INT. HQ UNDERGROUND – CORE ROOM – NIGHT
76Please respect copyright.PENANAVjeVvcqz7h
The patrol’s boots squelch and sink with every step as they move into a massive subterranean chamber—unnaturally carved, unnaturally alive.
76Please respect copyright.PENANAVnc28hYHGY
The walls twitch. The floor pulses. Somewhere above, a distant groan vibrates through layers of synthetic muscle and tangled metal.
76Please respect copyright.PENANAG1v4FZsE2x
And in the center—
76Please respect copyright.PENANADQwbYzySLG
The Core.
76Please respect copyright.PENANApCUmAuiVzo
A grotesque cube-shaped mass, about the size of a delivery truck, floats just inches off the ground. Its surface is patchworked with fleshy growths, rusted armor plates, and shards of embedded crystal—glowing in soft, pulsing purples.
76Please respect copyright.PENANA3Karo8YEJX
Vines, thick as limbs, reach in from every direction, plugging into the core like veins to a heart. They twitch, shiver, and pump—not blood, not fuel, but something in between.
76Please respect copyright.PENANAjA2XSa1Tiq
At the front of the Core:
A massive, twitching eyeball, bloodless and unblinking, rolls freely in its socket—scanning the chamber.
76Please respect copyright.PENANAnizhe82f2o
Not thinking.
Not hunting.
Just watching.
76Please respect copyright.PENANADWruqlOPE0
Driven by something ancient and instinctual.
76Please respect copyright.PENANAnq6awoDlNC
The team freezes.
76Please respect copyright.PENANAT8mQrCf0PE
SECURITY BOT 07
(quietly, almost reverent)
“That’s... it.”
76Please respect copyright.PENANAEBziC4sDvK
JASON steps forward slowly, eyes narrowed. Steam rises from his joints—his internal coolant struggling with the oppressive heat.
76Please respect copyright.PENANAD5scacNioa
JASON
“I’ve seen nightmares that look better than that.”
76Please respect copyright.PENANA4BeKgOeA1w
SCIENTIST UNIT (through comms)
(voice crackling with static)
“Visual confirmed. That crystal signature matches the unknowns from parasitized site scans. You’re looking at a signal relay. Possibly... a hive node.”
76Please respect copyright.PENANAD9AmiYBrEK
LASER TECH
“The eye’s tracking us.”
76Please respect copyright.PENANAUEjojQbAdD
JASON
“Yeah. But it’s not doing anything. Just watching. Like it doesn’t care... or it doesn’t need to.”
76Please respect copyright.PENANADpVqFOcfA5
He raises his plasma rifle slowly, just in case.
76Please respect copyright.PENANAGbbU6pveR0
SCIENTIST UNIT
“Do not engage the core directly. I repeat: do not engage. We don’t know what a direct hit will trigger.”
76Please respect copyright.PENANAjfJAVzWNfI
The whole chamber rumbles.
76Please respect copyright.PENANAz5pNdehbJ4
A low, drawn-out howl vibrates through the vines like a living siren.
76Please respect copyright.PENANA9r7tPxazJb
SECURITY BOT 11
“It’s reacting—!”
76Please respect copyright.PENANA44xQR68mYB
JASON
“No, not to us. It’s reacting to something else. Something farther down.”
76Please respect copyright.PENANAKcWp98rtPM
He takes one more step toward the edge of the platform surrounding the core.
76Please respect copyright.PENANAvLRLqStR1e
The Core’s eyeball snaps toward him.
76Please respect copyright.PENANAqDM60rk5XX
JASON
“...Great.”
76Please respect copyright.PENANA6Z67HJqYva
FADE TO BLACK.
ns216.73.216.197da2