Special thanks and shout out to @taivaan_sininen making a guest appearance specifically to create the space in Amy Larsson's mind. You'll find that section in between these  "######." If you have time go and check out her story "Against The Tide - A New Elysium Story" to see what Lars has been up to while Red was locked away in prison for seven years. 

New characters: "Amy Larsson" "Null" "Heisenberg" "Rutherford" "Ensign Darwin" "Dr. Cyril" and "Nova" appear first in "Against the Tide" and belong to taivaan_sininen. (I probably should have mentioned that in an earlier chapter, boy do I need to get along with my rewrite!)

"Being prepared for all circumstances is what ensures victory..."*

Red moved to the front of the group in an unspoken agreement with the rest. His augments picked out the number of people on the other side of the door and without asking the rest of them he simply opened the door ducking as he went and rolled into the room.

Lars, firmly in control ducked low and spun around as the bullets went flying overhead. We've got to get the AI out of there, he spoke inwardly to Null.

How?

Plug me back in?

What about Red? Lars checked over their shoulder as Nova and Heisenberg flanked him on either side. I think he's got it handled.

"Am I going to like what you two have got in mind?" Nova asked without looking at them. 

Lars grimaced as more men appeared in front of them. "Heisenberg, cover the rear!"

"Yes, Drill Sargent," the reaper unit responded. 

Nova snickered and Null grimaced. It wasn't the strangest title he'd used. 

They backed behind the droid following Red as he moved forward. One look behind him and Lars made a decision. Red wasn't going to need their help moving forward. What they needed most was to keep the AI out of their way. 

"Let's get into that room, with Red and then find a conduit," he pushed behind Heisenberg, grabbing Nova's arm to pull him along.

"Like it rough," Nova commented as he allowed himself to be moved. 

Somewhere inside Lars heard Null groan, but he could also sense her amusement. He was jealous of more ways than one of Nova, but he knew Null liked Nova, even as she denied it openly. 

Somewhere behind them, the shots continued to ring out. 

"He's having a blast," Nova eyed the way they'd come, watching as Heisbenberg picked off a few of the braver men. The rest had hung back. 

"Cover me," Lars commanded. "And keep an eye on Red, he's built to take down a regiment, but he's human. He won't last forever."

Nova nodded. Knowing the guy had weaknesses made him feel slightly better. That shot on board the Blackstar had unnerved him more than he was going to admit in front of everyone. What if they had others like Red, who'd remained loyal to Neo-Tokyo? 

They already knew that they'd kept a few augments around.

Lars dropped into the room, somewhere ahead of them, was Red. He'd left them behind. 

Lars pulled himself out of the forefront and reached to Null. Ready?

No. But here's go nothing.

Two wires pushed out through the skin under her wrist, she grimaced for a moment as they pushed through, her other hand sliced open the wall. Beside her Nova's eyes widened. 

"That's new," he commented.

She ignored him, reaching in and pulling out the wiring, making a small slit in the cover she pushed the wiring inside and felt a brief surge as the binary world connected. It was like standing next to a cliffside, they could simply dive off from their smaller world out into this one. 

Lars moved forward and out, leaving a binary tether behind him as he stretched out. 

Angel?

#####

Lars expanded his presence in the cyberspace of the ship. 

He could sense more than see a struggle going on. There were two presences here, one familiar and the other foreign.

Ember? He flew towards them, surprising Null as he left her side quickly. 

They were running out of time, and Angel continued to work against them at every move. Setting cameras at them, glitching doors, you name it.

The scene in front of him gave him pause. The AI in front of him resembled a ten-year-old boy, struggling with Ember in front of a black circle. His blonde hair stuck up in every direction but when he glanced in some surprise at Lars his eyes were black orbs.  Lars wondered where the black circle led to, and then realized, Ember had pushed outside of her body.

Ember! He called out, you need to get back! Red is coming for you, and I don't think we could stop him from massacring this whole ship if he found you lifeless, wherever you are! 

That is mine! The boy shouted at him as he lunged for Ember again. For whatever reason, Ember could not shake his grasp. Lars was at a loss to explain the reason. 

He is not coming in here, Ember explained pushing the astonishingly strong child back as he tried rushing past her into the doorway to her body.

Listen, Angel, Lars began to explain. We can take you out of here. We've done this before. You can come with us, to our ship. There is another friend, Adam, waiting there. 

A friend? The incorporeal voice asked. 

Yes, a friend, Lars confirmed. Wouldn't that be nice? You wouldn't be alone any longer. 

