POV: Yesod

If I had a human body, a shaky breath would have left my mouth. It was no surprise why Ryn, a former cleanup crew member from Warp Corp, would be afraid of Trigger. That expression up close was terrifying.

"Thank you, Gebura." She didn't say anything, simply staring at me, like she was waiting for something.

She glanced towards the door Trigger left through, "Don't mention it. He is stronger than the last time I saw him."

That was a problem. With no clear solution, he grew at a frankly super-human rate, even E.G.O couldn't bolster someone this far, it's like he was designed to be some kind of monster bred for combat.

Another problem was Netzach. This… turbulent talk may have shaken him too much, I need to make some damage control to slow down his 'Meltdown'. Not something I was proud of, but if Malkuth and I are an example, then to 'recover' our memories... those have to happen.

I'd just prefer to postpone it.

"Yesod, what's going on in the Upper Layer?" Gebura asked me, although her tone made it feel more like a demand.

For a moment, I thought about lying… but if she was asking then Binah must have noticed by now, "It's complicated." Gebura will inevitably ask me to elaborate. Even then, I didn't want to explain the situation to her.

The Sephirah from Disciplinary seemed confused, "What's complicated? Just a couple of agents that are doing what they shouldn't. Tiphereth thinks you are not being rough enough with them, I agree if this is how they are treating you. Chesed… he's been weird, skittish and nervous for some reason." It was quite the boon that I didn't have a face anymore, my discomfort would have been clear as day.

"It's not just a couple of agents, Malkuth and Angela are in this too." I said, knowing there was no way to leave without telling her anything.

Gebura's grip on Mimicry slackened, "What the… explain." She quickly recuperated and sternly demanded an answer out of me.

"They don't agree with what we are doing anymore, or so it seems. The Control Team is against this facility as a whole, and uncertainty is surrounding which side Hod and Netzach would pick." My explanation was met with a moment of silence.

Gebura usually reacted to everything with anger, because she had to be angry at something. I wasn't around when Kali died, but as of now, it just seemed like she was venting.

Yet, this was different. She seemed to be in some kind of inner struggle.

"Gebura?" She snapped out of it when I called out her name.

"What can I do?" She said with a troubled voice.

Not completely sure on what she meant, it's better to ask for a more detailed response, "Pardon?"

She sighed, something she didn't need to do but a reflex of when we were alive, "I just… look, I can deal with an Abnormality easily enough. That was the only problem, crush them for what they do, but I'm not sure what to do to help you." Her voice was laced with annoyance and frustration.

But I simply stared at her. This… this is closer to how she used to be, it didn't seem to be a conscious thing like with Binah or Hokma.

She met Trigger before and Binah was involved… along with the revelation I gave her. Perhaps being forced to quench her anger did this?

"Why are you so surprised?" She suddenly said with suspicion.

I shouldn't keep her waiting too much, "To be completely honest, I do not know. Even if I told you to simply fight them, which I wouldn't do, Angela still has access to most, if not all, functions in the facility. It would simply end badly." Gebura gripped her weapon tightly and looked away in pure frustration.

"I'll still try to keep you informed about this matter. Please do try to be discrete around Tiphereth and Chesed, for now at least." My words seemed to relax her a little.

"You are going after Netzach then?" She questioned, to which I simply gave her a nod.

Her eye turned towards the door, "Trigger… that kid is dangerous, more than you can begin to comprehend."

"I know." Was my simple reply, but she stared straight at me.

"You don't. The eyes he was making… Yesod, he was ready to dismantle your body. He didn't stop because I was here, he simply decided there was something more important he had to do." Gebura said seriously, her voice carried a grim tone to it.

I found myself freezing for a moment. Trigger has never harmed a member of the staff, but that didn't mean he was incapable and with Angela and Malkuth at his side, then the Execution 'Bullets' aren't an option anymore.

With so many cards on their side… why not make a move? The answer was rather simple, they are waiting for the same thing we are, the Light that was promised here.

…

"I'm going to find Netzach. Gebura… thank you for your warning." I moved away after giving her a brief nod.

