Life Or Death

Chapter 42

Chapter 42: Into The Fray

    Descending down through a cramp hallway, she finds herself going down several floors lower than she had first anticipated. Designation, Agent Rose. Chosen at her own discretion, albeit the name was presented among many others chosen by her superiors. Her steps were silent even with her hard heels hitting the floor. Her vision were dim due to the lack of light, yet she could still see clear enough to discern the steps and a door before her.

'Judging by how far I had to go down here, this might be a few levels down from his office.' She thought to herself

    A slither of lights escaped through under the door, which her eyes quickly picked up on. Whoever turned on the lights might be standing right next to the door. She places her left ear firmly against the insulated fire escape door. Silence greets her.
    Not a single footsteps or chatter, it was simply empty of any activity. Using a small card she carried, the cold hard plastic slits and skimmed through the gaps in the door for her to check whether or not it was alarmed. To her delight, it is not.

    Using one arm to carefully opening the door simple lever handle and the other holding firmly onto a small handgun. It's capable of shooting several rounds before needing to be reload. Equipped at the end of it's muzzle were a tubular attachment meant to suppress the noise it produces when it fires. If one were to shoot carelessly they would kill anyone at the receiving end of the muzzle.
    Her trainings forbids her to shoot to kill unless it was the very last resort. Her breathing didn't waver as the door creaks open loudly. Squinting her eyes for a moment to allow them to adjust to the bright light, she was met with an office filled with cubicles.

    If one were to stand beside one of them, they would be low enough for the person to look over at the ones working within the cube. Hundreds placed side by side creating several groups of four's organized in a typical office fashion. Some had their papers stacked high and the printers and computers seemingly to be operational. The only thing it lacks well, the ones behind the desks. An oddly eery silence sends some cold sensation down her spine.

'Something's amiss.' Her only thoughts about the scene before her

    Suddenly her steps halted in place as she turns around a full 180. Her ears caught it yet she couldn't be sure. Then she heard it again from behind her, of which she turns and points her gun towards nothing. This time, she heard it clearly. A sound that could be described as metal chains being dragged on the carpeted floors rattling as it goes.

Creak...

    Her vision darted towards the noise right next to her. It wasn't the same sound, instead it was one of the desk chair spinning around slowly in between the two cubicles. Unable to resists the urge to step back, she did so withholding her breath in the process. Her sharp eyesight should've given her the advantage of seeing the finest of details, yet in this cramped environment rendered it useless.
    If the thing she's trying to identify managed the sneak around her using the cubicles to block her sight, it's one of the scenario that would prove to put her at a massive disadvantage. Yet as if to counter this, she had anticipated for this exact scenario.

"Activate scouts. Initiate transmission. Execute."

    Her words were recognised by the internal computer within her glasses. Following the command prompt, she activates units that's smaller than a single piece of marble. It deploys a set rigid wings with harden blade like propeller at the end. The small black scout units took airborne in the cramped space by the dozens as cameras attached to them sends their footage towards her glasses. Her vision slightly obfuscated by twelve windows arranged around her field of view. Those lilac orbs lacked any pupil, yet they keenly observing every single one of the footage until it fixed onto one of them.