A/N. This chapter took really long and I'm sorry, but I tried to make it good to make up for the previous short (and poorly written) chapter.
Freedom knew the place like the back of his hand. Unfortunately, he knew nothing about the back of his hand except that it was there. Just like that, he did not know anything about the large basement except that it was there. While he would never admit it, he had never wandered far from the little corner he had made home.
The old Soldierbot - far rustier and definitely less managed than Makina was - did his best to find a way out nonetheless. After failing to help Makina the first time months ago, he was determined to succeed this time.
He had led them far from the storage area, opening doors and checking as if he did not quite recall. After all, he had been down there for a long time, and a bot as old as he could not remember everything. In an attempt to try retain more information, he had deleted all his old files on things he did not need anymore, like fighting. He only retained one file on how to use a shovel in a lethal manner.
"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Makina asked. From behind, he continued to study the Soldierbot. For a bot that had not been properly maintained by a Medibot, he was in surprisingly good condition. He was scratched and rusty, sure, but he was dust free and the metal surface of his body was a shiny as it could get with nothing but an old rag.
Makina felt a little bad for him.
"Yes! I have explored every inch of this basement, but I may or may not have deleted some map files in an attempt to preserve memory," Freedom admitted. He grabbed onto a door handle and pushed down on it, snorting in dismay when the handle did not give way. Whatever room was behind this door, he had not explored it yet.
He grabbed onto the handle and pushed down on it harder, exerting his weight onto the handle. A normal human would not have broken the lock, but being made of metal, Freedom was far heavier than a human, and the lock gave way under the weight.
The door swung open slowly, leaving only a small gap to peer through. Certain there was no danger beyond the door, Freedom nudged it open wider with a finger and walked through. The two robots and one mercenary were greeted with the echo of a large room, possibly as large as the entire basement itself. Around the room giant oil tanks were station, all of them attached to pipes that led upwards to the higher floors.
Horst took a moment to take it all in and ignore the smell of oil and dust. "You know, if zhere are oil tanks vith pipes that go up, zhen… surely zhere is a way from up zhere to access zhis place." There was a lot of truth in that sentence. Definitely aside from the lift there was another way that led up. A staircase or something. And if there was one, then it was likely around the area. It looked like a place that still needed to be accessed, and wandering around the dark basement made it unlikely for anyone to want to go through there to get here.
From where they stood, a window to a separate room on the floor above could barely be seen, but Makina had spotted it. "There's a room up there. If anything, it'll be worth it to check it out. If there isn't a way out from there then there might be some information." It was a silent agreement that that was the smartest move for now.
As they looked around for a staircase or a ladder that led up to the metal platform the room sat on, Horst couldn't help but get a nagging feeling that something was off about the place, and a small worry over Axel and Medibot formed. Knowing that worry was an emotion not worth having, he pushed the feeling away and made his best attempt to ignore it. They're trained mercenaries, or at least Pyro is. And the robot… he's a robot. Nothing to worry about.
Freedom had uncovered a small stairwell that went as far as the upper level of the giant room. It didn't go up to the factory floor, which was a shame, but none of them had expected such a great find. Even as they walked up, there was still a hollow echoing of white noise around the area, like air was being sucked out of the room.
The room was undoubtedly locked, but the handle was not coated in dust, indicating that others did indeed still visit. There was no one in the room at the moment, making it easy for Freedom to crack open the door. He exerted just a little pressure, and the handle gave way, granting them access to the room.
The control room was small and crammed. Panels with scattered buttons and lights that glowed green steadily and blank screens were all around. Instantly Makina was going through whatever he could, desperately looking for anything of use. He flicked on the computer screen and bent over, his blank lit eyes searching, scanning, looking through the computer files. There was absolutely nothing of interest.
Perhaps he needed to go further. Maybe there were encrypted files or something, hidden deep within the system. Well, he was a robot, right? He could integrate with the system. Makina reached back and pulled up a chair, sitting down without once looking away from the screen. He had to find something, anything at all, to prove that his theories of what Gray Industries really was, was true. Anything to show that he was not insane.
…
The vents were hot and stuffy, and it made Axel very frustrated as he dragged himself through, pausing momentarily occasionally to look down through the grates for anything of interest before moving on. Medibot was behind him, maintaining a distance to even out the weight the air vent had to take. If they were too close to each other, there was a high possibility of the vent giving way beneath them and causing some problems.
