“You're looking for a weak point NOW?! Bèn nǚrén! (Stupid woman!)” -Morai Lee, Page 2.
BC-SEC – Operation Truthseeker – North Corridor
It didn't take long for Brucey, Spook, and Xavier to reach a sealed area. The door, however, was frozen open: The lack of main power to the facility knocked out the necessary measures to keep the automatic doors working. Walking through the open doorway, they would find themselves in an unmapped section of the complex: The secret research & development labs, or at least one set of them among potentially many. Here, plexiglass walls lined the walls into laboratories, only separated at four-way intersections. The area had been made in mind for mechs specifically, giving them enough space to move comfortably. Behind the plexiglass walls, there were still medical stretchers and engineer's tools around, but no sign of any personnel or volunteers—the whole area had been evacuated.
As they take a few steps inside, Xavier's hound would growl. There was a single open, small laboratory to their left, though plexiglass walls clearly showed there was nothing inside. Still, near a four-way intersection, they were able to see through the laboratory's plexiglass walls. On the other side, they could see eight lightly armoured and heavily armed people in black and red uniforms, though they weren't Death Watch, nor any other recognizable Council of ADAM soldiers. They weren't BC-SEC either, certainly. With them was a small mech as well. They were one corridor over from themselves, and as Brucey's group spotted them through the red lighting conditions, the other group spotted them in turn. One of them taps the side of their helmet, and the group's radios surprisingly manage to pick the red and black soldier's transmission.
“Máfan fāxiàn. Wǒmen zhèngzài fàng huǎn.”
Brucey recognized the voice: It almost certainly belonged to Morai Lee. A reply quickly came through the radio.
“Zhǐyǒu shāle tāmen, rúguǒ nǐ méiyǒu qítā xuǎnzé.” The voice belonged to a woman, though her accent was thicker than Morai's was, implying that she hadn't acclimated to the region like Morai had. Still, the orders seemed clear enough as Morai motioned for four of the soldiers to hold their position while he and three others advanced. The four left behind set up several feet down the left corridor from where Brucey and his group were standing: They would likely open fire if they attempted to enter the intersection, but they weren't making any aggressive advances either. Still, they could try to simply cross the intersection and keep moving ahead, looking through the plexiglass walls to keep an eye out for Morai, or they could try to engage the four down the left corridor and then directly pursue him. Perhaps he knew exactly where Adam was, after all.
Still, of the four left behind, one had a flamethrower, two standard rifles, and the last a large sniper rifle—one that could likely punch through heavy armour. The group would have to plan their next moves very carefully.
BC-SEC – Operation Truthseeker – East Corridor
Moving down the East Corridor was easy, for the most part. Carolyn gave the group directions on which way to turn the moment they hit intersections, and a couple minutes of travel later, the group descended upon a strange sight: A dozen dead bodies in a bullet hole ridden corridor. The bodies were still mostly warm, and though most of them were Death Watch, two of them wore black and red uniforms. It was a single, long hallway, wide enough for two to three mechs, and with cover points along the walls. It had been made to hold off attackers from either end, as ordinarily, automated turrets would be enabled to aid in the task. Instead, hanging from the ceiling, two automated turrets on the other end were simply hanging without power. Lucky for them, as it seemed they were packing a large amount of ammunition.
The hallway, everyone recognized, led to the command and control part of the bunker. It also led to secondary housing, and additional catacomb-like routes throughout the compound. Before the group could proceed any further, a pair of metallic canisters bounces down the hallway. A pair of loud bangs go off, and the Leonne and Carolyn's mech both find themselves without power. The lights briefly flicker out before coming back to life, as a hailstorm of bullets starts being sprayed by Death Watch on the other end of the hallway. They were simply covering one of their comrades however, who bursts out with a rather mean looking missile launcher. Peter's goggles also shorted out, though one glance at the partially melted battery told him why: EMP. Or, at least, something very similar to it. Nonetheless, both he and Liam managed to take cover behind the Leonne's legs before any bullets could shred either of them.
On the bright side, it seemed the intercom system in the area had also been permanently shorted out.
Inside the Leonne, Blair was left in near absolute darkness, save for a single screen that was flashing dully. It was attempting to restart the power, and was rerouting to backup systems. The Leonne would be back online in a minute, and there was no concern of mere bullets penetrating the thick armour. How those two devices had managed to send out an electromagnetic pulse at such a small size was a mystery, one he could likely resolve later, if he survived.
CoA – Operation Mole Hunt
There seemed to be a few moments of pause as gunfire erupted nearby. The red lights in the room they were standing in flickered momentarily, as did any electronic equipment they were carrying, though nothing particularly shorted out. The radios momentarily spat out large amounts of static, and then nothing. Still, they were able to hear Ryan Dufont, even as their radios continued to have erratic amounts of background static.
“Move back toward the Cafeteria area, but take the first right at a four way intersection. There, you should find a series of crawl-ways. Use them and get to classified R&D-L3. There will be signs telling you where to go. You should emerge in a laboratory a few feet from the main lab. I need you to retrieve Adam from that lab and bring him to me directly at any cost. Do not kill him, even if he escapes your custody. He is far, far more valuable alive.” The sounds of gunshots nearby did not dissipate.
“Better hurry. Carolyn is heading your way. She will be... Understandably disappointed with what she finds, and may choose to take it out on... Certain persons, regardless of whether they did anything at all. Are we clear?”
Jenive looked irritated, but nonetheless replied quickly.
“Crystal, sir.” Ryan replies quietly, almost sympathetically.
“It is a shame that such things happen, but if the mob was not so terrified of the unknown, these acts would never come to pass. Now, go. Hurry.”
Shut-Outs
Manny would find that wandering the alleyways provided no assistance whatsoever, as all the civilians had already been in hiding long before the fighting had begun. Still, wandering near the bunker itself, he could smell smoke, and further investigation revealed a hole blown into the side of it very recently. This hole lead into the walls, and further beyond, the compound itself—if he didn't mind a tight fit. Perhaps he could figure things out himself, if he was careful. Some of them might not even shoot him, if he could negotiate quick enough and convincingly enough. Of course, staying out was always still an option, but that would likely mean nothing much of note happening for several minutes, perhaps even an hour or two.
It was all, ultimately, his decision...