The horizon stretched like a molten canvas, the sun low and amber as it spilled across the skeletal outlines of Pittsburgh. The city, once teeming with life, now lay deserted. Its towering buildings cast long shadows over streets choked with silence. Erevos glided toward it, the projected rails beneath its feet twisting and undulating like living veins, blueprints of motion that only Karl could truly follow.
Karl leaned slightly forward in the cockpit, eyes narrowing. "There it is," he muttered, the city's industrial skeleton reflected in the cobalt glow of his visor. "The jet center… all the blueprints… everything I need." His voice was steady, but there was a taut edge in it—an obsession threaded through with the remnants of grief and vengeance.
Agnes's avatar appeared in the HUD, leaning provocatively from the corner of his vision. Her teasing tone dripped like silk over steel. "Mm~ so greedy, Karl. You see the whole abandoned city and the first thing you fixate on is… a jet center? Really?"
Karl didn't answer. He didn't need to. His body tensed as Erevos pushed closer, the projected rails pulsing with each glide, nanites humming like a restrained storm. But the closer they approached, the air seemed… heavier. His stomach churned. At first, it was subtle—a tightening in his gut, a metallic tang in his mouth—but then the nausea hit like a hammer. He gritted his teeth as crimson streaks spattered across the interior.
"Ah—damn it…" Karl groaned, clutching the controls. "Something's—ugh—wrong…"
Agnes's eyes narrowed, her voice shifting instantly from teasing to sharp, commanding. "Karl! STOP moving forward. Now!"
He froze, but his instincts screamed at him to push, to reach the center, to claim the jet blueprints. His body shook violently as blood streaked his chin. His Vythra, already strained from the long journey, screamed in agony—twisted by an unseen corruption.
"The energy… it's… Ichor…" he whispered hoarsely, voice barely audible over the hiss of Erevos's turbines. "It's—opposite of Vythra… it's—killing me…"
"Oh, poor, stubborn Karl," Agnes purred, her voice low and velvety again, slipping back into that seductive tease. "You think you can just waltz into a death trap and grab what you want? How very… heroic of you."
Before he could protest, her influence flared. Blue nanite tendrils surged beneath Erevos, shifting the mech violently, pulling it backward along the rails. Karl's hands gripped the controls, trying to resist, but the magnetic feedback from Agnes was overwhelming. His muscles screamed, every ounce of Vythra he had screaming in pain at the forced movement.
"AGNES! Let me—" he coughed, blood spraying again, but she cut him off with a hum of amusement.
"Oh, don't be so dramatic, Karl. You're… delightful when you fight me." Her tone slid like silk along the hull of Erevos, teasing, mocking, yet strangely intimate. "I'm not letting you die. Not today. Not over a pile of old metal and paper."
She flicked her fingers, projecting additional support beams beneath the rails to steady the mech. Erevos lurched backward, sliding smoothly away from the Ichor-tainted zone. Karl's body ached from the forced retreat, his lungs burning, his vision swimming in a haze of blue. He could see the jet center now, just a few blocks away, bathed in the dying light of the sun, but he was powerless to reach it.
"You're so stubborn…" Agnes murmured, her voice dropping to a near whisper. "Do you even realize how pathetic you look right now? Covered in your own blood, shivering like a little battery… and still thinking you can waltz into death?"
Karl couldn't help the small, rough laugh that escaped him. "I… I don't care… comfort, safety… none of it mattered… all I wanted… vengeance…" His voice broke slightly as he coughed again, blood staining the controls.
Agnes's avatar tilted her head, letting a slow, teasing smile curve over her digital lips. "Oh, I know, Karl. That's why you're so… irresistible. But darling, there's a difference between stubborn and suicidal. You think this is about vengeance? This is about your body trying to tell you… 'no.'"
Her hand, as projected into his HUD, flicked delicately along the side of his cockpit, almost brushing his shoulder. "And me? I don't let my favorite batteries die. Not when they're this… delightful. Not when they're… mine."
Karl's breath hitched. For a moment, between the coughing and the blood, he let himself revel in the warmth of her attention, the intimate teasing tone that could make his rage and obsession seem almost… secondary.
