You and Tom both fly up and out of the crater to the doorway that Pads opened and proceed to walk into the narrow hallway. Once you reach the doorway at the end of the hall, the door opens and you see a large room with what looks like some kind of supercomputer with several holographic screens above it and control panels in a circular formation around all sides of it. As you both enter the room and descend the stairs, you see a man in a lab coat laying down on his stomach next to one of the control panels.
" I think we found him, Pads. "
Tom says as you both quickly jog over to where the man is lying. You kneel down over the man and Tom turns him over as Pads worriedly asks questions in your earpiece.
" You found him!? You found Master Ryen!? "
You and Tom both look down at the pale faced man who looks exactly like Pads in disappointment.
" Yeah… he's dead. "
Tom says as he moves Ryen's face to the side to get a look at his neck, where you see bruises and rashes. Tom picks up one of his hands and you see similar marks and cuts on his fingers, then Tom diagnoses the situation.
" Based on the state that his body's in, it looks like he was strangled here a couple days ago. The marks on his neck indicate that some sort of rope or wire was used, and his fingers are lacerated and broken from him trying to loosen it. Looking at the severity of his injuries, I'd say whoever strangled him was stronger than a human… a Minder perhaps? "
Pads goes silent for a moment, and you can obviously tell that he's upset from hearing what Tom just told him. Then, you suddenly hear a familiar voice speak up from behind you.
" I told you not to come down here. "
You turn around to see Gareth standing at the top of the stairs in the entryway looking down at you. You stare at him in shock as he slowly begins descending the stairs while he continues to talk to you.
" Your fight with the Tarragon was impressive. You were clearly holding back and yet you were able to effortlessly damage its body despite it being made of nanoparticles that even antimatter can't destroy. "
" It was you. "
Tom says as you both stand up and watch him defensively. Gareth smirks as he looks down at Ryen's body and responds.
" Oh, you're talking about the inventor? Ryen's death was unfortunate, but it was a necessary part of my plan. He was a good man… his genius was one of a kind. "
" Your plan? You were hired to get us to the Czar. "
Tom says to Gareth.
" I was hired to do the opposite. "
Gareth says as he approaches one of the control panels.
" Naturally when your corporation plans to overthrow The High Temple, finding out that a group of Otherlanders intend on forming a relationship with the Czar would pose a problem. "
" This is about politics!? Are you fucking kidding me!? If we don't accomplish what we came here to do, there won't even be a city for your corporation to control! "
Tom responds as he clenches his fist. Gareth scowls at Tom, snapping back in a rude tone.
" You think I don't know that!? This city thrives off of greed and self-centered desires! Voldoor is a place that encourages and rewards the worst aspects of human nature, and the people here deserve to be slaughtered like the animals that they are! "
" Don't give me that bullshit, Gareth! You of all people have no right to play the morality card! "
Tom yells back at him aggressively. Gareth raises his voice even louder and begins to break down emotionally as he retorts.
" Morality? You think this is about morals? No! This is about me! This is about my Grace that this city stole from me! You can't possibly understand the sacrifices that I had to make in order to avenge her! My humanity… my free will… my peace after death, all sacrificed to give that Corpo piece of shit what he deserved for killing my Grace! "
Tom goes silent and Gareth sits on the control panel with grief-stained eyes. His voice is melancholic and pained as he speaks.
" You don't understand… I can't even cry anymore… I'm just an android that's at the beck and call of the corporate executives that own me… I may be at the top of Voldoorian society, but it's only because I'm their machine. For hundreds of years, I've wanted peace… to finally be put to rest and be with my Grace again but they don't care. I'll never be allowed to sleep as long as this city continues to prosper… and it was impossible for me to rebel against NaxTech until you arrived. "
" Why not help us understand? I want the truth, Gareth. Give us that and we may be able to help you. "
Tom says in a softer tone, attempting to appeal to a more reasonable side of Gareth in order to get information.
" The truth? Sure… I'll tell you the truth. If anybody's going to know, it should be you… "
Gareth says as he stands back up and pauses for a moment before he looks at you and Tom.