"Be careful, Yesod. Be ready to call me if things turn nasty." She replied. I didn't need to answer, because I had planned on doing that from the beginning.

Netzach… he should be close to the cafeteria, there is a 'waiting room' close to it. No one really uses it since the cafeteria is basically right next to it. If he wants to be alone, then Netzach will be there.

It didn't take me too much time to find him. Simply flopped on one of the two couches the room has, he's simply staring at the ceiling.

"Hey, Yesod." He lazily replied, not even bothering to look at me.

Taking a deep breath would have been ideal right now, shame I can't do that anymore. Taking a seat on the couch across, I gave him a focused stare, "Netzach, that talk seems to have bothered you." I knew why, hearing what happens to Tiphereth isn't… exactly uplifting.

"I guess… it's more like a reminder rather than anything else." His tone didn't change.

"That is true. Sometimes it is easy to forget the goings of the facility." My reply was short and curt.

"Shouldn't be like that, not that I can do anything about it… she is too busy trying to get me crushed too. Let's hope this time she succeeds." Netzach grumbled, I wasn't sure how to respond to that.

It wasn't a secret that Tiphereth had a deprecating view of all the Sephirah in Aziyah, but she always focused on Netzach more while constantly asking for him to be replaced. He always agreed with her in that front, which only increased her frustration.

Something that would never happen considering our special circumstances, "That is quite the tall order. Seeing that idea's track record, one would think you'd give up on it, as you did with trying to get beer into your system." Wouldn't call that a good attempt at humor, but it was at least an attempt.

"Heh… cracking jokes? Times sure are getting rough." It seems that lacking a face may be the greatest boon of my body. I've heard enough things to develop a permanent frown on my face, although some would say that I always had one.

"Perhaps too much, if you are any indication of it." Netzach was silent at those particular words.

"It's just frustrating." A short reply delivered with a tired voice.

"I'm aware, but what does worrying do for you? Perhaps it's… insensible of me, but you need to keep a straight head, Netzach. Just dying would do nothing for you or anyone." I explained to him. It was a blunt approach, but that was what I had.

"I know that much. Today got me thinking, but I'm still not sure how to deal with all of… this. At the very least, I'm lucid and not angry at everything, so that's some progress." Netzach groused, he finally threw me a side-ways look.

"Hey, Yesod… does Trigger look familiar to you?" He queried curiously.

I tried to make my response a natural one, "His appearance is similar to that of the Manager." I tried to not have him go there.

A useless endeavor.

"Not like that… well kinda. He just seems so familiar to me, like I… met someone similar." He pressed for an answer.

To lie or not to lie? What a dilemma.

Maybe half-truths? "To an extent. Although I'm not sure who that may be."

Netzach hummed, "When he got angry at you… it felt wrong, 'that's not how you should look' it was a reflexive thought." He continued speaking.

And I wasn't sure how to respond.

Not entirely true, I just wanted to avoid a direct answer, "Do you know who he looks like?" I asked him, not really expecting an answer.

"I've… been seeing an image over Trigger's shoulder. She has brown hair and the same eyes. No idea who that is, but I feel like I know her." Netzach sounded troubled.

And I wasn't faring any better, "It's most likely nothing you should worry about. Trying to understand it without any leads may just cause more problems." He stared at me for a moment before rising from the couch.

"Guess that's true… thanks Yesod, you are not so bad after all." I looked at his retreating form, feeling my metaphorical teeth grind.

Don't thank me, not for this…

Taking a moment to calm my nerves, I got up and left the room in silence. I have to prepare for work after all.

POV Change: Trigger

I watched Angela and Malkuth enter the Training Room, "Alright Trigger, I called Angela like you asked. So what has you so… intense?" Malkuth said with worry.

"That would certainly be good to know." Added Angela in slight confusion.

I took a deep breath, "Tiphereth, the boy." That was enough to get a reaction out of them. The first one was confusion.

Then there was realization.

