The planning room was awkwardly silent. Dallas stood and paced from wall to wall. Chains sat at the east side of the table in the room, inspecting his prized KSP light machine gun. Wolf sat on the west side of the table, sitting in an impatient position. Hoxton sat on the south side of the table officially, arms crossed, looking serious. The group was all waiting for Bain to deliver more info about their upcoming job that he picked for them. Bain had been very shady with the details; he also knew very little about the job, and he was the one assigning it. All he knew was that there was a job here. It would be easy, it would be quick, and it would have the biggest payout any of them had ever seen. Wolf, being to bored by the silence, was the first in a while to say anything.

"Jesus, this is taking forever…what's taking Bain so long?"

Dallas was the one to respond "Who knows, but if this job is everything Bain promises, it will be worth 20 minutes of lying around."

"What do we even know about this job?"

"Somethin' somethin' science somethin' lotta money. That's all I gotta know." Chains added to the conversation.

"Yeah, but-" Wolf was cut off by a transmission.

"Alright, people! We ready to do this?" Bain finally chimed in alerting that the wait was over.

"Do what, exactly?"

"Alright, I found out through lots of research and a little hacking that this place exists- now that I'm sure this is all possible, here's the deal: Back in the 60s and 70s there was a HUGE science center place called "Aperture Science" Their work was groundbreaking, they had made the biggest scientific achievements of all time. But after the 90s the place seem to have been completely abandoned by everyone working there. The manager, everyone. Maybe they died in some come of science accident, but that's not important. I know where it is, and I know how we can get in and get some of that technology for ourselves. Once we're out, you have no idea how much this stuff will sell for. To sum it up: Break into an underground abandoned science center to steal some technology that's easily worth millions."

"No guards? " Dallas asked

"Nope."

"No security?" Hoxton asked, even he being intrigued by the sound of this

"None."

"Sounds boring" Chains added "But millions, eh? Alright, I'm in."

"Good. Chopper is there in 3 minutes, be ready for him!"

A short three minutes passed and the chopper had arrived. The gang got onboard, sporting the gear they saw fit for the job: Hoxton wore nothing but a suit and brought his silenced UAR and silenced signature .40 with a laser pointer, and Dallas had a lightweight vest and commando 553, unmodded, with a mark-10 SMG for his sidearm. Wolf also wore just a suit, brought his trusty Reinfeld 880 and a Chimano Custom pistol; and Chains, never trusting anything, made no changes and still brought along his improved combined tactical vest, his KSP, and a Bronco .44. The chopper flew them over miles of terrain until eventually hitting farm lands, and then flew miles more over fields of various crops and finally stopping at a hover over a field of wheat. The pilot called back to the team

"This is the place. You get out here."

"Here? I know the place is underground, but shouldn't there be a building or something?" Dallas asked on behalf of his team. Bain came into the conversation through the microphone system.

"The only entrance point I found was right here. Trust me on this! The place has been abandoned for 20 years, the building must have been demolished. Doesn't matter, just go!"

The chopper pulled down to the ground and the team followed the instructions. As they dropped onto the soft soil and now ruined wheat, the chopper took off back into the skies.

"Don't worry" Bain announced "We don't want any attention from above ground. He's just gonna hover around the area till you guys are done. The entrance is that shed right over there"

The gang looked forward and spotted a rusty, beat up shed.

"Shit, it's abandoned alright…" Chains made the first comment on the shed

"Do you not get the idea of something being abandoned?" Hoxton remarked back at Chains. He took these things seriously.

"Whatever. Let's just go." Dallas walked forward towards the shed. It was not locked or anything, and it appeared to be open slightly. The gang was surprised for a moment at the interior of the shed. Instead of rusted metal and a stairwell leading down like they expected, they saw clean, stainless metal and a pit down underground, which due to a long pipe leading down, the gang assumed was an elevator shaft.

"…Maybe I don't get the idea of something being abandoned…" Hoxton said at the sight of this interior.

"Well…The 90s weren't that long ago…lets just keep going. We'll use this elevator line to climb down." Dallas, suspicious, said to the rest of the gang.

They all grabbed on to the pipe one by one, Dallas going first, then Chains, Wolf, and Hoxton until, after going down for a good 5 minutes, they found a small illuminated stop (presumably a floor the elevator could stop at) that had a door directly in front of it. They all seemed to mentally deicide that this was a good stop; but they we're all equally shocked when they saw the working light. They all got off one by one again and once all four we're standing there at the stop they had a moment to discuss the apparent power running through the center.

"…Bain, you sure this place is abandoned?" Wolf asked trying to reach Bain through the earpiece transmission they shared.

"Yeah, all the research I did made it clear. There's been no humans here since about 1998 or so, give or take."

