Some hours have passed, Saint using most of the quiet time to rest for his journey to the location that hosts the SIVA Replication Chamber.

Ari lowers her Scroll, before tossing it onto the table hosting the hologram. The light bends for it and there is now a rectangular bump in the map of Mantle. She shakes her head, sighs, and the side of her fist gently collides against wood. "Alright, I just got off the phone with my superiors. Six Huntsmen have been sent to apprehend you. Two Ace-Ops, and four others—not sure what they're about. Beacon students, or something." She makes a tearing motion with her two hands, zooming into the big red dot that positions the heart of the SIVA threat. An image pops into view, of a red Warsat that's burnt in one half of the shell, revealing the glowing veins inside. Rasputin's emblem is blazoned on one of the faces, heavily decayed.

"Rasputin…" Saint mumbles, stepping closer to the picture. "This…this is the cause of the outbreak?"

"Supposedly," Ari says, her voice dry. She dips below the table and comes back up with a bottle of water, taking a sip before continuing. "This is the heart of The Project. It's located in a research facility about three blocks away from here. Doctor Watts was the director of this black-ops division of Atlas R and D, and mysteriously disappeared one day."

"This Doctor Watts, do you know him?" Saint rubs the chin of his helmet, slowly nodding.

"Not personally. He was an acclaimed scientist responsible for many of the breakthroughs in recent Atlas military tech, alongside Mantle's security network. I managed to scrounge up that a few weeks before his disappearance, he was going to be transferred and this replication project was to be shut down and contained." Ari snorts. "An egotistical man, he held on for dear life until he was forced to resign."

"I see. Do you think there is any way to contact him? Perhaps he may be of use," Saint asks, getting closer to a recently-appeared image of the mustached Dr. Arthur Watts.

"Disappeared without a trace. No one has been able to track him. Some sightings in Anima, but nothing concrete."

"Shame. It's time for me to leave. It is quite a distance I have to walk, and I have no interest in being caught by these six Huntsmen you've mentioned." Saint turns and steps towards the door.

"You have a few hours of head start on them, get moving quick and good luck, Saint-Fourteen."

"Ari, was it? If this isn't over by the time you are evacuated, you have the right to cut my head off." Saint nods and unshoulders Bastion.

"I'll hold you to that. Here." Ari tosses him a Scroll that feels unusually heavy, most likely due to the extra rubber padding on the sides and back. "It'll put you on the fastest path to the facility."

Saint inspects the armored device and stashes it away. "Thank you. I hope we meet again, whether it be through the bars of a jail cell or in the streets."

"It's an honor, actually. Watching a living legend embark on a journey before my very eyes. I feel like a side character, heh." A small smile forms on Ari's face. There is a moment's silence before it falls, and she shakes her head. She directs herself to the rifle leaning against a wall and scoops it up. "Fuck it. I'm coming with you." She pulls the magazine situated underneath the stock of the weapon, giving it a quick check before slotting it back in.

"A companion would be much appreciated. It seems that this is a lonely part of town." Saint chuckles, coming out as a low grumble.

"Well, let's go. If anyone's going to remember me, it'll be as a person who helped saved Mantle."

. . .

Ari and Saint walk down an empty street, devoid of activity except the tumbling of trash. The only noteworthy thing was a crashed tank breaking into a building. It's been a few minutes since they passed that, and everything is starting the blend together.

Mantle is a monotone city, for sure. Saint chalks this up to the lack of people inhabiting the buildings. There is not much illumination except the red flickering of the SIVA veins and some fringe light posts that are still operating despite the consumption of the nanites.

"We can cut through the Art and Culture district, pass through the Mantle Memorial Museum, Three-Ms for short." Ari continues following the main road, her face looking down at her Scroll. She looks up to a many-windowed building that is pitch black. There is a sign that is torn apart and dangling from a single rope, swaying side-to-side in a gentle manner.

"An entire section of the city dedicated to art and heritage? Where I'm from there is no such thing," Saint mumbles in reply, looking up at the massive building. He notices that a few windows are shattered. "This building contains it all?"

"Not exactly. This place was a major component in an Atlas outreach program to try and sway the people of Mantle to their side. It worked for a while, but eventually people saw through it." Ari shakes her head. "Don't see why they're complaining though, this is good, is it not?"

"It is true that a good thing done for bad reasons is still good," Saint says, putting his hands on his hips as he stops for a moment to observe the Three-Ms museum. It looks like the building is leaning towards him. He steps closer, to find out that the entire building is indeed slanted. "What magnificent architecture…" he mumbles.

"A lot of money and work was put into this. Before the outbreak, there was a giant mural that was being painted. If I can get the lights on inside, we can see how far that has gone." Ari tries one of the doors, pushing in the handlebar with her entire body. It opens slightly, but not big enough for any of them to fit through. "A little help?"

