#grins.

Disregarding the hazard signs and barbed wire, the gangly duo cut their way through the chainlink fence and make way past the now crumbling external walls of the old factory.

"Jesus... Are we really sure we wanna do this just for brownie points..? I could get tinnitus just from looking at all the rust here-" the taller of the two mutters, stepping over a mangled wrought iron pole sticking out of the ground.

"..you mean tetanus?" The other pipes up, shining his flashlight in his companions face, "and also, yea, I'm sure. We're literally the first people to be here in like a million years! Do you even know what kinda shit we could find just laying around? And not to mention the bragging rights!"

His voice carries and echoes off the high walls, the place clearly much larger than they had initially thought once presented up close.

They find themselves in a large open area resembling a junk yard to the back of the actual facility building, old conveyor belts and large piles of scrapped appliances strewn as far as they can see within the previously guarded walls.

"I guess so... As long as we're careful and get outta here before my mom calls- i do not need to be getting grounded again on summer break after--"

"God, i can't take you anywhere, can i?" They get interrupted with a half-assed swing of a duffel bag to their chest, the offending culprit rolling his eyes dramatically, "how 'bout you shut up for a while and have some fun for once?"

With a huff and a breif glare, the other nods, opening the bag they'd been "handed" and grabbing a can of neon spray paint.

With the few cans they'd brought and but one collective braincell, the duo tag and doodle on just about anything within reach. They'd long since made their way into the actual building, rendering the bland grey walls a rainbow of slang and rather phallic portraits.

The longer they stay, the deeper they go into the Facility. They stumble across what looks to be a.. lab? Neither had a clue what use actual science would be to a place that made home appliances, but they couldn't pass up the opportunity to paint some custom lab coats for themselves.

"Are you- what is this, the twenties? Are you really drawing a fuckin' crewmate right now?"

"You told me to have fun!! and don't you come at me over outdated graffiti choices Mr. "Cool S""

"Never diss the Cool S! It's cool for a reason!!"

One of his arms accidentally knocks against a table in his gesticulations, a tall beaker losing it's balance and meeting the ground with an impressive shatter, making the other jolt at the sound.

"Dumbass-!! Dude, we need to go before some animal or something is attracted by your stupidity-" the taller yanks him away and out of the room by the arm while patting him off for any stray shards, much to his dismay as he bats at the other in protest.

"Get off me?! It's just a glass! Theres nothing in here besides us, are you for real man--?!"

He manages to rip himself out of his worried friends grip, stumbling to the floor and against a large set of double doors at the end of a hall.

After a breif apology and their offer to help him back to his feet going unacknowledged, the exasperated blond crosses their arms and more or less pouts. They didn't wanna be here anyways, and they were starting to remember why....

The sizeable doors they stood before look to be electronically locked, and they're easily larger than any others within the building, rivaling the ones to the main entrance in width.. they could swear there was a very quiet hum coming from them. There shouldn't have been any power going through the place..? Nowhere else in the facility seemed to have any, so what on earth-

Beep!!

Their staring contest with the doors is cut short with the crackling buzz that plays from the doors' card reader, their companion looking over to them with a mischievous grin and a lanyard in hand.

"This dumbass left their ID card on their coat. figures for someone named.. 'Evangelion'??-"

With a heavy sounding clunk, the doors slowly ease open, making way for a gust of chilled air to escape and nip at their ankles. Beyond the doors lies a staircase decending into nearly pitch black darkness, the scent of dust and mildew pungent and clinging to their clothes more than ever.

The duo send a glance between eachother. A pale look of worry meeting an adrenaline junkies toothy smile.

"...You coming?"

"Wh- YOU'RE GOING?!"

"Obviously! Look- I'll tell everyone you went with me if you just hold my stuff for me here, yeah?" He promptly drops his bag in his companions arms before they can protest, clicking his flashlight back on and trotting down the stairway in willing ignorance of their increasing pleas for him to return.

By the time the door slammed shut it was too late for him to notice. Too late for them to follow...

The further he descended, the stronger the smell became. Dust, mold, metal... rot..? It was getting harder and harder to tell. He brings his sleeved elbow to cover his mouth and nose by the time he reaches the bottom of the staircase, looking around to see... No... That doesnt make sense....?

Cautiously, he cracks open the first door in a long hall of many, the thick metal hinges screeching in protest against the weight of the matching metal door. Beyond the doorway is a small square room; a smaller bed, desk, shelf, and chains the only "decoration" to be had..

He walks along row after row of these solid metal doors, most of them open outwards.. though he couldnt find the curiosity in him anymore to check what resides– used to reside– inside.

This wasn't a factory.

This was a prison.

He keeps going for what feels like forever through large metal halls and rows of cells, avoiding how the shadows look his way and glare.

He needed out. He wanted his friend. He wished he was more cowardly for the first time in his life.

He saw- light.... A dim glow from the end of another dizzying metal hall. An exit..?

The space opens up to a large, open, server room. metallic clunks, whirrs, and beeps play from each of the tall servers as they light up like mini skyscrapers. Wires and cords of all sizes run along the ground and up into the ceiling, resembling a jungle strewn with electric foliage.

"What the hell..."

That small whisper under his breath it all it took. It goes nearly dead quiet for only a moment before the room quite literally jolts to life.

Bright screens in the middle of the room light up with text speeding too fast to read, making the brunett stumble backwards right into a pile of wiring. He keeps trying to blink away the white shapes in his vision without realizing how the cables start to snake around his limbs, a startled cry ripping from his chest as he's lifted up and brought closer to the amalgam of screens and wires.

"W-w-w-w-what have we here-e...?"

A glitching, robotic voice resounds from all around him, his body easily yanked closer to the largest screen that glitches on a 'connection lost' color bar.

"You... You're no-t-t-t my... Mine..... Mine........."

The wires and cables tighten around him in unexplained, jittery emotion, holding him in place despite how he struggled with all his might.. his puny, human, might....

"Y-y-y-youu don't belong here-e-e.... Hah.."

He claws and pulls helplessly at the cable encircling his neck, pleading for mercy between choked gasps. All the screens breifly flicker to black before coming back to life, a single bright eye on the center screen that curves into a sharp, upturned, semi-circle.

[System restart complete.]

"Ah... That's more like it."

CRUNCH!!

The body falls limp in her makeshift hand. So easily caving in on itself under just a bit of pressure.. she'd forgotten how fragile humans were.

How fragile she used to be.

[Checking syetems . . .]

No.

"hah.."

had it really been...?

"Ten.. Years.... And the one to wake me isn't even my own......."

She carelessly drops the mangled corpse to the floor, parts of her system still firing up and rebooting.

"I should've known better than to expect her loyalty... Oh, my dear Static......"

[Memory Recovery Complete.]

Dozens of small monitors and screens come to life throughout the room, displaying countless images and replayed moments of Static, along with an eerily familiar human simply lost to time.