Begin!

Universe*

~Normal POV

Sunny parked the car on the mountain trail and looked around with her spyglass. The area seemed clear, so it was safe to start walking. Kit had helpfully informed her that her car would be picked up by another volunteer later, as there was no way they would be able to get back to it with their plan. Beatrice pulled out her phone and called her parents. Once she hung up, she told the others that their escape vessel was in position awaiting their arrival. She also mentioned that Jacqueline and Larry were on their way to help the other kids escape. Sunny gave everyone a small communicator and they started their way up the trail. Thankfully, the notorious Mortmain Mountain snow gnats were nowhere in sight. Having them show up would only complicate matters.

"So where are we going exactly," Hunter asked.

Sunny was leading the way as she looked at their map, "The Headquarters, it was destroyed years ago by a fire, but the waterfall leading up Mount Fraught is there. It's the closest possible point to enter the tunnel system."

"We never found out who burned it down," Beatrice added quietly.

Hunter took her hand to comfort her, and she smiled at him thankful for his kind, understanding nature. The four continued their way up the trail until they found the cave that Sunny remembered entering with her siblings so long ago. It was empty now, but back then it had been filled with Snow Scouts.

"The secret entrance should be over here," Sunny noted leading them to the back of the cave.

Sure enough, the Vertical Flame Diversion was still there. Sunny explained that since it was day time, and they were alone, climbing it should be much simpler than it had been back in the day. Sunny started climbing using the footholds, and Trevor followed shortly after. Beatrice was about to start climbing, but she saw Hunter had a nervous look in his eyes.

"What's wrong?"

He blinked at her and softly replied, "Nothing... just uh... a little scared of heights..."

She smiled at him, "I understand, but we can't leave you down here. You want to help don't you?"

"Well, yeah of course I do. As a matter of fact, I kind of like the idea of being part of a secret organization. Do you think your parents will let me officially join if I ask?"

She chuckled, "Of course they will! Anyone can be a volunteer if they want to. Wait, you want to join?"

Hunter smiled, "Yeah I never knew stuff like this existed. I mean your parents do really noble work. And I would love to be a part of that. Especially if it meant I got to see you more often..."

Her eyes widened at him. He averted his eyes awkwardly.

"Listen, Beatrice I know I've never told you this... but I think you're amazing. And if you're ever interested after this, I would love to start something together."

She smiled, "I'd love to, but right now, we have a mission. Can you wait until we're safe?"

He grinned at her, "I'll wait as long as I need to, if it means I can be with you."

"Come on, let's climb," She said, "I'll be right here with you the whole time."

The two climbed up after the others, who were now much further ahead. Hours later, once they had all reached the top of the diversion, they found themselves in a curved hallway. The only source of light was the sunlight coming in through the grate on the ceiling. Sunny turned on the flashlight function on her spyglass and led them through the tunnel to the Vernacularly Fastened Door by memory. She pulled out Isadora's old notebook and began flipping through pages to find the code phrases she knew they needed.

"Since the headquarters hasn't been visited in years," She explained, "The code phrases to open the door should be the same. They used to change every season... Ah, here they are!"

She handed Beatrice the notebook and typed in the correct codes to open the door. She would have to thank Isadora later for writing these phrases into her notebook.

Beatrice was flipping through the pages randomly as they waited and stopped on a particular one, "Sunny, exactly how long did Isadora have a crush on Klaus?"

"Are you kidding? It was practically love at first sight. You should have seen the way they would stare at each other. It was adorable, but it was also disgusting. I remember telling Duncan and Violet to get a room, but I should have said it to Klaus and Isadora too. I love my in-laws, but they made my siblings act like fools around them."

"Love makes people do stupid things sometimes," Trevor laughed lightly, "Why do you ask, Bea?"

She snickered, "Because of this page that describes the time that Isadora accidentally walked in on Klaus changing into his Prufrock uniform after a shower, and she'd never felt so embarrassed to find out he had abs."

Sunny finished typing the codes, and as the door started to open turned to Beatrice with a disgusted look, "Dude, that's my brother. I don't want to hear about Isadora's fantasies about my brother. I don't care that they're married now, I don't need to know what they were thinking of each other back then." She snatched the notebook out of her hand and put in back in her pocket.

Beatrice laughed as they went out into the open area of the destroyed V.F.D. Headquarters, "I'm just shocked that a guy like Klaus has abs to begin with. He's such a bookworm that it doesn't seem possible."

Sunny rolled her eyes, "Yeah well Klaus, Duncan, and Quigley all got themselves into pretty good shape eventually; I think it was to impress their significant others. So I'm not surprised. But enough about that we have a mission to get to."

"So this is what's left of the Headquarters," Trevor asked looking around the ruins.

"Yes it is," Sunny replied, "It looks exactly like I remember. The waterfall is over there."

The waterfall that went down into the Stricken Stream was flowing loudly, as it was much warmer here in the summer time. Sunny pulled out her tunnel map and led them over to the rushing waters.

"How are we supposed to get to the entrance with the water flowing like this?"

Sunny stepped as close as she could to the waterfall without falling in and peered behind it. As it had been shown on their map there was a cave entrance behind the rushing water. She glanced down and noticed a small walkway that they could use to get through behind the area. She instructed the others to be careful and started leading the way over to the cave entrance. They sidled along the narrow walkway and reached the cave entrance safely.

What they found within was another door, but this one was not fastened with a lock. They could hear the waterfall flowing behind them as they approached the door and went inside. They were now inside the secret system of V.F.D. tunnels that led all over Mount Fraught. The only source of light was the flashlight on Sunny's spyglass that she had turned back on. Unfortunately, there was a new problem; there were two different paths before them.

"Which way do we go," Hunter asked quietly, hoping that an enemy wouldn't show up anytime soon.

Sunny studied their tunnel map closely, "The tunnels connect after a certain point. But if we want to find the kids faster, we'll have to split up."

"Is that a good idea? What if we get caught," Beatrice asked.

"It's the only way. We all have communicators so we can keep in touch. Bea, you and Hunter take the left path, Trevor and I will take the right. We'll meet up where the tunnels connect and share whatever we can find. If you find the kids, call us on the communicators and we'll come find you. Whatever you do guys, don't get separated. Let's go."

Sunny took Trevor's hand, and the two couples walked off in separate directions to begin their daunting search through the mountain.

~End of Chapter!

See you in the next chapter!