Arknights story · Dorothy's Vision
DV-8 Heart Connection
The information that the Doctor sends to Ptilopsis forces Control to interfere with the experiment. Back at the site, Dorothy suggests shutting down the system and proactively injects herself with the experimental Transmitter.
2 scenes, 564 lines
1. Before Operation
294 linesThey agreed to throw money our way, Saria.
Your speech was excellent. All those investors were moved by the future that you painted.
The future... of course.
I described some byproducts they would be interested in with the kind of language that they speak.
It was only one short night, but it was far more exhausting than spending a dozen days in the labs.
It's something we need to power through, for the time being.
Once our funding is settled, you can move into the laboratories whenever you want.
You know me well. That's the only reason that I'm bearing with all this.
Right, that academic named Ferdinand Clooney is very interested in your proposal too.
He'll 'build the most fantastic laboratory in all of Terra at Rhine Lab'—That's what he said.
I welcome him, then.
I looked into his background.
He feels more like a businessman than an academic to me. He might not understand you.
No, Saria.
I never needed anyone to understand me... Actually, I'd say I've already got more than I could ask for, having met you, someone so like-minded.
Right now, Rhine needs to amass more capable personnel and projects. We have to, if we're going to reach our ultimate goal.
You're Control. It's your call.
Some of Ferdinand's methods aren't exactly above board. A decent amount of his projects even have some under-the-table dealings with other big corporations or the government.
I'll have a nice chat with him about the rules of the our cooperation going forward.
You'll help me take care of this, right?
Wait—
I just came up with a few new ideas that might even solve some flaws in that theory of mine—Right, what were you going to say just now?
Never mind.
Thanks for that, Saria.
It's because you're always here for me that I can focus on my job without worry.
You never needed anyone to come save you.
But you came nonetheless.
......
That face again... You're angry.
All those years out there have made you a more emotional person.
I thought you'd better understand my decision after you took a good look at the reality of the lands outside.
No.
I'll never lie to you.
I'm sure you know that better than anyone.
But you also don't care what's going on over there...
You turned a blind eye to what Ferdinand is doing.
Just like you turned a blind eye to Parvis all those years ago.
Hm? Which experiment are you talking about?
You don't remember...
You never remember any little thing that isn't related to your own research.
There is only so much that the human brain can process. I have more worthwhile work for mine to focus on.
Ferdinand's little tricks bought me some time to relax, and it's thanks to him that I can concentrate even better. And think.
My experiments have seen some major breakthroughs in the last few days. Why don't I tell you about them?
Why you...
It's not like you're not interested.
You're just... worried about all those insignificant people and things.
They were never insignificant.
You'll never escape the weight of those people and things, Kristen.
After all, both you and I... and Rhine Lab too, we're all grounded in this land, we've put down roots.
I'm sorry, Dr. Doctor.
Why are you apologizing all of a sudden?
Changed your mind again?
Don't worry... We're still on the same side.
I won't do anything to you, at least not right now.
It's just... It's hard to say.
Kristen might not necessarily be on Saria's side.
I heard they used to be very good friends.
I heard they had a falling out.
You don't know what Rhine Lab was like back when it started...
Kristen's radiance brought all kinds of people in, at first, but it was Saria who quietly propped it all up.
A falling out, huh? They had a huge fight in the Control office, and blew a huge hole in the roof of the Rhine building. Does that count?
Even then, Saria walked out of the office herself, and Control was completely unscathed too.
If the two of them... actually played serious, there wouldn't have been anything left standing.
It's just Kristen doesn't care what kinds of experiments Ferdinand runs.
I was eager to make sure she's okay. That's why I lured you guys here... but I never knew Kristen would interfere with what's going on at the site.
That's why it was so important for Ptilopsis to see the truth behind the site herself.
Please inform Ms. Wright
Control needs to know we 'saw' everything.
You... you're not going to stop at telling Kristen the situation over there?
The important thing is that you... that Rhodes Island has caught wind of this.
If Ms. Wright doesn't want this information, there are lots of people that do.
Like Beachbrella and all the other companies competing with Rhine.
Like the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Arts Units, and Originium.
Like the Maylander Foundation.
