Sapphire stared at her knees in the cockpit of Titan Three. The nerve system was near-completely repaired, but she still felt a dull, throbbing pain in her stomach and legs. Probably chipped artificial nerves.

"Corondum, how much damage is there leftover?"

Sapphire didn't move to respond. "Legs and abdomen have some damage remaining." She could hear Pearl's concerned noise, and vaguely the statements of others in the room. "Can you operate properly, or do we have to cut off nerve connections?"

"I'll be fine. I can ignore the damage." Sapphire lifted her hand to push a strand of blue hair out of her eye, her fingers brushing the wire poking into her cheek, before she lowered her hand to the controls once more.

"Alright, were going to start re-downloading everything. Please concentrate on synching yourself."

Sapphire ignored the pain, and focused on being one with the Titan. She closed her eyes, breathed evenly, and attempted to ignore the stifling silence. It was eating at the edges of her mind, dragging her to think of the darker things that she had seen.

No, no, she wouldn't think of that. She pushed emotion from every corner of her mind. She was aroused from a thoughtless state, growing steadily more aware of the injuries and the situation her Titan was in, by Pearl saying in a rather tired voice;"Sapphire, we're taking it for a movement test. Were enabling movement in...ten seconds, starting...now."

Ten seconds later, she felt something malfunction and shatter. She gasped, hunching over a bit more. "Sapphire, there was a bit of a malfunction. We'll have it fixed in ten minutes, no problem. It's too inconveniencing to have you get out. Do you think you could stay in?"

Sapphire regained her composure. "I'll manage." She straightened up and leaned against the back of the uncomfortable seat. "Alright. We're switching to video and audio so that we know if something happens," Pearl said through the intercom. She glanced at the holographic screen that popped up. It showed herself, looking perfectly blank, as if the almost unbearable pain throughout her body was nonexistent. She turned her eyes to the controls. They were just two round protrusions from a dashboard-like surface in front of a screen that showed what was in front of her. Right now, though, it was dark. The round devices had triggers inside, allowing her to shoot her rifle. Metal cords attached to her Enhancement Suit on her legs, torso, arms, and back. Not very many, but enough to input the correct information. She was fastened into place by iron bands over her ankles and a non-technical cord attached to her back.

Ten minutes passed. The pain lessened. Pearl spoke once more. "Alright, could you try walking?"

Sapphire nodded, knowing that they could see her. She went through the movements of taking three steps forward and three back. She moved her arms. She turned her head. She did everything right.

"Okay, you can get out now. The bridge is out. you can eject now," Pearl said. Sapphire did the necessary things to eject.

Pearl assumed everything was going alright. She wasn't paying attention to the screen that was split between exterior and cockpit of Titan Three. She thought everyone was fine for about thirty seconds-before she heard a high-pitched scream in her earpiece. Everyone wearing one jumped in surprise. The other employees turned in confusion at Pearl responding swiftly and loudly. "Sapphire! What's wrong? Are you okay?"

All she heard was Sapphire's unsteady breathing. She looked up as her coworker, Peridot, spoke to her. "Mollusk! The nerve connections went haywire. The extra length of needle, reserved for security use, went straight into her at all connections. Her life is at stake. We need to get her out as soon as possible."

Pearl bit her lip, setting her prioities. "Eject the cockpit!"

"It's not taking the signal, sir!"

Pearl took a step forward. "Can we deactivate the security?"

"No, sir."

She looked up at the screen on the wall above Control, half of which showing the twitching Titan. The other half, however, showed Sapphire, sitting in the cockpit, her teeth grinding together and her hands clutching at the controls. Every inch of her body showed pain. The audio just made the picture more horrible.

Pearl gritted her teeth. "Manually get her out. It's our only option."

"Yes, sir!"

She watched them open the door and run into the huge room. Making a split second decision, she darted in after them. She adjusted her mouthpiece slightly. "Sapphire?"

Nothing.

She pressed a button, redirecting the one-way signal to Ruby.

"Ruby. Get in here."

"What happened? I don't know what's going on! I just got out like three minutes ago, but everybody's panicking and I don't know what-"

"The security systems activated on Sapphire. We're getting her out manually. You're probably the only one here that's familiar enough with the system to hack into it. Titan Four has the same program."

She could hear Ruby take in a sharp breath. "Shit. I'll be there in a minute."

Shortly later, Ruby arrived beside Pearl, still wearing her Enhancement Suit. She stared up at the Titan before her. "Is she gonna be okay? I heard her scream through my earpiece a minute ago, but they cut me off..."

Pearl looked down at the small girl. "I don't recommend turning it back on. Her Titan being damaged is one thing, but her being stabbed with six-inch long needles is another. I swear, if they even try to take out these connections, I'm going to murder them."

Ruby grinned nervously. "Yeah...we really don't want our best Pilot to die from blood loss."

After about thirty minutes, they managed to pry the cockpit out. At this point, Sapphire was barely even conscious. They carefully cut the wires, detached the cord from her back, and took out the metal bands from over her ankles. Her breathing was ragged, her only visible eye closed. Blood stained her lip.

Pearl's eyes widened in horror. She was raising this kid-and here she was, on the brink of death, lying on a stretcher, being carried by two EMT's.

She looked down at the ground. Ruby was frozen in place-not surprising. She and Sapphire had been raised together from age three. They were, in essence, sisters. They did everything together. Ruby was horrified to see something she held so dearly horribly injured.

She placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Come on. Let's go."

Ruby looked up and nodded mutely. Pearl forced a smile. "You should go change into regular clothes, though."

The small girl laughed nervously. "Um, yes. Yeah. I should. Bye."

Pearl watched her leave, and looked down at the ground. What had she done? She had been the one to glaze over the security program, dismiss it as fine the way it was...

This was all her fault.

Uh...sorry for the long chapter, dude. And how fast-paced this thing is. I can't really write things that develop slowly.