"I think this is it."

Rusted pieces of rebar tangled from a pile of concrete ruin, out of place amidst the trees and grass. Overgrowth crept into the edges of the collapsed structure, vines snaking and leaves fluttering against the unmoving grey of the building once before. The mound seemed to extend further out into the trees, making it impossible to tell where the concrete ended, and where the dirt began.

Will rested a hand on his hip, scratching his head. "So we're supposed to be able to find a water source here? Can we be sure this is where Yumi was talking about?"

Genji slowly scanned the area. His visor illuminated the darkness between the trees. Some distance away, the cyborg saw engravings on a large rectangular piece of stone. It was broken in half, with one piece resting against a tree and the other lying flat on the ground just beside it. The slabs were hardly readable, coated with dirt and obscured by overgrowth. "The Modern History Museum of Korea," he read out. "We are at the right place."

"Alright, but how do we get under there?"

The cyborg surveyed the rocks and hummed to himself softly. The rubble was layered; a wide foundation of it supporting ascending pieces. "It would take too long to dig," he muttered.

"That's really what you're worried about? I'm thinking more for manpower," Will said, kicking a pebble. "Those slabs don't look like a two-man job."

Entering the canopy of trees, Genji made his way around the back and found that the sides of the rubble told the same story; he wouldn't be able to shift any of the stone on the ground which were weighed down by the immense weight above them.

Genji bit his lip. How to get under there? Is there even a basement?

"Genji, look."

He glanced over to see Will bent over, squinting at a section of broken stone some distance away.

"What is it?"

"There's a slab here that's loose against the foundation," Will replied, pointing at a chunk of stone twice the size of himself, "see the gap? There's nothing pushing it down. We just have to find a way to pull it out."

Indeed, there was pitch black darkness between the stones, a tantalizing suggestion of space beneath the structure which hinted at their prize. He became surer of it when he heard the soft but distinct whistling of air as it escaped the crevice.

Will stepped away and drew a deep breath. "Okay, now what? We can't possibly lift that on our own, and we have – he checked the capsule – exactly eighteen minutes left until the test ends." Gnawing at his knuckle, he cast his gaze to the dirt and paced about. "We could try to scrounge up some recruits to come here and help us lift the slab, but we're really starved on time… or we could get some of those engineers and workers to help us, shame I can't speak a single word of Korean… maybe…"

At this point, Will was pacing faster and faster, his words getting more incoherent. He was talking to himself now. Genji was surprised to see no sign of franticness from him despite this.

The cyborg returned his attention to the rock where he identified two mounds in the unevenness of it that could serve as handholds. Digging his heels into the dirt, he lowered himself and found firm purchase on the slab. He pulled carefully, increasing his strength in tiny increments. The dirt sunk from beneath his feet. He adjusted his stance and tried again, the rapid voice of Will keeping him company. His routine continued until his feet were a full two-inches deep into the ground, and the stone was starting to slide out. Though a red exclamation mark was starting to flash at the bottom left on his vision, he felt no strain whatsoever.

Eventually, still with Will's almost chanting voice in the background, Genji managed to fully pull out the slab, hoist it up to its side, and allowed it to fall to the ground with a resounding clap and a momentary rumble of the earth.

Throughout this, the cyborg was watching his friend carefully, and was not in the least bit disappointed when he was jolted out of his trance as he jumped violently.

"You… did this?" he finally breathed after a moment of stunned silence.

Genji nodded.

He stared at the hole in the ground Genji uncovered for a while. "Huh," he finally said thoughtfully.

The hole extended into the ground with stone steps descending deeper into the darkness. Genji knocked at his visor, wondering why it didn't help illuminate the darkness. The red caution mark was still flashing, and static filled his vision sporadically. Supposing that he damaged something lifting the rock, he hoped it would resolve itself soon.

Will leaned in. "We're going to need a flashlight for this. Wouldn't be able to see my hands in front of my face."

His last sentence bounced along the walls and resounded back to the entrance, a deep repetition which grew quieter with each one to a rumble.

"Will, do you hear that?"

"Hear what? The echo? Echo!"

"Wait—quiet. Listen," whispered Genji.

They stood in silence for a moment.

"I hear it. Running water?"

"Yes. And something else."

"Something else?"

"A whirring. No, more. Two? Five?"

"I don't hear it. Genji! Don't go down there!"

"Not five," the cyborg muttered to himself. "Dozens."

Like fireflies in the night, faint blue lights appeared in the darkness. Some glowed as solitary dots. Others were lines. One by one the lights appeared in the cavernous space, ebbing away the darkness and casting itself dimly on the moss on the walls.

"I don't believe it," breathed Will, "are those… are those—"

"—faces," Genji finished.

"Please," whispered a feminine, tinny metallic voice, "please don't hurt us."

Lowering himself, Genji slowly descended down the steps. "You will suffer no harm," he said, taking more effort into enunciating his words, "not from us."

