"Don't you think it's strange we haven't run into any monsters recently?"

The light of the torches flickered on the walls as they continued their search for Bella's team. Han's used a single eye to look at Jae-Hwa. With his closed eyes, he observed through Bella's eyes what was happening to her team.

"I agree, don't you think, Han?"

His ears listened to the battle, hearing the clang of weapons as the Special Operations team was desperately fighting to survive in the harsh environment.

"Han?"

"I don't want to intervene with what's happening to her, but their situation is becoming a bit dire," Han thought to himself, concerned about those women clawing for survival in the dark with only a few torch lights holding the void at bay. "But the question is how I would do it?"

"Han!"

A voice grabbed him out of his thoughts. Opening both eyes, the image of Bella being sprayed with blood left his sight. Turning his head, he saw Ruby tugging on his arm in an attempt to gain his attention. "What?" He dumbly answered.

"Don't you agree with what Ivy said about the lack of monsters?" Ruby's eyes tried to peer into his, concerned about how he was spacing out.

"Not for Bella's team," Han thought to himself. To Ruby, Han said, "The floor may send a large wave, so we should be alert. I agree that this is unusual."

Ivy moved towards him, from where she was standing on the other side of Ruby. "What's up? Is there something wrong?"

"Just thinking about when we'll find the other group," Han grimaced, returning to closing one of his eyes and watching how Bella was doing. "Seems like they're just cleaning up. Fortunately, no one had died this time around." He thought to himself.

Ivy and Ruby noticed the way Han closed one of his eyes.

"Is there something wrong with your eye?" Ivy asked.

Han grinned at the comment, smoothly answering, "I'm just protecting my night vision since I don't feel like wearing my helmet."

Ivy nodded her head, as though thinking the answer made sense.

Ruby nodded at the answer, "I'm not super fond of having the helmet on the entire time. It's nice feeling the air, instead of feeling trapped inside of the helmet."

"Without the torches, we'd have to use the helmets." Ivy motioned with her head towards Abigail and the others. "Aside from Katya, they don't have any way to move in complete darkness."

Ruby called out to one of the girls from Abigail's group. "Sheila!"

Sheila stopped some talk with Helen and head towards them as they traveled in the hallway.

Looking over at Liam, Han thought about how long it took for them to continue down the hallway to keep searching for the Special Operations team. Han glanced over to his sister, continually amazed at her ability to befriend others and empathize with them. "Likely from her being on a sports team. Though, I never seemed to be able to consciously get along with others, even being on a team." A feeling of pride blossomed in his chest.

"What's up?" Sheila asked when she reached them.

"I just realized how Katya can see in the dark like our suits can, so I was wondering why that was the case," Ruby looked over at where Katya was leading the group at the front, walking close with Ji-Min. At the same time, Venessa and Liz were close by.

Sheila followed Ruby's line of sight, seeing the woman with her helmet up. Nodding in understanding, she returned to look at Ruby. "We did have something to help us see in the dark, but fighting the monsters caused our helmets to be damaged over time."

Ivy was following along, her eyes wide in surprise. "That sounds pretty scary."

"Yeah!" Ruby added. "What happened?!"

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As Sheila walked in silence, it appeared as though she was reliving the experience. "It all started with Helen." She looked back at her friend before looking forward. "We had just arrived in this world, I guess the simulation based on what you guys said. We were getting swarmed by giant lizards, desperately going through the ammo from firing at them as fast as we could. When Helen had joined in on the fight, a lizard swiped her with its tail. It shattered Helen's mask, and we had thought she had died." A strange look crossed over Sheila's face as though the memory struck something inside.

Ruby and Ivy looked over at Helen, unsure of what to think.

As Han was listening in on the conversation, his ears perked at how Helen was able to survive such a traumatizing event.

"It was downhill from there. After Helen's mask was destroyed, we'd slowly get another destroyed fighting giant animals or insects. There were moments we thought it would be the end of us, all." Sheila's face darkened from the numerous times death nearly claimed them.

"Let's pick up the pace!" Ji-Min called back before jogging ahead.

As they slowly increased their speed, starting to jog while keeping an eye out, the flames from the torches bouncing up and down, casting wide shadows from everyone.

"The scary thing was that night. We lost several of the Special Operations team members before we had rushed back up the stairs. Several of our supply packs were left behind due to everything moving so quickly." Tears formed in her eyes, getting emotional over their experience. "It was fortunate that Helen had picked up a pack which seems to carry more than its appearance would have you believe."

Han looked back at Helen, seeing her wearing some kind of pack that looked similar to something a college kid would take to class. The casual appearance was the reason why he never gave it a second glance. If it wasn't for Sheila letting them know the hidden secret of the item, he'd have continued to stay ignorant.

"It seems Bella is staying on watch again." He thought to himself as he continued watching through the eyes of the woman. "We're coming," He thought to her. "I hope it helps."

------------------

She didn't know what time it was any longer. Night and day merged into a soup of consciousness in the dark passage. "We shouldn't be stopping," Bella thought to herself, clenching her fist in frustration. But deep down, she knew they had to stop. "Even though we should be continuing, I knew they would collapse at the worst possible time. It would be even more dangerous if we were to encounter more creatures when we were at our weakest." She shook her head, softly snorting. "I'm even starting to think we'll never get out of here." A single tear trailed down her face. "Not even any higher power is willing to listen to our desperate pleas."

Not helping it, Bella grinned at how that spy would've been mocking her current thoughts.

"Not like there's any point to caring what that woman thinks. The only reason why I'm able to hold things together during this hell is my subordinates relying on me. I'm their strength. I can't just give up." Silently crying under the light of the torches.

She looked at the sleeping forms of the women, only a few still awake to aid in keeping watch. Chuckling, "I tried to get them to sleep, too, but they wouldn't allow me to be the only one awake."

"We're coming...," A voice whispered in her mind.

Resisting the urge to bolt up, Bella stayed sitting on the stone floor. Her eyes trembled. "Who was that?" She looked around to see if an enemy had approached, though the voice was comforting instead of menacing.

Soon there was a sensation like a gentle embrace, filling her with warmth and comfort.