Solara, Keira, Braen, and Aidan sat on the fourth floor, the crackle of open fires echoing around the chamber.

  Keira was already laughing. “No, no, you don’t get it. So you know how we put that hammock up in Whaa Whaa’s? She was up there the whole time—Chief versus Jett, final hand of the night. Katie told big bro the hand, he told it to Chief and me, and then—bang—last card down. Ace. I swear, there is no way.”

  Aidan snorted. “Do you remember what happened after?”

  Braen giggled. “Our little Elyria and her chairs.”

  Solara leaned forward, intrigued. “Why is this the first I’m hearing of this? But—did she get him with the chair?”

  Aidan nodded.

  Solara pumped her fist. “Ha! Specialist. Well deserved. Could you imagine if he ever applied it properly?”

  Keira laughed. “Yeah, that’s like saying any of us will ever change.”

  “Oh come on,” Braen said, smiling. “You know the Lieutenant hears enough of this from the Captain already.”

  Solara laughed. “I wish he did. Honestly, for a man who looks like he gets nothing done, he’s always busy doing something.”

  “Well,” Aidan said carefully, “that’s not exactly his fault.”

  Solara blinked. Braen shot him a look. “Aidan!”

  Keira shrugged. “No, she’s right. Big bro’s an airhead most of the time about stuff like this. You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Calm down,” Aidan replied. “I’m not taking a shot. I mean—look at it fairly. He’s the only person in this war who actually has to parent a child—Mynxi’s well below the standard age of anyone else here. Then there’s the fact that he, Mynxi, and Elyria train separately for… whatever reason. Monsters spawning every night stopped being a real threat. We split into smaller groups, and where was he through all of that? Walking, talking, messing around—but if you actually watch him, he’s always pulling some thread.”

  “Still an idiot,” Keira said.

  “I’m definitely not denying that,” Aidan shot back.

  Solara exhaled. “It’s partly my fault. Ever since Lyra joined, I don’t often need to leave the inn.” She smirked. “Oh, you want a laugh? I told Lyra that if she stopped Caelan from getting to the boss, I’d promote her.”

  Solara laughed.

  The other three went silent.

  Braen stood up sharply. “I’m coming, our little princess!” She bolted for the stairs.

  Solara frowned at the sudden shift. “What?”

  “You can’t be serious, Lieutenant,” Aidan said.

  “She’s more than capable,” Solara replied.

  Keira shook her head. “Imagine Lyra trying to clear what we just did.”

  Solara went pale. “Ah. Yes. That might have been a slight oversight.”

  Braen came sprinting back into the chamber. “The room with the stairs is gone! What do we do?”

  Solara straightened, confidence snapping back into place. “Well, all of you have forgotten my backup plan.”

  Aidan, Keira, and Braen all began mumbling at once, then slowly nodding as it clicked.

  Keira smirked. “Trust the Captain to make sure a plan never works—but still works.”

  Solara stood. “Right. Master Sergeant, want to go find out what that noise was?”

  Keira shot to her feet. “No. No. It’s a dragon. This place has screwed me from every possible angle. No hot chocolate. No video games. And no goddamn lying in bed watching videos. So I'm getting this no matter what. ”

  Solara arched a brow. “Do you want me to take Staff instead?”

  Keira stepped in front of her, already smiling. “Nope. Good and ready to go, Lieutenant Sparkles.”

  She broke into a jog.

  “Keira!” Solara followed after her. “What did I tell you about the sparkles?”

  Braen glanced between them, then leaned toward Aidan. “So what do you think is more dangerous to her right now? That thing… or our little Lieutenant?”

  Aidan rubbed the back of his neck. “Same as always. Her number one enemy is herself. Problem is, she’s too stubborn to lose to even that.”

  Keira and Solara reached the chamber leading up to the final floor.

  “Now this time—” Solara began.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Keira cut in. “Call out my attacks when it’s a big one. Don’t go flying around the room. And there’s no need to swear.”

  Solara blinked. “That’s… not what I was going to say. I was actually going to tell you—full, unfiltered—you.”

  Keira stopped mid-step, turned, and gently pressed a finger to Solara’s lips, smiling. “Oh, bitch. You must really want to beat him. If you want the full experience, mummy’s got your back.”

  Solara sighed. “I’m going to regret this. I can already tell.”

  They reached the final floor.

  The moment they stepped through, the entrance sealed shut behind them.

  Keira took one look around and shouted, “AND WHAT THE SHIT IS THIS?”

  Solara frowned, reading the glowing script along the wall. “One percent of dungeon raids must reach this point to unlock.”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Keira burst out laughing. “Well, look on the bright side. How do you think he’s taking this?”

