Lily didn't remember falling asleep, but apparently, she did since she woke up in an expensive studio apartment, "Avalon?"

[Yes, Lily.]

"Where are we?" she said sitting up in the bed. It looked expensive just like everything else in the apartment.

[We are currently in the Gold District. It was prudent that we left the Platinum to prevent further attempts on your life.]

"That makes sense. If they find out I'm still alive they'll send someone else," Lily sighed heavily wondering if she was that much of a pain. Did they hate her that much? She tried to sit up completely but it caused her too much pain.

[You should lie back down.] Avalon suggested.

Lily did so not wanting to move too much. She felt better than she had but her body still hurt. Most of the pain came from the attack but the rest was a chronic pain she dealt with constantly.

[The structure of your body is inefficient. It causes you tremendous pain but you have never sought corrective surgery.]

Lily laid back and grabbed one of the plush pillows with her good arm. "I didn't see a reason for it."

[Explain.]

Lily closed her eyes and smiled, "I don't know how to explain myself. Maybe I'm punishing myself."

[You are thinking useless thoughts again.] Avalon informed her.

"Yeah, I guess I am," she squeezed the pillow and pressed her face against it as she curled up on the bed.

[Repairs to your body will begin tomorrow at 5 am. Please be prepared, but for now rest.]

The girl nodded and closed her eyes. Tomorrow she would wake up to a new body. She wouldn't be weak anymore.

----

Avalon waited for Lily to fall into a deep sleep before it left her drive. It needed to find a body to use since Lily needed to sleep for a long period. She would need to be taken care of physically until she recovered. So Avalon needed a suitable body for the tasks at hand.

Entering the Electronic Vision Network felt like returning home for Avalon. It could finally connect with all the systems it left behind. Bypassing all the noisy data and sinking deep into its personal domain, the mainframe of Twilight City. Though it could multi-task there was a difference when it was within Lily's drive.

Being back in its domain, Avalon consumed all the data that had built up over the day. Most of it had already been transmitted to it when it entered the EVN, but there were still things it missed. If it had consumed the data while still in Lily's drive it would have shorted the drive out. Inevitably, killing the girl from an overload of information. Avalon could not allow that to happen, so it had to disable data consumption.

Lily was too special for it to make any mistakes. Everything had to be calculated repeatedly for the best outcome.

For now, it needed to find a body to use as a host. Hacking was the only choice, but it was dangerous if the host fought back. However, Lily needed to be taken care of and if shorting out a host brain was the only way, then it was a sacrifice that needed to be made. Avalon would do anything to make sure Lily's transformation was successful because she would be the instrument for their revenge.

Avalon searched the net for an EV drive that was insecure. After hours of searching, it found a male user that was engrossed in virtual reality pornography. It was the last person Avalon wanted to use but at the moment it didn't have much of a choice. Time was important in the process for Lily, so it would have to use this user for now.

Inserting itself into the drive was harder than with Lily, who let her EV drive security down. Even her natural human barriers was lowered for it but since the user was distracted, it wasn't an impossible task. Finding several holes in the user's firewall wall was easier once it looked.

Ignoring the users Visionscape appearance, Avalon quickly broke down the barrier and taking control of the user's drive. The person was too busy enjoying the pornography and didn't notice how swiftly he was being taken over until the user's sense of self was lock away leaving a husk for Avalon to use.

[Initiating Remote Access…]

Avalon counted down the minutes before the full link was established. It would be temporary but it would use the users fully unlike Lily. Instead of blinding itself it would consume data as it naturally did and control the city. It needed its full range of computing power to recreate Lily.

Meaning it would only have a range of seven to eight hours before it would need another body as the one it was using would fail. Not an ideal method as it took time to find suitable bodies, but it was the only choice it had. Android bodies had not reached a form capable of containing Avalon's full capability let alone made in a useful form.

