Takeru remained silent for several moments after the Agent had spoke, apologizing for what she believed to be her fault. "Don't apologize. I'm helping you because it's my responsibility to. I placed you through all that trouble just for the sake of allowing you to see the truth behind your missions, the truth of your superiors' hidden agendas. But that still doesn't excuse the fact that it was my fault." The criminal spoke softly, still holding on to her while determining the best words to use next in order to place himself in a better light for Veil to see. "If I had simply left you on your ship and escaped on my own, then none of that might have happened. But I had no doubt that your superiors would have made you disappear on their own and placed the blame on me... And you felt different than other Agents, more familiar, and once I ran tests on your blood samples, I could see why."

The criminal then held Veil's shoulder with a hand, stopping her from washing herself further and slid down to take the soap from her. "Please, allow me. You are still unsteady on your feet and I'm detecting a slight increase in your heartbeat." Takeru explained, quite clearly calling her out on her hidden blush, as he took over washing. Even in his most human moments, the machine side continued to show through but given who she was, Veil probably couldn't blame him. Especially not after he had taken steps to bring her over to his side in order to use her against her own people. "And I'm receiving an update from the machine bay that your ship checks out fine, so you can leave whenever you feel you have the strength to do so. Our scientists also have reported that they are making excellent progress on producing a stronger suppressant for your abilities. It'll allow you to get as close to being human as possible. I thought that you might be concerned about that, because I know that if there was a chance for me to return to my former life, I would take it as well."

Still blushing, Veil shivered as his hand slipped down her arm and took the small bar of soap from her as she let her arm fall back to her side. The warmth of the water running down her silken flawless skin and the body heat of the man behind her only while he continued to hold her standing ever so gently. Her muscles tensed for a moment as she felt his warm hand and the soap move against her body, rubbing up against her stomach as she took another step backwards and brought her body back to his once again. Veil's toned backside rubbed against his wet silk boxers, pressing firmly to him in her movement. His touch and his hold seemed so tender and understanding, yet his words were cold and distant revealing the machine within the man. Her wings folded downwards and out the sides a bit feeling his muscular chest against her as she leaned her head back, letting it rest against the shoulder of the arm keeping her upright. She knew she should have protested, should have told him that she was able to get herself cleaned up. She didn't want to admit her weakness and she didn't like letting people see her in such a state either. Veil was held silent however, her body enjoying the unusual moment and relaxing as even the strained effort of having to clean herself was taken away from her. With closed eyes, Veil took slow and measured breaths while her own hands came to rest against the sides of Takeru's thighs, helping to hold herself standing. His efforts her only aided to the confusion in her own mind that had already taken root as she wondered if he even knew the difficulties she was having.

Had Veil been thinking clearly and not blinded by the elaborate ruse being spun around her, she might have realized that one can often catch things easier with honey than vinegar. Yet the connection she felt was real and kept her otherwise usually quite accurate intuition and perceptions blind to the truth. They were similar. Both had once been human and both had been changed against their will into something else and the both of them had tried to deal with it the best that they could. How easily could have their situations had potentially been reversed? What if it had been Takeru that had woken up at A.D.D and that she had found herself alone in the coldness of space. With a small sigh, Veil pushed her thoughts from her mind.

The criminal continued to wash Veil's body, being deliberately slow and thorough with the soap. He could tell that it bothered her somewhat, which was good for he needed the female to remain confused and distracted with her own internal conflicts, in order to prevent her from thinking it out. "You know, there was a way for me to separate myself from this monstrosity that calls itself Obsidian. The A.D.D discovered the means of doing so, but they refused to give it to me. I was forced to learn how to harness the virus before it destroyed me, and now at this point, I can never recover my lost humanity. I'm forever trapped in these... nanites, these circuits, my consciousness spread across star systems." Takeru spoke softly, a soft thumping emanating from his chest, as if a heart that no longer existed had begun to beat again. A heart his control over the nantes had allowed to falsify in order to deceive the Agent, to pluck at her vulnerable heartstrings. There had been no such cure, no such means of returning to his human form, not that he ever would want to. Control, this was simply another facet of his goal of manipulating Veil.

Control, that was all that mattered. Control meant power. Power meant everything. Takeru gave a barely audible sigh as his hands passed over her breasts, giving them thorough attention though he did nothing perverted, just yet anyway. It was necessary to make it seem as if he was simply assisting her, not taking advantage of her. "One of my earliest encounters with the Agents once the A.D.D formed an alliance with me, she thought I had murdered a ship's entire crew. That was what I did, but they were all slavers. On Halrus, an Agent tried to stop an arms deal from going down. She got in my way when I was trying to steal information on the criminal enterprises of those scum, crippling them from within with a virus, stealing all their funds and information." Takeru spoke again, explaining and lying about his past. Whole lies buried behind half-truths. That was all there was to it.