Information is the most valuable bargaining chip there is.
Having information is the best way to keep yourself safe.
As long as Ms. Wright wants to keep Rhine Lab alive.
She has to intervene at the site.
You've been planning to force her hand since before you got here...
Dr. Doctor, she might just remember you for this.
Good. We really should get to know each other to improve our cooperation.
Sounds like I should be honored.
I have one last question, Director Muelsyse.
Are you bothered by those experiments?
Are you bothered by anything in particular?
Dr. Doctor... At the end of the day, I'm the Director of Rhine Lab's Ecological Section. Not a lot of people ask me questions like that to my face.
Hm... How should I answer this...?
Wouldn't you agree that if I didn't keep a secret or two, my charm would take a hit?
Doctor?
I still haven't received Ptilopsis's synchronized message.
Sorry, I don't have the time to fill you in on the details...
I still have ten... No, maybe eleven hollows to take care of.
Right, one more thing.
Ho'olheyak got away.
She might head to the site... she seemed like she had her own objective.
Right, I agree with you.
She's more dangerous than we expected.
*cough*... How am I doing?
My robotic arm is overheating a little. That's all.
I won't let myself get hurt before things really get hairy.
Elena, you're staying here with me.
You've contributed a lot to the experiment, and I am proud of your results. You've earned the right to stand by my side and witness the glory it brings us.
You turned the whole site... into a petri dish. You put all those Pioneers in danger just to create that giant monster.
What could it bring, if not disaster?!
The way I see it...?
Several miles out, the silver geometric body remains steadily suspended above the site.
The body seems as if it has started a storm. However, aside from the chaotic gales, there are also countless scraps blowing around it.
Some of the scraps were originally trees, while others were once parts of buildings and machines, but all of them have taken similar shapes, hovering around the body in the center.
The geometric body could appear at any moment on the outskirts of other Columbian cities. It could also suddenly descend upon Londinium or central Kawalerielki.
It has redefined what people imagine when they think of Originium Arts, it has redefined the known rules of physics, and it will soon redefine the already changing tides.
A new era.
What I see is a new era. Its arrival carries with it all sorts of possibilities, chances at things we may never have thought possible. It also implies a change in the standings of factions old and new.
I'm taking these risks not for myself.
It doesn't necessarily have to be Columbia that enters this new era. It doesn't have to be Rhine, either.
But when the time comes, our money and connections will both leave us behind.
The city of steel we have forged will be torn apart at the hands of other nations, just as Lingones became fodder to a new hegemon.
The laboratories of which we're so proud will be dismantled and sold for scrap on the second-hand market, while Rhine's signs will be forgotten and slowly rust away in an underground warehouse.
When that time comes, we will lose any chance we ever had to drive change. Our ideals will shatter, and we will be left to live out the rest of our meaningless days staring at the backs of those who have gone ahead.
When the epoch decides who to leave in the dust, it doesn't think back on past glory, much less hold out for future potential.
All we can ever seize is the present.
Still no comms...
Doctor, we've been surrounded.
The living quarters probably won't last long. Soon, this building we end up leveled like the others at the site.
The silver construct is controlled by the subconsciousness of the Hub's test subjects.
If we forcibly remove the treatment bands the pioneers are wearing...
What if we interfere with their neural activities externally?
No, that's too risky too. It's likely to cause brain damage.
Even without the silver constructs... I have no idea how to go about waking them up. Those who are connected to the system might never wake up again.
It's my fault... Ferdinand and I were the ones put them in this danger.
I need to save them. I must...
In thirty seconds, we'll face... the tenth wave of attacks!
No, the frequency is getting faster.
Hmm...
This can't continue.
Tiny grains of sand cloud the air, like an entire house shrouded within a fortress formed of loose sand.
There are countless silver substances laying outside of it. They seem curious about this fortress, not understanding why they cannot dissolve this seemingly fragile barrier.
You didn't stop it...
You're just using your Originium Arts to offset its corrosion.
And your Arts Unit will fail soon.
Not yet... Not so fast.
What have you done to yourself...?
Just... a small experiment.
You... You implanted one in yourself...
Arts Unit...
