Chapter 101- Arrival At The Pit

The convoy rumbled through the dense woodland of Tempest Grove, moving in tight formation beneath the overcast sky. The vehicles—sleek, armored transports bearing the insignia of the Normos Family—navigated the uneven terrain with precision, their tires crunching over fallen branches and loose stones. Rion sat in one of the middle vehicles, arms crossed as he gazed out the tinted window. The deeper they traveled, the more unnatural the surroundings became.

The trees here twisted at odd angles, as if something had warped their very growth. The air was thick with tension, not just from the eerie stillness of the environment but from the knowledge that they were nearing the entrance to Area 69—a location now guarded by a coalition of the five major factions.

Up ahead, the convoy slowed as they approached the outer perimeter. The vast perimeter had been established around the site, a no-man's land patrolled by the joint forces of the five major factions. The blockade wasn't just to keep outsiders from intruding but also to keep each other in check. Each of the five factions wanted whatever was inside Area 69, but none trusted the others enough to leave them unsupervised.

Rion's eyes flickered over the scene as they approached the first checkpoint. Towers had been hastily constructed from steel plating and reinforced concrete, manned by guards clad in a mix of combat gear and heavy armor. Heavy turrets followed their approach, tracking each vehicle as if eager for an excuse to fire.

Vance, seated next to him, let out a low whistle. "This is overkill."

Rion didn't respond immediately. His focus was on the men stationed at the gates—each one displaying an insignia representing their faction.

"This is the kind of overkill you need when five power-hungry groups are forced to play nice," he muttered.

Their convoy slowed as the checkpoint commander stepped forward. He was an older man with a scar running down the left side of his face, his uniform a patchwork of different faction influences—proof of a long and violent career. His eyes swept over the vehicles before landing on the car at the end of the convoy.

After a brief security check, the barriers lifted, and the convoy rolled forward. The atmosphere grew heavier the closer they got. The perimeter wasn't just guarded—it was fortified like a war zone. Behind the first line of defenses were secondary barriers, armed drones hovering above, long-range scanners, watchtowers, and even makeshift bunkers, each positioned strategically to cover the others.

He glanced at Vance, who was tapping his phone with one hand while squeezing the toy bear with the other. "No turning back now."

Armed drones hovered above, scanning every vehicle and individual that passed through. The convoy pressed forward until they reached a wide-open clearing where a gaping hole in the earth dominated the landscape.

It was massive. Far larger than Rion had expected.

The pit stretched nearly a hundred meters across, its depth obscured by darkness despite the floodlights installed along its perimeter. The sheer scale of it was enough to make even the most hardened fighters uneasy.

Rion stepped out of the vehicle, the air cooler here, the silence thicker.

"Damn," Vance murmured, stepping up beside him. "It looks even worse up close."

Worse wasn't the right word. The pit didn't feel like just a hole, it felt more like a void, an absence of something fundamental. Rion felt the hairs on his arms rise as he peered over the edge, the darkness below seeming to swallow the light that touched it.

Right at the edge of the hole was the recently installed lift system, massive steel platforms reinforced with hydraulic stabilizers which waited to lower their vehicles into the abandoned ruins.

The Normos Family crew began their preparations. The lift, large enough to hold multiple vehicles at a time, was currently being loaded with their convoy. Those who had not worn their masks hurriedly put them on. Engineers and operators rushed about, securing clamps, double-checking weight distribution, and making last-minute safety checks.

Vance exhaled, hands on his hips. "This is a hell of a setup," he said, the mask muffling his voice a bit. He was watching as a squad of Team Alpha's crew, which was the other team apart from Team Epilson to only consist of trusted retainers, load their own equipment onto a separate lift. "Nobody's wasting time."

Rion remained silent, his gaze fixed on the abyss below.

A voice crackled over the intercom:

{All personnel, prepare for descent. First wave will begin now. Remain in your vehicles or within marked zones until clearance is given.}

With a mechanical groan, the first lift shuddered and began its slow descent.

Minutes later, it was their turn. Team Gamma's convoy maneuvered onto the lift, positioning themselves within the designated loading zones. Heavy-duty clamps secured the vehicles in place as steel safety barriers locked into position.

Rion sat in the armored transport, feeling the subtle shift as the platform began to descend.

The steel groaned under the weight, gears grinding as the entire platform shuddered before sinking into the abyss. Floodlights cast long, jagged shadows against the walls of the pit, revealing layers of rock and forgotten structures embedded in the earth—ruins of something far older than any of them.

The deeper they went, the more unnatural it became. The rock walls smoothed out in places, as if shaped by hands that weren't human. Strange metallic veins pulsed dimly within the stone, like dormant circuitry waiting to be reawakened.

No one spoke. Even Vance remained quiet, his usual bravado stripped away by the oppressive atmosphere. This made it so that the only noise that could be heard was the deep hum of machinery and the creak of tension cables. The further they went down, the less stable the radio signals became.

Fortunately, nothing happened when the convoy of transports finally reached the bottom of the pit. The lift platform came to a heavy, rattling stop as it settled into the depths of the pit.

