We carefully escorted Trivo back through the building, from the tiny elevator, to the spiral staircase, and finally out the huge front door. In the short time we'd spent in that eerie facility, the sun had set, coating the outdoors in a blanket of twilight.

"Should we be expecting reinforcements?" I asked Lavil.

"Nope. Nobody else ever comes."

Lavil hummed as we stepped onto the gravel outside the big door, slowly but surely heading back to where I'd parked. "There's only one bike," he reminded us. "I don't need to use it, but what about you two?"

"I've never driven anything like that before," Trivo said. "I don't think I can."

"Is there enough space on the back of my bike for her to ride with me?" I wondered.

"We'll see, I guess." Lavil replied.

"...Oh! Okay." Trivo sounded enthusiastic, if not a bit sheepish.

It was the first time I'd seen Lavil move at our pace without any blatant signs of malcontent. I shouldn't have been so surprised since we'd found Trivo, but, beforehand, I wasn't sure if he was even able to show decency.

"I'm sorry, Aural..." Trivo muttered, walking beside me up a nondescript dune.

"Hey, it's okay. You didn't do anything wrong." Poor thing. I assumed she was talking about dragging me into this whole situation.

"I... mmm," she mumbled, looking away a bit.

As much as I wanted to grill them both for some explanations, I'm sure we'd get them when we all got back to Grilith. There's no way Shock would walk away from this without some answers, either. I knew that much.

After another minute or so of arduous trekking, we spotted my bike sitting just where I'd left it.

"I'll travel behind you two," Lavil announced.

"Almost a bit uncharacteristic for you, isn't it?" I remarked.

"I ain't letting Trivo out of my sight again, kid."

Ooh. I couldn't wait to hang out with Shock again instead of this guy. Not wanting to spark another argument about him calling me kid, I said nothing.

Lavil stood a few feet away looking over a sandy hill while Trivo and I awkwardly looked over my bike.

"So, uh," I began, putting a foot over the bike and sitting down. "Is there enough room for you on the back, here?" I scooted forward in my seat as far as I could.

She hummed, looking around the bike, leaning side to side. "Well... maybe!" She followed my motions, carefully propping herself onto the seat right against my back. "U-um... what should I hold onto? I might fall."

"Maybe my shoulders? Or lower body?" I was starting to realize why she sounded uncomfortable.

She put her hands on my shoulders, but then let go and wrapped her arms around my abdomen instead. "Okay, this could work, maybe."

Although, I had to admit, it was kinda nice having a cute bot like her pseudo-hugging me.

I turned the key in the ignition and the bike started up with a bit of a chug, its lights automatically beaming in front of me. Trivo's grip tightened for a moment as we got adjusted to the running engine.

"Ready?" I shouted back to her.

"I... I think so!"

