General Ironwood's boots echoed loudly within the cavernous hallway as he moved at a brisk pace. Yang was right behind the man, jogging lightly to keep up. The pair of them were absolutely fuming, though for wildly different reasons. Reaching the elevator and having to wait for its arrival did nothing for either of their moods, and neither dared to look at the other for the duration. Yang clenched and unclenched her fists a few times as she stood in place, staring at her reflection in the polished steel of the sliding door.
"…I don't hate you," Yang said in a voice that sounded quite full of hatred. "I will never agree with what you did to Fria… but I don't hate you, no matter what it looks like. I mean that."
"I don't hate you either," General Ironwood replied, his own eyes closed as he reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "And you couldn't possibly hate that I made that call more than I do. I don't enjoy making sacrifices, but I recognize that I need to be the one to pull the trigger in situations like these. We're all doing the best we can, Miss Xiao Long. I recognize that, as well as the fact that my best hasn't been good enough in the moment, time and time again. If I had the answers to keeping us all together and grounded, believe me, I would give them to you. You and your friends are as much a part of Atlas now as its citizens."
"I know," Yang said. "And I'm no better than you. Seems like we both have problems with being quick to anger when situations get out of control. I'm not the type to hold grudges… for the most part…"
"I wish I wasn't," General Ironwood said cryptically. "But still… thank you, for at least attempting to defuse the situation. For what it's worth, I appreciate everything you and your squad have done thus far. There just isn't really time to make that properly known, especially when things are so rapidly falling apart."
"There really isn't," Yang agreed as the elevator arrived and let out a pleasant ding before sliding open. General Ironwood stepped inside, and the girl followed to stand beside him as he entered their destination on the keypad. "I appreciate everything you've given us, too, even if we clash every so often. Having different ideals doesn't invalidate everything you've done for us."
"…why is this starting to feel like one of the last conversations we'll ever have?" the man asked as he looked down at Yang.
"…because depending on the orders you give us after these events, it might be," Yang answered. "I just hope that you'll let us go in the event that some of us decide that we can't stand with you anymore."
General Ironwood was quiet for a moment as the elevator descended. The steady hum of the cables shifting around them filled the silence, until he finally clasped his hands behind himself.
"…that depends entirely on who steps away, and why…"
Yang opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by the elevator letting out another ding as it reached its destination. As the door slid open, General Ironwood stepped out immediately and took off for the R&D department. Yang was quick to follow, her heart in her throat as she walked.
"I'm going to do my best to follow Sun, wherever he goes. I still believe that he's our best shot at making the right decisions for the group."
"I would say that your instinct to do so is well-founded," General Ironwood considered. "Even though he has a penchant for going off script… he, too, is doing what he thinks is right. So far, he has been right. I have a great deal of respect for him, in spite of everything. He and I aren't so different."
"…in some ways," Yang added. "In others…"
General Ironwood paused just before the door to R&D and gave Yang another look, his expression entirely neutral.
"…that assessment is fair. Before we head inside, I need your complete and total honesty. What do you know about Dr. Polendina's failure to finish the other androids? If you have foreknowledge of anything that may be about to come to light, I will be far less upset if you admit to it now."
Yang met her superior's eyes with a stony gaze. She ran a hand through her grease-streaked hair, smearing more black lines through the saffron tangles.
"I don't know anything. Maria and I have been busting our asses to help him, and the third and fourth androids just… aren't meeting standards. All I can say is that I've encouraged him to consider bringing her back, for his own sake. Dr. Polendina's mental health… it's deteriorating by the day. I don't think he can keep doing this as-is, seeing his 'daughter' every day and knowing it isn't really her. If I had to guess, that's what the problem is. Stress is killing him."
General Ironwood inhaled sharply through his nose before letting out a long, slow breath.
"…I appreciate your honesty. Penny is not what we need right now. I intend to reinforce that notion."
Yang reached out and grabbed General Ironwood's arm before she thought about what she was doing. Her cold metallic digits wrapped around his exposed wrist, pressing harshly into the warm flesh.
"Is that really a battle worth fighting right now?" Yang asked. "Why not just let it go, for his sake? Even if we lose Hope temporarily as she comes to grips with her memories, if such a thing is even possible… you never planned to have us around. We can make up for her, if she comes back to us as Penny and needs some time to process the trauma."
"…I'll consider it. Just don't get in my way."
Yang released her grip and watched General Ironwood walk into the lab before hurrying to follow him. Pietro Polendina was sat in his spider-legged chair in front of an arrangement of monitors, looking over a wireframe diagram of a robotic skeleton. Maria was standing beside him, focused on a tablet in her hands.
"Ah, General Ironwood," Dr. Polendina said, his voice full of false enthusiasm as he turned his chair to face the man. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"…the situation has changed," the man began without any ceremony. "I need to know the likelihood of your android defense project being finished, and the timeframe. We're going to need as much security as we can possibly get in the coming days, and Hope and Pax may not be enough on their own."
"What situation has changed?" Maria asked as she carelessly tossed the tablet onto a nearby table. "The only details about the goings-on in Mantle and Atlas are things we've heard through Yang. We basically don't know what the situation started out as, let alone what it's become."
Yang looked away before she could tell whether or not the statement earned her an icy look from General Ironwood. She chose to say nothing as she avoided his eyes.
"Mantle has been compromised," General Ironwood began. "Arthur Watts has someh-"
A ringing noise came from the monitor as a popup appeared in the lower right corner of the screen. The prompt read INCOMING CALL: JAUNE ARC, ELM EDERNE alongside portraits of them both.
