EXT. CENTRAL CITY – SCRAPYARD DISTRICT – MIDDAY
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0sDNbtkHJs
[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.]
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1RrK072WL
[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.]
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡltTisu2qO7
SD-K (grumbling)
“I look like a collapsing server rack.”
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKYEUkaMqZv
JASON (not even looking back)
“You look like someone I’m trying very hard to keep alive, so pipe down.”
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTS541D7eNa
SD-A (admiring a rusted satellite dish)
“This place has… character.”
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzrWZ4vckz
JASON
“Character, huh? That’s one way to describe fifty years of moldy death and repurposed limbs.”
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCgJIrfKW50
[They stop in front of a crooked shack with a sign reading “SCRAP’N’SWAP – NO REFUNDS, NO APOLOGIES.”]
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡglzc7HEM1h
[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.]
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvrhuzldoUb
TINKER (without looking up)
“No refunds. No haggling. If it sparks, it works.”
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcxYI20bOEr
JASON (grinning)
“Good to see you too, Tinker.”
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdVc6HB9R6U
TINKER (pauses, finally looks up)
“Oh, scrap. It’s the axe guy. What, you break your own arm again?”
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3rGelQX4pR
JASON
“Not today. I’m looking for patch kits, skin wraps, and a decoy ID tag printer.”
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIhBgTFRh8C
TINKER (eyeing SD-A and SD-K)
“Those for your ‘guests’? Hah. They look like someone fed a drone through a pasta press.”
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTPWqBuGiF
SD-K (flatly)
“I will end you.”
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzso9AQiW0K
JASON (cutting in)
“He’s just excited to be here. So, you got the gear or not?”
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUJBu1mzNhZ
TINKER (chuckling)
“Yeah, yeah. Back wall. Don’t touch the hover brains—they bite.”
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuKvKxx7vo8
[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.]
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡePTcGuaO8V
[One of the panels—burnt and half-cracked—has the same symbol they found earlier. The prototype’s mark. Faint but unmistakable.]
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6BdTvCoG0v
SD-A (quietly, almost to himself)
“It’s here, too…”
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtONUFmakDS
SD-K (appearing beside him)
“You think this is another trail?”
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjKCWBAn57O
SD-A
“Or another warning.”
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgSPYPYzOwq
[Jason calls from the front.]
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8xVdqDh8pC
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.”
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWoLeB3MpnL
SD-K
“So they won’t work.”
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSXsMuX1GYg
JASON
“Correct. Let’s roll.”
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPqaYsiXKd
[As they exit, a shadow shifts behind the stacks of junk. Something large. Watching.]
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCo9s7HciwM
[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.]
26Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ55IO6EGMUj
[They walk on.]
ns18.188.100.179da2
