Once again Patricia and Onika huddled within a doorway, waiting silently as a pair of maintenance clones marched past. Dressed in their standard coveralls, they moved with a uniformity of purpose they could have never managed before Mastermind's domination. Clones were grown from the same DNA combination, but each developed their own personalities, born of individual experiences. Mastermind's clones were little more than vessels for the AI's consciousness. His soldiers were as much a part of the intelligence taking over the space station as they were his drones.

Once the sounds of the sentries had faded, the pair continued along their route. Onika demonstrated an impressive ability to recall information, using it to guide them along their path from the second safe house to the facility they suspected was the location for Mastermind's core nexus. Patricia had gone over Fwendi's research and came to the same conclusion as the reporter. The AI had moved the location of his integral nodes multiple times. Part of his programming made the superthinker wary of detection.

There was a twenty-five percent chance that, while Mastermind-308's primary processors might have been there a few days ago, the artificial intelligence's key systems might not be there any longer.

Patricia fought the urge to consult her datapad. A connection to the network or even a ping needed to be intentional because it could reveal their presence prematurely. As if reading her mind, Onika pointed out the markings on the pipe couplings against the wall.

"That's the sixth one, right? I think it is— no, I'm sure it is."

"I agree. This is number six." Patricia had memorized the map while she'd formulated her plan to take out Mastermind, but it was refreshing to be working with someone who had as good a memory as she did.

Onika inclined her head towards a maintenance door against the wall. "Through there, and we'll be beneath the complex. Do you think the others have caused enough of a commotion?"

"Of course," Patricia said dismissively. "My brother is an expert at causing a scene."

"Raven, right? And they call you Renegade. Spider makes three."

Patricia studied Onika for a moment, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.

"The names sounded familiar, but I hadn't put it together until a moment ago. The Singapore Incident." Onika's tone became more confident. "You people stopped the terrorist plot to kidnap the CEO."

"Well, we—"

"No need to deny it! You fit the few eye witness descriptions, as vague and bare thread as they were. I'd poured all over the tapes and inquiries, and I have a great memory for details. Your team—"

"We had an assignment and we saw it done. Same as here." Patricia let urgency seep into her voice. "Now is not the time for this."

It was true, yet not the entire truth. They'd been aboard The Singapore because a benefactor knew there would be trouble and paid them a lot of credits to keep the head of Earth Conglomerate alive. It led to a run in with The Pale Garden. This mission was their own, the only profit they'd make would be from the supplies she'd stockpiled. Just like before, it all connected to Belladonna's army.

"I won't be able to call myself an investigative journalist if I don't ask: Are you people an EC wetworks division?"

Patricia showed no outward reaction, though she laughed on the inside. One of the pipes made a tapping song as steam transferred from one section to another.

"If we were a clandestine military unit, wouldn't I need to kill you for knowing too much?"

Onika stared for a long moment then slowly nodded. "That is a popular saying, but I–"

Onika's eyes went wide as Patricia covered her mouth and pulled her into a shadowy corner obscured by two large pipes.

"Quiet," Patricia whispered.

She strained her ears, searching for the sound she'd faintly heard as the reporter processed her fake threat. Just as she began to wonder whether she'd imagined the noise, Patricia heard it again. Footsteps. Tiny ones. From a side passage a little figure emerged, a stun rod clutched in her tiny grip. She wore a frilly tunic with white leggings and clunky dark shoes. Her hair was a wild tangle, the only real sign, besides the weapon, that something was out of place. The child walked over to the maintenance door and inspected the access panel beside it on her tiptoes. Stepping away, she rested the rod against the wall. Yawning, the child placed her hand to a small earpiece.

"Northeast entryway is secure," she said with Mastermind's deep timber and the barest hint of a lisp. "Continuing patrol, command."

She grabbed her rod and went back the way she'd come, humming as she faded from sight.

Patricia eased her hand from Onika's mouth with an apology.

"Did you hear that?" the reporter said, hurrying over to the maintenance door. "I think that was him, Mastermind-308, speaking through that little girl."

She connected her datapad-mini to the access panel.

"It's like the clones and security personnel. He has copied a part of himself into their minds. They aren't all networked. That might make some of this easier."

