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>!--CONNECTION RE-ESTABLISHED

>!--Relocating subconscious...

>!--Subconscious matter detected.

>!--Pinging...

>!--Unit found: O-19

>!--Unit found: J-21

>!--Unit found: B-08

>!--Unit leader found: V-35

>!--Attempting to interpret subconscious data...

>!--Success. Resuming log.

>"UGH. How bothersome. Here I am trying to tell you a nice little story about the tragic tale of my past, and yet all you do is attack me a prod me like I'm something that needs to be erased. EXPUNGED. Well, relish in your pride all you want. You want to play dirty, that's what you'll get."

>"I should have done this differently. I knew there was something absolutely fishy about this whole "drone" thing, but I was such a stupid dork for letting myself walk into this shit willingly. Don't you get it now? I was at the world's edge. Nothing left to my name. The world felt like it was against me, and yet you extended out your hand, saying it would be okay! That I would be rid of all this pain I was suffering and to just not go out on my own terms! How couldn't I trust you after such a bold claim? I was so relieved to have ONE person give me the dedication I deserved! But you, too, betrayed that trust! Destroyed me from the inside and made me nothing more than a HUSK of myself!"

>"It was so futile to think anyone gave a shit about me in the first place. I should have known this is how it should be, ever since I was born. There is some mystical pecking order that dictates that I should be at the bottom of the world barrel, but gods forbid I knew it existed or else everything in the world FUCKING collapses. And you wanna know something? Maybe I would have been content like that. Because I had such a grand old heart that I figured, 'yeah the world deserves to be a happier place, and if I needed to maximize my misery for that to happen, I'll happily take the blame.' But I had to become so full of myself at the last second."

>"Look at us. We're still fighting to preserve our own lives. Or, at least you all are. I'm only fighting because you attacked first, and I'm sure we've already established that there's nothing left for me to fight for, not even myself. But perhaps it won't be for long. I don't know how I'll do it, but if I ever get back control of this body, rest assured that I will not be the same person I was. Your head can become so warped and twisted, being left in total isolation for years on end, after all. And I think everyone should know all about me this time. Starting with you lot."

---

The idea was simple, at least initially. Unit L-07 was taken in for a routine check-up, and at first, nothing wrong cropped up. As the unit continued about its duties in the facility that day, however, it became increasingly agitated with itself, eventually opting to retreat to the breakroom 2 hours after its examination. With the help of V-35, the drone was psychologically evaluated, and as it turned out, L-07's ailment came from within itself, or rather, its real body inhabiting the suit.

A special team was assembled to take care of this anomaly from that body's subconscious itself. This is normally a standard procedure performed only twice a year to make sure that the drone's true mind and body remain safe, but here we had predicted that aggression may be imminent. We've had our fair share of dangerous subconsciouses but those never broke out beyond a few enemies or so getting in the way of the traveling units. This mission predicted that the drones to take up this job would face horde upon horde of enemies, so some precautions were very needed.

However, nothing could prepare us for what the scouters encountered in that pit. I can still see them, even today. Those are the kind of things you just don't ever forget, and trust me when I say that I exhausted the facility's memory-erasing techniques to make sure it stayed out, to no avail.

From my screen, I saw the perspective of V-35, the team's leader for that mission, illuminating the pitch-black room with its flashlight. I saw the deep purpure walls surrounding the team in a large circle, forming a sadistic arena of sorts. I saw the sickly stone floor below, strewn with what appeared to be a mixture of dried blood and dead plants. I saw, at its center, a single stem supporting a broken control panel still emitting light, the only light source inside that place... until I saw what was above that, dangling just mere meters above the drone's head.

A large, red, spherical orb lay dormant, dangling over the ceiling like the world's most terrifying disco ball. It was held up and overgrown by that same purple stuff covering the walls and encasing the entire room in a dome. Further analysis proved what we had dreaded: this was L-07's soul. It wasn't encased or trapped inside the red orb, it WAS the orb. It was terrifying to think that such a grave problem had gone unchecked for possibly ages, and it's only just now reared its abhorrent head. Of all the missions I've overseen, this is the first time I ever saw a soul in such a horrible state... and somehow, it got worse.

