722 Stair Master

Before Nico could come up with a smartass response, Max breached the stairwell door and moved forward to clear the area.

There were no stairs up, only down from here, and no sign of enemy movement as the automatic lights flickered to life. He moved around the corner, checked the gap down to the lower level, and found nothing, except that the stairwell only went down one single level. The stairs to the next level must be in a different spot than these ones were, a safety precaution against a breach in containment or an accident in the labs down below.

Nico closed the door behind them and welded a spot shut so that the hybrids couldn't follow as easily if they were using the elevator to get around, then followed close behind Max as he prepared to open the door to the second floor.

He had briefly considered disabling the elevators, but there was a team at the doors, and they could take care of anything that tried to get out of the facility.