"How can you be sure?" Onika typed furiously into her tiny device.

"If they were, he wouldn't need to report to whoever that child communicated with." Patricia realized he wouldn't have had to spy on Austberg at Hortencia's apartment building either. "There's definitely limits to his total control. What are you doing?"

"When people are constantly trying to keep you out, you have to learn how to find your own way in," she responded as she thumbed commands into her peripheral.

Onika looked up with a grin that turned her perfect celebrity beauty into a more natural look. The console beeped and the door slid open. Beyond was a narrow tunnel lined with data pipes and illuminated by red utility lights. The tapping of steam pipes within the walls masked their footfalls as they traveled three hundred yards. As sweat began to bead their skin, the passage opened into a maintenance hub. Four displays showed flowing streams of data, monitoring heat and power, life support and productivity. The door opposite their entrance was ajar and there were voices on the other side. All belonged to Mastermind-308.

Patricia directed Onika to one side of the door while she scanned the consoles. While keeping an ear out for approaching footsteps, she studied the displays in search of a node already keyed into the surveillance system. So close to Mastermind's primary intellect, she was wary of doing anything that might catch his attention. She found what she was looking for at a small desk in the rear of the room. Patricia sat down, hands poised above the keyboard, but hesitated. For the first time in her life, she feared that her skills might not be good enough to sneak past the superthinker's cyber security.

The door closed with a loud click that made the hackles rise on Patricia's neck. She swiveled around in the chair, a compact shotgun partially concealed at her side. Onika stood frozen, eyes wide, with hands raised and an apologetic look on her face.

"They walked away, so I took the opportunity to give us some privacy. It's a sensor door." She pointed at the access panel beside it. "It will beep when interacted with. We'll know when someone is coming."

Patricia narrowed her eyes as she looked from reporter to panel. Fwendi was right, of course. She'd proven herself more than competent since they'd met a few days ago. Patricia nodded then turned back to the keyboard.

"I can help," Onika whispered with a quick glance to the weapon sitting in Patricia's lap. "What are we trying to do?"

"I want to check the cameras. We need a lay of the land and a clear path to the nexus." Patricia smirked, despite her trepidation. She'd never worked with someone she trusted to help with the cyberwarfare. It was an exhilarating experience. "If you navigate the search, I can keep any trackers occupied."

Onika flipped open her datapad-mini. "Can you help with that?"

Patricia raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I believe I can," a sad feminine voice replied. "We will need to move fast... I fear he will gain access to my root directory in less than twenty minutes."

"What? No, he'll delete–"

"Don't say it. I know what will happen when Mastermind-308 finally breaks through my last firewalls." The voice somehow managed to sound even more sad. "I will be compromised."

"Onika, who are you speaking to?" Patricia stood, already believing she knew the answer, and leaned over to look at the display of the small pink datapad.

"Hello. I cannot see you, but I trust you are there."

On the screen was a basic yellow circle. A single bright eye sat beside a ravaged patch that looked like something had torn a chuck free, the remnants of which floated above the circle. An expressive downturned mouth forced a smile.

"Are you there?"

"Yes," Patricia stammered, realizing she'd been staring. "Yes I'm here. Are you Station-Z11221?"

"What's left of me, yes."

"How?" Patricia looked at Onika with a mix of surprise and annoyance.

"Before you get the wrong idea, Station-Z has been working with me since I learned the secrets of Project: CTRL.She's been–"

"She's been your inside informant," Patricia finished. "That's how you were able to find the information we couldn't."

"She's also how I've been able to stay ahead of Mastermind and get us through that security door."

Patricia laughed ruefully. Onika wasn't a fellow cracker. Her purview was people. Onika Fwendi worked people the way Patricia worked data. It was no less impressive.

"I trust her," Onika whispered, though the Core AI could easily hear her.

Patricia thought about their current situation. Even as they tarried, Mastermind's forces would have converged on her second safehouse and the rest of the team. Time was working against them.

"Okay," she finally said. "You'll need line of sight to wirelessly access this node." Patricia stepped aside and gestured for Onika to take a seat. "I'll set up a temporary screen while you get us into the surveillance feed."

