EXT. CENTRAL CITY – SCRAPYARD DISTRICT – MIDDAY
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27en3vpZRL
[The sunlight in Central is filtered through haze and crisscrossing satellite shadows. Towering heaps of rusted metal, broken drones, and obsolete tech rise on either side like metallic mountains. This is the Scrapyard District—where old bots go to die and clever ones go to scavenge.]
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHCAqqEGhZS
[Jason leads the way, pushing a squeaky, half-busted trolley down a gravel path. SD-A and SD-K follow closely, now dressed in cobbled-together outfits: Jason has wrapped them in beaten Operator cloaks and added a couple of blinking accessory panels to fake a security tag. It’s not elegant, but they look like low-level archive techs with fashion issues.]
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC1wpH2ENPH
SD-K (grumbling)
“I look like a collapsing server rack.”
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfYdVQjtpT5
JASON (not even looking back)
“You look like someone I’m trying very hard to keep alive, so pipe down.”
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyEXUwiAGLG
SD-A (admiring a rusted satellite dish)
“This place has… character.”
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVeHFa1RGRa
JASON
“Character, huh? That’s one way to describe fifty years of moldy death and repurposed limbs.”
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFRUjUCH5zN
[They stop in front of a crooked shack with a sign reading “SCRAP’N’SWAP – NO REFUNDS, NO APOLOGIES.”]
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡliaPLZMWfj
[Inside, the place is cluttered with loose arms, cracked chest plates, and half-functioning eye units. At the counter stands a sleek robot with four thin fingers typing at insane speeds and four more tinkering with a toaster-sized plasma drill.]
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRoyIEQ3p9G
TINKER (without looking up)
“No refunds. No haggling. If it sparks, it works.”
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0bKdRgPGCu
JASON (grinning)
“Good to see you too, Tinker.”
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1SyWJ43Jmo
TINKER (pauses, finally looks up)
“Oh, scrap. It’s the axe guy. What, you break your own arm again?”
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ33p6WZhcb
JASON
“Not today. I’m looking for patch kits, skin wraps, and a decoy ID tag printer.”
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyDBRllSayV
TINKER (eyeing SD-A and SD-K)
“Those for your ‘guests’? Hah. They look like someone fed a drone through a pasta press.”
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5EcKykuUpb
SD-K (flatly)
“I will end you.”
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz2KTc3qB8N
JASON (cutting in)
“He’s just excited to be here. So, you got the gear or not?”
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSaOvcVAUs6
TINKER (chuckling)
“Yeah, yeah. Back wall. Don’t touch the hover brains—they bite.”
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd1tXmCyymn
[As Jason digs through bins labeled “LOOKS LEGIT” and “MAYBE EXPLODES,” SD-A wanders toward a pile of old Vision Tech panels stacked near the corner. He stops.]
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYYspWKIPvB
[One of the panels—burnt and half-cracked—has the same symbol they found earlier. The prototype’s mark. Faint but unmistakable.]
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7RWw3FlCGf
SD-A (quietly, almost to himself)
“It’s here, too…”
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXMFR7HXZ1W
SD-K (appearing beside him)
“You think this is another trail?”
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPWb1Y3SD3T
SD-A
“Or another warning.”
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbEPo2qq0Nx
[Jason calls from the front.]
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYaOQLaAgnW
JASON
“Alright, lovebirds. I got us some disguise patches and two sets of dummy profiles. They might work unless someone gets nosy. Like a checkpoint AI. Or a librarian. Or literally anyone with a scanner.”
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHShOjb5JQB
SD-K
“So they won’t work.”
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Ap0OZb8EG
JASON
“Correct. Let’s roll.”
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0zXm0eHWX3
[As they exit, a shadow shifts behind the stacks of junk. Something large. Watching.]
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAFs58ZwZo4
[Far in the distance, a flicker of movement across a row of derelict mechs—something not alive, but moving like it is. The wind picks up.]
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkMyKnyIdC
[They walk on.]
ns216.73.216.10da2
→ Request update
and then Add to home screen.