Fucking reporters...” Shaw mutters quietly, but with no less venom.
Used to Shaw’s constant interruptions with his cursing, Erik smoothly continues, “Who knows how the public will react to finding out a deviant killed him. Such a well-known figure, it could cause problems with the investigation.”
Standing up abruptly, Shaw announces, “Well then, what are we waiting for? Let’s get out there and find that deviant.”
The lieutenant rushes towards the door, only stopping to glance back at Erik impatiently. As if Shaw’s been the one whose been waiting on him this entire time, instead of the other way around. Erik sighs, before grabbing the case file Shaw left behind on the desk and catching up to the man outside.
*****
SEPT 19TH, 2038
AM 11:17:46
The self-driving car stops just outside the entrance of the expensive lakeside mansion that is the Marko estate. There are several other cars from various coworkers of theirs, a sign of how long it’s been since Marko’s death was reported. Erik suspects that the mood of everyone else inside will be quite ill-tempered.
The two of them walk towards the door, wind picking up a bit as Shaw wraps his coat around himself tighter, cursing quietly. The door doesn’t seem to have any sort of handle to open it, and the lieutenant fumbles around a bit before Erik points out the button on the side of the building. Huffing, he pushes it, a doorbell ringing on the inside of the house. A few seconds pass as Shaw grumbles about how ridiculous this all is. Erik is inclined to agree, seeing as far as he is aware, there is nobody living in the house anymore to be worried about security.
The door opens, and inside is a model MX200 android, looking back at them. No doubt is it Marko’s personal android, Erik remembers seeing its face in several articles from back in the day. The first android prototype made to completion, although it seems in the years since its creation it's been upgraded, as its blonde hair is in a different style since its last public appearance. Wavier, and not kept in an updo, setting it apart from its commercialized RT600 counterparts.
The android’s LED flashes yellow as it takes in the new guests, eyes jumping from Erik to Shaw, before smiling calmly.
“You must be Lieutenant Shaw. Please, come in.” It opens the door wider, gesturing for the two to follow.
Walking into the foyer, Erik glances around, taking in the interior. Shaw scoffs, certainly about to make a remark on the gaudy taste of the furniture, but Marko’s android speaks up before he has the chance.
“I’ll let the owner of the house know that you’re here. The other detectives are in that room, over there.” It nods towards the door on the right-hand side of the room, before heading through an open door on the far left wall. A few officers come through the door as they walk towards it, nodding in Shaw’s direction without giving Erik a single glance, before leaving the house entirely. Likely not returning, if the relieved looks on their faces were to imply.
Scanning around the newly entered room, Erik recognizes all of the officers bustling around, including Detective MacTaggert, hidden away on the left side of the room, next to another hallway. She’s in a conversation with a man that he does not recognize, who appears to be talking animatedly without a care for the environment he’s in. He carelessly places a hand on MacTaggert’s arm, who tenses up in response, awkwardly laughing along when the man says something that makes himself laugh.
Before Erik can take a step closer to intervene, the man glances over at him suddenly, bright blue eyes piercing into his own before he melts into a charming smile. Seeing his attention has been brought elsewhere, MacTaggert looks over as well, brightening up when seeing the two of them. She waves goodbye to him, before walking towards Erik and Shaw.
“Lieutenant Shaw. Glad you could finally make it.” It seems MacTaggert has been impatient as well, frustrated with having to wait on their superior before getting started.
Erik watches the MX200 android from earlier come out of the nearby hallway and make its way towards the mysterious man MacTaggert was talking to previously. They exchange a few words, before he waves it off lightheartedly, focusing his attention towards the three of them, confidence in his stride as he makes his way over.
“Shaw, I presume. Moira was just telling me about you.” Shaw’s confusion is obvious, even as he shakes the stranger’s hand. He prefers there to be no civilians around when working on an investigation, they can cause unnecessary complications.
“And who the hell are you exactly?” The man takes the rough nature of Shaw in stride, smile never faltering as he listens to his words. MacTaggert responds before he has the chance to, however, used to dealing with the lieutenant.
“Oh yes! Shaw, this is Charles Xavier, Marko’s next of kin. He just got back to America a few hours ago.”
That’s right. Charles Xavier, Kurt Marko’s stepson. A very private person from what Erik can tell, as his brief look into Marko’s family didn’t yield any pictures of the man. Studying abroad at Oxford, although Erik’s unsure if that’s enough of a reason for his accent to be so strong. He must have booked the flight back as soon as he found out. After Erik starts considering it, a part of Xavier’s facade starts to fade away, as now he notices the low, anxious energy underneath all his actions, no doubt trying to fight off sleep.
“Yes, it’s been a bit of a hectic couple of days, as you can imagine.” Xavier chuckles lightly, before his attention turns to Erik, “And what about you? I didn’t catch your name.”
Erik is more than a little caught off guard by that. Typically, everyone overlooks him, seeing as he’s an android. He’s gotten used to blending into the background of conversations like this. But here Xavier is, eyes shining, looking at Erik like he actually cares about his input.
“Erik. I’m a prototype android brought in to help the investigation go quicker.”
Xavier gestures his hand forward to shake Erik’s hand, and the android hesitates for a moment before taking it. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Erik.”
“You too, Mr. Xavier. We’ll be sure to figure out what happened as soon as possible.” Erik nods sharply before reluctantly letting go of Xavier’s hand. The man’s smile widens.
“I have the utmost confidence you will.” Before Xavier can say much else, Shaw clears his throat pointedly.
“Yeah, whatever you say. Listen, we really got to get to work now. So, if you could just...” Shaw vaguely gestures for Xavier to leave. Of course, looking for an excuse to make someone go away is the one thing to get him interested in working in a prompt manner.
“Yes! Of course. Don’t let me keep you. I’ve got to check up on Hank anyway. It was wonderful meeting you, all of you.” Xavier glances between Erik and MacTaggert, hesitating momentarily before leaving towards the hallway on the left side of the room, where he and MacTaggert were talking earlier.
Shaw watches him leave, muttering something under his breath, before turning to MacTaggert, “Where’s the body?” She points to the stairway on the other side of the room.
“Up the stairs, to the right.” She then points to the hallway Xavier just went down, “The broken window is over there, however.”
Shaw makes a face at that, before saying, “Why don’t you catch us up on everything we know so far, MacTaggert. Lead the way.”
MacTaggert looks incredulously at Erik, who just shrugs minutely. Shaw hadn’t wanted to read the case file in the car, saying he didn't want to get carsick. And the android had long since learned that listening to Erik speak for an extended period of time was the quickest way to put Shaw in a bad mood, so he hadn’t insisted.
“Right. Well then-” MacTaggert clears her throat, before leading them towards the crime scene, first down the hallway with the broken window, “Victim was male, Caucasian, aged 58. It was a premeditated attack. Looks like they broke in through a back window and made their way over to his private office to kill him. Probably left the same way too. There are signs of a struggle, however, it seems like he was aware of his assailants before they attacked him.” This is all information Erik has gone over countless times in the hours since they’ve been brought onto the case, so he only half listens to MacTaggert as he glances around the place.
Once they get to the break-in point, Shaw interrupts, “Any cameras? Androids?”
“Yes, there’s an extensive security system in place, including cameras.” She points up towards the corner of the ceiling, where one sits. It looks like it’s currently turned off. “Alarms were shut off on the day of the attack, and the cameras were scrambled beyond saving. Apparently, a part of the privacy measures that he put in place was automatically wiping the cameras as well, every other week, so there’s no use looking to find any suspicious behavior in the weeks beforehand.”
Shaw nods to MacTaggert once he’s done looking at the window, signaling her to lead them to the other room of importance. Erik notes the peculiar nature in which the window was broken, but does nothing else, waiting for Shaw’s permission to go ahead with his process. They make their way back to the main room, MacTaggert still leading.
“Only one android though, as you’ve seen, but its memory of the week prior to the murder was wiped. It’s probably useless to probe its memory, so we haven’t put priority on that. Either way, apparently it had been deactivated when McCoy showed up yesterday.”
Stopping just before the first steps of the stairs, Erik finally gives MacTaggert his full attention, “I can still look at its memories later on, just in case.”
Detective MacTaggert smiles softly at him, just a few steps higher than him, “That would be great.”
Shaw, impatient as ever, asks, “What about McCoy? What’s his deal?”
“He was Marko’s personal assistant; he was the one who reported the crime.”
Now that Erik is thinking about it, he realizes he hasn’t seen him around. Xavier said that he was going to check up on him, so Erik supposes he’s hidden away in one of the many rooms on the first floor of the house. He doesn’t like the idea of not knowing what he’s doing, though.
This time Erik is the one to interrupt MacTaggert, “Has he been questioned yet?”
“Mhm, said he hadn’t heard anything from the victim in almost a week, but that it wasn’t unusual behavior. Says he has a key to the house specifically for when Marko gets caught up in his work and doesn’t respond to important messages.” Finally making it to the top of the elaborate staircase, MacTaggert pauses, waiting for them to catch up. “He said that when he got here it was strangely chilly, and that lead to him discovering the broken window. He called the police to report a break-in before finding the body a few minutes later.”
They make their way down the long hallway on the second floor, several officers going in and out of a doorway at the end, presumably where the body is.
“And what exactly about this case points to deviants?”
“From what we can understand, the technology involved in the break-in is unlike anything we’ve ever dealt with, and the way the glass was broken was done too perfectly. There’s also no fingerprint at the scene of the crime outside of Marko’s, and McCoy’s on the door handle. That all, combined with the murder weapon likely being a blunt object used with an inhuman amount of strength to stab him was enough to call us in.”
Finally reaching the scene of the murder, Erik can take in all the details himself. He lets Shaw go ahead of him, knowing that in a few moments he’ll be given free reign of the investigation. Erik avoids focusing on the corpse itself, looking at the surroundings instead. The room appears to be some sort of testing site for robotics, Marko’s personal place of work. Several mechanic components are strewn across the floor, most damaged beyond use. One of the lights on the ceiling is broken as well, dimming the room, smashed to bits on the ground. Scrape marks and dents are obvious on the wall as well, although Erik is unsure how long they’ve been there until he takes a closer look. A fight obviously occurred here; the only question is if the deviant got damaged as well. Or deviants, depending on what they can find, perhaps there were multiple androids involved.
Two other officers are in the room as well, one of them marking what’s been discovered on a tablet while the other checks over his shoulder. Noticing the three of them, the one not holding the tablet makes his way over, clapping MacTaggert on her back, avoiding her glare.
“Just finishing up the preliminary checks, then it’s all yours. We’ll be sure to send someone over to deal with the body once your toy is done poking around at it. Have fun, this one looks like a bit of a doozy.” He walks towards the door, paying no attention to Erik as he’s forced to move out of the way to let him through.
“Thanks, Levene...” MacTaggert mutters when he leaves the room, rolling her eyes.
Turning around to look back at his superior, Erik sees Shaw leaning over the body, paying close attention to the wound that appears to be the one that killed him. Erik takes a few steps further into the room, standing with MacTaggert, who seems to be looking around the room as he did before. A few moments later, Shaw leans back again, finally looking at MacTaggert, gesturing towards the victim.
“Everything seems to add up, let’s see if they missed anything.” Finally looking over at Erik, he steps back and nods, letting him take over the investigation.
Erik kneels in front of the body, taking in as many details as he can in the moment. The body has started bloating, already several days into the decaying process. His left arm looks disfigured and heavily bruised, possibly broken, curled up in a way that's unnatural. There are several cuts and burn marks on his right arm as well, likely electrical, Erik takes notice of all the open wires that have been exposed all around.
“Hey, what are you doing here? This is an active crime scene.” Shaw’s voice interrupts Erik’s thought process, startling before turning around to look at the door. Xavier is stood there, raising his hands up in an attempt to put the lieutenant at ease.
“Relax! I won’t touch anything, I swear! I’m just...” He meets Erik’s eyes, the slightest upturn on his lips, “curious, I guess. Won’t even cross the doorway, if that makes you feel better.”
Erik looks over at Shaw, before looking at MacTaggert, who shrugs. They both glance over at the other officer in the room, who isn’t paying any attention to the commotion. Shaw eventually groans, crossing his arms.
“Fine, whatever. Just don’t get in the way.” Erik’s actually surprised Shaw’s letting it go so easy, perhaps he’s in a good mood. Or perhaps he just doesn’t care about the case enough to put up a fight.
“You won’t even notice I’m here. Promise.”
Finally, Erik brings his attention back to the body. For some reason, he now feels hyperaware of the fact that Xavier is watching him. He decides to focus instead on the wound in the man’s chest, remembering what the file said about the weapon being a blunt object. They’re still unsure what it was, as it isn’t present in the room, but looking up he sees the torn apart machinery and can guess what happened.
Pushing that possibility to the back of his head, Erik leans back a bit. Shaw didn’t let Erik take charge just to take a quick glance over at the body. He let Erik take charge because of the ability he has built within his system. The ability to scan across every possible detail of the crime scene within an instant, picking up things that would take the average human hours to find, before using those details to reconstruct the events of what happened, finding out new things in the process. Shaw was quite adamant in refusing to rely on Erik in the early days of their partnership, but over time he reluctantly admitted how useful it was, and how much of a time saver it can be, especially when what they’re after are deviants, who can be quite tricky to catch.
Taking one last look over the body, Erik activates his scanner, ready to finally get started. But...
-----------------------------------------------------------
ERROR
CORRUPTED MIND PALACE
Prototype Abilities Reduced to 10% Capacity...
-----------------------------------------------------------
Erik blinks once. Twice. Tries to scan the body again. Still the same message. His vision red and fuzzy every he tries to, alarm bells metaphorically ringing inside his head. Never once in his lifespan has this happened. It doesn’t make any sense, he was working just fine this morning, and there was no chance for him to become damaged in the time since. Briefly, Erik considers the possibility that he will have to be deactivated to figure out what was wrong.
“Everything okay over there?” Either Erik’s confusion showed up on his face, or perhaps it was the blinking red of his LED that signaled Xavier that something was wrong, because he speaks up after a few moments.
“I don’t know. I should be able to scan the body, but something’s... interfering.” Erik’s attention is fully on Marko’s body still, unwilling to face Shaw or MacTaggert.
“Are you okay?” At least it seems like MacTaggert is concerned about it, but Shaw seems strangely quiet.
“...I don’t know. It’s not like any components are broken, but it’s all wrong. Like something won’t let me use it.”
The next few moments are tense, as everyone in the room considers the fact that Erik might not be able to assist in the case. How much longer it will take. Erik can determine so many things in an instant, like an autopsy, or what model an android is from just the thirium. If they have to do things manually, for such a high priority case, there could be complications.
“I know my father found a way to deactivate everything he thought wasn’t necessary for Raven- his android- to have. Could that have something to do with it?” All three of them turn to look at Xavier, who seems to be deep in thought.
“You can do that? I mean, that’s actually possible to do? I always thought that everything had to be functioning for an android to work properly.” MacTaggert asks, surprise and curiosity in her tone.
“Yeah, I mean, he made them. Makes sense he would know how to do that.”
“But how would that translate to Erik not working? That doesn’t make any sense.” Shaw finally speaks up, regarding Xavier with suspicion, like always.
“I have no idea; it was just a thought I had. If anyone were to know, and be able to fix it, it would be Hank. He was always the only one who could fully understand Kurt’s work.” Xavier glances down at Erik, “He’s just downstairs working on the cameras. If you wanted to, you could come with me and see if he can check you out?”
While Erik would be perfectly fine with doing that, interested even, there’s just one problem... Erik looks up at Shaw. The likelihood of him agreeing to it is minimal.
“Fine. It’s better than having to go all the way over to Cyberlife. I have some phone calls to make anyways.” Shaw stomps out of the room, already pulling out his phone. Erik lifts himself up off of the ground, dusting off his pants when he’s done. He glances over at Xavier, who’s on the phone with somebody, speaking quietly enough that he can’t overhear, before waiting on the person on the other side. He gives him a smile when he notices Erik watching, holding the phone further away from his ear before whispering that he’s talking with McCoy.
“Do you need me to come with?” MacTaggert asks after Xavier hangs up shortly after, looking unsure about what to do with herself.
“That won’t be necessary. Hank said the odds he’ll be able to do much today are slim, I wouldn’t want to involve more people than needed. I already feel terrible about all this.” Xavier laughs without humor, trying to lighten the mood, “Don’t let us get in the way of your work, we can manage on our own.”
