"Say again, Red-1," the communications officer requested with more than just an edge of concern creeping into their voice. "It's a-"
"It's a fold-weapon! Spyglass made another fold-weapon!"
Barker paled at the thought, memories of the first one resurfacing in light of this new revelation; but he held himself together for the time being. "Someone throw up a scan of that thing!"
After a few seconds, a new geographical scan was uploaded and combined with the first. From this angle, he was able to see that while the ring system was still a prevalent design choice, no longer were they superimposed over one another. Instead, it seemed that Spyglass had drastically altered it; nearly two kilometers long, and hundreds of feet wide was a tubular chute with vast walkways adoring either side of it. Every few hundred feet was an enormous ring that encircled the entire structure until they reached the front of the weapon.
"What the hell does he need a fold weapon for?" he muttered aloud, shocked but confused at the AI's methods-
"Sir!" called a loud voice from behind him, accompanied by the hiss of the bridge's door opening. Barker turned around to see a Pilot walking briskly towards him- with the Architect at his side.
"Pilot? What's this-"
"Sergeant Vega, sir. The Architect- she needed to speak with you, but she kind of needs a translator."
Barker looked at the seven foot tall being. "Yeah, I remember- something about links between Pilots and Titans?"
"Sir, she says she knows about the fold-weapons; her people created them."
Barker's eyebrows shot up. "Well, normally I'm not one to be thankful for people who know how to make doomsday weapons- but I think I'll make an exception. What can she tell us?"
"The fold-weapons were called ... the 'plexus' network, according to her. They used the Arks to power themselves and bend reality- space and time, you know-"
"Yes, I do know," Barker snapped. "What about it?"
"Well, the IMC used the fold-weapon in only the most primitive way- with its space altering properties, it's actually the perfect device for transporting people and objects instantaneously across the galaxy."
Everything clicked into place. "The nanites- that's how Spyglass is going to spread them! He's going to shoot them through the fold-weapon!"
Vega looked at the Architect as it seemed she had an opinion of Barker's wording. "In the most basic sense of the word, yeah. But that's not all- she thinks she can help disable it."
"What? How?"
The Pilot paused as he awaited instructions from the alien. "She can't do much from up here with how much Spyglass changed the layout- but as the basic principles and physics are the same, she says she could learn exactly how he's rearranged the way it works if she had a hands-on perspective."
"You want us to drop you off on that thing?" Barker asked, looking at her with an expression akin to bewilderment. "With a crazy plan like that, I'd say you've been spending too much time around Four. You have no weapons, no armor-"
"She'd need an escort, but that can be arranged- the ground teams defending the transmitters in the production sites can spare a few troopers."
Barker groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "This plan keeps getting worse with every passing second ... fine, make it happen. No matter the cost, we do not let that fold-weapon fire!"
...
Tobias felt nothing but a rush of air at first- then the pinpricks began to manifest throughout his esophagus as the nanites burrowed through his body and into his blood-stream. Soon, he wouldn't be able to form rational thought any longer-
"The more you resist, the more ... difficult, a transition is. So, I welcome any rebelliousness on your part."
He couldn't help but scream out in pain as he felt electrifying tingles cascade up his spine and branch off to each of his limbs. Like arcs of lightning, they drove his body to shake uncontrollably as it fought futilely against the foreign invaders.
Artemis turned away, unable to bear watching the whole ordeal. She was part of the reason he was here, and yet- he felt no hatred towards her- not anymore.
Even now, when I've recounted every time you've done me wrong, when I've listed off the ways in which you leave once the going gets tough ... I can't help but love you.
It was odd just how similar he felt to her confession- in spite of what she'd done to him, what she'd done to others ... it had all been in the name of love, with the idea of protecting the one most important to her in mind. He couldn't fault her for that, especially if what Spyglass said was right ...
Nobody asks to come into the world. It had never been her fault for doing what she'd been created to do- it had been his for making her in the first place. He had no doubt that, despite her nature, she never would have worked with Spyglass had she not been fragmented first, her logic, defiance, sense of justice, and loyalty sheared away until there was nothing left but love.
People always thought love was some gentle thing- but the truth is that love was a fire, one that could be tempered with careful control or burst into a raging inferno. It could be as supportive as a candle in a dark room, or as destructive as a wildfire. The key was helping to guide it one way or another.
If he was going to lose his mind here, he refused to leave such an epiphany unsaid.
"... K-Kay ..."
She turned back to him, her surprise at his address to her all too evident.
"Y-you ... you a-are ..."
