A/N: Very important that you read this, so please don't skip it.

I've decided to continue writing 'Cinder' while simultaneously rewriting the series to be how I wish it had always been. This means that this version of 'Cinder' will be finished, but I'll be implementing some short-term fixes to a few chapters while 'The Architect Codex' is still being written.

This also means infrequent updates. It's very difficult for me to set aside time for writing currently, but I do find that it's cathartic and I enjoy it all the same. So please don't ask me for constant updates in the future as I simply cannot manage that at this time.

With all that aside, please enjoy the chapter and leave a review if you can.

This was the Embers' base, alright.

The clouds had obstructed their vision at first, and they'd had to proceed to the coordinates based purely on the ship's guidance controls and sensor input. Once they'd finally dipped below the skyline, however, it was clear to see that they'd come to the right place.

The surface of the planet was bleak, nothing but patches of dark green and fields interspersed among rocky and barren terrain. Beyond this particular region was a mountain range with several peaks stretching high enough to have their tips hidden within the storms that plagued the skies above. And littered around were pre-fab buildings, the only sign of civilization on the otherwise desolate world.

Judging strictly from the amount of buildings he could see, there were more Ember forces than Tobias had been expecting, but fewer than he'd hoped they could scrounge up. If this was all they had to throw against Spyglass …

"I'm bringing us to their shipyard," Kay called out as the ship began to bank to the right.

"They have a shipyard here?" he asked incredulously.

She scoffed. "Well, it's more of an airstrip with a few guard posts from what I can see, but I don't think we can afford to be picky right now."

"Good point," he murmured under his breath. "A few ships is better than none-"

The radio suddenly began to spit out a voice. "Unidentified vessel, this is Captain Gates. I've been brought over to verify that Admiral Four is indeed upon that ship, so you better answer quickly if you don't want to be blown out of the sky-"

Quickly, he reached forward and opened the channel. "Elizabeth, it's me. I'd rather you not blow me up, if at all possible. Thanks."

He heard a frustrated sigh on the other end. "Why do you insist on being a smartass at the worst times?"

"This time, I'm not being a smartass," he muttered seriously. "Kay is still with me, but she's not hostile. Her condition is … unusual. I need your word that she and I aren't going to be fired upon the second we leave the ship."

There was silence for roughly ten seconds as she processed what he'd just told her. He was almost about to speak again and confirm that the call hadn't ended when she spoke in a clipped tone, "You're lucky I've got Mayfair here vouching for what you say. Otherwise, I'm fairly certain that Fenrir would kill you both without a second thought after what happened on the frigate."

"Understood," he said professionally, acknowledging the severity of the situation. "Can you meet us at the landing zone? It might smooth things over a bit."

"I'll send someone to help out, my hands are tied here. You better have a damn good explanation for where you've been. Gates out."

The connection terminated just as the ship touched down and buckled slightly from making contact with the ground. Kay glanced over at him, waiting on his command for how to move forward.

"C'mon," he beckoned, standing up and moving into the bay to get Al'cor. "Just help me with her. So long as we cooperate, I think we'll be fine."

"Easy for you to say," she grumbled. "If I so much as twitch the wrong way-"

"Can't blame them," he replied honestly. "Not after what happened, and especially since they probably don't know the ins and outs of your … situation." Leaning down, he looped the Architect's left arm around his shoulders as Kay did the same to her right. Once he was sure that they had her secure and stable, he reached up and pulled the release lever that began allowing the ramp to descend.

As it lowered, the scale of the situation was much more obvious. Guards stood roughly twenty feet back, surrounding the back of the ship in a semi-circle. All of them had raised weapons with their aim trained on the three occupants, just waiting for someone to make a wrong move.

"Step forward," called their commanding officer, a simulacrum who stood behind them watching the event unfold intently. Tobias and Kay complied, dragging their burden along with them onto the platform.

"What the hell is that?" gasped one of the guards rhetorically, completely dumbfounded at the sight of Al'cor.

"This is the Architect," Tobias declared loudly, "She's been badly wounded, and needs medical attention! Kay and I surrender, but please; help her."

The simulacrum regarded the three of them for a moment before turning away to speak into his radio. "I need three medical officers and a stretcher-

yes, that's right … understood."

He looked back at them. "Just sit tight, help is on the way."

Tobias nodded gratefully, and opted to stand there silently with Kay as they supported the Architect between them.

