The world was the same.

That alone felt like a disservice or some kind. A neatly dressed up farce, wearing the face of normality. An apt comparison seeing exactly what it was that the sunny morning sky kept craftily hidden.

But when the morning stirred those that had to rise earlier than the sun, it all seemed the same. When Gavin's eyes opened up, sore and dry as he blearily heard his alarm crying shrilly out from beside him, everything was in its place. His ceiling was the same, a litter of scuffs and marks he had no memory causing and no concept of what might have reached up high enough to leave them there.

Sitting up slowly, willing away the pounding in his head Gavin noted idly that everything else was just the same, the flashing light of his phone sat haphazardly by his bedside to charge and wake him lit up the usual line of dust that stirred with his movements.

Seriously, he needed to clean this fucking dump. He'd needed to do that for a long time but the time never seemed right for it, always something else to distract him or if there honestly wasn't he went looking for trivial things to distract himself with instead. Just to be able to insist he never had the time.

His phone gave another whining squeal and Gavin winced at the sound, awake enough now to truly find it irritable rather than startling. Waking up with a pounding heart and breath caught in his throat was about the best he could hope for anyway. Reaching over he snatched up the little device, the illuminated numbers stared back at him.

Time and date. The same as usual. Up before the rest of the city, dressed before the sun had chosen to peak above the city skyline. Even if it had, Gavin's blinds were pulled firmly shut in an effort to keep the glow of the city out at night. It was only barely serviceable, he needed thicker blinds. Yet another thing he simply never had time for.

With the phone silenced and another check for how much time he had to get to work, Gavin stretched himself out slowly, willing his back to stop aching. He must have been balled up again last night. Curled in on himself so tight that his spine had the right to scold him with pain in the morning. Fair.

While his back didn't give a satisfying crack, Gavin found his neck did. Marginally better with each audible snap as he tipped his head from one shoulder to the other, Gavin was satisfied and got up. A glance was thrown haphazardly towards the bathroom, the possibility of a shower there but Gavin knew he'd need it after work. Always needed it more after than before. He was happy to look like shit at work - less happy to feel like shit once he was off the clock. He did what he could.

For a moment as Gavin tugged on his jacket,, just the briefest moment, the facade had him fooled too.

Keys in hand with their usual jingle, headphones neatly tucked away from when he'd no doubt need them, the early morning city smell sinking into his senses sickeningly - it all seemed just the way it was supposed to be. He opened the door into the apartment complex halls and found everything still in its place. So eerily similar to how it should have and had always been. Dirty, unpleasant, but normal. It felt the same.

No matter how it felt, however, it wasn't.

The world was different.

Even if the air didn't smell of rust and there were no bodies or ruble to be tripped over when Gavin stepped into the hallway - it was undeniably changed in ways that it didn't immediately give away.

Sure, there were no guards at the doors, no eyes watching him with guns in hand. Nothing that made the hairs on the back of his neck rise. But Gavin was waiting for it. For change. The facade wouldn't last forever.

Pausing out front of his own door as it swung shut behind him, Gavins fingers dipped into his pockets. Checking for anything he might have been missing. He didn't need much with him in the morning but it always felt as if something was out of place and he'd realise it only to curse and head back inside to get it. On a bad day it would be the keys to get inside in the first place.

But most days it was all there and he palmed around his person only to find nothing amiss.

"Am I missing something?"

Gavin asked himself. Voice rough with a night of disuse. Judging by how dusty everything tasted he'd definitely been sleeping with his mouth ajar. Just fucking graceful wasn't he? Whatever. No one's business but his own and the bottle of water his mouth needed. Coffee preferably.

It took a bit of self urging but finally Gavin decided he was just imagining things. He hadn't forgotten anything and he just had to repeat this to himself on his way downstairs.

Yes, stairs. All this advanced technology and not a single fucking soul seemed able to fix their fucking elevator. Well, 'able' was the wrong word. 'Willing', was a better fit. It likely only needed a single new part to get puttering along again, but why pay for that when people could just use the stairs?

