Chapter Text
Inside a bunker lies a dark room lined with freezing pods. A robo-roach scuttles by a row, its antennae twitching. It pauses and stops at random spots, searching for food. There is an echo of dripping, sounding out softly in the silent room from a vent above.
The robo-roach crawls through a broken vent grate. It happens upon the source of the noise inside this dark room. Its antennae twitch and jerk at the water droplets falling from the corner of a dark, rectangular pod. There is no glass on it. The large object was thick, all dark, and made completely of the most durable of metals.
Wires, tubes, poles, and more hung from the ceiling and attached to the pod. Some sort of purple, opal-like and hourglass-shaped object hung above the rectangular pod. The whole thing itself had the aura of importance and power emanating from it.
But it has gone untouched for decades. Not a single soul has gone near it for fear of what it holds. Like an unspoken rule to never lay a finger upon the pod. Not even the Worker Drones that now inhabit this place have dared to touch it.
Even the robo-roach is hesitant to tap a claw on it. All it does is stare at the water dripping from the corner, slowly trickling out. For what reason is unknown. Perhaps its old age is finally showing and it’s breaking down.
Well, rest in peace whoever that human is-
Fog suddenly shot out from the seams of the pod’s door. The robo-roach startles and runs away back into the vent. The rectangular object starts to whir. The purple hourglass above brightens to life in a bright indigo color. It soon goes orange and yellow as the large and thick door starts to move.
More mist spills out from the pod. The heavy door groans with its slow, shaky movements. The loud noise echoes out in the room deafeningly. The little robo-roach watching the machine turns and runs away before anything bad can happen to it.
What it misses is the form of a human being revealed to the world. There is a black mask over his eyes. There are some bright yellow accents on the very edges. Two flat protrusions stick up towards the forehead’s center.
The messy locks of hair upon his head are pitch black. A few strands fall as the cold air hits the unknown human. The door keeps opening loudly, until it clicks to a stop and lifts the door up to the side.
It comes to a creaking halt, a shift sounding out in the room. Things go silent once again. Suddenly, the atmosphere in the room has taken a sudden turn.
Even more so when the human’s finger makes a twitch.
The cold air brushes against his bare hands. It has a hard time penetrating the monochrome clothing he wears. A white sweater with a thick and wide collar, a black, skin-tight suit underneath. Some black pants with black shorts over them. Black sneakers with straps on the outer sides.
And over top all of that is a grey coat, as if for the rain. The sleeves are wide and there’s plenty of trinkets on it. There’s even a flap on his left shoulder, colored yellow. It holds no hood, but there are clips and zippers adorning it to close it up.
Another one of the stranger’s fingers twitches. His lips tremble and a soft groans slips past his chapped lips. Slowly, he moves different parts of his body.
First his fingers, then his toes, then his wrists and ankles, up to his elbows and knees. He tests lifting an arm, finding it heavy. Lifting the other, he takes a moment to find purchase on the sides of the pod.
His knee joints crack as he bends them and sits up. His spine shifts and the joint plates protest with more cracking. His neck is stiff, and moving that makes him jerk and groan again.
Finally, he takes his first step onto the floor. Then his second. Letting himself find balance on his feet again, he takes a look around the room.
His HUD scans the room with a waving, orange-yellow pulse. Some notifications blink into view. Mostly just telling him how long it’s been and how he should be careful when moving around.
Closing the various windows, he slowly shuffles his way across the room. He makes a few rounds around the pod- The Sarcophagus, his mask tells him. It allows him to get used to his legs again.
Although, the air here is stale and musky. It makes him cough and hack and makes his lungs burn. He falls to the floor as grasps his chest, wheezing into his fist. It takes a good couple of minutes before he can adapt to the toxic air.
Once the coughing fit dies down, he’s left panting and even sweating. It’s a feeling he didn’t miss at all…
Shaking his head, he stands back up and heads over to the sole door leading in and out of the room. Unsurprisingly, it’s locked. But it’s also easy to un-lock with his Protocol network.
And once the door is finally opened, the black-haired man is met with more pods, different in design and clearly not as important as his. Not that he cares about importance, but all those rich folk seemed to think so…
Whatever. Looking at the inside of the frosty pods tells him those said rich folk are all dead and gone, so it doesn’t matter anymore. What does matter is seeing if there’s any survivors.
