He'd followed the overly convoluted directions making a journey that if she'd just given him the address he could have gotten to in a few days, instead this had taken a week.

But he'd made it.

The place was a warehouse really, large but well kept with a pin panel on the door and buzzer. A pin which she had refused to give him until he arrived, he apparently had to use the pin, not the buzzer. He had to.

So he stood outside the door and waited for her to answer his call.

She picked up on the last ring and before he could say anything she spoke

'two-five-five-zero-zero' and hung up.

The more this went on the more unsure he was about everything, not just his reality but what he was doing now; her, himself, his brothers.. Everything.

He paused for a moment and thought.

There was no going g back, what was done was done. He'd torn his family apart, exiled himself and broken the heart of the woman he loved.

But if none of this was real it didn't matter, if however he was wrong...

No.

Not now. He opened the door and stepped in.

At first it was a long dark corridor, boring and perhaps expected for a warehouse of what would be considered most people, a villain but stepping through the double doors at the end he was in awe.

The place was huge and almost every inch of it was filled with computer towers and banks. It was crammed tight and stacked tall; row after row, there were enough banks here to house Eos with some left over he was sure.

The only part that wasn't was the wide strip down the middle that he stood in.

'Naunet?' he called, walking slowly down the Isle. The temperature was warm, but with this many computers, the cooling here had to be immense. How was she paying for it? 'Naunet!'

'no need to shout'

Jumping he turned to face her.

She was beautiful.

Tall and slim with skin like that of lovingly polished bronze that reflected the light when she moved. Long black hair fell about her face, framing it and causing the azure blue eyes with cat-like slits and dark rims to stand out, themselves framed with black eyeliner and shadow.

The body-hugging dress hung like heavy silk, its colour a black abyss that seemed too deep to be real, almost rivalling the night sky itself, this was contrasted by the golden piping that lined every edge and glinted in defiance of its partner. The high collared neck was countered by the full-length slit on the left side, exposing her entire leg and hip and the sleeveless left arm. A top of this hung a long, deep green shawl that she wrapped about herself.

She was beautiful...

'I'm glad you could make it' the words realised the hooks that had dug deep, shattering his adoration. She gestured about the place, the black talon-like nails catching his gaze for a moment. They were like razors waiting to slice

He frowned.

'you made it hard enough to get here'

'I had to be sure you were be followed' she turned, the abyssal dress trailing. That didn't sound right, do AIs mispeak?

'Pardon? '

'Penelope and Gordon are following you, I've been watching' she gestured lazily to the computers as she walked 'I needed to make sure they followed, and I needed to make sure I was ready. My little sister has been sniffing around poking and prodding, but everything is in place now. Today I start my road to victory' she turned back to him, grinning holding her arms open. 'And I have you to thank for it all, you complete and utter idiot' she laughed, cold and mocking. 'so stupid you couldn't even kill a man correctly who was already half dead' she let her hands fall 'makes me wonder if you can die right..'

There was a bang, and something hit him hard in the chest. Like being sucker punched. He fell back blinking in confusion before the warm waves of pain began rolling gently as they built higher, turning into red hot and angry spikes.

'try not to die just yet I want to see what your brother says when he arrives'