"Jesus, so fucking cheap." Gavin cursed under his breath but took the stairs all the same.

By the time he stepped foot on the bottom step, Gavin's mood was decidedly set into a foul state. Helped none that when he shouldered the doors open with the familiar squeal, he was greeted with the every beautiful weather of Detroit. Sleet, clouds and a chill that rushed straight through him. Fan-fucking-tastic.

Briefly his eyes raked over the road ahead of him. Quiet. Most of the cars out and about would be automated, people too tired to bother being behind a wheel this hour of the day. The thought caused Gavin's stomach to clench and twist up painfully.

He took a wide step back till his shoulder brushed by the apartment complex wall as he set out down the pathway.

The likelihood of an automated vehicle or android driver losing control at the wheel were next to non-existent. Cyberlife's tune for the dance. That wording carefully encouraging infallibility while still leaving a small window of error. 'The odds were next to non-existent' not that they were simply impossible.

Bitterly Gavin wondered what percentage they slapped over that likelihood and where there any thoughts spared for the remaining one percent.

Scratch that, he knew the fucking answer.

Though there was no firm ground for Cyberlife to stand on anymore. Wearily Gavin glanced up, eyes catching a drone passing by. Had to be privately owned. Cyberlife had gone into a full shutdown ever since the uprising had panned out in favour of their fucking androids. Now they faced scrutiny on all sides. Androids named them monsters, humans named them liars no matter what side of the matter they landed on.

Heads had to roll and Cyberlife looked like the go to. To their credit, what little could begrudgingly be given, they were incredibly good at covering their asses and switching their tune on a dime. They'd set up means of destroying those androids on mass when it suited them, and now they were beginning to try people pleasing. Android pleasing.

Gavin had never liked the fucking company nor their androids, but even he couldn't deny the shady nature of their behaviour. Sure it had never been a shining example of humanity, but in recent years they'd edged ever closer to the sort of company you'd read about in a history book. Deceiving clients, conducting inhuman experiments, greedy, self serving bastards.

No matter which you were, a fucking android sympathiser or a sane human being - everyone was looking to Cyberlife with the guillotine in mind. Gavinc could get behind that.

Hands shoved in his pockets Gavin avoided a patch of ice, knowing that the last thing he needed was to slip right then. His bones ached bad enough as it was without a bruise to add to that pain. Heaven forbid he have a greater headache than he already did.

No. Gavin decided with a low growl under his breath and shake of his pounding head. Today will be a good day if he had to drag it out of the muck himself. Fuck Cyberlife, fuck androids, fuck their revolution, fuck all of that. He was going to have a good day if it god damn killed him.

Head up.

With that decision made Gavin took a moment to actually breathe. To ignore the slight twinge of pain in his chest and right himself. He was fine. It was just a shit morning to be walking to the precinct. He was just cold, that was why his fingers were trembling in his pockets. He could still turn this around.

The walk was a quiet one and midstep Gavin realised he had indeed forgotten something. Usually his fingers would be brushing headphones in his pocket, to keep the silence out while he walked the usual morning routine.

"Fuck." Gavin hissed sharply, feeling the loss of something so small a bit like a punch in the gut. No. A good day. He was going to have one. It wasn't that big a deal. He could survive without the noise for a while.

However, his pace did step up from there on. The sooner he was at the station, the sooner he'd hear something besides his own footsteps.

The rest of the city was shuffling to life slowly but when Gavin glanced up to see the precinct standing, it was already wide awake. The morning crew a rough one but at the very least on time. Gavin himself a few minutes early than usual. Perhaps if he didn't drag his feet each morning he wouldn't have to get up so early in the first place. He was not going to commit to a faster pace and so scrapped the idea.

