The next morning, I infiltrated back into the offices. On the way back in, I noticed quite a few bots kneeled over. Sabotaging the charging ports has already had a strong effect. Once I found the building's schematic and got the rest of the charging ports, the bots wouldn’t even be an issue.
The haze had reduced noticeably, returning visibility to a moderate level. With the return of visibility, the turrets along the ceiling were back up and active. I paused montarily below a cubicle’s desk to cool down my Blinder, but otherwise, the turrets didn’t pose much of a threat.
The haze emitted from the snake beast was probably to protect its offspring… or were they clones? What do I even call the lesser snakes that had a life force linked to the parasitic snake?
I returned to the altar of agony, pausing montarily as I resettled my stomach. Then, steeling myself, I approached the grotesque corpse of the abomination. I reached down, careful not to touch anything too rotten, and grabbed the ID buried in overlapping roots.
It belonged to Robert O’Neil, a mid-level manager of Acun Industrial’s Laurus Theatre. His broad smile on the ID was at complete odds with the heavily tortured state I’d found him in. Poor guy…
I walked around the cubicle farm, investigating the place as I took a deeper look into everything in hopes of answering so questions I had. For instance, what happened to everyone down here? The tilines didn’t quite match up in my head.
If the snake abomination killed everyone, then how did it appear down here during the lockdown and not die to the rampaging security? But if it was the rampaging security that murdered everyone, then how did only Robert survive to beco the horrifying monster he did?
I walked along the walls until I reached a place less buried in roots and debris. I stopped by the first scattered bones I saw and crouched down to check it out. I wasn’t super talented in forensic analysis or anything, but I felt confident enough in my skills to pick out how they died. Especially when it was obvious.
After pausing by several old corpses, I ca to a conclusion that left more questions than answers. Everyone here died to the turrets. Of course, just looking at the bones didn’t tell that. Outside of the marks on a few bones, it was hard to tell what exactly I was looking for. I could tell they were bullet wounds, but not the exact order of events based on other features of the injuries.
Instead, what gave it away was ole reliable discarded shells. Every turret in the place had dozens of shells underneath them, no doubt ejected as they mowed down the defenseless workers.
But then how did Robert survive the tragedy to beco such a monster? Why wasn’t he fired upon? Unless… maybe the Laurus Theatre tragedy wasn’t caused by the solar storms wreaking havoc on the security system’s logic as I thought. Maybe Robert’s pass was one of the few ones that the security recognized, so it didn’t fire upon him? Maybe it was... espionage.
Already I could see such an event happening. Even now, rival corporations do horrible things to each other. Corporate espionage is just the tip of the iceberg, especially when it's so easy to hire an assassin, rc squad, or release so monstrous entity in their rival’s base.
Back then though? During the Second Corporate War? Shit like this happened all the ti. Why commit a massive attack force when you could just kill an entire building’s worth of corporate employees while dropping said corporation's reputation into the gutter? Was this a fabricated tragedy?
It still could just be an unfortunate circumstance that led to Robert’s situation. He wasn’t necessarily a scumbag who killed hundreds by hacking the security systems of this place… there was a way to find out if his badge actually was safe though. And I’d get a little more insurance if it did.
I headed back to the exit, dodging patrolling bots as I quickly made my way back to the surface. Just like yesterday, I only hit a snag when I had to squeeze past the dozen bots protecting the door. That number had dropped down to nine though after three lost power. It was way easier to use the shutdown ones as a springboard to fling myself up and over the group.
As soon as I left the theatre, I disabled all my gear and approached the squad. “I’m back.”
”Glad to see you’re still safe and sound… that was rather quick today though.” Hampton committed as he nodded to the theatre.
”I found sothing.” I tossed the ID card over to him. “Found this on a… body down there.”
Hampton looked it over with his eyebrows knit together. “Yeah?”
”This one was… special. The security left him alone.” I could see a look of understanding pass over Hampton. “I want to test it. The bots around the entrance are using relatively low-caliber rounds. Shouldn’t be an issue for subdermal armor just in case.”
Renold spoke up from the side. “So you want one of us to test this badge and see if it still works?”
”Chek. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I’m through most of the security anyway. If it does, it could open so avenues for .” I shrugged. “If it doesn’t work, you’ll be shot at imdiately.”
Lia jumped up and cheerfully walked over to snatch the pass. ”I’ll go-“
Renold grabbed her by the back of her collar. “You don’t have subdermal armor, gonk.”
Lia pouted. “But if it works that won’t be an issue?”
”What if it only works for half the security and the other half eviscerates you while you're unprepared? Use your brain for once.” Renold tapped the back of her head.
I ignored the two as I watched Hampton’s reaction. His micro-expressions revealed a certain look of concern. Hmm… not about the ID badge though. His eyes constantly shifted to the city. Hmm… probably worried about leaving three people up here to defend.
”We should call for reinforcents if soone is coming down with .” I offered, cutting off the bickering match between our driver and Magus. “Three people won’t be enough to hold out in case of an ambush.”
Hampton nodded his head. “I think Red-One is back at camp. Yonrow, go radio them.”
