DV-2 Pioneer Lodge

Sir...? Mr. Sonny?

......

Are you feeling alright? I heard how hard you were breathing.

......!

It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you.

I came here with Dr. Silence, and your men checked us over. We're not carrying any dangerous weapons.

Sorry. I just, uh, force of habit.

No need to apologize. I understand.

It's always hard when the darkness creeps in.

Could you come a little closer? Body heat makes things much warmer. You won't go numb this way, even if you've got to sleep.

Where's the others?

Dr. Silence's medical drone installation has an emergency power source.

She's inside the building right now giving Ptilopsis a health checkup, and Miss Elena's with them too.

Sam's...

He's followed your plan. He got all the Pioneers in poorer health together, in there.

On it.

Lemme ask you a favor. Don't tell Sam, or anyone, how I just, uh...

I understand.

You're their leader. If they thought your strength wasn't holding up at such a key moment, you could lose control of the Pioneer Team.

......

I'm not trying to say your team isn't united enough, but... the darkness usually has a way of pushing on variables.

You've got a mile of experience.

I'm a Bolívarian. Blackouts were pretty common back in the city I'm from.

Bolívar... there's a war there?

We never had an easy guess for where the fires of war would stall out, back home.

Must've been hard for you. Getting yourself out of there, I mean.

It was all thanks to my colleagues.

The way I see it, you and your Pioneer Team are even more amazing.

Me... amazing? Hahah...

Wh-Why are you laughing?

So those stupid company ads made it all the way down to Bolívar?

No, I don't mean like that.

No matter how you look at it, you got here by your own two feet. And the ones who came before you, the immigrants from Victoria, Gaul, and Bolívar...

It's their footprints all together that lit up these wilds.

Hah... you got a way with words.

Eh? I'm just telling it like it is.

I'd always wanted to see what the famous Columbian frontier was like.

Well, you disappointed? Might be more desolate than your hometown here.

No, Mr. Sonny, I think I've learned a lot.

For example, the way your power lines are designed really is economical and efficient, just as Mechanist described.

Officer, the vehicle's ready.

Make sure you've got the right equipment.

I saw them with handmade crossbows.

Let it get a little darker, then send a few drones ahead to the Pioneer living quarters. Confirm the position of every hostage and bandit.

We follow behind, and look for a good opportunity to bust in.

Then... what about Researcher Silence and that Rhodes Island operator?

What are you going for here?

I'm not sure which side they're on.

Is that how you Rhine Labbers work? You've gotta pick a side first no matter what you're doing?

We just want to ensure all problems are resolved.

That's what we do in Defense, Officer.

And what I do is help people.

Listen, I don't care what you guys want to do. My advice is to make sure you don't get in the way of my job either.

So you're saying it's Rhodes Islanders who saved you?

Rhodes Island didn't just save my life in the accident, they gave me the chance to continue my education.

I'm where I am today all because Rhodes Island changed my life.

Hahah... what a nice company.

Any other time and place, I would've thought you were running a recruitment drive.

Mr. Sonny—if you do have an interest, you can absolutely send your CV to Rhodes Island.

......

Me, a Pioneer, and looking like a kidnapper now... handing my CV to a company as fine as you're talking about?

Pretty funny joke there.

Humble yourself all you want, but I can still tell how much potential you got as an engineer.

Not to mention your three ladies in there... They're all Infected, and they still got hired by Rhine Lab? Do you know how tough that is?

Um... yeah, they definitely are outstanding...

No, not just outstanding. They're one in a million. Top of their fields.

You got so many Infected each year, and only the tiniest number of talents ever get 'pardoned.'

But Rhodes Island...

Yeah, Mr. Greyy, you want to tell me, 'Rhodes Island never gives terms that harsh when it saves people.'

Even if I was willing to believe you, believe your special kind of faith in the company that saved your life, believe it was ready to go against its own nature, its self-interest and treat an Infected fair and square.

You still can't tell me you're not lucky to be one of the chosen ones.

And the saps left over, they get round up to sit and wait until they drown in the mud. Their only other chance is to try taking a few steps, face up to bigger danger, and go looking for the tiniest place where just for a moment, they can rest their feet.

Them and me... we're all in the same boat. No soul to save us. Can't even save ourselves.

Olivia, do you really think this is going to help?

Joyce's brain activity indicators have stabilized somewhat.

I've administered some intravenous nervous depressants. That used to be a routine treatment method. The effect isn't especially ideal in this case, but...

Could her attack have had some other trigger?

