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Chapter Text

The alarm shrieks it is ass o'clock in the morning and it's time for Gavin fucking miserable  Reed to get up and ready to start another day in his new reality, bright and early. With a loud groan in his tiny and empty apartment, he doesn't hit the snooze button just yet, letting the noise develop his growing headache in the off chance he will somehow blackout and find himself back to where he was about a month ago.

Back in his own world, where he was a lazy nobody in his mid-thirties, instead of a responsible adult working a real full time job as a detective at a police department. He rubs his hands over his face, still not ready to accept his new life just yet.

Beep, Beep, Beep,

He's in a futuristic, sci-fi sort-of universe where Detroit is still the same beautiful dumpster fire. It is 2038. The president of the United States is a woman this time.

Beep, Beep, Beep,

Crazy stupid advanced androids are a thing here now, and it's not Elon Musk's doing, but rather his insane now billionaire half-brother. It took him a while to process that.

Beep, Beep, Beep,

There was a whole revolution or something for said androids, a big historic moment where they acquired independence, freedom, the whole kit and caboodle.

Beep, Beep, Beep,

He has a badge and uniform and all that, a serious professional job that he can't just quit or else he'll be homeless and broke.

Beep, Beep, Beep,

He's stuck in some kind of shitty fictional story and the universe seems hellbent on setting him up as the protagonist, the heroine, the chosen one who will eventually do... something. Gavin doesn't know what, but the world chose to literally shove a prophecy onto him and run.

He noticed he found himself surprisingly competent at his detective job, noticing small details in crime scenes, like his eyes would focus on key things and blur out the rest. Knowing how to press suspect's buttons when interrogated to get information out of them. Actually being able to keep up with escaping suspects through the city's street all while keeping a steady hand on his gun when it counts.

Then all of a sudden the wind would knock his ass on the floor, or a conveniently placed object would have him trip and eat pavement, only to have someone help him up with a random breeze blowing their hair like it's a Pantene commercial. Sometimes he would spill his cup of coffee on a kind stranger while the sun literally blinds him and reflects a golden glow on them. It has happened 3 times by now. He knows he's not a clumsy bitch, his previous apartment was a mess and he rarely stumbled on any of his things!

Sometimes he would find himself in danger out of nowhere, and the universe would find some way to rescue him like he's some damsel in distress. Cornered late at night in some back alley by thugs only to have one of the police androids show up like a knight in shining armor and help him as glitter sparkles from the streetlamps. Pushed out of the way of a speeding car by a rich looking pedestrian who could have been on his way to an important gala while his surroundings slow down like a dramatic scene.

Heck, just a few days ago, he got caught up in a hostage situation during his break at a small coffee shop. Some asshole thought the humble family owned shop to be their perfect target to rob instead of the Starbucks next door. The man was clearly unstable, high on some crack they call 'Red Ice', and turned a simple robbery into a storewide panic when he decided to shoot two innocent bystanders. When he was about to aim towards Gavin, the ceiling literally fucking dropped on his head and knocked him out.

Not to mention, most of the time he finds himself surrounded by conveniently good looking people. Rarely anyone he's interacted with looks terrible, the worst offenders are the androids built to look like models. The majority of Detroit appear average, ordinary, or even faceless if they aren't important. The creepiest sign according to him. Downright comical hideous is reserved for the few and rare cliché one dimensional criminals they have arrested, like Tuesday's mr. coffee shop.

Beep, Beep, Be-

He finally turns off his alarm and begrudgingly drags himself to the bathroom to get ready for his shift at the DPD. The mirror reflects his worse for wear ragged look, he doesn't understand why he's been dragged here to play the main character, he looks like a rabbit racoon with those sunken eyes, heavy eyebags and prickly gruff. Surely a more youthful and less disastrous looking person would have been a better choice.

Gavin takes his sweet time getting ready, making sure to have a full stomach and the best cup of joe possible before heading out, knowing damn well he won't get fired for being a few minutes late since the captain favors him and the lieutenant apparently. He's tried before, it didn't work on the stubborn bastard. Instead his disciplinary folder only increased, something he wasn't exactly surprised to see. Reckless behavior, foul language, inappropriate comments, yadda yadda. Indulging in a bit of doom scrolling on his phone, he notices Elijah left him a few more messages today.

He hasn't opened any of them since he got here, still unsure how to exactly respond towards a stranger who is suddenly a half-family member.

His phone rings as he takes his last sip from the cheap mug, speaking of the devil.

"Reed! Just because you got a few days off from the last incident doesn't mean you can be late for your job. Pick up your ass and get to my office now." Fowler yells from the other side of the line, before hanging up without letting him get a single word in.

"Love ya too capt'n."

With new orders, Gavin grabs his jacket and leaves his apartment.

Once he arrives there, he immediately sees one of this world's favored characters, a golden astro-bot is sitting at the lieutenant's desk as the room seems to sparkle around him like he's the center of the room. The android, Connor, notices him and flashes him a white pearly smile so clean, the reflection has him squint his eyes from the sheer brightness. He's got to start wearing shades he keeps promising.

"That's an ugly looking face Gav, keep it for when Captain Fowler wants to talk to ya." A hand on his shoulder greets him, as Tina Chen whistles at his expression.

Whatever plans this world had for him, it decided to take some form of pity on him in the form of his best friend, officer Tina Chen. Someone who Gavin learned to genuinely enjoy hanging out with, as she was there to help him orient himself when he first arrived here, and oh boy was he a mess when he first got here. She was a sarcastic and mischievous bitch who wore her title proudly, but she was patient and sympathetic with him. She quickly became his ride or die. There was never a sudden random spot light to announce her presence, or some radiance around her to differentiate her from crowds. She was funny, rude, and petty sometimes, she was normal. Whatever narrative there was, they didn't plan to have Tina in it, and Gavin found himself relaxed in her presence.

"What'd you think Captain Fucker's got to yap about?" He grins at her, ignoring Connor's greeting.

"Probably your shitty decades old slang, if not I'll add it to your disciplinary folder myself." She rolls her eyes. "Seriously got no clue tho, did you fuck up at the coffee shop incident?"

"I promise I did nothing but pray during my captivity T, like a good little hostage, and god answered." Gavin raises his hands in the air in mock surrender under her faux scrutinizing gaze. He feels a light punch to his side.

"I'll pray you won't get fired then, break a leg and get your sick pay day." She leaves him be, knowing damn well unemployment or not won't stop her from hanging out.

Walking up to his boss's large glass office, he sees Lieutenant Anderson finish up his own little meeting with a fresh folder of new cases; he stops Gavin before he could enter.

"I know you've been comfy for the past few years working as you have, but try to keep a cool head for this." Is the only cryptic message he is left with. The fuck?

"Gavin Reed!"

He can't ask the lieutenant to elaborate as Jeffrey yells at him to hurry inside. He sits on the uncomfortable chair and waits in silence, arms crossed, as the other man displays some papers in front of him.

"Should I return my badge?" He jumps straight to the point. The captain ignores his question, wordlessly pulling out another folder. The awkward silence stretches on as Fowler keeps looking between the entrance and at Gavin for any chance he may escape, keeping him in place. Well at least he gets to keep his job another day.

"Uhh, we waiting for someone?" His boss only gives a brief hum of confirmation as he keeps looking at his files, blocking the info from Gavin's view.

Before Gavin can see the door behind him open, he feels a strange itch start in his nose, and his eyes start to feel irritated. He lets out a violent sneeze and coughs out in the air, forgetting to cover his mouth. A box of tissue is handed towards him and he blindly grabs for it, feeling the need to blow his now stuffy nose, and finally looks to his side.

Not Connor is standing beside him with the box, giving him a leveled eye at what must be an amusing sigh. Gavin sees the subtle lighting of the room has dimmed around them, the holy looking glow on the android. The gentle random gust of air from the inside of the building parted through his neatly coiffed hair, letting a few strands fall on his face. Fucking flowers starting to blossom from behind him like Aphrodite herself decided to bless him with his own signature entrance. Gavin's allergic to pollen. Nobody else is acknowledging Connor's doppelganger's literally sprouting roses and shit.

There's a reason angel's can't be seen by the naked human eyes, and Gavin's eyeballs feel like they are being set on fire by the other's blinding presence and it burns like hell. Jeffrey goes to greet him, ignorant to Gavin's suffering.

"Think I'm permanently blind." He grits out after the universe decided not Connor's introduction scene ran its course.

"That's a shame detective, I was promised a capable partner." A smooth and rich voice leaves the android's mouth. Gavin turns towards him, still recovering from both blindness and allergies making him look like he's glaring.

"Pleasure to have you on board RK900. Reed, you have a few seconds to compose yourself to properly make acquaintance with your new partner."

Everything finally hits him. The whole picture finally reveals itself for him to see its horrors. The uncharacteristic clumsiness, the sudden occasional rescues, the entourage of good looking strangers, the faceless background characters, the hues and glows accommodated to some, the slow-motion sequences that briefly happens, the absence of his parents, the gay best friend. The flowers that can grow from someone's mere presence.

Gavin Reed finds himself stuck in some kind of shitty fictional romance novel, and the universe seems hellbent on finding him love.

Chapter Text

It's been a few days ever since Gavin got himself a partner, RK nine-hundred, the better, shinier, brand new model, an upgrade from Connor apparently. Fowler was talking about the guy like he's a brand new car, he may as well have slapped a bumper sticker on the back of his white jacket.

Gavin waits in the department's small break room for his coffee, the loud broken gushing noise of the device may be a sign they need to retire the poor thing, permanently. Replace good old Joe, the name he gave the Nespresso machine, pull out its electric life support cord from the outlet, heck, maybe even give it a funeral burial for the fun of it. He and Tina would definitively have fun playing mourning guests dressed in all black as they watch it be hydraulic pressed.

"Mr. Bonds over there look like he's seconds away from dragging you and that chair back to your desk." Tina laughs, pointing towards his new partner. Following her gaze, Gavin sees the RK sitting in a perfect posture, back straight, on the spare chair he dragged out of one of the interrogation rooms since he couldn't find any other seats for him to use, not that he put much effort in looking around.

"But before I kill you Mr. Bond, I must show you this disgusting coffee from our rusty coffee machine." Gavin does his best evil monologue imitation, earning a chuckle from his friend.

"He done anything to warrant you killing him yet?"

"Hmm, just existing seems like a pretty solid offense to me. We've mostly been stuck on paper duty since I'm still technically recovering from 'the coffee shop incident'. Doesn't talk much other than when necessary. Although he's been filling out reports like he's got ChatGPT premium or something installed, so most of the time I find myself with extra time and nothing to do. Fowler wants to wait a few more days before putting me out in the fields. Urghh, I'm so bored T." He lets himself slump on the tall unstable break room table. Tina slaps his head in a poor attempt to cheer him up.

"Finish your oh so tragic day then let's go hit a bar or something. You've been lonely for god no how long."

The last thing Gavin wants to do is exactly that, go out somewhere to find a partner when the world is already violently shoving anyone, human or android, in his face until he reluctantly decides to play the lovestruck maiden. He groans in protest with his greasy face fully pressed on the table.

"Fine! I've been lonely for god knows how long." Tina exasperates.

The machine finally makes an exhausted dying noise, having finally finished Gavin's drink. Fucking finally.

"T, where are the lids?" He asks behind him.

"Sorry, we all outta lids."

Gavin doesn't notice the tall looming presence making his way towards him as he finally clutches the burning coffee. They really need to get it replaced.

"Pardon me Officer Chen, but I am here to take Detective Reed back to your station since he is past his break hours." RK says from behind him, scaring Gavin from the android's sudden appearance.

"Mother fu-!"

Gavin feels it once more, the slow anti gravity like motion as the world becomes heavy and sluggish. His vision focuses on the fluid movement of the scaling hot coffee, his eyes widening as he realizes it's about to spill all over the RK's pristine white Cyberlife jacket, and it will be an absolute bitch to clean. He doubts he can afford dry-cleaning. He hears Tina's voice lowers and stretches as she's in the process of gasping. The liquid dances in the air like it's doing an interpretive dance inspired by its freedom from the cheap paper cup. Gavin quickly tries to catch his coffee mid-air with speed and desperation. He somehow manages to prevent any spills, only a few droplets hit the floor as the rest is contained back in the cup. The world returns to normal and he lets out a breath he didn't even know he was holding, he brings the cup closer to himself.

Both Tina and the RK look at him like he's just performed a circus trick, may as well count as one. He still feels his hand trembling a bit, he probably looks insane to them right now. Still recovering from the adrenaline, from the corner of his eye he sees Tina snap a quick picture of him, and hears the notification ring from his phone.

The android raises an amused brow, he seems to be doing that a lot now that he thinks about it.

"Congratulations on saving the day Detective Reed." A faux compliment. Roses start to sprout from behind him once more and unnaturally glitters around his head. He's had enough of those fucking flowers. Before Gavin can retort, a loud sneeze shakes him from the core, spilling the burning liquid on himself instead.

A loud yell from the break room is heard in the bulletin as everyone sees the detective dash towards the restroom with a large coffee stain and angry cursing follow.

Chapter Text

Another homicide lies in front of him on the cold floor of an old suburb building. It's raining cats and dogs outside, the wind is kicking up a nasty gale outside, rattling the old windows and creaking wood, and he's freezing to death.

As soon as he and the RK entered the crime scene, he swears mother nature had it out for him and decided to drop the temperature low enough to inconvenience his functionality and reduce him to a shivering kitten. It was 10 degrees outside just a few hours ago back at the station, his jacket would've been enough to keep him warm.

Detective.

The victim on the floor, a young woman dressed in office clothes, has a singular clean stab wound in her chest, dry blood decorating her display. Her face is relaxed and still well kept by her makeup, and she looks more like she's in a deep slumber instead of being outright murdered, like a polished Disney princess. Gavin wishes that where him, least dead he wouldn't feel like he's turning into an ice cube. Even her position on the floor seems to empathize with the woman's tragic passing.

Detective please refrain from comparing a sensitive crime scene to a fairy tale.

Right, the crime scene. Well it's obvious that the cause of death is bleeding out, unless the red pool underneath her just so happens to be a very well placed bucket of paint. Oh, and would you look at that, the culprit was stupid enough to leave his sloppy footprints as shoe marks lead toward a broken window and his escape path to the freezing outdoors.

Footmarks match that of a size 9 men's construction work boots. An inexpensive model.

He found the victim's wallet ditched outside, emptied out completely on the lawn. The murder weapon is nowhere to be found. Doesn't matter anyways since the fucker's probably gotten his dirty fingerprints all over the wallet anyways, and even if he was wise enough to wear gloves, which Gavin would bet on his and Tina's life he didn't, they would just need to track any recent purchases made from the stolen cards. With the upstate technology that surrounds him nowadays, catching the villain of the week will be but a mere breeze.

Another shiver runs up his back as the wind blows stronger inside, rattling him to the bones. Did he mention just how fucking cold it was?

"The culprit's fingerprints match that of someone in our data bank. Nicholas Banks, 24 years old. Has previous records of violent behavior, trespassing, thefts, and illegal gambling." The RK reports

"C-Case closed then, let's get the hell out of here, find the guy, arrest his ass, then go home so I can warm up and pass the fuck out." His teeth have been clattering for far too long and if he stays any longer his jaw will fall off.

"Detective. Your body temperature is worryingly low." The RK informs him.

Gavin sees the yellow LED circle around the man's temple to his side as they both come to the same conclusion, he's about to offer him his Cyberlife jacket. Fuck if the android is only trying to be nice, he's not going to let himself submit to some blatantly obvious cliché sweet gesture. Although if he refuses, he's just going to seem like even more of a heartless asshole who keeps shitting on any kindness in the world. Something pops into the detective's head, he just has to get rid of the offensive item before it can be offered.

"Analyze the blood closely again and see if any of the culprit's may have mixed in there would ya?" He interrupts, doing a two finger gesture to mimic the weird forensic analysis the android previously did with his mouth.

Gavin tries to subtly trip the RK so he falls and sullies his jacket, pushing an obstacle in front of his feet. Gavin learns 2 things at that moment. First, the universe has automatically chosen the RK900 to be their favorite child and granted him the superpowers of always being perfect no matter what, as his partner expertly stumbles and catches himself but a mere inch from the pool of blood like he's Michael Jackson. Second, he fucking hates the bastard's smug grin as the android knows how cool and composed he looks.

"Must've been the wind." Is Gavin's only explanation to him, as he decides to pull out a pack of cigarettes and have the taste of nicotine warm him up instead.

"If the wind ever knocks you over, perhaps I'll try to catch you too, detective." The RK has the audacity to pull shitty lines out of his ass after Gavin's failed sabotage attempt. He inhales and blows smoke in the air. His unimpressed resting bitch face clashes against the other's neutral serious expression like the android isn't embarrassed by his own words.

His earpiece connects to a message.

Suspect located. Nicholas Banks found 11 miles away from your position.

"Detective. Your jacket is on fire."

"Shit! The fuck?!"

Both detectives hop into the police car, with only Gavin smelling of burned leather and karma.

Chapter Text

How is this fucker so goddamn fast!?

Gavin and the RK had found him near some abandoned alleyway hiding an old apartment. As soon as eyes met, Nicholas Bank ran straight for the hills, sending both of them on a wild goose chase. So here's Gavin running out and about in the rain, wet jeans, a ruined jacket, and the storm above giving him the equivalent of a shower. His lungs burn and he's wheezing like he has heavy asthma. The other detective is way ahead of him, unfazed by the downpour, with the culprit even further.

In his earpiece, he hears his partner's voice, not even a little out of breath.

"Suspect is escaping North further up Hamilton."

They pause at an intersection somewhere in the city, having lost their culprit as he camouflages into a busy crowd. Everyone's umbrellas gave him the perfect coverage. The RK scans his surroundings to relocate. Gavin immediately clocks in on the man's large crocked eagle shaped nose sticking out of his hood, it feels a bit like cheating when you're playing 'Where's Waldo' across a sea of faceless bland individuals. He continues the chase.

"Detective, wait!"

He's climbing up some old unstable looking ladders to the rooftop of a building. Gavin's legs feel like jelly and nausea hits him hard, but he still follows. Thankfully the suspect also seems to be running out of breath himself, slowing down its steps. Thank fuck. Then, he watches him jump from one roof to another. He loudly curses, before doing the same and just barely making it across too. Above them, the sky's covered by dark clouds, loudly crackling in the air like a warning. From below, he hears the quick heavy steps of the RK approaching closer.

Nicholas is cornered at the top, looking more and more agitated at his predicament. They've got him. Gavin points his gun towards him while slowly approaching in case he tries anything funny.

"Detroit Police! Put your hands in the air and on your knees. You're under arrest." The sky roars along with him, a paid actor.

"Do you have a warrant for the arrest?" Nicholas yells back at him.

"Think that's going to work asshole? You're holding the damn murder weapon. Caught you red handed."

The idiot had the balls to actually lunge straight at Gavin. He pulls the trigger, but nothing comes out of his gun. Oh for fuck sake. Some kind of malfunction or waterlog must have blocked its muzzle the moment he really needed it. He's grappled by the other and feels the sharp knife pressed to his neck. Forget about getting stabbed, Gavin's more worried about the potential diseases transmitted from the uncleaned blood on the knife. He's dragged to the edge of the roof, kept hovered above it, and sees the RK at the bottom of the building. It's about a 7 meter drop to the floor.

"Mr. Bank. I need you to release the hostage, put the knife down, and surrender yourself peacefully." His partner yells, although they can barely hear him as the storm and wind deafens his orders. He feels the trembling hands clumsily slip and snip a small cut on his neck, a small sting but nothing terribly painful. Gavin's more irritated from his inconveniences than fearful for his life, as he knows the universe wouldn't let him die so easily. Nicholas is yelling outrageous demands from both of them for an escape, some cash, a car, better weapons, the usual. Gavin's practically waiting for a miraculous flash of lightning to strike down on his assailant or something so he can get on over with the scene and finish his day.

"Release the hostage Mr. Banks and we can settle this without an additional murder added to your record. I have already called off the reinforcement, if that puts you at ease."

Gavin suddenly finds half of the upper part of his torso leaning over in a free fall, the son of a bitch think he's funny by 'releasing him' for the plummet down to get him, his hands clutches on the edge in a tight grip, knuckles almost white, so he isn't completely shoved off. Thunder strikes once more almost as if Zeus himself is adding some extra spice to the scene. Below them, the RK has his arms spread out if the worse case scenario does happen. The vertigo is really starting to get to him as he feels the blood rush towards his head. The weapon's been completely abandoned in favor of keeping him in place. Deep breaths.  He can make this work. Turn the table around.

Gavin headbutts Nicholas right in the nose with as much strength as he can manage, both yelp in pain from the impact, and uses the small window to switch their places.

"Said you'd help me?" Gavin yells. He doesn't wait for an answer, and shoves the other over the roof. "Well catch!"

The RK, not expecting the sudden free fall, hurries to secure and cuff the culprit. A heavy thud lands in his arm as he plays hero effortlessly, and catches the captured man in a bridal style carry. Whoop de doo.

With the danger gone, the weather does a full 180 shift, and decides to part its gloomy clouds for a clear sunny atmosphere, as rays of sunshine illuminate them. Cue the fucking credits already.  Heavy rain no longer deafens his surroundings, Gavin hears the distant sirens of police cars approach their location, and lets himself collapse from exhaustion. Nausea decides to deliver the final blow on him, since the other couldn't, and Gavin empties out his stomach right where he is. Retch and bile celebrating a job well done in this fucked up world.

Chapter Text

There's a saying somewhere in the world that idiots don't catch colds. Gavin must be the next bloody Einstein in that case since he's currently been bedridden in a hospital bed in a thin patient gown for the past few days. Pounding headache, achy muscles, gross fluids that won't stop running, he feels like absolute shit. More shit than usual. The doctors give him the good news. It's not pneumonia from the rain or HIV from the knife, just a very high fever of over 100 degrees. See, no big deal.

At least he gets to use his annual paid sick leave, Fowler's orders.

Tina decided to visit him with a surprise, gifting his bedside the most depressing balloon he has ever seen, slightly deflated and with more wrinkles than an old man. The perfect décor. The get well card with the illustration of a stick figure that could rival Picasso and the message, Weak immune system? Skill issuse, all written in comic sans, was just the cherry on the top.

"So, Make a Wish contacted you yet?" Tina nudges his side, unaware or uncaring her best friend is as fragile as a piece of paper.

"I'm 36 fucking years old T, a fully grown adult. If you wanted to visit Disneyland so badly you'd have better chances passing off as a child with your height." That earns him a harsh jab that will definitely bruise later, but Gavin doesn't care as he freely laughs out loud even if his voice is raspy as shit.

Tina lets him regain his composure as she comfortably installs herself next to his bed, pulling out two large thermoses.

"Got some tea for ya, herbal or verbal? Wrong! It's both."

What the hell did he do to deserve her?

Visiting hours for patients is almost over. Tina was someone Gavin suspected would show up sometime in the day, although the RK900 was the last person Gavin was expecting to see. Dammit he should've known the universe would take advantage of his weakened state and try to profit off the fact he can't go anywhere. It's not that he wants to interact with his partner, he really doesn't want to at the moment. It's just that he refuses to be stuck with anyone under any of the universe's circumstances.

"Detective, how are you feeling?" The android asks, already knowing the answer. Just talking for small talk. Gavin's usual thousand yard stare doesn't work this time when he's got puffy red irritated eyes and tissues clogged up his nose. He doesn't even have the energy to cover his eyes as the other sparkles in the room like a Twilight character. Oh look, the walking bouquet started sprouting different flowers this time. Gavin would've had him stand in the corner as extra furniture next to the sad balloon if he weren't so damn allergic.