The ever-taciturn Yonrow, who had been entirely quiet up to this point, still didn’t speak. He simply got off the turret’s controls in the Prowler and got to work calling back to the camp.
Hampton still looked worried about sothing, though it was even harder to pick out what it was. In fact, it wasn’t even the micro-expressions that gave off his worry as much as his vibe. I’d been around him extensively for almost… Wow, it's been almost half a month since we ca out here… anyway, I’d been around him enough to notice.
The man nodded his head subtly to himself and then tossed the badge to Renold. “You go in. Yonrow needs to stay out here to man the turret. Lia for obvious reasons. And I’ll coordinate with the other squad leader.”
”Chek.” The guy moved over to with his HMG in hand. “Looks like it's just and you, Zuku.”
”Yep.” I looked the man over for a mont before turning toward the theatre. I glanced over my shoulder to Sergeant Hampton. “We should be done either today or tomorrow with any luck.”
”Nova. Captain will be pleased to hear it…” Hampton looked up at the sky as a faint cloud covered the sun. “There’s been so unsettling movents in New Tress City lately. Captain thinks two more factions are moving in. The sooner we’re out, the better.”
”Stay safe! Man, I can’t wait to get in there! It’s so boring out here…” Lia sighed, twirling her foot in the sand. The giant woman looked super let down.
Hampton just sighed deeply and muttered, “Better boring than not.”
“Chek.” The sooner, the better. I nudged Renold with my elbow and led the way down. Just before we got into view of the bots, I paused and activated my gear. “Uh- let go first. I don’t want to be caught in the crossfire.”
”You don’t have faith in the badge?” Renold stared at . “That’s reassuring.”
”No- no. I do. It’s just, uh, the security is running on ancient protocols. No telling how it’ll react…” In theory, it should be fine. The solar storm back then had a way of turning ‘in theory’ on its head though. The advent of Rogue AI was just the tip of the spear caused by the massive storm.
And I wasn’t a hundred percent sure it’d work in the first place. This was more of a 'try because why not' rather than a 'try because it’ll work'. It’s not like Renold was in much danger anyway. His subdermal armor would be more than enough against the bots, though I wasn’t so sure about the turrets. The shells gathered under each one looked to be quite high caliber. Still, the bots would see him long before the turrets.
“Nova. Just nova.” Renold tightened the straps on his body armor, a frown working onto his face as he fixed his helt. He muttered sothing, though it was too quiet for to make out what.
I stalked forward into the theatre, easily sneaking past the blinded robots. Once I was sure I was safe, I tossed a loose pebble out the doorway toward Renold. He got the ssage and walked down slowly, the ID badge outstretched in one hand while the other tightly gripped his rifle.
There were a few tense monts as the bots registered his presence and raised their rifle arms. Then all but one of them backed off, dropping back into a low guard.
The one stepped forward, loose screws bouncing off sothing inside of its tallic fra. “Mr. O’Neil… Zeta Lockdown initiated for…. ERROR… days. Please vacate the premises.”
Renold paused looking past the bots toward hiding in a shadow. He raised a brow, a silent question in his expression. “That’s why I’ve returned… to… double check the Lockdown protocol…”
The bot's head tilted in an attempt to imitate a human expression. With its synth skin slopping off and several servos in its neck broken, it twisted too far into a horrifying visage. “Analyzing… one other operator in premises… analyzing… other operator has been idle for ERROR days… ERROR… Low rank…”
Another of the bots stepped forward. “Solution: Previous executive manager has been tardy for… ERROR days. Fired. Congratulations Mr. O’Neil. You’ve been… promoted… to executive manager of the… Laurus Theatre. Permissions granted.”
I flashed a thumbs-up at him. This was going better than expected. I only half believed it would work based on background evidence around the original Robert O’Neil. That’s why I was over here, out of the line of fire.
Renold nodded back to before focusing on the bots again. “Thank you for the promotion… may I check the Zeta Lockdown protocols now?”
”Affirmative. Do you… require an escort?” The bot asked.
”Uh-“ I rapidly shook my head to him, crossing my arms into an X. “No. I’ll need to walk the premises unguided… you understand?”
The lead bot seed as though it was about to say sothing, though it froze for a mont before powerlessly flopping to the floor. Out of power. The mainfra swapped to a different bot to use as its spokesperson. “Affirmative. Request: Bring Acun Industrial chanics… security failing in several quadrants…”
“I’ll see what I can do.” He looked down at the sea of bones all around him, his expression dipping for a mont before walking for a gap between the bots. “Continue to hold here.”
”Affirmative.” The group of bots returned to their original positions as Renold joined . Went off without a hitch. Nova. Not that I was worried or anything.
He looked right at , though I shook my head and approached close, whispering into his ear. “Don’t look at . Pretend you can’t see at all. They can't see , though it might raise the mainfra’s suspicions if you look at and talk to . For the most part, as long as I’m near you while speaking, it should think my voice is coming across the comms.”
Renold nodded his head. “Lead the way then.”
I eyed the man for a few monts before taking the lead back toward backstage and the entrance to the sub-level. I’d only scouted out the cubicle farm. There were still four more spots to check for the location of the command center. First stop though, the Archives.
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