The plane is still unstable. Ruby seems to struggle.
“Vash, shut the fuck up,” Killian cries, face as pale as Ruby’s.
Ruby looks at Vash if she would do anything to get him to stop talking. “This is the last chance you’ve got, Vash,” she says. “Rae’s inside the Iron Eye. That is one statement you can trust from me.”
Vash fought against hope for ages. But she has an air of honesty that’s hard to ignore.
“How can you be sure?” he asks.
“Because I helped build it.”
Killian leans into the cockpit. “I’m sorry sweetheart—what was that?”
Ruby swings the plane to the side, avoiding a large set of snow-covered mountains. She dips into the canyon to regain stability, but the weather has become less than ideal.
The children shriek. Vash makes sure Killian grabs them and keeps them safe.
“Is now really the time?” she mutters, pulling the plane back up to reliable levels.
Killian tightens his grip around the edge of the cockpit. “Spill it, honey.”
Ruby swings the plane out of the canyon. “The first Republic needed help with getting the particle accelerator off the ground. I showed my support. I stood with Severin, Cassian and other powerful alphas. I stared at my maker. Upon having the chance to kill him, I let him go.”
“Why?” Killian asks.
“Back then, there were treaties between alpha tribes. They considered our group of betas outsiders. We wanted to position ourselves accordingly before another war fell. We knew he’d succumb to his own desires.”
“Get to what you built,” Killian says.
“Everyone had different reasons for building the particle accelerator. Rumors that Cassian wanted to build a time machine. Severin said we had to be a part of the initiative. It was groundbreaking science. We put it underneath the ground so no one would get hurt,” she says.
“But people got hurt. And the world fell apart. We, the Ouroboros took control,” Vash says.
Ruby brings the plane back over the canyon. “He rigged the accelerator to explode. And when it did, he took control. He sent his men to gather the natural-born omegas. And he made sure he wouldn’t lose.”
Vash’s brother is dead. Was this part of his plan? “That’s where the tank went. He knew she’d end up there.”
“It’s a doomsday device,” Killian says.
A warning sign flashes on the dashboard. The weather is getting worse. Increased wind pressure coming from opposite angles.
Vash stares into the darkness of the clouds, the sound of thunder rattling his bones. Lightning flashes, scrambling the plane’s data. They drop and Ruby battles to regain altitude.
“I’m going to be sick,” Killian groans.
Vash looks through the side-window and sees a desert covered in snow. They’re headed right for it.
Killian pukes as the plane struggles to rise.
“We’re going down, aren’t we?” Vash asks.
Ruby pulls back on the throttle. She isn’t saying a damn thing.
“Ruby, are we crashing?” Vash shouts.
Ruby turns, scrunches her face as the inevitable comes rushing toward them.
“Hold the children!” Vash screams.