You did not just do that...

Ric came back to himself chilled. What had happened? He had left Cecelia's virtual world and... He couldn't remember. He shook himself, mysteries later.

"Status?" Ric asked calmly.

"Brain case is open." Alicia said with a nod from where she stood nearby. "Amelia and Jimmy are better surgeons than I am, so they are handling the disconnections from the chassis. There are a lot of them."

"True." Ric said, shrugging to ease tight muscles. "Cecelia is coping. Saun is meditating with her."

"There was an odd fluctuation." Alicia said with a curious look at him. "When you exited. Only a few milliseconds, but you didn't seem to be either here or in the virtual world." She disconnected the leads that had connected him to the virtual world.

"I don't think anything happened." Ric said slowly. "But then again, virtual interfacing can wreak havoc on short term memory." He rose slowly and stretched. "I will run a diagnostic on the interface and then check my memory before I go back in. Last thing I want to do is add more mass to Cecelia's tipsy scales of sanity."

"Agreed." Alicia said with a shiver then paused as Amelia cursed. "Amelia?"

"We got her." Amelia said quickly. "But something just started blinking. It was under her brain."

"Don't move!" Ric shouted as he threw himself forward. "Don't..." He pleaded as the cyborg started to retract with the glistening blob of flesh that made up Cecelia's organic parts. He eased past Amelia who had frozen in place with Jimmy and stared down into the now open MOA chassis. "Not...good..."

"What is it?" Alicia said quickly.

"Motion sensor." Ric said softly. "Concealed by the mass of tissue. Didn't show up on scans because of the box material." He took a deep breath. "Ok...Corpus Mark XVII A-89 dead man's switch and motion sensor." He swallowed. "Here is what we do. I am going to pick up the MOA and slowly take it to the airlock. Any sudden movement will set off the MOA's reactor." Three inhalations responded to his calm declaration. A MOA's power system wasn't that large, but it was powerful. "We need the doors open between here and the airlock. Alicia, when I pick it up, slowly walk to the door and open it. Then stay here and help Cecelia." He eased his arms under the mass. It was very heavy outside of his warframe, but he lifted it an inch at a time.

"If it is a dead man's switch..." Alicia said as she walked carefully to the door and opened it. "Why hasn't it gone off?"

"I garbled the primary detonation sequence. But this design has a backup timer." Ric said with a nod. "I spoofed the timer when I jammed the anti-tampering systems, but..." He shook his head, careful not to jostle the chassis.

"How long?" Alicia asked as he passed her, stepping carefully. "And why isn't it disabled?"

"In order, you do not want to know..." Ric said as he made his careful way towards the next door. At least it was a short trip to the airlock form there. "...and I couldn't." One did not simply turn off Corpus anti-tampering systems. Disable them temporarily? Spoof them so they didn't think they were being tampered with? Sure. For a while. Turn them off? That was a one way ticket to 'Boom'.

"What?" Alicia demanded.

"Close the door." Ric said as he started off, aware that the blinking light was flashing faster now. When it stopped flashing... Well... The good news was that he couldn't feel a thing. And now, he was far enough away that Cecelia and the medics would be clear of the blast radius.

"Ric!" Alicia's voice was taught with fear.

"Close the door!" Ric barked. "And make sure the corridor stays clear!"

He continued walking slowly and carefully, praying that no one else was close. He had messed up. Again. He blinked. Where had that come from? He sighed a bit. Time to check his memory after this. The cryonesia that all Tenno suffered had robbed him of a lot of his past, but much of it was clear.

"Ric?" Karl's voice came from up ahead. "Problem?" Ric saw the Rhino ahead, near the airlock.

"I missed a trap." Ric said quietly. "Get the plasma charge, hook it up. Set it for two minutes. Then I will lay this thing down and we can cycle the lock. The out gassing will push it far enough away for the charge to incinerate it without scorching the paint."

"If it is motion activated..." Karl said reasonably as he picked up the small demolition device and waited for Ric to close. "Then the out gassing will set it off."

