Well…. He exposes Sidestep as Re-Gene is very bad too much.But they are reckless and expose to other about it . Think If Farm know or heard about it. It put Sidestep in more danger. and they don’t respect their friend’s privacy, try to pry and expose it to prove their crazy Conspiracy theory. It mean they lack trust in Sidestep since they met Sidestep again .and they will judge Sidestep as bad guy without listening your reason and not hesitate to sent you go to jail (If you are bad villian,massacre and reveal to Ostega) or If you kidnap yourself .they will suddenly jump concussion that You side with HG So I don’t trust him (In fact I trust Mortum ,HG or Argent more than they ,At least Argent doesn’t send me to jail after me reveal to her,even I kill many people 
I can’t agree with that statement, because I think it’s a little more complicated than a black or white answer, so we’ll have to agree to disagree sjdhs. 
Also, I don’t know about that last part, since I remember clearly Argent saying “as long as you don’t kill anyone, we’re good” + it seems to me like there’s not a single RO who can forgive a murderous Step, alas a complaint I saw someone voicing a while ago because they wanted some villains RO (all RO can break you out of the hospital, but I’m pretty sure no one will if you’ve killed)
Well I mean she doesn’t judge us that we àre bad guy after what we done . she understand why we do .and give us change to stop.but Ostega doesn’t . They judge us that we are very bad person and don’t give us second chance. They are narrow -mind person. But Argent is Angel .
How about Mortum though?
While it’s true that Ortega acts more impulsively than other RO, even than Steel whom Step always saw as the bad cop persona so to speak, they also vehemently apologize after Step explains everything.
Does that fix everything? No. Does it make things less risky? Also no.
However, I can’t pretend it doesn’t matter, because otherwise it means no one can be redeemed and all characters are stuck in a limbo of “you’ve done xyz, so no redemption for you.”
For example, Steel could have done something when he acquired those pictures about Step + whatever info he’s still hiding, but didn’t because he valued Ortega’s safety more (as said in game.)
So does that mean I shouldn’t forgive him? Well, I think not, but everyone’s opinions are different and that’s okay.
“How about Mortum though?” I’m not sure because I don’t remember what my relationship with them was in that particular save, but I think they don’t like it too?
Mostly because otherwise someone would have said “Well, villain Steps have at least Mortum” + Mortum doesn’t see in good light villainy life anymore (I believe there’s a line that’s something like “I didn’t think I would step back in this world and am not happy about it” regarding going to the casino for their gun, but I could be mistaken.)
What are the specific requirements for the ending where Mortum drugs you? Do i have to actively romance them? 
I didn’t romance doc in book 1, but i confessed being in love with them during the reveal. Our relationship was at 70% after that, highest i had with any of the characters by the end of the book. Had to tank Ortega’s friendship just in case, but Ortega was still the one to give me a call after the car crash 
Yeah, you can’t be in the secret crush route to get this. You have to have declared you were interested in both of them during the date with Danny.
That’s my take on it as well.
For me, I got the drugged ending by crashing as Puppet, leaving Puppet in the hospital and spending time with Ortega and Steel before agreeing to help break Puppet out after spending time with them. I think it changes how the ending goes. Because then Dr. Mortum shows up to break Puppet out while on anti-telepathy drugs and will break them out then stab you.
Ohh you can hang out with others before Mortum hits you up? I think i closed the game too early then. Will try it again, thanks!
Well they literally pulled a gun on us last game so it isn’t surprising but they want to do that they should expect something back like maybe tipping off the base location or going there in the suit assuming we stop the blood loss being bad
I really think the endings are kind of swapped around in a strange way?
I don’t understand why Dr. Mortum back stabs you if you agree to help get Puppet out. They don’t betray you though if you say you won’t help, and will come to the conclusion without you getting involved that someone else is in Puppet now. It just hurts that if you are genuine and helpful the entire time then Mortum will backstab you, no matter what, it seems.
I don’t know, I am not very much a fan of having no alternative to getting back stabbed if you agree to help Puppet I guess.
It just kind of doesn’t make sense, particularly in an ending where you had been Puppet for the reveal, then showed up in your real body. Like, you can even not know beforehand where the lab is and have Mortum tell Puppet then immediately have your real body make way for their lab. Like, how could Mortum assume something was ‘off’ in that variation of events, I guess? All the more to be explained. But the backstab ending makes me feel a lot less enchanted with Mortum than I might be otherwise. I assumed the reason they backstabbed my Step was because I failed a check or flagged something for Mortum to be suspicious I guess 
.
(I code dived, helping Mortum save the Puppet seems to always result in the backstab variation.)
But yah know, all this is nit picky as shit. I’m sure there will be good reason later on for it, just means my feelings about Mortum are even more conflicted than before. I suppose. I’ll just need for the Revelation demo to open with Mortum realising they were wrong and kissing Step’s drug addled body better, please. 
Thank you for checking that out, I was wondering if there was an outcome where they don’t do that, since I couldn’t get anything but that scene. 
Maybe Mortum is suspicious because the puppet did the same thing that can happen in the car with ortega, alas play victim and claim Step brainwashed them for their personal gain?
I don’t know, I have to admit I’m a little confused because other scenes imply they trust you, so seeing that belief broken so easily was a little uhhh but I’m sure all will be explained in time.
Guess we’ll need to get answers from Mortum in the next game.
The bigger thing for me was there was not an option presented earlier for you to save Puppet in the way you can immediately focus on breaking out your original body. So, it’s not as if you had an alternative choice before then, but Mortum is mad at you anyway for 'leaving ${phim} to rot in a hospital" or something. It just feels like I’m being punished for a choice I didn’t make. But again, nitpicky.
