He looked at Ethan.
"Can you pull the trigger?"
Ethan was silent for a long time, then said quietly:
"No. Unfortunately, no."
Flash exhaled through his nose.
"Honest answer."
"But," Ethan added, "if it's not her anymore… then yes."
Gideon lowered his gaze.
Flash nodded.
"Then the plan is simple."
He started counting on his fingers.
"First. We confirm what's happening in the mansion.
Second. We find out what the container really is.
Third. We get Maria out… if it's possible."
He paused.
"If not… we destroy everything."
Bruno finished his whiskey.
"When?"
Flash looked at Ethan.
"When are you ready?"
Ethan didn't hesitate.
"I already am. But there's one more thing we need to do."
Flash gave a short nod.
"Then we work."
Gideon quietly:
"And I'll try to crack their external networks."
Bruno:
"I'll get the weapons."
Flash:
"I'll get the house plans."
He looked at Ethan again.
"And you…"
A pause.
"You're going to sleep."
Ethan shook his head.
"Not happening."
"Then at least close your eyes for an hour," Flash said firmly.
"Because if you crack out there…"
Ethan slowly nodded.
They sat in silence for another minute.
Then Bruno stood up.
"So… what's next?"
Flash snorted.
"Something's inside Maria. We need to go back to the catacombs…"
"What's eating at me is that Anna inserted herself into our little crew and none of the data connects to ours."
Bruno frowned.
"Seriously? Right now? We have to go back there again?"
Flash looked at him.
"Yes."
"Because I feel like we missed something down there.
She was looking for something. Or she found something."
Gideon lifted his head.
"There were markers in her logs. Old tunnels. Abandoned sections."
Flash nodded.
"Exactly."
He turned to Ethan.
"Did she ever say anything about the catacombs? Something strange? Hints?"
Ethan thought back.
"She said…"
He fell silent, remembering.
"No… nothing…"
Flash exhaled quietly.
"Yeah. That sounds exactly like her."
Bruno rubbed his face with both palms.
"Fine. Suppose so.
What exactly are we looking for down there?"
Flash leaned forward.
"Everything.
Old laboratories.
Archives.
Places where they started the experiments."
Gideon added:
"Or places where they hid something."
Flash nodded.
"Yes. Especially if we're talking about those… capsules. Or that black smoke Ethan saw."
Ethan said quietly:
"It was… alive."
No one answered.
Flash continued:
"Anna's flash drive is garbage.
There's political dirt on Corvin, deals, bribes.
It'll kill his career, but it won't touch our data."
He tapped his finger on the table.
"And it won't even stop what they're doing. Anna is one of them. I don't trust her, and suddenly she decides to help us…"
Bruno snorted.
"Politicians are replaceable."
"Exactly," Flash said.
Gideon pulled out his tablet and quickly scrolled through something.
"If Maria was digging deeper…
then she wasn't after Corvin."
"Who then?" Bruno asked.
Flash answered immediately:
"Something."
Silence.
Ethan quietly:
"Or those who came before them."
Gideon looked up.
"There's an old catacomb map.
Closed zones marked in pre-war archives.
No explanations."
Flash, interested:
"How closed?"
"Closed enough that even city services don't go there. The same places with the Vourdalaks."
"Oh, damn… back there again…" Ethan muttered quietly.
Bruno smirked.
"So we're going."
Flash continued:
"If they didn't start the experiments yesterday…
then somewhere there are archives.
Old protocols.
Maybe even the first samples."
Ethan frowned.
"Or the mistakes."
Flash looked at him.
"Exactly."
Gideon added softly:
"Or answers to why Maria… is the way she is."
The word hung heavy.
Bruno stood.
"Then the plan is simple."
He started counting on his fingers.
"We go back to base now.
Grab gear.
In two hours we enter the catacombs."
Flash nodded.
"We go deeper this time. Look again. Maybe they're stringing us along and we're missing it."
He looked at Ethan.
"If there's anything down there about her…
you need to be ready."
Ethan slowly nodded.
"I'm ready to learn the truth."
Flash quietly:
"Sometimes the truth is worse than death."
Ethan stood.
"I don't care anymore."
They left the bar together.
The manhole cover let out a long, almost human groan as Bruno threw his full weight against it.
Metal scraped.
Finally, with a dull clang, it gave way and tipped sideways, revealing the black maw of the shaft.
Bruno wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and tossed down into the darkness:
"If something eats us down here, Flash, I swear I'll remember this was your brilliant idea.
And I'll haunt you in your dreams with complaints."
Flash, already one foot on the first rusty rung of the ladder, didn't even turn.
"If something eats us, you won't care what you believe or don't believe."
"Not necessarily," Bruno shot back as he started descending after him.
"I'm very good at dying offended.
It's my talent."
Ethan, hearing the familiar bickering, gave a short, almost silent chuckle.
The corners of his mouth twitched for the first time in many days, something resembling a smile appeared on his face.
He swung his leg over the edge of the manhole and climbed down last.
The ladder groaned under their weight. Every step rang with metallic clangs that drowned in the damp silence.
When their boots hit the concrete floor, the smell hit them like a slap.
And something else, sweetly rotten, cloying, like the breath of decaying fruit that had been gathering here for decades.
The air was thick, almost tangible; it felt like you could cut it with a knife.
Bruno jumped down last and immediately pressed his palm to his mouth and nose.
"Oh my God… it didn't stink like this last time…"
"What, were they boiling corpses down here on an industrial scale?"
Flash spun instantly, eyes narrowing.
"Quiet."