" Before NaxTech got wind of your intention to visit Voldoor, the executives on the board had put together a scheme to assassinate the Czar and fill the power vacuum that The High Temple would leave after the last descendant of Vol was dead. Naturally since they're the ones who made me a Minder, I had no choice but to cooperate with their plans and ensure that it came to fruition. The initial plan involved having a rival corporation take the blame for the Czar's death and to frame Ryen Miles for the Czar's Mind Mirror malfunctioning, but naturally after we received intel that the Czar would be in the company of Otherlanders, that made things complicated.
At this point, they had also tasked me with keeping you away and distracted from the Czar while simultaneously fulfilling my original assignments, so I murdered one of the Czar's childhood friends here in the city when we were on the cruiser in Moriarch and I was posing as an escort. The true intention of why I had us arrive in Voldoor days before your appointment with the Czar was to distract you with your side objectives here in the city, and my timing of the murder had the Czar postpone all business matters to spend time with his late friend's family and attend his funeral the night before we arrived, making it impossible for you to meet with him even if you insisted that we focus on your primary objective first. "
Tom puts his hand on his chin as he chimes in, adding onto what Gareth just said.
" So you were working against us the whole time… That also explains why you carelessly took the risk of pushing our cruiser to its limits, potentially risking it exploding with us inside it. If the cruiser exploded, then we'd be out of a ride to Voldoor, Roary and Mimi would be dead, and your clones being destroyed on the cruiser wouldn't even be a loss because you had more in the city. "
Gareth nods before continuing his explanation.
" While we were doing the contest in that abandoned village, Ryen Miles was requested to inspect and repair the Czar's Mind Mirror that one of our Minders had sabotaged. As soon as he entered this room, the Minders down here took him hostage and turned on the High Temple Guard. Even with their elite training and prototype weaponry, the Minders wiped them out in a matter of minutes.
I came down here right before we arrived at The Monument, after NaxTech fully occupied this facility, and spoke to Ryen in his final moments. He was a smart man and he immediately understood what was happening, pleading that we don't murder him and the Czar. My superiors wanted him to hand over the knowledge of how to build and maintain a Mind Mirror, and in exchange, I'd let him live; but he knew that they were lying and refused. It was a tragic loss, losing his genius in his death, but like I said before, it was a necessary part of my plan. In a last ditch effort to acquire an understanding of the Mind Mirror, they sent a squad of NaxTech investigators to search Ryen's house for any documents or information pertaining to the Mind Mirrors, but they didn't find anything useful. "
" That's why Ryen's house was trashed when we visited… "
Tom says before Pads interrupts him, screaming in rage upon hearing what Gareth just said.
" KILL HIM!! FUCKING KILL THAT SON OF A BITCH RIGHT NOW!! "
" Killing me here won't accomplish anything, as I have several other clones throughout the city, including at The Monument where Mimi and Roary are now sleeping under my watch. "
Gareth says as he snaps his gaze towards you, hearing Pads in your earpiece.
" You hurt Mimi and I'll rip every one of your bodies limb from limb. "
You say with a cold stare. Tom looks at you and interjects, steering the conversation back on the topic of getting the truth from Gareth.
" That would be what he wants, Donny. Let's not incentivise him with threats… "
Tom then looks at Gareth intently as he asks him a question.
" What about The Devil's Den? I presume you're behind why The Monument couldn't contact the owners for access… "
Gareth nods.
" I killed the owners of the club to stall you right around the time that I gave that AI an anonymous tip about Otherlanders being in the city, hoping that it would ask you to come down here. With the owners of the club dead, you'd have no other choice but to ask the AI that hacked our elevator for help in order to enter the club discreetly. I orchestrated things perfectly to where you'd both need each other, baiting you down here, right where I want you. "
Gareth then presses a button on the control panel and you see a cruiser flying through the Voldoorian skyline from above on one of the screens.
" That's the Czar's cruiser… "
Pads says before Gareth's true intentions dawn on you. Tom stares up at the screen, speaking in a foreboding tone.
" You never intended on framing a rival corporation… you're setting us up as terrorists to blow our cover and turn the entire city against us, knowing full well that Voldoor and NaxTech will lose the fight and be destroyed… "
Gareth then looks up at the screen with content.
" Grace… I'm coming home. "