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"Are we ready?" Hunter signed for the hundredth time.
"Yes, how many times do I have to tell you that I'm ready?" No Significant Harassment groaned. The chamber had far more activity than usual, but that was normal for what was about to happen.
A puppet was about to cut its strings. Well, he had some help, but that wasn't relevant yet. In the far corner, three bags sat packed with everything they would need for their journey. A ladder was set up, connecting the floor of the chamber to the exit. They had taken care of everything.
"And we're sure that thing won't be a problem?" Enot sighed, gesturing to Sig's right.
They had taken care of almost everything. NSH craned his head over in that direction, practically coming face-to-face with a growth of rot in the corner. It had been there for a while now, but it seemed to constantly grow larger. When he first noticed it, it had been about the size of a pearl, but it was now bigger than his head, and about chest-height.
"If it is," He said after a long pause, "it won't be our problem by the time this is done."
'At least I hope so.' He thought to himself, before steeling his nerves.
"Let me just double-check everything. We've got everything in the bags?"
"Everything we could carry." Hunter responded.
"And what about something for self-defense? It's pretty rough out there, after all."
"We've got more spears than we know what to do with, and we found one that you can use for balance, just in case." Enot pointed to a long, sharpened piece of rebar next to him.
"Alright, do you both remember what I told you on how to do this?"
"Yeah, we're supposed to detach the arm first, right?"
"Exactly."
The pair of slugcats got to work, finding four magnetic clamps holding it in place. Hunter stood there for a moment, trying to remember what to do next, while Enot was far quicker, jamming a spear in between where the arm met the wall, and slowly starting to slide the spear out, dragging the magnet along with it. Hunter quickly joined him, and before long, the arm detached from the wall with a clunk.
"Great work," Sig said, trying to make himself comfortable on the floor, "Now you're gonna wanna head towards the other side, closer to my back. There's a few screws there, so you'll have to be precise." He shivered as they approached, while still trying to recall everything he could see from the overseer's footage. He felt them working, as the arm got looser and looser, eventually sliding down just enough to expose the rest of the wires connecting him to his superstructure.
"Alright, this is the part that I'm worried about." He muttered, trying to stay calm. "See those wires? Get the sharpest thing you have, and get ready to cut. Make them as short as possible, and no matter what you see or hear, DON'T STOP. It'll hurt, but I'll be fine."
Hunter walked to the other side of the room, grabbing a spear. He'd made clear earlier that he wanted to be the one who did this part, and Sig didn't object. 'If there's anyone I trust to do this, it's Hunter.'
A questioning noise echoed from behind him, and he nodded, bracing himself for what would come next.
'Three... two...'
If he could, he'd be taking a deep breath now.
'One.'
In an instant, he felt several systems lose connection, as Hunter began to sever the wires. He screamed in pain, warning symbols popping up around the chamber, the lights turning a bright red. Hunter hesitated for a moment, but kept going. Everything felt wrong, he saw some movement out of the corner of his eye but wasn't sure what it was, he tried to stifle another scream, tried to figure out how many wires were left-
And in an instant, complete darkness. He didn't realize any time passed, but for Hunter and Enot, it was an eternity. Everything was nearly pitch-black, the silence overwhelming. He lay there, limp and motionless. The whole world seemed to hold its breath.
Then, he woke up.
In a flash, Sig was sitting up, frantically looking around the room.
He slowly came back to his senses, letting out a deep exhale. (It wasn't a real one, but it still helped to steady his nerves.)
The pair of slugcats were on him in an instant, knocking him to the floor.
"Calm down, everyone! I'm alive!" He said, gently trying to get them off of him so that he could sit up again.
The lights flickered on and off, and he could occasionally hear a system trying to run in his superstructure. He looked around again, managing to see the growth of rot in the dim lighting.
"That's probably gonna overtake the superstructure in a few cycles, so we should get out of here." He said, using the wall to support him as he stood.
Abruptly, there seemed to be a rumbling from somewhere he couldn't place; it seemed to be coming from every angle at once. Everything turned a blinding white, and for a moment, Sig worried that something important was damaged when he disconnected. There was a sort of crackling noise to his right, and the lights slowly started to dim, but they stayed powered. Throughout the superstructure, systems hummed to life as if nothing had happened. He watched as Hunter instantly picked up a spear, pointing it at something just out of his vision. Part of him didn't want to turn around, to acknowledge what just happened, but curiosity got the better of him, so he looked.
Standing where the rot once was, he saw... an iterator? No, something was deeply wrong here. Whatever it was, it was connected to his former superstructure just like he was. It was black, with white eyes, and green markings seeming to spiderweb out like veins from an X-shaped mark on its forehead.
Then, its mouth opened, something he didn't even see that it had at first glance.
"Hello." It- no, THEY said in a voice that seemed to be more... natural than his own.
Hunter hissed, as NSH came to a sobering realization. This wasn't an iterator, at least not completely. This thing was...
"Rot." He said, dumbstruck. They simply nodded.
"That constant presence I felt probing my systems since you, or at least what I'm assuming was you, showed up... that was you, wasn't it?"
"I think so, but it wasn't a conscious action. More like it was just... happening to me." They replied nervously, shifting their weight.
"The parasite becoming the host? That's a new one." Sig quipped, trying to use the absurdly long spear for balance as they walked over to the new... creature.
"The cycle works in mysterious ways." They said calmly as he approached.
"Well, allow me to properly introduce myself. I'm No Significant Harassment. And you are?" He said, extending a hand.
"Hmm... I never did figure out a name." They admitted sheepishly.
"Well, you've gotta have something. I mean, you basically revived my superstructure- er, former superstructure. Thanks to you, this place is reborn, for lack of a better word."
"Reborn..." They trailed off, before snapping back to reality.
Finally, they took Sig's hand. "Call me Reborn Ruin."
"Great to finally meet you. We're gonna head back up to the city so that we can get a message to Suns, and then we'll be gone." He said, making his way towards the ladder.
"You're welcome back here any time. It used to be yours, after all." The newly christened Ruin said, as the trio left the chamber, prepared for the journey ahead.