The compound smelled like antiseptic and smoke.
Ezra's boots hit the concrete hard as he ran down the corridor, breath ragged, gun clutched so tight his knuckles burned white. The emergency lights flickered, casting the hallway in frantic bursts of red. Somewhere in the distance, alarms howled like wounded animals.
"Left—take the left!" Jace barked behind him, voice half-drowned by the chaos.
Ezra turned sharply, nearly slipping on a streak of blood smeared across the floor. His heart pounded, every nerve strung tight. Kai was somewhere in this labyrinth, captured, tortured—or worse. He couldn't think about worse.
"Keep your head straight," Jace snapped, catching up beside him, pistol raised. "You lose focus now, you die."
"I'm not leaving him," Ezra shot back, voice trembling with fury more than fear.
"You think I'm planning to?" Jace spat. "Move!"
They burst into an intersection of hallways—one collapsed from an explosion, another leading deeper into the restricted sector. The air stank of burning wires and gunpowder. Somewhere, a man screamed. The facility was tearing itself apart.
Ezra grabbed the railing for balance, trying to think. The map Kai had shown him once—an offhand conversation about escape routes, late at night, when the world had felt almost bearable—flashed in his mind. "He'd be below. They'd keep him where the power grid runs."
Jace gave a sharp nod. "Basement, then. Great. The fun part."
He started toward the stairwell when a low voice stopped them.
"Going somewhere?"
Ezra froze.
From the shadow of the hall, Mara stepped forward, gun in hand, blood streaked across her cheek. Her once neat braid was loose, her eyes wild with exhaustion—but steady. Always steady.
"Don't," she said softly, training the gun on Ezra. "You go down there, and none of you come back."
Jace raised his weapon instantly. "Try me."
Ezra's throat went dry. "Mara, move."
"I can't," she whispered. "He ordered me to keep you out. You don't understand what's happening down there, Ezra. You think you're saving him, but—"
"He's my choice to make," Ezra cut her off. "You don't get to decide who I die for."
Her face twisted, a storm of guilt and resolve. "You think this is love? You think love survives in people like him? He'll burn you alive before he lets you go."
Ezra's voice cracked. "Then let him try."
For a second, the hallway held nothing but the sound of alarms and breathing. Then Mara lowered the gun, barely an inch. "You've always been too human for this."
Jace moved first. He kicked her gun aside, grabbed her wrist, and twisted her arm behind her back before she could react. She hissed in pain but didn't fight. Ezra stared at her, eyes glistening with something between anger and pity.
"I hope you're wrong," he said.
"I'm not," she whispered.
They left her cuffed to the railing and descended the stairs.
The basement level was worse—hot air, heavy with metal and fear. Pipes ran along the ceiling like veins, dripping condensation. The lights flickered here too, weaker, as if even the electricity was afraid to stay.
Ezra's boots echoed. He tried to ignore the wet footprints trailing behind them.
Jace scanned the hallways. "This place gives me déjà vu."
"You've been here before?" Ezra asked.
"Long time ago. Wrong side of the gun," Jace muttered. "Back when Kai was still pretending he didn't care."
Ezra glanced at him. "He ever tell you about me?"
Jace smiled faintly. "Only that you were trouble."
"That's not an answer."
Jace's grin faded. "He stopped talking about people once you showed up."
Ezra looked away, heart twisting. Whatever that meant, it hurt. And maybe that was proof enough that it mattered.
They reached a reinforced door, its keypad sparking uselessly. Behind it, they could hear movement—metal clanging, a voice shouting orders. Ezra's pulse jumped.
"He's in there," he breathed.
Jace pressed a hand against the wall, thinking. "We can't just charge in—"
But Ezra was already moving.
He fired three shots into the control panel. Sparks exploded. The door groaned, mechanisms whining. Then, with a final metallic shriek, it gave way.
Inside was chaos.
Armed men scrambled for cover as smoke filled the room. Ezra ducked behind a console, firing blindly. Jace was a blur beside him, every shot precise, efficient. Bodies fell. The smell of blood filled the air.
Through it all, Ezra's eyes scanned frantically—and then he saw him.
Kai, strapped to a chair in the center of the room, shirt torn, blood staining the edge of his jaw. His eyes met Ezra's through the smoke—sharp, alive, furious.
