[center][h3]Vandelay Campus - Production[/h3]
[b]Location:[/b] Midgar Sector 06, the City of Glass
Roland’s [@Archmage MC], Partitio’s [@Dark Cloud], Goldlewis Dickinson, Sandalphon
[b]Word Count:[/b] 3818 (+4)

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqgIQaUaKg4&ab_channel=YTPOLGAMECHARTSJP[/youtube][/center]

Though not the fastest man around, Goldlewis could make slow and steady progress thanks to his double-jump and airdash. He couldn’t clamber around while carrying his coffin, and it plus his weight meant any one-handed catches might spell disaster, so he made sure to choose the least-risky avenue of ascent. 

On the way up, he called Sandalphon again. “Come in, Halo,” he hailed her, his voice betrayed some of the strain of continuous physical activity.

“Reading you, Mustang.”

“Call me old-fashioned, but I like to know who I’m workin’ with.” Pausing a moment after a big jump to wipe his brow, he took a deep breath. “Any chance you could tell me more about yourself?”

“If you like.” Sandalphon’s reply was matter-of-fact. “For a long time I served as the combat coordinator and sigil-bound archangel for the leader of the Apostles, the elite unit of the Northern Illian Church in Grams. Some time after the catastrophe that befell our city, however, I ended up here in Midgar instead, working among the Sankta of the Lateran Church in Piltover, which you might know as Sector 01. While I had a lot in common with the Sankta and worked well alongside their Apostolic Knights, earning their goodwill in return, I felt it necessary to take a more proactive role against the Ever Crisis. DespoRHado did not quite live up to my expectations, but since enlisting I have worked to increase its efficiency and reform the organization from within.”

After himself up onto a ledge, Goldlewis shifted the weight of his coffin onto his other shoulder and rubbed the soreness out of the original. “The Lateran Church, huh? Guess that makes sense, you bein’ an angel and all. It’s easy bein’ laid-back when you got that much firepower; those guns of theirs are nothin’ to sneeze at.”

“Indeed,” Sandalphon replied. “Not only is the Lateran Church Midgar’s leading manufacturer of firearms, but every Sankta is required by law to own a patron firearm for self-defense. Their empathetic racial trait and all-governing Law ensure the peace, but they also ensure that anyone without such traits…can only ever get so close.”

Goldlewis couldn’t speak to that himself, but he felt like he understood the archangel’s decision. “Mm-hm.” With a final effort, he heaved himself over the black-and-yellow stripes and into Plant 04.

Inside lay a [url=https://i.imgur.com/5t1liJO.png]hideously tangled mess[/url] of assemblers, conveyor belts, splitters, joiners, power lines, poorly designed and bottlenecked in several places, with a large square elevator platform way over on the opposite side. Worse still, there were no elevated walkways or even clear ways through the plant, forcing everyone to squeeze through, climb over, and jump between the conveyors and machinery, with assembly arms and conveyors stopping and starting unpredictably. Goldlewis heaved a sigh and got to work.

[color=d7d7d7]”Well, I guess it's time to start climbing.”[/color] Roland said, sighing as well as he began to climb. Unlike Goldlewis though, Roland was much better at climbing due to his nimbleness, even if he was complaining just as much. Roland jumped from conveyor to conveyor, making sure he got a steady foothold before he continued onto the next one. When a machine arm tried to stop him on the third conveyor, Roland just sliced it with his weapon to make it stop, not wanting to have to deal with it possibly knocking him off.

Bringing up the rear, Partitio didn't have the edge of the big man's jumps or Roland’s knack at climbing but the merchant knew a thing or three about rough terrain. The Wildlands back home were rife with bluffs and cliffs to climb for a pioneer to traverse, so this wasn't too difficult for Partitio, but as he climbed methodically he lagged a bit behind the others.

[color=d7d7d7]”This is dangerous, are you sure this is the safest way?”[/color] Roland said as he hopped to his next conveyor belt, not liking having to move around so much heavy machinery.

"[color=DECF4C]Hoo-wee…You can say that again.[/color]" the merchant called out to Roland sounding out of breath as he did his best to not get hit by the haywire machinery. Just in case he had his machine spear in hand, to strike at a mechanical arm if it got too friendly with him.

