The entire Eclipse complex trembled.
Concrete cracked overhead as dust drifted through the command center.
The countdown continued relentlessly.
14:21... 14:20...
Walker checked the structural map on one of the remaining monitors.
"The collapse starts in the lower tunnels."
"We have one chance to reach the emergency elevator."
Luca looked at the screen.
"And if the elevator doesn't work?"
Walker answered honestly.
"Then we don't make it."
No one moved.
Every eye turned toward Adrian Volkov.
For the first time since Emily had met him, he looked... tired.
Not defeated.
Just tired.
He slowly removed the silver pocket watch from his coat and placed it on the table.
"I've spent twenty years trying to punish ghosts."
His voice echoed through the chamber.
"And all I created was more grief."
Victoria watched him carefully.
She still remembered every life he had destroyed.
Nothing could erase that.
But for the first time, she saw the man behind the monster.
Emily quietly stepped beside her.
"You don't have to forgive him."
Victoria nodded.
"I know."
The lights flickered again.
A violent explosion shook the chamber.
One of the support columns collapsed, blocking the corridor they had entered through.
Gabriel looked around.
"We're trapped."
Volkov pointed toward a maintenance door hidden behind a damaged control panel.
"There's another way."
Walker narrowed his eyes.
"Why should we trust you?"
"You shouldn't."
Volkov replied calmly.
"But you don't have another option."
They hurried into the narrow tunnel.
The passage was barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side.
Water dripped from broken pipes.
Steam hissed from cracked valves.
Emily stayed close to Victoria.
"How's your arm?"
Victoria smiled faintly.
"It'll leave another scar."
Emily looked at her.
"I've never thought scars made someone less beautiful."
Victoria's cheeks warmed.
"Careful, Agent Carter."
Emily grinned.
"I've stopped pretending I'm only your agent."
Even in the middle of the collapsing tunnels, Victoria laughed.
The sound made Gabriel smile.
It was the first carefree laugh he had heard from his sister since he was a little boy.
Suddenly, the tunnel floor gave way.
Luca reacted instantly, grabbing Father Michael before he could fall into the darkness below.
Walker reached for Gabriel.
Emily caught Victoria's hand just as the concrete beneath her feet crumbled.
For one terrifying moment, Victoria hung above the collapsing shaft.
Emily refused to let go.
"I've got you!"
Victoria looked up into Emily's eyes.
"I know."
Walker and Gabriel pulled them both back onto solid ground.
Everyone stood silently, catching their breath.
Volkov watched from the back of the group.
"You risked your own life without hesitation."
Emily turned toward him.
"That's what people who love each other do."
Volkov lowered his gaze.
"I wouldn't know."
The group finally reached a massive blast door.
Beyond it stood the emergency elevator.
Its doors were open.
Its lights were on.
Hope.
Walker pressed the call button.
Nothing happened.
A message flashed across the display.
POWER FAILURE
Luca cursed under his breath.
"We're out of time."
The countdown now read:
05:12
Volkov slowly stepped toward the elevator control cabinet.
He studied the damaged wiring for only a few seconds.
"I can restore power."
Emily looked at him.
"How long?"
"A few minutes."
Walker understood immediately.
"If you stay..."
"...you won't make it out."
Volkov gave the smallest of smiles.
"I've spent twenty years running from the consequences of my choices."
He looked at Victoria.
"And twenty years trying to rewrite the past."
He placed the silver pocket watch into her hand.
"It belongs to your family."
Victoria stared at it.
"I can't..."
"Yes."
"You can."
"It's time someone carried it without hatred."
For the first time since the war began, neither of them spoke as enemies.
Only as two broken people whose lives had been forever intertwined.
Volkov opened the electrical cabinet.
Sparks burst into the air.
Walker looked at the others.
"When those doors open..."
"...we leave."
Emily looked back at Volkov.
"What about you?"
He didn't turn around.
"My story ends here."
The lights in the elevator suddenly flickered back to life.
The doors slid open.
Behind them, the countdown reached...
03:59