The Architect Codex

Inferno - The Bitter End

"You son of a bitch!" Gates shouted furiously from the side, shaking her cuffed hand against the pipe. "We're supposed to be better than this, better than just working for the highest bidder—!"

"Well, not everyone shares your misguided self-righteousness, Elizabeth," Dimitri sighed. "A merc's got to make a profit—why should I care who's funding it?

He knelt down in front of Tobias. "Since the second I met you, I knew you were going to be trouble. But Gates wouldn't let me just throw you out the damned airlock, and then she had the bright idea to let you partner with the Titan you found on Nedar ... and everything just spiraled out of control from there."

He snorted. "I mean, really—you had one assignment, and suddenly you're infiltrating an IMC data-center? That could have been the end of it, but no, Gates had to have us go and save your ass!" Dimitri shook his head in wonder. "Goddamn, I think you're the most determined person I've ever met. When you came up with the plan to raid the Kraken, I actually encouraged you—I figured that this idea of yours was so reckless that it was a sure bet you'd die carrying it out."

He threw his hands up into the air. "But you survived! And then you kept surviving. And damn it, you just don't know when to die, do you? One bump in the road after another, but you always manage to crawl your way to the finish line. Well, not this time."

Rifling through Tobias' pouches, he pulled out the Codex and held it out to examine it. "Hard to believe this little thing's worth all the trouble everyone's gone through to get it." He looked back to Tobias and chortled. "Thanks for the paycheck, Four."

Placing the Codex in one of his own pouches, he stood up and turned towards a tunnel at the back of the room that connected this place to the main compound. As he walked out, he turned back to Tobias one last time.

"Who knows? If you don't bleed out in the next few minutes, maybe we'll be working together again at some point. Blisk's offer is still open!"

Then he disappeared down the tunnel.

Tobias watched him leave, then turned his attention to McFarlane who was lying still a few feet away from him.

"Rob ..."

Dragging himself over, he placed a hand on his friend's chest and tried to apply pressure—but it was too little too late. There wasn't much he could do at this point, McFarlane's whole front was practically painted red. A steady stream of blood trickled from his mouth as the green of his eyes met the blue of Tobias'.

"F-Four ..."

"Hey," Tobias whispered. "H-Hang ... in there, a-alright? We'll ... g-get you help—"

McFarlane let out something between a wheezing cough and a laugh. "Y-You're one to t-talk ..."

Tobias looked down at his own wound, crimson still flowing freely from it. The other Pilot was right—he was hardly in better shape. Even now, he could sense the edges of his mind starting to feel fuzzy, like the droning hum of white noise.

"I'm s-sorry," McFarlane choked out suddenly, red spittle flying from his lips. "For w-when I m-met you, I-I mean."

"What? N-None of that m-matters now," Tobias assured him, but McFarlane shook his head.

"It ... d-does to me." His voice hitched in his throat. "You've ... y-you've been a great f-friend to me, Four. M-More than ... more than I d-deserved."

He raised his left forearm, the unbroken one, and gripped Tobias' hand tightly in his, pressing his sidearm into it, a P2011 Hammond pistol.

"This ... t-this isn't on ... you." His eyes darted towards the tunnel at the back of the room. "That ... bastard d-did this. You h-have ... to stop him b-before ... before he ... he ..."