Isn't she still in serious danger either way?

Yes. As long as we can't treat the cause, she needs a better care environment.

That's great... but I'm not even asking about Joyce's condition.

You let Greyy and the Pioneer leader go on patrol together.

That wasn't my decision. It was Greyy's own idea.

You're the captain.

I haven't spent as much time on the Rhodes landship as you two have, but I know how the company works, Olivia. I'm not trying to criticize you...

But if Greyy runs into trouble, or we're held up treating Joyce, you won't forgive yourself.

Do you believe Sonny would more easily trust Greyy, or us?

Is there a difference?

I recall you were unfortunate enough to catch Oripathy in a testing accident at Rhine headquarters.

Yes.

Did it cross your mind at the time... that you might never be able to do research again?

Of course it did.

But the boss—I mean, Ferdinand sent a new contract right out, extending the three years to ten, and giving me a thirty percent raise.

You were Employee of the Year.

Yeah... not much of a consolation prize, right?

I mean, all the time I was getting treated at Rhodes Island, I ended up writing the director three entire conference papers.

I understand your perspective; I'm more or less the same.

I'm far less purely optimistic than you. I've worried about the future, and following from that, I was thankful to Parvis and Rhine Lab, for a time.

But I... I've never doubted my own abilities, nor what they could do for Rhine Lab in return.

For us, Oripathy is a challenge to overcome; it's not going to gnaw our entire lives away.

And that's why... Greyy can do what we can't.

Mr. Sonny, I'd like to point out, there's a kind of contradiction in what you're saying.

For real?

You say that the Pioneers risk it all in search of the next place to rest their feet...

So how do you know we're not about to come across a way out?

Sir, the building—the power's back!

What the hell?!

Hm...

Wait, you son of a gun—that's what you were doing the whole time you were talking to me?

Mr. Sonny...

If I hadn't run out into the darkness back then, I wouldn't ever have met the Rhodes Islanders who came before me, carrying the light.

Trust me. Sometimes, taking one more step really does mean something.

Even if... I'm already standing on the brink?

—Even if you've already jumped off.

We've seen you reaching out your hand. You're crying out to us for help.

So we'll do everything we can to catch you.

No matter what you've been through, it's far from time to give up yet.

We've got power!

Did Greyy... do it?

Hngh...

That's a relief. Joyce is showing a reaction to the light.

Trust you to be so focused, even now.

Ladies.

......

Why are you back alone? Where's Greyy?

This is the only place with power right now. He's making for the other quarters.

I...

You don't trust me, do you?

Stay back!

Elena?

Olivia, you said he wouldn't trust us, but...

I have even less grounds to trust him.

He tricked me and Joyce into coming here, and I've kept quiet on this the whole time... I saw more of them surrounding the labs.

All of those Pioneers are armed!

It's not what you think...

What do I think, huh? You said you didn't want to do anyone dirty! You mean you forgot how Dorothy's been treating you all?!

You're going to hurt her for your own selfish ends!

Is that...? Did you pull an alarm?

I've been planning to for a long time. I'm sure the police and my Defense colleagues are already on the way. They won't need any drones to pin our position now.

Much thanks to Greyy for this.

So that's why he got the power back on...

Don't project your own gloomy mind on him.

Greyy really does want to help you, just like Dorothy and Joyce do.

Out of respect for them, I'll consider letting you off the hook.

Sir, whatever plans you had before, give them up before it's too late.

Are the drones out?

Not yet. Our people are waiting for your order.

Then tell me... what the hell is that thing shining above the site?!

So close. It'll all be good soon.

That's some... goddamned beautiful light.

Is it? Thank you...

Hahah... Got me feeling thawed out some, even, working with you here.

Just that bit left in front now, right? We'll show those megacorpers! Cut whatever you want to us, we won't take it sitting down, not while we've still got our own two hands to get things done!

Wait, something's wrong...

Hold on a second!

What is it?

D—Don't go any further! That light isn't my Arts!

Doc Silence.

Hm...

I'd like to ask just one more time. Are you really willing to trust a Pioneer?

I'm a doctor, and a researcher.

I'm like my colleagues—

......

In that I trust the truth.

What's the deal outside?

What are they all running for? Did you—

No, not on my orders.

Get away from me, you bastard—!

Shit!

The police are probably here to rescue us.

No, stay in here!

What the hell is wrong with you now—

My guess is, that thing's come again...

What thing?

Well, the... truth, I wanted to tell you about.

Elena, keep away from the door!

Sir—s—sir...