Before I let anyone else into the lab... I need to ensure of the safety of the requisite steps.
They're switching up their attack patterns.
It's part of us. It's curious, and it's a good learner.
A barrage of impact noises can be heard from the outside, as though a storm of silver rain is raging.
The rain keeps opening up holes in the sand wall, which are in turn patched by more sand.
We need to find some other way to buy time.
Greyy, that's too risky!
Doctor, I told Mr. Sonny something when we were chatting earlier—these words have stayed with me for all these years.
If I don't take a step forward, how will I ever know if my path lies out there?
Phew...
Truth be told... I don't know if I'll be able to do it.
I might even mess up the moment I step outside... I... I can't help but doubt myself...
But what if it works?
All my mentors have taught me that whenever I start doubting myself, I should just remember... I've succeeded before!
He takes a deep breath, lifts his head up, and looks at the darkness in front of him.
The silver geometric body has what appears to be eyes, but he knows what it is that he's looking at.
It's not a new kind of intelligent being, nor is it some kind of mysterious monster.
That is the fruit of human technology. It can be used, analyzed—
And, no doubt, defeated.
You... aren't anything to be afraid of.
Fear always stems from the unknown.
And you... You were created with Arts. You're a byproduct born in the Pioneers' minds.
Humanity triumphed over the darkness of night... How could we lose to our own creations?
A ray of light emits from his hand and bolts toward the dark shadow floating above their heads.
As expected, a not insignificant amount of silver liquid exits out of the Pioneers' quarters and entangles itself with the dark night as it tears madly toward the light he released.
That moment, the light is shredded into pieces, leaving only a few strands progressing deeper into the darkness.
But more and more lights then rise one after another.
Greyy's a brave man.
He's just like Sonny... and the pioneers. He has the courage to face his challenges head on.
Its attacks have gotten stronger again...
All my light can do is distract it; it still sees us as its target.
*cough*... *cough* *cough*...
Your nose is bleeding...
Even if you have no infected organs, your body's blood vessels won't be able to withstand releasing this much energy... It won't take long for you to hemorrhage to death.
I... I must protect them, and I'm willing to...
You're willing to give your life.
That's not an excuse you're using to win over the Pioneers.
You're... really going to do it.
Dr. Silence, wouldn't you make the same choice to protect your family?
......
You mean, your mother...?
All these years, I've wondered over and over...
How did they feel before they were swallowed whole by the sandstorm?
Did they wait, despairing in a cramped space until the moment of death arrived, like these Pioneers?
What if I didn't accept that invitation? Would I have stayed with my mother until the very end?
If she had the qualifications to enter the city with me, would that have spared her from the storm?
My research has solved many difficult problems that were unsolvable, but I still haven't found an answer to this one—
Why was I the only one spared?
Dr. Silence...
If... If that is really the assemblage of the test subjects' consciousnesses...
I love it, just as I loved my family.
But why... why can't I hear it speak to me?
A deep fissure appears in the sand wall.
Dorothy stumbles forward, but a pair of hands catches her.
Dorothy... No matter how much work you put in, you can't change your mother's fate.
That storm is in the past... it ended long ago.
Is... that so?
A drone fills the opening in the sand wall with its own body.
Seemingly injected with life once again, the grains of sand quickly rearrange in an orderly way.
Dorothy, you want to hear your family's voices, right?
You should ask those test subjects.
Once the storm is over, they will tell you their answer.
Agh...
His hand is getting warmer and warmer. He knows that the machinery has been pushed past its limits for so long it is doomed to break.
But he cannot give up.
If he falls here, the island behind him will forever be swallowed whole by the darkness.
He has to hold on, just like that one night all those years ago. He ran so far away, even though his hands had gone numb from the cold and his legs hurt from the long journey—
He needs to make it to that day when he passes the torch he holds to another pair of hands.
Suddenly, a warm power shrouds his hand and helps him stabilize his energy output.
It is someone else's Arts.
O-Operator Ptilopsis...?
You require assistance, Operator Greyy.
Hmm...
You needn't alert me to the danger here.
I had already calculated the probability of our mission's success before I submitted my leave request to Dr. Silence.
What's the number...?
