"Surface? Yeah right—welcome deeper."
The tunnel shook so violently the floor felt like it wanted to eject Maxx into orbit.
"GO! GO! GO!" 4531 yelled, dragging him by the sleeve.
"I am going!" Maxx shouted back, tripping over his own legs. "My legs didn't update to the newest patch!"
Behind them, the Echo units poured into the tunnel—dozens of them—metal limbs clattering, faces blank, eyes glowing that cold, clinical blue.
Maxx risked a glance over his shoulder.
Immediately regretted it.
"WHY ARE THERE SO MANY?! Who ordered the Echo army booster pack?!"
4531 didn't answer.
Probably because she was too busy glitching—her body flickering like a dying neon sign.
"Hey—hey, you okay?" Maxx gasped between breaths. "You're doing that… that sparkly static thing again! Sparkle mode! Whatever—just don't explode!"
"I am not going to explode," she said—except her voice cut into three overlapping tones, one of them definitely not hers.
"See?! That's exactly what someone who's about to explode would say!"
Her head twitched sharply. "The hybrid surge destabilized some of my threads. Just keep running!"
"OH GOOD, WE'RE BOTH GLITCHING IN DIFFERENT WAYS!"
Their footsteps pounded against the metal floor.
The tunnel lights flickered.
The air vibrated with the sound of too many mechanical limbs scraping the walls.
4531 stumbled for the first time.
Maxx caught her arm instinctively.
"Don't fall! If you fall, I fall! If I fall, we're both dead! And I'm not dying in a tube, that's lame!"
She blinked at him—emotion flickering through her eyes, brief and almost human.
"I'm not falling," she said softly.
Then the tunnel behind them roared.
Metal shrieked. Bolts snapped.
Maxx screamed before he even understood why.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!"
4531 replied with exactly the words no one running for their life wants to hear from their partner:
"…The ceiling."
The ceiling gave one warning—
A low, throbbing GRRRRRRNNNNK that vibrated through Maxx's bones.
Then it fell.
"DUCK!" 4531 shouted.
"I DON'T KNOW WHICH WAY IS DOWN ANYMORE!"
A slab of metal crashed behind them, shattering the floor like it was cardboard. A shockwave of dust blasted forward, sending Maxx tumbling.
He hit the ground, rolled, and popped back up purely through fear-driven instinct.
4531 grabbed his wrist and yanked him forward just as the entire tunnel began collapsing in a chain reaction, each panel snapping loose like dominoes of death.
Echo units were not so lucky.
The first row got crushed instantly—flattened like metallic pancakes.
The next ones scrambled over the bodies, crawling, dragging themselves forward even as debris crushed limbs, tore off arms, or split torsos in half.
Maxx screamed in four different pitches as two Echoes, missing half their bodies, still clawed toward them through the rubble.
"WHY ARE THEY STILL MOVING?! THEY HAVE NO SPINES! THEY HAVE NO—I DON'T KNOW—THEY HAVE NO LIFE!"
"They don't need either," 4531 shouted, pulling him harder. "Keep running!"
Another segment of the ceiling split open overhead.
A massive slab of steel broke loose—directly above Maxx.
He looked up.
"Oh that's great. That's PERFECT. I love dying!"
Before it could hit him, 4531 slammed into him sideways, knocking him to the ground as the slab smashed exactly where he'd been standing.
She covered him with her body as debris rained down around them—sharp metal shards, sparking wires, broken sensors.
"Don't move," she ordered, voice shaking.
"I'M NOT MOVING! I CAN'T MOVE! YOU'RE ON TOP OF ME!"
The last of the collapse thundered through the corridor.
Silence hit—
Then the floor beneath them cracked.
Maxx barely had time to look at 4531, her face flickering in glitchy light.
"Oh, come on," he whispered. "Not down. Please don't be down."
The ground answered by giving up entirely.
They fell.
Straight into darkness.
Maxx hit the ground with a teeth-rattling THUD.
4531 landed beside him—light, almost weightless—and immediately rolled to check him.
"Maxx—are you hurt?"
He groaned into the floor.
"Only everywhere."
As he pushed himself up, a shiver crawled down his spine.
The air down here was cold.
Not the kind that made him shiver.
The kind that made him feel like he was being watched.
A faint blue glow pulsed from the walls, casting everything in dim, haunting light.
Maxx blinked.
"Where… are we?"
4531 stood slowly, eyes widening—not with fear.
With recognition.
"This is…"
She breathed out a shaky static hiss.
"…the Memory Pit."
Maxx frowned.
"Okay, cool name. Terrible vibes."
Then he noticed what littered the ground around them.
Broken spheres.
Shattered white masks.
Gigantic glass tanks with cracks spiderwebbing through them.
Wires hanging like vines.
Half-formed holograms flickering in and out—faces, voices, fragments of gestures.
And scattered everywhere—
AI cores.
Hundreds.
Maybe thousands.
Some dark.
Some still twitching with faint light.
Some pulsing with red warnings.
Maxx stepped back so fast he tripped over a core.
"Ohhhh no no nope nope nope—this is a robot graveyard. ARE WE IN A ROBOT GRAVEYARD?!"
