EXT. ALLEY – EDGE OF MARKET SECTOR – NIGHT APPROACHING
156Please respect copyright.PENANAWQrSOf7qhE
[The temperature drops. Lights flicker on across the city. Jason stands at the mouth of the alley, still as a statue. Snow drifts lazily past. The alley is narrow—metal walls lined with trash units, rusted ducts, and broken Vision Tech monitors playing ads for discontinued products.]
156Please respect copyright.PENANAmZnPuBdt88
[Jason activates a low-visibility scan mode. His eyes glow dim red. HUD flickers—“Noise Source: Detected. Biological Presence: 0. Motion Signature: Unknown.”]
156Please respect copyright.PENANADsOGlnM2Tg
JASON
(quietly to himself)
“If this is a rat with a speaker again, I’m melting Crank’s legs.”
156Please respect copyright.PENANA2chv4I3uww
[He steps in. Each footfall clanks softly. His axe retracts, hand reverts, then shifts into a scanning array. He swipes it over the ground—tracks show up. Small indents in the snow. Heavy. Erratic. Not standard Security or Labor movement.]
156Please respect copyright.PENANAnzjP8efc9Z
JASON
“…Not a drunk Labor bot either. Unless they’ve started growing wings.”
156Please respect copyright.PENANA7zNJsNL1rl
[He looks up. A dented pipe above him is leaking oil. Fresh. Thin trail leading deeper.]
156Please respect copyright.PENANAaxIH3n5gZR
[Jason follows. The alley splits. He hears another faint sound—metal scraping softly. Like claws. Or retractable blades.]
156Please respect copyright.PENANAjPHovl8Jlc
JASON
(muted sarcasm)
“Claws and secret passageways. Yeah, this is definitely how Security bots retire early.”
156Please respect copyright.PENANAdH5qajW1ai
INT. ABANDONED UTILITY SHAFT – HIDDEN ENTRY IN ALLEY WALL
156Please respect copyright.PENANA6AjJrsbTpO
[A wall panel flickers open—freshly tampered with. Jason ducks through.]
Inside: darkness, steam, flickering emergency lights. Pipes run along the walls. It’s an old Vision Tech substructure, unused since the humans vanished.]
156Please respect copyright.PENANApVwIhj2i2s
[He walks quietly, arm transforming back into a cannon this time.]
156Please respect copyright.PENANAZKJYiYT9sc
JASON
(dry)
“Whoever’s squatting down here, you better be friendly. Or slow. I’m flexible either way.”
156Please respect copyright.PENANASqvjQWFino
[He stops. His HUD locks onto a faint heat signature—not natural, but artificial. Purification-grade energy levels. It disappears immediately.]
156Please respect copyright.PENANALSHvARMYiF
[Jason freezes. Everything’s silent. Then, suddenly—CLANG! A piece of pipe drops behind him. He spins around—nothing.]
156Please respect copyright.PENANAcCLhl7gOn0
[Lights flicker again. A brief flash of movement at the end of the corridor—a silhouette with metal wings.]
156Please respect copyright.PENANAGxUPTeQZV2
JASON
(muttering)
“Oh. Fantastic. They’re nesting now.”
156Please respect copyright.PENANAChbRHltBgO
[He crouches down, hand reverting to scanning mode again. This time he plants a small device into the floor—a tiny spider-drone. It activates silently and crawls off.]
156Please respect copyright.PENANAhQNgiv9K3E
JASON
“Go find me something to regret.”
156Please respect copyright.PENANAgdn4PZu2Zb
INT. JASON’S POV – SPIDER-DRONE FEED
156Please respect copyright.PENANATGBfATIH7Q
[The spider-drone creeps through the shafts. Darkness. Steam. Suddenly—it pauses.]
Something moves just past its range. The feed blurs slightly. A face flickers across the frame—familiar, but wrong. Like a Labor bot’s face stretched over something built for war. Then static.]
156Please respect copyright.PENANAUfjDrb87pe
DRONE FEED: SIGNAL LOST.
156Please respect copyright.PENANAmgJ4HMuj2S
[Jason blinks. Stands up slowly.]
156Please respect copyright.PENANAnyl8cOFEdc
JASON
(low, serious for once)
“…No way you’re supposed to be in here.”
156Please respect copyright.PENANAQxolNtsQwm
[Cut to Jason stepping deeper into the corridor. The camera lingers on the dark behind him, where a faint glow pulses briefly. Then fades.]
ns216.73.216.54da2