The elevator moved fast, but the descent was smooth as Severn left the surface world behind, seeking out the secrets upon which he would build his legacy. The steel oval he stood in was spotless, every surface pristine, although the panel near the doors was about as basic as a person could find. Just three buttons, and nothing else. Then again, it didn't have many stops.<br/><br/>When the long drop ended, he walked smoothly through the opening doors, entering a cavernous room that was about as active as the office area high above. Men and women in lab coats huddled around a large monitor at the center of the space, upon which nine different video feeds could be seen. Underneath the boxes of feedback was a wide blue rectangle filled with scrolling white text; numbers, calculations, formulae, that workstation was the epicenter of the Foundation's true purpose. Of course, there were more than a few backups.<br/><br/>To the left of the crown of lab techs and scientists was a heavy steel sliding door, with two Foundation Special Force operatives standing watch on either side of it. Over their heads, the acronym '<span style="font-weight: bold">TAC</span>' decorated the wall, in gigantic white lettering that stood out against the metallic blue it was imprinted upon. To the right, there was a set of double doors complete with another pair of FSF agents, and from the other side William could just barely hear screams; the lettering above the entry that way said '<span style="font-weight: bold">V-SERUM PROCUREMENT</span>', and to the right of those doors was small passage leading to another elevator bay, this one much larger with two sets of metallic sliding doors.<br/><br/>Straight ahead, on the other side of the central HUB, was a steel sliding door, this one even larger than the other, gleaming with silver reinforcements. Above it, the word '<span style="font-weight: bold">HOLDING</span>' announced itself to the room at large, but at the moment William was more concerned with the room on the right.<br/><br/>He strolled over, and the two men in their gleaming black exosuits saluted him as he pushed through the double doors, acknowledging them with a lazy jerk of his head. As the doors closed behind him he watched with interest as a man, the same Vampire he'd encountered outside, screamed frantically from within a large tempered glass container at the other end of the room. He couldn't move his arms or legs, as they were strapped down, but he still struggled and writhed desperately as a lab technician nearby worked the necessary controls. William watched as he was lowered onto his back, now suspended on top of a series of metal grooves that resembled a intricate kind of maze being looked at from overhead.<br/><br/>A man in a lab coat, holding a clipboard, nodded at a woman dressed in similar fashion; she looked from him to Severn, now a little nervous, before hitting a red button on the panel in front of her. A loud buzzer-like sound erupted from overhead, and a large, complex guillotine came whipping down. An instant later the screaming stopped, as a nearby tank filled slowly with scarlet liquid.<br/><br/>"All in a day's work," Severn said softly, before turning and walking back through the double doors, gently whistling a tune.