With my support as a newly added variable, the probability of our success is...
No, you don't have to tell me.
I'm just used to planning everything out before the actual execution. I know it was hasty of me to run out here, but I couldn't control myself.
Calculating the results will not reveal anything in advance.
Operator Greyy, what determines the result in the end will always be...
The 'impulse' that drives you forward.
I cannot confirm whether the fluctuations of my brainwaves right now were caused by this 'impulse,' but it was none other than your actions that drove me here.
Even more light begins to emanate above him.
This is beyond the theoretical maximum output numbers that he and Mechanist, the designers of the weapon, had yet to measure.
But these are his Arts.
There has never been a theory capable of fully explaining Originium Arts... And furthermore, this luminance comes not only from his Arts Unit... It comes from his heart.
This luminance in the end pierces through the out-of-control test subject, through the darkness, the clouds, and all the unknowns above.
This thought, hidden within the sparks of electricity, pulses once only.
Nonetheless, Greyy grasps hold of it—He can feel the possibility within.
Phew...
Following an intense quake, the enormous test subject positions itself in front of the assembled onlookers.
There was no foreshadowing, and it left no trails of its movement. It simply appeared in that very position.
Agh...
Stand back, Greyy!
I...
That's an order—
Silence grabs Greyy's other hand.
A drone takes to the sky and, gathering the golden rays that began to disperse as Greyy's strength starts to give, charges straight toward the silver colossus that shrouds the sky.
The explosion is as loud as a thunderclap. The drone, having risen to the highest point in the sky, disintegrates into countless specks of light that flutter down.
I picked this up from Elena.
Though a trick like this will only work once.
This light... will extinguish eventually.
Message sent.
Our most crucial objective has been completed, right?
She reaches her other hand out to hold Ptilopsis.
The light above them slowly dissipates, revealing the enormous scale of the silver construct.
......
Yet it does not advance.
A layer of fine dust still stubbornly stands between them.
Dorothy...?
You're holding... a treatment band and the reagent.
You're thinking of plugging yourself in...
I want to hear their voices.
No!
I told you. I don't know how to wake them up, and I won't know how to wake you up!
You might find yourself swallowed by their consciousness, and your nervous system might see irreversible damage if we destroy this construct, and perhaps...
I'm a researcher. I'm willing to accept all the uncertainties.
The test subjects behind her are unable to speak.
The silver construct before her remains silent as ever.
Dorothy closes her eyes and feels the silver reagent flow into her body.
The slightly cold sensation feels as if the fingertips of her family members are caressing her up and down.
2. After Operation
270 linesA long, long time ago, there was a little girl who lived happily in a beautiful town.
One day, a storm brought with it countless black rocks and destroyed her home.
In search of a way to restore her homeland's beauty, she found the courage to set out on a journey.
The legends told of a most-amazing caster who lived in a faraway, marvelous land, and his Originium Arts could make all that is impossible possible.
During her journeys, she met a fowlbeast that couldn't fly and a tin man who was nothing but an empty shell.
The fowlbeast wanted to learn to fly, and the tin man wanted to find its body. They all had different dreams.
To find this marvelous land, they walked for a long, long time. So long, that the fowlbeast shed all its feathers and the tin man began to rust.
'I will give you my wings. With them, you can fan away the dust,' the fowlbeast said.
'I will give you my tin plates. With it, you can make it through the storm,' the tin man said.
The girl wore the fowlbeast's wings and the tin man's plates and flew past the desert and the storm.
She found the caster, only to discover an incoherent madman.
The girl cried in sadness, but her friends were there with her and started to talk to her.
'Thank you. I flew across an insurmountable desert,' the wings said.
'Thank you. I felt the warmth of a body once again,' the tin plates said.
'This has been such a wonderful journey,' they said together.
'In that case, my dream has come true too.' The girl hugged her friends. 'With you here by my side, I now have a new home.'
With the dreams of her friends, the girl set out on a journey again. This time, she did not set out to find a legendary caster.
She had an all-new goal. She would walk far, far away to where no one had ever gone before.
......
Dorothy, did you like the story Mommy told you?
She hesitated for a while, but it also seemed like the blink of an eye.
