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"Usually that's when new garbage comes in."
"Fair enough. Now, the second place I want to head to is the LAYER 2 ARCHIVES. I heard a rumor about an anomaly in there."
Edward cocks his eyebrow at the mention of the rumor. "Really now? I didn't hear anything about a containment breach."
"Again, it's just a rumor, but it wouldn't hurt to check. That's kinda why I picked you."
Edward cracks a smile. "Ay, of course you would pick me. I've contained over 50 anomalies over my career, thank you very much!" He is positively beaming with pride at your half-hearted comment.
You do your best to keep up a professional, impassive expression. "Well that's good. I'll need someone like you. C'mon."
You yank out your map. You gotta give props to the <span class="mu-b">Man</span>, his little map has been INCREDIBLY useful for you over the last week.
"Any reason you think this place is built like this?" Some small talk wouldn't hurt, would it?
"Like what?"
"This maze-like structure?" You clarify.
"Ah, that. I think it's ARC's idea of a bad joke. Newbie at the stand-up club kind of bad." Edward snorts as he reaches for his flask again. "You're a Level 1 guy now, right?"
"Uhm. Soon to be, yeah, some weird higher-up is going to come down here, I think? It'll be official when I meat-" You awkwardly clear your throat. "Meet her."
"Heh! Meat." Edward chuckles in between sips of his flask. "Well, I think they do it to fuck with Level 0s. They know you guys are scary, confused, and not at all cut out for this line of work."
"So what do they do? They throw you in here. Everything looks the same, and it blends together into a blur of grey steel. Trying to find a way out just leads you in circles and circles until you're back where you start."
"Rats in a maze core shit, my man." Edward shakes his flask to see how much's left. "The more charitable explanation is that they do it to confuse any anomaly that exits their containment cell."
"I know that's why Layer 3 is built like that. Ain't like that in the other layers, last I checked, so yeah. They're fuckin' with your mind here."
Every time you learn something new about ARC, it makes you hate them just a little bit more. "Pricks. No wonder their budget got cut."
"Pft. Cheers to that, man." Before he has time to take another swig, the two of you arrive at ARCHIVES. The door is covered in a thin layer of clear, gelatinous gel that makes you nauseous just looking at it. Eugh.
Edward swipes his keycard into the keycard scanner. The door sluggishly, almost unwillingly, slides open. You almost dread to imagine what could be in here. Edward reaches around his belt and, lo and behold, he unholsters his gun. It appears to be a submachine gun of some sorts.
"Got a gun?" He anxiously whispers. If he's worried, then there HAS to be something in there.
You pull out your deagle. It might have a few scratches, but it still fires.
Edward offers a curt nod. "Follow behind me." The two of you cautiously enter the ARCHIVE...