I revved the bike. Lavil peered over at me; in response, I pointed at Grilith and revved once again. He started skating and collecting up speed, so I gently accelerated and adjusted my headings to Grilith Tower.

~~~

It was far windier than I expected during the ride. I figured the wind rushing by me while riding on a dune roller would trivialize any gusts around at the time, but these were particularly strong and loud winds.

Just when I could see the other vehicles parked in front of Grilith in the distance, my bike wobbled from a sudden squall, almost causing me to lose balance. Trivo tightened her grip again as a flurry of sand brushed over us.

Oh dear. That wasn't good.

"Sandstorm!" I bellowed, as if they couldn't already tell what was happening.

Throw caution to the wind and speed up, or take it slower and ride carefully? I didn't know. But we were close, and it didn't seem too harsh so far... so I opted for the former.

"Hang on!" I yelled to Trivo while crouching down and putting more pressure on the gas pedal. The ride instantly went from a smooth cruise to a bumpy race against time. The bike's headlight was powerful, but the sand flying around in front of us made it difficult to see, leaving us at the mercy of the dunes and bumps I couldn't see coming.

I could still barely make out the parking lot up ahead. As we approached it, I gently let off the gas and turned to the right-

The bike lost traction and slid to the right. I tried to correct it by turning left, but the storm had other plans. We toppled down, sliding several feet forward before coming to a halt in the silty sand.

"Shit! Trivo!" I called out, scrambling to my feet. She'd let go of me when we wiped out.

"Aural!" Trivo was lying on the sand, not far away. I bent down and lent her a hand, helping her to her feet. My bike seemed to have shut off on its own. Screw parking. It could wait.

The wind had turned ferocious in a matter of seconds. Holding Trivo's hand tightly, we ran over to the parking lot, ducking between some of the larger vehicles as we went.

"Get in! Quick!" Lavil's voice, unmistakably. I caught a glimpse of him near the door to Grilith.

We darted past him and ran inside. He followed right behind us.

I took a moment to regain my bearings in the shelter of the tower. "Will we ever catch a fuckin' break?!" I screeched.

"Aural! Hey, take it easy." Just to my right was Shock, sitting on the bottom of the stairs. "Glad you made it."

"Shock! Yeah, hey! And look, it's Trivo!" I was so happy to see her, I had a hard time finding the right words to say.

"There she is," in a slightly less optimistic voice.

Ah, right. I forgot Shock didn't like her too much.

Trivo danced around for a brief moment, shaking the sand off her. I did the same; my joints must've been covered in it.

"Two! Aural Autooo!" That was definitely the voice of SCAN. I had no idea where it was, though. I looked up and around-

Ah. It was floating above me in its huge cross shape from before, just above the doorway.

"Hey there," I stiffly greeted SCAN, still unsure how I should be talking to it.

"Hello Auto! >:)"

At least the faces it made helped decipher how it was feeling.

Aside from the vaguely ominous face-making thing floating in the air, it was odd seeing only us on the ground floor, especially with the crowd up on the roof earlier. Maybe it wasn't too strange, though – there were a lot of rooms and alcoves on the many floors this tower had. Plus, waiting around in front of a windy doorway that was kicking a bunch of sand inside wasn't the most appealing idea.

"Hey, Shock." I turned my attention to her and walked over to where she was sitting.

"Hey," she replied.

There wasn't any easy way to say it. "Did you... check out Viniko?"

Her face sunk. "Yeah." She sighed. "Same wounds as every other time. Tangent."

"Damn, man. Is nobody safe?"

"No. At this rate, it's pretty clear no one is."

I almost felt a bit dizzy hearing that.

"Trivo," Lavil called with little emotion. I turned to see what they were up to.

"Yes?" she answered.

"Memory check."

"R-right."

"1-3-6-4."

"5-8-1-5."

"Thank fuck. You really are okay."

... What was that about?

"So, look..." Shock butted in. "Now that we're here, all together... can we clear the air? What is going on with all this shit we got ourselves into? Tangent? Trivo's kidnapping? You have our full attention,"

Trivo tilted her head down. "Um, it's a long story. Maybe Lavil might be able to tell it better."

On cue, Lavil started talking. "We're both in the same situation. Let me lay this out clear for the both of you, to begin – Trivo hasn't harmed a single soul, and I doubt she ever could or would."

"It's Tangent that's killing people, right?" I asked Lavil.

"Right. Tangent is fucked. He's so elusive that I'm honestly not sure what to do about him. If we could predict where he was going, or lure him out somehow, we might have a shot at getting rid of him. But, as it stands, he's too much for even me to handle."

"So... how come Tangent decided to frame Trivo?" Shock asked with a slight tilt of her head. "Just random?" She squinted.

"No, it wasn't random." Lavil looked up at the ceiling for a second. "Tangent has... a connection with Trivo."

"Go on..." Shock growled.

As Lavil paused, I noticed Trivo shudder and turn away from us in my peripheral vision.

