"Is everyone okay?" Gray called out, looking to her team.
Everyone was recovering from the warped gravity, having just been slammed into the ground and now feeling like they'd been hit by a truck, but Six was fastest. He was on his feet and turned to look at his partner. "Ellie, let's go."
The front of the Nomad split open, allowing him to jump backwards and seal himself inside in a swift motion. The light of the suit's optics came online a moment later, and he looked like he was about to take off before Gray raised her hand and cut it down sharply. "Six, wait."
"Wait?" He gestured at the center of the basin where one of the Advocate's ships was landing, then up at the Imperator. "Not a lot of time to wait, Gray. Our window to get Four is closing fast."
"You were the one who said that getting seen by the Imperator would be a death sentence," she reminded him. "Is your plan to go and get yourself blown up?"
"Maybe. Something like that." He shrugged. "I can run distraction. Get them off your back, give you a chance to grab Four, get him back to the Horizon, and get the hell out of here. It's worth the risk—"
"Not while I'm in charge," she retorted. "We're here to save a life, not trade them. No suicide missions."
"But—"
"You're a part of this team as much as any of us now, Six. You going to start acting like it at some point?"
The head of the Nomad turned to stare at the scene unfolding in the basin before Six faced her again. "Alright then. What's your call, Lieutenant?"
Gray weighed her options. Six was right about one thing, their window to escape safely with Tobias—if that really was him who'd just fallen out of the sky, but she didn't know who else it could be—was a narrow one, and shrinking all the while. But she had the barebones of a plan that might just keep them alive long enough to see tomorrow.
"Alright, everyone, back to the Horizon. Ava, I hope you've got some wily piloting maneuvers in your databanks."
VI
The strange people on either side of Tobias carried him up the boarding ramp of the ship, the man who called himself Alastor walking behind with rapt attention. The exosuit, LE-5, followed suit with its gaze locked squarely on Tobias himself. While the soldiers carrying him hadn't harmed him thus far, Tobias had a distinct feeling that these people wouldn't allow him to leave of his own free will.
"What … does the Advocate want … with me?" he rasped, throat scratching. He tasted blood as he spoke—it felt like years since he'd used his voice.
"You're quite special, Four," Alastor said simply. "And you've had time to live your life, a life generously provided to you by the Advocate himself. But now the time has come to collect."
Assumedly, what they were "collecting" was him. Why they were doing so was another question, but Tobias didn't foresee a good outcome. His being funded by the Advocate was a necessary thing under Spyglass' reign, but that was where the extent of their partnership ended—in his eyes, at least. If the Advocate was truly after him here, maybe they didn't see things that way.
The ship rumbled as its engines roared to life once more, and Tobias was able to twist himself just enough to see that they were pulling away from the ground. He could see other ships like this one patrolling the area, seemingly on alert. Was there something they were worried about?
He licked his lips, still tasting blood, and angled his head down. His helmet's visor had cracked upon hitting the ground, but he could still make out the Titan data-core clipped to his belt, and he let out a soft sigh of relief upon seeing it undamaged.
I promised you, Kay. I can still make good on that promise.
Whoever these people were, Tobias needed to figure out a way to escape them without anyone else's help because it was clear he was alone in this—
Just as he thought that, there was a loud metal CLANG as something heavy landed atop the hull of the dropship. Alastor's head spun about, eyes narrowing. "What was that?"
"I'll check it out," LE-5 said, stalking over to the still open ramp and preparing to take off into the air, thrusters on its back igniting. But before the exosuit could launch, a slightly smaller shape of similar build blasted inside and impacted against it with both feet tucked, kicking LE-5 backwards where it slid along the floor. The newcomer was of white and gold coloration, and raised its arms where gun barrels emerged from its forearms. A moment later, Tobias saw flashes of gunfire and heard bullets whizzing through the air, bracing for pain—but none came. Instead, the two soldiers to either side of him dropped dead where they stood, and LE-5 quickly stood to face the challenge.