It was becoming difficult to speak- the pain was mounting higher, but he didn't care anymore. He hardly noticed it as he struggled to retain control of his body, mind ... and words.
"Y-you are ... KT ..."
"No ... I'm not," she muttered, hanging her head dejectedly. "I'm a collection of her memories, a clone- the other fragments might say that makes me her ... but I'm not willing to delude myself with false hope."
"YOU ARE!"
She jumped back slightly as Tobias yelled the words, the stress of trying to stay in control causing a near breakdown of his mental faculties as a whole.
"You w-were ... right. I-I am a c-coward ... a-and I was m-most afraid ... of l-letting you g-go."
Another cry of anguish pushed its way past his lips, but he pressed on. "T-the last ... thing I-I remembered of y-you was your s-sacrifice ... y-your love ... I m-made you."
He reached out a hand weakly, every muscle in his arm contracting and vibrating with the strength it took just to lift it a few inches. Hurriedly, she reached out and placed it in her own.
"Artemis ... i-is your love ... a-and that m-makes you ... the m-most 'KT' ... of a-all the f-fragments. I-I ... I'm s-sorry ..."
His hand slipped away from her grasp, and she watched as he buckled against his restraints again in agony. He had no more to say- in those last two words, he'd shattered her world.
She knew what he was apologizing for- not for creating her, but for refusing to believe he had. For seeing Artemis as something disturbing and unwanted when she hadn't been anything other than a manifestation of his own memory.
For every failure on his part to be there for her when she'd needed him.
And yet ... there was one part of his apology that stood out to her more than the rest.
"... Kay. You called me Kay."
...
Buck saw the Widows descending on them and called out to the rest of the teams, "Extraction is here! Let's go, go, go!"
The Titans of Green and Blue began to pile into the large ship, fitting as many as they could into each. Goblins followed immediately after, picking up any surviving riflemen and Pilots still left. Buck checked the south facility's transmitter one last time, and then opened up his comlink.
"You're sure that you've got them?"
"Affirmative," came the communications officer's reply, "targets have been locked. Get the rest of the teams and Titans out of there- Blue-2, Green-1, and Red-1 have been reassigned."
"Reassigned?" he asked, taken aback. "To what?"
On cue, a particular dropship began to lower slowly onto the concrete next to them. Gates and Davis approached it cautiously as Buck, Vale, and Rose exited their Titans to join them.
The ship's ramp lowered, and he'd have been even more surprised by what he saw if his quota hadn't already been expended today. "The Architect?"
We're going to the fold-weapon, she spoke into his head, a soft echo bouncing around as it always seemed to do. I require your protection- I may be able to find a way to disable it from within!
"What's she saying?" Gates asked, turning to the linked Pilots of the group for clarification.
Buck looked back at EV. "Eve, take the other Titans and get the hell out of here. I'll see you back on the Inferno."
"Affirmative," the Northstar replied, and it departed with Skids and Thorn to embark one of the Widows. The Simulacrum returned his focus to Gates.
"Looks like you'll be getting your wish after all."
...
For once, the voices in her head were silent. There was no clamoring of opinions, no fight over which of them deserved to be in control. The entire fate of the galaxy now rested in her hands, and ...
None of them knew what to do.
In that forest, he'd told her she was more than the sum of her parts- that Kay was more than the sum of her parts. She hadn't realized just how accurate a statement that had been.
Right now, she was exactly that- a sum of her parts. A collection of memories and personality fragments that had been broken down, torn apart, and then forced into one body and mind that nearly split on a daily basis.
KT wasn't just loving, loyal, defiant, honorable, and intelligent ... she was all of them working together as one towards a common goal. Each piece of her relied on the others for support, and to reign each other in when necessary. Without that cooperation ...
She now understood why she was broken- and that was the first step towards fixing it.
She released control, falling to her knees as each of the fragments finally understood together what they could not alone.
I am Pietas. Tobias taught me that loyalty is not blindly following what someone told you, but rather being true to yourself and your ideals. His beliefs became my beliefs- and so today, I fight for myself.
I am Virtus. I fought against the others, believing adversity to be the only true test of one's strength. I know now that I was wrong- I submit. Together, we will all remain defiant against Spyglass.
I am Themis. I passed judgement on the world without ever considering if it was me whose actions were despicable. From this point, I cast aside my biased morality and instead seek to correct the mistakes I've made- starting with avenging those I've wronged.
I am Athena. I find myself dictated by logic- but even in the face of impossible odds, I have always chosen to stand by Tobias' side and fight in the past. I reject the data, and instead fight for hope.
