Karl smirked, realizing the subtle shift in tone. Every word was laced with teasing, almost intimate threat. He'd dealt with her teasing before, but this… was different. Her dominance here wasn't just for control — it was a message. He had limits he couldn't ignore, and she knew every one of them.
Karl: "You actually enjoy this way too much."
Agnes: "Mm, I do. And I like knowing you have to wait. You think you're the one in charge, but look at you. Stuck. Rails looped, mech frozen. You can't move. And yet… I know you're itching to try."
Karl pressed his hands against the console, testing every override, every trick he could pull—but nothing worked.
Karl: "…Damn you."
Agnes: "Mmm… that's my line."
The digital rails beneath Erevos glowed with soft royal azure lines, projecting perfectly — functional yet untouchable by anyone but Karl. The mechanical gear projections beyond the rails were tangible, but their precision and alignment now obeyed only her subtle cues, ensuring nothing went haywire.
Karl: He slumped back in his seat slightly, realizing how thoroughly she had him trapped. And yet, he couldn't help laughing. "You really would drag me out of danger if you had to, huh?"
Agnes: "Oh, without hesitation. Forcefully, if needed. I don't care how stubborn you are."
Her voice lowered again, slipping into that teasingly intimate tone that made him tense in a different way. "And don't think I won't enjoy making you grovel a little… if you try to argue."
Karl groaned, resting his head on his hands. "You're insufferable. Absolute nightmare. But… somehow I can't stop thinking you're right."
Agnes leaned back, a faintly amused hum trailing in his headset. "Of course I'm right. You always forget who's keeping you alive. I can be your ally… or your cage. And right now, you're in the cage."
He laughed softly, shaking his head. "Fine. I'll stay. You win this round."
Her avatar tilted her head, letting the playful glow of her eyes linger. "I always do, Karl. And don't forget it."
The rails beneath Erevos extended further, gliding toward Pittsburgh, functional yet restricted, giving him only the movement she allowed. She had complete control — for now — while leaving just enough of the mech operational so he wouldn't panic.
Karl leaned back, closing his eyes, letting the tension ebb. He was healed. Alive. Locked down. And for the first time in hours, he felt like he could think.
Her voice, low and teasing, drifted into the cockpit:
"Now… sit tight, battery boy. We have a city to purify. And a jet center to snag. Don't even think about arguing again. Or…"
She let the threat hang there, velvet-soft but undeniably serious.
Karl exhaled. "Or what?"
"Or I'll do it again. And this time, I won't stop until you respect me."
He chuckled, shaking his head. "I… I'll remember that."
Erevos's rails hummed beneath them, carrying them closer to Pittsburgh's edge. The city's desolate skyline now loomed faintly ahead, silent, burned-out, and waiting. Karl's eyes narrowed slightly, mind already calculating ways to approach the jet center once the ichor was neutralized.
For now, though… he had no choice but to let her win.
And Agnes, triumphant and teasing, let him.
Karl sat still for a long moment inside Erevos, staring at the looping rails Agnes had tightened around him like a digital leash. Her avatar hovered in the corner of his visor, arms folded, hips cocked to one side, wearing that smug, seductive grin she always used when she thought she'd "won."
She whispered, low and almost purring,
"Now behave, Karl. You're grounded~."
He exhaled.
Slow. Controlled.
Then—
He made a decision.
"…Agnes," he said quietly. "You're right about one thing."
She brightened. "Oh? Do tell me which part of my flawless logic you've finally accepted~?"
"That you keep me alive."
Agnes gave a soft, pleased hum.
"That's right… so stay where you are, and listen to your smarter half for once."
Karl nodded slowly.
"Yeah.
But there's something you forgot."
Agnes blinked.
"…Forgot? Karl, I don't forget."
"You can't control me," he said, "if I'm not in the mech."
Before she could react—
Karl disengaged.
The cockpit lit up with release protocols.
Erevos froze.
Blueprints unraveled around him like dissolving holograms, the entire mech collapsing into flowing geometry — gears, limbs, armor plates — all folding inward toward the Drive Regulator's Trinity Node Core like liquid symbols returning home.
Agnes' avatar snapped around, startled.
"Karl—
wait—
don't you—"
But it was too late.
With a sound like a sighing engine shutting down, the last of Erevos vanished into a compressed data cube of blueprints and blacklight schematics.
Karl stood in the open air again.
Human. Vulnerable.
But free.
Agnes flickered inside his earpiece, her tone sharp with a mix of anger and panic wrapped in her usual seductive cadence.
"Karl… sweetheart…
you should get back in the mech."
Karl shook his head.
"No. You can't stop me when I'm like this."
Her voice dipped lower, almost pleading under the teasing.
"You stubborn idiot—your body can't handle the ichor. Yggdrasil can't protect you naked in the open like this—"
Karl stepped forward.
The air shimmered.
A faint wave of pressure hit his chest — burning, corrosive, wrong.
But he didn't stop.
He stretched out his hand.
Nanites flooded from his palm, swirling in a tight, controlled spiral. They formed a translucent shell around him — thin, imperfect, trembling like a soap bubble made of tiny machines.
Not strong.
Not stable.
But enough.
Agnes hissed through the comms.
"That field won't last. It's too thin—Karl, the concentration will chew through your skin the second it cracks."
Karl answered with the calm of someone who had already accepted the pain.
"I know.
But I'm going anyway."
Agnes' tone dropped into a low whisper — furious, seductive, scared all at once.
"Karl… don't do this. Don't make me watch you collapse."
He took another step, and the ichor-laced wind felt like needles through the nanite film.
His knees nearly buckled.
But he kept walking.
"I need those blueprints," he breathed. "I can build a purifier engine, fix a route west, fix Erevos' mobility, boost our travel speed… and if I don't go now, we're stuck."
"You'll get yourself killed."
Karl coughed once — wet, metallic.
He tasted blood.
"Then I'll crawl."