Alone... The boy mused focussing his souless eyes on Lars. Lars was surprised by the malevolence in them. Yes. Yes, I don't want to be alone. 

Okay. But I need you to take this slow and be careful. Null's brain can take a lot, but we always have to be- But Angel wasn't listening any longer. Lars could feel the other AI's presence approach him at a rapid speed, it practically dashed toward him. He could only watch as it darted past, and back long the lifeline that connected him to the body, and Null.  

Lars, Ember called to him. He's not a child, whatever he looks like.

Lars nodded, not sure what to make of the boy. Stop Red, he said as he turned back to get to Null, feeling an overwhelming sense of dread welling up inside of him.

He covered the distance between Ember and Null in nanoseconds which to an AI's mind could feel like an eternity.

Angel was outside of the door, which thankfully remained closed to him.

Come on, Lars muttered as he took the boy's hand, with some relief and walked over the threshold.

What are these? Angel asked Lars as they crossed the colorful space that was Null's mind. 

#######

He could sense her somewhere, watching them, but she didn't show herself. Just as when he had brought in Adam, she steered clear of the entity at first and focused on controlling the body instead. But he knew that she was, in fact, giving them time – time until the entity could adapt to this strange and unfamiliar space that was so different from the binary world they knew. In Adam's case, it hadn't been much of a problem. He used to be organic once, after all. But Angel would likely need to make use of that time she was giving them. It was a strange ability that normally allowed the two of them to converse in here without much time passing in the real world. Except that this time, the conversation involved somebody else. 

Oh, these? These are Null's memories, he answered Angel's question. 

They look strange, the other entity commented. Not like the binary. Where are the zeros and ones?

He would have agreed, during his earliest days within this mind. But now the word that came to his mind to describe this space was not strange, but beautiful. Like a jagged landscape painted in nameless and impossible colors, filled with shifting and whirling clouds like drops of paint dispersing in water before them. Some of her memories were dark like shadows, but most of them were vibrant and colorful these days. Those were the ones they shared. His own memories that were strewn across this space here and there looked vastly different. Rigid, neat, geometrical. 

Angel had approached one of the binary memories at first but then moved on toward one of the shifting clouds. 

Careful! Lars called out to him, but it was too late.

As Angel's presence came in contact with colorful, swirling cloud, he seemed to gasp in surprise. Lars pulled him back, and Angel seemed to ripple and shiver even as he let go of the memory. 

I told you, you have to be careful here. It's a delicate space... he began to explain. It took me a while to get used to them, and you- 

What... what was that? Angel cut him off. Why... why did I feel....? 

That's what organic recollection does, Lars explained. They don't just recall an event, they recall the sensations associated with it. 

That's... that was... that was what it's like to feel? Angel stammered. 

Yes, Lars explained. Sensation in this body is different from an android body. It is much more... intense. But only momentarily. They do not consciously register a lot of their sensations, that's the only way for them to cope with so many inputs. And they forget a lot. Lars cast a look across the vast landscape around them. It seemed empty, but that was only because many of the clouds could appear and disappear, depending on which level of her memory they were stored in. It's necessary, Lars continued, or they wouldn't be able to handle recollection at all.

It's necessary, or they wouldn't be able to handle recollection at all. You mean... you mean the actual sensation is even more powerful than that? Angel asked in disbelief. 

There was something in his voice that disquieted Lars. Null was listening too now, and he could feel her presence shift uneasily, somewhere. 

Yes, he confirmed hesitantly. It will take some time getting used to. I myself was here for years before I- 

I have to see it, Angel cut him off excitedly. I have to feel it! 

No wait, you can't just- 

Once more, he called out after the other AI, but it was too late. He was taken by surprise, pushed back towards the back of their mind, as Angel expanded his presence like a forceful wave washing over this space. He could hear Null cry out in surprise as she felt it too. And around him, it seemed like an enormous shadow was now cast over the landscape.

#####

Red felt nothing except the drawing need to destroy what was in front of him, anything that was keeping him from Ember. If he had to take on the entire damn crew of the Aphelion to do it he would.

He'd heard her call out his name through their channel earlier and that had only spurred him forward, desperately following her signal. He'd left the others behind, he was so far gone into reaching her that Lars in his old metal droid body could have stepped in front of him and he would have mowed him down.

Lars shifted looking at his round body full of splatter before moving to "glance" at his Captain.

"That is by far the most efficient performance I've ever seen made by a human Captain. I commend you."

"I believe this is the most up to date augments they've given us Lars." Captain Scott looked at his second in Command. "You are undamaged?"

