D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

--- Hunter ---

Hunter glared at the massive twin doors with a scanner on them. Hunter was not happy. She'd done the right thing, managed to get back to the greenhouse floor, and then go down the elevator, ready to check out the fourth floor… and there was a giant set of doors with a keycard on them.

Someone had been messing around with space seals here as well and there were big warning signs about the machinery… BUT WHY WAS IT ON THE FOURTH FLOOR!

*Seriously! Who the designed this shit? I'm not architect but there has got to be a better place to put your big factory like… I dunno the basement? Or in another wing entirely? Surely having a bunch of heavy manufacturing equipment that's in expanded space mind you, would be a horrible idea? I just… I don't get it?

Why is it ordered this way?*

In her annoyance Hunter was overlooking the two obvious answers. That the facility was originally designed with this as the bottom floor and then later expanded once they had more resources… or after the world ended the inhabitant used the robots to keep digging down and setting up more of the facility not thinking about it too much.

Of course, where they got the resources to build more in that second scenario is an interesting question.

If Hunter thought about the second option, she might start to wonder why nobody dug their way out. A bit silly because the mist was more than just its physical presence and did stretch underground as well, but that once again brought up the question of resources and how they were located and put to use.

Alas Hunter wasn't thinking about any of these things. She was trying to resist the urge to rip the doors open. She'd spent so much time trying and failing to find these keycards, and having needed to deal with Meg for days on end, as well as Kat and Kamiko for even longer… they weren't bad girls but Hunter craved for some time alone but she was now getting it in the most frustrating way possible.

She wasn't on a hunt she was on a spy mission at this point and it wasn't her expertise.

Still, it didn't take long for Hunter to calm back down and return to her usual state, her breathing steady as she looked over the hunks of metal. It seems I really need to accept defeat and take that advanced electronic locks class. I don't enjoy it and I almost always stick to low technology worlds to avoid this sort of thing.

I know how to bypass the weak ones where a bit of metal in the right place unlocks things but I can already tell this is not one of those locks. It's at least partially magic…

*Which honestly I probably need to look into as well. I just don't enjoy this more… hmm… I suppose civilized? No… spywork? Not quite… though I suppose it doesn't matter I know what I mean and that's enough for now. Though… Meg is a lot better at this sort of thing. I don't know if she could get it open… mostly because I don't know how far her skills extend.

Hmmm… something to keep in mind.*

With that done Hunter moved down to the fifth floor and found a similar sight as the one before it. Hunter just accepted it at this point, doing a quick check for illusions before moving on to the sixth floor and the last one she could see and easily reach… and it was completely totalled. It looked like a battle had happened her a long time ago and it had clearly never been repaired.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Walls had been torn through and shoddy metal supports kept the ceiling in place across the area. The few major support pillars seemed to be intact but there was basically nothing left of the floor. Hunter couldn't really tell what this floor had ever been.

Parts of the floor had been patched up, but it was obvious where they'd once been, with welding marks all along the edges and more metal then necessary piled up on top of each other. Curiously there was no holes in the ceiling but Hunter didn't know what that meant.

There were a few holes that might have once lead outside but they'd been welded shut as well though the welding was much cleaner to the point she nearly didn't notice them at all though some of that was due to the size.

Hunter moved across looking for more clues but it was mostly slag, rubble and broken robots. She did notice more than one set of bloodstains that hadn't ever been cleaned up. At least, she was guessing they were bloodstains.

It had been many, many years since the fight and it was only through her knowledge of certain creatures that used time magic to disguise their hunting grounds that she could tell this much. To most it would've looked like more dust.

*Hmm… looks like there was a fight here some time ago. It must've been… at least a hundred years perhaps more but no more than five hundred. I think I can safely confirm with this that people were here at one stage and I suspect they still are. Though they're now trapped in the area at the bottom of the facility. Hmm… not great but I can work with it.

At least I can be quite certain the drake part isn't here on this floor. It's so destroyed that outside of a few piles there's nowhere for it to hide and those piles clearly haven't been disturbed in some time, heck most of them have rusted together. Though it is interesting to note the robots didn't try to clean up.

They're still clearly functional in at least the top level and the cleaner robot looked practically brand new compared to the debris here… so why has nothing been down to clean up? Neither have the people but that's more understandable…*

Hunter spent some more time looking around the ruins and managed to find another elevator… but it was clearly one designed for robots. Mostly because the half torn sign said 'Maintenance Robot Elevator. Not for use' which did rather settle the matter. Hunter would be tempted to test it out herself if it wasn't for the fact that it was welded shut.

It took her a moment to notice as well, the black soot mixed in with the metal at the centre made her think it was the split, but no, it was just debris mixed into the weld. Explore more stories with empire

*Hmmm… who did the welds? I would assume all the differing sets were done by different people but I could see the robots being responsible for the ones that would've let you see outside. The floor stuff… I don't know if it was a person or robot. It could be either of them in a rush.

Perhaps the robots slapped it down as a temporary thing then a person came and blocked the elevator for them but I don't even know if what did this one.

The fake gap feels intentional, it's a bit too neat for it to be just random happenstance… but why would a person do something like that? Presumably they'd know it was fake and so would the other people who saw it being welded up or heard about it afterwards. Following that line of thought though… what's the point of the fake line?

The robots are unlikely to see like we do and are super unlikely to fall for a little line. They'd be able to tell it was all metal and even if we assume all of that's not true… they'd be coming in from the other side! They wouldn't even see it!*

Hunter shook her head, clearly there wasn't anything left in this floor. It was either removed or sealed long before she got here so she went back to the elevator shaft. This floor had at least revealed that there was probably more down below. Once Hunter was back at the elevator it wasn't hard for her to find the hatch leading down into the elevator from up above.

It would normally allow one access to the inner carriage and she could probably get the doors open from inside…

But once again it was welded shut. Ok. There is no way the robots did this one. The big one didn't even react to the obviously open door! I don't even know if they register the elevator's existence. Which means at least some of the welds were done by people… were they trying to keep the robots out?

Or perhaps something in? Some people in? Do I want to break this?

Hunter glared at the locked hatch and then over to the ladder. There was enough room for her to slide down the ladder and squeeze between the elevator and the wall… and she was definitely strong enough to lift the elevator up. *Is it worth making things harder for myself to keep this weld intact? The noise might be a problem but it's the least of the potential issues. Question is, do I care?*