The Architect Codex

Inferno - Breaking Point

Tobias hesitated at first, growing silent as he weighed his options here. He wasn't sure any of them would believe him—but then again, they'd essentially followed him into hell on nothing but a prayer. At this point, they were the only friends he had left—if he couldn't trust them, then he couldn't trust anyone.

Reaching into one of the pouches on his belt, Tobias pulled out the catalyst for this whole operation—a single, folded up piece of paper.

McFarlane removed his helmet, allowing his longer hair to spring back up from where it'd been matted down on his head, and narrowed his eyes. "What's that?"

Instead of answering, Tobias tossed the paper over to him. Catching it in his hand, McFarlane opened it up and read it. It didn't take him very long; after a few seconds, he looked back at the other Pilot. "What is this supposed to mean?"

"I found that on my bed after our briefing with Briggs," Tobias explained in a low voice. "KT had just said that first line to me in regards to Briggs' decision—before I ever saw the paper. I asked her to rattle off a series of random numbers in an order of her own choosing." He pointed to the paper. "It was exactly the same."

McFarlane said nothing, simply looking down again and re-reading. "And this last line?"

Tobias grew silent, lowering his gaze to stare at the ground. The other three watched as he took a deep breath and sighed with a heaviness that hadn't been there before.

"That was something my mother said to me when I was just a kid. I don't think I ever really understood what she'd meant—I made a promise to always do the right thing, but I didn't really know what the right thing was. I caused a lot of pain when I could have been preventing it, I spent years spreading misery when I could have been spreading hope."

He shook his head, talking more to himself now than McFarlane. "I don't want to do that anymore. When I met KT, everything just ... clicked. My life doesn't matter, not to me—so I want to spend mine protecting the ones that do. Protecting the people who can't protect themselves."

He chuckled softly. "Like ... a knight."

Tobias looked back up at McFarlane, noting the other man watching him carefully. "I never told anyone about that—not you, not Gates, not even KT. That letter is proof that time has been distorted, that those ripples in the continuum aren't just theory like Briggs thought—it's from the future. Someone gave me that for a reason ... someone who knew me well enough to know what I'd do with it."

McFarlane took one last look at the paper, then folded it up and threw it back to Tobias. "Yeah, but who? Who do you think wrote it?"

For that, Tobias didn't have an answer.

Vale whistled to them as she turned her attention to the horizon and noted the setting sun. "Focus up, you two, night's almost here."

Giving a nod of acknowledgement, Tobias rose to his feet while McFarlane put on his helmet. Time to carry out the first part of the plan; getting into the compound. And as the saying went; if an idea ain't broke, don't fix it.

He walked over to the Titans while the others checked their equipment. "It's time."

McFarlane groaned from behind him. "Man, I've put so much work into that thing ..."

Skids turned at his command, then crouched down to the human's height to present his main optic. Tobias reached forward and removed the rectangular lens casing over the Ronin's eye, revealing the Titan's cylindrical data-core within. Feeling for the release mechanism, he found it and slid the now removable device out of its receptacle. He held it in his hands, and rotated it to look at the side where 'SKD-3812' had been engraved. He placed it in a large bag, and moved on as the Ronin chassis remained frozen where it was.