Exploit Bortnik's feelings for Tschau and use the sleeping powder (Sleeping Powder -1)

You had no way of getting that door open to let Despedida back in; only your team's ace hacker could accomplish that. On the other hand, Tschau had given you a great tool with which to fight any human opponent... Sleeping powder, perfect for a ninja. Was it actually possible to cover your own mouth and dispense it in a situation like this? If you could, you'd be able to extract Bortnik easily with no further trouble. If not... You may end up wishing you'd tried to destroy his head and save yourself instead.

"Let's get down to it, Mister Ciao!" The augmented doctor cackled, opening fire from the gatling gun that was his hand, releasing a storm of bullets towards the metal barricade. You actually found yourself hoping Despedida didn't manage to drop it, or else she'd be peppered with gunfire. The more pressing concern, however, was your own safety; you made a dodging roll to one side, but it was easy to underestimate how accurate a man who can fire bullets straight from his fingertips can be, especially with such technology on his side.

Effortlessly, he kept you in his machine-assisted crosshairs, badly damaging your shoulder with a string of bullets. "Ha ha ha! Oh, a shame! You've received no augments at all, have you? What are they wasting their time with in CEDIT these days?" Ivan Bortnik snorted with laughter, seeming to find your weakness to be a source of real amusement. He gave a pitying shake of his head as you pulled your hand from your increasingly blood-soaked coat pocket; you kept the vial of sleeping powder hidden inside your closed fist. "A grenade? Please. You will only hurt yourself. Is it a cyanide capsule like in the olden days, hm?"

You weren't so dumb as to think that you could simply throw the powder and then expect him to stand by and whiff it in. The only way this would work is if you could get him distracted, slowing his reaction time. Thinking up a plan in these conditions was almost impossible, but you tried: you'd exploit the old man's feelings towards his "daughter" to confuse him.

The Russian roboticist pulled at his thumb, then released a small rain of spent shells onto the floor around himself. You got the impression his hand reloaded itself almost automatically after that, but you weren't waiting to find out. Growling, you told him the first thing that came to mind: that she hated him.

"Oh, I'm sure. Children are rebellious towards their parents. But still, I have her best interests in heart and I cherish her. Is that to say that she loves you, Mister Ciao?"

You weren't sure how to respond to that, but you had to keep going and see if you could find anything to work with. You told Bortnik that she did.

The old man's eyebrows raised with surprise, then he gave a hearty laugh from the belly. You just barely resisted throwing the vial at that moment; he'd recovered his composure so quickly, it was frankly irritating. "Well, good for her! Amelia deserves love. A prototype super-soldier deserves love more than most! I hope she won't be too upset that I've killed you. I'll simply make the modifications to return her to an obedient state..."

Crap! He really wasn't taking the bait. Finally, you made one last ploy: you told him he'd have a hard time fiddling with her brain, considering CEDIT had removed all of the cybernetic implants that he'd planted inside of her head.

This did seem to cause him to pause. His frown fell once again. "That cannot be... We'd replaced half of her brain with my technology. She is a waiting receptacle for the Machine Voice. If you'd removed my work, she would be dead," he spoke evenly, calling your bluff.

You didn't back down either. {if Weakness for Gambling = 1}High stakes gambles were your specialty, after all. {endif}You told him that while CEDIT may be behind him on cybernetic research, your mad science had improved in other ways. Cloning missing pieces of the human brain was no big deal for your organization. Reconstructing Tschau's brain hadn't been hard for CEDIT, you explained.

"Reconstructing? Fools! You've taken her apart!" the old man growled in a dry voice. His delusions and love for robotics seemed to be working against him now as he frowned in confusion. "Amelia is the greatest advanced human on the planet. To degrade her in that way would be unforgivable. God will not forgive you for that transgression, Mister Ciao. Even I am not so certain that, with all of my genius, I can cause lightning to strike twice. Tell me you are lying."

You were lying, but you wouldn't tell him that. Instead, you kept a stony silence and approached slowly.

"Ho... CEDIT was always so short-sighted. I will now take a special pleasure in killing you, an emissary of that outdated organization-!" the man growled, now sounding a bit more like Promethia. He was too late; you'd reached checkmate. Covering your mouth with one sleeve, you desperately smashed the vial against his metallic left shoulder, bloodying your own hand with pieces of glass in the process. You pulled your hand away immediately, both from the pain of the attack and to allow the dust to fully disperse. "Ach! Ciao, it's no use! Resisting is pointless!"

That sounded like something a robot would say. You could feel your jacket sleeve proving ineffective... Soon, you'd be drawn into the same soporific state Bortnik was, assuming that he still slept at this point. You couldn't resist flashing him the one-finger salute and then letting him know: "That was a gift from Amelia."

"Ah... Amelia..." The man spoke in a dull slur, then collapsed sideways. You joined him on the floor of the facility moments later.

By the time you awoke, Bortnik was nowhere to be found. You found yourself inside one of the CEDIT Stables, together with Tschau at close distance. She didn't say a word and you found that your tongue was so numb and dry, you couldn't say anything either. You didn't know how Despedida and Tschau got in there to save you, but whatever the case, her calm expression indicated the mission had been a success. They'd either captured Bortnik, Promethia, or both.

You stared at the girl's unusual pink eyes as they shined inside the open visor of her driver's helmet. Amelia...

You thought you understood now why she'd discarded that name and redacted it completely from her file. It was a reminder of a past full of abuse from Bortnik and CEDIT Russia. It had nothing to do with secrecy... she simply wanted to move past those events and be a force for justice, to correct the injustices that were done to her and others.

Even now that you knew the name, you didn't think you'd end up using it, though you'd have to report it to Goodbye. To you, however, Tschau would remain Tschau. That warm thought was slightly dimished as you realized she was watching her phone instead of the path in front of her as she drove the Stable. You began to rustle, desperately trying to catch her attention so you could urge her to focus, but there was nothing you could do!

...

One very scary snow-ride later, you were back aboard the Gambit, heading to CEDIT Russia's airport base with your two agents and Bortnik in tow. Promethia had flown the coup again, it seemed.