The sliver of light from the opened door widened, and the wary eye was replaced by the equally cautious face of a woman in her late thirties, her expression stern, a modified fire poker held firmly in her grip.
Behind her, Axel could see at least two other figures, similarly armed with makeshift weapons, their stances defensive. The hum he'd heard was louder now, a steady thrumming that suggested power.
"Mia?" the woman repeated, her gaze flicking from Mia to Axel, then to Kai and the professors behind him, lingering on their disheveled, battle-worn appearance.
"You look like you've wrestled a pack of Skitterlings and then run a marathon through a dust storm."
"Close enough," Mia managed, a weary smile touching her lips. "Janet, it's me. We… we had some trouble. A Juggernaut. We need shelter, just for a bit."
Janet's eyes widened slightly at the mention of a Juggernaut. She scanned their group again. "And these others?"
"They're with me," Axel stepped forward slightly, keeping his hands visible and unthreatening. "Axel. Acting Chancellor of whatever's left of Atheria University." He offered a tired, slightly sarcastic smile. "My credentials are a bit dusty, but my desire to not be Juggernaut food is pristine."
Janet didn't smile back, but her eyes held a flicker of something – surprise?
Assessment? "Chancellor, huh? That's a new one." She looked back at Mia. "The Juggernaut, is it still…?"
"Temporarily inconvenienced, we hope," Axel interjected before Mia could answer. "But it knows this tunnel network exists now. This place might not be safe for long if it's determined."
A moment of tense silence hung in the air. Then Janet sighed, the sternness in her face softening just a fraction.
"Alright. Get in. Quickly. But any trouble, and you're out on your ears, Chancellor or not. We've worked too hard to lose this place."
The heavy door was pulled fully open, and they were ushered inside. The space was surprisingly well-organized. It was indeed an old sub-basement level, but it had been cleared out, sectioned off with tarps and salvaged shelving.
The hum came from a large, jury-rigged generator chugging away in a corner, powering strings of work lights that cast a clean, steady glow. There were neatly stacked crates of supplies, a designated water station with purification tablets, and even a small, meticulously tended patch of herbs growing under a UV lamp.
About fifteen to twenty people were present, a mix of ages, all looking wary but relatively healthy.
[SYSTEM SCAN: New Human Survivors Detected (18). Multiple Low-Tier Non-Combat Awakenings identified. Community Cohesion: Moderate. Resource Levels: Stable (Short-Term). Defensive Posture: Alert.]
[New Potential Citizen Profile: Janet (Leader/Pragmatist). Awakened Ability: 'Resourceful Mend' (Tier 1 – Can intuitively repair or temporarily restore function to damaged simple machinery/electronics with focused effort). Other notable skills: Organization (Expert), Basic First Aid (Adept).]
Resourceful Mend? Interesting, Axel thought. Explains the generator.
"This is our sanctuary," Janet said, her voice holding a note of fierce pride as she led them further in. "We got here a few weeks ago, right after the first wave.
Thought the observatory's remote location and solid build were our best bet." She gestured to a man meticulously tending the herb patch, his hands glowing with a faint green aura. "That's Arthur. His thumb got a whole lot greener after the Awakening. Keeps us from getting scurvy, mostly."
Arthur, a portly man with a kind smile, nodded at them. "Welcome. Don't touch the nightshade."
Another woman was carefully soldering wires on a salvaged radio. Her fingers sparked with tiny blue flickers. A young man sat quietly in a corner, and Axel noticed the air around him seemed… calmer, the usual background hum of fear from the other students in his group subtly lessening when they got near him.
Empath or calming aura? The System was already adding notes to his "Cohort" interface, even if these people weren't his cohort yet.
It was clear this group had carved out a functional, if precarious, existence.
Once the immediate threat of their entry had passed and the door was re-barricaded (this time with more substantial supports brought by Janet's group), Axel found a moment to pull his own small team aside – Mia, Kai, Professor Armitage, and Dr. Hanson.
The other students from their original escape group were being given water and looks of sympathetic curiosity by Janet's people.
"Okay," Axel began, keeping his voice low. "First off, good job everyone. We're alive, mostly intact, and not currently being pursued by a mobile avalanche. That's a win."
He looked at Mia. "But Mia… these people are great, and this setup is impressive, but… this isn't your original group, is it? The friends you were trying to reach at the observatory?"
Mia shook her head, a shadow crossing her face.
"No. I don't recognize anyone here." She looked towards Kai and the professors.
"When… when the first Blighted wave hit the main campus, everything was chaos. We were all together – our larger group, I mean – trying to make a plan.
The observatory was Professor Armitage's suggestion."
Professor Armitage nodded gravely. "It seemed the most logical defensible position. But during the retreat from the central quad… we were overrun. Separated. It was… a desperate scatter."
Kai picked up the thread, his earlier enthusiasm now tinged with pain.
"We saw the Juggernaut then – or one like it – for the first time. It just tore through everything. Mia, Professor Armitage, Dr. Hanson, and a few of us," he gestured to the students they'd arrived with, "managed to get into the service tunnels under the library.
We thought… we assumed the others were either ahead of us, making for the observatory by a different route, or…" He trailed off, the unspoken alternative hanging heavy in the air.
"We were trying to make our way here, to the observatory, hoping they'd made it," Mia finished quietly. "When I got separated from them," she nodded at Kai and the professors, "during that Skitterling attack just before I ran into you, Axel."
So, the group Mia was originally with – the bulk of her friends, the other engineering students, the agri-science people – their fate was still unknown. And the observatory, their intended rendezvous, was already occupied.
[SYSTEM OBJECTIVE UPDATE: Locate and Secure Additional Survivors (Mia's Original Group) – Status: Unknown. Last known trajectory: Towards Atheria University Observatory. Potential for overlap or conflict with current observatory occupants.]
"This complicates things," Axel said, running a hand over his face. The relative safety of this new sanctuary suddenly felt very temporary. He looked at Janet, who was observing their huddled conference with a watchful eye from across the room. "We need to talk to our new hosts".
"Find out what they know, what they've seen. And then we need to figure out how to find your friends, Mia."
The hope of an easy reunion was gone, replaced by a new, more complex set of challenges. But now, Axel wasn't just a student with a System. He was an Acting Chancellor with a growing, if eclectic, team. And a whole university full of secrets and survivors still waiting to be found.
Just then, Janet approached them, her expression unreadable.
"Chancellor," she said, her voice neutral. "A word, if you please. About your group's… continued residency."