"Stand aside." Saint himself takes a few steps back, and courses Arc Light into his body. He gets a running start and using his shoulder, bashes the door wide open, throwing whatever was blocking it aside. There is a loud crash and the tumbling of many things. A dust cloud kicks up.

Ari shines a flashlight through, holding her arms in an X pattern, one hand with the flashlight another holding a pistol.

There is the pitter-patter of multiple light feet that scurry away from them.

"Definitely woke up everything in there," Ari says, matter-of-factly. She steps in first, checking both sides. "We're clear. Follow me. We'll make our way to the electrical panel of the lobby, and try to get that working."

Saint nods and stays close behind Ari, Bastion at the ready.

There is a roar in the faint distance, followed by several gunshots and a few explosions. A firefight erupts somewhere far away from them.

"Damn, they're faster than we thought. Come on, we better move." Ari picks up her pace. "Come on, it's not far now."

Her flashlight is a lone point in the darkness, lighting up only a few feet in front of her. Saint conjures a Hammer of Sol and raises it above him, setting it aflame to use it as a torch. "Much better," he says.

"Thanks," Ari replies. She steps over a body. "Careful, some bodies on the floor."

Saint looks down, making sure not to disturb the corpse that has no doubt found its peace in the dark. It's a husk of a body, drained of anything that could have indicated it was live in the first place. There is a dark, sticky and foul-smelling liquid on the floor surrounding the body. There are no discernable eyes or anything, but Saint knows that this person didn't go quietly.

They didn't go bravely, either. There is a gun on the floor, next to the body's head. A blood splatter on the opposite side.

"Saint, we don't have time for this," Ari says. Saint shakes his head and looks forward. Ari has gained a decent amount of distance. "I'm at the control panel, just give me a second."

A few sparks, then the clicks of industrial lights turning on. Round light fixtures come on, bright enough to make it seem like the sun is shing above. Everything is lit up clearly, without any detail spared.

Saint looks back at the entrance. The windowed wall has a magnificent, but unfinished mural made of vibrant, translucent colors that shimmer under the light. It seems to depict wintery mountains transitioning into a vibrant, lively city that has people dancing and enjoying life hand-in-hand. The mural remains unfinished, though, ending around some scaffolding above the main entrance. Saint looks to the floor around that area, and notices another body. He steps towards it.

This one has a paint brush next to its hand.

Saint can only imagine what this man was doing before SIVA attacked. It seems like despite the entire outbreak, he didn't stop his work on the mural, and was painting until his very last breath.

It also appears that Saint has disturbed his resting position, throwing him to the floor.

Saint's stomach churns at the thought. At the disrespect. He sighs, mumbles silent apologies and has a moment of silence.

"Let's go," he says.

/

Atlas.

Lisbon sits in his cell. Same one as the one he was kept in the first time he was in this dump of an academy. He stares at a wall, his mind devoid of thoughts, truly empty for the first time in a while. No nightmare to plague him, no regret to bare its teeth, nothing to disturb him from this peace. His eyes slowly close shut.

All of a sudden, the door to his cell swings open. That isn't right, the door is a sliding one. The hallway behind it his pitch black, and a sort of mist is coming from it.

Lisbon blinks a few times, staring at the dark exit and contemplating if he should leave. Something clearly is amiss.

"Penny?" He wagers, standing up. Ancient Gospel materializes in his hand. "Someone?" He steps towards the door, his weapon raised.

The mist flows into the cell, eventually consuming the upper half of the air. It behaves like little, white wisps of smoke that bends around Lisbon.

His weapon feels heavy. It gets replaced with Omniscient Eye.

"What the…" Lisbon mumbles, looking at the sniper rifle. He didn't do that. He takes a breath and steels himself.

One step. Two.

When at the doorway, he stops. Hesitates.

He shouldn't be doing this.

Lisbon is pushed into an empty abyss. Falling. No ground below him. Nothing to catch him. Just an endless pit, devoid of life and empty.

Suddenly, a flash.

Lisbon is put back into The Black Garden.

Rekkana is in front of him.

"I've chosen my path, can you say the same?" She speaks softly, not turning. A dark ice is forming in her hand, shaping into some sort of spear, or staff. Silence.

"We didn't come here for this," Lisbon says. Except it's not him speaking, but something else doing it for him.

"Of course not, who could have predicted it?" Rekkana's reply is quick. "But now, with all that's happened, does it matter what our mission was? This is so much more important."

Lisbon struggles with this pre-recorded version of himself.

Another flash.

"He said he'd always trust me," Rekkana mumbles. The mangled corpses of Vex Goblins lay in pieces behind her. She stumbles and nearly hits the floor. Yardarm catches her.

Lisbon looks away, up to his vantage point. He recognizes the glare of his sniper rifle. He couldn't have seen them from there, or else he would have taken a shot.

"Yeah, he also said he'd never leave us. Turns out you can say a lot of things."

Another flash.

