Dark Matter Ascension-Chapter 33B2 - : Empire State Tower: Rooftop

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[Stardust Acquired: 40,000]

[Stardust Split: 10,000]

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Jace whistled, “Damn. That’s a lot. And it’s 2,000 per level, right Ollie?”

“Yup!” Ollie nestled in around his neck like a warm scarf. “Five levels worth.”

Jace looked around at the now-littered-about weapons, armor, and mechs. All in pristine condition. “Would be a waste to just leave this all here.”

Quinn crackled over the comms, “I agree. Get all of that gear into The Cosmic Corridor. I’ll schedule a crew from the Star Market to come get it, and I’ll split the sales with you lot.”

Jace nodded, “You heard the lady.” He began collecting armfuls of rifles, pistols, grenades, and even began dragging mechs that had to weigh as much as a ton. He grit his teeth at the grinding, screeching of the metal across concrete.

Greg joined him in dragging another mech, and his voice was filled with a grim determination. “We’re almost done with Myscape. Just the tower is left.”

“And patrols!” Priam shouted. “Though they probably are steering clear.”

“They’ve recalled to the tower,” Quinn stated. “It is heavily reinforced. You’ll have to make your own entrance…or go in through the air vents on the roof which are doubtless being protected.”

Jace nodded, “We’ve been unpredictable so far with the other megacorps. We might as well be a bit predictable and go against the grain. I vote the air vents.”

“Smart!” Priam shouted as he carried a few handfuls of rifles into the portal.

About twenty minutes passed before they had cleared out the weapons and other gear. During that time, all four Aspirants spent a bit of time leveling up their 5 levels.

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Name: Jace Seren (Aspirant, Tier 4)

Power [Class Level]: Dark Matter [Swordmage <Wrathblade> 83]

Skill Name (Rank) [Evolutions]: Universal Translation, Environmental Adaptation, Dark Matter Blade (Rank 5) [Rending], Dark Matter Shield (Rank 3) [Reflecting], Swordmage Stance (Rank 3) [Astral Annihilator], Dark Matter Dart [Exploding] (Rank 4), Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3) [Group], Dark Energy Mine (Rank 3) [Distant], Cosmic Infusion (Rank 10) [Innervating], Dark Energy Beam (Rank 16) [Limited Range], Dark Matter Mending (Rank 4) [Vampiric], Energy Cost Reduction (Rank 10), Wrath's Embrace (Rank 10) [Focused], Ruination Razor (Rank 3) [Wrecking], Mage's Mark (Rank 3), Raging Cleave (Rank 10) Steel Gale Stride (1/day), Arbiter's Anathema (3/day), Shadow Nebula Smokescreen (1/day), Hope's Edge (1/day), Archmage Geomancy (1/day), Archmage Hydromancy (1/day), Archmage Pyromancy (1/day)

Stardust: 1,619

Equipment: (Returning / Adaptable) Nethaldrim, (Medium / Snowguard / Burnguard) Aegisleather, Ghostlight Grapnel Arm, (Thrice Judged) Anathema Arm, (Overclocked / Lightfoot) Steelstalker Sabatons, (Terrifying) All-Seeing Dragon's Eyes, Leviathan's Skin, Adamantine Skeleton, Mind's Eye Amulet, Thellor's Everguard, (Heavy) Venture Pack, survival meals (x40), enhanced canteen, optimized medical kit, Omnitech prosthetic repair module (x2 charges), (Restful) Wildercloth tent, Devilsram wool bedroll

Boons: 2x Common (Equipment), x1 Uncommon (Variable), 2x Uncommon (Equipment), 1x Rare (Skill Evolution), 2x. Epic (Augmentation)

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Dark Energy Beam (Rank 16) - As Rank 1, but increase size of the beam (60 in. diameter).

Raging Cleave (Rank 10): As Rank 1, but the strike range is x10 the blade’s normal reach.

