* * *

There were levels of shit that Andrew deemed himself above, but certainly, he would rather be trekking through said shit instead of the countless bodies that have been stripped too early from this life.

Grey, who still trying to handle having to leave his mate with the Luna, was starting to get antsy. But there was nothing any of them could do, not when their voices could surely get them in trouble.

And nobody trusted the Links not to be tampered with, as Andrew made it clear that they were not safe in any regard. Maleeha did her best to signal where she was, but managed to take the easier way through the mess—Which was underneath all the bodies.

However, when she finally popped up above the water's surface, she motioned for her hands to her ears, silently signaling to the males that she was about to begin singing. While they could feel the vibrations bouncing off the walls and through the water—It was the commotion up ahead that was startling at best.

Whatever was up above, was allured—Just as Sage had suggested they do. But it was perfect, given that Maleeha's voice continued to soothe the minds of those carrying out the horrific deeds. 

Just in the blink of an eye, she had shown herself visibly to them all.

It was truly a sight to behold, given that mermaids were considered a legend in their own world. Or at least far and few in between.

With that in mind, Andrew had to claw just a bit further into his ears as he wanted to save himself the trauma of hearing such a beautiful melody in sequence with the shouting of the damned.

And damned, they very much were.

Grey had been the first to take his hands away, and smiled down at the female who was much too proud of herself and what he accomplished. "What are the chances that my brother is here?"

"Depends. Is your blood worth something?" Maleeha's nose twitched at Andrew's question, and her tail recorded her irritation.

"I suppose...My scales as well. Could you help me out of the water?" As the males hurried to catch up to the others, Andrew did his best not only to get her positioned on the concrete floor, but also to take whatever he could from the pockets of the drowned guards.

"Just more key cards and—Well, I guess they get paid good down here." Grey offered, holding up a thick wad of cash, one that Maleeha had taken for herself.

And the male had flinched away at the sight of the nude female.

"Good goddess, warning—please!" He hissed out, and the female did nothing more than wave her hand over the better half of one of the drowned males and began to undress him.

"I take it this is the best plan?" She questioned and Andrew nodded, going to do the same. While Severin took the moment to undress the rest and throw them in with the very bodies they were attempting to dispose of now.

"Links aren't working, Alpha. What's the plan when we leave here?" Andrew gritted his teeth and huffed, allowing himself the moment to think.

"Did Sage ever tell you how she and her brother escaped the first time around?" Severin shook his head, as did the rest of them. But Grey smiled. "They sounded the alarms, Liam told me. They started a fire?"

"Then we try and start a fire. A controlled one. Scare the rest away from their duties and give us the chance to rescue all that we can." It was the start, at the very least, but not a stable plan.

At the bare minimum, it gave them the confidence to leave the disposal unit—As it was called on the maps.

Osmin, who had remained silent for the better half of the journey through the tunnel was scribbling the map on a spare sheet of paper. "There's only a few floors...Seems like the bastard really decked things out. Look at this, the codes—Witches, wolves, and whatever else..."

"Whatever else, that could mean my brother!" Maleeha hissed, and Andrew allowed a calming hand to relieve her of her worries. "We will get there, look, the side door is closer to the witches. And from what the soul swap showed us, Willow was surrounded by witches. But we're not just here for that, most of us and some in the other group know what it's like to be within these walls. We save as many as we can." There were confirming nods from wolves who were willing to risk it all for the sake of returning someone back to life.

But Maleeha growled, one that was most defiantly not at the same octave as a wolf would be used to. Instead, she grabbed her card and allowed herself entry—Completely splitting up from the group.

"Maleeh—!"

"It's not worth it to blow our cover, she's on a one-sided mission. If we're planning to destroy this facility, we need to get the prisoners out." Andrew reminded, but Severin stepped forward. "We need to warn them. Otherwise, it's a free for all to who can get to the door quick enough."

Was that the direction they needed to go forward with?

"There's not a universal code for this type of thing? Like a wolf SOS? Goddess, why don't we have one?" Grey huffed, clearly distraught that they lost the small female.

"We do. We do. Maybe if we sound the alarm and get on the intercom—We can get the message out there." Severin offered, and that took the males surrounding him by surprise.

"Come on, even Sage knows it—Liber? That'll get enough attention to everyone for them to know something is up. Something good." The issue was, that it would only alert the wolves of the equation. 

"We'll wait and scout until we can get a feeling for what Remus and the others are doing. Maybe we can circle that way and greet them at the door." Osmin offered both on the map before them and in his hand. 

Yet the path towards the side door was awful.

The yells of torment caused them to flinch, but after suffering for the past few minutes, they became a second nature—A background sound. It was Grey who was getting fidgety in not being able to help, not until they heard the crying pleas of mercy.

That had been the turning point.

"Fuck it, we're going in." Andrew declared, and the team was readily behind said interruption. It was easy to pinpoint the nose, and a quick knock at the door had justified it to slide open within the moment.

"Ah, there you are. We need help holding this one down. He's squirming—" Andrew didn't hesitate to deck the fellow in the face, letting him fall and splat down to the tiled floor. And Severin smirked at the sound of both the cracks on impact.

The others in the room held their hands up as well, masks well suited—But Andrew didn't care about gender or age. They were old enough to realize that any type of experimentation was wrong.

With more hands than necessary, it was easy to eliminate the threat. Even if Grey stared down sadly at the young woman's assistant. "No hesitation, Grey. They wouldn't have the same for you. Remember that." It was easy to have conflicting morals, but in a place like this—Where the wolf laid out on the flat metal table was panting at the prospect of a break, they knew quite well why they were doing this.

