“Tony, this is Jarrajod. Have you found anything at all?”

“Nothing yet, my team is still searching. Zoey’s team is in position just awaiting orders. Whatever they have, there is nothing up here. Chelsea blew the hatch open off this one room earlier and we found a mainframe but it hasn’t been touched in years.”

Jarrajod sighed at his table, flicking a switch. Wesley and Holly stood close behind him, looking over multiple monitors.

“They found some of the deployment locations but those are only recent ones left lying around,” Holly mumbled.

“These bastards are smart,” Wesley growled, “What about Bakuuva’s team?”

“No word,” Jarrajod replied, “Sentries have spotted no movement, teams headed by both Tony and Zoey have reported nothing aside from the ordinary thus far. We have tried to get ahold of them but the signal appears to be just too weak.”

“So they’re either far under ground or they’re being jammed. Bah! Never should’ve sent a bunch of squirts in there.”

“Calm down General,” Holly replied looking over to him, “Elise will not fail.”

Elise’s eyes remained lit ember as she carried on through the halls with her squadmates close behind. It was a similar formation, Elise at the head with Sora behind, then Caldori, then the two brother side by side. There was no chill whatsoever among the group except from Caldori. Elise appeared enraged, Rusty looked the type to rip a person’s head off, Britt seemed disgusted, and Sora was plain mad- leaving just Caldori as flustered.

Around another corner they turned and yet another hall. Britt broke from the rear at that point, handing a data pad forward to Sora before falling back. Sora glossed over it at once, “Alright… that elevator from the warehouse is up ahead according to the Echo Translator.”

“Good,” Elise mumbled.

Right around another turn and they came to an opening, a wide open doorway lay ahead. Their steps faded out as their paces slowed, becoming far more composed and careful. In no time at all they had crossed through… before them was metal, a metal floor with railing. Stairs led downward into a darkened abyss, metal stairs.

“Whoa-”

“Gonna guess that your fancy tech didn’t say there was a big hole in the ground eh?” Rusty muttered.

“No, no it definitely didn’t. But that’s impossible. There was floor and walls right here! The elevator shaft should be… up that way yet!”

“The translator wouldn’t be wrong,” Elise murmured, “Just as there’s no point in this stairway. This is like a fire escape, it doesn’t work industrially for any reason.”

“What are you getting at?”

“There is probably a switch that extends something from the other side out here. This is probably a shut off measure like the vault.”

“Should we- should we call in reinforcements for this? I mean, it’s clear that the facility continues on the other side of this,” Britt asked.

“Apparently not unless she’s right about that,” Rusty growled.

A sigh left Elise for a moment, eyes shut only for that moment. Her left arm was then extended, hand flexing. All at once a white glow appeared around, the glow then streaming off in flows congregating before her palm. In just seconds a white energy ball had been formed and with a simple retraction and thrust of the arm, the ball flew forward.

It went slow at first, fading rather quick; but it indeed lasted long enough. The cavern illuminated slightly and to the other side another vault door was visible. Slots also became visible along the sides of the vault door.

“Unless anyone here can fly- we either go down below and try to find a way up top which I’m sure there are ways… OR we wait for them to throw the floor and walls over this way again.”

“Would there be controls on this side though?”

“Only if remote probably though I doubt that Sora,” Britt murmured, “It’s no doubt a security measure that that’s setup like that, and the stairs are probably here for a reason.”

“Lets just go,” Rusty again growled, trailing slightly as he began to descend.

“Wait Rusty-” Britt began, stopping as Elise began to follow, “Huh?”

“It’s the fastest way across, better than waiting out in the open for the platform to extend.”

“Geh- guh… fine.”

The pitter patter of small paws and squeaking rats became more and more as they went down, water dripping and splashing on the ground. Their footsteps were silent though with some form of echo the further down they went, winding around every so many meters to another section.

“How old do you think these mines are?” Caldori murmured.

“A century or better maybe. They’ve been abandoned for decades ever since the Drachen and Vampire populations took over the area.”

