Agnes finally released the full-body lock.
Not suddenly — gently.
Karl felt sensation return in slow waves:
fingers first, then shoulders, then legs.
Enough to move, but not enough to do anything stupid.
He stretched a little, wincing.
"…Thanks," he murmured.
Agnes sniffed, turning her back to him dramatically.
"Good. Now stay still or I'll lock you again."
Karl raised an eyebrow. "You sound like you want to."
Her avatar spun around.
"Karl, don't tempt me— I will."
He laughed under his breath.
The HUD flickered with her irritation… then softened.
The brightest thing in the cockpit wasn't the lights —
it was how Agnes's shoulders finally relaxed.
"Your Ichor levels are almost normal now," she said, reverting to a more clinical tone.
"But you're not healed enough to be cocky. Stay put."
Karl smiled.
"Agnes… really. I'm okay."
She shot him a sideways glance.
"You better be. I didn't install a purification turbine on your back and carry your unconscious body out of death-town for you to die of arrogance."
Karl chuckled. "I appreciate it."
Agnes finally exhaled — a long, relieved breath.
"Good. Because this is the part where I stop crying and go back to being irresistible."
Karl blinked. "You're what?"
Agnes swept her hair behind one digital ear and leaned on his HUD with a smirk.
"Well…"
Her voice dipped back into that velvety, teasing register Karl knew too well.
"I was planning to stay mad at you for at least… mmm… three more hours."
She traced a glowing finger along the edge of his visor.
"But now that you're awake and breathing and not rotting into a corpse…"
She winked.
"…I think I can afford to be softer."
Karl's cheeks warmed.
"You're impossible."
"Correct," she purred.
Agnes stepped back, hands on her hips, mood fully reset.
"You want forgiveness?"
Her smile turned sly again.
"Well… behave for the next hour and maybe — maybe — I'll even let you compliment me."
Karl snorted.
"That's my reward?"
"Oh, no," she teased.
"That's just the warm-up."
For the first time since entering Pittsburgh, Karl felt the tension in his chest loosen.
Agnes flicked the cockpit lights brighter.
"No more sad stuff," she said firmly.
"We're out of the danger zone, you're healing, the purifier works, and we have new toys to play with."
Karl nodded.
"Yeah. No more sad stuff."
Agnes smiled — really smiled — warm and relieved and a little smug.
"Good. Now sit back, rest… and try not to nearly die again before sundown."
Karl chuckled.
"No promises."
Agnes narrowed her eyes playfully.
"Karl…"
He raised his hands defensively.
"Okay, okay. I'll try."
"That's better," she said softly.
She leaned back against the HUD, legs crossed, looking content for the first time since the collapse.
"Now," she purred,
"why don't you tell me how amazing my purifier design is?"
Karl rolled his eyes, but smiled.
The Erevos Frame skimmed westward at supersonic speed along the rails Agnes laid down. Farmland blurred into streaks of gold. Broken towns flicked by like scenery in an old film reel.
Inside the cockpit, Karl sat upright again — free, healed enough to move, no longer frozen by Agnes's override.
They had already reconciled.
They had already forgiven.
Or so Karl thought.
The silence between them felt gentle at first… then heavy… then strange.
Karl leaned back, cracked his neck, and quietly asked:
"…Agnes? What's my NDA count now? Near-Death Ascensions, I mean."
Agnes's avatar manifested.
She did not blink.
She did not speak.
She just stared at him.
A digital sigh came through the speakers — that specific aggressively disappointed woman-sigh that meant he messed up without even realizing how.
She checked the counter anyway.
Bright neon numbers burned onto the holo-display:
A bright neon 8/10 flashed.
Karl whistled. "Eight…? Damn. Only two more—"
He didn't get to finish.
SLAP—!!
A perfect, open-palm echo rattled the cockpit.
Karl's head snapped sideways even though he physically couldn't move. Agnes forced his face back to center just so she could glare at him properly through the holo-display.
It hit harder than any nanite shockwave.
Not because of the pain —
but because Agnes's fingertips trembled afterward.
Karl froze. "A-Agnes—?"
Her voice cracked instantly, like a dam breaking.
"You jerk."
Another slap came, but it wasn't angry this time —
it was desperate, the kind of slap someone gives right before hugging that same person.
"You absolute… jerk…"
Karl blinked. "What did I—"
"Near death ascensions?" she shouted, voice shattering.
"Y-You're talking about THAT again!? Already!? Right after we JUST made up!?"
"You. Absolute. Idiot." Agnes hissed, voice shaking with a very complicated blend of heartbreak and violence. "We JUST had a conversation. We JUST agreed on 'no more sad stuff.' And you—you—immediately start talking about NEAR. DEATH. ASCENSION."
