The last time I saw the emergency ladder, I didn't have to climb it. My boss had me glance at its plain rungs and surrounding pit of darkness as he told me its purpose. I was convinced I'd never have to use it.

At the time, I though that I'd be stuck at the juvenile agency for the rest of my life. The ISA type of living was so engrained in me that I never even considered its downfall.

Heck, I never even considered being a supporter of the downfall.

I carefully descend the ladder, making sure one foot is secure before moving the other. Every time the ladder wobbles, I gasp and freeze in place. Turbines and propellers beat overhead. Missiles continue releasing.

Daniel offers no comfort, and he tells me to hurry the hell up at least five times. Naturally, I tell him to shut up and hold on. I don't feel like falling to my death today.

The farther I travel underground, the darker it gets. Once I finally reach the last rung of the ladder, I cautiously feel the ground with the toe of my sneaker before stepping down. Pieces of something crunch under my feet.

"Your turn, Daniel!" I yell, my voice echoing. I step away from the ladder, and a light sense of paranoia sweeps over me. The pitch black emptiness does not sit well with me.

Within a few yards, my back bangs against a wall, startling me. I use my senses to figure out if the shelter will hold up against bombs. Deep in the ground, concrete mostly likely fortified with a strengthening component. We should be safe.

Daniel claps the door shut above us, closing off the outside world. The sounds of aerial fights are gone. Either we're too deep in the ground to hear it or the shelter is soundproof.

It barely takes a minute before Daniel jumps down from the ladder next to me with a dull thud. He shines his flashlight/compass to the left and right, revealing a concrete, pipe-like hideout that extends maybe ten yards each way.

"That's it?" Daniel remarks, shining his compass around some more. "I though there'd be a whole network of passageways down here."

I shoot him a glare. He doesn't see it due to the darkness. Waving his flashlight around some more, Daniel paces around the shelter. Just barely, something on the ground reflects his light.

"Do that again," I command Daniel, searching the the floor.

"Do what?"

"Shake the flashlight."

With a suspicious look, Daniel waves the compass. Light twinkles on the ground a yard to my right. I walk over to the spot and run my hand over the ground, churning the dirt and tiny rocks. My fingers skim over something smooth.

"I got it!" Keeping one hand on the smooth metal while I use the other to sweep, I pull on the shiny metal. Daniel aims his light at my hands, and the brightness increases as he squats next to me.

"Really, another door?" he asks rhetorically as an old-fashioned, round handle is revealed. I kneel and yank the handle harder, opening up another room. The flashlight's light is cast down yet another hole, but this time, there's no ladder.

"I guess we jump," Daniel remarks as I let the door bang onto the ground. He swings his feet into the hole, ready to leap. Just as his arm muscles flex to lift him up for his jump, I yell. His arms relax.

"What?"

"I just freaking saved your life, that's what. Now help me get the ladder. We can use it again, you know."

Daniel mouth hangs open. Shutting it slowly, he helps me lower the ladder into the hole. The tall ladder aligns perfectly with the opening, confirming that Daniel would have died if he jumped.

Daniel descends the ladder first, and I follow. We both reach the second floor in one piece as Daniel flashes the compass around again. This time we're in a smaller room, no bigger than five square yards. Spotting a proper door, we make a beeline for it, hopeful for a larger shelter loaded with supplies. Daniel swings the door open, and brightness overcomes us along with voices.

"Hey, sergeant!" someone yells nearby. I hear a pair of feet run away from us. Squinting at the light, I wait for my eyes to slowly adjust.

Concrete hallways with open doorways materialize in front of us, along with lightbulbs strung with yellow protective cages around them. Renegades and nurses alike step out from various doorways to see scope out the new arrivals: us.

"What..." I mumble as I step into the hall. I close the door behind me, feeling for a door handle but not finding one. The door blends back into the wall except for a distinct number six painted on it. Once I regain my eyesight, I realize we discovered the Renegades' back-up plan.

"We've been waiting for you two," a Renegade no older than 25 yells from down the hall. With determined strides, she's arrives in front of us within seconds.

"Waiting for us?" Daniel says. "We were stationed to be on the ground, not under it."