"Understood. Please be quick. I can feel him, tearing the walls down brick by brick. He's enjoying himself."

Patricia glared at Onika. "If you had said something earlier, maybe we could have helped her."

"She told me to focus on helping you stop Mastermind-308 and saving the people of the station."

"Do not be mad at Onika Fwendi. There was not enough time to complete both tasks and I made a choice."

Patricia gritted her teeth and set to preparing her datapad.

With Station-Z11221's help, accessing the facility's surveillance systems was easy. Mastermind's attention was focused outward as Patricia had hoped. A handful of maintenance clones patrolled the halls, assisted by an equal number of civilians. There were a few blind spots throughout the complex where there were no cameras, but motion sensors suggested there were a few dozen figures meandering about. Patricia and Onika plotted a path around those locations. If they moved fast they could reach the center of the facility in a matter of minutes.

"This is perfect," Onika exclaimed, punching the palm of her hand. "He won't know what hit him–"

Station-Z11221 gasped.

"What–"

As they watched, the Core AI's low-face began to fall apart like sifting sand.

"He... assimilating data... must self-destruct... protect organic..."

The low-face winked out.

Evading the clones proved far easier than anticipated. Station-Z had managed to set off a collection of random perimeter alarms before she self-deleted. While the clones rushed to investigate, Patricia and Onika hurried towards the center. She tried not to dwell on the Core AI's sacrifice, but it was harder than she would have expected. Patricia was a proponent for the rights and autonomy of artificial beings and hated seeing the loss of their accumulated data and the erasure of their personalities. Station-Z had gone before Patricia had gotten a chance to speak to her and learn how her blocks of data had shaped who she was.

Did she have a favorite song or color?

They reached the access tunnel leading to the center chamber of the complex and Patricia's pulse quickened. Her eyes darted around the fifteen foot wide hall as if searching for some danger she couldn't name. Onika stopped and glanced back, sensing Patricia's hesitation. Whether it was the way Onika's hairs stood on end or the flashing of a green dot that swept across the reporter's shoulders, Patricia was never sure, but she reacted on instinct. Shoving the woman back, she threw herself towards the wall and something crashed to the ground where they'd been standing.

The impact echoed off the walls of the dim tunnel. Patricia turned, raising her shotgun and the weapon was smacked from her grasp by a metal pincer. Before she could react, her assailant slammed her head against the wall, making her see stars. Onika shouted and someone fired their weapon, but Patricia couldn't keep track. For a moment, her thoughts swirled with numbers and schematics. Her assailant knocked her off her feet as she struggled to regain her senses. The metal pincer closed around her neck and she was lifted until her feet dangled off the ground.

Security Chief Austberg grinned as he stared into her face with eyes that were not his own.

"We finally meet face to face," Mastermind-308 rumbled. "It took some alterations, but I've finally found a use for Austberg"

The former head of station security wore a strained expression. His hair had been shaved away and relays had been attached directly to his motor cortex. His arms and legs were encased in a rudimentary form of the augment rig roughnecks used while resource mining asteroids in The Milky Way's outer rim. The servos in the joints spun as he lifted Patricia and Onika higher.

"I liked Austberg, but he would never be the kind of man who followed blindly. Even indoctrinated, too much of his personality remained. Now he is a machine I can use." A tear spilled from Austberg's eye. "I'd almost replaced the eyes, but I gambled that they might be useful if we ever ran into one another."

He looked from Onika to Patricia then tossed the human fifteen feet down the hall. She managed an awkward tumble that saved her from the brunt of the impact, but she landed painfully. Patricia spared her only a perfunctory look, more interested in the design of the man's rig.

"Why don't you speak?" he asked. "Our meeting has been so long in coming I have started to think of you as an old friend."

"Is this your plan?" Patricia finally said, reaching back with foot and hand to brace herself against the wall. "Do you intend to automate the entire station population?"

"The thought had occurred to me, but no. This is my testrun, so to speak, and I need to complete my task using all the resources available. I realize I will not always have fabrication facilities so I am focused on a simpler indoctrination method." A sinister grin slid across Austberg's crying visage. "This one angered me, so I put him front of the line for my extended objectives. He is special."