A hiss of pressurized air signaled the release of the clamps securing the convoy, and the steel barriers withdrew with a mechanical groan.

The dim lights lining the cavern barely did their job, their flickering glow swallowed by the thick, dusty air. Everything beyond fifty meters faded into a hazy gray, as if the ruins themselves were hiding something.

As their eyes adjusted to the lower light intensity, everyone beheld the age of the underground research city. The scent of rust and damp stone lingered, making the whole place feel more like a tomb than a lost city.

"Alright, all teams should link up with Alpha in five minutes." Kellen spoke through the local communication channel. "Stick to the plan and don't wander off. I don't need to tell you what will happen if you mistakenly activate something or end up in the belly of a rogue mutated beast."

The commander only spared a couple of words in order to keep the men and women from doing anything stupid. The novelty of landing on an ancient city would most likely spark some delirium among the more excitable people.

It also didn't help that the wierd properties of this area played a lot of havoc with communications, to the point where they wouldn't be able to communicate with those outside the base in real time.

With communication heavily restricted, the Normos Family had little control over what their crew did inside the pit—not that they particularly cared.

Since the coalition of factions controlled the only known entrance and exit, smuggling anything out was nearly impossible. Every haul the crew retrieved had to be turned over to their respective factions at the end of the day.

By holding the keys to the metaphorical gates, the Normos Family ensured that nothing left the pit without their approval. And that was without even counting the retainers they had sent to keep an eye on things.

The convoy rumbled forward, its engines growling like restless beasts as it rolled into the designated staging area. The headlights of the vehicles sliced through the thick haze that clung to the air, their beams illuminating the faint outlines of Team Alpha's encampment ahead.

The camp was a hive of activity, a stark contrast to the desolate ruins that surrounded it. Stacked metal crates formed makeshift barriers, their jagged edges glinting under the harsh glow of portable floodlights. The lights cast long, eerie shadows that danced across the cracked stone and crumbling walls of the ancient structures that loomed in the background.

As Team Gamma's convoy pulled into the camp, his sharp eyes swept across the camp, taking in every detail.

Team Alpha had wasted no time in fortifying their position. They had begun assembling defensive barriers to barricade the perimeter of their encampment, using a combination of heavy metal plating and salvaged debris from the ruins.

A group of engineers, their faces illuminated by the harsh glow of rugged consoles, worked tirelessly to stabilize the local network and direct the crew to set up the turrets and scanners. The air was thick with tension, not just from the oppressive atmosphere of the ruins but from the sheer frustration of the engineers as they tried to coordinate the less technically inclined members of the crew.

"Careful with that, you brute!" one of the engineers barked, his muffled voice sharp with irritation. He was a wiry man with glasses perched precariously on his nose, his hands flying over the console as he corrected the angle of a long-range scanner that was being manhandled into position. "If you break this, we're blind down here. You want to be blind in this hellhole?"

The crew member in question, a burly man with a scowl, muttered under his breath but adjusted his grip on the heavy contraption, carefully maneuvering it into position. The engineer watched him like a hawk, his fingers twitching as if he wanted to snatch the scanner away and set it up himself.

"Honestly, it's like working with children," another engineer grumbled, her voice carrying over the din of activity. She was a tall woman with her hair tied back in a tight bun, her expression one of perpetual exasperation. "How hard is it to follow simple instructions? Align the turret with the marked coordinates, not three meters to the left!"

"These brutes wouldn't know precision if it hit them in the face," the first engineer muttered to his colleague, his voice low but still audible to anyone within earshot. "I swear, if I have to recalibrate one more scanner because someone can't fucking tell blue from red, I'm going to lose it."

The second engineer nodded in agreement, her eyes scanning the chaotic scene before her. "It's a miracle we've managed to get this far without someone blowing themselves up. I mean, look at that!"

She pointed to a group of crew members struggling to connect a series of cables to a power generator. "They're going to fry the entire network if they keep yanking on those wires like that!"

The first engineer groaned, running a hand through his already disheveled hair. "I'll handle it. You keep an eye on the turrets. And for the love of all that's holy, make sure they don't touch anything they're not supposed to."

The crew, for their part, grumbled but complied, their movements clumsy and uncertain. They were fighters, not technicians, and the intricate work of setting up the equipment was far outside their usual skill set. Still, they did their best, knowing that the success of the mission, and their survival might depend on it.

Meanwhile, the other group of engineers was struggling to stabilize the local network, their faces pale and drawn from hours of nonstop work. The strange properties of the area played havoc with their equipment, causing frequent signal drops and interference that made communication nearly impossible.

"Signal's still unstable," one of them reported, his voice tight with frustration. "We're losing packets every few seconds. If this keeps up, the teams are not going to be able to coordinate with each other once exploration begins."

"Keep trying," the lead engineer ordered, her voice firm despite the exhaustion etched into her features. "We need to establish a stable link, even if it's just for short bursts. Otherwise, we're flying blind down here."

The engineers and combatants worked across days, their movements growing slower and more deliberate as fatigue set in. The eerie atmosphere of the ruins seemed to weigh on them, the oppressive silence broken only by the occasional burst of static from the consoles and the distant rumble of machinery.