idk if this is anything but random idea bunny that popped into my head so here we go, I’ll dump the general idea here but probably won’t ever actually like, write the fic
Grumpy shitty attitude Gavin who uses the oldest functioning tech necessary spitefully even before the android revolution (post peaceful because my heart is soft)
and esp after too,
it starts off as a spite thing but he begrudgingly gets a bit into it, learning old operating systems and the basics of electrical wiring
Puts forth effort to not be an asshole to Connor and other androids so he won’t lose his job but steering clear of everyone
due to a poor reputation at the station this goes pretty well as few desire to interact with him either. His abilities make him to valuable to transfer, Detroit is in a state of mild chaos and they need every set of competent hands
Gavin ends up finding/salvaging an old computer system
takes it home and put some work into getting it started again, swapping out a few minor broken parts and finding a compatible charging solution sort of thing
while working on this stubborn relic of the past he talks to it, mainly starts as cursing and grumbling at it but eventually it moves to cursing and grumbling all about his work and the station and really a bit of anything
well eventually he does get the damn thing to turn on and boot up
it’s a bit different from anything Gavin can remember from his youth or find currently or honestly find on the internet
It connects to the internet (barely) and the user interface system, N.9N3.S, which Gavin refers to as Nines, is a bit like Clippy if Clippy had an attitude in the beginning
it’s odd but Gavin has the strangest sense that the thing is evolving more and more as he chats with it on the set up. learning and responding to Gavin with increasingly more self awareness
It’s weirdly advanced for an ‘ai’ of its time and he should be apprehensive but Gavin’s kinda curious and trying to get over his whole stick up on ai’s and androids and all that shit in general
it stays mainly confined on the giant ancient computer box Gavin had brought it in on but eventually Gavin gets curious and Nines gets also gets curious about the outside world so they try transferring it to Gavin’s Phone, his old Nokia
the Nokia doesn’t have enough digital space on it and Gavin laments that he’d need to get a recent more advanced iPhone which he doesn’t really want and isn’t in the budget for anyway
a while later a brand new iPhone shows up shipped on his doorstep. He does not remember ordering this.
he does not
His bank statements don’t reflect this either. He calls up apple to report a misshiped product. The company representative tries to process the order number that Gavin gives him and it doesn’t go through, Gavin gets transferred a few times to several different people and they all ask for the same information and put it into the system only to get the same results, that there is no record of the shipment
Gavin is frustrated and suspicious, Nines computer and operating system is currently turned off, he hadn’t turned it on since he got home and found the package.
he gets up and unplugs the main power cord from the outlet during one of the holds the rep is having him on.
he gets told to just hold and someone will dig deeper into the records, try and find a payment plan or connected account to the registration number of the phone and they will call him back when they do.
the next day at work Gavin is explaining the situation (only the phone, he avoids mentioning Nines just yet, something feels off) to Tina when Connor overhears him
the android asks Gavin a few questions and the conversation hints back to Nines and he’s so baffled by the situation at hand that he doesn’t act very hostile towards Connor
Connor looks curious and leaves shortly
When Gavin gets back to his apartment he still has no response from apple and hasn’t opened the package either.
he sees no other reasonable way but direct confrontation so he plugs the old computer back in and boots it up, cautiously.
Nines greets him as semi coolly as usual and notes that according to his systems it’s been a day plus since Gavin last turned him on
Getting directly to the point Gavin tells Nines about the phone, and how suspicious it is
Nines has no more idea then Gavin does of course, right? He’s largely confined to the computer and barely more than a bundle of operating systems ai code
Gavin is still suspicious
Nines urged him to not look a gift horse in the mouth and simply accept this as good luck
they go back and forth and for a few days Gavin doesn’t turn the computer back on eventually he does and feels guilty about leaving Nines turned off and ignored
meanwhile Connor is doing his own investigations, it leads him to several prototype android bodies, his next physical advancement iterations, all mainly parts with no ai’s to wake up or free.
eventually Nines convinces Gavin to open up the package and help him go through the procedure to transfer
now in more recent and advanced tech Nines goes through a sort of ‘transformation’ that he calls an ‘full software upgrade’ that makes him more similar to the modern ai’s more advanced and smarter and expressive and human like those ‘other’ androids than machine
(Gavin agrees that he’s certainly gone through a process and is more human like but something nags at the back of his mind, Nines had explained it all logically but… Nines doesn’t feel smarter, or like he got an upgrade, not truly. Gavin has a nightmare and in it Nines is the same as before but different, Gavin has the keen since that maybe he was masquerading before, like now he’s just switched out to a more expressive mask. When he wakes up the revelation is buried in his dreaming mind but the general feeling remains)
Nines is enjoying his newfound form and freedom, his better access to the internet and better look into Gavin’s daily life, carried around in his pocket and hacking cameras to observe the human from new exciting angles.
Connor talks to Gavin once, it goes civilly. The whole times a buzzing sensation lingers on the androids senses and it feels off
Nines is interested, he’d heard quite a bit from Gavin. Curious he attempts to jump from phone to camera to sensor to Connor
he stays for a fraction of a second before jumping back again through a different pattern and covering his tracks but the android still notices that something occurred.
With Connor distracted by this Gavin uses it to end the conversation and walk away
which is fine by Nines, he got what he was looking for
Connor doesn’t know what fully happened but senses that something is wrong and leaves, in precautions gets an evaluation and during makes a copy of his memory files
meanwhile the day ends and Gavin and Nines go back.
through the night several things happen.
-.-.-.-.-
When Gavin Reed walks through the doors to the station the next day he walks in bickering with his partner of several months, Nines, the upgraded Connor model from Cyberlife that was in beta testing and not released prior to the android revolution.
Everything is normal and as has been, Tina stops by to talk shit with Gavin and about him in friendly way with Nines. Hank tells them to fucj off and get to work.
when Connor walks in later, due to his later morning system reboot from his appointment the day before he stops
frozen and making eye contact with the unfamiliar android wearing something similar to his face across the bullpen. This foreign android smiles at him before dipping lower to say something to Gavin, his human in a possessive gesture while the lights of the build inexplicably flicker and the power trembles
the message is clear