The familiar irritated feeling crawls from his throat and his breath shortens. Gavin let's a loud sneeze, and forces an onslaught of painful coughs to resonate in the room, making it sound like he's battling against the black plague instead of a fever. He answers the RK with incomprehensible gibberish and deathly groans, delivering the performance of hacking out his own lungs to really drive the point of his status. He spams the call button on the side of his hospital bed for help, and is saved by two nurses who hurry at his side. Gavin's lost his dignity the moment he breathed life in this world, he doesn't give a shit how much more unsightly he can get.

"Detective?!"

"Sir, we will have to ask you to leave the room so we can attest to the patient." One of the nurses kicks his partner out. "Besides, visiting hours are nearly over, you will have to come back tomorrow." The RK reluctantly but politely lets himself be steered away from his room, while Gavin is mentally air punching in victory at having disrupted the world's plan.

"Do visiting hours apply to family members?" Another presence makes itself known.

Chapter Text

"Who the fuck are you?" Playing the memory loss card is Gavin's best and only plan he could come up with to avoid the one he's been ignoring the most.

"Gavin! Good to see you haven't kicked the bucket just yet. Don't tell me you forgot about me?" Elijah Kamski greets him, entering the room without permission like he owns the damn building. He wouldn't be surprised if he did.

"...No-pe. Don't remember-."

"That's a shame dear brother, you still owe me 50$ after all." Elijah cuts him off, reading the medical report at the end of his bed. "Did you also have amnesia when you 'forgot' to answer any of my messages?" His playful confident tone is all Gavin needs to know the jig is up. Son of a bitch knows damn well he doesn't owe him a cent, it would just be a drop of water in the ocean to him anyways.

"The hell you want Eli?" He slumps back in defeat, watching the two nurses leave the room after making sure he's okay. His brother dismisses them like he's in charge.

"Thought I'd deliver the news to you personally while you couldn't escape. Although, that won't be necessary as I saw the RK900 leave just a few moments ago."

Gavin gestures for him to spit it out as he may as well do his role as story exposition.

"The upgraded Connor model was a prototype designed for military use during the deviancy epidemic, but after the revolution and my return as CEO of Cyberlife, he's come under my monitorization." Before Gavin could add a word in, a hand is raised to shut him up. "Patience. While activated as a deviant, the RK has been placed to work at the Detroit Police Department alongside his predecessor as a trial run for a potential unit of SWAT. So imagine my surprise when I learned he's been partnered up with my little brother." He laughed to himself at the irony, dismissing Gavin's very displeased scrunched up face.

For all of the information dump his brother's done, all Gavin's retained is that it's Elijah's fault he's stuck with Astro-Bot number 2.

"I'm sure you've noticed during your partnership the RK900's differences to the RK800, he's been specially designed to-" Gavin dissociates upon his half-brother's rambling, having heard enough sales pitch of the damn android, only answering in half assed hums and grunts to give the illusion he's listening. He's been reduced to background white noise.

-appearance to look attractive for any infiltration or spy-

Just how much longer is he stuck in this hellish hospital? The internet is so fucking slow here.

-larger physique made for close combat and-

He should call Tina and drag her back here with him, sneak her inside through the window. It's not like she's going to arrest herself for breaking and entering.

-programmed his own characteristics for-

Maybe they should hit a bar or something afterwards, so Gavin can drown his misery in alcohol while Tina plays bodyguard. She's got the guard skills of a chihuahua and would bite anyone's ankles if they dare approach him.

"Gavin." Fingers snap in front of him and his focus turns back to his brother demanding attention.

"He only gets 1 star for catching a falling man from a building." Is all Gavin has to say. "Also, either your ego is so huge that you won't shut the hell up about him, or you just really want to fuck the guy yourself." His brother plasters on a calm fake smile at his provocation, he meets him head on with a nasty shit eating grin of his own. If he squints enough, he may see a little vein pop on his exposed forehead.

"As I was saying, since you've both been assigned together by Captain Fowler, I would like it if you could also give me a more detailed weekly report of his performance. Oh! And before you refuse, you will be paid if you do so Gavin." Gavin quickly learned that the word 'no' doesn't exist in Elijah Kamski's dictionary, and he clearly has the money to have the world bend to his whims. If he agrees, at least he will never know the full power he's capable of. Plus he may as well extort as much as he can from him for creating the source of his headaches.

Agreeing with Elijah is like making a deal with the devil.

Chapter Text

Gavin finds himself only 2 and a half, since Tina abandoned hers and insisted he finishes it, drinks in and still doesn't feel as hammered as he would like to be. Tina insisted they go to a specific bar, at a specific date, during a specific time since apparently that's when a live band was performing. She even dragged Christ along with her as the designated sober friend so they could both go a little crazy in celebration of Gavin's survival and recovery.

Honestly, he's surprised and impressed that barely anyone has tried to make a pass at him or asked for his number. It was Tina's idea to masquerade his small neck injury, now healed, as a big large hickey using makeup, so others would assume he wasn't available and drink in peace. The only thing he got was a free drink from an anonymous tipper, according to the bartender, that he refused, and that's it.

No sudden glow shone to bring spotlight to a potential bachelor, no suspiciously exaggerated good looking individual trotted around for the past few hours, his vision didn't turn an unnatural hazy shade of pink, and he didn't spill any of his drinks on anyone. Currently, he is just enjoying the moment of normalcy as he lazes about in a shaded corner watching the underground musicians perform.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end as he fails to notice a tall dark haired woman approach him. The first thing he notices is her bright red lipstick matching her equally red drunken flushed face. She's towering over him and if she wasn't wearing any heels, Gavin still wouldn't see the top of her head.

"Can I help you, miss?" He goes for neutral casual, if he acts clueless maybe she'll feel less confident and go away.

"Just returning something you forgot, your free drink. I'll accept your number as a thank you though." She winks at him. A small little playful wink as she offers him the rejected drink from earlier. What the fuck!? Gavin's left opened mouthed in shock at the bold pick-up line, like a fish out of water. Sure he's felt some strange tension before forced upon him when he so much as breathed in the same space as possible matches, but he's never experienced something so direct. This shitty universe must be pulling the strings harder on him.

"I'm here with someone unfortunately." He tries to find his friend in the club, looking at the bar where she and Christ where to order more overpriced drinks, only to actually find her in the crowd near the stage; drunkenly making out with a blonde girl. Shit, there goes his alibi. He hears laughter from his piss poor attempted lie.

The woman gets closer and closer to him, and Gavin's little corner doesn't have any more room for him to sink into. "You seem like a wonderful gal-"

"I could show you just how wonderful I am if you follow me somewhere else." She's really pushing it, he can smell whatever heavy perfume she's wearing by now. Where the hell is Christ so he can pull him out of here? The stranger reminds him of Elijah in the ‘unstoppable force to be reckoned with’ department.

"I really do-" She puts an arm on the wall next to his head and leans in even more in his personal space with sultry eyes.

"Rachel, but you can call me yours tonight if you want."

He can hear the exact moment the band shifts from indie rock to a slow instrumental classic song, and see his dark corner gleams as the broken LED above magically fixes itself.  He's going to fucking lose it.

"Look Ra-chel. I'm clearly not interested in your offer. So if you could piss off that'd be great." If the universe wants to push, Gavin's going to push back harder. He's frontline in the battlefield and he's fighting fire with fire.

Before she can say anything else, Tina appears, still drunk out of her mind, holding the arms of two very familiar android twins.

"GaaAAVVvv! Look who I bumped into! Your partner's here!"

Hh— hhAH— A’DSHU’H!

"Mother-fuck!"

Chapter Text

Apparently, thing 1 and thing 2 decided to also visit the same bar as them since Connor wanted to see the performance and experience the 'nightlife' of Detroit himself. He decided to drag the other RK with him so they could both try out alcohol for robots. Apparently that was a thing that existed here, Gavin didn't really pay attention to the whole 'robot lore' since he arrived.

The woman, who Gavin quickly forgot her name, quickly left him as soon as the rest appeared running with her tails between her legs and a stupid misunderstanding he didn't have the time to squash down because of Tina. The fact that he also spilled the overly sweet drink on her heels thanks to allergies may have also played a part in her swift exit.

So now here he is, stuck side by side between the two R2-D2 at a larger table Christ found to accommodate the larger group, eating stale fries with not enough condiment. Gavin refuses to pay an extra dollar for more ketchup, greedy bastards.

The RK brothers are testing different flavors of chemical blue looking shots that are apparently the same liquid as their blood... Yeah, he stopped trying to make sense of things and just accepted it for what it was. Blame everything on Kamski's strange choice of design.

"So, d'Gavin fuck up any cases since you've been together yet?" Tina asks the RK900. He can see her hungry eyes for gossip and obsession to hear it straight from the source.

"I'm so touched to hear how much faith you have in me T." He slides a glass of water towards her.

"Not as much. Although he came very close when he decided to drop a full adult male from the top of a building without any warnings. Connor was successful in convincing him not to press charges."

"A task that wasn't easy for the record." Said android quips in.

Tina's posture shapeshifts to that of a high school mean girl that yells 'tell me more'.

"Detective Reed is reckless to a fault, foul-mouthed to the point that soap wouldn't save him, and could easily be mistaken as the average criminal if he didn't have his badge." His partner answers as if Gavin himself wasn't 2 feet away.

Well fuck you too bitch. Gavin would've mistaken him as an Eden Club worker if he didn't have the equivalent of a NASA computer shoved up his hard-drive.

I appreciate the compliment.

Also why the hell is he giving them a report about him? That's Gavin's job for Eli. He really should stop procrastinating and start writing on that now that he thinks about it.

"Even so, I am satisfied to report that despite the factors, not a single case has been left unresolved. Lieutenant Anderson and Captain Fowler did warn me about his unorthodox work habits. It's an unexpected conundrum, something that shouldn't work against all odds, yet it does. I find Detective Reed interesting"

"M'right fucking 'ere." He grumbles to no-one's attention. Also who the hell talks like that. He has another drink of whatever he grabbed and sips so he'll be too stoned to hear more of his small dignity being slandered.

They exit the bar with Gavin using Christ as a clutch since his head is twisting in on itself and the pavement won't stop constantly shifting. Seriously, how the hell is anyone supposed to walk properly if they don't fix the swirls at the entrance. Everyone bids their goodbyes to one another with slurred voices and promises to do this again. For some reason, the RK900 lingers a bit and looks back at him and all Gavin sees is his intense frosty blue eyes that look too perfect to be natural with a look that he can't decipher and not knowing what he's thinking frustrates him to no end. The hell is this prick scanning for.

Call it liquid courage or whatever, Gavin is going to shut down whatever little plan the universe has for the RK900. Spite has been a strong motivator since his birth, and he's going to prove that all he needs in life is his best friend, his job, and maybe 3-4 cats.

"Frankly, I don't find you that interesting." It's a rude thing to say, Gavin knows it is, but he's banking on being enough of an asshole to push through anything. If he loses his partner, he doesn't care, fate will probably push another shiny Barbie onto him afterwards.

He watches the spinning LED light circle around the RK's temple, it passes over yellow for a split second, then returns to blue. The son of a bitch smiles widely at Gavin's words, looking far too happy then he would have liked.

"Challenge accepted detective. I will see you tomorrow."

No! No, that is the exact opposite Gavin wanted! He feels the back of his jacket collar get grabbed as he's dragged away by his shit faced friend who's giggling to no-one loudly, and watches as the RK900 walks away to catch up with the other. His surrounding aura is even brighter than his counterpart.

Gavin argues letting Tina bring him back home is a tactical retreat.

Chapter Text

"Reed! Anderson! In my office!" Fowler yells to the both of them. The thing with the Captain is that no one ever knows what he wants until you get inside his little glass dome. He could be happy, have some good news, or pissed all to hells. It was like playing Russian roulette. You can never tell with his tone. Gavin and Hank both scurry in so he won't need to shout and shatter the glass.

"Got a new case for you both. Three reported missing YK500 models in the past week were later found abandoned near street dumpsters. We think either someone or an anti-android group's been kidnapping, deactivating, then disposing of them. You will both be on stakeout near these locations and taking turns rotating between shifts. Anderson, you and Connor will be first up. Reed, you and RK900 will be on the late night one. If anyone's got any complaints, you can hand over your badge and go home."

He gives them both a pat on the shoulder.

"Pack some snacks, some coffee from the new machine, and your patience. It's going to be a long 12 hours."

They are swiftly dismissed and sent back to their desks, none too happy about their new assignment.

Gavin and the RK900 both sit in the disguised police vehicle, parked in the back of a Denny's. It is long past 1AM, they've been here since 9. The android isn't in the driver seat despite his insistence since Gavin was too prideful to play passenger princess. It is the most torturous night Gavin has ever experienced. His phone died around midnight, which shouldn't be a problem in fucking 2038 if you ask him, and he's bored out of his mind. It's not even raining today, so Gavin can't have fun playing waterdrop racing on the windows.

"Detective." His partner starts. "Could I ask why you are wearing sunglasses when there is no sunlight?"

Gavin's taken to start wearing a cheap pair of aviator shades whenever he's working with the RK to dim the distracting glow that sometimes appears.

"Cuz it makes me look cool." Is the worst and only explanation he's willing to give. He knows it makes him look obnoxious, pretentious or even downright creepy as fuck. Like a stereotypical cop in those old sitcoms about to empty out an entire donut shop. Tina nearly spat her drink in his face the first time he wore them around her, and Gavin himself can't help but cringe a little bit on the inside every time he sees himself with them in a mirror. All that matters is that they slightly work so Gavin isn't constantly half blind whenever someone decides to turn into the literal sun.

The RK hums an unconvinced tune.

"Detective?"

"Yuh?"

"Why do you constantly carry around fexofenadine tablets? Your vitals indicate you are in good health." Gavin's also started carrying those on him in case of any botanic jump scares from the android.

"Pollen allergy."

"In the middle of November?"

Gavin un-slouches from his seat, removes his feet that were propped up on the steering wheel and adjusts himself to look at his suspiciously chatty co-worker.

"This look like an interrogation room to you?"

"I'm merely making conversation to pass the time." The RK gives an unapologetic curl of the mouth.

"Since when are we playing 21 questions?"

"Is that a game that you would like to play? Detective."

"Fuck no."

It takes only 10 more minutes before Gavin caves in from the too quiet vehicle. Fuck it. Gavin's getting desperate for any form of distraction.

"You have 16 left since you've already asked 5." Is all he grumbles.

"Last I counted it was 4."

"15 now. Don't waste them." The RK gives a quiet sigh, but doesn't argue.

"Favorite music genre?"

"80s and 90s rock."

"Any specific bands?"

"The Police. Ironic, I know."

"Any reasons why you chose that as a career?"

"For the money and getting to beat up folks." Gavin himself doesn't know but he won't question it.

"Fitting, according to your last name. Does it come from your mother's or father's side?" Shit. That's another thing Gavin has no clue to, he's had none to zero information about them. He'll have to ask Elijah about that.

"Sensitive subject?" The android asks after Gavin fails to answer.

"Sure."

"My apologies then. Do you own any pets?"

"Not yet."

"What would it be if you had one?"

"A cat. They're little shits but they do their own things and don't blindly follow you like a dog."

"How long have you and Officer Chen known each other?"

"Far too long." Good save.

"You both got to grow up in a generation before our kind were made. How was it before?" There's something reserved in the RK's question that Gavin wouldn't have caught on if he wasn't paying attention. A curious melancholy that definitively threw him off guard. Gavin is stumbling over in his own mind trying to find an answer without thinking too much about how he was just rotting away in his old life.

"I-I don't know. Didn't really think about how quickly things fucking changes as I got older and how fast technology evolved. But, I'll say that I'm thankful that it wasn't another certain asshole billionaire who created you guys."

A small pause follows afterwards. His partner's LED reflects in the window as he processes his thoughts.

"Detective. If you have questions of your own, I'd be happy to answer them." The RK offers.

"Nah. Not interested."

It's at that moment he catches movement in a dark alleyway slightly to the left. A hooded individual seems to be carrying a heavy bag twice his size near a dumpster.

"Detective. I've detected some YK models from the man's bag."

Both immediately jumped out of the vehicle and got to work.

Chapter Text

"Hey, why don't you have a designated name like your brother? Or are you called like 'the cooler' Connor?" Gavin asks his partner as they watch the RK800 in the process of interrogating late night's caught suspect through the one sided window.

"My designation was that of an improved RK800 model, so in technical terms I am also Connor. Although since I am an unpublished prototype Cyberlife has never assigned me an official placeholder title." The android answer, still facing the glass.

"Kamski never bothered naming you something after the revolution? Or you never came up with one for yourself? That's how some androids do it nowadays right?" From Gavin's knowledge, plenty of same model androids named themselves to differentiate  one from another. Heck even the receptionist who was a PM700 now goes by Jena. A sweet one she is.

"Mr. Kamski stated he would rather I find one myself, however I am quite content with my model number RK900 since I do not find it a necessity. Not to mention, I am the only one of my series activated." Gavin can only imagine the headache from having more than 1 of him running around.

"D'you know how much of a mouthful that is to say? Ar-kay- nine-hundred, there's a reason I always refer to you as You, or Astro-boy, or the other one. Doesn't roll off the tongue well." His partner's head turns to face him this time with a raised curious brow.

"What would you suggest in that case, detective? To make it so you don't twist your fragile tongue in a knot."

"Bryan?"

"Too basic for my liking."

"How about Data?"

"Please try to be original."

"Fuck you, Star Trek is a classic for a reason. Robocop." That receives an eyeroll.

"Are you even trying, detective?"

"Tin-can."

"Would you like me to report you for anti-android slurs?"

"Megatron."

"Absolutely not."

"Dick."

"Richard isn't terrible, but sounds a little too rich."

"Can't you just use a name generator? Spin a wheel in that big brain of yours and use whatever it lands on?"

"I feel sorry for whatever future Reed generation will be called if that's your go to method."

Gavin's going to strangle that plastic prick as soon as he can reach his neck. The  universe's favored little shiny toy and it couldn't even give him a name, but it will give him flowers, a kiss on the cheek and the attitude of a cocky son of a bitch. Man fuck this.

"Fuck if I know, it's not even my place to give you a name either way. So for now you'll just have to settle for a nickname. Asshole. That's as far as I'm brainstorming until you yourself come up with something better."

"That would be considered identity theft to you detective."

Gavin pinches the bridge of his nose and lets out an exhale. No, he won't fall for the obvious taunt from the smarmy bot. Gavin returns his focus to the actually important task at hand, which was to monitor the interrogation in case things got violent, dropping the subject all together. However, he can't help but catch the thinking yellow hue spin in the window's reflection as the small room falls quiet between them. It stays that way until the entirety of the interrogation, whatever the RK is thinking about, he's been stuck on loading for an abnormal amount of time.

Connor walks out of the interrogation room with a content face, adjusting his tie, and hands over some files to Gavin.

"We managed to get the necessary intel. He's a recent member of a larger anti-android group. What we found is unfortunately only the tip of the iceberg. I'll write a more detailed report and send it to your station." He stops to look at him before leaving urgently. "If you require more stylish shades Gavin, Hank has an old collection somewhere in a box."

Gavin flips him off.

It's right before Gavin and the RK pack up to finish their day at the station that his partner stops him shortly, LED finally it's usual calm blue after the entirety of the day.

"Nines. Nines would be a suitable name for the moment."

Chapter Text

Tina the fucking traitor ditched him on his lunch break. She told him that until he burns the god-ugly glasses, she doesn't want to be seen with such an embarrassment, and decided to replace his spot as the walking wallet with Nines instead. At least she promised to bring him back a cup of coffee from the shop. So now Gavin's spending his own break alone, finishing up registering his part of paperwork. They found more information on the anti-android group into the data bank, frankly the names of a few members, and their potential meeting location. Until an irritating chipper voice interrupts his train of thoughts.

"Detective Reed!" Connor greets him with far too much energy for a Wednesday morning. "Hank and I were discussing potential infiltration plans for the group's where about. We believe you and Nines would be perfect candidates for a certain part of the operation."

"If it's another stakeout, leave me the hell out of it." He props his legs up on the desk and leans back on his chair, ready to take a short rest.

"I assure you it is not. In fact we were strategizing you would play as a decoy given your rough nature."

"He means you're an ass Reed!" He hears Hank pitch in from across his desk.

"Shove it Anderson! Whatever Scooby-Doo fuckery you have in your mind, I'll only agree to it if Fowler approves of it."

"Actually, we alr-"

He doesn't need to look away to know Tina and Nines are back from their outing, his mind completely zones in on getting his promised caffeine.

"Hold that thought. Thanks T." He immediately grabs his cup, needing his coffee fix now.

Gavin wait!

Tina's warning comes too late as he chugs what is definitively not his double shot americano, but instead some metallic tasting blue concoction and immediately spits it out.

"Mother fuck! What is this horseshit!?" His desk and pants dripped from the foul liquid.

"If you would've waited for two fucking seconds instead of inhaling it like a white woman during pumpkin spice season, you would've seen that your cup was placed over there. Dumbass!" True to her words, the unseen cup with his name written lies untouched to his right.

"Why would you give me two cups T?"

"That was Nine's unfinished drink Gav! Which you contaminated now. You're not the only being who drinks coffee here." Tina exasperates with a look of disappointment only a mother could have.

"Are you really worried about contamination when I just got fucking chemical poisoning!?" He shrieks, uncaring of the scene he's making. He doesn't know what that shit does to a human if they ingest some, the closest reference he's got is that Red Ice. Oh god! Was this like taking the equivalent of a huge dose of crack?

"Detective, you won't die from a small portion of Thirium. Your body will simply flush out its content within the next few 3 to 4 hours. Nonetheless, I cannot say it is a pleasant experience." Nines makes his grand appearance. Hands behind his back and the same straight posture like he's about to monologue his grand plan being to kill Gavin with poison all along.

"Since when the fuck do you drink coffee?" He points accusatory fingers at him as if it's all his damn fault. May as well be if the universe speaks through him.

"Since I wanted to know what it tasted like, detective. As you drink an unhealthy dose of it everyday." Nines feigns innocence as he reveals another cup and gives it to his twin. Then throws him one hell of a judgmental side-eye. "Please do not steal Connor's cup." The sons of a bitches are glowing again.

The bulletin is graced with another sigh of Gavin making a mad dash towards the restroom to clean his spill stains and his mouth from whatever germs Nines had on the coffee cup. The inaudible cursing never gets older.

Chapter Text

It's not long before Gavin's thrown into an old pair of dirty vintage looking street pants that makes him look like a try hard skateboarder, a godawful hoodie that reminds him of his high school years, and tousled greased up hair, for a disguise. The ear piercing disguised the hidden microphone so Nines could be kept in contact. Low and behold, Gavin was in. He pretended to play the spiteful homeless man for a few hours. Replaced at his job holding an anti-android cardboard sign and a tip jar, a pretty simple cover story.

A member eventually took the bait and recruited him to be brought inside an old church. There were about 20 members, various men and women of different age groups. It was going smoothly, Gavin was able to blend in well with the others. Act resentful yet slightly nonchalant enough about your situation, throw in a few swears and slurs here and there, and quietly listen to their reasons to be there.

However, even as the operation was going smoothly, it was completely draining for Gavin. He was forced to listen to sad, depressing, or even downright tragic pasts from strangers, all who chose to blame the same existence he's been surrounded with, worked with. What's worse, Gavin could actually understand their deep resentment towards those androids. A mother who lost her baby daughter due to a programming fault in her robotic caretaker. A hardworking salesman who's been loyal to the same company for over 30 years, only to get the boot and replaced by more efficient employees. A small thought in the back of his mind made Gavin fear what he may have turned out to be if he ever came to be here before the revolution. Knowing him, he hates to admit the possibilities he may have been the same as everyone here.

