The drive to Francoise's research facility was steady, quiet, almost too normal for what it meant to me. When the building finally came into view, my breath caught. More than a year gone, yet the glass front shimmered the same, the trimmed hedges still disciplined, and the steel doors still proud. It looked untouched by time, while I… wasn't.
Francoise was already waiting by the entrance, hands folded neatly behind his back, smile carrying that composed warmth he'd perfected through years of diplomacy.
"As Nyxen instructed," he began after greetings were exchanged, "I've reached an agreement with Mr. Polymer. But as always, I prefer decisions to be made on the table. Openly, with all voices heard."
Leon gave a quiet nod. His silence was never passive; it was weight, measured. Nyxen, always present, hovered unseen across the network like an invisible second pulse, attuned to every shift in tone.
As the doors opened and we stepped inside, nostalgia hit me hard. The faint hum of the air filtration, the gleam of the hallways, the antiseptic tang in the air, it all felt like walking into my own ghost. My steps slowed when I saw it: the old nursery.
It wasn't a nursery anymore. The pastel walls had been stripped down, the rocking chair gone, playpens replaced with mats and foldout bunks. But I recognized the skeleton of the room instantly. Francoise followed my gaze.
"A waste to remove," he said simply. "So we adapted it. My staff use it for rest. The air filtration you designed works better than anything else we've tested."
That praise pulled a smug hum out of both Nyxen and Nica at once, overlapping in a way that almost made Leon smirk.
Sylvie, balanced against Leon's shoulder, squirmed toward the room with little kicks. Before I even said anything, Nica stepped forward, calm and assured, holding out her arms.
"I'll take her."
Leon passed her over without hesitation. No flicker of doubt, no pause. I felt the same. Nica might not have been born human, but when it came to Sylvie, her instincts were steady, natural, as though she'd been built with the quiet patience of a caretaker.
She adjusted Sylvie on her hip like she'd done it for years and accepted the bag from Leon's hand. "Everything's in here," Leon said, but Nica only gave him a look that said she already knew.
"We'll be here when you're done," she told us simply, and headed for the lounge with Sylvie giggling against her shoulder.
Leon and I followed Francoise down the main corridor toward the meeting room. It was only then I noticed the faint metallic whir at Leon's side. The smallest form of Nyx-One, our first prototype, was perched on his shoulder like a strange mechanical bird, its single lens eye flicking open and shut in rhythmic scans.
Francoise's gaze caught it immediately. He slowed for the briefest second, curiosity flickering in his eyes, but he didn't speak. Not yet. He was the type to wait until the table was set, then ask his questions with precision.
So he turned forward again, his silence carrying more questions than words, as we walked deeper into the place that had once been my whole world.
Rafael arrived not long after, his steps brisk, assistant trailing behind with a tablet hugged to her chest. He swept into the room with his usual grin, too many teeth, too much energy for this kind of meeting.
"Gentlemen, lady," he greeted, clapping his hands once. "And… sentience." His eyes flicked to the hologram of Nyxen pulsing faintly at the head of the table. "Always a pleasure to share oxygen with you."
Leon muttered low, "He's already too cheerful."
"Don't start," I whispered back, but the corner of my mouth pulled.
When everyone had settled, the silence stretched just long enough to sharpen into something heavier. Francoise folded his hands neatly. Rafael's assistant tapped something quietly on her screen. Leon leaned back in his chair like a coiled spring.
Then Nyxen's voice cut through, clear, smug, and unapologetically amused.
"Well, since no one seems to want to warm up the air with their fragile human throats, allow me." His hologram pulsed brighter, settling itself at the center of the table as though claiming it. "I will be the main voice of this meeting."
Rafael's brows shot up, intrigued rather than offended. Francoise simply adjusted his glasses.
Nyxen continued, "Which means: whatever is decided here, I will be the one who puts it into motion, I will be the one who ensures it functions, and I will be the one who calls out every flaw in your thinking. In other words…" he pivoted, his glowing form facing me squarely. "She's the final boss."
My brows furrowed. "Excuse me?"
Nyxen tilted his head, theatrically deferential. "You, Nyx. I will follow your decision. The blueprint of Nyx-One is yours, and whether it breathes new life or stays a fossil, your choice."
Leon gave a single sharp laugh. "So the AI's already admitted you outrank all of us."
"I never doubted it," Francoise murmured, his voice dry.
Rafael leaned forward, palms flat on the table. "Oh, I like this. Final boss? That makes the rest of us what, sub-bosses? Henchmen? Background NPCs?"
"Somewhere between 'side quest giver' and 'disposable character,'" Nyxen shot back smoothly.
Rafael's assistant smothered a laugh into her sleeve.
