A/N: Someone DM'ed me asking who Buck and the other Pilots mentioned by Vale in the last chapter were. Buck, Gray, Rose, and Fallon are all originally from another story I wrote, titled, "Live Fire". Vale was not THE main character, but the story was somewhat of an origin story for her and how she became a Simulacrum. Over time, I've added them into the main series (Rose helped with the bombing in Tempest, Gray has been helping Gates throughout Cinder).

It is not necessary to have read "Live Fire", but the characters will make more sense if you do. It can be found on my stories page.

In addition, if several things seem to stand out to you as not lining up with already established story/lore, chances are that it's one of the quick fixes I've implemented to save this story before I go back and write "The Architect Codex".

Despite having been a tortured captive for the last few years, the Architect seemed to be in far better condition than one would have thought.

The moment Tobias had entered the medical bay, he felt the intrinsic sense of being the target of someone's attention. It was like a small buzzing that extended over his skin and through the tips of his fingers as he grew closer in proximity to Al'cor. She, for her part, immediately moved to shakily stand from the bed upon which she'd previously been lying.

Tobias, I-

"Whoa!" he exclaimed worriedly, moving to grab her and gently lower her back onto the bed in a sitting position. "Don't strain yourself, you've got about four years' worth of recovering to do."

The way she spoke, materializing the thoughts and words directly into his mind, was not something easily forgotten. While he didn't exactly mind the nonverbal communication that the Architect preferred, he was glad that it wasn't something he had to deal with daily. His neural link with Kay as a Titan had been one thing, but that was where he drew the line when it came to others allowed in his head.

The medical staff at least seemed to have taken care of her for the most part; they had wrapped her limbs in gauze where the longest slices had been, and they were watching her consistently for signs of permanent damage. One of them moved to help him with stabilizing her, and he was surprised to see it was Mayfair.

"Doctor? What are you doing here?"

She raised an eyebrow, though still spoke carefully as though in fear of being reprimanded. "Well, as you so obviously just stated yourself, I am a doctor. And considering the … uniqueness … of our patient here, I would think my expertise would be welcomed."

Realizing she was right, he opted to simply shut his mouth and let her work.

Al'cor returned her faceless gaze to him once again. It is good to see you again, my friend.

She sounded very tired, but sincere. Or at least he hoped so, considering what had happened the last time he'd trusted her. With no other leads to go on, it looked like he was going to be forced to place his faith in her once more.

The door slid open from behind him, and he turned to see Kay, Vale, and Buck enter the medical bay. His partner's blue visor set its sights on him immediately, and she walked over to join him at Al'cor's side. Looking down, she made a small, reserved head movement towards her. "Al'cor."

KT-zero-two-nine-eight. The Architect's tone wasn't fearful, but certainly hesitant. The AI had spoken of you as though you were alive. I had hoped he was correct.

"Yes," Kay snapped, "despite your best efforts, I'm alive." It seemed as though she wasn't all too eager to let bygones be bygones after their last encounter.

Gates looked from the two of them to the Architect and back again. "Is … is it saying anything?"

Tobias attention was momentarily diverted by the odd question. "What do you mean? You can't understand her?"

"I can't even hear it- her, whatever she is," replied Gates. "I thought you were both having a one-sided conversation."

"I can hear it fine," called Vale to their surprise, "it's definitely speaking."

Tobias held up a hand to silence everyone. "Alright, who can hear her?"

By the hands that went up, apparently only he, Buck, Vale, and Kay could understand what the Architect was saying. Neither Gates nor the doctors could even hear her.

He looked at Al'cor. "Are you trying to speak privately or something?"

No, the Architect answered, they cannot hear because their minds have not been opened.

"That … doesn't make any sense."

The four of you have turned the hidden keys within yourselves, unlocked the final evolution that all life strives for. She shifted slightly upon the bed.I cannot commune with those who have not yet attained enlightenment.

Kay froze momentarily. That word had been thrown around more than once during her indoctrination, she'd told Tobias as much. It had been her rationalization, her fate …

Enlightenment.