She saw green trees and red roses, a bright and beautiful day, as well as a quiet, endless dark night.
She saw a rainbow that stretched across the sky and reflected as smiles on the spectators' faces.
They walked close together, discussing food, weather, and the good harvest.
They saw her too and waved at her.
'Hello, Dorothy.'
'This is a nice place, isn't it, Dorothy?'
'There's an endless supply of clean water and food here... and all the wild beasts have gone away.'
'It's so great to relax here.'
'All the data from those experiments are driving me crazy, though. I'm always afraid that the director might show up out of nowhere.'
'We shouldn't stay here too long, though. A storm might be coming.'
'Don't worry. We know how to deal with those. Otherwise, why would we even have come here?'
'What is there to worry about, then?'
'Haha... That we can't be on our way tomorrow, of course.'
'And we don't know whether we'll ever find another place like this again.'
'It doesn't matter if we run away... tomorrow's still coming.'
'If all I do is hide here, when will I become the greatest scientist there ever was?'
'And that's why we'll be on our way as soon as it's light out.'
'Strange. What a long night this is...'
Perhaps that's because Dorothy is putting up a fight.
Do you believe her? This was Ms. Dorothy's experiment. Would she really willingly abandon a dream she's chased for years?
What Dorothy seeks isn't success.
If she can really hear the voices of her loved ones... she will make the choice that's most beneficial to them.
I wonder what she sees at this very moment?
Lacking sufficient reliable data.
I was able to feel them, but I did not receive a 'Transmitter' injection.
One hypothesis is that the Device #9's sensitivity to signals has allowed me to receive fragments of some of the messages.
But those fragments contained certain specific words.
They were emotions.
Language is a set of rules for command input and output. It cannot describe every tiny brainwave fluctuation in detail.
If I must make a conjecture, I postulate that... Director Franks is dreaming.
She's dreaming...?
Whose dream? Is it Dorothy's own dream, or... a collective dream of all the Pioneers connected to the 'Hub?'
I do not know.
Just like... when I was dreaming, I could not ascertain whose dream it was...
Joyce, your manner of speech...
Olivia...? I... I don't know what's going on...
Is your... device being jammed again?
I don't know either.
Olivia, I feel both sad and happy.
Are we all walking a path to an unknown destination, and a starting point we can no longer see?
I think so... especially for researchers like us.
There is one thing... I've wanted to tell you for a long time.
Device #9 may have given me a lot of pain, and my journey may come to an end at any moment, but...
It is thanks to your companionship—
I never once felt alone or lost hope.
Mary, I gotta ask... am I gonna die here?
If you're free enough to think about that, why don't you try to work a little harder?
Heh... Hah... We don't have too many bolts left, do we?
Before these... well-armed fellas shackle up my neck... while I can still breathe and think freely...
I got something to say.
Then say it. Look at how hard you're panting. Careful not to bite your tongue when you talk.
Haha, I love it when you say things like that.
Ever since I became their boss, they take every word I say as pure gold. It's exhausting.
Mary, I oughta be satisfied enough that... I get to die next to you.
This isn't how you saw yourself biting it, huh?
I used to think that, it'd be great if I got to go out on a soft bed with my wife and kids holding my hand... and a bunch of letters from the people I'd helped sitting there on my nightstand...
Right, a window... The room's gotta have a window. I wanna see the sunlight one last time.
When I think that, whether there's a room... or a bed...
It feels like it's not so important whether I have a wife or kids anymore.
Looks like...
I stopped caring about dying somewhere along the way, a long time ago.
Mommy, isn't a long journey hard? Why didn't everybody choose to stay somewhere safe?
Dorothy, everyone is hanging on because they want to see with their own eyes what the path far ahead holds.
Will I go on the journey with you one day?
Dorothy, you will make your own journey.
Mommy, why are you crying? Is it because you don't want me to leave? I don't have to go to the summer camp if you don't want me to go.
No, Dorothy... Your future doesn't belong to me.
Dorothy, one day, Mommy will stand here and send you off on your journey.
Dorothy, the sights you will see in the future will be like nothing I've ever seen.
Dorothy, why are you crying?
