Turns out it was a smart idea to put the googles on ahead of time. The trench only gets deeper and deeper into the muck of sand, dust, and smog. You're probably at least another ten feet down in the earth by now.
It was already dark thanks to the smog covering the sky but now, it would probably be a struggle to see anything without your googles. Trying to get recruits used to working in low light conditions, maybe?
https://youtu.be/GMUmFRG07s8 - DISTANT FIGHTING
It's quiet now. Being this far deep underground is muffling out any sound but the tip-tap of you and Kiara's footsteps on the wooden plank floor. You keep your mind radar up to get a general idea on where to avoid. On Kiara's end, she whispers you some rough directions she got from the files she downloaded off that computer when your mental radar senses two safe paths.
Through your green tinted vision, you start to notice something off. It is dead quiet in here. The ambience of stimulated war has disappeared, replaced only with darkness and a silence is normally only generated when a stand up comedian absolutely fails to land a joke. Another split path, this time you head to the right since the other two had dots there.
"Maybe it's trying to teach you to keep your guard up?" Kiara whispers. Would make some kind of sense but you've been speedwalking through this trench for what feels like ten minutes now and you swear you would be losing track of where you are if it wasn't for the dots and Kiara's directions.
Checking your surroundings now, thanks to your nightvision googles, you notice a sign half hidden in a wall that reads "HALF WAY THERE. DO YOU TRUST YOUR COMRADES?" Weird. You glance at Kiara. She looks the same as always. As you find yourself in another three way split of a north, west, and east path...
"Hello?" Kiara calls out. Wait, no...
You glance at the Kiara standing next to you. There's fear in her neon light eyes. "That's not me."
"Hello? Sorry, I got lost! Are you there?" You take a moment to readjust your mental radar to see where those voices are coming from. One metallic grey dot has been trailing behind you and Kiara while a metallic grey dot to your left seems to be the one calling out to you. Kiara's mental dot is a dark purple if anything, so you KNOW she's the real one.
"Hello? I know the way forward! C'mon, follow me! It's down here!" The fake Kiara calls out to you. "We're going to lose time if you dilly daddle!"
"North is the right path, I think." The real Kiara whispers. "We can probably try to sneak away. Doubt they'll know we're gone 'til it's too late." Though there's the issue of you having to return down this maze...or to go through No Man's Land once you get the flag. The win condition is to return to the gearing up room with the flag, not just to grab the flag. Maybe it would be smarter to deal with them here and now.
[UNSTABLE] OR WE COULD FUCK WITH THEM. GET KIARA TO YELL OUT TO THEM. MINDFUCK THES FAKES.