The tunnel stank of rust and mold, the ceiling dripping moisture that pattered like soft gunfire around them. Jonas led, flashlight flickering as he navigated the labyrinth.
Every muscle in their body tensed. Every second felt like borrowed time.
Iris walked beside Ava, silent. Her eyes were hollow now, glassy with loss and rage.
Finally, Jonas stopped at an iron door. "There's an old supply room. It's off the security grid. We can regroup there."
Ava hesitated. "You think I trust you?"
He met her gaze. "I don't care if you trust me. I want to live."
They stepped inside. The room was cold, bare shelves lining the walls, dust thick on the floor. Iris slammed Jonas against the metal shelf. "Start talking," she snarled. "What does the Circle really want?"
Jonas's voice was a whisper. "They want everyone connected to the Everett massacre dead… including me. And they won't stop."
Ava pulled her blade from her boot, pressing it to his throat. "Then we make them stop."
Jonas swallowed. "Then we work together."
A truce. Temporary, fragile, built on lies. But sometimes, lies were the only thing keeping them alive.
Jonas spread old blueprints on the dusty floor, tracing lines with shaking fingers. "There's a corridor here that leads under the east wing. It's not on the current schematics."
Ava knelt beside him, eyes cold. "You better not be lying."
He looked up, voice low. "I'm not. But we're running out of time. The Circle will flood these tunnels in hours, maybe minutes."
Iris tried to focus, but her father's last words gnawed at her. My mother. A traitor. The Circle twisting everything.
She slammed her fist into the wall, blood smearing across the cracked concrete. "I want them dead. Every single one."
Ava rested a hand on her shoulder. "We will. But we need to move. Now."
Jonas gathered the maps, standing. "Follow me."
They slipped into the dark, the air thick and heavy. Above them, the world prepared for war.
But down here, the real war had already begun and they weren't leaving until the Circle was nothing but ashes.
The corridor Jonas led them into was barely wide enough for two. Pipes rattled overhead, steam hissing from cracked valves. Every footstep echoed like a gunshot.
Ava kept my knife ready, eyes scanning the shadows. Iris was behind her, silent, her grief smoldering into raw fury.
Jonas stopped at a sealed hatch, punching in an old code. The door creaked open into pitch darkness.
"Where does this lead?" Ava sked.
Jonas wiped sweat from his brow. "Into the old operations wing. If we can access their servers, we might find the names of everyone left in the Circle."
Ava nodded once. "Then we burn them all."
Iris spoke, voice flat. "No one leaves this place alive but us."
They stepped into the dark together, ready to finish what we started and to carve their vengeance into the Circle's heart.