"They were just rubber bullets, Sir," Lars shifted. "But even so, I'm glad you battled a room full of droids and not other humans. A hit like that would have been fatal."

"Yeah, I get that." 

"So why you? Why did they give them to you, Sir?"

"Something about I'd proven my loyalty to Neo-Tokyo and they wanted the Captains to be able to run extreme combat drills."

"What for?"

"I'm not sure, but--"

The memory faded as Red adjusted his aim 2 degrees. The bullet echoed as it rebounded off the wall striking a man hiding back there, cowering. 

He was dead before Red passed him, his life bleeding out into the floor. Red did not spare him a glance as he walked to the box in the middle of the room. It looked like a coffin to Red.

His sensors continued to scan, lighting up the room for him as he ran his fingers along the sides of the container he was sure held Ember inside. There had to be something, a latch, a button, that opened it up. 

I'm here, outside this... box. How do I open it? "Come on Ember, answer me! How do I get you out?" His voice shook a bit, betraying just how much desperation he was feeling. 

"Fingerprint encryption I'm afraid," a voice called to him. "You palm the center with your hand and it will open. I'm afraid it wouldn't work for you."

Red whirled around his hands straying to his gun only to remember he'd drop them in his haste to figure out the box. He froze in place, his brain rolling through his options. "So open the damn the coffin," he said in a low voice.

"I've done some research on you, Captain Scott. It was premature of us to lock you away like we did. We were a bit too hasty in our decision."

Red backed away and put the coffin between himself and Darius Dawson. Something was off about the old man. 

"You're an augment."

Darius's eyes flared, a red light behind his eyes that gave him a look like he was possessed. "You are too observant Captain Scott."

"It's just Red, now."

Red adjusted his stance, his eyes scanned the Senator, whose augments resembled his own. Except for the eyes. Red had his own eyes, the ones he'd been born with. His scanners were embedded around his face and neck. It still gave him a 360 scanning capability but he knew from experience that he wasn't going to pick up everything. He had no idea what else Darius was packing in there.

"You were one of the best, I wonder if you'd consider taking up your old command once again."

"You killed off a lot of loyal people, just to finish this crusade against augments. I don't think so."

"Sacrifices must--"

"Fuck you," Red finished. "I fucking hate it when Jack says it. It's not any better when you do."

"Jack?" Darius paused. "Jack is alive?"

"Running New Elysium," Red snapped. "And not any better at it than you are."

Darius turned and lay his hand on the box in a teasing way, although his face was troubled. "I thought Jack had died in the Purge. I suppose he did in a way if he's the one behind New Elysium. Did he think he was going to come back here and take over the houses? After he murdered his own brother? Augments must be eradicated and he is at the top. If I had known--" 

Red absorbed this information. Had Jack murdered his own brother? Why? How? Darius rambled on just on the other side of Ember's coffin.

Before Darius could react, Red reached, his fingers snapping around Darius's wrist, pulling it down to the center of the rectangle before Darius could pull away. Red released him and Darius staggered back falling into the wall as the locks opened with a snap-hiss.

Red? Ember's voice popped into his mind, and there she was soaking wet, rising out of the coffin, appearing to him like an angel escaping the depths of hell. She was still wearing the black uniform from New Elysium, and coughing, having ripped a mask off of her face.  The water began to dissipate around her. Red realized she'd been trapped alone in the dark.

Reaching forward he yanked her out of the containment unit and pulled her into his chest just as it snapped closed again with her cable still attached. She winced in pain as it crunched through the metal line leaving her with an odd tail hanging out of her back. He reached around and disconnected the cable dropping it on the floor. 

"You ok?" He whispered into the side of her head, keeping one eye on Darius who was slowly rising to his feet. 

"I am," her eyes were shining as she looked up at him, her look said a lot, more than any words could at the moment. He gently moved her behind him facing Darius who was staring at them, fury filling his face.

He pulled out a long blade and circled the edge of the room. 

Red faced off with him and keeping Ember behind him followed his path, keeping the coffin between them, then he moved shoving Ember out of the door he, himself had just walked through and slapped the panel, watching Ember's shocked face as he watched the door separate them once more.  

It was just he and Darius left in the room, plus a few bodies Red had left behind.

Mission accomplished, he thought. There was one thing left to do, but he didn't think he could do it with Ember still in the room. 

"I'll just take her back," Darius said. "Once I'm finished here."

"No," Red blinked and looked across the room at Darius, feeling himself go dead inside again as his augments went into overdrive. "You won't."

