Piece by Piece, as told by Chip the teamster of ill-repute

A four-man cleanup team arrives at the laboratory complex of Big Company. They've been contracted to collect an artifact  that played some role in an event that killed one or more people working in the lab that morning. The details are sparse, and they are provided with only a collapsible screw-top bag into which they are supposed to put the artifact. The group is comprised of debonair marine Wynn, drug-addled teamster Chip, curmudgeonly structural engineer Emril, and Randal, an android.

Upon entering the lab they find the lab director, Dr. Ojo, making repairs to a security android named Curtis in the employee lounge. Curtis had been attacked by by one of the researchers a couple of hours ago. Curtis seemed very much like a company android and was stingy with details around how he had come to be attacked, the details of the attack itself, and what was waiting for the cleanup crew in the lab.  Wynn took advantage of the amenities to eat some kind of soup the automated canteen offered. Chip investigated the bathroom, finding a crawlspace with access to the lab's power generator. Emril looks for a way out of this job after realizing their has been no structural damage to the lab. He is on hold with human resources for much of the adventure.

Upon descending to the next floor down to investigate the lab and recover the artifact, the crew found a hallway with several doors. The first one they approached was barricaded shut, as Wynn discovered while attempting to kick the door in. After using a saw to remove the hinges and push the door out of the way, the crew finds that two heavy tool cases have been used to barricade the room. Behind them, they find a grizzly scene -- a human body methodically dismantled and its parts arranged in a neat pattern to the side. The surveillance cameras swivel to spectate the crew's work and they wonder if there is footage of what happened. They look for a connection from the camera and realize the main security control room is at the end of the hall.

Next they enter an office and find an assistant robot that tells them about how it reports to Dewey (another researcher) and chats with him at the beginning and end of every day. The crew decides to split up; Chip and Emril will check the security room while Wynn and Randal head upstairs to get some more information from Curtis. Chip and Emril are quickly thwarted by their lack of a tier 1 security access card, so they instead decide to look around in the office next to the security center. This is the office of the main researcher, who has long been on a mental health break. In his office, they find a toy robot dismantled in a way similar to the body they found earlier, and it's clear from an impression in the dust that someone has removed a screwdriver from this room. Here too the security cameras intently watch them. Chip taunts the cameras.

Meanwhile, Wynn and Randal become suspicious as they continue to chat with Curtis. He is unwilling to provide critical details, and his story is inconsistent. Randal favors a diplomatic approach, but Wynn loses patience and executes Curtis. Ojo, confused and appalled, is instructed to leave the building. The crew bring Curtis's body downstairs to use the lab equipment to fashion instruments that allow Randal to download his memories. From his memories they learn that the head researcher is on medical leave after attacking and dissecting his own son. I was tired at this point and it's a little hazy, but somehow they finally put it all together and realize the screwdriver is the artifact, but it has corrupted the security personnel, one of whom is barricaded in the security office. They return to the top floor and Wynn and Chip descend through the elevator shaft into the elevator that's locked on the security center and open the door. They find one of the security guards in possession of the screwdriver, and after a brief struggle, kill him.

At this point Wynn opens the bag and Chip attempts to flip the severed arm holding the cursed screwdriver into the bag and fails in the most extreme way the game allows. The screwdriver flips into the air and he instinctually reaches out and catches it. Wynn is immediately aware of how dire the situation is and tries to make a break for the tazers on the wall of the security office with the aim of subduing Chip. Chip's too fast, though -- he grabs the tier 1 security card from the corpse of the guard, dashes through the door, and locks it behind him. He is the only one with a tier 1 security card now, and he sprints to the other elevator and back up to the canteen.

Meanwhile, Emril and Randal don't really know what's happening. Wynn gets the tazer and climbs back up the elevator shaft, screaming to the others that they need to stop Chip. By this time Chip is inside the crawlspace, destroying the generator. When the rest of the crew enter the canteen, he is overcome by an insatiable urge to disassemble them with the screwdriver. He ambushes Wynn and drives the screwdriver deep into his chest, but Wynn is able to catastrophically injure him with SMG fire. More than anything else, Wynn feels that his chest is where the screwdriver belongs. The only better place would be in his hands, as he disassembles everyone around him. Randal manages to finish Chip off with a blast from his industrial scrapping laser, but at this point Wynn has been subsumed by the draw of the screwdriver and instead of putting it in the bag as Emril and Randal beg him to, he picks it up and lunges at Randal. Randal, now pierced by the screwdriver, is also under its spell, Wynn is too strong and manages to overpower and kill him, but not without taking considerable damage. Emril uses his vibrosword to put Randal out of his misery, and the story ends with him bagging the screwdriver, careful not to touch it.


As Emril leaves the labspace with Dewey and ABI, the entire laboratory begins smoldering and burning-- unfortunately several errant laser cutter blasts have caused structural elements to ignite. They leave with black smoke billowing out behind them, but are successful in their mission, the artifact has been recovered.