Moving again, he can hear his steps echo inside the room. It’s an eerie sound, if only because it tells him how lonely it is here.
Another round of coughs attack his lungs. He stops and leans against a random cryofreeze pod. He’s starting to really hate this air…
He resumes his trek as soon as the coughing ends. Letting his lungs recover, he looks around the room. There is no sign of any living human. All the ones frozen here are skeletons sitting in broken pods. He feels a little bad for them.
Finally, he made it to the end of the room! He walks through the plastic flaps, finding even more darkness. He huffs but keeps going, making sure to be careful since he’s only just reawakened.
“Hey, have you ever seen what’s behind that door at the end of the cryofreeze room?” He hears a voice from down the hall.
“No. Have you?” Another voice returns.
“No, it’s why I asked you!” The first says, notably younger. “I figured you’d know since you’re older.”
“Well, I don’t. Khan doesn’t let anyone in there. Not even his own daughter.” The gruffer, older voice speaks. “I honestly doubt he’s going to let anyone in there anytime soon.”
“Aww. I really wanna see what’s inside!” The younger voice says, getting louder.
“Well, you can try asking Khan, but I doubt he’ll let you.” The second voice says, probably with a shrug. “Anyways, let’s just get that vent grate fixed so we can-” He pauses.
The two robots halt mid-step and stare with ringed eye lights at the human standing in the middle of the hall. There’s a long beat of silence. Then, the younger Worker Drone drops his toolkit loudly on the floor. The clang echoes out and startles the human.
For the first time in a long time, he opens his mouth to speak.
“Where is-”
“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!” But it’s drowned out by the combined screaming of the two Worker Drones.
The human startles again but takes a step closer, raising his hands in a placating motion. It only terrifies the robots more and makes them run away. He’s left totally speechless at what just happened.
A sigh blows past his lips and he decides to follow the two drones. Maybe if he does, he’ll find some humans to converse with! It’s worth a shot, not to mention he needs to know what’s happened.
He wouldn’t have awoken just for nothing.
Anyways, why did those two Worker Drones freak out like that? It’s like they’ve never seen a human before… Which is weird because humans are technically their masters of sorts. They’re owned by one, right?
Well, whatever the answer is, he can’t dwell on it for long. The sounds of frantic footsteps and voices echoes down the hall. He stops and waits, watching as a larger group of Worker Drones rounds the corner.
The one heading the party pauses and goes tense. There’s a look of recognition in his eye lights. One that’s both dreading and anxious.
“See?! See!?! It’s a human! It’s a fricking human!” The younger drone from before points in a panic.
“I can see that!” The mustached drone says. “But you don’t have to worry. This one isn’t like all those who died in the core collapse.” He reassures.
‘Core collapse-?’
“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” The mustached drone disrupts his thought.
He startles and stares at him. It admittedly takes a minute for him to recognize the Worker Drone.
“Khan?” He whispers. “Khan! I almost didn’t recognize you with that mustache” He then laughs.
“I thought it would look good.” The parka-clad Worker Drone shrugs with a grin. “But is your memory lagging behind a little?” Khan then crosses his arms.
“Ah, a bit.” He scratches the back of his head. “I’m sure it’ll sort itself out, however.”
“It better. You didn’t wake up for no reason after all.” Khan huffs in amusement.
But the mirth is quickly gone from his voice. His gaze turns serious and falls to the floor. The fear and anticipation from his friends behind him is palpable, but not distracting.
“I can’t believe it’s gotten this bad…” Khan sighs and pinches his visor. “I’m not even sure what happened to make you wake up.” He admits and lets his hand fall.
“It’s alright. I’m sure we’ll figure it out.” He nods back and takes a step closer.
Khan’s buddies all take a collective step back. Some glare at him, others stare warily. He can feel some sweat form on his temple. It’s probably best if he retraces that step…
“I told you not to worry!” Khan exclaims to the other Worker Drones. “He’s not going to hurt you. He may look like a human, but he certainly doesn’t act like one.” He went on.
“Well- The ones we’ve had to deal with anyway.” He shrugs.