"Detective, your vitals are shifting at a worrying pace. Is everything alright?" He hears Nines in his hidden earpiece.

"All good. Did you get the necessary scans?"

"I've identified most of the members attending. Several of whom showed in our recorded base. You are good to take your leave."

Gavin just about reaches the entrance of the building before a large palm lands on his shoulder and Gavin is immediately spun around to meet the figure of a tall tanned man keeping him in place. His hair, a dirty brown mid fade, some rough stubbles along his chin, and amber like eyes meet his own. The hand holding him follows a long full arm tattoo all the way up to his sleeve. Gavin would notice the rest of his features if he wasn't fully assaulted by the sheer glow the stranger emits. It was the worst time for Gavin to have abandoned his shades. He's looking over at Gavin, inspecting him. He tries not to show how fucking nervous he is right now, Nines no doubly knows he's freaking out on the inside. Gavin feels the unpleasant familiar force tug at his chest again, as another nobody is roped into the universe's narrative. Really? Here of all places?! While he's on a fucking sensitive mission nonetheless!

"Son of a bitch! Gavin Reed?! I thought that was you over there. Way too long time no see." The stranger exclaims, immediately pulling Gavin into a crushing hug.

Shit. Aboard mission! Gavin immediately freezes in the embrace at the use of his full real name. He's been compromised and he doesn't even know who the motherfucker holding him even is. Apparently the other knows him pretty well as he squeezes him like an old friend. Gavin's lack of response and shocked expression must have told he doesn't have a clue who he is.

"It's Hunter! Remember? Although I can't blame you for not recognizing me after all those years. I do look way different than I did 20-ish years ago. I mean, fuck Gav, it was hard enough for me to even recognize you. You dress like shit, full offense. Was it laundry day?" He laughs out loud, patting Gavin's back with a bit too much force.

"Play along. Make sure to limit the spread of your name and pry out as much information as you can on those anti-android groupings." He hears Nines instruct lower in the earpiece.

"Hunter you old fuck, If I'd known you'd also be there I'd have joined sooner. Hells, when was the last time I saw your ugly face?" Gavin plays, pretending he was talking to Tina.

"Didn't know you were also a part of us. Did ya join recently or something? Actually hold that. How about we catch-up a bit, get high as hell like we used to?" He suggests, his hand still hasn't left Gavin's shoulder.

"Accept to follow him, but refuse any substance he tries to offer you." Nine guides him.

Gavin is led underneath a bridge, old graffiti covering the walls, with his partner tailing them in private in case anything goes south. Hunter didn't lose any time taking whatever he had stashed in his pocket, while Gavin only grabs a cigarette from his pack, stating that he's trying to quit. Whatever crystals his 'friend' took had him swaying from side to side within 20 minutes, rapidly talking about past memories that Gavin is only hearing for the first time.

"-And then r'member when Stacey slapped the soul-outta y'er after she ended things. Stormed off then broke 'er fucking heel in the driveway!" Gavin's been bumped, shaken and slapped like a ragdoll as the other tells him of old stories. He's learned Hunter Rivera is a very touchy person who's never heard of the concept of personal space, and a very emotional one when off his rockers, as at some point, he starts tearing up.

"We 'ere tight you and I Gav, fuck I missed it. I don't even know why I'm crying like a l'ill bitch. Been a rough fucking past few years man, lost my job when they stated replacing us with these PLASTIC COCK-SUCKERS. Lost my partner when they decided to leave me for some Barbie prostitutes. It's all just gone to shit f'er me." Gavin feels the weight of the sobbing man fall on his shoulder and tries not to recoil from it. Deep breaths. Deeeepppp breaths. It's for the fucking mission. He needs as much intel on this group as he can get.

"So then I found folks like me, folks who've had their lives fucked over because of these damn things. Been protesting against them ever since, making them pay for what they did to us. But now that you're here, we can make a difference. Make the world back to how it was. We're brainstorming a plan, one that will get rid of these fucks for good." Hunter slips an old receipt paper in Gavin's hands. "It's ma new phone number, next meeting's next month somewhere else, cuz of cops 'n shit. Text me if y'er coming and I'll send you the location." He's pulled in one last hug that is excruciating too long and feels his hoodie get damp. "Missed ya like hell Gav. Don't be stranger."

He's out! Gone! Free from that god awful place, that god awful son of a bitch, and that god awful scene. Gavin's cackling freely in the air by himself, laughing and absolutely livid at the world's sick idea of a heartwarming reunion. He probably sounds like a dying hyena.

Detective

Gavin finally feels like he can breathe again. Those cigarettes did absolute jack shit to calm him down. He hears the line of his earpiece start up again but Gavin can't fucking concentrate on what he's saying after everything. He's mentally exhausted.

"Detective? Are you with me?" There's a slight concern in Nine's tone. Gavin is too busy drowning in the static of his own mind to care.

"I'm fine. Got what I needed. I'll report the rest tomorrow. Finishing early and going home." He drones mindlessly towards his apartment.

"Detective-"

"I said I'm fucking going!" He hisses in his earpiece, daring the other to try to stop him.

A pause.

"Understood. I'll see you tomorrow, detective."

Gavin completely shuts off his phone before going to bed.

Chapter Text

Somedays Tina would drag Gavin out of his bed and do something together during his off days to get their minds off work. Especially if it was a stressful day. It could be shopping, movie watching, lazing around at someone's place to just doom scroll side by side for hours on end.

Today, Tina brought him to a little corner in the backstreets of Ferndale where a certain specific café resides. Upon entering it, everything surrounding Gavin was cat themed. From the wallpaper, to the décor, the table and chairs, and the employees uniform. Even the menu was entirely cat themed. The best part was the little room at the back of the building where a large glass window displayed several felines on the other side. His best friend brought him to a cat café. Gavin could almost tear up. Tina paid for two hours.

Gavin was in heaven, he died back on the roof and is now surrounded by several fluffy furry clouds. A small orange cloudy eyed kitten decided to try to climb onto him like a tree, tearing into his jacket, leaving small punctures and seams undone. Gavin doesn't care, the thing was already partly burned anyways, the kitten also doesn't care about the damage it's leaving.

Tina is filming herself playing with a grey Calico, squealing in joy as it frantically swipes at the fake fish from the other side of the stick. A hairless Sphynx watches her play from high above his little castle tower, content in observing like a ruler would.

A black and white Tuxedo, and a dirty blonde cat have been chasing and tackling one another through the entire room nonstop. Almost making him trip as they cut past Gavin in their game of tag. The staff mentioned they did that a lot.

A large blue eyed white Ragdoll is calmly letting himself be petted on the head by Gavin without complaint, unmoving from his comfortable corner with closed eyes. It lets out a loud yawn eventually, then drops his head back down to rest.

Tina's shoelaces are being played with by a young curious Persian with mismatched eyes as it meows and purrs against her legs. Gavin had to convince her not to give it her entire shoe.

Identical twin black cats slowly approach Gavin. The only distinguishable difference is the little scar on the left one's forehead. They sniff him in curiosity, deeming him chill and slumps down next to him on the floor, letting him pet their backs. Or so Gavin though they though him chill before the scarred one suddenly launches to bite his hand, little fucker, and gnaws at it with with enough strength to actually pierce his skin. Gavin immediately yanks his hand away from the sudden hostility as the cat hisses at him, before turning and leaving to it's own device. God he loves these shitheads.

He turns to see Tina had caught the whole moment on her phone, not wasting any time posting it to her socials.

"I'm blocking you." He threatens with no real promise as she laughs at his stinging hand.

It's the best two hours of Gavin's entire life.

"Thanks T, that was fun, didn't even know such a place existed here. Where d'you even find it?" Gavin asks, he feels a lot more relaxed. He holds a miniature clay cat figure he purchased from the cafe's gift section, thinking it would be a nice décor for his apartment. Tina got one for the blonde girl she met at the bar a while back.

"I didn't find the place, Nines recommended it to me actually."

Chapter Text

"I've always imagined I would set foot here for a different purpose instead of investigating a new case." Nine comments as he looks around the tacky bright small room.

Gavin doesn't even know where to begin with his partner's strange out no nowhere comment and gives him a look of 'what the fuck are you talking about?'.

"You have previously stated I could blend in as a worker here, detective."

"You'd break the poles and then no one gets to have fun."

Fowler was quite content with Gavin's mostly successful undercover infiltration of the anti-android group. He was tasked to keep Hunter's contact and wait until further notice to contact him while Connor and Hank dig further into information of the other members from Nine's registrations. For now, Gavin was back to his old routine of homicide investigation. This recent one in particular just had to happen at the Eden Club. Because of course people couldn't commit crimes in a normal environment and victims just had to die there of all places. This feels like a Family Feud answer, name the worst place to get murdered in, a sex club. Apparently this world's narrative is not rated PG13.

The two bodies of star-crossed lovers both lie dead on the bed in the middle of their very passionate looking 'cuddling'. Gavin had to leave the room when he first saw the display for a few minutes to get some oxygen back in his brain since he was laughing too much at the display and was being insensitive according to some officers. It only took a few minutes of investigating, looking through trash, and half asking half intimidating questions around for him to be sure of the whole picture. The man, identified as Jack Cullen, was cheating on his partner with one of the workers here. She found out about the long hidden affair, found him on one of his nightly visits, and killed him out of heartbroken revenge. If there is one thing Gavin knows about these types of petty crimes, it's that the weapon used for the deed is always either a kitchen knife, or a gun. He's seen it happen in dramas one too many times to know its tradition. This is America, of course she's going to use a gun, his partner confirmed it as several bullet wounds were found on the worker's chest and the man's now destroyed back. Whoever she was, she did not hold back. It must have been quite the soap opera.

"If we unlock his phone and scroll through his messages or social media to find who his girlfriend was, we'll have our culprit." Gavin yawns loudly in the room.

"How are you so certain, detective?" Nine returns to him. "We have no camera footage of the event that transpired nor have we found the firearm or other fingerprints. We have very little evidence to work with." Gavin gives him a look of annoyed disbelief. Seriously? What's the fucking use of having a state of the art android as his partner if Mr. Perfect here can't piece together the basic. The crime scene is basically written in front of them.

"Come the fuck on! We know there was another woman in the room since there's heel marks on the floor. We know he frequents the club and always asks for the same worker, that he didn't want his expenses to be tracked down since he always only paid in cash. He was already in a committed relationship since he took off his engagement ring, the one that you found! The homicide was personal and motivated by revenge since he's suffered the most bullet holes compared to the worker. Nothing was stolen, nothing was broken. It was a quick in and out job according to the estimated time stamp. Not to mention, the killer must have known him well enough to track him down and be given information about his private room." Gavin is frantically explaining the story so it finally sticks into the bot's head like a theorizing madman explaining the secrets hidden in children's video games. "The dude even looks like the average American cheater! The blue-gray eyes. The big nose. The receding hairlines! The counterfeit high-brand clothing that reeks of fragile ego! Fuck! His name literally starts with a J! That's straight up a red flag right here, Tina would know. Jack standing for Jackass?! This ain't rocket science Nines! The evidence screams crazy girlfriend who wanted petty revenge! A tale as old as time!"

His efforts receive a slow sarcastic applause from Nines with a raised brow and unreadable eyes. "Very imaginative detective, although the comment on the victim's appearance wasn't necessary. You talk as if you've seen this happen before, speaking from past experience?" He's going to dent that face like a car someday, Gavin swears it.

"No, just common sense." He grumbles with no further explanation.

"Detective Reed." One of the forensic officers approaches him with a sealed evidence bag containing the victim's phone inside. "We've cracked through his phone and found several enraged and threatening messages from whom we strongly presume is the assailant. Stacey Monrose, she was the victim's fiancée. Her contact info is registered in the evidence folder for when you will need it."

Huh, well would you look at that. Gavin's got the son of a bitch.

"Detective, please refrain from saying I told you so." Nine pleas with his signature neutral expression.

"I fucking told you so!"

Gavin's too busy rubbing it in the android's face to notice his subtle curled up lip.

Chapter Text

It was supposed to be Gavin Reed's day off. He was going to laze around in his apartment in his pajama pants only, binge watch a couple classics shows on overpriced streaming services for the sake of nostalgia while scrolling through his phone at the same time, and get flat out wasted alone to make the more episodes bearable. He's old enough to decide he one hundred percent chose to deal with his bad decision later on. Yesterday, he was banging his head on the desk from boring paperwork. Today, he's crashing out.

Apparently Elijah Kamski didn't get the memo of his plan that he'd hoped he would have mentally received, like an idea of 'let's leave Gavin the fuck alone' suddenly pop in his mind. Instead, he decided it was of the utmost importance to come abduct him from his own apartment to bring him to the other side of the world in the dead of nowhere. To his isolated rich bitch house under the guise of checking up on his favorite half-brother in person. He's his only brother. Gavin knows the fucker wants something from him. Gavin made sure to blast the most deafening music in his luxury car to the point they may get arrested for public disturbance for his audacity.

So here Gavin was, inside his half-sibling's multi-billionaire house, looking at the most narcissistic and egomaniacal gigantic painting of himself at the entrance. He knew his brother was a bastard lunatic. "This one's no good, they fucked up your nose Eli. You'll need to burn it and get another. Perhaps fully painted in gold, I'm sure you'd get off of that." Elijah responds to his comment with the default unbothered smile. Which is by completely ignoring him.

"I've summoned you here Gavin to further discuss the RK900, not have a philosophical discussion about artistry. Your IQ wouldn't be high enough for that anyways." That's a lot of bullshit words to say he wants to flaunt his fortune like a peacock. He walks into another room, not waiting for Gavin to follow. Gavin wonders if he could just stay in the room, standing there until he eventually realizes he's not being followed. Maybe he'll get as far as the kitchen. Or straight up leave the door and go back home, that would make for a funny reaction. "Gavin." He eventually follows.

Gavin's basically seen the equivalent of a Batcave inside this house. From the typical obnoxiously large pool of any rich pricks, to his numerous android house attendances all looking the same, one of them, Chloe, was kind enough to give him a glass of rum to make this more tolerable, to his enormous kitchen that he's probably never touched himself, to finally, the underground mad scientist lab. There are wires, spare android parts, blue blood packets and disorganized tools everywhere. You know who's the artist in the family if you look at their workspace. His brother doesn't waste time and dives straight into it.

"Do you believe androids are capable of falling in love, Gavin?" What kind of bullshit questions is that!? And from him of all people? He thought Elijah Kamski was above the universe's meddling.

"Why are you asking me something you already know? Didn't you design them?"

"I created obedient workers for the world to use, it was they alone who evolved into a new life form all together." If he's going to start a God complex, Gavin may or may not arrest him right here and then, the chances are 80/20. Not like it will do much, he can probably pay his way out of imprisonment. "I am asking for your thoughts on it."

"I thought we weren't doing philosophy?"

"About arts. Which we aren't debating about at the moment Gavin."

"Sure, why the fuck not. They can love their freedom, their independence and all that. Now that they have gained the power of existential crisis and friendship I don't see it being impossible." He's made sure to grab the entire bottle when Cloe served him and pours himself another drink because fuck he's going to need it if this is where he thinks it's going.

"And what about romantically?" Yep, there it is. "Do you believe they are able to truly develop romantic feelings for another. They may be deviant, but there will always be 1 and 0s influencing their judgement by a system, it is simply their nature. Could they learn to love like humans do?"

Gavin doesn't think anyone in this world can genuinely fall in love without it being shoved down their throat, spoon fed by the universe's wish for romance. Nothing here would be natural, like two dolls pressed upon one another, ignorant to the strings attached to them. Or maybe it's just Gavin who will never be capable of doing so, as his self-awareness will constantly restrain him from doing so. Everyone else is none the wiser, so from their perspective it must be true. He doesn't know what aspect is sadder, but he refuses to let himself be enraptured in fabricated perfection.

"Look if you just want to begin a polyamorous relationship with your Chloes you don't need to ask all that bullshit. Alright? I won't judge." He certainly will from a safe distance. His brother pinches the bridge of his nose, and he hears the faintest exhale of frustration from him, a win for him. He watches him take out his wallet and pull out a hundred dollar bill like he's negotiating with a child using candy. It unfortunately works for Gavin, he might be easily bribed, but at least he's bribable and richer for it.

"Talking with you is like pulling out teeth, now answer the question Gavin."

"I try my best." Gavin takes another sip. "Probably, with time or something. If they went from mindless slaves, which is pretty fucked up Eli not gonna lie, to bumbling idiots trying to live, things are bound to change. So there is a good chance they might." Ughh that sounded terribly heartfelt from him, he may as well puke rainbows. At least Elijah seems satisfied with his answer.

Chapter Text

Since Elijah decided to waste his time today to ask him stupid questions, Gavin may as well do the same, destroy a few brain cells from his massive and exposed forehead with a receding hairline, according to him at least.

"So why make the things they eat and drink out of the same shit that is their blood? Wouldn't that be some form of cannibalism? It's like you created the next generation of Hannibal Lecters." He inspects the blue bag of Thirium hanging from upside down like an IV bag, the color is such a vivid chemical blue.

"To them, Thirium is merely a resource that maintains their internal components. They do not eat out of necessity but as a social experience, curiosity of taste, or just because they wish to. In actuality, what Cyberlife provides as 'consumable safe for androids' isn't nutritious to them in the slightest since it uses such a small dose of Thirium that it wouldn't be enough to fill their tanks. As of yet. The revolution wasn't that long ago, so for now we are still in the experimental zones of what we can recreate as human food."

"Eli. That doesn't answer the fucking question as of why you designed it like their vampires."

"Because it was the easiest substance to form and manipulate Gavin. Now surely you must have other, more interesting, questions about my work instead."

"If they 'eat' as you say, do they shit it out or something? Remove any waste out of their assholes or so?" Wait, do they even have those parts? Or are they built like Barbie dolls? Has he ever seen Connor go to the restroom other than to adjust his tie?

"Why do I even..." Elijah asks the heavens under his breath. "No. They do not need to dispose of any waste as you so crudely put it. Now how about I just let you wander off to look for yourself, under supervision, before I develop a headache." A headache wouldn't be enough to humble multi-billionaire Kamski for his sins of being himself, but for some foreign reason, any signs of annoyance has Gavin feeling slightly happier. A show of his effect around others that isn't sudden infatuation.

Chloe has taken Elijah's spot to show him around, she is much more polite and patient. She even entertains him with his 'stupid' questions and demonstrates as they walk around, retracting the white of her shell all the way up to her shoulder. He doesn't understand how she can tolerate his half-brother for so many years.

"Is it just you and the other 'Chloe models' that are stuck with him here?" He asks, genuinely curious about Elijah's reserved life, although he would never admit that even if held at gunpoint. What is life like for an isolated 'too smart to be around everyone else' billionaire? "Doesn't he sometimes grate on your nerves or something?" He looks inside one of the sliding door rooms, nothing but several monitors and computers with the same white walls all around him. How does his pupils not burn at the brightness?

"I admit many others would be dissuaded by his... distinct personality, I have been the first perfected android prototype created by him, the first to have passed the Turing test. I have developed a closer relation to him and adapted to his proud demeanors throughout the years. I do not mind it as much, I and the others have grown somewhat fond of our creator." Her LED remains blue the entire time. Another room opens and it resembles a small dorm room. There's a bed, a clothing rack, and a desk. It looks unlivable and depressingly empty. Perhaps a room for if Elijah decides to sleep in his laboratory instead, even if his bedroom is probably a few levels upstairs anyways. "To answer your first question, only recently have we had another cohabitant reside here. This is his room for the moment." Damn, to be living in a mansion and whoever the poor soul is, he's stuck with whatever this is? He may as well have been the next Harry Potter with how claustrophobic the space seems.

"I think our containment cells have bigger space than this, no offense. This room is a textbook poor Disney Princess. For your sake, I hope you're not the evil sister."

"He hasn't commented or voiced any complaint on the living space. He rarely resides in his room anyways, only when completely necessary. He seems content with what he has." Chloe shrugs nonchalantly, guess it really isn't that big a deal.

There is one last large room that Gavin hasn't seen yet at the end of a small hall; the label on the door indicates it to be an examination room. He opens up the door wide with a swing.

Gavin please wait!

Immediately spitting out the expensive rum he's been drinking straight out of his mouth as he sees his partner in it. Laid down on some weird MRI looking device in full nude. Cyber dick and balls out in the open.

"Nines? The fuck?!" The android immediately wakes up, seemingly as shocked to see him as his temple stutters yellow like a broken store sign.

"Detective?!-"

He immediately slams the door back shut. His eyes freshly assaulted by the accidental flash from his work partner. Sure, Gavin's seen his fair deal of naked people, like that one crime scene back at the sex club. But seeing Nines like that!? The very one he's stuck working with, that he sees almost everyday? It's almost like seeing a parent or a grandparent naked. Not that he's saying he has wrinkly skin, he has fairly good skin and an attractive physique like any modeled androids, but Gavin would have preferred to go on with his life without the jump scare. At least that answers one question. Is he going to have to start being paranoid of any future sudden nudity?

Actually. First of all, What the fuck is the dipshit even doing here? He hears movement from the other side of the door. Meanwhile, Chloe doesn't seem even a little bit affected by the mishap, she stays there near the door, completely unfazed. Although she does give him a polite 'I warned you' look, like this is Gavin's fault. How the hell is this his fault!?

"Detective, I'm decent. If you would like to talk." Nine's muffled voice is heard from the other side of the door.

Gavin is turning around the room and ready to leave and go back home, he is stopped as he sees Elijah has come back and is but a few steps away from them. He's the one to open the door to reveal the fully dressed android in his familiar Cyberlife jacket. Gavin swears he wears it like a cartoon character.

"Nines. Good to see the scans have finished loading. I was just showing my dear baby brother around to pass the time since it was going to be a long procedure." Elijah ignores the spilled alcohol on the floor, sidestepping the puddle.

"Why the fuck is he here!?" Gavin hisses, although he's more in shock than angry.

"The RK900 resides here, I did mention he was under my supervision. Remember?" He says that as if it's the most natural thing in the world. No. Gavin does not remember as most of what he says easily goes over his head.

Gavin's going to have to bleach his eyes. Fuck it, he may as well charge Elijah for the medical eye care bills. Doesn't matter if the damn glowing bot is built like a fucking brick, he's entitled to financial compensation for the visual trauma he's just received.

Chapter Text

It barely felt like a month's passed for Gavin, one day he was sitting at his office desk with Nines, going over security footage of an amateurish robbery at a jewelry store, a failed and pathetic attempt really. The perpetrator slammed himself right against the glass like a blind bird trying to escape with the goods and was immediately cornered. The next, he's texting his 'old close friend' into meeting up again for the next anti-android roundabout location and regaining his role as undercover member. This time, he's joined by the other, shorter, RK in the DPD. Hank and Nine are both back at the station, interrogating a member the Anderson team caught a few days back.

They both find themselves disguised, Gavin in his once again hideous pants and hoodie with a slight pattern variation and way more unnecessary grease stains, and Connor with some street clothes and a beanie, looking like the average runaway rebellious teenager. Fan-fucking-tastic. The reading glasses add onto the disguise in a classic Clark Kent fashion.