"It might not. And if it does? Better here than Medical." Ric said firmly. He smiled as Karl hit the airlock controls. "Plant the charge. Slow."

"I have done demo work myself." Karl said mildly as he reached out with slow, careful fingers to attach the small Tenno device to the Corpus monstrosity. Then he froze as the blinking light...vanished.

"Crap!" Ric snapped, then jumped into the airlock, slamming his elbow into the 'cycle' panel. He wasn't in a warframe or space suit. But he was also out of options.

"Ric!" Karl shouted as the airlock sealed behind him.

"Once more...unto the breach..." Ric said softly, then exhaled mightily, closing his eyes tight. The outer door hissed open and he was... Something wrapped around Ric as he threw the chassis away. A bright light...

"Of all the stupid, pig headed, spit for brains testosterone driven male plans..." The irate female voice was loud. Very loud to Ric's ears. He tried to move but an avalanche of pain told him he was better off not. He tried to open his eyes and they wouldn't. "Oh no. Don't you dare! Not after all that!" Something touched his arm and he felt most of his body relax. He hurt.

"Ow." Ric complained.

"Be glad it hurts, moron." Alicia. This was Alicia. And she was seriously unhappy. "Of all the stupid... Why didn't you just set it down like you said you would?"

"No time." Ric groaned out. "Thirty second timer. Damage?"

"Dojo's paint is scorched. I will take it out of your pay." Karl said quietly from nearby. "You are a mess."

"Who pulled me in?" Ric asked slowly.

"Paranoia pulled you in." Karl said dryly. "This situation was one we envisioned actually when we built this place. People did try to smuggle bombs into Tenno dojos on occasion. The safety net worked as intended. It grabbed you to keep you from being blown out, let the bomb travel away as the airlock started to close. Luckily blasts don't propagate well in vacuum so you have tissue damage from decompression, but not a lot of blast trauma."

"Sensei, with all due respect..." Alicia snapped as hands touched Ric in various places. "Butt out! Ric needs Medical. Now."

"I..." Ric started to protest, but the pressure of an injector on his arm had him falling.

"Idiot." The sour voice was the first thing Ric heard on waking again. Amelia was unhappy. "Of all the stupidly heroic plans... Have you ever heard the words 'vacuum without a spacesuit is bad', Ric?"

"There was no time." Ric said softly. Not that he could do much more. His throat hurt and his voice was rough. He also couldn't seem to move. "I was... I knew we only had couple of minutes at most. Then it triggered..."

"You scared us all, Ric."Amelia said as a hand gently touched his arm. "When the blast shook us, we thought you were dead."

"Been dead." Ric said quietly. "I hurt too much to be dead again. How bad? And...Cecelia?"

"Cecelia is better off than you." Amelia said sourly. "Her body is ensconced in a pod filled with a nutrient solution very similar to the compound that was in her braincase. She will grow in that pod, slowly. According to Saun who came out to see what the fuss was about, she is handling her confinement very well. You..." She sighed. "At least you were not in vacuum long and you exhaled so there is minimal lung damage. Some throat lacerations. But mainly the rapid changes in pressure hurt your ears and eyes. You will need some reconstruction."

"I need to do a memory check." Ric said softly, trying to get comfortable. Nothing really hurt now. It was more an ache, concentrated in his face, ears and throat. "I think something happened when I exited the virtual world."

"What you need to do is relax." Amelia said with a snap. "You are not moving until we repair the damage. We are going to put you in with Cecelia. I bet she wants to talk to you too." Ric winced at the malicious humor in the doctor's voice.

"Doc, I am sorry." Ric said with a sigh. "There was no time."

"You scared the hell out of all of us." Amelia said softly, a hand tracing Ric's forehead. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, you acting like a knight and all."

"I am a knight, Amelia." Ric said softly.

"What?" Amelia asked, confused.

"The order of knighthood I belonged to ceased to exist in the Collapse, Amelia." Ric said quietly. "I am the only survivor. Good riddance." He muttered.

