"Mmm?" A few months ago Avon would have woken abruptly and with alarm if somebody had touched him in his sleep, but he had become used to sharing a bed again, and he woke more gently now. "Of course. Anything wrong?" He peered foggily up at Data, trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes.

Avon sat abruptly upright, the information affecting him far more powerfully than coffee ever could. "Please repeat that," he said, "because I must have been having a very odd dream. I thought you just said that your psychopathic brother is in the village and was resonsible for the attacks on you."

Feeling his stomach twist with a discomforting mix of apprehension, anger, and a sharp stab of guilt, he took Data's hands gently in his own. "I don't need tests like this to know it's you. I would always know."

He went on in a tight, carefully controlled growl. "Whatever this - relative of yours wants, he isn't going to get it. Not if it involves harming you. He'll have to get past me first. And he won't."

Despite the bravado, the apprehensive shiver in his stomach was increasing. Another android, as strong and as fast as Data, with Data's level of executive function, presumably, but without his morality. It was not a comforting thought. He took a deep breath. "What do you intend to do?" He would like nothing better than to lock Data away somewhere safely until he could deal with Lore himself, but he knew Data would never accept that, not if others were in danger.

Avon let out a long breath. "Damn. I remember the Master...he caused havoc about a year ago, I believe. Not long after I arrived here, in fact. I recall being rather furious to have missed all the fun." He spoke somewhat ironically; at one point he had hoped to use the Master's methods himself to escape the village.

"Data -you mustn't go after him. There are people here explicitly trained for dealing with such situations. Police. Powerful creatures...wizards, aliens, ninjas, all sorts of things. Let them deal with it. Stay with me and I'll keep you safe." He had to try, at least. "You know he'll want *you* to go after him. Don't let him bait you."

"It's not my safety I'm worried about." Avon couldn't possibly just sit still and do nothing in this situation; he had to find a way to take control of it. And he suspected he might know of a place to start. If he told Data what he was thinking, however, he was sure his fiance would discourage the idea. "I promise I'll be careful," he said, in his most innocent tone, "if you'll promise me the same. Don't take any unnecessary risks."

Avon let out a long breath. Sometimes he forgot, in his desire to take control of unfortunate situations with action, that there was something to be said for the calm before the storm.

He returned the embrace tightly, murmuring, "it's going to be all right." He hoped his voice sounded confident, despite the churning in his stomach.

"If your safety is to be assured, there seems to be little choice." Everyone else's safety was, of course, secondary to Avon. Even his own, for once. "That doesn't mean you have to do it personally. He isn't your responsibility, brother or not."

Avon rubbed gently up and down Data's back. "I understand why you feel that way. But you have *taken* responsibility for him before, even though you are in no way accountable for his behaviour. You shouldn't have to do this again. It would not be cowardice to allow someone else to bear a burden that would be far less onerous to them that to you."

Making a decision, he drew back to look into Data's eyes. He intended to go his own way regardless, but he owed it to Data to make at least an attempt to be open about it before conducting his own private investigation. "Let me do it. Lead me to him and I'll finish the job. Believe me, after what he has done to you, my conscience will not suffer."

"Data," he murmured, cupping his cheek gently. "Always thinking of others before yourself, even at a time like this. I could never mistake him for you. He may look like you, but the two of you are worlds apart, from what I can see."

He studied Data's face, wanting only to erase the suffering he saw there. There were so many people who *deserved* pain and grief, who had earned it through their torment of others. It was ludicrously unfair that Data, who had only ever tried to do good, should be made to hurt like this. But then, if Avon had learned anything from life, it was that nothing in it *was* fair.

"I wish I could take this burden from you," he said, "but I suppose I can't. Not fully. Even if someone else committed the final necessary act, you would still be the one to suffer most." He might not be able to relieve the emotional burden, but if he managed to find Lore first, he could at least remove the risk of Data sacrificing himself in the attempt to stop his brother.

"You must promise me that whatever happens, you'll be careful. A universe without you would be hollow and worthless - as would I."

The sincerity and tenderness of the statement left Avon without words for a moment. He had never been the most important thing in anyone's life before, and the realistic of it was always overwhelming.

"Assisted...yes, but I would put it more strongly than that. 'Rescued' would not be too dramatic a term. You know better than anyone how desperately I tried to escape the village at first, obsessed with setting right all the mistakes I'd made, erasing the endless series of failures my life had become. I no longer feel the need to do that. People talk very freely about the concept of second chances, but few are unfortunate enough to genuinely need them, and far fewer still are fortunate enough to find them. I found mine, here - not because of the village. Because of you. Anything good that was left in me was buried far too deeply for me to see. But you saw it." He paused a moment, wanting to say more, but there were no words to cover the rest of it, the greatest part of it. So he simply added, quietly and sincerely, "thank you."

