Training the new maid.

I don’t own any of the Matrix.

Thanks for reviewing! Don’t worry, I’ll definitely finish this fic. I don’t like to leave stuff undone. Glad you’re enjoying it!!!!

One and Two stood in their bedroom and felt a combination of anger and fear wash over them. That girl was just possibly intelligent enough to figure Book out. There was no question that Book had gone with her willingly, it could hide itself whenever it pleased. No doubt her need, boldness and determination had appealed to Book’s puckish nature, or maybe it was just bored.

And she had actually stolen from them. Unbelievable. She rifled through their things and stole from them after tricking them. Again. That had never happened, especially in their virgin games. As their fury began to subside, they found themselves intrigued. If she was this impressive at eighteen, what might she be like when she fully matured?

What might she be like if she figured out Book and gained control over them? That was a thought neither twin wanted to contemplate. They served the Merovingian because it was easy and because it amused them, they were no one’s slaves. The Merovingian held the deletion codes for most of the other programs, but the twins had reserved theirs.

They had not needed sanctuary; the Merovingian had recruited them as bodyguards. First he sent his slaves to attempt to force them—they sent back the pieces in little boxes tied with red bows over the course of several months. After that he contacted them and offered them certain concessions and enticements to gain their service. If the Merovingian learned that Naomi had Book, he would use her to gain control over them.

They needed to find her and soon. One popped open his laptop and began a search for any airline, bus or train tickets issued to her—nothing. Two was using his laptop to run a search for any images caught of her in any camera linked to the web at all. There—a shot of her in an Eckerd’s on the other side of town. What was she doing over there?

**See if there are any other shots of her in that area Two.**

Two scanned, yes, a traffic camera had caught a brief shot of her walking into an apartment building. But it the time said it was nearly thirty minutes ago. They noted the address and took off for the garage. By the time they got there she might be gone, but maybe there would be someone there who could tell them where to find her with the proper motivation.

At the apartment building, Naomi counted out the last of the money and grabbed the keys.

“So, you don’t want me to file this paperwork for how long?”

Naomi turned at the door, “At least a week. And if anyone asks, tell them I’ve gone home to see my family.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Oh, and thanks for the clothes and the shower.”

“Hey, you bought the clothes and water’s free here.”

“Bye.”

“See ya.”

Naomi ran down the back stairs to the parking lot. Her hair was shorter, black and really spiky. She’d just hacked it off all over until it looked sort of even and cool, then dyed it. And she felt better after a shower. At first the guy she bought the car from had gotten all happy, like he thought she was coming on to him by asking if she could use his shower. Then he got sort of sullen when he realized she just needed to shower and dye her hair. Sleazeball had offered to “help.”

After she asked to buy some of his clothes, skinny, short guy was almost her size, he looked at her funny, then seemed to figure it out—she was disguising herself. She told him a bunch of lies about an abusive boyfriend and then he tried to “comfort” her.

When she left he still had the red mark on his face from where she slapped him. And he backed off quick when she showed him her gun.

At least the clothes were clean, that was about all you say about them. Crazy Eddie and Iron Maiden weren’t her favorite thing to have on a t-shirt, but that was kind of the point. She looked nothing like herself, nothing, and that was good. Maybe, just maybe she could get away with this.

The car was NOT fast, but it was perfect, a little gray Honda accord, just like the other thousands of gray Honda’s and Honda look-alikes on the road. Naomi remembered a cop show she’d seen and paused to switch the plates on her car with another identical Honda parked a couple of rows away. It took a few heart-pounding minutes to make the switch, but somehow she pulled it off. Then she took off, forcing herself to drive at a moderate speed when everything in her said to hurry, go fast, danger is coming.

One and Two arrived ten minutes after Naomi left, in fact they had passed he the the highway going in the opposite direction. Screeching to a halt in front of the apartment building, they surveyed the area to see if she was anywhere around—no luck. Two’s laptop showed that she hadn’t been spotted leaving the building by the traffic camera. But there was a back entrance that wasn’t showing up on the net at all; she could have easily exited that way.