“You mean Trolls and Goblins mostly, right Rusty?” Sora asked.

“Sure whatever. They do like to hide in chasms like this, giant centipedes too.”

The ball of light Elise had tossed across had maintained, drifting down with them bit by bit, illuminating the bottom which Britt and Sora were both actively observing. Elise still followed behind Rusty.

“Hey, I see a door down there and- tracks?” Sora commented

“Mine cart tracks, new looking too,” Britt grumbled.

Down on the ground level they stood around the tracks, spick and span new not even anchored down to the ground. The ball of light continued to hover, drifting around. There was not much at the bottom of the stairs beyond the metal door; though multiple tunnels did branch off with wood supports in place. Whatsmore, mining equipment sat along the walls themselves, some relatively newer as well and the rest worn down to the nub in cases.

“So… Arkaza is having his people mine… for what though?” Elise mumbled.

“Probably some sort of ore remains down here that’s of value to them. What and why though I can not say.”

“Something to do with the ritual to make Undead?”

“Maybe the Dires?”

“Oi, how about we rip this door off and go searching for some answers.”

“I like that answer. Elise?”

“Got it,” she mumbled approaching the door, “I’ll blow it off its hinges I suppose and-”

“Wait a minute,” Britt called, approaching quickly.

“What?”

Britt placed a hand upon the knob and gave it a simple twist. With no issue, the knob turned and the door pulled out.

“The lack of security is frightening.”

“Maybe there are workers out and about down here. With that in mind lets get going,” Britt stated moving in.

All moved forward, the door shutting behind them. Inside was another hall like up above, lit, and metal. The group proceeded on, no doors or anything in sight for a good bit until after a solid minute or two, they reached the end of the hall. Another door stood between them and the next section, one that was then opened. Inside sat the elevator shaft they had been seeking, the one to the warehouse.

“This is all that’s in here,” Rusty growled.

“So the next section is up,” Elise murmured looking upward.

“More stairs over here,” Sora called.

“Perfect, another long hike,” Caldori groaned as the group advanced towards the next stairwell.

Jarrjod stood before multiple monitors, looking over different statistics, different video feeds, and different reports. Again people were moving in and out, the General and Lady Bell nowhere to be found at that moment.

“Hmm… calculative- more data has come back from the system used by these thugs and it points to records of several proprietary needs to-”

“English if you would!”

“Right right. Basically, I’m learning about their new Undead and some of where they want to ship out to. The problem is that this is a terminal that regularly wipes itself.”

“A terminal?”

“Correct. It is connected to a system somewhere in that facility, likely down below considering Tony’s group found a mainframe nerve that feeds down into the ground and across the upper area. I anticipate that Elise and her group are about to find exactly what we’ve been in search of.”

“Hopefully they get it all figured out then.”

Another door shut behind as the group of five made their way down yet another hall, this time across carpeting. Painted plaster walls, wooden regular doors, it seemed like the inside of a normal house at first.

“Keep close-” Elise whispered, leading onward.

Around another bend and it became visible. Down the hall, it was clear that the wall angled off to the ground and stairs were visible alongside the hall. Ahead- a massive opening to another room complete with monitors. Slowly the group crept ahead and stopped short of passing through the hall.

“Go!”

Quickly the group shot around the stairs and barreled into the room, ducking behind several cabinets stationed near the entrance. Elise moved around, peering out from behind a large system. Multiple monitors with keyboards and mice, entire tanks of liquid with bodies floating inside, wires and other sensors hooked up to them. Large capsules of bodies stood everywhere.

In the center was another holo table, then a regular table beside that with a body sewn together atop; though still an incomplete body. To the far back of the room stood an archway, runes engraved into it.

“Survey says we just found Doctor Strange’s laboratory.”

“And speak of the devil,” Elise mumbled staring back towards where they had come from.

Down the stairs beside the hall they emerged from, two Ghouls from before moved along with Vikram Arghaust close behind.