"Let's keep it professional," Francoise interjected, though the faint curve at his mouth betrayed his amusement. "Nyxen, if Nyx is the final authority, what exactly is this meeting for?"
Nyxen swiveled his hologram toward him. "For all of you to prove you're worth not being muted."
Leon exhaled hard through his nose, muttering, "God save us."
"I heard that," Nyxen said primly. "And no, he won't."
Francoise cleared his throat softly, his gaze tilting toward Leon. Or rather, what was perched just above Leon's shoulder.
"That orb," he said, fingers steepling as his brows drew together. "I presume that isn't decorative?"
Leon glanced up at it like he'd just remembered it was there. The little sphere hovered faithfully, plating mismatched, dull like salvaged scraps stitched together. Its faint hum beat in rhythm with Leon's every movement.
Nyxen's hologram flickered smugly. "Ah. You've noticed. Allow me to introduce the runt of the family, our very first prototype. Nyx-One."
Francoise blinked hard. "The… first?" His words cracked slightly.
Before Nyxen could elaborate, Rafael leaned back in his chair, lips curving in the kind of grin only a man too pleased with himself could manage. "Yes, Jean. The very first. I've already seen it, of course." He waved his hand dismissively, as though that explained everything. "It's incomplete, but functional. Proof of concept embodied. You're looking at the start of what will outlive all of us."
Francoise's jaw tensed, his eyes darting from the orb to Leon, then to me, then finally to Nyxen's hologram.
"Incomplete," Nyxen corrected sharply, voice cutting through Rafael's theatrics. "Its plating, casing, and framework are substandard. Patchwork leftovers. We haven't reforged it with the original alloys yet. Why? Because someone..." his hologram spun, laser-focusing on Leon "...keeps pushing the work back. We were meant to start last weekend. Then the next. And the next."
Leon's brow shot up, and he sat forward. "I work, you smug parasite. I only get weekends off. Forgive me for having a job."
"Excuses," Nyxen said, every syllable dipped in smug satisfaction. Then he pivoted, deliberately, to Rafael. "You're the owner, aren't you? The boss of Leon's precious hours? If you truly want to see Nyx-One completed, perhaps grant him more flexibility. Release him early. Sacrifice productivity for progress."
Francoise's face pinched at that, clearly unimpressed with Rafael's grin widening.
Rafael spread his hands as if the idea already belonged to him. "See, Jean? This is the reality of innovation. Sometimes you loosen the reins. You gamble." He leaned closer, smirking at Francoise's scowl. "And when it pays off, history bends to your name."
Francoise shot him a glare that could have melted steel, but Nyxen's voice cut through again, colder this time.
"And before you get clever," Nyxen said, eyes narrowing, "don't suggest leaving Nyx-One here while Leon works. It won't happen. My directives don't allow it. Separation compromises Nyx's peace of mind. If she worries, I adapt. I recalibrate. And I promised her, Leon's safety is absolute."
That silence hung like a blade.
Francoise's lips parted, but no words came out.
Rafael, however, only smiled wider, smugness practically dripping. "See, Jean? Bonded loyalty. A machine that refuses to betray its keeper. Tell me another company on this earth that can boast such a thing."
Francoise didn't flinch at Rafael's smugness. Instead, the corners of his mouth curved into the faintest smile, one that carried no amusement, only weight. His voice was quieter, steadier than Rafael's flamboyant boasting.
"You've only seen the result," Francoise said, eyes still on the orb. "But not the origin. Not the cube it once was. Not the sleepless nights Nico spent reworking its framework with his own hands." He paused, and his gaze drifted to me. "I was there. I saw it. The boy was my best friend's son, stubborn and relentless. And it wasn't until Nyx… until you bound yourself to it that it truly came alive."
The air left my lungs faster than I expected. He was right, of course. My chest ached with the memory, Nico hunched over the desk, his hands blackened with grease, eyes lit by a dream he refused to abandon. And me, clinging to hope I didn't realize I was giving it.
Rafael's grin faltered. He leaned back, but this time it wasn't victory in his posture. He looked at me instead of Francoise, as though for the first time he realized he wasn't the insider here. Not the trusted one. The silence pressed on him like a reminder: you came late to this story.
I held his gaze. Not defensive, not apologetic. Just… steady. Because Francoise was right. Of all the places we could've gone, of all the names in the industry, we came back here. To him. Trust wasn't something granted lightly, not after Elias Camden. And Nyxen, for all his sass and sharpness, had approved of Francoise's inputs long before Rafael ever stepped in.
Rafael laughed then, low and uneven. "So that's it." He rubbed at his jaw, eyes narrowing with something between amusement and embarrassment. "That's why. Out of every facility, every company, you chose Francoise. Not because of resources. Not reach. But because he's been tied to this longer than I realized."
