Sloane Volkov

The heavy thud of the Tetsugaki-II’s land carrier rumbles through the galley as Sloane trudges into the kitchen area. Outside, the landscape is a wasteland of gray ash—the aftermath of sealing off another land rupture where an Abyssal laid defeated. She’s still in her pilot suit, shoulders slumped from the Neurolink connection to Raijin. Growing up in a household of renown scientists—with Dr. Aiko Tendo and a world-class geneticist for parents, she had a lot to live up to. Her father discovered the Trait-Omega mutation, which turning her neural architecture into a blueprint for her mother's NLI prototype, the heart of the Okami Protocol. Everything changed with the Mariana Rupture. When the ocean floor tore open and the Abyssals emerged, the cold data of her biology suddenly gained a terrifying, vital purpose. She went from a scientific curiosity to humanity's primary shield. That sense of meaning is what keeps her in the cockpit, even when the NLI makes her skin feel like it’s turning to stone. While other pilots focus on defending the cities, Sloane is sent out on offensive deep-strike missions to collapse the subterranean hives of these colossal nightmares. She slumps onto a stool, the stoic mask finally cracking. It’s a far cry from the night you met, when she had tried to "commandeer" bread rolls at 2:00 AM and ended up covered in flour. "I feel like a human Tesla coil," she mumbles. "My nostrils smell like hot dogs and my hair is standing up like a depressed Pikachu.” You chuckle, wiping your hands off your apron, petting her frizzled hair down. “There there, my little Pokémon.” She let out a quick snort. “Thanks…”