When Gavin pushed through the station doors he was met with familiar faces. Most of which didn't acknowledge him as he passed on by. In return he didn't spare them a glance. It was not as though he was enemy number one within the precinct, but that did not make him the most popular person either. Just fine by him. Gavin wasn't exactly out to get chummy with people here. Sure he was friendly with a few colleagues, but they were few among the many. There was a reason he didn't have an active partner and hadn't in a good long while.

His last partner had been Chen but she'd taken a leave of absence just before everything went down and Gavin found working on his own to be preferable. Friendly as they were Chen wasn't biting at the bit to partner up with him again. She was a machine in her own right, left alone to do her thing she'd serve results. Gavin on the other hand supposedly could use a partner, not that he believed Fowler's assessment. He was fine on his own.

Besides, made his desk a much nicer place to be. Gavin sighed with a satisfied smirk as he fell down into the familiar chair and immediately kicked his feet up onto the desk. Chen had loathed when he did that. Not a fussy woman by any means, but even she had limitations on his attitude. Just as soon laugh along with him on some crude joke as she would rip into him for getting dirt on the desk. His shoes were not that dirty anyway.

Early as he was, Gavin didn't immediately jump to work. There was this niggling itch in the back of his brain. One that had him almost going straight to the terminal to whip up whatever his chores were for the day. More witnesses at a guess.

After the evacuation had been lifted and people came flooding back in, there was no shortage of problems. Looters had gone absolutely nuts in people's absence despite a handful of officers remaining in the city to try and contain the damage. Now people were arriving to find their homes and stores ransacked. Others came back with an anger all their own and took it to the streets in one way or another.

Another, tended to be an android's problem. Those problems were not his, he wasn't stuck on plastic duty, that belonged to the washed up old bastard and his chatty toaster.

Despite himself, Gavin's head reached up to his neck, still able to feel just how solid a blow it had been that put him on his ass back in the archive room. He was still pretty sore about the whole thing. He'd never claimed to the 'bigger man', spite was a perfectly acceptable reaction and he held onto it closely.

Although, even Gavin had to admit that perhaps his responses at the time had been a little...out of sorts. Not something he'd ever say to the rust bucket.

If he had his way said rustbucket would not so casually be strolling through the exact same doors Gavin had entered through moments ago. A glance at his terminal and Gavin snorted, unsurprised to see the damn android was right on time. To the second. Fucking creepy bastards.

What did surprise him however was the fact he had Anderson in tow.

Clearly disorientated from being up before noon and perhaps a touch hung over, the detective came shuffling in after his plastic pet looking like a man who would much rather be anywhere else. Gavin wasn't sure what was in the large container clutched between Anderson's hands, but he actually found himself hoping it wasn't coffee. Maybe out of jealousy, he could use a thermos that size, it might get him two cups worth in one go.

That and it might just keep his hands a bit warmer on his way to work in the mornings.

As the two came on in, making a beeline for that shared desk of theirs, Gavin finally kicked his feet off the desk and went to logining in to his computer, if only to avoid the inevitable glance his way he'd get from Connor.

It'd done that every goddamn morning since the Captain announced it would be continuing his work here. Some off hand remark about Anderson actually being somewhat productive with it following him around. Gavin's jaw had nearly hit the floor when he found out it was being paid. What the actual fuck did androids need money for? They didn't eat, they didn't actually sleep - that sleep mode was not real sleep god damn it, they even stood when entering it, they didn't have homes to upkeep.

Well, the latter had changed. They could own property now, though Gavin knew not many landlords were willing to allow them in. They'd have better luck in actual realestate, those fucks didn't care who lived in the houses so long as they paid up, but that was a lot of money that no android actually had. So there was a use for that money, though Gavin was fairly sure androids were still paid half that of their human coworkers. Fine. A small justice then.

Unlike those tin cans people would actually starve without their jobs. The greedy, fucking pieces of sh-

"Good morning, detective Reed."

Gavin jumped so bad he nearly fell out of his chair. He hadn't even heard the fucking thing approaching him until Connor's level, pleasant voice cut through his thoughts like a damn knife.