"Six?" said Alastor.
Tobias didn't know what "Six" meant, but the new combatant turned and looked at Alastor. "Sorry to barge in, but you've got something that doesn't belong to you."
Alastor pursed his lips. "You should know better than anyone by now that he does belong to the Advocate, Six. We all do. Even you."
"No. Not anymore," said the man named "Six". He flexed his arms at his side. "Never again."
LE-5 leapt forward and seemed to split apart, allowing Alastor to leap inside and take control, whereupon he immediately launched at Six and blasted into the air, the two exosuits falling off the ramp and engaging in aerial combat with one another in the sky.
Several of the barely-armored soldiers stood by watching the spectacle, unbothered. Tobias was wondering if it would be possible to take even one of them, let alone all of them, when the ceiling of the ship exploded from the point where he'd heard the clang earlier. Smoke poured in from above, forcing the soldiers to shield their eyes—only for several dark silhouettes, looking like advanced Pilots, to enter from the hole, guns raised. They began dispatching the soldiers with quick targeted bursts, but one was wise and charged the quartet with a sleek dagger.
One of the Pilots, a simlacrum, pushed another out of the way and took the force of the soldier's attack to their chest where the blade stuck itself into the metal. The simulacrum held the soldier's hand there, refusing to let them pull the knife free, and gave another of the Pilots a clean shot to the soldier's head which they took. The soldier slumped to the ground, and finally the simulacrum yanked the knife out of their chest, letting it clatter to the floor.
"Four?" One of the Pilots sprinted to him, sliding into place where he still knelt and carefully sliding his helmet off to see his face with their own eyes. "Four! It's really you!"
The feminine voice sounded familiar to him. "Gray?"
Her visor made itself transparent, allowing him to see her grinning face. The last he'd seen her, she'd been nearly eviscerated by the Spyglass-controlled Ronin as they all fought to shut down the fold weapon on Regis. But here she was, just as happy to see him as he was to see her. "Come on, Tobias. We're getting you out of here."
"Who are … these people?"
"Forces of the Advocate," Gray explained, hooking one of his arms under her shoulder while the simulacrum took the other. "Long story—they've been looking for you because the Advocate wants to harvest you and use the Codex for himself."
"Wasn't … that long of a story," he wheezed jokingly.
"Trust me, there's a lot more to it than that. Danvers, Vogel cover our exit."
The two other Pilots launched themselves up with their jump-kits to the hole in the ship's ceiling, and checked the area. "As clear as it's gonna get, Gray!" Vogel called out.
"Sorry, this is gonna be bumpy," Gray apologized. She and Husher activated their jump-kits and leapt with Tobias carried between them up through the hole. The motion jostled his wounds and hurt like hell, but a moment later he realized that they were standing atop the ship in the middle of the Advocate's fleet, and another ship of a completely different make was hovering just above the one they were standing on. The simulacrum and Gray began helping him towards it.
"Why haven't … they shot us down?" Tobias asked.
"They want you badly. As long as they might kill you, they're not going to risk firing on us," Gray said. "Or at least, that's the working theory. Ava, get ready to takeoff!" She turned to look at the aerial fight between Six and Alastor. "Six, we've got him! Get out of there! Husher, help me get Tobias onto the Horizon."
Husher, the simulacrum, began lifting with Gray to get Tobias over the edge of the ramp of Gray and her team's ship. Tobias grit his teeth as it felt like shards of glass were sliding along his skin and muscles, but they got him up.
Before they could celebrate, however, there was a lurch in the Horizon and Tobias nearly rolled off the ramp and back into Gray and Husher's hands before they caught him, all four of the Pilots boarding hastily. The Horizon began lifting higher into the air and preparing to leave—but instead of their agreed upon route, it began angling itself towards the Imperator.
"Ava? What are you doing?" Gray demanded.
