Senko’s mecha reaches the collapsed access shaft beneath the industrial ruins. Fabrication arms peel away concrete, twisted rails, and buried conduit until a sealed descent hatch emerges.
The disabled rival remains behind in the wrecked pursuit machine, alive but absent. Encrypted academy-era credentials and recorded identity traces follow the recovered signal through the mecha’s systems.
The key confirms what Senko already knows: the pursuing pilot was once her lover, before Senko abandoned the academy for corporate mercenary work and unrestricted rogue operations.
The hatch unlocks beneath the mecha’s tools. Far below, dormant assembly gantries encircle an experimental core, their skeletal arms waiting in the vault’s blue darkness.
As the machine descends, corporate security wakes in layers. Dust lifts from sensor housings, dormant cameras iris open, and old authorization beacons begin scanning the cockpit.
The Vault Security System
Unauthorized former academy operator detected. Corporate access revoked. Experimental core custody remains restricted.
The gantries rotate toward Senko’s mecha without firing. A sealed cradle exposes the experimental core, while the vault projects one final request for authentication.
Senko
The access key still recognizes her.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure access to the experimental core