Find me in your labyrinth (Stella and Jonathan)
Chapter 1928

Deep in the bowels of the Research Tower, ten floors underground.

A nurse wheeled a refrigerated cabinet behind the doctor as they entered the lab, following the routine procedure. She skillfully injected a pale blue serum into Estelle's wrist.

Estelle lay there, her body ensnared by a web of monitoring equipment, eyes tightly shut, her face twisted in a struggle against pain.

She was trapped in a recurring nightmare.

She and her team were briefed on a new mission: to storm an abandoned factory and rescue hostages. The seven of them set out at midnight, arriving at the decrepit site by 2 a.m.

The derelict pipe factory was overgrown with weeds as tall as a man, a silent testament to its neglect. The team, armed and stealthy, slipped through the shadows.

The night was overcast, darkness so thick you could hardly see your hand in front of your face. There was only a faint glow emanating from the run-down workshops deep within the factory.

Twenty men stood guard inside the factory, lightly armed-a cakewalk for an elite mercenary squad like Estelle's.

The team of seven didn't take the mission lightly, though. They had scouted the terrain in advance and had a plan: one to disrupt surveillance, two to infiltrate from the rear, and Estelle's group of four to take the front and execute the rescue.

Their coordination was always seamless. Dozens of missions over the years, and not a single failure.

Estelle, the youngest and smallest in stature, was also the most agile. She leaped from the rooftop, her dagger swift and precise, silently taking down the two sentries at the outer gate.

The only sound was the muted thud of the dagger finding its mark.

The other three followed suit, moving along the shadows cast by the walls. Suddenly, Bat, the one tasked with surveillance, came running, his voice urgent, "Pull out! It's a trap!"

The faces of Estelle's group darkened. Tyrannosaurus asked coldly, "Where are Wolf and Sniper?"

Before Bat could reply, gunfire erupted overhead. The team scrambled for cover, not realizing they had walked right into a deathtrap.

Heavy machine gun fire rained down on them, forcing them back into a warehouse.

The enemy pressed hard. With no backup in sight and ammunition dwindling, the stench of death hung in the air.

Estelle watched helplessly as her comrades, her friends of many years, fell one by one. In a frenzy, she burst out, grabbed an enemy as a human shield, and her machine gun roared as she fired into the oncoming horde.

A sniper took aim at Estelle from the side. Tyrannosaurus lunged to protect her, but a bullet pierced his skull, splattering her face with a gruesome mix of blood and brain matter.

Estelle's eyes widened as her vision blurred.

The last thing she remembered was the warehouse exploding around them, none of her team surviving.

But when Estelle opened her eyes again, they were all back outside the abandoned pipe factory, with Wolf briefing them on the rescue plan.

The plan was solid; they moved swiftly into action.

Estelle stared at the dark silhouette of the factory, her expression dazed.

"Come on, what's on your mind?" Sniper tugged at her arm.

"Nothing!"

Snapping back to reality, Estelle hurried to keep up with her team.

As she took down the guards, familiarity washed over her. When Bat came with the warning of an ambush, the feeling intensified.

The enemy's firepower was overwhelming, and they were forced back into the warehouse. Sniper and Wolf came to the rescue, but Wolf was shot in the abdomen and collapsed, Tyrannosaurus was killed before her eyes.

The warehouse was filled with the enemy's presence and the relentless sound of machine gun fire. Fear and despair spread as Estelle tried to break out, only to be forced back again and again.

Sniper was hit in the chest. Estelle rushed to him, desperately trying to stem the flow of blood, her hands stained red as she watched Sniper die before her eyes.

In the end, she was alone, gun in hand, charging out.

When she opened her eyes again, she was back at the beginning of their operation...

The cycle repeated, with Estelle forced to watch her teammates die over and over, trapped in an endless loop of despair and agony.

In front of a gigantic screen in the office, Raiden watched with detached interest as Estelle's face contorted with the pain of her visions.