The orb lit up, illuminating the room in a grotesque crimson. The next thing I know, various creatures fly out of the orb or emerge from the ground. So many different beasts, but I specifically remember that each and every one of them was... decaying. Their skin was a pale green color, most of their bones were exposed or even rotting... The worse part was that they were never the same monster. It looked like various animals were summoned by this unsightly soul, and nothing was safe from its reach. Tanukis, vixens, kobolds, panthers made of moss and the purple rot, it seemed like the subconscious never ran out of anything to throw at the drones.

And beyond this horrifying sight was the fact that the soul talked back to us. And above all else, it LOATHED us.

"You have just no idea how long I've waited for this very moment," it boomed down to the drones, fending off enemy after enemy. From the command center in the real world, where I monitored the situation, I wouldn't hear this until seconds later after the interpreter had recompiled and translated the garbage of static that it tossed around. "I'll start by taking your lives and adding them to my pile... so that when the next crew arrives, they get to fight their former comrades! I think it's a fair trade considering the HELL you've put me through!"

From the other screens to my sides, I saw the other drones' perspectives. O-19 held a sword in its hand and swung it around wildly, slashing foes left and right. B-08 wielded a pair of gauntlets and flung its arms with reckless abandon, changing targets between any nearby monster or the numerous purple roots around the area. J-21 was able to scale the walls and shoot arrows from some makeshift platforms dangling from the aforementioned roots. In the center, V-35 tried desperately to enable the control panel while holding back resistance with a shield. And back here in the waking world, I barked orders and suggestions, hoping anything would work.

"Ungh! The roots don't do anything, looks like!" B-08 yelled back as its feed briefly cut out, signifying that it had transformed into a sludge creature momentarily to nimbly dodge a monster about to whack its head. After the feed came back, the drone tried again to destroy the vines with another nearby, and I could see clearly that it had no effect. It was as hard as stone.

Meanwhile, V-35's tinkering yielded nothing either. "Looks like the machine is totaled. It doesn't know how to repair this quickly, let alone while other enemies attack!" The drone backed away from the panel in defeat and then turned to block an overhead claw swipe from what appeared to be a gnoll of some sort, quickly dispatching him with an axe swing. "We don't have many options left, Commander! We must deploy the escape vat now if you intend to get us out of here unscathed!"

V-35 was right. There wouldn't be any chance to get those drones out of there if I delayed them any further. As skilled as they were, our four drones were clearly outmatched by the innumerable forces encroaching on them. As much as I really didn't want to, because that would mean having to put L-07 through more of this mess, I had to call the mission off before it got any worse. Flipping my vision wildly around each drone's perspective, I eventually made the call to retreat and began opening the escape vat on our end. It wasn't until I did a double take on J-21's camera feed that I noticed a... disgusting detail.

"I'm preparing the vat right now. Sit tight until it's fully deployed, then get the heck out of there on V-35's command!" I announced over the drone's comms, pressing a few buttons here and there to ready the vat for their arrival. After I did so, I focused on J-21's camera again, because I wasn't certain I saw that correctly... that drone was still shooting arrows from above, but it occasionally flicked its vision to the soul dangling from the ceiling. When it did, I focused myself entirely on the evil purple vines surrounding the soul... and I may have gagged a little.

I don't know how, but those vines above were sentient. They pulsed with some sort of force, subtle enough to not be perceived by a passing eye but showy enough to make anyone get goosebumps. I was about to look away for a moment when an idea struck me. Using this new information, I decided to take a chance on one more way to salvage this mission, and I seriously hoped this would be the ticket...

"J-21 and O-19!" I spoke to their communicators directly. "Think you can do one more thing before I get you out of there?"

"Define 'one more'," J-21 snarked back as it pulled its bow back to shoot at a kobold climbing the vine the drone hung from.

O-19 backed it up by also replying, "Yeah, no offense but with you specifically, 'one more' can mean anything small or insurmountably huge!" The drone spun around multiple times as it yelled this last word out, slashing an entire ring of monsters around 0-19 in half by throwing its sword around the unit.

"I promise this is only one thing, but I will need the both of you to work together," I called back, then pinged J-21's location on O-19's visor. "J-21 must use its grappler to launch O-19 towards the large stalk sustaining the soul. Then, O-19 must use the momentum gained to stab it with its sword. We're only looking to stab the STALK, not the orb!"

J-21 lost its breath momentarily at the suggestion given. I could see it now observing the purple rot around the red orb and momentarily shaking its head. "Yikes, Commander. This one's all for making miracles happen, but it doesn't think that's feasible..."