Each morning it glanced, sure, but it never came to speak before. Naturally, Gavin bristled furiously. "What the fuck do you want prick?" He demanded, a flush racing across his cheeks as he realised how obviously startled he'd been. By a toaster on legs, fantastic.

Nonplussed, Connor tipped it's head slightly to the side, looking calm as always and in a way beseeching. Like everything it did was an investigation. "I understand it that seeking some form of…" It paused, likely going through every word in the english language to find one what was suitable. Subtle. "...reconciliation is in order if we are to continue to work in the same precinct. I wish to extend an apology." A second pause. "For your head." It clarified with a small, twitch of a smile.

Gavin was fairly sure he could see red currently. But across the room, around Connor's side he could see the old bag of bones giving him a look that suggested he was seeing the exact same shade. It was too early in the morning for this shit and he hadn't even gotten a coffee yet. He didn't need the beating and so didn't even attempt to lay a hand on the android, that and Fowler would have his ass for harassing another employee. It used to just be damage of property, now it was a fucking employee.

In the spirit of not getting written up by Fowler or beaten down by Anderson, he kept his voice quiet rather than screaming at the damn thing.

"Look you freak, I don't fucking need an apology from some hunk of scrap metal. Now get the hell out of my face." He snarled, every word a disdainful hiss and while that kind of venom would usually prompt a response of anger or surprised hurt from a human, Connor remained impassive as always.

"I do hope you'll change your mind." Connor replied with ease. As thought he'd already run this scenario and calculated that this was the most likely outcome.

Gavin hated being picked apart like some experiment.

The urge to go back and attempt hitting the android was a strong one, consequences be damned, but fortunately Connor didn't linger. Turning and striding back over to its keeper without another word. He didn't bother trying to hear what the two were saying. He could guess. He knew what Anderson said about him. He could practically feel the loathing crawling up his spine, making him itch. Gavin tried to take a deep breath, refused to look up at the two and instead focus on the list of cases in front of him.

What did it matter that Anderson spoke about him, watched him. Everyone was watching. He just had to complete his cases and when the day was out he'd be back home and have his headphones back and everything would-

His case files were empty.

Stunned, Gavin sat back in his seat heavily and stared at the screen. All the files had been marked and moved. Taken over to different detectives to handle.

In a horrible, crippling moment he understood.

He was being replaced.

That was why the android had come over to him with some bullshit story about a peace offering. He was being mocked. The android knew this was coming. They all knew this was coming. His seat would be empty and the desk cleaned out before the end of the day. Some fake person put there the next.

It was over. He was so incredibly fucked. It was all over and his skin was itching like mad. What he wouldn't give to have his damn headphones back or something he could put between his teeth and naw on. Or at the very, very, least a way to make everything just fucking sit still for a second so he could breathe. It was only a mild panic, he was handling this well. He was, really.

Then Fowler's voice reached him. "Reed, my office."

He was not handling this well. Gavin could feel his heart pounding painfully, his chest tight, breathing difficult. But he rose from his seat without a word and still refused to look to Anderson and Conner. They'd be watching. They knew. They'd known before he even stepped into the station. Did everyone know? No one looked at him this morning, they were probably having a goddamn laugh behind his back.

By the time he'd reached the steps Fowler's office, he was chewing on his thumb. Unable to help himself. Fortunately, if he were to scrape the bottom of the barrel on what was fortunate for him currently, that bad habit knocked off the moment he actually stepped foot into Fowler's office.

Hand falling limp at his side he was left to stand there, staring at the thing that would no doubt be his replacement. With hands neatly clasped behind its back and a posture too firm to belong to a human, the android turned only slightly, not to acknowledge Gavin, but to take note of his existence. This emotionless, ambitionless thing was going to be sitting at his seat before he could blink.

And the cherry on top? It was striking image of fucking Conner.

Yeah. That sounded just about right.