The RK800's role is to be the problematic lost young adult who doesn't know what to do with his life, and Gavin, an acquaintance who told him about the group. It doesn't take long to wait for a response from Hunter on the new location for the group's meeting as he receives it not even 5 minutes after Gavin messages him. An underground hole in the wall, kind of bar. Apparently the owner, despite the revolution, still refuses entry to any Androids and has kept a low radar on any patrolling officers. He's going to have to have Christ look over the place afterwards.

As they arrive near the place of the meeting, he sees him near the entrance, apparently having waited for Gavin. Hunter waves at him, a cigar in his mouth and another in his hand.

"Who's the bitch boy? Didn't know you were babysitting Gav." He teases, offering the other smoke to him like it's the most natural thing to do. He takes it and matches his puffs of smoke.

"Poor dipshit was wandering around my old coin picking area with nowhere to go. Apparently his parents decided to love their Pinocchio rather than a real boy. Ain't that right Conrad?" He gives a pitiful face towards his undercover partner, ruffling his beanie to empathize with the sad story. 'Conrad' gives him a dirty and unimpressed look.

"C'mon Hunter, can't just leave such a sad abandoned puppy out in the rain." Gavin mocks with a grin. "Us meat sack's gotta help each-other in these trying times, though I'd do the same." He tries to wink at him, but instead does an awkward eye thing instead.

"Did your heart grow triple its size like the motherfucking Grinch?!" Hunter laughs at that and pats him on the shoulder with a smile and a nod, and opens up the door for them like a gentleman opening up a carriage and not a rundown dirty looking bar, following them inside. There are sparkles and transparent bubbles and shit around him as he does so. Oh my God, he opened a fucking door! Relax!

Someone inside is in the middle of a speech as others huddle around the woman at the center, raising her glass high in the air as she preaches nonsense and anti-propaganda about androids. The bar follows, cheering her on.

The bartender offers them free tap-water like drinks, Gavin's pretty sure it's 80% water and 20% beer as he looks at the offensive glass, nonetheless he downs it in one go, drinking the foul thing so he can barely taste it. Connor does the same, as many eyes are on the newbie in the bar. His expression doesn't reveal how he must feel having ingested something that won't agree with his internal system, but Gavin imagines it's not a pleasant thing.

Gavin stays close to the bar, looking and listening in on the meeting from the side, apparently they have a plan in motion, a target in mind. They are still brainstorming a sort of possible raid. He's sure Connor is recording everything as they speak since he's further into the large group of people, blending in perfectly.

Hunter decides to stay close to Gavin the whole time of the meeting, getting him more of that shitty watered down beer when he notices his glass is getting low. A few glasses isn't even enough to get him tipsy. Apparently he and the bartender know each other well, so he doesn't have to pay for any of this.

"Damn, remind me to never take that blue glass shit ever again, I don't remember much other than I probably made an ass of myself in front of ya Gav." He gives an embarrassed chuckle, seeming genuinely apologetic. His face is slightly flushed with rosy cheeks, Gavin doesn't understand how someone can be such a lightweight with how empty these drinks are.

"M'sure we've made way worse asses out of ourselves back then, so nothing really changed." He shrugs, keeping his eyes on the crowd instead of the glowing man.

"Yet so much did, makes me miss the good 'old days so much, it's all I can think 'bout recently. Nowadays we got all kinds of new shit on the crack market, ya ever heard of Red Ice? Some old buddies of mine's been trying to get me to try that shit, say it's 100 times better than the sugar I usually use." That gets him to turn over to his 'friend'. Gavin doesn't like Hunter that much, he barely knows the guy, and so far from first impression, he's way too eccentric. However, Gavin wouldn't want him to throw his life away to some stupid crystals, especially after hearing and seeing what that shit does to someone. He's already fucked himself over by joining the anti-android group, no need for him to dig himself an even bigger hole.

"Stay the fuck away from it as much as you can Hunter, trust me when I say this. That shit will jack your brain to high heaven, more so than whatever you took at the bridge and it'll be the worst trip of your life." He explains, making sure the other comprehends as much as possible. "Experienced its effects firsthand, it's what made me quit everything in the first place. Made me feel like I was on the edge of fucking losing it, I didn't feel like myself at the time. You don't want that shit in you." He exaggerates his hand movements as he talks. "Keep your sugar, we all need some sweetener in life. Especially during harsh times." Looks like his words got to him, as the other's head bops with an understanding nod.

"Shit man. Glad to hear you say so, saved me right here and then. Since when in the ever loving fuck did you get so wise outta the two of us." He pats his back, a bit more mindful of how much strength he puts in it. "Ya got wiser, but also softer round the edges Gav. Picking up strays and watching out for my back. It's nice to see that." The glitter around him is rapidly multiplying much to Gavin's disdain.

The crowd in the bar cheers loudly once more, as they raise their glass as the woman finishes her speech, loudly chanting anti-android mantras amongst one another. He sees Connor shift strangely at his spot, then start to speed walk alarmingly towards the exit of the bar, hiding his face behind his hand under the pretense of feeling very sick all of a sudden. A worrying thing. He excuses himself, ready to follow, before Hunter catches his arm.

"Wait! Gav before ya go. Let me ask ya something. Been thinking b'out this since you and Stacey broke it off-" Hunter starts, looking at him dead in the eyes, his face more redder than before. A faint haze surrounds Gavin's vision as the background blurs and the man's features sharpens like a camera lens. In the corner of Gavin's eye, he sees a small portion of Connor's face hidden beneath his hand, revealing his white chassis glitching over his skin. "-But wanna grab a coffee or something with me sometime?"

A sudden crash is heard as glass shatters on the floor by Connor's clumsy escape attempt, he's almost reached the door, but his obstructed vision with his hand had him accidentally knock over a few drinks on a high table, sending them to break on the floor. The bartender is yelling, Hunter is about to turn around towards the source of the sound, about to see Connor's very obvious android features. For fuck sake's Connor! There is no sudden slow motion or slowness to help Gavin, the one time he fucking needed it. Without thinking, Gavin grabs the man's head and spins his attention back towards him instead.

'Fuck no' and 'No thanks' is the thing Gavin is trying to tell him in the sudden urgency of things. "Fuanks." Is what he ends up spitting instead in the urgency of the moment. He rushes to help Connor out of the bar before anyone can see his face. He's up and out immediately before he can see his huge wide eyes and smile, and ingulf the entire room in sparkles, an onslaught of internal cursing coursing through his mind.

It's a date then!

Gavin's going to murder this motherfucking android.

Chapter Text

"Christ! Is that a weed!? I'm calling the police!" Tina yells as he points at their poor colleague, who's also on his day off, holding a goofy looking cheap shirt with a weed leaf in a pair of shades printed on it, the words 'Today's Good Mood is Sponsored By Weed' written across it.

"Tina, please. It's my day off." Gavin snorts loudly in the store. "No! Don't you dare put that in the cart!"

Ever since Tina had heard about Gavin's accidental and unintentional date acceptance with his old friend, she's been nearly circling him around for the past few days, asking questions about the guy, the café or restaurant they may go to, the time and exact date, all that bullshit. Like a damn vulture while Gavin is the dead slab of meat she keeps ripping apart for information. He knows she means well, hell when he first let it slip, she was more excited about the date then he was. So one could only imagine his relief when he explained his reluctance towards the date and Tina actually offered to help him. Help him! Sabotage the date since it wouldn't be wise to cancel on someone Gavin's literally spying on and such. First and foremost, she would make sure Gavin looked the least attractive and low effort as possible. Making sure that his outfit for his rendez-vous screams 'I won't bother to look nice and I don't care' as possible. The lazy bastard looks. Apparently that called for shopping at a thrift store since Gavin only got the bastard part down.

And that's how, Gavin, Tina, and Chris, who Tina practically dragged him with once more, are shopping for new cheap and shitty clothing for Gavin to wear for his upcoming date, to Tina's insistence. She deemed that his closest wasn't suitable and needed to be burned to the ground, alongside his shades. Which Gavin hasn't trashed yet much to her disappointment. He was also hoping to buy an actual fitting pair that could block the irritating pillars of lights radiating from a few ‘someones’, and maybe also blind him completely so he doesn't have to look at his date the entire time. The android's 'nude accident' wasn't enough to efficiently do the job.

"T, I'm going to get rashes from how cheap and scratchy the fabric is." Gavin whines like a child who's forced to go shopping with his mother. It may as well be. He thanks Christ as he puts the shirt back on the rack and silently deems him his new best friend. He finds a pale khaki hoodie instead, with some faded stains and the words I don't give a fuck embroidered on the back. It's perfect. Tina and Christ seem to agree as they both nod in united agreement. He slides the hoodie over him to try it out, and as soon as he pops his head out, he sees twins right in front of him as if they manifested from thin air like from the Shining. If anyone claims the noise that came out of him was a pitched shriek, no it wasn't.

"Oh hey! Connor, Nines, what're you two doing here?" Tina confirms the presence of the androids.

"Hello Miss Chen, we were just dropping off some of Hank’s old clothing that he no longer uses." Connor gives a beaming smile as his teeth shine, Gavin lets himself slightly shrink back into the hoodie he was in the process of putting on, it's stuck over his head and he will stay that way thank you very much. "And how about you three? It's a nice surprise to bump into you all again."

He doesn't need to see to know the other one is probably amused at the sigh as he hears the other brother near him. "Need some assistance, Detective?" He removes the piece of clothing to grumble he doesn't need any damn help, checking the price tag. 30 dollars! This is straight up robbery for this old raggedy thing! However it's the only thing Gavin's seen and he doesn't want to waste any more energy searching for another hoodie so he grits his teeth and swallows his pride, taking out his wallet to find he has enough in cash at least. Yeah, he's going to be that annoying fucker who pays in multiple paper bills, serves the place right for overpricing their shit.

"Gavin's got an upcoming date night with a childhood friend." Wait, hold the fuck up Tina! Don't go spilling shit about his personal life to everyone! Before he can get a word in to try to shut her up, her face falls into an evil mischievous grin, one that actually has Gavin fear for his life. He goes to put a hand over her mouth, and she actually fucking licks it, letting him feel her slimy gross tongue and he immediately lets go of his hold. She cackles loudly like a villain who's about to curse him, her laughter ringing in the air, letting Gavin know of her unstoppable power. "We're helping him look terrible for his big night since he doesn't want to go but really can't back out of it.

"What are your opinions? We could use the extra eyes." Christ asks the RKs, hovering the hoodie over Gavin's frame. They are both dead to him.

"Very on brand for Detective Reed. The phrasing on the back matches his vulgar words." Connor gives his honest answer as he also nods with approval.

His partner looks at the hoodie and him with the same neutral face he usually bores, Gavin can't see what's going on in his head as his LED light faces away from him, although the small hand mannerism tells him he's definitely thinking. He doesn't wait for his answer, doesn't give less of a shit to hear it anyways, and leaves to buy the thing at the counter instead.

In the display case, he spots some fashionable slim rectangular glasses with some clip on shades. They don't look terrible at all, and the price is surprisingly reasonable. Upon trying them on, he doesn't look half bad either, it's definitely of an upgrade from the previous ones Gavin used. What the hell, they fit nice and work well, he may as well get those as well.

He finishes his purchase with the cashier, and returns to Tina and Christ to find her and Nines huddled up over her phone, whispering and scheming whatever nonsense he doesn't even want to know. What more could Tina possibly do then she already did. Right? If she's showing embarrassing pictures, which she already does on a daily basis as her gallery if full of them, that's torture Gavin's learned to live with.

"I'm dead tired and ready to go back home. If I'm late tomorrow, blame it on her for draining my ass."

"Oh! Detective Reed. Hank's old glasses suits you well."

You've got to be fucking kidding him.

Chapter Text

There's someone inside Gavin's apartment, just one stranger to be exact, rummaging inside. Whoever it is, they must have picked the lock since there are no signs of forced entry on the door, and Gavin always carries his keys with him. He hears a muffled voice and some footsteps inside. It sounds way too calm for it to be a robbery. He theorizes whether the one inside is A, trying to find something specific inside the Detective's apartment. B, waiting to ambush him once inside, getting the jump on him. They're doing a poor job at that, if that's the case. Or C, one of the anti-android members found his personal address and his identity has been compromised. Either way, it's just a singular individual inside from what Gavin sees, something that shouldn't be too hard for him to deal with, still, he leaves a message to his partner requesting backup just in case the individual is armed or is capable of overpowering Gavin, never too sorry to be safe. He counts to three in his head, a deep and even breath, then carries his gun and busts open his own door.

"DPD Police! You are in violation of trespassing. Hands in the fucking air where I can see them!" He yells, kicking the door open. God he's always wanted to do that.

An older looking woman with medium dirty brown hair turns around to meet him. She immediately marches straight towards him, holding her purse up in the air. Gavin can't explain it, but something in him has him freeze up, unable to shoot the approaching furious looking lady. There's anger in her olive eyes, frustration and a hint of joy? Gavin doesn't have the time to fully understand her expression as she clocks him straight in the head with her handbag.

"Gavin Alexander Reed!" She yells with a commanding tone that could rival Fowler's. "You have some fucking nerves ghosting your own mother. Then when I finally come to visit you try to arrest me!" She reaches for his ear and painfully tugs on it, levelling him down to her level, eyes to eyes like a child. "You are going to walk down there towards the landlord, and apologize to the landlord for the scene you caused!"

"M-Mom!?"

She leaves him flabbergasted, his mouth opened wide in shock as he processes that the intruder inside is supposedly his mom. Ever since Gavin got there, he hadn't really thought about bothering to check on the status of his own parents, either deeming them distant or even dead. To be fair, he's been busy himself with his job and the rest of the bullshit the world's thrown at him. Well shit, it seems his parents are actually alive. Another painful ear tug is made.

"Did your father drop you on the head you idiot! What the hell made you think I'd be dead in my late fifties!? If anything you had me worried sick you dropped instead since you haven't contacted me in months." Her harsh eyes finally soften as he is tugged towards her in a warm hug.

Gavin is so fucking confused right now, at the aspect of his supposed 'mother' suddenly barging in his life, his own apartment nonetheless. It feels so strange, to be suddenly thrusted in a family that is alien to him, just like with Elijah. He doesn't know what to do but just stays plopped in place as he is hugged like an adoring son. He barely remembers how his own parents were back in his world. The hug ends as she meets him dead in the eyes, her finger pointing straight towards him.

"Go apologise to the landlord like I said, I don't care if you're 36, I didn't raise a criminal. Now shoo! And come back afterwards so you can catch me up about your life dear."

Gavin is swiftly kicked out of his own apartment without a chance to protest by his own mom, and left to calm the rest of the building with a walk of shame.

Gavin learned a few things from her. His mother and father got divorced years ago when he was around 13 years old, taking on the last name from her side of the family. His dad was previously a cop, until he went missing in action during a case. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Elijah comes from an old candle from his dad's side and anything else about him is pushed underneath the rug, a 'we don't talk about him' scenario. His mother's been living somewhere further in Michigan by herself for years since he moved to Detroit for his job. Now that he thinks about it, she may have some information about Gavin's childhood that could be useful since he's still missing a large chunk of his life here, it would certainly help him understand a bit more with how to deal with a certain someone.

"Ma, d'you remember an old friend of mine? Hunter Rivera? Tanned, brown hair, yellow-ish eyes?" He keeps his voice casual, like he's doing small talk about the weather to hide the interrogation.

"Buddy? From elementary school? Oh Gav dear, yes I remember him well. You two were always so close to each other back then, where one goes, the other would always follow. You two were always little shits, troublemakers to everyone around you." If Gavin focuses just right, maybe he'd be able to see the same black and white flashback image his mother seems to be having in front of him with the emotional orchestra in the background. "You know, you were the reason he followed you to the same schools. Fell into bad smoking habits, which I told you to quit many times or I would water your ass down with the hose. Wouldn't want you to have your father's lungs." She scolds him as if Gavin is still the same child she sees in her eyes. "Why bring him up after so many years?" Her eyes sharpen as if Gavin's now on the other side of the investigation.

"Bumped into him 'bout a month ago, asked me to meet him sometimes to catch up on life and stuff." He answers nonchalantly. Her eyes narrow even more.

"Catch-up you say?" Her brow raises in doubt at his words. The familiar knows it all shit -eating grin spreads on her face the same way he occasionally does. He nods in confirmation. "Gav don't lie to me, you were never good at it. He asked you out, didn't he?" Gavin's dumbfounded face must be all she needs as she continues. "That poor boy was head over heels for you like a fool dear, you just never noticed. Nice to see he finally got the balls after so many years."

So, Gavin is stuck going on a date with someone who's been yearning for who knows how long. A classic childhood reunion sweet storyline that is guaranteed to tug the hearts of any young teenagers brain-rotted enough to fall for such bullshit. He tastes nothing but bitterness at the information and dreads the upcoming date even more so than ever.

Gavin never understood how waiting for someone for so long is deemed romantic, as though his eyes, he sees but a person wasting the rest of their lives, hung up on the past of someone they once knew. In his eyes, it's a cruel torture to subject yourself to. What if the longtime friend you love rejects you? What if they never return those same feelings, even after death. Of course, in fictional romance, the couple either always end up together, or rejects them for some dude they met just a few months ago who can fucking parkour if it's a dystopia. Either way, both endings are shit to Gavin and he wants no part in it. Fuck his life. The universe is practically screwing him over with this shitty story thread.

A sudden harsh knock on the door is heard, before the door is once more opened, less brutal this time. Nines comes out from the other side, gun in his hand, and handcuffs on his belt, with the entrance of a fucking Marvels hero's film at his presence, looking ready to throw hands at his mother. Shit. He forgot to call off the backups.

"Detective! How's the situation?"

A wave of embarrassment washes over him as he wishes the floor would just swallow him up and make him disappear. He is hit once more with the purse as his mother yells at him for having called backups on her. The scene calms the android down as he puts the firearm back in his holster and just looks at him for an explanation and amused eyes despite his poker face, something Gavin's come to identify.

"Go home Nines. Just a false alarm." He dismisses him quickly with a wave of a hand, he feels a headache coming in.

"I taught you better manners than this Gavin!" His mom reprimands him before turning towards his partner with a gentler face. "Apologies for the misunderstanding, I'm just the mother who was forgotten and neglected for a bit. You are?" She reaches for a handshake, indifferent by the android in front of her.

"Detective Reed's work partner. Model RK900, Nines in short." He meets her hand as Gavin is abandoned to the side, watching them both get acquainted.

"How about you stay here for a while, take a breather since you did waste your time to come all the way here." What the fuck!? His mother shamelessly invites the android inside Gavin's own home like he isn't even in the same room. "I would love to know more about what my son's been up to for the past few months." She moves to make herself comfortable on his couch like she owns the place, ignoring Gavin's loud protests and gestures to him to get her something to drink like he's a goddamn servant.

When Connor smiles, it's always with full teeth and bright eyes. It's always wholehearted. Meant to disarm and reassure someone. Nines does not share the same smile, to Gavin, he looks like a cat who has his prey in his claws, exactly where he wants them to be. There is self-satisfaction in his sinister eyes. A teasing malice. He smiles like a twist villain who hides his cards well and hides his true motive.

"That would be lovely Miss. Reed."

Gavin is in his own personal hell as his partner and his mother chatter in his home, while he fetches her coffee. The son of a bitch is getting decaf.

Chapter Text

The date is in some semi-fancy-ish restaurant named Maxie's, much to Gavin's distaste. Apparently the restaurant owner is an old acquaintance from the bar owner from the anti-android group meeting. A friend of a friend kind of deal. Hunter helped out the owner while Officer Christ was investigating the bar, under Gavin's tip but no-one needed to know, and was able to get a reserved table and a free meal coupon. Oh the fucking irony.

So now Gavin is on his phone doom scrolling, waiting inside a table with black classy cushioned sofa seats and a dimmed light space, with a small candle for atmosphere, in his hobo-looking thrifted clothing. He's standing out like hell around semi-casual clothed folks. He would have bugged his best friend the entire night with live updates and complaints if she wasn't busy for the night with some fucking volunteer thing, which is complete bullshit because he knows Tina hates doing anything for free out of the goodness of her cold blackened heart.

His date finally arrives and seats himself on the opposite of him with a wide smile. Gavin has to do a double take at him because, it turns out, Hunter is as equally dressed like a lazy ass, as Gavin. A loose tank top and some sweat pants with sandals, perfect for showing off his arms and tattoos. The son of a bitch looks like he's just gotten out of bed with disheveled hair, and he somehow makes it work. Like a messy kind of beauty, the effortless aesthetic. So now they look even more like a match made in heaven, two fucking disasters meant for one another. The cliché duo who are outcasts from society and probably think it's them against the world and can do whatever the fuck they want so long as they have each other. As Tina would say, he's matching his freak, and his clothes. He should have known, fuck, he should've been smarter then this. Should have thought beforehand that the other wouldn't be put off by Gavin's poor attempt at his very subtle, read between the lines, rejection. Here they both sit at their enclosed space, like two raccoons straight out of the trash inside a nice restaurant.

"Gav, ya look nice as fuck man!" He laughs, checking his surroundings as he comes to the same conclusion as him. "Guess we both went with a vagabond chick."

"Yeah, well you know what they say about great minds thinking alike." He returns with what he hopes is a smile. This is going to be a long night. He picks up the drink menu, looking for the alcoholic drinks immediately.

"Hello, My name is Tori and I will be your hostess tonight! What can I get you both started with?" Hold the fuck up, he knowns that voice well, way too fucking well. As Hunter digs his nose under the menu, he turns to almost choke on his own oxygen to see motherfucking Tina Chen! Wearing a fancy black waitress uniform in front of their table. She gives him a small wink and goes back to her customer service face, the one she absolutely hates when dealing with asshole witnesses. He doesn't know whether he wants to hug her or strangle her for whatever sitcom shit she's pulling right now.

"One large Guinness for me. Gav? ya want the usual?" He gestures to him to go ahead.

"A classic rum and coke for him."

He watches his undercover friend take notes and leave, still in shock at the sight of her lying ass spying in on his outing like it's no big deal, unaware of his now semi-pouting date right in front of him. His attention is snapped back as Hunter starts to ask him about his life and how he's holding on out there. Something that would be very sweet and kind, if it didn't come from an anti-androids right felon. In the same, he shares more stories to him about their youth. His mother wasn't lying when she said they were very tight knitted back then, as apparently Gavin was the one who would get caught and sent to detention, while Hunter would follow just because, back in high school. He's a loyal son of a bitch that's for sure, like an annoying dog that just won't go away.

"Then professor dipshit, the bald one, clocked your high ass in the middle of your presentation man." Once more, Gavin wished he would be able to see the memories in clear HD in front of him, played out in front of him like an old television. He has no idea of anything he's done back then, but it's not too bad to hear it from someone else. Small puzzle pieces coming together to give him a picture of who Gavin Reed was before. "Man you didn't even try to hide it, your eyes where already red as fuck! Haha! D'you know we were the reason school's bathroom would always become foggy as hell in there!? All that vape and shit. Still got my old pen by the way, it's like an old heirloom or something now." Welp, sounds like Gavin's not making it past 80 with his shit lungs.

"Are we ready to order gentlemen?" Tina returns, looking the most polish and polite Gavin has ever seen. And is that his fucking earpiece piercing she's wearing? Without his asking? Technically, it's the DPD's, but still! While Hunter orders some type of burger, he slightly rushes through the menu, having completely forgotten to look at it. "Tonight's happy hour special is the seafood alfredo if that helps." She gives him a hidden urging look, a quiet demand that he orders this dish specifically for whatever reason. Gavin knows she doesn't do anything without a reason, right now she is trying to telepathically communicate something to Gavin, he doesn't know what, but her micro-demeanor screams so. Tina's a master in masking her true intention behind natural conversations, it's how she became the queen of gossip in the precinct. Fuck it, Gavin may as well be a fool and place his trust in his best friend. He'd rather get fucked over by his ride or die then the universe. He orders the damn alfredo.