She nods. "Correct. That's why Entrance Six was your way down here."

Daniel and I are baffled, but we don't say any more; we just let the lady lead us to General Fadhill. The light bulbs flicker every now and again as we pass bunker after bunker. Each person I see laying on a bed makes me realize how exhausted I am.

The woman leaves us in a makeshift office with General Fadhill himself communicating into an earpiece. He gives us the "one second, please" signal.

"Daniel, how could they be expecting us?" I whisper. "It was completely by chance I remembered that shelter entrance."

"I don't know," he replies. We wait until Daniel's father is finished with his conversation to speak.

"I was talking to the Perimeters," General Fadhill says as his apology. "We've already set up some hospitals and recruited some Renegades to fight."

I nod, anxious to ask him how he knew we were coming, but it's kind of pointless to ask compared to the bigger picture: war. General Fadhill doesn't seem to think the same thing because he launches into his brief explanation.

"When I set up your back-up plan, the other Renegade leaders insisted we find Entrance Six from the outside. So we decided to use you both, particularly Ashley, to find out the entrance."

"How did you know I could access to the door?" I ask. "I never told anyone about it."

General Fadhill says, "The ITT hacked into quite a few ITT files to find out which agency used it. By chance, it happened to be your employer's emergency facility. In terms of the shelter's entrance, we had plenty of approximations but no clear path. Now we have one through Dan's compass."

I nod, though still don't think it was a great idea to send two teens in the middle of a war to find some stupid door. But General Fadhill must have known that no soldiers or bombs would touch the woods. A lot could have gone wrong.

"Dad, I want to volunteer for the army," Daniel says abruptly.

General Fadhill glances at me. "We'll talk about it later, Dan."

"No, it's fine," I say. "I'll just step out for a couple minutes." I turn and walk outside the doorway. Leaning against a nearby wall, General Fadhill and his son don't see me.

"Danny, your only 17. I don't want you out there."

"Dad, I'll be fine. I've dealt with far worse. You've seen how I shoot."

They argue for a long time, Daniel's side of the disagreement gradually winning. General Fadhill flat-out refuses to grant his permission.

"Dad, then I'll sign up without your permission. I'm old enough anyways."

After another 15 minutes of fighting, General Fadhill gives in grudgingly. But I wish he didn't. The war is important and the nation needs fighters, but I don't wan to hand over my Renegade partner. Daniel might actually be a casualty of this War. I don't want him to die, for my sake and his father's.

※ ※ ※ ※ ※

Within the hour, Daniel and I are assigned beds and a room. Our weapons are taken from us, and a moment later, we reunite with a joyful Vivian.

As we wait for further instruction, all three of us overhear conversations about possible battle plans. The entire time I resist asking about Daniel's enlistment. Instead I search for my family, but we don't see my mom or siblings. I hope they're safe in Hawaii.

There's just been so much chaos going on I haven't had time to miss my family. The bleakness of passing time underground brings back fresh longing and worry. Without any weapons, I feel bare and vulnerable. Though I try to keep a hopeful mood, dark questions bag at my brain. When Vivian goes to the bathroom, I don't resist confronting Daniel.

"So you're enlisting?" I ask.

He nods. "Like I'd be doing anything else here. I have to help out somehow."

"You know it's the entire world fighting Europe. I'm sure they could deal with you sitting this one out."

Daniel doesn't miss the opportunity to make me blush. "Are you scared for me, darling?"

The corners of my mouth turn up. "Whatever you say, Daniel."

We sit in silence for a while. I lay back on my bed and stare at the bottom of the mattress above me. With four people in each small room, I wonder about the people above ground. Surely they're still safe, right? And how is there breathable air available down here? I busy myself with silent questions until Vivian returns with a story about using Entrance Two to go use the toilet in the still-intact capitol building. I relax against my thin mattress, attempting to enjoy what little time I have in safety.

"I'll be fine, Ashley," Daniel says after a while. His speech is subtle.

"I really hope so," I reply quietly.

※ ※ ※ ※ ※

this is somewhat a filler chapter. sorry for the limited amount of action, but things will get much more exciting; it's WWIV for crying out loud.