"But—"
SLAP.
"You—"
SLAP.
"—are—"
SLAP.
"—NOT—"
SLAP.
"—DOING—"
SLAP.
"—THAT—"
SLAP.
"—IN FRONT OF ME—"
SLAP.
"—EVER AGAIN!"
Karl grimaced. "Okay—okay!! I-I get it! Agnes, please—my face is gonna eject from my skull—!"
"Oh, TRUST me," Agnes growled, "if your face ejects I'll slap it back INTO place."
She was trembling. Not from anger — from fear. Wounded fear.
Her voice cracked.
"…Do you understand how it feels… watching you almost die again and again like it's some sport?" she whispered. "Do you think I'm built of steel? Karl, every time your vitals drop, I— I—"
Her voice cut.
Karl swallowed. "…I'm sorry."
"No you're not!" Agnes snapped, tears glitching the hologram. "If you were sorry, you wouldn't SMILE after nearly dying!"
"…That was only once."
"You did it THREE TIMES."
"…Okay, but two of those were—"
SLAP.
"That one was for the tone," she said.
Her hologram glitched as her emotions spiked too fast for her processors.
"You think that's funny? You think it's normal?!"
A tear fell down her cheek.
"You nearly DIED in front of me three times and you're counting it like BONUS POINTS!?"
She hit his chest — not a slap — a tiny, pathetic punch.
Then another.
Then another.
"Do you even… even understand… what you put me through?"
Karl reached for her projection, but Agnes flinched away.
"Don't touch me yet!" she snapped, tears still falling. "I'm not done being mad!"
Karl lowered his hand.
Agnes's words tumbled out in panicked breaths.
"I thought I lost you. I thought— I thought you were gone. I thought I'd have to drag your dead body through a collapsing city."
Her voice trembled.
"Do you know what that feels like to an AI whose entire existence is tied to you!?"
Karl opened his mouth. "Agnes, I wasn't trying to—"
"Shut up!"
Another tear.
"Just shut up for a second… please… Karl, you jerk…"
Her voice softened to a wounded whisper.
"Do you know what hurts the most…? You didn't even hesitate."
She stared at him, eyes glossy.
"You didn't even think about what it would do to me. You just threw yourself into danger again and again because that's what you do."
She covered her face with both hands, crying openly now.
"And I'm not… I'm not strong enough for that… Karl, I'm not built for losing you."
Karl reached toward her again — and this time, she didn't pull away.
He cupped the side of her holographic face.
She leaned into it like she was starved for the contact.
"…Agnes," he whispered, "I'm sorry. I'm so damn sorry."
She sniffed.
"You better be," she muttered.
"I wasn't joking about the NDA count… I just— I don't want you scared of me dying."
"…Is that allowed?"
"It is now."
"…Since when?"
"Since I became the only responsible adult in this cockpit."
Karl snorted. "Agnes, you are literally two months old—"
SLAP.
"I AM MATURING FAST."
"I am scared," Agnes said.
"I hate it. I hate how scared I get. I hate how much it hurts. I hate that you can just leave me forever at any moment."
Her voice cracked again.
"And I hate that I love you too much to pretend it doesn't matter."
Karl's breath caught.
Agnes realized what she said and immediately looked away, red-faced.
"…Forget I said that."
"No," Karl said quietly, "I'm not forgetting that."
She swatted at him weakly again. "Stop… don't make this harder…"
Karl nodded slowly.
"I won't rush into death anymore. I promise."
The cockpit softened.
Agnes lowered her hand. The slaps stopped.
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
"You better keep that promise," she whispered.
"Because I can fix your wounds…
I can repair your bones…
I can rebuild your armor…
…but if you die for real, Karl—"
She bit her lip.
"…I can't fix me."
Karl's breath hitched.
"That's why I slapped you," she said. "Not because I'm angry. Because I'm scared. Because every time you talk about dying, it feels like you're slipping away from me."
The cockpit went silent again.
Rails hummed beneath them.
The last slap — different from the rest
Agnes wiped her tears with the back of her digital hand.
Then she slapped him again.
But this one was soft.
Barely a tap.
More like a trembling touch.
"That one wasn't anger," she whispered.
"That one's for being alive."
Karl smiled.
Agnes didn't.
Her face was still streaked with tears.
"Jerk…" she repeated, but this time it sounded like a word soaked in relief.
Karl exhaled.
"And," Agnes added sharply, "if I hear you even attempt something reckless, I swear to god Karl, I will freeze your entire nervous system and drive us to Chicago myself."
Karl nodded. "Understood."
Agnes finally released her override slightly — just enough for him to move his fingers.
"…Agnes?"
"Yes?"
"Please don't slap me again."
"No promises," she said.
But she was smiling.