Meltdown

GAWAIN chuckled at Thalia's question, shaking his head.

"And show off the carnage their actions have caused?" He asked back rhetorically, "No, I think not. Regardless of the truth, Avalanche has always endeavored to project themselves as being in the moral right in the eyes of the public. Something like this- they cannot afford to make a show out of it."

They could deny any accusations thrown their way later- But not if the ratted themselves out first. 

The doors swung open to reveal... a whole lot of turrets. As one would expect of technology being utilized by Shin-Ra, they were pretty quick on the uptake.

GAWAIN's sword swung about in bizarre, almost painterly patterns, the man wielding it more like a brush than blade, parrying off the first hail of bullets before bringing the large sword to stand between him and the continuous fire with a flourish, planting it upon the steel plated floors of the elevator. 

Gatling fire slammed into it, but the sword stood firm and unwavering despite it all, as the blonde man crouched behind it. Having the brunt of the fire diverted by his allies helped quite a bit. Looking around, he nodded approvingly at the still alive troopers, smiling as Sergeant Oswald brought his missile launcher to bear.

Very good.

A large, loud explosion went off as the missile hit its mark, smoke spreading through the room as Thalia Melpomene sprinted out of the elevator brandishing her throwing daggers. He fell in line behind her, ripping his sword off the steel floors with a loud crunch before making a beeline for the nearest remaining turret, flicking his sword about in micro-movements that sent bullets clattering to the floor. 

Before long, there were no turrets left, the bulk of them destroyed by the Sergeant's missile, the rest by him and Thalia, her daggers having found their mark, and his sword having stabbed itself deeply in the rest.

This was usually the part where he flicked the blood and gore off his sword, but there wasn't much of that here- if one didn't count the bodies littering the floors anyway.

"I wonder what sort of response they were expecting." He commented idly as he poked the remains of one of the gatlings with his sword, tilting a brow. "Fair enough if you need is to massacre some engineers. But it does not seem as if they were prepared to deal with the kind of might Shin-Ra can muster on a short notice."

He turned slowly turned his gaze towards one of the cameras, smiling at it charmingly.

"What's the catch here, Mister or missus Hacker...?" He pondered, tilting his head slightly.

Oh well. That still wasn't his job, no matter how curious he might be.

"Eyes on the prize, troopers. We are he-." He had begun to say as he approached the large doors at the end of the room, keycard in hand; but as his eyes looked over his shoulders, they almost seemed to zero into a couple of undesirable elements on his troop, the man stopping short of the door.

"Oh dear." He muttered, turning on his heel sharply as he began to march back to them. Closer now, the injuries were quite  a bit easier to spot; it was hard to tell sometimes, with the bangle's technology. They did a pretty good job at hiding away bullet wounds.

He began reaching for Thalia before he paused, stopping himself short of grabbing her by the chin like a child to get a better look at her injured cheek, instead patting her shoulder. Between her cheek, her thigh, and the shredded and dented uniforms of the troopers, he had to take a pause, his brows furrowing slightly. 

"I should've asked before but- status report, everyone. Are you fit to continue?" He didn't doubt they could; Shin-Ra's forces were nothing if not stubborn and fearless beyond reasoning most of the time. But he always thought he should at least ask. He imagined they could probably afford to rest before dealing with whatever awaited them behind those doors. 

Or not.