Aiden stood over Benoit, his breath heavy with a mix of anger and sorrow. The blade in his hand trembled slightly, despite his ever-growing hatred for the Cult and everyone involved, including him.
"I hope you find peace, Benoit." he said as he gently plunged his blade in Benoit's chest, piercing his heart. With a sigh of apparent relief, Benoit's body went numb, and he died… with a smile on his lips.
"I promised, and I'll fulfill… for your Nadia." said Aiden as he pulled his sword out, and cleaned the blade. He approached down, and placed his hand on Benoit's chest and cauterized the wound with Matchbox, stopping the gushing blood. However, unlike Kaji and the nameless mercenary from before… Inherit didn't activate. His mind raced, trying to make sense of this situation. "Why isn't Inherit working?" he thought.
He figured, his powers were corrupted and tainted by the Cult's influence, but, was it truly to this degree? The usual surge of power he felt when Inherit activated was absent, replaced by a gnawing void. His blade felt heavy, his mind burdened.
As the adrenaline died off, and Aiden's focus tightened, he finally realized what had truly happened. And without even thinking anything, he rushed to wake Aldegar up. He wouldn't wake, but his breathing was steady and his pulse was there. He was just asleep, thankfully. He made his way to Monique and Fornicus and noticed they were in a similar situation. Not knowing what to do, and fearing that someone might come here, he realized he needed to call for backup fast. He didn't have the phone number of any Oracle officer, but, thanks to Aldegar's announcement, they had already reconvened outside the warehouse.
He stepped outside, and was immediately screamed at to put his hands up in the air, before Dr. Arroyo, who was also present, confirmed it was Aiden they were pointing their weapons at. They walked up to the entrance which Monique stood at mere moments ago, and walked in. Dr. Arroyo rushed to Fornicus' side to treat him, seeing the burn wound from Solar Flare. Dr. Carruso and some Medical Corps privates in lab coats and surgical gloves tended to Aldegar and Monique. All the while, some people investigated around the warehouse, seemingly Defense Corps privates.
The last to walk in through the door a man with a long, black trench coat, smoking out of a pipe. His gray beard showed age, not to mention his balding head. Once he stepped into the building, all the Defense Corps privates lined up in front of him.
"Mr. Luzzato, sir!" one of the privates called out. "We've yet to find anything!"
"It's alright, you've just arrived either way." he said, exhaling the smoke. "Continue."
The privates all returned to rummage around the warehouse, searching for any clues, leftover weapons, or whatever else. All the while, Severo Luzzato, officer #2 in the Defense Corps, strutted around the warehouse himself. He inspected the wounded Oracle trio, the killed mercenaries, and Benoit's corpse.
"You, Aldegar's son," called out Severo. "Aiden, was it?"
Turning his head, he responded. "Yeah?"
"This… scarred man. You were responsible to take his life, no?"
He pointed back to the place he was tied up. "Yeah, he's the one who originally captured me and Synnove. Had some sort of weird sleeping gas power."
"Interesting. From my reports, you have a power called Inherit, right?" he turned to face him. "Did you take his power?"
"No, actually… Inherit didn't activate. I suppose it has something to do with the corruption…?"
"C- Corruption?" stuttered the usually stern and direct man. "What kind… exactly?"
"I'm not sure myself. Before I killed him, he told me about his sister and made me promise that she'll be safe… And then, he told me about a machine called the Overloader. Supposedly it injects Essence into someone, and makes them go over their Bound?"
Severo's face was painted in shock as he just blankly stared at Aiden without a word said, unable to mask his fear. His eyes darted between Aiden and Benoit every now and then, but no word had still been said. His composure was shattered into a million pieces.
"Oh… no." was the only thing he barely managed to say.
"Mr. Luzzato… are you okay?"
"I am, on the other hand…" he tried recollecting himself and correcting his shocked behavior, forcing a barely steady voice. "We as a group, shouldn't be."
Aiden's voice shook with a surge of fear. If the Oracle was afraid of this corruption, it must be horrid. "Wh- What do you mean?"
"I'll explain everything later… we need to call a general assembly of all the ranked officers. This is beyond urgent." he proceeded to walk away from the corpse, and continue examining the area. "However, we can't do that until our three Offense Corps friends get back on their feet. So, there's no harm in a little investigating."