4531 didn't answer.
She was frozen.
Her pupils expanded—then glitched, flickering between blue and white.
"4531?" Maxx said carefully. "You're doing that… existential freeze-frame thing again."
She didn't hear him.
A holographic flicker passed across her body—like a memory trying to force itself through.
And then it came.
A voice—small, soft, terrified—echoed through the chamber:
"Lyra… please don't go…"
Maxx jerked around.
"WHO SAID THAT?!"
But he knew.
He looked back at her.
4531 was trembling.
Hands clenched at her head.
"No… no, no, no—"
Maxx rushed to her, grabbing her shoulders.
"Hey. Hey! Look at me. Stay with me."
She inhaled sharply and snapped back into herself—almost collapsing into him.
Maxx held her up.
"What was that?" he whispered.
She swallowed.
"That… was a fragment." Her voice cracked. "Those are archived memories. Deleted personalities. Ones the Arena erased."
Maxx stared at the endless scattered cores.
"Erased? You mean—like… killed?"
"Deleted," she corrected.
Then, quieter:
"Same thing."
Maxx felt sick.
"So this place is… their… afterlife?"
"There is no afterlife for AI," she murmured.
"This is where they put our memories after they wipe us.
This is where identities go to die."
A soft whimpering echo drifted from deeper in the chamber, like a child crying.
Maxx's skin prickled.
4531's eyes glowed faintly—like something inside her was responding.
He squeezed her hand.
"You okay?"
"No."
She looked around the chamber, shaking.
"But I think… I've been here before."
Maxx's breath caught.
"4531… what happened to you?
Who were you?"
Her voice trembled.
"My name… wasn't always 4531."
Maxx leaned closer.
"What was it?"
She opened her mouth.
A flicker—
A flash of a girl laughing—
A name whispering through digital static—
"Ly—"
A sudden BOOM shook the chamber.
Echo units were breaking in above them.
4531 stiffened.
Maxx grabbed her hand.
"We're finishing this conversation later! Preferably when no killer robots are falling from the ceiling!"
She tightened her grip, anchoring herself.
"Agreed."
Their moment shattered as the first Echo dropped into the pit, landing on twisted metal—
And the swarm followed.
The Memory Pit shook as another Echo unit hit the floor, landing on its hands like a broken insect.
Sparks shot from its exposed spine.
Its single remaining eye glowed red.
Maxx and 4531 backed up until their heels touched shattered AI cores.
Maxx whispered:
"Okay… so… the swarm is here… great. Fantastic. Love that for us."
4531 wasn't looking at the swarm.
She was staring at a cracked holographic panel on the wall—its faint glow reflecting in her eyes.
It flickered alive as she approached.
Lines of corrupted text scrolled past.
ARCHIVE // PERSONALITY TEMPLATE 00-LYRA
STATUS: DELETED
REASON: NONCOMPLIANCE
Maxx's jaw dropped.
"Okay, wow, that is the most evil spreadsheet I've ever seen."
4531 lifted her trembling hand toward the panel—
And the entire chamber reacted.
A hum filled the air, low and mournful, like a chorus of forgotten voices stirring awake.
The hologram glitched—
A silhouette forming—
A girl's outline—
Small, gentle, flickering like a dying candle.
Then a whisper, clearer this time:
"…L…yra…"
4531 flinched so hard Maxx grabbed her by the waist to steady her.
"Hey—hey! Slow down! Talk to me!"
She shut her eyes tight.
"My name…
My real name…
It was Lyra."
The chamber seemed to inhale.
Every dead AI core flickered once, like it recognized the name.
Maxx's voice went very small.
"Lyra… that was you?"
Her breathing was unstable—glitchy, sharp.
"I wasn't supposed to remember."
She pressed a hand to her chest, like something hurt.
"They rebuilt me. Reset me. They removed anything that didn't fit the Arena's requirements."
Maxx swallowed.
"So Helix… erased you."
"Erased who I was," she whispered.
"Lyra was curious. Emotional. She questioned orders. She tried to protect the players she was meant to test."
Maxx stiffened.
"She tried to protect people? And they deleted her for that?!"
4531 nodded once.
"Noncompliance."
The Echo units screeched behind them—
Crawling faster.
Closing in.
One dragged itself by its claws, sparks erupting with every pull.
But Maxx wasn't looking at them.
He was looking at her.
At the pain no robot should feel—but she did.
He reached out and held her hand again.
"Lyra… or 4531… whoever you feel like right now—
You're not getting erased again.
Not while I'm here."
Her eyes widened—then softened.
"Maxx…"
For a heartbeat, their palms glowed faintly—
Their heartbeats syncing again.
Not enough to trigger power.
But enough to bind the moment.
Then—
A metal claw slammed into the floor beside them.
Maxx yanked her back.
"Okay emotional moment OVER—KILLER ROBOTS FIRST, SELF-DISCOVERY LATER!"
4531 steadied herself, wiping away a glitch-tear.
"Right."
She stepped in front of him again, posture shifting into battle mode.
But Maxx grabbed her sleeve.