Got...ta watch... out...

......

Has he been hurt? Or is he... having an attack?

Stay away from him.

Your teammate is clearly in need of assistance!

Watch what's behind him—

This... It's...

Run!!!

......

I have to admit, I wasn't expecting that.

Rest assured. I have no intention of going back to prison either.

Then that makes cleaning up the scene of the crime here a lot easier.

After all, I'm a mechanist. Won't take much time to pull a machine apart.

But I'm wondering... How did you know it was empty inside?

I've sparred with this power suit a few times before.

You've been hunted by them too?

In a sense.

If they're showing up here, that goes to show someone really doesn't want us tracking Muelsyse's whereabouts.

Who's that someone going to be?

There are many possibilities.

I don't contact Muelsyse much. I only know she was participating in some Rhine Lab-headed secret experiment before she disappeared.

Considering I left Rhine long ago, her divulging as much to me already violated her NDA.

Does Rhine Defense dispatch cutting-edge weapons to eliminate info-leaking employees?

......

Got it. That's non-disclosure too.

Rhodes Island sure is a friendly enterprise, isn't it, Dr. Doctor?

Muelsyse isn't an ordinary Rhine Lab employee.

If they can drive her to the edge, their professionalism has to be on par with mine.

This model of power armor made a showing in certain mercenary groups about half a year ago.

Neither its defensive material nor its equipped weaponry are outstanding. All in all, it's comparable to military-manufactured power armor from five years ago.

Save for one very notable point—it doesn't demand anything from its user.

Anything... how low do the requirements go?

Any being whose physiological parameters can maintain a standard exercise state satisfies the requirements.

I can, you can, and the Doctor can.

......

You won't like the feeling of it, Doctor, I can guarantee you.

Only crack troops used to be able to wear power armor.

Picture controlling that giant contraption for extended periods of fighting, and not drowning in your own vomit in the process—it genuinely wasn't something anyone could do without training.

Ask Dur-nar, she'll tell you. She says she wore it one time ever, and it made her want to quit the military right then and there.

I imagine these intervening years have been enough for them to iterate the technology a couple dozen times over, and there's no shortage of vets among the mercenaries...

But for anyone to wear it?

That's an invention that might change how whole wars are fought.

Similar power armors are only out there in extremely low numbers, which makes it obvious this tech is only in its prototype phase.

I'm on the trail of its source right now. Getting leads isn't a cakewalk, as with so many other experimental weapons.

The mercs may not be clients.

In the eyes of the people who order this stuff, mercenaries and these latest power suits are interchangeable—

—It's only experimental.

The edge projected from nomadic cities is often the boundary where the rules of civilization no longer apply.

The mercenaries active in the barrens, same as the Pioneers, are the most convenient test subjects.

Even if an experiment fails, and they're disposed of, hardly anyone is going to pursue their whereabouts.

And soon enough, the next batch of test subjects gets funneled in.

No point in fighting it.

The mercenaries are fully aware the new weapons in their hands could explode, but they could also be stronger than whatever their opponents are wielding.

Legally, these mutually consenting deals are on the verge of compliance.

......

Mr. Mechanist, have you discovered anything new?

Something feels off...

Something's felt off from the very beginning.

Nobody in the power armor—how did I not tell that at a glance?

The mercs could be remote-controlling it from a distance, or maybe they set it up with automated programming—but no matter what, there'd be distinct patterns in its behavior.

Obviously, they're not that flexible.

Even the highest grade of automation out of the newest crop of Rhodes Island's R&D weaponry wouldn't escape my eyes—you want me to believe that bunch of dumb army-funded mechanists could pull it off?

—

What are you doing?

Severing the power armor's 'central nerves.'

There's something dripping out of these tubes... a silver liquid.

What is this substance?

Maybe it's the answer to your question.

Did we... get away?

*pant*... I... I haven't run this fast in a long time...

What exactly was...

—

It followed us?!

Get down!

This isn't the same one as before...

There're at least ten—even more, actually. They've surrounded the living quarters.

They're... multiplying.

Multiplying? Have you seen those things before? Explain!

Dr. Urbica, shouldn't you be the one explaining?

What the ever-loving hell do you mean...?

Move—!

—This thing's too fast!

I don't want to imagine what happens if it touches you—do you think we should head back inside?

Better we don't.

Why?

That's... the building we were in...

Did that building just... disappear?

No. It didn't disappear—it was disintegrated.

What?

Do you see those... things floating in the air?

You're trying to tell me that—used to be part of the building?

