INT. THE CUBE – EARLY MORNING
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The night folds away quietly, revealing the muted gold of morning light pushing through the city haze outside the Cube. The sky over Central City still wears its cloudy shawl, but there’s warmth behind it—a kind that doesn’t reach the streets but still pretends to.
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Jason, already awake, moves around the living space with quiet purpose. He’s dressed in partial armor, tightening a new segment onto his right forearm. Tools clink and hiss softly as he works—efficient, automatic, like he’s done this a thousand times. He has.
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K opens his optics slowly, his usual upside-down hang undisturbed.
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K (casual, dry)
“Didn’t even try to sleep again, huh.”
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JASON (quietly, not looking up)
“Didn’t feel like pretending.”
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K lets out a small huff through his vents and drops to the floor soundlessly.
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K
“Well. Welcome to the living.”
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Suddenly, a loud thump and some dramatic shifting come from the shared bed. A stretches exaggeratedly with a groggy groan, flops over—
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A
“Morning suuu—OUCH!”
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A sits up quickly. One of his waist armor plates clinks against the floor. Jason and K turn toward him.
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JASON
“…Did something fall off you or did I finally go deaf from stress?”
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A (confused)
“It’s the side plate! The one Josh welded on! What the hell—?!”
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Jason walks over as A lifts his shirt slightly to inspect the spot.
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No wound. No scorch mark. No exposed circuits. Just sleek metal skin, polished and smooth, like it was never injured.
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JASON (blinking)
“…That’s not right.”
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K
“Wait. That’s healed?”
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A
“Yeah! It was there, remember? Big ugly burn. Jason did that cleaning thing, Josh did the patch-up welding, and now—” (he taps the unbroken plate) “—now it's just... gone.”
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They fall into a short silence.
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JASON
“You don’t have internal repair nanites, do you?”
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A
“Nope. I wasn’t upgraded for that kind of luxury. Neither of us were.”
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K (quietly)
“And yet, you healed. Without assistance.”
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Jason crouches to pick up the armor piece, examining it. Then looks up.
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JASON
“I’ve seen Purifiers melt, break, blow up, split open—none of them got the chance to show me this before dying. But maybe… maybe this was always there. Just hidden under all that chaos.”
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K (arms folded)
“Regeneration. Like organic life. But we’re metal. Circuits. Code. This doesn’t make sense.”
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A (thinking aloud)
“What if we’re not just metal and code? What if Purification models had… something else wired in? Something they never told anyone?”
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Jason stands, serious now.
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JASON
“They were already odd enough. But this—this crosses a line. Operators, Labors, Security units—we don't heal. We repair. There’s a difference.”
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K
“Then maybe we were never made to survive long enough to find out.”
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They all stand there for a moment, quiet. Jason looking down at the armor plate, A gently touching the smooth, healed patch on his side, K looking toward the window.
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A single thought passes between them, unspoken.
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What else don’t we know?
ns216.73.217.31da2
and then Add to home screen.