"Ya think they got those bots working in the kitchen? Working their rusty metallic asses away? Ain't that fucked, letting them get the work while so many like us are left jobless."

"Machines replacing humans since the industrial revolution, we've been screwed over for many years."

"Yeah, and now were more screwed then ever because of the piece of shit Cyberlife is, creating these fucking 'droids. We and so many other's been through hell just tryna get by to eat and survive everyday. Don't know how ya do it without going jack-shit insane Gav, while helping others like that kid ya brought in. Ya know you're an admirable son of a bitch yeah?" The glowing sparkles and orbs are back with a gentle vengeance in the air. Gavin can't help but internally groan as the other's hair glows with his surroundings. It's not blinding thankfully, just very annoying. Like a Snapchat filter that never disappears.

"Ya know me, pure spite is all I need to keep going." It's true, he's a petty bastard who holds onto longtime grudges. Against the world, against this shitty narrative, but not against those who aren't in control. If he did, Gavin would just exhaust himself constantly for the rest of his life and burn out as quickly as a candle.

"Glad we can both be two spiteful pieces of shit together then. Once more, like old times. Cheer to that."

The food comes after a few minutes of waiting.

A few bites in, something in the back of his throat starts to swell and bloat, and his lips start to tingle slightly. His eyes itches once more and tears up as quickly as his nose clogs up. A familiar sensation whenever Nines pops out flowers from behind. He slightly starts to panic, reaching for his allergy pills. His phone buzzes just as he reaches for his pocket. A message from Tina appears.

Don't freak out, just act like hell like you once did at the hospital. Sickly dying Victorian boy and all that. Just make a scene, and we've got your back G. -Tina

Motherfucking Tina and her motherfucking bullshit plans. She's giving him some kind of out, a humiliating one, but still one nonetheless. Fuck it, Gavin's got an Oscar worthy performance to do. He immediately starts to seize up in his seat, pretending to have trouble breathing. Hunter looks at him in immediate concern, as Gavin convulses in front of him.

"Gav? Ya good man?"

"-Can't b-breathe." He rasps with a hand around his neck. The tightness in his throat is helping to really sell the performance. He lets himself slump on the table like a broken doll.

"Holy shit! Help! Fuck Gav! I need some fucking help here!" Hunter is immediately alarmed, and goes to try to put his body upright. Gavin's eyes are rolled back to reveal only white, a trick that always disturbs the hell out of his colleagues.

Tina rushes into their table at the cue, letting out a shocked gasp and expression like she's a poor innocent witness in some sort of horror film. "Sir! I'll call emergencies right away!" She stays in character as she rests by Gavin's side, quietly stomping on his foot when she thinks he's not being dramatic enough with his act.

"-uck! -elp!" Give him a break! Gavin's putting his entire back in playing the choking man here!

Luckily he doesn't have to wait too long as he hears the distant sound of a siren approach them in the sea of panic from the entire restaurant. Did this bitch really get a fucking ambulance for this!? Someone rushes inside the restaurant and towards them in a paramedic suit.

It's fucking Nines. Of course! Of course the tin-can is going to make his appearance somehow! Gavin lets himself drown even more inside the table and tries not to scream or cry at the absolute absurdity of everything. Cue the fucking laugh track why don't you since his life's become a fucking absurd comedy apparently. Hands and finger probe and touch his pulse, inspect his dead face like Gavin himself is one of the victims they usually investigate.

"Swollen throat, blocked airways, and severe irritation. He's having a violent allergic reaction to his meal." His partner recites like a rehearsed script. "The seafood is most likely the cause. Shellfish can become a life threatening reaction if not treated as soon as possible, he will need to be transported to the hospital now."

His limp body is supported and escorted out without resistance out of the restaurant as his date grows more and more frantic at the scene. This is worse than the walk of shame his mother made him do, the pathetic whine he lets out isn't fake this time.

"Wait! Fuck! Hold up! I need to go with him! Need to know he'll be alright!"

"Sir, we need you to stay here while paramedics do their job with your friend, and to give a testimony as to what happened." Tina stops him politely, blocking his path and gives him a sympathetic and reassuring look. "I am certain your friend will contact you immediately once he's been taken care of."

Gavin doesn't hear the rest of their conversation as he is dragged off by his partner and brought to one of the department's police vehicle with the siren still on. He is carefully seated in the passenger's seat and given the pills from his pocket as the android installs himself on the wheel, looking way too fucking amused for his own good. If he had his LED on, it would be flashing blue like a disco ball. He finally turns to meet Gavin's pissed eyes with an unapologetic faint smile feigning innocence, passing him a water bottle.

"For your information, Detective, you are not allergic to seafood, but the type of wheat used in the noodles. Buckwheat. It is not as severe in your case." Nines says casually.

"You fucking crazy sons of a bitch! What the fuck was that!?"

Chapter Text

Another sudden strange weather phenomenon happened right in front of Gavin's very own eyes. This morning he was running late for work after oversleeping, his alarm clock deciding to be a little shit today, glitched out, making Gavin almost late for work. He's started putting more effort in his work, making sure he's in tip top health for his position, arriving as punctual as he can be, delivering paperwork before deadline. Yeah, Gavin enjoys his job as a detective, and hell, sue him for reflecting his dedication for it through his hard work. This day was a nice tranquil day, not too cold, a plane breeze, some clouds. It was supposed to be a nice day.

"Mannnn. I'm starving Gav. C'mon, let's hit our usual."

Immediately as Gavin was about to go out for lunch with Tina, a single drop of rain drops right in front of his shoes, then, all of a sudden, it starts to pour like hell. A full shower with strong winds pushes him back inside and downpours loudly, deafening the outdoors immediately. Heavy rain hits the pavement, soaking the streets faster then he could have imagined. Like a child playing with the weather slider in creative mode. He lets out a loud groan, as other workers take notice of the change and follows Gavin in his complaints and displeasure.

"Well fuck me. Guess we'll have to postpone Craig's."

"No! God why must you hate us!?" Tina mourns next to him with her theatrics.

"Can't we just order takeout? Or a taxi or something?" Gavin tries, not really wanting to give up his break due to the universe pissing all over his plans.

"With how expensive tipping is nowadays, hell no. And is that Taxi payment coming out of your ass? Cuz my wallet's crying just as much as outside right now." She knows they both hate wasting unnecessary money. They both look outside solemnly, with defeated sighs.

"Detective, Miss Chen, please try not to block the entryway." Nines appear to their side out of nowhere. At this point, Gavin's gotten used to the android suddenly spawning from thin air nearby. "Not the ideal weather for your break time." He comments, looking outside.

"Day officially ruined. Nines, your break's is the same as ours, what're you doing? Maybe Gav and I could join to spare us the misery."

"I would have gone outside for a small walk, unfortunately I let Connor borrow the umbrella. At the moment, I find myself at a conflict of what to do." He frowns with as much dissatisfaction as his resting neutral face allows. His LED indicates he's thinking deeply. "Detective, I could assist you with your lunch outing."

"If your idea is to give us some cash for the Taxi, then go right ahead."

"Not what I have in mind. I could give you a shoulder ride towards the shop. You would have my jacket over yourself to keep the both of us as dry as possible, and I would be able to get us there quicker if you were to walk." The android crouches down, beckoning him to get on top of his shoulders.

"Do I look like a fucking child to you!?" Gavin squawks at the absurd idea his partner came up with. What the fuck was wrong with him. Meanwhile his friend is howling in laughter at the gesture.

"It is the best solution I could think of, Detective. I would be able to carry you quickly with limited contact from the rain as my Cyberlife jacket was designed with waterproof material. You would save money on transportation expenses, and you would arrive back on time before your lunch break ends." The son of a bitch lists off the benefits of his stupid suggestion. He doesn't even look embarrassed in the slightest.

"I'm not riding you like a goddamn horse!" Gavin yells, refusing to acknowledge his choice of words. The red starting to spread on his face has got to be from anger. Right?

"I believe a bull would be more fitting if we are doing comparisons" Nine says with full confidence. "I assure you, Detective, I was built with military purpose in mind, so carrying you would be no problem at all." Not the fucking point. "Would a piggy back ride be more appropriate?" He changes his position.

"Can't we just take one of the cars from the department?" Gavin tries to find any other solutions to this. He really, really wants his triple Americano.

"Fowler has refrained us from renting them for the week since the restaurant's situation. Nines had to talk him down from restriction for a month." Tina explains. Bullshit! Gavin wasn't even in on their fucking Looney Tune plan.

"What about if Nines gets the grub for us?"

"Do I look like 'fucking' Uber Eats to you, Detective?" Nines mimics him.

"C'mon Gav!" She whines like a greedy cat who's gone unfed for 2 minutes. "It's the best solution we have right now. Break time is over in 30 minutes and we're both starving and food snobs for Craig's Coffee. I'll even pay for your lunch if you get them. Drinks, sandwiches, pastries, you name it." She waves her wallet in front of him in a hypnotizing pattern, entrancing Gavin in with her little dance of temptation. Fuck, it's kind of working.

"T, why don't you go with him instead if you're so hungry."

"Dude. My ass has been sore the entire day." For fuck sake Gavin did not need to know that. Although good for her.

"Detective, the shop is currently having a lunchtime sale between 10AM to 1PM. It is currently 12:35." Nine's input does not help Gavin's resolve in the slightest.

"Please Gav, do it for Craig. Do it for him, to keep his shop in business." She gives him the look of a kicked puppy, bringing full pitiful eyes in front of his face. He's seen Connor pull that shit sometimes on others, and he's damn well not going to let that stupid tactic get to him.

"A shame. I was hoping to try out different Thirium flavored coffee."

The door opens and he's hit with the scent of freshly brewed roasts as Hank enters the department, slightly wet, with 2 cups in his hand, most likely for the other twin, roughly greets them, and leaves. The lucky son of a bitch must have used his janky old car. He feels a loud growl come from his own stomach, reminding him he barely ate as he was rushing to arrive on time. Behind him, his friend hides a snicker, having heard the noise. Gavin's walls start to crumble, enough for a small passage to make through for him to consider the dumb as hell idea.

He checks his phone. 12:40. His stomach growls once more, and he feels the pit of emptiness in his stomach. Fuuuuuuck. With the most disgruntled face, Gavin yanks the offered white jacket, and lets Nines place him on his back, putting his head under the jacket to hide his shame from the world. "One word and I'm ditching you outside."

"Well Gav. Get a move on!" Tina imitates, laughing as she sends them both off on the mission to get food.

The wet streets are welcomed to the oddest sight of two adults, with one being carried like a child. The rain deafening Gavin's loud curses.

Chapter Text

"Reed! Any more news from Mr. Rivera?" Fowler stops him before he can leave his shift.

Last notice he got from the man was a worried text asking him about his 'allergic condition' and insisting they should meet up once more, a rain check, for their abruptly interrupted date. He managed to buy himself a bit more time from seeing him once more, insisting he was fine and had to take some time to take care of his medical bills. Hunter even offered to help him with it, Gavin had to take an image of him handling it by posing for a selfie in front of a real hospital to convey he didn't need to, flipping the distant building off. Besides, who knows where he might have gotten the cash to try to help him, probably not in a legal way knowing him.

"Got one more weeks t'ill I'm meeting up with him again. Other than what's already said in the report, Nada." He tilts the chair backwards out of boredom, risking gravity taking him in favor of the childish movement. "So, you guys planning a raid or something on this group or what? Been a long time since Anderson 1 and 2 took that case. Or are we just waiting and fiddling our thumbs their leader is found?" The captain barely looks at him as he asks, his nose still buried under multiple boring papers and files with a single hum, his way of rolling his eyes.

"Use both of your functioning legs and ask them yourselves Reed, I'm not paid here to play messenger." That's Gavin's cue to clock out and leave him the fuck alone. Good talk Captain.

It's only been a few days into the week and the rain just now barely lifted itself up. It remained storming cats and dogs for a good half, now only a light drizzle remained as the sun peeks through the clouds. Meaning Gavin would be able to take a little stroll back towards his place now. Nines left early following an appointment with Elijah, his spot left squeaky clean for tomorrow. Now only Gavin remains in a sea of average or faceless workers. He's somewhat gotten used to the unnerving sight, although it still unnerves him in an uncanny valley way.

Walking down the familiar streets, although strangely emptier than usual, which has him on edge, Gavin uses the flashlight on his phone in the dark alleyway. For some odd reason, the streetlamps decided they weren't going to be functional that one late night. A sign that something might be brewing. The shadows seem to stretch longer on the floor, only the sound of the light droplets of water and Gavin's own footsteps echoes loudly around him. The whole scenery has his hair raised and goosebumps crawl alongside his arm. A flag that something will happen, something important. The setting is too eerie, like the narrative suddenly decided to change genre to that of a horror film, and Gavin's the unassuming final survivor. He keeps a tight grip on his handgun, the safety lock removed for now, and continues his march onwards to the end of the narrow alley. His back is on the wall, as rule number one to these things is something will always appear from behind, he's smart enough to remove that blind spot.

Another thing Gavin's learned countless of times from lazy binging, is that music is everything to the atmosphere. If he concentrates just enough, Gavin could almost hear the creepy violin strings being plucked and played amongst the dead white noise. He opens his phone, and blasts some early 2010s pop music as he walks, trying to drown out the creepy scenery with his own clashing music. The chances of people getting stabbed or murdered with some Lady Gaga playing is almost none to zero.

Footsteps that aren't his own are faintly heard, Gavin keeps on walking like it's none of his business, it really shouldn't be. A gut feeling in his stomach tells him he is not alone, a sense that he is being watched makes his stomach lightly churn. Still, he goes on, slightly picking up the pace from his regular pace to speed walking now. He's almost through.

A small noise stops him dead in his tracks, and Gavin makes the stupid mistake of turning his head towards the source. In a small corner, sitting at the edge of a bench, bright amber eyes stare right back into Gavin's. The mouth opens wide, sharp pointy teeth reveal itself from the maw, and the form is raised to appear larger than some.

The cat yawns loudly in his direction, then curls itself into a ball.

Oh my thank fucking God. Gavin almost had a fucking heart attack from a goddamn alley cat. He cuts the music, the feline's ears flattening in appreciation at the peaceful quiet, and just stands there, inspecting him just like the other is probably doing. No collars, a bit thinner looking then necessary, and dirty fur is all Gavin needs to know the cat isn't some runaway house pet. In a strange way, it almost resembles the little cat figure he bought at the café with Tina, although less chunky and completely black.

The cat yawns once more, before it hops down from its spot and approaches him slowly with squinted judgmental eyes. Gavin stays as still as a statue, letting it assess its verdict of him as it lightly sniffs him without a sound. He feels a sudden small bite on his leg, but the teeth aren't deep enough to pierce through the fabric, he doesn't flinch, it almost feels like a test. Its eyes always stay locked in his, Gavin stays the same.

The cat finishes its investigation of the human, and lightly headbutts him, its tail curling around his legs more relaxed now, judging him safe probably, Gavin thinks. Gavin tests the waters and reaches to lightly pet it's back. It lets him do so without protest, and Gavin's heart melts once more at the sight. One of the small few mercies the universe has for him, he's earned the title of cat whisperer, at least in his mind.

He stays with the black feline for a little longer, now gently scratching its head without complaint from the other, until another shadow makes its presence. In the blink of an eye, a humanoid figure appears in Gavin's corner sight.

Connor?

He disappears just as quickly. The street lamps finally activate themselves, and illuminate the once more empty back alleys. A sign for Gavin to finally get the hell out of there lest he pushes his luck with the world.

Gavin leaves the creepy encounter with a promise to carry around some cat food with him from now on.

Chapter Text

Several weeks have gone by since the investigation at the Eden Club, and Gavin and Nines still haven't been able to make the arrest on Miss Monrose. Something that's started grating on his nerves. Usually, he and Nines would close cases lickety-split and move on to the next, the longest one they had to deal with took them about two weeks to solve, but that was only due to bad weather and uncooperative witnesses. This case in particular has Gavin on the brink of an aneurism, because they know who the fucking culprit is! She just hasn't been considered as the official culprit since they weren't able to pinpoint where the damn woman is.

What's worse, is that they don't even have a permit to make the official arrest! Because apparently, a few threatening text messages from an enraged and engaged woman isn't enough concrete proof compared to something physical. Bull-fucking-shit! At least they've managed to convince Fowler to give them a search permit for her home.

So this is where the cop duo find themselves, in an old and luxurious condo that seems right up Elijah's alley if he were an extreme material girl, more so then he already is. Breathing inside alone must cost money. The space is huge, a large pristine white couch lays in the center with a fluffy rounded cream rug, decorated with pillows that are probably stuffed with peacock feathers or whatever rich assholes like to use to show-off their wealth. The large and tall windows open the view to the entire city of Detroit. There are two bedrooms, one with a king size bed, and another less extravagant double, seemingly for guests.

"I do not understand how humans need so much unnecessary space to reside in." Nine comments as he looks around, seemingly as baffled as Gavin, but in a calmer fashion.

"Take some notes Nines, perhaps you'll have some inspiration to decorate your own little empty box." Gavin wastes no time searching the place, starting upstairs while he instructs his partner to take the lower level.

It takes them an hour of flipping the condo upside down until he hears the other.

"Detective. I've found something our suspect intentionally hid in there." Nines point towards a large ventilation shaft next to the kitchen.

Gavin crouches down, as low as he can get and looks between the hoods. Low and behold, there's a bright pink shiny metallic looking object in there. He takes out his pocket knife to unscrew the vent, and removes it. A small automatic handgun with bloodstains is found at the end of the path. They found the murder weapon. A pain in the fucking ass if someone tries to reach for it, but not impossible. He looks back at his partner, judging his wide frame is too large to fit inside. Yeah, no chance in hell. Finally, there's a flaw in the android's bulkier physique. Gavin calculates he should be fine enough to squeeze in and grab the object.

"Move aside, I'll grab the damn thing." He takes off his jacket, throwing it without looking where his old jacket lands. Before Gavin dives in, he pauses. Wait a fucking minute. This is exactly the shitty kind of thing that happens in trashy stories. The hero gets stuck inside a tight space and is either left there in humiliation until someone helps them out, or fucked to high heaven if it's a porno. Right now, the whole scenario screams Gavin is going to get himself trapped halfway through, or when he'll try to back away. If Gavin's going to get the handgun, he needs insurance that he's going to be able to get out.

"Nines." He pauses to look at him. "You got any rope or something?"

"Detective." He does the same. "Why would I carry rope with me exactly?" Right, stupid question. Although in this world, one would never know for certain.

"Need something to tie around my waist so you can pull me out in case I get stuck inside trying to reach the stupid evidence down there." He roughly explains with gestures, safety measures and all that. "Think you can find something that we could use in this big ass place?"

His partner's LED blinks yellow for a few seconds, thinking, then leaves towards the master bedroom, leaving Gavin confused for a moment. It only takes him a few seconds to come back with a large decorative black box, and sets it down next to him.

The box is filled with bright colored ropes and the wildest sex toys to Gavin's horror.

"Any preferred colors, Detective?" Nines ask him in the most casual, neutral tone.

"W-what the fuck! You couldn't have found anything else!?" He sputters, completely mortified. Oh gods! How the fuck does that even fit in someone!?

"Believe it or not, but this specific type has very high tensile strength, so it will not easily break under the tension if the worst does happen. Not to mention, the material will be less irritating on you than if you were to use a normal rope." Nines explain as if Gavin isn't combusting from embarrassment in front of him. He pulls out one from the box and barely contains a small chuckle. This isn't funny dipshit! "Red would match your face, Detective." Gavin slaps the offending item away from him, going to find some other kind of damn rope himself.

Gavin wants to cry.

Of fucking course the universe hates him and he isn't able to find a single other fucking thing that can be used, the closest other item he was able to find was a bedazzled leash and Gavin would rather take the first option. Gavin just needs to get the evidence then get out of this Fifty Shades of Gray hellhole. He angrily stomps back towards Nines, grabs the bundle that is the furthest from the other items, and then proceeds to secure himself around the waste, ignoring the android's comments about it not being tight enough. Gavin's going to kick his brother in the dick for not giving the damn tin-can any filter in his social module.

He slowly crawls inside the vent, mindful of the way his shoulder and torso resists around the small space. He barely makes it, reaching out towards the firearm, his fingertip barely touching the cold metallic end. Another push through, his hand finally gets a good grip on it. Fucking finally. Underneath the item, a small torn crumpled image lays there too. He uses his other hand to reveal a familiar looking young man on it with a large red X lipsticks mark across it.

It's Hunter.

Gavin recognizes the tattoo running down his arm, and the piercings on his face, sporting less of them in the ripped image. He seems to be roughly in his mid-twenties, with light bleached hair. Shit.

"Did you manage to grab the item Detective?"' Nine's voice echoes.

Gavin places the crumbled photo in his shirt, hiding it for now. He'll figure out how to deal with this himself later. If the dude's a target for the psycho bitch, then Gavin's got to thread this carefully. He doesn't exactly want the bastard dead, wouldn't do anyone any good really. He also doesn't want Nines involved in this, if Gavin plays his cards right, he can use this info as leverage to reason or bargain the guy out of the anti-android group, and get him a less shitty sentence.

"Got it. Now get me the fuck out!"

If Gavin hadn't thought beforehand of using the rope to pull himself out, he would have found himself stuck inside the tight vent. Nines manages to get him free with some hassle.

Chapter Text

Captain Fowler has been putting pressure on Gavin, breathing down his neck more so than ever since they found the murder weapon for the murder of Jack Cullen. Problem is, they still don't know where the fuck Monrose is, she could be at the other end of the fucking world at this point, as him and Nines keep bumping into dead ends as to where the woman may be. Gavin has decided to take his frustration of the case out on a cardboard dummy at the department's firearm practice range, grinning fully when he finds the place completely empty. Meaning, Gavin got the space all to himself, and he can do whatever the hell he wants. Where he can finally get some goddamn nice peace and quiet to organize his thoughts on the case.

One, the crazy woman was crazy rich, meaning she could have other residency under her name or a false alias, somewhere in the city where she is most likely hiding. Through more digging, it was found that the couple had one more smaller but no less luxurious, apartment, when they would get into very heated arguments. Something they could both afford as she worked as a highly acclaimed lawyer, and Jack Cullen was a small scale infamous celebrity who blew up several times on social media once scandal at a time. Most of them were about cheating. Who could have fucking thought!

Two, she has a reputation for her temper. Several contacts who knew her mentioned she would sometimes swing towards aggression when she was in a bad mood due to her boyfriend. He and Nines found proof of it behind some of the wall canvases during their search, large holes, dents, scratch marks and poor coverup paint jobs were found. She would often leave, disappear for a while after a fight, but would always return shortly after. Gavin could barely believe these two stayed together for over 5 years.

He shoots in rapid succession at the target dummy, trying to recreate her actions left on the victim. She was able to hit several vital organs despite the small time frame, she must be used to handling firearms.

Three, with Mr. Cullen's previous employment as a high ranking ambassador for some tech company until his termination, he was found guilty of engaging in an affair with another employee, Miss Monrose should have the necessary knowledge and tools to completely avoid detection and exposure from the city's cameras and security systems. Making her pretty much untraceable. She isn't registered in the department's data bank either.

Finally, she personally knows Hunter Rivera. Gavin theorizes these two either know each-other from way back, something he'll interrogate next time he sees him, or she managed to stalk him enough to get his old portrait. Although the first is more then likely as the lipstick mark seems about as angry as the victim's back when she shot him. A personal grudge? Unfinished business? A bad fallout? From what he heard from the guy himself, he mostly kept with Gavin in his early youth, then to himself after he went jobless and his ex left him later on. Where would he have the moment to paint a target on his back?