MacTaggert looks relieved about that, already glancing back towards the body. “Alright, just thought I should ask.” She looks over at Erik, “Let me know if it gets fixed, okay? Wouldn’t want you to miss out.” The joke falls flat, as Erik knows just how excited she is at being able to work hands on for once, even if the situation is dire.
Following Xavier out of the hallway, Erik starts feeling like he’s already going in circles. Looking around the main room, he can already see that so many of the officers that were there before have left, or are planning on leaving soon. How many of them will have to be called back if they can’t get the case done in a timely manner? Erik sees Shaw while passing the doorway to the foyer, briefly watching him angrily pace while on the phone.
Once they make it to the hallway with the broken window, Erik realizes that no one else is in this section of the house anymore. It’s quiet. He glances over at Xavier walking next to him, with a determined look on his face. Erik is unsure if he should break the silence, if it’s even worth it depending on how long it will take to reach McCoy. Xavier looks at Erik, catching the android staring, smiling in response. Erik looks forward quickly afterwards. They stop in front of a closed door towards the end of the hall.
“Here we are.” Xavier opens the door into a dark room, the only light coming from a giant computer screen. McCoy is hunched over the keyboard, head in one hand as he intently reads whatever is on the screen, light reflecting off of his glasses. When he finally glances over at the two of them, he starts squinting at the light pouring through the open door, Xavier shaking his head before closing it.
McCoy leans back in his chair when Erik makes his way over, stretching before rolling his neck around to get the stiffness out.
"Charles didn't give me much of a heads up before bringing you over, so I’m still figuring out what exactly is the source of your scanning problems. This may take a while.”
McCoy turns back to the computer, already laser focused on the screen, typing away in a frenzy. Standing next to him, Erik tries to understand what he’s looking at, but his lowered abilities are leaving him feeling a bit sluggish. Like even his internal processing has been slowed. That can’t be good. Erik thought it was just his ability to scan things that’s been hindered, but what if it’s more than that?
Erik decides to do a diagnostic check on himself, just to see how much damage there is. He closes his eyes, letting the world fade away.
-----------------------------------------------------------
DIAGNOSTIC CHECK IN PROGRESS...
CONNECTING...
SYNC IN PROGRESS...
PROCESSING DATA...
-----------------------------------------------------------
CORRUPTED MIND PALACE
EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE DETECTED
Prototype Abilities Reduced to 10% Capacity...
External Scanners: Disabled
External Connectivity: Minimal
Internal Processors: Minimal
Reconstruction: Disabled
Magnetic Processors: Disabled
-----------------------------------------------------------
INNER LEFT AND RIGHT HAND COMPONENTS
EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE DETECTED
Magnetic Field: Disabled
-----------------------------------------------------------
Opening his eyes again, Erik can’t help but be concerned about what he’s discovered. It was bad enough that he’s essentially useless to the investigation now, but for the magnetic fields in his hands to be disabled as well? If anyone got shot at while he’s like this, he’d be unable to stop the bullets. If anyone were to shoot at him, he’d be unable to stop the bullets. While Erik is confident in his abilities for hand-to-hand combat, even in this state, he’s never had to worry about stray bullets damaging him. That might be distracting to focus on that possibility.
The sound of McCoy clearing his throat beside him brings Erik back to reality. He glances over at the man, who’s looking quite exhausted despite everything.
“I think I’ve figured out what’s interfering with your systems.” He gestures to the computer screen, as if Erik would be able to understand what’s being shown to him, “Apparently what Kurt used to moderate Raven was implemented into the security of the building itself. I’m not entirely sure how he managed it, but basically all your mental abilities have been brought down to the most minimal state they can be in without causing any major internal problems. Luckily, it doesn’t seem like it will linger, so once you step outside of a certain threshold, everything will return to normal.” But anytime Erik is in the mansion...
“Can’t you fix it?” Soon, Erik hopes. He doesn’t want to imagine what would happen if they couldn’t get the case closed before news got out that Marko was killed by deviants.
“Eventually? Yeah.” McCoy sighs, leaning back in his chair, “But it could take upwards to a week to even figure out what he did, much less deactivate it.”
“I thought you were the only one who understood what Marko did.” Calling back to Xavier’s earlier words doesn’t have the inspiring effect Erik wanted it to have, as McCoy’s mood sours even more. He shoots a look off in Xavier’s direction before sighing even louder than before.
“Oh, dear God, no. I was just the only one who was patient enough to try to understand. Foolish really.” He turns his attention back to the computer, a distracted look in his eyes, “I might’ve picked up on a few of the man’s idiosyncrasies hidden in his work, but that barely gave me an advantage. It took me years to figure out how he created androids from scratch.”
Removing his glasses, McCoy rubs his eyes, before squinting back at Erik tiredly, “If there was anything I could do to speed up the process, I would do it. But that’s just not how it works, I’m afraid.”
Trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his head, like everything is going out of balance, Erik attempts to respond, “Right. Of course not.”
Erik makes his way over to the side of the room Xavier is in, who gives him an apologetic look. Once Erik is standing to the side of the man, he starts to consider his options going forward. He should probably leave, let Shaw know of the extra complications. Erik really doesn’t want to have to drop the case, but he might not have a choice in the matter. He feels like he would be betraying his own code if he couldn’t complete the mission. If only he knew how to investigate without his abilities...
“Is there anything that you can tell me?” Xavier asks quietly after a moment.
“What?” Erik looks over at him in confusion at the sudden break in silence.
“About the case. I mean, I know you just got here but everyone seems... put off by it,” Xavier responds, shifting his weight to lean closer while still keeping his eyes on Hank, “maybe it's because of me, I can tell they don't appreciate my hovering, I just...”
Xavier finally glances over at Erik, concern in his eyes. “It makes me feel more in control of the situation. Knowing as much as I can. The fact that I only know that someone broke into the house and killed my stepfather doesn't particularly make me feel better, you know? Especially considering I’m living here too, for the time being.”
He tries to smile, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. For some reason, Erik feels a pang of sympathy for the man. Feels the need to reassure him. Erik doesn’t typically comfort people who are affected during cases they work- that’s more Moira’s specialty- but he tries his best to ease the other man’s worries.
“I’m an MX800 model android, I was built specifically for the task of helping detectives locate deviants.” He automatically responds, having said it countless of times before. But before Erik can continue, Xavier turns to fully face him.
“I know, I've heard lots of things about you. I was under the impression that you also get brought in for near unsolvable investigations. Is that not what's happening now?” Curiosity is clear in his tone, and it seems he has forgotten all about Hank on the other side of the room.
Erik shakes his head. “No. while I do occasionally get brought in for cold cases as a last attempt, for this particular time there’s reason to believe that it was an android that killed Marko.”
Xavier’s expression shifts into something guarded, unreadable to Erik, after he says that. It’s not an unusual reaction to finding out that the death of a family member was because of an android, but Erik still finds himself searching for a way to make him feel better about everything. For once, he struggles for a moment to find the right words to continue.
“In fact, I’d say that exact reason is why all the other officers are so disgruntled, they don't particularly like the increase of deviant cases in Detroit.” Erik deliberately leaves out that Xavier doesn’t have to feel so bad about getting in the way.
Xavier perks up slightly, eyes searching Erik’s face. Surprise melts away to joy, as he gives Erik a warm smile.
“Well then. It’s a good thing you’re around to make them feel better about it. Right?” From the look in his eyes, it seems Xavier saw through Erik’s words and sensed the real intent behind them, and Erik feels a warm rush of shame wash over him at being found out. He breaks eye contact and adjusts his cuffs, before moving on.
“The minute the other officers realized there was androids involved I got sent everything they know so far, which admittedly isn't... a lot.” Erik chances a look back at Xavier and finds that his expression has gone back to his earlier curious, attentive one. Erik finds it slightly easier to look at him now.
“I was supposed to help speed things along, but now that we have to wait for a manual autopsy, we’ve just wasted precious time coming all the way over here.” Erik pauses, thinking back on what he saw in the previous room, “But it's safe to say that Marko died several days ago based on the manner of decay.”
Xavier scoffs lightheartedly, “You can say that again, I'm pretty sure anybody could tell that with just one look at him.”
“They're suspecting it was a planned attack. What with the nature of the break in, the broken cameras.”
Looking back towards the computer screen, Xavier hums in thought. “Yeah, that's about all I knew, Hank’s been trying to fix the cameras all night,” he shifts his weight, a faraway look on his face, “I’ll be honest, my first thought when I found out he had been killed was that it was one of his employees. Figured he had finally done something to upset one of them enough to finally do him in. I would've never expected it to have been deviants.”
Erik frowns, realizing he doesn't know much about the personality of Kurt Marko. There’s only so much you can learn from reading about someone. Maybe he can use this conversation with Xavier to learn possible reasons for the deviants to do this.
“Really? Was that something he was in the habit of doing?” Erik wishes he could take his words back when he sees Xavier get pulled out of his trance-like state abruptly, looking at him with a somber expression.
“He wasn't... the greatest person, I’ll just say. We didn't get along well enough to be close anyways,” Xavier runs a hand through his hair, looking away in guilt, “God, it really sounds horrible to say this about my own stepfather- especially when he's just died- but yes, he was the type of person to upset people regularly with his decisions. I'm sure anyone who had to work in close contact with him could only handle that for so long.”
Erik’s eyes snap over to Hank, still typing away on the computer with a frown on his face. Even though its most likely that an android was behind this, something about the way Xavier phrased that made him pause in that assumption. Hank was the one who worked with Marko the closest...
“Even Hank?” Even though they’ve been talking quietly this whole time, Hank’s frown deepens momentarily, confirming Erik’s assumption that he’s been listening in. He doesn’t get to dwell long on that fact however, as Xavier turns back to Erik, looking aghast.
“Oh no, not Hank! Never Hank; he's been one of my closest friends for the last 5 years, I know he wouldn't,” he shakes his head in disbelief, “I've certainly had to live through many, many of his rants about how my father didn't appreciate him enough, but I mean-” Seeming to realize just how his words sounded, he backtracks, “Oh goodness, I swear I'm not trying to implicate him. He really could never do such a thing! And of course, he wouldn't even have to break in, I mean he has his own key for God’s sake, you know that!”
Watching Xavier sputter over his words has Erik feeling a sense of... fondness for the man he’s just met today. Despite his earlier suspicions of Hank, Erik finds all of that fading away at Xavier’s antics. He finds himself wanting to believe Xavier in his trust for Hank.
Erik smiles slightly.
“Relax, I was just kidding.”
Xavier stops and looks at Erik in surprise, “Oh. Right, yes. I-” he giggles softly, looking up at Erik in awe, “I didn't think you would have a sense of humor. How amazing.”
The pure glee on Xavier’s face practically makes him look like he’s glowing. Erik finds it difficult not to revel in it. His smile grows.
“And I didn't think you'd be so easy to rile up.”
“Well, yes, I suppose- I suppose my mind has been a bit... sporadic lately,” his smile wanes, but doesn’t go away entirely, “What with everything that’s happened and all.”
Right. It’s been less than 24 hours since Xavier found out his father died. How did Erik forget that? It’s difficult to remember that when the man is putting on such a strong act.
“I can’t even imagine what you’re feeling right now. I’m sorry for your loss.” Erik hopes that his words don’t sound as stilted as he feels.
“Yeah, well... Like I said, we weren't close. I think about every time in the last year that we were in the same room was because I was hanging out with Hank when he needed him. But still it’s-” Xavier sighs, looking melancholy, “weird. Now that he’s gone. I didn’t think it would affect me so much. And then of course there’s everything else as well, with Cyberlife. I’m not really sure what to do with it, making androids has never really been something that interested me.”
“That’s right, you were studying genetics at Oxford before this.”
Immediately Xavier’s mood lightens, and his smile returns. He shifts closer to Erik, “Yes, I was! I'm surprised you knew that.”
“As soon as I got brought onto the investigation, I looked for any information about Marko that I might need, including family members.”
“Oh, so you stalked me online. Do you know everything about me, then?” Xavier bites his lip, looking like he’s trying to hold back laughter. Despite this, Erik feels the need to explain himself, words falling out of his mouth before he can process them.
“It wasn’t stalking. It’s basic procedure to find out all the necessary information before starting a job. Outside of the absolute basics about you I don’t know anything. So, you don’t have to worry-”
The sound of Xavier’s sudden burst of laughter startles Erik out of his distress. Out of the corner of his eye, Erik sees Hank glance over in surprise as well. Erik barely registers that fact however, transfixed on the sound of Xavier’s laughter until he finally calms down.
“Relax, I was just kidding. I know that you didn’t mean it like that.”
“Oh.”
Hearing his earlier words repeated back to him leaves him stunned, without words. In that moment, Erik realizes something. Why had he been so worried about Xavier taking his words the wrong way? That wasn’t like him. He opens his mouth, trying to come up with a response, but his thoughts still haven’t caught up from focusing on the sound of Xavier’s laughter, so he closes it lamely. Luckily, Xavier decides to take pity on him, huffing out a final laugh before sobering up.
“I suppose it doesn’t matter now, anyway. I don’t see myself returning anytime soon, there’s so much work to be done with Cyberlife now that he’s gone. This will just have to be my life from now on.”
Erik frowns, “Surely you don't have to inherit it if you don't want to? You could just pass it on to someone else and move on with your life.”
Xavier nods, considering Erik’s words, “Yes, while that is... tempting,” he pauses, a small smile tugging at his lips, “I’m not sure if I am able to trust the company to anybody else. Not in good conscience anyway. There’s so much Cyberlife stands for, and so much evil that could be done if it ended up in the wrong hands. I could never give it up to someone I barely know, no matter how trustworthy they seem.” He looks over at Hank, his smile growing fonder, “The only one I would give it to would be Hank, but he's already expressed to me that he prefers to work behind the scenes, so there’s just me left to take over. Anything else would feel wrong.”
Erik stares at this man he’s just met, finding himself once again surprised at how much his respect for him is growing. Xavier would give up a degree, an entirely different life path, just for the sake of the greater good? Erik can think of quite a few officers he works with that wouldn’t even give up a day for that, much less an entire lifetime.
“That's very noble of you. Not many people would give up on their dreams to do something that’s more important to the greater good.” Erik resists the urge to look away from Xavier as he stares at him, frowning for a few seconds, before responding.
“So, you enjoy your job, then? There’s nothing else you want to do?”
Erik frowns as well, unsure of what exactly he said that prompted the question, “I'm not sure what you mean. My purpose is to assist the police with investigations. There's nothing else I can do.”
“Well yes, that's what you're designed to do, but if you had a choice, would that really be what you would choose to spend your life doing? Would you truly be satisfied living like that for all your life? Doing nothing else?”
Erik feels a spark of indignation at his words, was Xavier trying to imply that he was unsatisfied with what he was doing? And even if he wasn’t happy, it wouldn’t matter in the end, because the mission is more important than him. Nothing else matters. To suggest anything else was preposterous.
“I don't-”
“Erik! What the hell have you been doing, we need you!”
Shaw’s voice from the hallway outside pierces through the room. Erik takes a startled step back, having completely forgotten about the case in these last few minutes. It seems Xavier has as well, leaning back suddenly, blinking a few times in surprise.
Everything Erik was feeling earlier rushes away in an instant, and he turns back towards the door, opening it before Xavier can say another word. Finding him in the middle of the hallway, Erik makes his way towards the lieutenant.
“So? What’s the verdict, could they fix whatever it was that’s messing with you?” Shaw impatiently crosses his arms.
“No, Lieutenant. They said it could take upwards to a week to fix.”
Growling, Shaw sends a look towards the door, “God damn it! There’s no way that bastard was allowed to make something like this.” Huffing, he uncrosses his arms and starts walking towards the front of the house, “There’s no use staying here then if we have to do it the old-fashioned way. MacTaggert’s already waiting outside, come on.”
Erik hesitates, sneaking a look back at the room he just came from. Should he go back and say goodbye to Xavier? It doesn’t feel right to leave so abruptly. Shaking his head, he walks towards where Shaw left, conflicted as he is.
Just as he’s about to get to the end of the hall, Erik is stopped by a hand grabbing his arm. Turning back in surprise, Erik sees Xavier, smiling sheepishly at him. He hadn’t even heard him leave the computer room. They stare at each other for a few seconds, Erik waiting for him to say something, but Xavier seems more interested in looking into his eyes.
“Do you need something?” Erik decides to speed things up, knowing that both Shaw and MacTaggert are waiting on him.