“Judging by the rate at which this plant’s factories are producing, I’m estimating an approximate efficiency rate of twenty-six percent,” Sandalphon mentioned, her typically calm tone tinged by disgust. “Give or take. That means they’re just spinning their wheels about seventy-four percent of the time. [i]Despicable[/i].”

Goldlewis nearly stumbled off a conveyor line as it suddenly lurched beneath him, and only narrowly avoided a fall as his attempt to steady himself met with a set of metal beams headed to an assembler for processing. With a frustrated groan he hopped down to the floor. “What a doggone pigsty,” he grumbled as he ducked underneath a conveyor, then climbed up to jump from splitter to joiner to cross a [url=https://i.imgur.com/niBUgg4.png]needlessly complicated manifold[/url]. Any route the Seekers took was bound to be dangerous, but ‘bothersome’ was another story. Toward the end, his progress came to a dead stop when faced with a solid wall of conveyors and lifters, all shuffling various items around at a snail’s pace as space in the connected machines became available one unit at a time. As far as Goldlewis could tell, there wasn’t any space big enough for him to fit. “Aw, to hell with it,” his spat, readying his coffin. “We’ll be doin’ whatever dolt designed this a favor by tearin’ it down.”

Without hesitation he began to clear out the plant’s clogged arteries, demolishing them one backed-up conveyor at a time with his mighty fail’s giant swings. He bashed, bent, and broke the array of poorly-conceived machinery until it was barely standing, then produced a Thunderbird grenade to blow the pile of shoddy workmanship to pieces. It all came tumbling down in a tremendous noise, and the discontinued conveyors -suddenly free of obstruction- started spewing out batteries, motors, insulated wire bundles, and boxes of screws like reservoirs through broken dams. Quickly the destruction began to cascade through the system, causing assemblers to jam up and precariously-stacked transport equipment to buckle and fall. Still, the destruction opened the path to the exit, and all three hurried to get on. Only after coming to a stop did Goldlewis, much to his astonishment, spot that same KUT-WAN dog squeezing under a conveyor to gallop over and sit down next to him on the elevator. The veteran shook his head. “Still followin’ us? You got some brass balls on ya, boy.”

The KUT-WAN just barked, its tail pipe wagging. Goldlewis reached down, picked it up, and put it on his massive shoulder. “There ya go, you’ll be safer here. ‘Til we get into another fight, anyhow.”

After everyone boarded, it ascended in a blistering burst of speed, stopping and starting between floors two and three until [url=https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/002/523/007/a3b.gif]the lift[/url] reached the roof and stopped so abruptly that everyone flew into the air. “Whoa-oa-oa!” Goldlewis howled, flailing his arms as he reached the apex of his arc. As he hung in midair, he got an admittedly spectacular view of the Vandelay Campus in the light of day, from the distant Vandelay Building that rose from the Atrium to the volcano atop R&D to the Dendemille Showcase theater. Then he landed with a grunt. “Hah!” he exhaled. “Gets the blood pumpin’, don’t it?”

[color=d7d7d7]”A bit unnecessary though?”[/color] Roland said, looking back at the huge mess Goldlewis left behind. [color=d7d7d7]”I just hope that the poor line workers gotta clean that up tomorrow.”[/color] He then sighed before saying. [color=d7d7d7]”That's that and this is this.”[/color] and while not far behind the merchant called after "[color=DECF4C]What in the heck was all that-[/color]" Partitio's hollering was cut short as he tripped and fell, thankfully not a long fall only onto his posterior but he grunted and as he dusted himself off he sighed "[color=DECF4C]Darn it…At this rate I ain't got no chance of keeping up.[/color]"

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/XX7Nwfh.png[/img][/center]

“Your destination is the tower on the left,” Sandalphon instructed the team. “The one with the yellow and red stripes. My androids just reported that Sundowner is closing in–he’s been carving his way through the Production Center’s assembly lines. Hurry!”