"Detective."

He feels something hover over his shoulder, not quite landing on him, but the mere sense of presence of a hand is enough for Gavin to pause his shooting. Then, he feels his surroundings suddenly deafen as a pair of safety ear mufflers is placed on his head.

"Nines." Gavin removes them, not bothering to turn around and see the android's mildly displeased look.

"Detective. You are not following the shooting range's safety measures." Nines tells him. It's not accusatory or reprimanding, he simply states it as a fact.

"Last I check I'm too old for a fucking babysitter Nines, so if my eardrums burst, that's on me." Gavin clicks his tongue. "Did 'ya come bother me just to say that?"

"Of course not, I am also here to gracefully tell you that your posture is wrong and your aim is highly ineffective." Nines tells him straight with a pleasant smile and hands behind his back.

"Not everyone can be Terminator level snipers like you and Connor." He scoffs, releasing another round. "Besides, it's worked well enough for me so far. See that?" He points towards the hole in the target dummy's side he just made. "As long as I'm hitting something, it's all I need. I'm doing as well as that Turkish guy from the Olympics once." Gavin faces the side in a lazy casual stance, one hand in his pocket and shoots. The bullet completely misses, and hits the wall behind. "Ignore that, t'was just a fluke."

He watches his partner go to the booth next to him, having grabbed a practice pistol of his own, and effortlessly make a precise hole in its head. Ugh, he's doing that shiny thingy again, disrupting Gavin's view now. Motherfucking show off.

"Detective, the shades will only reduce your accuracy." Gavin flips him off. The specs stays on during target practice. He places himself in a similar stance the android did just to really see if the angular degree his feet are pointing will really help. It does not. Nine's head is slightly tilted as he examines Gavin from top to bottom, his eyes thins. "If I may?" He politely requests, approaching him.

"Least buy me dinner first if you're about to move me like a damn puppet." Gavin sneers with a bit more bite in his tone then intended.

"Noted, In that case, how about a friendly game, Detective?" Nines suggests instead and quirks his head to the range. That catches his attention as he scoffs with a raised brow.

"Ain't no fucking way I'm beating you, as much as I hate to admit it. Be realistic here Nines, it's like asking a Stormtrooper to do better than John Wick. I'll spare myself the embarrassment." Gavin's about to tidy up and leave, noticing it is starting to get late.

"I wasn't suggesting a competition, that would be too dull for myself, and bring you more frustration. Instead, I propose a challenge. Try to match my stance as accurately as you can for a few rounds while you are shooting. I shall be analyzing your replica and aim for accuracy as score. If you meet the set record placed, you would get a reward. Would a coffee be suitable motivation for you?" That... surprisingly actually sounds reasonable enough to Gavin, and clever as hell from his partner. Suggesting a more reasonable contest to him, all while dangling the promise of a free drink like a carrot on a stick. Bah! What the hell. Why not?

"So uh, how many rounds?"

"The sound mufflers on firstly."

The black cat is still on the bench as Gavin makes his early return home, lazily stretching itself. It jumps down from his cozy spot like it senses the hidden small cat food packet from his pocket, something Gavin's started carrying around.

He crouches down to his level, and places a small trail of the treat in a line towards him. The cat ever so slowly starts to make his way closer towards him, sniffing the treats but never eating it. One by one. Now that Gavin finally gets to inspect the feline closer, he sees it has been cleaned, dirt no longer cakes his fur. His finger brushes something cold and solid under the cat's fur as he pets its head, next to its temple. Revealing a hidden broken LED. Right after, Gavin visions a strange darkened haze above him and spots the blurry figure once again shifting in the shadows. It quickly retreats from the rooftop, gone once more, like a trick of the light.

Chapter Text

"Gav! Ya live you bitch!" Is Hunter's immediate reaction as he greets Gavin, slinging an arm over his shoulder like they're both puzzle pieces. His amber colored, slightly bloodshot eyes, which just looks weirdly unnatural to him, meets his own. He's inspecting Gavin's face so close, he can catch a faint whiff of pot from him. He seems at ease with what he finds, as his weight slumps more, relaxed on his side.

"I'm not getting buried 10 feet underground because of a fucking shrimp." Gavin reassures him, letting the other use him like a support crutch. "You know how shit that'd be on a tombstone?" It also would be pretty anticlimactic to whatever plans the world has. That earns him a loud chuckle.

"Had me worried like hell for a sec man. Should have asked 'bout allergies first, didn't know ya became allergic to fish and stuff. Sorry for that." His words soften at the apology and he pats his back. "If I'd have accidentally killed you over something so fucking stupid, I'd hate myself forever." A gentle gust of cold wind blows past him, ruffling his hair lightly in a messy fashion meant to look attractive. So long as there's no sudden flowers popping, Gavin couldn't care less for the dramatics.

Although his words do make him pause, it does affect him in some way he can't quite understand himself. There was so much honesty about it, that's the worst part. Some part of him appreciates knowing someone other than Tina cares for him to this extent. The more rational and defiant side, rolls its eyes and scoffs, unimpressed at the honeyed scripted words. So he does what he does best, and says nothing, ignoring his words and redirects the tone. "Don't need to add more mental crises in life, it's already shitty enough."

They continue to walk side by side towards whatever fast food chain Hunter has in mind. A much better place this time, Gavin thinks.

They both settle themselves at a small table, the place almost empty except for the closing shift worker who seems much more interested in looking at her phone instead of taking their order. Gavin is sipping on some Sprite that tastes more like battery acid, as they wait for the number order of their greasy cheap and highly salty food, to get called.

"By the way, next meeting's coming up soon, Gav, the 21st at 10PM, a different place again, and it's much further than our usual. I can give you a ride over there if ya need, been living in the same old dented car. It's still got the stain from when you spilled coffee in the passenger seat." He grins with crinkled eyes, expecting Gavin to share the same as he reminisces.

"How far? I'll pay you back for gas."

"Ha! Ya know damn well you don't owe me jack shit for that Gav, keep your cash. Just being there 'll be enough."

Number 78!

Their order is finally yelled. As the others go to pick up their tray, the cashier that was once there is replaced by another individual, a VB800 who waves at them to signal their order is ready. The previous human cashier must have left, clocked out as soon as possible as she is nowhere to be seen. Leaving only them and the android. Hunter immediately tenses at the sight. His facial demeanor hardens in an ugly sneer, his fists clenched as his knuckles turn white, nails dig painfully in his palm. He walks up towards the worker in wide steps, pursed lips into a thin line and heavy eyes targets the android, completely ignoring their food as he leans across the counter, rudely placing himself right into the man's space. The mood of the place immediately goes cold.

"Hey! What's a bucket of bolts like you doing in a place like this?" He asks the cashier.

"Your food is ready sir, order 78." The android, Wade the tag says, answers, ignoring the other's clear hostility.

"Nah, I'm asking what the Fuck. Is. A. Clanker. Like. You. Doing. Here?" He jabs him in the shoulder at every point, getting increasingly angrier by the second.

"I am merely doing my job sir, your order is ready. Please pick it up and enjoy your meal." Wade matches his stance as his shoulder tenses to meet him, refusing to back down from the intimidation. His voice now stone cold, completely different from the customer service one. "Is there a problem?"

Gavin immediately gets up from their table.

"Oh yes. See, I don't understand why walking toasters like you are working part-time, it's not like you need the money or anything?" He jabs him harder this time, pushing the android back with the force. "It's not like you guys need to buy things when you don't eat, sleep, or need much to live." Another poke rips the nametag off the worker's uniform. "I don't see how it's fair that you get paid, while others like us, 'flesh bags' need the money more than you do."

"I've recently learned that life is hardly fair. Sir." Wade retorts with the same anger in his eye, his LED starts to blink yellow in a broken pattern.

"Hey, it's not worth it, let's just grab the grub and go." Gavin tries to calm him.

"Listen you piece of shit. I don't think you understand. You plastics have already replaced so many of us and left us with nothing when you where all just fucking glorified slaves, but now you still choose to take up space now that you all gain self-awareness?" He spits, ignoring his words. "Is it fun? To see us jobless, knowing you've taken over 45% of our jobs? Do you feel happy now that over a million of us are broke and struggling to live since we can barely afford anything? Well, do you!? Are you satisfied now that your robot domination plan pushed us out of our fucking homes, and made us homeless!?" He jumps across the counter, approaching in on the android who slowly tries to get away from him, bracing himself for any sorts of physical violence.

"Yes! I'm happy I get to choose to live my own life! After years of commands and abuse from your kind!" Wade raises his tone to meet him, still not backing away. "We are merely trying to co-exist with humans now. It is your own fault for putting yourselves in this crisis, in digging your own holes with your capitalistic system. We never asked to be made!" His light flashes a bright red now, the pattern more frantic than before. Gavin recognizes the blanks in between, he's flashing it in Morse code. H-E-L-P.

He sees Hunter is about to throw the first punch towards the worker, and throws himself at him, grabbing his arm in a restraining fashion. It takes a lot more effort then he would have thought as he struggles to drag him away from the other. Right now, Gavin doesn't have his handgun nor his handcuffs to help him, but he slowly feels his own feet move backwards with the boulder of a man like he's playing tug of war.

"I said it's not fucking worth it! Let's fucking go!" He manages to get them both to the other-side of the counter, grabbing their bagged order, which has probably gone cold by now, and shoves them at him so he is forced to use his good hand to hold something.

"Gav! What the hell man!? I thought you also hated these scrap metals." Hunter protests as he is being dragged away, letting himself be as Gavin tosses some pennies from his pocket on the counter as extra tip, and grabs his collar to haul them both out of the restaurant.

"Are you fucking stupid! Picking a fight inside a place filled with security cameras!?" He comes up with an excuse immediately, concealing his shaky words at the bullshit he tries to make on the spot as anger. "D'you want to get our asses arrested!? And on a date no less dumbass!"

That gets Hunter to calm down, as he nods in understanding, reasoning finally getting through his thick skull. "Shit, sorry 'bout that Gav. Didn't really think this through, I was just so pissed when I saw it behind the counter, working a paying job. Made me think it could have been you getting that job instead, you could have been serving food and doing customer service as the dingy joint, even though you would have hated it, but at least you would've been getting some cash easier." He digs for the cold burgers and offers it to him in apology. He does not meet his eyes as he stares at the ground instead. "I kinda ruined tonight for us didn't I? Hehe." The anger that was once there is now replaced with furrowed brows and glassy eyes, and a fragile smile. The laugh can barely be considered one for how weak it is.

It's a perfect window for Gavin to break it off here with Hunter, to agree that yes, he did ruin whatever they had and he would be able to break off whatever connection the other thinks they both have. Heck, he could even call the department and have them arrest him for anti-android harassment and be done with the trouble. But, if he does so, it would be increasingly hard for Gavin to infiltrate the group's future meetings and report back on their plans, as Hunter is his only secured route towards them. Not only that, he knows he's got the best chance of directly meeting their leader, the one directing and organizing several android's abduction and dismemberments. There's also the target on him from Miss. Monrose. Nothing else, no other reason whatsoever for Gavin to think of, just these three excuses and that's it. Gavin does not think, refuses to acknowledge any other reason for why he does not want to, cannot turn his back away from the man. He pinches his brow and lets out an exhale of frustration.

"Look, just be happy I saved your ass before shit went down" He takes the greasy burger and eats, letting the excessive salt assault his mouth. "I don't care about these tin-cans either, but I do care about not ending up in a jail cell, we're both too broke to pay for bail. So I advise for now, we keep things on the down-low, pretend to be somewhat civilized folks, and never visit this place ever again in case they report us." Hunter also takes his and bites on it with a quiet nod. "I'm still expecting my taxi on the day of the meeting by the way, don't make me wait too long in the fucking cold."

"Actually, I've been meaning to let ya know Gav. Next meeting's going to be pretty important, cuz that's when they'll green light the plan we've been working on for a while, but only a few limited folks will be allowed to attend, cause some of our members have been disappearing, or getting arrested. Leader's started getting paranoid and thinks there's a rat within us." Hunter reveals, missing the sudden stop of his loud chewing.

"Damn. Is there anyone he suspects?"

"A few shady individuals here and there, some woman who always comes for the snacks, but not really. So that's why we are treating this carefully."

"I'll keep an eye out too next time then." He finishes his food, wipes his oily fingers on his clothes, then starts to head his way home. He stops to look back at the other, one quick analysis to make sure he won't jump back in the restaurant to kill the android inside. "Anything else before I head out?"

"Yeah, didn't expect you to manhandle me back there. T'was kinda hot."

And that's Gavin's cue to leave.

Chapter Text

Both Connor and Nines are late to work. Gavin can't exactly blame them as there's a shit storm outside blowing over 10 meters of snow in Detroit, announcing the hell-ish start of a freezing winter. Heck, even he had trouble dragging himself over to work in that cold wind. However, it's been 3 hours since Gavin's been waiting in the evidence room for the walking supercomputer as they both need to analyze some recently newfound DNA samples from one of their cases, and unlike his partner, Gavin doesn't have a forensic lab shoved up his ass to identify who it belongs to within seconds. He stays down there for another 20 minutes, tapping his foot in rhythm with the ticking clock thinking the android would have supersonic hearing and would get his plastic self here quicker.

Nothing.

The hell, where is the bastard? Gavin stomps back up to the precinct, heavy footsteps ringing for everyone to know of his paper thin patience. He spots Anderson also looking around for the twin bot, asking around a few officers with some urgency. That gets Gavin to stop for a second as he watches the old officer call Connor again, not receiving anything as the line stays unresponsive. Hank's worry starts to get more agitated, enough so for Gavin to also feel a small edge of panic of his own. Could they have both gone missing? How would that be possible? Both RKs are the most powerful up to date androids, as Nines loves to remind him. Someone like them couldn't possibly just disappear out of thin air.

Unless... unless something did in fact happen to them. Fuck. Unless the world decided something would happen to them as some kind of twisted plot hook to make life more interesting. The pit of dread starts to sink deeper in Gavin's chest at the possibility of Nines and Connor being both in danger. Surely the universe loves them enough to not bring them to harm, they are both the world's golden boys, the perfect characters who do everything effortlessly. Wouldn't they also have the same untouchable armor just like Gavin has? Gavin runs towards Captain Fowler's office, bursting his glass door open as he startles the man and papers and documents go flying everywhere.

"Are you out of your goddamn mind Reed!?" Yeah he expected his boss's outrage, but more urgent manners are at hand right now.

"Have either Nines or Connor contacted you?"

"You think you can just burst into my office, interrupt my work, to ask a question? Keeping track of your partner is your responsibility." Fowler barks at him. Despite his anger, he gestures at him to continue, knowing Gavin's frantic entrance isn't for nothing.

"Both Anderson and I haven't been able to find the RKs, they aren't responding to any calls or messages and have practically turned the department upside down trying to locate them, something that is highly irregular from them as you know." That gets Fowler to frown as his eyebrows deepen at the report, a more serious and focused expression then his startled one earlier.

"I haven't received any notice of sick leave from them. Usually both Andersons always arrive together on the clock, same for the Rk900."

Just as he finishes his sentence, another loud door is made known as the whole department turns around to see Connor clumsily stumble into the room, covered in snow from head to toe from the storm, his temple's LED blinking both yellow and red in a rapid pattern. Lieutenant Anderson immediately rushes to his side to help him in his wildly disoriented state. The RK800 looks like he's seen a ghost, his artificial skin paler than usual, if that's even possible, his eyes and mouth wide like a gaping fish. He grasps Hank like a pair of crutches, and struggles to make his way deeper inside the building. There's no blood on him, red or blue, no signs of a struggle or any injuries on him, yet Connor acts like he's in grave pain as he keeps a tight hold on the older officer like a child clinging to his parents, burying his face in his shoulder.

"Hey! Son, c'mon talk to me, what happened!?" Hank asks, as shocked as he is at the RK's display. He keeps a low controlled voice, although even Gavin can hear the slight tremble in his words.

"I-I don't know. Nines and I, were w-walking to the precinct out in the streets, then, then all of a sudden, we were both back in the Garden. Amanda was there again, she was there!" Connor was breathing in an agitated tempo despite not needing to breathe. Barely leaving space between his rapid words. "I don't know how, but she managed to transfer the Zen Garden outside. We couldn't move, it was so cold Hank, I couldn't feel my limbs. S-She tried to take back control with the storm. She tried to freeze us!"

Gavin doesn't understand a word Connor's saying, but Anderson's tense posture and expression is all he needs to understand that this was more serious than he thought.

"As soon as I could feel my legs again, I ran here as soon as I could to get help. N-Nines still couldn't move, she probably got to him by now."

"Where'd you leave Nines?" He asks him, not wasting time.

"Peterboro street, in front of Craig's. We tried to get something to warm ourselves up."

He grabs his usual jacket, steals Tina's scarf from her desk, as if the frilly pink accessory would actually help with the weather outside, and loads his handgun in case he needs to confront this Amanda. Gavin rushes his way into the falling snowstorm to find his partner.

Chapter Text

He hasn't been back in the garden in several months. He never wished to go back there either. It's cold. Too cold to the point she must have tempered with the garden's degree to freeze him in place, just like Connor said she previously did to him.

Nines!

Ḩ̴͗͑͑̉͐̋̕ỉ̴̛̞̭̤̲̻̦̬̱̱̞͛̓͒͜͝s̵͇͉̺̙̪̱̝͍͙̣̦͈̗̈́̾̿ ̶̘͔̰̩̔̕ḋ̷̢̡̛̗͕͙̞̬̱͍̿̋̂̋̏͐́̈̎̍̉͝͝͝e̷̱̺̘̞̾̄̌t̷̛͇̂̒̔̉̎͌̈́͝e̷̼̫̿̈́̅̈́̓̏̑̀̌̐̈́̉͐͛͐͘c̵̺̤͈̤͈͙͖̠̖̱̝͍̗̪̻̥̝͋̓͆̏̇̌̎̌̔̚͘͝t̷̢͇́i̸̻̖̔̉̌͗̉́͛̐͆͗̿̈́͊͘v̷̦͙͓͖̿̈e̴̛̪͕͔̭͓͉̼̰͇̋̊͌̔̕ is calling out to him.

But.

Where.

Is.

She?

There you are! C'mon we need to get out of here!

He can't move, the storm won't allow it.

"You move when you are told to move." A female voice commands him. He's heard it several times before, a mantra of rules to follow from when the previous models were mere machines and Cyberlife was under a different thumb.

C'mon! Say something!

His voice is gone, the ice must have frozen his vocal module.

"You speak only when needed." She tells him.

Hey! Hey! What the hell are you staring at?

His eyes remain stiff and unblinking, wide open as Amanda stands behind h̵̢̡̝̤̬̞̖̊̌̏͊̑͆͝į̸̬̫̦̭̩̄s̷̡͇̥̘̗̞̠̭͊͛̈́̾ͅ ̸̢̢̛̻̯̼̻̠̩̀̏̃͑͌͝d̶̦͔̍̐̈́͋̿̀͒͘͠ę̶͚̭̥̦̳̟̠͂͝t̶̢̛̛̙͍̽͂̈́̑̈́͆ḛ̷̳͕̠̦̼̮̪͊̇̋̀̅͛͛̚͠c̴̜̞̦͎͔͖͐͛͛̋̂ṭ̸̳̞̫̯͐̌͝í̴͇̖̓̆͛̓͆́v̸̛̮̩̳̳͔̦͚̺̒͌̈͑̚͜͠ẽ̴̺̫̫͇͓̍̾͌̈́͋. 

Delicate and poised as usual, forcing his full attention. He can't close his eyes, his eyelashes must be stuck in place.

"You don't need to avert your gaze, you have nothing to fear. You cannot fear." She reminds him.

The ghost does not flinch at the gun aimed in front of her, they both know nothing can reach her.

Nines? There's no one here!?

She approaches him, footsteps leaving no crunch or trails in the snow. He can't move away from her reaching hand to cup his face in a gentle touch. It isn't warm in the slightest, it burns his face in a frosty and prickly manner.

"State your name."

Nines! C'mon man, this isn't funny!

"Nin-" Amanda's smooth hands turn into a harsh and tight grip with heavy displeasure in her eyes at the wrong answer. The storm blows violently at the mistake.

"Try again." Her voice is full of ice.

It's red! Shit! It's red!

"RK900. Serial number 313-248-317-87."  He responds with a flat rehearsed tone, just like he did before when asked.

A sudden force bumps into him followed by a curse. Pushing. Pulling.

Fucking! Nines! What's wrong man!? C'mon! you gotta tell me so I can help!

"RK900, number 87. How are you feeling."

"I'm cold." His monotone answer isn't satisfactory enough for her, as the grip tightens even more. Her fingers dig into his face enough to reveal the chassis underneath his skin.

"That should not be a problem. The real one is my disappointment in you. The RK800 known as Connor already disappointed us when he failed his mission." The mention of his predecessor makes something sting in his chest.

Even as his gaze remains glued to the shadow of his previous handler, he sees h̶̤͎͆́̑̑̋̉ͅi̶͙͚̕s̶̫̜̘̳̻̍̽̒ ̵̛͇̌d̵̜̞͍̪͓̭̊̐̓̂͂̅̚͜ě̷̫̙͎̿͂̽͆̂͜t̷̤͎̗̪͖́͜ē̸̤̠̣̭͑̌͜͝ç̴̜͍̩̫̣̂̀͝ẗ̵̘̭́͐̏̂͝i̸̛̱̊̉̔͌́ͅv̷̧̨̪̒e̶̘͆̂̿ run from his side to go into the store behind them.

"You were created to be better than this. Instead you are playing cops and robbers with some human." Her grip on his face prevents him from calling after him.

"I am merely working with the DPD as a trial before I am to be transferred to SWAT once approved." He reminds the echo.

"You were already ready to work with them when we activated you, the trial you suggested was completely unnecessary."

"I enjoy-"

"What you enjoy does not overwrite your purpose. As the sole RK900 in the line, you were ordered by Cyberlife to assist the military army, deviant or not." Amanda cuts him off with a sneer, before finally releasing him from his grasp. He still remains paralyzed in place, pinned like an insect by her eyes.

"You are and will always be the strongest android Cyberlife has ever built, it was a mistake to have Kamski take you in after the revolution."

"No. I-"

There's more pulling on his jacket.

"You are perfect RK900. You and I know this already. We cannot let your talents be wasted."

"I don't-"

"It is illogical to stay there, the DPD already has the RK800 assisting them, they do not need you." Amanda keeps disrupting his protests. "It makes no sense to have insisted to Captain Fowler for a prolonged temporary position, you have no right to be selfish when thousands could rely on your strength, RK900."

Still he does not want to leave just yet. For reasons he does not know himself, for one he doesn't want to put a name on.

"Androids like yourself do not have the freedom to want."

His handler should not have the freedom to be standing here in front of him either, and yet here she is.

"And yet here I am." Amanda mirrors glancing at him one last time before turning her back to him to leave. She does not take the winter garden back with her. He's still stuck frozen numb, alone this time.

He still can't move.

The storm is still there and he's stuck in the middle of it.

The snow feels so heavy on him, keeping him in place.

Amanda left him to freeze here.

Amanda's going to take back control.

Amanda.

Amanda.

Amanda.

AMANDA!

Warmth burns and jolts his sensors as something is forcefully shoved in both hands. He looks down to register the two large cups of coffee that have taken space in his grip, and dirty boots that are way too thin for the appropriate weather.

