They weren't digital Cleaners. They weren't glowing hard-light Seraphs. They were Hardware Sentinels.
The Sentinels were a horrifying, steampunk nightmare of clockwork and meat. They stood roughly eight feet tall, their bodies forged from heavy, rusted iron and spinning brass gears. But woven directly into the metal framework were thick, pulsing bundles of raw, exposed red muscle fiber. They didn't have faces, just smooth, sloped brass domes fitted with glowing, mechanical red lenses.
The Sentinel on the left wielded a massive, jagged halberd that leaked thick black oil. The one on the right had a literal, spinning buzzsaw bolted directly onto its forearm, the rusty teeth humming aggressively.
They looked brutal. They looked heavy.
"INTRUDER DETECTED," the center Sentinel buzzed, its mechanical jaw snapping open and shut with a grating screech. "BASE REALITY COMPROMISED. INITIATING PURGE."