Tobias seemed to have remembered as well, and was staring at her anxiously. Turning back to Al'cor, he asked, "What is 'enlightenment'?"

The Architect tilted her head. It is difficult to explain. To achieve enlightenment, one must link not just their bodies, but their very thoughts with another. The cycle of life demands that the three stages be completed for a species to reach full actualization of their potential; all life begins as organic, and eventually grows to the stage where they are able to create new life of their own accord, artificial life.

She spoke to them as though teaching them simple facts that every child should know inherently. And finally, the race in question must join together to reach the third and final status; entwinement. This is what my people were, and what you four are; your thoughts are not individualistic in nature, but rather a network of ideas and knowledge which is shared instantly among active members.

"I thought you said one needed to be sapient to understand you?" he asked confusedly.

No, I said that KT must have been sapient to understand me; if she was not sapient, then she would not have been able to entwine herself with you as she had done.

Entwine herself with me? But she and I-

In an instant, he understood exactly what Al'cor was referring to, why the four of them could hear while the others couldn't. The answer was so simple, so obvious that he was shocked he hadn't realized it sooner. Slowly, he turned to the other three as they watched his reaction with concern.

"It's the links," he whispered. "Our neural links with Titans- that's what's allowing us to hear her. She can only speak to linked PilotsandTitans."

Understanding dawned over the occupants in the room as the reason for such a selective form of communication was revealed. None of the doctors would have a Titan, and he knew that Gates didn't; she'd told him as much herself.

But that answer didn't seem to sit at home with everyone. Gates raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Why such a specific limitation though? To only speak to such a small fraction of the population …"

He had to admit, she had a point that even he wasn't quite sure how to answer. Fortunately, it seemed that Al'cor did.

It is not a limitation placed upon my kind by ourselves, but by those who seek to speak with us. We have never encountered a species that has achieved such divided unity- somehow, you have managed to choose who does and does not enter the union.

Tobias narrowed his eyes. "You mean all of the Architects were like us- linked together mentally?"

Now, Al'cor was the one who seemed confused. Yes, of course. We shared memories, experiences, everything that we were with the rest of each other. That is the nature of being entwined; you are no longer a single consciousness, but rather one piece of the whole.

"They were a hive-mind," Buck muttered behind them, "passing information between themselves instantaneously … but at the cost of a self."

Again, Al'cor seemed to think they were stating the obvious. Yes- but you already knew that. How could you not? You yourselves have achieved enlightenment, though it is far different than anything I have seen before.

Tobias thought back to all those years ago on Erebus, when Blisk had found him and told him of the scientists' attempt to interact with the Inferno's orb-capsule …

"Eggheads said that they've been trying to remove this thing for years, never had any luck. It was quantum-locked or something. I guess you got it on the first try, eh? It would seem that it likes you."

The implications of that conversation now were startling to think about. His mind racing, he turned to the Architect.

"In all these years, you've never explained to me what the Inferno actually is."

She looked at him. I told you long ago, the Inferno is not an object- it is the title of that who bears the burden of guardianship for the energy which you have given the same name.

He sighed frustratedly. "Alright then, what is it actually called? And what does it do? Don't bullshit me, I want absolute honesty."

She seemed surprised by his abrupt change in questioning, but complied. We called it the Codex.

"The Codex?"

It is a metaphysical source of energy created long ago by others before my people's history. It allows those it touches to manipulate the reality around them in ways otherwise not possible, such as altering, creating, or destroying other energy and matter.

Vale took a step forward. "You didn't create it? I thought-"

We did not create it, and we were not the first to find it- only to use it. An anomaly within reality itself, it accelerated our evolution and turned us into what you see before you; creatures beyond simple, physical forms. We discovered the plane beyond this one while our essence remained tethered here in these bodies.

Things were starting to make sense concerning the Architects' history; they'd used the Codex and become beings that could naturally access the void-scape like him and Kay. But what concerned him was the same thing that concerned Vale; Al'cor has told him that they'd constructed it. Why would she lie about that?

"But what is it- the 'plane beyond this one'?"