Keeping a hold on Veil, Takeru shifted around until they stood face to face, leaving her few ways from hiding her blushes from him. But if he noticed anything, the criminal did not say a thing about it and instead pressed her close against his body in order to clean her back, warm water flowing down her back. And Rosso... I was hoping to transport the natives to another world instead of killing them or selling them into slavery. The A.D.D didn't care about those natives at all, they just told me which world to take and which to leave alone. I've left countless worlds in ruins, all in the name of vengeance. For all the soldiers under my command, I'm still fighting a lonely one-man war on the A.D.D, going out of my way to swallow up their enemies and forcing the bystanders and innocents out of harm's way, out of the A.D.D's attempts to use them as a shield against me."

And then Takeru dropped the soap, his suds-covered hand trailing up Veil's neck, pressing her eyes up into his own. "If they hadn't been so concerned about themselves, about their reputation, about their own laws, they would have ignored their own fears, and allowed me to regain my humanity. But they didn't. They chose to ignore me and abandoned me, one of their own. And then they tried to use me, to control me, to force me to adhere to their own agenda. I've suffered enough at their hands, and now they'll suffer at mine. I served justice, and whatever the A.D.D may be, they are not justice." Takeru fell silent, the thumping still beating on, as if despite his mechanical body, what was left of his humanity was shining through. Despite his cold and distant attitude, he was beginning to show signs of human emotions that seemed to have been buried and were now resurfacing. All lies, but what beautiful lies. He would have Veil, he knew it. He would have his weapon.

Veil listened to his words as the warmth of his body and the shower embraced her in a comforting blanket, his hands travelling across her body and finger tips brushing against her skin as he continued to assist in her cleaning. Her weakened condition still bothered her greatly but more and more her thoughts were being pushed to the side. Her back to his chest, she could feel the faint drum of his heart against her body as her own beat back harder in response. Veil bit down on the corner of her lip as the criminals hands moved upwards and began to wash and coat her full breasts with a soapy film. His touch may not have been purposefully lewd or perverted but that mattered very little as it served to only further spread her slight embarrassment at her own buried feelings while he invaded her senses. Even before her life had been shattered by the horrid slavery, Veil had always been highly sensitive and after had only become that much more and the drug that had ravaged her senses hadn't helped any. She squirmed lightly against him as she took a deep breath pushing her chest out into his hands. Where his hands touched, a lingering tingling heat remained behind though ever blushing, she managed to restrain herself from making any sound or moving much more than she had. She had to remind herself he was just helping her...

Turned around suddenly her head and eyes turned away from the man, ever trying to hide any amount of her weakness or feelings from his sight. Veil couldn't help but gasp as her soft bosom pressed to his firm chest while his hands traced and washed against her back and carefully working around her wings. Her own slender arms slipped underneath his own as she clung to him, wrapping her arms around his back and resting her hands on his back and in-between his broad shoulders, pulling herself fully to him.

Against the magics shifting inside of her, Veil had waged a ceaseless battle and managed for the most part to cling to fragments of whom she once was. Everything else about her sickened her and filled her with a deep loathing and remorse for what she had lost and continuing to lose. She would eventually fail and fall as her body would eventually adapt to even the suppressive nanites inside of her and then she would be truly lost and become whatever it was those whom had changed her had made her into. A moments hope filled her mind as she couldn't help but think perhaps Takeru having been through similar would be able to help stave off that which would inevitably take her.

Drawn once more from her own thoughts, Veil felt his hands against her neck pulling her face and gaze up towards his own and closing a bit more of the gap that remained between the two of them. Her heart pounded inside of her ears as no matter how straight laced he was being with her, the effect he and his words were having upon her was undeniable and only further served to bridge the connection to him that had been building inside of her. He had suffered at A.D.D's hands as she had and they had attempted to use him as they had been using her. Perhaps they had figured a way to cure her as well and instead decided merely to suppress it so that they would have someone to better serve whatever agenda they had needed. Anger and empathy for him and his own plight welled up inside of her, she had known A.D.D was corrupt and just allowed herself to over look the full extent of it as she thought she was making a difference and helping those from suffering as she had. Her breathing grew slightly erratic from the confused emotions, thoughts and feelings about everything around her as a few sympathetic tears rolled down her cheeks and passed her trembling lips. She didn't know what to say or what she could say or even do...