"In Light…there is only deception, betrayal. Failure." A voice comes from his own head. A distorted version of his own Ghost. "You've witnessed it first-hand."

Lisbon finds himself in an open field covered in the mechanical red flowers that grows all over The Black Garden. Another person stands a far distance away to his front, their hands clasped together and held in front of their stomach. Their face is covered in shadow but there are faint hues of pink.

"The Traveler left you for dead, and still you stayed loyal. Your companions accepted our offer, but why didn't you?" The shadowed figure begins approaching him. The voice morphs into something recognizable.

His own.

"You rejected salvation, but we reach out once more, to give you another chance."

Lisbon feels his lips dry. "…Why?" He mutters.

"Why? There are many answers to that question, too long to list for our limited time here." The figure remains shrouded even directly in front of Lisbon. It reaches out a mechanical arm and puts it on his shoulder, gripping it tight. "You have to realize, in Light…you will lose everything you hold close, it does not care for you."

"As if you do? Get away from me, you dark mother-"

Lisbon takes a step back. The figure cuts him off; some frustration can be sensed from it.

"By rejecting our gift, your friends, your loved ones died." The voice is firm, and the shroud in the figure's face is unveiled, only for Lisbon to be staring at himself. "And it will happen again, and again, and again. Tell me, do you think Penny is ready for the events to come?"

"Get her name out of your fucking mouth, you don't know shit about Penny."

"It is merely a rhetorical question, as you call it. We both know the answer."

Lisbon swallows a gulp. "No, you don't. Penny can handle herself, she knows-"

"Do you speak with certainty? Are you willing to risk losing another close one? Like Rekkana, like Yardarm? Do you think you are enough?"

Lisbon hesitates, and looks to clone's feet. He stays silent.

The clone chuckles and smiles at him, before turning around.

"I await your answer, for the next time we meet." It pauses. "The gift, you have it. All it needs is simply your acceptance."

. . .

Lisbon's back snaps up straight. His breathing his heavy, and artificial sweat runs down his back. His vision is unfocused, trying to concentrate on everything at once.

"…It tried…talking to you…" Ghost mumbles. "I couldn't stop it…It just took control."

"It's alright. I…"

Lisbon doesn't know what to say.

"You're not going to listen to it, right?"

"Can we talk about this later, please? I'm still a bit foggy."

Ghost stays silent.

Lisbon's cell door slides open. A soldier places themselves at the doorway.

"You have a visitor," she says, cocking her head towards the hallway. Lisbon stands up and walks to her, is immediately handcuffed and then brought out.

The walk to the interrogation room isn't long. The hallway is still as impeccably bright as he remembers it, maybe a tad brighter than normal. Lisbon is seated inside a room with a single wooden table and two chairs placed on opposite sides. He is seated and the soldier reaches for his handcuffs.

"What are you doing?" He asks as his restraints are unlocked and taken off.

"Your visitor specifically requested it," the soldier says, stuffing them in her back pocket before turning towards the room's only entrance. "Do you need anything?"

"Water."

"…Uh, okay." The soldier seems puzzled but leaves and returns with a plastic water bottle in less than a minute. She places it in front of him, before leaving the room for good.

Lisbon sits in silence for a few moments that feel stretched out. He glances to the four security cameras in the top corners of the room, then to the one-way glass panel. Nothing. Then, one-by-one, the cameras begin to shut down, all pointing downwards by the end.

The door slides open.

Penny steps inside, a guilty face on her. She's still wearing the same dress and skirt.

"…Penny? What's the meaning of all this?" Lisbon says, standing up.

"Lisbon, I thought about what you said and…" Penny avoids eye contact. "I want to say that I'm sorry."

"You don't have to, I acted out of line-"

"No. Your reaction is reasonable considering how much I overstepped." She moves towards the other side of the table, opposite to Lisbon. Her gaze is firm. "I'm sorry about your friends and I wouldn't have pushed if I knew."

"Penny, there was no way you could have known," Lisbon says. He stares to the water bottle on the table. "There's no need for this. I was being...unreasonable."

He finds himself unable to look away from her.

"I should also be sorry, is what I mean," he manages to push out.

This type of honesty doesn't sit right with Lisbon.

Penny reaches out for one of his hands, and holds it tightly with her two palms.

"I hope we can rebuild our friendship. I spoke with the general to see if anything could be done for your freedom." She lets go, and turns away, then tries to leave, but stops when she realizes something is holding her back. "Lisbon?"

"Uh…stay…stay safe, out there, Penny," Lisbon mumbles, before letting go.

Penny smiles and eagerly nods, returning to her usual liveliness. "Message received!"

Lisbon watches her leave.

Maybe she isn't the worst after all.

Just friends btw. Lisbon and Penny's relationship won't be overly detailed but will be important for certain choices the former will take.

And if you've read all the way to this point, I want to sincerely thank you for reading. This has been a blast to write and seeing people actually liking my stuff fills me with joy.