"Ezra!" Kai shouted, voice raw.
Ezra's heart stopped. He ran.
Bullets ricocheted off metal. Someone grabbed his arm; he twisted free, kicked hard, kept moving. The world narrowed down to the sound of Kai's breathing.
He reached him, cutting the restraints with trembling hands. Kai staggered to his feet, grabbing Ezra's wrist to steady himself.
"You shouldn't have come," Kai rasped.
Ezra almost laughed. "You say that every damn time."
"Because you never listen."
Before he could reply, Jace shouted, "We're out of time!"
Dozens of armed men were pouring in through the opposite corridor. Kai pulled a gun from a fallen guard and spun, firing in quick, deadly bursts. Ezra ducked behind him, covering the flank.
"You good to move?" Jace yelled.
Kai nodded once. "Let's finish this."
They moved as one—three shadows against firelight.
The gunfight was brutal, fast, merciless. Jace covered their rear, barking orders; Kai led the charge, every move calculated. Ezra followed, adrenaline turning his fear into instinct. Every time a bullet grazed past, Kai pulled him back, never letting him fall behind.
When the last guard dropped, silence fell like a heavy curtain.
Smoke drifted through the room. The alarms quieted. Somewhere overhead, the building groaned under the strain of damage.
Ezra's chest heaved. His hands were shaking. He looked at Kai—bloodied, exhausted, but alive.
"You were late," Kai murmured, almost smiling.
Ezra exhaled a shaky laugh. "Traffic."
Kai's expression softened for half a heartbeat before hardening again. "We can't stay here."
"I figured."
"Extraction point?" Jace asked, reloading.
Kai nodded toward a corridor at the far end. "Subway tunnel. It'll take us to the river. But we have five minutes before the whole place goes up."
Ezra frowned. "What do you mean, goes up?"
Jace smirked grimly. "He means he rigged it. Classic Kai."
"You blew the place we're still inside?"
"Wouldn't be the first time," Kai said dryly.
They ran.
The tunnels were old and damp, water dripping from the cracked ceiling. Their footsteps splashed through shallow puddles. Behind them, the compound burned, the fire roaring through the ventilation shafts.
Ezra's lungs screamed for air. He stumbled once; Kai caught him by the arm, pulling him upright without slowing down.
"Don't stop," Kai said sharply. "Not yet."
"I'm—fine," Ezra panted.
Kai's eyes flicked to him. "You're shaking."
"Adrenaline," Ezra muttered.
"Liar."
Ezra almost smiled despite the chaos. "Guess I learned from the best."
Jace groaned. "You two can flirt after we're not about to be crushed to death."
They burst into an abandoned service platform, moonlight spilling through the broken roof. The night air hit like a slap—cold, alive, free.
For the first time in hours, Ezra let himself breathe.
Kai turned, checking the horizon. "We're clear. For now."
Jace holstered his weapon and stretched his neck. "Remind me never to trust your definition of 'simple rescue.'"
Kai ignored him, gaze settling on Ezra. There was something in his eyes now—less guarded, more raw. "You shouldn't have risked this."
Ezra stepped closer. "You would've done the same."
"That's not the point."
"It's exactly the point."
Their eyes met. The noise of the fire, the collapsing building, even Jace's muttered curses—all of it faded. For a moment, there was just them, standing in the wreckage of everything that had tried to kill them.
Kai exhaled, a shaky, reluctant sound. "You make terrible decisions."
Ezra smiled faintly. "You make them worth it."
Kai's hand lifted, hesitated, then brushed the back of Ezra's neck—barely a touch, but enough to make Ezra's pulse stutter. It wasn't tenderness. It was something sharper. Desperate. Real.
Jace cleared his throat loudly. "Okay, great. Lovely. Can we move before this place becomes a crater?"
Kai let his hand fall, stepping back, mask sliding into place again. "He's right."
Ezra swallowed, forcing his heartbeat to slow. "Where to?"
Kai looked toward the faint glow of the river. "Nowhere safe. But closer than before."
As they started walking, Ezra glanced back once. The facility behind them was already collapsing into itself, swallowed by smoke and flame.
He didn't know what waited ahead—revenge, truth, or death—but for the first time in a long time, he wasn't running alone.
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