"Connect that immediately," General Ironwood ordered. "They're with Hope, working to analyze a piece of tech stolen from Arthur Watts."
"Tech from Watts?" Dr. Polendina repeated as reached out to tap the screen. "Hello?"
"Doctor Polendina!" Jaune yelled the moment the call connected. "Hope is… we have a problem!"
"Get started?" Hope asked as she tilted her head. "I don't follow."
"You will," Arthur replied through the monitor. "Just relax and let me do all the work. It'll only take a second…"
"What's going on?" Dr. Polendina asked through the scroll, his voice echoing through Jaune's device and Elm's earpiece.
"Hope!" Elm called. "Disconnect from that right now, or I'll have t-"
The order was interrupted by Hope grabbing her forearm and jerking violently as she tried to wrench herself free of the briefcase. Within seconds, the struggle was over, and the android had slumped forward over the small box in a heap.
"Hope!" Jaune called as he pocketed his scroll and ran forward.
"Don't!" Elm warned. "Get clear, in case she's compromised!"
"Someone tell us what the hell is going on!" General Ironwood called over the line.
"Damn it!" Elm cursed before collapsing her launcher and running in to follow Jaune. "Hope interfaced with the device, and she just crumpled over after Watts appeared onscreen!"
"He's gone, now," Jaune added as he slowly approached his fallen ally, sword drawn. "The thing inside the briefcase went dark, but she's… she's moving!"
It started as a small twitch of the finger. Then, Hope's head jerked to one side. Her next movement was an untelegraphed rising spin as a green, glowing sword slid out from within the girl's forearm and into her grip. Hope raked the blade through the air aimed directly at Jaune's throat, and the boy barely got his shield up in time to deflect the blow. Jaune slid backward through the snow from the force of the hit, and quickly readied his sword as Hope unfurled several more to float around herself from a compartment on her back.
"We need an update!" Dr. Polendina insisted.
"She's… something's wrong!" Jaune began. "Hope just attacked me, and she seems unresponsive to us. Watts did something to her!"
"Give me a moment!" Dr. Polendina said. "Hold her off, but don't do any permanent damage! I… I can fix this!"
"Are you sure?" General Ironwood asked. "I'm not putting my people at risk for the sake of an and-"
Jaune and Elm didn't hear the end of the General's sentence as Hope rushed in, whirling her arrangement of levitating blades outward to strike at Elm. The burly woman brought her hammer down hard, slamming several of Hope's blades down into the snow as she jumped backward out of range of the rest.
"How long!?" Elm yelled.
"Ten minutes!" Dr. Polendina replied. "Less than ten minutes!"
"What's the plan?" Yang asked as she approached Dr. Polendina's chair and put a hand on the back of the seat. "What's happening!?"
"I… I'm not sure on the specifics!" Dr. Polendina said as he spared a quick glance at the young blonde. "Give me a moment, and I'll be able to get into her ocular data…"
"You have five minutes," General Ironwood snapped. "If Hope is now one of Watts' toys, her safety doesn't hold a candle to that of Jaune, Elm, and the people of Mantle. Calavera."
"I can't really interfere," Maria said with a shrug as she watched Dr. Polendina frantically typing and adjusting values on his monitor. "That's a one-man job."
"I know," General Ironwood replied. "But you can run a scan on Pax. Sweep all of her systems. Xiao Long- call Clover and warn him and Corsac of potential danger."
"Watts can't get at Pax," Dr. Polendina muttered. "He only got to Hope's systems through a direct line. So long as Pax doesn't connect to a similar device, she'll be fine…"
"Well, she's headed out to try to do something along those lines," General Ironwood warned. "Get it done, Yang."
Yang flipped open her scroll and walked toward the door of the R&D department as General Ironwood took up her former position behind the doctor's chair.
"Talk to me. What's going on?"
"Just a second… I've got…" Dr. Polendina stalled as the monitor flickered to a view from Hope's eyes. A sword lashed outward from the screen, just barely missing the side of Jaune's neck as he retaliated with a blow from the hilt of Crocea Mors, knocking Hope backward. "They're holding her off. Watts doesn't appear to be in direct control…"
"That's one advantage for us," General Ironwood conceded. "This seems like an unexpected opportunity that he seized, or a secondary plan, rather than the crux of his assault on Mantle. Even so, what makes you so sure you can reverse the damage? You don't know what's wrong with her."
"I don't," Dr. Polendina agreed. "But… General, I'm going to have to ask your forgiveness."
General Ironwood tightened his grip upon the back of the chair, his metallic hand putting a dent in the frame.
"…what did you do?"
"Well… I haven't been entirely honest with you," Dr. Polendina began. "Any of you. I know I can reverse whatever this is in short order because… Hope has a third of my aura, and so does Pax. It's locked away within their cores, and that's why there hasn't been progress on the others. I built them that way, but kept it locked away inside of them as an absolute last resort… and because you didn't want a repeat of Penny. I don't have aura to spare for the rest of the androids without putting my life at risk. But if I can just unlock those cores… well. You can't hack a soul, General. All I need is time, and Hope- Penny will be with us once again."
"You serious!?" Jaune asked, his voice ringing out through the speakers around the monitor as he clashed with Hope once again onscreen. "Then get to it! We'll keep her busy as long as we need to if we have a shot at saving her!"
General Ironwood took his hand off the back of his chair and walked to the door, passing Yang along the way. The girl ended the call just as he did so and moved to follow, only to be stopped by a cold, metallic hand upon her shoulder.
"Stay," General Ironwood ordered. "Help these two. The rest of the work to be done, with the Relic… I think I now need to handle on my own…"
Author's Note:
Maybe it's not all downhill.
Yet.
-RD