Don't you like this place?
The child stands on her tiptoes and reaches her hand out to try and wipe the tears on Dorothy's face.
Dorothy lifts her hand as well.
And just as she is about to take the girl's hand...
She puts her hand down.
No, my dear friend.
This is... the land of dreams that I've been searching for all my life.
How I hope I can find peace and happiness for all of you...
But your futures don't belong to me.
I shouldn't trap you here.
And I... shouldn't trap myself here.
I will send you off on your journeys...
The sights you will see in the future will be like nothing I've ever seen.
Dr. Silence, am I seeing things? Are all the silver liquids... retreating?
The laboratory...
Why is it suddenly turning around and heading toward the labs?
If it keeps going, it'll reach...
Right, that's its target... The place it was born.
With a loud bang, the remaining half of the building suddenly crumbles.
Unlike its previous growth stage, it does not patiently wait to dissolve the crumbled building's structure.
It simply retrieves all the energy and, without hesitation, it tears into its own heart.
The large, geometric construct rapidly crumbles away.
The dust scatters in all directions, and a stream of silver liquid slowly flows on the ground. The sky, too, has returned to its original color.
No...
Impossible.
The data... Show me the data.
......
The test subject disconnected from the 'Hub,' and its structure completely collapsed...
The 'Hub' is... destroyed?
Mary...?
Hm?
I'm not dreaming, am I? That monster... is actually gone?
We're saved.
We're saved—Mary, did you see that?
Don't... let your guard down. Huff... We still have the bad guys from Rhine Lab to deal with...
Wait, are the Rhine Labbers retreating?
Hold on... Who's that...? And are they wearing...?
Director Franks destroyed her own creation.
She did it...
You believed in her the whole time, didn't you?
Greyy, she said... you have the same kind of courage as the Pioneers.
But I couldn't tell her in time that... she was just as brave—
So brave that she was willing to wake up from the dream she weaved of her own love.
......
Dorothy, how do you feel? Does it hurt anywhere?
So... did you find your answer?
Answer?
No... What I found was a new journey.
And it belongs only to them.
I... I have another path to walk.
How does it feel to have your dreams crushed?
Only Dorothy knows the exact location of the 'Hub.'
Could it really be that Dorothy destroyed the system she created herself...? Can she control this creation?
You can't imagine that, can you?
That's because you've never considered the possibility that Dorothy would inject herself too—That she would plug herself into that thing.
It's not like you saw her do it.
I didn't, but I know her.
Her heart lies with the Pioneers. For them, she would do whatever it took as many times as it took, without hesitation, and she'd choose to stop when and if it became necessary.
I have to find her.
Her research is more impressive than I imagined. Our experiment is not over yet—
What's going on? Where are the Defense personnel—
Director Clooney, the observation station's surrounded!
On whose authority...? No, it doesn't matter who they are. How did they find out about the site?!
Haha...
My Arts... Finally, it's enough for those control panels you use to disrupt communications. It did take me some time, so I've got to thank you for teaching me patience.
You did it right in front of me...
If you would just... pay more attention to what's going on around you and listen more carefully when you talk, you could've figured me out.
They're here, Director Clooney... Ugh!
Rhine Lab Energy Section Director, Ferdinand Clooney.
We have proof beyond a reasonable doubt that you have violated clinical laboratory regulations and have been conducting illegal experiments at this site.
Surrender immediately and order your subordinates to drop their weapons.
......
This is all just a misunderstanding. Please let me make a call.
Not exactly in accordance with procedure, but... knock yourself out.
......
The number's not in service...
Who do you work for? I need to talk to the colonel.
Look, I know a lot of colonels who run a lot of regiments. You want to be a little more specific?
Well...
There are countless weapons pointed at him.
The name is frozen on the tip of his tongue.
Suddenly, Ferdinand is relieved that he did not reveal the name to the crowd.
Pick up your comm.
......
It's me.
Hahaha...
I get it now, Kristen.
You won. Congratulations.
This was never about winning or losing, Ferdinand.
Your bet almost destroyed Rhine Lab.
Rhine...
I told you I would build the most fantastic laboratory in all of Terra here, and I did it.