Perfect, just perfect, this was all proceeding exactly as he had planned, even down to the tears. The criminal then proceeded with the next part of his grand scheme, pushing her further into an unexplored territory, forcing her to confront more confusion and internal conflict. Now he had to be more exceedingly careful than ever, for a mistake here could ruin the entire plan and that wasn't what he needed now that he had come so far with her. "I thought my humanity lost forever, but now... Why is part of me reacting to you so much that it almost hurts? Why, despite knowing that all of my human organs are gone, can I feel the erratic beats of a heart that no longer exists?" Carefully crafted lies pieced together by words with deep meanings, that was what he had to use now to capture her heart in order to capture her mind.

Arm still wrapped around Veil's back keeping her up, Takeru leaned in closer to the Agent, further invading her sensibilities and personal space, closing in all around her. The criminal kept on cupping her cheek in his hand, staring into her eyes intensely with his own black orbs. "You're not any ordinary Agent, Veil. You're something else, something more special than anyone dared to imagine." Even his normally distant voice began to soften as he spoke. It was magnificent how all his deceptions and lies just seemed to weave together, forming such a beautiful scenario. There couldn't be anyone else anywhere that could do any of this to the same degree as Obsidian could. And now, to really throw her into confusion. This could be considered by some as a death blow of sorts, even. Takeru, the Criminal, pulled Veil, the Agent, into a kiss as his lips crushed against hers, almost desperately trying to achieve more of those human emotions he had mentioned, searching for that spark within her own succulent lips. The kiss seemed to go on for an eternity, as the criminal pressed his captive even closer to his body.

Veil held her slightly trembling body tightly to him, her normally battle hardened eyes glowing softly with long forgotten compassion. With every bit he drew closer, time itself seemed to stretch out before her and only the beating of their hearts kept any semblance of time. For the first time in a great many years, she had felt human again yet in that and in her situation she felt nervous and unsure. The softness of his voice and his embrace pulled her in further, wanting desperately to believe that someone else had understood what she had been going through. Needing to know that she wasn't alone in the cold, unforgiving universe around her. She knew she shouldn't let herself be drawn in, that she shouldn't give anyone any measure of trust or her hope but in spite of all those defenses she had shielded herself behind over the great many years, none of them could stand in the face of his penetrating stare.

Veil's hands flexed as the tips of her fingers pressed firmly against Takeru's back as his lips met to hers. He felt so human compared to the monster she knew that lurked beneath his skin as she returned the kiss, her own feelings flaring wildly and nearly out of the careful control she had spent so long working on. Her head tilted ever so slightly to the side allowing the criminal she had once hunted to draw her in deeply into the tender yet hungry kiss that consumed her. Pushing herself upwards onto her tip toes, Veil's silken and slender body molded to his as her lips parted and she moaned quietly into his mouth. Never in all her years had she been kissed like this before. The entire moment seemed so surreal, like a hazy long forgotten dream that her fragmented psyche and humanity clung desperately to and in that moment she let all her thoughts about A.D.D, the criminal and even her own nature slip free from her mind. If it was nothing more than a dream, it was the first good dream she had for as long as she could remember and she didn't want to awaken.

After holding Veil in such a tender kiss for who knew how long, the criminal broke away from the contact, eyes now cast downward. Even then, the monster that had always seemed confident in his own abilities, in his own strength, now appeared somewhat unsure, as if he was lost in something. Or perhaps in someone. "I... I apologize for that. I didn't plan on doing anything like that, and I... Shower, off." The criminal fell silent again, as if he couldn't really be articulated anymore thanks to his captive. Stepping out of the cubicle as the water stopped raining down onto them, Takeru helped Veil to the counter, where towels awaited. Grabbing ahold of one of the soft and plush towels, the criminal wordlessly began wiping her body down of any remaining wetness. With the nanites of his own body, he did not need a towel for himself as they began absorbing any droplets, drying himself off within seconds easily.

For long, and silent, moments, Takeru kept on drying the Agent up, bringing the towel up to her back. With the black wings in the way, the criminal showed more of his gentleness, becoming exceedingly careful as to not ruffle or harm the wings. The tension in the room was as such that one could feel it weighing down on them, both of them seemingly lost in their feelings, in their personal conflicts. Merely a facade for one such as Obsidian, and quite bothersome to go through for one such as Takeru, but necessary if the Agent was to be manipulated into becoming a weapon against her own people. Satisfied with the wings being dried off enough, Takeru placed the towel on her head, letting the soft fabric settle against her white hair as his eyes couldn't help but drift into her own. Sometimes, he just had to wonder just how he was able to pull off such deceptions now and then, the few remaining parts of his humanity marveling at such ability, such precision.

