Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-5543592-20190616163743/@comment-25828117-20190619213116

Doris wandered up the driveway of the complex. She was quick to notice the building had been built on an artificial hill. Even when there were no skyscrapers, Robert House always made sure his properties stood out among the rest.

Some cars stood abandoned in the parking lot by the gate. Early commuters that never made it back home that October morning two centuries ago. Doris hoped their bodies would've been reduced to dust by now. A horrible thought perhaps but seeing human remains made her queasy. Even today, after Lord knows how many days in the wastes.

The RobCo development laboratories were no more than two stories high, but she knew the building was practically built like the Pentagon with multiple sides, only she wasn't sure if it were five exactly. It was hard to tell from looking at it down on the ground.

The doors of the main entrance had at one point been dark green glass constructs, adorned with geometrical shapes that would've evoked an image of electrical power being harnessed into a chip of sorts. Sadly most of the artwork had been blasted out its metal frames and lay shattered inside on the lobby floor.

When Doris carefully entered through what was left of the portal, some of the splintered glass crunched between her boots and the marble tile floor that was so in keeping with the art deco design of the place. Inside virtually everything was made out of marble, and almost all of it was cracked or showing signs of decay. From the floor, the round info desk in the middle, the two way split staircase at the back of the hall, and all the way up to the pillars keeping the roof from collapsing. In all sorts of colors and cuts, just marble for days.

Doris had to suppress the urge to call out a meek "Hello?" as per usual. Despite her desire for a kind reply, there was no telling what could be lurking around this place. She had always thought these abandoned buildings were scary. This was mainly because she couldn't stop thinking about the people that had died in them. Most definitely; If she still had hair to speak of, the thought would've made her's stand on end.

When she proceeded down the lobby it became clear to her just how dark this place really was. Despite the skylight letting light down into the hall, it lacked proper illumination with the power switched off. Doris had to pull her goggles down, down into the nook of her pronounced collarbones, to actually see with any sort of clarity.

The pre-war diva listened for any sounds that were not her own and heard only the sounds one would expect in a dilapidated building that hadn't seen renovation for hundreds of years. The wind blowing through broken windows and metal support beams creaking. All the good homey stuff.

"If I were a microchip where would I hide?" She muttered out loud for herself to hear. To take away at least some of the eerie silence's power.

"Well, I wouldn't hide, because I wouldn't be a sentient being. But figuratively speaking..." She continued, onto the stairs and up the first floor to the right. Where the signs read 'Research block A B C', 'Administration' and 'Office'.

"That sounds about right." Doris said in response to reading office. She had been told something along those lines anyways. 'look around in the offices'. It was too important to have it just lying around in R&D. Only it hadn't been clear which office exactly.

"Wish I still had Llewellyn..." It pained her to even say his name. Llewellyn had been her old butler back in Manhattan, before the war.

"... He always knew where to find everything." Even at places Llewellyn had never been. He knew how to deftly manoeuvre his way around the place to give his mistress whatever she required.

"Now, I have to do everything myself!" Her volume increased involuntarily there and she quickly caught herself, allowing the silence to return. She didn't like it, but she liked getting killed even less.

The offices were just around the corner and here another sign hung on the wall, specifying who was situated here. Her first instinct was to go with the fanciest title. Director sounded about right. 'Director Kent Callaghan'.

Callaghan's office was at the end of the hallway and had a window overlooking the lobby if Doris had remembered her mental layout of the building well enough. The door appeared locked however. Electronically locked with another one of those eyes needing to scan a code. Doris held the card up again and waited for the light to turn green.

"Access granted. Welcome..." The automated voice cut off, obviously meant to say the name of some upper-level RobCo employee at the end there. Either way, Doris was in. So far this had been remarkably easy.

The director's office was fairly modern. With a slightly newer design than all the art deco outside. Parallel lines, and a lot of round furniture... were what mostly jumped out at first glance. A similarly modern wooden desk stood almost centered in the room.

"The boss' personal desk. Not a bad place to start." Doris said as she strode towards the dust covered piece of furniture.

At first she lifted the desk pad, revealing nothing underneath but a rectangle impression of cleanliness. Since it proved useless she flung it across the room and continued searching. A framed photo of what was presumably the director with some friend or college in what looked like London. 'The Savoy' if Doris wasn't mistaken, and she probably wasn't. Having stayed and dined in most of Europe's primo establishments, she would recognize that cutlery anywhere. It was important to know such things she thought.

Either way, the photo proved to be of no value. The microchip she sought wasn't hidden in the back of the frame so she threw that aside as well. Next were the drawers. All of them held nothing but stationary and office equipment but then. Under the desk, Doris found what could only have been a button.

"Bingo."

The button was pressed and there was a 'click' sound behind her, a small part of the wall had sprung open like a door, beckoning to be pulled open fully. And Doris was all too happy to oblige.

To be continued...