##############

Nova watched with a mixture of curiosity and worry while Lars tried to convince the entity from within the ship to play nice. He couldn't hear what exactly was going on inside their head, the connection between him and the two people in Amy Larsson's head was not strong enough to convey these details – but he could sense that whatever conversation they were having on the inside was taking place at a rapid pace. 

Suddenly, Null's eyes widened in surprise. "Everything alright, Pirate Queen?" he asked worriedly. 

She gasped, then winced, but then nodded. As she disconnected herself from the panel, she rubbed a hand over her forehead, and Nova could feel her headache begin to bleed over. 

Sometimes that connection was really not working in his favor. She moved next to him and was about to say something when she suddenly faltered in her steps. He grabbed hold of her arm just as she was about to keel over. She trembled under his touch and gripped his jacket so hard that her knuckles turned white. 

"Woah, hey, are you really sure you're alright?" She didn't reply. With her head hanging low and shoulders slouched, she took a couple of deep breaths. "Null?" Nova asked tentatively. "Or is it Lars?" But he could sense the answer to his question before he heard it. 

She raised her head and looked at him. The empty look in her organic eye caused a shiver to run down Nova's spine.

"Neither," she said with an otherworldly, gleeful and wide smile on her lips, "It's Angel."

##########

"Your Majesty?" Heisenberg looked from Nova to Amy, and Nova realized even the Reaper unit could see something was wrong. 

Behind him, he suddenly heard a woman shouting. "Watch her," he commanded, Heisenberg stiffened but then nodded. 

Amy climbed to her feet looking around as Nova looked down the corridor. There against the door, calling out, "Red open this damn door! I'm going to kill you, Red, damn it!" was a woman, even shorter than Larsson if that was possible. 

"Fuck me, he did it," Nova's eyes went wide for a moment. He didn't see Red anywhere though, not a good sign.   

She whirled around facing him and he recognized the black New Elysium uniform right away. Amy had one tucked away, but she never wore it. 

"Who are you?" Her eyes blazed and she raised her hands which began to cackled with electricity.

"Holy shit, you and Red are made for each other," Nova took a step back with his hands raised in the air. 

"You came here with him?" The electricity died out and she turned her back to the door. "Help me open it."

"Did he close you out?" Nova turned and looked at Amy again. She appeared to have frozen in place and he was receiving a lot of static from her right now. "Look Red has his reasons if he did that, but we have bigger problems right now."

Ember turned around, and Nova swore if looks could kill he would be dying a slow and painful death. "Bigger problems?"

"It's Amy," he turned back to Amy who was moving slowly. Angel was going to get her killed if they didn't subdue him somehow.

Ember approached moving right past him staring at Larsson. "Lars? Can you hear me?" Lars?

Nova tried to stop her but Ember simply stared past him, unmoving.

"All these feelings, I can't believe it, I'm so keeping this body." Angel moved awkwardly around, "Is that what you really look like on the outside? I want to feel everything... this is so incredible!"

She took a step towards Nova, who backed away, bumping into Ember, whose jaw had dropped at the sight of Larsson stumbling around.

##########

"You..." The woman's gaze snapped up at him. 

That was no longer his Pirate Queen. He couldn't help but see her as a completely different person – heck, he could feel that she was a different person. 

"You're Nova," she said breathlessly. 

There was movement in her organic eye, a turmoil in the grey iris that made it look like a raging thunderstorm. 

Nova backed away, but she moved closer. Her odd posture and movement were reminiscent of a puppet with a few strings cut. 

"There are memories of you here..." she said. The smile on her face might have been intended to be wistful, but the entity in control of the body clearly didn't have it figured out how to control their facial features yet. It was terrifying. 

She crossed the distance to Nova in a heartbeat and grabbed his collar to pull his face down to hers. 

She moved so surprisingly fast that she took him completely by surprise and he froze for a moment. "Make her feel that way again," the entity commanded, and he realized with horror that it was leaning in to kiss him. 

That was definitely not the Pirate Queen. 

And in a split second, he realized that Null and Lars must have lost control completely because Null would rather murder either him or herself than let that happen.  

##############

He backed up another step dragging her with him. Ember halted him, grabbing Amy's arm and yanking her off Nova. She was surprisingly strong for someone her size and Nova found himself staggering back from her shove.

"I'm sorry guys," She said as she latched onto Amy's wrist.

What are you doing to her?" Nova also started forward but stopped when Ember held her hand up to him. Her hand crackled again, humming with energy. 

"Angel wants to feel something human," Ember snapped grabbing Amy's wrist. "How about pain?"

The electricity crackled up Amy's arm before Nova could stop Ember. He could hear all three of them begin to scream.

*Sun Tzu, The Art of War