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Alex looked at him, dismay on his face. He didn't try to get his hand out of the grip, years of being punished for disobeying wouldn't vanish simply because Tristan had changed.

"But..."

"It's okay, Alex, you don't have to do this."

"No!" Alex pulled his arm hard enough it caught Tristan by surprise and the hand slipped out. Alex spun to face Jacoby, and Tristan interposed himself between them, forcing Alex to take a step back.

Alex was shaking with held fury. "No! That isn't what happens. You're the monster, I'm the weapon. I kill those who get in your way! That what you made me for!"

"I know."

"Look," Jacoby growled. "Get him unde--"

Tristan had a hand around the man's throat without taking his eyes off Alex and he squeezed, cutting off the words while allowing a wheezing of breath.

"I'm sorry for what I did to you Alex."

"Don't apologize! That isn't you." Alex ran a hand through his hair, looking around. He regained control of himself and locked eyes with Tristan. "Are you going to kill him?"

Tristan wanted to say yes, wanted to mean it. "It's more complicated than that."

"I'll simplify it." His knuckles were white on the knife.

Tristan cupped Alex's cheek, and this time he didn't flinch. "Please don't. I need to do this my way." Alex nodded, but Tristan worried it was reflex, not understanding. "Will you stay here? Wait for me to come back?" Alex nodded again.

Tristan hesitated. What would he do if Alex wasn't here when he returned? He'd have to deal with that then. He turned and pulled Jacoby along. He'd been trying to get Tristan to let him go, pounding on the arm, but he'd been easy to ignore.

Tristan listened at the door before opening it and heading for the lift. Jacoby tried to speak as they waited for the lift to arrive, but Tristan wasn't interested in listening. The doors slid open, and he pushed Jacoby inside, taking a step to stand in the way of the doors. He couldn't expect Jacoby to just leave. It wasn't like him to abandon people he saw as friends.

"What the fuck." Jacoby rubbed his throat. "What's going on Tech?"

"Tristan."

"What?"

"My name is Tristan."

"Tristan, Tech, what's the difference? What's going on?"

"The difference, Jacoby, is that Tech doesn't exist."

"Bullshit. I know him, you. We're friends. You've lived with us for years now. You're one of us."

Tristan shook his head. It was a demonstration of how good he was that even after being told the mask wasn't real people still clung to it. Wanted it to be real. "You don't know me. You know a mask I wore to blend in."

"Don't do this. You don't have to stay here you don't have to do what Alex tells you. Fine, you care for him, but that doesn't make you his slave."

Tristan raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think I am doing what he wants? How did you even reach that conclusion?"

"He said you two are staying. He's got it in his head he's one of them or something. He'd rather live here than among civilized people."

The emotion caught him by surprise. His hands were closed in fists and he was contemplating punching Jacoby in the neck, only hard enough to keep him from breathing, then he'd break his arm, maybe a leg. He took hold of how he felt, studied the emotion, the anger, to see what had triggered it. It was the implication that Samalians weren't civilized. Interesting, he'd never cared what people thought before.

He set the emotion aside, relaxed his hands. "I decided that. What you overheard was Alex agreeing to stay here with me."

"Why would you do that? You don't owe them anything. You built them a wall, it isn't like they did anything for you." Tristan didn't say anything and after a while Jacoby sighed,. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Are you going to explain your decision?"

"No."

The answer took Jacoby by surprise.

"Tech would have answered you. He cares what you think. He cares about making you happy. I don't. As far as I'm concerned it would be as easy, easier, to kill you right now, rather than let you go, but you helped, so I'm giving you the opportunity to walk away. Go home Jacoby."

"What do you expect me to tell the others?"

Tristan shrugged, "I don't care. Tell them he stayed with his people. Tell them he died. Tell them he never existed." He took a step back, and the doors closed before Jacoby had time to react. He stayed there for the seconds it took for him to hear the lift move. Go up, by the sound of it, and returned to Alex.

He was pacing, coming to a stop when he saw Tristan. "Is he dead?"

"No."

Anger flashed on Alex's face before he got it under control. "What about your rule about never leaving anyone alive who can come back to cause problems? You know he's going to be back. He isn't going to drop this. He's obsessed with Tech."

Tristan stepped up to him, hesitated and then cupped his cheek. "He helped. He didn't have to. He could have left at any time, but he stayed."

"He only did that so he could drag tech home with him."

"I know, but I still owe him for the help." Alex's eyes grew wide. "I've changed," Tristan said before Alex could object. "It's going to be some time before we know everything that means."

"And when he comes back?" Alex was angry.

"Then I'll kill him. This is a one time chance. If he doesn't take it, he'll die."

"Tristan, this is going to complicate things. Leaving people alive just because they helped."

Tristan smiled. "You think I don't know that? This isn't about making things simple. It's about being worthy of you."

"I'd rather you killed him."

"That's who I made you into. I remember who you were. I remember the man who refused to take advantage of a lost Samalian. Who slept on a couch even though I could smell how badly he wanted to jump in bed with me, to jump me. I destroyed that man. I--"

"It was my choice. Tristan, I am not holding you responsible for who I am."

Tristan nodded. "I'm still going to do what I can to help you find that man again."

"You don't have to do that."

Tristan leaned in and kisses him. "Yes, I do. I need to fix this." He sighed. "But it's going to have to wait. We still have a job to do. If you think we should still do it."

"Of course I do."

"Without Jacoby this becomes more complicated. How long do you think it'll take to take control of the communication array?"

"I don't know. It's an independent system, so I'm going to have to coerce it first. It can't be more complex than the corporate AI, but I doubt it's a simpleton either."

"And you're going to need me to give the sending instructions. How long will that take?"

"For this AI to sync with the rest of the corporation? We're looking at a few minutes at least."

"And I can't just give the command and leave the terminal. I have to re-enter the authorization at regular intervals, which means we have no one to deal with the security forces."

Alex nodded. "We can switch between our work and taking them down, but yeah, this would have been easier if Jacoby had waited until afterward to have his breakdown."

"This is your job, so it's your decision. Are we proceeding?"

"I want them to pay for attacking you. I want them to suffer." His voice was firm, but there was doubt in his eyes.

"I'll keep up Alex. Where you go I go. Just tell me what we're doing."

"We're hurting them."

Tristan nodded and headed back to the lift. As they traveled up Alex cursed.

He was looking at his datapad, video feed. A hall with heavy traffic.

"That's our floor, isn't it?"

"Yes. They have a bunch of labs there. A lot of researchers."

"When this is all done, we should look into what they're researching. How much security?"

Alex scrolled through various feeds. "None that I can see, but the moment we step out, they're going to give the alarm. That means security is going to be up here that much faster."

Tristan smiled and took out his gun. "In that case, let's see if we can't give them something more urgent to think about than triggering an alarm."