[Bellemonte Group]
Above ground, the Bellemonte Group slipped out of the manhole in a narrow alley, following Lola’s route. Just as she had said, they didn’t encounter any problems—unlike what they had expected. After all, it was almost impossible for outsiders to enter the land without running into trouble.
"Co up," said the first man who climbed to the surface, offering his arm down.
He glanced left and right, then nodded. As soon as the second man erged, the cycle continued until the last one ca out. Once everyone was up, the last man carefully placed the tal lid back into position.
"I didn’t think she’d be right," one of the n muttered, clearly surprised that they were still intact and hadn’t encountered any problems so far.
Most of them had been here before, but they barely got a foot in the door. The last ti they attempted entry, things escalated into a shootout almost imdiately. In other words, they had been ready to fight the mont they stepped into these lands.
"Let’s follow the Order’s instructions," one of them said, already changed into his disguise so he could blend in with the town’s crowd.
"We’ll regroup here once we finish setting up the signal devices."
A brief silence followed as they nodded, eyes shining with determination.
"Let’s move out."
With that, they moved in sync, splitting into two groups. One group took each side of the alley, peeking out to make sure no one was watching before rging into the crowd.
Their only priority now was to set up the signal devices at their assigned points. Once those were in place, communication would be secured—making this first task crucial.
*****
[Camp Team: ATLAS]
Atlas paced back and forth where he stood, watching his n work on the devices ant to keep everything running smoothly. Even so, he felt restless.
It had only been a little over an hour since his wife left the camp, and he knew there shouldn’t be any problems yet. Still, he couldn’t stop himself from worrying.
Atlas had already planned on leaving, but not before the signal network was established. After all, he intended to follow his wife to help, not beco one of her liabilities. She would have a heart attack if she saw him in the heart of Ravah, for sure.
"First Brother." Slater blinked, growing dizzy just watching him. "I think you should sit down."
"They’re taking too long," Atlas said grimly, glancing at the people in front of the modified computers. They shook their heads, signaling that the signals still weren’t stable.
Ravah used a special satellite signal controlled by its most powerful figures. Using it would be too risky. Doing so would imdiately expose their location.
Atlas let out a deep breath, ran a hand through his hair, and stretched his neck from side to side. Baby, anwhile, stood beside Slater.
"Sir Slater, are you going to Ravah with the master?" Baby asked, looking at him with innocent curiosity.
"Baby," Slater humd, pouting slightly, "why do you think I’m here in the first place? I may be bored, but I’m not bored enough to throw myself into hell."
He wasn’t reckless, nor did he chase adrenaline. There were plenty of ways to cure boredom—this just wasn’t one of them.
Slater slowly shifted his gaze toward Atlas, watching him approach the other team.
"Release the drones," Atlas commanded. "The Bellemonte n should be setting things up by now."
"Yes, sir."
At once, everyone returned to their screens, launching drones to get a clearer aerial view. Atlas stood behind them, hands on his hips, forearm muscles flexing as he watched.
"Though..." Slater humd thoughtfully. "This is the first ti I’ve even heard of Ravah."
Baby glanced sideways. "Ravah is known, but not widely."
People—especially those in governnt—were aware of Ravah and its situation. However, Anteca had no direct involvent with it. It wasn’t surprising that its citizens knew little about the place.
"But I worked for the governnt too," Slater said, looking up at Baby. "Once upon a ti."
Baby rely shrugged.
He didn’t linger with Slater for long, having noticed movent in the corner of his eye. Turning his head, he spotted one of the n who had been sent to scout the area.
Baby quietly excused himself and approached the man.
"Boss," the man said, glancing toward Atlas before turning back to Baby.
Before he could continue, Baby asked, "Did you deal with everyone who could cause us trouble later?"
"Yes," the man nodded. "But what are we going to do with them?"
Baby furrowed his brows. The answer should have been obvious. The fact that the man asked ant there was more to it.
"What happened?"
The man let out a shallow breath. "They’re here."
He led Baby a short distance away. Pulling aside a canopy, he revealed several unconscious n tied up, mouths taped shut.
"We’ll need them to cooperate," the man continued. "We just found out there will be roll calls, and their devices only work through voice recognition."
"Voice recognition?"
"Yes. And if they didn’t answer, people would co and check." The man pulled a device from his pocket and showed it to Baby. "They’re... very modernized."
Their security system was highly sophisticated—on par with the Order’s, perhaps even better. Then again, Ravah was a place many saw as an enemy.
Baby let out a slow breath, glancing at the unconscious n, then at the device in his hand.
"How troubleso, indeed."
*****
At the sa ti, Slater was idling nearby, conserving his energy as he waited for the signal to go live. He glanced toward his brother, who stood near the operators as drones maneuvered through the territory, carefully avoiding detection.
But when Slater looked at one of the monitors, his brows knitted together. He pushed himself up from his folding chair and approached.
"Stop right there," he muttered as he stood behind one of the drone operators.
The man paused, glanced back at him, then complied—rewinding the feed slightly to the area Slater indicated.
Atlas studied his brother’s profile. "What is it, Slater?"
"..." Slater pressed his lips together, eyes locked onto the screen, his breathing growing heavy. His mouth opened and closed once before he glanced at his brother and whispered,
"I know that place."
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