  —

  Lower Fifth Floor

  Caelan stood in a nearly identical chamber, kicking the wall beneath an identical message.

  “WHY IS THIS PART A COMMUNITY EVENT?” he shouted. “WHY? JUST WHY?”

  Garron glanced at the counter. “Captain, it’s almost full.”

  “Aye,” Caelan snapped, “but how long did it take those seventy-six thousand groups to reach this point? And why do we need to wait for 100,000? Based on these numbers, there’s only—”

  Garron slapped him across the face.

  “You were spiralling again.”

  Caelan grinned and winked. “Got another one in you?”

  Garron shook his head.

  The bell echoed through the dungeon.

  Caelan leaned against the spiral staircase, jaw tight. “That’s not my problem.”

  Garron chuckled. “You just want to be up there having all the fun to yourself. Take this as a valuable lesson—sometimes the leader has to wait and trust their people.”

  Caelan laughed under his breath. “Well, you’ll never guess what pair I left on the second floor.”

  —

  Lower Second Floor

  Bella’s boot crashes into the jaw of a white death, its head slamming into the wall with a dull crack. Bella lets out a grunt, turning and wiping sweat from her brow.

  “They aren’t much alone,” she says, rolling her shoulder, “but damn, still a workout in numbers, huh, Lance Corporal?”

  Lumi finishes rolling up her measuring tape, the needle on the end clicking softly before she sets it aside. She walks back to the little corner they’ve set up and sits down, pulling out her sketch pad.

  “I’ve told you before,” she says without looking up, “you can call me Lumi. Like everyone else.”

  Bella strolls over with an easy grin. “So, you been working on anything special?”

  Lumi sighs, glancing up from the page. “Look, just because we’re grouped up doesn’t mean we need to make small talk.”

  Bella pauses, caught off guard. “Oh. Sorry. Didn’t realize I’d done something to annoy you.”

  “You haven’t,” Lumi replies, picking her pencil back up. “We just… aren’t friends. No need to force it.”

  Bella smirks slightly. “Oh, I get it. You’re jealous of Hector and me—”

  Lumi slams the sketch pad shut. “No. Fine. You want it out? No, it’s not because of Hector. He’s a really amazing guy, by the way. But do you know why I love the Revolutionary Army?”

  Bella quiets.

  “Because when they found me in my little shop,” Lumi continues, voice firm, “they never once treated it like things would go back to the way they were. Every day, someone stops by. Kei-kei comes in for lunch. Braen brings materials. Takeshi builds display units. Even the Lieutenant—who’s always busy—makes time once a week just to come in and talk.”

  She looks up at Bella.

  “And you? No. Bella has her style. Don’t ask Lumi—the girl who dresses everyone. Yeah, my style’s strange. But if you’d ever tried, I’d have made it work. So no, we don’t need to be friends just because we’re stuck in here together.”

  Bella exhales, annoyed—but not dismissive. “It’s not like you tried either. And getting wasted with you and ‘Kei-kei’ isn’t exactly my idea of fun.”

  “FINE,” Lumi snaps. “How about tea one day?”

  Bella blinks. “Wow. So after all that, now you want tea?”

  Lumi shrugs. “Yeah. Why not? It’s not like I actually dislike you. Even if your dress code is… questionable.”

  Bella frowns. “Don’t talk about how I dress.”

  “You wear a tank top and shorts,” Lumi replies dryly. “Where’s the wow factor?”

  “Well, sorry,” Bella snaps, tugging at her black Revolutionary Army jacket, “it gets a little hot under this.”

  Lumi gives her a sideways look. “Maybe if you talked to me once in a while, I could fix that.”

  Bella hesitates, then sits down heavily, rummaging through her bag. “You… actually could?”

  Lumi rolls her eyes and flips the sketch pad around. “This is the updated design so far.”

  Bella studies it, nodding slowly. “Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Looks exactly the same.”

  “No,” Lumi says, pointing. “This part. I already implemented these upgrades on the Captain’s jacket. So next time I'll leave some extra ventilation in yours.”

  Bella groans. “What is it with him and that jacket? I’ve asked the Lieutenant. She always dodges it.”

  Lumi pauses. “Oh. I thought everyone knew. It’s the same jacket he wore the day the Army formed. And… it might be partly my fault.”

  Bella looks up. “How so?”

  “I said once,” Lumi admits, “that I don’t love clothes when they’re first made. The most beautiful ones are the ones that survive what life throws at them.”

  She taps the page.

  “Since then, I’ve repaired every graze, every cut, every hole he puts in it. Over time, it’s become something new.”

  Bella frowns. “You think he’s an idiot, yet you do this. What do you mean, ‘something new’?”

  “I keep all the old layers,” Lumi says. “The Lieutenant rotates them out now. I don’t even know how much of the original jacket is still there.”

