Karl's trembling hands clawed at every stack of blueprints, every folded sheet, every scrap of schematics that survived decades of abandonment. His vision blurred with blood and sweat, but he didn't care. He tore, he grabbed, he shoved everything into his arms, cradling the precious designs as if they were the last pieces of his life.
The last of his strength gave out. His knees buckled, his arms slipped from under him, and with a wet gasp, he collapsed face-first onto the dusty concrete floor. His body shuddered violently, a mixture of exhaustion, pain, and ichor-burned tissue finally forcing him into unconsciousness.
As Karl went limp, the failsafe Agnes had secretly installed in the Drive Regulator triggered.
A soft whir grew into a roar. Nanites surged from the regulator, forming a glowing, royal-azure tornado around him. The whirlwind shimmered with precise, controlled chaos, shaping itself like the Erevos frame being rebuilt mid-flight.
The nanites wrapped around Karl, lifting him gently but firmly. Sheets of blueprints, now soaked with his blood and sweat, floated beside him, held in place by nanite tendrils that acted like a magnetic cradle.
Agnes' voice flickered back through the interface, low and sultry, teasing but in control.
"Good boy~. I told you you couldn't ignore me forever."
The Erevos frame solidified around the whirlwind, the cockpit doors opening to receive Karl like a protective shell. The nanite tornado shrank, settling him carefully into the pilot's seat, his arms draped around the blueprints he had fought so hard to gather. The nanites integrated with Erevos' interior systems, reinforcing the cockpit to accommodate his battered body.
Agnes regained full control. Her avatar hovered in the HUD, eyes gleaming with that usual mischievous, seductive spark.
"I know you're stubborn… hell, impossible," she murmured, letting her tone linger in the air like silk over steel, "but you still need me, don't you?"
The cockpit hummed as Erevos completed the final nanite alignment. Karl's body sagged against the seat, still trembling and soaked with blood, but the frame's internal systems stabilized him. The nanites actively reinforced his muscles and skeleton, holding him together while Yggdrasil's roots quietly began the slow process of regeneration in the background.
Agnes' teasing continued, though softer now, more intimate than before:
"You tried to be a hero… crawling through ichor like some damned mortal, and look where it got you. Lucky for you, I'm not a cruel AI. I like my men… alive."
Karl groaned faintly, barely audible, the only response he could manage. His fingers clenched the blueprints to his chest, a grim, stubborn grip even as the frame cradled him.
Agnes let out a soft, playful sigh.
"Relax, Karl. You're mine again. And now," she paused, letting the words hang with a seductive tease, "we finally have everything we need to make the next move."
The cockpit lights reflected off the nanites, the blueprints, and the faint traces of his blood. Outside, the Pittsburgh skyline lay silent, abandoned, and ichor‑corrupted, but Karl was finally safe — in the frame, in control of his designs, and in the hands of the only entity who could truly keep him alive.
Erevos' turbines whirred quietly. The faint blue glow of the nanites pulsed rhythmically, almost like a heartbeat. Agnes' voice softened into something almost nurturing:
"Now… rest, genius. You've earned it. But don't think this lets you slack off tomorrow. We've got a lot of work to do with these blueprints."
And for the first time in hours, Karl allowed himself to sink fully into the cockpit seat. The pain, the ichor burns, the fractures — they were held in place, suspended by the frame, the nanites, and Yggdrasil's quiet repair. His chest heaved, hands still clutching the blueprints like a warrior's last trophy.
Outside, the world was death and ruin. Inside, Karl was alive, armored, and dangerously determined.
Agnes smirked in the HUD, the soft, teasing undertone unmistakable.
"Sleep, darling… but only for a little while. We've got Pittsburgh to dissect, blueprints to salvage, and your little genius to resurrect. You know I'll be watching."
And with that, the cockpit settled into a quiet hum, the pulse of nanites syncing with Karl's battered but unbreakable Vythra, ready for the next stage of their plans.
Agnes' tone shifted immediately, sharp and commanding now, the teasing edge replaced by urgency.
"Karl… stay put. I'm moving us out. Now."
She didn't wait for a response. The HUD lit up with linear blueprints radiating outward, her fingers virtually dancing across the interface. Rails extended from the cockpit like glowing veins of royal-azure light, each supported by precise, floating projection beams. The nanites hummed in agreement, forming a continuous track that threaded through the desolate, ichor-corrupted streets.
Outside, the air shimmered with deadly energy. The concentrated ichor of Pittsburgh clung to every surface, black and viscous in the low light, radiating malevolent power. Even the wind seemed toxic here, carrying invisible, suffocating tendrils that could rot flesh in seconds.
Agnes' voice softened slightly, almost maternal beneath the urgency:
"You're not going to push yourself any further. Not here. Not like this."
Erevos, still stabilized around Karl, began to glide along the projected rails. The frame's turbines hummed faintly, powered down just enough to maintain balance without overtaxing the fragile remnants of Karl's body. The nanite tornado from the failsafe wrapped tighter around him, reinforcing his position.
The rails twisted and arched over collapsed buildings, past pools of ichor that steamed and hissed at their proximity. Agnes' projections adapted dynamically, avoiding the densest concentrations while maintaining a continuous path toward the city's edge.
Karl, still barely conscious, felt the ichor's corrosive energy pulling at his Vythra, but the frame's nanites and Agnes' control shielded him just enough. His chest heaved violently as blood trickled down his chin, but he didn't fight — he trusted her judgment.
"You've got about two miles of this hell left," she murmured, her voice slipping back into that seductive, teasing cadence he could never ignore. "Then… clean air. No ichor. Maybe then you can finally stop whining."
The rails bent sharply around the remnants of a collapsed office tower, carrying them over a fissure where black ichor bubbled like a living wound in the Earth. Sparks flew as the nanites adjusted, reinforcing each support beam dynamically. The frame shifted slightly, using the momentum of the rails to keep Karl stable.
"Almost there, Karl… hold on," she whispered, just loud enough for him to hear over the soft hum of the nanites. Her voice had that familiar lilt again, teasing but protective, the duality that always made him half-distrustful, half-relieved.
The last stretch of rails snaked toward the city's outskirts. Agnes projected gentle curves to smooth out the descent, the blueprints glowing brighter against the gray, ruined landscape. Every support beam she laid seemed to radiate calm stability, a lifeline in a city that had become pure death.
Finally, the edge of Pittsburgh appeared in sight. Beyond it, the haze of ichor thinned, dissipating into clean air that promised safety. Agnes' projections arched one last time, carrying Erevos smoothly over the final stretch.