The two men entered the main panel room, Ethan was still stressed about the elevator situation but didn't want to bring more trouble at that moment after yelling at Heisenberg; Karl approached the panel, pulling a lever that powered the system - he brought the microphone close to his lips, pressing a blue button at the same time.
"Soldats, assemble at the back gate, formation 103." he paused briefly, looking at Ethan and releasing the button. "Listen, there's a book right there on that table, I'll give you a crack and leave you in charge."
Ethan raised an eyebrow, not understanding anything, turning to grab the book from the other table.
"Put me in charge? Why?" he asked, bringing the book to the man, "I thought you were going to run those things!"
"I will don't worry! But I want you to have control too in case anything unforeseen happens." he replied, holding the button with his index finger again.
"Wait-" Ethan whispered, interrupting him.
"Hm?" Karl fixed his glasses, raising the hand that was holding the button.
"...Why are you...pushing this conversation so hard?"
"...what conversation? Aaaaah-! About some shit going wrong?" The man looked at him, with an uncomfortable smile on his face.
Fuck, Ethan. Shut up.
"Yeah, that conversation." Ethan came close to him, looking him in the eye - or rather, in the reflection of his glasses. "Nothing will go wrong, let's just do what we have to do and get on with our lives! There! To be honest, you're scaring me by pushing this so hard."
Ethan was expecting a harsh response or just some bad joke, but Karl remained silent, moving his head to the panel, in the direction of the microphone. He opened the book to the page that referred to the commands he created and pressed the button.
"Soldats, command 75." He kept his finger pressed and looked at Ethan, whispering. "Just say your name."
Winters approached the microphone, closing his eyes - for some reason he was afraid, generated by Heisenberg's silence.
"Ethan Winters." he said, turning away looking at the book on the table.
The man just pressed a random button on the top of the panel, fixing his hat; a silence lingered in the air for a few seconds when they both heard noises of gears and metal being scraped; Karl picked up two walkie-talkies, tossing one to Ethan who quickly grabbed the object with a curious expression.
"They're for communicating with them, always speak your name before giving a command or they won't obey."
"All right..." the man held the walkie-talkie with both hands, taking a deep breath. "I'm coming, Rose."
The mechanic and the father climbed a small ladder that led up to the roof, which was slippery from the storm. The sky was dark as never before, lightning and lights appearing between the clouds as the two had a view of the undead army in the backfield; perfectly aligned, according to what Heisenberg had planned. There was a little pride in his chest and a little anxiety. He had designed, failed, tested, hurt himself many times while inserting and programming all this - sometimes he felt guilty that he was using the bodies of those he had killed on the orders of the woman who put him in this misery - but seeing the fruits of his labor and possible revenge coming his way made the blood pump in his veins. Ethan watched everything in silence, and from afar there was the sight of a large dark dome forming on the horizon: Miranda had begun her ceremony.
"So...that's it, huh?" he said, swallowing dryly and looking at Heisen'.
"...that's it." Karl looked up at the sky, as if asking for divine help - or some protection - and turned on his walkie-talkie that communicated directly with the already active main panel. "Karl Heisenberg. Command 105." he lowered his arm and the army began to march out of the field towards the forest.
"How are we going to get down-" Ethan felt an arm pass from behind his back, holding him firmly and he felt his feet come off the roof - the man was using the walls of the factory as a source of locomotion and created enough energy that he could float minimally safely to the ground, landing on the wet grass.
"We need to get there before the army..." Karl looked around and ducked, placing his hands on the ground - pieces of tanks and scrap metal floated towards them and Ethan ducked to dodge them - slowly a life-size horse figure formed, formed only by the pieces of metal there. The man looked on in disbelief, at the same time amazed at what he was seeing. Heisenberg removed his glasses and mounted the horse, holding his hand out to Ethan who climbed on without asking - the 'animal', controlled by him, began to ride off in the direction of where the army was and taking the lead. "When we get there, give them command 0!"
"And what does that do?!" Ethan shouted amidst the noise of the rain and the soldiers walking, shielding his face with one hand.
"You'll know on the spot!" Heisenberg placed his hands on the horse's neck region, making it move faster on the way up.
"Miranda, you're going to regret touching my daughter..." Ethan thought to himself.