Takanomiya Hijiri

[Takanomiya Hijiri]

Bases

The Pillar That Holds Up The Sky

The Pillar is a skyscraper in the shape of a column and is so large that its roof actually presses up against the ceiling of Tier Five, five hundred metres above ground level (in case anyone is curious as to my reason for giving Tier Five this particular height, click here). The building is also one hundred metres wide and has a base in the shape of a circular, veined white granite staircase, which stretches out an additional fifty metres beyond that width. The first forty metres of this distance is a steep climb, to a height of fifty metres, after which the stairs end, with the next ten metres being a simple plateau before the walls themselves. There do not appear to be any doors.
For reference, here is some white, veined granite:
[spoiler][/spoiler]
The cylindrical portion of the building is lined with mirrored windows that each fill one apartment-wall-sized area, with a grid-like network of steel struts holding the panes in place, all the way up to the very top of the tower, where the building is capped by an immense slab of intricately carved (white, veined) granite, shaped like this:
[spoiler]

That ring at the bottom would be where it connected to the glass/metal of the walls, whilst the top portion would be pressed up against the low-res but enormous monitor which serves as Tier Five’s sky, just as it is touching the ceiling in that picture.[/spoiler]
The skyscraper stands in a wide, open, square, concrete plaza, beyond which (to the East, North & West) are a whole bunch of the ugly, drab, poorly maintained buildings typical of Tier Five. To the South, though, there lies a wide road going from East to West. From East to West, the plaza is three hundred metres across, whilst from North to South it is only two hundred and sixty metres. The reason for this is that the distance between the foot of the steps and the edge of the plaza is fifty metres at the Western, Northern & Eastern points, yet on the Southern side, which meets the pavement by the roadside, there is only a ten metre gap before the concrete ends.

Once anyone gets within a couple metres of any of the lowest-level wall sections, so long as the building is not on lockdown, the section closest to them will sink down into the stone platform (making a light hissing, mechanical noise) on thin steel rails built into the struts that hold it. Essentially, this means that the entire first-floor wall is actually just a whole bunch of connected doorways... thankfully, the metal blocks that support these 'doors' are extremely sturdy themselves, so can withstand the entire weight of the building by themselves. Were that not the case, something as simple as a large crowd of people approaching from every direction at once could have caused they entire thing to topple over.

The glass blocks which make up the Pillar’s walls are two feet thick and bulletproof, as are the metal segments that hold them. Also, the walls are actually only one-way mirrors; from inside the building one can see out through them in perfect clarity… making it extremely difficult to approach the Pillar surreptitiously.

The ground floor is a single vast foyer. In the dead centre of the room there is a ring-shaped, counter made from obsidian (a small section of which, at its Northernmost point, can sink down into the floor, to allow people into/out of the ring), with a dozen computers sitting atop it, their monitors faced inwards. Behind the desk are twelve chairs, which will generally be occupied by receptionists and/or security guards.

There are also four cuboid pillars of white, veined granite that reach up into the ceiling, each one exactly halfway between the reception desk and the outer walls, at one of four points: the North East, South East, South West & North West. Each is about two metres wide, and each of their four faces holds a stone slab two metres high and a foot thinner on either side than the full column, which can withdraw into the floor in a manner identical to that of the building’s main entrances. These pillars are actually elevator shafts, which continue all the way up the building’s length, as far as Hijiri’s private rooms right at the very top, within the superstructure’s stone cap. On every floor after the first, though, the lift doors are simple, steel panels with hinges and handles, like any normal door… as are all of the other doors, for that matter.

The ceilings, floors and interior walls (in the case of those levels which have them) are all tiled with square, half-metre-wide plates of the same veined, white granite that makes up the steps and the column’s crest. The ones on the floor and walls are just simple stone slabs, but those on the ceilings each have a small, flat, white light built into their centres, illuminating all of the rooms brilliantly. Also, most of those those lights contain high-definition CCTV cameras (the exceptions being the ones in the residents’ apartments), to keep watch for intruders. If any are spotted, some tiles in the vicinity will sink down/rise up/pull back into the floor, ceiling and walls, respectively, then flip over and reemerge; revealing that they actually have a small turret on their undersides:
[spoiler]

The tips of the cross-shaped base shown in the image would reach each edge of the half-metre-wide square tile, meaning that the turret section itself would be about 25cm long and high.[/spoiler]
The turrets are loaded with .22 LR bullets and will fire one from each of their two barrels simultaneously. Each turret contains one hundred bullets, so can make fifty shots before running out. Only one in every ten tiles has a turret attachment. The turrets, being small, are also rather fragile, so Primes will have little trouble wrecking them.

Note: The description for Tier Two Base Fortifications states that turrets are allowed. As I have Tier Three Base Fortifications, this shouldn’t be a problem.

Other Defences:
Soldiers
There are also a couple hundred members of Hijiri’s gang/security firm, ‘The Takanomiya Group’, living in the building (though they'll rarely all be home at the same time). Each one is armed with a 96cm katana and a .50 Desert Eagle handgun… just like Hijiri, except they can’t make theirs appear out of thin air. All members of his gang wear a dark green and white armband on one of their upper arms, which will have the letters ‘TTG’ on one side. Other than that, they’re free to dress however they like, so will normally be in casual clothes.

Lockdown
In the event of an enemy attack, the building's doors can be locked automatically from the Security Command Centre on the upper levels. Most of the doors wouldn't be that difficult to get through by force, of course, but the exterior ones and the ground-floor elevator doors are a much more challenging prospect.

Other Levels:
• There are three basements, all of which are within the 50m high base of the column. The very bottom one serves as a vast garage, where all of their vehicles (currently four 18-wheeler trucks) are stored when not in use. The Pillar’s lower stairs, up to a height of 10m, can actually be drawn in and moved aside by some mechanism, to allow the vehicles egress.

• The business levels (offices, gyms, training grounds, etc.) are just above the ground floor.

• Residential levels are above those. These take up most of the building’s space, though they are currently mostly empty, with only a few hundred residents so far. Many of these residents are his gang members, though there are children, elderly and other non-combatants as well. Hijiri ever-so-generously lets them live here rent-free.

• Pub level.

• Casino level.

• Cinema level.

• Computer lab & gaming rooms level, complete with VR & Dataverse Uplink equipment.

• Medical level.

• Two levels devoted entirely to one huge swimming pool... has to be two levels so that it can be deep enough.

• Security Command Centre.

• Hijiri’s private quarters take up the entire top floor.


Finally
And lastly, here is an extremely basic image of the building’s rough shape & dimensions:
[spoiler][/spoiler]