An Understated Dominance (Dustin Rhys)

“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.

in the

and the Hall of Gods rarely used them under normal circumstances. If war broke out, these tunnels

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

chaos just now, he had no choice.

later, they finally reached an unremarkable house. They slipped inside, wiped away the

hideout for a few minutes, Mulder signaled for them to move. They slipped out quietly and headed into

tightly together, with narrow

through the maze of alleys and twisting paths

and completely disoriented. Just as he was starting to lose his patience, Mulder suddenly veered into a small Strequan-style house with a

others immediately followed, copying his every

room and peeled back the rug beneath the coffee table, revealing a hidden

passage leading underground. Standing at the tunnel

you.” Mulder gestured toward

peering into the darkness. It was pitch-black, and it

cautious as ever, Sir Prescott,” Mulder said with a faint smile. Without hesitation, he led his

be allies for now, but

did. Warrick wasn’t

scouring the area to track down Warrick and the

with his elite troops as soon as he received the news. He was determined to make up