Benjamin was awoken by the sound of the fire alarm going off. He reached out for DX-2 but didn’t find her, before he remembered she was still down in the lab breaking apart that AI’s code. It was taking so long that he retired in his private suite. He now regretted doing that as it was in the administration building, which was some distance away from the labs.



“It could be nothing,” Benjamin said to himself as he slowly got out of the king sized bed. The perks of being the boss of the R&D branch of DollTech meant he could live in luxury, so his private suite was akin to a five star hotel room, spa included.



Not wanting to be caught in his silk pajamas, he took the time to get dressed into one of his favourite blue suits. He was in no rush, even if the building was on fire his suite and private staircase would be the last place to be engulfed.



“Or it could be everything.” Benjamin wondered what that AI could do if it broke loose, it had managed to hijack and control so many Dolls. This facility had stopped using Dolls for that exact reason and now only had brainwashed humans doing DollTech’s bidding. Benjamin knew he was counted in that but chose to believe he was special.



“Sir!” His personal assistant greeted him as he stepped from his suite into his office. She was more dressed for the beach than the office, dressed in a red two piece bikini which left nothing to the imagination. She was the perfect example of what DollTech was now capable of. When she had joined she was just an intern getting coffees and dressed in appropriate business attire. Now she was eye candy for Benjamin made to support his every need. She was granted some autonomy to take care of herself unlike his last assistance who literally worked herself to death.



“What’s going on T?” Benjamin demanded. The girl didn’t even flinch as she looked at him with those cold dead eyes.



“I’m not certain, the phones are down.” She responded with no emotion.



“Why didn’t you wake me?” Benjamin yelled in her face, it used to be more fun when the girls would cry. He figured maybe the next one would be allowed to keep their emotional responses.



“You gave me orders not to disturb you,” the girl’s lips curled into a subtle smile that Benjamin didn’t notice. She might be his puppet but she still could enjoy watching him get frustrated when she followed instructions to the letter.

“Can you at least tell me which building triggered the alarm?” Benjamin was begging to get forceful with her.



“I can’t, the network is down,” she responded coldly once again. Usually that would cause Benjamin to deal with her in a creative manner but he had no time to deal with her right now.



“Stay right here,” he ordered as he pulled out his personal phone. There was no signal, which alarmed him further. He doubted a fire was the cause of this, especially with communications being down. He had to get to the lab as soon as possible and find out what was going on. Unfortunately with the fire alarms going, the elevators were out, even his private one. So he’d have to take the stairs. At least if there was an intruder every employee here was programmed to fight to the death to stop them. He didn’t even consider he might have the same programming.



Benjamin’s private staircase was filled with cobwebs and stale air. They hadn’t been used since they were first built and were only there in case of an emergency, like the one now. His office and apartment were on the 6th floor of the building so he had about 8 flights of stairs to make it down to the tunnel that led directly to the R&D building. Even though Benjamin worked out regularly he was still sweating by the time he made it to the bottom.



The smell of smoke, blood and gunpowder filled the air as soon as he opened the door to the tunnel. He saw two security guards bloodied and broken on the floor. Standing over them was a welcome sight and he relaxed as he saw DX-2 with her back turned towards him.



“DX-2?” Benjamin asked as he approached her.



“Oh Benjamin, I’m so glad you’re here…” DX-2 turned around causing Benjamin’s heart to skip a beat, she was covered in blood, the guard’s blood. “We need to talk.” She gave him a wicked grin.



“Stay where you are,” Benjamin’s voice cracked as DX-2 began to approach him, even with those artificial eyes he could see the malice behind them. She paused for a moment and her face returned to a neutral expression. “Tell me what’s going on here, why did you kill the guards?”



“Because they stopped me from getting to you,” DX-2 answered without any expression.



“Why would they do that?” Benjamin looked down at the guards. They were fully loyal to him and DollTech they were programmed to protect him at all costs. And DX-2, she was programmed to obey him without question. “Lift up your eye patch,” He instructed as he realized something terrible. DX-2 complied, revealing her missing eye. He relaxed for a second as he confirmed this was in fact DX-2.



As soon as Benjamin dropped his guard, DX-2 rushed him and had her hands around his throat. “Bye Benjamin…” She didn’t even let him process what was going on before she squeezed crushing his windpipe. She then dropped him on the ground letting him choke on his own blood.



“Oh my god… Ben…!” Lorelei screamed as she saw what her one-eye copy had just done. But it was too late to save him. “Why would you do that?” She turned her anger towards DX-2.



“You’re right I should’ve made him suffer more,” DX-2 looked back at Benjamin. “I guess it’s too late now.”



“You’re a monster…” Lorelei snapped at her.



“You’re right sister, and you would be one too if Laura didn’t rescue you. Besides he’s not Ben, he hasn’t been for years. He needed to be dealt with and neither you or Laura would’ve been able to bring yourselves to do it. So be thankful I was.” DX-2 said as she headed back towards the Lab. “Come along, Laura and Stacey have probably finished their tasks.”



Lorelei stood there for a moment looking down at Benjamin. DX-2 was right; she would never have been able to hurt him despite who he had become. She couldn’t help but see her husband, even though he wasn't Ben and she wasn’t Lauren. She turned back to DX-2 and wondered what she had endured to kill him so easily and what would push her over the edge to do the same.