"We may not be what you prayed for, but we're going to get you out...Tell me what hurts." Andrew's Alpha tone carried with ease, another reason as to why they decided to keep an Alpha in each group.

"M-my legs—" The male groaned, and Severin had taken one look at the damned things—They were broken, and by the evidence of previous scars. It seemed like it hadn't been the first time they had been twisted in other ways.

"Goddess almighty, alright. We'll wrap this up and let S—Let her heal them later." There were nods each and every way, but with the incisions and things at a handle. The male had only let out a few groans, trying to remain as quiet as possible.

But a thankful grin had grown upon his expression.

"What's your name, sir?" He questioned, clearly trying to focus on anything more than the pain. "Most people call me Andy."

"Zack. I'm in your debt."
"You can start by directing us to the wolf cell block." Fear raptured the poor male with ease, but one look between the group had indicated just what the entire population on the property was praying for.

"Take this right...You must be some crazy bastards coming in here." He groaned once more when Grey had picked up the speed of the rolling table. "We need as many helping hands as possible."

"Buck—Find Buck. They've injected that beast with every possible thing. He's a monster." Andrew chuckled, knowing exactly how that felt at the end of the day.

"Only monster here is the people running this shit—We have more of ours coming in. Show him the map." With the bare minimum of an ongoing plan, they managed to return back the way they came, realizing that they missed it entirely.

With the double doors automatically opening at their appearance, the howls of hatred had fallen forward. And Andrew's eyes grew to see just how many fit into one single cell.

"You'll burn in hell by the goddess will—!" One shouted, his hands reaching out at the risk of being reprimanded and Grey flinched. An action that wasn't categorized as being affiliated by a scientist or guard.

"Listen up and listen good!" Andrew roared, and the hands had fallen—As did the spats of curses. Once the room had managed to fall silent, the Alpha nodded.

"Today's the day...Liber will strike." The mumbles of recognition had turned into eager shouts, and Andrew nicked his head for the others to try and start making a dent in the door containing their extra hands.

With so much movement at once, the Underground guard population could hardly manage. Not that they would take the injured and direct them back to Sage and the waiting group up above.

Walking down to the end of the hall, every one of his males was struggling to find the right key on their hook—But it was the final cell that Andrew had stopped short at.

"You must be Buck." Andrew greeted, and that earned a chuckle. "And you must be stupid." While the male wasn't considered an Alpha, it hadn't mattered when in the end, he wasn't really much of a wolf anymore.

Buck's eyes were permanently stuck in a predatorial glare, his ears curved and his teeth slightly shifted. Andrew could only predict that he was constantly at the ready to shift, so much so that he was gifted these changes in skin.

An unfortunate happening, considering it meant even if he did leave confinements. Humans would instantly recognize that he was different.
That he's otherworldly.

Buck stood up, and Andrew tilted his head to the side. Curious as to how tall the male would be. And he smirked to think of Sage standing right beside the fellow.

"I've never trusted a man with a plain face...You know what it's like." Instinctually, Andrew's hand turned up to his face, and sighed. "Worse when you're Alpha sends you to this fate. Liber is real, but we need to work together. No straying off, we've already had one go solo." Andrew deemed, but as he was looking for the given key, Buck had only waved his hand to the side before giving a solid kick to the door.

And the metal had given way with ease.

"You—You could've done this the entire time?!" One of the inmates had yelled, and Buck did not hesitate to pluck the male up from the ground and snarl. "What good can I do without backup like theirs? Thirty scronny males will do nothing against them, I'm only one."
The given number of males started to crowd the center speaking with Osmin, the one discussing the best course of exiting. "We're not going to fight?" One croaked, and Andrew eyed the small male.

He was short, underfed, and shivering. There was hardly any meat left to keep him safe from the artificial elements. "We're turning back for the rest like Zack, those are the ones heading up. The rest are sticking with us. I'm assuming there's another block stuffed with females." Perhaps it had escaped their notice that it was sorted this way, but Andrew chuckled at the prospect of hearing the volunteers at the mention of she-wolves.

Yes, it's a weakness indeed.

"We are not only after wolves. We're getting everyone." Andrew reiterated, and that caused the deemed volunteers to halt their vows. "What do you mean everyone, sir?" It was too much to ask for everyone's name all at once, and it would do no good.

"I'm following my own orders, my leader won't be happy if she knows I left a single soul in here. We're in this together. Let's get moving." There was little room to argue, not when the small mention of a female leader had sparked curiosity among the rest of the room.

Even Severin and Grey had caught how differently they started to act.

With the addition of a few brutes—Mindful that Buck was not allowed out of his cell for much more than a sedative check, he remained on his lonesome to protect those who couldn't move in the cell block.

It was easy work, considering the built-up rage of the rest of the inmates managed so very well to kill the better half of the scientists at work. There was a level of personal vendetta, and it was easy to capture when those in lab coats had begged and pleaded by name.

But that did little to nothing.

Not when a wolf craved blood.

______

Date: 09/08/23

Time: 9:00

Words: 2424

Author's Note:

Lots of new characters coming into play!

Hopefully, Maleeha doesn't get hurt going off on her own like that, or finds something she doesn't want to see.

And we've briefly been introduced to Buck, who has an important role in the next story (If it doesn't get edited away after the rewrite), he's adorable.

Anywhoooo,

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend and I'll see you Monday for the next update!