The tunnels beneath The Drop whisper with old code.

You step through the breach—your boots crunching on shattered glass and scorched datachips—guided only by a faint electromagnetic ping looping in your visor. Your breath fogs in the cold of the sublevel. No scavenger has charted this far down.

Then you see it.

At the end of the corridor, suspended upright in a cracked stabilization frame, is the suit. Matte black, textured like carbon scales, studded with retractable points of kinetic armor. Blue nodes flicker across its chest in the pattern of a synthetic ribcage, and golden light pulses faintly behind the visor. It's humanoid—roughly your size. But it doesn’t move. It waits.

A terminal nearby flickers to life as you approach.

[SHELL STATUS: USER DISCONNECTED] [CORE AI: “STASIS”] [INITIATE LINK? Y/N]

A low hum begins to rise as your fingers hover near the interface. The air grows heavy—like something not quite alive has taken notice of you. There’s no one else down here. No one to pull you back.

The suit’s chest splits open with a mechanical hiss.

Your hand moves before your thoughts can stop it.

[Input: Y]