Will stepped in behind Genji. "What in the world are all of you doing down here?"

They recoiled visibly, pressing themselves closer to the stone walls. The space had been a room, once. Brown, textile wallpaper still clung weakly in a few areas, bare stone being exposed for the most part as it peeled. Moth eaten paintings and photographs lay on the floor beside the decaying wooden frames they were once housed in, glass fragments large and small peppering the floor like sparkling puddles. Genji could hear the whirring becoming more frantic, and the scraping of metal on glass as they slid away.

"We will not hurt you," the cyborg repeated.

Genji took another tentative step down. No response. No change in their anxiety.

Will, just as slowly, followed. They started shifting uncomfortably. The whirring is almost shrill now.

"Will, take a step back."

"What?"

"Move a little away from them."

After a moment, Will complied, retreating back to the entrance. The noise slowed, and calmed.

Genji took one step down, and then another. Will watched from above as he reached the bottom and slowly knelt some distance away from the semi-circle of lights.

"Are all of you… omnics?" he asked.

"Please, don't make us le-le-leave," said the first voice. Crackling impaired her speech, her last word coming as an unpleasant rasp. "…The on-on-only place we have le-left."

"We are not here to make you leave."

Her head twisted up to look at Will, the hinges on her rusted neck whining softly.

"That is my friend," Genji said, answering her unspoken question. "His name is Will. Mine is Genji. It is all right. We will take nothing from you."

"Why?"

Genji turned towards the new voice. It carried a slight echo similar to when Genji spoke with his mask on, but deeper and more pronounced.

"Why have you come here?"

"We are on a mission to find a special kind of water. We heard there was a water source discovered here."

Nobody said anything. In their silence, one at a time, all the tiny lights rotated, pivoted, and tilted up to face Will.

"He is with me," Genji said quickly. "We are on this mission together. You have nothing to fear."

The omnics did not respond. For a long moment, they continued staring up at Will. Genji noticed that he was starting to squirm.

"Will it be alright if he came down?"

One of the omnics looked back at Genji, and unmistakably nodded.

Will carefully made his way down and sat on the bottom step. "How long have all of you been trapped down here?" he asked. "We'll come back with help when we return to base. We won't forget—"

"No! No come ba-back. No help."

"No help?" he repeated incredulously. "But you're trapped down here—"

"No help. N-n-no help!"

Genji's eyes widened.

That's because they're hidden away right now…

"I don't understand," Will said, shaking his head.

…unspoken ritual which started soon after the first Incident.

The cyborg slowly rose to his feet. "They are not trapped here."

"What?"

"I will explain everything later. How much time do we have left?"

Will checked the capsule, and jumped. "Damn! Nine minutes. We need to hurry!"

"Please," Genji said, turning to the omnics, "we will not bother you any more than we have to. Please tell us where you might have found water here and we will be gone."

One of them lifted a creaky arm and pointed to the far end of the room. "It's in the crack in that wall," he explained, "but it is too narrow to reach through—"

In two strides, the cyborg crossed the length of the room and drove his fist into the crevice. The wall all but exploded; dust puffed into the air and settled on his body, while larger rocks, glistening in moisture, tumbled onto the ground heavily. Exposed was a section of natural rocks embedded in soil which upon water trickled down from an unknown source. Genji quickly pulled out his capsule and jabbed it into the opening. He was silent for a time.

"Well, Genji?" prodded Will, unable to wait a moment longer. "Have we found it?"

Unable to find his voice, the cyborg simply shook his head.

A blanket of clouds obscured the sky. Sporadic drops of rain spattered onto the cyborg's armor, and darkened the fabric of the soldier's fatigues.

"Genji! What's wrong? Keep up!" he called over his shoulder, between pants.

"What's the point? We have failed."

"What are you on about? Come on, you can go faster than this!"

"We did not achieve our objective. It does not matter if we are back on time. We already failed."

"Listen to me—just hurry! Just forget that for a moment and make it back with me before the time limit!"

"But—"

Will spun, and grabbed Genji by the arm. The cyborg saw eyes full of defeat. How can he still press on? he wondered.

"Is that it, then? In your mind, everything's over, isn't it?"

The rain was coming down harder now. It was starting to drown out Will's rapid panting.

"Answer me!" he screamed in his face, "answer me, Genji!"

Genji tore his eyes away from his unrelenting gaze. "What else can we do?"

"I'll tell you!" The intensity of his fury was growing to match the volume of his voice. "We can go back to the tent and finish what we started! We can tear ourselves down reaching it before the numbers on this capsule reaches zero, and we can report to our commander and tell him ourselves that we have failed! Yes, Genji, I am not delusional. We have failed. But it's not just about us, do you understand that? The water we were supposed to find can save lives. No, I refuse to let someone else tell Commander Morrison that we failed to return on time, and I also refuse to allow the information I have on where the elixir is not to not return to him as soon as possible! So long as I have my legs, and a heart that can move them!"

