Buddy led at the front followed by Salvatore then Adam then Eve then Deccanus and bringing up the rear was Rae as they walked down the stairs. There was a lot of thought put into this formation.
As cruel as it was to say Buddy was just a robot, while Adam liked him it's not like Buddy was anything more than the sum of his programming, if he were to go down, while it would sadden Adam, he would not mourn as deeply as if any of the others died. In addition protectrons are the most common and simplistically constructed robot so repairing him would be the easiest as well if it was needed.
Rae brought up the rear for a similar reason to why Buddy brought up the front, though they were in the back because they were a more capable fighter so if something went wrong it would be good to have them holding the rear. In addition Rae had far more personality than Buddy did so protecting them more was a better idea.
Salvatore walking behind Buddy was because he could use Buddy as a shield as they advanced and he was the best shot of anyone here, having him engage first in any encounter was the best plan to handle anything unexpected.
Adam was next because he had a lot of combat options and, honestly, he felt bad for not being in the front to begin with.
Eve was behind him because, despite packing an incredibly powerful laser and deadly claws, assaultrons were not built like Sentry bots. Sentry bots were big and bulky with tons of extra armor as they were designed to take damage and dish it out in equal measure. Assaultrons, on the other hand, were designed to avoid damage by making their frame smaller, of course this also meant they couldn't take as many hits as other robots. Though one couldn't underestimate their durability even in spite of this.
Deccanus was the penultimate in the line up because of his quick reaction time and ability to coordinate with Rae in an effective way allowing Rae to give him cover fire while he gets into melee range.
All of this to say that despite all this planning, as soon as they got to the bottom of the stairs, entering the first basement floor and encountering more super mutants, the formation immediately fell apart.
Buddy opened fire far faster than he should have, giving little time for others to get into position. Salvatore's firing made it difficult for Adam to advance because he was so close to him. Eve dove past both Adam and Salvatore right into Salvatore's line of fire and into the fray with the super mutants making Salvatore have to quickly readjust his firing to not hit her and Rae pushed past Deccanus and everyone else to engage in the combat alongside Eve with nearly the same gusto as her. Only Deccanus seemed to be not rushing into the fight and waiting for a moment to enter battle within the formation where he wouldn't get in the way.
Of course that isn't to say Salvatore wasn't being a team player, but he clearly wasn't putting too much thought into how to allow his teammates to maneuver and engage with other targets.
Adam suddenly realized that every single person here was a lone wolf, fought almost exclusively alone, and was not used to working in larger groups. Adam and Deccanus were the exceptions.
Everyone likely had experience fighting with others, sans Buddy, but it seemed everyone was far too much in their own world to fight with teamwork. It was a miracle the fight at the entrance went as well as it did. However that might just simply be down to the fact that there was more space, down here, where the quarters were cramped and there was not much space to fan out the group was having trouble working together. In fact the cramped corridors is the reason they had even had a formation to begin with, as useless as that turned out to be.
After the fight was done Adam stopped the group.
"Okay, this isn't working, we are just going to end up hitting each other if this keeps up…" He then looked at the group for a moment thinking out a new plan. "Deccanus." He turned to him.
"Yes." Deccanus said back in response, straightening up his posture.
"I want you to lead a team down the other path, you will be in charge, take Rae and…" he looked around. "Eve." He said after a moment.
"Yes, sir." Deccanus said in response.
"Well hold on, handsome, why is he in charge? He's a child compared to me." She complained with a still flirty tone.
"Because Deccanus has experience as part of an army, I know you do too, but you have a different kind of army experience, and since I want Salvatore with me Deccanus is the best pick." Follow current novels on 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵※𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾※𝙣𝙚𝙩
"That's favoritism." She said, almost pouting by the way she sounded and her body language but then she sighed and shrugged. "Alright." She then turned to Deccanus. "I'll leave it to you, spear man~"
Deccanus looked at Adam, nodded and then began to walk off, taking the door nearby that led to a different section of the floor.
"If you encounter trouble, don't hesitate to call out to us." Adam said and then he hit on an idea. "Actually wait, hold on a second Deccanus." He then paused to consider before adding:
"We will not advance to the next floor until we regroup. I think it will be safer to only clear floors one at a time." Adam said after a moment to think.
"Understood." Deccanus said before he once more turned to leave.
"Happy hunting~" Eve said with a flirty wave to Adam before she began to follow behind Deccanus.
"Alright kid, we changing up the order?"
"No, we will keep this order, I'll bring up the rear and you keep focusing on the front."
"Gotcha kid." He nodded and then gently pushed Buddy to continue having him move, which he did a moment later.
"Now that the group was separated in the tight hallways the fights were slightly more dangerous but the group was able to fight at full strength. Adam didn't have any trouble finding a position to fire from, Salvatore didn't have an issue with anyone in front of him, and Buddy could fire freely.
They killed a handful more super mutants and then met back up with the other group at the stairway to the next basement level. Even during this walk through the first basement floor, they did see a number of things still on shelves. All food. Canned, bagged, and otherwise.While it was not even close to being fully stocked the food here was definitely a sizable amount on its own. Of course this was the federal ration stockpile, there was food stored here naturally, but what Adam was really looking for was what might be on the lower floors. Weapons. That was the real reason he came here. In the event of war food was not the only thing that the US Government wanted to stockpile. And he was eager to see if it was still there.