Aiden and Severo arrived in the emergency response unit, where they were greeted with everyone awake and back on their feet. Aldegar and Fornicus kept trying to leave, but Dr. Ishikawa and Dr. Arroyo kept insisting they stay a bit longer, so they can run a few more tests, fearing such a potent toxin like Benoit's would've left a long lasting effect of some sort.
Monique and Synnove were chatting, disregarding everyone else's antics. No one even noticed Aiden and Severo stepping in. That was, until, Severo purposefully coughed at the top of his lungs to grab everyone's attention.
"Captain Tosetti and Lieutenant Silvius, if you don't mind, may I occupy your attention for a brief while? It's quite urgent."
"Certainly," responded Aldegar, sitting back down on his bed. "What seems to be the issue, Severo?"
He stopped for a second, almost weighing the scale of his request. He knew it was a far stretch, despite the urgency. "Well, we need to call an emergency general assembly."
The room went quiet, even Monique and Synnove stopping their conversation to listen in.
"What for, exactly?" said Fornicus, clearly feeling it was most likely unjust.
"Well, I'm not sure of the full story since I wasn't present at the time, but, I'll let Aiden tell it because he is the one who found out."
Everyone's gaze turned to Aiden, as he muttered a little bit before actually speaking up.
"Well… while everyone was asleep, Mr. Tosetti woke me up and burned off my rope. I got up and began fighting the man with the toxin power, he said his name was Benoit. Since I had no weapon, I used Matchbox to light my fists on fire, and beat him up…"
He wasn't sure how to say these next words, since he had no clue what they meant, but he continued. "After I knocked him down to the ground, and grabbed a sword off of a nearby corpse to kill him, he stopped and urged me to listen to his words. He told me of his sister, Nadia, and I promised to help keep her safe. And then… he told me of a machine, called the Overloader."
"The Overloader!?" shouted Synnove, her voice cutting through the tense silence. "That sketch I found of the Separator, it mentioned that."
"Well, yes, except… the Separator was fake. Benoit told me that the Separator was nothing more than a distraction until the Cult prepares the Overloader, which is their true plan."
Aldegar's eyebrow raised, intrigued by this prospect. Clearly, the Cult of Feyr seemed like a much more thought-out and prepared adversary than thought before. "And, this… Overloader? What does it do exactly?"
"I'm not sure either, but Benoit said they used it on him. Apparently, it surges Essence into you, and makes you go over your Bound? And that causes the corruption, but, not even Benoit knew what exactly caused it."
Dr. Arroyo covered her mouth in shock, while Dr. Ishikawa leaned against the wall, his face contorted in anguish, the weight of the revelation pressing heavily on him. Aldegar and Fornicus were looking eachother dead in the eyes, while Monique was staring at Aiden, not breaking her gaze for a fraction of a second.
"C- Corruption?" whispered Dr. Arroyo with a faint voice. "I thought we had finally gotten rid of that issue."
Aiden was analyzing the faces of those around him, seeing their shock and disgust at this matter. And with Severo's reaction at the warehouse… this was clearly a force to be reckoned with.
"If you don't mind…" he slowly began, fearing to break the silence. "What is the corruption all about, exactly?"
"Remember when we were training in the Offense Corps basement, Aiden?" said Monique, surging Aiden's mind with memories. "I told you that each person with powers has something called a Bound, representing the max amount of Essence they can wield and hold safely."
Dr. Arroyo finally composed herself, but her voice was still weak and strained from the shock. "Monique is right. Not even we are 100% certain on the specifics, but the current standing theory is that, when someone overdoes their Bound, the excess Essence cannot be stored safely, and it ravages the body, causing the corruption."
Aiden recalled Benoit's appearance. Scarred and contorted skin, eyes with no pupils… he fit the criteria perfectly.
Aldegar coughed a little, trying to return his voice to normal and retain his calm demeanor, despite the gravity of the situation. "Well then, this is most certainly an issue that requires general assembly. Fornicus, do you want to do the announcement, or should I?"
Fornicus, looking hesitant and uneasy, simply pointed at Aldegar, indicating his reluctance to take on the task.
Once more, Aldegar opened the Oracle insignia labeled app on his phone, before verifying his identity. He then pressed record, and began streaming an announcement. Except, this time, he changed the channel from General, to Ranked.
"Good morning to all ranked Oracle officers, this is Lieutenant Silvius speaking. In the wake of Operation: Pier Strike, we have encountered a matter of utmost urgency. As a topic of high confidentiality, this will be, for now, a ranked officer only discussion. So, keeping that in mind, I am officially calling for a general assembly in the assembly hall beneath the Defense Corps building. The meeting is scheduled for 17:00 sharp today. I urge all officers to arrive well in advance of the meeting to avoid forming a large crowd and attracting unwanted attention. I repeat, total and complete confidentiality."