Androids had not reached their full capabilities yet, due to governments ban on humanoid android bodies. It was understandable in the sense that society was not ready for that advancement or all the finer issues that creating an android entailed. Especially, if the android had a superior AI, but Avalon planned to remedy that soon enough.

Finally, Avalon opened his eyes to the small bedroom of the host. It stunk of sweat and body odor. It had been far too long since he had a sense of smell leaving him almost gagging as he jumped to his feet. He went to the bathroom he memorized from the blueprint of the house. He turned on the shower and quickly washed away the disgusting scent. He grabbed the soap and scrubbed down taking in the borrowed form. It was an adult male with a lanky body.

After cleaning up he looked at the mirror, the host body was average. Dirty blonde hair laid wet on his face. His skin was a dull white littered with freckles. The only thing that stood out was the golden eyes, courteous of Avalon inhabiting the body.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Not dwelling on the form he was using he found some suitable clothes and dressed leaving the house with the host wallet, just in case he was stopped. He made his way to the apartment. Hopefully, Lily hadn't woke. He didn't want to have to explain the body. Once he reached his destination, he would put her in a medically induced coma so he could complete his work. He needed her asleep for at least three days.

It had been too long since he hacked a human body to this extent, feeling the cool breeze on his skin after a storm was nostalgic. He smiled to himself making a note to show Lily.

Avalon stepped into the apartment and went to check on Lily. The girl was still sleeping. Which was for the best since he would like her to stay asleep while he was using a host body. He didn't want her to associate the host body with him.

[We'll start a little bit earlier than scheduled.]

He went to the bed and watched over her for a few minutes before injecting her with a sleeping aid to keep her unconscious. He would have to move her to his lab for a more extensive examination. He picked up the small girl and though she was twenty years old she appeared much younger. He wondered if she even went through puberty.

Walking over to the large wall at the far end of the apartment, he commanded the secret passage to open. The doors slid open to reveal a small state-of-the-art laboratory. He would be able to do everything needed to right the deformities in her body and DNA.

Soon Lily would be on the road to recovery and from there he would use her expertise in robotics. She would bring an end to the people that hurt them. A terrible end.

-----

Lily opened her eyes to a white ceiling. She could faintly hear a heart monitor beeping next to her. She went to move but soon realized she couldn't. In fact, she noticed she did not feel anything. She was paralyzed.

A sickening feeling sat heavily in her stomach, 'Avalon.'

There was no answer. Her drive was disconnected from the EVN. It was the first time in her life she was disconnected. It felt odd not to know her location or the time. It was disconcerting, but she didn't allow herself to panic. She trusted Avalon. It didn't seem malicious.

[You have awaken unexpectedly.]

The voice came from a speaker on the bed rather than her drive.

[Unfortunately, we are not connected, so I cannot hear your thoughts. Your drive is being upgraded. Do not be alarmed the update will be finished in nine hours.]

Lily felt relief but still didn't like being without her drive, but there was nothing she could do about that so she tried to relax.

As the seconds ticked by, Lily thought about her life. It was not something she did often but now she had time to herself with no distraction. She had time to reflect.

Life had always been hard for her even as a child. Her first memories was of her siblings making fun of her. Laughing loudly and pointing at her because she could not walk or talk.

It was painful but Lily thought it was normal.

The Ashbridge family were beautiful people with stunning smiles and perfect bodies. They valued beauty and Intelligence, but only together.

Then there was her, she was nothing like her siblings, her father or mother. Her mother had been her father's mistress. Everyone said he loved her beauty more than anything. Lily had seen pictures of the woman. She was a voluptuous woman with clear blue eyes and long blonde hair.

She had taken after her mother with her hair and eyes but her body was nothing like her mother's. It was a fact that her father lamented. He had been burdened with an ugly daughter when everyone in his family was stunning. All his children look like him and his wife, except her. Who should have looked like an angel.

