NOVEL NEXT In Case Of Worker Uprising, Press This Button
Amber and I ignored the firefight happening at the entrance of the warehouse and tried to look for a way further into the building.
Seeing that the ground floor was just a floor below us, this should be the second floor of the building. But I'm not sure if there's basement floors that they might be using.
For the time being, while the thugs were distracted by the Mercs outside, we can start our search on this floor for our target. Even if she's not here, maybe we can find a clue as to where she was being kept.
Amber tapped my shoulder before pointing to a neon lit sign on the wall.
I squinted to try and block out the blinding light on the sign to see the words 'Security Office' with an arrow pointing to the left on the sign. There were two other words below it pointing in other directions with the one directly below being 'Generator Room' and 'Stock Records' right after that one.
I suppose the Security Office would be a good place to start our search..
Both of us followed the sign down the corridor and soon enough, we found a door with the same words on the sign written on the door itself.
As we got close to it, the door slid open, revealing an empty, small room that had multiple screens mounted on the wall but all of them were turned off at the moment.
"Seems like only the auxiliary power is still on, or the thugs only routed the power to specific areas in the warehouse," Amber remarked.
I looked around the room, "If we can get power to the warehouse, we might be able to see where the girl is being kept through the cameras here."
"Don't worry! I'll get right on it!" Amber assured me before running out of the room.
I was actually going to suggest that I be the one to go and find the generator instead but she had already left the room before I could say anything.
Oh well, I guess I could just try and see if there's anything here that would help us while I wait.
There were a few scattered papers around but these seem to be leftover leaflets from when the factory was still operational, most of them basically detailing what the person in the security office should do in an emergency.
From the contents of the leaflets, I realised that this place used to be some kind of food production facility or something.
At least… I think so with words like 'synthmeat' and 'synthfood' on those faded papers.
Oh, what's this?
'In case of worker riot, security measures can be activated by initiating Anti Riot Protocol by pushing the corresponding buttons on the security consoles in both security offices. In case one-- is compromised, a master card can be-- in the control panel. Beware--"
Unfortunately, the back portion of this leaflet was torn off but at least I understood what this was talking about.
I looked around the console and found the button easily enough, considering it's literally a big red button at the corner of the console.
It's almost like they expected a riot to actually happen.
I'm not sure what would happen if we were to activate this protocol but I have a feeling it won't be good for everyone here since we're not actually registered as a staff member in this warehouse.
Maybe it'll activate some kind of automated defence systems like automated turrets or simply lock down the entire warehouse?
Maybe I'll wait until Amber comes back before I decide what to do with it, it's still good to have options I'd say.
While I was still looking around, the lights suddenly came on and I hid myself underneath the console unnecessarily.
I thought I got spotted ok?
I peeked around to make sure that the coast was clear as the screens on the wall flickered and came to life, displaying many different views around the warehouse.
A few of them were showing the firefight outside and I was quite surprised to see the Mercs still fighting against the thugs despite being outnumbered.
There's like only three… No, four of the Mercs fighting out in the compound.
One of them is some big guy wearing power armour and dual wielding light machine guns, one of them was sniping them using a sniper rifle and the other one using the big guy as cover to shoot his assault rifle. The last guy was ducked behind the car and using his personal terminal that seemed to be controlling two drones that fired energy rounds out from a blaster hanging underneath them.
The power armour guy seemed to also be projecting some kind of energy shield in front of him which was why they dared to charge directly into the compound despite being outnumbered like that.
Right now, the thugs had hunkered themselves down so the Mercs were slowly advancing towards the entrance, gunning down any thugs that tried to peek out of their cover to shoot at them.
Right then, the door slid open again and I turned to see Amber sneaking back in.
"That was fast," I muttered.
"Not the first time I had to kick start a generator of an abandoned facility," She grinned.
I turned back to the security feed that showed mostly empty rooms, I was about to decide that this was a bust when I noticed there was a thug standing in the corner of one of the monitors.
Normally that wouldn't be something worth noting but the fact that he was just standing guard there instead of rushing to the entrance to participate in the shootout at the entrance meant that he should be located somewhere else inside the warehouse.
"Can we find where that camera is located?" I asked, pointing at the monitor.
Amber narrowed her eyes at the screen, "Camera B-Seven… Oh, they have a chart here."
She pointed at another part of the console that showed a rough map of the warehouse including where each of the cameras were.
The camera we were looking for was located a floor below ground level at the other end of where we were, which would bring us past the other Security Office that was also located on the same floor.
"Since that guy seems to be guarding that area, I'm assuming that's where the daughter is being kept," I reasoned.
Amber shrugged, "Worth a shot. But that would mean we'll have to fight our way back up once we rescue her. It'll be quite troublesome if those Mercs also manage to get to the basement when we get her."
I pointed at the leaflet that gave instructions on what to do in the event of a worker uprising, "Do you think we can use that?"
She picked it up and took a moment to read through its contents before turning to me, "It'll be risky. I saw some parts of the building that had hidden compartments on the ceiling so I'm assuming those are automated turrets. The question is whether those turrets are made to be lethal or not."
Wow, using lethal force on your own workers? I'd think that even that is a tad too much but what do I know? Maybe that kind of practice was common around here.
Amber then looked at the button directed by the leaflet on the console, "I suppose it doesn't hurt to have a plan B at least. Should we?"
I nodded and she went up to push the button.
Aside from the button lighting up, there was no other indication that it had any effect. I guess we'll need to head to the other Security Office to press the other button if we really need this function.
"Let's go then. We still need to find the way down to the basement," Amber reminded me.
We left the Security Office and we were greeted with the deafening sound of machine gun fire once again. Seems like the fight at the warehouse entrance was still raging.
Seriously, were these Mercs really just going to shoot their way in like that? What if these thugs took the girl out the backdoor while they were still occupied at the front? Do they have another plan for that?
Well, not that it's my business anyway as long as it doesn't interfere with ours.
I suppose the first thing we need to do is to get ourselves to the floor below first.
That was a simple thing to do since the stairs leading down to the main floor of the warehouse were hard to miss since there were already signs leading there from where we were.
Amber led the way while I took up the rear, watching our six for any potential ambushes.
When we reached the ground floor however, Amber suddenly pulled me into the shadow of a few boxes to hide behind them.
I was going to question what happened when a voice came from around the corner.
"Come on… We'll check upstairs while they're distracted."
"Well hurry up, before they bring the whole building down…"
Two girls then snuck past us to climb the stairs, not even realising we were behind them.
Crap… I guess these two must be another pair of Mercs or they were the companions of the group outside.
If they reach the Security Office, they might also come to the same conclusion as we did…
I looked at Amber and she nodded at me, already moving to find the stairs that would lead us to the basement.
We're really pressed for time now…