Stepping out of the room, Claire's mind had to adjust to being in an area surrounded by metal. Waiting for her was Hannah, standing next to the Darlina she had been partnered up with for the training simulation.

"Claire!" Hannah yelled out and ran over to her friend, an excited expression plastered across her face. "It was so amazing!"

Bracing herself, Claire lurched back as Hannah glomped on her. She laughed at how jubilant her friend was acting after stepping out of the simulation. "You okay? Did you have to fight monsters?" Thinking back to the number of times she had been eaten and killed, Claire was worried about Hannah being negatively affected.

Hannah's hug tensed the moment Claire had mentioned the monsters.

"Hannah?" Claire wanted to look at Hannah's face to see what kind of expression her friend was making.

"Yeah," Hannah said.

"What happened?" Feeling like her friend just needed to hold onto her, Claire pulled Hannah closer to her in a tighter embrace.

"It's dangerous out there, right?" Hannah didn't answer the question, asking Claire in a quiet voice.

Claire stayed silent.

Hannah buried her face into Claire's shoulder. "Even though it was scary to fight those monsters, I feel like it's something I needed to experience." Hannah's voice was slightly muffled. "It hurt. A lot."

"Yeah," Claire didn't need to ask clarification on what Hannah was talking about, imagining the number of times her friend likely had to die in order to kill the monsters. Between the two of them, Hannah's abilities weren't as strong when they had trained with the military under Chelsea's supervision. If Claire had needed to die countless times, she could only imagine how difficult it was for her friend.

Hannah released herself from Claire. Her eyes were wet with tears from remembering what had happened in the simulation.

Even though Hannah had been crying, just looking at her eyes, Claire could see a strength that wasn't there before. It was as though her friend had been tempered during the training. The experience had been something Hannah needed to experience, shaving away some of her innocence.

Placing her hands on Hannah's shoulders, Claire said, "We're going to get through this."

Hannah nodded her head in agreement.

"Considering the life the two of you had led, before the emergence of the Modified Humans and Unexpected Creatures, I feel the two of you have come out stronger. I don't think many humans, with little to no experience with combat, could have been as successful as the two of you were." Claire's Darlina addressed the two of them.

"That's correct," Hannah's Darlina chimed in. "The simulation the two of you had experienced is meant to be a crucible, to prepare you for what's to come. You, both, should be proud of coming out of the simulation stronger."

Though the way the two Darlinas talked, as though they were two separate entities, was strange, Claire appreciated the sentiment they offered. Looking at each of them, Claire smiled in thanks.

"What's next?" Claire asked her Darlina.

"At this point, the two of you are free to do what you think is necessary. Whether you want to leave the shelter and return to the Fort or enter into a simulation to continue your training." Her Darlina explained.

Hannah's Darlina added in, "Due to your benefits, we have prepared a room inside of the Guild. This isn't a permanent room. Instead, you could see it as a sample of what kind of benefit you'll be receiving by staying inside of the Guild compared to the rest of the city."

"I'm kind of worried about both our parents being worried about where we are, instead of at home," Claire told the robots. Though time flowed differently, she worried that their parents had learned that the two of them were gone and missing. Claire thought about Chelsea and whether their friend was racing about the Fort trying to find them.

Claire's Darlina smiled mischievously.

Seeing the robot give such an expression, Claire looked at the two robots, wondering what the joke was.

"We've actually contacted both of your parents while you were inside of the simulation. They are aware of the two of you having entered the shelter." Holding up its hand, Claire's Darlina made a screen materialize and float in the air. On display was the playground.

As Claire watched the screen, her stomach fell upon seeing Chelsea and several MPs standing in front of the entrance to the shelter. Claire could see that Chelsea wasn't pleased.

------------------

The door to the shelter opened, and the light from outside poured into the shelter. Slowly the entrance expanded to its full size, enough for large trucks to drive through the opening.

It didn't take long before Claire could see the frowning MP standing with the others in uniform.

Aside from Chelsea, the other MPs appeared stunned by what they were seeing, from not expecting such a thing to be under their base.

Claire could tell that the soldiers inside of the Fort only knew about the existence of the shelter, no knowing anything else. "I guess Chelsea and the others were telling the truth when talking about the shelters," Claire thought to herself.

Looking like an angry lioness, Chelsea rushed towards where Claire and Hannah were standing. "What were the two of you thinking?!" Chelsea yelled at them before hugging Claire and then Hannah. "I had received reports that the two of you weren't seen by any of the patrols!"

Hearing about the patrols mentioned, Claire realized that everyone had likely known that they had gone missing, short after Claire and Hannah had entered into the shelter.

"It wasn't until we received a call from Star and Moon, telling us that the two of you had entered into the shelter, that we could not worry about the two of you going missing!" Chelsea stepped back to continue lecturing them about how everyone was concerned.

Though Claire didn't enjoy being lectured, it was understandable that she and Hannah had done something they probably shouldn't have done under normal circumstances. Claire was confident that once she was able to explain to Chelsea what they had discovered that her friend would forgive their reckless decision making.

Once Chelsea stopped yelling, she stood in front of the two girls. The woman's face looked exhausted as if she hadn't been to sleep in days.

Cautiously, Claire asked, "How many days were we gone?" Though Darlina had said that the technology inside the simulation allowed time to flow differently, a part of her was curious.

"Almost a week," Chelsea glared at Claire, as though not appreciating the reminder. "If Star and Moon hadn't contacted us, we'd have had to tear about this Fort trying to locate the two of you." Taking a deep breath, Chelsea appeared to calm herself down. "At least that's one thing we don't have to worry about." She rubbed her face to relieve the pent up emotions.

"Did something happen?" Claire didn't like the sound of what Chelsea had said.

Before Chelsea had a chance to answer Claire's question, a man with the MP armband approached Chelsea. He quickly looked at Claire and Hannah before moving close to whisper something into Chelsea's ear.

Judging by the man's appearance, Claire surmised that the guy was a subordinate of Chelsea.

"Again?! It's only been a few hours since the last time!" Chelsea glared at the man, shocked by whatever was told by her. Chelsea's expression quickly changed from shock to concern as she asked, "Are they holding?"

From the man's expression, it was clear that the situation wasn't going positively.

Wanting to know what was happening, Claire asked, "Is there something wrong?" It was the first time she had ever seen Chelsea having a look of fear in her eyes.