An Understated Dominance by Marina Vittori

“Damn it!” Warrick cursed. “I was just getting started.”

He was covered in blood. His eyes burned with a wild, excited gleam.

Warrick lived for the fight. After two days in hiding, he was itching to let loose-and now that he had, he wasn’t ready to stop.

“Sir Prescott, think about the bigger picture. If we don’t leave now, it’ll be too late,” Mulder urged, grabbing his arm.

At the far end of the street, dark figures were already visible in the distance, rushing toward them. Though Warrick still seemed reluctant, he quickly calmed down.

“Fall back!” he shouted.

With that, he and Mulder charged past the checkpoint and led a handful of battered soldiers into the outer city.

Unlike the inner city, the outer city had much weaker defenses. The sheer size of the area made it impossible to secure every corner, so only the main thoroughfares had a strong military presence.

Mulder had already mapped out their escape route and prepared the gear.

According to the original plan-if they hadn’t drawn any unwanted attention they’d leave the inner city by car and make a clean getaway.

But if they couldn’t make it out of the city or if their cover was blown, they’d have to use the backup plan-the secret tunnels.

of Gods had secretly dug several underground tunnels in the outer

normal circumstances. If war broke out, these tunnels

Mulder hadn’t planned on using the secret tunnels to escape-doing so

had no choice. At that moment,

dark streets. Half an hour later, they finally reached an unremarkable house. They slipped inside, wiped away the bloodstains,

for a few minutes, Mulder signaled for them to move.

with narrow alleys and winding streets

been here before. He wove through the maze of alleys and

completely disoriented. Just as he was starting to lose his patience, Mulder suddenly veered

followed, copying his

Mulder entered the living room and peeled back the rug beneath the coffee table, revealing a hidden trapdoor. He hooked

passage leading underground. Standing at the tunnel entrance, they could feel a cool

after you.” Mulder gestured

peering into the darkness. It

ever, Sir Prescott,” Mulder said with a faint smile. Without hesitation,

They might be

man, but recklessness did. Warrick wasn’t going to entrust his life to someone

scouring

as he received the