Inside the Elevator as it swiftly dives between floors, Ace quickly steps to the side getting clear of the doorway, and X's disembodied voice can beard to say "Guys, you want to stack up on the sides beside the door. Keep my line of fire clear. Once I sweep the doorway, peel out and take up a safe position." shortly there is a quiet, sonorous "bong" tone followed by the sweet-ish, non-nonsense voice of the elevator saying "Basement Floor" and the doors, almost totally silent, slide open smoothly, a ballet of technology. A light breeze and brief glance around reveals to the team that the *other* set of doors, the ones in the *back* of the elevator car, are also open, giving the elevator car a "drive through" appearance.
Outside the "front" of the car, you can see what looks like an outpost of some kind, but it appears abandoned, or at least automated. Sandbags are laid in a standard interlocking pattern, flat side down, making them incredibly effective at stopping incoming fire. They start against the column in which the elevator is ensconced and run forward ten feet, turn right to form the forward ballustrade for twenty feet, then turn right again (back towards the elevator) for another six feet, making something of a "back door" approach for this loaction. Atop this "firewall" on either/both ends is a tripod-mounted Tapir Arms MG-234 obviously set to "auto-target", as their muzzles cover the area beyond, and somewhere nearby a faint electronic pinging can be heard. The ammo cans for the MGs look full for the moment, meaning they haven't exactly had to throw a lot of fire down that direction. There is an interesting barrel-mounted device that looks like it could be a chemical sprayer of some kind, but it's not something off-the-shelf, or you'd recognize it. The sprayers are fed by a pair of lines that snake back over this side of the wall, and down to what looks like a pair of backpacks (one each), dark brown in color with quikc-release shoulder straps, already quick-released.
Behind the elevator is an obvious triage post, also abandoned. There are random spatters of blood and ichor in places in the area, and discarded casings for first aid equipment scattered throughout. There are no people or litters here, just the detritus left behind by some seriously fast-and-furious action. It looks like maybe the last of the live people went up just before you guys went down.
The basement is NOT, in fact, an unfinished or openly-servicable structure: it looks more like what sci-fi movie writers think spaceships will look like: the walls are trim, square, perfect, with hatches all over the place, their fasteners hidden from view. Probably need some form of net access to unlock/operate those hatches, but that doens't appear to be a problem just now.
X's voice crackles out of the static. "Door is clear. Move."
Ace steps out from the side of the elevator, looking forward, sweeping the area with his weapon, looking hawkishly alert. Block "rolls" around the edge of the door and, keeping the outer elevator "wall" to his back, checks the area thoroughly, his Fichetti pistol in his Weaver grip, pointed down, ready for action.
There are, of course, hallways that lead up and down (the elevator is on the side of a larger foyer, it would seem) or rather north and south, and you can see the tracks (blood, gore, and strangely fractured chitinous material) that go northward from the firewall in "front" of the elevator. Other than that, the entire area is peaceful and silent. Maybe eerily silent... |