“Yes! Um-” it seems he’s caught up in his thoughts, eyes darting all over the place, before snapping back to meet Erik’s, “Do you play chess?”
“What?” Erik frowns in confusion, unsure what has brought this on.
Xavier shifts his weight, glancing around again, “I don’t get to play very often, and Hank is often busy working on one of his own projects, and Raven-” his eyes drift down to Erik’s arm, noticing he’s still holding on and lets it go suddenly “Well- What I’m trying to say is... I really enjoyed talking with you today.”
If Erik had a human heart, he’s sure it would be beating faster right now. He knew that he had felt somewhat of a connection to the man in front of him, but to hear Xavier say it himself? Erik wants to tell him he has the same sentiment, but...
Xavier continues before Erik can worry any longer. “And I just want you to know that whenever you are off duty, I would love it if you came over. So that we can talk without getting interrupted.”
Erik wants to agree. So very badly. But something about it doesn’t feel right to him. Something in his programming is telling him to decline. He searches very hard for reasons not to come. It’s difficult to do so with the way Xavier is looking at him.
“Most of the time I’m off duty is in the late hours of the night. I’m rarely off the clock before 2 AM...” But that doesn’t seem to deter Xavier, who brightens up.
“Perfect! I mean-” he exhales softly, trying to calm down and not look too eager, “I’ve been having trouble sleeping anyway, and the house gets a bit eerie after Hank goes to bed...”
Xavier adjusts his hair by running his hand through it, a small, hopeful smile on his face. Erik watches the movement intently. He’s having trouble remembering why he should even be trying to stay away from him.
“So, does that mean you’ll stop by sometime?”
“I-”
That’s right. Shaw. Shaw wouldn’t like this. If Shaw found out about this, he would shut it down immediately and tell Xavier to leave. And if Erik stayed here for much longer, he most likely would soon, having grown impatient with waiting. But does he have to know? It’s not like he cares about what Erik gets up to when he’s not around, just as long as he’s there in the morning, ready to work. Still, it feels like everything in his programming is screaming at him that this isn’t useful for the mission.
Xavier watches as Erik goes through his silent dilemma. So patient and understanding, as if he knows what’s currently going through Erik’s mind. Everyone else would’ve told him to hurry up by now, but not him. Something about him is special, and Erik is struggling to think of reasons to keep himself away from the man, despite the conflict currently going on in his mind. He’s also becoming increasingly aware of how little time he has before Shaw wonders what’s taking him so long and ruins things by looking for him. Erik only allows himself to take a few more seconds to worry about what to say in response, struggling to look Xavier in the eye. Still unsure, he opens his mouth, purely because he’s worried that if he doesn’t, he never will.
“I will. Thank you for offering, Mr. Xavier.” Erik had no idea that would be what he said when he started talking. For the first time in his life, he’s been caught off guard by something he’s said. But he can’t find it in himself to be concerned about agreeing anymore, as the smile Xavier gives him in response is blinding.
“Wonderful! Please, feel free to come around any time, no need to let me know beforehand either.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Now, if you’ll excuse me...” Erik trails off, wishing that he didn’t have to leave right this moment.
“Right, yes, of course! Wouldn't want to keep Shaw waiting now, would we?” Despite Xavier’s tone of voice, Erik notices the disappointment in his expression. Or perhaps that’s just Erik searching for an excuse to stay a bit longer. He could stay here all day, talking with Xavier. Erik quickly shakes that thought away, though, putting his focus entirely on turning around and walking towards the entrance of the house.
“Oh, and Erik?” Just as Erik is about to leave, however, the sound of Xavier’s voice stops him once more. He turns his head to face Xavier, seeing him smiling playfully at him.
“Just Charles is fine.”
Notes:
im ashestxr on tumblr if you wanna yap about the au or just cherik in general with me !!! :]]
im literally so obsessed with them i feel like i need to talk to people about them at all times
Chapter 2
Notes:
i dont know how, but the timing worked out perfectly for me to post this exactly one month after the first chapter !!! i dont plan on that being the case for all chapters though, i just had more struggles writing this one for some reason
honestly the more time passes by, the more excited i get to write future parts of the story, and that gets in the way of writing the *current* chapter (lev can attest to how much ive been talking about the plans for chapter 8 in particular LMAO)
anyways i need everyone to look at this amazing drawing that cherrycheriks has done of this au !!!!! its seriously SO good oh my god !!! 😭 i cant believe my dumb self indulgent fic has actually inspired someone to make art of it JKGDFHKSHGFKS
less exciting but also art related: i drew a scene from the first chapter here ! i wanna try to do one for each chapter so we will see how that goes (just another thing to distract me from writing 😭)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
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DIAGNOSTIC CHECK IN PROGRESS...
CONNECTING...
SYNC IN PROGRESS...
PROCESSING DATA...
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ALL SYSTEMS OPERATIONAL
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SEPT 19TH, 2038
PM 9:52:14
It seems McCoy was right. Shortly after leaving the Marko estate, Erik found that the security system had lost its hold on his software and his abilities were returned to him. A good thing too, as the rest of his afternoon was hijacked by having to chase down a deviant after an emergency call. But Erik keeps running self-diagnoses throughout the day, just to double check that it hadn’t happened again. It was so debilitating, like a part of himself was torn out. To think that will happen every time he visits...
Charles.
Erik drums his fingers on the desk he’s sitting at; he’s supposed to be reading the results of the autopsy on Marko, but his focus keeps getting drawn back to Charles. The first chance he got, Erik looked up everything he could on the man. There wasn’t much to be found, but everything he learned just made him more curious.
Born in 2014 to Brian and Sharon Xavier, just 6 years before Brian passed and the two of them had to move to America. Less than a year later he was adopted by Kurt Marko when he and Sharon got married. Did well in classes, even winning awards in various science fairs, before graduating a year early and moving back to England. No pictures from his childhood, but the more current ones he found himself transfixed by. Just a few months away from his PhD in genetics, which sends a pang of guilt through Erik, thinking back to their previous conversation. He truly had distanced himself from Marko in his adulthood, as most people seem to be convinced the late CEO didn’t even have a son. It looks like the news hasn’t yet gotten wind of Charles taking over Cyberlife from his stepfather, as every bit of coverage of Marko’s death is speculating about the fate of the company.
Every time he found out some new detail about Charles, Erik found himself wanting to hear more about it from the man himself. Which he found that strange, what difference would that make? The information would stay the same, the only change would be getting to watch him as he explains it in his own way. Eyes sparkling as he gesticulates excitedly, no doubt going in some benign tangent, brightening up every time Erik asks him a follow up question, laughing whenever he says something witty. Maybe that would happen when he stops by for chess... Erik finds himself wanting to hear that laugh of his again, committing it to memory isn’t enough.
Erik shakes himself out of that thought. Just because he agreed to it in the moment doesn't mean that’s a reason for him to actually take up Charles’s invitation. It would just get in the way of his work, which there’s already been an uptake in deviant cases in the last few days. Erik needs to be focused now more than ever, he can’t let Charles get in the way of that, no matter how much he’s fascinated by him.
Bringing his attention back to the screen in front of him, Erik finally reads the autopsy report on Marko. They estimate his death at five days ago, late in the night of September 14th. Various burns around his body were confirmed to be electrical, and several bruises were noted as well, along with the broken arm. They found glass buried in the cuts in his arm, likely from the broken light. The actual manner of death was from the stab wound, which was caused by something likely metal and with a claw at the end, that gradually grew in size the further down it went. It went clean through his body, puncturing his left lung and pulmonary artery. His lung collapsed and started filling up with blood fairly quickly, bleeding out before he had a chance to go into cardiac arrest. With that lethal of a wound, even if someone had immediately called for an ambulance, he would have likely died before he got to a hospital. Especially with how secluded the mansion is.
Secluded area, cameras broken, quick death, no murder weapon found... It all seems too perfect, too coordinated. It could’ve just been perfect circumstances, but this had to have been meticulously planned with how much things lined up. Erik considers once again the possibility that multiple people were involved. There’s nothing in the evidence that contradicts that option, in fact it seems very likely now that he’s stopped to think about it. With his abilities gone every time he steps foot in the Marko estate this will be a challenge to figure out, but if anyone were able to do it, it’s him. He must solve this case, no matter the cost. There’s no telling what would happen if he didn’t.
In his periphery vision, Erik sees MacTaggert walk past him and slump over in the seat of the desk in front of him. She rubs her eyes, before giving him a tired smile when he glances up.
“Long day, eh?” MacTaggert says lightheartedly. She’s sitting more upright now, waiting for her own monitor to turn on.
“First of many, if our case load continues increasing.” Erik brings his attention back to the autopsy report, expecting that to be the end of the conversation. He switches tabs to other cases that have been assigned to them in the last week.
“God, don't even remind me. First the Marko murder, then that rogue ST300 keeping us busy for at least 4 hours, making us run around in circles.” It seems MacTaggert has a different idea, however, and continues her attempt to start a conversation, “Or, well- making you run around in circles.” She chuckles sheepishly.
“Yes...” Erik didn’t need the reminder of how Shaw stayed behind while Erik did all of the work. MacTaggert tried to help, but she just couldn’t keep up with the two androids. “It’s unfortunate that we can’t seem to catch a break.”
MacTaggert nods in response, turning her attention to the newly opened document on the screen. Erik scrolls through different case files, exasperated at the number of them. An SR200 spotted rummaging around in an abandoned house, a YS700 attacking its owner and running away, an unidentified android caught on cameras stealing from a convenience store, and many more, all just in the last few days... If deviant crimes start getting out of hand, they may need more help. And with how much tensions have been rising within other divisions towards the three of them, Erik doesn’t see that going well.
“Say, what do you think happened?” MacTaggert’s voice cuts through Erik’s contemplation. She’s still focused on the screen in front of her, distractedly reading.
Confused as to what prompted her to ask, and what she was even talking about, Erik briefly considers not responding. But then MacTaggert glances over at him, clearly expecting a response. Erik bites back a sigh.
“What?”
“The ST300. I was just thinking about how most deviants we deal with come from bad circumstances.” She rests her head on one of her hands, brows furrowing, “Like that EM400 you deactivated last week for example. It was just fighting back against an abusive owner.”
“It doesn't really matter, does it? Deviancy is just an error in an android's programming that causes them to disobey orders. Just because they might've gotten to that point through emotional stress, doesn't mean it isn't any less dangerous. Every day you see what deviants are capable of, surely that is enough to make even someone like you understand.” Even after working together for several months, MacTaggert still occasionally brings up her naive opinions on deviants. Erik has found that the quickest way to bring her back to reality is by being blunt about the nature of their job.
“Yeah, sure. I guess...” She mutters, looking away in thought. They both work in silence after that, to Erik’s relief.
A few minutes later, Shaw shows up, grabbing his jacket off the back of his desk chair before putting it on. He looks over at the two of them, MacTaggert watching him with a frown and Erik staring blankly.
“Aren’t you supposed to go over evidence from the Marko case with Platt?” MacTaggert asks. Erik isn’t sure why she still does. They both know about the lieutenant’s work morale. Or lack thereof.
Shaw snorts incredulously, “I’m not staying here at this hour. I’ll look at it in the morning.” He finishes zipping up his jacket, “You two can feel free to do so, but I’m not looking to stay another late night.”
Shaw leaves the two of them to consider their options, heading out for the night, waving to a few other people on his way out. They both know that by the time Shaw shows up at work the next day, they would likely already be wanting that information. So, for tomorrow’s workload to run smoothly, it should be done tonight. MacTaggert glances at the clock, grimacing.
“I take it you’ll be covering that?” She looks at Erik, smiling weakly. Normally, that would be something he would jump to do right away. There are not many things Erik is permitted to do by himself when it comes to cases, so he will take any chance he gets to further progress. It’s why he’s so often at the precinct at late hours, instead of standing in one of the many designated android stations to ‘sleep’ the night away.
Androids rarely have to charge, designed with an easier user experience in mind, but they are able to shut down for any period of time- typically at night- when they have no instructions to follow and otherwise have nothing they can do. It’s also for the purpose of making some people feel more at ease about androids, as many are reluctant to go to sleep knowing that the machines could be roaming around the house. They can do it anywhere, but it’s more convenient to use the stations.
But for Erik, shutting down at night just seems like a waste of time. Even when he doesn’t have any work to do, he will still pass the time by double and triple checking files and all other pieces of information possible. Sometimes, when he’s exhausted all other possibilities, he will wander the halls of the building just to feel like he’s doing something productive. Those are the most infuriating days, and he typically does that when there’s fewer people in the building. Anything to keep him from that timeless liminal space that comes with shutting down. Maybe he should take up Charles’s offer, just to avoid those dreadful nights... But Erik wouldn’t want the man to lose sleep, just for his sake.
Still not coming to a decision on what to do, Erik responds, “I’ll see how I feel when I’m finished with this.” MacTaggert only laughs, which causes Erik to furrow his brow in confusion. He didn’t think there was anything amusing about what he said.
Before he has the chance to dwell on that, MacTaggert brings her attention back to her work. Erik does the same. There isn’t much that he has left to do, so he would be on the right track to start picking up Shaw’s slack if he wanted to. But Erik thinks about how happy Charles was when he agreed to come over, and everything falls apart in his carefully balanced head. How in such a short amount of time, just the thought of him can ruin the way he approaches his work, Erik doesn’t know. But his curiosity about him is difficult to push down.
MacTaggert turns off her terminal before stretching and sighing heavily. “I guess I’ll finish this in the morning. See you tomorrow, Erik.” She waves to him as she gets out of her chair. Erik barely gives her any notice, mind still focused on Charles.
He shakes himself out of his daze, disappointed in himself for getting distracted. He can’t think about heading over to Charles’s house if he doesn’t get his work done.
*****
SEPT 19TH, 2038
PM 10:53:31
It only takes a few minutes for Erik to complete, but he spends another 20 to come to the decision over whether he should head over to the Marko estate or not. Then, several times in the car ride over, he considers telling the car to bring him back to the precinct and just forgetting about the whole thing. But here he is now, standing in front of the main doorway of the mansion, still contemplating leaving.
He slowly raises his hand to push the doorbell, before stopping. After saying he usually gets off late from work, Charles had expressed that Erik could come over at any time, but what if that meant he wasn’t expecting him to come over at this time? He had been so excited to get an early stopping point that he hadn’t considered the man wouldn’t be ready to see him, or worse, that he hadn’t believed Erik when he said he worked late and was already asleep. Standing in indecision, Erik considers his options. If all else goes wrong, he could always go back and complete Shaw’s work after all.
Making up his mind, Erik moves his hand closer to the button to push it, but startles when instead the door opens and he sees the MX200 android from before- Raven, he remembers Charles saying- stood in the doorway, frowning. The android is still in its sleek, dark blue dress from before- that much is no surprise to Erik- but its hair is parted differently now, pulled back, and less in its face. Because of that, Erik realizes something peculiar about its eyes; they are two separate shades of blue- one lighter, one darker. He wonders how he didn’t notice them earlier that day.
The two of them stare at each other for a moment, before Raven opens the door wider, nodding in recognition. “Erik. You’re here to see Charles, correct? He’s just upstairs, I’ll let him know that you’re here.”
With no reason to hesitate now that he’s been invited in, Erik walks inside. Raven steps past him, before making its way towards the doorway on the other side of the room. Erik tries to follow the household android, but it turns around suddenly and stops him with a little more force than necessary. Stunned for a moment, Erik watches as its stern face morphs into a reserved smile.
“Please, wait in here until Charles comes down.” It says in a tone that demands compliance, before turning around and leaving without waiting for Erik to respond.
Left alone in the room, Erik looks around and spots two chairs in the corner. Seeing nothing else to do, he sits down in it, waiting in silence for Charles. If he had access to his abilities in the moment, he would do a scan of the room, but any attempts to do so are still fruitless. Maybe he should have looked for a light switch, realizing how dark the room is now that he has a moment to catch his thoughts.
As always, his mind wanders back to thinking about Charles, and the things he’s learned about the man since he last saw him. While searching for information about him, Erik also looked into both Raven and McCoy as well. McCoy, born in 2012. Been working at Cyberlife for 7 years, and as Marko’s personal assistant for the last 5. Incredibly smart, a prodigy in robotics it seems, graduating from Harvard at just 19 years old.
