John looked at himself in the mirror and smiled. He had lived with those grossly disproportioned arms and legs for so long now, he almost thought his new enhancements looked wrong.

For the last two weeks they had harvested thousands of changes to humans, thanks to O's work. They reshaped a select group of Regulators with these incredible enhancements. Of course, John cherry picked the best for himself.

John now stood six feet, five inches tall. His chest and neck matched his arms and legs in muscle tone. In addition, his skin gleamed from the bits of titanium that weaved their way through his epidermis. He kept his room dark, but he now needed very little light to see. His eyes had been upgraded thanks to a fortunate experiment with an owl.

None of this compared to his upgraded computer interface. He guessed his computer didn't compare to James', but he had done what James lacked the conviction to do. He had installed in every Regulator a transmitter and receiver. He now received a steady stream of data from everyone under him. His computer would process the data and flag anything that needed his attention. He felt omnipotent.

How could he think his old self anything special. He laughed when he thought about that pathetic version strutting around. He wanted so badly to show James what real power was. Most days the allure of yet another improvement kept him too busy.

That morning something did pull him back to his thoughts of James and the Beacon. One of his operatives within the Beacon sent him some very important information. When he received it, he smiled and called Ruby.

Ruby entered his room and looked around. "Christ, how can you see anything in here?"

John smiled and turned the lights up. "We've got an opportunity. I plan to take a few of the new regulators on a snatch and grab."

Ruby shook her head, "Not a good idea John. So far, we've kept them a secret. The pressure on the Beacon is working. Once they crack we can go public, but we could use the extra time to beef up our strengths."

John shook his head. "This prize is too big to pass on. Charlie will be leaving the building and he will have minimal protection."

John had never met Charlie, but his work had not escaped his eyes. Anytime another great discovery came out of the Beacon, Charlie's name came up. If he wanted to surpass James, he would need more than muscle and night vision. He would need to collect the people that made the Beacon a success. He thought of how much O had delivered to them. What else might they gain by taking the others?

John waved Ruby away, "I'm not asking you Ruby. I'm telling you."

Ruby stared at him, assessing. "Who will you be taking?"

He smiled, "Ten flyers, fifteen speeders and thirty tanks."

"That's a lot of our modified Regulators."

John brushed the air, "Once we have Charlie, we can pull up our schedule for seizing the Beacon. You'll announce that you found modified humans on site and that they have agreed to join you to stop further experimentation... or something like that. Then you can convert the remaining regulators publicly, quickly.”

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"I'm not worried about losing the Regulators you want to take. Fifty-five enhanced people will draw attention. That’s fifty-five chances that one of them will be seen. The point was to make it look like we found them in the Beacon. What happens if they get discovered before then."

"I'm sure you can find a way to spin it. That is what you do."

John sensed Ruby wince when he said that. Did she think he was being derogatory? He didn't see it that way. She did the things he couldn’t waste his own time to do. He valued that.

“Ruby,” John walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders, “Remember when we talked about taking over this world? Look at you now, Mayor. Next stop, President!”

Ruby didn’t shrug him off, but she felt cold. Stiff. Finally, she said, “Ok, go on your snatch and grab. I’ll be here. I always am.”

John smiled, “I can always count on you. We are so close. By the end of the year, we’ll be in Washington. Then who knows!”

Ruby pulled away, “John, about that. I think I’m going to stay in New York.”

John’s face began to contort, “What do you mean?”

Ruby walked over to the window, “I’ve always wanted to be in charge. I’ve hated when people with less talent than I have would tell me what to do. I know you felt the same way. That is why we made a great team. But now I am in charge, we are in charge, and I am not happy. I want people to see that they are better with me in charge. I need proof that I matter.”

John looked at her with pity. He never thought Ruby would suffer from recursion. Not because it was uncommon. Most people, even the ones who accepted they were software, eventually couldn’t handle the idea that they weren’t really a person any longer. They kept thinking of family members as actual family. Eventually they can’t reconcile the idea of being a software program with their identity. He’d expected so much more from Ruby.

“I understand Ruby,” John smiled.

The tension melted from Ruby’s face. “I am so glad you aren’t mad John. I wasn’t sure when we could have this conversation.”

“Well, I have a team to put together,” John began walking out. He paused and looked back, “Oh, I’m going to move over to the UN building for now. I want full control over operations until we finish off the Beacon.”

Ruby grew worried, “You sure you ok with what I told you.”

He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture, “Yup.”

John left the building and began his walk over. He knew that would be the last time he would return to his old office. The future lay in levelling up.

He walked onto the UN campus and looked up at the tower. Two and a half million square feet surrounded by five acres. Before the awakening it already had all the makings of a fortress: blast doors, extra layers of concrete, highly redundant systems. What their makers had not expected, was that John would use these as much to keep people in as to keep people out.

John walked into the tower and walked up flight by flight. He could hear screams of agony from time to time, but he reminded himself each time that those screams were not real. He exited at the top floors to check on the latest with his new Regulators.

He went straight for O, who worked on one of their new speeders. The person already looked like a cross between a cheetah and a human. Their legs were muscular and their lower body made up most of their body mass.

“Go ahead and add the new code I just messaged over to you,” O said clinically.

John watched as the transformation took place. It was as though the person’s legs now pointed backwards. It looked grotesque. O must have noticed John’s expression.

“It changes their center of gravity. They will run 50% faster with this change.”

“50% faster? Amazing.”

John looked around at his creations and smiled. Soon. “O, I’m sending you a list of what I need for tomorrow. I need you wrapped up by morning. Get excited!” John smacked O’s back like a set of drums. “Tomorrow you get to see how your enhancements stand up to those old friends of yours.”

O hesitated, “You are going up against the Beacon?”

John smiled, “You changing your mind about coming here?”

O shook his head, “No. Just not sure they are ready.”

“Not to worry, it’s just some little girl and that engineer. They won’t be any trouble.”

O went quiet again.

John grew bored and headed off to his rooms on the top floor.