What you call the void-scape is generated entirely by the Codex. Is is the realm interwoven through all of reality, and is only accessible through the Codex. Beyond that, we never knew.

Now came the million dollar question. "Al'cor? How were you the first ones to use it if you weren't the first to discover it?"

The Codex can only be held by a form of entwined life. Others may observe its power, but only a collective intelligence could utilize it and become the Inferno. This was the same nature of the quantum lock I placed upon it before you discovered it, and why you succeeded where others had failed.

This new revelation was almost too much to bear; he now knew why they were seemingly such a 'divided unity' when it came to who was entwined or not.

None of them were.

"It was an accident," he said aloud, his voice soft as though saying it too loud might destroy the walls around him. "Everything that's happened- my being the Inferno, using the Codex- it's all a mistake."

The Architect stared at him. I don't understand.

"Humans aren't 'entwined', we're not a hive-mind- we're all very much individuals."

She was silent for several seconds, seemingly nonplussed. That's … impossible. The Codex requires-

"The Codex was tricked," he muttered, holding his head in his hands. "Your quantum lock was cheated by my link with KT- it registered the two of us as being 'entwined' because of our neural link."

Al'cor looked around the room, apparently seeing the occupants of the room clearly for the first time. This explains … so much.

That wasn't the reaction he'd been expecting. "Al'cor?"

She turned back to him, her head moving with an urgency that he hadn't detected throughout the entire conversation until now. I must speak with you alone.

The four of them were taken aback. Kay crossed her arms disapprovingly. "Why?"

There are events in motion that must be discussed- privately. I do not wish to cause suspicion, but I insist upon speaking with Tobias alone.

Everyone seemed to turn to him expectantly, waiting on his word. Hesitantly, he nodded. "It's alright."

Reluctantly, they began to file out of the room. Mayfair, the other doctors, and Gates were confused by the mass exodus before Vale and Buck pulled them along while explaining the situation. Kay gave a reluctant backwards glance before taking her leave as well, and letting the door slide shut with its signature hiss.

Tobias face the Architect once again. "You don't have much time, so start talking."

I have lied to you.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, what else is new-"

Tobias.

The seriousness in her voice was obvious, and he realized that she wasn't just referring to their conflict during the Tempest event. "Al'cor?"

What I told you of my people when we first met one another … it was all a lie.

"Can you be a bit more specific?"

She paused for a moment. Everything that has happened thus far- it is our fault.

He furrowed his brow. "And how exactly do you figure that?"

We created the Amalgamation.

The room's air might as well have frozen to solid ice for how cold it suddenly became.

"You- you did what?" he managed to choke out.

With the Codex at the heart of our civilization, we advanced further technologically than we'd ever dreamt; the Arks, the fold arrays and their ability to warp space-time, they were all based on the Codex. But instead of sharing such a gift with others, we turned it against them.

Her tone became dark, her obvious hatred of the past making itself apparent in her speech. We believed that we were the destined rulers of the galaxy, that it was our right to act as such due to our inherent ability to access the Codex. Those civilizations that did not follow us were harvested, their essence ripped away, taken, and added to the void-scape.

But within the void, their essences were horrifically merged- they became entangled and stitched together misshapenly until the final result was a collective intelligence like ourselves, one that could use the Codex as we did and escaped its imprisonment within … the Seed.

He was almost too shocked for words. "You told me that it was an ancient enemy, one from outside our realm-"

It was not from our realm, it came from the void. But it did not simply discover us, and it was not put here by anyone other than us. The Amalgamates were extensions of the Seed, just as we were extensions of the Codex. It was our antithesis, a dark mirror of ourselves that could do naturally what we required the codex for- just as we had harvested the essence of others, it began to harvest and assimilate the organic forms of all that it consumed.

The anger hadn't come yet- he was still too deep in utter disbelief to feel any fury. "You- you-"

She continued. I told you that you that the array worlds were not yet ready. That was a lie- we simply could not use them due to how they worked.

He remembered her description of the Tempest event. "A 'reality-bomb', right?"