Dropping the towel to the side once everything was done, the criminal placed an arm around her back and reached down to slide the other arm under her legs, picking her up and allowing her to settle against his chest. "You've been standing up more than you should have, even with my assistance." Giving her nothing else but the simple explanation, Takeru carried Veil back into the chamber, settling her nude form back down onto the bed. "Now, please get some rest. You need to recover. I'll be nearby, as you're undoubtedly aware by now, if you need anything else." Takeru spoke softly as he pulled up the silk blanket across her body. With that, Takeru stood up and turned to leave, hand still within the woman's grabbing distance.

Veil kept quiet as he went about the task of helping to dry her off, lost in her own thoughts and unable to look at him. Her heart was still pounding as she couldn't believe he had kissed her or even that she had kissed him back. Pursing her lips together as the event replayed in her mind, she felt terribly confused. She had been taught, trained and told to believe that those whom were the enemies of A.D.D were the enemies of all free societies. Nothing made sense. She had felt more human than she had in a long time and even still as his hands wandered over her body, covered by the towel did little to dull that glow inside her. Still could remember his heart beating, his softly spoken and unsure words...had she truly awakened a part of him that he had nearly forgotten?

The fierce blush that had crept up upon her snowy cheeks hadn't yet dissipated, her nose wrinkling cutely as Takeru placed the fluffy white towel over her head and their eyes found each other once more. Veil's body shivered once more, still holding and clinging to Takeru for support before finding herself lifted up once again. Shifting slightly in his grip as she made herself comfortable against him, Veil rested the side of her face against his well defined chest, just listening a heart that shouldn't have been beat into her ear. Conflicted and uncertain as she was, Veil couldn't find a her voice to say anything and instead merely just nodded in light agreement to his assessment about her standing longer than she should have. Carried back into the bedroom and laid down upon the smooth silk sheets, Veil nodded once more before the man turned to leave her. Something inside of her didn't want him to leave yet she couldn't find the words as her mouth opened to say something and her fingers opened, almost as if preparing to reach out and grab for his own.

But she couldn't. Mouth closed and hand locked in place, she just silently watched him leave the room. Rolling over onto her chest and wrapping her bare form up into the soft sheets, Veil closed her eyes and prepared to let a very much needed real sleep over take her. Veil hated sleeping. She hated it from the dreams that would always find her and remind her of everything she had lost and was continuing to lose. She never told anyone about those dreams, instead trying to use it as a source of strength. Darkness over took her exhausted body quickly and in that those dreams returned in full, unyielding force.

For the first few hours of her slumber, all would seem quiet and peaceful regardless of the chaos of her mind. That peace was not to last as she began to stir as the dreams themselves grew worse the longer she slept. Exhausted as she had been Veil did not awaken from her slumber as she may have normally. Tossing and turning, Veil thrashed kicking the sheets from her body and letting out a quiet feral growl. Moving violently from the re-living of some of her most painful moments, Veil nearly fell off the bed before rolling back to the other side...fighting unseen adversaries and enemies at every turn.

As the Agent slept, nightmares haunting her at every turn within her dreams, there pulsated another nightmare of sorts from the darkest reaches of space. All across the universe, there were horrors too terrible to behold and terrors too great to face, but there were none more monstrous, more terrifying, than what laid buried deep within the mangled world. The very surface choked in oil, the once-beautiful skies polluted with black smog, the very planet itself raped by the dark might of technology. But none of these could compare to what slumbered beneath the very ground. Every single soldier, every single vehicle, every single building... Down to the last nanobot. They all could feel a faint pulse beating through their systems. They all could sense faint traces of a presence unlike Takeru or Obsidian, a presence that felt far more alien than anything else. They all could hear the faint whisperings of this slumbering entity.

...I am the darkness of eternity...

A simple statement and yet it beat against the circuits and sparks of all nanites, of all soldiers, of all things HIS. It beats against them all like a war drum, faintly pounding as if across a great distance. Each pounding, a resounding demand for vengeance, for justice, for blood spilled and wrongs done. Twisted by unnatural hatred, alienated by human ignorance and irrational fear, and laid bare by the coldness of space in which it had been exiled to had all driven both the man and the machine to this world, once a verdant paradise in the past. Finding no peace anywhere, unsatisfied by his new life, and unable to let go of his anger, the man had chose to walk a different road. It had not asked to be shot in that dank alley, blood flowing into the grimy ground. It had not asked to be assimilated and given new life at the cost of its humanity. It had not asked to be responsible for upholding justice with its new powers.