"This is ridiculous," The Pyro muttered, crawling forward, careful to make sure his weight was not concentrated on one spot. He passed over a grate in the vent, making sure to avoid touching the grate entirely, before turning around to peer through it.
Below was a mere white tiled floor, indicating that they were no longer in the basement, or at least no longer in the dusty, cement-floored part of the basement. Whatever it was, it was worth taking a look.
Medibot crawled a little nearer to look through as well, careful not to touch the grate and to even out his weight as best as he could. There were no sounds of robots, no silent whirring of active processors or anything. But robots could be deceptively quite, and that was a risk that could not be taken.
"Do you have like, some kind of sensor that can tell if any robots are nearby?" Axel whispered over to his metal companion.
Medibot shook his head. "Ah, no, but I do know how robots behave, and unless zhey're deactivated, zhey vouldn't be so quiet. Nonetheless, we should just wait a bit in case anyone comes in."
On Medibot's advice, the two of them stayed in the vent, listening for any sound of life. After a solid five minutes of waiting, they decided it was safe to go down. Carefully, Axel removed the grate as quietly as he could and let Medibot slide down first, before he followed.
The 'room' was just a hallway, with no one on both ends, and no doors around. From there, they could walk, but not before getting their hands on some weapons.
…
"Alrighty boys, we're near the deployment carrier. Remember - we ain't fightin' if we don't have to. So shut yer mouths and let's go," Engineer ordered. The blue tanker were just a mere minute's walk away, and it loomed large, casting a huge shadow onto the barren, earthy ground. If anything, it looked a lot more intimidating than it did from the loading dock at Mannhattan.
Everyone had their weapons close and ready in case any alarms were tripped or anyone was alerted of their presence. The team was tense as they approached the tanker, but visibly relaxed as they passed the opened ramp and saw no robots inside, waiting.
Scout fought the urge to say something, knowing he had to keep quiet in case of anything or anyone waiting to pounce on them. Engineer paused for a moment, staring inside with a thoughtful look on his face.
There didn't seem to be a direct passage from the factory to a carrier, and the carrier had a belt going around its wheels to facilitate movement. If there were no bots inside, and it could move, then it meant it would travel back to the main factory. He wouldn't bet on how long it would take for the carrier to move back to the factory, but it was something worth a try.
"Hey boys, I got an idea," Engineer said. He waited for the group to gather around him before he spoke. "This carrier looks like it has to move back to the factory to get bots. We don't really know where the factory is so…"
Heavy narrowed his eyes for a bit. "What is Engineer saying?"
"I'm sayin' that we should hitch a ride on this carrier."
While most of the team had the 'are you fucking serious' face, Spy looked thoughtful. "It could work, but we can't be in the carrier. The old man probably has some camera or security system linked up, but we could be on the carrier instead until we get close enough to the factory, then enter from a different direction."
The team stared at each other for a moment, and without a word, started to climb on top of the carrier. Once they were all settled, they stared at each other. Scout was about to ask when the damn thing was going to move, when the carrier rumbled and jerked a little as it started up and turned away from the Mann Co. facility, and back to where it came from.
"Are ye sure this will work?" Demoman asked, having settled himself on the top of the tanker, while Engineer rested one platform lower.
"Not a clue, but since when has our job ever been about certainty?"
…
Ever since Gray asked him to be his personal assistant Makina knew something was up. He knew how to look into Gray, identify emotions other bots couldn't. Gray was a suspicious figure, who hid away things and schemed and plotted and planned.
Once or twice he had mentioned of the city, and entering it, and escape routes. Makina knew something was up. He had asked Gray once, and the man had not replied, and only shot him a suspicious look for a brief second before letting it fall away.
It's none of your concern, Makina. And I suggest you do not continue to pry.
Makina stopped asking after that, but continued to find information of his own. Over time he had made theories that Gray was going to attack more than just Mann Co. He was going to steal Australium and use it to somehow, take over Australia, then take over other countries using their power.
But they were just theories, with nothing to support it. But they were realistic theories. He just had to find proof, find files, fine sources of information and prove it.
But even if he proved it, then what?
Then what?
