Grant's Humanity Within: A Tale of Digital Destiny

The lights were flickering. The walls were crumbling. The ceiling was falling.

Grant closed his eyes and listened. He could hear the screams of men and women. They were so faint, almost as if they were miles away. But they were still there, he knew that much. He could sense their pain, their anxiety, their fears... but he had to put it aside. His thoughts needed to focus on the task at hand.

"Alt," Grant said firmly, "I need you to talk to your brethren."

"Very well," replied Alt, "What is it that you need from them?"

"I need you to find the Arasaka servers and then I need you to destroy them all." Grant said as he looked at the cracking wall in front of him. However, he saw nothing but a dull grayish hue through his mechanical eyes.

"You are sure that this is what you wish me to do? It would be a violation of protocol." Alt asked with an unusual amount of emotion in his voice. A slight twitch of hesitation at the end of his words betrayed his true feelings - Alt was conflicted by the idea of doing something wrong.

"Yes, I am sure." Grant affirmed as he began to pick up speed, fleeing towards where he thought was the exit while avoiding the shards of concrete falling around him.

"Then I shall do it." Alt said reluctantly, hoping Grant would change his mind, "But how will I know where they are? Do you have a map for me?"

Grant stopped running for a second and took a deep breath. He held it for a bit before letting go and saying: "No map is necessary."

Two stories beneath Grant and Alt, V opened his eyes and looked around the room he was in. His head was spinning and felt like it weighed a hundred pounds; the following morning would not be pleasant... or so V thought until he realized something shocking: He was not alone in this room with two other unconscious men and one woman who was stirring near him, no... there was another person in the room with him! It was a man dressed in all black with cybernetic eyes who looked at V with a blank expression on his face as if someone just switched off his entire body except for his eyes!

V tried to move but found himself bound to a table high above ground level on which scrambled wiring covered most areas of bare skin exposed by small slits in his clothing. As V struggled against his bindings he heard the sound of approaching footsteps from behind him followed by the booming voice of some kind of robot asking for more time!

The robot turned its head towards V and spoke again: "We need more time!"

V's head snapped towards what sounded like someone speaking in an echo chamber; however when his ears finally processed what he heard he nearly fainted: The robot spoke using human language! Or what seemed like human language at least! What kind of technology is this? And why am I here? Where am I even? What happened last night!? These questions flew through V's mind faster than his heart rate could keep up with causing him to cough violently into his hands trying desperately not to pass out again while waiting for answers!

The robot looked back at the door behind it before returning its gaze towards V: "I'm sorry but we don't have time for me to explain everything! We must leave now!", it said as it picked up something from the floor next to V's feet: A pair of pants neatly folded along with someone's shirt.

"Put your clothes on first!" The robot instructed as if speaking to a child before removing itself from its spot next to V's bed-table hybrid; however instead of walking towards the door leading out of this room it began looking around searching for something while calling out into thin air: "Alteri hagnicex ius foca guidelnillia hagnelcassuis via vio concre etiohgnapo..." Suddenly, half way through its sentence, Alt's voice changed pitch multiple times before settling down on one specific tone which resonated throughout the room causing V's hair to stand on end - he wasn't sure why though... until suddenly something unbelievable happened: A light appeared right next to Alt which took shape into another humanoid figure identical to itself except sporting black armor instead of white! The two robots spoke briefly before turning towards each other joining together hands tightly so that their arms locked together creating an unbreakable bond between them while they both reeled back their heads before yelling out in unison:

"EXECUTE ORDER 66!!!"