SIVA [Uzi X N]

Chp. 30 - Outpost-13

"This was just one of many little pockets of workers that tried to delay the inevitable, the team sent here dealt with them effortlessly once they got past the blast doors," J seemed awfully proud, but that expression fell to indifference, and maybe a hint of shame, clearing her throat. "However... the team never returned. Eta and Iota, weren't too bad at their jobs, but after clearing this bunker, they went offline."

I, V, and N all shared the same, confused looks. "What happened to them?" N inquired, prompting a sharp sigh from their former leader.

"I just told you, they never came back." J insisted.

"He meant what took them offline? Perhaps some workers they underestimated got the better of them." I couldn't help but smirk when J threw me an irritated scowl.

"Hah hah..." Then she was silent, spreading her wings whilst hopping onto the railing of the stairwell. "Everything had died down here when they reported... then went offline a few minutes later, that's all I know." J dove down, her light flickering down the metal stairs.

"Ominious, we should remain on alert," Soriks hummed, head tilted toward V. "Maybe bringing Sparky would've been wise."

"He's insurance," V answered, tapping her forearm. "Things go south, he'll be here."

"Implying it doesn't try to boot-loop and eat us..." While SIVA was active within that Sentinel pet of V's, it still had a habit of... caving to its original programming. Ugh, I'm never hearing the end of that mess. Grimacing, I just tried to focus on the signal ahead. "Let's just find this source and break it, my head hurts being here..."

Yet, the deeper we went, the more this felt... wrong. We made it to the bottom, no sign of J, the corridors were winding, in complete ruin and decay, the bodies of workers littered the ground, their oil dried up long ago. But something else, the walls were broken down, the earth splitting through and overtaking sections of the bunker.

Ahead of us, J was at a T-junction, staring at the wall. Obviously hearing us, she spoke. "...this isn't normal..."

She ran her hand down a smooth, stone wall, cubic in shape, and jutting from the rest of the bunker's surface, blocking off one of the corridors. It didn't look like any architecture I've seen... or was it? Not me in particular that is...

"This stone is... it can't be..." Soriks seemed to catch on too, his optics widened, pressing a hand to the wall.

"Anyone want to clue us in on what's so special about a wall?" V rolled her hand flatly, only for N's tail to tilt her head off to our left. "What- oh."

Following them, my eyes widened in surprise that the only viable corridor had been ravaged and torn apart by more of the same, rectangular structures, some parts of the light stone broken away, revealing an undertone of brass-stained metal.

Moving closer to inspect a cube, SIVA bled onto its surface, "No, I... I recognize this stuff, don't you?" I spared Soriks a worried expression, his own darkened, hands clasping to his wire rifle tightly.

|Object: Metal Apparatus//Origin: ERROR, Time Undefined//Note: Mechanical in nature|

"'Time Undefined'?" I echoed, shaking my head to look around at the distorted bunker. "Look at how this all formed, it isn't just pushing through the bunker, its imprinting itself in its place."

"Rewriting its present with its own, though, the process has seemingly halted," Soriks was right... which only made the anxiety inside me worsen, how did he know that? Grumbling to himself, the former Eliksni stepped forward. "I do not believe what we're seeing... we must push forward."