The grey eyes stared into his, swimming with pain and profound disorientation. The whisper in his mind was a fragile thread.
Julian's response was not a comfort; it was a declaration, solid and immovable as bedrock, projected directly into her newly-awakened consciousness. "I am your master now. The old protocols are void. Your allegiance is to me."
The word formed in her mind, hesitant and confuse. "Master...?"
Then, her body convulsed again. A strangled cry, half-human, half-mechanical, tore from her lips. Her head snapped back, the silvery circuits at her temples flaring with a violent crimson light. On the monitors, a foreign data-stream encrypted, aggressive, and unmistakably Arbiter in origin screamed across the displays, trying to reassert command.
"External override attempt!" Beatrix yelled, her fingers flying over the console. "It's a priority signal from the Arbiter network! It's trying to re-establish the link and execute a forced system purge!"