Between here and there was at least half a mile of [url=https://i.imgur.com/bxXAG1C.png]rooftops[/url], covered with all kinds of external machinery and connected by a labyrinth of teal pipes, steel rails, and hanging cables. Both DespoRHado and Vandelay soldiers could be found littered throughout, usually in the process of destroying one another. Bomb-chucking AIR-1Ns flew around the buildings, helping to highlight targets for the Vandelay [url=https://i.imgur.com/MsMQQX7.png]Sniper Joes[/url] to lock onto. DespoRHado’s cyborgs came armed with Sliders to help them fly around, though, as well as agile [url=https://i.imgur.com/9lO474O.png]Raptor[/url] packs to help them hunt down and rip apart their enemies. The Seekers had their work cut out for them.

Looking down, Roland said. [color=d7d7d7]”Be careful you two, that is quite the fall.”[/color] With that said, Roland made his way along the precarious footholds. Thanks to his distortion mask and silent movement due to his gloves, it was rare that any of the patrolling cyborgs even glanced at Roland’s position, with those that did soon forgetting what they were doing once Roland moved out of their line of sight. Of course, most of them were paying more attention to the Vandelay bots, anyway. Out of the three, Roland had the easiest time getting to their destination when it came to not attracting attention to himself. 

Climbing, straddling, and scaling up and down the various pipes, rails, and cables, Roland found that he was the first to make it to a good destination. Being in such a spot, Roland decided to pull out his gun and give the other two an overwatch if they needed it. His bullets would only tickle from such a great distance, but it could get enemy attention which he could hide from if needed.

With Goldlewis neither the most agile nor inclined to trust the freight rails, since even if they could hold his weight and he could somehow hold his weight a bunch of freight could plow into him either from behind or in front at any second, the former Secretary of Defense needed to find a different way. He ran past noisy, overclocked AC units and small groups of chatty VA-SER units slacking off on the rooftops, not stopping to read any of the blue PDAs left lying around nor the scrolling display screens. The Production rooftops were a visual mess, its workings lively to the point of being boisterous, but on closer inspection everything seemed to be operating along a certain upbeat rhythm. Crane platforms, lifts, bridges, pistons, steam vents, even the flashing lights. Once Goldlewis stopped working against it, navigation got a bit easier.

Out of the other two, compared to Roland and Goldlewis their merchant ally wasn't as strong or agile as either of them. He struggle to keep up with them though not for lack of trying, for what he did lack in those departments he made up for in stamina. Cussing quietly as he worked his way past the same AC units Goldlewis had, he hit a bit of a snag as his coat got caught in the fan thankfully only ripping the hemming slightly but doing nothing to keep him from being any less conspicuous for a man straddling a vent, looking up Partitio glanced between Roland and the VA-SER units "[color=DECF4C]Pssst, give a feller a hand.[/color]" the merchant whispered urgently.

Offering a hand, Roland pulled the poor merchant up. [color=d7d7d7]”We’ve gotta get you a rock climbing wall or something.”[/color] Roland said, noticing the difficulty Partitio was having with climbing

"[color=DECF4C]So you're tellin' me folks would pay for rocks to climb?[/color]" well wonders never cease it seemed, it gave Partitio a bit of a chuckle "[color=DECF4C]I tell ya, things here in this world are pretty darn strange.[/color]" he muttered to himself with a shake of his head before continuing on with both Goldlewis and Roland.


The loudspeaker system came online with a harsh noise so that a tired-sounding robot voice could deliver an announcement. “Reminder: To compensate for Project Armstrong Flow, a new day of the week was added. Please note, on this additional day of the week, working is mandatory.”

That made Goldlewis pause halfway across a walkway he’d just extended to blink in confusion. “What in tarnation…?” Roland could only roll his eyes at such a stupid thing, although no one could see that behind his mask. Partitio just shook his head in disbelief, he wasn't surprised that a big company would make up some nonsense day just to increase work but it also angered him a little, but the merchant didn't linger instead following a bit closer to Goldlewis.

A few moments later, Goldlewis came to a series of what looked like [url=https://i.imgur.com/sV7mjrX.png]miniature water towers[/url]. A little precarious, but nothing he couldn’t jump and airdash across. “Well, here goes nothin’.” Unfortunately the moment he landed on the first tower, it creaked alarmingly, and he froze in place. The next second one of its supports buckled beneath it, and its weight did the rest. “DAMMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!” He fell all the way to a lower section, hollering the whole time. he slid down a sloped roof and slammed down on one of two suspended [url=https://i.imgur.com/FEPaDLv.png]cargo containers[/url], and though it swayed wildly its cables held. “Gah!” Goldlewis spat, getting to his knees.

