An outland prison complex was booming with activity, which is unusual for any outland prison complex, save for one in particular. This one was going through a prison riot, apparently orchestrated by two people: recent inmates, as they are classified, #7582 and #7583, later codenamed 'Hammer Down' and 'Pan-Asean'. A girl with a rather peculiar hammer was descending upon three Overwatch Transhuman Arm Shotgunner soldiers, whom were pre-occupied with other inmates. And as the hammer crushed one, the shockwave sent the other two flying, forcing them to drop their weapons and sending them directly into a mob of prisoners, which proceeded to start kicking and beating the guards senseless. With the amount of prisoners armed with military grade firearms increasing, a state of emergency was declared in the prison, as loud, blaring sirens were finally activated.

It didn't take long for another wave of NOVA Guards, as they were called, to enter the courtyard, systematically attempting to rid the courtyard of the prisoners. Yet, some of them were picked off by a fast moving prisoner, which seems to be shooting at them with some customized twin submachine pistols. With the NOVA Guards distracted, some more prisoners sneaked up on them and 'subdued' them with some interesting technique. The prisoners however, even with almost the entirety of the prison in their control, cannot leave, for the Circuit Breaker Control Center was still within Combine control, and cleverly positioned to be outside the reach of inmates, no matter where a riot starts. Blue transparent force fields are preventing the prisoners from leaving, but to the two prisoners who have started this riot, it doesn't look like a problem.

Using the hammer as a sort of slingshot, the girl catapults herself, and subsequently his partner in crime atop one of the walls, landing perfectly on the roof of the CBCC. Using the hammer once more to bust through the roof, the rubble had landed on top of one of the NOVA Guards, and someone, or something else, which was unidentifiable. With the room secure, the two hop down, as they look at the control board.

"Alright, Ren, time to make ourselves King and Queen of this tower!"

"Whatever you say, Nora. Now, to find where the force field switch is..."

Taking a lucky guess, Ren, codenamed 'Pan-Asean' flipped a switch, which didn't seem to do anything. Flipping another switch, it triggered another one to flip automatically, but it seemed to do the job, as they can see on numerous monitors that the force field is down, and the inmates flooding through the hallways and to the exits. Just as they were about to leave however, on one of the monitors which kept switching from one exit to the other of the total three, they noticed that helicopters were positioned outside. They started rushing out of the room and to one of the exits as fast as they could to warn their fellow prisoners of this development, yet they were too slow, and as soon as one of the doors leading outside opened, the prisoners were soaked in their own blood, as they were being shot at by a helicopter which has a peculiar rotor in the middle of it, allowing for more stability. The Hunter Chopper, they call it, is a beast to be feared.

Ten minutes. It took ten minutes for the Hunter Choppers to be done with their 'killing spree'. They had determined that everyone inside the prison was dead, and tailed back home. Yet, not everyone was dead, for there were, quite sadly, only three prisoners left. The two original agitators, and someone who has helped more than he likes to take credit for. Snatching their clothes from one of the rooms the NOVA Guards shook them down in months ago, the trio looks at each other. The big guy of the group, sporting a green vest tied tightly by a belt on the hip, and a black shirt below said vest, alongside a nicely shaved beard, finally spoke up.

"It's best if we split up. I wouldn't like to see anyone else die today."

"I think that is for the best. Thank you for your help in this riot. We won't forget it."

"Yeah. Its best you leave now. The Combine are prone to sending a sweeping team to clean up the mess and fix the damages."

The chubby guy slowly started walking away, as Ren and Nora were walking in the opposite direction. Their primary concern for the time being is getting deep enough inside a forest, which is going to take a while, for they are way off near the shoreline. Some five hours have passed, and they feel safe enough to rest on a rock. Starting a fire shortly after, they start cooking some meat they got off of animals they killed during their trip deeper into the forest.

"Mmm, I can't wait to taste this meat. Haven't eaten anything serious in months now."

"The same can be said for both of us, Nora."

Another hour passes, and the two are done eating. Ren decided to take the first shift of guarding, to which Nora agreed, albeit with a little convincing on Ren's side. As Nora went to sleep, Ren looked at the stars, to get himself lost amongst them. He felt like he was no longer there, on Remnant. Like he was with his parents, and the rest of his village from where he came from. He repressed parts of his memory on the subject of his village due to... things he doesn't want to recall anytime soon. Yet in his repression, he didn't find solitude: for he only found confusion. Snapping out of this state of meditation, he resumed looking out for any potential threats, yet none came. It was about 2:54 AM when Nora took over the second shift. She wasn't the type of person to get lost in thoughts, yet in a world where the only way to escape the harsh reality is just that, who is she to defy instinct? An instinct, a certain man warned others about...

"I find it helpful at times like these to remind myself that our true enemy is Instinct. Instinct was our mother when we were an infant species. Instinct coddled us and kept us safe in those hardscrabble years when we hardened our sticks and cooked our first meals above a meager fire and started at the shadows that leapt upon the cavern's walls. But inseparable from Instinct is its dark twin, Superstition. Instinct is inextricably bound to unreasoning impulses, and today we clearly see its true nature. Instinct has just become aware of its irrelevance, and like a cornered beast, it will not go down without a bloody fight. Instinct would inflict a fatal injury on our species..."

Far away from anywhere, really, someone, or something was listening to these words, spoken by a man whom most have forgotten. It pondered and pondered, until it realized something. The grub, which has been listening to this unbeknown man, with its metallic arms, started typing out words incomprehensible to man, before another, far more sinister looking grub appeared on the monitor infront of it.