The opposition was minimal after the first welcoming committee. The few stragglers that were caught in Fugue's wrath served only to feed her power if they were organic, or did little but inconvenience her if they were mechanical.

At this point, she felt invincible. They reached the teleport platform soon after the last ADVENT trooper fell, a dry husk, at Fugue's feet.

She licked the blood from her fingers and grinned at Sonata, who was also stepping into the platform. "Ready to take care of the thief?"

"Oh, I've been waiting twenty years for this," Sonata giggled. "I thought I'd do this with Chimera originally, but keeping it between sirens is best."

Fugue grimaced for a second, her hand touching the gem in her chest. "I look forward to growing more… acquainted with her."

Sonata gave her a knowing smile. "Pervert."

"She can do a lot of things with her body," Fugue replied with a shrug. "But this is not the place… right now, I have a roach to step on."

"Activating the teleporter!" Sonata giggled.

The world was blue.

More like cyan, darkening into midnight. But really, who cared? The question was, how had she gotten here? Lightning crackled in the distance, the electric charges seeming to split reality for a second before everything returned to the calming blue. Cyan. Whatever.

She fell to her knees, resting them on… something. Air? Glass? It was cool. Refreshing. So different from the reds and blood and sexual energy that had dominated her mind recently, stopping her from even been able to think or fight. The haze of bloodlust was gone, and she remembered everything.

The ADVENT troops. The viper. The city full of ADVENT bureaucrats and their families. She wanted to cry and beg for forgiveness, but she was much more angry. She had been lost in a sea of souls and brimstone and blood, overwhelmed by sexual desire. Overwhelmed by lust for the life-carrying properties of blood. She had been barely conscious, unable to move, unable to scream or stop anything—just watch as her body descended into debauchery and murder, as her voice teased and seduced… as her magic used the essence of life to extinguish it indiscriminately.

"And so we meet at last, Siren."

Sunset looked up, snarling. She didn't have her claws here, but she was armed and she was no stranger to mental battles. She would—

"Do no such thing, I come here not to fight, but… to offer something."

"Tirek!" she growled, standing up warily and facing the apparition in front of her. It was the Warlock, and yet not. While the Chosen Warlock was a massive hulk of a creature with a wrinkled blue face and slightly disproportionate appendages, this Tirek was much more human-looking. Tall, in good shape, dressed smartly in a pin-stripe suit. He still had the horns, but his hair was black and combed back, and he sported a stylized goatee.

Slowly, it started making sense. "Inner self."

Tirek grinned. "Good job, Fugue."

"Sunset," she said, straightening up, less on edge, but still watching him warily. "My name is Sunset. Fugue is..."

Tirek shrugged. "I understand all too well, siren. When the Elders transformed me into the Chosen Warlock, they tried to trap my mind as well. Were it not for Adagio's gem, I would be as lost as my former apprentice."

Sunset tried to stifle the feelings of gratitude she felt right then. "How long do I have before I'm… lost again?"

"Not much. Enough for this conversation." Tirek paced in front of her. "I will kill you out there."

Sunset snorted. "Please do."

This seemed to surprise Tirek. "Do you not fear death?"

"I fear judgement for what I have done… not the judgment of the gods… but the judgement of my friends." Sunset took a deep breath. "I fear facing them, knowing what Fugue did… what I did. She is my responsibility. I created her when I used magic I knew I shouldn't have."

Tirek snorted. "What is magic for if not to use it? Condemned spells, forbidden magics… it all boils down to fear. People are afraid of what we can do if we control things like this magic of yours that created that demon."

"It… wasn't the blood magic," Sunset said. "Fugue… her demon aspect, at least, has always lived within me, I think… I felt it when I crossed the portal the first time. I felt it when I had… a very powerful magical item in my hands. I lost control at one point and the magic consumed me. Now I'm little more than a fragment of a soul inside this monster I became."

"That is not how the gems work." Tirek looked around them. "You know this."

"Yes," Sunset said, "but souls can get lost and dispersed even within the gems. Look at what happened to Aria." She glanced up at him. "You have had decades to study them. And you used them before… you and Sombra when Aria, Adagio and Sonata were… well, normal sirens."

"And you don't understand them just as well, siren?"

"I-" Sunset wrapped her arms around herself. "I wasn't always a siren." She touched the fangs with the tip of her tongue. "I was magical… not that you need to know my original species… it doesn't matter anymore. It's different… it would even be beautiful in a way… if I wasn't corrupted in the process."

Tirek snorted. "And here I thought you a queen of sirens."

"Flattery will get you nowhere with me."

The pair laughed like a couple of friends discussing an amusing topic rather than two enemies about to try to kill each other.

"It is rather amusing," Tirek said, "to think that even if you hadn't transformed into that blood demon, we would have inevitably crossed paths and battled to the death. You are a sharp one, Sunset." He gave her a courteous nod. "Were we under different circumstances I would have taken you as an apprentice."

"I'll take the compliment," Sunset said with a bit of a smile playing on her lips.

"I'll try not to be offended by your lack of interest." Tirek shrugged.

"So what is your true purpose here, Tirek?" Sunset asked. "I doubt that you came here for an amiable chat only."

Tirek grinned. "You are correct. I came here for a much more nefarious purpose." He motioned with his hands at everything around them. "This is a mindscape, yes, but it is much more… do you understand why, Sunset?"

Sunset narrowed her eyes and she took another look around. It was obvious that it wasn't a regular mindscape. She wouldn't be able to talk to him with her full faculties like this if it were… he would be talking to Fugue, not Sunset.

But Sunset had been swallowed by the blood demon, hadn't she? So how was she able to be here? Slowly, bits and pieces fell in place, creating a theory in her mind. "Gem resonance?"

Tirek raised an eyebrow.

"But that wouldn't be enough," Sunset continued, pacing in front of him. "No… this feels familiar, like the mindscape I use with the Templars to not burn…" her eyes widened. "Wait… you used Adagio's Gem to channel your psychic power into mine?"

Tirek grinned. "Close."

Sunset studied his grinning face with dawning comprehension. "You drew me out…"

"Close," Tirek repeated, "but as close as we're going to get without a full dissertation. This is a third place in our shared consciousness, not your mind, not mine… this is my sarcophagus. You are surrounded by the full power of an Elder machine designed with their intent and purpose and created by their willpower alone."

Sunset suddenly felt really nervous.

"This is my revenge." Tirek grinned. "This is how I bring your downfall… or rather Fugue's, because now, my little siren, unlike the commander, and unlike you were earlier, you will be independent. I will carve a space for your reconstituted soul within your gem. And like a cancer you will grow stronger without Fugue ever realizing what is happening."

He grinned, waving his hand as the world became crystal fragments in Sunset's sight. "Go now. You are my plan B, Sunset. If I fail to kill Fugue… I will still have my revenge! I will bring back the thing that makes her boil in hate and resentment! I will bring you."

"Ready to face the music, Warry?!" Sonata called out, giggling.

Next to her, Fugue grinned, then grimaced for a second when a flash of pain burst from her gem. It was gone in a moment and she shook it off. "It's time for the sirens to be a trio once again, Tirek!" she called out into the large room around them.

It was surprisingly empty, and in the distance she could make out the large tombstone-like shape of the sarcophagus the Chosen used to commune with the Elders and resurrect as needed. There were no organic beings in the room, but she could hear the clangs of metal feet and the whirs of servos indicating the presence of mechanical enemies.

She grinned. Maybe this would be a challenge after all.