A Tale of Two Cities

T"You wouldn't like her if you met her, either."

*There's a ping & then the doors open, 3 construction workers coming in. As the intercom is right beside the door, the only one they can see right now is Zell.*

1<...Who are you? What are you doing here?>
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*As Hitomi gets closer to headquarters, what look like large tree roots reach out from the wall & wrap around her Megadeus's right arm & leg. A house-sized mouth with sparkling teeth open up in the wall, the roots pulling her towards it.*

Zell freezes, "Would you believe me if I said I was a figment of your imagination?"

*Kanrei Tsuki's machine gun ports open up and fire into the mouth.*

1<No. Not a chance.>

L"That's a shame, really."

*Lilith punches 2 of them in the back of the head before they even know what's going on. Thiera takes the third out with a kick to the head before falling on her ass.*

T"Damn it, it's hard to move in these shoes."
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*It screeches, the roots growing teeth of their own, grinding at Kanrei Tsuki's armor. The mouth closes tight.*

*Kanrei Tsuki draws one of its knives and stabs into the root on its arm.*

"Now there are going to be three men who lose their jobs thanks to us!" Zell said, almost panicked. "Should we take their keys?"

T"Hey...that's actually a good idea. Glad to see you're getting into this."

*Lilith removes the keys from the maintanence workers.*

L"Is there anything else we should take before we continue?"
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*It screeches as the root is cut off.*

*Kanrei Tsuki crouches and cuts into the root around its leg.*

"Nothing that I can think of... maybe their radios, that way they won't wake up when we leave and report us."

*Lilith gathers those as well, smashing them.*

L"We wouldn't be able to take them with us. Now are we ready?"
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*While she's doing that, it grabs the Megadeus's neck.*

*Kanrei Tsuki draws its other knife and slices at the root around its neck.*

Zell shrugged, "I guess so, this is my first time breaking in, so I don't know how it goes exactly."

T"Don't worry, you're doing fine."

*Once they exit, she closes the door behind them. The hallway is a dark, empty catwalk in a hall of pipes dimly lit with red lights.*

T"Just act natural."
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*The monster screeches, burrowing into the wall.*

*The Megadeus returns its knives to their compartment and stands up raising its rifle aiming into the hole leftover from its burrowing into the wall.*

"Why, am I not acting natural already?"

L"Absolutely not."

T"I wonder if elevators go down this far."

*They come to a flight of stairs.*
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*Nothing happens.*

*Kanrei Tsuki slowly begins to back away from the hole before turning around slowly and continuing on its way.*

Zell is reminded that she is a clone, "Yea... I guess you're right." Noticing her own downward turn in mood, Zell quickly adds, "I'll, um, try to be better."

*At the top of the stairs, Thiera clears her throat, seeing 2 female employees in military uniforms.*

T"Yes, try to be better about that report, Ms. Jenkins."

L"(...Jenkins?)"

1<Ugh, corporate types.>

2<Hold on...what were you 2 doing down there? It's a restricted area, only the President & her generals can authorize entrance. Come to think of it, we usually don't see non-military personnel below Level 613.>
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*She enters the tunnel below the headquarters to see that Thiera's snakelike Megadeus burrowed up into it.*

"If only the President and her generals can authorize entrance, and we're here, why don't you put two and two together, and get out of our way, we have business to conduct." Zell said.

{Another Megadeus has entered. Permission to engage it?}

{No. But once you are inside, depart from the Megadeus & go looking for Thiera Psyche. I'll have your Megadeus print out the authorization code.}

*A slip of paper begins to emerge from the control panel.*
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1<This one is kind of ballsy for a clerical worker. I don't like her.>

2<If that's true, then where are your authorization codes?>

L"We lost the paper, but I can recite them from memory. 3-3-7-8-4-6-9."

*Thiera looks at the phone she still has in her hand before stowing it in her pocket.*

[..."Destiny"?]

"Now that this is cleared up, we will be on our way." Zell said, motioning for Thiera to get a move on before the other two got too suspicious.

*Hitomi finds a spot to place to put the Megadeus and departs after taking the slip of paper.*

*She finds a door opened by keypad.*
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T"(So now we know, we have to get to level 613 to have general access to the building.)"

L"(Do we know how to get there?)"

T"(I have a sonar scan that says there's a stairway at the end of the hall & to the left, to get to 614, but it doesn't show anything past that.)"