The underground metro station was a graveyard of old steel and flickering lights. Dust swirled in the dim glow, stirred by the hurried footsteps of the crew as they ran for their lives.
The enforcers were closing in.
Nikk could hear the metallic thud-thud-thud of their boots above, the muffled voices crackling through their radios. They had minutes. Maybe less.
Kaya and Bria were ahead, guns raised, watching every darkened corridor for signs of an ambush. Ray moved behind everyone, taking precaution as they neared the emergency exit that led above ground.
Escape was so close.
Then -
Everything went wrong.
Then came the sound no one wanted to hear.
A sharp, mechanical whirr filled the tunnel.
Tia fell to her feet, her body jerking violently. It was a stun pulse.
Then came the explosion.
The force knocked Nikk off his feet. Heat. Light. Shrapnel. A wall of flame erupted behind them, sealing off their escape route.
The dust settled, and a lone figure emerged through the smoke.
Pryce.
His breathing was unsteady, his hands shaking - but the gun in his grip was rock steady.
"Pryce?" Bria's voice was soft, disbelieving.
He didn't answer.
Nikk's heart slammed against his ribs. This wasn't possible. This wasn't happening.
The enforcers were behind him. But they weren't shooting him.
Because they didn't need to.
Because Pryce had done their job.
Nikk felt the pieces snap into place.
"It was you," Ace breathed. His voice was dangerously calm. "You sold us out."
Pryce's grip on the gun tightened. He looked at Bria - not with malice, not with victory, but with a deep, bone-crushing regret.
"I—" his voice cracked. "I didn't mean for it to be like this."
"Like what?" Kaya spat. "Like handing us over to be slaughtered?"
Pryce flinched.
This his gaze came back to Bria.
His throat tightened. She wasn't even looking at him.
Her eyes were locked on Ray, looking for any injuries.
The same look he had seen countless times. The soft graze, the way she leaned towards him without realizing, the way she smiled just a little brighter when Ray spoke.
Not him.
Never him.
He had loved her. Quietly. Painfully.
And she had never noticed.
All after Tia happened.
She had been the catalyst. The Virus. She had brought emotions back - desires were boiling.
And suddenly, Pryce was aware of everything he could never have.
The way Bria's heart was never his.
The way he was just watching from the sidelines as Ray won what he never could.
He wanted to stop feeling.
So he tried to erase them before they could erase him.
"Pryce," Bria's voice was barely a whisper. "Tell me you didn't do this."
For a moment - just a moment - he almost broke.
Then Ace moved.
And everything erupted.
Ace and Pryce collided.
Gunfire rang through the tunnels. Sparks exploded as bullets ricocheted off rusted metal.
Ace was faster. Stronger. His rage was a wildfire, and Pryce was just kindling.
Fists connected. Blood splattered against the cold tunnel floor.
Ace's knife flashed - a clean strike.
Pryce staggered back, clutching his side. Blood seeped between his fingers. his breath came in short, panicked gasps.
He was losing.
Ace towered over him, blade dripping red. His face was a storm of fury and grief.
But he didn't land the final blow.
He could have.
But he chose not to.
He just… stared.
And then he turned away.
"Rot here," Ace spat. "Alone."
Pryce collapsed.
His vision swarmed red. The pain was unbearable.
And then, he saw it.
Bria's radio.
The same one she always played with, adjusted, tinkered with.
The one she used to signal them.
The one that had been his warning sign.
And in that moment, as the static buzzed softly in the silence, he knew.
He had never stood a chance.
He had destroyed everything over a love that had never even existed.
A love that had only ever been his own delusion.
His breath shuddered. His vision darkened.
And in the cold, empty tunnels - Pryce died alone.
The enforcers were still coming.
Ace turned towards the other - towards Nikk, who was gripping his weapon, and had Tia clutched into his chest.
"Go," Ace said, stepping between them and the approaching flood of enforcers.
"Ace you —" kaya started, but he shook his head.
"No time."
He locked eyes with Nikk.
And at that moment, he meant it. Looking at each other, Nikk knew what those eyes meant. Then, Ace turned to face the approaching enforcers. The rest? They ran, as fast they ever could.
Harsh red light from the enforcers reflecting over all metal pipes. Loud, deafening hums from them creeping closer and closer. All the while, the sounds of the crew growing fader and fader.
He didn't know if they would make it.
Didn't know if Nikk would ever save Tia.
Didn't know if Bria would ever fix that damn radio again.
But he hoped.
He hoped they would have what he never could.
He took a step forward, gripping his knife. The enforcers raised their weapons.
Ace charged.
The last thing he heard before the world went dark was the sound of Nikk and the others running.
And he hoped - prayed - that he was enough.
The tunnels are silent now. The battle is over.
Ace slumps against a rusted metal pillar, blood pooling beneath him. His breath comes in ragged gasps, his vision blurring. He can barely keep his eyes open, but he forces himself to listen -
For footsteps.
For voices.
For anything that tells him that they made it.
But there's nothing. Just the distant hum of the failing metro lights, the dripping of water from cracked pipes, and the low, static filled whine from Bria's radio.
Bria's voice had crackled through the same radio until just minutes ago, calling out escape routes, warning them about enforcer patrols. But now?
Silence.
He exhales, wincing as pain surges through his chest. He doesn't have much time left.
But just before the darkness takes him, a memory flickers to life in his mind.
Kaya.
Her sharp eyes. The way she used to lean against his shoulder when she thought no one was looking. The way she used to push him away when she realized she was looking too much.
And then - Nikk and Tia.
He saw it in Nikk's eyes. The way he looked at her, the same way Ace once looked at Kaya.
He lets out a breath - something almost like a laugh.
"You look at her the way I looked at Kaya…"
He hopes.
He hopes that Nikk and Tia got out.
He hopes that Bria is still fiddling with some damn radio.
He hopes that Ray escaped.
He hopes that Kaya gets someone to argue with, like he used to.
He hopes that Tia gets to live her life.
He hopes they get what he never could.
His body slumps, the last of his strength fading.
And in the end, he dies alone in the tunnels - but not without hope.