INT. DERELICT SUBSTRUCTURE – SOMEWHERE BENEATH CENTRAL CITY – NIGHT
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[Low ceiling. Rusted pipes. The faint blue glow of SD-A’s eyes illuminates the path ahead as he moves through the dark passage. SD-K follows close, dragging one of the briefcases they looted from the mafia Labor bots—filled with unauthorized robotic organs.]
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SD-K
(grumbling)
“You think they’ll track us with this much heat? I’m getting pings on three illegal frequencies already.”
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SD-A
(cool and dismissive)
“Let them ping. We didn’t come down here to play fair. Besides, I’m not dying over a spleen with a serial number.”
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SD-K
“I thought bots didn’t have spleens.”
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SD-A
(glancing over)
“We do now. Black market’s got upgrades for things nobody asked for.”
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[A beat of silence as the path curves into a larger room—walls scorched, ceiling collapsed on one side. SD-K kicks over a charred Operator bot’s torso with a clunk.]
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SD-K
“…You think any of them remember what happened? Back then?”
(softly)
“During the Liberation?”
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SD-A
(quietly)
“No one remembers. That’s the trick. You can’t chase ghosts if you never saw them.”
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[As he steps deeper into the room, his head suddenly jerks slightly—eye flickering. He stops cold.]
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SD-K
“…Hey? A?”
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[SD-A crouches beside a wall etched with faded graffiti and… a symbol. Carved in deep, twisted strokes. A symbol neither of them recognize, but it unnerves them instantly.]
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[The symbol is alien. Uncomfortable. Made of overlapping geometric lines, almost like it was never meant to be seen with their kind of optics.]
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SD-A
(tilting his head)
“This wasn’t made by any faction. This was… something else.”
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SD-K
“You think it’s gang tag? A warning?”
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[SD-A doesn’t answer. His hand reaches toward the symbol—and twitches. Something flickers beneath his plating, like a static pulse. His eye flares—momentarily glitching.]
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SD-K
“Whoa, whoa, you okay?”
(steps forward)
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SD-A
(regaining composure, almost too fast)
“Yeah. Must’ve been interference from the old net down here. Place is crawling with ghost code.”
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[They share a look. K isn’t convinced, but doesn’t push.]
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[Suddenly—metal shifts above them. A soft clang, deliberate. Not the city settling. Not rust falling. Something watching.]
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SD-A
(draws his weapon—an extended blade from his wrist)
“We’re not alone.”
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[From the shadows above, something drops—a Security bot shell, twitching unnaturally. Its limbs jerk like a puppet held by tangled strings. Black tendrils snake from its joints, and that same symbol is carved deep into its chestplate, glowing faintly.]
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SD-K
“Okay. That’s definitely not a gang tag.”
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[The corrupted bot lunges. SD-A dodges, striking cleanly—his blade slicing into the torso. Sparks fly. It doesn’t fall. It screeches in static, and another one appears from the corridor behind.]
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[A fight erupts—blades clashing, circuits sizzling, tendrils writhing. SD-K throws a salvaged EMP canister—BOOM—frying one, while SD-A pins the other to the wall, stabbing through its neural core.]
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[As the second corrupted bot dies, it spasms one last time—and whispers something in a distorted voice.]
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CORRUPTED BOT (glitched)
“The Eye remembers.”
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[Then silence. Only the hum of old power lines and the scent of burning oil.]
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SD-A
(staring down at it)
“Something’s out here… rewriting everything.”
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SD-K
(loading another EMP)
“Yeah? Then I hope it doesn’t remember me.”
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