Cinder

21 - The Tower

At this their faces lit up for a brief moment before darkening again. He pondered at the meaning of their sudden excitement before he realized that even if they were technically New Humanity, they probably weren't completely happy with all the effects of Spyglass's rule either.

"I think you're a bit out of your league on this one, Four." Now a security officer spoke, surprising even the other guards. "New Humanity isn't some enemy you can gun down- Spyglass is everywhere, always watching. There's no hope in a cause like that ... a life of submission is better than death."

These people weren't evil, just scared and hoping to avoid whatever shitstorm Spyglass was brewing up; maybe Tobias had been a bit quick to judge those who defected to New Humanity. Didn't mean he couldn't make up for it now, though.

"You'll die anyway if you keep following his lead," he said, looking over all of them and making sure each was paying close attention. "Spyglass has a plan to end humanity as we know it, he's calling it the Coalescence. I don't have time to explain all the details, but the long and short of it is using nano machines to enslave us all ... and I'm working on a way to stop it."

"What?" cried a scientist in outrage. "How do you know this? We've never heard of-"

"You don't have to believe me," he cut off the man, "but I'm sure you'll find out for yourself when the AI decides to liquidate this place and keep the news from getting out. Do you really think he won't kill a few researchers to keep his secrets from being released?"

None of them had an answer for that, and simply stared at the Pilot with dumbstruck and horrified expressions. He was glad to have finally gotten the point across.

He lowered his Wingman hesitantly, a show of good faith. "Look," he began, dropping the sharpness from his tone, "I'm not going to pretend that fighting Spyglass is easy. The Emb- the resistance is outgunned and outnumbered. Humanity is more divided than ever before, and it's going to take every scrap of luck I can get to pull it off."

He paused. "But ... I can do it."

"How?" asked the same scientist anxiously. "How can you possibly hope to stop him?"

He walked forward towards the center of the room. "I know you're scared. I know you didn't join New Humanity because you agree with it, but because it's better to wield the sword than be on the receiving end. A lot of people are going to die trying to take Spyglass down, but everyone will die if we don't. I know that we can beat him- but only if we work together." He glanced around, waiting for their response. "I need you to believe me. I need you to believe in me."

There was silence for a few moments until another security officer shuffled forward. "I've heard some crazy things about what you've accomplished. If anyone can do the impossible ... it's you."

Nobody else said anything, but the attitude in the room changed considerably. Tobias saw it on the researcher's faces; a determination where none had been there before. He finally grasped why Gates had said he was a symbol to rally behind- his very name was a weapon to be used against Spyglass.

These people finally had a glimmer of something they hadn't felt in years; hope.

"What do you need from us?"

He turned towards the woman who asked. "I'm here for the Architect."

Her eyes widened. "How did- that's classified, how could you have-"

"Lucky guess," he answered hastily. "Doesn't matter. She's a key part in understanding Spyglass's motives- it's believed that he's been using her to look for some way to help distribute the nanites. If I can get her out of here, it will put me one step closer to preventing the Coalescence."