Things were quiet for a week. Suspiciously quiet. Hank and Connor were almost running interference. They never gave him a straight answer when he asked about the child android case. His inbox never had more than three new cases each day, and the ones he was working on were progressing slower than ever. It was like the work had dried up. If he didn't know better, he'd say he was about to be fired, only his sessions with Dr Marr were still going ahead as usual.

She'd heard about the episode at Cyberlife Tower. Phcking Connor! He still hadn't forgiven him for that one. Dr Marr had been trying to pry the details out of him for days. She'd tried catching him off guard, talking about his meeting with Simon one minute and then asking about his role in the dream the next. So far, she'd managed to figure out that Connor had been in it, and the child android. The child android was what she'd pressed him on the most. Later, she brought up Chloe. He didn't understand why until she pointed out how easily he'd spoken to her, like a normal person. He couldn't really justify that one. Chloe was just a really good social model. She was convincing. Authentic.

Sometimes, she asked about Jack, pressing him on the reason he still kept his desk untouched, why he refused to work with anyone else, and why he hadn't contacted Sandy and Kitty in years. She knew Jack had been in the dream, but he'd refused to speak about it. When she'd started pressing him for more details about their relationship, he'd almost blushed. She was hitting far too close to a place he'd always refused to show to anyone, especially Jack himself. Some things were private. Embarrassing, pointless, and private.

The session had already put him in a bad mood when he entered the bullpen to look at his files, debating how badly he needed another coffee. He was surprised to find an envelope on his desk. It wasn't a normal one either. It was thick and expensive, with an unfamiliar logo embossed on the stiff paper. He sat with a heavy sigh, tugging out the fine paper to read through it. The more he read, the more he frowned. It was clearly from some fancy private lawyer. He didn't understand it though. There must be some sort of mistake. He'd been summoned to the will reading of one Alexander Elias Hamilton. It would take place at an unfamiliar address somewhere just outside Detroit. It must be a mistake...but the letter was addressed to him by both name and title. The problem was that he was sure he'd never met anyone called Hamilton. The will reading was in three days' time, on a Sunday. Makes sense. Everyone will be off work that day.

"Detective Reed, you have a case," Miller announced as he walked over. Both Hank and Connor looked up almost pensively. So they have been stealing cases...Fuckers! Miller waited by his desk, ready to go. Reed nodded as he set the letter aside and got to his feet, letting him explain more on the way. It was at an old mansion just outside of town, one of those creepy places with a mass of space around it. The entire front of the old house had been cordoned off outside the main gates. "It was a bunch of kids who found him," Miller reported as they stepped through the holographic tape.

"Thought I was working on android cases," Reed murmured as the smell hit him. Miller put on a mask. It didn't help at all, but he liked to pretend that it did. Reed was made of more resilient stuff, apparently. He waved aside the mask, able to handle the smell even after all this time working exclusively with androids. That was the good thing about androids. No matter how long they were left inactive, they didn't smell. He tugged on a pair of blue gloves and crouched beside the stained grass and bird pecked bones. Body's been out here for a long time...A really long time...

"About that..." Miller trailed off, nodding towards the back door of the creepy-looking house. Reed stood from his crouched position and headed up into the house. "I haven't seen it myself, but I'm told it's quite a horror show..." Reed huffed in amusement as he took in Miller's apprehension. He was pretty good at reading him now, since they'd worked on a few cases together. Apparently, haunted houses weren't his thing. He looks like he's going to shit himself already.

"How about you wait out here for forensics and get them started on this guy?" Reed suggested mercifully, huffing as Miller jumped on the idea. There probably wasn't much risk going in alone. Uniform had already swept the place once before calling it in. Stepping inside, he found it felt quite cool compared to the outside heat. It was a strangely unlived in place. Unloved. Barely maintained. A lamp and side table had been knocked over in some sort of struggle. Something had clearly happened prior to the body ending up out in the yard. He walked further inside, passing a couple of old red couches and a low table. It was like an abandoned aristocrat house from the nineteen thirties. Huge antique bookcases lined the walls with a few odd paintings scattered between. There was a real bearskin rug in the living area, and a huge burned out fireplace. Lived in but not lived in. He headed towards the grand staircase with a grim sense of foreboding.

Looking around the house was sickening. The first room he came to was like some gruesome form of chop-shop. There was an android torso left wide open on a chipped wooden table with crude tools scattered around it. There were more bits from various androids left discarded all over the small space, which was cramped with dusty crates and scratched up tables. The next room was cluttered with old furniture and even more broken up android bodies. Shotgun holes littered the walls, and various items had been knocked over in some sort of scuffle. He gasped and stumbled away from the wall as a low static rumble sounded in the corner.

