The sedan glided through the dark arteries of the Underground. Outside, the Red Zone spat its last vapors under blinking pink neon lights on the concrete.

Inside the vehicle, a deathly silence had settled.

Nash remained frozen in the middle of the back seat, eyes wide open, breathing slowly. Beside him, Dahlia and Aiko tried to calm their breathing as the nervous and sexual fatigue suddenly crashed down on them.

Their clothes, now back on, were still rumpled, but the atmosphere was icy. Aiko, face turned toward the side window, nervously alternated her gaze between the rotten Underground scenery flashing by and the giant’s massive silhouette.

On the other side, Dahlia kept her eyes stubbornly fixed on the floor in front of the passenger seat, biting her lower lip.

If no one dared open their mouth, it was mostly because of Victoria’s shock. Up front, the director was no longer joking at all. Her hands were locked on the wheel.

The quartet remained plunged in that heavy silence until the car finally slowed down and stopped in a dark alley, right next to the Baby-Boom hotel.

Inside the shabby hotel room, the atmosphere floated between death row and the end of the world. Silence reigned supreme, and worry was its queen. The four main Baby-Boom girls were gathered in the living room, crushed by the certainty that they were definitively screwed after the canceled buyout.

Kai, usually so lively, was biting her nails, eyes shining with nervousness. Hina stayed seated in a corner, gaze empty and completely silent. Miko, prostrated on the edge of an armchair, hugged her knees to her chest. In the middle of the room, Rei was pacing back and forth.

Her fingers trembled. What was eating her from the inside, even more than their dark future, was Aiko. Her teammate still hadn’t returned and her phone wasn’t answering any messages.

BZZZ.

The apartment doorbell signal rang out, tearing through the silence. Rei jumped, her heart skipping a beat. Hoping with all her strength to find Aiko behind the door, she rushed forward and flung it open.

She found herself instantly face-to-face with Nash’s monumental chest. Behind her, Kai, Hina, and Miko raised wide, round eyes, surprised to see him there. The girls were aware of the plan Nash had tried to set up for them the day before; they knew he had been ready to sacrifice his 10 million credits to buy back their contracts, and that had only fueled their distress when the leak came out.

They were surprised to see him standing in front of them, almost sorry for his presumed failure against Apex. At that moment, their level of affection and respect for this rat, no, not a rat, rather this man, this gentleman of the streets, had reached an absolute peak.

"Nash...?" Rei murmured, her voice trembling.

Nash didn’t wait for pleasantries. He pushed the door open and stepped into the living room, immediately followed by Dahlia and Aiko.

Seeing their teammate safe and sound, but with visibly disheveled clothes and messy hair alongside an equally rumpled Dahlia, the four girls went from relief to stupefaction and finally to confusion.

Nash cut off any question, waving his hands.

"No questions. Grab your things, we’re leaving immediately," he ordered.

Thanks to Aiko’s precise instructions, she knew Harlan’s goons’ habits and positions posted downstairs to watch the hotel and prevent any roster escape attempt, the group moved in the shadows.

They carefully avoided the main guard by slipping into the grimy service staircase at the back of the building.

"Where’s the rest of the team?" Nash asked in a low voice as they reached the lower landing.

"In the neighboring apartments," Rei whispered, obeying without hesitation.

In a few seconds, they picked up the five subs who had been waiting in anguish. Everyone pulled on heavy hoods and pieces of fabric to cover their faces and hide their features under the faint light of the alley.

The massive group, now composed of Nash, Dahlia, the five main Baby-Boom girls, and the five subs, set off on foot into the dark, deserted street, silently heading toward the nearest train station to reach Hangar 47.

The girls didn’t say a word, hearts pounding. They walked with heads down, terrified, convinced this was a desperate, illegal clandestine escape that would bring Apex’s wrath and agents down on their heads.

Meanwhile, Victoria, left alone in her sedan, started the engine smoothly and took a different route because the car was too small for all of them.

The freight train on the transversal mining line, which usually carried coal from the mines to the peripheral blast furnaces, had at this late hour a single rear car reserved for maintenance workers.

It was the only convoy running at such an advanced hour, a creaking, dark metal carcass slicing through the industrial mist.

Inside, the space was almost empty, bathed in the yellow, flickering glow of a tired ceiling light.

Nash occupied the back bench. Beside him, Dahlia and Aiko stayed glued to him, while the four main girls and the five subs had spread out on the transverse wooden benches.

No one spoke. The only sound was the rhythmic, metallic clatter of the wheels on the rusty rails until they arrived at Ironhide.

They continued their journey to Hangar 47, where Victoria was waiting, standing beside the team’s diesel minibus.

They boarded quickly and the minibus sped off toward the Spires.

Everyone remained walled in complete silence. The journey felt eternal. Through the dusty windows of the minibus, the rotten industrial districts and Underground neons gradually faded, giving way to cleaner, wider, and steeper roads leading to the residential heights.

The crossing of the Spires lasted a long time, the regular streetlights of the upscale area casting lines of white light inside the moving vehicle.

It was at that moment, in the middle of this bourgeois cleanliness that clashed with their street-rat condition, that the players’ confusion finally broke the silence. Hina slowly turned toward the front bench, staring at the back of Nash’s neck, and asked in a soft, almost fearful voice.

"Butt... Na-Nash!... Um... what exactly is going on? Where are we going?"

A heavy moment of silence settled in the cabin, disturbed only by the hum of the engine. Nash didn’t take his eyes off the window.

"In a world full of drama."

The girls looked at each other, completely confused, almost feeling stupid for asking the question in the face of such detachment. The minibus finally slowed down, turning into a private driveway before stopping in the paved courtyard of a magnificent property.

As they got out of the vehicle, Aiko, Rei, Kai, Miko, Hina, and the Subs raised wide, round eyes in stupefaction. They stared with immense surprise at the beautiful villa illuminated by discreet spotlights. It was insane luxury for an Underground player. Nash stepped heavily toward the porch and rang the doorbell.

Inside, Zayela, who wasn’t expecting anyone but her man, had gotten up in a hurry. She was wearing an ultra-light outfit: a long black t-shirt belonging to Nash, with nothing underneath, revealing her monumental breasts under the thin fabric, and a simple black thong that highlighted the curve of her hips. She held an ice cream in her mouth, calmly sucking on the stick as she walked toward the entrance.

She flung the door open, body already leaning forward, ready to jump into her man’s arms to kiss him languidly and share her ice cream. But her eyes instantly locked onto the small community of twelve women lined up behind the giant.

Nash raised a massive hand, a tired and cynical smile at the corner of his lips.

"Yo..." he simply said.

Zayela’s mouth fell open in shock. Her grip instantly loosened, and the ice cream slipped from her lips, crashing heavily onto the floor.