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You can't? What do you mean you can't? How hard can it be to find the goddamned switch or breaker or whatever it is and flip it?

Pull out the wires! Kill the power source! Do whatever it takes, I don't care what facilities we damage!

...What?

You're telling me, you've done everything you can, and the S.H.A.F.T. has not only failed to shut down, its goddamned energy readings are still climbing?

Bring every ounce of explosive we have in Trimounts. Blow that thing to kingdom come.

It's already charged, and if you blow it up, the energy dissipation will level the entire city, Colonel. That's what Maylander's agents are telling me.

You've got a crafty one on your hands, hah.

She's out of her goddamned mind! How much does she hate Columbia?! What is she up to?!

Hold on... I can think of one possibility.

—The District.

It's the District. If H.A.M.H.R.R.'s angle deviates far enough, it's probably gonna threaten Max D.C.!

Our beloved President is still situated there. Kristen... she intends to destroy the heart and the brain of Columbia.

We have to evacuate all personnel in the District immediately.

Don't worry, Colonel. The President's just told me we're fine.

Armed forces in the District are mobilized, and General Barry is taking charge of the defense there. She's promised me she'll protect the President with her life.

...General Barry?

Oh, I guess you didn't hear. She's just been promoted.

Carry on with your mission, Colonel. Columbia still needs you in this dire hour.

Anything else?

No, nothing.

I swear, I'm gonna put an end to this insanity, personally.

Don't overwork yourself.

...If you'll excuse me.

Will these orders do, Mr. President?

I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure about this. Still, I won't question your judgment—

I understand. I'll head out at once.

You see that? What is it?

Is that what the brass is after?

Sure is a high-flying bastard...

Where's it heading?

...Out of the city.

By appearances, an energy accumulation device.

Out of the city? The S.H.A.F.T.?

What did the Colonel call those things? 'Arc-01?' H.A.M.H.R.R.?

What the hell is that mad scientist thinking?

What the hell is that mad scientist thinking?

Idealism. Obsession. Curiosity. Initiative.

It's a trend that scientists are tied to these qualities.

Silence will admit, as a scientist herself, as a former Rhine Lab employee, that when she first caught that tremendous megastructure rising to the sky, she felt a faint tug on her heartstrings.

And a mortifying sense of pride.

This company she once struggled for was creating—no—had created a wonder of the land... of the sky. She should by all rights bask in it... shouldn't she?

Deception. Calculation. Sacrifice. Conspiracy.

She quickly comes to, realizing what this marvel was built upon.

Control. Kristen Wright...

As an ordinary researcher, she never had too much contact with Kristen. Perhaps, at most, a glimpse or two of the Rhine Lab Control during wrap-up conferences at the end of the year.

She still remembers the look in Kristen's eyes.

In her eyes, there was only one thing.

Scientists must think about one thing, and one thing only... 'And that is how to accomplish it.'

A scientist's sole responsibility is to push science to progress. 'That alone is more than enough to exhaust us.'

...And where is it that progress lies?

Whenever Columbia's wastes see rain, the vegetation quickly turns to overgrowth. When people hand down decisions from high perches, dictating what plants are of use and what should be disparaged as weeds, it never sits well with me.

We need to admit, no matter what, that that should not be described as 'progress.'

Kristen, and those like her, and those who wear the same guise as her...

They all lay claim to their vision, their direction, as the way that science's progress should orient.

She wouldn't dare say she understands the secretive, elusive Control, but she understands the rest of them, and the respective... costs of their journeys forward.

Who will define progress? Who will watch over it... Hasn't it seen too many sacrifices beneath its heels?

Science must progress, of course.

I am a researcher myself. I sympathize as such.

But we must be aware—of the nature of the costs therein.

We must be aware—

—that science does not solely serve personal ideals nor obsessions.

Is that a drone?

Researcher. What are you doing?

I don't want trouble with you, and the guys in charge don't need your help anymore, so you ought to—

Hey! We're talking to you!

The hell is she up to?

The key! Your car key!

She stole one of our cars? Is she insane?

Shit, we need to—

Silence! Silence!

Where'd the girl come from? This is a military exclusion zone!

The hell are you doing?!

Move it!

Ugh!

Gimme your car key too!

Uh, do—do you know how to drive, young lady?

Maybe you need me to—

Shut up! I've got this under control!

...Uh, but just to confirm, left one is the brake, right?

Doctor, we need to leave immediately.

I've found Kristen's energy source.

Things aren't yet irredeemable. The worst-case possibility I anticipate has not yet come to pass...

We still have a chance to stop her.

What's a Sarcophagus doing here?

Kristen's plan requires mass amounts of energy, the scale and purity of which are both beyond any modern Terran's grasp, or even their imagination.

So, she's exploiting the Sarcophagus's tech?

The sheer vastness of this energy is more than a Sarcophagus can provide, too.

So, why is she...

I said, more than 'a' Sarcophagus.

I hadn't anticipated... their being in Columbia.

Buried right beneath these wastes.

Doctor, I need your help.

And your help... is all I have.

Uh, but Rosmontis?;I'm worried about Rosmontis.

Combat has concluded. She won't be in danger.

I ask you have faith in her. She may still be a child, but she is nevertheless a Rhodes Island Elite Operator.

And I ask you have faith... in the time you've spent with her.

Whether the operation in Chernobog, or her days aboard Rhodes Island, not one past moment has been for naught, and these experiences likewise mold her even now.

She will make her own choice, and we can only respect that choice.

But... right now, as it falls to her, so it falls to us too.