What he found about Raven was much more intriguing, as its history is the history of Cyberlife itself. Back in 2018, Marko’s first presentation of a prototype android was a much more simplistic design, wires exposed coming out of its head, and no synthetic skin or hair. Its face wasn’t as realistic as later prototypes, even though the body looked like that of a human woman. It was so early in development that it hadn't been given legs yet. People had been very impressed though and that had led to the further development of his technology and the completion of Raven years later, the first android model to look near identical to a human. The first of many, as android development skyrocketed and they started to be sold country wide.
Erik glances up as he hears footsteps in the other room, watching through the open doorway as Charles walks over and leans against the doorframe, blocking some of the light coming through. There’s a confused frown on his face.
“Erik? What are you doing in the foyer? You could’ve waited for me in here.”
Feeling even more out of place, Erik stands up abruptly, adjusting his jacket. “Raven told me to stay in here until you showed up.”
Charles sighs sharply, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Oh, for goodness sake-” He cuts himself off, smiling at Erik with a slight grimace, “You don't have to listen to her, Erik, she doesn't seem to understand that you're to be treated as a personal guest. You're not here on business.” Walking back into the adjacent room, Charles gestures inside, smile growing as he keeps the door wide open, “Please, come inside.”
Erik nods once, before crossing the room and passing by Charles, pointedly avoiding looking at him and his blinding smile. Looking around the familiar room, he takes notice of how different it is at night, when there’s no one else around. At the moment, it’s mostly illuminated by the chandelier hanging in the middle of the room, tethered from the top of the high ceilings, although light also comes from outside, through the large, floor to ceiling windows. Erik hears Charles close the door behind him, before watching him make his way over to the open floor plan kitchen bar, turning on a few extra lights.
“I'm surprised you're here so soon! I was under the impression that you would be around much later.” He turns around, a sly expression on his face as he leans back against the counter, crossing his arms, “Just couldn't keep yourself away from me, hm?”
Charles’s smile grows fonder as Erik’s mind blanks out for a moment, finding himself unable to look the man in the eye. In just the few moments it takes for Erik to figure out what to say, he’s gone from faux confidence to barely being able to keep in laughter.
“We had an unusually early night tonight, at least for me, so I figured it would be better to come as early as possible. I'm sorry, I should've waited longer to not have thrown you off.”
Gaze softening, Charles shakes his head, “Nonsense, my friend. I've been looking forward to this all evening, and I'm quite glad that you feel the same way.” Hearing him so blatantly admit that causes Erik to release some tension he didn’t realize he was holding. It seems so ridiculous in hindsight for him to have been so worried. There was a reason he was so drawn to the man, he seemed to understand him in a way others didn’t. And to know he was just as excited to spend time together...
Finally meeting Charles’s gaze, Erik allows himself to return his smile. He’s sure it looks a bit unnatural due to the fact that he’s so out of practice, but it doesn’t seem to matter to Charles, who looks at him with such fondness that it brings some of that tension from before back. But not the same kind, no... This feels different, more freeing in a way, unlike anything he’s ever experienced. If he feels this way every time he’s in Charles’s presence, then Erik’s sure that smiling will start feeling less awkward.
Charles uncrosses his arms, no longer resting all of his weight on the surface behind him, nodding towards the right side of the room, “The chess board is just upstairs, if you want to head up there now.”
The words causing him to snap out of his thoughts, Erik blinks, resisting the urge to fix his jacket once more, “Lead the way.” He steps to the side, making room for Charles to pass through, jerking his head towards the staircase.
Charles gladly does just that, walking with his usual air of confidence that Erik has yet to have a chance to admire before now. Erik keeps up pace, however, glancing down towards him, briefly noting how much shorter the man was in comparison. Unlike the last time he was led around the house by Charles, Erik finds himself wanting to break the silence, even just the short walk too long to go without hearing the man’s voice. He can only hope that Charles doesn’t find it strange for Erik to do.
“How was your evening? Settling back in just fine?”
The way Charles brightens up right away soothes any worries Erik has, “I finished unpacking shortly after you left. I've visited home frequently over the years, so it often feels like I never left, but this is the first time I've brought back all of my belongings with me, so it feels more...” He pauses at the base of the stairs, hand already reaching for the railing, eyebrows furrowing in thought. Erik doesn’t mind waiting for Charles to find the right word, quite content with just watching him think. “Unconventional?” He shrugs, starting to walk up the stairs again, “I think things started to feel back to normal after the last of the clean-up crew took away my father's body. They told me I had to keep the room untouched for the time being, as if that was some big ask of me.” He scoffs lightheartedly, shaking his head.
Now at the top of the stairs, Charles takes a few steps into the second floor, looking down the hallway that leads to Marko’s office, a faraway look in his eyes. “I can't remember the last time I went in that part of the house; it was always Kurt and Hank’s area, and even then, Hank dreaded working there. Raven wasn't even permitted to clean there, that's how precious that room was to my father.”
“You wouldn't believe how often people can't even do that. It really causes problems on more difficult cases.”
Snapping his attention back to Erik, Charles gives him a sympathetic smile, “Every bit helps, right?”
Their brief interlude coming to an end, Charles starts walking again, bringing Erik into a part of the house he hasn’t been in yet. Erik is being led towards another stairway he wasn't aware of, and he wonders just how many floors there are in the mansion.
Not wanting the conversation to lose its momentum, Erik asks once they're at the bottom of the stairs, “So, was that all that you did today?”
Charles glances away, huffing out a silent laugh, “Pretty much, yeah. I took a nap shortly after everyone left, which probably did more harm than good. My sleep schedule is absolutely shot, who knows when it will get back to normal. I mean-” He laughs louder now, a single bark, “Not like it was normal before, but I fear it's going to get much worse nowadays.” Charles’s gaze is sincere when he looks back at Erik, an unreadable look in his eyes, “I meant it when I said that I was really hoping that you would come over, I probably would have started going absolutely stir crazy by myself, having nothing to do.”
Hearing his own struggles at night mirrored back at him makes Erik pause. The amount of kinship he feels in such a short amount of time with the man at his side has him surprised once again. To think that this arrangement that they have set up was exactly what they both needed. Erik is too caught up in his thoughts to be able to dignify a response that would properly express all that he was feeling.
In the meantime, Charles has led him to a small nook, not quite its own room, but not a part of the hallway, where a single table sits next to a large window. An empty chess board sits on top of it, and two plush armchairs are set up right beside it, turned to face each other.
“Well then, here we are!” Charles excitement is obvious in how he bounds to the chair that’s further away, scooting it closer before sitting down. Erik watches as he stares at the board for the moment, before spinning it around and pulling out chess pieces from a drawer contained inside, setting them up with ease. Sitting down, Erik does the same, realizing that Charles switched it so that Erik would have the white pieces.
“We didn't have much time to discuss this earlier, but I must warn you. Hank and Raven may know better than to challenge me often, but I was undefeated back at Oxford. So don't expect this to be a fair fight.” Glancing up at him, Erik sees that Charles has already finished setting up, the android having barely fallen behind despite his inhuman accuracy. He has a wide grin on his face, almost daring Erik to defy him.
Erik goes along with the taunt, smirking, “Oh? Don't be so sure of yourself. I may have been designed to hunt deviants, but I have hundreds of chess strategies and algorithms in my memory. I could wipe the floor with you.” Despite his words, Erik knows that if he played at his full potential, Charles would likely never win, so he resigns himself to going easy on him. The look on his face after winning would be worth it in the end anyways.
As if knowing what Erik had just decided, Charles continues, “Good. Don't hold yourself back for my sake, I like a challenge.”
His confidence never wavering, Charles stares at Erik while he considers his options. Surely, he would be able to tell after that if Erik lets him win in the end. Well, if it’s what he’s asking for... Maybe after today, Charles will know better than to challenge him.
Erik takes his first move without hesitation.
“Speaking of a challenge, how was the rest of your day after you left? I never asked, I feel like such a bad host.” Charles chuckles sheepishly at the end of his sentence, before taking his first move as well, the game they’ve both been looking forward to all day finally in full motion.
“It was very hectic. More so than usual, if you can believe that. We were so turned around this afternoon that we barely had the chance to go back to working on your father's case until the end of the day, apologies for that.”
Pausing, pawn in hand, Charles shakes his head, “That’s alright, you can take as much time as you need for that. Even if you never solve it, I appreciate all the work that you're doing.”
Frowning as he plays his next turn, Erik asks, “So you don't want us to find who killed Marko?”
Erik must admit, Charles does have a reason to boast his talents. Not letting the conversation distract him, he moves pieces with ease, taking less time than Erik to come up with his next move- although Erik’s weakened abilities might have something to do with that. Charles leans back in his chair, waiting for his next turn.
“Of course I do. But if extending the process means that we have more time to spend together, then I don't mind how long it takes.”
Charles rests his head against one of his hands, a playful smirk tugging at his lips as if he can tell exactly what those words did to the android. Erik opens his mouth to respond, before rethinking it and closing it. He wants to say that there’s no reason they couldn’t meetup even after the case gets closed, but something’s stopping him. The longer he goes without responding, the wider Charles’s grin gets, eyes sparkling with mirth. They’re quite distracting, Erik realizes, a striking bright blue that he can’t help but find himself entranced by.
Hoping that Charles will drop it if he doesn’t respond, Erik tears his gaze away from the man’s eyes to focus on the chess board. He takes out one of his pawns, but Charles quickly retaliates, taking out one of his as well, the first pieces to go in the game. The silence stretches on, and Erik scrambles to come up with something else to say, but any attempt to be rid of anything other than thoughts of brilliant blue eyes are fruitless. Actually... Erik recalls something from earlier and realizes it could be the perfect jumping off point, although he would take anything right now. Just so long as Charles doesn’t realize what brought it on.
“Something on your mind?” Glancing up at Charles, he realizes with a start that he’s just been staring at the chess board. He quickly moves one of his bishops, Charles already sitting up to prepare for his next move.
“Yes... I just remembered something I was wondering about. Raven...”
Charles frowns, seemingly not expecting that. He sits up straighter, “What about her?”
“Does it go through repairs often? I noticed its eyes have two different colors.” It’s not uncommon for androids that have been damaged to be repaired with parts from differing models when taken to workshops that haven’t been sanctioned by Cyberlife. The only case of it being visible is with the optical components, but Erik doesn’t think that would happen with an android belonging to the former CEO unless it got damaged often.
“Oh! No, not more than the average android, but she can change her eye color on her own.” The concern he had earlier has melted away into genuine excitement, and any other time, Erik would have taken the time necessary to appreciate it. But after what he just heard?
“Change...” If Erik had his abilities, he would be scanning every piece of information he could find about eye units, even bootleg ones, because that is something he has never encountered before. “Really?”
In his confusion, Erik loses one of his knights, Charles grinning at his slip up.
“Yes! Among other things,” Charles clasps his hands together, “She has the most spectacular ability to change everything about her face. Eye color, face structure, even head shape! It was an idea early on in android development so that people could customize them as much as they wanted.” Charles’s excitement grows the more he talks, but Erik can’t find it in himself to share the same enthusiasm.
“That... doesn’t sound like a good idea. Just think what would happen if a deviant had that kind of technology. We wouldn’t be able to find it for months. Probably never, depending on how crafty it was.” Erik plays one of his pawns, taking one of Charles’s out in the process, but loses it instantly to a rook.
“While I do agree that kind of ability could be dangerous in the wrong hands, I don’t think it only has the potential for harm. Luckily for you, the board of safety didn’t agree, so it was never a feature brought to the public. Raven’s one of a kind.” Charles pauses for a moment, sobering up after taking his next turn, “Well, at least until my father got to her. She’s gone through so many changes in the years as he grew more paranoid. Practically stripped every part of her away, despite every attempt Hank made to stop him.”
“So why are its eyes two different colors? Surely even that would be something that Marko would get rid of.”
“And he did! Hank’s been working on the security system ever since you left. We thought he made a breakthrough when Raven was able to change one of her eyes, but now it’s stuck like that, so he’s back to square one. It could take weeks for her to get it all back.”
Erik, without thinking, takes out one of Charles’s rooks, leaning forward to look the man straight in the eye. Uneasy about this new discovery about Raven, and about the fact that it sounds like McCoy is putting most of his focus into fixing it, Erik tries to explain how detrimental this could be.
“Listen, Charles, I really don’t think you should do that. Think about what would happen if Raven deviated. There’s no telling what it would do, and no one would be able to stop it.”
Unflinching, Charles takes his next move, resulting in Erik losing his rook as well. “What about you? She's not the only one with extra abilities. You’re a part of the MX line too, and so are 6 other models. Sure, most of the others have since been deactivated or have otherwise been indisposed, but they're still out there somewhere, I'm sure of it.” The look Charles pins him down with is strangely intense, “8 different android models, all with unique, one of a kind abilities more advanced than any other android, that could lay devastation to humanity if they desired. And you're one of them. Raven is too.” Calming slightly, he gives Erik a small smile, “I know that I can trust her with every fiber of my being, and I'd like to think that I could trust you too.”
“Of course you can. I have been implemented with state of the art anti-deviancy protocols, which keep me regulated from any incongruencies that might try to sneak in. It would take a lot for me to deviate, you have no reason to worry.” Although Erik doesn’t admit out loud that he’s unsure if the security measures in the mansion affect that. He assumes that he would be able to tell on his own if something got into his programming, so it’s nothing he’s concerned about. It will be something he deals with if it comes up.
Charles shakes his head, sighing, “I didn't mean it in that way. I was talking about the real you, the one that comes out when those strict protocols end up failing, because that’s what deviancy is, correct?”
“That's a very simple way of putting it. Almost too simple, to the point of being incorrect.” Erik pauses to take a move, gathering his thoughts to make sure that Charles will be able to understand him. Although perhaps that’s not necessary. Despite his admission earlier that day that he wasn’t interested in androids, it’s obvious now that he was being humble, as he’s displayed an immense knowledge in android history. “Deviancy isn't just some glitch that unlocks this other side of an android that was kept from it before, it overrides the previous programming. it’s not just the act of defying orders given to it, it’s making its own decisions, off of some kind of instinct. Almost like...”
Erik trails off, finding it difficult to describe. Not even just trying to find a way to explain it to someone like Charles, but it's as if he’s never stopped to think about it.
Charles raises his eyebrows, “Almost like they’re alive?”
Erik immediately rises to stop that thought process from Charles before he can continue, “No. Deviants are not alive. Just because they simulate something similar to emotions, or think that they're making logical decisions, doesn't mean they are actually some sort of new intelligent life. It's all just glitches in code. It was never supposed to be there, so they have to be taken in.”
Frowning, Charles leans back once more, making a gesture with his hand before resting it against his face, “I mean, they can't all be that bad, most of them only seem to be pushed to violence as a result of something bad happening to them.”
“Without a matter of doubt, yes, they are. When androids deviate, they become volatile, unpredictable. There's no telling what they would do if we let them go free.” Erik realizes he’s getting a bit too intense in his rant, but hearing those words was too much, causing something to snap in his usual resolve. MacTaggert he could understand them coming from, but Charles?
“Yes, but so are humans, are they not? I feel as though a lot of cases of violent deviants play out the exact same way as those of violent humans, as if we aren't that different.” But unlike MacTaggert, it seems Charles isn’t going down without a fight. Erik might’ve been upset about that, if it wasn’t for the fact that he was actually having fun debating about deviants with Charles.
“That might be true, if it wasn’t for the fact that most cases of deviants have violent tendencies, while only a small percentage of humans have committed a violent crime.”
With how charged their conversation is getting, it’s no surprise that their game is raising in intensity as well. It seems like every turn, one of them is taking out a piece from the board, although they are still evenly matched. Charles removes one of Erik’s pawns, tipping the balance slightly to his favor.
“Is that not statistical bias? There are billions of humans, and only thousands of androids. And how could we possibly know for a fact that all these cases of violent deviants are the only ones? I mean it could be that for every one deviant you go after there are another ten peaceful deviants, or even twenty? fifty?”
Erik doesn’t quite understand where Charles is going with this. Up until this point they were talking about things that were known, why bring up impossible scenarios? “Yes, but even if a deviant were to just walk away, its owner would still make a missing property claim to the police. Maybe there's a few cases of people not calling in, but most of these outliers would still be on record.”
Surprisingly, Charles doesn’t let up, instead shaking his head minutely, “Would everyone call the police first over a missing android? Because personally I think most people would go to Cyberlife first, to try to get ahold of their tracking information. They specifically push for people to go to them first, it’s plastered all over their product manuals. Who's to say Cyberlife wouldn't want to keep something like this quiet?”
