anwhile, Haji’s situation was...
"You’ve got to be kidding ," Scarlet scoffed, her voice laced with repressed anger. "You’d better stay away from , Chuck."
She was looking up, just like everyone else in their group. And yes, they were still underground. After retrieving the bag that Chuck had almost destroyed, they had to go through the traps once more.
Scarlet swore it took an entire lifeti not to push the man into the middle of those arrows. She had co very close, though.
Now, after surviving all those traps, they had finally reached their exit point from the underground, but they were still stuck.
The reason?
A car was parked directly on top of their exit.
"Fuck..." another one breathed out in frustration. "Now what?"
All of them turned their heads, but instead of setting their attention on Haji, their burning gazes automatically landed on Chuck. The man gulped, taking a step back, hands raised.
"Hah..." Chuck laughed awkwardly. "Co on, guys. That car is not my fault."
"It’s not," another one shot back, his voice filled with resentnt, "but the reason we’re still trapped here is because of you."
Even Haji was utterly disappointed with the man. He tried to stop everyone else from killing Chuck, playing the good cop, but Chuck made it incredibly hard to stay nice.
"Damn," Haji huffed, hands on his hips as he cocked his head back. He stared at the tal above them, and through the gaps, he could see the underside of the car.
"We have to move," he said after a second, snapping everyone out of their murderous thoughts. "There’s another exit, but it’s farther away."
Scarlet’s face soured, her hand clenching into a fist. "We can’t wait for the car above us to move."
"I agree," another one added. "We should start now. We’ve already wasted too much ti."
Haji nodded. "Then let’s go."
With that, their group—one that was expected to accomplish far more than the others—moved toward their next exit. This ti, they sincerely hoped nothing like this would happen again.
As they moved quietly like rats through the underground, the last person in the group—their own version of Pika—held a compact laptop in his arms. One hand worked quickly over the keys while the rest of his attention remained on the group ahead.
"They still haven’t established our signal," he said, his voice echoing despite how soft it was. "I still can’t connect us to the other group."
It had been a while since they got stuck down here, and they had no idea what was happening above ground. Their situation was frustrating enough, but the lack of communication made it far worse.
The group paused and looked back at him.
"Not yet?" Haji asked, checking the wristband he’d received from the Order. "They should’ve finished by now."
In truth, they should’ve finished a long ti ago.
Earlier, they hadn’t thought much of it because nearly everything that connected them to the other group had been damaged. Their tech guy had to make it work again, and with traps in between, it took ti. But now, hearing that the connection still wasn’t established raised alarm bells in everyone’s head.
"Damn it!" Scarlet roared, her voice thundering through the underground. Once again, she glared at Chuck, dangerously close to throwing a punch.
Haji’s expression grew stern as well, his mind racing through the possibilities. If the Bellemonte operatives failed their mission, soone would have to fix it. And knowing Lola, he was certain that selfish woman was already assuming he would be the one to do the fixing!
"That freak..." he hissed through gritted teeth, drawing everyone’s attention.
"What is it?" soone asked, making Haji snap his gaze toward them.
"Nothing," he muttered bitterly. "Just imagining sothing."
Like a certain woman bragging nonstop about what she’d accomplished while he was stuck here, rubbing every success in his face. Just the thought of it made his expression twist.
Haji then shot Chuck a sharp look.
"Hah!" Scarlet huffed. "Let’s just get out and see what’s happening above ground. I doubt those guys made any real progress, anyway."
Without communication, she doubted the other team could’ve achieved much. Everyone seed to agree, except Haji.
"I doubt that," he blurted out as he moved ahead, leading the group while keeping his eyes sharp for traps.
The others stared at his back, puzzled. Then he glanced over his shoulder and smirked.
"That woman is also here," he said, resuming his pace. "You don’t like her because she’s a fem fatale. I’m not here to preach whether you should like her or not, but honestly, you’re disliking her for all the wrong reasons."
He shrugged. "If anything, you should dislike her to the core of your soul. Just not because she’s pretty, weird, or because she married your boss."
"You should dislike her because..." he trailed off, glancing back at them. "...she’s the type to pull you in front of her to shield herself from raining bullets. Then smile and tell you she’ll pay your dical bills."
And in that regard, Lola was worse than all of them combined.
Lola was a lone wolf. She always had been. Those who stayed with her were either coerced into following her or srized by her sheer fighting spirit.
"All I’m saying is—believe or not—I doubt they haven’t made progress yet," Haji added knowingly. "She has a knack for squeezing every ounce of potential, skill, and talent out of people."
"If anything," he continued, irritation seeping into his voice, "they’re probably getting the job done while we’re still stuck in this filthy sewer."
And he wasn’t wrong.
While they were trapped underground, Lola’s team had already accomplished several things:
They’d found two Bellemonte n they’d already assud were dead. Ransom and Florida were currently operating on them, buying them a few precious hours. Lola had rescued the other two Bellemonte captives, and they were already moving to retrieve the rest.
Izu and Pika were on the move, risking their lives to establish communication by force.
Even Atlas—who was supposed to stay behind at the camp—was already deep inside the territory. He had taken control of the port, silenced anyone who stood in his way, and was now setting his next plans into motion.
anwhile, their own team—supposedly composed of Inner Circle elites—kept getting fucked over by sheer bad luck.
"Keep a ter’s distance from each other!" Haji shouted.
Seconds later, massive blades shot up from thin gaps in the flooring, slamming toward the ceiling. Chuck’s breath hitched as the tips of his hair were sliced clean off, falling onto his nose.
Anyone standing in the wrong position would’ve been cut in half.
Slowly, the blades descended again, and the group pressed forward.
More traps followed, but thankfully, they survived them all. Eventually, they reached their final exit.
"Finally!" Chuck heaved a sigh of relief and, eager to redeem himself, rushed forward. "I’ll go first! I’ll push it out!"
Everyone scrunched their noses, but they let him. It was the least he could do.
They watched as he climbed the rusted ladder, carefully pushed the tal lid, and crawled out.
But the mont his head popped out, sothing pressed against his forehead.
Chuck froze.
A warm muzzle rested between his brows.
He slowly lifted his gaze and t the eyes of soone staring down at him with an arched brow.
"What is it now?" soone below shouted. "Don’t slow down!"
Chuck said nothing and climbed out completely.
The next person followed, only to pause as well upon seeing what awaited them above. He, too, was forced out.
One by one, the sa thing happened.
Haji climbed out last.
And when he did, he finally understood the silence.
They were surrounded by enemies.
"You’ve got to be kidding ."
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