MEHR Chapter 53 Snippet 4 (Patreon)

(Going to put this right at the start of the chapter. Sorry about the confusion.)

~[h+]~

Elsa cursed under her breath, wincing. Despite the protection to her by her light hard-suit and the bolted on exo-frame, falling from a ceiling vent had hurt considerably. She picked herself up, shaking her head as she rose to chase away the fog of dizziness. How long was I unconscious? she wondered, then she remembered what brought her here. Hostile AIA agents, and a lost girl. I have to be careful.

My men... are they alright? "Devereaux to team, do you read?"

The scratch of static was the only reply she received.

"I repeat," said Elsa, after double checking her comms through her Omni-Tool, "Devereaux to team, respond!"

"...Leut...nt?" The voice through the noise was easily recognizable, young, and accented.

"Zoller? Zoller! I'm reading you two by five!"

Gunfire, laced with static. "Wh...e... you?"

"I'm in the basement!" Elsa looked around, then up at the vent. She thought about trying to make her way back up - her exo-suit would allow her to leap that high. Problem was, those air vents were a maze, and she was fairly certain there had been something stalking her in there. "I'm going to try and find a way out, hold on!"

"...ait... for us! We... our way!"

Zoller's voice became consumed by static...and replaced by a warped cackle. Elsa heard footsteps behind her and turned around, shining an omni-lamp into the darkness... and saw nothing there. She could feel her heart pounding beneath her breast, accentuating her anxiety. I have to find a way out of here, she thought. But first...

She set her sensors to detect motion and sounds, and a circle divided in eight equal parts appeared in her HUD. The resolution on the scanner would be awful, but the red blips would warn her of potential danger. Elsa took a deep breath, and began wandering in the dark for a way out.

The basement level had been mostly untouched by the blaze of plasma that had ravaged the hospital above. Judging by the lack of visible elevators or stairwells in the hallways, Elsa concluded that this was some kind of secret area, not meant for the public... and from the lack of dust on the walls and furniture, she could tell someone had been here fairly recently.

The gloomy hall — at the center of which stood a receptionist's desk — gave Elsa access to three different rooms. She pried the left-most door open, and entered what appeared to be a small office. A wooden desk, three comfy chairs, and a lot of paperwork was all Elsa could find at first glance. The papers, strangely enough, were literally made of paper, not the nano-eletronic stuff, and had been written on with real ink in perfect — almost mechanical — Chinese calligraphy.

She gasped — the sensor had blinked red, but only for a moment, and a loud metallic clang rang out. She shone a light where she had seen something moving off the corner of her eye, and saw a golden vase roll her way.

~[h+]~