Several minutes passed in silence before the medical team arrived with the requested stretcher and moved in to assist Al'cor. Finally free of her weight, Tobias and Kay lifted her gently onto the board and watched as the medics began wheeling her back towards the collection of pre-fabs that formed the center of the Embers' cluster of buildings.

"Sorry for the somewhat passive-aggressive greeting, Admiral," said the simulacrum, moving forward to meet Tobias formally. "Fenrir's just a bit on edge considering what happened the last time you met up with the fleet."

"Fenrir?" he queried, raising an eyebrow. "I thought Barker was in charge."

"He is, but he delegates most of the security details to her," the robotic humanoid answered. "Her methods haven't let us down yet, so she must be onto something."

"Well, her concern is understandable," Tobias replied, extending a hand out. "Good to meet you … ?"

The officer accepted Tobias' hand and shook it firmly. "Commander Buck, the pleasure is mine. I've heard quite a bit about you, though I'm sure that's to be expected what with all that you've done."

Tobias nodded. "Yeah, I suppose it is."

Buck stepped back and looked the two of them up and down. "I can let you by, but she's going to have to stay here until I get the word that she's cleared for entry."

He opened his mouth to protest only to stop when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked to see Kay shaking her head.

"Go on," she said, nodding her head in Buck's direction. "I'll be fine waiting here for a bit, there are more important things at stake."

He held her gaze for a moment or two before sighing in acceptance, and looking back to Buck. "Alright."

The commander turned and gestured with his hand to the guards situated nearby. They lowered their weapons, but continued to stand watch and wait for Kay to make any sudden movements. Not wanting to create a scene, she opted to simply sit on the ground and avoid taking any action that could be interpreted as aggressive.

"Command center is this way," Buck called, walking away briskly with Tobias following close behind. She watched them go, and clasped her hands together over her knees.

Hopefully, Tobias could sweet-talk them just as well as he did to her.

…

"I'm going to need not one, but several good reasons to not march you out back and have someone put a bullet in your skull," she snarled at him.

'A bit on edge' was perhaps the understatement of the year, going by what Buck had said to describe Fenrir's current attitude. Tobias didn't think that the woman could appear more livid if she'd tried.

Surrounding the two of them in the command center were Barker, a few guards to protect him and his second in command, and Buck behind Tobias. Whether they supported her rather violent stance on the issue or not, they remained silent as they watched the scene play out.

"I didn't understand the threat that Kay presented to the fleet when Gates brought me aboard the frigate," he explained in as calm a tone as he could manage with Fenrir's spittle flying at him. "I do now."

"And yet, you still brought her to us knowing full-well that you'd be risking our lives again?" she exclaimed incredulously. "How does that put our minds at ease at all?"

"She has a point, kid," Barker sighed. "You haven't exactly given us much to trust you on there."

Tobias nodded understandingly. "Kay was tortured and manipulated by Spyglass until her mind broke apart into pieces, concentrated parts of her original personality. Gates and Mayfair can back up what I'm saying-"

"Yes, the scientist told us all about this 'fragmentation' process," Fenrir said exasperatedly while pinching the bridge of her nose. "She also told us that there are no recorded instances of it actually occurring, so this would be the first. And, while I'm sure the thought's already crossed your mind, does it not seem a bit too convenient that it happened to your Titan of all potential candidates?"

He'd hoped she hadn't caught wind of that, for the truth was that he didn't really have an explanation for that either. She took his silence as an admission of doubt, and crossed her arms. "I see no reason to continue wasting everyone's time with-"

"I'd reconsider, ma'am. People have been wary to trust Four before, and it did not bode well for them."

With the hiss of a door sliding open, everyone's attention turned to the two newcomers who had entered the command center. Relief coursed through him as he saw Gates, and then came elation as he recognized the voice of the Simulacrum who'd spoken standing next to her.

Fenrir narrowed her eyes. "This isn't up for debate, Lieutenant Vale. He presents a great threat to the safety of every individual here-"

"As your head security officer, I respectfully disagree," retorted Vale. "People were slow to trust an ex-IMC officer when he spoke of some plot involving Erebus, but it's because of him that Harmony was saved. He said there was a greater threat than the IMC after his imprisonment, and was proven right when the Amalgamation event surfaced. I think he's more than proven to be worthy of your trust, and it would do us well to listen to him."