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Name: Priam Westerfold (Aspirant, Tier 4)

Power [Class Level]: Pulsar [Priest 81]

Skill Name (Rank) [Evolutions]: Universal Translation, Environmental Adaptation, Pulsar Ward (Rank 35) [Multi-Target], Pulsar Physic (Rank 10) [Contingent], Priest's Benediction (Rank 13) [Enduring], Priest's Smite (Rank 10) [Marking], Energy Cost Reduction (Rank 10), Wrath of the Gods (Rank 5), Soul Restoration (1/day), Ishtar's Embrace (1/day)

Stardust: 1,619

Equipment: (Light) Archpriest Vestments, (Conservation) Soul Warden Writ, (Insightful) Dad's Hat, (Light) Venture Pack, survival meals (x40), enhanced canteen, optimized medical kit

Boons: Common (Information), Epic (Augmentation)

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Pulsar Ward (Rank 35) - As Rank 34, but is stronger.

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Name: Greg Bhastal (Aspirant, Tier 4)

Power [Class Level]: Planet [Protector 81]

Skill Name (Rank) [Evolutions]: Universal Translation, Environmental Adaptation, Protector's Vow (Rank 3), Planetary Defenses (Rank 3), Planetary Retribution (Rank 3), Cosmic Infusion (Rank 10), Protector's Panacea (Rank 8), Planetary Palisade (Rank 10), Planetary Growth (Rank 6), Rock Blast (Rank 15), Energy Cost Reduction (Rank 10), Defensive Upgrade (Rank 10), Sphere of Protection (Rank 5), Thellor’s Reversal (1/day)

Stardust: 1,619

Equipment: (Heavy) Thellor's Impenetrable Bulwark, Pheracorp deflection matrix, Stunstick, (Heavy) Venture Pack, survival meals (x40), enhanced canteen, optimized medical kit, 20,000 creds, Bunker-Buster Mk. 3, Enduralife Guardian AR, General Logistics 9mm Pistol, x4 fragmentation grenade, x4 EMP grenade, x4 flashbang

Boons: None

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Sphere of Protection (Rank 1) - The user manifests a sphere of Cosmic Power around themselves that extends 5 feet in all directions and is centered on them. This sphere causes all damaging effects from outside of the sphere to apply to the Protector instead of its intended target, as long as the target remains in the sphere's radius.

Sphere of Protection (Rank 2) - As Rank 1, but the sphere extends 10 feet in all directions.

Sphere of Protection (Rank 3) - As Rank 1, but the sphere extends 15 feet in all directions.

Sphere of Protection (Rank 4) - As Rank 1, but the sphere extends 20 feet in all directions.

Sphere of Protection (Rank 5) - As Rank 1, but the sphere extends 25 feet in all directions.

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Name: Quinn Cipher (Aspirant, Tier 4)

Power [Class Level]: Star [Broker 81]

Skill Name (Rank) [Evolutions]: Universal Translation, Environmental Adaptation, Broker's Instinct (Rank 8), Broker's Contract (Rank 20), Broker's Fee (Rank 16), Cosmic Infusion (Rank 10), Magic World Interface (Rank 9), Magitech World Interface (Rank 9), Technology World Interface (Rank 10)

Stardust: 1,619

Equipment: Broker's interface, Broker's starting gear, Webwalker Implants, Pheracorp Bionic Brain Mk. 1, Pheracorp Bionic Eyes Mk. 1, (Light) Venture Pack, survival meals (x40), enhanced canteen, optimized medical kit, Enduralife Guardian AR, General Logistics 9mm Pistol, x8 micro-EMP charge

Boons: None

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Magic World Interface (Rank 9): As Rank 1, but enables Tier 9 or lower access.

Magitech World Interface (Rank 9): As Rank 1, but enables Tier 9 or lower access.

Technology World Interface (Rank 10): As Rank 1, but enables Tier 10 or lower access.

Quinn sat back in her chair as she coordinated with the Star Market’s staff to pick up the enormous haul of mechs, weapons, armor, and other military gear. This is going to be a couple tens-of-thousands of Stardust worth of equipment. If not hundreds of thousands, she thought. Checking her far-left screen, she tapped to refresh with the recent level changes of her three allies. Good. Everyone is ready to go. More defensive Skills for Greg and Priam, and Jace went into more damage…oh wow that is nasty. Disintegration-like effects? Brutal.

