Imperium

Chapter 8: Locked

He feels his head pounding in his metal skull and is thankful to not be able to feel the migraine he undoubtably has after what he did to those soldiers back there. The intention was to hurt Fritz, but he should have known it wouldn't work on him. His files informed Colin of the fact that Fritz was apparently one of the first Hexes to reach Val'Guard. But only because The Director seemingly used him as sort of a guinea pig for new abilities before giving them to other soldiers.

Giving someone a Hex ability only to then take it away has a similar effect as implants back in Utopia. Getting the implant is fine, but removing it is dangerous. It could result in either death or madness, and it's pretty clear which effect took hold of Fritz.

But it also didn't affect J. He knows that she's also a Hex given everything he saw her do back there, but she's not a part of the Imperium. At least, he doesn't think so. She's Fritz's cousin apparently, but she was also helping him and Edith find a way to go against the Imperium. He supposes he should take it to heart when Kylen said that 'it's always a coin toss with her'.

He regrets what he did back there. He didn't think. He let his emotions act without heeding the potential consequences. Sure, those soldiers are with the Imperium and thus are their enemies, but death is a kinder fate than what he did to them.

He tries not to think about it. What's done is done.

His eyes dart to the side of the road now that he's left the city limit and reached a forest beyond the towering buildings. Not wanting to wait longer than he has to, he starts pulling the car over to stop just at the edge of the forest and out of sight of the road.

He parks and immediately throws the driver door open. He hadn't taken the time to buckle when he started driving, but he made it okay. He rushes to the backseat door and pulls it open to see Edith laying motionless across the seat. He reaches in and pulls her into his arms, shutting the doors behind him and carefully laying her down on the grass beside the car.

He looks her over to see if she might wake up, but she doesn't. He has to shove his emotions down in order to bring his hand up, shakily reaching towards her chest. After a deep breath, he presses his palm to the center of her chest and waits.

Unrelenting fear strikes through his entire body when he doesn't feel her heartbeat, but he then notices an unsteady pulse that doesn't seem to be following any rhythm or pattern. But she's alive at least, so he can find a way to help her.

He moves his hand to her face, gently cradling her cheek in his palm while he looks her over.

Running diagnostic on internal systems of ES-6248. . .

Critical error processing current status of ES-6248.
System functionality: locked.
S.R.L. functionality: locked.
Emotional Power Core of ES-6248 percentage: unidentifiable while locked.

Harmful irregularity detected.
System irregularity must be removed or S.R.L. may suffer critical data malfunction.

Diagnostic complete. All internal systems have been locked. S.R.L. must be unlocked before it can resume operating properly.

"Shit..." Colin hisses under his breath and leans back against the car. Fritz used his ability to lock her systems, which is pretty much the SRL equivalent to entering a coma. But at least she's alive, so he hasn't lost her yet. If he does, Fritz will have hell to pay.

But he's left with a bigger issue. Without Fritz's ability, he doesn't know how to unlock Edith's systems. He knows there's a special procedure for it that Unity doctors and scientists know how to perform, but unfortunately his mind was never equipped in a medical sense, and he doesn't have an SRL doctor here to fix her, so he's on his own.