The bright lights of Himchan's work space are blinding and I blink away tears of pain. My eyes are used to the darkness of the tunnels; while most others in the tunnels will leave for their assigned barracks at night, I had started to sleep in my office years ago.

"That's what you get for never coming up to see me," chides a familiar low voice. "You know, aside from when you and Yongguk decide you'd rather kick the crap out of each other instead of talking it out like human beings."

"There's never any real damage. It's all bruises and cuts, and those are almost always from getting knocked down or into the walls," I grumble. "Besides, it wouldn't come to that if he didn't always try to save everyone from having to be out on the front lines. I know that digging the rabbit holes is a safer job, but if that's all that happened, nothing would get done. It's why we have people like Daehyun running, and Yongguk taking the newbies to their new positions!"

Himchan sighs and pats me on the head before poking me in the ribs. I hiss painfully and back up, earning me a look from my friend and a shove toward a stool.

"Take it off," he drawls, knowing I'm hurt and not saying anything. I take off my overalls and sit down. He gives me a look. "All of it."

With a huff, I strip off my shirt and throw it on his desk.

"Sometimes I think I should just let you suffer with the injuries that you ultimately inflict upon yourself," he mumbles to himself.

"Hey, I wasn't going to say anything."

"I know you weren't, and that's the problem. If I didn't check you over every time you came around, your whole arm could be off and you'd still be marching around saying you're fine. Idiot… However, that leads me to ask why you're here."

"I talked to N this morning," I grumble through the pain as he prods at my black and blue side. "They found a girl wandering outside the borders of the VIXX district.

"What! No way, is she crazy? Running the borders is suicide!"

I hold up a hand. "It almost was. Leo and Hyuk found her."

"The quiet red-head and the one who's mature but has a bit of a baby face?"

"That's them. Apparently back in VIXX she was a doctor's assistant; Hongbin's asking to borrow more of your books to properly train her as a field medic."

A grin spreads across his face and Himchan looks like he wants to hug me. Way back when, he was actually the one who trained Hongbin in medicine; Himchan isn't trained as hospital surgeons, but with some the injuries I'd seen him deal with from down in the mines, I would be willing to bet he'd be able to do it if the situation forced it on him. I know he wants to run the books with me, to see Hongbin again after all these years, but Himchan is probably the only one who would be missed by the government workers if he were to disappear for a while. Bringing him along with me will be too dangerous, but I assure him I'll send along his regards; besides, they're going to need more books after these ones.

Pulling my shirt and overalls back on, I tie the sleeves around my waist promising him that I'll as ask if Hongbin can come get the books personally next time. I had figured Himchan would be happy to see his old friend, but as soon as the promise leaves my lips, his smile fades. He sits down in his chair, stretching one leg out and tucking the other under the chair he's sitting on. Even though he's comfortable, I can see worry in his admittedly handsome features and he's anything but relaxed; his eyebrows are slightly furrowed and the corners of his mouth are turned down in the most subtle of frowns, his lips drawn to a thin line.

"Tell me what happened," I demand, not bothering to phrase it as a question.

He heaves a sigh and looks at me, his lips pulling to one side in thought, as if debating what or how much to tell me. "They've been sniffing around."

"The Mato Supervisory Team? That's not unusual; their silence and cooperation is easy enough to buy, anyway."

"I don't mean the MST. I'm talking about Rats."

I can feel what colour I have drain from my face. Rats are what Matoki call the men and women who are gladly at the government's beck and call, named as such because they can go virtually anywhere, always stick their noses where we least want them, can practically smell anything that even hints at trouble their beloved leader, and worst of all, their silence cannot be bought through any means. The loyalty they hold for leader-dearest is enough to send chills up even my spine, because it makes them untouchable; the government knows all about them and if one of them suddenly goes missing then every tunnel under my command will swarm with them. I can't let them near rabbit holes. It would spell death of every man and woman underground – even those who aren't Matoki.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah. I'm fine. When was the last time you saw them?"

"Yesterday morning. They've been spending a lot of time around Youngjae's crew. I guess they figure that if there's a problem then one of the brains is going to be, well, the brains behind the operation."

I stand up slowly. "Then we need to keep any and all Matoki out of here if possible, until they leave again. I'll spread the word to our people downstairs and you get the word out up here: anyone with us goes to the Shelter for medical treatment unless it's absolutely unavoidable."

"Ma'am." Himchan salutes casually and turns to his shelf of books. "By the way, how's Yongguk doing? I haven't seen him in a while aside from his injuries and I'm assuming that's a good thing; the man has more sense than you do, nine times out of ten."

I open my mouth to deny it, but I can't bring myself to blatantly lie and say it isn't true. Over the years, Yongguk and I have grown closer to each other than to anyone else in the group, even if we usually look more like we should be killing each other; he has even always tried to stay near me when we all pile together and go to sleep.

"Recently he's taken to wedging himself between me and the others when we go to sleep, and Zelo actually punched him the other night when he tried to get between us."

I can see Himchan smiling to himself. I don't like that smile; it's the smile that says he knows something I don't.

