Adrenaline

⌊Chapter 19⌉

"How do you know where you're going down here?" Atlantis huffed after hitting another concrete wall. She narrowed her eyes and could only see the silhouettes of the four people that she was with. Unsurprisingly, their footsteps echoed and bounced off the walls of the old mineshaft, making it sound eerie to a certain extent - though the look of things did that on its own. She couldn't see them, but there were plenty of cobwebs and random bars in the corridor that were easy to run into if one wasn't focusing. Atlantis resorted to holding her hands out a bit.

"Because I've been doing it for seven years, Comera, you know that," Rich responded. He was leading the group which started as a line but soon became a blob of people who didn't know where they were going. It was a risky request for Andy to suggest bringing them to the lab, so it showed that Andy trusted these people solely on Rich's descriptions and stories. He was most unsure about Anthony, but Rich had told Andy a few times that if Anthony wanted to kill Rich he would already be dead.

Though, that excuse didn't work well because it took years for Anthony to even get close to Rich. He didn't understand his change of heart, but it was welcome.

Then there was Natasha who, Rich assumed, would be the most suspicious because Rich hadn't even met her, but he heard the name 'Nat' in passing when people were talking about Blake, easing into the topic of their breakup. It gave the idea that Natasha was on Rich's side.

"I just don't remember it being this dark," Atlantis answered, feeling along the wall to avoid running into something. "It feels like there's eyes all over the walls watching us as we walk. Does Andy have security cameras?"

"Not throughout the whole tunnel. There are some by the entrance and some by the door, but we haven't really needed them yet. Still... you never know," Rich said, listening as the group's shoes walked along the floor. It was lucky for Andy and Rich that no one had found their hiding space, but there was still tension every day and night that someone would finally show up on those cameras. However, it was surprising, either, that people didn't go down there. It was dark, not the cleanest, a rather bit horrifying, and the idea of the place caving in wasn't out of the picture with all the weight of that side of the city.

The walk went smoothly with no major things happening. However, the others were quite nervous when they passed the large hole in the ground with water at the bottom, originally used as a type of dumbwaiter. They had to walk around the edge of it on a steep platform, but they managed to get by. Rich had even fallen in the hole once, and luckily there was enough water to break his fall. It was filled with water through drainage pipes through the city, and it was about half full of rainwater, showing just how much it really rained in Adelmir. He had gotten out thanks to the strong chain that held the dumbwaiter at the bottom of the hole, and Rich managed to scale the chain and crawl back onto land. Since then, he never fell. Luckily no one else did either, and they grew closer to the lab, the light slowly turning up in the tunnel from up ahead. Andy tried to block out the light from the lab, but even their solid metal door didn't keep the corridor pitch black. Luckily, though, no one came close enough to realise that there was any light at all. As the group approached the door, Rich punched in the password and the doors slid open, revealing the busy work station and rooms split off from it. Of course Atlantis and Jayla had already been to the lab once, but for Natasha and Anthony, this was a new sight. It was so sleek and modern that it didn't seem like it would be an underground base underneath a dystopian city.

"You're telling me you have all these advanced weapons and you haven't broken out Alex?" Anthony narrowed his eyes, though it wasn't in annoyance. It was a realisation of who he really was fighting against. Well, emphasis on the was.

"Well lately you've been doing good at keeping me away," Rich answered honestly. He didn't necessarily like Anthony, but he could confidently say that the man was skilled in his career. It was unfortunate that he got placed in Adelmir. Before anything more could be said, Andy emerged from his room, seeing the sudden group of people. He made eye contact with Anthony, remembering how truly terrifying it was when Anthony questioned him about the 48. "I'm sure you two know each other so... Andy meet Natasha, Natasha meet Andy."