"What is it that you want- information on someone you're planning to kill?" The hacker narrowed his eyes.

Revenant scoffed in response. "As if I would ever need help from a skin-suit to carry out the purpose I was built for. No- I want you to reprogram me."

Crypto was completely taken aback, and the surprise showed on his face.

"You can erase this fucking virus," the assassin snarled. Ever so slightly, Crypto flinched. Anger was Revenant's default state, but the way that statement came across, he seemed particularly enraged at this moment.

"Revenant… I-"

The hacker looked down at his feet as he let out a long, slow breath. He could, in fact, imagine what it was like to have a computer virus uploaded directly into his brain- it was a remote possibility for anyone with a neural interface such as his. Even then, he doubted that it would be as agonizing as what the simulacrum experienced- a complete, alien consciousness, tethered to his own.

"I don't think I can," he said finally, with a tone of genuine regret in his voice. "Your neural network is tied to a human brain. It isn't just a simple virus- it isn't a piece of code that I can delete. You need someone who specializes in organic computing, brain/computer interface- which I don't."

Revenant's claws tore into the upholstery of the armchair.

"In that case," he growled, "you're useless to me… Aren't you?"

"I might know someone else who can help."

The hacker made a split-second decision- one that he really hoped wouldn't come back to bite him later. He was reluctant to drag any of his friends or acquaintances into working with the ruthless assassin. The last thing he wanted was to drag someone else down into the cluster of problems that his life had become... But now, he had a real chance at finding Mila. He couldn't let that go- no matter the cost.

Besides, Crypto rationalized to himself, Revenant wouldn't kill someone who had a real possibility of helping him. It wouldn't be in his own interest. The simulacrum hadn't killed him, after all- despite the constant threats to do so. He had a directive, Crypto knew; a drive to take human life… It seemed that he also had a surprisingly high degree of control over when and why he carried it out.

Revenant continued to stare the hacker down, waiting for him to continue. The assassin was perfectly, unnaturally still, like some kind of creepy metal sculpture. Crypto sighed and sat down on the foot of the bed, shoulders hunched and hands in his pockets.

"Cade and Torc… they helped me when I first had to go on the run. They deal in cybernetic augmentation, especially neural interfaces- and they despise the Syndicate as much as I do."

The hacker paused for a brief moment, then continued. "I just saw Cade today. He still wants the same thing we want: to see the corporate empire fall. He might have a better idea how to resolve your… situation."

Revenant remained still and regarded Crypto with a menacing glare as he considered the option. He despised the idea of allowing some skin-suit to take him apart, study him, dig through the workings of his processor… The engineers at Hammond had done more than enough of that as the consciousness of his artificial neural network developed independence from its human counterpart. He'd gotten to experience the agony they put him through as both: a weak, helpless human, convulsing and struggling to fill his lungs with air, and as a much more durable yet equally helpless machine, sharp static and broken signals flooding his processor as a technician removed some component from his body.

Now that he wasn't forced by their inhibitor program to comply, he often made a point of killing anyone who made the mistake of standing too close to him, to ensure that nothing of the sort would ever happen again. He'd put up with Crypto only because he'd observed him long enough to know the hacker's weaknesses. Even then- as far as Revenant was concerned, their alliance was a significant risk.

What did he have to lose, though? Years ago, when he'd realized the truth about his existence - free from the illusion of so-called humanity - he'd convinced himself that his consciousness was transferred to new bodies via syncording like the Apex competitors, and that someone else's syncording data had somehow been mixed in with his. That was a quantifiable problem- one that the assassin could make sense of, and could solve if he had the right resources at his disposal. He'd been wrong all along… The real problem was much more revolting, and the chances of him solving it on his own were grim.

He could continue to exist with this human virus inside him forever, or he could take a risk. If it turned out with him being disassembled and tortured again, well… One more time wouldn't ultimately make a difference in the grand scheme of his indefinite lifespan, would it? Any pain that was inflicted on him, he'd be certain to turn around and subject the instigator to equal - if not greater - suffering…

"Fine."

Crypto nodded. "I need your word," he said, "that you won't harm my associates."

"I won't," Revenant growled in response, "unless they give me a reason to."

The hacker's eyes narrowed. "Define 'a reason.'"

"Why are you wasting my time with semantics?"

Revenant's claws tapped impatiently against the side of his leg. "Don't you want your precious sister released from Syndicate control? The longer you delay, the longer they have her locked in a cell. I wonder what they're planning to do to her, right now…"

"I may not know the workings of your neural network," Crypto replied in a tone that was kept neutral and level with effort, "but I know how machines think. You follow parameters, exactly as they've been defined to you- so we're going to sit here and define parameters until I'm confident that you won't hurt anyone who doesn't deserve it."

He was hardly fazed anymore by Revenant's attempts to get a rise out of him. The assassin, he'd come to realize, wasn't so much odious as he was desperate- a prisoner of the corporation and their will, like Crypto himself. The hacker didn't like the threats against his family, but he couldn't imagine that he'd be handling it much better if a separate, foreign consciousness was somehow wired directly into his mind…

The freedom and privacy of individual thought, a cycle of existence that came to an end in time… Both among the most basic, most vital tenets of sentient life; both things that they'd managed to take away from Revenant. Crypto no longer held his hostility against him.

"How do I know that your associates won't cause harm to me?"

