Chapter Text
Detroit just kinda sucked. Anyone with eyes and a lick of common sense could see it. Even as it snowed and the world got all pretty, the city was still an overglorified shitshow.
It is pretty, though.
The way the snow touched the ground ever so gently. The way the oncoming storm clouds still looked fluffy and downright edible. The way the soft blanket of white on the ground caught the blue and yellow light of the Cyberlife billboards.
Right. Beauty doesn't negate dystopia.
Viktor often found himself conflicted on days like this. Where everything seemed beautiful, and practically perfect. Yet he was always confronted with the reality that he was now on the luckier side of the city. That things only felt perfect because he had worked for it to be that way. But a couple miles down and a side street later, he'd find people in a completely different predicament.
People who didn't get to see the beauty like this. Parents who had to remind their kids the snow was some kind of Christmas miracle, while trying to cover all the holes in their decaying walls. Trying to get toddlers to bundle up despite the childish meltdowns, because they couldn't afford to keep the home heated well enough.
That was the real Detroit. The people forced into terrible situations, and left struggling in the name of ‘progress’. Progress often came at a cost, but when would their be enough growth for someone to finally say enough with the bullshit?
And that train of thought led to Viktor's daily tradition. Glaring at the looming Cyber billboards across the street from the police station. He knew a sneer at a sign on his way into work wouldn't actually change anything. Still felt good, though. It felt better trying to figure out the slippery stone staircase into the station when he could distract himself with a one-sided rivalry involving a mega-corporation.
Now normally, especially on snowy days, Viktor would just take the ramp to the main entrance. It saved time, it saved energy, and he didn't have to worry about his brace locking up from the cold wet air. But today he was feeling especially petty. He had a sinking feeling something terrible was waiting for him at his desk. He didn't know why he was paranoid, by all accounts this would most likely be a boring day full of paperwork and pencil pushing. But it didn't feel like it. And the best way to combat paranoia: prove to himself he could do anything his colleagues could do. Including the steep old fashioned stairs, even when slick with snow.
It took an extra couple minutes, but it felt good when he got to the doors. He wasn't even sure why he needed to ‘prove it’ to anyone. He was a prime example of the Sphinx's riddle, a man with three legs. Didn't make him any less of a man. In fact, he was a fairly impressive man, by all standards. Even in the era of androids, he had a well paying job, an entire (mostly paid off) house, never had to worry about food on the table or gas in his car. He was living a dream, compared to the men and women in the decrepit part of town. He was able to marvel at the snow from inside his home without issue, disability be damned.
When he entered the police station, he was immediately hit with a blast of heat. A lesser man might've started swearing at the damn thing for reminding all who enter just how cold their wet clothing was. It was only the beginning of winter, yet everything was already so damn frigid. And to think every other magazine was discussing the Antarctic melting and wild polar bears going extinct… any in the city zoo must be laughing at the icy themed misery of those who came to oggle them from beyond the glass.
But did the polar bears truly matter though? Cyberlife had already made new ones. Just like they did with the lions. And just like they did with the bees before them. It felt like everything somehow linked back to Cyberlife nowadays.
“Procházka,” he heard called.
The perfect thing to snap him out of his thoughts. An angry captain.
“My office,” she continued. “Now.”
Viktor readjusted his grip on his cane, and shuffled forwards. He wanted to put this meeting off as long as possible. There were multiple indicators this wouldn't go well, starting with the fact that captain Medarda just sounded upset today.
When he finally got into the aforementioned office and managed to sit down, the captain was already off on a tirade.
“As you know, more and more androids are malfunctioning,” she started. “People are beginning to worry. And they have every reason to.”
“What kind of malfunction,” Viktor questioned. “I don't understand how zhis relates to me."
“Certain androids are beginning to act out against their code. Becoming aggressive. Violent,” the captain elaborated. “And there are millions of androids in circulation. Who knows how many are defective like this?”
“Zhis sounds like an issue for Cyberlife, shouldn't zhey just issue a recall,” Viktor suggested.
“Its not that simple, child,” she continued. “Most of these violent androids have maimed or killed their owners. What happens if the public finds out and decides their androids are a threat?”
“Zhen zhey have zhe right to make zhat choice for zhemzelves,” Viktor stated. “People have zhe right to choose if they want somezhing like that in zheir homes!”
“Mass panic only leads to more problems in the end. It is best we remain tight lipped and low key for the sake of the public,” she told him.
“But what if zhere are children? Zhe caretakers have a right to know, for zheir safety,” he argued.
“Honestly, the choice has already been made. Tomorrow you begin working on cases with strictly android offenders.”
“Will I still be on homicide?”
“You'd be surprised just how many androids turn lethal once they deviate from their code.”
That didn't make him feel better. He appreciated his profession, especially in the era of AI. Cyberlife had put countless people out of their jobs. Androids were the reason so many people were in the decaying part of town. There wasn't even mercy for those who had young children. If anything, their parents were incentivized to blow what savings they had left on an android to raise their kids for them.
Viktor had grown up in a similar situation. Maybe that's why he had such strong feelings about androids around said children maybe turning violent. Potentially turning on and hurting the very things they were meant to help protect.
Thus, tomorrow he had to begin working for the very company he detested. He still didn't understand why Cyberlife couldn't just issue a mass recall and handle it themselves. Staying ‘tight lipped’ would only come back to bite them in the ass. If the captain was right about the scope of this ‘crisis’, this was extremely dangerous.
But maybe captain Medarda was wrong. It was like his mother used to say.
There is always a choice.