The rusted pickup truck tore off the highway, drifting into the ruins of an old "Robot Assembly Factory" that had long since collapsed. The skeletal steel beams and shadows provided perfect cover from Kaiman's scouts.
Once the engine died, silence reclaimed the area... followed immediately by the heavy, ragged breathing of Murphy.
"We're here, bro... You okay?"
Philip rushed to the passenger side. Murphy's condition was concerning. His right arm was swollen to a terrifying size. The skin around where the bracer had sat was angry red, scorched by critical-level heat. Wisps of smoke still curled from the flesh.
"Just a scratch..." Murphy forced a pale smile, though sweat poured down his face. "Feels like I hugged a hot iron, that's all... I can't move it, though."
Philip popped open his makeshift first-aid kit. He used pliers to carefully peel away fragments of the melted metal bracer that had fused to the skin. Then, he scooped out a handful of translucent blue gel—"Aloe Vera mixed with Engine Coolant."
"This is going to sting," Philip warned, slathering the gel onto the burns.
"Hiss..." Murphy clenched his jaw as the freezing sensation battled the searing heat in his arm.
"This will draw out the thermal energy. You are grounded from using that arm for at least 12 hours. No punching, no lifting," Philip bandaged the arm with practiced speed. He then picked up the remains of the 'Ventilator Bracer'. It was a twisted wreck of metal.
Philip's expression darkened. "Standard steel couldn't handle the recoil reflection... It dumped the excess heat right back into your arm."
"Forget it. Without that junk, I'd be paste right now," Murphy leaned back, closing his eyes. "Wake me up if they find us."
Philip sat by a small fire, rummaging through the scrap they had looted from Butch's truck. His "Genius Engineer" eyes began to deconstruct the objects, blue schematic lines floating in his vision.
"Military-grade Titanium Shock Absorbers..." Philip held up a heavy, dark-metal part. "If I use this as the main frame and rewire the cooling system... Version 2.0 will handle three times the impact. And it won't blow up on you."
The rhythmic clinking of a screwdriver against metal filled the silent night. Philip worked with obsessive focus, determined to build a weapon worthy of his brother's reckless bravery.
As Philip worked, the "Core" in his backpack suddenly began to vibrate. A soft blue light pulsed from within the ancient device.
Hum... Hum...
Philip froze. He picked it up. His "Machine Whisperer" ability allowed him to hear something strange coming from the Core. It wasn't a voice. It sounded like a compass needle spinning, crying out for a direction.
"It's... homing in?"
Philip noticed the light blinked faster and the vibration intensified whenever he faced North. It was as if the Core was desperate to return to a "Source" or a "Connection Point."
"North... That's the direction of 'The Silent Dishes'," Philip muttered, referencing the abandoned satellite array graveyard on his map. "Why does it want to go there? Is there another energy source like it?"
Philip looked out the factory window toward the dark northern horizon. He didn't know what was waiting for them, but his instincts screamed that the answer to this power lay in that direction.
"Murphy..." Philip looked at his sleeping brother. "When you wake up, we need to change our route."