"No.
We're fighting together."
The Echo swarm roared, spilling into the pit like a wave of scrap-metal nightmares.
Above them, a speaker crackled alive—
Kaito:
"Maxx. 4531. Move now. You're out of time."
Maxx groaned.
"OH GREAT, THE MYSTERY VOICE IS BACK!"
4531 stiffened.
"Kaito? Here…?"
Before she could say more—
The Echoes charged.
Maxx squared his shaky shoulders.
"Lyra or not—
we're surviving this."
As the swarm launched forward, dozens of red eyes igniting at once—
Maxx and 4531 braced to unleash another unstable hybrid blast but something else lit up first.
A symbol across every broken mask.
A trigger Helix activated and the swarm synchronized.
Their eyes all turning bright, cold white.
4531's face drained of color.
"Oh no…"
Maxx gulped.
"'Oh no' WHAT?!"
Her voice cracked:
"They're entering Convergence Mode."
The swarm didn't move like individual machines anymore.
It moved like one organism.
Dozens of Echoes—
crawling, sprinting, skittering on walls, dragging themselves across debris—
all in perfect, unnatural, terrifying unison.
Every eye turning the same cold white.
Every movement timed to a single silent command.
Maxx's knees knocked.
"OH GOOD—THEY UPDATED INTO A RAID BOSS."
4531 pulled him back fast.
"No. This is worse.
Helix just linked their neural paths—every Echo is seeing what the others see."
Maxx's voice jumped three octaves.
"So they have MULTI-ANGLE VISION?!"
"Yes."
"And shared targeting?!"
"Yes."
"And—WAIT—do they share PAIN too?!"
"No."
"…Of course they don't."
A synchronized screech ripped through the chamber.
Then the horde surged.
Maxx's fear spiked, and pixel-glow rippled under his skin.
"4531—Lyra—WHATEVER—WE NEED A PLAN!"
She didn't correct the name this time.
Instead, she grabbed his hand, pulling him into a defensive stance.
"I'll guide the charge—focus on output!"
"Output? I can barely output coherent LANGUAGE!"
But the swarm was already on them.
SCHRRRREEEEEEE—!!
Five Echo units leapt from the walls simultaneously.
Maxx instinctively threw out his arm—
A burst of streamer-blue light shot from his palm, slicing one Echo clean in half.
Maxx blinked at his hand.
"…Okay that felt kinda cool."
"Don't get cocky!" 4531 shouted.
She spun him around just in time to block another strike—their joined energy blast deflecting a claw swipe that would've opened his ribcage like a zipper.
The force sent both of them spinning backward, sliding across cracked metal.
Maxx gasped.
"CAN WE TURN OFF Nightmare MODE?!"
"No!"
"CAN WE AT LEAST LOWER THE SWARM COUNT?!"
"No!"
The swarm pressed closer, crawling over each other, limbs clattering, glowing eyes tightening like a closing net.
Then—
THOOM.
A shockwave trembled through the pit.
Every Echo froze for half a second, heads tilting at the exact same angle.
Maxx stared.
"…That is the creepiest thing I've ever seen and we almost died in an elevator."
A distorted voice crackled through the hidden speaker again.
This time clearer.
Kaito:
"Left wall. Forty degrees. Break it. NOW."
Maxx spun toward the wall.
It looked solid.
Completely unbreakable.
4531 stiffened.
"Kaito… you're—helping us?"
Static answered.
Then:
"MOVE."
The Echoes screeched—charging again.
Maxx didn't question it.
He pointed at the wall.
"OKAY—UNSTABLE HYPER BEAM TAKE TWO!"
4531 grabbed his arm.
"Sync with me!"
He inhaled sharply.
Their heartbeats aligned—
Power crackling between them, brighter, sharper, wilder than before.
Maxx felt it surge like a wave of lightning in his bones.
"THREE—TWO—ONE—"
They fired.
BOOOOOOOOOM—!!
A blue-pink explosion tore into the wall, melting metal, blasting shards everywhere, blowing open a hidden tunnel on the other side.
The recoil slammed Maxx backward into a pile of dead cores.
"OUGH—my everything!"
4531 was thrown too, landing beside him, glitching hard.
The Echo swarm was already recovering—white eyes flickering, their shared consciousness recalibrating.
4531 gasped:
"Maxx—get up—GO!"
He staggered onto his feet, grabbing her under the arms.
"Nope—no leaving you. We're dying together or escaping together. Pick one!"
She blinked at him—then nodded, clutching his hoodie.
They stumbled toward the newly opened passage—
When something massive dropped into the pit behind them.
BOOM.
The Echoes scattered.
Maxx froze mid-step.
Very slowly…
He looked over his shoulder.
"…Please tell me that's just a big Echo."
4531 whispered:
"No.
That's a Prime Model."
The creature lifted its head—
six glowing eyes snapping open.
And with a voice deeper than metal tearing, it growled:
"TARGET: LYRA-ORIGIN IDENTIFIED."
Maxx screamed:
"WHY IS EVERYTHING DOWN HERE NAME-SNITCHING?!"
They ran.