"Hey...Hey there, beautiful. What are you doing here?" Reed cooed softly as he noticed the huge white bear locked in a cage that was far too small. A section of fur had been cut away from the side of its skull, revealing the silvery casing and flashing lights beneath. That was one thing that didn't surprise him. There hadn't been any real polar bears since the late twenty-twenties. The bear's LED span yellow and then blue as Reed crouched in front of the locked cage. The massive animal snuffled the bars with a low growl, but it wasn't aggressive. "Easy there, princess. I'm not going to hurt you," Reed assured softly as he held a hand up to the bars, keeping it outside for now. The bear sniffed and huffed before lowering its enormous head. Reed slipped his hand through the bars and touched the soft fur. It was so thick and realistic, silky like Pipsqueak's. Maybe not the smartest thing I've ever done..."Aren't you beautiful? Yes, you are..."

He watched the massive bear settle down again, whispering a quick goodbye before continuing through to the other rooms. There was a bathroom through the next cracked door. His stomach churned as he looked inside the bathtub. He didn't know what model it had been, possibly one of the AV series. Its face looked Asian, dark eyes now staring at nothing. What the phck was going on in this house? He peered into the wide open chest cavity. The android had been dumped in the tub, opened up, left without arms and legs. Completely defenceless. There was a gaping circular hole where its power core should have been. The dim cylinder was lying across the tiles in the corner of the room. Murdered...There's no way it did that to itself...He wondered if it really counted as murder. Depending on when it had happened, it might be criminal damage. Android rights laws didn't backdate. It was the main reason he still had his job after the archive incident.

The next room was a bedroom. Cramped, with large closets and drawers. He almost had a heart attack as he turned around to see the naked remains of a headless female android. A Traci model. There were black powder stains and large holes in the wall from bullets, a shotgun, judging by the size. The android had been singed a little, too. Target practice? He went through into another enormous room. More antique furniture storage. He had to go back into the hall to reach the last room. Another small bedroom, falling apart at the walls. A neglected mess. It amazed him that someone had been living there at all. Wasn't right in the head anyway...He couldn't even imagine what sort of person would do the shit he'd seen so far.

Reed sighed as he headed back downstairs into the massive entrance hall. There was another level. A basement. Stairs led down into darkness. The upstairs had been creepy as hell, so he didn't hold out much hope for downstairs to be any better. It felt strange, walking down the cold stone hallway. It was like a wine cellar, but with stalls along the wall like some sort of enclosure or stable. He decided to explore that on the way out, feeling slightly more curious about the plastic sheeting he could see around the corner for now.

Lights came on automatically as he stepped into the cramped work space. Computer screens buzzed to life all around. There were pictures. Schematics he didn't understand were pinned on white surfaces like x-rays. It was all android related. There was a weird rig with giant claw-like arms and a stabby looking thing he didn't even want to think about. Bits of it had been broken. An android breaking out? He knew that Cyberlife used similar spider rigs for maintenance, though the rigs at Cyberlife had been of a much higher quality. He'd seen some while walking around the tower. His first time. He'd never been interested in androids, or their maintenance. Not until it became part of his job after the revolution.

"Hello?" He rested a hand on his sidearm as he heard a shuffling sound. Uniform cleared this place...They didn't mention any pets...Rats? He was wary as he drew his gun and cleared the immediate area. Stepping around the plastic curtains, he swept the hall and corridor, eyes falling on the barred door to the stalls. "Is someone in there? Detroit Police...I'm coming in." He licked his lips nervously as he looked around the dimly lit corner. There was no light in the large stall. The barred door creaked as he pulled it open and hesitantly stepped inside.

There was no movement. Stacks of dusty wooden crates lined the wall, old tarps bundled and discarded on the floor. He didn't like it. He felt closed in. Trapped. The space was too busy, too tight. He could smell an earthy dampness in the stale air. His breath shook a little as he swept the tight space, pausing as he saw a figure hunched stiffly against the wall. He was slow as he walked forward and examined the synthetic flesh. A female body. One arm had been removed below the elbow, and her head was just a surface of dirty fluffed hair. He removed the faceplate and replaced it with the...back?

It wasn't moving. The body leaned against the wall, head and back bowed, arm hanging uselessly at its side. There was no LED, so he had no idea if it was active or not. It's just an android...If it's active, it'll move...if not...His heart picked up its pace as he slowly reached out towards the pale figure. He swallowed before resting his hand on the smooth, realistic skin. His gun hand lowered slowly as he focused on the android in front of him. The skin was still warm. Active, but it didn't respond to his touch.