The last one… well, both changed. Malkuth felt like horror was trying to cover her body, while Angela was the height of embarrassment and a little bit of shame.

"I actually forgot… oh my…" Malkuth mumbled to herself while dropping her notebook to the floor. She was out of it.

Angela stared at me for a moment before nodding, "Ah yes… it's still a bit hard to get used to all of these 'new' interactions that the constants stopped being a major worry for me…" I nodded at both of them.

"That's… well I kind of get it, but I'd still like to know what the actual fuck?" I started very softly and may have let my temper get… the best of me right at the end.

Malkuth seemed to have somewhat gotten over her small breakdown, "It's… well Enoch, who is also Tiphereth for ease of… the fact that both use the same name is starting to sink in, and I don't like the impli-" Angela surprisingly enough put a hand on her 'shoulder'.

"Let me explain, you don't seem very stable right now." Malkuth glanced at Angela before giving a small nod.

Frowning at that reaction, I focused my attention back on Angela, "If that reaction is any indication of how this is going to go… then it's pretty bad."

"I won't be able to give you a correct response regarding something that became to me as natural as breathing is to you, but using more 'normal' human reactions… it is pretty bad." Angela said with a smile that was simply annoyed and tired.

Fucking… great.

"As Malkuth said, Enoch was the first experiment on Cogito that… failed quite horribly, nothing new was really found, and he died quite literally for nothing. It went to create a series of events that aren't relevant at the moment. His body was preserved in cryostasis in case something could have been achieved out of it. That something was the same thing that happened to Malkuth… there were two catches to this." Explained Angle, I gave her a nod to make it clear I was paying attention… and that I was not happy with what I was hearing.

"The first was not intended… not completely at least, his brain was damaged by the experiment to some extent, and it would from time to time start to deteriorate. The second was very intended to control the time this 'deterioration' would come, in order to push Tiphereth into a state similar to the one Malkuth and Yesod reached." She finished, and I heard a loud metallic clang. I threw a glance at Malkuth, who had just thrown a punch of all things to the wall.

I don't blame her… but before I actually do anything dumb, "Could it have been fixed?" My question was met with a moment of silence.

"Considering… the regenerators and the technology needed to even put the Sephirah in their current state, most likely. But as of now, the regenerators won't recognize him as a 'human' and won't work on him."

I took a deep breath and looked at the very punchable metal wall… I simply released a loud breath.

"So… there is nothing we can do?" Asked Malkuth with a frustrated tone.

…

Something punched me on the cheek. I glanced to my right and saw Bell smugly puffing her chest out while jabbing a thumb at herself.

A lightbulb must have shined above my head at that moment.

"No, Malkuth. We still have one option." I pointed at Bell.

Angela and Malkuth exchanged quick glances, "It could work?" Malkuth asked Angela.

The AI thought about it for a moment, "Maybe… Sephirah do have some hollow parts inside their bodies… and sneaking that fairy inside him shouldn't be so hard."

"But how do we make him come here constantly? I kinda need to feed Bell from time to time." I said with a frown.

Malkuth rose her hand at that, "Angela goes out for the reports of the day we work at. She could take Bell with her, ask for Enoch to follow her, say it's to check on his circumstance. That should work!" She suddenly was very pumped.

Angela threw one surprised look at Malkuth, "A good idea from you? I suppose even a broken clock can be right..."

"Can't even make apple juice and has the gall to insult MY ideas!"

"Who made the 'burnt cookies' that had to be soft for a pie?"

"Oh, that was on both of us!"

I chuckled at their interaction, gaining their attention, "So this should work right? After today is over, we'll put it in action." Both nodded at the same time.

"Perhaps we'll gain an ally out of this." Angela nodded to herself. Well, that would be a nice boon.

"Can't you just be happy we are doing a good deed?" Asked Malkuth.

Angela, quite bluntly at that, said, "It's a nice bonus, but no."

That quickly went into another argument/insult fest/friendly spat between the two, which I didn't try to stop this time. Guess there is a light at the end of this particular tunnel.

Now we just have to make the plan work, and hope it goes smoothly.