Lavil confessed under the pressure. "Tangent was created by Trivo."

"Created?!" Shock and I both exclaimed. "What!" I added.

"She was forced to! She wanted no part in it. I don't know exactly what kind of threats she was under, since we had garbage communication back then."

"Someone's doing this to you, then? Who forced Trivo to make Tangent?" Shock asked.

Lavil didn't respond.

Shock's face grew even more stern. "Now's not a good time, Lavil. Answer the question."

"I can't say who's doing this. I... really can't." Lavil actually seemed upset.

More silence lingered between us, though Shock was clearly becoming more and more unimpressed, if that was even possible.

"Listen," Lavil continued. "Trivo and I have both been told that if we do so much as utter this fucker's name, or even hint towards their identity, a localized EMP will detonate inside us, and that will be the end of us. Don't interrupt me, and I'll explain why we give such a dumbass threat any credit.

The person who forced Trivo to build Tangent is the same person who built me. We're going to call this person Ups, okay? Obviously, Ups knows my physical design inside and out – probably even better than I do. As for Trivo, she wasn't made by Ups, but from what we've been able to figure out, it's very likely Ups wiped Trivo's memory in the past. Everything on her hard drive's sentient partition was erased. Ups would have to have explored inside her to do such a delicate task, which means Ups has had ample opportunity to plant one of these EMPs in both of us."

"So your creator is threatening Zynima as a whole with the construction of Tangent, and we have no way of knowing who it is." Shock glanced over to Trivo, which she, thankfully, didn't notice.

"Thanks, tips. Not like I'm proud of this."

"If you don't mind me asking something..." I started, taking advantage of the pause in conversation, "what exactly were you with the, uh, memory test with Trivo? Is it because her memory had been wiped before?"

Lavil nodded. "Let me explain this. We have our basic partitions, sentient partitions, and back partitions, yeah? Your basic partition holds your things like motor skills and shit you need to know in order to function. The sentient partition is where everything else is stored. Things we learn, things we remember, everything that makes us who we are. You know all that, I'm sure.

But the back partition is a strange one. It's a very small part of our drives meant for caching bits of our memories in case of a malfunction, like a hard drive wipe. Not everyone has one, and Trivo was lucky enough to have one just functional enough to give us some sort of abstract clue about her past. And let me tell you..."

Lavil stopped for a second to point in the direction we just rode in from. "That was not her first time in that underground facility. Trivo was in that facility a lot. As in, before these kidnappings started. She never told me what she did, but she told me she hated it. Anytime we had a chance to talk, she came to me shaking with fear, telling me how much she hated that place.

Then, after a while, the fear suddenly stopped. Out of nowhere, Trivo felt nothing when we discussed it. That's when I asked her what she was doing down there, only for her to tell me she had no idea. She couldn't recall any major events from her past. She knew who I was, but she didn't even know her own name until I reminded her. So, she still had her basic and back partitions intact, since she still remembered who I was, and how to move and shit."

Lavil paused and looked over at Trivo. She was facing away from us, her hands over her face.

"So, ya, the memory check was just to see if she got wiped. This guy has been in both our bodies, and he's a right fucker."

"No shit, huh..." Shock rubbed the side of her forehead.

"I just have a couple more questions," I spoke up, ensuring my tone of voice wasn't too pushy or gruff. "What if you, like... wrote this guy's name down on something. The bot manipulating you two. Just didn't speak it."

"Mate," Lavil stared me down. "You tellin' me you'd just casually risk death like that? Hell if I know if he fucked with my eyes or my motherboard or whatever."

I shook my head. "Guess not..."

"I thought you were all about taking risks," Shock criticized.

"I ain't afraid of death!" Lavil bellowed as he stepped towards Shock. "But if I'm gonna die, I'm gonna go out in a blaze of glory, not fizzling away in some shitty desert because some dicker doesn't want me saying their name. Your main concern should be Tangent, anyways. He's the one fucking destroying people, not just some ass who's just making our lives unpleasant."

More silence. The severity of the situation was really starting to sink in.

"This robot..." Trivo peeped from behind her hands, "he wanted to hurt me. Mentally. He found out that I liked your music, Aural. And..."

I waited for her to finish. So did everyone else.

"He made Tangent come after you! Because of that," she squeaked.

"Wh..." I knew Tangent was after me, but to hear that I had a hit on me for such a petty reason was petrifying. On the bright side, at least she likes my music. "Just who is this guy...?" I murmured to no one in particular. "So, wait. This robot you two are being controlled by also controls Tangent?"