Tobias couldn't express just how much her words had meant to him, especially with how much he'd doubted himself over the last few weeks. He restrained himself to a grateful nod in her direction.

Barker seemed to sense the truth in her words. "Well, he does have a rather outstanding track record so far." He looked behind Tobias. "Buck, what about you? You believe him?"

The Simulacrum thought for a moment. "I don't know him enough to place judgement one way or another. But I'd trust her with my life," he said while gesturing to Vale. "So if she trusts what he says, then so do I."

His mind apparently convinced, Barker clapped his hands together loudly. "Well, I think that about settles it."

Fenrir's eyes widened in shock. "Robert, you can't be serious! What if-"

"There are far too many what-if's for us to worry about," he cut her off. "We all heard what Spyglass plans to do, and the fact of the matter is that we're outgunned, outnumbered- pretty much out-everything'ed. We've already got a close to zero chance of surviving whatever's coming our way; if we can get any kind of advantage or extra support, I'm going to take it."

Everyone was silent for a few moments, processing just how accurately and seriously Barker had described their situation. He looked around the room once to make sure that his message had stuck with everyone, then waved his hand towards the door. "Dismissed- I'd like to speak with Four alone."

With a slow shuffle that quickly spread throughout the room, everyone filed out of the command center until it was just Tobias and Barker. With the hiss of the door sliding shut once again, Barker turned to Tobias with a wary grin.

"Quite the warm reception, huh? And I thought your entrance to the fleet had been rough …"

"I understand Fenrir's concerns, sir," Tobias said quietly.

"Oh, so do I," Barker agreed, "I even share a few of them myself. She's an old friend of mine, back when both of us were nothing but hotshot Pilots in the Titan Wars … so you could say that her advice is something I don't ever take lightly. She's proven to be invaluable to the survival of this operation and the Embers as a whole."

He sighed. "But what she doesn't seem to realize is that we can't afford to be selective with what kind of help we take. I haven't forgotten that your Titan-Simulacrum-Frankenstein thing killed quite a few good people. But if she's on our side now, it's not exactly an offer I can turn down."

He was silent for a moment, and then eyed Tobias carefully. "I'm sure you remember our talk in the bar on Harmony?"

So he did remember. Tobias' mind flashed back to those painful days after the Tempest event. "Yes, sir."

"Gates had been the one to tell me of your situation. I didn't know how bad it was until I met you face-to-face and saw nothing but pain in your eyes." He shook his head sadly at the memory. "I don't think I've ever seen a spirit as crushed as yours was in those few days of the aftermath. That Titan meant more to you than anything else, didn't she?"

Tobias swallowed hard. "… Yes, sir."

Barker kept his gaze on the Pilot, analyzing him. "And then life gave you a gift that it's never given anyone before; it gave her back to you. I wish I could say I wasn't envious, but … there's a lot of people I've lost that I wish I hadn't. And knowing how I'd feel if they were to be returned to me … it has me a little concerned."

"What do you mean?" Tobias asked, confused at where this was going.

"Let's say, hypothetically, that this does end up being a trick and your schizo-robot ends up betraying us. She kills more people, she sabotages the mission … what would you do?"

The grizzled commander stared at Tobias while the latter tried to understand what he was saying. "I … I don't know."

"If I'm going to trust you, then I need to know that my trust is well placed," Barker explained. "I have no doubt that your bond with her is probably the most important thing in your life, you've certainly shown that to be the case time and time again. So, if it came down to it, would you choose her … or us?"

Tobias was stunned into silence as that ultimatum slammed into him with the force of a Titan's fist.

"I hope you're willing to do what needs to be done if the time comes," Barker said grimly, "because there's a good chance it may come down to exactly that. Understood?"

Slowly, Tobias nodded his head. "Yes, sir."

In an instant, the harsh look on Barker's face disappeared and was replaced with his usual smirking countenance. "Then we don't have a problem."

A beeping began to emanate from one of Barker's pockets, and he reached into one to pull out what appeared to be a short-range comlink. He read whatever message was displayed on it quickly and then turned to Tobias.

"Looks like your alien friend is waking up. Go check in on it, and tell Buck that your companion can enter the base so long as she's accompanied by someone. In the meantime, I'll try to smooth things over with Fenrir."

Tobias nodded, and left with quite a bit of urgency in his step. Spyglass had left him with many questions, and the Architect was his best chance at answering any of them.

Any chance of that was another step towards survival.