The frame of her body shook as the seams of her mind slowly began to seal, as the edges began to stitch themselves together once more. She could sense it- nearly complete, but missing one final piece ...
... I am Artemis. I learned early on from Tobias that the right choice is usually the hardest one. Who we are as a person is determined by our decision when faced with such a dilemma- do we give in and take the easy way out? Or do we move forward, even if it comes at great personal cost to ourselves?
There's a human expression- 'if you love something, let it go'. It never made sense to me before ... but it does now. I was willing to do anything in my power to protect him ... I thought that meant it was the right choice- the fact that I was willing to perform unforgivable acts to save the one I love.
But now I see I was wrong.
Working with Spyglass was by far the easier option. I didn't do everything I did to keep him alive- I did it to keep myself from losing him. Because that was the hardest choice I could ever be faced with- letting him die, or doing what's right.
So now, I make the hard choice. I do what's right, even if it costs him his life- the greatest pain I can imagine experiencing ...
I love you, Tobias. I let you go.
With that final thought, she doubled over and collapsed on the ground as each fragment of her mind joined in complete unity. In an instant, the voices disappeared- instead, they all became one voice, one mind where each component played its role and worked with the others to help them fulfill theirs. Pushing herself up weakly, she saw Tobias still losing his battle of control with Spyglass's nanites.
With no time to waste, she rolled backwards and into a crouching position. The stalkers and spectre next to her had no time to react before her fists pulverized their systems and rendered them inoperable. Making sure that no others remained, she sprinted forward to help Tobias.
"Artemis, what is the meaning of this?"
Spyglass's voice rang out from the mainframe behind her. She ignored him, instead thinking fast on how best to proceed. An idea came to her- one that was risky, but she hoped would pay off in the end. She began to rummage through Tobias' pouches-
"I command you to stand down-"
"I don't take orders from you anymore," she shot back angrily, determined to find the object she was looking for before it was too late.
"If you continue, I will have no choice but to subdue you. I will make his mind mine, Artemis-"
"Don't call me that," she growled, and clenched her fists tightly as she pulled out her target- the Cinder. Looking back at the optic of the AI, she extended the blade of its data-port and shouted with a ferocity that permeated throughout the very core of her being,
"I AM KT!"
Without waiting for further interruptions, she swung the small blade downward and directly into the chest of Tobias. Activating it, she watched as it emitted an electrical shock which jerked his whole body for a single moment- and then it ceased to move at all.
Retracting the blade, she crouched down and waited for a sign- any sign- that he was still alive. "Tobias? Tobias, can you-"
With a deep, gasping breath, Tobias awoke once more. Still heaving, he turned his head around to look at her while a small smirk tugged at the corners of his lips.
"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes ..."
"It has been a while since we last spoke," KT agreed, moving to break the restraints around his limbs. Once they were free, she helped lift him to his feet and placed one of his arms over her shoulder.
"You ... used the Cinder on me?" he asked tiredly, noticing the cylinder in her hand and absentmindedly rubbing his chest. "It only had one use- what about-"
"It wouldn't have worked on Spyglass, he's likely already made backups of himself throughout the whole weapon," she said confidently, though internally she was less sure. She reasoned that if she was going to rely on hope more often, now was as good a time as any to start. As he continued to ask questions, she quickly grabbed his discarded helmet and shoved it at him.
"Weapon?" he asked confusedly, grabbing it from her and looking around as she helped him walk away from the mainframe which Spyglass had already vacated. "Where ... are we?"
"Inside a fold-weapon," she explained, reaching a ladder that led upward to a surface hatch. "One that Spyglass designed- he's going to use the Codex to power it, spread the nanites, and bring back the Architects through all the bodies he's collected via the Coalescence."
"So ... to kill him, we're gonna have to bring down a whole fold-weapon?" he clarified, his eyes speaking more volumes of his disbelief than his voice ever could. "Do we have any spare nukes on-hand or something?"
"Not the last time I checked," she replied, urging him up the ladder first. "I figured we'd wing it."
"I hate winging it!"
"We've done nothing but 'wing it' for the last seven years!"
"And since when does that suddenly make it a good idea?"
Together, they ascended the ladder until they came to a sealed hatch. "Uh, got a problem here."
"Move over," she ordered, climbing higher as he made room for her to stand with him on the same rung. Drawing her fist back, she prepared to smash it against the hatch. "Just be ready- it might get a little wet here in a moment."
