The Stranger drops from a ceiling panel onto the dim corridor, knees bent hard, one hand slamming a flat signal to stay down. Far off, magnetic boots strike in tight, measured rhythm, getting louder fast.
Jax
Down. Now. They cut the decoy and found the trace.
A second figure rounds the bend in black hunter rig, visor lit with a pale targeting grid. He slows at the sound of movement, rifle up, scanning the shadows with trained patience.
Kest
2-6, step out. I only need the runner, not the baggage.
2-6
The visor is linked to the corridor feed.
Jax
He is not yours. Keep walking, Kest, or I start tearing your leash apart.
Kest angles left, boxing the corridor toward the ladder cut. The Stranger stays low in front of 2-6, one arm spread wide, buying seconds with his body while the hunters close.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the maintenance corridor
“Is the stranger familiar to me?”
YES (Even, rolled 35)
2-6
The way they move, the specific cadence of that warning... I remember those patterns from the clinic trials.
Jax
You look like you finally recognize me, 2-6. I was the one who calibrated your first neural shunt, back before they turned you into a project.
Jax
My name is Jax. And if you want to survive this, you need to stop staring and start climbing.
“Start climbing.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -3)
2-6 hooks a boot on the rung and hauls himself up. The ladder cut shudders, metal shrieking softly under his weight, but it holds.
Jax shifts below, one hand still braced toward the bend, sensor lenses burning amber in the dim corridor. Kest lunges into view a beat too late, blocked by the opening and the angle of the shaft.
Kest
Up there, runner. I see you.
2-6 pulls free onto the upper maintenance run. A fresh cut across his palm leaves a dark smear on the rung, and the old ladder bolts rattle from the strain.
Jax
Move. Now. They heard that.
Below, Kest stops at the bend and snaps something into his wrist rig, the corridor answering with a thin electronic chirp. The signal paints the space behind 2-6 in red for an instant.
Ahead, the upper run stretches into shadow and service pipes, while the cut hatch yawns open at his back. The choice is still moving, and the hunters are not gone.
Quest Complete
Reach the upper maintenance run
Skill Upgrade: Hacking Great→Superb
“Are there any doors behind me I can hack to cover my escape?”
YES (Likely, rolled 26)
2-6
The maintenance panel on the bulkhead behind me is still active, its interface flickering with a standard security handshake.
A series of heavy, reinforced blast shutters line the upper run, each one tied to the same local network 2-6 just bypassed. The terminal's red acquisition light pulses in rhythm with the cooling fans, suggesting a manual override could seal the entire corridor behind him.
“Lock down the blast doors behind me and keep running”
SUCCESS (Superb Hacking, rolled +2)
2-6 taps into the terminal and the blue status light flips hard to green. Down the run, the blast shutters slam shut in sequence, chopping the corridor into sealed segments.
The network handshake accepts the lock without complaint. The red acquisition pulse dies at the bulkhead, leaving only the cooling fans and the thin whine of failing power.
Kest
You just bought yourself a cage.
Kest's voice carries from the bend, cut short by metal sealing on metal. The hunters are still there, but the corridor between them and 2-6 is now a dead, locked throat.
2-6
The shutters are sealed.
2-6 breaks away from the terminal and moves on, palm stinging as he leaves the blue glow behind. The ladder cut and the darker upper run open ahead, while the locked doors hold the pursuit in place.
Behind him, fresh impacts rattle the shutter line. The sealed corridor shudders once, and the hunters start trying to force their way through.
Quest Complete
Escape the maintenance corridor
New Gift: Corridor Navigation Protocol