The heavy iron doors of the freight elevator sealed shut, trapping them inside a claustrophobic, ascending metal cage.
The three-hundred-foot vertical climb back to the command deck was a slow, mechanically grinding endurance test. The massive industrial gears shrieked against the greased cables, vibrating the grated floorboards beneath their boots. The air inside the small box was instantly consumed by the intense, heavy smell of boiled ozone, vaporized chemicals, and the coppery stench of the black blood drying across Ren's jagged obsidian armor.
Chloe stood pressed entirely into the farthest corner of the elevator.