He and the Defense Corps privates continued searching around, and meanwhile, Aldegar, Fornicus and Monique were stretchered off and driven to the emergency response unit by Dr. Ishikawa and Dr. Arroyo.
"Sir!" screamed a private, standing in the furthest corner of the warehouse, behind a wall of boxes. "I believe I might have found something!"
Severo casually walked to the corner, where stood an old computer terminal. It had been covered by a pitch black tarp, one the private removed. He pressed the switch on the right hand side, and the computer posted and let out a singular beep.
It opened to a command line interface.
— — — — —
Production Interface,
Copyright: Severance Industrial, 798 - 805.
Drive 1, Directory MAIN.
>
— — — — —
Luzzato figured this was standard computer hardware, only modified to fit production. Base commands should work here. His fingers found a resting spot on the keyboard, before he quickly began typing.
— — — — —
Production Interface,
Copyright: Severance Industrial, 798 - 805.
Drive 1, Directory MAIN.
> list drives
1 - Drive A
> listfolders 1
MAIN
SECONDARY
CONSTRUCTION
BLUEPRINTS
RBYTRACKER
> open RBYTRACKER
Changed to Directory: RBYTRACKER
> list files –executable
rbytracker
updater
> rbytracker
— — — — —
The interface disappeared, and Severo was greeted with a loading wheel, before a map of some sort opened. It seemed to be currently showing 7th Street, Dawnvale Industrial District. However, on the bottom sat a button which said "Change Between Trackers: Press TAB".
Upon pressing the keyboard button, the map suddenly shifted and loaded the warehouse which they were currently in, a red dot in the middle of the screen. He turned behind him, realizing this must be tracking someone in the room.
As Aiden went over to the door, to grab a breath of fresh air, the dot moved. It was tracking him.
"Aiden!" called out Severo. "Come over here!"
He ran up to the corner where Severo stood, and stopped. "Yes?"
"Look at this," he pointed to the screen, and Aiden's brow furrowed. "See this. It's a tracker of some sort, and I think… it's tracking you."
Aiden leaned over Severo's shoulder, noticing the dot move when he does.
"Do you have anything on you you might think could be a tracker?"
He thought for a split-second, but, nothing popped up in his mind immediately. "No… I don't think so?"
"Do you mind if I pat you down?" asked Severo. "I might find it."
Severo spread out his arms, and Severo gently patted him down from the feet upwards. Once he reached his chest, he peered under his shirt, and saw the necklace. The ruby necklace, that Cassius gave Aiden all that while back.
"Aiden, if I may… what is this?" he said as he pulled the necklace out from under the shirt.
"Oh, that?" he said rather confused, almost as if he even forgot he had it on him. "It's a necklace I got from Cassius when he first lured me to joined the Cult. I kept it to… remind me of how stupid I was."
"I see… Can I take it?"
Aiden gently nodded, and Severo unbuttoned the necklace, and brought it up to the monitor. And, as he swung it left and right, the dot moved with a slight lag.
Severo turned back to face Aiden. "Yeah, this is most certainly it. And the program name, 'rbytracker' is probably shorthand for 'Ruby Tracker'…"
Without a second thought grabbed the necklace from Severo's hand, before throwing it on the ground and stomping it with all his might. He then proceeded to sit down on the floor, seemingly on the verge of tears. "I… I kept that to remind me not to be naive anymore… And by keeping it…"
"It's alright, Aiden." Severo said as he crouched down and placed his hand on Aiden's shoulder. "You couldn't have possibly known what the necklace really was."
"And, also, this gives us an indicator that the Cult of Feyr is an organization not to be underestimated. That bastard… Cassius. He's smart, I'll give him that."
"I- I-" Aiden muttered with a shaky voice.
"You don't have to speak. Come on, stand up and let's go. You're going to need to be present at the general assembly, and there's nothing else to be found here…" Severo stood, and gave Aiden a hand to pull him up.
They two walked out of the warehouse door, the Defense Corps privates following soon behind. And they went by foot to the Oracle headquarters, the chill night air calming Aiden down. They made their way to the emergency response unit to the side of the Medical Corps building, only to see all four who were asleep are back and awake.
Monique, Synnove, Fornicus… and Aldegar.