"You got an on switch?" he asked curiously, unsure exactly how to activate the android, or even communicate, considering the lack of a visible mouth. He put his gun away as he propped the android up a little more with both hands, turning it this way and that. The back of its head also had hair, so the head wasn't just on backwards. Why would anyone do this? What the phck was that sicko trying to do? Reed sighed as he leaned the android back. Would unplugging the core and plugging it in again help? It had to be worth a shot. He slowly reached up and rested his fingers against the sternum, where he knew the core would be nestled beneath the skin. Turning it off and on again always works on TV...

It happened in an instant. The android flailed fearfully, throwing him off balance. Reed yelled in surprise as he fell, finding himself restrained in the arms of another android he'd never seen before. Its casing was dark, almost midnight blue. He noticed a few panels around the face were silver as it looked down with black eyes and glowing amber irises. Reed yelped in shock as he tried to wrestle himself free, but froze as a strange clawed hand made of some sort of garden shear came to rest against his throat. He wasn't sure whether it was supposed to be a threat or if the thing was really about to slice him open, but he wasn't taking any chances.

"Wait-wait-wait! DPD! There are more officers outside!" His heart raced as the blade cut closer, the sharp edge pressing against his pale skin. The android paused, hesitating at the warning. The blades lowered, but he was still restrained, looking around to find even more freaks. Many of their limbs had been replaced with other random machinery, a lot of it pointless and impractical. A head that was split wide open on a hinge. Legs replaced with a wheeling rail. One had a transparent chest plate, which was really sort of gross. It was like the scientist had done things just to see if he could. The ones with LEDs were flashing between red and yellow, looking at each other worriedly. "I can get you help," Reed offered warily, staying as still and non-threatening as possible.

"Why would a human help us?" the one holding him asked in a deep and somewhat distorted voice. The scientist had messed with his internal components, too. Reed groaned as the hands restraining him tightened, bending him back until the dark model could look at his face. It was weird, seeing androids without skin. Some of them had skin, but a lot of them either didn't or only had it activated in certain places. That was probably a side-effect of whatever tweaking that freak outside had done to them.

"Because it's my job?" A pained cry broke free as he was bent even further, putting a burning pressure on his spine and neck. Is it going to break me in half? Jesus-phck!

"Humans track down deviants like us and exterminate us like rats! Why should we believe you?" The others in the room let out various signs of agreement. Some could agree verbally, while others nodded or stomped the floor in appreciation. Reed tried to pull himself up even just a little, but the android was rigid, giving him no room to move. An ache settled in the middle of his spine and he was pretty sure it wouldn't take much more to snap it. The thought made him shiver.

"The revolution ended months ago! You won! Androids have rights now!" A flurry of disagreements flitted between the androids. Some didn't believe it, which was understandable. It was easier to believe that a human had stumbled in and was trying to get away with their life. They were at least able to confirm he was a detective from the badge on his belt. "Look, I won't lie and say it's all sunshine and roses, but I can get you help! You saw the other officers earlier! You know I'm telling the truth!" The room fell silent. He wasn't sure if they were having one of those weird silent conversations androids could have or if they were waiting for the leader of their group to decide. Reed's heart pounded as he waited. It throbbed in his chest, slamming his ribs like a battering-ram. He had no doubt that the blade would return to slice his throat if they decided he was lying. He stumbled as he was suddenly released, catching himself on shaky legs before he could fall.

He wasn't ashamed to say he ran out of there like his ass was on fire. Nightmare fuel didn't even begin to describe this shitshow. He caught his breath at the top of the stairs and composed himself, unwilling to let the officers outside know how close he'd come to shitting his pants. He sighed as he threw open the old front door. The forensic team was there now. He could see the dark van parked outside the main gate. Uniformed officers were guarding the entrance. Not that there were any people around. It was a miracle anyone had found the body at all really. It was right on the edge of the city, not a place people came to without reason.

"Miller! Get Connor and Hank down here, and tell them they're going to need some of Cyberlife's finest...There are some pretty fucked up androids in there," Reed ordered, leaning heavily in the open doorway. Miller looked confused at first, but he pulled his phone out and followed his orders. "Some of the androids are still active," Reed clarified with an almost haunted look. Miller nodded his understanding as he walked off to make the call. Fucked up week...Fucked up year. Reed sighed as he sat on the steps and looked up at the rapidly greying sky.

How appropriate for the creepy setting that it started to rain, heavily. He wasn't sure how long it took for Connor and Hank to get there, but he watched from his seat on the wooden steps as they hurried up the worn path. The rain almost seemed to roll off Connor's hair and uniform while it clung to Hank and weighed him down. Hank made a scoffing remark about slacking on the job, to which Reed huffed and flipped him off while he smoked. Connor paused beside him for a few moments, hazel eyes scanning him. His stress levels were still elevated. Something in Reed's expression told him he'd understand once he saw what was inside.