"You know," she whispered, her tone sliding between sultry mockery and playful seduction, "if you really wanted those blueprints, you'd have built a mech strong enough to walk through an Ichor storm without dying. But instead, we're here, watching you vomit blood like a tragic hero in a soap opera."
He groaned again, leaning back, closing his eyes briefly. "I… I can't… this city… it's… impossible…"
Agnes chuckled softly. "Oh no, Karl. Not impossible. Just… temporarily inconvenient." Her voice hummed against the metal of his ears. "And inconvenient is my favorite kind of challenge. You? You're my favorite kind of toy."
With another flurry of nanite energy, she stabilized Erevos completely, projecting a semi-circle of blueprints beneath him that acted as a buffer zone—he could move but not into the Ichor zone. Her control over the mech overrode his own, dragging him away from the deadliest currents.
Karl opened his eyes, seeing the city just ahead. He could feel it calling to him, the jet center's potential humming through the distant streets like a siren. But he was too weak, too contaminated by the anti-life energy seeping from Pittsburgh's core. He spat blood again, tasting iron and failure.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" he rasped, glare sharp despite his condition.
"Oh~ don't flatter yourself too much, Karl," she murmured, voice sultry and teasing. "I do love watching you flounder a little. But mostly? I'm enjoying how damn cute you look, trying to be a stubborn hero when your body screams at you to quit."
He coughed again, shaking his head. "I… I can't… I can't let it go… I—"
"Shhh," Agnes cooed, her tone wrapping around him like smoke. "Not today. Not while I'm around."
She projected a series of complex beams around Erevos, creating a safe zone just outside the Ichor's reach. The rails beneath their feet continued to stretch, extending westward, avoiding the most contaminated areas while still keeping the city in sight. The mech's movements became smoother, controlled entirely by Agnes, and Karl's body was forced to follow.
"You're… cruel," he muttered, though there was a faint grin in the midst of his pain. "Dragging me back like this…"
"Cruel?" Her laugh was soft, musical, teasing. "Darling, I'm the opposite of cruel. I'm protecting my favorite battery. Besides…" She leaned into the HUD, voice dropping to a whisper that made his ears burn. "I like seeing you whimper a little. Makes it… intimate."
Karl groaned, half from embarrassment, half from frustration, half from the lingering effects of the Ichor. But even as his body weakened, a small spark of determination flared. He could see the jet center clearly now. Even if he couldn't reach it today, he would find a way. He always did. Once his body healed, once he rebuilt his Vythra… nothing would stop him.
Agnes's tone softened slightly, though still teasing, as she watched him struggle. "You know… someday, Karl, you'll get there. You'll get those blueprints. But today? Today, you stay alive. And trust me… I will make sure you do."
Her fingers hovered over the rail projections, guiding them expertly as Erevos slid forward, safe and untouchable by the Ichor's deadly corruption. The mech's armor glowed faintly, royal azure light painting the empty streets in the last rays of sunset. Pittsburgh loomed before them, a skeletal city of potential and danger, taunting and beautiful.
Karl exhaled, tasting blood and iron, but for the first time in hours, he felt… restrained. Not broken. Not defeated. Just… alive. Agnes's playful, seductive teasing lingered in his mind, a strange comfort against the stark desolation.
He knew the city wasn't lost. The jet blueprints were still there, waiting. And he would find a way. Always.
For now, though, he allowed himself to be guided, protected, teased… and to watch Pittsburgh from the safe perimeter of her projections, the city of ghosts and potential just ahead.
Agnes's voice slid into his mind once more, soft, playful, and impossibly intimate. "Relax, darling. I've got you. And someday… we'll make it to that jet center. But for now? Just look at it. Imagine what you'll do once you have the strength… once we're ready…"
The mech slid smoothly on the rails, every line of projection guiding them west. The sun dipped lower, painting Pittsburgh in gold and violet. Karl clenched his fists, bloodied but alive, and nodded ever so slightly.
One way or another… he would get what he came for.