I will ensure that the Rhine name lives on gloriously in the epoch to come.
And what about you? Do you really care about Rhine, Kristen?
......
You don't. You only want to burn all our efforts as fuel for yourself.
It's for Rhine's sake that you must be stopped...
Rhine Lab doesn't belong to you. It doesn't belong to anyone.
Ferdinand Clooney, you're too easily distracted. Rhine doesn't need an academic like you.
You came here just to fire me, Control?
I'm reminding you to make the smart choice.
You mean... accept your proposal to hire a top lawyer and use your relationship with the government to have me locked away in a state prison for two centuries?
How smart that would be.
Ferdinand—!
He... He killed himself?
*cough*... The floor structure here's broken through...
I think he might have escaped, ma'am.
It's a pain in the neck to catch these smartasses who make preparations in advance... but not like we had much of a choice.
After him. He won't get far without help.
It all turned out just as you wanted, Saria.
The situation has changed... thanks to the message you and Rhodes Island brought here.
Ferdinand failed, and you 'saved' Rhine Lab once again.
I should go.
Saria—
I don't remember everything that happened all those years ago.
I noticed that you've tweaked your Arts casting methods. The reconstitution effect your calcification has on matter particles is more complicated and intricate now.
You abandoned the formula that the two of us developed together in the early days.
Defense techniques that have been cracked have no value.
And I was the only one ever to crack calcification.
He hated these preparations.
After all, only losers have to resort to backup plans.
Ferdinand's laboratory has never needed so many plans. After all, he has always had a masterful control of the tides.
Many say that he is a capable businessman, but they don't understand.
He simply stays on the right path and marches on endlessly.
As long as you walk faster than anyone, money and attention will come pouring in.
And with these resources, he can walk faster and farther.
But...
Today, he has no choice but to walk this dark, narrow path. An escape route that he never seriously considered he would have to take.
There is someone waiting for him at the end of this path.
Why would anyone be waiting for him?
His coworkers, his family, Elena... None of them knew about his plan.
Aside from him, there should be no one who knows this place.
Ho'olheyak.
I never expected... *cough*... that the last person to help me would be a mercenary.
Oh?
......
You aren't here to help me.
Then—Why not pull the trigger already?
Relax, Ferdinand. I'm not here to kill you either.
I'm not sure I believe that.
The colonel... The army wants me silenced. I'm sure of it.
And Kristen wants me locked up... I'd turn crazy like Loken Williams if I ended up in prison. Either that, or I would have to roll over and rot away as a corpse.
Mad scientists are hardly a strange sight here in Columbia, but it's not like the military or the government could shoulder the infamy that comes with sacrificing civilians in evil experiments.
I have no idea... how Kristen caught wind of what's going on in the site so easily or how she managed to convince the bureaucrats in the government in such a short amount of time...
Oh...
It's you.
You are no normal mercenary. You are a spy... Did the government send you? Who do you work for?
Shh, let's not waste our breath on all that.
In Columbia, men like you can't hide anything, not even escape routes that look so discreet on the surface.
......
He watches as the woman in front of him walks closer. A chill runs down his spine.
Not even the conversation he had with Kristen a few minutes ago made him despair.
Yet, right now, with the Liberi reaching her hand out toward him, an extreme pain rushes up from his stomach and claws at his throat—
He almost vomits on the spot.
Look how messy your hair is, Ferdinand.
It would ruin your image if you went out like this.
I...
Right, you might want to know that I've already torn your getaway car to pieces.
You...
But you just made a very smart choice.
You could've dragged Kristen and Rhine Lab down with you, but you didn't.
You do actually care as much about Rhine Lab as you said... You made sure that there is still hope for everyone in the future, even if that future doesn't necessarily include you.
So... Right, I'll say it how you like to say it.
I forgive you.
......
Walk forward about another ten yards. There's a suit of power armor in the firefighting cabinet.
—The newest kind.
You can wear it. You can control it remotely. You can even ignore it. It's your call.
Even though you can never come back to Trimounts... and it'd be in your best interest to stay away from other nomadic cities, there are still vaster lands waiting for you.
Now hop to it—
—'Pioneer.'