But the voice that came back over the comms wasn't Ava's—it was velvety and masculine. "You have impressed me, Lieutenant. Greatly so. Perhaps you might find yourself interested in a position of employment with me in the future. But alas, this is where this particular game must end."
The Horizon began flying towards the Imperator at the same time as the ship they were previously standing atop of was following after them.
Dragging Tobias away from the edge of the Horizon's ramp, Gray pointed at him. "Watch him!" she ordered Vogel and Danvers. "Husher, with me."
The two of them charged through the Horizon's interior to the bridge which they found to be sealed tight with a shield door. Through the shield door, they could see Ava standing at the flight console, appearing to be bent over and having to steady herself, a stark contrast from her usually rigid and static posture.
"Fucking AI," Husher muttered, readying his weapon. "I told you having it with us would be a bad idea." He fired at the shield door until the magazine emptied itself, but there was no damage that they could see.
"That won't work," they heard Ava say, the ancillary unit facing them. "The door is d-designed to withstand far worse."
"Ava? Why are you doing this?" Gray asked calmly, though her mind was racing to think of a way around this new problem.
"I am not," Ava responded. "Not intentionally. But a subroutine in b-both the Horizon's and my own p-programming has taken command. I am beginning to suspect the identity of the b-benefactor who provided us to you was none other than the Advocate himself."
"I have eyes and ears everywhere," came the Advocate's voice. It was sickeningly similar to Tobias and Six's, especially knowing how different each of them were from this monster. "Did you really believe I wouldn't have a way to cripple those most dedicated against me—?"
His connection cut. "My apologies," said Ava. "Cutting him off took more time than anticipated."
"You can fight this subroutine?"
"Not for long. And it is exceedingly d-difficult. But temporarily, yes. Not enough time for us to escape this system. B-But there may be another way. The Horizon and the other fleet ships are b-being ordered to return to the Imperator to cut off all avenues of escape. I can override this command for a few moments. Prepare yourselves to d-disembark when I say."
"You're not coming with us?"
"My plan requires I stay aboard."
"How can we trust you?" Husher asked, though his aggressive tone was much milder than it had been moments before.
"You will simply have to," Ava answered. "There is no other choice."
Gray came to a quick decision. "Go, get back to Four. Wait to jump on Ava's word."
Though he didn't seem to like it, he obeyed. Gray turned back to Ava and took a deep breath. "I hope you know what you're doing."
Ava nodded. "I've crunched the numbers, Lieutenant. I know exactly what I'm doing."
Gray took off towards the Horizon's boarding ramp, preparing alongside the others to jump with Tobias carried between her and Husher once more. "Waiting on your word, Ava."
"Enacting subroutine countermeasures."
The Horizon immediately pivoted from its course away from the gaping hangar of the Imperator which it had been flying towards. It now soared up, up, and above the Imperator until they were flying over the top of its massive hull.
"Jump now, Lieutenant!"
"Now, people!" Gray ordered. Vogel and Danvers went first with Husher, Gray, and Tobias close behind. Using their jump-kits to break the fall, they landed on the hull of the Imperator and saw nothing but sky and clouds all around them with the Horizon flying off under Ava's total control. "Alright, Ava, we've landed. Now what?"
"Now—I will protect my team."
The Horizon began arcing up high into the air, almost in a straight line, before flipping around and streaking towards the hull of the Imperator. "Ava? What are you doing?" asked Gray, a sinking feeling in her stomach.
"The Imperator must be crippled. You'll have to find a ship in the hangar before the Imperator crashes to the surface." There was a sad tinge to Ava's words. "I understand you said no suicide missions, Lieutenant, but it can't be helped in this case."
"Ava, no—just wait, this wasn't—!"
"Gray, Danvers, Vogel, Husher—and Six—it's been an honor," Ava said over the comms with an air of pride in her voice.
Then the Horizon slammed into the hull of the Imperator with a deafening explosion that blossomed into the air, and the sound of shrieking metal as it tore right through the center of the gargantuan super-ship.