"Yes... but not in the same way," Trivo replied. "Tangent does whatever he wants. But if the guy controlling him wants him to do something, Tangent will do it."

"You think there's any way we could take control of Tangent?" I asked, turning to Lavil.

"You think we'd all be hiding in the desert right now if we could pull something like that off?"

"Guess not," I mumbled again. "You probably couldn't just, like... kill the guy controlling you, could you?" I wasn't too proud of the suggestion.

"I wish!" he bleated. "I couldn't touch Ups if I wanted."

I should've guessed it wouldn't be that easy.

"Oh, hey, also... when we were in that place we saved Trivo from, when you got electrocuted and I got pinned down. What was with what that bot said?"

"Huh? I didn't hear any talking between when I got zapped and when I blew those assholes up. My launcher didn't block everything. I still got zapped. Couldn't hear shit for a bit."

"One of them called Trivo "the key to purity." What's up with that?"

Lavil side-eyed me for a few seconds. "What?"

"Yeah."

"I've... never heard anyone refer to Trivo like that before." Lavil's tone dropped from his usual rambunctiousness to a voice of genuine thought and concern. "Those brutes have never had a chance to talk to me in the past, so I never heard that before. But that's... a weird thing to call her. New to me."

"Does Trivo have any abilities we might not know of? Or... something?"

Lavil paused again, his gaze becoming a bit downcast. "I know you want answers. But there are some things better spoken of in privacy. I trust CITE+SCAN, but who knows who else could be listening in on us."

Judging by the way he said that, it almost sounded as if he knew someone else was listening. It also sounded as if Trivo did have a latent ability of some sort...

"Then what do you suppose we do? You have some kind of place with decent privacy in mind?" Shock asked. Naturally, she didn't look too impressed by this entire scenario. "We got dragged into this for nothing, so you better have an plan to help end this."

"Oh yeah? This has been my entire life. You tuned in at a good time. But, ya, okay, listen. I have been thinking about a place for a while. If we actually wanted to go through with getting rid of Tangent, we're gonna need a base of operations. Somewhere safe we can work from. Somewhere private. Someplace where, yes, I can talk about sensitive info. You dig me?"

"Didn't you just say this person controlling you might've gone into your optics? How's this gonna work if they did?"

"Look, how else are we gonna make this work, bugged or not? Even if that's the case, it's not like Tangent is the one who knows where we are at any given moment. So just listen, okay?"

Shock crossed her arms.

"I know of a place in the city. It's secure and well hidden. Recharge station, computers with net access, a few rooms so you all can have your own space, ample storage. It's the perfect place for setting up in."

Shock hummed, gesturing with her hand for him to continue.

Lavil shot her a look with all five eyes. "Would it help convince you if I tell you where it is? You were almost there already. The tunnel you guys met Trivo and got cornered in, right? There's a door near the end blocked with a big pile of crap; you'd be hard pressed to move it."

"Yeah, I remember that very well," she answered.

I nodded in agreement.

"It's just behind that door. It's got another really obscure entrance on the other end of Verdin Square. That's why I blocked that side off already. So... just throw me a bone on this one. If you don't agree with the only idea I have, then I just don't know how to please you. We won't get anything done otherwise."

"I've been there before," Trivo added. "It's safe. I don't think anyone else knows where it is, except for us..."

Shock caved. "Okay, I'll go see it. But we're going as a group."

"Yes, of course," Trivo reassured her. "Not right now, though. It would be too dangerous."

"I think she knows that, Trivo," Lavil commented.

"R-right."

"So, we just chill here for the night, then?" I asked.

"Unless you wanna brave a sandstorm at night," Lavil replied. "Be my guest."

Unsure of what to do while I waited for the three hours of night to pass, I sat next to Shock. After a few seconds of mumbling to each other, Lavil decided to go hang out closer to the skate-area of the first floor. It didn't take long for him to start skating around, jumping off ramps and performing tricks in the air. Trivo stood where she was, kinda aimlessly standing around.

"You're pretty scuffed up, hey?" Shock tilted her head at me.

"Yeah. I wish I never went on that rescue." I kept my voice down, since I didn't want Trivo to hear that.

"I never should've relied on that guy to keep you safe."

"At least we made it out okay. He did actually save my life in there."

"Your life? Just how much trouble did you get yourself into?"

"Well, I was going to get zapped. I don't know if I was going to die or anything, but Lavil did save me from that."

Shock hummed, opening up the satchel sitting beside her. "Something tells me we won't get to recharge until Zynima city. You want a vital packet?" She pulled one of the little red packets out of her bag.

"Boy, do I ever."

Shock passed me one, then stuck her hand in the satchel and remained still for a moment. "Trivo... vital packet?"

Trivo spun around to face us, beaming at the offer. "Yes! Please!"