The back corridor smelled of oil, metal, and the faint burn of old circuits. Every step echoed, sharp and accusing.
drip… hum…
Crates lined the walls, stacked haphazardly yet precise. On the surface, they appeared to be mundane supplies panels, coils, and utility boxes, stickers peeling, numbers stamped. Too neat to be ordinary. My gut told me otherwise.
tap… scrape…
I knelt, inspecting a crate marked C-13. The stencil was slightly off, the paint texture too smooth. Same pattern I'd noticed before in the Veins crates pretending to be utilities, hiding the real load underneath. I remember this. I noticed it before, the stashhouse crates concealed, calculated, meant to fool eyes like mine.
click… whir…
I memorized the codes, tracing lines in my mind, noting which crates could be moved, which couldn't. Every panel, every lock, every seam was a breadcrumb, a signature left by whoever had packed this armory.
Internal note: These are no simple supplies. Explosives, mis-indexed weapons, gel packs. Everything I touch now is leverage, potential chaos at the right moment. Especially C-13 this one's a key.
I tapped the metal lids, listening to the hollow notes. Patterns of weight, resonance, spacing. The Architect's hand was in this too; someone had designed these crates to look ordinary, to lull anyone into casual inspection. Yet I had seen the play before. I had learned it.
whir… drip…
Rising from the shadows, the faint vibration of distant machinery reminded me that the city itself watched. Every hum, every beat, every locked door outside mirrored this room controlled, choreographed, ready to be manipulated.
I straightened, brushing dust off my hands. Codes etched in memory, crates mapped in my mind. C-13 would be the thread I pulled when the time came. The Veins didn't just hide weapons they hid opportunity. And I intended to take it.
fade…
I stepped back, letting the silence settle. The armory lay quiet, mundane to anyone untrained, lethal in the right hands. My hands itched, but patience was its own weapon. For now, observation. For later, leverage.