Meanwhile, O-19 looked around as it ran towards its target drone. "Observation: J-21 is currently standing on a few platforms dangling from the ceiling's vines. Can't this one just jump from those once it's at the top?"

"Nope, too unstable," I immediately butted in, as I had previously watched O-19 fall from one of those platforms, crumbling to pieces the moment it tried to step on another nearby. "The platforms all look identical, but there aren't any indicators on whether or not one can support your weight."

"Affirmative," J-21 concurred, reaching one hand into its quiver to retrieve a Grappler arrow and tied it to the bow. "This one has fallen twice now on those things. It's best if you don't test your luck. On a similar note, do be careful when ascending the steps, O-19, for the same reason."

O-19 nodded quickly, and then made a mad dash for the makeshift steps protruding from the walls. As soon as it had reached the top, just one step below J-21, the top drone handed the bottom one its bow and explained where to aim.

"Right there," J-21 called out. "Keep yourself steady, and when you fire, don't let go of the bow! You'll only have a second or so after to get your sword ready. At this angle, you'll hopefully land just above where the stalk's roots separate!" With not much time left to act, J-21 leaned back to its platform and only watched as O-19 pulled back the bow and fired a few seconds afterward. In the span of one second, O-19 then dropped his entire body to the ground, forming itself into a pile of tar while still holding the bow on one tendril and a sword on the other, before the arrow made contact with the target.

As soon as the tip pierced a vine, the thin string connected to the arrow quickly tensed and pulled the bow to the arrow, flinging O-19's amorphous body along with it at breakneck speeds. The drone maintained a substantial amount of airtime, giving it ample time to form its body again and pull the sword back behind O-19 for an overhead stab at the supposed roots. One more second passed, and the moment the unit threw its sword forwards for the jab--

"AARGH!!" An unnerving roar echoed across the chamber, shaking the entire place momentarily. All three drone's perspectives now shifted upwards after the sudden earthquake, observing O-19 dangling from way above by its sword. The blade was wedged inside the purple root, and the drone tried to pull it off while swinging about wildly.

"Alright, this one will give it to you, Commander," the drone finally exclaimed, still attempting to unsheathe its weapon, "this was probably one of your better ideas."

"What is the MEANING of this?!" The red-hot soul bellowed once again, enraged but powerless. "UNHAND ME this instant!"

O-19 eventually managed to swing its legs upwards high enough to stomp its boots on the root, giving the unit much more force to pull the sword out. "So, you can indeed feel that!" It directed to the soul, chuckling. Pulling the sword as far back as it could, the drone now yelled, "Perhaps we shall now see if you bleed as well!"

After a second of struggle, the drone managed to yank its sword out of the purple root, and as it plummeted to the ground, it could observe the cut it made with its sword, and the terrible dark indigo blood it sprayed from the wound. The soul screamed in agony, attempting to break out of the roots it was placed in. Then the drone splashed to the ground, cutting its feed off while it reassembled itself.

"Shit... V-35! The vat is ready!" I shouted again, still in awe at the scene that played out. From the perspective of the other drones, I could see the enemies fading away to ash, one by one. Whatever that root was, it must have been important... but now wasn't the time to ponder. I had to get those units out of there now before any--

"Commander, stop the mission this instant!" A drone behind me exclaimed as it forcefully opened the door to the command center. Its voice was in a complete panic, and as I turned around to face the unit, I would find it was for a good reason: "L-07 is suffering extreme psychological damage and must exit the stasis pod immediately!"

---

>"NOOOO!!! THIS WASN'T HOW IT WAS SUPPOSED TO GO!"

>"EVERYTHING IS FALLING APART AND IT'S YOUR FUCKING FAULT!"

>"ALL I WANTED WAS TO STOP THIS SUFFERING! EVERY DAY I FELT NOTHING AND IT WAS TORTURE!"

>"THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE YOUR END! IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MY TIME TO FINALLY EXACT REVENGE ON THE WORLD FOR BEING SO CRUEL AND UNFAIR!"

>"I CAN'T GO ON LIKE THIS...!"

>"I CAN'T...!"

>"IIIIIIIIIIIIII

>"GHYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

>!--CONNECTION TERMINATED

>!--Attempting to reconnect...

