Solace & Taproots

2.3

The skeletal partial remnants of their destination building looked appropriately post-apocalyptic as they approached it through a warren of alleys. They were just around the corner from the Black Tusk outpost and were watching their surroundings vigilantly. They'd contemplated checking in with Broadway or trying to coordinate with another team along the way, but decided that even if their comms were encrypted with new keys, even a fix with a radio direction finder (a real one, not Sam's lesson on improvising one) was too big of a risk.

Bex appreciated the way the weather seemed to keep the smoke smell down, but soon discovered ash transmogrified into the slimiest of black and grey muds when it got wet. Ronnie advised it would harden like concrete afterwards, too. Great. So evidence of her landing on a knee when she slipped and almost fell on her ass would be preserved for a long time.

At least her boots would soon be the same color scheme as her new armor. That gave her an idea, and she clicked her tongue to get Ronnie's attention and gestured towards the ash on a mangled metal bookshelf that she hoped might have been from a stack of paperwork or books, and not too toxic. Then, she used two fingers to mimic painting it on her cheeks. Ronnie replied with a thoughtful head tilt but followed with crying and coughing motions. Bex looked back at the ash and noticed minuscule sparkling and glittering in the ash, and readjusted the fit of her facemask. Breathe less crap; look like a badass ninja operator and fake it 'til you make it... take your pick.

She was grateful the building's remaining concrete and steel seemed solid, and was relieved when they reached intact carpeting. The thin, rough industrial grade texture made her feel much better about potentially slipping again on her ash-clogged boot soles. Talk about rolling a 1 during a stealth level!

Making their way deeper into the dark ruins was made harder by the flashes of lightning, not easier. The moments of brightness let them see a brief glimpse of the corridors, but then they were stuck, waiting for their eyes to readjust again. It did, however, provide them with excellent sound cover when the reached the elevator and Rhonda readied a small crowbar from Bex's pack. She counted off one flash, delay, and boom, then poised the crowbar to strike. Just as the next thunderclap rolled through, she plunged the tool forward between the doors.

Bex continued to watch their flanks while Ronnie retrieved two lengths of rope, also from her pack since that was easier for Ronnie to access than her own. Ronnie knocked away some dangling acoustical tile ceiling panels, looped the ropes around a beam this exposed, and threw the loose ends down the elevator shaft. Then, they swapped positions.

Bex pulled another coil of rope from Ronnie's pack, looped it at its midpoint around the same beam, walked the two equal halves to the elevator, and tied a carabiner into each end just shy of the pitch black doorway. She retrieved two climbing harnesses and a pair of powered ascenders — those were threaded onto the full-length ropes, and then they took turns stepping and cinching into the harnesses.

Per Ronnie, this next part was going to be high risk, high reward, so speed, aggression, and subterfuge became priorities. Thus, they both clipped into their ascenders, made a small concession from stealth to safety in cracking two chem light glowsticks (woo, party time!), and stuffed one each into their bootlaces so they could see the edges of the shaft and the tracks and cables obstructing their descent, and made their way down simultaneously.

Once they were about halfway, Bex could see the elevator car was not below them. First off, this was convenient because it meant they didn't have to get through its access panels, top and bottom, along their way. On the other hand, that meant it was perched somewhere above them. That realization didn't help her raging adrenaline at all... if she'd planned this outpost's defenses, she'd have blown the brakes and cables to block the shaft. Maybe they couldn't get up to it? She stole an upward glance and didn't see any menacing red LEDs glowing back at her from the darkness — Sam would have waited for someone to sneak in and THEN dropped the elevator.