The vehicle level wasn't a room so much as a runway that had multiplied. Rows on rows stretched into a soft vanishing point - sleek bikes perched like patient animals, low-bellied cars with knife-bright seams, compact drones folded like sleeping birds. Overhead, rails carried gantries that purred to themselves. The air smelled like clean metal, warmed rubber, and one sharp note of ion - like a storm that had memorized the rules.
Hikari took one step inside and forgot to breathe.
"It's bigger than my grocery list" Esen said, reverent and ridiculous in the same breath.
"It's a whole ass city" Feris corrected, already craning for something with propellers.
Alteea spread her arms as if she were hosting a banquet. "Wheels, wings, sins against regulations. We don't start polite before we misbehave." She cut Hikari a sidelong look over the rim of her glasses. "Try to pretend you haven't already picked."