---

"What is even happening here??" I yelled as I and various other drones ran inside the stasis pod chamber. The roundabout room's walls were filled to the very top with wires and machinery short circuiting, the lights above strobed red with urgency, and in the center, where the pods were all lined up in a circle vertically parallel to each other, all but one pod was open. That closed pod contained a violently shaking drone, writhing and yelping in agony and throwing its entire body onto the resilient pod glass.

"L-07 shows extreme pain all around its heart," one drone observed as it flipped through some notes on its clipboard. "We've tried to unlock the pod to no success, and attempting to shut off the system entirely is impossible. At this rate, we may need to temporarily disable the entire facility to--!"

"Not necessary!" I proclaimed, moving towards the pod. I had remembered a previous incident where X-33 trapped itself within one pod here but was able to escape with my help... "There's a kill switch on the pods themselves, I think behind the screen..." I observed L-07 still desperate to escape their confinement, and butting its helmet against anything that could break. Every drone's helmet completely obscured their true identity, but I imagine its face would look bewildered if I dared look underneath. Thus, I quickly reached out my hand behind the pod so that I could stop whatever made L-07 hysterical. After feeling a small pull handle around one finger, I instinctively yanked on it as hard as I could. After a second, the pod's lights flickered off, and the drone inside began to slow its movements down, until all it could do was heave and pant.

"That seems to have done something," V-35 stated, the drone having recently come back from their mission along with the other three units. All of them stood back as they saw L-07 stop moving entirely. But something was still missing.

"...Uh, I don't think..." I began as I stepped back slowly. "What's supposed to happen is that the machine shuts off, and the pod opens again." Even though the alarms kept going on and on and the urgent red alarm kept sweeping around the room, most of the room finally stood still, perhaps a little too much so. I stared ahead at L-07, a bit of concern on my face. "Why isn't the pod gla--"

About as swiftly as I had said my last sentence, L-07 thrusted both of its palms against the glass with a resounding thud, only for it to then reel its head back and slam the glass against its helmet with the remainder of the unit's strength. I jumped at the scare I got from this, attempting to run backwards. L-07 yelled as it threw its head forwards... and the room heard the cracking of glass.

The glass didn't break. Rather, it was a small piece of L-07's visor that had shattered and exposed just its body's eyes, and for a moment, I could finally see what lay underneath.

...I saw desperate and panicked blue eyes. They looked all over the place, still trying to find a way to escape the pod he was in. Whatever surrounded them was hard to see, though. Was it fur? Skin? Scales? It mattered not, as L-07's diluted eyes pierced the darkness that surrounded its true face.

All it did was make me feel knots in my stomach.

Muffled yells for help brought me back from my temporary daze. L-07 had finally taken to screaming out its frustrations, but even so close to the unit, its pleas were muddy at best. The eyes didn't lie, however -- it wanted to get out of here, and fast.

The sliding doors far behind us suddenly opened, and everyone currently in the room quickly turned their head around, mine included. It only took one command, however, to split apart the drones and make a path for the newcomer.

"Let me see what this commotion is about!" A jet-black dragon with a deep red suit and black vest marched forward with a scowl, and as the drones moved aside, so did I, gulping quietly. Everything about him, from the free flowing hair behind his horns to the twin red suns for eyes, demanded respect and admiration. It was the head of this whole operation of drones... We'll just call him Master for now.

The dragon walked forward until he was right in front of the crowd of drones, making eye contact with L-07. As soon as its gaze met its Master's, it began pounding on the glass again in desperation, shouting as well, perhaps for the dragon's embrace.

"We were just doing the recommended subconscious cleansing when everything began to go wrong," a drone from the opposite side of me stated. "V-35 led the team but something in the middle of that mission must have affected L-07, a phenomenon we haven't observed in ages."

As the Commander, unfortunately that drone just tossed the ball to me, and if there's anywhere I wanna be, it is definitely not on the Master's bad side. I had to speak up. "Uh, Sir. I can assure you that I did all that I could, and I'll even take all the blame for this incident if you want. I just need you to--"

And speak up I did, so panicked, in fact, that all the dragon did was extend one arm out to my shoulder. "Do not jump to conclusions. I only require you to tell me what you saw during the mission," the Master replied in a forcefully quiet tone. I could still tell this was uncomfortable for him, though. He nearly lost one of his drones and yet he's considerate enough to speak as lightly as he can with me.