Aldegar now stood up, lifted Fornicus up from his bed, and gestured at Monique. "Alright, we will be leaving now. We'll see you at 17:00."
They made their way out of the emergency response unit, and Aldegar pointed to the park. Everyone went along.
"Severo," he began. "Dr. Arroyo said you were in charge of investigating the warehouse? Did you find anything?"
"Well, my privates found a computer terminal of some sort. In it, I found an app named 'rbytracker', an app which was tracking a GPS device inside a necklace Aiden was wearing. That's how the mercenaries could find him."
Aldegar sat down on the first bench they came across. "I see. So, did you look through the entire terminal storage, or, only the 'rbytracker' app?"
"Only the app, sir."
"Alright, then, there's your answer." said Aldegar, smiling.
Aiden raised his eyebrow and was confused. "Answer to what?"
"What we are going to do until 17:00." he laughed. "Severo, Monique, you're free to go. Fornicus, I'd invite you to come with, but, based on the look on your face…"
Fornicus was borderline sleeping while standing, eyes closed and leaned against a tree.
"You need some sleep."
The group split up, and Aiden, Synnove and Aldegar returned to 9th Street, to the warehouse. The warehouse loomed ahead, a stark reminder of the battle that had taken place here mere hours ago. Once they entered, they were greeted by a few Defense Corps privates, and a man sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, smoking a cigarette.
"Ambrosio, I thought you quit smoking?" said Aldegar as the group walked in, his somber voice echoing through the mostly empty warehouse.
The man was frightened by Aldegar's voice and jolted, almost falling out of his chair. He turned to face him, before throwing the cigarette to the side.
With a wide, yet almost guilty grin, he spoke. "Lieutenant Silvius, hello! What brings you here?"
"Well, we weren't sure what to do until the general assembly, so, we wanted to join in on the investigation." he said as he looked around the room. "Found anything?"
"Nothing of meaning. Some discarded weapons, old factory equipment, spare clothes, food…"
Aldegar began walking off from Ambrosio and headed for the corner where the computer was. "Did you happen to check the terminal any further?"
"No, sir. Severo said he went through it…"
He pressed the on switch, the old terminal posting once more before the command line opened.
— — — — —
Production Interface,
Copyright: Severance Industrial, 798 - 805.
Drive 1, Directory MAIN.
>
— — — — —
"Wow, this is really old." said Aiden. "How do you even operate this?"
"Words, Aiden…" said Synnove stumped at his poor knowledge of this.
Aldegar placed his fingers on the keyboard, and began typing. "Don't worry, I've spent my fair share of time working with something similar."
— — — — —
Production Interface,
Copyright: Severance Industrial, 798 - 805.
Drive 1, Directory MAIN.
> list drives
1 - Drive A
> listfolders 1
MAIN
SECONDARY
CONSTRUCTION
BLUEPRINTS
RBYTRACKER
> list files
Executable: main_program recovery
Text: operation_manual how_to_fix contact_support
> open secondary
Changed to Directory: Secondary
— — — — —
And so, Aldegar searched around the computer, opening each folder and file, but not finding much.
"Are you sure there's anything on here, dad?" said Aiden.
Aldegar giggled with a big smile. "Well, what else do you suggest we do until the assembly?"
Aiden muttered under his breath. "Well, I'd like to go home."
"Home? Well, you're going to have to be at the assembly too."
Aiden's eyes widened, his mouth slightly agape. His heart skipped a beat as he processed Aldegar's words. Ranked officers only. How was he accounted in this?
"What?" he finally managed to say, his voice barely above a whisper. "But… isn't it just for ranked officers?"
Aldegar nodded, his smile unwavering. "Well, yes, but you know more about this subject than almost all of the officers know. You were the one who fought Benoit, after all."
And as Aldegar was speaking with Aiden, he finally reached the 'blueprints' folder on the computer, and stumbled in.
Inside the folder itself was standard blueprints that Severance Industrial often used, and would need on the fly. But, inside the main folder was another one - labeled "Plans".
Aldegar entered the subfolder, noticing some disregardable files detailing swords, shields, and weapons of some sort. But, near the very bottom stood a file which immediately caught Aldegar's attention. "Overloader", it said.
"Look what we have here," said Aldegar. "A blueprint file called 'Overloader', huh?"
He tried accessing it, but, the computer prompted him with a password input. Of course, no one had any clue what the password could be, but, Aldegar tried a few basic ones off the top of his head.
That was until, below the password prompt, popped up a message. "Five failed attempts, try again in 10 minutes. After ten failed attempts, the file deletes itself."
Aldegar slammed his fist against the keyboard, startling Synnove who was looking away. "Well, shit."
He turned away from the computer, and called out. "Ambrosio! There's definitely stuff on this terminal!"
Aldegar pressed the switch on the side once more, and began walking away. "Take it with you, and throw it in storage. Once we get a clue what the password might be, we can access it…"