No. Again, that it is what you were told, she said in a pained tone. It was obvious that she hated telling him this just as much as he hated to hear it. It served to destroy any entwined life that had been altered by the Codex- Architect or Amalgamate, it did not discriminate. If we had activated the Tempest ourselves, it would have killed us as well.

"Why didn't it kill me? Or you? If it was supposed to destroy life altered by the Codex-"

Though unprecedented, you aren't truly a collective intelligence. You may bear the title of Inferno, but you still retain your own mind. And, as the last of my species … so do I.

Anger was starting to come now, and in great amounts- but he kept his head level, and knew that he wasn't going to get anywhere if he lost his cool. He still needed to figure out exactly what the hell had happened, and what it had to do with their current situation.

"Start from the beginning; what was your ultimate plan?"

To survive.

He narrowed his eyes. "Good plan. Now, how did you hope to accomplish that?"

We learned that the Seed was attracted to the Codex, drawn to it like a magnet. We could not simply use the fold arrays to transport it into the future- not unless the Codex was there alongside it as well. But my people did not want to relinquish the power that came with it … and so they devised a waiting game. One that would take place over millennia and ensure their survival and dominance in the future.

Tobias didn't like the sound of that. "If that's true, then where are they?"

They sealed their essence within the Codex. She looked down in shame. I was not the previous Inferno out of importance, but lack thereof. I was chosen to stay behind and ensure that the Codex and my people survived. I hid it away on our home-world, and then readied it for the species that would discover it and follow the clues it gave to the world of storms … where they would take the Seed into their time and destroy it where my people couldn't.

The Architects hadn't died out after spending their lives trying to save the future of the galaxy; they'd trapped themselves within the Codex and waited for someone else to take care of their problem. His hands clenched into fists involuntarily, and there was a dangerous edge to his voice when he spoke.

"Your people used us to kill the Seed? To do their dirty work?"

She flinched at his voice, but her own did not falter. Yes.

"How many of us died in the Tempest event? How many of us were forced to fight a war that wasn't our own because your people were cowards?!" he yelled without really expecting an answer. "I was ready to give my own life to save others- a choice that apparently couldn't be expected of the Architects, the very people asking me to do exactly that!"

You're right.

He stopped talking immediately, not sure he'd heard her correctly. "What?"

She nodded understandingly at him. You're right. We should have been willing to make the hard choice- to die for our mistakes. But my people- the Architects- were too selfish to think of anyone's survival but their own. That is no longer the case with me.

"Elaborate," he snapped.

We were a collective intelligence- all thoughts, memories, and ideas were shared and agreed upon by the whole. But when they were gone … her voice became very small. I'd never felt alone before. I'd never had my mind to myself, never even had a concept of self. I followed the plan regardless, but … without the consensus of the other Architects, I've been forced to discover my own thoughts. And they do not agree with the past actions of my people.

She paused. I've developed my own preferences, formulated my own opinions … things I never would have been able to conceptualize as part of the whole. She looked at him. This is what life is like for you humans?

He nodded in confirmation. "Yeah."

It is unique. Frightening … but beautiful in a way. Instead of being forced to come together, you choose to.

Al'cor examined her own body as though seeing it for the first time. I can see my form as myself rather than as one part of the entwinement. This is all I am … and that is all you are. You gain nothing by dying, yet so many of you lay down your lives so that others may live. We saw this as an inferior tier of evolution, a useless trait that we were grateful not to possess … we were wrong.

With a pondering sound to her voice, she looked back at Tobias. Both of us have been ready to sacrifice ourselves … but you chose to, and I believe that is what makes all the difference.

He raised an eyebrow. "So? What are you getting at?"

I needed you to see that I no longer share self-preservation as a core interest like the other Architects did, she explained. Ironically, if I did then I would no longer be alive as I would have been killed by the Tempest. Now that my future is my own, I choose to model my beliefs after yours; you've shown me that dying for the right cause is far more important than living for the wrong one.

After everything she'd told him, this was the last thing he would have expected to hear from her. "So … is that an apology? A plea for forgiveness? A request to join us, what?"

Yes. All of it.

He sighed, and sat down hard onto the other bed behind him. "So, you want to help us, huh?"