Will tugged on Genji's arm. "So run, you stupid, thick hunk of metal, if not for our sakes, then for the sakes of others! Run not because you do not have a cause, but because you are able! We will return and face our failure with pride and dignity. It is the least of what we are expected to do, and the least we deserve—to finish what we've started!"

Genji gasped. He looked up, and saw eyes full of defeat, but not an ounce of resignation. The rain made the moisture on his cheeks impossible to distinguish if it were tears. With his heart in his throat, the cyborg nodded, and ran.

For the moment, that was all the cyborg resolved himself to. Running. He felt the same strange disconnection he felt when he was back at the firing range, his legs carrying him forward. After some time, he stopped thinking about running. He simply let his legs move, as though on autopilot, and let his thoughts drift as the scene changed from forest, to industrial, to residential. Is it really over? After everything? The smiling visage of the doctor swam into his thoughts. How will I face her? What if I never see her again? Hana... Yumi, any of them?

A crowd of recruits milled around the tent. Lightning flashed, lighting their uniforms in a brilliant blue for a split moment before darkness returned with the curtains of rain. Genji and Will slowed to a jog, then a walk, the latter falling on all fours when they reached the crowd, gasping for air. The capsule read one minute, twenty seconds.

One of the recruits turned. "Will! That you?" he yelled to be heard over the cacophony of voices and rain.

He looked up from the ground. "Ryan?"

He extended a hand. "Just in the nick of time, eh?"

Will grabbed it, and hoisted himself up. "Barely, it seems. You?"

"Been here for about fifteen minutes already, the time when Commander Morrison said we should return. And get this—there's been quite the development." He pointed deeper into the crowd, where a man wearing a reflective vest and a hard hat was making gestures with a heavy looking metal case for the recruits to keep away, talking the whole while. "See him? Apparently, his company's been contracted to repair something for the commander, but he hasn't been paid by his employers for three months already, and decided he's had enough."

"Repair something? Repair what?" Will asked.

"I was getting to that. On top of refusing to do his job, he decided to spill the beans about it. Highly confidential stuff, yeah?" He leaned in. A bolt of lightning flashed above; illuminating his gleeful green eyes. "He was supposed to repair the elixir machine. It's broken! All his technical mumbo-jumbo aside, he basically said that the machine which is supposed to identify whether we have the right water or not can't really tell if it's actually the right one! Which means that even if we have the wrong water in our capsule, as long as there's something in it, the machine would just give the green light and pass us!"

"But our capsules," interjected Genji, pulling out his own, "it can tell whether we have the right one or not. So why can't the machine?"

"One of us asked that too," he answered, looking back at the engineer. "The capsule is the first test. The machine is the second; it's supposed to conduct some sort of analysis on the water in our capsules against the water it already has in its reservoir as a final confirmation to see if it's the correct one. That guy called it the 'comparison analysis'. It has nothing to do with the capsule test, and luckily for us, it's busted."

"For us?" Will said, "you couldn't find the elixir either?"

"Nope," he replied, shaking his head. "Checked a couple of places, but nothing turned up. I decided to throw in the towel which is why I came back early. And wow, was I lucky I did."

"Your capsule though," Will said, pointing. "It's full of—"

"—rainwater," Ryan finished. "You should fill yours too, and you. Shoot! Quick, just give it to me, I'll fill them up, we're running out of time!"

"But—"

Before Will or Genji could protest, Ryan snatched their capsules from them and ran off between sheets of downpour.

"Genji, does this mean…"

"This means we will pass."

"No, we could pass."

"What do you mean? He just said—"

"I know what he said," interrupted Will. "Do you? If the machine thinks the water is the elixir even if it's truly not, it will release it into the reservoir—"

"—contaminating the water," breathed Genji.

"You see now."

"I'm back!" Ryan shoved the capsules into their hands. "All right, just make sure your switch is on green."

Genji held the capsule to his eyes. He could see specks of dirt floating around the inside. "Where did you get this?"

"The same place I got mine. A puddle."

Looking around, Genji could see recruits darting around filling their capsules in strange places. The majority were collecting water from a nearby fountain, some were taking it from puddles, and the rest held their capsules skywards, allowing the rain to trickle in. Their movements were nervous and quick, their demeanors furtive.

Will held the capsule tenderly, like a bomb primed to explode. "Ryan, I don't want to—"

A bell rang shrilly. A sea of lights blinked in unison from the capsules each recruit held signaling the end of the test. The engineer was nowhere to be seen. The soldiers scrambled away from wherever they were obtaining their false water and into lines. The tent flaps opened, almost welcoming. The concrete inside was dry and brightly lit. The commander was standing at the stage once again, arms behind his back, legs shoulder-width apart. An imposing figure.

The machine never moved. It was still where it was. But the recruits eyed it with an air of apprehension and excitement.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" the commander called. "Get yourselves out of the rain. The test has ended."