“Mustang, are you alright?” Sandalphon asked. “Please respond.”

“I…I’m fine,” the veteran groused. When he got to his feet, however, he was forced to admit otherwise. These cargo containers hung over a large open lot in front of the QA center, full of forklifts and organized stacks of supplies ready to be shipped out across production as needed. Right now though, it hosted an all-out brawl between Vandelay robots (mostly GNRs backed up by a trio of hulking, bubble-shielded [url=https://i.imgur.com/NCoyYhU.png]BA-B00s[/url] with mitts almost as big as their torsos) and DespoRHado forces, including both cyborgs and doll-like androids with a mooing Gekko as the main course. As he watched, a stray shot hit one of the container’s cables, severing it and leaving the other three sorely taxed. “Aw, hell!” he moaned. “I might need a li’l help down here!”

Roland could only sigh as he made his way down to the water towers that Goldlewis fell through, responding to his call for help. In order to pull some of the cyborgs that were going to investigate the loud noise, Roland shot one that was heading there, before hiding himself and making his way to Goldlewis, the cyborg investigating the area where he was shot but going to find no one there. It would only keep the attention of one of them, but that was one less enemy they had to deal with.

Finding his way to where Goldlewis fell, Roland looked down on all the horrible stuff down below in the industrial yard. [color=d7d7d7]”Pssh…. You got yourself in a lot of trouble huh.”[/color] Roland said. He looked around, noticing the crane that held the container Goldlewis was standing on. Seeing the battle below, it would be best that Goldlewis didn’t fall into the middle of that mess. Using his stealth, Roland made his way down by climbing a strut and across the catwalks to the crane controls. Giving Goldlewis a motion about his plan, Roland fiddled with the controls to try to get him away from the fight below and somewhere along the upper catwalks out of danger, or at least somewhere that didn’t lead to him falling into the mess below.

After a few false starts in wrong directions, with Goldlewis waving to Roland to hurry as more stray shots, explosions, and flying mechanical parts imperiled him, the dangling container began to ascend away from the brawl. A prominent lever also got the cargo trolley moving down the crane’s boom and closer to the mast where Roland was working the giant machine from the operator cabin. “Whew,” the veteran breathed, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. A few moments later the container came to a stop next to the mast, swaying mildly, and with a jump and an airdash Goldlewis landed on a catwalk. “Close call,” he remarked brusquely as his new ally exited the cabin, jabbing a thumb at the wrecked liquid storage tower. Silvery alumina solution spilled out from its wreckage where it had fallen. “Crappy worksmanship’s what that is,” he grumbled. “Don’t fancy that Partitio feller’s chances.” He cast one last glance at the QA center, which seemed big and important, but ultimately out of his way. “Let’s get moving.”

Up above the said merchant put his index finger, and middle finger into his mouth and whistled shrilly "[color=DECF4C]Dang it, I'm up here fellers! Ain't gonna make it down without breaking my dang legs.[/color]" he held out his hands in a placating gesture, not sure what to do short of falling to either his doom or an injury that no amount of rest could cure. Unsure of how to proceed he did his best to leap to a container in the air, almost losing his grip on the cable as he swung from it but at least he was a bit closer to the ground than before "[color=DECF4C]Oh, maybe-[/color]" the merchant began to say reaching out to a loose hanging cable yet was cut short as he lost his grip and fell.

“Partitio!” Goldlewis whipped around, but he knew he’d never reach in time. Instead he slammed his coffin down, popping open the lid. “UMA!” In reply, the alien’s long, skinny arms reached out from the celestial void within, three of them snatching the merchant by the arm as he fell past. The sudden stop in momentum wrenched his arm painfully, but at least he wouldn’t be hitting the ground. Quickly the UMA hauled him up and laid him down on the catwalk before vanishing back into the coffin, which it closed from the inside.

