Darkness swallowed the tunnel.
Gunfire echoed through the underground passage as flashes from rifle barrels briefly illuminated terrified faces.
Emily held tightly onto Victoria's hand.
"Move!" Victoria whispered.
They sprinted blindly through the darkness, guided only by the faint emergency lights flickering farther down the tunnel.
Behind them, Volkov's furious voice roared.
"Find them!"
Several Vipers switched on powerful flashlights, their beams slicing through the darkness.
"There!" one of them shouted.
Bullets ricocheted off the concrete walls.
Emily ducked as a round struck the pipe above her, showering them with cold water.
Victoria fired twice without slowing down.
One flashlight disappeared.
Another clattered to the ground.
"They're gaining on us," Emily gasped.
"I know."
Victoria spotted an old steel door hanging half open.
"This way!"
They slipped inside and quietly pushed the heavy door shut.
The room was an abandoned maintenance station, filled with rusted machinery and dusty control panels.
For the first time in several minutes...
Silence.
Only their breathing filled the room.
Emily leaned against the wall, trying to steady herself.
Victoria carefully checked the small window in the door.
"They're still searching."
Emily looked down.
Her sleeve was soaked with blood.
Victoria noticed immediately.
"You're hurt."
Emily followed her gaze.
"It's just a graze."
Victoria stepped closer.
"Sit down."
Emily hesitated.
"That's an order?"
Victoria gave the faintest smile.
"It's a suggestion."
Emily sat on an old wooden crate.
Victoria opened a dusty emergency cabinet mounted on the wall.
Surprisingly, it still contained a basic first-aid kit.
She knelt in front of Emily.
"This may sting."
Emily laughed softly.
"I've heard that before."
Victoria gently cleaned the wound.
Her movements were calm and surprisingly careful.
"You've done this before," Emily said quietly.
Victoria didn't look up.
"Too many times."
"For yourself?"
"For people I couldn't afford to lose."
Emily watched her in silence.
This wasn't the woman described in FBI reports.
This was someone carrying years of responsibility alone.
Victoria finished wrapping the bandage.
"There."
Emily smiled.
"Thank you."
Victoria met her eyes for a brief moment before standing.
"Don't make me do it again."
"I'll try."
For the first time since they met...
They both laughed.
The sound felt strangely out of place beneath the streets of New York.
Several tunnels away...
Volkov stood beside one of his commanders.
"They're heading toward the east exit."
The commander frowned.
"Should we seal it?"
"No."
Volkov smiled.
"Cornered prey always runs exactly where you expect."
He unfolded an old blueprint of the underground tunnels.
His finger rested on a narrow passage.
"They'll end up here."
"And that's where this finally ends."
Back inside the maintenance room...
Emily noticed a faded family photograph lying on the floor.
A maintenance worker, his wife, and two children.
Probably taken decades earlier.
She picked it up.
"They looked happy."
Victoria glanced at it.
"They probably never imagined this place would become a battlefield."
Emily carefully set it back.
"My father used to say every crime scene was once someone's ordinary day."
Victoria remained quiet.
After a long pause, she asked,
"What was he like?"
Emily smiled sadly.
"He believed people deserved a second chance."
"And you?"
"I want to believe the same."
Victoria looked away.
"I stopped believing in second chances a long time ago."
Emily studied her expression.
"Maybe no one ever gave you one."
Victoria didn't answer.
But the words stayed with her.
A loud metallic bang echoed outside the room.
Both women immediately reached for their weapons.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Someone was checking every door.
Emily whispered,
"If they find us..."
Victoria finished the sentence.
"...we fight."
The handle slowly began to turn.
Once.
Twice.
The old lock creaked.
Emily raised her pistol.
Victoria positioned herself beside the doorway.
The handle stopped moving.
Silence.
Then...
The footsteps continued down the corridor.
Neither woman moved.
Several long seconds passed before Emily finally exhaled.
"That was close."
Victoria nodded.
"Too close."
Suddenly, the emergency lights flickered back to life.
A dusty map on the wall caught Victoria's attention.
She walked over to it.
"There."
Emily joined her.
"What is it?"
Victoria pointed to a narrow service tunnel running beneath the East River.
"It leads outside the harbor."
Emily frowned.
"Can we trust it?"
Victoria traced the faded line with her finger.
"My father showed it to me once."
"He said it was only for the darkest day."
Emily looked at her.
"Maybe today's that day."
Victoria folded the map carefully.
"Maybe."
Together, they opened the steel door once more.
The corridor outside was empty.
Somewhere deeper in the tunnels, Volkov's men were still hunting them.
Victoria looked toward the narrow passage leading into darkness.
"We leave together."
Emily nodded without hesitation.
"Together."
Neither of them realized how much that single word now meant.
Far behind them, hidden in the shadows, a lone Black Viper watched them disappear.
He quietly lifted a radio to his mouth.
"I've found them."
Volkov smiled as the message reached him.
"The hunt," he said softly,
"is almost over."