There was a long, slowly curving road.
It was mostly empty, or at least the other cars didn't matter so much. Desert was mostly what you could see out the windows, though you could see a large body of water or a small city every now and then. Though the road continues on, our path stops in a large city. It is the largest city that's been seen so far, though there are cities as large or larger on this road. The dust that coats the first few blocks has taken the path we have to get here, dry desert city. The opposite half of the city meets the shore from where the salty sea breeze travels, rusty damp old city.
The story is longer than I know, but it used to be that two small towns sat here. The desert crossroad did well to trade with the small marine town and as they both grew, a large commercial district was put up between the two, joining them permanently. Nowadays you can't tell where one used to start or stop, it's so intertwined.
As you near the sea, towards the end of the city center, there is an office building. Except, it's really a casino. It doesn't look like a casino though, it looks like a slightly gilded office building. Sure, there are a few lights and ornaments inside, but if you didn't know it was there the most you might hear is a remark about the need for an office building to be embellished with gold.
A car was parked. Whether it was parked in the building's underground lot, or a nearby side street doesn't really matter. What matters is that about the same time, security cameras picked up some people entering a restricted stairwell of the casino/office building. The security cameras didn't recognize the people entering, but of course, they were just cameras. They don't recognize anything (excepting, of course, the cameras with heat or movement sensors attached. But those aren't cameras, are they? Just attached dongles that affect cameras). The people that watch these security cameras didn't recognize the people in the stairwell, either, and alerted their bosses.
The intruders navigated to a room on the thirty-first floor. It was a large open room, perhaps it took up a quarter of the entire floor. And the one above it.
...To Be Continued
So where was I? Oh, yeah. Thirty-first floor. In fact it probably wasn't exactly the thirty-first, just more than halfway up a fairly tall building. Our intruders have made it that far. That's where they discover that security is looking for them. Stealth is implemented; also a distraction. A man breaks off from the rest of the group. A chase begins.
The man, in fact, was probably just a boy. He's tall and lanky, and surely not a hair over eighteen. You'd think this kid would have trouble dealing with so much limb when he's got so little body, but he's fast. As he scurries off down a distant corridor, he does some sort of close quarters slash acrobatic trickery to cause a backup for the chasers.
The remaining team can now act. They make their way to the middle of the back wall, where a lift of sorts lies. It is small and rather expensive looking, as if to signal to regular folk, "just use the stairs." About three people can fit comfortably side-to-side in it, and that's how many took it up, cramming uncomfortably down to keep their whole bodies covered from any further attack. The two remaining members of the group ran back across the room to take cover and wait for the rest.
The lift reaches it's destination two floors, or perhaps twenty, above the lobby. The three jump out and flash along a slightly open room to a small corner office. Someone is leaning against the desk, waiting for them. Is he evil? Probably, though it doesn't really matter. There is a conversation, the kind you hear in movies. no one's moving. And then there was a call.
The team gets a call from the boy. It seems he did what they were here for, that this group upstairs was the real distraction. They run off back to the lift, which is already on it's way down. They jump down one by one, trying to fit inside, while not landing on each other in the process. Everyone meets back at the lobby, where the two left behind are having a firefight keeping security from retaking the room. And then they escape?
...To Be Continued ...again