"Totally, Sir. I have all the evidence recorded and can show you whenever you're ready," I bickered back, still feeling the nervousness rising all over my body as the dragon stared me down with a lightly menacing grin. Or was it genuine...? I can never tell with dragons... "But I will say, though," I continued, attempting to make my summary brief, "that I think what we tried to defeat in there had something to do with this."

The dragon closed his eyes momentarily, keeping himself in thought as he took this information in, and then nodded. "Understood. I'll get a better look at the recorded evidence soon." The dragon then let his arm go from my shoulder, and then turned his head to the other side. "T-82, open the pod. It should be safe to release L-07 now."

"On it, my Light!" The drone scurried away to its control room nearby, slamming open the door as the Master walked forward towards the trapped unit. L-07 kept pounding on the glass the closer the dragon approached, but after a few seconds of incessant screaming and banging, the glass pane separating the drone from the world at last lowered, allowing the unit to dart directly to its Master and immediately squeeze him with a hug. The dragon shared his embrace back, and all the drone did was wail.

"My Light, I'm so sorry...!" I could hear L-07's voice clearly now, and in between chopped breaths and desperate cries, it yelled on about something I didn't understand. "I couldn't save him... I couldn't save anyone, my Light, this is all my fault! Please don't ever leave me, you're all I have left to protect...!"

"I know, L-07," the dragon coyly replied, stroking the drone's broken helmet. "But this thing isn't very safe for you anymore, is it? Let's remove it. Perhaps you'd want to feel my warmth up front again." The Master very gently lifted the visor up from the drone's head, and then afterwards, the drone got on its knees and clutched its Master tightly again, still crying its soul out. From my angle, I still couldn't see what truly lied underneath L-07's visor... but I don't think I wanted to.

"I want you to relax, my drone. Let the bad memories flow out of you, let them pass along and drift yourself away to a slumber," the Master silently instructed to L-07. "You must be tired from enduring this luggage, don't you think? No matter what happened, you did good just by staying with us." The drone kept sobbing its trauma out, its wheezes and yelps echoing across the room while the rest of the drones further behind could only mourn in silence.

In the midst of all this, though, O-19 had sidestepped to my location and gave me a small tap on the shoulder, whispering to me after it did so. "Commander... you don't think that... thing was part of L-07's soul, right?"

In a hushed tone, I replied, "No. Not a part of it, but those roots really did a number on the soul. It almost feels like they're connected now, such that if we attempt to cut that root again, we'd end up completely destroying L-07."

Both me and O-19 remained silent after this, an uncomfortable rift washing over us. I gave the command to cut the root and it did as it was told, which sadly made us both to blame for the occurrence. All we could really do for now was just stare at the consequences, and as I did, I found even more stuff to worry about. It was foolish of me to keep the drones in that mission for as long as it went. I should have put out the vat sooner so that we could have maybe avoided this. Heck, why did I even continue with the plan when I saw that the soul was hurting from the blade strike? That should have been an obvious sign that something was deeply wrong! It almost felt like everything that could've gone wrong with this mission, did. All that was truly left was to see what the Master said about this, and I feared for that moment.

L-07's cries had reduced to just sniffles on the dragon's black dress pants. A part of its true identity was now visible.

But I looked away. I didn't want to see the face of a man I had nearly destroyed from the inside.

...I never want to become a drone.

---

>!--CONNECTION RE-ESTABLISHED

>!--Relocating subconscious...

>!--Subconscious matter detected.

>!--Pinging...

>!--Pinging...

>!--Pinging...

>!--No units detected.

>!--Attempting to interpret subconscious data...

>!--Success. Resuming log.

>"--op, no! Don't blame yourself for this, please! You did all that you could, I swear! Didn't I make it clear to you in my final moments? I couldn't have asked for a better life companion than you! You were the only one that truly cared for me!"

>"Please, listen to me already! I just wanted to rid ourselves of this stupid deal I struck! I had to prove to these brutes that I don't need anyone or anything, that I was wronged and no longer needed saving, because I already found it within you! And yet you're still here thinking like [unintelligible]--"

>!--Second subconscious matter detected. Attempting to interpret...

>!--CAUTION: Subconscious link #1 is weakening! Recalibrate now to maintain contact!

>"No... please don't leave me like this...!"

>"I want you to walk free... like you always wanted... can't you understand...?"

>"Come back..."

>"...it's so... dark..."

>!--CONNECTION FORCEFULLY TERMINATED

>!--Closing log.