Before, I was still doing what the others had ordered me to; guiding you where I could, lying to you when necessary. That is why I painted the image of us as a selfless species, so that you would remain ignorant of our true intentions. She shook her head in defiance of her past ideals. Now, I wish to stand with you and protect your people. I will not let another species die by my people's hand.

Her wording confused him, and he felt it best to get an explanation for it. "What do you mean? What were your true intentions?"

She was silent for a moment, the regret she felt all too evident in her body language.

The end of humanity, and the return of the Architects.

He felt himself stop breathing for a moment, like his lungs had suddenly forgotten how to do so in the wake of this monumentally more important information.

"T-The ... what?"

The original plan had gone under the assumption that once humanity had advanced enough to entwine, one of you would find the Codex, become the Inferno, and go on to activate the Tempest. When this happened, it would have killed your species just as it had done to the Seed, and our kind would have been free to reclaim the galaxy as ours once the Codex was unwoven.

"Unwoven?"

She nodded. The essence of my people would have been released from the Codex, generated new forms from its anomalous properties, and taken back all that we'd lost.

He looked around them to illustrate his next point. "Well, where are they? That was over four years ago, and there's a very obvious lack of Architects running around."

Because you did not activate the Tempest, she explained. KT did, at my urging. When the two of you were brought to the void together by the Seed, her essence was touched by the Codex's energy. It was because of this that she was able to activate the Tempest ... but without the Codex, the Tempest did not release the Architects as it had been designed to do.

"Her essence?"

What you call a 'soul', or close to it. It is a tangible imprint carried by every form of life- my people simply learned how to merge our essence with physical reality rather than the void.

All these terms gave him a splitting headache; his greatest worry was that he'd miss something vital in the midst of so many new revelations. "Alright, I'm with you so far- so that's why they didn't return, because I wasn't the one to activate the Tempest."

Correct.

He crossed one leg over the other. "So you stopped them from coming back all those years ago. Why?"

She bowed her head. As I said, my perspective of the situation had ... changed. I was not sure whether it was the right decision, but when I saw what you and KT had experienced in the void ... I was not willing to destroy yet another race of people.

He remembered showing her that memory, wanting her to know what would be stolen from him when he died; any chance of a life for him and KT. "So you weren't just trying to save me by telling KT to do it herself ... but the rest of humanity as well?"

We now know that none of humanity would have died anyway; I did not realize before that you were not an entwined species. But it was my intention at the very least to keep my people from being granted freedom back into the world. Had they been released, they would likely have attempted to dominate your species and subjugate them at threat of death.

With every new piece of information, the Architects seemed more and more like highly intelligent butchers. And to think he'd once considered them the galaxy's saviors ...

"And then I was able to bring Kay back because she left a backup of herself in my helmet ..."

Artificial life often has been shown to overcome boundaries otherwise impossible to breach. I did not believe it likely that she would survive, but it was possible. I am glad she was able to find a way to do so.

He exhaled deeply. "Well, I'm just glad that you decided to switch sides when you did. Otherwise, we might have been dealing with a race of Architect overlords instead of just Spyglass."

Upon saying that, she tensed up once more. Your AI dictator. What is it that he's planning?

He felt his stomach drop. "That's why we rescued you, we were hoping you could help us figure that out."

Sitting up straight, she stared at him attentively. I will help you in any way I can, but I'm afraid I do not know much of what has happened since he first took custody of me.

He explained what had happened during her imprisonment; how Spyglass had divided humanity and turned the Titans' protective nature of their Pilots against them. He told her of Cinder, and the nanites that Dr. Carson and his team had developed for Spyglass. Finally, he told her of KT's condition and how she'd come to be in the form she currently had.

When all was said and done, she gave him as thoughtful an expression as someone who didn't have a face could manage.

So many components, and yet I have trouble seeing how they all relate to one another.

"You and me both," he grumbled. "What was it that he did to you? Why did he need you?"

He wanted to know my people's history, the same history that I've now told you. In addition, he would operate on me constantly to perform experiments of which I do not know the nature. All I am certain of is that he showed a great interest in the way I interact with reality, and the inherent gifts given to my people by the Codex.