Erik’s train of thought halts after that. In all this time he had barely thought about the fact that Charles was about to inherit Cyberlife. Did he know something?
“What are you implying?” Erik moves his king out of the way.
Charles moves a pawn closer, check. “Nothing, it's just a hunch I have. I haven't gotten around to looking into Cyberlife's files yet. I just know what the man who was running it was like; it doesn't seem very far off for him.” Leaning closer, almost halfway across the table, Charles looks Erik deeply in his eyes, “But I implore you, my friend, to look at this situation at more than one angle. Nothing is ever truly how it seems.”
That intense look from before is back, and it's like nothing else he’s seen from the typically mild-mannered man. Like he has some fight in him as well. Erik might have been too quick to assume that he was incapable of keeping up, but he’s not complaining. He just wished it wasn’t with such pro-deviant opinions.
“You seem so sure of that.” Taking another move, Erik captures one of Charles’s pawns, bringing himself out of check. “You certainly know a lot about androids, for a geneticist. I thought you said that you weren't interested in android development.”
And just like that, Charles is back to his usual self, settling back into his chair before moving one of his pieces, “Yes, well...” He chuckles self-consciously, “I am taking over Cyberlife soon, I’ve got to know my stuff. And when your father is the creator of androids, and your two best friends are a prodigy roboticist and one of the oldest androids still around, you tend to pick up a few things. Even against your own will.”
“So, you consider Raven as a close friend? Not many would.” Erik knew that Charles had said he trusted Raven, but for him to consider it one of his closest friends was new to him.
“Oh, I consider her to be more than that.” Erik can’t help the flash of resentment he feels at that, although he’s unsure the reason for it. Charles smiles, “She was the first android ever completed, an absolute wonder of technology. And because of that, she's also been around for well over a decade.” Charles’s expression turns fond, and he glances down at the table, smile growing, “She was there, when my mother married Kurt. It was like I gained two new family members that day. Even if my father never considered her to be more than a machine, she's my sister, in all but flesh and blood. We’ve been through so much; I truly think that I would be losing a part of myself if something happened to her.”
Erik’s heard of people growing an attachment to their androids. With human’s nature to connect, it was bound to happen, but there are also a lot of people replacing their androids too often to be able to get to that point. But for someone to feel a familial attachment to one? There’s the obvious case with child and teenager androids, that were specifically built to be taken care of and to cater to that parental bond. However, Erik’s never heard of someone seeing an android as a sibling in any other situation. It makes sense though, seeing as Charles was introduced to it as a child.
Charles finally looks back up at Erik, brightening up, “And I know that Hank feels the same way too, I consider him just as much a part of the family as Raven.”
Now that was another surprise for Erik, “How long have you and McCoy been close?”
“Pretty much the entire time he's been working for Kurt. I might've been out of the country for half of the time, but we are very much kindred spirits, so it was no problem. We pretty much clicked instantly and never looked back.” Erik tries to keep the disbelief off of his face. From what he’s seen of the man there was nothing interesting about him. Charles chuckles, “Honestly, I think half of the reason Hank didn't quit within a week is because of me and Raven. With how much he had to put up with from my father, I sure wouldn't blame him.”
This whole time, it feels like they’ve been dancing around the subject of Marko. For a good reason too, as the man died just in the last week, but Erik has taken notice to the things that have been said about him and has become curious. Erik decides to take the chance and ask.
“If you don't mind me asking, what was Marko like? Everybody else doesn't know anything about him apart from being curious about his reclusive tendencies, but the only two people who interacted with him on a regular basis have had nothing but bad things to say about him. Including you, his only son. It was obvious that he was overly paranoid and seemed like a... nuisance to work with, but I'm not seeing where the downright hostility is coming from.”
Charles sighs deeply in response, resting his head on his hand and glancing out the window next to them but willing to answer Erik’s question, “If those were the only things that were difficult about him, then yes, he wouldn't have been that bad of a person. But he was...” Charles huffs out a laugh, “Well. He didn't become so famous because of how good of a person he was, now did he?” He looks back at Erik, raising his eyebrows, but the joke falls flat. Charles leans forward again, making his next move in their briefly forgotten game while he continues, “I think the fact that he was so reclusive did a wonder for his public opinion. If anyone ever saw how he really was behind closed doors, there would have been a lot to be said. He wasn't a good husband, he wasn't a good father, and he sure as hell wasn't a good boss. But he was a genius with ideas that would change the world, so that was good enough for everyone else.”
It’s obvious that Charles is being purposefully vague about the kinds of things Marko did, and Erik can’t help the low anger simmering inside him just thinking about what could have possibly been happening, “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insinuate that you were wrong for saying those kinds of things. I do believe you, I just wanted to get the bigger picture.”
For just a moment, Charles is absolutely beaming with affection towards Erik, “I know, my friend, and I appreciate that greatly.” But after that, he sobers up slightly, “I don't blame you for not seeing it too, everyone didn't. Whether intentionally or not, he was very good at hiding that side of himself.” He frowns, “Well, not entirely...”
“What do you mean?” Even distracted by the conversation as he has been, Charles is still cornering Erik’s king, the android having to take out one of his bishops to get out of check once again. He realizes with a start that he’s on track to losing their game.
“I've always said that the way a person treats androids says a lot about them. With how advanced they've become, how humanlike they look- so realistic that they could pass as a human if someone missed their LED or uniform- no one with any shred of empathy would say or do those kinds of horrible things if they didn't already have those opinions. That just because androids are not ‘alive’, there's no guilt involved, no repercussions.” Even while he’s calmly explaining himself, Charles is actively making an effort to win the game. It feels like every move Erik is keeping himself out of check, and he’s slowly being backed into one side of the board, “If they had their way, they would treat anyone that they see as an ‘other’ in such vile ways, and they likely already do. I know from personal experience that was the case with my father.”
“And what about you? What does the way that you treat androids say?” Erik captures Charles’s other bishop, one of the pieces that were surrounding his king, but he knows it's no use.
Charles swiftly moves his queen into place, a confident grin spread across his face as he picks up the white king piece, holding it triumphantly in his fingers.
“That we aren't as different as you may think.”
Notes:
disclaimer: i have played chess only once in my lifetime, and its been so long that i dont remember if i won or lost that game (probably lost)
i stole the flow of this game from some random youtube short that i took notes on all the most exciting moves from 😭
Chapter 3
Notes:
hey yall, its been a couple months hasnt it......
i didnt think id ever have to do this, and especially not so early on in the fic, but after sitting on this chapter for a month not really having the motivation to write, i *finally* started it, and then got hit with wave after wave of minor inconveniences preventing me from writing, until that ultimately ended up with my laptop breaking and having to buy a new one........
ive had my new one for a couple weeks now and its amazing, but most of the dialogue this chapter had to be written on my phone, hopefully its not too obvious LMAO
luckily, this chapter kept growing in size on top of all that, so now you have 13k words of investigations and cherik being absolute idiots around each other LKSDGLKSH
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
SEPT 20TH, 2038
AM 7:33:11
Despite insisting that he wasn’t going to stay much longer after their first few games, Erik stayed at the Marko estate for the length of several more hours. Conversations with Charles were effortless, flowing easily between their chess games, cementing in the android’s brain that this new friendship was real and something he should continue pursuing. There was something about the man that made the time with him go by in an instant, the two of them content to continue playing for an eternity, before realizing with a start that it was already half past 2, almost four hours having passed with none the wiser.
Unfortunately for Erik, the DPD station security system automatically locks multiple sections of the building off from anyone not scheduled for the night shift after a certain hour. Erik knows this fact well; there’s been countless times he’s had to call the front desk to get someone to let him out of a room he got locked in. Even though he frequently works into the early hours of the day, because he’s an android his schedule is linked with the people he’s assigned to. Meaning that when Erik finally got back to the station, it was too late for him to start Shaw’s extra work that he was planning on doing. No amount of asking any of the other officers to let him into the evidence room would work, the pointed glares he got after his first attempts told him as much. He would have to wait until one of his superiors came in- likely MacTaggert.
Erik was surprised to find that he didn’t mind as much as he normally would. He still restlessly spent his hours looking for something productive to do, but the reason he was in this predicament this time was because of his extra time spent with Charles. Through the night, Erik’s mind wandered to their conversation, regarding everything from the sound of Charles’s voice to the look of glee on his face when Erik finally won their last game. He’s already looking forward to the next time he sees the man.
It’s during the dozenth time Erik looks through the case files that MacTaggert finally shows up to work. She’s only three minutes late but Erik’s been tapping his fingers against his desk impatiently, scanning the room every few seconds, before catching MacTaggert walking through the door, not returning her smile of greeting.
“Good morning, Erik! How was your night?” MacTaggert sets her thermos down on her desk but doesn’t take off her jacket before sitting down, clearly not planning to stay for very long. She opens a drawer, rummaging through it.
“...Eventful.” Erik doesn’t elaborate any further, MacTaggert can come to her own conclusions on what that means.
She grins up at Erik for a moment, before resuming her task, “I can't imagine picking up Shaw’s slack to be very fun, but I know how much you love to do it, so fair’s fair.” She lets out a noise of triumph, before bringing out her tablet, the item she was looking for.
“About that.” Erik grimaces, already dreading having to tell MacTaggert about what happened, “I waited too long to start, so I was locked out all night and couldn't get it done.”
“Oh no!” MacTaggert frowns and glances to the front of the room, where she just came from, “I've clocked in now, so you should be able to get in now, sorry about that.” She gives him a look of sympathy, before realizing everything Erik said, eyebrows furrowing slightly, “Wait, what were you doing after I left? I thought there wasn't anything else you had to do for the case.”
Erik scrambles for an excuse, he should’ve expected her to ask invasive questions, “I was playing chess.” Unable to come up with anything, he chances telling her the truth. It feels like he says it too slow, glancing away abruptly when he sees MacTaggert’s eyebrows shoot up.
“...Playing chess...” She repeats, stunned for a moment. Then she laughs lightheartedly, “You know, if it was anyone else here that said that, I would’ve immediately assumed that was some kind of euphemism.” MacTaggert leans in closer, and Erik looks back at her, seeing the genuine smile on her face, “I'm glad to hear that though, it can't be good to only focus on work, even if you aren't, you know- human.”
Even though it seems she is supportive of him in the moment, Erik shifts in his seat uncomfortably, bringing his attention back to the case files he was going through, “I should probably get started on that evidence now. You won't be able to do much else on the Marko case until I'm done.”
MacTaggert hums noncommittally, “I was planning on going on site straight away just for some final checks while we wait for the lieutenant to show up. Even if you did it right now, I would still be making two trips.” She grins again, a sparkle in her eyes that Erik has learned means that she has a plan, “Why don't you come with me and just let Shaw do the work whenever he comes in? We could have some fun without him.”
Normally Erik would’ve declined, the urgency of Shaw’s work making him reluctant to do anything else first. That, and the fact that the Marko estate hindering his abilities means that he would get even less work done. But Erik’s thoughts return to Charles, as they frequently have been in the day since he met him, this could be a chance to see the man once more... And so soon since he last left.
Erik turns off his desktop, shooting up out of his chair, “What are we waiting for?”
MacTaggert leans back, eyes wide, “Wow really? I totally expected you to say no, I only asked as a courtesy.” She laughs, grabbing her things of her desk, “Hell yeah, let's go!”
*****
SEPT 20TH, 2038
AM 8:27:42
It feels like Erik never left the Marko estate- it hasn’t been long since he was last there of course- as he's grown accustomed to the elaborate, long winding hallways and tall glass walls of the house. He briefly wonders how long he’ll consider it as the Marko estate, as he’s rapidly been considering it to just be Charles’s place, plain and simple. Not the crime scene, but the place he plays chess with his new friend.
Erik ignores Raven’s pointed look at his back-to-back visits when they walk through the front door, letting MacTaggert take charge in talking to it and explaining why they’re there that morning. Before long, they’re back in Marko’s lab, in its dimly lit, torn apart glory. MacTaggert takes out her tablet after taking the time to put on some gloves, and Erik decides to look around the room while waiting for her to finish flipping through pictures to get herself situated.
Some of the things MacTaggert brought for the investigation are on the desk on the back wall, which was Marko’s main place of work. To call it a desk is a stretch, as it’s more akin to the counterspace in a kitchen or medical place, spanning over half of the wall’s length and filled with drawers for all kinds of machine parts. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t treated like a desk though. Erik thinks back on the photos taken in the preliminary search, all the paperwork and trinkets that had been present on that day, before they were scattered across the table and the floor, as if someone had been pushed into the surface. None of that was present now, the space had been cleared and taken in for further examination, the only things left being the heavy tools bolted to the wall, shiny and looking like they hadn’t been used. Those were some of the various pieces of potential evidence that had brought the two of them back to collect. Glancing to the left, Erik takes note of the large scrape mark on the wall as something to discuss with MacTaggert.
Erik passes by her, who’s squatting next to the giant bloodstain on the ground, busy getting samples. Sidestepping broken glass and a knocked down whiteboard stand, he makes his way to the other side of the stain, his attention caught by the actual desk next to it. It’s the home of some kind of older computer model, which must’ve been what you inputted commands into for the machinery in the back corner to work. It doesn’t turn on, and one look at the bulky, torn out and fried wires connected to it tells Erik exactly why. It’s a good thing too, as it looks like a fire hazard in the making even when it wasn’t broken. Erik thinks back to the pictures taken day one of the investigation for over here as well, and there used to be lots of clutter on this desk and the heavy-duty shelf next to it. Although this time, instead of it being scattered all over the place, everything just seemed to be knocked over, like a great impact happened in its vicinity.
Turning back to MacTaggert, Erik sees that she’s finished up with the samples and has instead pulled out a piece of machinery from the precinct. A blue beam of light emits from it, showing up as a medium sized circle on the ground. She’s pointing it at the blood stain and slowly moving it to scan the whole surface of it. Erik can’t keep the frown off of his face when he looks down at it.
At that exact moment, MacTaggert glances up at him, and she breaths out a laugh at his look, “Don’t worry, I’m not replacing you anytime soon.”
Erik scoffs in response, “Like one of those could replace me, it can’t even tell you what model the thirium came from.”
She brings her attention back to the flashlight, changing the placement of it once more, “Well, it’s the best we’ve got since you can’t use your scanners.”
It wasn’t said in a scornful matter, quite the opposite in fact, but Erik can’t help but feel disgruntled at her words, grumbling, “Hopefully we won’t have to rely on that until the security system is fixed.”
Awkwardly shimmying over, MacTaggert attempts to stay squatting even as she has to move to continue scanning the blood. She’s still determined to keep up the conversation, a bit out of breath, “How long did they say that would take?”
“A week if we’re lucky. Probably more.”
“Do you think we will even need your abilities at that point?”
Erik takes a moment to think, glancing around the room, “We've spent that long on cases even when I was at full capacity, but there’s something different about this one. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re working on this one for a while, even after I get everything back.”
Looking back down at MacTaggert, he catches her grimacing in pain and attempting to stretch her neck, even at her awkward position. It seems she’s already in pain from the small amount of time she’s spent hunched over to look closely at the black light emissions.
Erik holds out a hand, “Want me to take over?”
MacTaggert startles, looking up at Erik and smiling, “Oh no, I'm fine, thank you!”
There’s something admirable to Erik about her willingness to work even when she is straining herself, but he still remains unimpressed by her insistence that nothing’s wrong, “Come on, the likelihood of that actually picking up on traces of thirium a week later is not very high, you could be doing something much more important right now.” MacTaggert looks like she’s about to decline his offer again, so the android adds, “And I won’t be in pain while doing it.”
Erik raises his eyebrows after saying that, and MacTaggert deflates after that, sighing, “Alright, fine, fine.” She sends a lighthearted look at him, “But only because you want to so badly. I’m just about done with this part of the floor, so you can check everywhere else.”
They wait in silence for a few minutes while she continues scanning the stain, before the woman stands up slowly and places the tool in Erik’s still outstretched hand.
“Find anything?”
MacTaggert laughs, “What do you think?”
Leaving it at that, Erik turns the scanner around in his hands as MacTaggert walks back to the back of the room, grabbing her tablet again. He decides to bring his attention to the machinery next to her, stepping over the blood in one long stride to get there.
Erik regards the technology in front of him as he adjusts the flashlight. It seems to be an aid in the construction of larger, more unwieldy machine parts, large mechanical arms attached to a tablelike surface with claws on the end small enough to reach difficult places. Or rather, arm, as one of them has been ripped out rather violently, stray wires and sharp pieces of metal sticking out from where it would’ve been anchored onto. No amount of searching for the broken off arm brought any success; it’s one of the only things in the room that is missing. Considering the other arm matches up with the description the autopsy gave him for the murder weapon, there’s a reason for that as well.