"You never said anything about this before." Amelia said worriedly. "Let me check a few things. What kind of knight?"

"I am not proud of it, Amelia." Ric said, lying back. "What is past is past. What is done is done and cannot be undone."

"You know, I think this is the longest I have ever heard you talk without quoting that fracking movie." Amelia said with a laugh. "I kind of like it."

"Amelia?" Ric said with a grin.

"Yes?" She replied absently.

"Ni!" Ric said with a wide smile as she groaned.

"I knew it was too good to last." Amelia said with a snort. "Just lie there and let me finish these checks."

"Ni!" Ric said with a laugh.

"If you don't stop saying that, I am going to sedate you." Amelia warned.

"Party pooper." Ric said with a fake pout. But then he sobered."I want to run some mental exercises. May I?"

"As long as you don't move or quote that movie, it's fine by me." Amelia replied. "What for?"

"The last thing I want to do is add anything to Cecelia's burdens." Ric said in a serious voice. "Alicia said that my return from the virtual world was...off. I don't think anything happened, but I am not sure. I want to be sure."

"Fair enough." Amelia said with a sigh. "Go ahead. These scans will take a bit."

Ric relaxed and focused his mind as he had been taught long ago. He barely remembered most of his training, more dream like fragments than actual memories. But the skills were so ingrained that he didn't really need to focus on anything, he could -and had- done many of his mental exercises in his sleep. What he found did not surprise him. His memory had been altered.

"Doc?" Ric said after a moment.

"I am a bit busy, Ric." Amelia said, cross. "What?"

"My memory was tampered with." Ric said softly. Amelia inhaled sharply and he sighed. "Not sure by who or how, but... it was." Amelia cursed and Ric nodded a little. "I know."

"Okay." Amelia said slowly. "We are going to put you back in with Cecelia. I will run a full series of scans, see what, if any alterations I can detect."

"Amelia..." Ric said, worried.

"Ric, you are bleeding out your ears and your eyes...well...They froze." Amelia sounded as if she were biting her lip. "We cannot sedate you normally. Alicia shouldn't have drugged you the way she did."

"Scared her." Ric said softly. "Didn't mean to scare you all." His voice turned sad. "Never mean to scare people, distress them. Just happens."

"Ric, it's okay." Amelia said gently as a hand touched his again. "I will monitor you closer this time, try to see what happens and why. Relax, let me finalize the connections."

"I..." Ric sighed and started to speak quietly. " A knight is sworn to valor." Amelia paused whatever she was doing as Ric continued. "His heart knows only virtue. His blade defends the helpless. His might upholds the weak. His word speaks only truth. His wrath undoes the wicked."

"What is that?" Amelia asked, stunned.

"The Code of the Order of the Sword." A new voice sounded. Ric did not move as Mori's voice came closer. "I might have known."

"I was quoting another movie." Ric said quietly. "One called DragonHeart."

"Is that so?" Mori asked softly. "First that song, then this... Who were you, Ric?"

"I don't remember." Ric said softly. "I remember an oath of knighthood, but I don't remember if I was in the Order of the Sword." A rough hand grabbed his left arm and exposed his forearm. "Ow." He protested mildly.

"Mori!" Amelia said, distressed.

"The Order of the Sword were terrorists, Amelia." Mori said with a snarl. "The worst kind of scum." Ric didn't speak and Mori sounded confused. "No brand..." At Amelia's interrogatory noise, Mori spoke softly. "They branded each of their members with a symbol of a sword on the left arm. The final initiation rite. After the recruit did their first act of violence against their enemies. Usually a bomb in a place crowded with civilians." Ric slumped but did not resist as she checked his other arm.

"You are distressing my patient." Amelia snapped. "Get out."

"Amelia..." Mori began, only to be cut off.

"Get." Amelia sounded like a she dragon protecting her eggs. "Out!"

"Mori..." Ric said as the hand withdrew. "I don't know if I was or not. I remember...what they did. If I was... Do what you have to do." He said quietly.