He raised his hands up to the sides of his head and began to massage his temples out of stress. "So we've got to stop a tyrannical AI who wants to infect humanity with nanites, but we have no idea why or even how he's going to do it. Great, just ... great."

She lowered her head apologetically. I'm sorry. I wish I could be of more assistance.

He waved away her apology dismissively. "Not your fault, it just means that we're going to be flying blind when we hit him." He smiled, though it was more due to the helplessness of the situation rather than any actual sense of enjoyment. "Not the first time we've gone in without knowing what's waiting for us; we just seem to be rather good at making the best of what we've got."

On that, we can both agree.

He stood up to leave and allow the others back in, but he stopped after considering their conversation. "You didn't have to tell me the truth- any of it. You could have kept it to yourself, but you risked telling me in spite of how I might have reacted."

Yes.

He regarded her with gratitude. "Thank you. I don't know if any of what you've told me of your people's history will help us, but if it has anything to do with what he's planning- well, it might give us an edge later."

She returned his stare with an unwavering one of her own. I do not know if I can ever make up for the wrongs I committed against you ... but I will certainly do my best to try.

He sighed. "I think that's about all any of us can do at this point."

...

Kay and Gates were waiting for him outside while the doctors entered again to attend to Al'cor. It appeared that Vale and Buck had gone back to their duties as heads of security.

Walking over to where they stood, he motioned towards them. "I see you two have reacquainted yourselves."

Kay held a hand to the back of her head in an embarrassed manner. "Yes, it was nice to catch up under more ... amicable circumstances."

Gates gave a small scoff. "That's one word for it." Turning to Tobias, she raised an eyebrow. "So, what was that all about? Must have been important if it was for your ears- or mind- only."

He shook his head. "It wasn't anything to do with Spyglass if that's what you're asking. She told me more about the Architects' history, them as a people- it was some pretty brutal stuff."

"How brutal?"

"I'll fill you in later- for the moment, let's just be glad that they're not around anymore." He placed his hands on the sides of his hips, and looked at Kay. "But whatever happened in the past- she's on our side now."

The Simulacrum crossed her arms reproachfully. "If she lied in the past, what makes you think things will be different this time?"

"For starters, the Architects might be ruling humanity right now if it hadn't been for her intervention- you can ask her about that yourself. All I know is that she's willing and ready to help us fight, and just like Barker is willing to trust me when it comes to your allegiance, you should trust me when it comes to hers."

The similarity of their situations not lost on her, Kay's arms lowered back to her sides and she gave a single, miffed nod. "Point taken."

He let out a long, drawn-out breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Well, that's what's new with me. What about you?"

"I changed fragments again while I was waiting on the landing strip."

Raising his arm up to his face, he pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. "Of course you did. Well, which one is this?"

"Themis," she replied. "My morality as defined by what you've taught me."

Gates looked from one of them to the other cautiously. "This isn't going to be a problem, is it? I mean, I don't know much about this whole fragmentation business, but I'd rather not turn around to suddenly find that it's Artemis in that body again-"

"I have it under control," Kay assured her fiercely.

"You'd better," Gates warned. "If Fenrir catches so much as a hint that you're going to be a problem-"

As if on cue, the comlink on Gates' wrist lit up and caused all three of them to jump with the small alert noise it produced. Shakily, she raised her arm up to her mouth. "This is Gates, go ahead."

"It's Vale. Fenrir and Barker are requesting Four's presence in the command center."

Gates furrowed her brow. "What for?" She didn't voice it, but Tobias knew that all three of them were wondering the same thing; had Kay's switch been found out?

"It's that broadcast thing they've been talking about, they want to go over it with him."

Gates gave a visible sign of relief once she'd registered what Vale had said. "Understood, I'll send him your way."

Tobias looked at her curiously as she put down her arm. "Broadcast? What is she talking about?"

"I think it's best that I let them tell you about it," she answered shortly. Beckoning down the hall with a bob of her head, she glanced at him expectantly.

"Shall we?"