Wolf, still very suspicious of this, took a step forward hoping to inspect the light. Upon taking another step, however, a smaller light on the door that stood in front of them turned from red to green, and the door split apart and opened through to the center, revealing another clean cut and sterile looking area, with a staircase leading up behind it. The gang was taken aback by this; there was no doubt someone was here now.

"Uh, Bain? …This place ain't abandoned." Chains said

"This could mean trouble…doesn't mean anyone is actually down in the tunnels with you though, just keep moving and keep quiet."

The gang exchanged one look of slight fear and determination, put their masks on(they hadn't until now as they were under the impression they weren't going to need too), and all continued through the door and to the stairs in the back. Up the stairs led to a series of metal hallways all suspended above what seemed like a bottomless pit. They began to walk along the long metal platforms that led through the enrichment center, which appeared to be entirely suspended on rail systems to avoid falling into the pit below. Not a sound filled the empty air, except the light footsteps of Dallas, Hoxton, and Wolf, and the louder footsteps of Chains wearing heavy armor and carrying a light machine gun(which was starting to seem like it was a good idea). Bain caught up the team again

"Guys, what do you see?"

They all took a moment to observe what filled the emptiness in the air around them. Dallas was the first to respond

"There are these hanging room things on rails…on the outside, where we can see, they look like they're put together through these claw things on the outer side. I can't see inside them."

"Those must be the test chambers! That's what we're looking for, try and get inside one of them and see if you can find anything."

"Jesus…" Chains threw in once before ending the conversation with Bain. They had a goal now.

"Alright…" Hoxton said "Our job is to find a way in one of those. If we follow them along this walkway, we might find a way. Let's go."

The team continued walking along the path, all fearful of the rail breaking under them, dropping them down the endless pit below. They walked parallel on both sides to the hanging chambers, trying to locate a way inside. Along the way they had seen multiple stops and detours in the path, leading to other area's that weren't important to them. Some looked like incinerator tracks, others looked to be construction lines, and some appeared to be transporting bombs(Wolf and Chains wanted to stop at the bomb area, but Dallas and Hoxton said no.). They had seen, however, smaller rooms hanging off the chambers like tumors almost; and it looked like you could actually get into these extra area's through the rail system. So luckily they knew if they kept going they would find a way in, but the question now was "How long will it take?" The crew was growing bored of walking along dull paths through a hole in the ground looking for a way into rooms that hung from a likely unstable rail. But they kept on going, determined to find the technology in hope for getting richer then any other job could get them. Eventually, they caught a stairwell that got closer to the chambers, and from there they we're able to get around to a door into one of the rooms that hung off a test chamber. They breathed a sigh of relief upon finishing they're trek across the metal paths. The door was locked, obviously, but Hoxton being the ghost he is got them in in under 30 seconds. They all took a step into the room. It was white and sterile, just like the rest of this place, with a computer monitor on a desk and a window into the test chamber that the crew could see out of. Hoxton contacted Bain

"Hey Bain, we're in!"

"That's great; do you see anything?"

"We can see into one of the chambers you we're talking about; it looks pretty futuristic"

Good. Get inside, maybe work your way through a couple of the chambers to find what we're looking for. Once you're in one chamber finding your way to another is easy; supposedly these chambers are all apart off different testing tracks. Each test leads to another within the testing track until the end of that track. Then, according to the only info I could find, there's cake. That last part may be a lie or some outdated reference, but you get the idea. Get going."

"On it" Hoxton replied and got to work. He took out his signature 40. and shot the glass blocking the chamber out. "Lets roll" he ordered to the rest of his team. Dallas, Hoxton, Wolf and Chains all jumped down into the chamber. They felt like aliens on a foreign planet; they had no idea what anything was. There were buttons, black and white panels, a tube painted in blue gel that looked to be powered by another button, separated from them by a pool of brown liquid. Chains was the first to mention it

"Jesus…anyone know what any of this does?"

Wolf replied "Nope. Let's find out, Hm?

Wolf pushed a button and the tube started pouring blue gel

"Well that does that."

Hoxton carefully examined a laser shot from a device in the wall. He shot at it once with his pistol, causing it to release a few sparks. The bullet seemed to have disintegrated upon contact with the laser. Dallas, still dumbfounded by all this, picked up a cube he saw and placed it on a button in the corner. One of the blue X's above the exit door turned to an orange checkmark.

"Does this mean we win?" Dallas sarcastically remarked

Chains was ready to respond to Dallas' comment, but stopped. He noticed a different smell. The air in the chamber suddenly smelled slightly different then before.

"Hey…you guys smell something?" Chains asked the rest to reassure his senses, but it was too late. Before any of them could look up or test the air for new smells, all four of them hit the ground. Bain heard what was going on and tried to get back in touch with the gang

"Guys? Guys!? What's going on down there?"

It was too late. All four of the Payday gang lay unconscious on the cold, unforgiving ground of the Aperture Science Enrichment Center.