They walked into the building and started searching. An old woman cleaning the stairs said she saw a girl similar to Naomi enter apartment 375. One smiled and asked the old woman her name, later they would deposit a sizeable gift in her bank account if the information were good. Occasionally it amused them to do something pleasant.

Knocking politely at the door, they waited for a minute and then kicked the door in when the human they could clearly hear refused to open. As they stepped into the apartment, they spotted a young male running for the backdoor to his apartment. Two threw a chair at him and knocked him down, then One grabbed him by the throat and held him against the wall.

“Where is Naomi?” One hissed and Two walked up with his straight razor open.

“I, I, I don’t know mister.” The human’s eyes were rolling from side to side, so terrified he could hardly speak.

Two stalked through the few rooms, then came out of the bathroom with a handful of pale golden hair. He shoved it in the human’s face then growled, “Where?”

“She said she was going to visit her folks, I don’t know where she was really going, I don’t know.”

“Tell us everything you remember and maybe we will let yive.ive.”

One and Two listened to the human’s stammered and nearly incoherent retelling of Naomi’s visit and altered appearance. After trussing up the protesting human, they got the registration papers to the car and walked down the way Naomi had gone. Hmm, the car was gone.

They walked back to the SUV and ran a search for the palates to see of an image had been caught of them and the car occupant—yes, fifteen minutes ago a dark-haired female was spotted driving a silver Honda with those plates. She had pulled into a McDonald’s of all places. So foolish and so human, once she changed her appearance Naomi had assumed that she was safe. One and Two drove to the McDonald’s smirking the whole way.

They stalked into the McDonalds only to find that the dark haired girl was NOT Naomi and knew nothing about Naomi. After the crying female gave them her original plate number, they thanked her politely. She was so glad to escape with her life; she just nodded numbly and ran to her car. Sometimes it irritated the twins that females automatically assumed they would kill them. Except for rebels, they never killed women or children, it simply wasn’t amusing.

They ran a trace on the plate and saw a man driving the car. So, she had switched the plates again. This was going to be a little more difficult than they expected.

**We have not been bored all day, Two**

**Yes, she is a more stimulating adversary than we anticipated**

Both twins enjoyed a challenge, and this was a challenge. Plus, there was, for the first time in centuries, the very real possibility of danger. Stimulating, she was the most fun they’d had in years.

**We must reward her when we find her**

**And continue her training, One, definitely continue her training**

**Of course**

Naomi didn’t realize it, but was really just luck that a woman with dark hair owned the car she’d switched the plates with. Fate was occasionally kind and Naomi had some good luck coming to her. Once she got to the suburbs, she pulled into a mall parking lot and switched plates again. If it gave her a slight edge, it would be worth it. She was almost caught by the mall security guard, but simply smiled prettily as he drove by and he didn’t even check to see what she was doing.

After driving for fifteen hours, she realized she was going to have to stop and sleep or risk falling asleep at the wheel and crashing. She pulled into a little town, gassed up the car, and checked the phone book to see of there were any bed and breakfasts listed. She figured a personal residence might be off the beaten track and give her a better chance of eluding the twins.

Ah, one listing. It was the middle of the afternoon and she was completely exhausted. She called the number, great, it was vacant and they’d love to have her. Naomi stopped off at a clothing store and then another Eckerds. This time she’d go red. The clothes she got were simple, jeans and t-shirts, several sweaters, a new coat; hiking boots, and, thank God, a bunch of clean new underwear. She ditched her car at the store and walked over to the local car lot. Yes, that blue GTO would be just fine. Not as nondescript as the Honda, but a lot faster if she had to run.

The salesman gave her a better price for paying with cash; and the car was cheap already. She pulled into the B&B driveway, paid, staggered upstairs and fell into a deep sleep filled with images of One and Two, some terrifying, some pleasurable.