"Ric, shut up." Amelia snapped, patience gone. Something touched his head and the world fell away again.

Ric came back to himself kneeling in the Zen garden that Cecelia had made. But now, it was decorated. A shrine sat on one side of the sandy area and a series of rock had been laid seeming at random around the area, some regular, some irregular. All different sizes ranging from pebbles to one that was the size of an old style hovercar. Ric nodded to both of the other occupants. Saun returned the nod and vanished.

"Ric?" Cecelia asked evenly.

"Yes, Cecelia?" Ric asked as he sat on a rock. It was sloped sharply, so he had to focus on balancing.

"Saun told me you got rid of my chassis and hurt yourself doing it. That was dumb." Cecelia said with a glower. "Brave, but dumb."

"Your chassis was going to self destruct, Cecelia." Ric said quietly. "I missed a trap. It wasn't connected to the rest of the anti-tampering systems." He sighed sadly. "No one else was hurt, so it's a win in my book."

"You were hurt." Cecelia said calmly. "That is not a win in my book."

"We each have our own distinct points of view, Cecelia." Ric said quietly. "From one point of view, what I did was the height of stupidity. From another? It was needed. If the chassis had self destructed in Medical..."

"It would have killed me and hurt others." Cecelia said slowly. Ric nodded silent. "Thank you. But I still think it was stupid."

"Hindsight is always clearer than foresight, Cecelia." Ric said with a smile. "But nowhere remotely as valuable. If we had possessed time, I would have used a drone to move it. We didn't. The timer was counting."

"I was scared you were not going to come back. Saun said you were hurt." Cecelia said with a swallow. "I..."

"It's all right, Cecelia." Ric said quietly. "They are putting me back together as we speak. So... what have you been thinking?"

"I have been thinking on what I am." Cecelia said, her tone equally quiet. "I am not a robot. I can accept that now. I think so anyway..." Ric nodded but remained silent. Cecelia shook her head. "You are going to make me wax eloquent aren't you?" He raised an eyebrow and she snickered. "Don't..."

"'The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king.'" Ric said with a smirk. Cecelia laughed.

"Is that so?" Cecelia demanded humorously and then spoke in a deeper tone. "Well... 'Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government.'" Cecelia said with supremely dignified silliness. "'Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.'" They both laughed.

"We both have way too much time on our hands." Cecelia said when they finished laughing. "But that was a fun movie."

"Yeah." Ric agreed. "Anyway...back to you?"

"All right." Cecelia said with a nod. "I feel... odd. Not physically, although that too. I feel as if I am not totally here." Ric looked at her and she shook her head. "I know I am not. I know this is a virtual world, but... This is more... I don't know. Unreal?" He still didn't speak and she grimaced. "It's like... Nothing is real? I don't know."

"Technically, nothing is." Ric said softly. Cecelia stared at him and he shrugged. "Cecelia... 'Real' is a concept that defies easy explanation. What is real for one person is not for someone else. You don't have access to your databanks now, do you?"

"Um... Some." Cecelia said with a wince. "Not directly and not as easy, but I backed everything up."

"Good." Ric said with a nod. "But that leaves you here and me here while they fix my eyes."

"Your eyes?" Cecelia asked slowly. "What did you do?"

"Um..." Ric felt his face start to heat. "I missed a trap. A dead man's switch ad motion tracker. I had to get the chassis out of the dojo so I took it to the airlock and... it activated."

"If my chassis had exploded with you holding it, you would be in a million pieces." Cecelia said suspiciously. "What did you do?" She repeated.

"I had to toss the chassis into space. I... um... cycled the airlock without a suit." Ric said sheepishly, Cecelia inhaled in horror and he shook his head. "Hey! It worked! I..." He was unprepared for her to jump across the intervening distance and hug him tight. "Cecelia... I..." He stammered as he realized she was crying. "Hey..." He said gently soothing her.

"You silly English K-nig-ht." Cecelia said, hugging him tighter. "I love you."

"What?" Ric stammered.

"You heard me."