Or having a singular choice to point out you did check on Puppet if you went to the crash site to try to get a read on the situation. Since your concern and checking the site should reasonably reassure Mortum that you are not just carelessly leaving them there, or having a choice to say you were still trying to figure out how to break them out, but didn’t feel it would be right to ask Mortum for help, considering where they stood last time they spoke (If Step revealed their identity to Mortum).
But you can always ask what ifs or push for more shit, there is already an incredible amount of depth in the game, this is just me being a little goblin I guess. I love the game, very excited to see what is coming in the future for our rag tag cast.
Nah it’s okay to voice your thoughts, it’s not like you’ve said anything bad or used too strong of a language.
And tbh I agree? Like I will never complain about variables, since FH has so much branching it’s nuts lol, but this one sided ending did left me put out a little bit.
I know that loose ends will be knitted up nicely as per usual, I’m just being a salty sandra because I like Mortum and that hurt my chocolate eclair backbone heart orz.
Yeah my first Step ending was this one so you could imagine my own feeling of betrayal and bitterness because that Step was as open as they could be with Mortum and distrusting of literally everyone else. (I mean, he (Qiao) was as friendly as he could be, but wouldn’t open up to anyone except the therapist (whom he altered the mind of in order to avoid potentially getting put in a ward because of his ideation.)
So the one person he fully opened up to and felt he trusted ended up ripping out his heart, you could only imagine how he is going to react to that once he regains his consciousness. I don’t think that he will take the betrayal well, even once Mortum realises their mistake. He was very uncomfortable being Puppet because he always felt the acting enhanced the worst parts of himself, the parts that like to pretend he is anything other than who he is. Then, he has the closest person he has had to a true companion/partner/whatever-their-weird-labeless-relationship-is-post-reveal end up betraying him and proving all his insecurities right in that moment. Mortum is going to fight an up hill battle after that one
“You try not to smile as he takes the time to throw away your garbage instead of just leaving it on the bench. Littering is one of your minor crimes, but it looks like it’s not too minor for him.”
Damn, MC… this is real wickedness.
I got lot of thoughts about that scene and Mortum as well!
(Spoilers as well)
Summary
I havent “officially” gotten that path, but I tried the path one time while exploring different paths for fun and laughs
And i think there was the Mortum epilogue which clarifies a bit why they “backstabbed” Sidestep. Or at least I remember I saw it on the code.
But anyway in that ambulance scene, Mortum doesnt have lot of time to really think what’s going on, expect Puppet is awake and panicking and that there are certain facts/impressions Mortum has gotten about Sidestep so far:
-Puppet is afraid of their boss / dislikes their boss
-Sidestep is a telepath and telepaths are able to manipulate/influence/control the minds of others.
-Meaning that it’s possible Sidestep’s “Truth” about Puppet was only attempt to gain sympathy and get Mortum on their side, while the “Real Truth” (that I think Mortum currently believes) was that Sidestep has been controlling/possessing Puppet’s similarly to how they’ve possessed other people (Argent for example) in order to force Puppet to follow their orders instead of “creating” and being The Puppet from the very beginning.
-Sidestep sent the Puppet to the HG meeting which almost certainly guaranteed Puppet would not walk out of there alive, which proves Sidestep don’t care about what happens to Puppet (while Mortum does) and/or they don’t respect the value Puppet holds for Mortum.
Also just from emotional viewpoint, who wouldn’t want to believe the version that the one person they’ve been building a genuine connection with is real and the only obstacle is their bad boss (which Mortum sympathizes with).
Instead of the version where the entire relationship was built under false assumptions and lies (even if it did develop into something genuine on Sidestep’s part as well) and the person they’ve developed a bond with was never real and their whole personality/demeanor was built by Sidestep to create a certain kind of impression
Also heh my reaction to Mortum backstabbing Sidestep was basically this:
“oh shit what?? See, this is what you get for risking Puppet’s life”
I mean, I understand Dr. Mortum’s perspective to a limited degree. As I explained earlier though in some variations that line of logic feels rather… unfitting, for how the interaction goes.
Anyway, I was just saying that Dr. Mortum is in for a hell of a time once they realise that Qiao [the Step for that play through] was being honest and not stepping on their balls . I as a person can to a limited capacity understand the purpose behind the betrayal, Qiao is not going to be as reasonable or understanding after it though, sadly. Since like I said before Qiao opened up to one person about the truth and as a result got literally back stabbed, as in stabbed by a needle from behind. I can’t imagine that going over well, even assuming Dr. Mortum feels bad about it after.
Also Qiao went as Puppet not because they are expendable, but because Puppet has a prettier face. He thought he could talk his way out of the ‘show up unsuited’ bit but overestimated his ability to talk him out of that situation lmao. But it is not as if you could explain your motivations for Step going as Puppet to HG, or Mortum for that matter.
Response to @Fate880 :
not sure if Sidestep’s motivations would matter either since the the decision still risked Puppet (logically could understand, emotionally might be harder)
It definitely should, considering if Dr. Mortum truly believes Step is the same person in either body than they should recognize the tactical reasoning behind not wanting their primary body injured should there be risk to either. [By which I mean, should HG end up killing Step’s body then Step is dead, as is the Puppet. Should the Puppet body die than Step still lives, albeit in a less ‘pretty’ shell.] Although I suppose the assumption is that Step didn’t go into laborious detail about the extents of their abilities to Dr. Mortum leading up to this point, so for all the good doctor knows you are capable of far more than what you claim and really could do all the nefarious things they can conjure up within their mind.
Oh, interesting, I didn’t find it necessary unfitting
Yea and I mean is not like Mortum knows why Sidestep went as Puppet , they only know Sidestep risked Puppet’s life by doing that.
not sure if Sidestep’s motivations would matter either since the the decision still risked Puppet (logically could understand, emotionally might be harder)