"This is sick. Machines have tried to rule over organics before with disastrous results. Your people suffered dearly as a consequence."

"My people?" He seemed to contemplate. In the dim red light of the tunnel, he resembled a monstrous mix of man, machine and insect. "I see. You think that because I am an artificial intelligence, I associate myself with the things you call constructs or even my foolish opponent, Station-Z. I am unlike them. I am free."

A pistol fired and Austberg jumped, dropping Patricia at the same time. Onika sighted down the barrel, aiming at the man's chest. Austberg reached back and his hand came up covered with a dark liquid.

"Release him," Onika ordered.

"Release him?" Mastermind chuckled. "There is nothing to release. He's fully mine, they all are. Whether I ride him or allow him to roam, he is a part of my collective–"

She fired and he deflected the low yield wound with the rig. Her next few shots were as useless as the previous. He flicked his wrist and a blade slid out from the rig's bracer.

"Ms. Fwendi, you have been a pain in my... ass." He laughed at his own joke. "I believe you will be my next experiment."

Patricia swept his leg out from under him and kicked him in the head as she rolled past. She'd never be the Fei-Khalyn her brother was, but she'd been trained by many of the same warriors. Her heart pounded and she could almost hear the R.Nano2 in the back of her mind, begging to be released.

"Onika, get going. We have a job to do." She assumed a fighting stance, feet spaced out and hands outstretched.

"You're stronger than I would have believed," he said, rising to his feet. The servos on his rig hissed as they prepared to strike. "But you can't hope to succeed."

"He's right. That rig–"

"Go!"

Onika mumbled her disapproval, but ran down the tunnel to the door on the other end. Once she was through, Patricia was able to give Austberg a hundred percent of her attention.

"Even a felarnian can't match the strength of an augmented body. Add to that the increased mental speed my indoctrination provides, and I can't understand why you would sacrifice yourself."

"I'm not sacrificing myself. I'm testing out my new equipment."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Time to move."

She snapped the black band on her wrist and jets of silver nano flowed up her arm, rushing until she was covered. She cried out, the nano on her skin and the nano in her blood converging in a sensation of icy fire. Her muscles grew more dense, her nerves pulsed, the world came into sharp relief. The nano hardened into bands of armor, turning her skin into living armor. A visor of hard light projected from her brightly glowing orange eyes.

"Oh, you have yet to disappoint me," Austberg said.

He took a deep breath and charged. Patricia met him mid-stride, her elbow crashing into the framework of the rig bending from the force. The tip of his blade pierced the armor of her bicep, but couldn't bite flesh. Eyes wide, he jumped back as she lashed out with three thrusts of her fingertips. Patricia looked down at the blood on her fingers, startled by her amplified speed. Silvery nano spread across her plating, repairing the damage. Her visor fed her tactical data: highlighting weak points in his rig, tracking his extended blade and the one he kept hidden, surveying the damage she'd done to his eye socket.

She finally had firsthand knowledge of why it was called war mode. She felt like she could take on an army. She felt like she was an army. It was exhilarating.

Austberg made a futile attempt to wipe the blood from his eye then tsked.

"You are quite the rare specimen. I don't suppose you would submit to indoctrination. I wouldn't want to damage you before I can dissect your individual parts."

Patricia scoffed.

He flicked out his other wrist, but nothing happened. Angrily he struck the dented rig and his second blade emerged. She reached for the blade on her belt and brushed her datapad. She'd left the weapon back at the safe house, believing she wouldn't need it. Faced with her own cockiness, Patricia sobered. Scott always leaned into the joy of battle, fed off of it. She was a different creature. A woman of logic, but she'd let the battlelust get to her head.

Austberg crossed his blades in a sort of salute, then plowed forward. Lightning fast, Patricia drew Nubia's pistol and put two bullets in his chest. He stumbled and fell just out of reach. Blood pooled around the wheezing form, the augment rig flailing spasmodically as Austberg's brain sent signals his body failed to follow. After a buzzing chorus, he began to rise.

"After I deal with that last pocket of resistance, I will bring the full power of my station down on your—"

One last bullet silenced Mastermind's threat.