Changed by Time ✔

twenty-three.

2128 hours

Abigail led them into Barra, the group simply circling around the freshly made opening in the floor. She held her hands on her hips as she stared down into the darkness.

Nolan's fingers twitched as he heard Wendy speaking, conversing with the second figure that had followed her down into the hole. He looked back to Abigail, who also heard the conversation. He watched as her normally calm, almost mocking, expression shift within seconds. She looked spooked – like she'd seen a ghost, which wouldn't be too much of a stretch at this point.

"Kita," she turned to one of the operatives who had a large bag slung over their shoulders, "get out the ropes and harnesses. It's quite the drop and I'd rather not snap my ankles the second we get down there."

It didn't take long for them to get into the harnesses. Titan tied the rope onto one of the wooden columns in the bar, tugging on it to make sure that it was secure. He simply nodded at Abigail as she turned to give her orders.

"Titan will rappel down first. I will follow him and Nolan will come after me. Kita will be the last to rappel down. Marcos and Lucy will stay up here as backup," Abigail instructed. "Keep your harnesses on and your eyes open. If anything happens, I'll radio you two to either come down and assist or to cut the rope."

"'Cut the rope'?" Nolan repeated. "What do you think is going to happen down there?"

"I don't know," Abigail said as she clipped onto the rope as Titan began to slowly rappel into the darkness. "That's why we're taking all these precautions."

2135 hours

Nolan had only gone rock-climbing and ziplining a couple times, and only because Monica practically begged him to go and then dragged him when he kept telling her "maybe someday." He was as good as any other person when it came to rappelling and making sure he didn't crack his head open.

This was a total 180 from all those times. He was rappelling in almost complete darkness, into what looked to be a cave in a totally different country, with the possibility of death at any moment. It was not like when he went with Katie.

Nolan looked down towards Abigail and Titan, squinting as a red tint began to form closer to the ground of the cave. It began to glow brightly, rising to the top and continuously growing in size and brightness.

"What the hell is that?" he muttered to himself, tightening his grip on the rocks he was climbing against. He knew for a fact it wasn't Wendy, but he didn't know anything about that other figure...

He felt a rough jerk against the rope, swinging slightly and finally growing taut. The stiffness of the rope was followed by the sound of the clasp ripping against the rope and a final, and haunting, thud.

He looked down again at Abigail. She let out what looked to be a heavy sigh. She looked back up, past Nolan, to Kita. She said something into the earpiece, just quietly enough for him not to be able to hear her.

He looked up to Kita, watching as they pulled the bag around and began rooting through it. He reached out with something in his hand, letting it go as it flew past him and down to Abigail. She caught it in one swift movement, quickly pulling it over her head.

Nolan snapped back to his rope as another one of the objects fell down to him. A gas mask landed against his harness, the clip of the bands wrapped around the rope. He didn't need any instructions as he quickly unclipped the mask and slipped it on.

When he finally made it down to the ground, Abigail was pulling Titan's body away from the opening and the rope. She dropped his arms as soon as he was a decent distance away from the drop zone, brushing her hands off against her pants as she walked back over.