Cameras flash as an investigation takes place. You have no idea what had happened, but it must have been brutal, as there is a worker drone body in pieces on the floor. Caution tape is scattered around all entrances. There are six (alive) worker drones at the scene. Two are investigating a vending machine on one side of the room, while two are taking notes in a corner across from them. There are also two in the middle, examining the body. The man in the middle is holding a camera, while the woman in glasses next to him is holding a cup of coffee.
"Yeah, where's Khan? 'Cause this looks, uh..."
The male bends down next to the body and cringes at the horrid sight.
"...non-ideal."
The woman takes off her glasses and bends down next to him.
"Parent-teacher conference? Something about his daughter being more important than building a door in this hallway. Ugh, kinda cringe..."
She says with disgust.
"Eww, yeah-"
He gags.
"Oh, give me a minute. Ah, yeah. Okay. Almost threw up."
He says, getting himself together.
You, Uzi, N and Thad peek around the corner. You heard the whole thing and it makes you feel bad for Uzi.
"You good?"
You ask, concerned.
"I'm good. Stop asking!"
She pushes your head away in annoyance.
She makes some weird hand gestures that make no sense, then she starts walking. You assume she just wants you to follow her. N and Thad do so, but you decide to stay behind and spectate for a bit longer.
"I'll catch up"
You mouth the words to them and they nod, continuing down the hall.
"Any forensic... things... over there?"
The lady next to the body asks the people by the vending machine.
"Do we have fingerprints?"
She wonders, looking down at her hand, then puts her glasses back on.
The workers don't answer. Within a second, both of them glitch and disappear. They were holograms. The woman looks over to where they were, but she doesn't see them. She turns to look at the cameraman and the people taking notes, and they look at her. They wave and one of them salutes before all three of them glitch and dissipate as well.
She starts looking around wildly as all of the caution tape glitches away. She looks down and the body is gone.
She lifts up her coffee cup to take a sip, but it disappears without a trace. She looks at her hand in shock, then something lands on it. It's a drop of oil that fell from the ceiling. She looks up slowly and removes her glasses, showing her fearful eyes.
You follow her gaze and do everything you can to not scream.
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/// N'S POV \\\
"You guys... do that often?"
Uzi points her flashlight at some oil dripping down the walls. I chuckle nervously.
"Ha-ha, no. I'm very concerned, but, also..."
I shoot finger guns.
"Pretty frightened, a little bit."
"Hey, 'Zi!"
Thad calls from the other side of the room.
"What's this thing?"
He points his flashlight at a wall that has a weird symbol on it.
"Hey, isn't that your special eye?"
I ask, pointing at the symbol. I remember seeing it on Uzi's screen before.
"Don't call it that!"
She bumps my arm in annoyance. Uzi walks along the wall and I rub my arm.
"'Absolute Solver'?"
Uzi reads the print next to the symbol.
"'Reboot'?"
She drags her fingers along the wall.
"Does this have something to do with how you grew your head back?"
She turns to look at me and I giggle nervously.
"I actively try to avoid unpacking how that works."
I say.
"New material can't be pulled from thin air."
She looks back at the wall.
"If the wound is severe enough, this... 'Solver'..."
I spot something on the ground.
"...might be some sort of auto-run program to collect more matter-"
I cover her mouth. Thad sees it too.
It's a human hand attached to a long wire. It looks like it goes on forever, I can't see where it ends.
The hand crawls forward slowly, then lunges forward and grabs Thad's leg. I activate a canon and look at Uzi. She nods and I fire into the darkness. The explosion illuminates the area enough to see an enormous centipede-like creature. Uzi and I stare in silence, then the human hand begins to yank Thad away.
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/// REGULAR POV \\\
You freeze and stare at the ventilation shaft as a large metal claw reaches out and grips the worker. Her screams are cut off along with her head, and the body is lifted up into the vent. Oil spills out of the shaft and splatters all over the floor and walls.
Whatever that monster is, you don't want to stick around to find out. You run down the hall to catch up with the others and tell them what you saw.
You hear yelling in a storage room nearby and run inside. You look around and see N and Uzi. What happened to Thad? A large, spiky, tail-like piece of metal sweeps towards them and slams them into a wall.
You run towards them to see if they're okay.
"You hurt?"
N shakes his head, standing up.
"You good, Uzi?"
You bend down to help her up, but she stands up and pushes your hand out of the way.
"Ugh, STOP ASKING! This weird hand thingy came from the ceiling and took Thad. He went that way."
Uzi points to a large pair of blast doors. She looks back at N.
"Chainsaw-hand time?"
"Yeah, cool, cool, cool."
N's hands retract into his forearm vesicles and replace themselves with chainsaws. You do the same, still annoyed with Uzi's hormonal shit.
The three of you run towards the door to find Thad.
You turn a corner and see a low resolution hologram of Thad, lying on the ground and yelling in fear. The hologram glitches for a moment as the sound distorts, then the fake-Thad stands up and waves.
"Yes! And, hello! It's me, Tad!"
He says, pointing at himself.
"Uhm... can I get a location?"
The three of you exchange glances.
"...I heard dentist's office! I'm Thad... at the dentist's office. Come here for your... teeth!"
He says, smiling.
"Predictably terrible work, J."
Uzi aims her gun at the hologram.
"Why do you look so..."
"Great!"
N interrupts.
"You look great, J."
N glares at Uzi. She ignores him and continues to point her gun at "Thad".
"Wait! Guys! It's really me!"
The hologram yells frantically. He begins to glitch out.
"It that a fr-reakin' ninja-a sta-ar?"
He asks in a choppy voice, pointing at N, who is holding a ninja star.
N throws the blade at the hologram, and you leap and kick it, giving it extra momentum and an upward spin.
Hologram-Thad reaches out in an attempt to block the star, but it travels right through him and curves upward. The blade cuts through the ceiling and you hear a yelp. Thad comes crashing down from the vents and lands on his face.
"Lifesavers again! Thanks!"
Thad says, getting up from the floor.
"SUPER invited to my shindig next weekend!"
The CCTV camera that you saw before drops from the ceiling with it's large claw.
"Cool kids only."
Thad says, pointing and glaring at it. The monster reaches it's claw to grab Thad, but he rears back his fist, threatening to punch. The claw backs away and Thad takes off down the hallway.
You, N, and Uzi squeal in excitement. You've never been to a cool-kid party before.
More claws and cameras drop from the ceiling and glare at the three of you with their beady yellow eyes. You back away slightly, feeling your heart start to race. It speaks in an automated female voice.
"We're busy then, anyway. So whatever. So lame."
It rolls its eyes.
"What's with the voice, J?"
Uzi asks, still pointing her gun.
"Oh, J's not here."
The cameras flash a white light and point at a spot on the ground, producing a hologram of J's headless body.
"We are trying to repair that host as per our directive."
You and N notice a few tentacles creeping up from behind, and you inch away from it.
"So you are a program?"
Uzi asks, surprised.
"More like, you are our cute puppets."
You look down at your feet and see the tentacles start to surround you. You turn to see N in the same situation.
"It hurts our feelings you don't remember us."
The black tendrils wrap around your legs as more come from behind, wrapping around your mouth to keep you quiet. The tentacles quickly drag you and N up into the ceiling. You struggle against the strange substance as you are pulled through the vents and separated from N.