"Down in the basement. I'll let you find your own way," Reed called after them as they headed in. No fucking way was he going back down there. Connor reappeared after a few minutes, telling him to keep an eye out for the technicians they'd called. Those technicians turned out to be directly from the tower. Chloe arrived holding a royal blue umbrella that matched her summer dress. Four other androids had come with her, tool boxes in hand. He wasn't sure whether they worked for Cyberlife or Jericho. He wasn't sure it even mattered these days considering Kamski and Markus' close relationship.

"Gavin! It's so nice to see you again," Chloe greeted sweetly as she stopped, apparently not required downstairs. Reed smiled as he got to his feet to greet her, surprised as she rose on tiptoe to kiss him on each cheek like a European. It seemed a strange thing to program into an android, but perhaps she'd altered her social programming since deviation. She was just as pleasant as she'd been the week before, and intensely interested in his past. Today she wanted to know all about his family. Her crystal eyes twinkled as he told her about his grandmother. She'd only been around for the first ten years, but he'd loved going to her house on the outskirts of town and making pasta with her in the kitchen. "I'd love you to show me sometime. I've never made pasta from scratch before." Reed's brows rose in surprise.

"It's easy. I'm sure there must be a culinary program you can download, or..." he trailed off awkwardly, wondering if he was being flirted with. Usually, humans could pick up on his vibe. He wondered if androids didn't have the same instincts. From the way she acted at the tower, he was pretty sure she had a thing going with her boss. She may have replied if a technician hadn't hurried out to see her. Apparently, they'd need a lot more time, machinery, and spare parts to fix whatever had been done to their victims. No phcking shit...

"Very well. Ready them for transport and we'll take them with us." The female android nodded obediently before hurrying back downstairs. Chloe's blue eyes looked up at Reed warmly. "Let's continue this another time. I'll see you in a few days, Gavin." Reed watched the parade of androids as they were guided or carried through. It was freaky. His arms prickled as they stumbled and lurched their way down the steps like a bunch of mechanical zombies. The last one brought up was the one with a blackish blue casing, which was actually being carried because its legs were just a set of barely formed frames on wheels.

"Thank you, Detective Reed." The voice was creepy and full of static. Reed nodded politely in a just doing my job sort of way and watched as the android was set down and wheeled out to the large white van, where the others were already being helped inside. Connor and Hank re-joined him, the three of them basking in the bizarre energy left behind. The house had an even more foreboding energy now that the horrors within had been released. What a phcking case...

"It's pretty open and shut you'll be pleased to hear...Sicko was experimenting on deviants during the revolution. An android came along and let them out of their cage, so they took their revenge and went back into hiding...They didn't know what else to do," Hank explained in a grim tone. It wasn't the first time things like that had happened. Reed remembered the first case he'd ever seen Connor work. The android had killed its owner and hidden in the attic, scared and lost without someone to tell it what it should do. Some androids were just like that after deviating. He'd actually heard about a small group who were requesting the right to relinquish their deviancy and return to the way they were before. Soulless dolls that just followed orders. The idea made his skin prickle.

"What? Were they just going to stay down there until their thirium ran out?" Reed asked with an incredulous scoff, but the others didn't have an answer. It was more than likely. They could hardly wander the streets looking like that. Humans probably would have destroyed them on sight, especially in the earlier days, just after the revolution. A lot of androids had been smashed up within the first week before the equality laws had come into effect. Hell, I probably would have been first in line to deal with those abominations. He quietly wondered what Cyberlife could do for them. They were machines, right? So they could probably be fixed up good as new. On the outside, at least...

Reed waited around with Miller for forensics to finish up while Hank and Connor headed off to their next callout. Back at the precinct, Reed typed up a report of the incident, finding that the house had belonged to Zlakto Andronikov. He'd had a history of embezzlement and fraud, but nothing that linked him to androids. Not that there would be. It wasn't a crime to retrofit androids before the revolution. Retrofit's the wrong word for the shit he was doing...The sickening thing was that even if they'd caught him months ago, he wouldn't have been charged. Deviants had gone to him of their own free will. He'd then taken possession of and altered them. At a push, they could have charged him with handling stolen property, but that wouldn't have gotten him even half the time he deserved.

Reed raised his eyes momentarily, words poised on his lips before he shoved them back down. He was looking across at an empty desk. It amazed him that even after all this time, he could still forget for just a moment. He'd look up, ready to ask an opinion, or point something out, or crack a joke, and there'd be nothing there but dust on glass. His chest sank, and he sat back for a while, just staring at the empty space in blank contemplation. The strange letter caught his eye again, and he looked it over once more with a sigh. Guess I'll see what it's all about in three days.