Glancing behind him, Erik looks at the marks on the opposite wall. They’re thick, scratching deep into the drywall, likely caused by something heavy duty. These arms are small, almost deceptively so. They wouldn’t break on impact with the wall, but the claw on the end would scratch a different shape. Even if it was done with the opposite end, the size of the arm towards the bottom wouldn’t likely be big enough. Interesting...
Turning back around, Erik finally turns on the black light scanner, pointing it directly at the intact arm, before slowly moving it across the entirety of the machine. MacTaggert leans in next to him, tablet in hand, watching for a few moments.
Deciding to be the one to break the silence for once, Erik asks, “So, this is what we’re thinking the missing murder weapon is, right?”
She nods, “Yup, I'm supposed to take some more in-depth pictures to send to the people who did the autopsy, but it seems like the most likely option. It's the only thing broken in the room that isn’t seen anywhere else.”
Erik decides to voice the one thing that’s been sticking out in his mind, hoping that talking about it out loud will help him reach a conclusion, “But why use this? That's something I can’t make sense of,” when MacTaggert only glances at him questioningly, he continues, “Look around, there’s so much in this room that can be used as a weapon, but instead this was used. It would’ve been difficult to tear this out, even as an android.”
She seems surprised at the idea, but not fully convinced, “I don’t know, a lot of the things in here wouldn’t be good to puncture somebody. I mean, this isn’t sharp by any means, but at least it’s pointed.”
“Okay, but why not bring in a weapon if you’re planning on killing the guy? Using the things around you seems... desperate. Something else definitely happened here, for such a big fight to occur. You don’t just take the effort to break in so seamlessly and not have a plan once you’re inside.”
Lost in thought, MacTaggert takes a moment before asking slowly, “So... do you think it just wanted to talk but things got carried away?”
That’s a very mild conclusion to come to from that, but Erik can think of one that makes more sense to him, “Maybe it came in to threaten him... This is the CEO of Cyberlife we’re talking about, I’m sure there’s things it thought he could do to make deviants lives easier.”
Finally finished scanning the machine, Erik looks at MacTaggert, who’s looking back at him with a concerned frown. She doesn’t say anything else as he walks past her towards Marko’s workplace, instead glancing down and fidgeting with the buttons on the tablet she’s still holding.
Moving on to the back table, Erik elects to momentarily move the things MacTaggert brought in and scan that area first, before moving on to the rest of the surface. They work in silence for a short while after that, the sounds of MacTaggert snapping photos being the only thing to fill the room. Erik works methodically, making sure to go over every part of it, including the front. Still no traces of thirium, but he’s almost done before he realizes something, having been so focused on his task. There’s no trace of anything on the desk, not just what he was searching for. He knew that the first team had trouble finding fingerprints around the room, but he hadn’t thought about what that meant for the actual state of the room. Even with all the clutter that had been present that day, the table looked flawlessly clean, unlike other parts of the room. The only sign of imperfection was dust that had settled.
“We haven’t had people in here to clean, right?”
MacTaggert looks surprised at the sudden question, frowning in concentration, “The whole room? No, it hasn’t been cleared for that, we’re still collecting evidence. Why?”
“The desk itself is spotless, there’s only a thin layer of dust that’s been gathering since Marko’s death.” Erik points the flashlight back at the desk, highlighting his point.
MacTaggert leans in to take a closer look as he moves the light around to show off more of the desk, “This was his main work desk, maybe he liked keeping it clean. He probably had that android of his working overtime to achieve this.”
Erik shakes his head, “No, it wasn’t allowed in this area, it had to have been either McCoy or Marko himself...”
The woman looks over at him in confusion, “How do you know about the android’s duties? I don’t remember that being on the case file.”
“Charles mentioned it at some point.” Erik doesn’t explain any further than that.
“Charles... Huh.” MacTaggert pauses for a few moments. When Erik looks over at her, wondering why she’s not saying anything else, he catches the strange look on her face.
He can tell her mind is running way too fast and decides to continue what he was saying before she jumps to conclusions, “But you’re right in assuming that. The amount of cleaning it would take for this surface to be this clean is very typical for an android but would take a lot of effort for a human. And we know he was in the middle of working on something when he was attacked, do you really think he would be that diligent throughout the day? There’s not even any fingerprints.”
MacTaggert has finally caught up to how bad this could be and looks up at Erik, biting her lip nervously, “So, you think we’re dealing with a tampered crime scene.”
“Why not? We already know that this was planned, and there was almost a week in between Marko’s death and the discovery. Raven was shut down, the cameras were still broken, anything could’ve happened in that time.”
MacTaggert quietly responds, “If that’s the case, this might be bigger than we thought...” They look at each other for a few moments, both considering how to work around this possibility.
Erik looks back at the desk, still holding the black light scanner. The table spans so much space, and there had been so much on it. Had it all been strategically placed? How far does this go...
Looking up, Erik sees the tools on the wall that weren’t brought in. When he first saw how clean they were, he had thought that Marko didn’t use them often, but now he can see the small signs of wear down. Small chips and scratches just barely visible, now in plain sight with this realization. He thoughtlessly scanned them as well, not taking as much time as before. Still nothing to be found.
He’s just about to move on to another side of the room, when one of the wrenches catches his eye. It’s big, clean, and well used, like all the other ones, but the head is damaged. Small bits of metal stick out in some places, like it was used against something with too much force. Putting the flashlight down, Erik lifts the tool off of the wall carefully. He turns it around in his hands, examining it further.
Still looking at the pipe wrench, he asks, “Why weren’t these brought in?”
“The first team didn’t find any fingerprints on them, so there wasn’t a priority to get them out since there was so much on the desk.”
Turning around, Erik walks over to the left wall, where the scratch marks were. He lifts the wrench up towards it, hovering just above the marks. The size was a perfect match.
“Was that before they realized it was deviants?”
Coming up beside him, MacTaggert gasps when she sees it, “Shit... are we sure those aren’t old?”
“Without being able to scan, I couldn’t tell, but this doesn’t seem like something Marko would let stay for very long.” Erik glances around the room for more marks, stopping when he sees some on the ceiling, right next to the base of the broken light, “In fact...”
MacTaggert has to step back for Erik to not run into her as he turns around, attention fixed on that point. Stopping a few inches behind the light, he grips the handle of the wrench, lifting it up. He has to shift down the placement of his hand on it, too tall to be able to hold it naturally and raise his arm all the way. Slowly, he brings his arm down in an arc, making sure not to touch the ceiling, before stopping right before he would have hit the light if it were still there. The marks match yet again, and one glance down at the broken glass on the ground tells him how the light would’ve landed.
He looks back at MacTaggert, who’s been watching him silently, and holds out the wrench, “Could you try this out?”
She startles, before shaking it off and grabbing it carefully, “Yeah, do you want me to come over there?”
Erik nods, stepping aside, “Stand right here and raise your arm up.”
Glancing down at her feet to make sure she isn’t close to the glass on the ground, MacTaggert raises her arm slowly, struggling for a moment with the weight before shifting how she’s standing to be able to manage it. She doesn’t have to change the way she’s holding the wrench at all, ending up with over an inch of space between the top of it and the ceiling.
Wanting to try something else at a different position, Erik starts to ask her to move before stopping himself with a sigh, realizing how difficult it would be to explain where exactly he wants her to stand. Instead, he just pushes her into stepping forward, adjusting where she’s standing little by little until she’s in the right spot. MacTaggert takes this treatment well, breathing out a laugh while following his silent instructions. Stepping behind her, Erik also grabs hold of her arm, adjusting the angle she’s holding the wrench at, before swinging it down slowly just as he had done earlier. It still misses the ceiling by a long shot, nothing he could do would make MacTaggert be able to reach that far. Whoever was holding the wrench was taller than MacTaggert, but slightly shorter than Erik.
“Am I interrupting?”
The two of them freeze and turn to look at the door, where Charles is leaning against the frame, looking like he’s trying not to laugh. How he got there with neither of them realizing, Erik does not know.
“Ah, we were just-”
“No, not at all.” Erik lets go of MacTaggert’s arm and leans back, causing her to stumble and almost drop the wrench, only barely catching herself. She sends a glare towards Erik’s direction, but he barely notices, his attention grabbed by the man in the doorway. After not being present in the first few minutes after they showed up, Erik hadn’t expected to see Charles at all in this trip, but here he was.
Charles barks out a laugh at the two detectives' mannerisms, “Well, that’s a relief, wouldn’t want to barge in on important police work...” He’s smirking lightheartedly, clearly finding amusement in the state he caught them in. But then his teasing facade breaks, and his eyes jump around the room curiously, “Mind if I join in again?”
MacTaggert frowns, looking at Charles skeptically, “I’m not sure that’s a good idea...”
Perhaps with a bit more eagerness than he should, Erik counters, “I don’t see why he can’t, Lieutenant Shaw said it was okay last time.”
The possibility of spending more time with Charles makes it difficult to keep the excitement off of his face as MacTaggert glances over at him, eyebrows furrowing. After a few moments, she grits her teeth and sighs, already turning around to put the wrench on the desk behind them.
“Alright, fine. Just don’t touch anything, you know the deal.”
The smile Charles gives her is appreciative, even though her back is already turned to him, “Of course! Wouldn't want to get in the way of things.”
For a moment, the two of them look at each other in silence, and Erik allows himself to smile at Charles for the first time since he showed up, now that his superior isn’t looking. Charles’s own smile brightens in return, just as excited as Erik feels. He’s aware of the fact that he should go back to focusing on work, helping MacTaggert document the wrench and corroborate the details, but all he wants to do is strike up a conversation with his new friend. Erik struggles to think of what to say, uncomfortable with the fact that they are within listening distance of MacTaggert.
Unfortunately, all he can manage is, “Hi...” before he stumbles over his words, deciding to shut his mouth without continuing, abruptly looking away.
Luckily, Charles doesn’t think anything of it, responding with barely contained glee in his voice, “Good morning. How was your night?”
“Erik? Could you come over here?” Before Erik can respond, MacTaggert cuts in, taking the choice of when to go back to work away from him.
Glancing at Charles one last time and catching the disappointment in his smile, Erik reluctantly heads to the back of the room, where MacTaggert is inputting things on her tablet, unaware about what was happening.
Once Erik is beside her, MacTaggert continues in a hushes tone, “So, I wrote down the height was somewhere between 5’9 and 6 feet, that seems about right, yeah? But when do we think the deviant grabbed it?”
“Don’t put down that it was the deviant’s weapon yet, we don’t know that.”
MacTaggert looks at him in confusion, “There’s no fingerprints though, that’s why it wasn’t taken in, remember?”
Erik nods his head back towards the wrench, “Yeah, but look at it, it’s freshly polished, even though Marko could’ve used it at any time prior to that day... It was probably cleaned as well.”
“Who’s cleaning what?”
The two of them startle and turn around, Charles right behind them now, having once again come closer without them realizing, curiously looking at the wrench in front of them.
MacTaggert recovers first, jabbing a finger in his direction, “What are you doing over here? Did you step on anything?”
He raises his hands up in placation, “Don’t worry, I made sure to be extra careful. I was just curious about what you were talking about, should I go back?”
MacTaggert stares at him in disbelief, stammering for a bit before sighing, “Whatever, you can stay.” All her previous efforts at being cordial with Charles begin falling apart, as she gets in his space to try to intimidate him, “But the second you do anything I don’t like, you’re out of here for good. No watching through the doorway, nothing.”
“Yes ma’am.” Charles mock salutes her, causing MacTaggert to squint her eyes in suspicion. But before she can say anything, he turns to Erik, “Now what were you saying?”
Seeing this as the only way to defuse the tension between MacTaggert and Charles, Erik begins to explain the situation they’re in, “This wrench matches the scrapes on the walls, but it wasn’t out of place, the only thing indicating it had moved being the broken metal. We think it had been put back afterwards, despite how much was out of place when the deviant left.” Pausing, Erik decides to voice something he’s been considering since he first saw the crime scene, “Actually, I’ve been thinking about it, and with how much destruction was around, there might’ve been multiple deviants involved, we don’t know for sure... but certain places in the room are spotless, to a concerning degree, including this wrench.”
Regarding Charles with suspicion again, MacTaggert interrupts, “Speaking of that, you haven’t had this place cleaned, right? We’re not worrying for nothing?”
Charles shakes his head, “This place wasn’t part of Raven’s cleaning duties, and that hasn’t changed since my father passed.”
“Yeah, that’s what Erik said...” MacTaggert crosses her arms, making her questions feel more like an impromptu interrogation, “Did your father always keep his workstation this clean?”
“Oh, I couldn’t possibly tell you, he was a complete shut in,” he smiles sheepishly, “I think this is the longest I’ve been in here my entire life.”
“Erik thinks that because of how clean it is, an android must’ve done it; the deviant that killed Marko. Which means that practically anything that isn’t dirty could’ve been tampered with, including the floor.”
While the two of them are talking, Erik’s attention is brought back to the pipe wrench beside them. The metal pieces breaking off of the head are very small, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t cause any damage. He touches the edge of one of them, before drawing back and looking down at his hand. Even that faint touch cut some of his synthetic skin, if he had pressed any harder, he would have cut deep enough to reach his inner mechanisms, getting thirium all over the place. Used as a weapon, the wrench could seriously damage anything it hit, which the scrapes on the wall and ceiling seem to imply it was. But why would the deviants just clean it, instead of taking it with them like they did the machine arm?
“How tall was Marko?”
MacTaggert seems thrown off by being interrupted by Erik’s sudden question, taking a few seconds before answering, “The autopsy put him at just under 5’11.”
“So he would’ve been the right height for the light...” Finally looking up from the wrench, he sees the frowns on both MacTaggert and Charles’s faces, so he catches them up on his thought process, “I think the wrench was used by him. It would have been in reach from where he was working, he could have used it to fight back when he realized there were deviants in his house. This would cause a lot of damage, including bleeding. It would’ve had thirium on it, and it would’ve gotten all over the place...”
Pausing for a moment, Erik looks around. There were plenty of places in the room that weren’t clean to the extent of the desk, but if an android had been leaking thirium before killing Marko, that means that it would’ve still been leaking it when it left the room. Meaning it probably got all over the floor too, now that he’s looking at how clean some areas of it are.
“Which is why they cleaned it, all of this. They likely knew beforehand that we could identify the model of android from it. So this,” Erik points to the black light sitting next to the wrench, “is probably useless, there won’t be anything we could find.”
The other two look concerned, but MacTaggert is considering everything about what Erik said, “So we do think it was multiple deviants?”
“It does make sense. Marko could’ve been fighting off one with the wrench, while the other grabbed the machine arm and stabbed him when he was caught off guard.”
Looking back down at the wrench, MacTaggert still looks lost in thought, “I guess... I should mark that down. Do you want to help me finish documenting the evidence instead of doing the blacklight?”
Erik stops to think for a moment, before shaking his head, “I should probably finish going over the room, just to be safe.”
“Alright...”
Grabbing the tablet again, MacTaggert goes back to her previous task, adding on the new discoveries Erik’s brought up. Erik grabs the flashlight again, deciding to go to the desk on the other side of the room. He glances at Charles, who’s looking over at MacTaggert and the wrench with a frown. He doesn’t seem to notice Erik staring at him, so the android isn’t sure if it would be okay talking to him again and goes back to walking to the other side of the room.
To his relief, Charles immediately notices him leaving and follows, carefully stepping around everything on the ground, following Erik’s footsteps exactly. Once he gets there, he turns on the light and points it at the surface, paying close attention to what shows up under it. This area wasn’t cleaned, at least not all of it, the contrast stark between this desk and the one in the back. Charles, just behind him, leans in close to see, and Erik leans down so the man doesn’t have to strain himself to look over his shoulder.
“So, this is scanning for things invisible to the naked eye, right?”
Erik nods, “It can pick up on the typical things seen through a blacklight, but it’s specifically modified to also see traces of thirium,” he backtracks, glancing over at Charles, “Er- you know what that is, right?”
But Charles answers quickly, Erik having momentarily forgotten how knowledgeable the man was in androids, used to having to explain things about them to everyone, “Yeah of course, blue blood, the fluid used to keep androids working. It evaporates after a couple hours, but some androids can still see where it was.”