I fear that may be the entire building.

Did... Did I get hit by some kind of mind-control Arts?

I mean, if not, then everything I just saw... somehow violated every law of physics I know.

It's the work of those silver liquids.

They... dispersed into innumerable minute individuals, dismantled and lifted away what was a section of that room...

And then reassembled it.

Like there were dozens of invisible... hands?

Sounds like you ladies are talking about ghosts.

Wait, Ptilopsis—

Shit, Joyce was just in that room!

Don't tell me she got...

*cough*... *cough* *cough*...

Myers! You made it out too?

S—Sir... I got... Doc Moore... outta there...

......

Joyce!

Th—Thank God... she's okay...

His wounds aren't severe, but his endurance has been overtaxed. He urgently needs rest.

We can't hang around this place. None of the Pioneer quarters are safe anymore.

Did you see that?

I don't know what you're referring to.

Knock it off, I know you're not that dumb. Did you not feel that tremor just now?

Were those floaty things some new model of drone or something? You Rhiners developed those yourself? Dammit!

I can only tell you that we did not take any action against the site, on your orders.

Who was your boss, again? Ferdinand?

Mr. Ferdinand Clooney is the Director of Rhine Lab's Energy Section.

I don't care how your company's structured.

Give me your comm. I want to talk to him.

Director Clooney is extremely busy...

Then I'm gonna need you to pass along a message—

Ask if he knows what a bastard he is!

Director, you have a message, sent from observation at the site.

......

Well, well...

Also, your son appears to need you for something. Should I put him through?

Same play. Tell him I'm busy.

Right, send the contents of Elena's most recent report to my terminal.

On it, Director.

How many times have I told you? Don't call me Director.

Ah! Sorry, Mr. Clooney.

Speaking of Elena...

I gather you get along well with her.

Brainstorm for me. What kind of present would she like?

...Olivia.

I'm sorry, treating the wounded Pioneers has me occupied...

Are you hurt?

I'm... fine.

I don't have field experience like you do, but I can take care of myself, at least.

Even then... shouldn't we be evacuating ASAP?

The whole site's in chaos... The Pioneers are busy with themselves. We've got a good opportunity to escape.

I'm positive the director got my message. He'll send people to fetch us.

Once we meet back up with our colleagues at Defense, we'll be in a perfect position to wipe out the threat to the site, and save Dorothy.

Maybe you're right.

Maybe?

But I can't do it. It's not in my power to leave these people for dead.

Just now, they couldn't do it... leave Joyce for dead. You saw.

Doc Silence, we still got a few casualties here!

Drone—!

We're not gonna last much longer if they keep this up.

I've tried every way to attack it, no dice. Those freaks don't hurt, and they're impossible to break.

We don't even... got nowhere to hide.

Sir, why are you telling them all this?

They could be getting off on it!

These things above our heads are all mystery weapons sent out by the fuzz and the megacorps! They want us trapped in this test site forever—

Sam, lay off that for now.

*cough* *cough*...

Everyone, I... I've got an idea...

Greyy... do you have some kind of proposal?

*huff*... *huff*... *cough* *cough* *cough*...

Take your time. You were running too fast. Be careful not to bruise yourself.

I've noticed—those objects seem to chase after light, and human voices.

Watch...

They're following your Arts' light ball, away into the air.

*pant*... It's only temporary.

My Arts aren't able to trick them for long.

You've done all you can. And very well, at that.

Phototaxis... You've brought up an interesting line of thought.

Greyy, can you assist in evacuating the nearby Pioneers? They trust you.

Move them somewhere dark, and tell them they need to keep quiet.

Sure, I know what to do.

I've done work like this plenty of times with the senior operators...

Dr. Silence, you and Miss Elena take care too.

What about us, then?

Make some signs of movement. The larger, the better. It has to cover the sounds of the others' footsteps at minimum.

On it.

Sam, call five or six guys over if you can, take whatever gear makes the most noise.

Are you seriously going along with them?

You got a better idea?

Whatever you say, boss.

Draw every silver body to our location.

So we act as bait—and then what?

For now, stall as long as we can.

And then come to the laboratories.

That voice...

Dorothy?!

Yes, it's me. Dorothy.

I did a quick rig on the laboratory PAs—I hope I didn't scare you.

Are you alright?

I'm completely safe. You don't need to worry about me.

The laboratory buildings are sturdier, and they will help you resist the threat.

Everyone—be you Pioneer Team friends, or Rhine coworkers, the laboratories' doors are open to you.