Time.

Time, everything was running out. Or so he felt. He felt like everything was running out, as if everything was draining from his being. He heard the crack of the gun, felt the heat of the round as it sailed past his face and lodged itself in the cracked plaster.

Slowly, he gulped the cry that rose in his throat and breathed a steadying breath.

He spun, facing her head on and staring her down. But it wasn't her, it was the barrel of a gun.

His brow broke out in salty sweat, and he bit his lip, unsure of whether he should run or stand his ground.

She wore a look of deadly determination and stood strong in her shockingly white suit. For a moment, he wanted to shield his eyes from the brightness, but allowed his eyes to focus and squint at her.

"And you would be?" He asked, in a tone that was quite unacceptable to her. A pink tongue came out to rest on her upper lip in irritation.

"Would 'whoever you want me to be' be too cliché?" She asked, her voice still steady, no amused tone penetrating her lips.

"Yes, actually, it would." He was still frozen to the spot, his hands like ice at his sides. The blood had since drained from his whole being to settle heavily in his heart.

"Well, okay." She blew her hair out of her eyes, and took one hand off of her handgun. She swept a long piece back behind her ear and then rested her hand on her hip. "I, am Switch."

"Switch?" Scoffed his foot, he chuckled annoyingly and she clicked the safety off of her gun and cocked an eyebrow, daring him to be a smartass, just waiting. "As in light?"

"Back and forth, darling. Now shut up." A self-conscious smile played on her lips as she circled him, her high boots clicking on the stark white floor. "Nice tracking software."

"Made it myself."

"You think I don't know that?" She shuffled a bit and pointed her gun in the direction of a chair, motioning him to sit there. His brow was raised as he sat down slowly, hands out in front of him to steady her. He knew brash movements would only provoke her.

"What do you want?" He ventured, betting that either way, if he made small talk or if he stayed silent, he was dead. So he leaned back in the chair, crossed his legs, and attempted to look superior.

"Nothing interesting really." She looked around his tiny apartment slowly, taking in the very personal objects that were strewn about in no particular order. She almost laughed at the 'bachelor' nature that it held. If he only knew how many volumes his personal objects said about him. She turned back to him and shrugged, but grinned, holding her gun higher. "I would like the load disk though." She smiled even wider, reaching up and whipping the classes from her face.

"That'd be fantastic doll." Slowly, sexily, she winked at him and wetted her lips.

Slowly, he rose from his chair and walked toward a large steel bookcase. Suddenly he stopped, and turned to her quite cautiously. His eyes fell to the floor as he thought hard. His eyes traced over the white leather of her body as he worked his way up to her eyes.

"How the hell do you know about the load disk? I haven't even-"

"Oh, there's so much I know about you Apocalypse. By the way, Apocolypse13L, not a very inventive name doll. Then again..." She trailed off, nearly laughing at him.

"Is Switch any better?" His sarcasm overwhelmed her for a moment. He tilted his head and waited for her to respond. When she didn't, he sighed and walked to his bookcase, bent down and after a moment of struggle pulled a small, shiny disk out from under the case. He pulled the residual tape off and held it out to her.

She didn't take it.

"You give up too easy." And she did laugh at him then, lowering her gun and moving to sit on her bed. Switch picked up a Twinkie that was resting on his bedside table and sniffed it. "You know, five, six years ago I wouldn't have touched this for fear my ass would go to hell."

It was his turn to laugh. "I don't really see any chance of that happening." He said under his breath, but she looked up as she devoured the sugary confection. Licking her lips and her fingers she advanced towards him. Just as she did, he backed up.

"Seriously. If this is about money I-"

She cut him off. "Thought you woulda figured it out by now. It's not about the here and now." Her grin became feral and dark. Body heat poured off of her in waves as he cornered him against his door.

"The Matrix." He whispered as a sort of question.

"There's a good boy." She said, scrunching her nose and tilting her head. She poked him in the nose, stepped back and turned around. "You know what I'm going to ask you and-"

"Let's jet then." Apocolypse3L said to her, his hand already on the doorknob, fully prepared to leave. He waited to two beats and turned to her, her eyes full of shock. "Let's go, no need to waste time, let's get outta here." He pointed to the door and then opened it, pointing into the hallway, making walking motions with his fingers.

She was stunned, then snapped out of her reverie and moved towards the door. "You're too easy."

"You have no idea." He whispered as she stepped in front of him into the hallway.

"Oh, by the way," She mentioned as she pulled her gun out of her holster and spun it a few times around her index finger. "I'm just gonna call you Apoc."