Personality Matrix

Sacrifice. Part I

For a few seconds, there was only silence. Glimmer looked at the hologram, as a smile formed on her face and tears welled on her eyes.

"Mom? Is it really you?" She said with a shaky voice. Angella's hologram covered her mouth, at a loss for words. Glimmer shook her head and tried to contain the burst of feelings, speaking more convinced this time.

"We've come to save you, mom. It's kind of a long story, but a lot has happened since you...disappeared. We believed you were dead. We came as soon as we discovered you were here"

Angella's hologram sighed and spoke with a soft tone.

"Glimmer... You can't even begin to imagine how happy seeing you again makes me. It's really good to see you again too, Adora. But your presence here is a terrible danger for you both. And... I'm afraid I cannot leave with you. As much as I'd love to"

Glimmer's eyes widened as Angella replied, as she shook her head sternly, raising her voice.

"What do you mean you cannot leave? You have to! This... this is not fair! I've missed you mom! You have no idea how hard it was to be Queen without you around... Why don't you want to come back?"

Adora placed a reassuring hand on Glimmer's shoulder but abstained from breaking into the conversation. Angella looked away with a pained look in her eye.

"Glimmer...It's not that simple. Of course, I'd love to leave this place and return with you. But there are several reasons that prevent me from doing so. This Contention Facility has security measures beyond counting. And I'm keeping it from flagging you as an undesired target as we speak. If I left now, the turrets would obliterate you in less than a second. And also... I'm...not in control of my body anymore I'm afraid. When I was taken as a Contention Agent, my mind was transferred to the facilities mainframe."

Angella spoke with a pained voice. It was obvious that she wanted to leave as bad as Glimmer wanted her to. Adora intervened, hugging a very shaky Glimmer.

"Your maj...Ummm...Angella... If what you say is true, then we have a big problem. We traveled here with a single use portal device. There's no going back to Etheria without this facility being turned off. So... even though it seems impossible, we'll have to make it work somehow. We're not leaving Despondos without you."

Angella looked at Adora and sighed with a worried look on her face.

"I see. Then we'll have to work together if we are going to make this work. Let's skip the emotional part for now, shall we Glimmer?"

Angella looked at Glimmer and smiled reassuringly. She was still a bit shaky, but she cleared her throat and nodded, looking back at her mother and smiling too. Angella spoke again.

"Then it's settled. As you know, we have a few problems to tackle. The first one being... my lack of a body. If I'm not mistaken, the security bots placed my body in a secure tank inside the facility, in one of the lower levels. If we're to do this, you must retrieve my body and bring it to the main control room, where my personality matrix is installed. There is a device there that should return my consciousness back into my body. That's problem number one. The easy one actually. The second is...well...way worse."

She looked away again and sighed. Adora and Glimmer looked at each other as Angella spoke again.

"As I said, if I just leave my position on this facility, security measures will go haywire and destroy your ship. Also...without me tapped into the mainframe, there is no way we could turn off the interdimensional blockade..."

Angella paused and sighed, as Glimmer's stomach turned, realizing what she meant.

"So... What you mean to say is... in order for you to leave, someone else must stay behind"

Adora's face darkened a bit as she heard Glimmer. Angella nodded with a sad stare.

"There is no other way I'm afraid, Glimmer. We should just focus in finding a way to get you all back to Etheria"

Glimmer shook her head and screamed.

"No! I'm not leaving you behind! Not again!"

Glimmer finally broke into tears, as Adora hugged her once again.

"Angella...give us some time. We must discuss what to do next. We'll let you know when we are ready." Adora said. Angella nodded and sighed, cutting the holographic feed. Adora grabbed Glimmer's hand and led her back into the ship.

"Come on. We should check on Bow and fill them both on what Angella said.

An hour later, the four of them looked at each other as a heavy silence fell over the bedroom. Glimmer had curled up in bed in front of a serious Bow. Adora sat in bed. And Catra was looking at a wall with a pained expression.

"This is all my fault. It was me opening that damn portal that caused all of this."

Catra spoke with a half angry half pained voice. Glimmer looked away, as Bow answered.

"That much is true, Catra. But that's in the past. This is not the time nor the place to look for an scapegoat. The problem remains the same. Even if we manage to get Angella's body back, one of us would have to stay behind and take her place"

Catra looked at Adora and sighed, sitting down next to her.

"Well... In other circumstances, I would have offered to take Angella's place myself, as this is my fault to begin with. But... I promised Adora I would stay. And I'm not going to break that promise"

Adora smiled and kissed Catra gently, speaking with a soft tone.

"We know. Don't worry. Any of us staying behind is out of the question. That still leave us with the prob..."

[I could take Angella's place]

Darla's voice spoke through one of the ship's intercoms. The four of them incorporated with a surprised stare on their faces.

[This facility is run by a Personality Matrix quite similar to mine. You could transfer my consciousness into the mainframe instead. I could keep the ship's capabilities online while you take Angella and leave Despondos]

Bow pondered for a second and spoke.

"But...you would stay here, Darla. Entrapta would kill us all if we leave you here"

[Negative. I would be able to transfer myself back to the ship using the facilities network]

Glimmer's eyes sparkled as she jumped out of the bed.

"This...this...this is perfect!"

She yelled as she hugged bow tightly, almost raising him up from the floor. Bow laughed and hugged her back.

"Are you sure about this, Darla? If what you say is true, we might have a chance to pull this off" Adora said while smiling and holding Catra's hand.

[Of course. Look on the cabinet over the cockpit's main computer. There's where my personality chip is installed. You just have to install that chip on the Mainframe's console and I will be able to transfer myself and take control]

Adora nodded and smiled. The four of them joined on a cheerful group hug, as Glimmer spoke.

"Let's do this. Let's save my mom"