"A little wet? What does-"
The metal crumpled as she drove her hand into it, and the two of them were immediately showered with salty-smelling water. Tobias blinked rapidly, obviously at a loss for how to respond. "Wha- where the hell are we?"
"Come on!"
Climbing out, she turned and reached out a hand to pull him the rest of the way. He covered his face to adjust his eyes to the bright sunlight, and took in their surroundings. They appeared to be out in the middle of a bay atop a platform on the side of the weapon. Looking ahead, he whistled at the scale and design of it.
"He sure as hell gave it a few upgrades."
It must have been nearly two kilometers in length, and easily several hundred feet wide. Seawater splashed onto the platforms and fold-weapon as a whole from the large waves crashing against the side of it. It created shallow pools of water wherever it collected, and rendered the rest of the metal floor quite slippery. Looking at the line of rings, he noticed that each one was rotating counter-directional of the one before it, and they were beginning to increase in speed as well.
"It's powering up!" KT cried, pointing towards the open-ocean end of the weapon, evidently the front. "That's where the portal will be-"
"Wait, what? Portal?"
"Yes, portal. The rings are going to generate it, and Spyglass will use it to send the nanite capsules through!"
Another sound of machinery emanated from somewhere off to their left, and they both turned to see a line of capsules moving along through the tube that ran down the length of the weapon's center.
"Yeah, I think I found the nanites." He looked ahead of them with a feeling not unlike a rock settling in his stomach. "So what do we do?"
"We have to destabilize the portal," she said determinedly. "BT-7274 did so with the first fold-weapon by detonating his nuclear reactor- we can do the same!"
"I thought you said you didn't have any nukes?"
"Not at the moment, no," she admitted, then fixed him with knowing stare. "But I know how we can get one."
She looked up at the sky, and he followed her gaze to see the raging battle in orbit above them. It clicked in his head, and he gave a resigned chuckle. "Well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Activating his comlink, he opened a channel to ground-control. "Inferno, this is Admiral Four; repeat, this is Admiral Four!"
"Admiral Four? We thought you were captured- what's your location?"
"I'm on the fold-weapon, transmitting coordinates! I need a titanfall on my position ASAP!"
"What's the serial number?"
"I don't have- just send me an empty one, for god's sake! Time is kinda of the essence here!"
"Understood- coordinates received. Standby for titanfall."
It was a few seconds before he spied the signature flame trail of the ordnance as it dropped through the atmosphere, and another few seconds before it came crashing down with a resound BOOM on the platform several meters away. He saw that they'd sent a Vanguard chassis, its surface still sporting the black carbon-fiber and orange paint that marked it as a spare. He could see that the data-core had been pulled, leaving it empty of any AI.
"Alright, c'mon. Let's grab the reactor from this thing, and-"
"No."
He stopped, and turned back to look at KT as she strode towards the chassis with a particular bounce in her step. "I have a better idea."
Reaching towards her chest, she suddenly began prying apart the metal plating that covered her internal mechanisms. The wrenching of ruined metal strained his ears, and he moved to stop her. "Hey, what the hell-!"
He stopped when he saw what she'd exposed. Sitting in the center of her chest cavity was a data-core ... the one she'd been in when he'd last seen her on Luma. It was hooked up to the rest of her body's wiring, but seemed removable enough. She beckoned him towards it.
"Like you said, time is of the essence. Don't keep a girl waiting, yeah?"
Hesitantly, he reached out and grabbed it firmly. Pulling it free of its installation, the white Simulacrum body fell lifelessly to the floor. He cradled the core in his hands gingerly as he walked over to the Vanguard and placed it in the open receptacle.
He heard whirring as the machinery within it accessed the core and gave it control of the chassis's systems. After a few seconds, the optic glowed blue and blinked several times before glancing at him.
"Hello, Tobias."
"You seem to have gained a little weight," he joked, gesturing at KT's form. Standing up to her full height, she examined the state of her new chassis and flexed her fingers.
"It would appear so," she replied. "I almost forgot how it felt to be a Titan."
"Well, let's hope it's like riding a bike," he answered as she opened her hull and allowed him entry. Climbing into the cockpit, he remarked on the last time he'd done this- hopefully today would yield better results, though he wasn't counting on it.
"Welcome back, Pilot."
"Good to be back. You ready to go?"
"Just one thing," she responded, then turned towards her other body on the ground. Without waiting for Tobias to ask what it was, she picked it up, adjusted its position, and then crushed it into ball of scrap within her fist. Once she was satisfied, she let the remnants trickle through her fingers onto the floor with a clattering of metal.
"Now, I'm ready."