She jumped slightly as she heard a knock at the door. Getting up, she went over and opened it and to her shock saw Mizarion standing there, “Hi! It’s been a while.”

“Oh…hi? How’d you get here?”

“It’s weird; I was at the front door, and then the panel asked me who I wanted to see. When it said you: I just appeared in front of this door.” He shrugged, “Neat apartment. Mind if I come in?”

Quinn opened the door and gestured inside. “I guess. Why are you here?”

“Star Poppa is pissed off,” he replied as he came inside and sat down on the ground, legs crossed. Pulling out a mango from an inner pocket of his coat, he took a bite out of it: skin and all. “It’s because of this whole Earth business. Strain on resources.”

“And you came here to tell me why?”

“Well,” Mizarion swallowed a large chunk of the fruit. “You need to speed things up. You’ve got a week before the Star Council is pulling out of Earth.”

“Really?” Quinn replied. “A week? That’s it?”

“I’m just passing along the information.”

We are moving pretty fast. I mean, Pheracorp took a long time compared to Cybronics. But that was because we were being cautious and didn’t know what to expect…I don’t know if its feasible to tackle the largest and then the most well defended megacorps within 7 days. “Any chance we can get more time?”

Mizarion shook his head, “Leviticus: that arrogant asshole: really pissed off this President of the United States, and someone called a Prime Minister at a single meeting. It took a large quantity of Star Pops’ resources to calm them down from the diplomatic blunder.” He frowned and his face screwed up in a dour, disappointed expression, “A shame, that. But what can you do?”

Quinn sighed, “I’ll let me team know that the timeline is much shorter.”

“You do that!” Mizarion stood up as he swallowed down the last of the mango. “I’ve got some of the boys and a few hired Civilians moving all that military hardware to the Star Market. It’s being put in your section; but you’ll have to sell it to use that sweet Broker Skill! Don’t forget that the Star Council gets its cut.”

Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m freewebnøvel.com.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“I know,” Quinn replied as she sat down at her console. “Can you see yourself out?”

“Yeah! Nice visiting. Oh, we have a faction dinner coming up after the whole business with Earth is dealt with. It would be good of you to show up, and dress nicely! None of these pajamas you’re wearing.” His eyes narrowed, “Don’t bring your allies though. Just yourself.”

Quinn raised an eyebrow quizzically but put on a sincere smile. “Thank you, Mizarion.”

“You can just call me Mizar if you want. You’re one of the team, after all!” He left the apartment, and Quinn sighed.

Opening the comms, she began to convey the news. “Boys, looks like we’re running out of time…”

7 days, Jace thought as the trio traveled to the Empire State Tower under the cover of his Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3) [Group]. Then Quinn’s faction is pulling out.

He glanced over at Greg, “Technically, if the Star Council does pull out…and we could get you up to Ascendant…you could take over.”

Greg chuckled, “Same with Quinn, or you.” He shook his head, “No, I need to hit Tier 10 so that I can make sure Missy stays with me for my whole immortal life. What about you, Quinn?”

“I’d considered it,” she replied. “But there’s so much more than Earth out there. I’m in this for the long haul with you all. Although, I do wish we could add another female Aspirant to the crew.”

Jace glanced at Ollie, who was wrapped around his neck but had taken to having his head just above Jace’s own, poking out of the top of the hood. “You think Xera has her eyes on any new Signers?”

Ollie nodded, “She is always looking to recruit. But it is easier to recruit fresh Aspirants. Sadly, no worlds in our universe are even close to Cosmogenic Merging. The closest one is a few billion people short: so give them a few hundred years.”

“Couldn’t anyone leave a faction to join her?” Priam asked.

“Yup!” Ollie replied. “She tried to get Quinn over, but that Star Market is too valuable.”

“Indeed,” Quinn replied. “I’m already starting to look for buyers for all of that military hardware. Plus, with my Broker Skills? I’ll get 50% more Stardust from anything I sell. It’s just generated by The Cosmic System and I get it.” She laughed lightly, “I’ll make sure you all get your cut. We’re in this together. Which also reminds me: our crew needs a name.”

“Why?” Priam asked.