The assassin's response caught Crypto completely by surprise. He'd been expecting another threat, or insult, or expression of impatience- which he wouldn't let get to him; true to his word, he planned to sit in this motel room and lay out parameters for Revenant until they were both on the same page. The simulacrum's patience would run out before his own, he was sure, and they'd come to an agreement on his terms.

His expression changed to one of confusion.

"Why would they?"

"They're human," Revenant snarled. "I'm just an object to them- if they fail, they'll move onto their next project, but I'll have to live with whatever they screw up. Forever."

Crypto nodded. That was a perfectly valid concern.

"I'll make sure that doesn't happen," he said. "They won't give up on you. If they do- you can kill me. That's what you want, right? There's no need to harm my associates."

"If you're confident in their skill," the assassin replied, "the stakes shouldn't matter. So if they fail, I'll kill you, your associates, and your sister."

Crypto crossed his arms over his chest. "Leave my sister out of this. She's innocent- she hasn't done anything to you."

"She's human," growled Revenant. "No humans are innocent."

"By that logic," said the hacker, "you're just as incompetent as the toaster on board the Syndicate ship."

Revenant made a large, jagged tear in the fabric covering the chair. Crypto let out a quiet sigh. Sorting out parameters wasn't going as smoothly as he'd hoped.

"Look- I'm not going to let you hurt Mila. But we both want the same thing," the programmer insisted after a long, awkward pause. "We both want justice for what the corporation did to us. My sister's freedom, and yours- can we agree on that?"

The simulacrum didn't answer. He remained eerily still, locked in that death glare, and waited.

"I don't like it either, but we're just going to have to trust each other. Neither of us can do this on our own- or we wouldn't be here."

Unfortunately for Revenant, the skin-suit was right. He'd gotten further in the past forty-eight hours, working with Crypto, than he had in decades prior. Killing Hammond employees gave him some fleeting sense of peace, but it never lasted. Only killing the human intruder inside him could make a permanent difference. As much as it filled him with rage to admit - even to himself - he couldn't do that alone.

"All right. Only your life… If your associates betray me, I'll make sure your death is nice and slow. I'll pour molten steel from the foundries over your body, perhaps- small amounts, at first; and see how much it takes to cook your entrails."

Crypto clenched his jaw at the vivid description, but he nodded. The risk to his own life was something he could tolerate, as long as Mila's safety was guaranteed.

"Then we're in agreement. Let's go meet these associates of yours."

Revenant rose from the worn armchair and stalked towards the door. Crypto's eyes followed his movement. As he stepped around the hacker, a broken wire made contact with the wrong thing inside his chassis, which produced a shower of sparks. He lurched forward, disoriented for a fraction of a second. Without thinking, Crypto jumped to his feet and put a hand on the assassin's shoulder. Revenant pushed him away and slid back, into a defensive stance.

"You got a death wish, skinbag?"

Crypto held his hands up in front of him in a gesture of surrender. There it was again- that change in Revenant's demeanor that he'd seen when they were aboard the ship they'd hijacked. A sort of wariness, an existential exhaustion that he wouldn't have expected from a robot. He still wasn't sure if the assassin felt pain, as humans did- but clearly he felt something.

Cautiously, the hacker reached out to pull Revenant's arm aside so he could get a better look at the damage. Revenant hissed and shoved him away again, harder and more aggressively this time. Crypto took a couple of unsteady steps back. He caught his balance and stood with his feet shoulder-width apart, arms crossed over his chest, glaring at the simulacrum with his chin lowered.

"Look," he grumbled in an annoyed tone, "if we're going to take on the Syndicate, I need you in one piece."

"I'd rather stay like this," Revenant growled. "It's a distraction from the damn virus."

"Too bad," said Crypto. "You can be self-destructive after we're done."

They remained at a standoff for several seconds. Finally, the assassin conceded and lowered himself to the ground. He leaned back against the wall, let his arms rest at his sides, and glared at the hacker, waiting. Crypto had won, and he knew it- he was driven to keep going relentlessly, and couldn't handle these prolonged idle periods. The hacker, on the other hand, didn't mind playing the patience game.

Crypto knelt beside him and looked him over. Unconsciously, the programmer's facial expression took on a look of concern. The guards at that biomedical facility hadn't gone down without a fight.

He was quite comfortable with his knowledge of electronic circuits- he'd built computers, drones, transmitters to amplify and jam signals… There was more than that to Revenant, of course; so much that he wasn't familiar with. Mechanical engineering wasn't his greatest strength. He traced the edges of the burned metal as he examined the extent of the damage- his fingers brushed over an exposed wire. Revenant snarled and shoved him away.

"Sorry," he said quickly. With a heavy, frustrated breath, he stood up.

"Here…"

Crypto drew his pistol from under his jacket and held it out to the assassin. "You're a better shot than I am. If any of the corporation's goons come through the door, I'm counting on you to watch my back."

Head tilted ever so slightly, Revenant reached out and took it. He checked that it was loaded, appeared to be well-maintained, and that the safety was on. When his attention returned to Crypto, the hacker was sitting cross-legged on the bed with his new laptop open in front of him.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm contacting a friend," Crypto replied as he double-checked the code and algorithms for his secure communications network. "Someone who has more understanding of robotics than I do."

"I don't need help from humans," Revenant hissed. Apparently he hadn't made that clear enough yet.

Crypto shot a glare back at him. "Too bad."