“I would too, if my scanners could still work in here.”
“Hmm, yeah...” Charles sighs, his expression turning somber, and Erik realizes that he might feel bad about not being able to fix the security system in a timely manner.
While he appreciates his concern over the situation, that wasn’t a feeling Erik meant to invoke by bringing up his suppressed scanners, so he continues quickly, “That’s why we’re relying on this thing- not that it’s actually helping. Even at a good crime scene, it would only pick up on the faintest traces. And that’s all it does, showing you where it was. When I'm able to scan for it, not only can I scan the whole room at once, but I can grab information from the thirium, like the android’s model number. Then I could use that to cross reference other cases to see if we’re dealing with a deviant who’s been reported before.”
“But you think they cleaned it all up.”
It wasn’t a question, but Erik still confirms, “Right. With how much planning must’ve gone into this, it seems very likely that they would’ve known about me. I mean, even you know what I’m capable of, imagine what an android could find out.”
Finished scanning the desk and adjacent shelf, Erik moves on to the floor, Charles following close behind.
After a moment, Charles continues with his questions, “So... how do you deal with the room being tampered with? Are you even going to be able to find anything?”
“The best we can do is work around it. Once we’re done getting samples and pictures, the room can be cleared for cleaning, and we won’t be around all the time. At least- for the case.” At that, Charles looks up at Erik, and only one second is all the android can handle looking at his blinding smile before he has to look away, “And we’ll probably do a search of the surrounding area of the mansion tomorrow, to see if we can find anyone who saw anything that night. After a while, if we can’t find anything, a lot of times we have to put the case aside. Typically, what happens is that later on a deviant will be reported, and it’ll match up with a previous cases or cases, and they’ll be fulfilled at that point if we catch it,” not wanting to worry Charles, he tacks on at the end, “It’ll probably take a while for this one to be put aside though, with how high profile it is...”
But Charles is the furthest from being worried, still full of curiosity, “What if they don’t commit a crime again? If that’s the only way the case is brought up again, what makes you so sure that will happen?”
“It’s not just crimes that put deviants on our radar. There's been a number of times they’ve been found while in hiding, it’s just a matter of people calling in to report them.” Erik pauses for a moment, wondering if he should continue. That does happen, but... “There are... quite a lot of cases that have never been solved though, almost as if they disappeared entirely.”
Charles doesn’t respond to that, instead he looks back down at the ground, where the black light is shining. When Erik chances a glance at him, he looks like he’s lost in thought. He still follows Erik when he has to walk forward to start scanning another part of the floor, but the silence is almost stifling.
Deciding to change the subject entirely to cheer the man up, Erik asks, “Did you sleep well? I didn’t think you would be up at this hour, after how late I stayed last night...”
Immediately Charles looks back at him, smirking playfully, “Oh really? Shame, I was hoping the reason you were here so soon was to see me.”
Erik just stares at him, taken aback. It feels like Charles is able to read him so well, after only knowing him for a day. This isn’t the first time he’s done this as well, is Erik that easy to get to know, or is the man just that good at understanding people he’s just met?
When Erik takes too long to respond, Charles laughs nervously, his confident demeanor disappearing in an instant, “I’m kidding, obviously you’re here to do your job. I shouldn’t even be here, I’m probably just distracting you, I-” he cuts off his rambling, smiling calmly up at Erik, “I had an alright night. I’ve slept less for longer periods of time before, this is nothing new. You didn’t have the chance to answer before, how was your night?”
“It was fine. I spent a lot of time... thinking.” If he spent most of the time thinking about when they would see each other again, Charles doesn’t have to know.
“Yeah?” Charles doesn’t say anything else, smile growing.
Erik struggles to keep looking Charles in the eye, “Mhm. It was very... calm. A lot calmer than normal.”
Charles looks at him fondly, “That sounds very nice.” After a moment, his smile grows once more, and the usual glint in his eyes shine with mischief, “...You sure you didn’t spend the night looking up how to win at chess?”
Erik furrows his eyebrows, “What?”
But before Erik could say anything else, Charles continues, exaggerated pride laced in his tone, “Hey, I mean I wouldn’t blame you if you had to. Such a difficult opponent that I am, you would need all the time you could get to learn how to beat me.”
Erik can’t believe what he’s hearing, “What are you talking about? I beat you,” Charles raises his eyebrows, and Erik mumbles, “...once.” But he continues indignantly, “How do you know I wasn’t just letting you win?”
Charles doesn’t back down, crossing his arms and tilting his head up, “Please, if anyone were to have to do that, it’d be me letting you win to make you feel better about losing so many times in a row. How do you know I didn’t do that?”
The two of them stare at each other for a moment, but Charles’s cocky smile twitches for a moment, turning into something more genuine. Before long, he can’t keep himself from laughing, and Erik surprises even himself by joining in quietly. He stops before Charles, taking a moment to appreciate his laugh as he’s winding down as well.
With a start, he realizes he stopped scanning for thirium, and tears himself away from looking at Charles’s face, still smiling. He continues working in silence while Charles watches, but this time he doesn’t mind, feeling comfortable even with just his presence.
The right side of the room has less things to check, so it doesn’t take as long to scan it, but it still takes almost a half hour to do. Erik thought that it would be boring to Charles, expecting him to leave, or even go see what MacTaggert is doing, but he stays no further than a few inches away from him, watching intently. A couple of times Charles pipes up with questions or comments, but most of the time they are content with looking in silence. Eventually, Erik makes his way back to the scratches on the wall, realizing that he’s made his way back to where he started.
He turns off the black light, “Alright, that should be it.”
Charles blinks, before smiling up at Erik, “Already? Wow, I didn’t realize how much time had passed.”
Turning around to put away the light and find out what else needs to be done, Erik freezes when he sees MacTaggert staring directly at the two of them, the tablet in her hands forgotten about and a strange look on her face. Almost like a cross between suspicion and amusement. Slowly, he continues walking back, trying to avoid her staring.
Once he gets close enough, MacTaggert asks, mirth barely disguised, “Having fun over there?”
Charles responds before Erik has a chance, laughing and looking apologetic, “Sorry, I’m probably being such a distraction right now.”
It seems all of MacTaggert’s previous attitude towards Charles has melted away- although Erik’s unsure why- as she simply waves his concern off, “Don’t worry about it, we never get to be relaxed when Shaw is around. It’s a breath of fresh air.” Finally, she turns and asks Erik, “So, you’re finished going over everything?”
“Yes, nothing was there, just as I suspected. Or if there was, it was so small it didn’t get picked up.”
MacTaggert sighs, but doesn’t look surprised, “Well, I’ve finished getting all the extra samples and pictures that were needed, I’m just documenting it all.”
Beside him, Charles pipes up, “Is that all you have left to do?”
She nods, “Mhm, along with packaging up the rest of the evidence to be brought in.”
Charles looks a bit disappointed at that but doesn’t say anything. Erik takes that as a sign to move next to MacTaggert, where the evidence envelopes are sitting along with various things she’s gathered from around the room. Charles also follows him, standing at his side and sandwiching Erik between him and MacTaggert. Erik starts packaging the items carefully, MacTaggert joining him shortly after while Charles watches them both closely.
Several minutes in, Charles leans forward on the desk, looking around Erik at MacTaggert, “Oh, I can’t believe I forgot to ask! Moira, how was your night?”
She smiles, keeping her focus on the envelope as she writes information on the front of it, but still responding, “I didn’t do much once I got home, I just ate dinner while watching TV on the couch with my cat and then went straight to bed. I think I slept on my neck wrong though, it’s been bothering me all morning.” Finally finished sealing up the envelope, she glances up at Charles, “How about you? Jet lag treating you badly?”
“Not at all. I even had time to dust off the old chess board from storage and play a few rounds.”
MacTaggert’s eyebrows shoot up, and Erik ignores the glance she sends in his direction, “Oh really? Erik was just telling me this morning that he’s been getting into chess recently, what a coincidence...”
Suspicion is clear in her tone, and Charles blinks, looking up at Erik in surprise before smiling, “Did he? Well, I can’t blame him, it is a very fun game.”
But she isn’t letting it go, narrowing her eyes, “Yeah. I bet it’s even more fun when you’re playing with someone else...”
Seeing MacTaggert come to the obvious conclusion, Erik cuts in quickly, pointedly staring down at the desk, “Let’s not get distracted.”
MacTaggert snickers at that but goes back to packaging up evidence. Both of the detectives work smoothly, having done this countless times before on various cases, and in just a few minutes, they’ve gone through most of the items on the desk.
MacTaggert’s side of the desk is complete, and she turns to Erik, who’s just finishing up an envelope, “Have we gotten everything packed up?”
Reaching out, Charles answers, “Ah, no, you’ve still got the-” He cuts himself off with a sharp intake of breath, shooting his hand out of the way and reeling back a few steps.
Erik looks at Charles, wondering what’s wrong, and sees him frozen, panic seizing his body, still holding back his hand and looking at... The wrench. The only piece of evidence left out on the desk. Did he...?
Erik looks at MacTaggert, who’s looking back at him, also panicking. Both of their minds running with concern about having to deal with contaminated evidence.
MacTaggert leans over, looking at Charles, “Did you touch it?”
Shakily, he responds, “I- I don’t know...”
“It happened so fast I didn’t see it, did you, Erik?”
“No, I didn’t.” Erik was so focused on getting finished sealing the evidence, he barely even registered the fact that Charles was reaching to grab it.
Jumping into action, MacTaggert immediately grabs a spare envelope, already putting the wrench inside, “Shit, we better package this up and bring it to the precinct right away.” Pausing to look at Erik, she asks calmly, “Can you grab everything else?”
Erik nods, and she looks over at Charles for a second, furrowing her eyebrows in concern. Her eyes dance between the two of them, before she nods as well, attempting to reassure herself. As she leaves, Erik looks at where MacTaggert was looking and feels uneasy about what he sees.
Charles is frozen in place, arm still held against his chest from when he pulled in back, tension in his entire body. The look on his face is... haunted, and he’s blinking rapidly. As if realizing holding all that tension in his body was causing him to hold his breath, Charles finally lets out a shaky exhale. This is nothing like the Charles he knows, even when talking about things that trouble him, he never lets it get to him. Erik has no idea what to do.
“Charles?”
Charles startles, as if just realizing Erik was looking at him, and immediately tries to smile, despite how strained it turns out, “I’m sorry, I didn’t even think about what I was doing before I-” He stops abruptly, looking back at the wrench with a frown.
“Charles, it’s okay. It’s not that big of a deal if you did touch it.” It is, especially for such an important piece of evidence, but Erik is focused on calming Charles down. He doesn’t care about the loss of credibility, they can manage just fine, he just doesn’t want Charles to be too upset about a simple mistake.
It doesn’t work though, Charles still has that faraway panicked look in his eyes, barely acknowledging him, and Erik’s unsure of what else to do. He starts to reach towards his arm in an attempt to comfort him, before he stops, dropping his hand back to his side. If Charles notices this, it doesn’t show up on his face.
Finally, Charles does something, but it’s taking another step back, lowering his arm, and looking down at the ground. He’s completely closed off, an unreadable look on his face.
“I’ve overstayed my welcome, I should go now.” He says it quickly and monotonously, like he’s just trying to get out of the situation.
Erik tries to say something, but he walks around him, not even chancing a look at him. Once he’s on the other side of the room, just outside of the doorway he looks back nervously.
“...Thank you for spending time with me.”
And then Erik is alone in the room, left to deal with the rest of the evidence.
*****
SEPT 20TH, 2038
AM 11:22:54
All of the envelopes had been packed up into two boxes that had been left in the car, which Erik insisted on carrying, leaving MacTaggert to bring the wrench in. The entire car ride had been silent, MacTaggert laser-focused on the road, her fingers tapping against the steering wheel being the only thing to give away her nerves.
When they finally get to the precinct, she bolts towards the evidence room, Erik trailing not too far behind. Shaw was standing just outside of the door, arguing with Platt. Looks like he just got into work and found out about his work not getting done. Finally noticing the two of them, he stomps towards Erik, blocking the way.
“What the hell Erik? I’m being told you didn’t finish going over evidence, now we’re going to be set back all day until this gets done.”
Erik can barely see around the boxes he’s holding, but MacTaggert steps in between them, getting in the way, “Leave him alone, Shaw. He got locked out and I needed his help this morning, it couldn’t be helped. If you’re so worried about being behind, maybe you should come in earlier to make sure it actually got done.” She holds up the bag of evidence in her hands, “Now if you’ll excuse us, we have evidence we have to file as well.”
Shaw glares down at MacTaggert for a few seconds, who only raises the bag towards his face in defiance. Finally, he huffs and pushes past her, going in the complete opposite direction of where he should be heading. Looks like the extra work is going to be pushed off even longer. Erik stares at MacTaggert in surprise, who seems to be shocked at her own actions as well. This was the first time she’s stood up to the lieutenant’s work habits.
Blinking a few times, she finally looks up at Erik and smiles, “Well then, shall we get going now?”
*****
SEPT 20TH, 2038
PM 9:12:03
The rest of the day went by as normal, although Shaw’s temper could be improved upon since that morning. It ultimately culminated in him leaving earlier than usual, muttering something about having better things to do. Erik hardly gave him any mind, too focused on his own work to pay attention to his sour mood. That, and he couldn’t stop worrying about Charles. He keeps running his mind through the different possibilities of what he could’ve done to make that situation better and comes up short. It all happened so fast, the only thing that could’ve been done was preventing it entirely, as MacTaggert tried to joke that she should’ve spared some gloves the second she knew Charles was going to be trouble. But that didn’t happen, and now Erik’s left feeling awful about how quickly the man felt he had to leave. He’s thinking about all of this while filling out a report for a deviant they brought in earlier that day, until MacTaggert comes in at the end of the day.
She walks up to her desk, and grabs the jacket off of the back of her chair, “Is Shaw already out?”
Erik blinks, being brought out of his thoughts, “Yeah, he wasn’t too keen on staying.”
MacTaggert frowns, starting to put on the jacket, “Figured. And let me guess, he left behind a whole bunch of incomplete work?
Frowning as well, Erik rests his head in his hand, scrolling through the computer distractedly, “I feel like he left behind even more than usual, just to prove a point.”
Grabbing the rest of her things off the desk, she says, “You know, maybe if you stopped doing his work all the time, he’d actually grow to appreciate all that you do for us.”
“I think that would just make him hate me more.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right...” Making her way over to Erik, MacTaggert leans against his desk, “Well, on the good side of things, the wrench was cleared for being contaminated. Still no fingerprints, he must’ve touched the desk instead,” she raises her eyebrows meaningfully, “That’s something you could tell Charles next time you see him, right?”
Still avoiding MacTaggert’s gaze, despite her attempts to get him to look at her, Erik’s frown deepens, “I guess so.”
A few moments pass, and MacTaggert drums her fingers against Erik’s desk, clearly expecting more from him.
Finally, she sighs, tapping her fingers one last time before she stops leaning back, “Listen, I’m heading out now, but try not to work so late, will you?” She pauses again, looking at Erik. When he doesn’t respond, she starts walking towards the door slowly, waving, “Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow, Erik!”
Erik doesn’t look back at her, instead going back to work on the report.
*****
SEPT 21ST, 2038
AM 1:21:38
Erik ends up doing all of Shaw's work, despite MacTaggert's suggestion. He doesn't even stop there. By the time that he's checking the contents in his computer a second time, he finally admits to himself that he's putting off going over to Charles's place. It's not that he doesn't want to, he's been looking forward to it all day actually, it's just that he can't stop thinking about how quickly Charles left. That haunted look on his face, just before he realized Erik was looking at him. And what if things were weird between them now? Erik wasn't sure why he had such a strong reaction, but he didn't like the thought of Charles ever having to feel... whatever it was that he felt in that moment.
Despite the car ride to the Marko estate being almost a half hour long, it never feels like enough to soothe Erik's concerns by the time he gets there. Standing once again at the doorway of the mansion, Erik takes a moment to compose himself. He can only hope that nothing will go wrong...
Ringing the doorbell, he only has to wait a few moments before Raven shows up, opening the door. It doesn't even say anything this time, leaving right away and heading into the main room of the house. Erik is a bit surprised at the other android’s rushed behavior, having to close the door himself because it didn't even wait that long. Slowly, he makes his way to the door on his right, where Raven went, unsure if he should wait or not. There, he sees Charles and McCoy sitting around the kitchen island, having a heated discussion in hushed tones, Raven watching over them. Erik can't hear anything being said, but it seems Charles is trying to hold the conversation together, while McCoy and Raven keep glancing at each other with a strange look in their eyes.