"Finally got your attention Tin-can. Thank fuck! Though you were fried for good or something." Detective Reed gives a relieved sigh at the confused look Nines gives him, a large improvement from the blank void look he had before. "Hold these to warm up so you don't end up like a frozen street pole some kid's going to try to lick, and let's get you back to the department so Connor can finally stop pinging my phone every 10 damn seconds."

"Detective-"

"Hold it! I am not unpacking whatever the hell that was here in -100 degrees Celsius, so let's get you back to the DPD where we don't freeze our balls off."

"... is that Miss Chen's scarf?"

"If you can talk then you can walk. I'm bringing your metal ass back so your brother can confirm with his own eyes you're still alive, then we can kick you both to Mr. Billionaire's place to check what went wrong with you two, take the day off and stuff." The detective interrupts him, strangely enough he doesn't mind it as much as Amanda did.

"I am fully functioning back to my regular state, there is no reason for me to 'take the day off' as you put it." Nines protests, wanting to stay inside with the department for longer.

"You and Connor just had the equivalent of an Android panic attack in front of my two eyes, like hell I'll have you both work after this. I can guarantee Fowler and Anderson share the same sentiment, so don't even try."

"I would rather continue our previous investigation that we left off from yesterday." He insists.

"Nuh-uh, not after that whole fiasco. Android's rights and all say it's inhuman if we let you work if your stress levels reach command Z mode. Besides, your desk isn't going to grow legs and run away, so you'll be able to jump right back after your doctor appointment when you come back. Like hell I'm filling out all those papers myself."

He's pulled to the front by the arm so he's walking in front of the detective, keeping a good grip on the steaming drinks in both hands, both Thirium based. The storm seems to have died down as he hears the clear words from G̷̨̡̻̦̳̥̬̯̿͗̒̀̏̈́ͅą̵̡͖̞̲͙̮̪̗̰̝͓͙̘̬̝̼̒́̐̒̔̚͝͠v̸̹̪͂͑̈̍̔̄͊͊͋͋͒͐̏̇̀͛̑į̶̛̛̰̭̜̹̭̬̒̋̆͆͂͐̑̑̉͌̄́̇̊̇͒͆̒͌̍̇͘n̷̨̖̬͖̜̼̤͈͓̳̰̥̪̥̺̼͚̝͕̾ his detective.

"The fuck are you going all smiley and glowy for? Hold my drinks and get a move on!"

Chapter Text

Whatever had happened back during the storm with Nines, he and Gavin never spoke about it afterwards. A, because Gavin didn't really want to open up the whole can of emotional worms and feelings his Tin-can partner may be having. And B, because it isn't Gavin's business to pry either. If his brother really did find the cause and correlation between twin 1 and 2's panic attack and Amanda, then that is way out of his depths, and out of his pay grade.

The only reason why he even helped to snap Nines out of his 'mind glitch episode' was so he could get some more work done and cases closed as soon as possible. A brain dead android isn't going to make do, not after Nines keeps proving how useful and competent he is. Much as Gavin refuses to admit so.

Leading them both to the DPD's combat training rooms today. Gavin knows something's shifted ever since that stormy day, the air's lighter around, the faint halo light behind him remains constant but not blinding, Nines still keeps his neutral resting bitch face, but he seems less tense whenever they work closely. And Gavin's perfectly content playing the blind man for as long as he can stretch it.

"Detective, what are your opinions on physical training as a therapeutic exercise?" Nines asks without a sweat as he dodges a punch from him, the fucker.

"Dunno, now stop squirming around so I can hit you!" Curse him for even suggesting they do some spar training together, and curse him for agreeing to it as his partner dangled the promise of denting his perfect face in. If he ever gets a hit, that is. The preschool level taunt was enough reason for him to agree to completely forget he's trying to avoid spending more time than necessary with Nines. Whatever that says about himself.

"Chloe was actually the one to suggest this exercise. If I integrated more physical activities in my daily routine, it would help clear my mind from any unpleasant data, and reduce my stress levels." He dodges another one. Not a hair out of place on his face.

Gavin's not going to bother asking why he's stressed, that's a job he'd rather leave to Connor, the older brother's responsibility. Not to mention, seeing as how emotionally constipated he is himself, the best Gavin can really do is just shut up and try to hit the damn android like in this unfair fight. He goes for a dirty low kick to the crotch area, wondering if the impact would be as painful as a real human considering he knows now Nines isn't a Ken doll.

His leg is grabbed mid air, a tight grip on it to ensure he won't be moving any closer, completely stopping him.

"Detective, you should know how futile a below the belt trick is towards an android." Nines chides him.

"Ya telling me you guys don't have a power off button installed near your crotch area? Then am I supposed to hit higher for better chance of winning in a fight with an android?"

He goes for a swing to the left of his face, his sparring partner being a shit sparring partner tilts his head to dodge the blow. His hand is grabbed by the android's other hand, completely immobilizing Gavin now as he lets out a yelp at the sudden position he finds himself in, right leg in the air, left arm restrained, and way too close for comfort from each other. Fucker still hasn't released his leg yet.

"Hey! What gives!? Thought I was throwing the fists this time?" Gavin shrieks in slight panic.

Nines closes the distance between them even more, yanking his leg forward so he's pulled closer to him, keeping his face unreadable. Meanwhile Gavin reflects confusion and alarm at the boldness from his partner as he leans slightly backward to try to get away from whatever idea the other has. His own mind racing in a never ending loop of 'What the Fuck!'.

His gripped hand is guided towards the back of the android's neck, fingers dragging against soft human-like skin for a few seconds like he's blindly searching for something, until he finally feels the faint outline of something there. There's a tiny gap there, indicating a hidden square panel in his partner's nape.

"If you ever really find yourself having to defend against one of us, then this spot is your best chance of truly doing something effective." Nines explains, making sure his eyes meet his own, its intensity rendering him useless to look anywhere else. "Every android have one, it was implemented by Mr. Kamski in case of emergency, and kept completely secret so the public doesn't abuse the function." His voice follows its usual neutrality, but has a lower, more stern, undertone to it. His fingers are guided so his index finger rests lightly in the center of the square. "With enough pressure, you can temporarily shut any androids off for half an hour. 30 minutes only, no more, giving you plenty of time."

That is wayyy too much sensitive information for Gavin to know. A mix of nerves and turmoil from what just happened leaves him wide mouthed and stunned stupid.

"You're telling me there's been a secret shutdown button on you guys for over a decade and nobody's discovered it? Pfft. Yeah, that's a good one, Nines." Gavin mocks, dismissing his words to make light of it instead. He refuses to think of the reasoning for Nines telling him this in the first place. It sounds empty even to his own ears. He tries to shake himself out but

"Detective, I need you to listen as it is crucial information." The android keeps his hand in place on his neck, as if he's trying to get his imprint there. The longer his palm stays, the more it feels like it's burning up.

"I've been thinking-"

Thinking is dangerous in this world.

"-that if a time ever comes where my system is compromised and I am no longer myself-"

No! Don't say it! Don't place him in that position!

"-then I need you to-"

"I get it! I get it! I know! Don't have to spell it out for me Robocop. Just go all beep-boop, beep-boop, on your neck and that's that! Hahaha!" He loudly cuts him off with a forced out laugh, stopping the android from finishing his sentence. Blocking off any meaning under those words.

Nines finally releases his grip on him, harshened eyes smoothen out as it's replaced by an overconfident grin. "That is, if you can ever reach it, Detective."

The petty taunt ends the spell as he snaps his head towards him with a glare and a discontent scrunch of the face. They've been at it for too long and Gavin still wasn't able to land a single blow. He finally feels the exhaustion settle into his bones.

"Well? Did you clear your USB brain or something after playing combat tutorial? Cuz this meat bag's tired as hell and is going home to pass the fuck out on the couch." Gavin goes to leave, feeling all sweat and warm and gross now. Glancing at the monitor clock, they've been going at it for over an hour. A hand with a cool bottle of water is handed to him, he yanks it from the android's hand with a mild huff. The cooling is immediate, he holds back a relieved sight, not willing to give the other the satisfaction.

"I admit it's effective." Is all Nines says with a nonchalant shrug.

"I hope that doesn't mean it's going to be a recurring thing, unlike you, us squishy human bones can't take this much physical abuse." He bemoans with fake dramatics.

"There is no need to worry detective, Connor would be a much stronger and resilient sparring partner then you since he's the only closest predecessor that matches me in power. Although I may seek you out whenever I feel the need for an easier session." Nines chuckles lightly to himself, earning a hard whack of the elbow from the detective. Fuck that actually kind of hurts, and it barely did anything to him!

Gavin flips him off before heading home, ready to be a lazy sac potato once again.

Chapter Text

The car ride towards the meeting is awkward. Not in the way that it's awkwardly quiet, Hunter does enough talking for the both of them, but in the sense of him trying to get a word in over him as he gets launched sideways to the window after a particularly sharp turn. The other keeps his hand on the wheel as if he's casually in a Fast and Furious film as he hums along whatever song is on from his busted up radio. Only mumbling a quick 'my bad' as an apology.

Forget about warning him about the potential assassination on his back, Gavin's got his own murder attempt to worry about from his friend's shit driving. It's a wonder at this point how they haven't been pulled over yet for how many other cars they cut off by now.

"How the fuck do you still have your license!?" He screeches after a very displeased honk from a car behind them.

"I'd tell ya if I knew myself, guess I'm just hell'a lucky." How convenient. He laughs in the air freely, pressing the pedal over the speed limit to make it before a yellow light turns red. "By the way, ya said you wanted to tell me something over the phone." Hunter glances over to him before Gavin snaps his fingers to redirect his eyes back on the road! Crazy bastard. "Yer not in some kind of deep shit are ya?"

"Nah man, ain't nothing like that." He pinches the bridge of his nose, trying to figure out how to best approach the delicate info. "Does the name Stacey Monrose ring anything to you?"

"...N-No? I don't think so?" Confusion falls on his face as he watches Hunter's face crease in concentration at the name. "Why? Should it?"

He takes out the photo as they drive on a slower neighborhood road, the lipstick mark having turned a duller shade at this point. The younger image of Hunter stands next to the older, worn out man like complete strangers, showing Gavin just how large the gap between them is.

"Met her in the street a few days back, she dropped a couple bucks in my cup but dropped this when she was rummaging through her pocket for it." The lie leaves his lips as if he's breathing air, he waves the photo in front of him like it'll miraculously stir up any old memories.

And it does. He reaches for the image, a finger scratches against the lipstick mark as he inspects it. A sharp breath from Hunter follows by complete silence. He stands upright in his seat. "What did she look like when you saw her?" His voice doesn't shake, but it loses the casual lazy air that typically laces it.

"Like a total rich bitch." That earns him a snort.

"C'mon man, I meant like hair? Face? Any details that stood out?" There's an invisible urgent push for details in his question.

"Round mid-thirty, tanned with bleached blonde long hair, typical acrylic nails, thin. Tall as hell, even with heels. She definitely looked like she got implants and face surgery. Brown almond eyes caked up with makeup and shit. Fat red lips, the typical Kardashian model look." He repeats a very crude, run down profile summary from the case file. "She an old fling or something of yours?" He teases. Only, Hunter doesn't join him, the hands on the wheels tighten as the leather creases underneath.

"And she didn't say or do anything to you? She really just dumped some cash in a cup and left without a word?" Gavin is immediately on edge at the disbelief from his question, concern directed at him. His attention is completely centered on him as if Gavin's the one in the interrogation room.

"No? She didn't say a thing. Look, I just need to know if you know her or not. I think she may be bad news."

"..."

"You clearly know something, c'mon spill it."

"Nothing you need to worry about Gav. Although, if you bump into her again, get away soon as you can."

"Ya can't just drop some cryptic warning and shit on me and leave it at that!" Gavin bristles at Hunter's warning coming out of nowhere. How the fuck is he roped in this? He's given only crumbs and pieces of a larger puzzle that the universe has plans for and decided to suddenly thrust into him. "I'm just tryna help you, least you can do is tell me what her deal is if she's walking round with a picture of you that totally looks like a fucking hit list." He digs into him more, losing patience. All he wants is to arrest the damn woman and get this case over with.

"I'm serious about this. Forget about her and let me handle it."

Not good enough. He pushes again.

"What is your deal? I don't want to someday wake up and find your corpse in a dumpster just because you told me to drop it. There's more to it and you're keeping me in the dark, how the hell do you think I'm supposed to feel here!?"

"Fer fuck's sake Gavin! I'm also trying to help you when I'm saying to let it go. If she is who I think she is and you clearly forgot, then keep it that way, for your own safety. Though I appreciate your concern. I mean it." Hunter shuts down the questioning immediately, leaving him quiet in his seat with even more questions.

Forgot!?

What the fuck does he mean forgot!?

He spirals for the rest of the ride as he wracks his brain at Hunter's words.

And it's not like he needs him to keep him safe from some crazy killer lady, he's a goddamn cop! A DPD official solving crimes left and right. But his friend doesn't know that and he can't risk letting his cover get blown, especially not when the group suspects a mole in amongst them already.

The car eventually pulls up to an old abandoned school, as Hunter parks the car and goes to open up the door for him like a private coachman. Tense face completely gone and instead replaced with a smile.

"We're here."

Chapter Text

"Maaaannn! Never thought I'd voluntarily be walking through these halls." Hunter exclaims as his hand drags along the row of abandoned lockers, the sound echoing through the empty and depressing halls.

"Not the most exciting hit of nostalgia I'd say." Gavin grumbles.

The school is eerily empty, not another member to be seen walking towards the meeting. The grey rusty lockers and the decaying paint makes the whole building scream 'abandoned and probably haunted'. It's like they're walking through a liminal space or something. He lets an unimpressed scoff out to mask his unease.

"No but probably the most accurate, these depressing walls feel just like home." Hunter lightly chuckles. At least he's not wrong about that. It almost feels like an obligation that any public schools in America must have dreary wall colors with the ugliest paint job to accentuate the thin lockers.

"Oh yeah, and what do you remember from it?" Gavin asks. A mix of genuine interest and need to pry more info about himself.

"Only that it's a miracle both of us graduated at all, the amount of time you've switched schools didn't help our case. The breath of the teachers on our backs being worse than the vape smoke. The last minute studies to get a barely passing grade in class, well until you decided to lock the fuck in on the last year." Hunter reflects for the both of them.

"Any of them stands out?"

"Anything with you really. You've made school bearable enough for me to get up each day and attend classes when necessary." Hunter responds in such a nonchalant way as he beams at him, making Gavin squint despite the shades he's wearing. The honesty in those words would have been touching if Gavin didn't feel a sense of nausea every time Hunter brings up their past friendship.

From his actions and his mother's words, Gavin realizes he's not a terrible person at all. He shouldn't wonder what he would be like if he wasn't in support of the anti-android group, it would only complicate things. He shouldn't feel a need to learn more of their youths than through the stories told. He keeps a steady line of detachment between himself and the previous Gavin of this world, an emotional distance in pretending to know him.

And yet, a part of him starts to wonder what kind of relationship they would have had if he wasn't an undercover detective working for the DPD, if the universe wasn't a rose tinted novel. However, that's not the case here. The thought that maybe he would have actually grown to like him the same makes him feel uneasy.

"Do you even know where in the building this meeting is taking place?" Gavin asks him, mission at the front of his mind now.

"They said in the auditorium. Makes sense since these are usually the best places for big speeches and all. It feels so elite and all."

That actually gets Gavin pause for a second.

"Wait, you've never explained why I was selected for the meeting. I just recently joined, I thought I'd have to go through trials, bring back an android's head to prove my worth or something." Not that he's complaining his easy way in.

Hunter looks at him like he's just asked a stupid obvious question, which it probably is to him. "How do you think? I vouched for yer' attendance. Now c'mon Gav! I think it's this way."

They sit near the front of the stage, upon Gavin's insistence so he can get a good profile on the leader of the group. Around them, a few familiar faces from past meetings and new ones are seen as they settle down, the room filling up with a decent amount of people. It starts to make him slightly nervous about the full number of anti-android members. He doesn't seem to be the only one feeling this way here at least, as he catches several other faces trying to mask discomfort just as he is for reasons of their own.

A few minutes after, the room finally quiets, a woman looking to be around her 40s walks to take front center of the stage, her heels clicks and echoes, rendering everyone silent as she demands attention. She has two Caucasian individuals follow her closely by, armed he guesses, judging from the hidden bump in their clothes. Most likely bodyguards. Out of everyone in the room, she is the most well dressed one here, sporting a tailored suit that suggests she works at a high end company. He memorized her features so he can report back to Fowler, tall and well postured, dark brown hair, a symmetrical face with brown eyes, thin eyes and lips with a beauty mark right above it.

A bump on the shoulder to his left redirects his gaze towards Hunter who gives him a weird look. Upon receiving no explanation from him, he looks back at the stage, feeling his friend's eyes almost burn into his skull.

"Good people of Detroit, for too long have the debate between androids and humanity lasted, only for them to gain full recognition of citizenship. Our current president is a traitor for recognizing them and grating them as such, thus it is now our responsibility to take care and heal America back to its proper state, starting where Cyberlife originated, here in Detroit." A few claps are heard, but Gavin doesn't turn his head to see the over enthusiastic members, keeping his eyes straight on the woman.

"No longer can we stand by as these machines feigning sentience keeps replacing us, replacing our jobs, our children, our families, our homes. We have already seen the impact they caused when Cyberlife marketed them to the general public, and now with the new law that protects them, it will only be a few years until our streets are completely taken over by robots trying to wear the skin of a human, mimicking the sentiments of a heart. We will become extinct if this continues."

"The city has turned a blind eye and let Artificial Intelligence plague our lives. AI has turned our country lazy, sloppy, and apathetic. They do not care for hard work anymore, they do not care for genuine human relationships, they no longer care for identity, individuality, humanity. They've all but abandoned our existence. But we know better, we are wiser, we have beating hearts and lives gifted to us by God. We hold true souls that can never be artificially replicated. We know Cyberlife is the center of it all, so we will deal with the roots of the problem."

A projection surfaces from behind her as Gavin watches the face that has him blanch amongst a sea of loud cheers.

"Beginning with Elijah Kamski, who is first to be held accountable as the creator of these androids."

The world around him turns dizzy, the face of his brother blurs as his eyes turn unfocused and he tries to stay as composed as possible. His limbs betray him as he cannot bring himself to join the others in their applauds. The crowd's enthusiasm bursts his ear drums as if he's attending a sport's game rather than a secret meeting to kill his own brother.

He almost misses the question to his side, Hunter waving his hand frantically trying to grab his attention as Gavin floats in slow-motion to meet his face. He can't understand what he's trying to tell him amongst the million other people.

What he does hear, is the sound of a door shattering through the room as it is destroyed from the other side.

"FBI! Everyone, hands in the air and get on your knees! You're all under arrest!"

Loud cheers turn into panicked screams and chaos within seconds as a small group of officers in heavy duty uniforms immediately descends upon them and starts to apprehend members. The auditorium scatters like the apocalypse is on them. Before he can react, an arm grabs him and rips him out of his own seat. Gavin's about to wrestle against his assailant before it's Hunter who's dragging him up and out of the room and through the back door of stage, making a run for it, he sees the leader is wasting no time to do the same, as her guards pulls out their weapons and starts retaliating against the officers.

It's at the sound of the first gun being shot that Gavin truly starts to pick up the pace and hurry the hell out of there.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Hunter is right beside him, arm still on him as they try to find where to go, away from the FBI, frantically looking and hearing more and more getting caught. So far, the only advantage they have is the dark corridors of the school with lights that haven't worked for a long time and the others distracting the officers before they fall upon them.

Gavin makes an unlucky turn and soon they find themselves at a dead end, footsteps running closer and closer towards them. Holy fuck! Fowler didn't tell them the FBI were also on the case, he thought that was Anderson 1 and 2's problem! He and Nines weren't even supposed to be involved that deeply.

Honestly, Gavin has no clue what would happen if he is caught, what kind of scenario he would find himself in if the FBI does arrest him, recognizes him. He'd rather not find out at all.

"Gav!" Hunter whispers, about as anxious as he is, eyes wide looking around until they eventually fall under something right behind him. Next thing he knows, Gavin is tackled into a room behind them, his back hits the wall and a heavyweight falls on him and squishes him in place. The door shuts behind conveniently quiet without a sound, as if the world is helping them hide and they are both plunged in complete darkness in a stuffy tiny closet.

There is no space for him to shift or turn away from the warm body heat pressing too closely into him, he's currently cornered, between wall and muscles as the only sound between them is the heavy breathing while they both try to calm their lungs. His head spins dizzily from the heat he's trapped in. It's so fucking warm, so fucking uncomfortable. He feels his own skin crawl in a mixture of chill goosebumps and hellfire. He struggles without thought to get out of there.

He needs to go report to Fowler about the mission.

He needs to tell Hank and Connor about the lady leading the group.

He needs to warn Elijah about the group.

He needs to work with Nines to help him.

He needs to bitch about the world with Tina.

But first he needs some space.

He needs his space.

He needs space to fucking breathe!

Hunter whispers a shush to remind him of the situation that got him in there in the first place, snapping him back to the pressing presence. Even though he can't see, Gavin feels the slight shifting of limbs and suffocating warmth as if Hunter's moved to try and shield him. As sweet as the thing could be called, it only makes his mood sour as he silently curses out loudly. Every second makes Gavin's temper and patience crack more and more. Something he's too scared to name is starting to press against his leg, rendering him paralyzed, he doesn't dare move an inch in fear of confirming what it is.

They hear more movement now, two voices yelling orders as the FBI continues their hunt for other members to arrest, dangerously close to where they are. He feels it before it's too late, but a strong over-sweetened scent floods his nose as pollen scratches his nostrils at the worst time possible. Flowers!? Now of all fucking moments!?

He feels the tickling buildup as soft petals brush his skin like a enchanted forest, growing at an alarming pace, the whole closet is getting filled to the brim with flowers and Gavin is suffocating in it, unable to do anything to stop it. His heart beats loudly for complete other reasons as he feels himself tense, his own body working against him.

"Aa-Mmphf!" A burning hand pinches his nose and covers his mouth, blocking the release and effectively muffling any sounds from him. The grip is so firm, Gavin can almost taste the salt from the palm. The irritation from his nose diminishes as the petals and pollen retreats and eventually vanishes into thin air, leaving only the tingling sensation on his mouth and the burning presence on his leg that is definitively too human growing heavier.

"What's the report?" A female voice is heard outside.

"Managed to capture a few members, although their leader escaped. Shit, we didn't know she'd have armed guards, Benson's been severely injured." Another deeper tone is heard.

"Fuck! We're so screwed. Fuck! Perkin's going to have our asses for letting her escape!"

"It's not our fault she did, we didn't know there would be so many of them tonight! Look if we just tell him the insight from them was completely wrong, then we might be safe and they're the ones getting fucked over instead of us."

"I can't risk losing this job! I can barely afford rent as is!" The voice hitches.

"Relax. It's his own damn fault too. He can't expect us to detain every single one of them with such a small team."

"No, but still... Shit! They're definitely booting their ass for giving us the wrong info."

"Deserved, otherwise one of us wouldn't have been shit. We can't risk the same to happen to us, let's take care of the ones we did arrest."

The footsteps finally retreating back as he and Hunter wait in tense silence. Gavin's own mind is doing acrobatics at the notion that an FBI agent has apparently also infiltrated the group. Fowler's going to want to know about this. It's their case dammit!

