Wait for it [KHR]

Chapter 6

The base is located underground and there is a Mist illusion cloaking the entrance. A quite elaborate one actually, something that even Boss would have to look twice at before figuring it out. Even Cloud probably only found it by observing the group's movements and deeming the location as 'suspicious' at best.

The illusion feels like nothing to Chrome as she slips past it without tearing any of the constructions.

Infiltration is even easier. All she has to do is cast two illusions. One to conceal an open door and one to turn herself invisible. Both are beginner-level illusions, something she used to toy around with even before she met Mukuro-sama.

She listens in on conversations in the large room behind the front door. There are maybe fifteen men huddled together, playing poker and drinking alcohol, agitated because their other bases are under attack, but Chrome does not hear a word about Boss or any other prisoners.

She concludes that Boss is most likely not here, but there is something else hidden, something important for the mission. The others will take care of Boss.

So she begins the painstaking process of searching through the entire base.

At first she does not find much. A few storage rooms, some small bedrooms with too many cots crammed inside, an infirmary that is too well equipped for her comfort, a few training rooms fit to train an entire army, and a large kitchen.

She wanders deeper underground where the air is cold and damp and the only illumination are the dusty yellow lamps, flickering uncertainly and casting eerie shadows on the walls.

The last door in the hallway is large and made of metal. It opens not with a key, but with a code and Chrome casts another illusion, strong enough to fool the simple machine into thinking the code is correct.

The door opens silently and she steps into a cold room. It is pitch black and she summons a Mist light, visible only to her eyes.

What is revealed makes her breath hitch and fury burn darkly in her chest.

A row of small metal barred cells line the wall. In each cell there is a child, each of them aged somewhere between five and ten. They are sitting in uncanny silence on the low chair inside the cell. The smallest one is sniffling, trying to stifle the sounds with her sleeve to her mouth. None of the others react to that. They keep staring blankly forward in a creepy state of apathy she remembers being in once upon a time.

She keeps up the illusion that she is not there to not scare the children as her fingers raise to gently touch a button on her earpiece.

"Storm. I found children. Ten of them."

At first the speaker only crackles and whines. She must be deep enough underground for even Vongola technology to work without issues. Eventually Storm answers. Loud music plays in the background.

"Just ten?"

"Just... just ten." Was he angry with her? Did she fail for not finding more? Storm is sometimes so hard to understand. It is easier to talk to Boss. Boss is never so... sharp.

"Okay... Okay, well, ten will have to do for now. We'll find the rest later." She lets out a small sigh of relief. Storm does not sound angry about it. "Do you need backup? I'd come but... I'm a little busy right now."

"To fight - no. To help the children - yes."

Sun's booming voice startles her. "My place is extremely abandoned! I know your location, Chrome, I'll be there in five minutes."

"Understood. I will break the illusion on the entrance."

All is quiet after that and Chrome leaves the room as silently as she entered. She returns to where the men are and with a gentle tap on the ground with her trident, the illusion on the entrance is ripped apart. The men all snap to attention, throwing playing cards on the table and pulling out their weapons. Grouping together in front of the entrance, they await to face whatever attack is looming upon them.