“Every Streetrunner crew has a name,” Greg replied. “My crew that Myscape led into a trap was called the Iron Fighters.”

Jace shook his head, “Focus on names later. We’re getting close.” Jace gestured for his allies to grab onto him and grappled up to the roof of a corporate office building that went up thirty stories.

The enormous Tower ascended into the skies, easily 2,500 feet up. The original, ancient construction had been reinforced and braced with a metal ‘skeleton’ that went up to the old observation decks. Then, the material shifted to the more modern glass and plasteel. Going up higher and higher until it eventually ended in a flat, square top.

Jace glanced down to his right and saw a sight that brought a whole mix of memories. The orphanage. The place where the General Logistics staff left their kids to focus on their careers. The place where Jace was abused, bullied, and where he loathed to be. The place he had escaped, and gone back to so he could save Chroma from the same abuse, the same brainwashing that they were trying to push onto him.

He looked across the street back at the Empire State Tower. He saw the metal shutters covering the whole building, could see the remaining security forces spread out around the base of the structure, scanning all directions…and the window where he knew his mother that had abandoned him used to look out at him.

“Jace, you good?” Greg asked as he put a hand on Jace’s shoulder.

Jace looked down and saw the small, concrete safety guard had turned to powder in his grip. “Yeah…just remembering.” He gestured down to the side, “The orphanage I was abandoned in.”

Greg glanced over, “It doesn’t look too bad of a place.”

“Now,” Jace replied. “Sure, it’s probably not being used for the same thing.” He shook his head, “Alright. Stay close. We’re going up to the roof and going in the way they’re expecting. Dark Energy Mine (Rank 1). Detonate.”

His allies grabbed onto him, and Jace curled his legs under himself as he leaped upwards. As soon as he got within 100 feet of the Tower, he shot out the grapple to speed their ascent. The wind blasted by the trio, and Priam was laughing in joy while Greg was cursing, and growled out, “I hate flying!”

“Technically, this is a controlled upwards drift!” Ollie replied.

Jace re-grappled to increase their momentum, and they ascended like a rocket going up into the atmosphere. He could feel the chill as they passed through the low-hanging, rain-filled clouds, and got to the square rooftop. Slowing them down by digging his Anathema Arm into the steel and glass siding so they would gently arrive. Two seconds. He got the trio up and over the lip of the building before his Mine faded, and the trio alighted on the rooftop.

The building’s top was bumpy, covered with cords and tubes. There was a rooftop access door, and was a single, enormous fan that blew out hot air at the trio. “That’s the entrance,” Quinn said over the comms. “As soon as you stop the fan, you’ll have a corridor air-shaft.”

Priam pointed at the door, “Why not just go in through that?”

“You could,” Quinn replied. “But they most likely have automated defenses in there. Plus, the vents will let you get to the elevator room. And that’s going to be a straight shot to any floor you need.”

Greg nodded and walked towards the fan. “We’ll have to blow it!” Greg shouted. He pulled an EMP grenade from his bandolier, held it in his hand right against the central bolt that the fan blades spun around, and triggered it.

A few seconds passed before an enormous crack and fffzth noise echoed out. The fan blades began to slow as some component inside was fried. “Now we just wait,” Greg said as he stepped back to join the other two. “Skill up?”

“Right! Pulsar Ward (Rank 35) [Multi-Target], Pulsar Physic (Rank 4) [Contingent], Priest’s Benediction (Rank 13) [Enduring].” The shields popped into place all around the trio, as did the contingent heal marker, and Greg’s mass noticeably shrunk as Priam’s bulked up. “I’m ready!”

“You don’t need to announce your Skill use,” Greg replied with a grin as his body crusted over with Planetary Defenses (Rank 3), spikes of stone grew out from Planetary Retribution (Rank 3), and a brown symbol appeared over Priam’s head as Protector’s Vow (Rank 3) also triggered.

Dark Matter Shield (Rank 3), Dark Matter Blade (Rank 5) [Rending], dropping the Cloak to conserve energy. All Jace’s Skills blazed into existence, and he walked up to the now-drastically slowed air exhaust vent. Stopping the blade with his Anathema Arm, he went into the tunnel.

