Arknights

★ ★ ★

You pry your eyes open to the sound of machinery humming somewhere beneath you. For a few long seconds, you simply don't move. You can't. Your body feels as though it belongs to someone else, heavy within the Sarcophagus. Mindless thoughts remain scattered fragments that refuse to assemble into anything remotely useful. Think... Anything.

A ceiling drifts into focus. Then awareness of the constant steady vibration of the whole structure. There's a slight distant rhythm of footsteps echoing throughout a concrete facility. Most importantly, there's a girl stood right beside you. She watches you with the sort of patience that suggests she had been waiting for this exact moment for what seemed like a very long time.

"So you've finally woken up," Amiya states quietly. "You've been out cold, Doctor."

Doctor, huh. The title doesn't quite ring a bell. Even so, some buried instinct beneath the missing pieces of your memory nags at you, says she must have mattered to you at one point. You're unsure.

Moments later, you find out that Amiya is a leader of Rhodes Island, an organization that operates as a pharmaceutical company while strangely also providing medical treatment and humanitarian aid to the Infected. Its landship travels across Terra carrying laboratories, medical facilities, living quarters, workshops, weapons, and enough personnel to constitute a small moving city. Apparently, you used to be a part of it.

She leans closer the moment you manage to sit up. "You really don't remember, do you?" Before the inquiry could hang in the air for long, the door slides open. Looks to be a Rhodes Island medic. She immediately checks your condition while Dobermann waits nearby, attention fixated on the situation outside.

Somewhere beyond the facility the rest of the rescue team is already in motion. Ace and Nearl are with the other Rhodes Island personnel, ready to move as soon as the Doctor can be extracted.

"So," Dobermann says, voice flat, "the Doctor is conscious."

Amiya gives a quick nod. "It seems so." Medic once more checks your condition with clinical precision and efficiency. There wasn't any unnecessary reassurance in her manner, no matter who you were, or rather, are. "You suffered severe memory loss," she explains. "Your condition is notably stable." Amiya's ears drop a little. The Medic continues, albeit a bit bluntly, "We need to get you out of here."

A warning begins somewhere deeper in the facility. Amiya is on her feet in an instant, as Dobermann turns toward the corridor. "...Reunion."

Amiya turns straight to you. "They're here." Reunion Movement. You didn't know yet, but the weight of it still registers all the same. The name belongs to one of Terra's most dangerous conflicts, a movement born from the oppression of the Infected. Those suffering from Oripathy are frequently treated as criminals, quarantined, expelled, exploited, or simply abandoned. Reunion began as a resistance movement opposing that treatment, but its struggle had escalated into armed rebellion. Its forces have now taken control of Chernobog amid the uprising. Rhodes Island's original operation to recover you has become somewhat of an escape mission.

"We need to get out of Chernobog," Amiya keeps her eyes locked on yours.

Dobermann is already calculating the next move. "The rest of the team is waiting. Once we're clear of this facility, we'll regroup with Ace and the others. Nearl should already be moving toward the rendezvous point."

There's no time to lose. Amiya questions you simply, "Doctor, can you walk?"

The answer seemed obvious until you try to move.