After several hours of continuous descent, the elevator finally docked in a deep area marked as a "Controlled Zone."
The air here was stagnant and heavy, mixed with the smell of metal rust, long-accumulated oil and grease, and a strange odor resembling a blend of low-quality incense and high-voltage electrical arcs.
"The target area is just ahead," Sheriff Atkins said, pointing to a massive pipe entrance, its interior deep and dark, as if leading to another world.
He made a crisp gesture, and the Marshal's squad immediately split into two groups.
"Cole, you take three men and guard this exit, establish a defensive position, ensure clear communication and a safe retreat. The rest of you follow me." He turned to Maine, his tone serious and professional:
"We are more familiar with the structure below and can provide route guidance and regional intelligence support. Any situations requiring law enforcement identification will also be handled by us."
Maine nodded steadily, the newly installed plasma reactor in his chest outputting stably, and the flamethrower system in his left arm had completed its preheating.
He surveyed his team and issued concise orders: "All personnel, check equipment. Rebecca, provide illumination. Dorio, form the vanguard with me. Pilar, watch the flanks. Falco, maintain environmental scans. Morris, reconnoiter shadow areas first. Valerie, Jackie, activate the iron guards, maintain tactical spacing."
Upon receiving the commands, the team immediately began to operate efficiently.
The energy cores on the backs of the two iron guard prototypes emitted a low, powerful hum, and their armor seams glowed with a faint blue light.
Valerie sat in the cockpit, fully synchronized with the machine through a deep neural connection; Jackie, meanwhile, activated the system via a traditional control interface, his haptic suit precisely transmitting the machine's feedback to his limbs.
The powerful searchlights carried by Rebecca shot out two dazzling beams of light, instantly tearing through the darkness ahead and illuminating a wide passage covered in oil and unknown viscous fluids.
Sheriff Atkins personally led four fully armed Marshals into the action queue, skillfully taking up tactical positions in the middle of the team, their law enforcement boltguns ready at all times.
With a forward gesture from Maine, this mixed formation, in standard tactical alignment, cautiously and resolutely stepped into the deeper darkness beneath the Hive City.
The Marshals who remained quickly set up temporary defensive fortifications, their heavy boltguns aimed towards the passage entrance.
Under the swaying beams of the searchlights, the passage walls could be seen covered with meaningless graffiti and severely worn warning signs.
The strange smell in the air grew stronger, and occasionally, sharp metallic scraping sounds echoed in the empty passage from afar.
Sheriff Atkins lowered his voice and said to Maine: "According to the map, the main entrance to the old purification plant is five hundred meters ahead. Recent patrol reports have mentioned unusual activity here."
Morris' figure flickered in and out of sight in the shadows ahead, her modified senses scanning for every possible threat.
Dorio clenched her fists, the flamethrower cores in her knuckles glowing faintly.
Falco's scanner emitted a regular ticking sound, transmitting real-time environmental data to each team member's tactical goggles.
This well-equipped team, like a giant steel python, slowly slid into the deepest darkness of the Hive City, preparing to confront the threats lurking in the shadows.
— —
The team continued to penetrate deeper along the wide and filthy passage. Morris moved silently ahead like a true shadow, her sensors relaying real-time terrain and sporadic heat signals.
Makeshift shacks and dwellings built from discarded materials began to appear on both sides of the passage, but they were all empty now, with only some tattered belongings left behind, indicating that the residents had fled in haste not long ago.
"Ambush," Morris' cold voice came through the squad's encrypted channel, "One hundred and fifty meters ahead, on both side maintenance tunnels and the pipe platform above, approximately twenty life signs, carrying crude firearms and melee weapons."
Maine immediately made a tactical gesture, and the team instantly stopped, deploying into a defensive formation using the natural cover within the passage.
The heavy bodies of the two iron guard prototypes half-crouched, serving as temporary armored cover, their shoulder weapon platforms beginning to rotate, locking onto the target area.
The Marshal's squad also quickly spread out, and Sheriff Atkins said in a low voice: "It's the 'Scrap Gang,' a bunch of scum entrenched here. It seems they've gotten mixed up with those heretics."
"Free fire, eliminate the threat," Maine ordered without hesitation.
For such an ambush, the best response was an instantaneous, devastating strike.
Rebecca was the first to open fire.
Her plasma cannon briefly charged, emitting a chilling hum, then a dazzling blue plasma ball roared out, accurately striking the entrance of the left maintenance tunnel.
"Boom—!"
The deafening explosion was tremendous; the plasma instantly vaporized the metal structure at the entrance, and the violent energy turned several bandits hidden within, along with their cover, into splashing molten metal and charred debris.
The scorching blast even caused the skin of the ambushers on the other side of the passage to tingle.
Almost simultaneously, Pilar's promethium flamethrower let out a low growl, and a viscous, incandescent dragon of fire roared towards the platform on the right, engulfing several bandits attempting to peek out and shoot.
Piercing screams briefly erupted, then abruptly ceased in the thousands of degrees of heat, leaving only the smell of burning bodies.
"Ha! Is that all you've got?" Rebecca shouted excitedly, her new height and strength making it easier for her to wield this heavy weapon.
Maine's flamethrower also let out a muffled roar; unlike the sharp crack of a laser or the boom of a boltgun, it was a deeper sound, like liquid being sprayed at high pressure.
A heat ray, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, shot towards a pipe platform above the passage, hitting a bandit clutching a crude lasgun.
There was no massive explosion; the bandit instantly ignited from the inside out, like butter dropped into a steel furnace, becoming a screaming human torch, the flames even igniting his companions nearby, causing a wave of chaos.
Dorio, like a cannonball, slammed into several power axe-wielding mutants attempting to charge out from behind side cover.
These mutants had bulging muscles, unhealthy grayish-green skin, and crude metal implants and twisted tattoos on their bodies.
Dorio used no weapons, just a simple, unadorned straight punch.
Her fist, with a shriek that tore through the air, heavily struck the chest of the leading mutant.
"Thud!"
With a dull thud, the mutant's thick chest visibly caved in, and the clothes on his back burst open.
That wasn't all; the moment the fist connected, the internal flamethrower core was triggered, and a small but extremely lethal burst of flamethrower energy erupted at the point of impact.