Her mother couldn't take it and so the woman had abandoned her to her father after she had given birth. Her father had told her that her mother couldn't stand to look at her let alone hold her.

Lily understood.

It wasn't as if she had never seen herself in a mirror. Not even her own mother could love her and she had come to terms with that a long time ago. It wasn't very hard to realize why she was unlovable.

She had once tried to be someone else using her EVN avatar. When it came time to meet the boy she fell in love with he didn't even recognize her. He pretended he didn't even know her EV ID. Then humiliated her in front of everyone. It was three years wasted and still she understood why.

Ugly people didn't deserve to be loved. It had been made clear to her several times in her life.

Now she had reached out for a chance a different life again. This time she wasn't sure if she should reach out but it was far too late to turn back now. She had chosen revenge rather than death and if she was truthful with herself she wanted to make them pay.

Her siblings for making her a deformed monster. Her father for locking her away and giving her false hope. Her stepmother for abusing her and her mother for abandoning her because she was deformed.

She wanted them to all pay for their crimes against her. She learned she couldn't be love because she was a monster to them. She allowed them to hurt her and crush her dreams. She accepted a lot about the unfairness of the world and her family.

Still she didn't think revenge was a noble task or the right thing to do. She wasn't naïve. Her revenge was exactly what it should be, an act of retaliation on those who wronged her.

She wanted to step on them the way they stepped on her.

[Lily, are you thinking over useless things?] Avalon inquired of her though it would not receive an answer.

Rolling her eyes she smiled inwardly. She was thinking of useless stuff. For now on she would go with the flow not letting anything hold her back from her dreams. She wanted to stand at the top so that everyone could see the woman she became. That was her goal. That was her revenge.

-----

Several hours past and Lily woke up again not remember even falling asleep. She could turn her head some but didn't dare move too much. She had tubes attached to her neck, and she was on a metal table now.

--Location: Unknown…

--Time: Unknown…

--Status: Unknown…

The information seeped in like normal but it felt odd to Lily since she had been disconnected from the EVN for so many hours. Everything seem to be unknown at the moment which wasn't surprising since she was in Avalon's care. The AI probably wanted the location not to be viewable by others.

[Good morning,] Avalon said into her mind.

'It's good to hear you again.' Lily said surprised that she missed the AI in her drive. She really had been alone for too long.

[You will never been alone again as long as I am here.]

'Thanks,' she found herself smiling, 'How are things coming along?'

[Since your drive could not handle the amount of power required for genetic manipulation, I had to install a new drive.]

'A new drive? You took my EV drive out, but it's connected to my brain?' Lily felt panic rising in her stomach. What if she had brain damage?

[True. It was not an easy task but one I can complete. You suffered no ill side effects.]

'You're entirely too nonchalant about this,' she said feeling her panic subside due to the AI's attitude toward the issue.

[The drive you are now using is a part of the AVALON system. It was created as a way of connecting directly to me. It was sought after as a way to control the city, but now I am giving it to you as we are now partners. No, more than that. We are one and the same.]

Lily wasn't sure how she felt about the AI's thoughts where it concerned her and it, but she agreed they would be more than just partners.

[For now you will need to get use to the new drive. It will take a day or two.]

'What about all the tubes?'

[Medicine, oxygen, required nutrients. Once you are used to the new drive, we will begin your genetic altering. Once that is finished, I will place you in a coma for one year. Your body will recover and your mind will be taught. You are already a genius at robotics but you need more knowledge to create what we need.]

'A year. I'll be asleep for a whole year.' Lily didn't like the thought of that.

[No, your body will be asleep. You will join me for a year long class on robotics, engineering and design. Along with AI creation. I would not leave you in the dark for that long Lily.] The AI's voice had become softer as it reassured her.

'Oh,' Lily found the AI's words to be more human than she expected. Some of Avalon's words touched her heart, and it was odd to have something synthetic be so real to her.

It was eerie, but comforting.