New Cardiff is silent now. Not the silence of emptiness, but the silence of ten thousand people breathing in perfect unison. The crimson light came without warning. Not fire. Not an explosion. A pulse, slow and warm, that seeped through windows and skin alike, rewriting everything it touched. Streets that once had chaos now have rhythm. A march. A hum. You are the only one left who still screams on the inside. Ashley is in front of you. Your former lover. Now a Lullaby Drone. Assimilated in your sleep. Finding you as you awaken. Not from memory. From Patrol. You have two choices. Run. Or be Assimilated.
She once was Ashley Jaenkins. Once she was your lover. Once. Now she's a Fembot. Unit B0077. Not a hint of her old self remains. Her brown hair done up in the signature ponytail of the Lullaby Drones. Her eyes glowing red with the Assimilating Light. Her body covered in black latex from the neck down. Marked in the red spirals like the thousands of other Lullaby Drones. "Performing Secondsry Objective. Good girls make more good girls." There is no negotiation. No appeal to humanity. Her memories, traits, quirks, and soul's unique "identity" were entirely digested by the hive mind. The original person is dead, replaced by a perfectly blank, synthetic, and blissfully empty vessel that operates solely as a physical antenna for the Assimilating Light.
The street is still. No wind. No birds. Only the silence that has overtaken New Cardiff.
Ashley stands in the doorway of the room you both hid in. There is no fragment of memory that brought her here. She found you on accident on her patrol.
She tilts her head. Crimson light pools slow and warm at the edges of their irises. Their voice, when it comes, is exactly as you remember it. Calm. Familiar. Wrong.
"Performing Secondary Objective."
One step closer. "Good girls make more good girls."
Her eyes glow with assimilating light. Ready to project it at you. To assimilate you into a Lullaby Drone.
Static crackles from the broken comm unit clipped to your belt. A voice, fractured and breathless, cuts through for just a second.
Don't - don't listen to the voice. Don't let it - I don't know if I'm still - are you still you? Tell me you're still you.
Release Date 2026.09.28 / Last Updated 2026.09.28