"Why are you smiling?" I ask slowly, narrowing my eyes at him.

"I missed this?"

"Laugh it up, chuckles. You try breaking up a fight when you're half asleep and freezing your off."

He hands me a few books and raises an eyebrow. "Was it really that bad?"

"No. I'm lazy."

Himchan groans and punches my arm right where Daehyun had hit me earlier; I punch him back with one knuckle – right on the nerve. He grabs my head and pulls me down into a headlock, grinding his knuckles into the top of my head before letting go and shoving me towards the door, the both of us laughing.

"You'll be coming downstairs soon, right? We miss you," I add, my hand pausing on the door. "It's been almost a month since you've been there."

He shrugs noncommittally. "As soon as the Rats are gone. I promise."

That said, I nod and slide the door open, nearly blind once again until my eyes adjust to the dark. The air down here smells of stone and metal, and in some ways I can't help but think that in some small way that smell of metal is blood. Many of those who work here die young because of just how dangerous things are down here, and the prospects of those Matoki who ask to work out in the field aren't much better – there are a lot of Matoki who simply vanish outside. I don't want or need more people dying, especially for saying stupid things around the wrong people, and I am actively looking for someone I recognise. I feel my shoulders relax as I spot a girl I'd seen talking to Yongguk a few days before turning the corner. Running to catch up, I say hello and scratch behind my ear, glad when she responds in kind. Her features read worry as I explain the situation with the Rats and when I dismiss her, she is practically running to spread the warning.

Returning to my original task, I forcefully shoulder open the stuck door to my pathetic excuse for an office; it's only a few strides across to the crate-lined wall at the back. Tipping one lid open, I pull out a woollen blanket and wrap up the books in it, twisting the corners to tie the whole bundle across my back before I close it again. It's going to get cold down in the tunnel, especially since Youngjae managed to scrape together enough scrap steel to build a tiny cart to transport people part way through the rabbit hole. He's been working on them for a long time, these rails. This isn't the only rabbit hole with a cart, but it is the most important. It is the only one that reaches directly from VIXX to Mato, though the cart itself only runs along the first and last quarters; the walls of the entire expanse between are lined with explosives – if ever we were found out, we could run and nothing following us would survive.

With some effort, I shove a crate to the side and slip through into the darkness behind it, careful to put it back in place. Everything is pitch black and I'm forced to along the walls to find the control that turns on a light every couple dozen feet. There's even less light in here than in the mines, and I will have to switch over to old-fashioned chemical light sticks as soon as I get close to the explosives. Until that time though, I find myself stuck in a small metal rail car now speeding past the rough stone walls, only the small flashes of light breaking up the frigid and seemingly endless blackness. Unwrapping the books again, I pull the blanket around me and lie my head down on the bulky texts; it won't be a long ride, but I'm going to need to get sleep where I can get it.

The occasional bump in the rail wakes me up now and again, but it's not until I'm thrown against the far end of the cart as it stops with a crash that I find myself wide awake, albeit with a splitting headache. It is at this point that I decide I'm going to have to talk to N about asking for rush deliveries out to VIXX, because if the cold doesn't kill me, these carts certainly will. I won't pretend to ever know how Daehyun can handle the cold so well with just one or two blankets hidden at the half-way points, but everytime I do this I'm reminded to thank him for putting up with it. Everyone has the opportunity to curl up with the group at night to keep warm, except for Daehyun; his missions are only ever one-person trips, which means that there are a lot of nights he spends without his family and without the warmth we all provide. Things like that always remind me just how badly my little brother wants to stop the war to help others.

The trek through the charged area is as horrifying as ever, as I'm constantly aware that everything around me is capable of not only killing me, but also of burying whatever happens to be left of me under smoking rubble for the rest of time. The minutes pass like hours and the hours begin to feel like weeks as I make my way through, occasionally breaking open new lights until finally I can see the low glint of metal on the ground right ahead of me. I find the lights, hop in the cart, and take a final nap before I will have to get up to the surface. This, I think to myself, is going to make my eyes hurt something fierce.

Once I reach the other side though, I am eternally grateful for the presence of an actual door instead of having wooden crates to move around. I crack the door open slowly, careful to not strain my eyes, and eventually they adjust, allowing me to throw the door wide open to step out. I can barely believe my luck as I see a tall red-headed man walking slowly down the stairs towards me, hands in his pockets.

"Leo! What's up?" I greet gladly through a yawn. "Long time no see, yeah?"

He doesn't smile or say a word, though he waves in a manner that can only be interpreted as cheerful for a man as quiet as he is.

"Well try not to sound to enthusiastic over there; you don't want to strain yourself." I pull the blanket off my back and unwrap it one last time. "N asked that I get these to you. Apparently you have a new person around here training as a medic?"

He nods. "Thank you."

"My pleasure," I reply, throwing the blanket around my shoulders. "Also, please tell N that I'll need him to come pick up his new recruits by the end of the month. And to be careful about it – there are Rats sniffing around. Now. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go play dead for a few hours before I head back. See you all in a few weeks, Leo."