  She pauses.

  “Other than the spot over his chest. That’s still brand new.”

  “Why that spot?” Bella asks.

  Lumi doesn’t look up. “Because if someone ever hits his heart, we’re all probably screwed. His reflexes are outrageous.”

  Bella snorts. “You’re telling me. But Jett… where in the stars did we even find him?”

  Lumi shrugs. “I’m sure Katie’s having fun with that.”

  —

  Lower First Floor

  Jett barrels through the corridors, boots skidding as a pack of black fog wolves tears after him. He clips corners by inches, the wolves crashing into one another behind him.

  “PLEASE, KATIE!” Jett screams. “I WON’T TOUCH IT AGAIN, I SWEAR! PLEASE STOP HIDING!”

  Katie’s voice echoes calmly through the floor. “You know better than that, Jett. You’re on your own.”

  Jett bursts into the main entrance hall and skids to a stop. Slowly, wolves begin to emerge from almost every corridor, low growls filling the space as they circle him.

  “Look,” Jett pants, backing away, “you know I was messing around, right? You wouldn’t leave your future commander like this, would you?”

  “Did you even read the rules of this place?” Katie calls out. “Actually, can you even read?”

  The circle tightens.

  “You know I can read,” Jett says quickly. “So why don’t you come give your old pal a hand, huh?”

  “I’m not listening until you say it.”

  One wolf lunges. Jett barely backsteps in time as it sails past him. Another snaps for his leg and slips, slamming into him, while a third collides with the pile. Jett screams and bolts for the corridors again.

  “I’LL GET CORWIN TO DO YOUR WASHING FOR A MONTH!”

  A slow zip echoes.

  “I’m zipping my bag now,” Katie says calmly.

  “I’LL GIVE YOU MY CUT!” Jett yells, sprinting.

  “It’s almost closed.”

  “FINE!” Jett shouts, teeth clenched. “I WON’T TOUCH YOUR SLEEPING BAG AGAIN, I PROMISE!”

  He turns a corner—and is yanked sideways into a small alcove. The wolves thunder past.

  Jett blinks.

  Katie peeks out from her sleeping bag, finger to her lips. “Shh.”

  “How?” Jett whispers. “Why?”

  “Takeshi’s been making wall hooks for my thread,” Katie says casually. “Services rendered. And you do realize the monsters are mostly visual-based, right?”

  Jett scoffs. “Do I know that? Ha—”

  He stops. “…No. Actually, I don’t.”

  “Why does the Lieutenant even make you come to morning training?”

  “At least I try,” Jett mutters. “Some people just sleep all the time.”

  He notices he’s slowly being lowered.

  “Wait—wait—I’m sorry! Bring me back up!”

  Katie tugs the thread, lifting him again. “What?”

  “Won’t we get in trouble if the wolves keep increasing?”

  “Do you trust me?”

  Jett gives a thumbs up. “Absolutely not, buddy.”

  “Good. And don’t call me buddy.” She pauses. “I have an idea. But I’ll need your help.”

  She whispers in his ear.

  Jett slowly begins to cry.

  Moments later, Jett steps back into the main entrance hall, baton in hand, tiptoeing.

  “Come out, come out, Mr Monsters…”

  “You’ll need to be louder,” Katie calls.

  Jett shrugs and bellows, “COME AT ME, YOU PATHETIC MONSTERS! I AM THE FUTURE CAPTAIN! FACE ME IF YOU’RE READY TO BE DESTROYED!”

  Wolves flood in.

  “Uh, Katie?” Jett says nervously. “They’re almost here—can you do it now?”

  “Not yet,” she replies cheerfully. “Enjoy the ride, buddy.”

  “Oh, we are—”

  The back of his jacket yanks Jett, dragged corner to corner as wolves snap inches from him.

  “YOU DIDN’T TELL ME ABOUT THIS PART!”

  Katie laughs. “I know. Thought it’d be more fun.”

  “PLEASE, YOU’RE GOING TO KILL ME!”

  “Fine, fine.”

  Jett is snapped to the centre of the room. Wolves leap from every direction.

  “PLEASE!”

  He cracks one eye open.

  Every wolf hangs frozen mid-air.

  “Hope I stacked these right,” Katie says. “Otherwise, good knowing you.”

  A thread snaps.

  The wolves drop lifelessly to the floor.

  “WOOH!” Jett cheers. “NEVER DOUBTED YOU FOR A SECOND! I KNEW YOU’D SERVE ME WELL—”

  The bell tolls.

  “Glad to hear it,” Katie calls. “Only… seventy-seven more waves to go.”

  More paws thunder down the corridors.

  Jett swallows. “I’m going to die.”