And immediately went flying backwards as something big crushed into him. Priam’s barrier cracked and spiderwebbed as Jace was flung from the building and out into the open air.

“Jace!” Greg shouted out as he saw his friend go flying over the edge of the building. He had no time to linger, as an enormous rock-man came barreling out of the exhaust tunnel and shoulder-checked him, tackling him off of the edge of the building.

“Got you,” his voice rumbled out. He wrapped his arms around Greg in one smooth, fluid motion; as if his rock body turned to liquid to then reform around him. “Time to fall.”

Damnit! Greg slammed his head into the rock-man’s head, and saw Priam’s barrier crack slightly. I gotta get out of this! He tried every technique he knew, every play he had. Every thing he could do to try and get out of the grip of this titanic rock-man. But every effort was fruitless.

Greg felt weightless, and glancing down, saw Jace’s sword had stuck into the side of the building. He must’ve put a Dark Energy Mine on it, thrown it the distance, and got it below me. Using his legs as best he could to build up some type of momentum, Greg pushed his way down as the rock man rumbled out a disappointed noise.

“Anti gravity? It only delays the inevitable.”

I just need a second you fucker! Greg felt his feet touch Jace’s still-planted-in-the-building weapon, and using the top of his foot and the heel of his other one, he was able to extricate it from the surface of the building, and nudge it up. And grab! He was able to get a hand on it as it floated up next to him. He was able to bring it to bear just slightly against the rock-man, tapping him.

But that was enough. Jace’s [Rending] and (Rank 5) Dark Matter Blade, micro-singularity gravity well effect took hold, and began spreading along the rock-man’s form. Now it’s my turn to take control. Rock Blast (Rank 1)!

An enormous sphere of rock appeared above Greg, and instead of firing off the projectile at a massive speed, he instead had it lazily float down and behind him so he could push off of it and get closer to the building.

Greg felt pain lance through him as the rock-man’s body exploded like a porcupine filled with razor-sharp and devastatingly long needles of stone. He could feel the jagged points rip into him, popping Priam’s shield and his own Planetary Defenses. But, the Retribution was active, also, and he could see the rock-man grunting in pain.

Planetary Palisade (Rank 10), Greg thought. He could create the stone, and did not have to worry about anchoring it to a surface. In this scenario, in this predicament, he chose to shape the 50 square feet of surface he could manipulate into a platform under his feet. The second it manifested, and before it fell, he pushed up as hard as he could with his legs.

“You’ve got a few seconds left of anti-gravity,” Jace’s voice said over the comms.

It’ll be enough, Greg thought as he used the sword still in his hand to saw away at the rock-man’s arm, trying to break free from the now-digging-deeper spines of rock. He felt the slick, warm blood becoming goop inside the armor, and he coughed up blood that oozed through the visor slit.

“I will outlast you,” the rock-man rumbled out. “You will die here.”

“Fuck you!” Greg shouted as he saw the top part of the roof. The blade in his hand vanished, and he could see Jace on top of the roof, raising his palm and firing his grapnel line to Greg’s shoulder. He did not feel the impact, but he could barely make out the ghostly-white chain connecting the two.

“I’m dropping the Skill,” Jace said in his ears. And, true to his word, the Skill vanished. Greg immediately felt the weight of gravity reassert itself, and he felt the rock-man’s weight on him, trying to drag him down. He also felt the tension of Jace’s grapnel arm, and he could hear the grunt of exertion from above. “Damn, you’re heavy,” Jace growled.

Greg snaked his arm into his torso’s workspace, and pulled the emergency ripcord. Planetary Defenses (Rank 3), he thought. Protector’s Panacea (Rank 8). All of his wounds healed, and his earthen defenses re-strengthened themselves as he activated all of the fragmentation grenades with one, swift pull of the cord.

Bang! The four explosions went off simultaneously, and Greg closed his eyes to keep himself from going blind. He felt the pain lance through him, the shockwave going off against his torso tearing apart his organs from the force of the vibrations: only for Priam’s [Contingent] heal to go off and keep him alive.