“How can you be so sure?!” The young drone from before asks.
“Because I know this human. Have for a long time.” Khan answers, turning his gaze back to the said person. “He’s trustworthy. In fact, he’s so trustworthy that you can leave your lives in his hands.”
“That’s some amount of trust…” Someone comments quietly.
‘And it’s true.’ Khan adds, knowing just what the meaning behind the human’s presence is.
“Let’s talk elsewhere. This isn’t the place to be having idle chatter.” Khan speaks up again.
“Ah! Right!” The human nods. “I do have many questions anyway. Not to mention I’m starving.” He chuckles.
“We can find something for you. I kept a stock in case you ever woke up.” Khan says, urging the human to follow with a wave of his hand. “I admit, I was hoping I’d never have to break it out.”
“I understand. I wouldn’t have wanted you to, either.” He nods in agreement.
Khan opens his mouth to speak again but pauses at seeing the large amount of distance his friends are from the human. He signs and his posture falls.
“You guys- He isn’t dangerous!” He exclaims with growing agitation.
“We’re just being careful!” One of them says.
Khan makes a quiet groan as his expression falls. He hears the human next to him titter and turns his gaze to him. He coughs into his hand to hide the laughter.
“You guys go back to your posts. I’ll take care of the human.” Khan waves and turns back around.
“A-Are you sure, Sir?” One WDF member questions. “Maybe you should have someone with you in case-”
“I’ll be fine, trust me!” Khan interrupts. “Like I said, I know this human. There’s no need to be so wary and afraid of him.” He keeps walking.
His friends only stare unsurely at his back.
“I really won’t hurt you guys. It’d go against my job!” The black-haired man grins with a goodbye wave.
Catching up to the older drone, their walk is continued in silence. The man takes a look around at all the dull metal walls.
“You don’t decorate much, do you?” He asks in some idle chatter.
“Not really. We don’t have the means to do so, not to mention it’d just be a waste.” Khan shrugs back. “It’s energy better spent keeping the bunker maintained.”
“By the way, why are you in the bunker? Shouldn’t you be in the mines?” He asks, turning his hidden gaze back to the Worker Drone.
Khan debates on his words for a few seconds.
“There’s no more humans left on this planet.” His voice is soft.
The man beside him pauses in the middle of the hall. Khan stops just a few paces away.
“They’re dead? All of them?” He asks in disbelief.
Khan can only nod.
“They died some decades after you were put into hibernation. And for some decades more, us Worker Drones have been the only ones left.” The worker explained.
“...I see.” He mumbles. “And this has something to do with the Core Collapse, doesn’t it?” He’s quick to deduce.
“It was what wiped out humanity.” Khan sighs. “Just one fatal mistake and boom. All of humanity or any other organic critters on this planet wiped out.” He makes a vague motion with his hand.
The human goes quiet.
“It’s unfortunate.” Is all he says.
“In some ways, yes.” Khan agrees. “Anyways, let’s continue. You can stay at my home since you’re not used to the bunker’s layout. Also, there’s actual furniture there.” He changes the subject.
All his companion can do is nod. Things go silent again. At least this allows him time to think and mull things over. Though, where to start is a tricky question… Not to mention that he’s already being swamped with work, having to figure out the reason behind the Core Collapse, why he’s been awoken, what’s happened to the planet because of the collapse, and more.
“We’re here.” Well, those questions can wait for now.
Khan opens the door to his home and allows the human inside. He takes a look around at the basic furniture and ever-present metal walls, floor, and ceiling. He’s starting to wish there’d be some change in them…
“I don’t have much in terms of food reserves,” the thump of a box on a table startles him from his observing. “But it’s at least something. I also have some seed packets I managed to save before the collapse.” Khan adds.
“Thank you.” He nods in return, shifting through the box.
He takes out some dried noodles and prepares his bowl. Sitting back down at the table as the microwave hums in the background, the atmosphere turns tense.
“I’m sure you have many questions.” Khan begins, lacing his fingers on the table.
“I do.” The human man nods back.
“Then feel free to ask away.” Khan tells him. “I’m sure you’ll need all the information you can get, Endministrator.” And his gaze turns serious.