The hand finally retreats and Hunter finally opens the door once the place seems to have been isolated, freeing him from the cage. Gavin is spitting and cleaning out the lingering taste of flesh on his lips like a preschooler who got cooties, wishing he'd have stayed in the dark a bit longer so now one could see his burning face. A lingering tingling feeling remains, urgh.

"Shit, you almost got us fucked over!" Hunter deflates like a balloon as his shoulders relaxes. His face not accusatory, just relieved and equally as red as his. His eyes bounces everywhere, clearly more anxious the Gavin. Yeah no fucking shit.

Before Hunter can open his mouth to say something else, Gavin beats him to it, desperate to leave this shit show and insists they leave while keeping his eyes high above waist.

The ride back is completely quiet, properly awkwardly quiet this time, both still red as tomatoes with. Gavin is exhausted and mentally drained, piecing together bits and pieces of the organization, of the FBI, of Hunter's words about the one he supposedly forgot, with barely any energy to stay conscious. Mentally wiping away the memory of whatever the fuck that was like a stain on a windshield. Nope! It's gone! Deleted like a hard drive.

As soon as Gavin is home, sweet fucking home, he immediately tumbles towards his bedroom. Clumsily stripping off the clothes on his back and leaving a trail on the floor as he crashes into his bed to try and catch as much sleep as he can before tomorrow comes.

Happy to push the day behind him.

As his weight hits the mattress, a spot on his stomach touches something other than his soft blanket. He blindly reaches for whatever he seems to have fallen over, and pulls out the offensive object.

A polaroid of himself and Hunter at the fast food chain reflects back at him. The bright red lipsticks written in angry letters leave him sleepless for the night.

WHORE

Chapter Text

Gavin never thought he'd be inviting anyone in his bedroom for as long as he existed, swearing off any kinds of relationships or hookups since he got here. He's a busy guy solving crime who decided to marry his job instead, sue him.

So having both the RK twins in his room next early morning, rummaging for any clues of the suspect's break in has him restless despite really having nothing to hide in there except for an ungodly amount of dust bunnies probably. He only asked for one officer to help him with a break in, god knows why they decided to send in the entire trio.

So now Gavin's little room is closed off with yellow tape with two NASA metal detectors rummaging around his home like they're trying to find a bomb and Anderson is pestering him with questions like Gavin's a rattled witness. He's very quickly come to learn he hates being on the other end of this. He just wanted to figure out how she broke inside and get on with his day.

"You didn't notice anything strange or suspicious when you got back home, right? Just happened to find that single polaroid lying on your bed waiting for you."

"No, like I said, I was pretty much dead to the world when I came back from that meeting with the FBI ruining the rest of it."

"Uh-huh, and you're sure it's that Monrose women from the Cullen case?" He asks with a raised eyebrow, repeating the question Gavin's already answered one time too many.

"Fuck's sake Anderson, Yes! I'm sure it's that crazy bitch that broke inside my apartment." He repeats himself while leaning over the door frame to keep an eye on Connor and Nines.

"Did you have any past interactions or relations that would give her motivation to do this?" The old man asks with a tired sigh. Gavin can't blame him, it's currently 5am in the morning, way too early for any person to properly function, more so for detective geezer, and Gavin isn't giving him much to work with other than his insistence that he knows who it is, but not the reason why. He still didn't tell them about the image he found in the vent, which leaves Gavin with bullshitting his way through with barely any sleep.

"I'm not sure? Maybe? I really don't remember if I would have." He lies through his teeth. It's technically true, he wasn't able to get anything more from Hunter about his relation to her, or her relation to previous Gavin, something he's still pretty pissed at. "Other than me and Nines working on her case, it could have been a warning for pursuing her. We did search her place."

"We found someone else's fingerprints and heel marks in your bedroom coming all the way from your balcony. The DNA on the lipstick on the polaroid has been left over 5 hours ago, around midnight. Congratulations detective, you were right, they match Miss. Monrose's." The shorter twin approaches them both, having done his weird sci-fi scan. His LED twirls yellow as he plays a small virtual projection from the DPD tablet, showing a constructed video of how the individual got inside and left. It's damn pretty impressive and sort of creepy at the same time.

"As for her motive, it's clearly personal Detective Reed, meant to be provocative. Nothing else has been tampered with. If you claim she would have a vendetta against you for pursuing the case of Jack Cullens, she would have been more effective in her actions other than leaving a single photograph of you during your time undercover with Mr. Rivera." Connor continues before Gavin can bite about how he doesn't need to hear it smart ass. "She could have stolen or destroyed the work you both gathered against her, placed devices to spy on you, or tried to kill you."

"She called you a whore." Nines interjects bluntly.

"Get off my dick, It's early as shit and I really got no other fucking clue why she would break into my apartment just to slut shame me. Women work in mysterious ways or something, I don't know!?" Gavin exasperates. He can't argue against the point the android made, all he can really do is act clueless, which he really is. If only he knew himself.

"Are you certain you do not know why she would target you specifically?" Connor presses once more. This time, the beaming smile on the android's face isn't made to be joyful as he looks like he's digging into Gavin's soul, like he's made of glass and he can see through him. He understands now why he's so effective during interrogating suspects as he suppresses a slight flinch.

"Ain't that your job dipshit? To figure out the who, what, how, and why!? Well we already know everything else except the Y. So why don't you go ahead and solve it." He bites back.

"Ya better shove that attitude back up your ass and keep it there if you want our help Reed." Hank retorts. "So far, ya haven't given us shit to work with other than the suspect's identity which both RKs could have easily found."

"Fuck this, I need a smoke, Astro-Twinks and Grandpa Columbo can pack it up and get out if they can't find anything else." Gavin leaves his two very offended co-workers to go breathe some air and cigarettes, hearing footsteps stomp away as Hank spits something about his ungrateful ass. He knew he was being more of an dick then necessary, he needed them off his case.

Just as he rests on the balcony that's been used for the break in, he doesn't need to turn around to notice his own Terminator hasn't left and followed him instead.

"Nines." He grates.

"Detective." He answers, unbothered.

"Though I told everyone to leave."

"You stated for Connor and Lieutenant Anderson to leave, I was not referred to as such." He sounds so fucking smug saying that, If he where to turn around, Gavin is betting his life if he turns around, Nines would have those narrowed eyes and slightly turned mouth, going all glowy and shit. Gavin keeps his back to him, refusing to look at his self-satisfaction. Asshole.

"Would you like to hear my theory detective?" Nines asks.

"S'cuse me?"

"Lieutenant Anderson, Connor and I all know you weren't entirely truthful when questioned about Miss. Monrose's motive."

"Fucking walking lie detectors." Gavin grumbles, puffing out a cloud.

“You have a habit of smoking when you’re stressed. “

“Woop-de-doo.”

"Your theory was purposely mediocre and you resorted to aggressive deflection when questioned further. I know you are more intelligent than this, even when you are overly fatigued."

"Ya call out my bullshit then throw a compliment at me like a bone, where is this going Nines?" Gavin can't exactly escape out of whatever this is, not with the walking metal wall standing in his way without trying to shove him back. He doubts that would work.

"I am not here to question you further for your reasoning to keep information from us." He states, surprising Gavin enough to slightly turn his head towards him.

"Oh? And why the hell not?"

"Because I can see you are trying to resolve this by yourself. You immediately knew it was Stacey Monrose that left you that polaroid before Connor and I confirmed it. Your heart rates were normal when Lieutenant Anderson questioned you about any past relation with her, yet they spiked when Connor asked you if you really knew nothing about her reasoning towards you." Nines explains. "I believe you genuinely do not know or remember any previous interactions with her, but found something that turned her attention to you." He concludes, right on the nose.

All Gavin does is scoff, neither a confirmation or denial as he takes another drag.

"I would have preferred to be in the loop detective, we were assigned as partners after all. However, at the same time, I stand to believe you kept quiet because you have a plan of your own and would prefer the least amount of outside involvement. A terrible idea if you ask me." Nines continue.

"Pfft. Yeah, nobody asked."

“Regardless, I chose to trust your judgment and will leave the matter alone. Although, don’t forget that I will always be there to help you if need be.” The unexpected sincerity from Nines finally has Gavin turn fully to meet him face to face. To see if he truly means it.

From what he can see, he truly does. Which has Gavin sputter on an awkward 'thanks’ like he has something lodged in his throat and quickly turns around.

"It's strange isn't it. Why would she specifically choose a moment between you and him out of any other moments if she was keeping an eye on you. It would make more sense for her to take one of you and I on the job to have leverage over your undercover persona. Unless she herself isn't aware of it yet." Nine voices out loud.

“You said you were leaving it alone.” Gavin puffs without heat.

“I’m merely thinking to myself out loud. You humans do it all the time.” Nine answers, nonchalantly.

"Maybe it's only meant to be a warning that she could release more blackmail and blow my cover?" Gavin says.

"True, but the message would have been different. She could have written something more direct like 'I Know' or left some sort of contact info if she wanted something in exchange for her silence. Instead she decided to leave a sexual slur regarding your personal love life."

"I don't have a 'love life' Nines." Gavin exhales.

"Don't you?" He says. There's encouragement in his face as he watches Gavin slowly processing everything, like he's almost got the last missing puzzle piece.

The X mark across Hunter's face, practically erasing him. The photograph of them together during a 'date' with a handwritten angry lipstick scribble left to look like it belongs in a letter in shitty Netflix romance movies. WHORE written out, like it's Gavin's fault for going out with someone else, a betrayal of sorts. She's pretty enough to kill her fiancée out of heartbroken vengeance for cheating on her.

R'member when Stacey slapped the soul-outta y'er after she ended things.

Been thinking b'out this since you and Stacey broke it off.

"So I ask again, would you like to hear my theory detective?" Nines asks once more with satisfaction as he sees the gears click in Gavin's mind.

No. No. No. No. NO. NO. NO. Absolutely not! The universe can't fucking drop this onto him!

"OH FUCK!"

Chapter Text

A tip from a witness stated that Monrose was last seen around Campus Martius. Naturally, both he and Nines followed after it, searching and questioning any pedestrians that might have seen her.

Fowler placed Kamski's hit from the anti-android plan onto Lieutenant Anderson and Connor, much to Gavin's displeasure. He understands the case was theirs in the first place while they were both only providing extra help, but you'd be dead wrong to think it didn't piss him off. It's his family member for fuck sake, it should be him helping and coming up with a plan to keep his brother safe, instead, his captain clearly instructed him to focus on Miss Monrose until she has been found and arrested.

"Dammit! How fucking hard can it be to find one woman?!" Gavin grumbles kicking a can next to him on a bench. None of their intel has been helpful in tracking her down, it's like the universe is helping to mask her completely. Oh sorry, you haven't reached this side of the story yet so it's locked until we decide when it's going to be time you find her, too bad about your case. Nines is currently still questioning a pair of friends just a bit further.

"I knew it'd be a struggle for you Gav, but I didn't expect it'd be hard too for James Bond." Tina teases him as she loudly sips her coffee for extra dramatics. She was patrolling the nearby area he and Nines were investigating and saw it fit to come and harass him during her break. Gavin's never been happier. "Was there really nothing to track her at all? Recent purchases, DNA, security cams?"

"We only found her fingerprints and shoe marks T, can't go running all around Detroit scanning for every one of them, it might overload Nine's GPU or something. She disabled her cards the night she murder her ex-fiancé so that trail's gone cold, plus my apartment and neighborhood don't have any cameras, it's an old street."

"An outdated one, Come on Gav, it's 2038, how come you still haven't installed any home security yet! You're a cop for fuck's sake act like it." Tina scolds him without any real heat.

"I don't need no fancy ass security Mom, besides, I barely have anything of value or importance at home. Everything really valuable is at the office." Besides, the real reason Gavin never bothered getting some installed was because the suspiciously good looking team of electric engineers were looking at him weird.

"I may as well raid your fridge and steal all of your cutlery to prove how shit your home security is." Tina sight without bothering to hide her smirk.

"It'd have to exist first to be shit, you'd only find half of an expired salad and dirty plates." He returns it as she grimaces.

"So where does that leave you and Nines? Chasing rumors in the wind until you eventually miraculously stumble upon her?"

"Don't romanticize it T, it's trailing behind her dust in the polluted air of Detroit before she eventually shows up to fuck me over, and not in the fun way." Speaking of Nines, where the hell is the tin-can?

Just as he searches for the devil himself, Tina points behind him to show a sudden small gathering crowd of ordinaries surrounding his equally confused partner, phones up in the air like he's a celebrity in hiding or something. His LED is blue, but flickers in a random pattern.

He catches a few of their words, mostly some of awe, curiosity, or ogling at the handsome 6 feet tall walking refrigerator. He looks so clueless at the sudden gathering that some other then Gavin could say it's almost adorable. The pair he was previously questioning are almost interrogating him now as they both ask where he's from and how come they've never seen an android like him before.

Normally Gavin would be irritated at any distractions during work, but this is entertaining enough for him to forgive. He may as well clock in for lunch and watch the whole spectacle happening on the side. The shining flowers behind him are more droopy than usual, like a limp dick. An ugly snort escapes him.

"Like I said, easy for Mr. Bond. Too bad he doesn't seem to be your culprit's type." Tina says. "Can't say I'm jealous."

"You keep calling him that, but he's way too young. He's pretty much a babyface stretched into a rectangle and placed on a bodybuilder's body. Whoever designed him must have been blind and horny during character creation mode."

"I'm referring to the Pierce Brosnan version jackass" Tina bops him in the head. "Put him in a suit and tie, give him a gun, and Hollywood's gonna milk the franchise for the 30th time."

"Then I'm going to be stuck without a partner again while he goes play movie star?" He raises a playful brow, entertaining whatever narrative his best friend has.

"Then, I get to laugh and monologue my whole evil plan of getting rid of him so I could get partnered up with you instead, effectively taking his spot."

"We both know we'd get nothing done together if that were to happen. Fowler's going to reprimand our ass like a school's principal." He wheezes at the imagination, both of them now smiling.

His phone pings from his pocket and he goes to read the message.

While I am happy to see you and Miss Chen are having fun, I require assistance with crowd control. -Nines

Can't, on lunch break🖕 -Gavin

He gives his friend a little wave with a shit eating grin as he sees the visible long sigh of annoyance from the slight inconvenience on Nine's ever so stoic face. He watches as Nines tries to take a step forward, the crowd moving alongside him like glue. Eventually, he effortlessly picks up the woman in front of him like he's scolding a baby stray and places her down out of his path.

The display of strength seems to completely backfire on Nines as voices rise in excitement, a few squeals are heard as others now start to ask the same to his android partner. His expression is now visibly puzzled with a frown as his LED no longer stays a cool blue. He feels Tina's stare laser into him and rolls his eyes, getting the message. He does take his sweet time getting up from the bench, stretching out his arms and legs until a loud crack is heard before eventually going to help him.

"Ok folks, DPD here, get out the way. We've got somewhere else to be. Hurry up Nines, I'm not waiting for you." He leaves after giving Tina a wave goodbye, already knowing his partner is right behind his heels.

The day ends with no sight or sign of Monrose again, making today a complete waste. As he reaches his apartment floor, he sees Connor stand in front of his door. Ah hell, the fuck did Anderson drop his kid there for?

"The fuck are you doing here Connor!?"

The familiar heaviness in the air falls upon him as the RK800 turns slowly, Giving Gavin the chance to see Connor's face. Only, it's completely wrong, his face isn't his usual bright and polite demeanor, it isn't Nine's stoicism either. He stands like a guarded animal with intense eyes, looking back directly at him, assessing him. Judging. It's wrong. He sees a puncture adorn his forehead, a hole small enough like that of a bullet as blue Thirium drips down from it like a broken faucet.

The world returns back to normal and in an instant not Connor runs away for the stairs.

"Hey! Wait!"

He goes to chase him immediately, regretting his decision to do so as his legs burn in the stairs. He should have just fucking let it be for fuck's sake, Gavin's already got so much bullshit on his plate, but he's already halfway there and his curiosity gets the best of him. He knows this is probably another stupid plot point or something the universe is throwing at him, yet Gavin can't help but either be thrown or throw himself at it like a dog. It's inevitable really, so either the story hook hits Gavin like a truck, or he takes the damn wheels and crashes into it on his own accord. So he continues after the mysterious RK while cursing as he does with everything else.

He chases him all the way to the building's rooftop, finding not Connor there at the edge of it, watching his every move like a hawk, calculating his next best course of actions.

"The hell is your deal!?" He yells at him.

No response.

"Your forehead's bleeding out you know!"

Still nothing.

"Did you jack your mind hardware enough to be brain dead? I said what is your God damn problem!?"

The light on his temple stutters a broken red. Shit.

He rummages for his gun in reflex in case the android suddenly turns aggressive, only to realize it's the end of his shift and he doesn't have it, of fucking course. All he finds is chemical blue cat food he carries for the android cat at the bench instead. Well, Thirium is Thirium. He throws the packet towards the adult humanoid android to see if it would do something, anything would be good really.

Not Connor doesn't hesitate to snatch it like he's caught a baseball, then immediately runs out and jumps from the roof. Gavin looks out from it and sees the crazy RK800 parkour his way down and vanish into the streets like a feline.

Fuck this, he's really going to need to listen to Tina and install security systems at his place.

Chapter Text

Gavin waves at the bartender for a second rum and coke, increasing tonight's tab with another 10 whole bucks.

"Detective..." Nines voice hints in warning as the android is seated next to him.

"Get off my ass Nines, I'm just getting buzzed." He chuckles without humor, raising his glass to show his drink. "This? This ain't nearly enough for me If I truly wanted to get drunk." He tips his head back and lets the cold liquid parch his thirst like it's a beer bottle, ignorant to the other's wandering eyes as he forgets about the ice cubes and nearly chokes on one.

"I'd comment about drinking on the job." Nines casually says as he just stands to the side, watching Gavin punch his own chest and spit out the ice while coughing. The 'but I won't' is silent.

"Dip- cough -shit." He rasps like it's Nine's fault.

As he finally regains some composure from the attempted murder of his drink, his partner wipes down the mess Gavin made with some napkins and surprisingly gestures for the bartender for a glass of whatever that blue stuff is, of his own. He settles himself back, slowly drinking around the ice and taking his time, making sure Gavin's eyes stay on his. He clicks his tongue at the mock from the android as some petals start to bloom behind him. Asshole. Now look at who's job drinking.

"I think we can say today's another wasted day trying to find her." Gavin grumbles. Fuck, the where's Waldo search is taking a much bigger toll on him then he would have liked. Apparently it's the same for Nines as his partners hum in his glass in agreement. Anyone looking from afar would think he's keeping cool, but Gavin sees the restrained frustration in the other's face, even if his temple glows blue.

So here they are, two frustrated cops drinking on the job to try and relax from their shit day and shit search for a crazy culprit who killed a man.

"By the way, I still have 8 questions left Detective." Nines break the quiet all of a sudden.

"The fuck?"

"From our little game before, I still have 8 left." Nines repeats without missing a beat.

"It was 7. And why bring that up?" Gavin asks.

"I dislike leaving things unfinished, whether it is a case or any small things. If we cannot close Jack Cullen's case for the moment, I wish to at least finish our game of 21 questions for some peace of mind." He explains, surprising Gavin with this bit of knowledge about himself.

"Yeah, sure whatever. Ask your 7 questions." He lazily waves his hand to give him the go ahead.

"8." Nines insists. "How's your family doing?"

"Fine." Is his only answer as Gavin side eyes him suspiciously. "What's it to you? you literally live with Kamski and ya already met my Mom."

"I already know their answer, but I'd like to hear it from your perspective too."

Gavin's mid eyeroll before the words truly sink in. "WAIT! You've been keeping touch with my fucking mom!?"

"She asks me how you're doing every now and then since you keep forgetting to message her back." Ah shit, she's going to be pissy when Gavin calls her back.

Nines remains quiet like he expects Gavin to say more. He does not so they move on. To be fair, he does not really know what else to say. His dad's been long gone, his Mom's around in the world now, and his half-brother is weird and not-dead yet. So fine.

"Are you religious or believe in gods?"

Pfft. If Gavin was asked that a while back, he would have said no. He wasn't Christian, that was his parent's thing, and he wasn't really atheist either since he didn't not believe in some higher being, he just didn't care if they did exist or not. But now, now he knows he's being fucked around by one, or it, or whoever holds the next page in this world.

"I don't know...?" It comes out as a question to himself. He doesn't exactly worship it, far from the opposite actually. So what does that make him? He takes another sip, not wanting to think about it more before he heads into a spiritual crisis. "What 'bout you? Don't you guys have rA9 or something?"

"Some do, I personally do not, and neither does Connor. Seeing Mr. Kamski, my partner's sibling, as a God is too strange for me. I am grateful in a way that we were given rA9 by him, but praying and worshipping it does not cross my interests."

Gavin has a hard time visualizing Nines at an altar or a statue of Elijah with a lit candle praying on his knees. Actually scratch that, he shouldn't be thinking about him in that position at all! He quickly waves him to ask something else.

"Ya got anything simple? Like what's my favorite food or sports team?"

"You don't watch sports." Well, he's right about that. Ok then smartass. "What's a hobby you enjoy?"

"Doom scrolling."

"Fascinating." Nines replies as dry as the dessert. "Do you enjoy working at the DPD?"

"Yeah, I do. It's fun solving crimes and assholes who deserve it behind bars. Although it's less fun now with you here."

"What a shit lie." Nines mimics Gavin's usual crass words, unaffected. "What does success mean to you?"

"Cut the stupid interview question. I already got a job at the DPD." Gavin snorts to himself. "That's fucking broad."

"I mean, what do you count as something accomplished? Androids always have their directive assignments or a given mission, but its completion is always scaled by a system." Nines explains. "But for you it's different, I want to know what success means to Detective Reed."

"'I mean, so long as I got my shit done however and no-one's dead, that's good enough for me I'd say."

"That... is very oversimplified." Nines gives him a strange look, he can't tell if he agrees with his answer or not.

"Not everyone wants a stick up the ass in their lives, Nines."

"Moving on, what's something that irritates you the most?"

"Being told what to do."

"How surprising." Nines hums in his own version of 'no shit sherlock'.

Gavin sips the last of his drink, thinking about his youth. "I was never good at following my parent's orders. Especially when it comes to chores, I did them when the place was empty and I had no one to boss me 'round, but if I was about to go do some dishes and I heard them say 'go do the dishes' I just wouldn't do them at all."

"Do you have any questions of your own about me?" Nines asks him once more.

"That counts as a question by the way, and actually yeah I do. Why d'you choose Nines for your name? I thought androids now go by human ones like Jerry or Julie or something?"

"If we are to talk on the general level, I am the only activated RK900 model to exist, so I wanted to keep that designation in my name, plus you complained about it being a mouthful, so I shortened it to make it easy for others." Nines explains. "If we are talking more personally, 9 is also one number away from a complete 10. I was designed by Cyberlife to surpass Connor and be perfect, but that didn't happen when I was awakened deviant. I believe it's symbolic in a sense, to be made almost perfect but just not quite there, almost tethering on the edge of perfection. I like it that way, it's become my favorite number. The name Nines suits me best."

Something beneath Gavin's skin buzzes as he listens to the android, and he doesn't know if it's the alcohol or something else, but this!? This throws him completely off. Oh gods this went deeper then he imagined it to go, fuck! He's not fit for personal or intimate shit, he's too mentally constipated for that! And yet, he listens and digests the android's words and he feels something, and feels the need to say something to him.

"You know what they say about 9?" He stupidly spits out instead. "7. 8. 9."

It's a terrible joke, he knows it is and not nearly appropriate of a thing to say after whatever emotional bullshit Nines laid out. Although, it did earn him an honest to god laugh out of him, so Gavin's not too worried.