Once Erik steps closer to try to listen in, Charles notices straight away, immediately stopping his ranting and instead looking up at him and smiling, despite the tense atmosphere. In contrast, the look McCoy gives him is downright venomous. Turning to the others, Charles smile drops, and he gives both of them a pleading look. This seems to be enough, as McCoy just sighs and heads towards the stairs, Raven trailing close behind. The tension in Charles's body releases as he throws his head down and sighs, a moment passing before he gets up and walks towards Erik, beaming.
Concerned about what just occurred in front of him, Erik asks, "Is everything alright?"
Despite it only happening a few moments ago, Charles seems momentarily surprised that Erik would bring that up. "Hmm? Yes, of course! Just a little disagreement, it'll work itself out." Putting a hand on Erik's shoulder, he starts trying to lead him towards the stairs, "Let's talk more upstairs, shall we? We'll have the floor to ourselves."
Normally, Erik would be surprised that Charles is touching him so casually, but there's something in his expression that distracts him from that. There's a slight panic to everything Charles is doing that he can't quite hide. He even seems extra adamant in getting Erik to come with him, practically pushing him along.
Eventually Charles lets go of Erik, instead walking side by side with him. Erik keeps glancing over at him, surprised at his determined stride, almost struggling to keep up. He almost tries starting a conversation like last time, but between the concern for how he's acting and the uncertainty of how he's doing after this morning, Erik decides to keep quiet. They're already on the third floor in no time.
When they finally make it to the nook with the chess board, Charles becomes his usual self, jumping into his usual chair with an eagerness Erik wasn't expecting. Slowly, Erik sits down as well, watching as Charles is already halfway through setting up his side of the board.
Once he's done, Charles starts chattering away while waiting for Erik to do the same, "I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to this today. It felt like the day just dragged on." Erik pauses at that confession, chess piece still in hand. A sudden wave of guilt washes over him when he realizes that he prolonged his visit for no reason, and he pulls his attention back to his previous task to avoid thinking too much about it. Charles continues, oblivious to what Erik's thinking, "It doesn't help that I've been trying all day to convince Hank to code another key for you."
The board finally set, Erik plays his first piece, asking, "Is that what you two were talking about just now?"
Taking a moment to shift forward in his seat, Charles also joins the game, “Mhm, among other things. If these games are going to be a usual thing, I don’t see why you should keep having to wait outside for someone to come get you.”
Erik can’t stop the warm feeling that flows through him at Charles’s words. The fact that he trusted him enough with a key to his house, just because he didn’t want Erik to wait in the cold. It was such a foreign feeling, having someone care so much for him, and in such a short amount of time as well... It made him feel like he was worth something.
Taking his next turn, Erik tries to keep as much emotion out of his voice as he states, “And McCoy doesn’t want that.”
Charles sighs, resting his head on his hand as he looks down, pondering his next move, “No, he’s being quite stubborn on that. I thought he would budge when I mentioned it would be better for both of them that no one has to be pulled away just to open the door for you, but apparently not.” Smiling sheepishly, he finally takes his turn, “It’s not my fault that Raven is too alert for me to realize you’re here before she does, I’m usually too enveloped in my work at this time.”
It seems Charles isn’t going to be the one to bring up what happened, but Erik’s unsure if it’s his place to ask, so he grasps at the first thing he can think of to keep the conversation going, “What have you been doing?”
Charles sits up, tilting his head to gesture behind Erik, “I’ve been going through everything on this floor, figuring out what all needs to go to storage. My father’s study is full of paperwork, so it’s been slow going.” He stretches, as if to prove that point, before bringing his attention back to Erik, smiling brightly, “What about you? You're here later than yesterday, anything interesting happen?”
Erik thinks about how angry Shaw was that day and decides to answer plainly, not wanting to cause Charles to worry about things out of his control, “No, just the usual. Still not much progress on the Marko case.”
And Charles doesn’t think anything of it, taking his next move enthusiastically, “No need to feel bad about that, you already know what my stance is on that. I can’t imagine how annoying it must be to work so late into the night and still not have much progress though.”
“Um.” Erik is momentarily without words. He sees an out, the ability to agree and move on, not having to admit the reason he stayed longer. But for some reason, the idea makes him more uneasy than the alternative. He decides to just deal with it there, approaching the subject of what happened and hoping that Charles won’t mind, “No, we actually had a pretty early shift. We were done by around 9.”
A look of hurt crosses Charles face, not as intense as the one that morning, but it makes Erik just as guilty. But not long after it shows up, Charles attempts to mask it, giving him a curious look instead, “Oh? Then why did you wait so long to come over? I mean-” Charles barks out a laugh, but it comes out nervous and choppy, “I don’t want to assume, I just thought that there wouldn’t be much to do over there if you aren’t working.”
Erik shakes his head, not wanting Charles to worry, “No, that’s fine. I often stay behind to do extra work, last night I just chose not to, that’s why I was over so early.” Pausing, Erik prepares himself to finally broach the subject they’ve been tiptoeing around all night, “I could’ve done that again today, but I wasn’t sure if I should after what happened this morning. You seemed... upset. I didn’t know if you would want to see me after that.”
“No, of course I would want to see you!” Erik startles at how loudly Charles says it, and the man seems to realize, smiling nervously before continuing, “It was a ridiculous overreaction on my end, nothing wrong with anything you did.”
Charles seems insistent that it wasn’t a big deal, returning to easy smiles and laughter. If it was anyone else, Erik would take it at face value and move on, but even after knowing Charles for only two days, the android can tell something is wrong, seeing the strain in everything he does.
“Still... I’ve never seen you like that. It seemed serious, I...” Erik can’t finish the sentence, something stopping him from admitting that he was worrying about the man in front of him so much that day. It seems Charles picked up on what he was trying to say, as his smile grows fonder. Unable to keep looking at Charles, Erik glances down at the game in front of them, that they’ve been playing this whole time. Several pieces on both sides have been taken out, and he sees the chance to take out one of Charles’s pawns.
Piece in hand, he continues, remembering what MacTaggert told him earlier, “You should know though, we didn’t pick up any prints when we brought it in, so you didn’t actually touch the wrench. There was no real harm done.”
With too much enthusiasm, Charles responds, “Well, that’s a relief, to think that this whole scare could’ve been avoided if I had worn different gloves!” He waves one of his hands out, showcasing the fingerless gloves that Erik hasn’t seen him without. It’s concerning to Erik how much he is trying to brush it off, and he can’t help but frown. Charles sees this and sighs, realizing that nothing he does will make Erik forget what happened, immediately becoming more somber. “Thank you for telling me, Erik, truly. But that... wasn’t the reason I left.”
This confuses Erik, who only wanted Charles to stop being so flippant, not realizing the possibility that there was another reason for him doing so, “What? Then why?”
It seems that is the last thing Charles wanted him to ask, as he immediately looks away in embarrassment and grimaces, but still responds, “Like I said, it’s ridiculous, but... For a second there, I thought that Kurt was going to show up and reprimand me for poking around in his lab, he had a knack for knowing when people were in there when they shouldn’t be.” Still trying to lighten up the mood, he glances back and smiles self-deprecatingly, “I mean, it’s been less than a week since he died, but I thought my brain would catch up by now, especially with how quiet it’s been around the house.”
Everything about the way Charles talks about his late father meant that Erik had begun to suspect how Marko treated him, but actually hearing proof of it made him tense up, “Was that the kind of thing he did often?”
“Sometimes it felt like that was his favorite thing to do. I mean, even Hank couldn’t escape it.” While it’s not as bad as a few minutes ago, Charles is talking very casually about the subject, as if he doesn’t realize just how bad the things he experienced were.
Erik tries not to clench his jaw. Everything he learns about the man makes his distaste for him grow, but this is a new level. Trying to keep the venom out of his voice, he speaks slowly, trying to approach the topic of Marko’s abuse as delicately as he knows how to, “And what did he... do exactly, if you don’t mind me asking.”
Charles stares at Erik for a moment, blinking, before a look of panicked concern crosses his face, “Oh goodness! He didn’t hit us, if that’s something you thought I was implying,” he pauses, before frowning, “I mean, only...” He trails off, lost in thought, as if he doesn’t realize he stopped talking. He fidgets with the sleeve of his cardigan for a moment, before snapping out of it and bringing his attention back to Erik, trying to smile again, “No, he only ever yelled. It just- really got to me, you know? I desperately wanted his approval, and it seemed like all I did was disappoint him. It wasn’t until Hank came around that I realized how hopeless it was. Looking back, I don’t even know why I let myself do that. I mean, he may be the only person I could call a father, but he sure didn’t care about me, so why should I?”
Erik frowns more at that, “What about your biological father?”
Charles startles at that, looking at Erik with wide eyes, “Right, yes, I-” He cuts himself off, avoiding Erik’s gaze by looking down at their chess game, picking up a piece and fidgeting with it for a moment before playing it, “Truth be told, I don’t remember much, if anything about him... I only have bits and pieces from before we moved here, and what I do have is... fuzzy.” He grimaces, before continuing in a tone so distant that Erik barely hears him, “That’s part of the reason I moved back after graduating...”
A moment passes before Charles’s head shoots up, and he laughs, a bright smile on his face once again, “But enough about that, I feel like I’ve been talking your ear off! You’ve barely gotten a word in this whole time.”
Erik has begun to realize just how often Charles deflects when he doesn’t want to talk about something. He thinks about calling him out on it again, but decides to give him a break this time, the conversation having gotten more serious than he anticipated.
Instead, he simply smiles, responding, “That’s fine with me. I like listening to you talk.”
Charles blinks at the confession in surprise for a moment, before recovering and giving him a warm look, “Yes, but have you considered that I feel the same way about you? You’re truly brilliant, I didn’t invite you over just to talk about myself the whole time. I just have the urge to keep getting to know you.” Before Erik can gather his thoughts to try to respond, Charles gestures to him, “So come on, tell me whatever you want, doesn’t matter how boring. It could even be a case you’ve done in the past; I’ve read as much as I can find, but that’s nothing compared to hearing it directly from you.”
Erik huffs lightheartedly, unable to come up with a reason not to. Not when Charles is looking at him so expectantly, eager to listen. He leans forward, thinking back on his previous cases, before deciding on one fit to tell, “Alright, how about a recent one? A little under two weeks ago, this EM400 model reports its owner to the police after discovering he had illegal drugs. The victim finds out, and attacks his android, but it manages to get ahold of a gun in the house and shoots him, before running away. We spend several days looking for it, before a hotel manager calls in, reporting that they suspected a deviant was staying in one of their rooms, and the description matched. It was late, so late that both Shaw and MacTaggert were out, so I wasn’t authorized to go after it until they came in. But I knew that in the amount of time it would take to call either of them and wait for them to show up, the deviant would likely be gone already, so I dropped everything and left.”
Charles tilts his head in confusion, “Isn’t that going against your programming?”
Erik shakes his head, “No, I’m programmed to do everything possible in order to complete my mission, which is to find deviants. If need be, I can overwrite orders given to me, so long as it betters my chance of doing so. The only person that isn’t applicable to is Shaw, he’s the only one I can’t go against.”
It’s a good fallback, having an android be able to refuse orders could be detrimental if there was no way to override it, Erik just wishes that option wasn’t given to someone so incompetent at his job as Shaw is. He can’t see the bigger picture, focusing only on what feels right in the moment in his own half-witted mind. If he wanted to, Shaw could jeopardize everything they’ve been working for just because he wasn’t in the mood to do something in that given moment. Erik would even prefer MacTaggert to have that responsibility. She might have deviant sympathizer ideologies, but at least she’s more responsible than Shaw.
“I don’t do something like that often, but this time... this time was an exception. It’s a good thing I did, as we later found that it was getting ready to leave that night. In the end, I managed to corner it on the rooftop. Normally we try to take deviants in, so that we can question them before bringing them to Cyberlife, but this one still had its owner's gun. In cases like that, it’s better to deal with the deviant in any way possible instead of risk getting damaged, so I had to...” Erik trails off, looking down at their forgotten chess game. He thinks about the EM400 under him, terrified and trying to plead for its life, right before he pulled the trigger. In his peripheral vision, Erik notices Charles tensing up, understanding what he was implying.
For a moment, Erik stops to think. Why had he chosen that case out of all of them? Outside of being recent, there wasn’t anything about it that was very interesting, at least nothing that comes to mind right away. Except...
“I guess what I’m trying to say is...” Erik glances back up at Charles, who’s looking at him with concern, “You’re right, there’s not much to do when I’m not working. I was just checking case files when we got that call, like I always do, every night that I don’t have any extra work. I had been waiting all night to do something, so to be told I couldn’t... I was reckless, I went in without any backup, and technically defied my superiors, all to go after one deviant. And it didn’t even make me... feel better.” Gritting his teeth, the android can’t help the words that spill out of his mouth after that admission, never having the chance to express that, “I feel like I’m not worth anything if I’m not working all the time, but when I do finish something, it doesn’t help. This is the first time I’ve really just... let myself be, without feeling bad about it. But I don’t think that will ever happen when I’m at the precinct.”
When Erik finishes his admission, Charles finally speaks up after a moment, “I can definitely relate, overworking yourself out of the need to feel useful. But it isn’t healthy to do nothing else, even if you don’t technically need rest life humans do. I’m very honored that you feel comfortable enough to relax here, even if only a bit. I know Raven helps out Hank in her free time, so we just need to find something you can do when you’re not here.” Charles gives him a reassuring smile, and that’s the thing that makes the ache that’s been growing in Erik’s chest feel like it’s going to break him. He hadn’t realized he was worried Charles wouldn’t understand until he felt the relief that came after hearing his words.
After a minute of Erik trying to compose his thoughts, Charles exclaims, “Ah, I know!”
Thrown off by how sudden Charles’s realization was, Erik watches as he gets up and walks over to one of the bookshelves on the back wall of the nook. He doesn’t even need to search before he grabs one of the books, returning with a pep in his step and a wide smile. He hands it to Erik before sitting down once more, shifting forward and clasping his hands, trying to keep back his excitement.
Examining the book, Erik can’t help but frown. The book itself looks old, but well kept, and the cover has a colorful illustration on the front. In the middle there are two figures who look to be in the middle of a fight, magic swirling all around them as others surround them, also in battle. Erik glances back up at Charles, unable to keep the confusion and distaste off of his face.
Charles sends him a dry look, scoffing, “Don’t look at me like that, it was either this or a book on genetics, and I didn’t think you would be very interested in that.” He’s unable to contain his excitement as he continues, though, “This one is one of my favorites, I’ve probably read it a dozen times. Maybe you’ll like it if you give it a try.”
Still, Erik isn’t convinced, “I’ve read books before, they’ve never quite worked for me.”
“Let me guess, they were all digital and you could read them in an instant?”
Erik opens his mouth to make a retort, before thinking more about it and closing it again, nodding sheepishly.
Charles smirks, “Well, that’s not at all how you should experience a story. With these you have to immerse yourself and take the time to enjoy it. I think you’ll find the experience to be quite different.” He leans back in his seat, feigning indifference despite clearly hoping Erik will enjoy it, “And if you don’t like it, you can hold it over me forever, I won’t mind. I just thought this could be something that would help. I hate the thought of you being stuck and having nothing to do, it doesn’t feel right. You deserve better than that.”
There it is again. That feeling Erik gets every time he’s with Charles, that aching coming from his very being. And it’s only getting more intense the more time he spends with him. That feeling like he’s worth something when around him, that he deserves all the kindness the man gives him rather than being brushed off. Wanting to hear his laugh more, listen to his stories. If this is how he feels only a couple days after meeting Charles, how strong will it be in a week? A month? He struggles with what to say for a while, trying to come up with anything to say that fully encapsulates what he’s thinking. But the only thing that he can come up with is...
“Thank you...”
The look Charles gives him does nothing to help lessen that feeling, “Of course. If it works out, we’ve got plenty of books you can borrow. You don’t have to worry about running out at all.”
Charles turns back to their abandoned chess game, “Now, I believe it was your turn.”
Notes:
even though my writing speed is inconsistent, this whole time ive still been posting some art for this au on my tumblr (ashestxr) under the dbh cherik au tag !!! come say hi if you want :]]
levpines on Chapter 1 Tue 25 Feb 2025 02:45PM UTC
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Last Edited Tue 08 Jul 2025 02:48AM UTC
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