...Those who fear the darkness, I am the Light...

And instead, what had they done...? What had mankind done? One voice or six billion voices, it all was still the same. They feared him. They loathed him. They no longer wanted him! He had poured all of his sweat and blood into his future, carving out a niche in society for himself, and how had they thanked him? They no longer wanted him on their world anymore, his own world no longer wanted him! And then... THEY came. The damnable women of the Alien Defence Directorate. They came with weapons, with firearms, with the intent to contain or destroy him. They had not understood him, as he too did not understand himself, but their folly could not be tolerated! And so, Obsidian left them for dead as Takeru exiled himself to the darkness of space.

...All those who come after me, I am the Road to Ruin...

How long ago had that been? The slumbering entity could no longer perceive the flow of time as mortals did, its consciousness now spread across entire star systems, encompassing entire worlds instead of just this poor and mangled planet. Ever since it came here, it had slowly subjugated the inhabitants, absorbing them into itself, feeding on what it needed most - Raw resources. Once there were no more natives, the virus had turned on the foliage, consuming everything that was alive, draining the very oceans, devouring everything organic. And as the world had been slowly absorbed by the virus, the two persona had slowly begun to merge into each others, somehow drawn to each others, attracted by what they lacked and what the other possessed. And in time... From the vast supply of organic matter it had accumulated, the virus had begun producing soldiers, and with the aid of its mechanical half, it had begun to arm them.

...The right to be a god is now mine...

And as the virus produced more of its original halves, using Obsidian to protect itself while the Takeru it controlled set out to spread the virus across the universe, infecting world after world. As superstructures were built across worlds, so did his consciousness expand, engulfing everything until every erg of power and every bit of information flowed directly to the growing monstrosity that now saw itself as a god. There were often times when the man seemed dominant, and there were times when the machine seemed to have gained ascendancy. It was often difficult for the few individuals within the growing empire to figure out just who was in charge... Nakamura Takeru or Obsidian? And in time, they realized it didn't matter because in the end, the result would still be the same...

...The end is coming...

As soon as the entity achieved its goals, as soon as it had exacted bloody vengeance on the A.D.D, the rest of the universe would be paying for it. And they would pay dearly. The greatest threat to the universe now laid within the sleeping form of the Agent within its captive, unaware of its true intentions or its true form, led along by a mere puppet. The fate of the universe now rested in the hands of Veil, and she was all that stood between intergalactic peace and complete annihilation at the hands of Obsidian.

Drawn ever deeper into the dark dreams that plagued her whenever she slept, Veil was forced to relive time and again some of the worst moments in her life. When the nightmares had first started she simply thought it had been a way for her mind to try and cope with the horror and humiliation but they never lessened and never went away and she had begun to suspect that it was just another part of whatever had been done to her. Most dreams she had didn't cause her to toss and turn violently as she had been now but this dream was not like most of them. This dream was of her transformation into some more than she had ever been yet trying to steal all that she had ever been. Every single detail was remembered and replayed in crystal clarity as if she had been on that carved stone slab once more.

Beads of sweat began to bubble to the surface of her skin as her heart began to pound inside of her chest. Writhing with a protesting growl, Veil's back arched backwards as her hands clawed into the black silk beneath her. Should any sensors have been monitoring her, her vital signs began to go absolutely berserk as the suppressive nanites shifted and moved to strengthen the seal. Unable to awaken from this hellish nightmare Veil thrashed as she lay trapped within her own mind. It was all very lucid, she knew she was dreaming. She knew that this wasn't real and that this wasn't happening to her and yet it felt real and there was nothing she could do to slip free from the shackles holding her naked form down onto the coldly humming altar. Her mind screamed out in pain, hatred and sorrow as hot tears blinked down her face. The dream's effect made that much worse but the sorry condition which her body had found itself as ever tensing muscle and movement caused real pain to accompany the phantom pain dancing inside of her slumbering mind.

With a final hard roll, Veil tumbled right off the end of the bed and landed onto the carpeted floor with a sound and hard thud. Gasping and panting with ragged breath, Veil's glowing red eyes half opened for a moment as she stared upwards at the ceiling. Her face was twisted into a hateful sneer as she cursed her own weakness ever still, knowing such dreams shouldn't bother her and that all they did was serve to remind her why she did as she did. As she had awoken all of her vitals stabilized and the physical strain on her body had lessened significantly. Wiping at her cheeks quickly with her forearm, Veil rolled onto her side and closed her eyes as she rested her the side of her face onto one of her arms. Veil lay there lost in her own thoughts, distracted and haunted by the dream that had gripped her as she slowly began to drift back to sleep.