The rock-man, however, had the injured hand blown clean off, and was now hanging onto Greg with one arm. Greg saw a flash of light as Jace’s sword was thrown from above, sliced through the other arm, and the rock man fell towards the ground.

Greg felt himself pulled up and within a few moments was on the roof, heaving in breaths as Priam re-established his Ward and [Contingent] Physic: as well as checked him over for other superficial wounds they could tend with their optimized medical kits. “You look okay,” Priam said softly.

Greg looked up at Jace, “How the fuck did you get back so fast?”

Jace smirked and tapped his legs with his sword, “I can run on air for ten seconds a day. I almost didn’t make it back to the building.”

Greg shook his head, “I should get myself cybered up.” He chuckled, and Jace joined in with a bit of a laugh of his own.

Huh. Would you look at that. The Kruxk man slammed into the ground and left a crater in the asphalt that was fifteen feet deep and thirty feet across. It’s going to rain harder, he thought as the sky darkened above.

Sitting up, he rubbed his arm and saw to his dismay the purple and red miasma was slowly crawling up him. Easy enough to deal with. He ripped off his arm and tossed the afflicted appendage away. Standing up, he trudged out of the crater and grabbed some chunks of asphalt, pushing it onto his stump.

His body’s physiology incorporated the new rock-like mass and soon enough he was back to full strength. “Irritating,” he muttered as he looked up at the tall tower. Stomping over to the military forces stationed on the base, he pointed at the roof, “They’re infiltrating from above.”

The soldiers began to scramble and move into the building, and Strosh followed them. I’ll head to the server room. Last line of defense.

He had noticed the lack of his companion. Irritating, not to have the backup in the moment. But Strosh was not concerned. The Planet user he had just tried to fight would have died if not for someone else with him.

I just have to isolate one of them. Perhaps the small, scrawny one.

Jace led the trio into the square corridor. It was a long, square hallway of stainless steel with small hand-grips on the sides. There were several vents below them once they were at the mid-point of the building, and then the tunnel split and branched off into hundreds of smaller apertures that no one could fit into.

“Down here,” Quinn stated. “Cut down and you’re in the top room next to the elevator maintenance closet.”

Jace used his weapon to cut a hole and dropped down with his allies right behind him. The room was big. Very, very large air conditioning units were churning away up here, and there were two doors exiting the space. One that said ‘staircase’ and another that said ‘elevator maintenance room.’

“The game plan,” Quinn began, “Is to use the elevator shaft to get onto the executive suites floor near the top here. Then you can have Ollie, Darrin, or Bloopa interface and give me access. I’ll identify where the servers are.”

Jace nodded and went to the maintenance room, carefully pushing the door open. Almost immediately he caught sight of something metal, on the roof, moving around, and shut the door. “Sentry turret, or something like it,” he said as he looked back at his companions.

Greg pulled an EMP grenade from his belt, “Open the door on 1. 3…2…1!”

Jace did so, and Greg tossed the grenade through the crack. Three seconds later, the loud crack ftzzth noise was heard, and Jace slowly opened the door once more as he peered inside. There was indeed a turret: but it was disabled and drooping downward on its axis. Inside the moderate sized room were a series of cables that controlled the ascent and descent of the elevators.

“Can we drop the elevators entirely, and just use the maintenance ladders on the inside?” Greg asked.

“How do you know they have maintenance ladders?” Quinn asked.

“Streetrunner crew that worked for them, remember? I’ve been in here before.”

“I’d advise recalling them up here and putting them in maintenance mode. They won’t travel up or down without an override. Then, you can cut through the floor, and still access the shaft while denying others the elevators.”

Jace went to the nearby control panel, and Ollie pointed out several buttons for him to press. The devices to his side did not move. “Oh, right, Greg EMP’d the room.”

“Damnit,” Greg muttered. “Forgot that it would affect the elevator’s tech.”

Priam looked down at one of the sections of corrugated metal floor with a maintenance hatch. “We could just climb down here, right?”

“Yes, but the elevators could come up and squish us,” Greg replied.

Jace pulled open the maintenance hatch and swung over to one of the ladders, “Let’s go. If an elevator does come rushing up to crush us: I’ll deal with it.”