Partitio groaned, feeling his arm he breathed a sharp breath through his teeth "[color=DECF4C]Ah hell.[/color]" the merchant seethed in pain, lifting himself slowly from the floor.

The merchant gave the big man a weak smile "[color=DECF4C]Thank ye' kindly mister. Really-[/color]" Partitio grunted, pushing his arm to set the bone as he used his ability to recover his health to ease the pain "[color=DECF4C]Saved my skin. Certainly owe you a drink.[/color]" his ability wouldn't heal the injury, it was fortunate however that it was at least superficial and only a slight fracture else he wouldn't have been in any shape to use it.

They moved from the catwalk to a larger walkway, then toward the last factory complex separating them from their destination. Inside were huge conveyor belts with assembly presses big and strong enough to pancake cars. At first it looked like there would be no way to go but straight through it, but Goldlewis spotted an external [url=https://i.imgur.com/gnebWEQ.png]conveyor lift[/url] transporting what looked like circuits to a higher level, open to the air and everything. He grabbed onto a platter as it appeared, propped his foot on one three down, and despite the lifter’s protesting groans found himself gradually elevated upward. After a bit he jumped off again before he could be pulled into and crushed by the machinery, landing on a balcony overlooked. Stepping through the door confronted him with a big [url=https://i.imgur.com/U6hxRok.png]rectangular pit[/url] surrounded on all sides by huge fans, probably some sort of cooling facility for the whole plant. On the other side he could see the Production head’s office with its scrolling purple ticker, towering over the factory. Unfortunately, the walkways and ramps that spanned it didn’t go the whole way. Goldlewis stopped where the bridge gave way, his brows furrowed as he examined the network of branching pipes that rose up from the coolant reservoir down below like giant trees. Some of the pipe lids barely held on, and he could see pressure release valves everywhere.

[color=d7d7d7]”Why is it you always choose the most dangerous way? Do you have a death wish?”[/color] Roland said, poking fun at the situation as if it was another precarious one. [color=d7d7d7]”So what's your plan to get across this one now?”[/color]

Goldlewis shot a look at the man. “You wanna head downstairs and dodge through the factory line, be my guest, smartass.” Old and experienced the veteran might be, but he wasn’t above trying to prove himself. After another moment of thinking, he set his coffin down and cracked open the lid. The UMA handed him his Skyfish minigun, and once Goldlewis took aim, he squeezed off a quick burst at one of the valves. When he did, a nearby pipe cap went sailing upward on a geyser of steam, hung there for a solid two seconds, then clattered back down into place as the steam relented. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” Given the sheer weight of the minigum, though, it would be very difficult for him to both maneuver around and fire it.

[color=d7d7d7]”Ok settle down, gramps. I won't stop you if you want to do it like this.”[/color] Roland said, giving another smartass answer as he saw what Goldlewis was thinking. [color=d7d7d7]”I’ll get the steam hatches open and flying, you just make sure you don’t slip again.”[/color] Roland then pulled out his gun and took aim at the barely holding steam caps and got ready to shoot. [color=d7d7d7]”I will say one good thing about this city, unlike the city I came from, bullets are cheap and plentiful. No Head putting an obscene tax on ammo.”[/color] Roland remarked as he shot the first pipe, then the second, then the third, and so on as Goldlewis made his jumps. Once the veteran reached the top, it was time for him to return the favor. He took a bit longer cycling around between vantage points, but plenty of bullets and not much spread meant that Goldlewis could trigger the same pressure releases to get Roland up to join him.

“Made it!” he wheezed afterward, putting the Skyfish away. The KUT-WAN still clinging to his shoulder rubbed its head against the man’s whiskery cheek, and Goldlewis patted him in turn. He gave Roland a stiff nod, then turned to face the corridor leading out of the building. “How’s it lookin’, Halo?”

“Most of the androids with Sundowner were destroyed as he made his way through,” Sandalphon replied. “I believe he’s riding an elevator up to Rekka’s office as we speak, however. Hurry and you’ll just make it.”

Goldlewis nodded. “Roger.” He squinted at the shiny blue glass that crowned the Production office’s face, unable to imagine a more direct route inside from this altitude than that. “It’s go time, folks.” After a deep breath he took off running down the hall toward the balcony on the far side.