He smiled lopsidedly. "I shall do my best to live up to that. I only hope you won't be too disappointed by the result. And I do understand your anxiety, and the reasons for it. As you said, however - I can take care of myself. You needn't worry about me. Focus on what you need to do."

Avon lay on his side, head propped on one hand, looking down at Data. "Leaving," he said, after a moment, "is a prospect that hadn't occured to me. How odd. If you wanted to, you know I wouldn't hold it against you. Provided you took me with you, of course," he added, with a crooked little smile.

He tapped his fingers lightly against Data's chest. "The only thing I care about is that you make the decision that is best for you. Other people's safety and well-being mean relatively little to me, you know. You probably disapprove of that attitude, but it's true. I can't help it. I'm a one-android man." He smiled more naturally, hoping to lighten the mood just a little. "Well, I suppose I wouldn't actually let Vila and Dayna die in flames if I could help it. Tarrant can take his chances." Gallows-humour: Avon's specialty.

He snorted. "Oh, I don't know. One more five-hour game of Galactic Monopoly and I'd consider it."

Realising that he probably wasn't going to be able to beat this particular unhappy situation into submission with grim quips, his expression became more serious as he confirmed, "no, I don't suppose I would, at that." He let out a long breath. "Would 'are you all right?' be a stupid question at this juncture?"

He nodded. "You will be. We'll make sure of that, together."

There was really nothing he could say to make things seem less bleak. Righteous anger might be appropriate, but Avon doubted that listening to him rant about the hubris of anyone daring to threaten his fiance would make Data feel much better. Instead he simply lay beside him, watching him in silence, letting him have his space.

Avon met his gaze steadily. "If there's something I can do - anything,. to make this easier - tell me?"

Avon was silent a moment before replying. It was not a topic he normally discussed. "There isn't much to tell," he said, eventually. "He died a long time ago. We didn't have much contact after I was adopted out of the Delta levels. What did you want to know?"

Avon moved close, pressing again him. The strange thing was, it was hard to remember much about his brother. He had been very young when his new 'parents' had taken him away to live a life of privilege. There were snatches of memory, brief episodes he had long since stopped thinking about. But he tried.

"He used to tease me about my interest in the sciences. The other children at school thought I was strange, so my brother simply refused to talk to me in public - he always referred to me as 'the freak' or 'the embarrassment'. I was forever conducting little experiments...I set the sitting room curtains on fire once. And dissected a dead rat on my parents' bed. I didn't kill the rat, you understand, I merely found it in the rubbish disposal area outside our accommodation complex, and was curious about how it worked. My parents were not pleased, as you can imagine. They thought there might be something wrong with me. But my brother wouldn't have that; he insisted I was curious rather than destructive, that I hadn't meant any harm. He said I was a genius, and the family must make allowances because I would make them all a lot of money one day, pull them out of the gutter. Frankly I can't remember now whether I intended any harm or not, but it pleased me to know that my brother would stand up for me, despite all his teasing. He made it clear that day that he was proud of his weird little brother, after all."

He gnawed his lip for a moment, gaze distant. "But of course, that wasn't enough when the time came for me to leave. He never forgave me for abandoning our family."

"And I would have liked to meet your father. He sounds fascinating."

He tilted his head. "You have?" Something about the idea sent a prickle down his back. "Why would you want to do that?"

He shrugged. "I tried to find information about them, later in my life, but there was little to find. People like them slip through the cracks. I imagine they met the fate of most Deltas...they lived, they worked too hard, they died young and poor. My parents were not like me. They were honest people. I sometimes wonder how my brother and I turned out the way we did. Frustration, I suppose. We both thought we were better than the lives we had been born into - deserved better."

"With adequate planning," Avon agreed. "But of course, we never actually had any of that..."

He squeezed Data's hand. "You want to put everything right. It's admirable, but the unpleasantness of my universe isn't your problem. Frankly, it isn't mine anymore, either."

He nodded. "Yes, I can understand that."

Avon pursed his lips. "He has an accomplice, I suspect. And I have a feeling I might know who it is. There is only one person in the village I know for sure wishes us both harm."

"If not an accomplice, then at least a cheerleader," Avon grunted. "I suspect Travis has had a hand in all this. He seldom passes up an opportunity to be needlessly violent."

"I don't have a any direct evidence," Avon admitted, "except that Travis is a snake who enjoys taking orders from stronger, more intelligent people. Given that the prejudice seems to work both ways, perhaps you're right. And there won't be any risk," he added, grmily, "only certainty."

Because Data was right; he needed proof. And he needed to know where Lore was. If Avon's hunch was correct, Travis could provide both pieces of information.