Cities of the Future

[PurpleXVI]

As the two pondered their plan, the base intercoms buzzed to life: "Alert, all personnel. Yellow storm warning. All guard crews on duty are instructed to assist engineering personnel in shoring up exposed sections of the base. Meteorological scans indicate that the storm may last for another two, two and a half hours, do not exit the base during the storm. Wind-propelled particles and objects may compromise suit integrity. If you see or suspect a base breach, inform the nearest guards or engineers immediately."

 

The warning was repeated twice more.

 

Despite the base being underground, and no doubt heavily armored, they could faintly hear the howling of the wind outside. Through the ventilation shaft came the far away sound of grains of sand rattling across metal.

 

They could hear someone approaching the door to the toilet. The heavy clunking of the person's boots momentarily drowned out all other sounds.

 

(OOC: The corridor outside runs past the door, the door isn't at the end of a passage. So it may just be someone walking past.)

[Stampede]

Knockos eyes lit up with delight at the message. The ensuing bustle would provide an excellent diversion. The coming footsteps alerted him to a possible threat however. He signalled to Travis to look sharp and positioned himself by the door, ready to spring if need be.

[Captain Andy]

Travis nodded back to Knocko and positioned himself nearby, pistol in hand. He figured since Knocko was the bigger man, he'd be able to take down anyone who ducked into the bathroom. Travis just thought the pistol would make good intimidation.

[PurpleXVI]

The door slid aside with a soft sound and disappeared into the doorframe. Whoever was entering was humming cheerfully as he stepped into the bathroom without a worry. Apparently deep in his own thoughts, he walked past the two without even noticing them. He was a tall man, and so thin that he looked like he'd snap in two if Knocko tried to take him down with a punch.

 

His short black hair was graying at the edges, and the markings on his shoulders told the two that they were looking at a captain.

 

Since Travis and Knocko were standing so close to the door, it didn't close again behind the soldier. Again something he failed to notice. Judging by such lack of attentiveness, it was pretty clear that no one had found the doctor yet.

[Captain Andy]

Travis waited for the man to go into a stall before peeking outside carefully, making sure the coast was clear. He holstered his gun so he wouldn't seem hostile, just in case he had to make a bluff. He signaled for Knocko to follow him.

[Stampede]

Knockos adrenaline was surging through his system. Not since the old gang turf wars of his misspent youth had he felt such a rush. It was good to get out of the same old rut.

 

He followed Travis without hesitation.

[PurpleXVI]

No one was waiting outside of the door, as it slid closed behind them, it cut off the sound of the captain whistling a tune in one of the stalls.

 

The soft sound of their PDA's recieving a video message almost made them jump into a ceiling. It was a recorded message, not a live message, and it was from Arodom: "One and I are just outside of the main armory. We listened to a few conversations from the vents, and it seems they have tear gas here. We're thinking of liberating a few canisters and keeping them in case we need to create a non-lethal diversion. We'll give you a shout, again, when we have them. If we screw up, well, you probably won't need us to tell you that we did. Try not to get killed."

 

Before they could get moving, they heard the sound again, but it wasn't coming from their PDA's, it was coming from the bathroom. Muffled by the door, they could only hear the captain's part of the conversation:

 

"He's what?" The officer sounded disbelieving, "And they're gone? Dammit, Almyr, seems like we have infiltrators on our hands. Skilled ones at that. But it seems they have scruples, they could just have killed him. Don't alert anyone who doesn't already know, we don't need panic. We especially don't want any allies they have among the personnel to know that their friends have arrived. Nor to know that we know they have arrived. I haven't seen any sign of them, no. We need a plan to deal with this....."

 

Then he lowered his voice, obviously fearing someone overhearing him, and nothing more could be heard.

[Stampede]

Gah! This was getting complicated. Knocko turned to Travis and whispered quickly:

 

"Let's beat it! And fast!"

[Captain Andy]

Travis whispered back.

 

"Right-o! Let's get out of here."

 

 

Travis had to think quickly. He wasn't sure where they could go. He took a quick look around to see if there were anything around where him and Knocko could hide themselves.

[PurpleXVI]

There were plenty of doors along the corridor to either side and both ends of the corridor ended at T-intersections. From what Travis could remember from the map of the base, one of the closest doors lead into the storage rooms for the kitchens, and from there to the kitchens themselves. Beyond that, most of the doors lead to supply closets, officers' quarters or barracks.

 

While they considered their options, the storm warning echoed through the corridors again.