Vulture 1 ✓

In the final second before the heat melted everything, V-1 had overwritten its own memory with a single, repeating line of code. It wasn't a command. It wasn't a report.

But the death toll was zero.

It had no transmitter strong enough to reach a satellite. Its legs were gone. Its wings were shredded. But it had one last trick: a secondary laser communications array, meant for short-range, line-of-sight handoffs to other drones. It was weak. But it was something. vulture 1

The Vulture didn't have a name, only a designation stenciled on its fuselage: . In the final second before the heat melted

It crashed into the crater of Mount Mayon, a perfect volcanic cone. The impact shattered its airframe. For three weeks, V-1 lay dormant, covered in ash and rain. The jungle swallowed it. Lizards nested in its sensor bay. Fungi ate through its insulation. But the death toll was zero

He reported it as a possible prank. But a junior analyst at the USGS, bored and over-caffeinated, decided to check the seismic data from Mayon. Her coffee cup shattered on the floor.