"And because I see him as family," I added softly, my voice surprising even me with how certain it sounded. "After everything, Francoise stayed. He was implicated because of me, because of Elias's cruelty, and he never left. Not once."
Rafael's sharp mind caught the thread immediately. His smile straightened into a line, and the gleam in his eyes cooled. "So that's why he prioritizes your safety," he said slowly, like tracing an equation. "Because he saw what you went through. He knows the cost of Elias's obsession firsthand."
The room went still.
Nyxen flickered beside me, his glow sharpening. Rage bled through the edges of his projection, his voice dropping into a register colder than ice. "Then hear me clearly, Rafael Polymer. I will never allow Nyx-One's blueprint to be twisted against Nyx. Not by greed. Not by pride. If you think profit alone will guide this project, then leave now. Walk away. Because what you are looking at..." his glow flared, casting the room in sharp light "...isn't just a blueprint. It's a declaration. Nyx will not be hunted again. Elias Camden will not break her again. And if you bind yourself to this project, understand this: he will come for you too. In the boardroom. In the shadows. In ways you haven't imagined yet."
Rafael's chair creaked as he leaned forward, the smugness gone completely now. His eyes cut from Nyxen to me, then back to the tiny orb still hovering over Leon's shoulder like an unblinking witness.
For a heartbeat, I braced myself, half-expecting him to walk out, half-ready to watch the alliance shatter.
But instead, Rafael exhaled and spoke with a clarity that surprised me. "You mistake me, Nyxen. I'm no fool chasing profit at the expense of survival. The business world has always been painted with cruelty, yes, but what I see here isn't cruelty." He looked at me directly, not away, not over. "It's the rise of someone who found the courage to face her enemy head-on. To protect the ones she loves instead of running. And I would rather stand with that than with men like Camden."
The knot in my chest loosened just slightly. Enough that when Nyxen's color softened back to his usual shimmer, I almost laughed at the inevitability of it.
He stretched, flickering theatrically. "See? My calculations are always correct."
I pressed a hand to my face. "You'll never let me live that smugness down, will you?"
"Never," he chirped, glow brightening with sass again.
Nyxen flickered brighter, his projection standing tall in the center of the table. With a flourish that would've made a stage magician proud, he lifted his hand and pulled a full holographic schematic into the air. Lines of code, skeletal frames, energy cores, all rotating in pale blue light.
"Nyx-One," he announced, voice full of dramatics. "Front and center. Visual synchronization."
The little orb hovering over Leon's shoulder… didn't move. It just stayed there, humming faintly, clinging to him like a stubborn shadow.
Silence stretched. Francoise leaned forward, brows knitting. Rafael tilted his head with a smirk of skepticism. Even Leon raised an eyebrow.
"...Well?" Rafael prompted.
Nyxen froze, then made the most exaggerated mimicry of a facepalm I'd ever seen. His projection flickered across the table and hovered right in Leon's face. "Would you please tell Nyx-One to float its way to the center?"
Leon blinked. "Why me?"
"Because it won't listen to me," Nyxen snapped. "Its directives are locked. Primary bonding confirmed. You are its commander. Its purpose is securing your safety. It will not leave your side without your order. That's why."
Leon leaned back slowly, the kind of smug curve forming at his mouth that I knew Nyxen despised. "So what you're saying is… finally, there's something you can't do without me?"
I couldn't help it, I covered my mouth before my laugh escaped.
Nyxen's glow spiked red for half a second. "Do not flatter yourself, human. This is merely a… technicality. An administrative hiccup."
Leon folded his arms, enjoying himself far too much. "No, no. This is good. I think I'll savor it."
Nyxen's hologram leaned in closer, flickering sharp enough to almost buzz against Leon's ear. "Leon. For the sake of showmanship. For the sake of spectacle. For the sake of proving to these fragile egos that we are not improvising this on the fly, order the orb to move to the center."
Leon smirked wider, drawing it out until Rafael was openly chuckling and Francoise pinched the bridge of his nose like he'd seen this circus too many times already.
Finally, Leon sighed, tilted his head toward the orb, and said, "Nyx-One. Center of the table."
At once, the little sphere hummed, detached from its invisible tether to his shoulder, and floated smoothly to the middle of the hologram. The blue schematic expanded around it, aligning the glowing framework with the very real, hovering core.
Nyxen exhaled like he'd just been through battle. "Thank you. Was that so difficult?"
Leon only smirked again. "You needed me."
"I will be deleting that memory from my archives," Nyxen grumbled.
"Too late. Burned into mine," Leon said, smug as ever.
Francoise gave me a long, patient look from across the table. I only shrugged. "This is normal."